Bethany Plays: SS Chapter 9 Eirika: The Cheap Fight

The post route-split opening represents the first time that a new map path other than our destination appears: This tower spawns north of Border Mulan. This tower is one of those things that does a lot to shape the perception of Sacred Stones for several reasons.

Our real destination is over here. Ephraim will be going someplace else, which comically leaves the new tower location off on its own in the corner.

That tower is the Tower of Valni, and it is the former home of Frelia's Sacred Stone. Grado smashed and ran, and without a purpose (or a garrison), Valni has been swarmed by monsters.

The game is rather unapologetic that this situation is the perfect opportunity to facilitate level grinding. "Level grinding? In FIRE EMBLEM?" The fanbase pre-Awakening was aghast. And, to be fair, it's probably the most convenient grinding Fire Emblem has ever had even post Awakening.

The Tower of Valni is also an eight floor dungeon. If you're using it for grinding purposes, you don't really have reason to go past the first floor, and I wouldn't recommend plunging further in. There's loot- oh lord, there is loot- but the game also has a postgame option that adds more rewards for exploring the tower, and you may just want the diversity of an endgame team anyway.

By the way, since this blog is chiefly focused on what games have to tell us, I have no plans to cover the postgame, so I'll leave the contents of the tower alone. I will use the tower for grinding once, next mission.

This is another gimmick, one a little more familiar to people who played post-Awakening Fire Emblem: random encounters for extra EXP that are countably finite, in some way. They appear on maps that have already been completed (in my experience, usually just the blue dots and not any of the buildings) and can be fought in Skirmish battles that also have the occasional treasure. Mostly EXP, though. At this point in the story, one Skirmish will appear, although more will join later on when the world map is bigger. I never really bothered with them, so they might come back.

You can Retreat from Skirmishes. I also don't know what that does about the Skirmish itself. I prefer my grinding available when I want the option and out of the way when I don't.

Our Skirmish for the day is over here. The monster that appears is somewhere in the skirmish itself, presumably the boss or a common fixture. Incidentally, if one appears on the Chapter 4 dot, for instance, we have to engage with it in order to get to Serafew. Yeah, this gets annoying if you need the shops- especially since that probably means you don't want to use your weapons.

We're heading straight into the mission, though. Inventory management is my business.

Our first stop in our journey to Rausten is Carcino, a nation that has no Sacred Stone of its own, and indeed, no monarchy. One gets the impression that it's a nation that was formed by the invisible hand of commerce more than any sort of political basis, and will no doubt become a superpower once the sword and sorcery era is over and the Renaissance begins.

Klimt is the head of the Carcino council, although why he was chosen as head in particular is not stated. Is he the best merchant? Is he, personally, a good leader? Was he elected by a vote, and if so, who voted? That is not information relevant to the story, a fact that helps Carcino feel underdeveloped compared to the five Sacred Stone nations.

Innes is also going to Carcino, mostly because his other options for getting to Jehanna are "Renais, Grado, Ocean" and all three of those sound nasty.

This line is just... disgusting. Not only is it blatantly spoiling the ensuing combat (well, OK, it's Fire Emblem, there was going go be ensuing combat, but usually the games like to pretend), but the way they phrase "but she is wrong" just comes on really strongly in the "the game is sexist where Eirika is concerned" department.

You can bet if Ephraim was getting into this situation, this line wouldn't be here.

...

You know, for Chapters 9-14, each route has its own chapter titles, as a matter of course. It just occurs to me I have no idea what this one is referring to.

We're starting off with some Grado exposition. This is going to be a bit route-agnostic at first, but it turns out it diverges fairly quickly and subtly, which is kinda annoying for me judging how much Ephraim's going to show.

Vigarde is berating the Six for having managed to destroy the Stone of Frelia but not yet Renais.

Vigarde, now that we, the player, know about the bracelets, is now free to explicitly order his minions to pursue them.

"Conquer them." Of course. At least this one is pointed at Ephraim, too.

As we'll find out later, there is a reason Vigarde might've chosen this particular turn of phrase, but it'll take far too long to explain even if I wanted to spoil why.

Glen is not amused by his choice of words, but he'll do it because Vigarde is the Emperor around here.

I love Vigarde's blink frame. Even he's done with Valter's insanity.

This is not supposed to be fun. You are at war.

Next on the agenda are Caellach and Riev, who are on Stone-dusting duty.

