Week 2: Jade Way

Promises were important. You might not expect it, but being the professional that he was, Roman Torchwick took promises very seriously. His career and reputation required a certain set of standards, and as a result, the suited criminal's personal code of conduct ensured that he fulfilled any promises he made to the letter.

Of course, that wasn't to say that he made them often. Another side effect of his job was that he had gotten very good in giving out things that sounded a lot like promises. Mostly everyone he had negotiated with, from his criminal correspondences and the people he bribed, all the way to the White Fang and Cinder herself, had all been given 'assurances'. From words of good faith to displays of confidence, the criminal had meticulously made sure that every single agreement he had made was not a promise.

Which was why he was proud to say that, through his years of thieving, conniving, and general rabble-rousing, Roman Torchwick had not gone back on a single promise he'd made. Sure, he had gotten close a few times, since his particular career choice was hardly the safest, but even murderous idiots couldn't stop the suited criminal from keeping his record pristine. So, with all this in mind, it was clear that Roman Torchwick did not make any promises lightly.

Which was why Roman had promised that, the moment he finally found a way to return to Remnant, he would rob that old man and his Dust store blind.

Not because of any malicious intent, mind you. It's just that he couldn't believe how utterly soul-crushing it was to man a store desk, unable to do anything but stand there in place as idiots placed their grubby hands all over the merchandise.

See, while that blonde brat had been a welcome source of income for the store, that was something that Recette would've appreciated, rather than himself. For his part, the thief had found nothing stimulating from conning some brat out of her money, especially not when she accepted ridiculous prices at face value. The little fairy thing she had following her was a bit better, sure, but even her ability to haggle was woefully lacking. After all, he had seen the listed prices for himself, both in the town's local markets and in the merchant's guild, so the fact that they accepted a 140% markup on the items was utterly ridiculous.

And that was just the things they had which were brand new.

For some stupid reason, the populace thought that this store was a discount pawn shop or something. After the fairy and her irritatingly loud charge left, the store was flooded by the rest of the townsfolk, all intent on pawning off their silly little items. Like any good merchant, he ignored their amateur appraisals and pricing justification—Family heirloom walnut bread? Really?—and bought their items at a third or so of the store's ridiculous marked-up value. Some complained, and they were the more interesting ones, but most of the schmucks accepted the price with a smile, allowing him to restock their store with much cheaper second-hand goods. That they sold at a premium.

So yeah, the actual sales process had been mindnumbingly dull, and served as a brilliant reminder why Roman Torchwick had chosen his particular lifestyle. That boredom was the exact reason why he made sure that he'd rob that old man blind the next time he was in town; the poor guy's needed some excitement in his day.

But enough about that.

He had finished his duties as a boring clerk, and his shift had been reclaimed by Recette and Tinkerbell. That meant that, surprisingly enough, he was free to do whatever he wanted for the rest of the day with no one questioning his methods or motives. It was kind of liberating, really, and the man couldn't help but smile as he turned his attention towards the adventurer's guild.

"O-oh! Mr. Roman!"

Or not. He hadn't even taken three steps away from the store yet before he was interrupted. The thief turned his attention to the source of the voice, a guess of who it was already in his mind the moment he heard the childish tone. There, standing behind him, was the town's resident mage, nervously skulking about in his robes as kid looked up at him.

"... Caillou." He gave the kid a nod. Sure, Caillou had been an unexpected visitor, but it took more than some kid randomly showing up to ruin Roman's mood. And more importantly than that, the magical brat seemed like he had some actual business here, a massive stick in one hand as the child clutched at some piece of paper with the other. Roman gave a deliberate glance to the two items, a single eyebrow raised as he stared at the kid. "Was there something you needed?"

"A-actually... yes. I had intended to visit your store to formally apologize for my behaviour the other day. While I did apologize to you, I did not adequately apologize to the..." The kid paused for a moment, as if straining to form the final words of his sentence. After a few seconds, however, he finally pushed out the words, with no small amount of effort as the child stared at him. "The other store owner."

