A Common Stroll [Albrecht]

It took Maria a while to finally decide when it was time for that promised moment to share with her underclassman. Being busy as usual, the Cadet rarely had much time for respite when duty incessantly called for her attention at every near second it could call for. She was attired in her usual nun garb. As much as she wanted to enjoy the simple chores given to her this morning, she did promise to hang out with a Knight at this time. Maria was just standing near by a stall selling several kinds of freshly grown vegetables and fruits. Her eyes were slowly admiring and observing each detail for the best price and for the best quality. That said, it was hard to not even notice her because of her coffin. Not that she cared as much anymore since a more important dilemma haunted her.

Between training at the church and the cadet missions Albrecht barely had time to just stop and wind down ever since his arrival at Endymion. He didn't mind much, it was his duty after all and he got to see his years of hard training paying off in a real battlefield. Taking time off was important however, he got the chance to relieve some stress and get to know his Battle Sisters better.


He greeted the nun, it was hard not to notice the blue haired nun dragging a coffin around. Though he was not very different with his weapon case strapped to his back. He just felt defenseless without his blade nearby.

Between the kinds of tomatoes, she wondered which one would make a great marinara sauce to present to the Church's daily morning breakfast club. It needed a kind of sweetness to enjoy to lather on toasted slices of baguette bread. Everyone seemed to like her impromptu pizza breads. Last time it was those sun-ripe tomatoes, but it didn't hurt to experiment with--


She noticed the blade behind his back. It was no doubt his Demon Weapon. Unlike her, Maria was sure he didn't need to bring it with him at all times. It was something she envied a lot since her connection to her Weapon could be deemed as a Frankenstein-like effect. The blade's presence spoke a lot of the warrior mentality of the Knight. It was actually pretty comforting to see that. "Hey, what do you think is better? Sun-ripe or grape tomatoes? I'm trying to decide what to use for tomorrow's breakfast club. What do you prefer?"

She held a carton of fully sized ripe tomatoes and another in her hand with a carton of grape-shaped-sized tomatoes. Maria figured he might not be as much of a cook she had to be for the Church. But, it was nice to have an opinion.

When asked about the tomatoes, Albrech simply didn't knew how to answer. He scratched at his head as he stared at the two different types, honestly for him the only difference was the size and shape. Back in Helsreach they would serve mostly rations and during the occasional revelries they would have meat and mead, if they got lucky that is, and before that time... well, he was lucky if he just had food at all. Only recently he actually got to try new things.


He felt like an idiot for asking that, but he genuinely had no idea. He'd even pick one of each to smell them to see if he could notice any difference.

"Yes! ...No. I mean, well... You have a point..." She seriously pondered on his question for a moment. Was there even a difference other than their shape and size? Now that Maria thought about it, there really was nothing. She slowly eyed the stacks of plastic boxes and finally grasped the sun-ripe tomatoes instead. Size mattered more, ask her Demon Weapon. Plus, the price was just right for her. Maria paid for the expense and received a plastic bag containing her pick. There were a lot of stalls to visit, but she turned to face him, "Is there anything you want me to buy for our next meals? Since we're here, I'm open to any preferences you may have."

"Steak." He didn't even had to think twice to answer that, any type of meat would do for him but since he got to pick, he knew exactly what he wanted to eat. That talk reminded him of one distant childhood memory, something his sister had baked once long ago before the Divide. "If it isn't asking too much... What about a chocolate cake?"

Since they were on the subject of food, something that had been on his mind for a while and he felt like this was the appropriate time to bring it up, most of their meetings had been in Class Zero or at the church, it felt somewhat inappropriate to ask.

"I can work with that. Maybe a rib-eye, but that'd be out of the budget... Maybe flank? Skirt? I guess we'll see what's on market right now, Maria mused to herself, "I could make some cake. I used to work at a bakery before I entered the Church..."

