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Beta: College Fool

Cover Art: Pachumaster

Chapter 16


"It's a decent sword," the woman behind the counter said. She held the blade between her hands and looked it over with a practised eye. "Nothing too special but good enough that someone might be interested."

I let out a sigh of relief I didn't know I'd been holding. "How much do you think it will sell for?"

The Shopkeeper looked up at me, her brown eyes as shrewd as any high level merchant. The Labour Caste working within Beacon always seemed to be fairly high level. It was probably required as part of the job. "I think I could sell it for four," she said, "How about I pay you three-fifty?"

That was a bit of a fib on her end. My mom had always spoken like that, and what she'd have really meant was that she could sell it for five and didn't want to admit that. Still, the girl looked stubborn enough to stick to it and I wasn't. "Okay," I nodded and accepted the lien she handed over. "Can I put in an order for some armour and weaponry?"

"Sure. What do you need?"

My arm rested on the counter before her as I leaned forward. "Just a spare set," I said dismissively. "I just want something cheap in case my own goes. Doesn't need to be any good, but metal at least. Say… anything below two-fifty?"

"You won't get much quality for that."

Good. Quality wasn't what I was looking for; just quantity. "It's just a spare set. The heavier it is the better."

"I'll keep my eye open," the woman sighed and took the money, tallying something down on a sheet of paper I couldn't see. "If anything comes up I'll buy it for you. The piece will be stored here and you can come collect it at your leisure."

I thanked her and headed off, counting the remaining one hundred and fifty lien in my pocket. Well… it had worked out better than I'd thought it would. Buying that crappy mace drop from Coco had only been one hundred and fifty, which meant all the rest was profit. If I could get a full breastplate for two hundred, then I'd be able to do the same as I had with the mace and smelt it into more useful gear.

Fight like an NPC… that was what I'd said before, and I doubted Torchwick had ever faced anything like this. Our kind, the Labour Caste, we didn't fight like most people did… at least not as openly. We were a community, we were hard workers, and we found ways around problems we couldn't solve with brute force. The Guild needed lien… and whether they knew it or not, they had a craftsman in their midst.

They could only adventure and fight for lien, but I could actually work my craft a little bit for profit. Namely, I could buy and smelt down trash people didn't want, the forge it into stuff which they did.

And technically, all of Beacon was my economy… a market with no competition and with hundreds of customers. This would be a dream come true for mom. I'd also made some Exp from the deal too, though the actual amount had been negligible at best. The mace had been simple iron, and it seemed it was the material that determined how much Exp I would get. Ruby's scythe, forged from that rare blade I'd found, had given me a huge chunk. The mace had given me less than 1%. I wouldn't be farming levels anytime soon. That was for sure.

The others were all doing their own things, which mostly involved lessons during the day and furtive attempts to hunt in the forest at night. Away from the communal dorms, the curfews no longer applied, but that didn't mean the teachers wanted us out during the dark hours. The stronger varieties of Grimm tended to come out then as well. Ren had come home nursing an injury the night before. Velvet had proven as adept with bandages as she was cloth, luckily, but it was still worrying.

"This can't last," I whispered. "Something's going to give sooner or later."

"Jaune!" a loud voice called my name, and as I looked ahead it was to see Ruby covering the distance between us. Her red hood flapped out behind her, and although a few people she dodged by cursed, she ignored them all. "There you are," she gasped when she reached me. "I've been looking everywhere for you. Where've you been?"

I couldn't tell her the truth of that… not that I'd snuck out into Vale, taken off my Amulet and borrowed the use of a Blacksmith's forge. "I was out in the forest," I said. "I found a sword and sold it for a little bit of lien."

"Ooh, nice. You're actually pretty lucky with drops."

Uh, sure… let's go with that.

"What did you need me for anyway?" I asked. "Please don't tell me there's more trouble at the Guild."

"What? No, there's no trouble." Ruby rummaged around in the bag she wore from one shoulder and pulled out a thick tome. "I found this!"

"It's a book." I took it and turned it over, noting the Beacon stamp on the cover. Not a drop then, but rather something she'd picked out from the library. The front cover was titled; `The Hero Caste`. A quick look at a page inside showed it as some kind of manual or history book.

