Ozpin POV
Well, this was certainly interesting.
And I'm happy that Qrow is out on a mission right now.
I feel like he would be insufferable.
James, Glynda, and I were still reviewing the footage from the fight. How many times have we watched it start to finish at this point? I seem to have lost count, not that it mattered.
It finally ended for the umpteenth time, and neither of them asked to replay it again.
I took a sip of my coffee, extra strong. With how much work the festival planning has been, I'm afraid that if I stop drinking it, I'll fall over in exhaustion.
"Perhaps we should inform Miss Nikos to not use her new…move on the other students." I broke the silence.
"Oz, I'm fairly sure that she's capable of shooting one of my battleships out of the sky." James looked at me. "That's not the kind of thing that can be left in the hands of a student."
"What are you saying, James?" Glynda put her hands on her hips.
"I'm saying that maybe you should encourage her to transfer to Atlas so it can be properly observed."
"That's entirely Miss Nikos's prerogative, James." I set my cup down. "And as you saw from the video, she quite thoroughly rejected Miss Schnee when she also offered."
Though, I could understand his concern.
That was certainly…strong.
It pierced through the reinforced Beacon Walls like they were paper.
"Oz, that's a damn railgun! In the hands of a child!" James slapped the table.
"Like you aren't working on similar weapons, James." Glynda glowered.
"And they're all failures, Glynda." James snorted.
"Really?" I sat up straighter.
He let out a sigh. "It's not that there hasn't been progress. The concept of a railgun has existed for…decades. But we don't have the technology—the materials—to handle the stress."
I hummed thoughtfully. "Miss Nikos seemed to have no trouble."
"Her Semblance, Oz." James waved it away. "It forgoes the need for strong materials to handle the stress of the magnetic force. Which is exactly my concern! Oz, she literally only needs a semi-sturdy piece of metal, and she can take down ships from miles away!"
"Then we're lucky that she has a strong sense of justice and wouldn't do such a heinous thing." I responded politely.
"She clearly has reprimanded Mr. Schweinorg on every occasion where he was cavalier about his less-than-legal activities." Glynda agreed.
"That's…" James frowned. "He could become a bad influence on her. We should keep them separate."
"Or she could be a good influence on him," I retorted. "And besides, James, we're not actually capable of keeping him away if he really wanted."
"Magic bullshit," James scoffed.
"Mr. Schweinorg, despite our...butting heads on various things, has been amicable as well. It's not a good idea to poke at the flimsy relations we've developed for paranoia."
"It's my job to be paranoid, Oz." James crossed his arms. "I have to observe every threat and make plans for the worst case."
I couldn't deny that either.
Despite our differences in opinions on a lot of things, I had him as a close confidant for a reason. James complemented my optimism with his own pragmatism.
There have been times where my viewpoint has won out, and there have been times where his planning and preparations for the worst have saved our behinds.
"It's my fault," James grunted. "I hadn't considered the full possibility of her Semblance. We've had it on file for years, and we've never marked it down. If I had taken more steps, we could have had her going to Atlas."
I smiled wryly. "You're not wrong to be cautious about the possibilities of Semblances, James. They're named so for a good reason. To be a semblance of magic, they can reach heights that may surprise you."
I knew that James was already mentally planning his new orders to start databasing known Semblances. Perhaps to get a think tank going on their possible threats if taken to the extreme.
"If you observed her aura levels, it appears that it took Miss Nikos a substantial amount of her reserves to perform such a feat. Even if she refined her 'technique,' I would be surprised if she could do it more than a few times before she couldn't even stand." Glynda added.
"Small mercies." James let out a breath. "I can't even think about how we would contain her in the off chance that she was arrested for a crime. All our holding cells are metal; we'd have to develop a cage specially for her that's non-magnetic and that blocks her magnetism from reaching outwards." He shook his head. "I really hope you're right, Oz."
"I tend to be, more often than not." I took another sip of my coffee.
"And since you have decided not to punish Miss Nikos for the damage caused, I presume you already know which budget we're going to be pulling from for repairs, right, Ozpin?" Glynda pushed her glasses up.
"...Is it the boat fund we were saving up to buy?"
"It's the boat you were hoarding school funds to waste on." Glynda glared.
"Experience on watercraft is instrumental for teaching!" I defended.
"Ozpin, the boat you were looking at is a hundred years out of date!"
"It's a classic!"
"It has literal cannons."
"Yes." I smiled. "Yes, it does."
"Glynda, you can't put a price on historical hands-on learning." James also defended my goal.
Of course, I knew he would understand.
