Just to let people know, there will be no chapter on the 19th as I'll be away on a family trip. I'll have some limited internet access at times, but I'll be involved with family and unable to write. I'll basically be gone from 15th August to 21st, so while you'll get a chapter next week, there will be a gap in the one after. As always, the notes at the bottom should have the accurate date.
Beta: College Fool
Cover Art: Dishwasher1910
Book 9: Chapter 8
It took me eight days to earn twelve levels.
That both frustrated and elated me. It was frustrating because of how I'd gained two levels the first time I worked with Ironwood, yet the attempts after hadn't even yielded one. The drop-off for using a material multiple times was still there.
But it elated me that I could still farm it at all. Unlike Vacuan Silver, which had given me some nice Exp the first time and then faded to almost nothingness, Ironwood remained a rare enough material that I continued to gain some Exp from it, even if it wasn't as dramatic as it had been the first time. Early on, I'd almost gained a whole level from making Yang's new gauntlets. Toward the end, when I was making a set of daggers for Blake, I gained less than a quarter of a level, but that was to be expected. I was twelve levels higher than I had been when I started.
"They definitely feel lighter," Blake said, testing her new weapons. "It's hard to say without putting them to use, but the balance is excellent." Twisting one in her hand, she sheathed it on her bandolier beside the more mundane knives I'd insisted she wear to accompany them. "Did you earn a new Skill?"
"No." I scowled. "Nothing."
"You mean `not yet`. It takes time."
"We don't have-" I cut off at her arch eyebrow. "Sorry. You're right, of course. I'm just frustrated."
"Don't be. Even if you don't gain a Skill that's useful, the extra levels could be the difference between life and death. I have to ask, why are you still making normal weapons alongside these ones? There doesn't seem to be any point."
"Ozpin is still worried the Ironwood weapons will falter if the Archmage does. He wants people equipped with weapons proven to last." I looked to the barrel full of completed spears. Those still took up most of my day, which made grinding with the Ironwood a tertiary activity at best. If I could have done it all day every day, I'd be a lot higher in levels than I was. "He also doesn't want me turning all the Constructs into weapons. We still need some to fight on the front lines."
"Hm. It'll be soon."
We were two weeks into the four Salem had promised us. Halfway to the invasion. While fortifications were still being built, it felt so helpless with Salem watching. She had time to develop plans against them, if she even cared to. And there was still no sign of my parents or those from Ansel. I had to believe they'd seen the Grimm army and decided to evacuate in the opposite direction.
"What level does this put you at now?"
"Sixty-five."
"Impressive. You're catching up with me. I'm seventy-two."
Only seven levels. I could hardly believe it, and yet my Level had been so artificially inflated by Raven's torture and now this that it barely made sense anymore. At least here, I was so focused on crafting that I didn't feel the spike of adrenaline that led to the addiction Raven developed. It being over more days helped as well.
If this continues, I'll reach Blake's level before Salem attacks.
I wasn't sure it would make a lot of difference, but I'd spent the last few years trying to catch up with her. To see that actually coming close to fruition was incredible. Ironic that Ruby had overtaken and beaten us both, though.
The rest of the Guild were in the high fifties. They didn't seem upset by the idea of my pulling ahead, no more than they did at Blake being ahead initially, but it still felt like I was leaving them behind somehow. No, that's foolish. I'm gaining levels so I can better protect them. It's in everyone's interest for us to be as powerful as possible.
"Are you thinking something foolish again?"
"Probably." I leaned in to kiss Blake but she drew back with a hand on my chest.
"Your face is covered in soot and sweat."
I touched a hand to my cheek and it came away black. Residue from the forge. I let Blake go and moved over to a quenching barrel, washing my face with some olive oil and towelling it dry. Blake still had a pinched expression which let me know no oil-kissing would be going on, but I at least felt a little cleaner.
"What does Vale have you doing now?" I asked.
