Chapter 22

Jaune slowly rode closer to Brorusalem's gates, the setting sun behind him. It seemed he had arrived just in time to find a place to sleep for the night. He swept back his cloak as he dismounted, preferring to approach the guards at a more eye-to-eye level.

He looked at the peaks of the tallest buildings reaching above the great walls protecting the city. With how he had experienced the political struggle, almost dying in the middle of a contrived conspiracy, he expected the city to be more, burned to the ground.

But everything seemed normal. The only visible change were the amount of guards at the gate… They had lessened. They were looking at him oddly though. Well, their gazes were directed slightly behind him. Towards the shirtless faunus mage with extremely windswept hair and a crazy look in his eyes. The shirt had been seemingly cut up to create a loincloth.

Having gotten used to being the centre of attention in the garrison, Jaune strode up to the gates and walked past the guards. He expected to be forced to stop for some sort of dialogue, but that didn't seem to be the case.

Some of the guards whispered 'young master' as Jaune passed them and entered the city. Sun stumbled in behind him, frowning.

"They thought I was your servant and that I had been unruly on the way here, so you bound me to the horse and dragged me through the sands," Sun explained after Jaune looked at him questioningly.

"Having hearing that good, I'm jealous," Jaune muttered in response, making Sun shrug.

"Being a faunus has its advantages." Sun looked around. The streets were mostly empty, but that was because it would soon be night.

"We left Zedong and May behind, so just go home. You should probably go and look for them tomorrow though. The horse you left behind still has your stuff."

Sun nodded and jumped off to places unknown, slightly less energetic than usual.

Jaune himself hesitated for a few moments wondering where he should go. Technically he could just enter the Zedong residence and crash there, but it felt rude. And if it felt rude, then it probably was rude.

He hadn't been to an inn for quite a while now, actually. He didn't have a preference, only requiring an unsoiled bed and something that resembled food.

Might as well go to the one where Emanon was, or maybe wasn't anymore. A few months had passed since they'd last seen each other. He could extract some information about how the city had felt like during his absence. The adventurers' inn would be cheaper and better, but he had no one to look forward to seeing there.

After bringing the horse he'd borrowed from Targson to the army's stables, he made his way towards the Blossoms Inn, or whatever it was called. The name had faded from memory, but the location hadn't.

-/-

The innkeeper informed him that Emanon was indeed still living there, showing off a star-shaped tattoo on his shoulder that supposedly raised his coolness factor. She had gifted it to the man for free use of a room for half a year.

Nodding at shoulder-obsessed man, Jaune walked up the stairs while kicking up dust and knocked on Emanon's room. It creaked open slowly, and Emanon stared at him blearily in all her half-naked glory.

"Oh, it's you," she said flatly. As she stepped aside to let him in, she peered out into the dusty corridor to see if anyone else was there. As if she was waiting for someone.

Jaune glanced at her underwear-clad behind for a moment. It was different seeing it compared to feeling it with dimensional comprehension.

"Do you usually open the door dressed like that?" he asked her as he leaned back against the wall and let himself slide down to the floor.

"Do you usually knock on the doors of young women when it's night?" she countered.

"The knocking thing bothers me as well. Don't worry, soon enough I'll just be able to teleport in."

He received a glare. She seemed more standoffish now than she had been back when he had escorted her.

"What do you want," she flatly demanded.

Jaune hadn't expected to receive a cold welcome but he was fairly sure Emanon would warm up again shortly. She was probably mad he only bothered seeking her out after half a year and her own inability to find him. It was the only explanation, though their relationship had never exceeded friendly employer. She probably still saw him as a part of her social net. No matter how far on the outside he was.

People hated losing control.

"I just came back from a quest." She rolled her eyes as if saying 'yes flaunt your exciting life more.' "And you're the only person I really know who was here for the time I was gone."

She sat down on her bed, making his eyebrow twitch. Going for the bed instead of the chair when there was a man present... such promiscuity.

