KS: Hey folks, Happy New Year. Got a short chapter for you to set things up, but I'll make a longer one when I can. Now, enjoy the last chapter of this year. Let's hope 2022 becomes a lot better.

The group emerged from the temple, enjoying the feeling of the sun on their skin. One of them was more vocal about it the rest.

"Ahh, fresh air," Nora sighed with her arms stretched out. "Sure is nice to be out of that ruin."

"I concur," Ren said. "After what we've been through, I'm all but ready to put this behind us."

Jaune was silent as they walked away from the temple, staring at his hand the whole time. Ruby noticed and became concerned.

"Jaune? Are you alright?"

Hearing her voice made Jaune lower his hand. "I'm fine. I'm just trying to figure out what happened down there."

"Apart from us fighting a giant fox Grimm that people have been sacrificing themselves to years ago?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah," Jaune sighed. "When I fell through the floor, everything went dark. And when I woke up, I found myself in a dark cave with a strange wall."

Ruby tilted her head. "What was so strange about it?"

"It was purple all over," Jaune answered.

"…That's it?" Ruby asked. "It was purple?"

"That's it," Jaune replied.

Ruby was understandably confused, but the sound of her uncle's voice prevented her from inquiring further.

"Let's get back into town and pawn this thing off," he said. "And at the same time, we can get rid of our baggage."

"Gee, I wonder who that could be," Lilac deadpanned.

Qrow narrowed his eyes at him in annoyance. "Make all the jokes you want, kid. You'll be out of our hair before you know it."

Lilac scoffed. "I'd hate to be in your hair. It looks like it hasn't been washed in a year."

Qrow stared at him for a few seconds, then took out his flask and drank from it. Ruby sighed in response. She was just happy this little side job would finally be over.

"Well, I have to say that all of you exceeded my expecations," Schokolade said, inspecting the artifact. "I would think that you would have great difficulty with the task I assigned you with."

"It was hard at first, but managed to get it done," Ruby replied with pride.

"I was actually referring to the company you were unfortunate to keep," Schokolade added, gesturing to Lilac, who lounged on a chair. "Other people who had the misfortune of working with him had to deal with his attitude on a regular basis."

"Yeah, he's an asshole, but he can help out when he feels like it," Nora said.

"Nora…" Ren said in an admonishing tone.

"What?" Nora replied indignantly. "We were all thinking it."

Schokolade sighed, then turned to the man in question. "Lilac, what did you say to these good people that made them suddenly hate your guts?"

"Does it matter?" he asked nonchalantly.

Schokolade walked up to him with a shadowed expression. "Tell me now or suffer later."

Lilac sighed. "I spoke the honest truth about their dead comrade. That's all."

The woman's expression was neutral as she looked at Lilac for a few seconds, then grabbed a chair and threw at his head, much to the shock of everyone present. The man felt the chair break on his head, causing him to stumble and fall to the floor.

"What was that for?" he asked in indignation.

"I warned you about this," Schokolade seethed. "This is why nobody in the Pillars wants to look at you, much less work with you."

Qrow widened his eyes. "Are you saying he's done this before?"

"Whenever and wherever he can," Schokolade sighed. "Anytime someone passes away in an incident, you can bet Lilac will verbally desecrate their memory in the most logical, yet heartless way imaginable."

"Wow," Nora said dryly. "I'm surprised nobody put him under yet."

"Nora," Ren chided silently, nudging his friend.

"Not for lack of trying, mind you," Schokolade said. "And believe me, he's made more enemies than friends, and a lot of it is from courting married women."

Everyone looked towards Lilac, who stood up and dusted himself off. Upon seeing looks on their faces, he shrugged.

"Hey, I can't help it if those wives are unappreciated," he said in a defensive tone. "Besides, all I do is show them around, take them out for a bite and take them back home. How is that courting?"

Schokolade's eyebrow twitched in frustration. "Lilac, be grateful that the boss allows your insenstive, loose lipped, wife-stealing ass to draw breath on this brothers-forsaken planet."

"I never stole anyone's wife either," Lilac shot back defensively.

Schokolade ignored him and turned towards the group. "Regardless, I have sent news of your success to my superior and he has given me the information that you require."

"Wait, how did your boss know we succeeded?" Qrow asked. "We just got back into town."

The woman simply chuckled. "The Ars Goetia has eyes and ears everywhere in Remnant. Mistral is where it first came into being."

"Are you saying that your group operates on a worldwide scale?" Ren asked.

"Obviously," Schokolade boasted. "That said, we have run into some difficulty communicating with the houses in the other kingdoms ever since the Fall of Beacon. Atlas is going through an embargo imposed by their military's general, Vacuo's houses are scrambling to retain some form of control, and all contact from the houses from Vale have gone silent due to the afformentioned event."

"Uh," Ruby cut in, raising her hand. "I meant to ask this earlier, but I got distracted by you throwing a chair at Lilac's head."

"Pretty good distraction if I do say so myself," Nora chuckled.

Ren elbowed his friend again, but couldn't deny that he found it amusing as well.

Jaune remained silent, but he had a dark, growing desire to see something other than a chair be thrown at Lilac.

"You may ask your question," Schokolade said.

"Okay," Ruby replied before clearing her throat. "How many houses do the Pillars have in each kingdom?"

"Well, as our alternate title implies, there are 72 houses in total," Schokolade explained. "Of course, even though the organization was founded in Mistral, the many houses could not operate in one place in fear of drawing unwanted attention. Thus, our founder divided and sent them towards other kingdoms. Each of them has 18 houses."

"Regardless, it still sounds pretty high," Ren mused.

"Perhaps, but the leaders of the houses are very competent and ensure that our businesses are operating at sufficient levels," Schokolade assured.

"Seems like you people run a tight ship," Nora commented.

"Of course," Schokolade said with pride. "We run the tightest ship known in Remnant. So tight that it makes anything built by Atlas look like it's been held together by rope and duct tape."

Qrow couldn't help but laugh at that. "Oh, that is rich. I gotta use that on Jimmy the next time I see his shiny metal-"

An aggravated groan from Lilac interrupted the veteran huntsman.

"All this talking is making me bored. I'm gonna go see if anything is available to do."

He got up from the chair and walked off, paying no mind to the stares of contempt shot his way.

"Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out," Nora shouted.

Ren didn't bother admonish her that time. Truth be told, he thought the same thing.

As for Jaune, he wanted to hit the bastard some more.

Schokolade clapped her hands, getting everyone's attention.

"Now that all unwanted persons are no longer present, I shall now get to the main purpose as to why you have come."

"Oh, I forgot about that as well," Ruby sheepishly admitted.

"To be fair, we did too," Jaune cut in.

Schokolade took out her scroll and opened it, presenting an image of a young man with fuschia-colored hair wearing lab coat.

"Who's the nerd?" Nora asked.

"This 'nerd' you speak of is Ethan Merlot, a well-respected scientific authority in Mistral," Schokolade answered.

"The name sounds familiar," Qrow mused. "Why are you bringing him up?"

Schokolade expression and tone grew serious. "He is the one giving the Spring Maiden safe harbor."

KS: And like that, we have our reveal. What is the group's next course of action? You'll have to wait until next time. But again, Happy New Year everyone.