[inuboku SS AU] phantasmagoria 00 - mcan

There are not many new inhabitants coming to the Monastery, so Mercedes found herself elated of the new face every time they comes. They might not be as big as other branches, but as the appointed leader, Mercedes was happy to see people coming and going to help with the daycare or joining the choir practice. Perhaps she enjoyed the comfort of crowds, or that she liked to see others are happy, all in all, being there has been quite fulfilling.

[“Master, will Byleth-san going to be okay?”]

Her mute Secret Service Agent gestured as they stayed at the dining hall after helping the new inhabitant to get in her new room. It is unknown why Byleth suddenly fainted, her newly-appointed Secret Service Agent is now attending her in her room. Mercedes can only conjure that it is from travel exhaustion, as Byleth moves there from somewhere far.

The sandy-blonde woman suspected something else, but she couldn’t jump into a conclusion as quick.

“Don’t worry about her, she is going to be okay.” Mercedes reassured the orange-haired SS Agent with a comforting pat on shoulder. The blonde signed again; she always signed in tandem with speaking. “For now, maybe we can prepare for some food in case Byleth-san is awake later.”

[“I will alert the chef and helps them.”]

“Oh, wait-”

She quickly turned, tilted her head in questioning manner.

“I need to talk with you.”

There was a hesitation, as if Mercedes had found Annette on doing something without her permission. It’s not like Mercedes is going to scold her, but the orange-haired SS Agent seem to know what her Master is going to say.

[“After this, okay?”]

Mercedes nodded in response, letting her Secret Service Agent to walk toward the kitchen area. As no one accustomed with sign language, Annette will bring a board with her when she is about to talk to someone. Usually, Mercedes left the board near the kitchen and near the reception desk, so Annette can act if someone happened to ask her something.

“Should I help her, too?”

Mercedes blinked at the presence of Ingrid, another Secret Service Agent. She noticed Ingrid left earlier, wheeling her Master back to fourth floor.

“She will feel bad if you helped her again, Ingrid.”

“Okay, I will rejoin her a bit later since I want to make something for my Master,” a pause, then Ingrid looked over at Mercedes. “She was listening to us again at the choir practice. She looked happy.”

“I see, so she loves choir that much …”

“You have yet to talk to her that much, Mercedes?”

Mercedes grew silent at the mention.

While Mercedes might be the leader for Monastery, she is only assigned to a Secret Service Agent recently, much like Byleth. Most of the time, the compatible SS Agent matched to her profile has been taken for a service somewhere else, then Rhea contacted her three months ago that she finally found an Agent for her. While it is not needed for her to have a Secret Service Agent as she is not tasked to go to someplace dangerous, the possibility of danger as the rumored ‘Millennium Festival’ occurrence to the reincarnation is nigh.

She only found out later that her assigned Secret Service Agent, a lovely young woman with a bright turquoise-colored eyes, was a victim of an unmentioned abuse, rendering her to lose her ability to speak.

Mercedes knew sign languages from the time she still served in a recovery camp as a volunteer, she didn’t know that the knowledge will come in handy now. Sadly, even though Mercedes might be the only one who can converse with her with sign languages, Mercedes noticed that there is a distance between them.

They conversed a little as Annette busied herself on various things, mostly helping others with something like dinner preparation or cleaning. Not to mention, Mercedes has her own share of business as well, being the head of this branch of Monastery and all. The only time they might be alone together is likely at night, but Mercedes never wanted to bother her rest.

She only know Annette’s fondness of choir or music in general from Ingrid, as Ingrid told Mercedes that she always make her time to be a part of the choir, despite not singing. Mercedes has been meaning to ask about Annette’s fondness, but she has yet to find time and Anette is somehow reluctant to converse with her.

It is unknown up until now whether the distance is there because of their difference in expression or it is because their reincarnation memories are influencing the present. Mercedes didn’t have a complete recollection of the past. She only faintly remembers living in a Church for quite a long time in her past life.

(Did her past self happened to hurt Annette? Are their pasts connected? Why Annette becomes her Secret Service Agent?)

“When will Hilda-san and others come back? It should be the Millennium Festival soon.” Ingrid suddenly asked.

“They sure takes time on the holidays while gathering on information, aren’t they?” Mercedes chuckled.