"So what, I'm your informant for what's happening in the city?"

"I guess you could say it like that, though due to our positive past interactions I would of course be more interested in how the events have formed your own experience." At her annoyed look he added. "What emotional and possibly physical impact they had on you."

She snorted. "Fine." She turned to stare at the ceiling, hands behind her head. "I assume you're asking about the political shitshow. It started with posturing, then contradictory messages by criers. One would advise all citizens to stack up on food supplies while the other would talk about great harvests in the region which would lead to cheaper and more importantly voluminous amounts of food. There was one incident where it came to blows."

"One?" Jaune queried, causing Emanon's eyes to grow even more distant.

A split second activation of dimensional comprehension showed a hooded man talking to the inkeep.

"Yes, one. I was present at the time. The market, was buying some needles, some noble and a wealthy merchant started arguing, it escalated until they both sent their respective armed forces against each other, at first for intimidation, then for violence."

Another flash. The hooded man, equipped like a rogue, was walking up the stairs.

"And then they burned to ashes in an instant."

What.

"What."

Jaune was focusing on the man who was now passing their room, the man who halted for a second. Maybe he had misheard.

"Apparently the reputation of our court magician is deserved."

The rogue continued onwards after his pause, opening the door next to Emanon's.

"He appeared a second later. One moment he wasn't there, the other he simply was. A small pop, like the death of a soap bubble accompanied him."

The rogue had entered the room and started unpacking.

"His voice boomed out, 'Not in the open,' and then he was gone again."

The unpacking finished, the rogue slowly walked to the wall his room shared with theirs.

"Sirius Black. What a terrifying man."

The rogue knelt down and pressed his ear to the wall.

"Everything went back to normal afterwards."

Shit.

Emanon suddenly gripped her head, the movement startling Jaune further. "It fucking hurts!" she hissed out.

Jaune didn't know why the rogue was spying on them. The most likely reason was the fact that someone had discovered he was a dimensional mage.

"Do you need anything?" he asked as his mind raced. There was also the possibility of someone being pissed on him for halting their plans. The garrison came to mind. Or it could have something to do with Emanon.

"No… Wait, some water wouldn't hurt," she corrected herself.

The question was, were they here to spy on them, or was their purpose more sinister? Could the rogue only listen or did he have other skills available? His position implied he was listening more than anything else.

Jaune would continue with the assumption that he wasn't being watched, only being listened to. He quickly shushed Emanon with a finger in front of his mouth.

She shut up, thankfully.

His thought process accelerated as he thought of what to do. He mindlessly pulled a waterskin out of his inventory, walked over to a very still Emanon, and handed it to her. She ogled slightly at the use of magic. Jaune had been careless with the usage of inventory.

"Here, some water," he enunciated clearly as he pulled out a sheet of paper and scribbled on it. This was not the time for saving space so he made the words large and legible.

He handed the paper to Emanon ,who was gulping down the water. Some droplets ran down her chin and into her cleavage. She glanced at the paper when finished and after a second of incomprehension stared at him wide-eyed.

'Someone is listening in from the room next to us, bad intentions, after me.'

She mouthed 'really?' to which Jaune nodded.

"How about I take you up on your offer to get a tattoo," Jaune suddenly said nonchalantly. "Do you have any new additions to your sketchbook?" He held up the piece of paper, the words 'Yes. At the table' underlined.

He needed to get out of here. If this was an attempted kidnapping there was probably someone watching the inn's exits.

He helped Emanon stand up as she played her role. "I do actually have a few new ones you might be interested in." She sat down at the table and made a show of pulling the chair across the ground so it made a decent amount of noise. She pulled out her sketchbook and let it fall on the table with a bang.

The rogue listening in flinched but quickly regained his composure.

"This design I made recently, it's inspired by the cactus that is abundant to the north of Brorusalem," she said, writing down a 'what do we do' on the blank open page of her sketchbook.

Jaune put away his quill and took a hold of one her charcoal pens.