"Honestly… nothing. We've done all the scouting we can and they're afraid to have us roam too close to the Grimm. The more established Heroes are working outside. Glynda had us delivering food to the refugees this morning, then we were helping some into temporary housing. There was a disturbance in the western quarter, but I hear the guards dispersed that before we could. It feels like everyone is just waiting. Waiting for the end." Realising how that might have sounded, she winced and added, "The end of her patience, I mean."
Not the end of the world. Even if she hadn't said it, we both heard it.
"It's funny looking back…"
"Hah?" I turned to Blake. "What do you mean?"
"Looking back on when we first joined Beacon. Must be almost three years now. If it wasn't for Salem, we'd be having the new students coming in a month or two. I still remember us. Worrying about money and how to earn enough to afford room and rent."
Being scammed by Roman, struggling with the blackmail and falling for his tricks. How long had it been since money stopped being an issue? Once we were fighting stronger Grimm, it flowed in so easily we never had to worry again. And Roman really was small fry compared to the enemies we'd fought. We'd been through a war and now we were set to fight another. This wasn't even out first siege. That dubious honour belonged to Magnis and Lord Roux.
Once-upon-a-time I'd been so weak I struggled to kill a Canis. So helpless I'd needed an anti-social Assassin to go out her way to save me not once, but twice. An Assassin I'd gone on to call friend, then lover.
"You're right. It is funny."
"We've changed," she said. "We all have."
"Really? I can't help but think Ren and Nora are the same as ever."
Blake laughed. "Even they have changed, in small ways. Ren is more open, Nora more… well, she hasn't changed much on the outside, but I think she put on some of her craziness before. Now, she does it because she genuinely enjoys it."
"No change, then."
"If you want to put it that way. Point is, it's only been three years, yet it feels like thirty." Blake shook her head. "I'll take your spears to the armoury."
"I'll come with you."
"Don't." Blake held out a hand, stopping me with a coy smile. "Aren't you forgetting something? A promise you made to a certain someone-?"
I paused, panicked and grabbed my sword. "Oh, shit. Ellayne! I said I'd train with her this afternoon!"
"You did. Go. I'll handle this."
/-/
Training with Ellayne was a good way to relax after a long day sat at a forge. The constant use of Skills and the overall concentration required left me with a pounding headache but pounding Ellayne into the ground helped alleviate some of it. Not that she didn't give her all, or that I didn't hold back a little. It was what she wanted, though, and given Salem outside the walls, I wasn't in a mood to go easy on her.
"Ugh…" Ellayne groaned.
"You did well."
"Arghhh…"
"Your footwork is better, and your Skills are versatile, if a little focused on attack." That was probably my fault. Skills were dictated by Path and I was the one directing her training. I'd put focus into keeping her an aggressive fighter because that's what I was like. And, to be fair, Ellayne didn't use a shield.
Laid out flat on the floor, she gasped for breath, sweat pinning her wet hair to the grass. Her armour, metal slats and interconnected plates over leather, rose and fell with every breath. She had one arm over her face, covering her eyes.
"You're not dead," I said. "You can stand."
"Nooo… Don't wanna…."
I knew the tone from my sisters. All that was left was…
"Carry me!" Ellayne held out a hand.
Yep. There it was.
Sighing, I knelt, picking up her sword and moving to her side. I had to push her hip up to get the angle to sheathe it and through it all, she kept her hand out, letting me move her without a care in the world.
"My apprentice is so lazy. Woe is me." I hauled her up and rolled my eyes as she slumped against my chest. "I'm not carrying you bridal, Ellayne. You can either hold onto my neck or be carried over my shoulder like a sack of grain."
"I-I really am tired, you know," she rasped. "You didn't go easy on me."
"Tired enough to beg for a piggy-back, tired enough to walk." Even so, I knelt, offering her my back. "Get on, then. But don't take this for granted."
