wI'm back with another chapter boys and girls!
I had some minor difficulties in figuring out how I wanted to get the story started up. Then I came to a realisation. We should introduce conflict between factions in the world. Jaune does not participate in this particular squabble and is merely reacting to what is happening. This is what sets Jaune and company on their path through the main story.
Now for the perfect faction that we can use. We can look to The Witcher, Berserk, and Castlevania. All three stories have their main protagonists facing off against inquisitors at some point in time. Since this version of Vale is reminiscent of a Franco-German city from the Renaissance. We can assume that there is a large faction akin to the Catholic Church in our world. So... this entire chapter's social dynamics between factions fits perfectly!
Edit Note (1/13/20): Edited out the OC, made grammar changes, added some dialogue to different characters. Beginning to build Jaune's crush on Weiss.
Jaune made his way to the library for some light reading. Today was the first time he explored the library, and he already made a note of a half-dozen books he wanted. The absolute wealth of information was astonishing for someone coming from the frontier of a kingdom. There may have been enough knowledge kept within Beacon's walls to eclipse anything Jaune had learned previously and make him out to be an idiot child.
Of course, there were libraries more extensive than the one at Beacon. Supposedly the Mage's College had the most thorough collection of magical textbooks or grimoires on the planet. Not even mentioning the horde of knowledge kept by the Mistrali Empire. Or even the lost archives that could still be hidden under the sands of the Vacuoun Desert.
He already had found his grimoires of choice and made sure to grab some coffee before sitting down. Coffee, or as Jaune nicknamed it, "The Nectar of the Gods," was possibly one of Jaune's favourite drinks if not his favourite. In Bar, any sort of exotic good such as coffee beans had always been hard to come by. Merchants weren't particular about selling the beans outside of the capital. Here in Vale, you could buy twenty pounds worth of beans for fifty Lien. The hundreds of varieties of the beans were well worth whatever coin you spent.
Jaune wondered why merchants wouldn't sell outside of Vale when it came to coffee. There was plenty of it to go around, and shortages were rare. Traders could also use their naturally higher Charisma to bargain for fantastic prices and make a massive profit. Jaune knew many villagers could afford what the merchants were selling so he couldn't fathom why they refused to dispense their goods.
Coffee on Remnant originated somewhere in southern Vacuo. The wanderers of the desert wasteland would gather the beans from the plant and make the brew out of them. During the reign of the Vacuoun Empire, the plant was widely cultivated as a commodity item for sale. When it eventually reached Vale, however, is a different story. Jaune assumed some enterprising individual brought it with him and managed to have it grow in Vale's warm and humid climate.
Jaune entered a quieter wing of the library; other students did not frequent that area in favour of the more brightly lit main hall. It was illuminated with magical flames, but many found that to be disturbing and preferred the natural light.
Rounding another corner, Jaune found Weiss sitting at one of the tables with a stack of books and a large scroll in front of her. Her hair was in its normal off-sided appearance, and she wore her mage's uniform. One thing was off about it, however. Weiss looked as though she was exhausted. Like she hadn't left the library since last night.
The two students were probably the only people in the library at this time. It was around six in the morning, and Jaune was the first person awake in the men's dorms. Weiss must have been the only other student doing anything. Nobody else was outside, and the dining hall was empty. Jaune hadn't been expecting to be disturbed by anyone, but Weiss was in front of him, so he decided to go study with her.
Not that he wouldn't anyway. Jaune could honestly say he found the girl to be rather interesting. For one, she was seemingly flawless with her intellect and mastery of magic. Despite her outward appearance, she was actually very witty in some instances, openly teasing Jaune. Finally, Weiss had a tremendous worldly experience even if she had come from some wealthy family. Their previous conversation giving Jaune that final clue, and made him conclude she wasn't some cut and dry, rich girl.
Okay Jaune, play it cool...
Jaune sat down across from her, setting his coffee away from her papers. "Hey Weiss," he quietly greeted the Mage. She didn't respond so Jaune waited. After several seconds, he became worried that she didn't hear him at all. The Mage looked half-asleep and was about to drift off into a deep slumber.
"Weiss." Jaune snapped his fingers a few inches from her face. She jumped and dropped her book in front of her. Weiss must not have heard him at all. "Are you okay?"