'they're here for me, unless you did something?'

They continued a sparse verbal conversation that must have come off as a bit stilted to the spy, while their true exchange continued on paper.

'I did nothing.'

It had been unlikely that the rogue was here for her, and now the chance was even lower. Now, how could he get out of this situation? He felt out and found that all exits were being watched by at least one person. They weren't even trying to be inconspicuous.

Even the window was being watched. Fuck. The one in their room was the only one though. The windows of the other occupants had nobody assigned to them. Jumping out of one on their side of the inn would be inadvisable, as it meant jumping down on the cobbled main street that had sentries.

The rooms adjacent to theirs on the corridor though, those were unguarded and so was the back alley. One of the suspiciously dressed men was sitting at the bar downstairs, which let him see everyone entering or exiting the kitchen, which had the only door leading to the back alley.

Which was why the back alley had nobody. Ok.

"You have quite the variety, but they're all drawings. Why don't you… show me your tattoos, so I can see how they look on skin," Jaune suggested saucily.

'Go with it, make sex noises on bed, I'll run away, eat the page we're writing this on later.' Emanon glanced at him, with slight trepidation.

'what about me?'

'they're not after you, not much I can do, seven of them.'

She seemed unconvinced but stood up from the chair, once again making sure it scraped. She clutched her head, mouthing 'headache' at him. A bit of blood dribbled from her nose, down her delicate chin, and onto her white linen tank top.

"Why don't we move to the bed then? Then you'll... be able to see them better." She threw herself onto the bed, and despite her apparent pain managed to sound fairly sultry.

Jaune pressed a healing potion into her hand, his other hand making the gesture for her to continue.

"Well, we didn't say anything about touching, but I'm not entirely against the idea." Emanon basically purred out the sentence.

"Yeah, you like that, don't you," Jaune said, trying his very best not to sound like the awkward teenager that he was while he stood up, went to the door and put his hand on the knob.

Jaune wasn't able to sense facial features very well, but as the 'sexual act' progressed, the rogue seemed to grow more and more annoyed. Eventually the man just gave up, stood up, and threw himself on the bed while muttering something.

Jaune could have laughed, but it was likely that the man had a skill that enhanced his senses if he was assigned the role of spying on them instead of just being another sentry.

Emanon at this point was jumping on the bed with a deadpan look on her face while moaning and giving the occasional shriek. She mouthed the words 'if you're lying' at him, followed by running her thumb across her throat.

Jaune shut the door as stealthily as he could and made his way to the room on the opposite side of the corridor. He knocked on it gently. The man inside muttered something, then stood up from a sitting position to get the door. People sure talked a lot when they were alone.

The thin man opened the door expectantly, looking forward at his own eye-level. This prevented him from really seeing Jaune and made it easier for the mage to drive a fist into the man's solar plexus.

'Bartholomew' folded in two, wheezing and allowing himself to be pushed back into the room. Jaune let him fall onto the ground as he closed the door behind him. He stepped over the now-vomiting man and opened the window. Jaune had one leg on the window still when he suddenly thought of something. He turned around and threw a few coins at the green-haired guy's head.

"Don't tell anyone about this," he commented lightly, as if the situation that had just occurred was something differently entirely. He promptly jumped out of the window, only to land on the roof of the kitchen, four feet below the window he'd exited from.

He steadied himself with the help of the smoke-spewing chimney and continued onwards to the edge of the roof, where he moved down hand-by-hand until his foot found purchase on a barrel that stank of fish.

Someone in his situation would be running, but oddly enough the green-hair hadn't screamed or done anything to indicate to the kidnappers that something had occurred.

"A few Lien sure go a long way," Jaune muttered to himself as he started walking away from the inn and towards, towards… He didn't know, but he needed to put some distance between himself and the inn. He concentrated while walking, slowly making the name and class above his head fade out.