I'm not sure whether this is by design or by thoughtlessness, but Caellach is Jehannan and Riev is Raustian (...you try making a denonym for Rausten!), and this will affect the way these two approach their missions. I almost wonder if Vigarde would be better off ordering them to attack the opposite nations.

Riev, at least, is very interested in exacting Rausten's downfall.

While Caellach would rather not have gone back at all. Neither man has any love lost for their country of origin and has no problems with seeing them brought to ruin, but their personal feelings about these places are going to be a factor.

On the plus side, that means more character development for us!

Duessel's job is to go face Frelia. "And punish Ephraim" sounds like he's being ordered to fight Ephraim, but Valter was assigned to that. I think this is just about making Frelia hurt and hurting Ephraim by proxy.

Vigarde does not order Selena to do anything specific. She will play a greater role in the story of Ephraim's route, and the things he orders her to do will only make sense with the information we get on Ephraim's route. She does get to do things, though, this isn't Vigarde suddenly growing a sense of chauvinism and telling her to stay in the kitchen.

As Eirika sets out over... this map that I don't think is used elsewhere in the game, she is stopped by the arrival of a new pegasus knight character.

So remember when I mentioned that Hayden wasn't giving us any new Frelian reinforcements?

That's because Tana wasn't Hayden's to give.

Frankly, Frelia is wasting Tana's... waves vaguely at all of her. Granted, Hayden probably wants to stop Ephraim and Eirika, but still.

Tana has run away from home. She didn't even stop to inform Hayden that she had any plans on following for him to deny. She knows him too well.

Tana has a crush on Ephraim, and kinda gets seen as "Ephraim's girlfriend" by many, but she is Eirika's friend just as fiercely- if not moreso, considering how thick Ephraim can get most days.

Eirika briefly tries to get Tana to do the "sensible" thing.

Yeah, the boat has long since set sail on that.

Apparently Tana can do the doe eyes on both of them. It should be noted that Eirika/Tana does have a halfway decent sapphic ending.

And with that, we have recruited the best damn pegasus in the game.

Tries to not look Vanessa in the eye.

If you want a rough idea on how much Rausten is "the easy route".

Renais is, I believe, the only nation without a coast. Although I imagine most Jehannans don't make it to theirs.

Seth reminds her to keep focused.

They actually bring back "Erina" for an actual attempt at disguise.

Eirika interrupts that train of thought, however, because she thinks she recognises some peculiar figures in the distance...

Oh, hey there, L'Arachel! It's always nice to see more of her.

She has gone digging right into the local delicacies, because she's never left Rausten before.

Eirika and L'Arachel recognise one another, even if they don't actually know one another.

To be fair, that was a memorable encounter. Ish. For Eirika, it's still her only (canon) encounter with monsters. For L'Arachel, it's closer to Tuesday.

Eirika does remember her name, despite L'Arachel and Dozla's best efforts to keep the name under wraps.

And L'Arachel takes their re-encounter to be a sign of divine favour. I'm not entirely sure how one is supposed to read "L'Arachel is enamoured with Eirika's beauty" and not think sapphic overtones.

Rennac is starting to get a little fed up with L'Arachel's many eccentricities.

L'Arachel ignores him completely.

Eirika can do nothing but stare agog at L'Arachel's... I believe "confidence" is the polite term.

Eirika blabs her plan to the random strangers. To be fair, they did have to mention this part to whoever took them sailing, but somehow, I don't feel like this is the Erina version.

Unfortunately for Eirika, her plan is doomed to failure.

L'Arachel already tried going to Rausten.

Everyone is too scared to set sail.

This ghost ship is quite possibly the strangest element in the game's story. We will later encounter the ship only on Ephraim's story, and what exactly the ghost ship is in the context of the world is a mystery. Perhaps it's just a cheap way of giving Ephraim an extra map.

L'Arachel, who is a level 3 healer, is wholeheartedly convinced that, were she able to get close enough to the ghost ship to start shooting, she would be able to wipe the floor with them.

On one hand, that's the hardest map in the game she's talking about. On the other hand, with her luck, I believe her.

Eirika tries to move the conversation past that topic.

L'Arachel tells her to hike.

She's inordinately fond of these sorts of romantic tropes. It turns out this is highly relevant to her character, but somehow I get the feeling she's just the kind of girl who'd like them anyway.

