Ruby Falls In Love

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works, if you recognise it from somewhere else, surprise it isn't mine.

Betad by morde24, OoalGown, Hermes, Priapus Old man of the mountain and TheDonFluffles

The Guild of Gamers: The Necromancer

Chapter 04: Ruby falls in love

— Summer Rose —

"Gotta say, it's odd to see a mage this far out from the capital," one of the tavern goers said, making Rowan chuckle.

"It wasn't by design, I'll happily admit that," Rowan said, taking a sip from his tankard. "But despite the unusual means of arrival, I can't complain. Patch seems like a lovely town."

"Ha, that's because you haven't been around during a dungeon break, lad. Plus, town is a generous term," one of the farmers laughed.

"Dungeon break? I'm not familiar with that term," Rowan admitted, and she was definitely the most appropriate person to enlighten him on what that was…

But as his hand guided her head back down, she shrugged and continued obediently blowing the mage in the middle of the tavern, kneeling between his legs completely naked.

She could feel people looking at her, but nobody found her presence or actions unusual, Rowan's magic muddling their minds. That didn't mean they couldn't enjoy the sight of her ass and tits on full display.

This spell had immense potential for abuse, if he cast it on everyone in her house he could have fucked her, Ruby and Yang as much as he wanted and none of them would find it unusual, it was the rapists dream spell… and it was just one of his many, many spells.

Rowan would have to be strong to resist the temptation considering his age, but this was another reason she'd offered her assistance, she wanted to know what he could do, just in case.

"A dungeon break is when the monsters suddenly pour out of their dungeon, in a massive horde and attack the nearest settlement. No idea what causes it, but it's a horrifying sight to see. We have a lot of adventurers here but it's always devastating," one of the men said, a local guard from her memory.

It was true they didn't actually know what caused it for certain, but she could have provided more information.

Dungeons constantly created monsters through methods nobody had worked out, not even Ozpin, and usually the monsters would start to leak out and spread to the area.

However, if the dungeon wasn't culled with some regularity, it would start to truly overflow as far too many monsters found themselves in one place.

What they didn't know is what directed them to suddenly form a horde and set out towards the nearest settlement, because it was absolutely a directed attack.

Some dungeons were hundreds of miles away from any form of civilisation, but the horde would still head in a straight line towards the nearest town.

Plus, monsters that were usually hostile to each other would suddenly become peaceful as they grouped up in the usually massive hordes

Even a dungeon that was frequently culled (like the biggest one on Patch was) could suddenly have a break and produce a massive horde seemingly overnight.

"We're lucky to have Taiyang and the other adventurers around, and Summer of course," one of them said, nodding at her as she waved. "Not as lucky as you apparently."

"Ah, don't mind Summer, she's just helping me test some spells, she's a rather enthusiastic assistant," Rowan joked, making her chuckle which sent vibrations along his cock as she swirled her tongue around the tip.

"Lucky bastard," one of the men said with a laugh, nudging Rowan's shoulder. "Wouldn't mind having her assist me with a few things," he said crudely, looking down at her as she stared up at him, her lips wrapped around Rowan's cock.

She could feel him starting to twitch inside her mouth, his balls churning in the palm of her hand, before Rowan pulled her head up and off his cock, which broke free with a pop as the vacuum seal she formed around it was broken.

Before she could react, the first spurt of his hot, sticky seed landed on her face, Rowan smirking down at her as he started to paint her face white.

Getting a facial wasn't a new situation for her, and she didn't bother even trying to move as she opened her mouth wide and stuck her tongue out, patiently and obediently waiting as the rest of his load splattered against her face and into her open mouth, some dripping down onto her bare breasts as the men watched.

She knew pretty much every single one of the men in the tavern was watching her, all erect as they wished it was them that she was pleasuring, wishing they were the ones coming on her body.

"I'm afraid you'll have to get your own, Summer is my assistant," Rowan said possessively, giving her a smirk as he… marked his territory.

"Yeah, yeah, we can see that," one of them said, waving Rowan off even as he guided her to her feet and bent her over the table, her breasts squishing against the wood.

She knew what was coming next, even as he spread her legs and groped her ass.

"B-before you fuck me, and I definitely don't mind taking that fat cock inside my pussy, but I have something to ask…" Summer said slowly, moaning as he felt the fat, lubricated tip of his cock gently rubbing along her slit.

"Oh?" Rowan said, spanking her ass once and watching it jiggle.

"Don't cum inside my pussy, you can fuck me whenever you want, doesn't matter if I'm busy or even asleep, you've got free access to my holes, but please pull out when you're going to cum. You can paint me with your seed, make me swallow it or even cum in my ass instead, but I only let Tai finish inside me," Summer admitted, strangely embarrassed as Rowan's eyebrow rose.