"Well?" Ruby asked expectantly.

"It's… nice?"

Not the right answer. Ruby glowered as she took it back and I muttered an apology as I rubbed the back of my head.

"I was reading through this," she explained, "because I was trying to find a way for us to earn more lien. What I meant for you to look at was this." She flicked to a page somewhere in the middle and held the book out once more for me.

Quests… the word stood out on the page but I didn't see any more as Ruby pulled it away.

"I was going to ask the others if they knew anything about it," she said, "You want to come along?"

Well… it wasn't like I had anything else to do.

/-/

"Questing?" Weiss asked once we'd brought the tome back to the Guild Hall. Lessons had already come to an end and everyone had stopped off at the Guild to get changed. We'd managed to snatch them as they did, and now we were all arranged in the main room once more. A few sleeping bags were slung against the nearby walls, testament to where we'd all been sleeping.

"Ruby suggested it," I nodded to the Reaper. "I don't know much about it. Would it actually be profitable enough?"

"That would depend on the nature of the Quest," Weiss ran a finger atop the cover of the book, her eyes narrowed. "You don't know anything about Questing?"

"He was raised among NPC's," Pyrrha answered before I could. The reminder seemed to jog Weiss' memory, but far from looking sympathetic, she just sighed at my apparent stupidity.

"Very well… listen closely, Arc. Quests are essentially tasks of a difficult or dangerous nature, given to Heroes by other Castes unable to complete them. Each will have a varying reward and difficulty, and apart from hunting Grimm, they're a popular source of income for many Heroes."

"Sounds good to me," Yang grinned, "When do we start?"

"We don't."

Weiss' words were solemn and had many of us looking at one another. "Why not?" I asked. "We could pick out an easy Quest, right?"

"It's not quite that simple. In ancient history, perhaps, it was possible for any and every Hero to take on whatever Quest they wanted, but the times have changed. According to historians, it used to be that you could visit a noticeboard, or maybe even talk to a mayor or innkeeper, and they'd give you a choice of any Quests needed in the area." Weiss sighed and shook her head. "Unfortunately, that led to the rather obvious consequences of numerous Heroes competing for the same bounty… not to mention the Quests being completed several times over and bankrupting NPC's who knew better than to deny a Hero their reward."

"Slay ten rats for one hundred lien," Weiss snorted. "As you might imagine a day or two later, waking up to find twenty Heroes at your door with two hundred rat bodies lined up behind them might have been somewhat distressing – even before they try to charge you two thousand lien."

Yikes.

"It was dangerous and time-wasting for Heroes too," she went on. "Imagine that fifty people take a Quest to rescue a young girl who went missing. If the first completes it and returns the girl home, you might suddenly have forty-nine kidnapping attempts by the other Heroes. And if more Heroes get involved, you could end up with a case of mistaken identity and Hero on Hero combat as they all assume the others are the kidnappers. It wasn't conductive to good business... or the mental health of the child in question, I would imagine." She shook her head. "The system was disorganised and haphazard, and it was perhaps inevitable that it would be changed."

"I guess so," I said, "But what did they change it to?"

"Something much more regulated. Nowadays you need to have a Quest License to even initiate a Quest, and all of them are filtered through the Heroes Guild, of which each Kingdom has their own. This allows individual Quests to be assigned to not only people who can safely complete them, but it also stops the same Quest being handed out to too many people. You pay the Guild, they take the money, and they only pay out if the Quest is completed to the terms of the contract. All in all, it's safer for everyone and even protects both the Heroes and the Quest Giver from being tricked in any way."

"But we don't have licenses," Pyrrha sighed. "I suppose that sticks a sword in the idea."

"Not necessarily," Weiss said, but she didn't sound pleased. "If you're not aware, students at Hero Academies can take Quests irrespective of their license status."

"I'm sensing a `but`," Yang said.

"But," Weiss agreed, "It's not quite so simple. Tell me… are you aware of the `Annual Quest`?"

"It's something we have to do to graduate the year," Ren rattled off. "It's our end-of-year exam rolled into one practical test."

