It was a low and drawn out noise that woke him up. He shifted his eyes open slightly and saw a glimmer of steel penetrate the tent and tear it open, flooding the interior with moonlight. Thankfully, it allowed Jaune to catch a glimpse of the face of their intruder. A pockmarked woman with an unfortunate and permanent sneer on her face, her pointed teeth glistening from what he would consider as saliva.

His heart began to beat rapidly, an intruder was about to enter the tent and god knows what to him and Weiss. He had to act quickly, just as he trained. His training touched on this subject, an intruder in your sleeping area.

He could not show the enemy that he was awake, even a slight opening of the eyes could tip them off that something was wrong. It was fortunate that their intruder wasn't experienced enough to notice his eyes slightly opening. He had to keep his face neutral and his breathing regular, to which he succeeded in. He had a knife in his sleeping shirt, hidden underneath a fold. All he had to do was to do two actions together: He had to immobilise or blind the intruder in one way or another, while simultaneously slipping out the knife for combat.

He dared not to wake Weiss, there was no way she could've been trained to deal with such a situation. 'Goddamnit, up to me to save her again, any more of these and people will start to believe it's a male fantasy where the princess is always the damsel in distress.'

'On three… One, two, three.' Before he even counted to three in his head he was already out and ready to duel. He shoved his hand into the intruder's face, aiming to poke out the eyes. The squishy resistance his fingers met told him that it was a success, now to withdraw the knife. His hand whipped around and withdrew the… wait… where was the knife?

He looked at over where Weiss was and saw his knife sitting with Myrtenaster. 'Oh thanks a lot Weiss, now we are both going to die.' He gave a savage kick to the intruder, who was already howling from the pain of her eyes being poked at. Already Weiss stirred from the noise which made Jaune curse as he had to lean over her body to grab the knife.

The presence of a body over her and the squealing from a person in pain made her immediately wake up. A body over her and the screaming all ran through her mind as she instinctively began to beat on the body on top of her. "Get off me you lout!"

"I'm trying to grab my knife you bitch!" He yelled at her as he attempted to ignore the beatings and yoinked the knife out of its place, rolling forward and out of the tent. He withdrew the knife, steel shining in the moonlight.

He felt movement behind him and he sidestepped, dodging a flimsy thrust that was pointed towards his kidney. He whipped around and saw three figures in front of him. "Three on one."

"Four." A voice above him said as they leapt from the tree onto him, forcing Jaune to roll again to the side and blocking an overhead strike that was pre-emptively sent his way.

Jaune stumbled to a stance and scanned his opponents. "Alright, four against one. Not bad odds, can't say I've had much worse but here we are."

"Fool! Why did you alert him to your presence!" The pockmarked woman hissed at the assailant who leapt from the tree. They were silent as they kept a feeble guard up and breathed out nervously.

"I'd ask who sent you, but that'd be clichéd as all hell." Jaune commented, his heart still pounding as he studied his opponents. Clearly they weren't trained as well as he, as they kept nervously shuffling and eyeing him out of concern rather than skill. But he was disadvantage when it came to weaponry. They were all at least equipped with a short sword, in the woman's case being a long curved blade. He was clearly outnumbered and underpowered for this challenge. "Weiss, do you mind hurrying up to help?"

"No, that's for you to do." A haughty voice came from the tent that sounded eerily like Weiss, but it seemed off.

"What, you're not gonna help me?" He pleaded to the tent behind him as he kept an eye on his opponents.

Silence came from the tent, which set off some alarm bells for him. By now, the talk should've been a bit more candid or a more physical response should've happened. But the tent was silent except for the shuffling of fabric.

"I see now, you're here to kidnap her?" He announced as the puzzle clicked in his head. It was all too simple, but it was quite effectively played out.

"Very smart. Yeah we're here to do that. Her father has put a rather handsome bounty on her head, and yours." The woman from before snarked as she got ready. From her posture Jaune could tell that she was slightly more skilled than her subordinates, but not by much. If it was all a one on one then he'd win easily, maybe a one on two with his current condition. But with his arm the way it is and his body not fully recovered from the previous battle, there'd only be one way this would all end. If only there was a way he could grab a better weapon.

In the tent

Weiss was battling a rather powerfully built woman who reeked of perfume, and not the good kind either. She was in an experienced head lock, her airways being cut off and her brain starving for oxygen. She kicked and flailed, attempting to get the woman off of her as she began to lose consciousness. During her flailing, she knocked over her satchel, which held the card she was given by that mysterious gentleman. With a flourish of smoke, a card whistled through the fabric of the tent and collided into her assailant's skull. With a grunt, the woman released her pressure for a brief second which allowed Weiss to heave a breath and flexed her abs to curl herself inward, sending a savage kick to the forehead of her intruder and allowing to get free and roll out of the tent.

"I was wondering when you were going to call me. I was worried you forgot." That suave accent came from the same ostentatiously dressed man from before. A smirk graced his lips, the only feature of his face showing underneath the shadow of his hat.

Jaune looked at him warily, which provoked a bark of laughter from the mysterious Gentleman. "Do not worry young lad, I am neither friend nor foe. I am simply a servant of Your Grace." He bowed deeply before straightening back up.

The pockmarked woman sneered in defiance. "God damnit, the report only said the body guard. Not this tool!" She growled and gave a threatening glance to the one who Jaune presumed gave her the report.

"There was only two! I don't know where this guy came from!" He squealed in defiance.

"Don't worry about where I came from, but what I am about to do to you. You've threatened Your Grace, and that must not go unpunished." He stood up straight and another card flicked into his hand.

The group stepped back. "What are you doing you idiots!? They are just playing cards! Just swarm him!" The woman ordered at her frightened companions.

One of the braver men nodded with some confidence. "Come on men, let's get him!" He took a step forward.