She knew she was a slut, but that was one rule she'd kept to, not letting another man try and impregnate her. Funnily enough, Ozpin had actually suggested the opposite, he wanted her to breed often to spread her silver-eyed lineage, but while she'd do a lot of things for the legendary head of the Adventurer's Guild, becoming a broodmare wasn't one.

Well, not right now. She'd agreed to think about it when she was ready to retire from adventuring since she couldn't keep fighting if she was constantly pregnant. She had agreed to at least have one son who could be the father of a new generation of silver eyed warriors, considering she was fairly sure there were only two left, her and Ruby.

Maybe three if Maria was still alive, but nobody had heard from her in years. The last time she saw her fellow Silver-Eyed adventurer, she hadn't been a mother.

"Of course, I'll try my best to pull out before I finish," Rowan said, before thrusting forwards as she moaned lewdly at the sudden fullness.

W-well, if he accidentally finished inside that was a different thing, accidents happened after all… which is how she and Raven both ended up mothers now that she thought about it.

The conversation died down as seemingly everyone in the tavern watched the show, seeing Rowan clap her cheeks as she moaned in pleasure, and she caught the sight of some men 'discreetly' jerk off to the sight of her getting well and truly fucked.

She had been fucked in public before, usually after dragging Tai into an alleyway when she got too horny in public, but they usually had to be discreet, or stop when they were caught.

Instead, everyone was watching her be pounded against the desk, dozens of men enjoying the sight of her being used and abused by Rowan, even as he gripped her hair and pulled her head back.

"Fuck, you're surprisingly tight for such a horny slut," Rowan groaned, his hips clapping agaisnt her buttocks as he fucked her, making her giggle lewdly as she went to respond.

"Yeah, pound that little harlot's cunt, she's always running around in tiny skirts and teasing us," one of the men said, openly jerking off to the sight.

With someone openly acknowledging that she was getting fucked, the floodgates opened as the men stopped pretending they weren't enjoying the sight, gathering around as they jerked off and threw insults at her.

Men who usually treated her with such respect and caution, knowing how powerful she was, called her a slut, a whore and every other degrading name as they encouraged Rowan to fuck her harder.

She couldn't stop herself from cumming around his cock, making the men cheer and jeer as they enjoyed the sight of her shuddering and moaning lewdly.

Flipping her onto her back, Rowan kept pounding into her with a smirk, obviously seeing her enjoy this degrading treatment, but she could see how much he was enjoying it as well, and she knew it wouldn't be long before he came.

Would he pull out like she asked? She wasn't sure and she wasn't really in the right mind to stop him from creampieing her if he truly wanted to, t-this could be another test of his morals.

She asked him to pull out, if he was a good man he'd pull out and cum on her body, instead of flooding her womb with his magical seed.

Why did that sound so pleasant?

As he started to pull out, one of her legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him back in as his eyes widened.

"Summer, I'm going to cum soon," Rowan warned, her leg holding him in place with her superior strength. "You need to let me go if you don't want me to finish inside you."

She didn't want that, she didn't want Rowan to pump his magic-rich cum into her waiting womb, to plant his seed inside her and give Ruby and Yang another sibling. She didn't want him to breed her, to make her his cum-dump…

Did she?

Rowan grunted as her cunt tightened down on him, her leg guiding him to keep thrusting into her as he started down at her, seeing the hungry lust in her eyes.

"I thought you only let Tai cum inside you," Rowan said, the pleasure clear in his voice.

Her eyes widened, and her leg moved away as she returned to her senses.

What the hell was that?

Rowan, despite obviously being on the very brink, pulled out of her with some visible effort before he came, his seed spattering onto her stomach and the underside of her breasts, panting slightly from the effort.

"I think that's enough for today", Rowan said, fixing his clothes with a thoughtful look on his face.

Nodding silently, she hopped off the table, giving a mocking bow to the disappointed audience even as Rowan used his magic to clean the mess they'd made.

Her cocky smile hid her confusion, because even now she felt incredibly disappointed, like she'd been on the brink of something amazing only to have it denied.

Following Rowan home, she stayed quiet the entire walk back, not even acknowledging the people watching her streak.

She wanted Rowan to breed her, and she didn't know why. She briefly considered that it was Rowan's magic muddling her mind, but that didn't make sense to her.

If he wanted to breed her, and he was the one responsible for this desire, he'd have done it and she'd have thanked him for it.

No, this was her, she wanted to be bred, she desperately wanted to feel his magical seed-

Why did she keep focusing on the fact that his seed was magical?

Now that she thought about it, had she ever slept with a mage before? No, no she hadn't. Eyes narrowing, she realised she'd need to send a letter to Ozpin soon, because she had a theory about just why the image of her stomach bulging with Rowan's child felt so damn right.

