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Just a note.

If your review constitutes 'Wow, you sure do this better than RT. Imagine thinking RT world builds or does anything well?' I'm just gonna… Ignore you.

P.S. I have been super sick this week and last weekend, so please, excuse any scuffedness going on in this chapter.

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The mining town they circled before they landed was modeled in much the same way Lavender Town had been, based on an old template many such settlements had been using for decades to plenty of success.

Its wall stretched out for acres farther than Lavender Town, though, with factories and landing pads crammed into the flatter, once upon a time open space to supply the quick shipments Vale had built it for. The great, white-capped mountain the town drew its precious metals from jutted out from the range around it and climbed high. Towering, sturdy grey housing complexes and administrative buildings sprawled across its steep face, supported by bulwark walls and set out man-made micro-plateaus held up by massive concrete pillars. So close to Vale, the poor came out in droves however they could, looking for the kind of desperate work such a settlement could offer. Their little shanties could be seen pressed up against the wall that stretched out from the mountain, like lichen trying to grow around it from the grassy plain that stretched out to the forest and the sea.

And finally, above it all, the great Fortress Roi de la Montagne, standing like a great, domed lookout, with what a century ago had been the pride of Vale's air force. Old hangars and landing pads stretched out around its base, half-filled by what had once been the mightiest air power on Remnant. And looked over by a quartet of towering parapes that sprouted right out of the mountain, and had been fitted with huge artillery cannons.

And lastly, above that, overlooking it all, the frigid cap of the mountain.

"I'm shocked that they would call for us against a single, young Goliath…" Pyrrha murmured as they circled it to land. "Surely those could annihilate them."

"Cannons like those cost a lot o' Lien to fire, P-Money. Assumin' those dinosaurs can even fire anymore, I mean." Nora pointed out, pressing against the woman's back so she could peer out the window, apparently ignorant of the bright crimson that colored the Mistralian's face. "But man are those some guns… And the castle, too."

"It's probably built right down into the mountain." Jaune nodded as they circled over the sprawl of the settlement itself, and below the onlooking fortress, "I wouldn't be surprised if there's more citadel underground than above."

"It's impressive." Ren murmured, "I do have to wonder why such a large settlement needs to hire first year students, though."

"As do I." Pyrrha nodded, slipping out of Nora's grip with a sigh and turning for a seat while Nora kept an eye out. "There have to be a few thousand people living and working here…"

It was probably just greed, even for Beacon's prestige a team of first years couldn't possibly cost as much to hire as a professional team, in the hopes that they could get the job done for cheap. It only made sense, in that way. A town run by a governing family that cared for people over profit didn't tend to produce shanties, in his experience. But saying that would ruin the generally good mood of his team.

So, instead, he said, "No idea, but it doesn't really matter now, as long as they didn't lie on the mission brief."

"Surely they would not." Pyrrha murmured around a scoff and a toss of her head, "That is so illegal, they would not dare."

"If only to avoid conflicts with Beacon." Ren added, "Those can't end well."

"Landing in a moment." Their pilot cut in suddenly, "Lord Winchester asked us to land at the Citadel. Sorry for any inconvenience."

"Lord Winchester?" Jaune hissed, shaking his head and forcing himself to calm down before he raised his voice and spoke to the pilot. "It's fine. Take us in, pilot. And a good day to you after, as well. Be sure to mention my praise in your report."

"I-I will, my Lord Arc." The pilot stammered in surprise, going on more evenly, "Landing in a few moments. Please, gather your things and mind the landing shock."

Rather than one of the more public spaces out on the air-craft promenade, or down in the city further below, they landed at the back of one of the mountain spires. At a smaller pad with enough space for maybe two normal-sized Bullheads, lined by reinforced but old looking, rusted guard-rails that had walls of crates stacked against them. The crates dit a bit to block the biting wind that hit them as soon as they were out of the shuttle, but not much, and Jaune found himself gritting his teeth through it before his Aura flared to protect him.

A guard was waiting in the open door that let into the tower, and seemingly underground as well, and waved for them to come as soon as Jaune pointed her out.

She was a stocky woman, Jaune noted as she pulled the heavy, wood and iron door closed behind them. Dressed in a padded and warm gambeson suit, she wore a thin shirt of mail over it and under a red tabard, both of which were tucked into the heavy belt she wore. Beyond that, she didn't wear much in the way of armor. Just simple cloth trousers over clunky, heavy looking work boots. Her head was at least protected a bit better, enclosed by an off-market, old Atlesian helmet that was open-faced and covered in dents and nicks that scored the dark paint, letting the old iron peer through.

She yanked her scarf down and smiled a broken-toothed smile through a heavy, square jaw, "Welcome to la Montagne Minée, Team Juniper. Lady Raven of House Winchester sends 'er welcome and bids ye come 'n see her."

