Chapter 12: The Crowned King of the Sewers

Part 2: Lunarfang

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(((Narrator)))

Piperat is a Grimm born of rat, typically of the skeever species.

At full transformation, it's form appears to be a humanoid rat similar to Beowolf.

It has the ability control any rat species through the soundwaves emitted from its vocal chords.

It is rated as high-end Rank 2 in terms of physical prowess, but it has the speed of a middling Rank 3.

Ruby was the fastest cadet in Rank 2 back when she was training in Beacon. Her speed however is regarded as near middling Rank 3 through the famed speed technique of the Rose family, Petal Burst.

It works through partially turning oneself into a mass of petals, which is unique to the Rose descendants. It was said that the progenitor of the Rose family was a Dryad, though whether it was true or not had long been lost through the annals of history. Fabled story aside, by transforming into a mass of petals and rapidly reforms back into the human form, Ruby Rose can rapidly accelerate and decelerate without being concerned about inertia.

However, her speed is only equal to the partially transformed Piperat.

As Soren has warned, a big scythe like hers is not ideal to be used in a cramped space like the sewer. She does not has enough room to build up the momentum that makes Crescent Rose deadly. She also has to be careful to not burst the steam pipes which will scald her in return.

'Should I resort to the sword?', she ponders. She had never wield a sword before, so it would be detrimental for her to use an one against the feral humanoid rat grimm.

But, I can't make full use of my scythe either.

Opting for the sword, she folded Crescent Rose back to compact form and unsheathed the short sword. It's a simple steel sword, nothing special about it whatsoever, but it'll do.

[Sword Aura]

Ruby's Sword Aura takes the characteristic of ethereal petals swirling around the blade. Velvet had explained that the form Sword Aura took has no actual effect whatsoever, but it do point out what kind of Mythic Arms that will suit them best.

Besides, the purpose of Sword Aura to increase the force of their strikes as well as fueling other Aura techniques.

With a swing of her sword, she send out a gust of Aura to the lunging Piperat. It was thrown across the sewer, but otherwise it is unharmed.

Ruby grins. She can get used to this.

)))))))))

Meanwhile, Jaune is having the battle of his lifetime. This is his third hunt and he began to see a pattern he did not like.

His Sword Aura took the form of white mist emanating from the blade. Perhaps because he is so much more lower in the Rank 2 spectrum, his Sword Aura is barely able to be emitted. Still, it do improve his strikes. He can easily cut through the skeevers like butter.

The problem was that there's just so much Skeevers to take down.

Jaune had long lost count of how many skeevers he had slain in the span of three minutes of combat. He was already exhausted from traversing the sewers while taking out skeevers along the way, but now he has to deal with the whole swarm.

Thank god for whoever the genius that invented gore-repellant spray. His sword is kept clean, keeping the edge sharp. Like water dripping through a waxed surface, blood and fat easily slide off his sword with each swing.

"Ruby, can you take down the rat already? I'm getting tired over here!"

Ruby and Piperat is stuck in a deadlock. Both just can't seem to damage one another. Ruby and him was already running low on Aura, and at this rate they will ended up get taken down from exhaustion.

But, we have to destroy the Piperat before it fully transformed.

Play it safe and let the Piperat loose, or make a gamble and hope they don't run out of power?

Ruby choose to make a gamble. She cannot slay the rat with just weaponplay. No, she need a big move, one that was taught by her father. A staple Aura attack move.

Ruby begin to charge up more Aura into her sword. Ethereal petals burst out of her sword as she charge up the attack.

"Jaune, when I unleash this, run for the manhole and get out!!"

"What?!!"

Having so time to explain, she rook a stance in which the Piperat took stock and lunge in crazed bloodlust.

Had it fully transformed and stabilized, it would have enough intellect to understand how much of a bad move that is. Unfortunately for the Piperat, it had yet to complete its transformation and is blinded by the pain of it.

[Lunarfang]

Ruby swing the sword point-blank and a red crescent of energy cut it in half. The energy wave cut through the steam pipes too, and had it not for Ruby had already sprinting for the manhole to get out the sewers, she would have been scalded to death by the steam explosion.

The city block quakes as steams burst out of the manholes.

(((Jaune)))

"Soren is going to kill us."

"Relax Jaune! He wouldn't actually kill us! I think."

The foggy city block fogged by the leaking steam says otherwise, Ruby.

Currently, we are under arrest for suspicion of act of terror. We had just done being grilled in the interrogation room and now sitting our ass in the lockup.