"Well, despite the oddness at the end, I'd say that was a rather effective experiment," Rowan said as they reached the house, making her giggle.

"Sorry about that, I'm not sure what came over me, well other than you~" Summer teased, making him chuckle.

"Indeed, you can consider yourself hired for the illustrious position as my test dummy," Rowan joked, making her beam at him.

"I look forward to working under you, you've already seen that I don't mind working long, hard hours," Summer flirted, before pausing. "You know, it's irresponsible of you to hire me without fully testing my capabilities… and there's one hole that still needs testing."

She was still very horny, making Rowan pause before he smirked.

"Well then, shall we continue the interview?" Rowan said, guiding her to the guest bedroom, bending her over the bed. "There's actually a spell for this, so stay still for a moment."

Looking over her shoulder, she watched as he muttered something under his breath and made a movement, before she suddenly felt something cold on and inside her tight little rosebud, as Rowan moved behind her and pulled out his cock again.

"Eromancy really does have an answer for most problems," Rowan said, pressing the tip against her now-well lubricated asshole, making her giggle.

She couldn't wait to see Glynda's face when she found out there was a 'Lubricate' spell. Watching the stern and proper headmistress be caught between her prudish nature and her desire to document and study magic would be fun.

But for now, she had bigger things to worry about than the stick in Glynda's ass, such as the cock that just bottomed out in her ass.

Grunting in pleasure, she gripped his bedsheets as Rowan started to fuck her ass, Tai wasn't big on anal himself, he preferred blowjobs.

She however, very much did enjoy anal, as her moans and whimpers quickly proved.

— Yang Xiao Long —

…Gods, her mother was a mega-slut.

Listening to Summer moan and beg for Rowan to fuck her harder, she rolled her eyes and bit her lip.

How was she supposed to sleep with those sounds coming through the walls? She was just glad Ruby's room was on the other side and that her little sister was such a heavy sleeper.

Rolling her eyes, she pulled her top up and over her breasts, one hand sliding under her bottoms as she teased her slit, muffling her own moans with a pillow as she played with herself to the sound of her mother getting fucked.

— Taiyang Xiao Long —

Fast asleep, Tai enjoyed a peaceful night that didn't get interrupted with Summer getting horny in the middle of the night and waking him up.

Stretched out over his bed, he smiled peacefully and slept through the noises his wife was making, just happy to have a full night's sleep for once.

— Rowan Blackwood (Next Morning) —

Waking up with Summer's naked body cuddled up next to me is something I can definitely get used to, even as I slowly extract myself from her grabby hands.

I consider waking her up for a moment before shrugging, I have no reason to not just let her sleep and I have work to do anyway, so with a final look at her sleeping body, I head downstairs with a smile.

Apparently I'm the first person awake, but that works for me as I head to the cellar, my new workshop.

I'll set up a bed down here later, so they can have their guest room back and I can turn the cellar into my own personal room.

I can definitely fit both my living quarters and workshop down here, it's incredibly spacious and fits my needs perfectly.

I want to sign up as an adventurer today, so I need to have my weapon prepared. Fortunately, I bought just about everything I needed yesterday and my Artificer knowledge guides my hands as I start to work.

There's a spell in the Eromancy tome that muffles noise to stop my work from waking up the others, which now that I think about it I should have used last night but everyone was probably asleep anyway.

I'm sure it was fine.

— Yang Xiao Long —

Having her meal, she chuckled as she watched Ruby constantly glance towards the door to the cellar, knowing Rowan was down there working on his weapon.

It had taken their parents telling her not to bother him to stop her from rushing down there when they realised he was working down there.

He'd briefly popped up for breakfast, before rushing back down to get back to work. She didn't get it personally, but studying magic was probably more fun than regular studying.

He'd even taken his meal down there with him so he could keep working, but she guessed she understood since apparently her dad was taking him and Ruby to sign up as adventurers soon and he obviously wanted his weapon to be ready before then.

Ruby was practically vibrating in excitement, finally being allowed to go on a proper adventure even though she wasn't sixteen yet (which was the age that Yang was allowed to start), but it made sense since all three of them were planning on questing together.

Technically Ruby was already an adventurer, but she'd been stopped from going on any real quests so far, and never without either Tai, Summer or Qrowe going with her.

It'd be better for Ruby to start a few months earlier and be with her and Rowan than to start later when they could be on a long quest or even potentially be away from Patch.

Sure, Rowan was a novice as well but he was also a mage so everyone had high expectations of him. She knew rumours of him had already reached the Guild, and people were pretty excited to have a mage adventurer in Patch, even if he claimed to be inexperienced.

