Chapter 19

Jaune bit into the hard bread served in the canteen. The soldiers that used him as a sparring partner laughed as he had to spasm his head like a dog to rip off a chunk of the rubbery thing. An entrance into the bun made, he then ripped it apart into several small pieces.

Summoning an arcane bolt, he dunked it in the water, some of the fluid remaining in the magical construct. He added the pieces of bread to it and proceeded to spin it at high enough speed for the mana to start making a sound. A few seconds later he let it dissipate, the previously rubbery pieces of bread falling onto his plate, moist and ready for consumption.

"You know," Gary or something started next to him, "You could just dunk it into the tea and wait a bit like an average mortal." By the smile on his face, he was just ribbing him.

Eager to show off his mastery of navigating humorous situations among adults, Jaune sagely nodded. "No u."

The ones in the group who had been drinking spat out their drinks in what was surely a rehearsed action and started thumping their chests while trying not to laugh. The rest didn't have water in their lungs to inhibit them from such an action and raucous laughter rang out around Jaune.

"Never change, sir," one of them said while patting Jaune on the shoulder, causing him to frown.

"That's hard to do, can't stop myself from growing." Which caused another round of laughter.

"No matter how much I enjoy your party's presence here," Barry said in a somewhat sarcastic tone (if Jaune remembered correctly he had been the one forced to give up his single room to accommodate a hero of Zedong's status), "but how come you haven't left yet? I think the original quest was supposed to last a few months."

The main issue was that the unrest in the country hadn't resolved itself yet. Jaune was sure it would reach its climax soon though. Their mission had been to help out the understaffed garrison due to the higher Grimm activity caused by the political spats. Since the spats weren't over yet, neither was their mission.

"What can I say? I've come to enjoy myself here. What's there to not love? Water, a bed, and the ladies." Jaune winked at a female soldier that just walked past him in that moment, probably hearing his sentiment. She gave him a disgusted look.

A slap resounded as Larry hit him on the back. "Good man, good man." Jaune soon found himself with a bottle of smuggled in alcohol listening to some stories of soldier life and telling his highly-edited tale of conquering the sword god's pyramid.

With less of him tripping over ruts and more epic battles, in which he and and his trusted sidekick Jain always emerged victorious despite numerous odds against them.

-/-

"There have been reports of smugglers coming in from the capital. They were followed to this general area before the tracker lost contact." Targson, the leader of the garrison pointed at a part of the map that was marked with a red dot. Around it was a bigger green circle. The man pointed at it with his stick. "This is the area where we suspect there to be a tunnel." He looked at his audience of soldiers, two bored mages, and a young archer.

"You will be scouting out this ground over the next week, if you can't find anything, that's that. This isn't our job, but it is an order handed down from higher up. Just show me some reports that indicate that you tried to find this..." Here the man made a gesture with his fingers that Jaune couldn't interpret, wagging his pointer and middle finger up and down. "'...alleged' smuggling tunnel, hideout, or whatever. Any questions?"

Jaune didn't know why, but he had a weird feeling about the mission. Maybe it was that he'd been reading up on shady tactics in the past few months, or that a tracker lost sight of his quarry in this particular area, or a smuggling operation even coming to this particular area that triggered warning bells.

It seemed to be fairly low quality bait. A simple missive from Headquarters, no messenger, no nothing. Pinpointing the tunnel on a map and maybe paying off a bandit troupe or someone to draw Grimm to the garrison while it was understaffed didn't particularly take a lot of effort.

He couldn't imagine someone drawing up a plan like that and then executing it so sloppily. It was low effort though, which made it possible to try out the same thing among several of the border bases at the same time. The more Jaune thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

He didn't say anything though. His age alone would be a detractor from arguments he made. Sun, May, and he had only entered the debriefing because they were interested in what such a thing usually looked like. In the end it was the same boring affair you got from the guild before you went on a quest.

"I have some suspicions about this." Jaune turned to May. "Where is your grandfather?"

"He said he was going to lie down a bit in his room. I think the sparring under the sun affected him a bit," she said.