Was it? How come I'd never heard of it? Pyrrha, Yang and Ruby looked surprised as well, but Nora… well, maybe she was surprised too – but she hid it well. "Um…?" I held a hand up in question, only to get a quick glower from Weiss.

"The Annual Quest," she explained in a lecturing voice, "Is what Beacon and the other Kingdoms use to judge and test their aspiring Heroes. We have all completed our `First Quest` when we captured the village destroyed by Grimm, but that was only to see whether we could attend Beacon in the first place. Come the end of the year, we will be tested again."

"Another Quest?" I asked.

Weiss nodded. "It's called the Annual Quest and it's something we will need to take for every year we are in Beacon."

"What happens if someone fails?" I asked.

"Then they are made to repeat the year until they succeed." Weiss' voice made it clear what she thought of such a prospect, and everyone else's shoulders stiffened as well. With the kinds of prices Torchwick was charging us, that promised an endless cycle of debt, at least until we gave up and accepted our defeat. For me, the danger wasn't quite so permanent… I could fade back into the obscurity of being a Blacksmith. For everyone else, it would mean the end of their careers.

"Well, we don't have to worry about that for a while, right?" I asked, and Weiss nodded.

"We can leave it until the last few months of our first year. Technically, it is our choice on when to attempt it, and most students will leave it as late as possible in an attempt to Level up first."

"Great… well, let's not worr-"

"However," Weiss interrupted, "If we do not complete the Annual Quest, we will be unable to take any others until we do so. This avenue will be closed to us until we take it."

But it wasn't the only avenue, nor the only way we could make up our losses. My blacksmithing was too low at the moment, and I doubted the profits would add up all that quickly – but they were still there. We could hunt in the Emerald Forest too and gather what we could from the Grimm.

"How much do Quests normally give as a reward?" Yang asked. My eyes swivelled to her. Surely she couldn't be thinking about this?

"Depends on the Quest and how many people go on it. Larger groups would be given more difficult tasks, and the rewards would naturally be higher. I can't give an exact figure, but I'd expect it to be far more than what we're currently bringing in."

"But the danger is higher," Pyrrha cautioned.

Weiss shrugged. "Naturally... the question is; can we afford to wait ten months to do this? When in that time we will need to pay over fifty thousand lien in costs alone? And that's if Torchwick doesn't do something to force us out sooner."

Fifty thousand… the number was enough to make my stomach churn. All of a sudden the paltry profit I'd made that morning seemed so insignificant.

"If we fail the quest, we're essentially out of Beacon," Ren warned.

"If we don't take the quest, we might be out sooner." Yang said.

"We were able to clear a Dungeon together," Ruby piped up.

"And long before anyone else could," Pyrrha agreed. "This is… it's not ideal, that's for sure. But I feel we have stronger synergy than many other groups our age. What do you think, Jaune?"

Me? The others turned to me but it was all I could do not to quail under their gazes. "I think it sounds dangerous," I said. "I don't know what level most people take these at, but it's got to be higher than ours." Higher than mine, certainly… I was only around the average level of someone beginning Beacon in the first place.

"The advantage of being a group might outweigh that," Ren pointed out, "We can cover one another's backs, provide support and engage our foes with superior numbers. From what I've heard, it's rare for first years to enter a dungeon too – yet we were able to succeed. If I recall, you were eager for that at the time." The unspoken question - `what changed` - hung there.

My eyes flickered to Ruby.

She caught me. Ruby's face fell, and her lips twisted unhappily as she realised just why I was so against the idea – because she had almost been killed the last time. We didn't have another shot at that, and this time there would be no mystical Elixir to heal her.

It just wasn't worth the risk.

"We can do it!" Ruby shouted. She steadfastly refused to meet my eyes, or to notice how I tried to wave her down. "We don't have the benefit of time on this. We can't just keep trying to piece together little bits of lien. The money from the Dungeon got us into this problem in the first place, maybe the Quest reward can help us get out of it."

"The danger-" I started.