For one thing, she believes in experiences being a path to betterment.

For another thing, she has a task of her own that she neither has any idea as to what it entails or what she's expected to get out of it, but she has high hopes that something is going to happen.

Because a higher order deems it so.

...Yes, you can feel perfectly justified thinking L'Arachel is not all there.

Rennac is not amused by L'Arachel's... L'Arachel.

L'Arachel, once again, completely ignores him.

Dozla plunges bravely into the role of L'Arachel's dutiful assistant. He enjoys her shenanigans. Like peas in a pod, those two.

Rennac is starting to wish he could be anywhere else on the continent.

Eirika notices they run off in the wrong direction. This is the point where one would draw the conclusion that L'Arachel is more than she appears and is legitimately intending to go to Frelia for official business of some description.

I don't actually think this is the case. It might perhaps be a good idea, but it's not what L'Arachel set out to do.

Seth tells her to forget about them. If it weren't a sensible suggestion, I'd donk him on the head.

Seth points out that the current plan should be to consider how they're getting to Rausten. Not only is the overland route long, but it is also dangerous, going through more chances for monster and Grado attacks. Eirika is a POI and Rausten really needs to get our information. Terrible combination.

Our planning is interrupted by a special guest, this guy in red!

At least this guy addresses Eirika directly...

Wait, he knows Eirika. So much for the disguise.

Rest assured, we won't be able to recruit and pay him.

He's also got backup. Yes, that pirate down there is walking on water. Pirates can do that.

So it's time for a new map, and Tana has invited herself into the party. She's not exactly going to leave after this.

"A young lady of Frelia", it says, as if she is not Frelia's princess. With that said, level 4 and 13 Speed? 7 Strength? Tana has quite the "oomph", and usually likes growing with an almost uncharacteristically high Strength and Defence stat to supplement her Speed. If your Vanessa hasn't already promoted yet, you could do far worse than switch to Tana as your primary, or even only, pegasus knight.

That Heavy Spear is good for armoured opponents. Get her an Iron Lance for everyone else.

Somewhat annoyingly, Tana's force deploy locks her to this starting square, which is kinda limiting on her opening plays. Fortunately, it's not like there's a whole host of starting squares that actually work for people.

This is the structure of today's map. Our goal is Rout, and we've got to loop around the port to get to the bottom half.

That, over there, is a Sniper. As a promoted enemy, he's worth extra EXP and will terrify the daylights out of Tana and Vanessa, but 21 HP?

That house is under threat from those two pirates, and the only real way to deal with that is Vanessa and Tana. Those archers will make it incredibly exciting, though. One really important thing to remember, however, is to take note of that triangle of land just north of the house. The archers can walk on that.

The boss lives down here.

He hits hard, but he's not very fast. He should be easy so long as we throw anything intelligent at him.

...Yeesh, 15 Avoid.

An archer also appears in the top half, to make Tana have even fewer options to score some good solid EXP. She starts good, but not really good enough to ignore archers yet.

Everyone else is moreso setting up to avoid interfering with Tana. Although Neimi is in range of the archer from here...

Just because pirates can walk on water doesn't mean they can do it well. Vanessa can slip through their ranks as she pleases.

I'm more annoyed this guy went for Neimi than the fact he hit her. That's Natasha EXP.

Dangit, forgot Tana's animations. This is our first new character since Natasha, so it's worth mentioning that if you're playing with "Custom animations", everyone new defaults to Off.

Alright, him you avoid.

...Apparently Neimi just really didn't like him.

Our next concern is the Sniper, who's... got a lot of options if he desires to move. Which I think he does.

Exact change!

And Eirika puts her back into the Iron Lance position. Not that anyone is in range of her here.

...OK, she's close!

Neimi prepares for the Sniper.

Here's the movement range on that archer. If I want Vanessa to visit that house, she'll have to loop around from the west. Sure, I could kill him, but then his friend would get me.

Oh yeah, on that topic...

These guys have Hand Axes. And for some reason, Vanessa is kicking their butts, WTD be damned.

Dear gods, you were pathetic. One thing that'll slowly become more apparent the further we go in is that Normal Mode doesn't understand promoted classes, and this sort of thing is the norm rather than the exception. Sacred Stones' reputation as an easy game is earned.

Look at Neimi. I should've checked that Sniper's stats, these ones put him to shame!