"Heh." Ellayne wrapped her arms around my neck and leaned against me. "Thanks~"
I stood once she was on, sweeping her up and holding her thighs with my hands, her legs poking either side in front of me. Her crossed arms tightened on my neck momentarily, before she found her posture and linked them over my chest, leaning against my back. I'd carried my sisters Lavender and Amber like this when they were younger, and once or twice when they'd hurt a foot. With my Strength score, Ellayne barely weighed a thing.
Her chin came to rest on my shoulder, and she hummed happily.
"You're sweaty and smelly."
"H-Hey!" Her hand thumped my chest. "Don't say that!"
"Just making sure you're still alive back there," I said, walking through the training ground and into the Guild Village. A couple of people looked our way, but no one really seemed to care what was going on. "Where am I heading? Please tell me you don't still live up the staircase. I'm not carrying you up all that."
"You could take me to your Lodge."
"Sure. If you don't mind sitting awkwardly while Blake and I sleep together."
"Ew! No! I live at the Mercenary's Guild now. Take me there."
Changing direction, I started to carry her in the direction of the Mercenary's Guild or, as I called it in my head, Castle Coco. I wasn't surprised Ellayne had found her way there; it was the biggest Guild in Beacon for a reason. Probably the best for looking after its members, too. Coco was fiercely protective.
"Your friends there, too?"
"Hmhm. We tried to make our own Guild like you but couldn't afford it."
"You know you could have asked me for money."
"Nooo. That's cheating. Have to do it proper." Ellayne yawned against my back. "Wanted proper Guild. And it was just four of us. We're gonna get money from working as mercs, then make a Guild in our second or third year."
If there was a second or third for her. "That sounds like a good idea. Our situation was a little unusual, and not at all something you want to repeat. Take it slow and enjoy yourself. Sometimes I wish we'd stayed in the main school building a little longer." Usually whenever I had to take that blasted staircase up the side of the mountain.
The gates to Castle Coco were open as usual; I'd never seen them closed. Two members of the Guild greeted us as we entered and rolled their eyes at my situation. They waved me in, and I had to nudge Ellayne with my shoulder to stop her falling asleep.
"Hey. I need to know where I'm taking you."
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the little boy I helped boost in the woods." Coco stepped out a side archway, armed and ready for something or other. "They grow up so fast. I still remember when you were a little weakling barely able to hold off the Grimm." She laughed. "Oi, Rainart. You can dry-hump him in your own time. Get down from there."
Ellayne hopped off, face bright red. "I wasn't dry-humping him! My master was carrying my home."
"Carrying you to bed, more like." Coco winked. "Kinky girl. I like it. Anyway, I need to borrow him for a moment. Go on and give us some space. Mommy and Daddy are talking."
"Fine." Ellayne pouted and turned to me, bowing. "Thank you for the lesson, master, and for the weapon you made me – but you should have delivered it yourself!"
"I had Ruby do it. Isn't that enough?"
"No! It was a gift so… argh, forget it." Ellayne turned and stomped away, armour jostling angrily.
I watched her go. "Did I do something wrong?"
"Probably," Coco said, grabbing my arm and dragging me in the opposite direction, out across her drawbridge and onto the main road. "I wouldn't worry about it. A maiden's heart is difficult to understand at the best of times, and that's coming from the fairest maiden of all."
I'm not sure I'd call you a maiden. You're the very epitome of a mercenary.
Wiser than to say that out loud, I instead asked, "What did you want to talk to me about?" My stomach dropped. "Please tell me it's not a request to make arms and armour for your Guild. I'm already stretched thin enough as it is, and Ozpin and Ironwood have me worked to the bone."
"Cool it. That's not it. I need you to pass some details onto your Guild for me. And to ask a quick favour of a few of them – your girlfriend in particular." Coco looked around to see if anyone was close enough to overhear. "It's not been officially announced yet, but I'm being made commander of the Beacon students when the fighting starts."
"You!?"
"Something wrong with me being in charge?"