She was definitely not okay. Sleep deprivation is a severe illness after all and not getting enough rest was liable to affect your mental state.
"Yes," she snapped out of it, tiredly responding while wiping her eyes. "What are you doing here?"
Weiss' usually sour attitude had yet to make an appearance today. She may have been too tired to let it show, just allowing herself to become emotionless. Or she didn't feel the need to put up that barrier, and Jaune's lacklustre Charisma was doing its work. Despite the fact, his charm was about as useful as hitting a drake with a pillow.
"Just doing some light reading," Jaune answered with a snort. Weiss reached for one of his books and poured over the cover. He was kind of afraid she would make some snarky comment about his choice in magical grimoires. "Saw you here and didn't feel like sitting alone..." He looked down at the coffee cup. "...but you might need this more than I do." Jaune slid Weiss the cup of coffee. She was lying about being okay. The woman was exhausted and needed the caffeinated drink or else she might pass out on him.
Weiss took the cup with minor hesitation. She took one sip and immediately perked up with her eyes going wider than Ruby's. "What is this?! It tastes amazing!" She immediately took another sip and held the mug in both hands. Weiss was almost shaking as she cupped the mug in her palms.
"Coffee, with two sugars and some milk," Jaune explained with the dumbest looking grin on his face. He just found something he could use as an excuse for speaking to Weiss more often. People go to cafes to talk, and there was coffee here. So it's basically a fool-proof plan.
"I've never had coffee before," Weiss confessed, running her finger around the rim of the cup. She sounded as if she found the most fantastic treasure on the planet. It was actually kind of cute the way Weiss was talking about the brew.
"It's pretty easy to make," Jaune began describing the process. "Grind the beans into a fine powder, place the dust into a filter and, finally, run some hot water through the filter."
Then you have Nirvana in a cup.
"It's that easy," Weiss asked, taking another sip. Jaune had her full attention for once, and he was pretty sure this was Weiss being her actual self. "And you add the sugar and milk when you're done?" Jaune nodded his head. She eyed the two books that Jaune brought with him.
Weiss hummed. "Unc- Arch-Mage Ironwood's Grimoire and..." She lifted the second book up. A black cover with a white snowflake pinned to the leather. "...Practical Applications of Magic in Battle." Weiss looked as though she were taking a second to gather her thoughts. "Both of these books are complicated for a novice, but, considering how quickly you learned a shield spell. I think both of these tomes are good choices."
Well... that went better than I expected.
Maybe Jaune could con her into teaching him some magic. However, she mentioned that he learned a shield spell quickly. Jaune never managed to use a spell successfully before, so he had no basis on how quickly people learned magic.
"When you said I learned the shield spell quickly..." He took back one of his tomes. "...what did you mean," Jaune asked out of curiosity. He wanted to advance his understanding of magic quickly in the hopes he could apply it to his fighting style and possibly figure out his Passive.
"Most mages learn and decipher the meaning of spells over a few days," Weiss began explaining. "You learned the spell after reading it once and applied it a few minutes later to block an ice shard from Min Ao. Who, by the way, is a prodigious mage from Mistral. Somebody, like myself, who is gifted in magic and can cast especially powerful spells."
"Okay, wait..." Jaune had to take a second to let this sink in. "So, you're saying I learned a spell at a faster rate than normal mages. Do you think it's related to my Passive?"
Hopefully, he could get Weiss to describe some trick to figuring it out without having to spend years on a mountain as a monk. Jaune seemed to be behind everybody in every regard at the Academy. Lower levels, limited abilities, no Passive, and a sub-standard fighting style based on brawling. It was a miracle Jaune managed to get past the Initiation.
"You don't know what your passive is," Weiss gasped in disbelief. A trickle of her attitude shone through. "How are you still alive?"
"Dumb luck," Jaune guessed.
Well... luck and maybe a few other things have kept Jaune alive. His abilities or ability was Jaune's saving grace at points, but so far he just got lucky. His Constitution stat was also keeping him breathing as he was tossed into a wall and used a table to break his fall. None of Jaune's stats helped to dull the pain, and he felt the full force of everything that hit him. He was starting to get used to pain and would probably be able to shrug off crossbow bolts and stab wounds at this rate. Adrenaline would still take care of the pain, but he needed to be resistant to the burning sensation that you get when a spear tears through your shoulder.
