The heir of the household

Following my father's request, we made our way outside of the house and into a large open courtyard that was a bit farther then the garden. This is the place where I used to train with grandpa and seeing it after so long unconsciously brought many memories to the surface of my mind.

That has made me quite curious as to the reason he brought me to the training ground as outside of occasionally giving me a few training tips when grandpa wasn't around he has never taken the initiative to train me himself.

Reaching the center of the place, he then suddenly turns around to face me.

"Son, you may be wondering why I brought you here. Before, I had given you permission to pursue a huntsman career but chose to not get involved, but now it's different. After thinking of this matter for the last months I decided to give you my unconditional support and also aid in your endeavor."

This took me by surprise as I didn't expect such a drastic change in attitude to occur in the time I was away, but I am quickly filled with delight as I gained one more support in my pursuit.

"The second thing, is to apologize for not believing in you and trying to halt your attempts to acquire training before, I hope that this doesn't affect our relationship as did mine with your grandfather."

Seeing him apologizing so sincerely to me made me quite flustered and I hastily replied with "I-It's fine, it all worked out at the end and I knew that you were doing it with good intentions so we can just treat it like water under the bridge."

Following that, the two of us stand there for a whole minute in an awkward silence but dad quickly overcame it and diverted the topic.

"And for the reason I brought you to the training ground specifically? I also wanted for us to have some father-son bonding to make up for all the lost time, and what better way then a sparring session?" Dad told me while with a wide smirk as he took of his shirt and prepared to fight bare-chested.

"Well, sign me up! So how we're going to fight? You could do it with training weapons and me bare-handed or we could both go bare-handed, I'm totally fine with the last option."

"No, you can use this to fight." Says father, while picking a wooden polearm for himself and throwing a weapon for me.

Catching the weapon, I look at it and have my breath taken away in surprise.

"Crocea Mors?!" There it was, the family blade that so far I've only seen above the fireplace inside it's white and gold sheath.

"Are you serious? You're giving me the family blade as a training weapon?" I say looking at my father incredulous as I didn't expect him to allow me to use so easily a weapon that canon-Jaune had to steal.

"I can't see why not, it's your weapon afterall." He says very plainly, as if this was just natural.

"W-Wait a second! My weapon? When did that happen?" I say feeling even more confused.

Seeing my confusion, my father takes a deep breath and moves on to start explaining the situation.

"Jaune, as you may already know, in the past I had a rocky relationship with my father which caused me to run away from home. Thanks to that, I've never inherited or wielded crocea mors nor was I formally nominated the successor after my older siblings passed away, so I was never truly the official head of our house, that title remaining with your grandfather."

"Then why hadn't grandfather named you the head after all this time?" I questioned unsure if this was due to tradition or if there was something else involved.

"He tried, but I was so resentful of him at the time that I refused to be named a successor out of pure spite."

"Then, you should have changed your mind after you two made peace and started getting along right?"

"Indeed, but at that time it didn't matter since he had already appointed a new successor...You."

"When? When did this happen?" I ask while thoroughly searching my memory for the moment this might've happened.

"When becoming the head of the Arc family, you'll inherit two items. The first is crocea mors and the second is a ring that all the family heads once wore."

After hearing this I have a certain flash of memory and immediately search underneath my shirt revealing a ring that was tied to a chain that I used as a collar.

This ring is the same one that grandpa had given me in our first meeting back when I was just a few months old, since it was too big for me to wear it was kept as a keepsake and later tied to a chain around my neck and kept beneath my clothes.

"So this is..."

"Yes, from the moment he gave you this ring, he was basically naming you his successor and now that he has passed away, you are to inherit the position"

"So this means that now I'm the head of the family?"

"Well...no, you're still underage and as your guardian, I'll be the effective head of the family until you're old enough. Normally, you only receive the ring after getting into the position, but it can be done beforehand if the current head thinks he isn't gonna live to do it himself."

"So when will I be 'old enough' to succeed the position?"