There was a hint of pride when she revealed a little of her origin. But just as there was pride, there was a small kind of sadness. It reminded her of that young childhood before the Eternal Divide. But she didn't linger too much on these feelings. It would be too... awkward for both of them. Instead, Maria gestured him to follow her as she began to lead the way to their next destination while being careful to not hit anything with her coffin.

"Honestly, any type of meat is already good enough for me. I need protein for my training after all." He added, the chocolate cake was just him indulging in earthly pleasures though. When Maria mentioned working for a bakery he couldn't help but be interested in the subject, though he didn't question any further, she didn't seem too eager to talk about it for long.

He continued to follow the Nun through the Stretch, his eyes were all over the place, observing every store and salesperson, making mental notes about the district. As for what Maria said next, the bit about the alcohol was expected he simply wanted confirmation on it.

"Never been here before... I haven't left the church much, i have been focusing on my training. I should go out more often, it's not healthy to stay inside all day." If there was something the Black Lions encouraged was to let loose every once in a while, a overworked warrior is no good. "Never been here before... I haven't left the church much, i have been focusing on my training. I should go out more often, it's not healthy to the mind."

Maria knew how important it was to have it in their meals. In fact, it was heavily encouraged within the Black Scriptures and various other branches. Faith in the Lord was good and all, but it was also good to be well-fed and grow more muscle in the process of slicing and dicing your usual heretics. She finally stopped by at a meat stall this time, trying to look around the wares and studying which was the best and choicest ones to pick.

Looking back though, staying inside was all Maria did other than the little chores and all that excruciating training. Was it unhealthy? She found little reason to not agree with that idea. It was lonely and it felt rather stagnant. Even with the intensity of training, Maria felt like she lost so much in the process. She replied didactically, "That's why I've been taking up patrol shifts when it comes up. It helps gives me time to get used to the city more and probably make it a little safer in the process."

She shrugged. As far as finding Psyche-Terrorists or Demons during patrols, the Cadet found very little. Maybe that was a blessing in its own way. While she sifted through plastic package after plastic package, Maria asked, "You're from the Black Lions. I have to admit, I honestly don't possess much knowledge of other branches. What could you tell me about them?"

And here her hermitage inside the Church shone. It might have been expected that Maria should at least know something. She did, but only what was necessary for her to know which was very little. It was nice to have a little more to go on just in case if she ever met Albrecht's comrades at one point.

He didn't comment any further about her shut in life style, she went out enough, though only barely. He never doubted her capabilities despite being shut in, it was more that he worried for her mental health than anything else, so far she seems to have a good head on her shoulders so maybe he was worried over nothing.

"I didn't knew much about other orders or branches either, so i suppose we are on the same boat..." Now where to start from? Honestly, they don't have a lot of secrets and their order is pretty straight forward when it comes to their duties. "We are based in a fortress named Helsreach, it's somewhere in central Europe. I suppose our combat doctrine is one of the most important, while we are trained in other forms of combat melee is our focus, we charge into battle with righteous anger. Few are the Battle Brothers who dedicate themselves to ranged combat." There was an air of pride to Albrecht when he talked about the order, martial pride was part of the Lions culture after all.

"They divide us into squads, each squad is composed of Recruits, Initiates and a Sergeant. Each Recruit is trained by one Initiate and everyone answers to the Sergeant... Uhm, what do you wanna know about the Black Lions?" He realized that talking about their chain of command was far from interesting, maybe there were other things the Nun was interested about.

So they weren't that different as far as experience went. Maybe not every member of the Church knew that much of the bureaucracy or the organization. After all, who had time for that when you were busy trying to get through a night killing demons? Barring that reality, Maria intently listened to how the Lions' organized and conducted themselves under service. It took her a moment to think about what topic to broach. But when she did, Maria wryly asked, "Hmm... Do all of you enjoy drinking?"

Maria didn't quite like the substance, but it was great for frying dishes, that was as much as she would admit. Hearing Albrecht's question about drinking policies in the Black Scriptures made her curious. It seemed somewhat strange that an organization connected to the Church would indulge themselves in such poison. They finally stopped by at another stall. It was one where an open cooler was situated in front of the store full of plastic wrapped meat.