"You may be fortunate if your Passive doesn't conflict with your fighting style." Weiss sounded somewhat concerned with Jaune.
He had no issues with wielding swords or shields of some kind, so his Passive must not have been related to sword fighting. If it was magical, then he needed to focus on learning as many spells as possible. Maybe he could take a quest next week to go try some of them out? Ruby would be willing to tag along if it meant being able to test their strengths.
"That's what I've been trying to figure out." Jaune pointed to his books. Arch-Mage James Ironwood's Grimoire had categorised Passives into groups. Supposedly he also discussed how they are unlocked. "But what about you? What are you working on?"
Weiss pushed some of her books to the side and unrolled a scroll. It was the rubbing taken from the crypt they explored. Well, explored is incorrect, more like run through, hoping not to be eviscerated by a rotting husk that couldn't be considered a person.
"I've been working on deciphering the language. I can only understand a part of it, but the rest is practically illegible!"
Dead languages. Jaune could have thought of a million other things that could be more entertaining, but working on this with the Mage was good enough for him.
"What do you understand," Jaune asked as he stood up to get a better view of the cuneiform.
When trying to decipher something, it is best to work from what you do understand before moving on to what you don't. Since Jaune could hardly read any Old Valean, he was probably not the best to be doing this.
"This symbol," Weiss began, pointing at a small squared face with sharp teeth. "In Vacuo, they used this symbol for the word, 'Demon.'" She opened up a book written in Vacuoun text and pointed at a similar glyph. "There are a few other motifs spread throughout the text, pointing to various gods and goddesses. I think it is a religious story..." Concluding her thoughts, Weiss seemed like she was disappointed. As if she wanted there to be more.
"Damn," Jaune cursed. "I was hoping there would be some sort of prophecy or enchantments." He shared the Mage's disappointment as this could have turned out to be something fun.
"I have to agree," Weiss said, rolling up the scroll. Jaune sat down as well. "I was hoping there would be something of actual worth here, but it was a waste of my time." She took another sip of her coffee and opened one of her books. "The writing itself might be worth something if it were an old poem. Bards or nobles would pay a hearty sum for an ancient ballad."
Maybe...
Jaune sat back down and pulled out one of his own books. However, before he could get anywhere, a few light footsteps from the side drew his attention away from the manuscript.
"Miss Schnee, Mr Arc, I see the two of you are using your time wisely," Ozpin remarked without provocation, drinking from his mug. Jaune nearly leapt out of his skin at the suddenness of his appearance. "Most students would be trying to sleep in; however, the two of you are focusing on academics."
The hell is he doing here?
"Yes, Headmaster," Jaune replied, forcing his heart back down his throat. "We were just working on a project." He also did not want to give away what they were studying. He had no idea how Ozpin would have reacted if he had known about Weiss keeping a copy of the rubbing.
"Trying to figure out your Passive," Ozpin looked to Jaune first. "And still working on deciphering those rubbings, I see." Weiss and Jaune looked to each other; both wondered whether or not he had been listening in the entire time. His stats may also have been influential in his ascertainment.
"Before you ask Mr Arc, I know these things." Jaune was now thoroughly creeped out by the headmaster. "And I won't tell you what your Passive is. That is for me to know and for you to find out." Jaune suddenly wondered if the man was a telepath of some kind. There was a spell for it, he was sure.
"And Miss Schnee," Ozpin began, looking directly at the Mage. "No academic pursuit is a waste of time. Even if nothing comes from it, you have learned something in the process. Keep trying, and you may be able to beat Dr Oobleck before he can translate it." Ozpin took another sip from his mug. He was about to wander off, and go do whatever a headmaster does at an academy. Before he could move, a small butterfly flew in through an open window. The grey and black insect landed on Ozpin's outstretched hand and then fluttered off. Ozpin stood there for several seconds as if he were contemplating something. "Miss Schnee, Mr Arc, please head back to your dor- Scratch that, both of you head to the women's dorms and do not leave until Professor Goodwitch says it's safe!" Ozpin set his mug onto a table and urged the two students to move along. The usually stoic wizard acted as if he were in a panic.