"Is about the same as what we're currently doing." Nora smiled apologetically for having cut me off. "We're out fighting every single day to try and earn as much as we can. Sooner or later, one of us is going to make a mistake and get hurt."

She… wasn't wrong, no matter how much I wished to argue it. We'd started to split up when we entered the forest lately, the better to farm as much ground as we could. It got us the best returns, but it was much more dangerous than fighting in a group. We were desperate, though. How long could we remain as such without getting hurt?

Did we even have a choice?

"This…" I paused to take a breath and to calm my nerves. "Do you think this would earn us enough to get out of this?"

"It's hard to say," Weiss said, "But I'm confident it would enable us to get a large amount of the repairs completed, and that's assuming we don't find any drops worth selling. At the very least, it can't be any worse than what we're doing right now."

I nodded and looked around at the others. Part of me wanted to put the idea to a vote, to see what everyone thought, but it would have been pointless. I could see on everyone's faces that they'd already decided to go ahead with it. The only one still hesitant was me. Was I right to be?

Perhaps… On a personal level I was the one who would be holding them back, but at the same time – if they were so confident, what right did I have to be otherwise? We completed a Dungeon long before anyone else thought of it… we'd become a Guild in the same way. And if there were seven of us, my lack of ability wouldn't be quite so noticeable.

But as everyone relaxed and started to chat among themselves, I couldn't help but feel how much better it would be were there eight of us.

/-/

"You're a fool!"

"Blake, I-"

She cut me off by snapping her book shut. The sound echoed around the library and as everyone turned to stare at us, I winced. To think, it had seemed like such a good idea too.

"The Annual Quest is no laughing matter." Blake glared at me and I couldn't help but shrink under her golden eyes. "Stronger and older Heroes have perished on them and there's a very good reason the attempt is left until the last possible moment."

"We understand that, we do. It's just that we might not have the time to wait. You know the situation we're in. We need to strike fast, before Torchwick finds some way to force us out of Beacon entirely."

"This isn't what I meant by not fighting like a Hero, Jaune."

Blake sighed and leaned back, and as her eyes closed I took the chance to catch my breath and look around. The other visitors to the Beacon library found something else to do when I glanced over them, but the whispers continued nonetheless. I'd dithered on the idea of whether or not to ask Blake all night, and slipped away with a promise to meet the rest outside the headmaster's office at eleven to request our Quest. Time enough, or so I'd thought, to present my case to the Assassin and see whether she'd help us out like the last time.

Big mistake…

The raven-haired girl pushed some hair back behind her and it fell down over her hood. Her amber eyes snapped open and I quickly looked away when she caught me staring. "You're an absolute fool," she sighed. "Forgive me if this sounds rude, but you are not strong enough."

It did sound rude, but I didn't feel offended. She wasn't wrong, after all.

"We have numbers on our side. Individually we may not all be the best, but as a group we work well together."

"That, I can't deny – but the Dungeon was one thing. This is another entirely. The party isn't even arranged in an optimal manner… you have four front-line warriors, a Monk, a Mage and a… whatever Ruby is."

"A Reaper."

Blake shrugged. "Either way, the Annual Quest will be a death sentence for you. Tell the others to turn back now and find another way. That would be my advice."

"Actually, I didn't come here to ask your advice…"

Her eyes narrowed. "Then what did you come here for?"

I winced… now that she'd expressed her thoughts, it really didn't feel like a good idea. I knew the answer as clear as day, but that didn't mean I could back out. "I came," I admitted with a little sigh, "to ask if you would come with us."

The silence between us was deafening.

"We worked well as a larger team," I hurried to add, "And you said yourself that we need more damage-type Classes in the party. I thought that-"

"No."

Ah… I winced and looked down at the table. I'd thought as much.

"This is foolishness and desperation," she said, "The chances of success are minimal and the Annual Quest is not something to be taken lightly. I won't agree to such a thing, not when it might mean my life. You should return to your Guild and tell them to find another way." Her eyes bore into mine and she didn't look away until I nodded.

