A week has passed since the incident in the Forever Fall Forest. The classes continued as usual, except maybe for the combat class, which was harsher. Professor Goodwitch felt that Cardin's death was her fault, making her change how she carries herself in the classes. This slight change made her look as if the previous version of the professor was the sweet one.
On the weekend, two members of the NCCL team decided to go to the city. Neia and CZ wanted to buy Dust for use in their weapons. Neia wanted to implement them in her arrows and CZ on her bullets. They were told that the Dust shops could also sell the bullets embedded with Dust already, it is more expensive than doing it yourself, but none of them have experience doing it.
Neia wanted to buy Dust and then experiment with doing her own 'enchanted arrows.' Although she was not a paladin, she was able to learn to enchant her weapon. Unlike normal paladins, who can enchant only their swords, Neia was able to enchant bows and arrows.
For Neia, learning new ways to use her arrows became vital so she could show Ainz-sama that she was giving her all to learn and help the people of this land. Especially now that she is part of a school in which she should be given the opportunity to train better in this new style.
Lupusregina wanted to be part of their visit to the city, and they did not want to leave Clementine alone, so this ended up becoming a team activity.
Inside an Airship Team NCCL took to transport to the city was Neia, who stood close to the window, still amazed about the transportation machinery.
"I don't see what's the big fuss. It's just like any ship", said Lupusregina nonchalantly.
"I know that for a citizen of the Sorcerer Kingdom, this will be nothing... You have that ship that navigates through the earth using fog as if it were water. But navigating through the earth and navigating to the air is completely different.." Neia turned to look outside the ship. "Maybe if I knew the spell fly, or if I could fly over the Dragons you have, I would be accustomed to it. But I haven't done any of them". Neia looked away, thinking of her father's tales when he used to go on adventures beyond the Holly Kingdom. She never thought of going on adventures, but again, the great King, Ainz Ooal Gown, has fulfilled another dream she didn't know she had.
CZ2128 patted Neia's back, "Oh, poor kouhai. Here." Chizu then decided to add a thumbs-up sticker on Neia's forehead.
When the airship finally touched the ground, team NCCL started walking to their destination, a Dust shop close to the docks. It was a long walk for the standards of a citizen, but for an ex-squirt, two NPCs created by the Supremes, and ex-black Scripture, the distance was not much. On their way, they saw how different stores were getting ready for the festival.
Neia wondered about how the lands celebrate their festivals. All she knew was that the festival was dedicated to the war's end with the other kingdoms and that a tournament was one of the most important activities of the whole festival. She wondered if the tournament would be any different from the Grand Combat Tournament from the Baharuth Empire.
After walking a little longer, they finally arrived at the Dust shop, but unfortunately, once they arrived, the shop was cordoned off by police. Neia looked at the shop and saw the store's crystals were broken, and the place was empty, showing only broken shelves.
"Uah, What bad luck," said Neia. She was planning to leave, but then a familiar voice spoke.
"What happened here?" asked a short-haired girl. One officer got close and replied, "Robery. Is the second dust shot hit this week".
Neia looked at the girls who asked the question, "They seem familiar."
"They are team RWBY," replied Chizu with her usual monotony, and then she continued her reply while pointing at them. "From left to right, Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Blake Belladonna. Lead by Ruby, the youngest student in the Academy."
The Detectives were still talking with each other, "They left all the money again." "It doesn't make sense, Who needs that much Dust?" "I don't know, an army?" "You thinking the White Fang?" "I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."
Weiss crossed her arms when she heard the culprit may be the White Fang, "Hmph! The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates!"
Blake frowned at the comment, "What's your problem?"
Weiss turned to Blake, "My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."
"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided Faunus," Blake defended the White Fang; in her mind, she was conflicted about her own words, as she does not have a love for the current White Fang, but she could not stand the racist comments against Faunus.
"Misguided?" Weiss was getting angry and stepped closer to Blake. "They want to wipe Humanity off the face of the planet!"