"What's going on," Weiss nervously asked as she gathered her research materials. Jaune just left his books on the table since he could always retrieve them later. The books weren't worth nearly as much as Jaune's life or even Weiss'.
"The Grand Inquisitor of Vale has decided to pay us a visit," Ozpin tersely responded to the younger mage. The man opened the door to the main hall and ushered the two students out. "Mr Arc, make sure Miss Schnee gets there safely! I leave the rest to you!"
...
Jaune led Weiss through the halls of Beacon. Her hand in his. The boy would have been overjoyed if this was in another situation, but unfortunately, this time, his luck wasn't there for him.
He had heard stories of the inquisitors who were sent to root out heretics. One man, if Jaune could remember correctly, escaped from inside of an Inquisition dungeon before fleeing to Bar. The man told his story at the tavern and many secretly worried about the Church coming to hunt him. Their fears were justified because of the inquisitor's habit of burning towns to nothing but ash.
Both Bar and Beacon could defend themselves from any army wishing to lay siege to their land, but the Inquisition came from the Church. That was outside of the King of Vale's jurisdiction and protection. There was free reign for inquisitors to do as they wished under the guise they were working within the laws. However, the inquisitors routinely kidnapped people they claimed to be demon worshippers or necromancers. So violating the laws of a sovereign kingdom did not matter to the Church.
The Count of Bar frequently had any inquisitors executed by the guards before they could report back to the Church. Of course, there was always an excuse used by the governor as to what happened to the men. The townsfolk were a largely irreligious group of people, who didn't take kindly to the government or the Church, so they had no reason to betray the town. They were also very out of the way, and many of the deaths could be attributed to monster attacks or bandits-no evidence to prove what actually happened to the men.
Jaune let go of Weiss' hand as they passed by the locker rooms. He ducked into the empty storage room and grabbed the enchanted sword he had kept for himself. If Ozpin were this worried about the presence of an inquisitor, Jaune would need a blade to defend himself and others. An especially mighty enchanted sword could do away with a high-ranking holy knight or priest. Provided he was not combatting an opponent with an overwhelming agility stat, Jaune felt as though he could land a killing blow before he was killed. That may have been foolish bravado talking.
"Jaune, hurry up," Weiss practically screamed at the knight. He glanced back to her, finding a fearful expression on her face. It only encouraged the boy to move his ass and grab what he needed.
Jaune had no worries about being harassed by the Inquisition, but Weiss was a mage. The Church had become fond of torturing mages who were accused of black magic and Weiss could easily be targeted because of who she was. The last thing Jaune wanted was to see Weiss getting dragged off by anybody looking to do her harm. The same went for all of his friends.
"Alright, let's go," Jaune grabbed Weiss hand and dragged her through the hallways. He would have been afraid of hurting her if not for the current situation.
Actually, this was supposed to be a Knight's job, right? Protecting fair ladies by any means necessary?
...
They cut across a small courtyard on the way to the women's dorms. Nobody was outside of the building either. Everybody must have fled for shelter or used some cloaking magic to disappear from sight. Professor Goodwitch was the only other person out at this time. Her face was contorted into a scowl as she held her wand in her right hand.
"Professor Goodwitch," Jaune exhaled, bending over to catch his breath. "The Headmaster told us to take shelter here!"
Jaune would have naturally been nervous about going into the women's dorms. Because... well he's a guy. You were not allowed into the opposite gender's dorms. And being the only dude in a room full of beautiful women was quite distracting if you were Jaune.
"Yes, he notified me after the inquisitors were spotted," Goodwitch opened the door to the women's dorms. "Bar the door once inside, and let no one leave. You're the only one with a weapon, so it's your job to protect everyone if we come under attack and they manage to get past me."
No pressure... Jaune had no clue for how he was going to protect a hundred or so people from what could potentially be an army of fanatics.
Weiss ducked into the hall first, and Jaune followed. Once the door was shut, Jaune lifted the massive wood and steel beam into place. He effectively blocked any intruders from coming in and cut off an escape at the same time. So, if the building was set on fire, they were fucked.
Jaune grabbed his sword and turned around. There he met a hundred pairs of eyes staring back at him. Jaune felt very uncomfortable right now and just wanted to find a corner to go hide in. However, Jaune was an adult; he could socialise with anybody despite their gender, no matter how terrible he was with girls.