I was disappointed, I could admit that… but not at her. Blake had been nothing but straight with me for as long as I'd known her, and she'd already gone out of her way to save my life twice. It was ridiculous to ask her to do it yet again, to risk her life to prop us up once more. "Thanks for listening anyway," I made sure to smile at her as best I could. "You're not stuck in the same situation as us, so I can't say I blame you. Truth is, I'm not sure about this either. I don't think any of us are."

Blake sighed, and her face softened. "That's understandable… this… situation, if you want to call it that. It's not something I'm familiar with, but I can imagine the strain it places on you all. I said I would help if I could and I have been trying to find things out."

"Nothing yet?" I asked.

She shook her head.

Not unexpected, really. Like she'd said before, it wasn't like anyone from his Guild was going to go out their way to shout out his secrets. "Well maybe you'll have heard something by the time we get back," I said and rose to my feet. "I'll make sure to check in with you when we do. Tell you how it all went and all that."

A hand snagged my wrist as I tried to leave. I yelped as I was dragged back down so that my elbow slammed into the desk.

Blake's eyes burned like fire. "You still intend to do this?" she seethed. "Have you listened to nothing I just said?"

"Of course I have, but we don't have a choice."

"I said I won't come with you. That hasn't changed – I'm not coming."

"I know, I know," my fingers worked to try and pry Blake's grip open but she held on really tight. "Not for nothing, Blake, but I've got to meet the team outside the headmaster's office in like, ten minutes."

"Are you even listening to me? Do not go."

"We have to."

"What part of you all not being ready for this do you not understand?"

That did it. My teeth ground together as I dragged my hand from hers. She gasped as I broke through her grip but she didn't back down when my eyes locked onto hers. "The part where you seem to think we have a choice," I growled. "I'm not doing this because I'm stupid, Blake. None of us are."

Her shoulders went still and she glared up at me. Her hands were beneath the table and I could imagine that grasping her daggers. I shook my head. I didn't want any violence here… not against someone I considered a good friend.

"I'll see you around," I said instead, as the frustration drained away. It wasn't her fault. "Thanks for keeping an ear open and thanks for listening to me."

"You'll die." the Assassin warned. "I won't be there to bail you out like I did on the First Quest. This time, if you make a mistake, you'll pay for it."

Die? The word caused me to stop in my tracks, but only for a second. The others needed me to carry my weight and this time I would. It wouldn't be the same as when my failure had nearly cost Ruby her life. I wasn't all that much stronger… but I certainly felt a lot wiser.

"Hey," I called back with a little smile. "Have a little faith, eh?"

She didn't look reassured.

But it was all I could do.

/-/

"No luck?" Yang whispered as I walked up to stand with the others. She didn't wait for my answer but instead seemed to guess by the look on my face. "I didn't think she would. She's not as bad as I'd imagined, but she isn't involved in this like we are. It's too much to ask of someone."

I guess so… her rejection still hurt, but I tried to convince myself it wasn't anything personal. She'd already gone to the Dungeon with us, so she definitely considered us friends in some way. This had just been too much to ask. That was all.

The door before us opened as the tall form of the Warlock, Miss Goodwitch, came through. "The headmaster will see you now," she said, and motioned for us all to enter.

It was the first time I'd seen the man's office. It was a wide, rectangular room with a large desk towards the back end. Behind that, and the man sat at it, ornate windows depicted bright and colourful scenes of Heroes facing off against great monsters. Tall bookshelves lined the left and right walls, reaching high up towards the ceiling.

The Sage, Ozpin, rose from his desk and spread his arms wide. "Welcome," he said. "I understand you've asked for a meeting with me this morning. Is there any way I can help you all?"

I looked towards Weiss only to find her looking back at me. The message was clear, and yet again I cursed the fact Ruby had put me down as the Guild Leader.

"We'd like to take a Quest," I said.

The headmaster shook his head. "I apologise, but Quests are limited to those who have comp-"

"We know," I interrupted, "I meant that we want to take the Annual Quest."

The Sage paused and looked at us, at me. His gaze was penetrating and I shuffled my feet nervously on the marble tiles. "The Annual Quest," he said slowly, after what felt like an age. He sat down in the ornate seat and laid his hands on the desk before him. "This is an unusual request. You are aware that many students do not undertake this until late in the year?"