"No, I just mean…" I tried to find the right words. "It's just, I'd have thought that kind of responsibility would be given to someone older and more experienced. Someone who wasn't a student themselves."
Coco held my gaze with her arms crossed for a few seconds before looking away and sighing. "I get you, Jaune, I really do. I said the same to Ozpin when he called me up for a meeting. Thing is, anyone who can fight well enough to fight is on the front walls. Anyone who can command well enough to command is doing the same. We're not the last line of defence – that's the Labour Caste we're protecting – but they can't afford to weaken any other area to command us."
"Between you and me," she went on, "I think their thoughts are that if they all die, we're kind of fucked anyway. We're Heroes, but what can we do against that horde? Either way, I'm being put in charge, though I'll still answer to anyone better if they show up. Ozpin thinks I'm best suited out of all the students because I already lead the biggest Guild."
That wouldn't be enough, but I nodded along to show I understood what she was saying. Someone had to be in charge, and it might as well be her. "Okay, but what does that have to do with our Guild, or Blake?"
"Your girl is probably the strongest Hero among the students. Ah, who am I kidding, she's definitely the strongest. In fact, your whole Guild is wildly over-levelled for your year. I know you're going to be busy when the attack starts, but I want your Guild on hand for special tasks."
"You mean dangerous tasks…"
Coco spread her arms wide. "What do you want me to say? Do you think I like this situation any better than you do? I have to make the decisions that matter and if there's a job that needs doing, I can't trust it to anyone weaker. Believe me, I'm not going to throw lives away if I can help it." She looked away, scowling. "I'm already panicking about this. I'm not ready to make decisions on who lives and who dies. And what does Ozpin say? That `no one is ever truly ready for such a responsibility`. Pah. I'm an Archer, not some high and mighty Paladin."
That might have been another factor as to why Ozpin was putting her in charge; that Coco, be it through her Skills or just the way she fought, would be out of immediate danger and able to see the big picture. A Paladin or a Knight would be in the thick of the fighting and unable to send out messages or orders.
"Other thing is that I want your friend Ruby being my messenger. Ozpin filled me in on her… uh… unique situation. And the importance of keeping her out of combat. I kinda wanted to make that clear to you all."
"Ah." And suddenly, it made a lot more sense as to why we were having this conversation in secret. "Thanks, we appreciate it. And I'm sure Ruby will as well. She's worried she's going to be useless in the battle."
"I'll keep her busy, don't worry. Whole thing is going to keep me busy so someone else may as well suffer with me. Look, I'll do my best to keep your friends safe. I promise. That's all I can say, though. I can't promise you they'll come back safe because I'm not sure how many of us will. What I can say is that your Guild has far better odds than mine. I've got people who are level twenty to thirty. I can't send them on the same tasks I can people like you, who are between fifty and even fucking seventy. I mean, that's three times the level of some of mine."
"I get it." I hadn't realised just how far above the average we were. Most people graduated around Level fifty. We were halfway through Beacon. Who could Coco rely on but us? I just wished that didn't sound so dangerous. "I'll tell them. You don't plan to split them up, do you?"
"I thought about it at first. Wanted each of them leading, maybe, a hundred students. But I decided against it. Just because they're strong doesn't mean they know beans about leading. Better I keep your lot together as some kind of strike team."
For the most dangerous of tasks, again. I had to fight down my bile. "Right. I'll let them know."
/-/
The third week passed in a blur.
Five more levels. I was Level Seventy. Yang made a joke about how I should have stuck at sixty-nine for Blake's sake and received a slap around the back of the head from Blake for it. Tensions within the city rose and violence broke out from those claiming Salem was our salvation. Three people were killed – two among the `cultists` and one Soldier who had been brought down and knifed trying to stop the violence.
Five ringleaders were executed. The King didn't have the patience for them.
That seemed to cast a pall over the city, as though the fact the King had gone straight for capital punishment had been the last straw which told everyone this was really happening. As if the army encamped outside hadn't already.