Glynda glared at him, then looked back at me. "Ozpin, do you think I didn't look into the history of your little boat?"
I froze. "Well…you can't trust—"
"Ozmaneus the undefeated." Glynda said pointedly. "Does that name happen to ring a bell, Ozpin? A pirate from about three hundred years ago stole from the corrupted officials all across the seas. Happened to be the captain of the exact ship you want to buy. Coincidentally, it was salvaged and restored by the last King of Vale and put away."
Abort.
She knows too much.
"Ahem." I cleared my throat. "Do we know anything about that man that Mr. Schweinorg brought, James?"
"I've run his face through our database, Oz. I didn't get a single hit." James responded with a hint of annoyance. "Oz, is it possible he's a magic-user? I don't understand how he could have beaten Winter like that without Aura otherwise."
Yes, that's quite the conundrum, isn't it?
Claiming to have no aura, yet his skill was…breathtaking.
I turned the screen back to the fight again, but in slow motion this time. "Every time he blocked, parried, or deflected a strike, he turned his sword ever so slightly so the edge never connected with Miss Schnee's saber."
"He's far too skilled to not be known." Glynda agreed.
"Yet, not a single record in any kingdom." James grunted. "Are we assuming that he's simply never been to any kingdoms in his life?"
"...it's not entirely impossible," I said thoughtfully. "But it's still a question of how he got that skilled. That's not something you can simply train by yourself too. He very clearly has experience in a real fight."
You could tell the difference between someone who spent time training and someone who had real-world experience.
This man had both in excess.
"And you're sure he isn't one of those magic users?" James asked again.
It would fit into everything nicely, wouldn't it?
I tapped my desk, thinking it over. "I didn't notice any signs of magic being used. But…I suppose it's possible he's from that secret society."
I've come more to terms with the fact that there's apparently a still-living group of magic users in the world, hiding somewhere away from everything.
As absurd and impossible as it is, I can't deny the facts.
"Have we still had no luck in 'finding' them?" Glynda asked.
I let out a long sigh. "Unfortunately, every place I had James check had turned up empty."
James nodded. "I had my people check all twenty-seven locations you could think of that they may be hiding, Oz. I still have more, but…"
I silently waved it off. "I understand, James. I'm not blaming you; it's a complete shot in the dark anyways."
All the locations that I could think of that were magically significant. Any place that I could pull from my memories that a society of secret magic users may hide away at.
Yet, not a single one of them showed even a hint of magical presence.
If anything, they were even more decayed and decrepit compared to every other part of the world.
It's silly; I've checked these places over the centuries—the thousands of years—in my various incarnations.
I looked for every scrap of magic that could have been left behind and found nothing.
Ironically, these magically significant places from the past were hidden the hardest when the Brothers took away magic from the world.
Though, it seems they missed a few spots.
Or maybe some clever fellows anticipated this and prepared ahead of time? If the Brothers could have missed Salem retaining her magic initially, who's to say they might not have missed something else?
I could hardly call them infallible.
"I don't remember if I was around at the time or not. Maybe my reincarnations happened afterwards, or maybe the long years turned the memories to dust. But when humans returned after so long, they didn't have Magic to face the threat of Grimm, and they hadn't discovered Aura yet. Perhaps… it's a legacy from the olden days?" I voiced my thoughts out loud. "When one had to rely purely on the strength and skill of their own."
I looked at the screen again, and I couldn't stop being impressed.
His weapon was so incredibly unwieldy. A sword that was longer than a spear, curved to make it more difficult to use even still.
Yet, his movements with it were so incredibly precise and delicate.
It was like watching a renowned artist paint a picture.
Winter did her best to take advantage of his weapon's very obvious flaws, yet with all her skill and experience, she was…well, toyed with.
Maybe she couldn't see it in the moment, but my long years let me see the truth of the matter. He was going easy on her, to a degree I didn't know, but the signs of holding back were very clear.
Like an adult humoring a child.
But I don't think Miss Schnee could even bring herself to be offended if she realized.
Mr. Schweinorg called him the best swordsman on the planet from the audio we heard, and frankly, I'm inclined to believe it now.
And even without Aura, he was keeping up in both speed and strength.
When Miss Schnee used her Semblance to accelerate herself, he read her movement perfectly. I could see that he began to move even before she touched her next Glyph to shoot at him. He predicted her exact movement, her exact placement each time to deflect and parry each of her attacks.
"You're not going to tell me I can't recruit this one, are you, Oz?" James looked at me.
I took my glasses off, grabbing a cloth to clean them, as the steam from my coffee had smudged them ever so slightly. "James, if you're able to recruit him, I will offer you genuine praise."