"According to tradition, 'one will be considered having reached adulthood when the ring is able to fit their finger' and then he would partake in the ceremony to transfer the position, this usually happens around 16 but there can be variations"

"And what if someone has naturally thin fingers and the ring just doesnt fit him?"

"Haha... the ring fitting their finger is just a symbol. The rule of thumb is when reaching 16 you're eligible to become the head of the family unless there is some emergency."

"Isn't this a bit young to be leading a entire family?"

"Haah, I completely agree with you but as a lineage of warriors, Arcs tend to die on the battlefield quite young so measures were already put in place in case the current head were to fall in battle." On his voice, I could hear the regret and unwillingness to subject his children to such fate.

"So, why did grandpa chose me when I was just a baby?"

"That old fox did it in order to force my hand! As if to say 'you either assume your responsibilities or they're going to fall on your precious son'. At the time I didn't try to stop this since I thought I could outplay him by keeping this information hidden from you and therefore allowing you to live without this burden."

"So why are you telling me all of this now?"

"As I said, I had done a lot of thinking in this last months and in virtue of your current maturity, I decided to reveal this information and let you come to your own decision on the matter. You aren't forced to follow this arrangement and if you wish I could take care of this responsibility in your stead so use this time to think about what do you want."

As he finishes his explanation I start contemplating my options but I'm quickly taken out of my thoughts by my father.

"You can think about this matter later, we have delayed the spar for long enough. Let's just get our focus back on the more pressing matters for now and work out all that other stuff later."

In response I nod my head and pull the blade from its sheath before setting the latter aside and wielding the blade with both my hands. In the hands of an adult a bastard-sword like crocea mors can be wielded with one hand but compared to my size it is more akin to a greatsword so using the sheath/shield alongside it would be impossible.

Despite being the first time ever holding the blade, when I grasp it in my hands I can feel a feint feeling of familiarity, as if the handle of the sword seems comfortable despite not being able to firmly hold it with my tiny hands.

Putting this feeling aside, I give a few practice swings in order for me to grow acostumed to this new weight before getting into a greatsword form taken direct from grandpa and his style, but since it's been a while since he last saw it and he never used it before it presented a few imperfections that Nicholas could see.

Nicholas meanwhile just casually twirled the wooden polearm and got into a defensive stance before saying:

"You can attack first and don't worry, even if my weapon is made of wood as long as I reinforce it with aura it'll be able to take hits from a real weapon no problem."

Jaune started by focusing his breathing to increase his muscle's output and using aura enforce his body. This wasn't enough to deal with the disparity in strength but it managed to slightly reduce it.

"Then here I come, old man!"

"Bring it on, brat!"

For the rest of the evening, many grunts, curses, spurs of rambunctious laughter along with the sounds of crashing weapons and a body being thrown in the ground was heard in the Arc Manor's courtyard. As father and son bonded in the best way they could.

...

*clang*

In a mostly dark and silent room, a sudden sound of metal striking against each other emerged, disturbing the previous calmness.

*clang*

This sound continued in rhythmic intervals and the room upon closer inspection was dark except for a small section that was being illuminated by a fire.

*clang*

In the illuminated section, the figure of a man could be seen striking a searing piece of metal with a hammer in a steady and resolute manner, showing no signs of fatigue as it continued hitting the metal letting himself lose track of time while smithing.

The rhythmic sound and flickering flames served to create a very unique atmosphere in the corner of the room where one could even find themselves hypnotized by such repetitive actions if there was someone else in the room.

*knock* *knock*

As the sound of a door being knocked comes from above, the man ignores it and continues to hammer away until the shape is to his liking.

After a few minutes of reintroducing the metal to the forge to heat it and hammering it into shape, he finally becomes satisfied with the result and puts the weapon away in a case filled with liquid for quenching.

The man then stretches his sore muscles, he leaves the anvil he was hammering the metal on and flicks a switch that was nearby.