Or maybe it was the army causing the problems. Maybe with a month of freedom, people had been able to forget what was happening, but now, with only a single week remaining, people were counting the days with mounting fear.
I'd been making arrowheads for the last week. The change was minor, and any sense of newness quickly became dulled as I stamped out and applied a Rune to my five thousandth arrow. In the afternoons, with the arrows done, I worked on Ironwood. The evenings were spent with the Guild, either talking, training or just sitting in one another's presence, taking it all in.
Beacon became quiet. Still.
Mistral did not show. At this point, I didn't know if anyone still held out hope.
And somehow, in her infinite wisdom, Blake had decided that this was the perfect time for us to sit down with a very nervous looking Ruby and address the Goliath in the room. I would have said the week before was better, but then, I'd not pushed for that either so perhaps we'd both been avoiding the issue.
Now, the three of us sat in my bedroom, Ruby on my bed, me on a chair and Blake by the door, having taken up the spot to purposefully block Ruby's retreat. The window had been locked. Ruby hadn't noticed that on entering, but she definitely noticed how Blake leaned back against the door. Her silver eyes met mind, saw how uncomfortable I was, and immediately looked for an escape.
"Ruby, we need to talk," Blake said.
"Talk-? Why? Why now? I don't think we do. Got to train. Coco needs me. Yang asked me to-"
"I know you're in love with Jaune."
The sharp breath Ruby took sounded like a hiss between her teeth. Her eyes, already panicked, rolled in her skull.
"And I know you kissed him."
Ruby whimpered.
"Stop sounding like that!" Blake said. "And stop freaking out. I'm not about to attack you."
"B-B-B-B-Bu-"
"Ruby, it's fine. I… I don't really know the right way to say this – I'm an Assassin for crying out loud, I never thought I'd have to – but I'll just come out and say it. It's fine that you have feelings for Jaune. I'm fine with you kissing him that one time. Can we calm down about this and just talk?"
I had to cringe from my spot in the corner of the room. I wasn't sure what I'd expected of Blake when she said we should talk to Ruby, but in my head the whole thing had been a lot more diplomatic. And subtle. Then again, we were Classes with frankly woeful Charisma. Though I couldn't really use that as an excuse.
"Y-You're not angry…?"
"No. I knew you had feelings for him for a while."
"But there's a difference between having feelings and acting on them," Ruby whispered. "I shouldn't have done that when you were together. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine. You were emotional and I can't blame you wanting to get it off your chest."
"I won't act on it again," Ruby promised. "I know you're together and I like that. I've always supported you. I just – I had to let him know." She looked to me with haunted eyes. "It was wrong, I know, but I had to do it before I… before anything happened. I'm not going to act on it, though. He's with you. He's happy."
"I trust you." Blake said. "That's why I was never worried; I knew you wouldn't do something like that. But…" She sighed. "I still think we should talk about it. If I step away from the door, will you not try and make a run for it? I'll just have to hunt you down and drag you back."
"I can outrun you."
"You have to sleep sometime."
Ruby pouted. It was as close to an agreement as they were going to get, and Blake pushed off the door, stepping cautiously across the room to sit down on the bed beside the smaller girl. She snaked out an arm, laying it across Ruby's shoulders. Ruby tensed for a moment, but relaxed when Blake didn't do anything.
"There. That wasn't so hard."
"I'm not a skittish rabbit, Blake!"
"You can be sometimes." Blake smirked at her. "And I probably would be in your shoes. I'm really not the best for this. If our situations were reversed, I think I'd have done the same thing – and then hidden from you until the attack happened."
"Wait, so it's okay for you to hide but not me?" At Blake's nod, Ruby whined, "How is that fair!?"
"It's not. I'm a hypocrite. That won't stop me trying to fix this, though. Because I think it needs to be fixed. I… I'm not the best person for it. Do you remember when Jaune kept trying to get me in the Guild at first, how I kept refusing?"
"Hm." Ruby nodded. "He was always upset about it, but he kept trying."