Considering just about everyone I'd met had felt the need to mention that, yes I was. We all nodded in response to his question.

"I see." He reached over to pick up a thick, burgundy tome on his desk and open it before him. "I assume then that you are also aware of just how dangerous such a Quest can be?" He waited for our nods before he continued. "Of course you are… otherwise you would not be here. Might I ask just why you are all so set on this course of action?"

He looked so kind and familial that I instantly wanted to tell him everything, but at the same time I knew better. The headmaster was as bound to the laws of Beacon as anyone else, and if he was like the teachers I'd known at the schools back home, then he'd follow the rule of discipline just to make sure no one felt they could flaunt it. Even if we'd been tricked, the rules were clear… the contract we had signed clearly stated that we had checked the Guild Hall and that it was in perfect condition. If Roman had been doing this for multiple years then that meant the others hadn't found a way out. One or two had to have tried the teachers.

"We want to do it because we think we're ready," I said. The others didn't disagree, and somehow that made me feel all the worse.

The headmaster hummed. His fingers pushed together and he looked at the party over the top of them. It was clear he knew they were lying, or at least not telling the whole truth. He was probably used to students lying to his face.

"Because the majority of Quests are taken late in the year, we do not have many available at this time."

My hands tightened into fists. We needed this…

"However… there are always anomalies. I have one request from an old friend that might suffice."

"Ozpin!" The tall Warlock strode forward with a shocked expression. "Surely you cannot tell me you're actually considering this… this madness!"

"These young students believe themselves ready. Who am I to argue with that?"

"They're nothing more than first years," she cried, "Some degree of arrogance is expected, but this is beyond all common sense."

Her words, so convinced that we would fail, worked to remind me just how risky this thing would be. We could still back out. We didn't have to go ahead with it. I looked towards Pyrrha, only to see her looking back. Weiss had her arms crossed and waited with a patient expression, no sign of distress or fear in her face. Next to her stood Ruby, who waited with far less patience – her fingers twiddling before her. She was smiling, however, and not at all as worried as I thought she ought to be. Yang looked bored, and Ren and Nora were calm and distracted respectively.

Was I the only one afraid, or did they just hide it better?

"Glynda," the Sage whispered, and the woman went quiet. "I believe our students have already made their decision in this regard. Allow me to ask again, however, are you certain of this path?"

"We are," I said – and damned us all.

"Very well," Ozpin said and stood up before us. "From this point onwards you have begun your Annual Quest, which will determine your future within Beacon. Know that your progress will be monitored and recorded. Should you fail in this Quest, be that through inability to complete the terms, or dereliction in the line of duty... well, I am sure you're all aware of the consequences."

My body shook but I forced my eyes to remain open and locked onto his. Beside me, the others stood up straight and tall.

"The Quest cannot be delayed, nor can it be abandoned. The reputation of Beacon, of Vale and all of our Caste now lies on your shoulders. Carry it with pride, but carry it also with care, lest the burden crush you." The man held his arms wide once more, and I had the curious feeling that the entire ordeal was some kind of ceremony… that there was some deeper meaning behind the words he spoke. "The Quest will be selected based on the size of your party. After all, it would not do to make them impossible for solo Heroes. How many do you bring with you?"

"Seven," I said, mentally wondering if we'd have been better off doing this individually. Probably not, given that some of us were overly strong and some the exact opposite. Pyrrha would probably breeze through hers, but I'd have almost surely died. I hadn't been able to do the First Quest on my own and I hadn't exactly raced up in levels since then.

"Truly?" Ozpin asked. "I had counted eight."

I wasn't the only one confused. The others moved and looked about and I caught Weiss silently counting us. No matter which way we went about it, however, the number remained true.

"I do believe that is the nature of your presence, is it not, my dear?"

A shadow detached itself from a nearby wall, and my body froze up as fierce, amber eyes glared into my own. Blake walked up to stand beside us, her face set in a dark frown. After that initial glare, she didn't so much as acknowledge my existence. But why was she with us?