As a result the room completely lights up, revealing that the area dedicated to forging was just a small part of the room while the whole rest that was previously completely dark was a enormous weapon storage where all sorts of weapons could be displayed.

The man then makes his way out of the room and up some stairs revealing that the room before was a basement and above it, there was a simple house that was bland but very well organized.

The man reaches the front door and opens it, as the door is opened a sign that was hung on the outside could be read and it listed: {Knock on the door and await an answer, if it doesn't come, that means that I'm busy so either wait patiently or choose a better time.}

In front of him was a kid that was just slightly higher than his waist. Blond hair, big blue eyes and a polite smile on his lips. The man quickly recognizes the kid and greets him.

"Hmmm... you're Alexandra's son ain't you? Last I heard, you had gone out of the village to live outside. So, what do you want?" The man asked in a gruff tone.

"Good day mister Manus, I've return to the village yesterday to see my family and I decided to visit in order to see everything that's changed in my absence. Mom also sends you her regards."

"Just call me Ferrus kid, and is that's all you've come to do? If so then I will later express my gratitude to her, now you can trot along." The man said with a impatient expression.

"Mister Ferrus, I also have another purpose for this visit and that's to make a request."

"Hm? Sure, what do the Arcs need me to forge for them?"

"Actually, this is a personal request. I would like to enter into your tutelage and learn the art of smithing." The kid says while performing a respectful bow and showing a very humble and respectful attitude.

"What are you saying, brat? From what I heard around the village you're a smart fellow, so why would you want to do hard labor like smithing when you can graduate from a university and earn much more lien?" Ferrus tries to wrap his head around the idea but fails to come up with an explanation other than it being a whim.

"My reason isn't monetary in nature. When I grow up I want to be a huntsman like my parents and I heard that it's customary for huntsman in training to forge their own weapons, so I want to learn skill in preparation for that." As the boy speaks, Ferrus can't detect a single lie from looking at his face so he is forced to accept this as being the real reason.

"Not all huntsman learn smithing just to make their personal weapons, their 'making their own weapon' mostly refers to them assembling the parts after it being made by a professional smith and making the mecha-shift circuitry, there's no reason to bother to learn smithing just for that."

"But only by learning smithing will I be able to make a weapon that suits me perfectly, I'm the one that knows myself the best after all. And I also wish to learn how to properly maintain weapons and armor in the meantime" The boy shows himself resolute and unwilling to change his mind.

Ferrus just sighs and starts to think on the subject. The boy is polite and humble contrary to most of the village brats, even if he doesn't have a passion for smithing itself he seems to be determined to learn the art, a helper on his smithy would be very convenient and more importantly, he's afraid of what Alexandra would do to him if the boy doesn't take the rejection well and goes home crying.

"Fine, I will do it in behalf of the goodwill I have with your parents but before I want to make a few things perfectly clear:

1-If you start whining and complaining then I'll give you the boot.

2-If you brake anything or hinder me while forging then you're out and your parents will have to pay me compensation.

3-I'm going to allow you to watch and sometimes I'll give you a few tips but the deciding factor if you're going to learn anything from it is your own diligence.

Are we understood?"

"Yes, I won't disappoint you!"

"Now come tomorrow at 4:00 pm so we can get things started."

With this the boy turns around and leaves having secured himself a trainer for one more skill that's going to be useful in the future.

Now his day that was already full before became even tighter time wise but that doesn't bother him a single bit since progress is the most important thing for now.

...

As night came, Jaune could be seen in his bed reading a book before his sleep and pondering upon ways to make his days even more efficient after the addition of a new activity.

*Brrrrrr*

But his attention was diverted by the vibration of his Scroll, wondering who could be sending him messages this late at night he picks it up and checks it.

[Ozpin: Cypher, I've done what you asked for. Could we discuss our previous agreement?]

Seeing the long awaited message coming in, he has a smile appear on his face and his previous sleepiness all but vanishes.

'Ozpin, so you finally gave in after half a year? Now we can finally get to business!'