"So, then they're very misguided." Blake was about to continue when a hand touched her shoulder and made her remember that she was in public.
Lupusregina appeared behind Blake with a smile, "Hey there, kitty! Don't be with that cat-itude. Your friend was talking only about the White Fang, not about all the faunus. Correct?"
Weiss wanted to say more but saw the brown-skinned girl, "of course."
"Besides, didn't you tell me almost the same the other day? From piece protest to how they attack innocent people", said Lupusregina.
Neia then stepped up. "She did comment to us about that. Thank you for trying to guide one of our team members", said Neia with a nod.
Blake was slightly surprised by the approach, "It was nothing."
Weiss put her hands on her hips. "So you think like me about the White Faunus?" asked the Schnee heiress to Lupusregina.
"I don't give them too much of my thought, to be honest. And obviously, I don't think bad about the faunus", said Lupusregina, pointing at her head.
Weiss looked at the hat with the protuberance that looked like an animal's ears. She had already heard that she was a Faunus, but she had never had confirmation of it until now, "of course, I am referring to the White Fang. They recruit only the scum they can find."
"Hey, Stop that faunus!" yelled someone inside a ship. The girls turned and saw a brown-skinned monkey faunus man. His shirt was unbuttoned, showing his torso; he was also wearing demi jeans and had short blonde hair.
Neia, Chizu, and a reluctant Clementine went closer to the dock's stairs. Meanwhile, Lupusregina moved with Team RWBY to the edge of the docks' rails.
"Chizu, could you make a warning shot?" asked Neia. CZ2128 nodded and took her rifle. To Neia's relief, no one saw CZ while using her magic to take the weapon.
The monkey faunus man ran and then jumped out of the ship with a banana in hand; he jumped over a lamp and hung upside down using his tail.
"You no-good stowaway!" yelled the man from the ship again.
Chizu followed everything with her gaze, and when the monkey faunus was about to eat his banana, she shot. The bullet went and clashed with the lamp, very close to the tail, making the faunus man flinch and fall. He landed on his feet and started to run again. The detectives of the robbery were already there, but the faunus man only jumped and used the head of one of the detectives to jump higher. He ran in the direction of team RWBY, and he got distracted first by a Blake Belladonna face, but then he was captivated by the beauty of the brown-skinned redhead girl. He was so entranced by Lupusregina's beauty that he never heard a person yelling, 'Stop him,' nor did he see Lupusregina's forearm coming his way. He only knew that he was looking at the girl at one moment, and in the next, he was looking at the sky.
The police arrived, sat over the faunus man, and put him in handcuffs.
"Well done, girl. Thank you!" said the officer. Lupusregina smiled and put her hands on her hips.
"Hey, I just took some bananas!" said the monkey faunus.
Neia and the rest of the NCCL team got close. It was the shorter of the group, CZ, who got close and tiptoed to caress Lupusregina's head, "Good job."
Lupusregina lowered her head a little and smiled, "Thank you, sis."
Team RWBY couldn't do anything but be surprised at the words, "SIS?! You are sisters?". Lupusregina and CZ2128 turned to them and only nodded.
"Anyway," said Weiss to change the subject. "Thankfully, that rapscallion was stopped. But I doubt he has to do with the store."
Neia got interested in the subject, "Do you know something, team RWBY?"
"Not much", answered Ruby. "Just that they took only took the Dust, leaving the money behind."
"It has to be the White Fang. Which other criminal organization has any reason to have gun power?" Weiss said, crossing her arms.
Blake frowned, but it was Ruby who answered, "I don't know. Maybe it was that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago. What do you say, emm... Nelly"" Neia", Yang corrected her sister.
"Yes, Neia, what do you think?" corrected Ruby embarrassed.
"ME? I-I don't know", said Neia, a little nervous about being the center of attention so suddenly about a subject in which she is not well versed. She saw the other girls, except for Clementine, looking at her. She coughed and then answered, "Well, these are the possibilities that come to mind with just what you have told me. It is possible that this White Fang is using Dust to have better weaponry."