Eirika charges ahead, because that Pirate reinforcement over there is threatening to destroy that house.

Annoyingly, Tana can't get a kill around here, but might as well get some chip.

What's the point of that Defence if you're dodging 70s already?

Getting started on that Strength, are we?

Neimi takes out this guy. Natasha has no business seeing these guys.

She's also got to heal up Tana.

...OK, these guys, Lute can oneshot.

Yoink!

...This isn't a conscription run. ~~It's a robbery!~~

Don't worry, that I can do.

A second Rapier! This is exclusive to Eirika's story, and Ephraim doesn't even get a second Reginleif. I guess they expect the one you start with to still be in good condition. Eirika is closing in on level 20, but she still has enough in her that this could come in handy. Besides, she can still use it after her promotion, whenever that happens.

And Vanessa makes sure to get out of range.

Oh come on, how am I supposed to counter that?

Tana's making friends.

This myrmidon the pirate has befriended has a Killing Edge. He is by no means Joshua, but he should still be treated with caution and respect.

So, something like this?

Neimi is probably staying out of range, at least.

(More Magic for Natasha.)

Lute and Tana clear up these two and leave Tana set up for some counter-killing.

Fortunately, the Pirate can't quite burn the house this turn. Next turn, though. That's why Vanessa is here.

Skill? Still, Avoid and HP is just fine.

Nothing like seeing a Myrm doing 4 damage. This is how they get manageable later.

Yoink.

In the south part of the map, a new unit type has spawned!

An overconfident troop, though. Eirika has lain waste to the north half of the map!

Metaphorically. If it were literal, Grado might have a bit more of an edge.

This girl, with a name and a face, is a trainee, and hasn't yet attained the discipline of a rank and file faceless soldier.

...It's debatable if she got any training at all.

"Recruits are in front". Yeesh, I get the idea of what Amelia's supposed to be.

Amelia will actually leave the battlefield after a few turns if she doesn't engage us, but we've got plenty of time to make it past that.

...Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take a shower.

Natasha heals up Tana as she heads south. The enemies she hasn't killed will follow us.

Eirika sets up around here.

Because Vanessa wants her retreat covered.

Rennac, it sounds, has figured out how he's going to be deserting from L'Arachel's company.

...I think she'll notice your absence. She's not that oblivious.

One square up and Vanessa is safe from that pirate.

And now for the mercenaries to file into Eirika.

Ow.

...Yeah, uh, why didn't you attack Eirika, at least?

Vanessa's going in for a weaken.

So Tana can take the kill.

...Come to think of it, I'm not entirely sure why she used a Javelin. Maybe I wanted her to get Support with Eirika?

Eirika's moving south to make sure she gets to Amelia.

At least Lute could get her on Irons.

Those first three levels were remarkably similar.

When was the last time Eirika took damage, again?

Minimal, but effective.

That's incredibly fortunate. Eirika needs to stand just outside Amelia's range: Amelia will get slaughtered if she attacks any of our units. Fortunately, there's a target next to Eirika.

A high priority one, too.

Tana takes out the second.

While Vanessa heads to check in on the shops.

The Fighters that can get in Eirika's way don't stand a chance.

Although it's the Fighters who don't get in her way I'm scared of.

First order of business, Amelia needs to get into an army that won't abuse her!

Eirika takes one look at Amelia and goes "yeah, this isn't a Grado soldier."

Imagine walking up to an enemy soldier and saying this. Eirika doesn't realise she's done that, but Amelia thinks she's fully aware.

To be fair, a real Grado soldier would probably have not gotten into this conversation.

The red armour didn't tip you off? Yeah, she's a fresh soldier, not even wearing the Soldier class armour, but she doesn't look that out of place... does she?

...

OK, this is clearly internal propaganda to try and keep the Grado army's morale up, but in what universe is telling your soldiers Eirika is cruel and merciless going to work? Eirika's been to Grado, her big heart and face that launched a thousand ships are famous there, their prince has a crush on her.

Ephraim, though, I've got no excuses for him.

Eirika can't even figure out how she argues against that position. It's just so mind-boggling that there's not much one can do to argue against it. Which is probably how it stuck.

...That title combined with that blink frame provide some alarming implications.

Eirika has no idea what she's in store for, and probably hopes it's not what it sounds like.