An improper emotional reaction enveloped his thoughts. Numbness, if that was even an emotion. Getting angry, desperate, afraid, those would have been counterproductive actions. What he needed now was the calmness to assess the situation and a plan on what to do. He had thought about the possibility of being chased by someone with nefarious purposes before. A lot, actually.

Had Jaune been too liberal with his use of inventory, or had it been noted that his sensing skill was a bit out of the ordinary? Probably inventory, many had seen him use it and someone must have not come to the conclusion of him having an enhanced item, but the truth instead.

That didn't matter as much as some other things, but Jaune still wanted to know. He decided to think of it later, and develop some rules on operational security when he was at it. What needed to be done now was the procurement of transport.

A donkey would be more inconspicuous than a horse He also needed supplies, as he had little to no food or water with him, and lastly a destination.

For all this he had from one hour to the next morning until the people watching over the inn noticed that Jaune wasn't coming out of his room. When they did, they would most likely search Brorusalem for him, and after not finding him the most likely place they would look for him afterwards was a harbour town. This was discounting all the possibilities of skills being used to determine his location.

Jaune added one more location he needed to visit on his list: the library. He wouldn't have much time, but if he could 'borrow' some books on anti-scrying and mental defences he would at least have something productive to do while on the run.

-/-

Jaune banged on the door of a general store he'd found, and kept hitting it until he felt the owner stand up from where he had been reading some ledgers and make his way downstairs.

The man seemed fairly relaxed for the fact that he had been pulled from his leisure time by someone assaulting his door. An older, chubby merchant opened the door and greeted him with a smile. "Hello sir, business must be urgent for you to be visiting me this late at night." The man's smile grew wider as Jaune pressed some Lien into his hand. The doorway was unbarred and Jaune entered into the store.

"Yes, surprise mission, need to be gone by morning to exterminate a pack of Nevermore that's harassing the nearest harbour town. They need ranged support." Jaune pointed at his now-revealed class. It didn't matter if the merchant knew, and he would be more likely to help someone who wasn't hiding his identity. And if the rogues investigated, well, they would be making their way towards the nearest dock.

The man nodded respectfully and started pulling out nonperishable foods and the other goods that Jaune had requested. Some crude maps depicting trade routes found themselves on top of the pile of food and utility supplies before the man hesitated.

"What is it," Jaune stated more than asked, wanting to get on with it.

"Well, I recently got a hold of a skillbook, only to find out that it's basically w-worthless," he stuttered to a stop while scratching the back of his balding head. Jaune was forced to wave the words out of him. "Well I was thinking that even if the skill isn't that great, a mage could still study the workings of the process."

That was interesting, though Jaune wondered what kind of skill it was that the book was considered useless. Usually skillbooks went for ridiculous prices.

"It would be a flight of fancy that I would only follow up on if the book was cheap. Skillbooks are, after all, well documented," a lie, "There's no need to repeat the experiments done on them unless one is bored."

A grimace, a reluctant nod. They settled on 100 Lien for the book, some more for the rest of the stuff.

Jaune suspected that the merchant had been scammed to buy the book and now couldn't make back the money, and so was therefore holding on to it. It must have drawn some gazes from others, as a general store didn't generally supply items of such luxury, and the man had probably realized that he had overstepped his mercantile boundaries.

The book was brought to light, and the merchant blushed as Jaune got the chance to read the title. Jaune could see why and tried to hold in his chuckle, but didn't quite manage. He shrugged. "We all stumble on a bit of bad luck occasionally," the mage reassured the man, which seemed to brighten him up a bit.

"It's not entirely your fault either. Most books of the skill teaching variant are valuable." Jaune shook his head. "Many, me included, probably didn't even think it was possible for a skillbook regarding pest control to exist."

And so it was that Jaune acquired the second skillbook of his very short career. This meant that he was ahead in acquisition of resources to all but the richest, but the quality was questionable. Maybe he would sense something interesting once he learned the skill, and honestly, if he would then be able to magically kill bothersome insects, the price would be more than worth it.