The incident occurred once every 100 years, but the exact reason on keeping the name as ‘Millennium Festival’ is unknown. The record of every occurrence is kept in an epic called ‘Fodlan’s Wind’. The epic is stored in Fhirdiad, a faraway city with cold climate to the north, in a library of  the eldest university of  Fodlan. Hilda and the few others were coming to Fhirdiad to get the information about the Fodlan’s Wind … though they surely do more than just researching, since Hilda sent them photos of them enjoying the day in historical sites.

“They should be here by tomorrow night, we can throw in a little feast to welcome them, as well as to introduce Byleth-san to them.”

“That sounds like a good idea, Mercedes.”


- - -


What Mercedes do by the remainder of the afternoon is to oversee the dinner preparation as she read up letters and reports from Monastery all over Fodlan by her laptop. She set herself up in the dining hall, instead staying on her room, so can she easily spot any staffs coming and going to ask. Ingrid joined the meal preparation a bit later and it seems she and Annette won’t be done in any time soon.

The Monastery lobby is usually crowded around the evening, but that day, everything seems so quiet. Mercedes closed her laptop and walked forth to the lobby area, checking once more whether the door to day care area and the door to the choir hall is already closed.

Warm rays of afternoon sun is filtering through the window of the entrance way when Mercedes spotted a stack of papers she doesn’t remember on leaving at the middle of receptionist desk. She was sure she has placed back the papers she needed Byleth to sign earlier, but she can be clumsy.

The papers are blank, initially, though as Mercedes picked them up to tidy, sentences form there on a bright color of red.

‘We are coming to get you.’

Mercedes felt a wind on her back, a sensation of cold, sharp object coming to graze her neck. But then before she turned, she heard a loud groan.

A being came from a shadow, manifesting as a humanoid-like entity in oozing black skeleton form. One of its arms came off, flying away from its main body by a presence of glowing red, pulsating hammer.

Her Secret Service Agent, clad in black tuxedo, silently keeping her aggressive stance as the humanoid form screeched in pain.

“DIEEEEE--”

The battle cry came off as a horrifying shriek, but Annette didn’t flinch. She swung back the hammer on her hand with ease, taking another hard blow to the face of the black skeleton. Blobs of blackness splattered everywhere on the lobby, and Mercedes watched as Annette plunged the second swing, third, fourth, beating up the monster until oozing black liquid is left to litter the floor.

“That’s enough.”

The hammering stopped on the soft plea. The orange-haired Secret Service Again obliged, taking back the hammer to nothingness. Annette turned to Mercedes, her expression is blank, splatter of black make its way to her clothes and her face.

The way Annette battles and the shape of weapon she wields, it is not the first time Mercedes saw it. All the reincarnation may possess the inherited power from their blood, though the same can’t be said about the full recollection of the memories. Mercedes didn’t recall anything similar in her memories in regards of Annette’s weapon.

There was another attack happened there in the Monastery that came personally to Mercedes’ head two months ago. The black humanoid skeleton which called themselves Survivors of Shambala is not a foreign entity based on Fodlan’s Wind epic. They are the present threat of the reincarnation.

[“Are you okay, Master?”]

Annette gestured, trying not to look at Mercedes’ eyes.

“I am.”

Annette looked back at the mess she created. It wasn’t the first time for this kind of mess, either.

[“Sorry, I should have done it a bit cleaner. I’ll-”]

“It’s not that.”

Mercedes took Annette’s hands. There was a cut on her upper right arm, piercing the suit. Annette might get the wound from guarding Mercedes earlier, and noticing the orange-haired woman’s widened eyes, she wasn’t aware about it. Mercedes rolled the suit and shirt up, proceeding to heal the open scar with magic. Annette watched as the leader’s hand glows in green, the dripping blood dried and the wound slowly closed.

The sandy blonde woman rolled back the suit when she is finished. Annette’s hand is so small compared to hers. She noticed the slight shape of hardened muscle, should be because of her doing a lot of lifting when cleaning stuff and swinging her ‘borrowed’ hammer.

Realizing Annette shooting an uncomfortable glare to Mercedes, she retracted her hands right away.

[“Thank you.”]

“I can help you mend your suit.”

[“There is no need to.”]

With that, Annette quickly made her leave, Mercedes could only watch the mute SS Agent’s retreating back disappeared as she made her way to seek for the pantry.

(What is it that Mercedes failed to see?)