She couldn't remember any mages who became adventurers that didn't end up as legends, and while she wasn't as much of an adventurer fangirl as Ruby but she did know a lot of the bigger names in the Guild.

She could only think of two mage adventurers, Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch. One of them literally founded the Guild, the other quickly rose to the highest rank of Adventurer, completed dozens of incredibly difficult quests before retiring to make an academy.

Around an hour after they finished their dinner, Rowan finally came out of the cellar, with a strange sheathe strapped to his hip, something wooden inside it as he smiled to himself.

"You finished it?!" Ruby asked, rushing forwards and kneeling down to look at his harness, before blinking. "What is it?"

"Ah, yes. I have finished it. I still need to test it but I believe it should work as intended," Rowan said, handling Ruby's excitement fairly easily. "As for what it is, I call it a Magitech Handgun, I'm actually about to test it out if you'd like to watch."

"Yes, please!" Ruby said immediately, watching him pull out his new weapon, holding it in one hand.

She had no idea what it was, the L-shaped carved metal and wooden item was but she could definitely see the 'magic' part of the weapon.

On the top of it, he'd carved a small slot into it, in which he'd placed a glowing blue stone. She'd heard about his stones, but she thought they just made hot water (which was something she was planning on convincing him to let her use, since it sounded super convenient).

"How does it work?" Ruby asked as they headed for the back door, Yang and Tai following behind. She couldn't deny she was interested in his new toy herself.

"Hm, can you see the hole at the end?" Rowan asked, making Ruby nod as she looked over the weapon. "It projects the energy from the runestone down the barrel when I pull the trigger."

As they reached the back garden, she spotted a target like the ones the archers used to practise, had he bought or made that? She couldn't tell.

"Now, you might want to stand back just in case," Rowan said as he gave her a grin. "I'm almost certain this isn't going to blow up in my hand, but better safe and sorry and all that."

Ruby paused, pouting as she moved a few steps back, before her pout intensified as their dad pulled her even further back.

Giving them an amused smile, Rowan turned back to the target and took aim, pausing for a moment as he adjusted his aim before he pulled the tiny metal thing.

Honestly, his creation seemed so small it didn't look very dangerous.

She was immediately proven wrong as a small blue orb of energy shot out from the tiny hole at the end, flying towards the target at incredible speeds, a strange humming noise coming from the handgun.

Rowan's aim was slightly off, striking the target at the top right instead of hitting it dead centre, but it didn't make much of a difference considering the way the orb blasted the target to pieces, a massive chunk of the target being reduced to nothing.

But while the sight was impressive, it wasn't the thing that caught their attention as they all turned towards the source of a very different sound.

The source that immediately turned bright red as Yang, Rowan and Tai stared at her, having heard the moan that left her as she watched the destruction.

— Ruby Rose —

She had no idea what Magitech was, nor did she know what a handgun was… but she was absolutely convinced of one thing.

She had to learn, her eyes locked on Rowan's weapon as it hung loosely in his grasp.

Even as the others stared at her, having heard her moan in pleasure at the sight, she couldn't bring herself to care beyond blushing.

"Can I try it! Please, please, please?!" Ruby begged, making Rowan blink.

"Ruby, it's a magical weapon. You aren't a mage," Yang pointed out, calmly stabbing her dreams in the back as her eyes started to water.

She hadn't thought of that, but Yang was right-

"Actually, while the production of the runestone the weapon uses requires magic, the weapon itself doesn't need its wielder to possess magic," Rowan corrected, making her eyes widen as she stared at him in hope and need.

"So… I can-" Ruby started, trailing off as Rowan approached her, grabbing the handgun by the barrel as he held it out to her.

"Sure, just be careful. Don't pull the trigger unless you're ready to fire it," Rowan said, placing it in the palm of her hand as she shuddered.

Rowan moved behind her, helping her take aim as he adjusted her stance. It was larger in her hands, so he placed both of her hands on it instead of just one, her index finger wrapped around the cold metal trigger but not pulling it.

"Can you see the small circle on the top, with the thin cross in it? You have to aim it so whatever you want to hit is in the middle of the cross," Rowan said, standing right behind her as she stared at it, lining it up so she was aiming at what was left of the target.

"And then I pull the trigger?" Ruby asked, feeling Rowan's body pressing against her back, normally she'd be embarrassed at the close contact with a boy but with this masterpiece in her hand, she couldn't bring herself to care even as she felt his crotch pressing against her butt.

"Yes, that's right," Rowan said, and she needed to further prompting as she pulled the trigger, the handgun vibrating in her grasp as it fired another orb of magical energy.

As the orb struck the target, in the dead centre, the target exploded into pieces, and more importantly… so did she.

Biting her lip, she couldn't keep down the loud moan that escaped her as her body shuddered, her underwear completely soaked.