All eyes turned to Jaune and he sighed, pressing his fist to his chest and bowing his head in the traditional way, "Lord Jaune of House Arc accepts the Lady's request."

"An Arc…" The guardswoman mumbled before she could catch herself. Tucking her cloth wrap back up over her face, she turned and waved for them to follow her. "Uh, this way, Team juniper, if ye please. I'll get ye right to her."

Jaune only nodded, jaw set in a had line.

At least, until he felt a soft hand on his shoulder, turning to blink at Ren who smiled and nodded, "We're with you."

"Yeah..." And, facing a Winchester or not, he took a lot of comfort in that. Smiling back, he said, "Let's see to this, then, shall we?"

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The room they'd been let into had been a small sort of landing, with a handful of tools and weapons for guards and air-crewmen to use if needed. It let out onto another landing, with more doors lining one half of the curved wall of the tower and six large, twisting staircases on the other, each vanishing into the ceiling overhead and the floor at their feet. Each was enclosed by thin guard-frames, but the stairs themselves were wide enough that when they stepped through and shut the wrought iron door behind them, it didn't feel claustrophobic.

Much…

Regardless, the guard descended with purpose and practiced steps, more than used to the curved, winding stairs. Other guards, patrolling in pairs, pushed through them on their way down twice, both sets heading higher. Presumably to fill in for whoever had lookout duties, or worked the artillery cannons if, like Nora had said, they even worked anymore.

Eventually, the stairs all came to a wide, open room like a great hall, with a lower ceiling than most, held up by archways. It was lit by hanging chandeliers, and a thick, dark red rug ran its length between a half dozen little annexes cut into the walls where the groups of stairs let into the hall and led up, towards the high towers on the mountain. Each of the annexes were set a few feet into the wall, in carved circular rooms to either side of the main hall itself. At the back of the hall was a great, thick maroon curtain that divided what he supposed to be a hearing room from the hall itself.

It was… A modest great hall, really, and he was sure they didn't have to come through it to get where they were heading. A fortress like this had to have other means of access to the city, and travel inside. But Jaune knew when someone was trying to be impressive.

"Think those statues are of actual people?" Mort asked. Jaune tapped the side of his sheath twice to say no and Mort sighed their agreement. "Yeah, neither do I. I hate politics."

Jaune sympathised...

"Jeez…" Nora murmured, spinning as they walked to look up at the carved stone of the ceiling overhead. It's like we're under the mountain…"

"We've descended about ten stories or so from the landing pad up top." The guard explained, breaking the silence as they crossed the long but short hall towards the heavy curtain divider. "So we're… At about the middle point of it. Connects out to the admin buildings ye probably saw comin' in."

And there were those extra entrances he was expecting, at least…

"Awesome…" Nora murmured, completely awestruck by the sheer idea of it all. Jaune could sympathise.

Carving through a mountain like this couldn't have been easy, but out on even the relatively more inward parts of the Frontier, you did what you could. And as expensive as this kind of thing was, they had the mountain to work with. As well as, probably, a lot of old mines that had been adopted into the fortress structure.

"It's pretty safe, down here. And yeah, the hole 'seat under the mountain' thing never gets old." The guardswoman said, "Kinda claustrophobic in some of the halls, but ye get used to it. 'Specially if they send ye down the way towards the mines in the mountain. Real tight down there."

And there was the confirmation about the other ways to get through the fortress, too. Gods, but nobles could be so predictable sometimes. That one could get from fortress to mining network without leaving the underground complex was… Different, though.

It made sense, of course, but he hadn't expected it.

Finally, the guard came to a stop at the base of the heavy curtain and waved for them to go ahead, explaining, "Regular folk ain't allowed in there. Just nobles 'n what people they call for. So take care, Hunters, and best o' luck to ye, too."

"Thank you for showing us the way." Jaune smiled, offering the woman a hand when she made to bow. After a moment, she took it and shook it and Jaune paid her a parting nod before turning to the curtain. "A Winchester… Well, here we go, I suppose."

On the other side of the curtain, the great hall became more ornate. The carved stone walls stretched smoothly to either side, unblemished by the access stairways in the fore-hall, and had been painted with scenes of forestry and nature, and hunters with bows tracking deer along one side and a lake along the other, dotted by fishing boats. A clear sky was painted overhead and, below, the ground had been painted in patterns of grass and shrubbery, with fallen leaves around the six tall columns that supported the ceiling which had been painted in the likeness of trees.

The back wall had been painted in the likeness of the mountain itself, with a raised dais in front of it made of dark wood, with a raised, high-backed stone throne on it. A pair of guards stood to either side in heavy chain-mail and shined chest protectors, armed with tall pavise shields with long spikes at their bases and short spears. A young woman sat between them, busy leafing through a heavy folder.