They're staring at me!
"Hi Jaune," Ruby yelled from the top of one of the bunk beds. She was standing on top of it, waving to the knight as he stood near the door.
The men and women's dorms both had bunk beds. Around four-hundred in each to hold many students during their first year of classes. The worst thing about the dorms was the lack of privacy, but the beds were excellent. Jaune considered following Goodwitch's advice and eventually finding a small house in the city or renting a single-room at Beacon.
Jaune pushed through the crowd and made his way over to Ruby. Weiss was sitting on the bottom bunk the two shared. Jaune wondered how that happened, but that was for a later date. Yang and Blake were just opposite of the Mage and Reaper, and Pyrrha shared her bunk bed with another absent individual.
"So, Weiss-Cream," Yang teased the Mage. A Chesire-style grin crossed the blonde's lips. "Sneaking in boys, huh?" Weiss' face turned blood red, and Jaune's face turned a bright shade of vermilion. Some of the other girls started laughing, and Ruby berated her older sister for thinking such things.
"WHAT, NO," Weiss shouted in indignation and partial disgust. "I would never-" She stopped after seeing Jaune standing among the crowd. He felt slightly hurt but understood that she probably was not one for meaningless trysts. Jaune was the same way, but if he liked the person, he wouldn't stop it from happening. "That is undignified behaviour for a lady!" She managed to sound sophisticated even when angry.
"So that mean's nobody else has tried out this bicycle ride yet," Yang teased as she pulled Jaune to the circle. He had no idea what a bicycle was, and if she meant that nobody had sex with him yet, she would be correct. Jaune, sadly, was still a virgin.
"What are you doing here anyway," Blake asked as she sat on the bottom of another bunk wrapped in a large blanket. She was reading something, but she concealed the cover of the book with a piece of paper. "Professor Goodwitch told everyone to stay inside until she said so."
Jaune sat down and leaned against Blake's bunk. "Well, Blake, His Eminence, The Grand Inquisitor of Vale has decided to make an appearance." Several people gasped, and Jaune heard a book hit the floor. Jaune wasn't trying to sound ominous, but the reaction Jaune got suggested he wasn't the word-smith he thought he was.
That damn Charisma stat coming to bite me in the ass again!
"I need to get out of here," Blake muttered as she stood up. Jaune tried to stop her, but she vanished into thin air before he could do anything to help Blake. Some of the others were stunned by her sudden escape.
Why did she run?
"What was that?!" Ruby jumped down from the top bunk and examined the spot where Blake vanished. All she could find was a small pile of ash with no discernable way to trace her location.
"She used a teleportation spell," Weiss explained as she set her books aside. "It's a one-person translocation incantation. Untraceable by anybody other than the caster."
Yeah... What she said.
Jaune trusted Weiss to know what she was talking about. Her magic related stats were high enough to be able to understand what was going on immediately. And a spell such as this would have been under the manipulation school if Jaune was using the description aptly.
"It could be the inquisitors," Jaune spoke up. "They've harassed faunus as well as mages in the past. She probably just didn't want to take the risk."
"They've been on Patch before too," Yang added in. She sat down next to Jaune and took a bite out a piece of bread. "The leshens wouldn't let them get past the coast, so we were safe."
If Jaune had water in his mouth, he would surely spit it out. "Wait, you have leshens on Patch?!"
Leshens are woodland spirits and are categorised as relicts. Relicts being any sort of ancient species from another age. They are also known as spriggans by some cultures; however, the spriggan is another species of woodland spirit that is more humanoid in appearance. Both species are large bipedal creatures with a pseudo-wooden carapace and possess an ancient form of magic that allows them to have control over their environment. Essentially, they are masters of the oldest arts from the manipulation school. Very dangerous if provoked and they have been known to bury or impale entire battalions of soldiers before they have a clue as to what just happened.
"Yeah," Yang nonchalantly answered him. "They don't harm the islanders if you don't provoke them. They don't like foreigners, but the leshens will leave you alone if you're with someone who was born on the island."
Jaune made up his mind that he was never going to visit Patch. He liked living, and he did not want to be torn apart by some angry tree man.
"Ruby's even talked to one before." They all looked over to the now blushing reaper. Somehow she managed to do it. It was beyond Jaune, and he didn't really care right now.