"…you okay there, Ruby?" Yang asked as Ruby turned to face them, staring up at Rowan with wide eyes.

"Please help me make one of these for myself! I'll do anything you want, even the naughty stuff you were doing with mom last night!" Ruby begged, making Rowan's eyes widen in shock, her father shouted her name as Yang burst out laughing. "Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease, I'll be your assistant like mom is, I'll do whatever you want!"

"I… umm," Rowan stuttered, gently taking the masterpiece out of her hands, which already felt empty and sad. "You know you'll never be able to make the runestones?"

"But I can make the rest, right?! And you can make the runestones so I'll just work for you, and you can pay me in runestones! Could you make a bigger one?" Ruby asked, before gasping. "You could make the shaft of my scythe into a 'barrel?'"

"I… huh, maybe? It depends how thick it is, but-" Rowan muttered, pausing as he considered it.

"Please marry me!" Ruby begged, ignoring the way Yang had fallen to the floor, cackling to herself and the way her father was trying to get her attention. "We can become famous adventurers, and make amazing 'magitech' weapons, and I can help you practise your magic like mom is, and-"

"Ruby!" her father shouted, making her blink and look at her dad, wondering why he was so red.

"What?"

"His weapon is very impressive, but I think you need to calm down and think about what you are saying," Tai said, making her blink in confusion.

She was thinking about what she was saying, and she was thinking that she very much wanted her beloved scythe to be able to shoot magic orbs from the tip.

Who cared about anything else?

— Rowan Blackwood —

"So, considering Ruby's… generous offer?" Summer asks, making me chuckle.

"I don't want Tai to remove my head, so not particularly," I admit, making her laugh.

"Fair enough, Ruby definitely seemed extremely impressed with your… weapon," Summer says, the innuendo clear as I roll my eyes.

"I would hope so, I put a lot of work into it," I reply, ignoring her teasing.

After Ruby got dragged away by Tai, I practised more with my new toy, and it seems like it can only fire around five times before it needs 'reloading.'

I've modified the runestone so that it uses less energy with each shot, it makes it less powerful but I can keep some of her original runestones stocked up if I need a more powerful shot.

The smaller shots let me fire around twenty times before I need to switch runestones, and it's powerful enough to make an impact with whatever I want to put down.

"Tai just doesn't want to admit Ruby is growing up, he went through the same thing when Yang became a proper adventurer," Summer says with a chuckle.

"I can't blame him, it's a dangerous life after all," I reply, making Summer nod, briefly stopping her teasing.

"It is, but it's their choice. Even if Tai would prefer they stay at home, nice and safe, until old age takes them, we won't take the choice out of their hands. We've trained them both for years, since we knew they both wanted to follow in our footsteps," Summer agrees. "But the important part is that Ruby is old enough to make her own decisions, even if Tai would rather she didn't."

Pausing, I give her a stare as she nods.

"I'll keep that in mind," I say finally, making her smile.

"Just something to think about. If you, Yang and Ruby are going to be adventuring together, anything could happen," Summer advises, making me pause.

"And if something does happen?" I ask, making her giggle.

"Just take care of my girls, both on the battlefield and off of it," Summer says, making me nod.

"I won't let them get hurt, physically or otherwise," I agree, making her beam at me.

Apparently that was the right answer, because if the smile she gives me didn't give that away, the way she saunters up to me and drops to her knees definitely does.

As she pulls out my cock, immediately going to work 'rewarding me' for my answer and promise, I consider pointing out that there's a pair of silver eyes watching us from the doorway, but as I look down at Summer, I see her amusement and realise that she already knows we're being watched.

When I look back a minute later, Ruby has fled the scene, making me sigh. That's going to make us working together awkward even if she obviously already knew about me and Summer.

But as Summer does that thing with her tongue, I decide it's a problem for later.

— Yang Xiao Long (Later) —

Standing back and watching as Rowan fills out the paperwork to become an adventurer, she looked around the room with a chuckle.

New adventurers weren't exactly unusual, even if Rowan was obviously cut from a different cloth than the usual country bumpkin armed with a pitchfork hoping for wealth and glory.

Rowan was clearly a mage, and word of him had already spread far and wide over Patch. Mages were unheard of on Patch, so this was the first time most people were seeing one in person.

Mages were seen as the Gods' chosen, gifted magic by one of the Twin Gods and people this far out from the big cities tended to be rather religious. She wasn't the religious type herself, but she could see the awe in their eyes as they watched him calmly fill out the paperwork.

A lot of adventurers needed help from the guild secretaries, unable to read or write, but Rowan obviously didn't need any help. It was no surprise that most of the other adventurers were paying attention to him.

Well, him and Ruby.