"A Quest for eight," the man raised an eyebrow at them and looked down at his tome. He flicked through a few pages before glancing back up to them. "I do believe I have something which would suffice. It has not been officially listed yet, but a group from Beacon was requested. Given the nature of some of you, I feel it might prove best suited."

The terms of our first real quest. Despite the danger and despite the animosity I could feel from our eighth team member, I couldn't help the small thrill of excitement that ran through me. Questing, adventures and great missions… was this not exactly what I'd dreamed of back as a child? Maybe it was the excitement bleeding into me from the others, for they all looked impatient to know what it was we'd be doing.

Was I supposed to ask? Would it be rude? In the end, the decision was taken away from me as the man pulled forth a scrap of parchment and began to write on it. He placed it on his desk and pushed it to the other end. It lay there, and as he sat back down I realised one of us was expected to collect it. With a shaking hand, I did so, and backed away to stand before the others.

They looked like they might tear my head off if I didn't open it quickly. The crimson ribbon came free and wrapped around my wrist as I unrolled the parchment. In near, cursive script, the words were clear and bold.

"The Mage Problem," I read it out loud, taking a second to marvel at the idea that our quest actually had its own title. "You are to report to the Grand Academy of Magic in Atlas and seek further instructions from the Archmage. Co-operate and complete whatever request he has, and return to Vale with his seal of approval."

There was a little more at the bottom. The parchment shook as I gripped it tighter, and part of me wondered if I might accidentally rip it in two. "What is it?" Ruby whispered, but even when she did – her voice was audible to everyone in the room.

I swallowed and looked up at their expectant faces.

"Reward," I whispered, "Thirty-two thousand lien."

/-/

The mood had been light when we returned to the Hall. The headmaster had invited us to rest for the night, with a view to beginning our quest in the morning, and while Blake had steadfastly refused the invitation, or even refused to talk to me at all, the others had been much more hospitable. We'd explained to Velvet what was going to happen and she'd promised to look after the hall in our absence. In terms of the rent, that had already been paid for the first month in advance, so we were safe for now.

Instead, we took the chance to enjoy what time we had. Ren decided to show us his cooking skills and Nora decided to help - which was to say, she hovered behind him occasionally shouting out orders like some kind of magistrate. I didn't think Ren followed many of them, but that didn't seem to bother her, and maybe in a way, the distraction helped everyone else to forget what was going on as well. We weren't all about to do something incredibly dangerous because we had no choice. No... we were all just enjoying a night together among friends.

So... the Quest was going to happen. The thought was both unwelcome and a relief at once, the latter so because it had been taken out of my hands and I no longer had to agonise over it.

Instead, I chose to corner Velvet - in a quiet moment while the others rested with full stomachs. The faunus girl had collected the plates, even though she really didn't have to, and I offered to help her as we carried them to the small kitchen we'd set up.

"Will you be okay with us all gone?" I asked in between washing some plates.

"I'll be fine," she said, "and you don't need to help with the washing, either. I'm the NPC here."

"Nonsense." I said, and scrubbed harder than I really had to. "You're a member of the Guild too. We all carry our weight here."

Velvet shook her head but didn't say anything as she accepted another plate to dry with a cloth. She worked quickly and efficiently, with the pace of someone used to hard labour. It was no different from myself, and between us we had the plates and bowls finished in no time at all. It was when she made to leave and head back to the main room that I snagged her arm, however.

"While we're gone, Velvet... could you possibly do something for me?"

The girl looked down at my hand and then up towards me. "Do what?" she asked.

"Nothing bad. It's just... I was wondering if you could visit Vale in our absence and tally up a rough idea of how much it would take to have everything repaired."

"I suppose I could... with you all gone it's not like there would be much to clean or maintain. Don't you have to have repairs done through the man who tricked you, though?"

"We do," I hedged, "But I still want to know how much it would normally be, just in case."

I didn't bother to add that I'd try and get in touch with those people afterwards, or that I wanted to know what work could be done on the quiet and without Torchwick finding out. If Velvet knew that, it would only put her at risk if she was cornered by one of his men. This way she had an excuse, and he would just assume we were working out rough ideas of pricing. And just because the rest of us were going on this Quest, it didn't mean I'd given up on fighting like an NPC, either. I'd just do both at the same time and really give Torchwick a run for his money.