I shuffled my feet, wondering if I was supposed to step into the conversation at all, and if so, where. Neither of the girls were looking in my direction.
"It wasn't like I'd never had friends before," Blake said. "I had Adam and others on the Mirage Isles. It wasn't even just the fact I was an Assassin, though that did lead to most people hating me. Those things made you and Jaune the exceptions, that you accepted me despite my Class. But it wasn't enough to make me want to join you. I was… afraid."
"Afraid of us letting you down?" Ruby asked.
"No. Afraid of losing more people. Of growing close to and then losing them. Not necessarily to death, either. I knew Beacon was mostly safe. Just of forging and losing friendships, or of Beacon ending, us splitting up and be going a different way to everyone else. It was foolish, I realise, but I was deathly afraid of making connections that could be broken."
"I think I understand…"
"I'm sure you do. It's the same as you and your reluctance to tell Jaune how you felt. Isn't it?"
Ruby tensed. "How did-? Did Yang tell you?"
"No. You did."
Ruby looked confused.
Blake smiled guiltily. "I'm an Assassin, Ruby. Moving quietly is in my nature and sometimes when I'd be wandering around the Guild, I hear you talking and I stay quiet to not bother people. I didn't mean to listen in, more I couldn't not listen in and by the time I already was, it was too late to announce myself."
"Y-You eavesdropped on us!?" Ruby looked horrified. "Blake!"
I felt like saying the same, especially since Blake had fed me such a cock and bull story about how Ruby's infatuation was `so obvious` and how I was `an idiot for missing it` when she apparently found out by spying on Ruby.
"You were always afraid of being kicked out of Beacon or failing, and so the closer you got to the Guild, the more you felt you had to lose. I guess that later on, that fear translated into your Class holding you back and making you too weak, and one of us dying that way. The fear was there, the same as mine."
"M-Maybe." Ruby glared at her. "But you still eavesdropped on me!"
"Would it matter if I said I was sorry?"
"Are you…?"
Blake remained silent.
"Then no, not really! Ugh." Ruby let her face fall into her hands. "I can't believe this is happening. I told Yang everything. How much did you hear? D-Did you hear me talking about what I wished I could do?"
Blake coughed.
"D-D-Did you hear m-me talking about Jaune…?"
Blake looked away.
"Oh my God," Ruby whispered. "No, no, no…"
"It wasn't a bad idea," Blake said, ignoring Ruby's mortified expression. "And Yang was right, you should have made a move when Jaune and I were arguing."
"That didn't feel right!"
"Regardless, you gave me another chance with him, and I'm grateful for that. As for now, I don't know what to say. There's a part of me that wants to suggest we share."
"What!?" I gasped.
"EH!?" Ruby leaned away.
"But," Blake countered, silencing us both, "I don't think that would be a good idea. I'm not sure I could make something like that work, and I think things would be far too awkward between us." She looked at Ruby as she said that, ignoring me.
"Y-Yeah." Ruby agreed. "Definitely. I mean, you're beautiful-"
"And you're pretty," Blake said, "But neither of us feels that way."
"Right. So…" Ruby kicked her feet. "What happens now?"
"Honestly, I'm not sure. I tried to think of what I wanted from this, but it was mostly to not lose you. Like the fears we talked about before. I don't want anything to come between the friendships I've made, even Jaune. I want us to remain friends, Ruby."
"I do as well."
"Good." Blake hesitated for a moment, then leaned in awkwardly.
Ruby hugged her back.
"And if anything happens to me, nothing would make me happier than you looking after Jaune for me."
"Blake!" I hissed. "Don't say that!"
"Fine. Fine." Blake let it go but fixed Ruby with a stern look and a nod, making it clear even to me what she was saying. I bit my tongue on it. If the situation was reversed… well, I wouldn't want Blake to be alone either.
"We'll all come out alive," Ruby said. "I know it."