Jaune nodded. It had been slightly hotter than usual the last few weeks. It was manageable due to the lack of humidity, the dry heat being bearable. But he didn't know how someone Zedong's age was dealing with it.

"The story is full of holes," Sun idly said as they arrived at their party leader's room. They knocked and entered, finding the old man lying on his bed writing something in a journal.

Zedong looked up briefly before concentrating on his task again. "What is it?"

"Suspicious orders from higher up." Jaune proceeded to explain the situation, Zedong eventually stopping his scribbling and listening intently.

"Yes, sounds suspicious as hell. Why did the guy lose track of the target here? Why would there be a checkpoint of a smuggling operation at the ass end of nowhere? And there's some other more minor questions..." the old man half-said, half-grumbled to himself before looking up at them. "What do you three think?"

"Think its a bunch of bullshit," Sun proclaimed without hesitation, grinning all the way. The grin left his face as Jaune slapped the back of the monkey's head to shut him up.

"I think someone is trying to get men out of the garrison so that it can be overrun by Grimm or bandits. Creating statistics that can then be used to indicate the incompetence of some official responsible for this area or generally associated with the military." The fast pace of words exiting Jaune's mouth made everybody blink idly for a few moments trying to comprehend it.

"Succinctly put." The words came from old archer. "It still might be a coincidence though, and a stupid one at that. I've had some quite momentous ones in the past. Oftentimes when weird things happen, nobody planned them, just coincidence. We should probably stay alert and watch for any weird behaviour though."

"Is there really nothing we can do in preparation?" May asked.

Sun shrugged. "Kill more Grimm."

"I guess I could try to let my senses expand over the entirety of the garrison and try to catch something suspicious," Jaune muttered.

"Sun's right. I'll start preparing some special arrows. Killing more Grimm will weaken any horde trying to form and give us more time before one arrives in the aftermath of a more human attack." May agreed with Sun, ignoring Jaune's suggestion. As if he cared. Really.

They all looked at Zedong.

The man blinked at them, deadpan. "What? You all get it. Only thing I can add is to start packing in case we have to make a quick getaway. Also, try to run everywhere armed. I'll sound the horn if anything weird starts happening. Come to me if I do," he added almost as an afterthought.

When he noticed them all still standing there he quickly barked out. "You're heroes not soldiers; you don't wait for dismissal!"

The three of them quickly shuffled out of the room and split up. Jaune headed back to his room where he pulled out a miniature map of the garrison he'd been making in his free time. The miniature aspect was due to the fact he didn't have much paper. After looking at the thing, confirming everything was kind of correct, he determined the most optimal position to place himself.

The kitchen. He even had an excuse ready for entering the place, not that anyone would care really. That's why he picked the kitchen and not the document storage room that was slightly more in the middle than the kitchen. Even if he found it odd that the place where food for the whole base was made was less guarded than some dusty, likely outdated information.

Even so. All according to plan.

-/-

Jaune entered the kitchen as if he belonged there, looked around, and noted several people cutting stuff and the only person with the cook class stirring a big pot over a fire. Casually weaving among the drafted kitchen soldiers, the wooden countertops, and the occasional ingredient, he found his way to the corner of the room that he thought to be the closest to the centre of the garrison.

He then proceeded to sit down, idly watching one slightly overweight man looking at him, sweating. He nodded at the man, causing him to blanch slightly. Cooking must have been harder than Jaune previously thought if a soldier, even if he was chubby, worked up such a sweat while doing it.

Jaune closed his eyes, acting as if he was meditating. Although he doubted that soldiers knew of that particular discipline. Not a moment later he was interrupted by a young woman. Soldier. "Ah, excuse me."

"Yes, what is it?" Jaune sighed, then smiled slightly as he noticed how pretty she was. Exceptionally pale for Vacuo with flaxen hair woven in a braid.

"You're technically not allowed to be here." The woman bit her lip as if considering something. "But..." she said slowly, not finishing the sentence.

"But what?" Jaune asked.

"But if you were to help slightly you would count as an assistant," she said cheerfully, as if patting herself on the back for a good idea.