In ten years or so it may even start paying off; bugs and mice destroyed more provisions than people usually took into account when thinking of the creatures. He would also save on not having to buy several remedies for infestations, like mouse traps, onions for the flies, and herb tassels for the mosquitoes.

Maybe the purchase had immediately paid off with the simple fact that now that the merchant wasn't in possession of the book anymore, he wouldn't be mugged for it by someone unwilling to believe that the book was useless.

Jaune blurred out his name again. It was time to go to the library. He halted. The rogues might know he had a connection to Sun, and Sun lived in the library custodian quarters.

He continued walking. He would have to bank on the fact that they still assumed him to be in the inn. Without the books on anonymous travel, well, his attempts at fleeing would most likely prove to be fruitless.

Jaune passed into the big building effortlessly, despite having no name. He had pulled his hood down though and put his hair back into a ponytail. A hairstyle he had never worn before, so it would hopefully make it harder to recognize him.

The library was, as expected, almost completely empty except for the few custodians running around and sorting books back into their shelves. It felt holy somehow, and the effect was compounded by the fact he hadn't been here in a while. Jaune gave himself a moment to take it all in, before getting to work.

Time was short, after all.

He started grabbing what books spoke to him, only reading the titles. He only managed to shove a few into his inventory while nobody was looking before it became full. Catch Me If You Can by Semmelson; Blow Your Load and Hit the Road by opipkcalb; Definitely Not Who You Are Looking for by Dindu Nuffin; Magical Rituals for Anonymity by The Beast; and Running From Responsibilities by Totally an Adult.

Jaune didn't think he'd ever visited any place that had books, regardless of the amount, for such a short period of time. Ten minutes.

He left, shaking his head. What those bastards had made him do was unforgivable. Jaune wasn't particularly practised at holding a grudge. But he could damn well try.

Now he only needed a donkey, which was more inconspicuous than a horse. Who'd ever heard of a fourteen-year-old being able to afford a horse? Not that he was fourteen yet, but closer to it than thirteen.

The entrance age of Beacon was approaching, so he should probably start making his way to back to Vale. Jaune made sure that his senses were completely extended as he passed the inn Emanon was at, brushing it in his periphery. The rogues were still there, good. He had to make sure there was no one waiting for him at the guild stalls.

Jaune really wondered why there was no one stationed there or at the library. The library not so much, but the guild was a place someone in his situation might go to. Was the organization behind this not as powerful as he had initially suspected? It was possible that a small criminal gang or a coven would go after him as well. It wasn't only powerful institutions that possessed knowledge. Sure, they probably had more of it, but definitely no monopoly.

Jaune entered the stables, looked around for a suitable donkey, took it, and rode out. Technically speaking it wasn't theft. The animals were there for the use of adventurers. It had probably just never been assumed that there was an adventurer brazen enough that it would have been necessary to clarify that distinction, yes. The guild would rather that you had a quest to get to and informed someone of the requisition, instead of simply walking up and taking a mount.

On his way to the gates, he suddenly sensed movement, making him tense up. Several cloaked figures were approaching, running outwards in a spiral pattern. Like a disturbed hive of ants they scurried over rooftops and on the streets. Jaune was sure that if he followed the ever growing spiral back to its source, he would find it to be the inn he had left behind several hours ago.

Jaune slapped the donkey's ass lightly to accelerate. So it was him that they were searching for. If it had been Emanon they were after there would be no reason to leave the inn.

Jaune made sure his name was showing again as he came into sight of the guards at the gate. The gate never closed, expect for sieges, but they were probably more suspicious of people who travelled during the night.

He nodded at the men on duty, one who was apparently napping, and rode past with no issues. A murder of crows rose up from a nearby building as he exited the city. They were almost out of his range, but he still heard their caws before they flew inward, out of his range.

The gate he'd exited from was the one that was connected to the road leading to the seaside. The harbours and dock towns.

After a few minutes riding in that direction, he changed course. Towards the border between Vacuo and Vale.