Judging by the way Miss Schnee was looking at him… I wouldn't say he didn't have any chance. From the cameras around Beacon, I saw that she was giving him a tour of the school and was quite…enthusiastic about it. But also, I know people better than James. This Sasaki Kojiro is not the type of person to be held down by something like a military.
He's a free spirit.
The military is far too rigid and structured for him.
However…wouldn't a teaching position be much more up his alley?
We could always use another combat instructor.
I changed the screens because I got an alert of activity in the Forever Fall Forest. At least parts of it that were close to the school that we used to keep track of any stronger Grimm that got close.
The cameras caught Mr. Schweinorg with Miss Nikos on his shoulder. Both of them were laughing as he ran through the forest, though Miss Nikos seemed a tad more panicked.
Perhaps it was the Nevermores chasing them from the sky and shooting their feather arrows at them that Mr. Schweinorg skillfully dodged with ease.
I took another sip of my coffee.
As far as 'criminals' go, I believe Mr. Schweinorg is not someone I have to worry about.
Ironic, considering his relation to Salem.
"We can investigate our mysterious man any time." I changed the subject. "James, were you talking about the increase in White Fang attacks recently?"
"Right." James nodded. "I'm concerned that the White Fang may be planning something for the Festival. They've attacked four Dust Shipments in the past months; three of them were successful. That's a lot of Dust, Oz."
I nodded with a small sigh. "I suppose it may be appropriate to increase security, it seems."
[Line Break]
Wilhelm POV
"This is cool; I didn't know there were old ruins here." I looked at the old structures, weathered from time, that sat on the cliff that overlooked a big part of the forest.
"There were some in the forest where we took our entrance test too. We had to go into these ruins and retrieve a 'relic.' The relics were just chess pieces." Pyrrha responded.
I was tempted to do some exploring, but the sun was starting to go down.
I should stock up on more of the red sap here; it's a really great ingredient.
Pyrrha was looking out over the cliff in quiet contemplation. Therefore, I felt the need to pull on her ponytail again.
"Eh!?" She let out a little squeak of surprise.
"How are you feeling?"
"Oh." She quickly recovered. "My aura is back to normal somewhat, so I'm not feeling aura exhaustion anymore." She smiled.
Pyrrha breaking out a railgun wasn't something I expected, but I suppose it makes sense considering what her Semblance is.
I sat on the edge of the cliff, and Pyrrha joined me. "How have you been? We hadn't had much of a chance to just talk, huh? I come to offer, and you immediately want to fight." I sighed helplessly.
She puffed up rather adorably. "Then you should come visit more!"
"Okay, Miss Sassy." I poked her cheek. "I'll try to visit more."
She kicked her legs casually over the edge for a silent moment. "It's been nice; I love Beacon."
"No one's bullying you, right? No one I need to go beat up?" I asked.
She rolled her eyes. "Do you think anyone here can bully me?"
"Well, you are very bullyable."
She let out a huff and smacked my shoulder. "I'm the top of the year."
"Is that a hint of pride I hear from you?" I eyed her.
"I mean…I do take pride in my skill…" She looked bashful as I pointed it out.
Cute.
"I guess you aren't a 10-time world champion for nothing."
"That's not my title." She huffed again, crossing her arms. "And you know it isn't."
"Maybe."
"Hmph." She grumbled. "You said you would be here for the Vytal Festival, right?"
"I wouldn't miss it for the world, Red." I reassured her, knowing how much it meant to her. "I'll bring the whole family…or as many that can come."
'Doing some mental calculations… I have no idea if Kunou will be on Winter Break or not during that time.
I can hope.
Though, I should probably check. I'm sure that Medea would know the answer to that question, and I can just send her a message at any time.
"That would be great." She smiled warmly. "My mom will be there too."
"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow, but she immediately smacked my shoulder.
"You're not allowed to flirt with my mom!"
"I promise nothing."
She puffed up again, as if trying to glare at me.
I just patted her head so she knew I was joking. Even if it were a younger me that was a bit more…eager, in certain areas, I wouldn't want to ruin my relationship with Pyrrha.
"That reminds me, I got a gift for you." I took out a familiar bracelet. "I made this one specifically for you."
"Oh, Wilhelm, it's beautiful." Her eyes softened immediately and her previous as she gently accepted it into her hands.
It wasn't anything extraordinary. A few rubies along the band with some golden and blue enamel. It fit her rather well if I do say so myself.
Her eyes turned slightly red as she sniffed. "I think this is the first time a friend gave me a gift…."
I pulled her into a one-armed hug.
