The good news is that the weapons smith at the shop loves the idea, and is more than willing to do the work on Jaune's sword and shield. And he thinks he can get it done it enough time so that they won't have to delay their journey to Haven.
The bad news is that it won't come cheap. That's to be expected for a craftsman who does high quality work, but it doesn't mean that they're suddenly rolling in money and can afford the smithing job. There's no way that they can pay for the upgrades and still afford necessities like food and supplies, not with the money that they currently have.
Not for the first time Ruby wishes that Signal Academy had taught more advanced classes on weapons forging. If she had more confidence in her own skills she'd offer to try to do the work herself, but it's way too far out of her league for her to feel comfortable even trying.
"It's okay, guys," Jaune says, trying to seem cheerful. "My sword and shield are just fine as they are. I don't need to have the work done. It's more important that we keep that money so we can buy the stuff we need to get to Haven."
"But Jaune," Nora protests. "We all know how important this is to you."
Next to her, Ren nods. "There must be a way we can come up with the money."
They all sit for a moment in contemplative silence. How can they possibly come up with the money they need on such short notice?
"The boards!" Ruby exclaims suddenly, making them all jump. "The mission boards," she explains, when the others look at her in confusion. "We've taken jobs from them before, remember? Maybe there's something on one of them that will pay enough for us to get supplies and get the upgrades for Jaune."
"Great idea, Ruby!" Nora cheers, tacking Ruby with a hug. Ren nods his approval.
"I guess it's worth a shot," Jaune says, looking slightly more hopeful at the suggestion.
They split up to check the boards throughout the town. Ruby scans the assignments in front of her, looking for one that will pay well enough for them to afford everything they need. Unfortunately, it looks like there's slim pickings available. Even if they took every available mission, the total they'd earn still wouldn't be enough. She's about to give up and go see if the others have had any luck when something catches her eye.
"Look what I found!" Ruby pulls up the mission that caught her eye on her scroll to let the others see it. "Just one Grimm to take out, and it pays more than what we need to cover everything."
"It's hard to believe that they're willing to pay this much for us to take down one Grimm," Jaune muses.
"Don't question it!" Nora scolds him. "This is perfect."
"I've never heard of a Geist before," Ren chimes in, ignoring Nora's protests. "We should probably figure out what we're up against before we accept the mission."
"It's a type of Grimm that can possess and control objects around it," Ruby explains. She immediately regrets it when the other three stare at her again. It feels like all the times she spoke up in class back at Signal or tried to help her classmates, only to realize that they had no interest in her beyond what she could do for them.
"That's right, I'd forgotten what those were. It's been a while," Ren replies. "Thanks, Ruby."
But Ruby isn't at Signal anymore. And she has real friends now.
"I don't think we've ever fought one of those before," Jaune says, sounding uncertain. "Are you sure the four of us can take on something like that?"
"I'm not sure," Ren admits. He turns to Ruby. "You're the one who knows the most about this Grimm. Do you think we'll be able to do this?"
"Of course!" Ruby replies, shoving aside her own doubts. They need to do this. Jaune needs them to take this mission. Plus, she's with three Beacon-trained hunters. What could possibly go wrong?
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