It all happened in a blur, the Man barely moved before a card flew towards the goon at incredible speed and buried itself into his oesophagus, the tip of the card winking in the moonlight. A collective gasp emanated from the group as they all took a step back again.

"I'm game for a challenge. But careful that I don't cut your deck in half, just be sure you have a good hand before you try to deal with me." From anyone else it would sound corny, but when he just made a card slice someone's throat open with nary but a mere flick, it was a serious threat.

The assailants all shuffled back, even the sneering woman. The cloaked Man smirked again as another card flicked in between his fingers, having the dexterity to manoeuvre it between his fingers.

The area became deathly silent, except the wind which picked at the branches and made the Gentleman's cloak float off the ground. The atmosphere was tense, tense enough to be cut with a knife as the three groups came to a standstill.

"I think that if you run now, you'll see the next day…" Jaune commented as he drooped his dagger a bit.

She sneered at him. "Let's go, there is always another time to do it." She announced before they turned around and disappeared into the darkness.

Jaune groaned and dropped to the ground, the Gentleman gliding over and checking him over. "Previous wound… exhaustion. You will be fine if you take it steady." He said in a low tone.

"Y-yeah… Just need to take it easy, that eye jab and roll took it out of me." He heaved softly to gain some air into his lungs. "Where's Weiss?"

"Your Grace? She is fine. I think she's unconscious from the woman attempting to strangle her, oh yeah that reminds me. I've got bodies to dispose of." He said in a light tone that belied his dangerous demeanour.

Jaune nodded slightly before resting on his backside and attempting to get his heart rate under control. "Who were they?" He inquired as he clenched his damaged fist.

"They are a band of lowlanders that were hired by someone to kidnap your Highness, now for what reason I have no idea but that is irrelevant at this point in time. The main thing is that Your Grace is safe… Are you still able to protect her?" He commented with a dry and serious tone in his voice.

"Of course I can… there was just an unfortunate problem in how long it took for me to get into action… It won't happen again." Jaune said firmly. He didn't even want to think about what would his reaction would be if he said otherwise.

The Man made a noise as if in thought as he disposed of the bodies, before checking in the tent. "Nothing else here." He commented before exiting the tent. "You might have to use that other tent you have, you seem to have a tear in that one."

"Yeah… Don't I know it." Jaune commented drily as he rubbed his sore shoulder.

"I will now take my leave, if you need my help again, don't hesitate to tap the card. With some force I'd imagine. Your Grace isn't alone with her support, and there are plenty others than me. Well Jaune, good night." He tipped his hat towards him before stalking off into the night, disappearing as if magic was casted.

Jaune growled before crawling back into the tent and collapsing on his bed, ignoring the large tear in the tent and just wanting to sleep.

A few hours and toss and turns later

A loud caw split the sky of sleep in his mind, forcing open the blinding sunlight that crept through his consciousness. With a low sigh, he opened his eyes regretfully, fully waking his mind. His nostrils filled with the sweet sent of blueberries, his ears pricking at the sound of very light breathing.

He took a deep breath and arranged himself to sit up, peering at the tear in the tent wall. 'Great… almost forget that last night happened.' He grumbled as he took stock of his surroundings.

It was early morning as the sun only just began to creepy from the horizon, the tear in the wall was just low enough for the first rays of light to streak into his eyelids. 'Not only did she want to kill me, she wanted me to not have a great night sleep. What a bitch.'

His shuffling and movement woke up the other occupant of the tent, much to his chagrin. With a stretch that nearly broke his nose, Weiss rose like a zombie from her bedding and yawned loudly before rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Good morning Jaune." She murmured as she stretched again, arching her back.

"Morning." He grumbled as he looked at her. Upon inspection, he could see no wounds or bruises on her face or neck. A feeling of relief flooded his system as he saw that she wasn't harmed from last night.

"What happened last night?" She murmured through her sleep deprivation, collapsing her lower body as the energy it requires has yet to come.

"Oh… Nothing in particular…" Jaune assured her as he got up to pack their things.

"What's with the tear in the wall?"

He stopped for a moment to think of something. "A bear."

"Bear?! Bears live in this area!?" She exclaimed with a look of muted fear in her eyes.

"They do… But they are quite friendly. The one last night was just curious as to what was in here and after a few pets and rubs, they went on their way."

"I didn't realise that bears can be that friendly." Weiss murmured in wonder.

"Just don't go anywhere near their cubs and they'll won't hurt you whatsoever. Kinda like a tarantula; just don't annoy it and you'll be fine." He concluded as he continued with packing their gear.

"I don't like spiders…" Weiss said to him.

"Lucky there aren't giant spiders otherwise I don't think you'd be able to sleep at night." Jaune barked with laughter as he found the look on her face priceless.

Weiss responded with multiple half hearted slaps on his body. "That's not very funny! I am deathly afraid of spiders!" She huffed indignantly.

"I thought it was pretty funny." He remarked as he slung their gear on their horses. "Now come on, gotta continue this trek."

She swung herself onto her own horse and clucked her tongue, urging it to trot over to Jaune. "Wait… How come your horse didn't make a noise when the bear came along? I thought she was specially trained."

"Yeah, how come you didn't make a noise when the bear came along?" Jaune hazed his horse slightly with a somewhat serious glance. He was rewarded with a typical horse neigh and a shake of her mane before rolling her eyes. "She says that it was downwind, she couldn't smell it."

"Must be pretty blind." Weiss remarked with a haughty attitude. That rewarded her with a loud expulsion of flatulence in her direction from Jaune's horse. "D-did she just fart at me?"

He looked over at her curiously. "Hmm? Oh no, sometimes she has bad gas."

His horse nodded emphatically as Weiss glowered at her. "Bad gas, yeah right."