"For all it's worth, at least we killed the Piperat! That's something!"

Keep positive, Ruby. It's not like I'm dying of anxiety over here!

"Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, you just got bailed."

The officer unlock our lockups and release us. After filling up a bit of paperwork, we walk out of the police station.

Outside, Soren Coldforge awaits.

"How the flying fuck you explode the damn sewers?! I just send you to kill some rats! Not steam plumbing!"

Ruby cleared her throat. "Actually, there's a partially turned Piperat we encounter. In order to slay it, I have to use a big move."

"Yeah, I've read the police report. You flipping just shoot a Lunarfang in rhe damn sewer, for a fucking bipedal rat?"

Ruby nodded.

Soren pinched his nose.

"Your only job is to kill off some skeevers. Not Piperat! If you seen one you should have just dipped!"

Ruby was confused. "But we saved people from the threat of Piperat. If we let it loose, it will fully turn and summon a full horde to attack the city!"

"Yes, and that will be none of our concern. We don't work for free. What you should do is escape and report back to City Hall and let them deal with it."

"B…but that's wrong!"

Ruby stomped her foot in indignation. I keep my mouth shut, not wanting to get into this argument.

"If it was you, you will slay the Piperat too, contract or no contact. So what's wrong that I took it out anyway?!"

Soren crack his neck. Shit, he's really pissed off right now.

"If it was me I would kill it with just a simple stab to the head and bring back its partially-turned grimm carcass for a payday. You on the other hand caused an explosion! Who do you think has to cover the collateral damage fine, huh?!!"

Ruby was stunned, and then she slouched. Ah shit, she's in the doghouse now.

"Wake the fuck up, Ruby of House Rose! You're not a school kid anymore! You're now my employee and whatever crap you do will blowback to me! I'm flat broke now because of you!!"

She fidgeted. "Err… I'll pay it back…"

"Really? Coz you owe me 50000 Lien! Can you pay me now?!"

"50000?!!"

"You think you just cut some pipes? That Lunarfang of yours cut more than that! It hit a pillar of a building and it almost collapse! You're lucky no one died! I barely managed to negotiate you out of conviction!"

"S-sorry…"

"And you!", Soren now face me.

"ye..yes??"

"Why didn't you run?"

"…….", I don't know what to say. Honestly, I didn't think running is an option. Well we did thought to run until the rat turned further and start summoning all those skeevers. Trying to take it down right then and there seems like the right thing to do…

"I told you, you're not heroes! You're just doing a job! I did not clear any of you to do anything else. If that damned rat is anywhere closer to turning Grimm you two would have been skeevers chow now!"

Soren then take some papers and toss it to the ground. We flinched when he throws two pens to us.

"You will write 10 pages report of what you did, what you think you did at the time, what you think you should have instead did and why your decisions today are dumb as fuck! Then, you will submit it to Velvet, who will the assign you extra training! Now fuck off!"

Ruby and I picked up the papers and look up each other. We sighed.

))))))))))))))

Velvet read over our reports. She does not look amused.

"While I get what you did, you really should have just left the Piperat and report to the authorities."

Ruby however disagrees. "But we're already there and the rat hasn't fully turned! I just want to take it out without causing further damage."

Velvet sighed as she rubbed her temple. "Look Ruby, have you ever seen the city get swarmed by skeevers?"

"no…. In fact I never heard of them despite living there for four years."

"That's because the city has always been efficient in culling out skeevers. There are dedicated teams that hunt them down every season. Piperat appeared sometimes, about once in three years. You just had the bad luck that this one appeared even after they already dealt with one the year before."

Ruby went slack jawed. When Ruby hastily told me what Piperat is, it felt like it's a doomsday scenario, but in reality it was just…. Another job?

"Soren had even vouched himself to take one sector for you two to work in. He had to pay 10k to buy out the sector from the team that booked the sector for a day."

"10k?!!", I exclaimed! "But he said skeevers only pays 30cent a head."

Velvet sips her coffee. She mull over how to explain what she's going to say. I looked over to Ruby and for some reason she looked like she connected the dots.

"That's the pay we get if we worked outside the city, is it?", Ruby concluded.

As a Beaconite student, while she had not done official missions herself, she should be familiar enough to see how lavish the Hunter lifestyle is. It's very expensive to get into Hunter academies in the city, which was why I foolishly tried to apply for scholarships despite having no skills at all. By simple deduction, the fact that Hunter education is so expensive indicates that the profession wages must be lucrative.