She was in her twenties, with dark hair, darker skin, and cold blue eyes. She wore a cream colored, thin dress over thin trousers and a dark, long-sleeved tunic. The Lady wasn't armed, though, but that was probably due to the throne she sat in and the guards with her. He was willing to bet that if she went anywhere outside the curtained hall, she went armed, and probably in thicker, more protective clothing as well.

"A moment, if you please." The woman said in a quiet, icy voice, reaching out with a hand for a pen the guard to her right dropped into it smoothly. Signing something on the folder, she closed it and sat it on the arm of her throne and turned to them, smiling, "Forgive me, my kind of work has a... Habit of surprising you, sometimes. And I confess I prefer it to sitting idle."

"It's quite alright." He smiled, "All is well, though?"

"Just Grimm menacing." She assured him, "As they are wont."

"WBut everyone's okay, right?" It was Nora who broke the way one was meant to speak to nobility, because of course it was.

"Nora…" Ren sighed, "I told you how this works."

"Oh…"

"Forgive my team-mate, Lady Winchester." And Gods, it ached deeply to apologize and bow his head to a Winchester of all things. But he did it, straightening and smiling a second later and explaining, "She was brought up outside of the light of the Kingdoms and, wonder though she is, truly, she doesn't know the way of things among nobility."

"Oh, no, it's quite alright, my Lord Arc." The woman's smile was tired, but seemed genuine enough. "We're among friends here, rest assured. Even from outside the walls, she's a true beauty and, doubtless, a warrior besides. Simple speech is the greatest of Human rights after all, no?"

"Uh oh…" Mort murmured lowly, "She said the thing…"

"It is indeed the right of all sentient beings to speak, yes." Jaune smiled, knuckles aching around the hilt of his sword. The woman's smile turned strained, but he went on before she could speak, "But I appreciate the generosity you're showing my friend. Still, we're here for a cause..."

"Mhm." The Lady sighed, shaking her head ever so slightly and then turning to one of her guards. "The file?"

The guard nodded his helmed head curtle and reached behind the throne, pulling out another file and handing it to her. She flipped it open, skimmed it, and handed it back to the guard along with a nod. Hefting his weapon and shield in his off hand he paced over to offer the little folder to Jaune, and then made his way back without a word or reaction when he took it from him.

"Everything you'll need for your hunt, along with directions to and a mandate for, two rooms in a local inn." She assured them all while Jaune flicked it open, skimming over a list of attack locations, rough estimates of casualties, and a rough run-down of what kinds of Grimm the local guard suspected were around.

"It'll do." He nodded after a few seconds, "Thank you."

"Thank me by solving my Grimm problem, Lord Arc." The Lady answered simply, waving the thanks off. "The miners are refusing to work until their homes are safe from menace from the Grimm. So I'm losing out on a lot of Lien."

"We'll protect your workers." Jaune assured her, fighting down the smile that tried to bloom when she caught his meaning and pursed her lips. Half-turning, Jaune prompted her, "If that is all, my Lady Winchester?"

"I suppose we have no need of pleasantries…"

"I prefer my work to idleness, Lady." He countered smoothly, bowing his head just the slightest bit and adding, "I'm sure you understand.

"Quite." She sighed wearily, almost… Deflating as she waved her permission for him to leave. "A good hunt to you, Lord Arc. And to your team as well."

"Thank you." He paid her a salute and turned, doing all he could to keep an even gait as he made his way out of the massive room."

"That was a bit hostile, was it not?" Pyrrha asked genuinely, meeting his eyes when he turned to her. "I-I mean, um, that I just… I do not know what to say?"

"Just leave it, Pyr. It's not that important." He sighed, waving the matter off, "For now, we need to get settled and then get out there, see what we're actually up against. Ren, Nora, you think you can handle the former?"

"Sure."

"Yep!"

"Good." Jaune nodded, fishing out the map that the Winchester had, thankfully, left in the folder. "Pyr and I will get out on the walls and get a sightline out on the cleared land, see what we can see."

"Agreeable." Pyrrha nodded, "Assuming we can find out way out…"

"Yeah." Jaune grimaced, looking around the hall worriedly. There wasn't actually a main door at the other end, opposite the curtain, so… "Okay, that might be something of an issue to solve."

"And we can't just go ask the Lady for help, right?" Mort asked quietly, sighing when Jaune stalked off towards one of the stairs. "Yeah, thought not…"

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Roi de la Montagne -

French, roughly, for 'Mountain King'.

La montagne minée -

French, roughly, for 'The Mined Mountain'.

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Mog the Gnome :

Glad you like it that much! Lol.

Sebine :

Mort is a simple… Uh… Well… Person? Thing? I dunno, but they have simple needs. XD