Amelia looked up to General Duessel, the Obsidian and Great Knight of the Imperial Three. We also get a bit more of a solid indicator that yeah, the Imperial Three's reluctance to participate is being felt by the populace of Grado as a whole.

Amelia notices that Eirika doesn't seem interested in this war, which means that it's probably Grado who's super pumped about it.

And so Amelia decides to follow us and learn more about what's going on for herself. And, well, might as well be on the side that's not throwing you on the front lines as death fodder.

Right after going three chapters with no new characters at all (remember when I said Natasha was our last new character? If you're allowing men, the last new character was still Joshua), we get four new friends right in a row! Not only that, but for the purposes of this challenge, two new women, too!

Alternate recruit conversation with Franz:

Franz: Oh, who are you?
Amelia: What? What?
Franz: Are you one of the locals? This is a dangerous spot. You should hide. Here, come with me.
Amelia: But… But I’m…
Franz: I’m Franz, a Knight of Renais. What’s your name? What are you doing here?
Amelia: I-I’m Amelia. I’m… Actually, I’m a Grado soldier. I’m supposed to be fighting you.
Franz: Really? So, uh, you’re my enemy?
Amelia: …I guess… Are you… Are you going to make me your prisoner?!
Franz: No! No, I wouldn’t do that. But… this is a problem.
Amelia: What should we do?
Franz: First of all, you must listen to me and do as I say. We’ll talk to Princess Eirika later.
Amelia: What? NO! My commander told me Eirika’s a cruel and merciless fiend who-
Franz: Oh, that’s utter nonsense. I’ve never heard the princess utter an unkind word to anyone. I understand why you’re frightened. You think we’re the enemy. But if you’d only trust me… Will you come with me?
Amelia: Mm… Well, all right. I’ll trust you, Franz.

I think seeing Eirika directly is the better call.

...Ooh. Amelia is our second trainee class, and the female representative I mentioned earlier. I will be using her, but she's not exactly "plug and play" like Tana is. Especially not with a Slim Lance. That's 8 Atk. Not the most pathetic character in Fire Emblem history, but definitely in the bottom bunch.

5 damage against a mage. Fighting and feeding is going to be an ordeal. Although the extra +3 Atk from using an Iron is going to do a lot to help here.

...Although...

Yes, we do have an opening. (Also, note the 86.74% chance Amelia just dies here if the Fighter gets a turn to swing.)

On the plus side (if you can see the EXP bar), that's a lot of EXP for a kill. Amelia will catch up fast, if only we can find something for her to kill.

Tana's going to attack next to Eirika for now. I want them to wind up with a B Support, so every chance I get to catch a few points is for the best.

Plus, some more Strength at hand!

...That's going to be scary for Amelia- Elfire! That's a lot of damage coming our way in one go. Tanks his speed/Avoid, though. 3 Avoid.

Amelia/Neimi is a Support pair, and Amelia really wants the extra stats. Fire/Thunder is a pretty solid pick [+0.5 Atk, +0.5 Def, +2.5 Hit, +5 Avo, +5 Crit, +2.5 Ddg]. Not exactly what I'd pick, but Avoid/Crit isn't the worst bonus in the world.

The Item shop sells the second tier tomes in addition to the first. I tend to gravitate to the second tier spells as my weapon of choice, for some reason- so I tend to prefer Lute using Lightning and my Light characters using Shine.

3.51% hit. I dunno about you, I feel like I wouldn't bother.

Good think his natural Atk is so low, otherwise this might've been scarier.

Nothing like a big fat 0 to make one feel excellent.

Natasha making sure we don't lose Amelia.

Hm, no double attack on this guy.

...But Tana doesn't kill this one!

Lute oneshots this guy. Because Lute oneshots an alarmingly high number of soldiers of all classes.

And she gets to keep the Elfire, too! How fitting.

And Amelia secures another kill!

Strength and Speed, it's critical that Amelia get a few points in stats that'll let her actually get more level ups. These two are good at that.

The weapon stock of the weapon store. Also the Javelin. Some of these are good to stock up on. I'll leave it to past me whether I have the right ones.

Just make an overall assumption Lute is mulching enemies.

Ooh, now there's a weapon to point at. It's not a weapon I'm scared of (yet), but it might take you by surprise if you don't scout for it.

The -reaver weapon class takes the Weapon Triangle and turns it on its head, doubling its effects. An extra few points of Hit and Avoid can turn the tides, but it's not something that can't be overcome.