"Lake Lullaby boast itself as being the best of the best. Quantity is a quality of its own, and with how scarce Drifters are, they're easily get cornered out of the market. Lake Lullaby introduced the certificates to legitimize their Hunters and they become the international standard. Over the several centuries of Lake Lullaby Hunter Program establishment, they had opened branches in all four Blue Zones and had pretty much take over as the main controller of the Hunting Market. Majority of monster products are under Lake Lullaby dominion."

I look over to Ruby. Then I look back to Velvet.

"Because Lake Lullaby took over the world's Hunting Market, they can raise their price, is that right?"

"Pretty much.", Velvet replied. "They turned Hunting into an industry. And to be honest, it does do the world some good. Lake Lullaby Hunters may not be as powerful as Drifters even on the same rank, but they are plenty. This allow them to cover many jobs which in turn stabilize many settlements in Yellow Zones and to an extent, Red Zones. More business, more money. Basic economy. Before you knew it, Hunting becomes one of the most lucrative profession in Remnant."

"But for some reason, Soren estimate the price for hunting skeevers low. Why?", Ruby now asking the real question.

"Because that's the rates a Drifter will get paid."

Ruby gasped.

"But I don't understand!? If Drifters is so much stronger than Hunters, then why did they get paid so much lower?"

"It's because of the Hunter License, is it?", I concluded.

Velvet nodded.

"when Lake Lullaby become a brand, it become the trusted standard. Settlements pays good money for Hunters licensed by Lake Lullaby as it is the trusted brand. The only brand that matters. Drifters on the other hand are old relics that had been mostly forgotten. You guys wont get a job in any major settlements, not unless Soren was called personally by mayors that know the old ways. The route Soren will took you are routes that go through settlements that's far away from the cities and could never afford to pay for Hunter teams to deal with their monster problems."

Velvet then stood up from the sofa in her office and go to a cabinet, she bring out a folder. When she open it on the coffee table, we saw the folder contains several old papers. Quest Notifications.

"This bring back old memories. When Soren begin his first solo Drifting at 12 years old, he starts to collect his Quest notes, but then he quickly lose interest. Still, he kept this for memories."

I look over the Quests Notes. I remember seeing some at my own village on the bulletin board by the tavern.

The papers read some problems the locals are having. They don't even know what monsters prowling around their home. The pay offer range over 100 to 300. Never more.

"I can't believe this. The quest offers at the Commissions Center put up rewards that is 1000 at the lowest for the easiest job. From the description of what the villagers witnessed, these are signs of some really bad monsters. Just look at this, Jaune!"

At the back of the Quest Notes, there's a summary of what I assume was Soren's end of investigation.

So I saw this quest and figure, fresh graves getting robbed and the corpses are missing? Must be ghouls. I talked to the village chief and settled the price for 235 Lien. Stingy bastard. Anyway, I waited for the night and there's three ghouls! Damn, my first Quest solo and its three ghouls! With my silver sword, I manage to take them all out, but one of them managed to bite my arm. The necrotizing venom fucking sucks. I was barely holding my pain as I take my pay from the chief then I run to the local healer. I got paid 235 and proceed to lose 500 just to buy the ghoul antidote. Next time, just fucking dodge, Soren.

"A ghoul quest can go 5k minimum for just one ghoul. Here he had to haggle for the extra 35 Lien to the 200Lien intial offer and then lose 500 just to cure the venom. How can someone like him live with this underpaid wages? If Soren becomes a licensed Hunter, he could be a top earner with his skills!", Ruby commented.

"That's just how it is, Ruby. Small villages don't have much money. I know this, I came from one afterall.", I replied to her. "Besides, I don't think Soren cared much for money anyway."

Afterall, this is the guy that took over Oldtown for the price of 3.65 Lien. Knowing him, he's just taking whatever pay he gets as mere courtesy.

"That's right. Drifter Clans has different Creeds. For Coldforges, the Quest is simply pretext to initiate their hunt. It'll be less hassle for them if they make Quest contracts so that the villagers doesn't get panicked over random people starting killing monsters and criminals around them. Sky really only started collecting money for real about 2 years ago, which he just go around robbing bandit camps and take their loot. He really wants to get his own zeppelin."

"Urghh…", Ruby grabbed her tummy. "Now I'm feeling more bad! It's already hard enough for him to make money and I just get him broke with fines!"

I patted Ruby on the back.

"We'll pay it back somehow."

"It's 50k Jaune! 50k! And Drifters get paid with might as well be pennies!"

"There there."

(((Soren)))

The Beacon Academy looks as gaudy as I remember from the original animation.