"That's…" Idealistic. That was what Blake wanted to say and what I was thinking. It was painfully idealistic. "That's something to work toward," she said instead. "And I'm glad we could have this conversation. Do you… Do you want to kiss Jaune again?"
I almost choked.
"No. I'm fine." Ruby shook her head with flushed cheeks. "It's not… I like him, but it's not like that. I just… I had to get it out, and it was easier to do it then it was to say it. I'm just happy I had the chance to do so. No regrets. Sorry it made things awkward."
"It didn't." Blake hugged her with one arm. "I understand why you did it."
Am I even necessary for this conversation? All I'd done was sit in the corner and offer the occasional word. I was feeling more and more like a spare wheel. Or maybe that's the point. Did Blake just want me here to witness it myself? Should I join the hug? Would that be too weird?
In the end, I sat back and let it play out, trusting to two people smarter than me to come over the issue on their own. It looked like they were going to be just fine.
/-/
The final week crept over Vale like a shroud, and with it rainclouds that soaked the city, turning the ground outside to mud and splashing over the cobbled streets, forcing people to seek shelter. Those on the walls had little recourse but to stand amidst it and watch the Grimm in the distance, as fog and mist were kicked up, obscuring the horizon.
Through it all, I lugged armour and weapons to the front lines, continued to work on Ironwood and did my best to spend what time I could with the others. Ren and I trained together. Pyrrha and I spoke of Mistral and her disappointment in their lack of aid. Nora taught me to wield a hammer and Yang practiced with her new gauntlets, knocking me around the training field until she had a hang for it. Weiss made plans, and we discussed the theory of Runes and how they might be used in combat.
There was Sun and Adam, too, who sparred with me at times and interacted with the others. Sun invited us to dine with the Vacuo groups, who had eschewed housing to let the refugees take it and had once more set up their little village in an open market plaza in downtown Vale. We dined on heavily spiced food and wine that was so strong it felt like drinking liquid fire. Yang got into a drunken arm-wrestling competition with the biggest and burliest man in Sun's tribe. She won, naturally. He'd been a fool for challenging a Brawler.
I forged and I forged and I forged. I gained two levels, reaching Seventy-two. No Skill. Just more and more Stats. I gritted my teeth and pushed on, scraping a third level only to be frustrated that yet again, nothing came of it, neither in my Blacksmith Class or Swordmaster.
Ruby, Blake and I spent time together. No romance, no awkward conversations, just chatting. About home, about Beacon, about Ruby's family and even about Blake's life on the Mirage Isles before Raven took it over. Ruby tried to apologise for her mother's hand in that, but Blake wouldn't have it. We spoke of a future where we would all survive, our dreams for it and anything else. We spoke of fears, dream and how we wouldn't have any regrets if the time came. How we wouldn't be afraid.
The rain did not lift, and Vale was blanketed in cold fog. It crept through the streets and even into Beacon, coiling around my forge and pooling in the Guild Village. I'd been sat in the forge for an hour or more and an ingot lay in my hands, the barrel for completed arrows beside me completely empty. No one had come to collect anything, and I'd not been able to smith a single item.
I couldn't bring myself to. I couldn't bring myself to do anything.
On the walls of Beacon, connected to those of Vale, Soldiers stood in absolute silence, staring out into the fog. The occasional rattle of a spear shaft or creak of leather would disturb the silence, but no one dared speak. My heart pounded in my ears.
In the distance, a lone roar split the silence.
The bells of Vale tolled. The mighty gates groaned ominously and crashed shut.
Our month was up.
And despite our pretty words, I was terrified.
The invasion of Vale begins. The final month was always going to be summarised because it was needed to allow time for Jaune to farm, but I obviously don't want to drag out thirty days of pre-siege content.
Jaune is Level Seventy-three currently. The Ironwood has diminishing returns, as you can probably tell. Or rather, as his level grows, he needs more and more Exp to reach the next.
Next Chapter: 12th August
P a treon . com (slash) Coeur