Oh, and some enemy popped up up here, Vanessa's finally getting around to him.

Well, on her terms.

Tana's going to call in the enemies to try and give Amelia a helping hand.

Now that's a pirate worth killing. I think he's one of the ones that started on the map, actually. The Ocean Seal is a promotion item for Thieves and Pirates. In FE7, it was worth five times the price of a normal promotion item, and if you were playing for rank, that extra price meant you weren't promoting Dart. In this game, rank is not a feature (thank the gods), so you can feel free to use this freely. If you're using a character who'll need one. This run will have no use for this item.

...It's like he knew.

Hm, whatever I do baits both of these two. Well, unless I bait from the south, but I don't really see that happening.

Save some for everyone else!

Tana's playing bait with Eirika Support.

Tana's playing just fine with the mercs.

And one of them found Eirika!

No more archers!

Tana takes the last of these down, and we're just down to Binks.

Well, and a bunch of cool statups on Tana.

Less cool for Natasha.

Don't mind me: I really want a Support rank for Neimi/Amelia and, while I'm at it, I get some more points in the other two pairs I have right now.

Neimi/Amelia get their first Rank. I don't really want the Ranks for Eirika/Tana and Vanessa/Lute right now, so I can save them for later grinds.

Lute prepares the first volley.

You're only getting paid 5000 gold? I would not have jumped in for that. Yeesh.

Lute doesn't quite get this guy in one go, but she sets up a feed pretty perfectly.

...Even if I could, this would kind of be a waste. She already kinda levels up from every normal enemy as it is.

Archer duel! Pablo? Sounds like we've got the guy who paid him off. Perhaps I can argue for better working conditions for his grunts.

Strength and Avoid for the archer girl. Hehe, 3 Defence.

Well, that's us ready to move along.

So if they weren't Grado, then... who did they serve? Clearly Pablo, but... who is he?

Hm... yeah, I think this probably is the guy who's sending more than one mercenary force at us. The fact he only paid 5000 suggests he's either spreading himself thin or he's a cheapskate.

Seth goes and finds a Fighter I didn't hit in the Rout.

Hello, O'Neill. Or at least a cheap re-colour. I wasn't expecting to see you get sorted amongst the chaff, but I guess you were basically a chaff fighter in boss clothes.

I imagine there's very few mercenaries who would fall for that without a shinier pile of gold to tempt them away.

"I admire your professionalism" later became one of Seth's crit quotes in Heroes. Because I guess it's kinda badass? It's him preparing to finish off a surrendered foe, which isn't really that impressive, come to think of it.

Well then. That complicates matters.

Eirika makes the crucial mistake of assuming that Carcino is a hegemon entity. Considering she has faith that Grado is not (...well, I mean, we already have two Grado characters in our army, I hope it's not!), it's rather naive of her to assume that Carcino, the one country on this continent that isn't a monarchy, would take one and only one side in a conflict.

This bandit, of course, has nothing but guesses as to why anyone in Carcino might want to take Grado's side. I'd wager he's right on his guesses, though.

Well then... that complicates matters further.

(I'm not sure if Pablo was the second-strongest member on the Council or if he's just the guy with the biggest ambition, but he's certainly our biggest problem.)

With useful information to satisfy him, Seth lets the poor guy go.

Seth, of course, realises that of course travelling to foreign nations during a war would be a risky endeavour, even if they have a righteous cause worth pursuing above such petty squabbles as-

Just kidding, he throws Carcino under the bus and basically writes the place off as Grado flunkies.

We do have one big problem that's just come up, though...

Innes was taking the same road we did, but further.

So if they had enough mercenaries to send at us...

Welp, it sounds like we figured it out either too late or just in the nick of time.

Wow, that is a lot of men to throw at one archer. The fact Innes is still alive is a testament to his skill.

...Why are we telling Hayden about it? I don't think he can take worrying about Innes until we send a messenger saying we saved the day, he's already lost his daughter and is probably worried sick about that.

Eirika takes a leaf out of Ephraim's book and says "certain doom? Sounds like my kind of odds."

Rennac peeks out of his hidey-hole to check if the coast is clear yet.

Eirika decides to comfort him with that information.

Tell me how you really feel.

I believe "this" is a prize that only appears if you saved both houses. Not entirely sure why from a narrative perspective, but it's kind of apparent mechanically. Especially since Rennac was in one of them.