Pyrrha is a sweet girl; it breaks my heart to hear something like that. "It's not a normal bracelet."
"It's not?" She perked up, looking confused.
"Have you wondered how I make things keep appearing and disappearing around me?" I asked her as I summoned my sword to my hand, then made it disappear again. I held up my finger and emphasized the ring. "Using my…semblance, I can condense and warp an area of space and anchor it to something. You can think of it as my Ring having an invisible warehouse connected to it that I can put things into and take things out of."
Her eyes widened, and she looked rather speechless. "My bracelet…?"
I smiled this time. "If you channel your aura into it, I made it so you can access the 'space' connected to it."
I'm a little proud of this one. I had to figure it out without her having access to magical energy. But the gems on the bracelet had runes delicately carved on the inside—entirely invisible from the outside—that gradually gathered magical energy from the surroundings.
And with just a prod of Aura, it basically actualizes the Mystic Code.
"It'll take some practice, but I think you'll find it's rather convenient." I continued. "Oh, and you can't put living things into the space. There's already a safeguard for that, so don't worry. Just a warning in case you thought to do that and couldn't."
"How big on the inside is it?" She was still seemingly wrapping her head around it.
She didn't ask me any technical questions, so I think she understood the concept.
Pyrrha was a smart girl; even if she didn't understand the underlying mechanics, I'm sure she could grasp the barest idea of what I was telling her.
"It should be about the size of your dorm room. So…' try to stuff a car inside. If you try to put something too big inside, it simply won't work, so you don't have to worry about that either." I explained.
I took a lot of precautions in her case.
"And anything you put inside will stay 'pristine,' food won't go bad, nothing will mold or expire, metal won't rust, bacteria won't form, etc., etc." I made sure to tell her that bit too.
"Wilhelm, this is…amazing; I don't…"
I pulled on her ponytail, making her yelp again. "All my friends have one; why do you think you're any different?"
Her lips trembled, and her eyes watered just a tiny bit before she turned away from me.
I pulled her into another hug.
Pyrrha deserved good things.
@***@
I stretched my arms as I stepped out of a portal into Vale.
Pyrrha had to go back; curfew.
Sasaki was apparently still at the school and was offered a room as a guest. I would point out the differences in how guests were treated—mostly myself—but I also remembered that I used a dildo as an anti-air weapon and took down a Bullhead.
I suppose it would make a tiny bit of sense that they'd be more open to hosting someone who isn't a criminal in 75% of the world.
Oh well.
And Sasaki didn't need me to babysit him; he seemed to be enjoying himself.
I just sent him a message to tell me if he wanted to leave and left it at that.
It's been a while since I've been in Vale.
It was a rather nice city, and it had its own charm compared to the cities I was more familiar with back home.
It's kind of wild to me to see everyone using Dust in such a casual way in comparison. Like, every lamp post was powered by Dust as just a minor detail.
Though, I didn't dwell on it too long as I made my way across the nighttime streets.
There weren't too many people out, and I was surprised when I got to my destination that there weren't big groups of people.
Junior's Bar should be much more crowded, shouldn't it? Nighttime club and bar? There should be huge groups of people out and around the entrance.
When I got close, I noticed there was a big 'Closed for Renovations' sign on the front, which answered all my questions.
I shrugged and pushed the door open.
Immediately, I felt a wave of dust—the kind from plaster and construction—sort of hit me in the face, as it looked like people were working inside just earlier today.
Tiles on the dance floor had been torn up, some walls had been cut down, and it looked like they were expanding the building in its entirety.
But my eyes shifted because I wasn't alone.
"Well, well, well, look who it is, Neo."
I didn't have a chance to respond before an 'invisible' missile ran right into me.
Neo, using her Semblance, tried to elbow me in the stomach, but I caught her right before she did.
She looked upset, waving her hands around in various gestures.
"Alright, alright." I held my hands up. "I'm sorry I hadn't called or been around."
She crossed her arms in annoyance, but she wasn't trying to hit me anymore.
"I've been busy."
She gave me a look.
"Seriously, I've been very busy."
She rolled her eyes and dragged me over to the bar that was still operable, it seems.
Roman was also sitting there with Junior, relaxing behind it.
Not a normal 'open for business' type of display, but they were just hanging around.
"My wayward son, returned after so long!" Roman clutched his chest. "It does my old heart good to see you after so long."
I kicked his chair over with a yelp from him.
"You motherfucker!" I pointed at him on the ground. "I got 'arrested' by some of Atlas's robots when I went to visit a friend at Beacon. Do you know what they called me?!"
There was a brief moment of silence before they all started laughing.