Weiss smiled, but then Neia continued. "Another reason would be that the Dusts industries are doing behind the scenes. That way, the price would go up due to the shortage, and the robbers can re-sell the Dust to the villages at the price they wanted, especially to those villages that are far from the city."
Blake was now with her arms crossed, with a smirk and an eyebrow up. Meanwhile, Weiss was frowning. Neia continued, "I doubt the White Fang would be working alongside the Dust companies, but maybe they are trying a more economical approach? I don't know, it's still unlikely, but not... impossible." Neia trailed off when she saw Blake and Weiss.
Blake and Weiss left the place fuming, and then Yang spoke, "You know that she is Weiss Schnee, right. Heiress of the Schnee company?"
"Is-is that right? I thought that she just shared the last name. I apologize if I offended your teammates," said Neia.
"Don't sweat it; we asked you for your opinion, after all," Yang replied with an awkward smile.
/****/
"I can't believe it!" exclaimed Nora, a little too loud.
"It's true. I was there when that happened", said Yang.
"Yeah, I was also surprised," continued Ruby. "They don't look like sisters."
"I don't know, they look more alike than you do as sisters," said Jaune nonchalantly. Yang and Ruby frowned and stood in front of him. Team JNPR was in Team RWBY's room.
"Explain," said the sisters at the same time. Pyrrha tried to stand between the girls and Jaune to protect him from the sisters' ire.
"We-Well, both are redhead. While you don't share anything in your appearance, nor your hair, eyes, height, or skin color", said Jaune, trying to look away.
"What about their front? Those big titties are gonna make someone happy!" said a voice from the door. When everyone turned to the source of the voice, they saw Lupusregina. "Hello! I wanted to check on you all".
Ruby touched her breast with a quizzical look, "I mean. I guess someday they will make them happy". Everyone turned to see Ruby still touching her breasts and her sister with a full red face, almost as red as Jaune, who was still in front of Ruby.
"What are you watching?!" yelled Yang at Jaune and slapped him in the face.
"But I don't think I won't be a mother anytime soon," said Ruby, paying only attention to her breast.
"Mo-mother?" asked Yang.
"Yeah, you know, to breastfeed," replied Ruby.
"Oh! Of course. My future nephews are going to be happy while eating. Yes-yes, that's it", said Yang relieved.
"Anyway, What's up, Lupusregina?" said Ruby.
"Call me Lupu, Ruby-chan," said the Pleiade.
"Ok, Lupu. It's good that you are here. We were talking about", "about what your leader said," Yang interrupted her little sister, still with somehow a red face.
"Yes. Well, like she said, she was speculating, but even in all her speculation, she always thought that the White Fang were a bunch of criminals", Weiss said right away.
Ruby facepalmed, "Not again." And then turned to see her sister with a frown. Yang smiled sheepishly.
"They are not. They are trying to do what is right!" Blake shouted.
"Killing, kidnapping, and destroying places is what is right?!" Weiss yelled louder.
"Why do you think the White Fang took drastic measures? It's because of people like Cardin and people like you!" Blake countered.
"People like me?"
"You're discriminatory!"
"I am a Victim," Weiss yelled with all her lungs. Blake flinched a little as she remembered what Weiss had told Ruby at Cardin's memorial. The rest of the people inside the room also went silent, while the room had a tense atmosphere.
Weiss narrowed her eyes and locked them with Blake, "My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, every day, my father would come home furious. Entire train cars full of Dust, stolen." She stepped closer to Blake, who stepped back, "I've watched board members executed, friends disappear, family dead! And that made for a very difficult childhood".
Ruby approached Weiss, but she walked before Blake, "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"
Blake got angry at being yelled in the face, "Well, maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized her mistake. She stepped back and then ran away.
The place went silent. Until Lupusregina commented, "Well, the cat is out of the bag."