"Now, back to the real subject at hand here," Yang continued. "Why were you and Weiss out this early? Got any excuses? You just so happened to fall asleep: naked, in the same bed, with-"
"Yang stop," Jaune abruptly raised his voice. "We were in the library doing research. I also told Weiss how to make coffee." Jaune still had a deep red blush on his face from Yang's practically non-stop teasing. He hopefully explained it well enough that Yang would leave the two alone and not bother them any longer.
"Awww," Yang cooed. "They had a study date!"
Does this woman ever run out ways to tease someone? Literally, every single thing can be contorted to be made into a joke!
"It was not a date, you boob," Weiss shouted in anger. Blush firmly in place once again. "We were trying to decipher script from an ancient language! But we were rudely interrupted when these sycophants decided to intrude on campus grounds!"
"They're both nerds too!" Yang exaggeratedly cupped her cheeks as she made fun of the two. "You two are perfect for each other!"
"Yang, this is serious!" Jaune bit his lip, hoping to not yell at the blonde. But now was not the time for jokes! The people outside roaming about the campus could be potentially trying to kill everyone, or they were hunting for somebody specifically! And Jaune was stuck with the most nerve-racking job in all of Vale!
"I have to agree with him, Yang," Pyrrha started, finally joining the conversation. She was quiet for most of the time. The red-head may have tried to get a word in during the beginning, but was drowned out by the other more vocal students. "I have never heard of the Inquisition before coming to Vale, but judging by Blake's reaction as well as Jaune's. These are dangerous people. We should be finding a way to flee to the Emerald Forest."
It was the perfect area to hide in. Ancient ruins were half-buried throughout the wood, and there were enough flora and fauna to sustain a large group of people hiding within the forest.
Just perfect! Just fucking perfect!
The entire hall silenced itself at once as some faint yelling came through the massive doors. One voice sounded as if it were Professor Goodwitch's and the other or others sounded as they belonged to a group of men. Jaune crept up to the closed hatch along with Pyrrha. The red-head took Jaune's sword out of the sheath and held it in a reverse grip.
"You are trespassing on His Majesty's lands; I command you to leave at once!"
That was Professor Goodwitch. She sounded heated, Jaune had never heard the woman this angry before during his short time at the Academy. Or any woman besides Weiss at this point.
"Do you think I am intimidated by the threat of the lowly King of Vale! Or the ravings a madwoman! I have been ordered by the King of Kings himself to do his bidding! To root out the heretics harboured here!"
The other man was a complete fanatic. Beyond insane if he could be described adequately with words. Must have been some sort of priest if his class categorised him. Or a fanatical paladin?
"You will allow me to have unfettered access so that I may save these children from their godless ways!"
He shouted at the top of his lungs! The lunatic was preaching to whoever was on his side. The effect of his Charisma stat must have rallied his own men. A high-levelled sorceress, such as Professor Goodwitch should have been immune to the man's ramblings.
"Leave..."
That was the last thing Jaune heard before Pyrrha pulled him back to the centre of the building. Yang was holding onto Ruby, preparing for a fight to break out. Weiss was sitting down on one of the bunks. Jaune just sat down next to the Mage, waiting this whole thing out with bated breath.
...
Nearly half a day later, the panic at Beacon subsided. Goodwitch explained the situation to everyone after the inquisitors left and made sure that everyone understood her. Apparently, several small skirmishes broke out all over the institute, and several fourth and second years fought alongside the guards. There were no casualties among Beacon's, but most of the inquisitors were killed or incapacitated.
Classes were either suspended or optional for the rest of the week. Jaune was still going to attend, but most of his friends were opting out. Yang and Ruby stayed in the dorms and were going to try to blow off some steam. Weiss also stayed behind to do some research in the library. Pyrrha went to the gymnasium for some extra training.
Jaune was going to finish up his day with Professor Peach's class. He walked through the open courtyard as students were scrambling in between classes or trying to get from one building to another. The faculty had already cleaned up the mess and were surprisingly adept at covering up bloodstains. The burn marks and scuffs in the dirt remained as the only reminder of what happened here.