Ruby was already an adventurer, her copper guild emblem attached to her cape, but everyone knew she hadn't been allowed to go on any quests without either Tai, Summer or Qrowe, so now that she was going to be becoming a proper adventurer, they were already people sniffing around her, hoping to grab her for their parties.

Either because she had such good training compared to most beginners or because she was a cute girl.

A part of her wondered if Summer had taken Ruby aside for the same talk she'd given Yang when she first started, but she doubted it.

Ruby was innocent, she didn't see how brutal and cruel this life could be, she was too busy focusing on the legends to understand the reality.

Hopefully with her in a party with Yang and Rowan they could stop Ruby from losing that innocence, but she doubted it. Yang was a realist, she knew the fate most adventurers met.

Death or worse.

Technically female adventurers had a higher chance of survival, but that reason made many of them wish it wasn't so.

Most of the monster breeds were completely capable of breeding with humans, and a defeated female adventurer would often be kept alive for that exact reason.

While they'd be taken back to the dungeon or wherever the monster made its lair, it gave them a chance to escape since the monsters wouldn't kill them while they were pregnant.

Summer had warned her about this fate, and gave her some advice.

If she was defeated, she had… options to avoid being bred, because most monsters were pretty horny and they wouldn't complain as long as they were feeling pleasure, no matter the source.

Her ass, her mouth, her tits, all ways to keep the monsters from fucking her vagina. It varied between different types of monsters, for instance with Orcs, your best bet would be to throw yourself at the leader of the 'tribe', because the war chief wouldn't share.

It was one of the reasons female adventurers hated Goblins, there were so many of the bastards that you had no real way of stopping them from fucking you, more cocks than you had holes.

Plus, it was very hard to escape because the rape rarely stopped, goblin tribes could number in the hundreds if they weren't exterminated fast enough.

That was a lot of goblins who wanted a turn, and very few chances to escape. Plus, goblins were naturally extremely cruel to other races, so torture was inevitable.

They were even known to take male adventurers prisoners just to make them suffer, or to make them watch the fate of their female party-members.

Ruby didn't see that part, she heard the bards telling tales of legendary adventurers hunting fearsome dragons or driving demon lords back right the abyss, because the bards didn't tell tales of the times the adventurers lost and were slaughtered, enslaved, or worse.

"And with that, you're officially a member of the Adventurer's Guild, Mr Blackwood," the girl behind the desk said as she handed over the small copper guild emblem, making Rowan smile.

What was her name again? Now that she thought about it, she'd always just called her the 'Guild Girl'.

"Now, I'd advise you to find a party, either as a temporary thing or a long term arrangement, adventuring alone is extremely risky after all," Guild Girl said, making Ruby perk up.

"He's making a party with me and Yang!" Ruby added, loudly and excitedly, which made a lot of the surrounding adventurers scowl.

She'd had a lot of offers herself, despite her low rank (which was due for a promotion soon) she was a very good tanky fighter.

She could take damage and she could deal it right back. That, plus her looks meant she was very popular.

But she always knew she was just waiting for Ruby, so she only ever joined parties as a one time thing.

Hearing that she was off the table probably upset a lot of people, the perils of fame, and the fact that it meant Ruby and Rowan were also taken was equally disappointing.

"Ah, I see. Do you want to officially sign up as a party?" Guild Girl said, pulling out the forms as Ruby looked at Yang and Rowan.

"Sure, might as well," Yang said, making Ruby brighten up.

"Excellent, and who is the party leader?" Guild Girl asked, making Yang blink.

Leaders had to do the paperwork, right?

"Rowan can be the leader, I have faith in him," Yang said immediately, making Rowan snort.

Yeah, he knew exactly why he was being stuck as the leader.

"Yeah, Rowan is our daring leader!" Ruby cheered, watching as Rowan accepted the paperwork and filled it in.

"Thank you for your faith and trust, truly I appreciate it," Rowan deadpanned, giving her a dirty look as she grinned at him.

Ruby, being Ruby, missed the sarcasm and beamed at him, blushing slightly.

"Any idea what the party should be called?" Rowan asked, tapping the quill against the desk as he furrowed his brow.

"Nope, I suck at naming and Ruby will whine if I make it a pun," Yang said, leaning against the desk.

"Hm, what about the Black Roses?" Ruby said, making them turn to her, watching her blush. "You know, cause you're name is Blackwood and mine is Rose-"

"Oi, what about mine!?" Yang asked, making Ruby turn to her.

"Eh." Ruby said helpfully, making Rowan snort and turn to her, sharing a look. Neither of them particularly cared about the party name.

"Good enough for me," Rowan said, patting Ruby's hair as she laughed awkwardly, happy but embarrassed as Rowan wrote down her suggestion.