"Wait, you knew?" asked Yang.
Lupusregina nodded, "Uh-huh." Then the pleiade pointed at her nose, "I could smell it."
There was silence in the room. No one knew what to say at the moment until Nora spoke, "So, Jaune. How many kids do you think Pyrrha could feed?"
"What? Pyrrha?" asked Jaune, and he couldn't resist but look at the said girl and directly at her breast.
Pyrrha's face turned red, and although she wanted to resist the shame, she couldn't. "Stop looking," yelled Pyrrha and then slapped Jaune. The second Jaune was slapped, his aura broke, and the red-haired girl went directly to apologize.
Lupusregina got close to Nora, both smirking at each other, and their fists bumped.
Meanwhile, Weiss was fed up and getting annoyed with team JNPR's stupidity. She felt betrayed and angry. Yang appreciated Nora's effort to ease the moment, while Ruby was worried about Weiss and Blake.
/****/
Team RWBY, except for Blake, were about to leave the school the next day when team NCCL stopped them. Neia stood in front of Weiss, "Hi. I wanted to offer an apology for my comments from yesterday. My intention was not to offend you".
Weiss frowned and then sighed, "No need. We ask you for your opinion, and it is refreshing to hear someone's true view and not another false praise or hateful comment."
Neia nodded and then turned to Ruby, "Lupu told me what happened yesterday. Are you on your way to find your teammate?"
"Yes. If you could help us, we would appreciate it", said Ruby.
"Of course," said Neia while nodding. Clementine tsked, but nobody noticed it.
The two teams traveled to the city and separated into two groups. They suggested meeting back at the airport before the last airship trip back to the Academy, and if they found Blake, they would call themselves via scroll.
The teams were one with Lupusregina, Clementine, Yang, and Weiss. The other team was Neia, CZ, and Ruby.
Clementine was walking behind the other three girls. She was wearing again her black cloak and only looking at the sides. Yang was the only one yelling, "Blake!".
Yang turned to the other girls, "Guys, please, you are not helping."
"I got it, Yang-chii. I'll help you find your friend", said Lupusregina.
"Do you have anything that can help us? Maybe with your nose?" asked Yang.
"Now-now, wasn't Weiss here the discriminatory one?" said the pleiade.
"Sorry. I wasn't trying to offend you."
"No worries," said Lupusregina with a cheeky smile.
"So," now was Weiss who spoke. "What do you have in mind that makes you so confident?"
"I know places to gather information. That is why we are going there!" Lupusregina then pointed at the building behind her.
"A tea shop?" asked Yang, confused.
"What? No, the next one", corrected the pleiade, and the building behind was a bar, which was strangely open early.
/*******/
Meanwhile, Ruby, Neia, and CZ2128 were walking down the street. Neia and Ruby were calling for Blake while CZ was looking around.
"Ahmm. Chizu, right?" asked Ruby, turning to CZ2128 while walking backward. CZ nodded, and Ruby continued, "Would you help us?"
CZ nodded, "Of course, I am helping, but I believe that yelling the name of a person who does not want to be found will be contra-productive."
Ruby scratched her head, "I guess you are right. What do you suggest we should do?"
"I believed we should go to the most likely places she would go. I suggest going to a Neko-Coffee", answered CZ2128.
"Neko Coffee?" asked Ruby, confused with the term.
"Yes. It's a coffee shop where you can pet cats. The place normally adopts stray cats. Maybe she was adopted there", answered CZ.
Neia smiled awkwardly, "I am sorry for that."
"Don't worry. But she may be correct, we should go and search in the places she most likely be", answered Ruby, and she started to think. "Oh, I know where," said Ruby and started to run; she turned to the closest corner, and suddenly she felt she hit a wall.
Neia rushed to see what happened and saw Ruby on the floor, over an orange-haired girl. Ruby opened her eyes and saw the big green eyes of a girl. She jumped and stood up right away, "Sorry I bumped into you. Are you all right?"