Just how many men the inquisitors brought here was still a mystery. By the sheer volume of footprints, Jaune assumed there were more than one hundred soldiers, both Valish and Inquisition. The Inquisition wasn't known for their use of mages or any magic so their numbers could have been dwindled down by Professor Ozpin and Goodwitch; leaving fewer people fighting on Vale's side and a lot more from the Inquisition due to the power a single mage possessed.
Some kids were brave enough or foolish enough to still go to lessons after what happened today. Jaune was probably the latter if he had asked for a peer's opinion. Most other students just took the time to slack off and sneak off into Vale for fun. Jaune however, was actually serious about his work and needed to go despite the events that transpired.
He couldn't have been much help with those who were still shaken after hearing the sounds of a real battle for the first time. Jaune was better at handling the situation as it unfolded, but the aftermath should be left to more experienced individuals. It was merely best for him to bide his time at lessons while everything cooled down.
He found the meeting place he had been told of. It was adjacent to a small garden with some stone benches. Four or five other students had gathered in the same area. He spotted Sun and Ren having a chat.
"Hey." Jaune waved to his fellow men, taking carful step over a flower bed. The Rogue and Monk stopped talking suddenly, giving him the impression the two were discussing something important. For that, Jaune chastised himself.
"Hey," Sun echoed back as he stood up straight. "We heard what happened earlier today. You got stuck outside when those guys attacked us?"
"Yeah," Jaune answered, running a hand through his hair. "I hid in the girl's dorms. Guys are going to be super jealous of me now."
It was true. Jaune got more than a few looks when he got out of the hall. Some of the male students were already jealous that Jaune hung around a bunch of beautiful women all the time when they were fighting for whatever scraps of attention they could get. Jaune wasn't complaining; a few stern glares wouldn't force him to abandon his friends.
"Jeez dude, why can't I have that sort of luck," Sun replied with a chuckle. "Hanging out with the girls all day?"
"Yes," Ren agreed. "I think it would be preferable over sitting in the men's dorms. Our fellow warriors were boasting about how they would fight the entire time..."
"Really?"
"Yeah, man," Sun confirmed. "Cardin wouldn't shut up! We got tired of him and went up to the roof."
Jaune couldn't begin to imagine how annoying that would be. However, he was curious about what Sun might have seen up there.
"Did you see the fight," Jaune asked, moving to stand next to his friends. "We only heard a lot of magic being thrown around and swords clanging. Yang got a peak when I lifted her on my shoulders."
She couldn't see much as a lot of dust had been kicked up during the battle. However, the brilliant sparks of purple light coming from within the cloud and the dozens of explosions gave the kids some hope they were winning.
"It was a slaughter," Ren answered honestly, keeping his monotone expression and voice. "Professor Goodwitch mopped the floor with half of the soldiers. But there's not much else to tell. We saw some Fourth-Years chase them out though."
Huh... Not as much action as I thought there would be.
Dr Oobleck arrived, and everyone turned to him.
"Ah, gentlemen, I see there are more of you than I had originally expected. I'm glad you are using this time and not wasting it on skipping lessons." The doctor took a sip from a canteen in his hands. "I will be leading our expedition into the Emerald Forest," Oobleck began. "We will forage for several ingredients needed for our next class. And given the small number of students here, I will require each of you to gather enough ingredients for several dozen people." He handed each of them a piece of parchment and pointed towards the forest.
...
Sun, Ren, and Jaune set off in a different direction than the others. Just anywhere away from the main group as smaller cliques of friends did. They could easily gather more stuff as they worked together, so it didn't harm their task. During their walk, there was a slight tension in the air. Nobody said anything about it, allowing it to grow enough to be cut by a knife.
They reached a small clearing where they found the different ingredients they were told to gather. Valean red caps, wolfsbane, shatter shrooms, and psilocybe all grew around this spot. He remembered Ruby talking about it after Weiss dragged her out here to gather some ingredients.
However, there was a topic on Jaune's mind that he wanted to ask a faunus about another faunus. Particularly a blonde one who seemed to take an interest in a black-haired beauty.
"So Sun... have you seen Blake," Jaune straightforwardly asked, picking a wolfsbane stalk and placing it into his bag. "She ran off when I mentioned something about the inquisitors. Thought you might have run into her. Or went looking for her."