"I'll just have to marry Rowan to fit in," Yang added, grinning as Ruby immediately glared at her.

"What, no that's-" Ruby started, stuttering as she tried to think of a counter argument.

"Well, you can't, otherwise you wouldn't be Ruby Rose and then the name doesn't make sense," Yang pointed out, making Ruby glare at her as she went to grab the paperwork.

"Nope, sorry Ruby, but I'm not filling it out again. The Black Roses it is," Rowan said as he handed it back to the guild girl, who giggled as Ruby pouted cutely.

"Well, it's a simple process to change your party's name if it becomes… no longer applicable," Guild Girl added, making Ruby beam.

"Give me that form, I want to change the party name to 'Ruby's amazing party and her stupid big sister who she let join out of pity,'" Ruby demanded, making Rowan snort.

"I'm sorry, Miss Rose, but only the party leader can change the party name," Guild Girl said calmly, making Ruby turn to Rowan who had already started to walk away.

"No," Rowan added helpfully.

Heh, this was going to be fun. Or they were all going to be eaten by trolls.

One of the two.

— Rowan Blackwood —

Looking over the quest board, I can immediately see why Adventurers are so necessary from the sheer variety of quests that are on offer.

Most require at least one adventurer beyond Copper, which is the lowest rank, so they're all off limits, but that's for the best.

These restrictions exist for a reason, and while Yang is apparently pretty experienced already, with nearly a dozen extermination quests under her belt, me and Ruby are far newer to this.

Apparently Ruby has been on four quests, but always with someone much more experienced there to make sure nothing went wrong.

Ruby and Yang have graciously decided that picking a quest is my job as the leader, with Yang dragging Ruby off to talk to some people Yang knew.

Ruby definitely looks like she'd rather be with me, looking extremely awkward as she hides behind her sister.

"Looking for a quest?" a new voice says, drawing my attention to the side where a brown-haired woman around my age is standing with a small smirk on her lips.

Her dark brown hair has a streak of lighter brown at the end of one of her wavy locks that hangs over her face, and a pair of dark brown eyes lock with mine from behind a pair of glasses.

Aren't glasses expensive with this level of technology?

"That's right," I say, making her smirk widen.

"Coco Adel, a pleasure to meet you. I'm a bronze adventurer with a party of my own, I was wondering if you'd like to join us on our quest," Coco asks, making me pause.

"Oh? Why is that?" I ask, making her smile.

"It's a fairly dangerous quest, and while my party can probably handle it, an additional supporting party will make it much safer since we're delving into the dungeon," Coco says, making me narrow my eyes.

I can see the reasoning, better safe than sorry when dealing with even the 'easiest' dungeon.

"Plus, I figure we nobles should stick together," Coco says, making me pause.

Ahh, I thought her clothes and glasses looked way too expensive.

"I'm not actually a noble," I say, making her pause before she shrugs.

"You're a mage, right? If you aren't a noble, you will be soon enough. My father is a Count in Vale, two of my party members are knights in the employ of my family here to make sure I don't end up dead," Coco says, gesturing to the two men watching us.

One of them is a massive Asian man with an equally large greatsword on his back, the other is a dark skinned guy with red hair, a pair of daggers sheathed at his waist.

They're both wearing an emblem which I guess is the Adel family crest.

The third member next to them is the one that attracts my attention, half hiding behind the large man.

The pair of large rabbit ears sticking out of the top of her head make me blink, but I've already seen an ogre and I did hear that there is a race of animalistic people named 'Faunus'.

She's very cute, but what attracts my attention is the metal collar around her neck, with the same emblem on it.

"That's Velvet, she's a slave of my family," Coco says in a very matter of fact way, making me hide my reaction.

Slavery is apparently alive and well in this world… that's somewhat disturbing but I should have expected things to be different here.

It's practically medieval, and it took a long time for slavery to be outlawed in my world.

"I see, so what's the quest?" I ask, making her smile.

"It's fairly simple, a troll is wandering some of the first levels of the dungeon, and most beginner parties can't handle it. We just have to go to the first few floors, track it down and kill it," Coco explains. "My party has taken trolls down before, but since it's in the dungeon I want to be extra safe. The fighting is bound to attract more monsters, so taking an extra party should make sure we don't have any unexpected problems. We aren't going any lower than the fifth floor."

"Hm, not a bad idea. It'll be my first time in a dungeon so going in with a more experienced party will be helpful," I agree, making her nod. "Sure, why not?"

"Excellent, I've always wanted to see a mage in action," Coco says, making me chuckle.

"Then I hope I don't disappoint," I say, waving over my party.

This should be interesting, and having a more experienced party with us should help make sure everything goes smoothly.

As long as nothing unexpected happens anyway.