"Okay then." Roman quirked an eye at that particular statement. Oh yeah... the kid had mentioned something about that yesterday, didn't he? During his frantic shout and subsequent retreat from the library? Honestly, the crook had forgotten about that, and gave the kid a shrug. It wasn't like it mattered to him or anything. "Well, I'll just be on my way..."

"On your way? Where are you going?" Caillou's eager eyes shot up at him, the brat completely forgetting his original reason for being here as he let out an embarrassed cough. "E-er... I mean... If you don't mind telling, that is."

Was there any harm in letting the kid know? Probably not. For once, Roman wasn't doing anything illegal; not only was his excursion sanctioned by the floating nightlight herself, it was actually part of his official duties in the Adventurer's guild. So really, what was the harm? "Oh, you know, wanted to get some fresh air. Stretch my legs and such at the local dungeon."

"R-Really?!" Suddenly, the kid approached, standing two steps away from the crook as he looked up at him. "I was planning on doing so too, after my errand! W-which dungeon are you visiting, if I may ask? And may I accompany you?"

Okay... getting a bit weird. Did this kid really not have someone watching over him? Honestly, Roman was having flashbacks to Red with how eager this brat was getting.

With that said, did he had a reason to deny the kid? Surely he'd be a better companion than Red was, and Roman was genuinely curious about how magic in this world worked. Seeing it first-hand was probably the best course of action he could take, and given how useless the books he had borrowed were, he probably could do a lot worse than dragging some kid along. With another shrug, the well-dressed criminal gave the kid a single nod. "You know what? Sure. Just finish up with whatever it was you were doing an-"

"Thank you thank you thank you!" And just like that, the kid reminded Roman that he was a kid. Without wasting another moment, Caillou opened the door to the store, and rather than enter the building, decided to stick his head through the opening. "HiI'msorryformybehaviouryesterdaybye!"

And then he closed the door, before shooting an overeager expression up to Roman. "I'm done, sir! Shall we get going? I can't wait to help you with your next experiment! What sort of study are you..."

Roman sighed. This was going to be a long walk.

The kid just didn't stop.

Sure, Roman hadn't exactly helped with the issue, since he had to stick with the whole magical researcher schtick he had going on, but the thief did not expect the kid to talk this much. Perhaps it was a mistake asking about the kid's own plans in the dungeon... At first, it had been deflection to get the kid to stop asking about his own plans, since he wasn't exactly concrete about what he wanted to do. However, that little bit of encouragement caused Caillou to go into full-blown researcher mode or something, as the brat instantly began rattling off his theories and experiments and stuff.

But, as annoying as it was, Roman couldn't find it in himself to shut the kid up. It took only a few veiled questions about "fundamentals" and "showing your proof" for the kid to go into a long tirade about some underlying magical concepts in his experiment, which was useful in its own right. However, a larger part of his motivation not to shut the brat up was that the kid always fell into this weird silence the moment someone walked by, only to awkwardly try and pick up his last thought whenever people were out of earshot. Honestly, it was embarrassing to look at, so Roman decided that constant prattling as a better alternative to awkward silence.

And that was his only reason, so don't go reading into it.

At any rate, the constant conversation meant that their entire journey through the town had been an uneventful trek that involved random bouts of silence, coupled with a one-sided conversation on some theory about magical field composition. When they had finally reached the Adventurer's Guild, Roman had a acquired a second-hand understanding of basic elemental concepts, and by the time they had actually entered through the dungeon portal, that understanding had advanced to complete familiarity.

He wasn't quite sure what to make of that fact. Sure, he was unerringly smart and amazingly talented, but even he hadn't expected to pick up on things so quickly. Were the basics of magic so... simple? The way the kid described it, it almost behaved like aura, except it was more subconscious or something. Oh, and used some weird element thing instead of aura as its base, but that part didn't really need explaining.