Jaune would have guessed it was normal behaviour for a thief/assassin/rogue class to prefer running away from hordes of fanatics. However, the other rogue classes stayed inside of the dorms and even fashioned makeshift weapons in the event they couldn't reach their own lockers. So whatever it was, it had to do with the Inquisition, or she was possibly that easily startled by them appearing. It could have also been self-preservation instincts that drove her to vanish before all hell could break loose.
"Oh, yeah," Sun replied as he picked a large mushroom off the forest floor. "Ran into her like an hour ago. She looked kind of shaken up. Didn't pry into it."
Did you not ask if she was okay?
"Aren't you supposed to pry when it comes to these things," Jaune asked both out of general curiosity and confusion as to why Sun didn't check on her. "Like see if she was fine or needed some help. You know... be a gentleman?"
All the basic stuff I learned from my sisters.
Sun gave him a puzzled look at his tone. "Well..." he began, rubbing the back of his head. "Blake really didn't give me the chance to ask. She turned invisible, so that meant she wanted to be alone. Blake's not really the kind of girl who likes being asked if she's all right anyway... I'll just go find her later."
"I see," Jaune acknowledged. He grabbed the last of the psilocybe needed for Professor Peach's demonstration. "But why do you guys think the inquisitors tried to attack Beacon anyways? They would have known about Professor Ozpin and Goodwitch."
Stupid idea to attack with them around...
"We were actually discussing this," Ren spoke up. "I've heard a little about them. They have forced several universities to shut down over the last few years. Rumours going around say they brainwash entire towns. They probably didn't think the risk mattered if they were planning on taking people, though. This is the first I've heard of them outright attacking Beacon too."
"But we think they might come back," Sun continued the train of thought. "If they threw away their guys like this, then they don't care about how many they lose. That means they have a bunch more or they can go find some new guys. If the Church wants to try again, there may be a lot more joining up for round two."
Just prodding defences right now... Then they'll swarm us. That's if the Church gets past the guards, which leaves us sitting on the front line.
I'm too weak to fight if that happens then...
"So do you guys have any ideas," Jaune asked, putting his companions on the spot for an idea. "None of us or our friends are ready for an actual battle. Considering how we were nearly caught with our pants down. We need some sort of 'Plan B,' in the event everything goes to hell." Jaune liked contingency plans; they made his mind feel at ease. One of the first things Jaune did before going out on a hunt was to have a backup plan in case the hunt went awry.
"We should get everyone together this weekend," Ren suggested as he leaned down to gather some mushrooms. "We can come up with something then, but now we just need to make it through the week without anything happening. I suggest beginning to go out on quests to raise money and levels. We can use that to buy a house or rent a place out in the city."
I've got nothing against it...
"Love it," Sun agreed, turning to face his friends. "Jaune does some information gathering and gets the 'Princess' onboard. I'll go wrangle Blake. Ren, you grab Nora and the others..."
It was a start, but they needed to come up with something substantial before the beginning of next week. Nobody was piloting the ship at the moment, and someone needed to take the helm so they could try steering everyone in the right direction.
Now the "Church," or "Inquisition," in this world are modelled after the Catholic Church in Spain during the 1500's. The Spanish Inquisition to be more specific. You could also compare them to the Church of the Eternal Fire in Novigrad and the Holy See in Midland. This faction will make repeated appearances in Vale and Jaune will have several encounters with them. I am also setting up a Vampire Faction and Mistral's Royal Faction as well for later use in the story. But the last two won't be introduced until Jaune eventually becomes a competent combatant when it comes to people. So the Vampires and Mistralis won't appear for another thirty chapters or so.
This chapter ends up becoming a lockdown due to an intruder on campus. Jaune doesn't get to see any action because this is between the Academy and the inquisitors. Our main character has only been in school for around four days at this point and shouldn't be expected to be a hero yet. He's still a small fry that has yet to kill his first person. Once Jaune becomes more developed he will begin taking on groups of foes with ease.
Also does anybody have a list of popular animes? I need to get a bunch of examples for Beacon's Number One (The two main characters hang out and watch anime. It's basically what helps them to break the ice.), but all of my favourites end up being like Berserk or Tokyo Ghoul. I need mainstream shows that are not gory and someone in a high school setting would watch. I am going to include Berserk, Tokyo Ghoul, Code Geass, and a few others I can think of. I just need like four more.