Junior couldn't hold it in either, and Neo keeled over, silently laughing hysterically.
Roman, despite being on the floor, was laughing happily, and I kicked him.
"Did you actually change his name?" Junior asked.
"He did!" I responded. "I thought he was just fucking around. Ha ha, here are your name change documents. But no, the robots actually called me Watermelon Torchwick."
"Pfft."
They continued to laugh.
I grumbled and took an empty bar seat next to them. Roman tried to fix his seat, but I kicked it over again out of pettiness.
"Where are the twins?" I asked Junior, who was recovering from his bout of laughter.
He rested a hand on the bar to support himself. "The twins have been on vacation since the club has been going through renovations. No point in having them around just to watch the construction going on."
Figures.
Neo sat next to me and looked at me expectantly.
Like I was supposed to give her something.
"...If I give you something good, will you forgive me?"
She nodded enthusiastically.
I set a literal gold bar down on the counter for her, and her eyes widened. The area around her shattered from the use of her Semblance, and the gold bar 'disappeared.'
"Hey, do I get one of those too?" Roman found his hat that had fallen off his head, putting it back on before fixing his bar seat and rejoining us.
"Do you want me to answer that question?" I glared at him.
"Ah, is this puberty? My dear son talking back to his father."
I felt my eye twitch violently.
I fucking hate you, Roman.
I ignored him, though. "How's the business been, Junior?"
He grunted, taking out a bottle and pouring me a glass, sliding it across the counter to me. "Can't complain. Well enough that we can comfortably expand."
I nodded, not missing, well, the obvious around us. "And the less than legal business?"
"Ah, that's been in the shitter for a bit at this point."
"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow.
"The cops have been cracking down hard with all the White Fang running around. Especially with the Vytal Festival happening soon. Those dumbasses don't even understand to stay quiet and out of sight when a big event like this is happening. It's making all of us look bad."
"Yup, those animals have been really acting up." Roman pulled a cigar out of his pocket, lighting it up without a second thought. "I haven't even been able to do my normal stuff because they've been ruining everything. Damn savages."
If I didn't know he was being 'racist' intentionally just to be an asshole to them and wasn't actually racist, I would have said something.
"I hope you guys aren't planning to do anything messy during the festival." Because it was important to Pyrrha, and I wasn't going to let anyone mess with it.
"Do I look like some amateur?" Roman seemed genuinely offended. "Not only are all kingdoms going to be watching, but the Atlas Military is literally going to be above our heads. I would have to be utterly idiotic to try and do anything big while the festival is happening."
The others silently agreed, and I breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Besides, Neo actually likes the Vytal Festival. She attends it almost every year." He added.
Neo nodded happily, making a few gestures with her hands.
I could vaguely tell that she liked it for the food and sweets.
"Well…if you're itching to do something, I got a job that needs done." I took a sip of my drink; it was a bit stronger than I expected. I tapped my finger against the bar counter for a moment before continuing. "The pay is pretty good."
Roman leaned in. "Well, would you look at this, Junior? The kiddo's all grown up, asking for a job all by himself. Even offering to pay."
Junior snorted. "I'm not really enthused by the idea of doing anything at the moment. But I'll hear you out if nothing else."
Neo propped her head up with her hands and elbows on the counter, looking at me expectantly.
"It's nothing too ridiculous," I reassured them.
Truthfully, I had been wracking my head around ideas on how to help Yasaka.
She's been so stressed and exhausted recently, I wanted to help her out. Sure, I could keep giving her things like Dust or physically going around and putting out any fires, but that's not the kind of help she needs.
I wanted…no, what Yasaka needs is the kind of help that comes with permanence.
If for whatever reason I just up and disappeared, I didn't want her to be set back, to be without the continued 'means' of help.
I wanted her to have something she could rely entirely on herself and her people to propagate. They were making money by trading with Skyrim, but if I disappeared, that would stop. Salem was trading Dust with her, but if I were gone, that would probably stop too without my help.
The herbs and potions were a good step there, but those didn't really help in the direct sense. And currently, the production capabilities are still being tested and somewhat limited.
I wanted to help from the lowest levels to help expand the foundations so it would alleviate some of her needs.
I decided just to be absolutely blunt about it. "I want the schematics for Scrolls, the CCT Towers, and Atlas's Robots."
[Line Break[
A/N
Youkai having their own network and communication system would be a pretty big thing. Add-on robots that can seemingly be mass-produced for any kind of work, not just combat, would be amazing for menial jobs like farming or construction, or any other physical labor.
If you want to read 10 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
I also have a boosty if you can't use the above under the same name.