Or maybe it did. Perhaps all the flowery words in his textbooks were supposed to be taken a bit more literally. If that was the case... well, the thief wasn't quite sure what to think in that case. Outrageous metaphors were one thing, but if a passage like "resonates with the blessing of spirits" was to be taken literally, then this magic thing might be a bit more involved than he thought. Then again, the brat hardly mentioned anything about that, so Roman simply didn't know.

Damnit, he'll have to remember to visit that stupid library again after this little expedition. Still, the thief pushed those thoughts out of his mind, turning his attention to the environment in front of him as he stepped through the dungeon portal.

...The first thing that he noticed about the environment was that, unlike the dungeon he had been forced to spend with Red, this particular place wasn't some forgotten stone ruin. Instead, from what Roman could see, this particular dungeon was some sort of grassy plain or something, surrounded by distant trees and a wall of shrubs, all while a very artificial-looking dirt road struck a random path through the foliage. It was certainly a lot more open than the ruins, and he couldn't help but wonder if this place was truly a dungeon at all.

"Here we are! Jade Way!" Caillou spoke out, the brat's voice dispelling Roman's worries the moment they arrived, only to replace them with a multitude of questions. Unfortunately, those questions would have to wait until later, as the kid immediately turned to face the classy criminal. "S-so... What exactly do you plan to do, sir? Is there anything I can help with?"

Ah, here we go. The first part of maintaining his cover. Fortunately, Roman already had half a plan laid out, and the moment he saw the strange environment of the dungeon, the rest of his plot fell into place. Slapping on his signature he turned to the kid. "Well, I'm glad you asked. See, first part of my little study involves examining the borders of our dungeon here. You know... See how far those trees and stuff stretch on."

"P-pardon?" Immediately, the kid's expression dampened, turning to a look of confusion as he stared up at Roman. "I don't mean to question your decision, sir, but... Are you sure? W-we've already explored the physical limitations of dungeon manifestations. The area around trees act as a physical wall, and we aren't able to bypass them. It's one of the rules of the dungeon."

"...Are you sure about that, kid?"

It was obvious that the magician would be skeptical. After all, he had literally written the book on dungeons. However, Roman was completely unperturbed by that vote of non-confidence, his smile not waning as he made his way over to one such tree. Then, to confirm the kid's little statement, the criminal reached out with his hand, only tofeel the telltale presence of a physical wall, completely invisible to the naked eye as he pressed against it.

Unfortunate that the brat had been proven right, but Roman didn't care too much about it. If anything, that little gesture was more grandstanding for his demonstration, and as he saw the skeptical expression plastered on Caillou's face, his grin widened. "Well, colour me surprised. As a magician, I thought you of all people would understand the most important thing about magic."

"The most important...thing?" The doubt on the kid's face slowly shifted to curiosity, and Roman grinned internally at the little change. Just a little bit more, and his little scam would be finished.

"Oh dear. How could you forget? The most important thing about magic is really quite simple." The criminal grinned, then gathered his Aura. Not only that, but he did so in the least efficient way possible, a flashy gesture that created a very visible red light around his fingertips. "It has rules, sure, but rules can change. It's our job to make sure they don't."

A line pulled completely out of the air, but one that served its purpose. It was clear the brat could see his aura, but just as telling was the fact that he couldn't recognize it, as a look of surprise and wonder filled the kid's face as he kept his eyes on Roman's hand.

"How did you...? I don't feel any Spiritual Power at all."

"Sorry kid, but some things, you just gotta learn for yourself." Internally, the criminal chuckled. As similar to aura as magic might've sounded, it was still apparently a completely different force altogether. And while he had just learned that little fact, there was no reason he needed to explain that to the kid. All the magician brat needed to understand was that the criminal knew something that he did not, and Roman's legitimacy was assured. No longer was there any doubt on Caillou's face, and Roman's work was complete.

All that was left was to complete the little farce, and come up with some half-baked words of wisdom to cement his place as mysterious wizard. Roman leaned in against the invisible wall as he spoke. "After all, as an intellectual, isn't it your responsibility to-... to..."