I have zero idea why Beacon is now situated at Lake Lullaby. Lake Lullaby, which I guess is somekind of Lake Michigan ripoff is so effing big you may as well just call it a freshwater sea. The lake is situated near east coast of Sanus as opposed to Vale that is on the west coast. Jus to keep in mind, Vacuo is the actual West Sanus and situated near east coast of West Sanus.

Fucking confusing continent. Don't even get me started with the dragon continent and the nightmare that is trying to make sense how to divide Anima into different asian regions.

"It's you again."

Ah, its Glynda.

Man, her boobs are so fucking big. Those poor buttons, man.

"My eyes are up here."

"I know. I just think your tits to be much more interesting to look at than your resting bitch face."

"Mr Coldforge!"

"Yea yea whatever, sexual harassment is bad. Anyway, is the old man in?"

"Professor Ozpin is busy with a video conference."

"So he's in. A'ight."

I kicked the door open like a yakuza, much to Glynda's chagrin.

"Ah, Soren Coldforge. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit this time."

Ozpin is probably conferencing with some bigshot minister in Vale, but I really couldn't give a ratass right now.

So I grabbed the powerplug and tore it off. Adults need to talk.

"Now Dickless, can you tell me why the hell a Piperat appears in the very sector Ruby Rose was working in when there's already a Piperat occurrence happened last year?"

Ozpin just lean into his stupidly tall chair. Stupid dickless lich overcompensating. Play stupid game, get stupid price. You didn't think becoming an undead wizard will turn you dickless skeleton, are you?

"Fluke happens from time to time."

"Bullshit. Grimm Seed takes time to accumulate and transform animals. Piperat always appears in three years like clockwork. The only way that Piperat could appear is if you planted one."

The lich shrugs. "As I said, it's just an accident."

"Sure, keep talking like that."

I draw my sword and unleash a Lunarfang right of the bar, cutting Ozpin and the wall of gears behind him.

"Coldforge!", Glunda raise her wand, preparing to blast me with curses.

"Relax.", I shrugged, sword still in hand. "Its not like its his real body."

"I would like for you to not destroy my bodies like last time."

Ozpin, now controlling a simple wooden doll which he kept on his desk, spoke to me.

I just loosely pointed my sword at him, giving Glynda a 'see, I told ya' look to her.

"I see your father has passed down the Foul End to you." He examined my sword. "Dreadful weapon."

I sheath the sword back in.

"Consider this a warning shot, Ozpin. Ruby Rose is under my umbrella now, so you can keep your stupid master guru thing for yourself. Next time you pull bullshit like this again, well, the Crown is the most useless of the four. I think we can all be fine with just having the other three relics to anchor your soul."

Ozpin in his wooden dull body just shrugs. I snorted.

The wooden doll bow. Then, I began to leave the office... Sorry Glynda, looks like you gonna have fix everything again.

"Please refrain from causing property damage next time." Glynda warns me venomously.

"No guarantees~"

(((Glynda Goodwitch)))

"Why do you keep letting that child get away with insulting you every time? Every single time he insults you, vandalize your office and maimed your body. Why do you keep letting Soren Coldforge get away with this much disrespect?"

The wooden doll sat at the edge of the table, its lifelike movement unnerves Glynda.

"Coldforges are always a bit twitchy in their teen years. He'll mellow down in a few years. Besides, I am immortal. I have spare bodies to transfer my consciousness.", Ozpin answered calmly.

"I found it arrogant that the child who is only a middling Rank 3 dare to challenge a Rank 5 being like you every time."

Ozpin chuckles breathlessly.

"a predator is not necessarily stronger than its prey. Take a lion and a cape buffalo for example."

"Lion? Buffalo?" Glynda arched an eyebrow over the unfamiliar names.

"Never mind. The point being was Soren knows he is far weaker than me. It doesn't stop him from perceiveling me as prey. One slip up and his blade will be at my neck."

"Shouldn't you bar him from seeing you, then?"

Ozpin snorted, which is weird because dolls don't t have lungs. "Fortunately, Glynda, there is a pact that ensure us to be in a working relationship. Regardless of his personal feelings, Soren Coldforge cannot harm me in real meaningful way without a just cause."

"I don't know about this, Ozpin. Rasler Colforge does not like you either but he isn't even a quarter as trigger happy like his own son."

"Again, no worries, Glynda.", if the wooden doll has a face, he would smirk. "As long as the Seven Wesen remains, Coldforges can not ever truly destroy me."