"No problem and I feel wonderful today. Thank you for asking", said the girl, still lying on the ground. Ruby extended her hand to help her stand up. The strange girl took it and finally stood up. Then Ruby murmured, "Why are you that heavy?"
"Did you say something?" asked the orange-haired girl.
"No, It was nothing," said Ruby.
"Very well. My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you", said the strange girl.
"Ruby", "Neia", "Chizu".
"It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise", said Neia.
"Sorry again for running into you. And take care, friend", said Ruby, trying to leave.
Neia and CZ nodded slightly and then walked behind Ruby. Suddenly, Penny appeared in front of the girls again, "How did you call me?"
"What? I-I I don't know", Ruby stuttered nervously.
"You called me friend. Am I really your friend?" asked Penny.
Ruby turned to Neia and Chizu, who did not reply to her gaze. The red-hooded girl only smiled awkwardly, "Sure, why not?".
"Sensational!" yelled Penny." We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"
Ruby stepped back and murmured, "Now I understand Weiss."
/*****/
Inside the bar were Clementine and Weiss, looking with disgust at how Lupusregina and Yang were getting drunk.
"It's still early evening, and they are already getting drunk," said Weiss. "Should we leave them in their own peril?"
Clementine was kin to do it, but then she shuddered at the thought of the undead who killed her. She shook her head, "Someone has to take them back." Weiss nodded at that answer.
Weiss wanted to walk outside the bar but stopped. She wondered where she should go, what she should do. The White Fang seems to have taken another person from her, and she does not want that to happen again.
Weiss saw the disgusting display of Yang drinking another jar of alcohol, already dizzy, while Lupusregina looked sober and smiling.
She wondered for a moment, was she angry about her being an ex-White Fang? To her surprise, that was not really the problem. Of course, she would have loved not having anyone from that group close to her, but it is good that Blake had left that horrible group, which means that she was able to see how horrible those people are.
Weiss sighed deeply while in her thoughts. She expected that to be a team leader, but she was not. She expected to have the trust of her teammates, and it seems that she didn't have it. That was the problem. She wanted a perfect team, but it seems that right now, her team is falling apart.
"So, Blake is your friend?" asked Penny, walking backward in front of Ruby and the others.
Ruby sighed, "Yes, Penny. She is."
"But you are mad at her?" asked again the newcomer.
"We aren't. Another teammate is", replied Ruby.
Penny looked confused, "Is she friends with Blake?"
"Well, that's kind of up in the air right now..." sounded defeated.
Penny could not understand or didn't catch Ruby's humor and asked, "But why?"
Ruby gave up and answered after a sigh, "Well, you see, Blake might not be who we thought she was..."
Penny gasped with her hands on her mouth, "is she a man?"
"No! No, Penny. She's... I don't know what she is. She didn't exactly talk to us before she decided to run off," Ruby said sadly.
"She is a female cat faunus. Although she may not want you to divulge the information", said CZ.
"That she is female?" asked Penny.
"A Female Cat Faunus," replied Chizu.
"Got it!" replied Penny with a smile. "I don't have a lot of friends, but if I did, I would want them to talk to me about things."
"Sometimes hatred and fear cloud your vision when real help is in front of you," said Neia while remembering Custodio, the Paladin who could not see the greatness of his Majesty.
Ruby looked at Neia and nodded, thinking about the words. Clearly, the subjects around Faunus will be a difficult one, more so if Blake decides to enter that extremist group at one point. "I only hope she is all right."
/****/
The bar was full of customers, and almost all of them were on one side, cheering at the redhead braided girl. Yang was coming from the bathroom, "damn, that girl seems immune to alcohol. If I continued at her peace, I would have ended with an alcoholic congestion."
"It's good to know that you know your limits," said Weiss, still sitting with Clementine. Both were eating a small plate of food. The only that is offered in the bar.
"What's up?" said Lupusregina, suddenly scaring Yang and Weiss.