And just like that, Roman's grin melted away. Not because of something the brat did, and not because of he had done, either. See, Caillou was watching with rapt attention as Roman leant back against the border of the dungeon, his aura-coated hand pressed up against the wall.

The problem?

He felt something remarkably close to aura push back against him.

This didn't make any sense. And as he absently made his way through the dungeon, blindly walking along the dirt path, that single thought filled the criminal's mind.

"Sir? I-Is everything alright?" The brat's voice echoed from somewhere or another, but Roman couldn't afford to pay attention to it.

See, Roman might not have been Remnant's greatest scholar, since his line of work rarely involved studying things that weren't blueprints or people, but he still knew about a few things that you'd consider common sense. Aura was one of those things, and even he understood that, as mysterious as it was, aura had a few basic rules. Different from person to person, can enhance equipment... all that good stuff. but the thing that jumped out the most about it?

Aura only appears in living things. Trees, grass, annoying corgis, meddling huntsmen and huntresses... even those animals in the White Fang, all those things had aura. So why the hell did the dungeon wall have it? Or, at the very least, have something close to it?

"Sir! You've been quiet for quite some time now! Are you okay? A-and please be careful about where you're stepping!" Again, Caillou spoke up, this time accompanied by the sound of some slime exploding or something. Honestly, Roman wasn't too sure, nor did he try to figure it out.

Was what he felt actually something similar to Aura? What if he was just mistaken, and that was how magic felt? Sure, it was nothing like the Ability thing that that thief from yesterday did, nor was it anything at all like what he had seen from that seedy adventurer kid that hung around with Recette, either. But what those things were just one way for magic to manifest, and this wall was another? He had to be sure... But that meant he needed to observe more forms of magic.

Without warning, Roman stopped, turning his head to the kid following him, his eyes serious. "Caillou, stop what you're doing. I need you to do something for me."

The kid immediately stopped, standing rigid as he stared at the crook. That's when Roman noticed that he had been fighting one of the dungeon slimes. Before the bouncing bubble of annoyance could interrupt him, the criminal brought his cane down on the monster, quelling its short existence instantly, before turning back to the kid. "Now, I need you to fire a fireball or lightning or whatever it is you do over there."

He wasn't even paying attention to where he pointed. What was important was that he needed to see magic in action.

"S-sir? Are you sure? That's-"

"Now, Caillou. This is important." Roman's eyes narrowed. Then softened when he saw the kid flinch. "Look... Sorry if I'm not making any sense, but this is very important to my studies. Just... let's see it, okay?"

A hesitant nod came from the kid as he took a deep breath. After a few moments, the magician gripped his staff, his posture tense as he began the process of casting his spell or whatever. The effects were visible, and Roman could clearly see the magic power form around the kid. His frown deepened at this, the situation around him making less and less sense as he watched.

Finally, the spell completed, and Caillou unleashed a fireball into the prescribed direction. Roman's eyes followed, watching as the ball of pure magic flew through the air, a sensation that was completely foreign to him as it drew closer and closer to Red.

...Wait, what?

"Ow!" And as the familiar voice of Red rose up, Roman lost his train of thought, completely confused as to why she had been here of all places. The confusion remained plastered on his face as the girl turned around, her own expression a mixture of pain and upset irritation as she threw a glare. "Hey! What's the big ide-... Roman?"

"Did you say... Roman?" A second voice rose up. Any semblance of sense had disappeared.

Caillou, understandably, had been completely lost in the situation. Roman didn't blame him, since the kid had absolutely no idea who Red or her friend was. Red, too, had been taken by surprise, certainly not expecting to see him here. However, it was the remaining two people who were truly lost, as Roman turned his gaze towards the final person present, eyes wide as he stared at the red-haired girl.

"Is that... Cereal box?"

And the famous Pyrrha Nikos, four-time regional tournament champion of Mistral, stared back.