The Cadet carefully glanced at each merchandise and wondered which one was good. Of course, she also had an eagle eye for the best deals this time around. Though it looked like the last one just passed by two days earlier to her chagrin.

"I suppose it isn't just our Combat Doctrine that's unorthodox." He scratched his left cheek, on second thought maybe it would have been better had he kept his mouth shut, he was well aware the other branches of the Church frowned upon some of the order's practices and behavior, but now he might as well be truthful to her. "Well, every once in a while our superiors would set up a revelrie for the top performing squads as a reward. There was music, dancing, rival knights settling their differences in duels... and yes drinking, though anyone who had a hangover would be awaken to a bucket of cold water. Anyone who showed alcoholic behavior would be punished too. The idea is to let loose, a tense and repressed Knight is dangerous... or so they said. Brother Konrad always yelled 'If the lord didn't want us to drink, Jesus wouldn't have turned water into wine.' before slapping the Recruit who questioned the practices." Now the pride had been replaced with a sense of nostalgia, he missed his brothers and sisters but his mission was in Endymion.

He continued to accompany Maria through the Emporium, silently watching her pick the products from a distance without commenting much on it.

Maria found herself in the midst of chuckling after hearing the many antics of these Knights. But the claim about Jesus' miracle regarding water and wine forced her to shake her head while smiling very widely out of sheer mirth. It was amusing and so much more compared to the humdrum in the Sunlake Palms Church. In a way, she really envied a community so vibrant and honest of itself. It made her feel a little worried about his well-being within the Scriptures. It was more bureaucratic and dishonest compared to the Knights. "Hamburgers... we haven't had these in a long time now that I think about it. Perhaps I can try Salisbury Steak. It's essentially a hamburger patty as a steak."

Maria finally picked on a bunch of meats with some fat content that she personally approved of. Conveniently enough the stall had a few sauces to pick up from and to exchange for money along with the meat. She began to walk again and bid Albrecht to follow. But she looked back at him apologetically, "Sunlake Palms can be a little... humdrum. It might be a little bit different from Helsreach. But maybe we can try to visit some other parts of the City if you want? Vista Square could be a good place to start if you'd like."

"Sounds good, i look forward to trying your food, Sister Maria." This talk was a nice change of pace, most of their interactions were concerning their duties as members of the church or Cadets. It was good to remember the time he spent among the Lions, to not forget his origins and let himself be assimilated by the environment, even though if he may never see his homeland for a long time or maybe never again.


"My room is a bit too quiet, if you could make it louder somehow it would feel a lot like home already." He chuckled, the quiet atmosphere and formal of the Black Scriptures was something that he disliked, but nothing he couldn't endure as his duties come before his personal preferences.
"Though visiting Vista Square with you sounds lovely."

Maria actually teaching anyone? She hardly can imagine reaching at a level where she could teach anyone in combat. Even at her level, she felt immensely vulnerable. Watching how Julius fought made her become aware of how far of a gap she had to close. Having the Prince expecting her to fill in Claire's and Chris' shoes was also too much of a burden to bear for her. But, she had a duty. It wasn't like she was alone now that she thought about it.

Maria smiled wryly at Albrecht's expectations as she shrugged. She had some pride in cooking, but was honest enough that she still had a lot of work to do. In fact, the Cadet was still a long way behind what her deceased parents could do.


Of course, she was joking about the mass of rowdy kids barging into Albrecht's room. Though the postulant was visibly pleased that he agreed for a stroll. Then a single thought passed through her. "Have you personally met some of our fellow Cadets, Brother? Are you getting along with them?"

Maria didn't think of this earlier after being remarkably busy for the last few days. As a Class Two Cadet, along with Athena, she had a role to play to help manage the lower ranks. With Albrecht also being a Knight of the Church, it was to be expected that she supervised him as well.