Jaune shrugged. If helping a little meant he got to stay here. "Ok." He was then lead to a wooden counter. The soldier pressed a knife into his hand, the table in front of him already containing several uncut and a few quartered potatoes. There weren't many of them so he simply got to work. Once done with them, he looked around for the woman to tell her he was done.

Only for the mustachioed cook, Franzschua, to come up to his counter and slap him on the back smiling widely. "Not many people interested in learning to cook, and humble enough to start with the basics. Keep it up lad. The peeler's in one of the drawers, and once you're done with the barrel I'll show you some real skills, ok?" The man winked at him and walked off to do his own thing.

Jaune looked next to the wooden counter he'd been working on, the space occupied by a barrel full of unpeeled potatoes. He looked for the woman he'd talked with earlier.

She wasn't present.

Jaune looked at the barrel again, then at the enthusiastic, ridiculously friendly-looking cook, then back to the barrel.

That fucking bitch.

-/-

Jaune hadn't managed to simply leave, not wanting to put a damper on the cooks enthusiasm for having a willing student for once. He peeled the potatoes in the barrel, eventually finding out that if he enveloped one of the things in an arcane bolt and spun it, the skin would just fly off.

Noticing this, Franzschua immediately came over to peer over his shoulder as Jaune continued with the technique. "Ç'est unbelievable," the cook muttered before leaving again.

Using this, he finished the barrel quickly, earning some praise from Franzschua who then proceeded to tell him how to cut and spice stuff. Do not quarter onions; only make fine strips or they lose their taste. Just dissolve the salt and pepper in some water, then add it to the pan after you're done cooking.

All in all it was useful information for the future and would make all meals more pleasant. Hell, he'd even enjoyed it. The cook's happy attitude and love for his craft was infectious. "I'll definitely come tomorrow as well. You can show me how to make steak then if you're feeling really grateful," Jaune said, earning him another slap on the back and a hearty laugh.

"Do that, do that, peel some potatoes while listening too! That magic thing you did was hilarious!" the cook exclaimed. He led Jaune to the doors and sent him off.

Jaune looked out the window to gauge the time. Damn, three hours lost. Err, used to learn a skill that would come in handy. He collapsed to the ground soundlessly and leaned on the sandy wall. Cooking was exhausting. He felt some slightly sympathy for the drafted soldiers. It would have been more, but he felt that if you just tried to enjoy the activity it could be quite fun.

It was only natural for people to suffer silently instead of trying to improve their situation, though. Not everyone was intelligent enough to realize the futility of nihilism.

Jaune delved into his mind to do what he had actually came here to do. At first he simply used dimensional comprehension, not trying anything fancy with it. Then he slowly started expanding it until it encircled the entire garrison. It was growing slightly sketchy at the borders, but he could make out what was there.

Jaune started to comb through everywhere, which was a tedious process. He could instinctively focus on rapid movements near him, which was either something built into the skill itself, or his subconscious acting in his interests. Doing it was tedious because he was still limited by his low wisdom and intelligence. He wasn't sure which one of the two helped with comprehension of magical skills, but due to the lack of points in these two stats he was only able to strongly focus on a small area of the overall reach of the skill.

He blushed as he found two soldiers having a what he could only politely assume to be naked wrestling match. He quickly looked away, but not before cursing the female of the pair as a bitch when he noticed she was Franzi, the soldier who'd tricked him.

Continuing through the rest of the base at a snail's pace, he was able to scout out about a quarter of it before he feeling too mentally fatigued to keep using the skill. His brain felt like it was cramping up. He tried to relax his mind, which helped. But without the pain being so penetrating… penetrating? Jaune held a hand to his mouth, trying to not puke.

He didn't manage, but was still able to lean out of the window so as to not dirty the floors.

Done with his spewage he sat back down, feeling much better.

Adults were gross.