"Well... okay," Velvet smiled. "I suppose you are paying me, so sure, I'll do it."

"Thanks a bunch, Vel." I grinned and patted her arm, before remembering something and drawing it from my back pocket. "Oh, by the way - I got these for you. Consider it a welcoming gift to the Guild."

Her brown eyes widened as she reached out to take the thin needles. They weren't anything special, at least compared to the weapons I was used to making, but there'd been some leftover material from the mace and I didn't have any idea what to do with it. Despite the lack of thought, they were almost certainly better than what she had before. After all, sewing needles weren't normally made out of good material, nor forged to such a careful point. "T-Thank you," she whispered, cradling them in her hand.

"A friend made them for me," I said, "He's a Blacksmith in town, just an apprentice, but for something like this, he's more than good enough."

"They're beautiful," Velvet said - and the honest praise almost made me blush. "Is there any way I can repay you?"

The words made me pause, and my eyes glanced away as she went straight for what I'd selfishly thought at first. "Well," I admitted, and instantly felt like trash, "It's just... you know how we're all trying to earn as much lien as we can, right? I was wondering if I was able to bring you materials, could you craft it into things we could use or sell? You don't have to, and it's not a trade. The gift was freely given and I'm not going to take it awa-"

Velvet giggled.

"Of course I will, Jaune," she said, all smiles. "It's like you said - I'm a part of this Guild, right? I don't want it to fall, not when I've thrown my lot in here. If it helps the Guild, I'll sew or weave anything you need. We've all got to help in our own way, and I can't fight like you. Did you have any particular work in mind?"

I did, and it was something I'd been thinking about for a few days now. There'd always been one thing that stopped me, however, but now, I might have found a way around that. "Armour..." I said quietly, "My friend can make the metal for it from the weapons I find, but the interior, the lining, straps and such... he can't make that. I was wondering if you could and if you'd be willing to?"

"I can..." Velvet shifted her weight to one side, arms crossed behind her back. "I'm not... well, I'm not all that high of a level yet, but I can certainly do it. I can't promise you the best results, but I can try."

"Anything you can do will be more than enough to help." If she could manage it, the profits would be more than I'd get for weaponry. Armour cost more on its own, but it was also applicable to a much larger group of people. There were a vast amount of different weapon types that people in Beacon used, but not as much variety when it came to the rest of their equipment. A one-handed sword might only appeal to a tenth of the people in the school, but a breastplate would fit anyone who wore heavy armour - which was probably around a third of the population. Of all the things that had dropped too, I'd yet to see a piece of armour.

It wouldn't be enough to wipe off our debt to Roman, not even close, but every little would help, and like Velvet said - we had to help in our own ways. I wasn't as good a combatant as the others, but I could do one thing they never could. I could craft.

"Hey," a voice shouted from the main room, "You two started to make out in there or something?"

"Yang!"

I spared a look for Velvet, who rolled her eyes and smiled back.

"Just cleaning up after your mess," I called back, earning a laugh from someone else. With a small shake of my head we made our way back to the others, and the budget festivities we'd brought... nothing more than weak cordial, sugary treats and the tall tales we told one another.

It was still one of the best nights of my life.

Hopefully it would remain like that.


So, here we are and moving onto the next arc; The Quest. A lot of the lore of this fic comes from me actually taking a look at an RPG world, considering it with a serious expression, and seeing where things would go wrong. For instance, Weiss' history lesson on how quests began occurred from the obvious thought of "Yeah, but what WOULD life be like in an mmo setting where one guy hands out the same quest to over a hundred people - or a thousand?"

It would be ridiculous! Entire ecosystems would be destroyed by Heroes out culling certain animal types. I like to try and enforce neutrality on those aspects, and imagine how an efficient and actually ordered system would work, and sometimes the result is something that actually sounds quite interesting...

Anyway, for those unaware - new schedule is new schedule and so long as the P a treon level remains where it is, this fic will come out weekly - each Monday.


Next Chapter: 13th February

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur