AN: I don't know who is still reading this but here is another chapter. The next one will have more from Jaune POV than this one.
Alec Meadows still couldn't believe what his eyes were telling him.
In front of him sat more lien than he has ever seen. After five days of hard work and two Dust shops robbed they now had a bit over 50 thousand lien after selling all the Dust.
The 50 thousand lien wasn't going to belong solely to them as they still had to pay the debt. What they would have after that would be more than enough to give everyone a sizable cut, they might have enough to move out of this dump too.
He was sceptical of the plan at first, thinking that it was going to fail at certain points and they would be arrested. In the end, the operation went by flawlessly on the first store and the second was only a little problematic because of how confident they got from the first one. Jim didn't scout out the location as thoroughly as the first one, which meant that they didn't know that the shopkeeper had a personal guard.
He could still feel the bruise that the guard gave him.
Alec really wanted to stay in bed today because of his injuries, but he still had one last thing to do before he could sit down. He had to call the number Jaune gave him.
Jaune didn't give us a timeframe for when they should call so they had decided to call him after they had enough money to pay our debts. He had both the number and a scroll ready to call him but there was one thing making him hesitate.
The number was for a food delivery service.
He even searched the name of the place on the net and it's been running for years. It's obviously a front for the organization he's from and he knows of places that run similar operations. The gangs that can afford it are people that have both the money and the influence to both run it and to take care of any that looks to close.
Why would a gang like that help a small group like their out of a debt? Do they have further plans with them now that they had a different kind of debt to them?
These are the questions that he so desperately wants to be answered but was afraid to know what it will be.
He doesn't know how much time it has taken him since came downstairs but he eventually inputs the number on his scroll and puts it on voice only.
"Crane's food delivery, how may I help you?" The voice he could hear through the speaker was female.
"This is Alec Meadows, I'm calling about the delivery made five days ago by a boy named Jaune."
"Please hold, we have been expecting this call and someone will be with you in a moment." He didn't get to say anything to question who before he was put on hold.
When he was put on hold there was even pleasant music playing. The time he spent waiting was the time he used to review what he had planned for this conversation to be about.
It would primarily be about who they actually worked for. They knew laughably little about Jaunes organization and they needed to know more.
After an enlightening conversation with Victor about his past and why he was so wary about Jaune, they came to the conclusion that he was some kind of enforcer. He's never met a huntsman personally with only Julia as the only other person in the group besides Victor to have seen one. He's still sceptical towards all the things he said the girl did but the fear he saw in his eyes was real enough for him to at the very least act cautiously the next time they meet.
Eventually, the music stopped playing and a gruff voice could be heard from the scroll.
"I'm Daniel Crane and the owner of Cranes food delivery. My nephew has told me about you and I'm quite interested to hear what you have to say."
Saving the remark about Jaune being his nephew for later and the fear that he might have said something negative in the back of his mind, he instead started talking about the actual reason he called.
"It was a success is the first thing-"
"What are you even talking about?" Daniel interrupted him with a tone of confusion and doubt.
Daniels response confused him as well. "The job of cou-" He stopped speaking as he realized that this must be some kind of test. If Jaune spoke to him then he should know about the job. Was he supposed to speak in code? "The job that your nephew helped us with and we would like more of his help."
"And what would you need his help for?" Daniels tone had at the very least shifted to one of interest now, something that he was glad for.
He tried thinking of something that wouldn't sound to incriminating on a scroll conversation. "For help with strategies in our... boardgame?" It was the only thing that came to mind at the moment, they couldn't afford many ways of entertainment before so they bought that stupid Dungeons and Grimm game. They only used it once before giving up after half of them failed to learn how the game works.
It makes for a good excuse at least.
"You do realize that we're a food delivery company, why would we need to send someone over to play a board game?!"
Or not.
It only now hits him how stupid and suspicious that sounds. That might be why Jaune came with that box of steaks last time and why he gave me a card for the company instead of a personal number.
"We will, of course, order food as well." Alec started listing some dishes that he saw when he looked around their website earlier.
The rest of the conversation went more smoothly after that. He was even invited to a membership that would give him discount and bonuses, that might have been Daniels way of welcoming him to the organization.
He felt a little bitter about being considered a subordinate already but he couldn't do much about it right now.
The conversation was almost at its end when he got to the part he's been fearing ever since they finished the first job.
"And you understand that payment will include both this order and the previous one?" Payment, another of saying how much money they would take as their part of the score.
While the others were celebrating after the first successful robbery, he and Victor were the only ones that were worried about how much they could actually keep. He has heard about gangs that would take more than half as their part of the cut from the people that actually did the work.
One would think this would lead to them deserting but their leaders would use... creative ways to make them stay, fear of death and blackmail being the most common. He swallowed nervously before answering.
"Yes." He didn't want to know what they would do if he didn't say anything else.
"Great then I will be sending Jaune when the food is ready, you can expect us around six. Though he won't be alone as the amount you ordered will be a little much for one person to carry."
And with a farewell, he cancelled the call.
Alec thought he would be calmer after the call but it only served to stress him out more. He now had had to arrange the appropriate amount of money and prepare for multiple people that could also be on the same combat level as Jaune.
He almost wished he was arrested instead of his boss now, he wouldn't be this stressed in prison.
Jaune Arc was laying in the guest room at his uncles' place bored out of his mind.
After he delivered the food and helped those guys with their game, he was pretty proud of himself. That pride stayed with him all the way back to his uncle, his pride only lasted for so long until his uncle told him it was the wrong place.
He had delivered it to Trident street and not Tritent street, the one that actually ordered it had already called about the delay. Jaune wanted to rectify his mistake but his uncle gave him money and told him to enjoy the city instead. He didn't need to say anything but he could feel how disappointed he was in him.
He felt like he had broken the trust his uncle had put in him and spent the rest of the day reading comics in his room. Even after his uncle came back with an apology and an invitation to try again he didn't feel up to try again. He would just disappoint him most likely.
That's why he was confused when his uncle came back again with the same offer, one that he would have refused if it wasn't for who he was delivering to.
He accepted and was now on his way to the people he accidentally delivered to, had now become actual customers.
They must have really liked the food.