-/-

Jaune listened as Sun and May reported their progress. Sun had apparently, with the help of Zedong later on, managed to kill quite a lot of Grimm. Listening to him he'd wiped the area completely clean, which with the help of someone as experienced as the old archer, might have just been possible. Zedong was able to fire arrows from a tremendous range. Technically speaking, he could just lock himself into one of the towers on the hills surrounding the garrison and exterminate every enemy within a certain diameter.

Jaune didn't have enough data points to estimate how big the diameter was, but from the fact that May alone was able to accurately shoot from a distance of 300 feet, he assumed that her grandfather was capable of at least double that.

His eyes roved over the arrows that May laid down to show them. It was one of her skills, arrow preparation. By working on arrows she could imbue certain effects into them, though at her level it wasn't really an effect but a percentage-based buff on one attribute. For example, twenty-three percent to piercing damage. The arrows themselves were absent of mana. The only thing differentiating them from others of their kind were the slight engravings on their shaft.

It didn't really make sense to him. There were skills that were magic in all but name. The thing May was doing with her arrows was literally enchanting, just without the mana. Though her use of the skill wasn't managed by an arbitrary energy supply, but by a specific cooldown timer. It had its advantages and disadvantages of course. Jaune could summon arcane bolts all he wanted, unrestrained by time, but without mana, it was like trying to cook a meal without a fire.

What bothered him was the inconsistency of it. It was like the game developer had made it a rule that only mages had mana in the conception of the system and were too lazy to even bother with the issue of how the skills of other classes were regulated.

Cooldowns didn't really make sense. They didn't stand for physical incapability; the person whose physical skill was on cooldown could move around perfectly fine. Or did they?

"Jaune."

It was something he could test, find a soldier, have him use a skill and count the cooldown, then train the soldier up to a point where the fitness lev-

"Jaune!"

Jaune looked up, annoyed at the disturbance, at May, who had shouted his name. "What," he growled out, causing the duo to stare at him oddly.

"Are you on your perio-" Sun began asking before May jabbed him in the side with her elbow, blushing.

She turned to Jaune. "What have you discovered?"

The question made Jaune blink. "Not much really, but I think I might be on to something concerning the relation between cooldowns of physical skills and stats."

This only drew further confused and slightly concerned glances. "No, we're asking about the scouting that you supposedly did with your sensing skill," May said slowly.

"Oh, that. Nothing in particular really. There seems to be an escape tunnel underneath the garrison leading from a locked room by the commander's chamber to somewhere out of my range."

"Well, that's probably something to keep an eye on. Any mechanisms that prevent people from using it as anything but an escape tool?" Sun asked from where he was suddenly leaning on the window sill.

Jaune shrugged. "I wouldn't know. There are some mechanical doors and such, but I don't know what they do." This apparently warranted a surprised look from Sun. Jaune glowered back.

"And here I thought you knew a bit of everything." Sun sighed. "Good job," he added as an afterthought.

The good job part was unwarranted. He'd only located the tunnel that every garrison had, and that everyone knew every garrison had. He'd also found out that apparently people would rather spend most of their days fucking away in some broom closets, rather than, he didn't know, training or something.

Would probably help them more in the long run. The average life of a soldier wasn't really all that exciting from what he'd inferred during his time here, so they had the time to train their combat ability. Hell there were some books here. Intelligence and knowledge would get one higher up in the ranks, leading to a higher salary and a higher social status with which one could acquire more high-levelled bed partners and in general a longer life due to the vitality one gained from actually training. And the natural fact that one gained more experience the better one was at killing things.

To lower the chance of success for the momentary pleasure of fucking some women who everyone else in the base had probably also bedded… It wasn't a progression of thought Jaune could follow.

People argued that if you never spent any time relaxing you would forget how to, making the pursuit of power worthless. The mage preferred to think that you immediately won the moment attaining skills and power became your favourite free time activity. After all, the action of training then became doubly weighted. It had the long-term advantage in improvement and the momentary one of relaxation and fun. The best of both worlds.

Training without fun wasn't as effective and tired you out quicker, while fun without training only wasted time, energy, and ultimately brought you nothing. Expect for maybe some sexually transmitted diseases in the case of the soldiers.

"Aaaaaand he's gone again."