"You finish?" asked Clementine.
"Yup!" said Lupusregina proudly. "A worker from the docks says that he saw a girl like Blake with a monkey Faunus. He thought that they were in an after-date action, so he left them to be".
"Argh! She was on a date?!" asked Weiss, angry.
"Easy. She said that that's what it looks like. We could go and check them", said Yang.
"Sure. Let's just pay," Weiss was stopped by Lupusregina. "About that... The man there will pay," he said, pointing at a tall man with big sideburns. "He bet against me."
Weiss nodded, "Very well. We better leave, then".
"I feel bad for that man," said Yang.
An explosion happened while Ruby, Neia, CZ, and Penny were walking back to the airship. Ruby and Neia reacted similarly and decided to check what had happened, and behind were CZ2128 and Penny.
Ruby used her semblance to jump over the ceiling of the building while Neia was helped by CZ to get to that point.
Ruby got closer to the edge and saw Blake and the monkey faunus fighting against the White fang and someone she recognized personally. "Hey! I know him," yelled Ruby.
Neia got closer, "who?"
"Hello, Red. Isn't it past your bedtime?" asked a redhead man wearing a white trench coat.
"The one with the white trench coat and the cane. He is Roman Torchwick, a criminal", Ruby replied and turned to Neia. Roman used that moment to shoot at her. Fortunately, Neia reacted on time and pushed her. The shot passed close to both Neia and Ruby, but it didn't hit anything.
"Chizu, cover us!" screamed Neia. The Pleiade nodded and suddenly disappeared.
Penny narrowed her eyes and got close to the edge of the building. "Penny, go back, it's dangerous!" screamed Ruby.
Penny smiled at her, "Don't worry, Ruby, my friend. I'm combat-ready!". From the backpack that Penny was wearing, multiple swords appeared and started to float, and suddenly, they were thrown at the white Fang members.
Penny jumped down the building and used her swords as a shield to attack a group of White Fang members. Then another group appeared from behind, but a series of gunshots were heard and stopped them.
More White Fang appeared, but this time, a glyph under them stopped them, and suddenly, two blonde girls appeared, Yang and Clementine. Both attacked the white fang and knocked them out with just one blow.
Yang was punching the guys directly in their stomachs and heads, aiming to knock them all. Meanwhile, Clementine had another plan. She was told that she should stop the beastmen, or "Faunus," as they call them. Thus she did, by running with her stilettos in hand and thrusting them in the beastmen legs and spines, rendering them completely disabled. Clementine will later say to Neia that she wanted to know if aura could cure them from that kind of injury.
While Weiss was with her weapon buried in the floor to maintain the glyph, she asked Lupusregina to go and check on their leaders. Lupusregina nodded and ran to Neia.
A couple of airships appeared, and this time, it was Neia who shot an arrow at the airship with a robe attached to it. Next to Neia was Lupusregina, who grabbed the robe and pulled it; suddenly, a green light cut the airship in half, making it go down and fall to the waters behind.
Ruby was amazed when looking at everything.
At the other side of the docks was Roman. "These kids just keep getting weirder," said the thief before entering the airship to escape.
Another airship was about to escape with a cargo, but a glyph appeared under it, and Yang broke the door open and got inside, beating up the pilot.
Unfortunately for them, they could not stop all the ships, and some of them escaped. And after a few seconds, the sounds of the police sirens finally were heard.
Blake turned to see the others, and her gaze froze at Weiss, who was looking back at her. Blake was about to say something, but the lights of the police stopped them.
No one noticed that Clementine had come from an alleyway while saving her stilettos.
After an hour of talking with the police about what happened, team NCCL walked back to the airship to go back to school. Team RWBY followed behind.
"Chizu," said Neia finally. "I'll write a report. Do you mind checking and sending it afterward? Maybe you can help me add things that I have missed." CZ nodded.
"Oh. I think I also have things to add to that report," said Clementine with a wicked smile.
End of Volume 1.