— Fran —

She was thankful to the White Fang tribes for taking her in after she escaped from her former master, but it had become clear they wouldn't help her achieve her true goal.

Sienna was a far more aggressive leader than Ghira, but she was still too cautious for what Fran wanted.

Fran had been born into slavery, to a wealthy family in Atlas, living her entire life as the personal slave of the heir.

She hadn't even really hated her life, she didn't enjoy being the sex toy of some rich asshole, but she had been taught that she didn't deserve any better. She was a Faunus, slavery was her fate.

It wasn't until the fool had knocked her up that things had changed, the birth of her daughter had changed everything.

Her master had let her keep their daughter for a few years, before ruthlessly snatching Velvet away and selling her off, which had set her on her current path.

The fool had grown lax after she gave him decades of obedient service, and while it cost her a great deal to get her brand removed, it cost her former master his life.

Fleeing Atlas, she found the tribes and became a free Faunus, but it wasn't enough for her. She wanted her daughter back.

She wanted her Velvet.

And now, years later, she knew where Velvet was. Patch, the slave of some noble heiress playing at adventurer.

But the tribe wouldn't go to Patch and even Sienna hesitated to risk attacking the heiress of a family as powerful as the Adels.

She understood, Sienna had to make decisions for the good of all Faunus, she couldn't risk their extinction for a single slave, even the daughter of one of her most loyal lieutenants.

So Fran left the tribe, if they wouldn't help her free Velvet, she'd do it herself.

Smuggling herself onto a merchant ship bound for Patch had been easy, and as she waited for night to fall, she could hear the sounds of them unloading the goods they had brought to the island town.

Velvet was somewhere on this island, with Coco Adel holding her leash.

Though not for much longer.

— Bonus Scene — Kali Belladonna

They'd wandered too close to 'civilisation', normally they'd never have gone so close to a human town but Sienna was far more bold than Ghira, willing to test the humans more than her husband had been.

The humans had responded exactly as Ghira had warned they would, seeing the Faunus tribes getting too close to their walls, attacking them at their camp.

Sienna claimed the attack was unprovoked, but she knew better. Adam Taurus and some of their stronger men had been missing for the past few days, Sienna had struck first despite their advice to not antagonise the humans.

The retaliatory attack had been swift, sudden and while the White Fang had rallied and driven the human Adventurers away, it wasn't without considerable losses.

The tribes would have to move deeper into the wilds, before the humans regrouped and reinforcements arrived and went for a second attack, where they wouldn't be so easily chased away.

She knew many of their tribesmen had been killed in the fight, and beyond just the fatalities…

Kneeling in the cage she'd been shoved into, the heavy shackles on wrists, she didn't make eye contact with the Adventurer who had grabbed her.

She wasn't a fighter, sure she could hold her own against some of the smaller threats of the wilds, like every tribe member, but she wasn't a true warrior.

During the attack, she hadn't even seen the attack coming, one moment she was running to find Ghira and Blake, the next she woke up over an adventurer's shoulder, part of the loot from their raid.

She wiggled free and tried to run, but she was far away from the tribes, and they'd easily captured her and made it clear that if she wanted to keep her legs, she wasn't to try that again.

She knew why they took her, there were three potential reasons for them to take her prisoner.

They could want her as a personal slave, in which case she'd be branded, repeatedly raped and probably killed or sold when they got bored of her.

Or they could be more interested in a pay check, in which case she'd be taken to one of the Slave Markets, where she'd be branded, 'trained' and then either sold as a pleasure slave or forced into a brothel.

The worst case was that they knew she was the mate of the former chieftain of the White Fang tribes, in which case the other potential fates would seem like a tender mercy compared to the hell they'd put her through.

The tribes wouldn't be in a position to try a daring rescue, and she saw no way to escape on her own terms.

"What about her?" One of them asked, kneeling down to look into her cramped cage, his eyes briefly wandeing over her body.

She was still dressed, a small mercy as she cowered back, she wasn't truly terrified but she knew better than to act defiant.

"I'm gonna sell her off, should get a good price from the Vale market for her, I've got a good deal with them," the one who caught her said, confirming her fears though it was clear he didn't know who she was.

She doubted her luck would hold out at the market.

"Not gonna try the goods yourself first?" the first guy asked, making the man who caught her snort.

"First of all, I wouldn't stick my dick in a beast like her no matter how nice the packaging, who knows what she's got. You know how they are, she's probably had every male in their tribe inside her, the market will deal with whatever diseases she's carrying," her captor snorted, their racism actually helping her out. "Secondly, she's not leaving that cage until it's time to be branded, I'm not becoming one of the dumbasses who got their throat slit by a slave because I thought I could handle her without the slave brands."

And there it was… the humans had ways to keep slaves in line, and once she reached the market, escaping would become much, much harder.