Chapter 46

The four of us stepped forward, receiving jars from Port and sent off into the forest. "Be careful now! The forest is teeming with grimm! It would be wise to stick with your members." Having said that, he returned to announcing the other groups.

I snuck a glance at Nora's team a short distance away. While our group probably wouldn't be having the best pairings, it was still definitely better than theirs.

"How can you be so bad at collecting this stuff?!" Sophie yelled. "You know we're stuck here together until we all hand in our jars right?"

"Shut up! It's not like you're any better at it!" Cardin shook his container at her which held a small amount of sap. "See this? At least I actually HAVE some! Your jar doesn't have any!"

"I already had my jar filled and done! But when I checked on it again later, it was suddenly empty! You're the one who dumped it out aren't you!?"

Sophie and Cardin fiercely argued back and forth, neither side giving an inch. Nora nervously looked away with purple sap on her lips, sheepishly wiping her face with her sleeves. Blake completely ignored the three of them, sitting alone with her jar already full. Clearly not wanting to get involved with this headache.

"Guys c'mon." Nora walked over to the two, trying to calm things. "It's not that bad, we just need more sap right? So how about instead of getting a little bit from the tree at a time, we get it all at once!"

The two stopped arguing, perking up at Nora's words. "All at once?" Sophie murmured. "Is that really possible?"

"Yeah! Watch this!" Nora pulled Magnhild off her back, transforming it into a hammer. Wait, is she going to do what I think she is...

"Smash!" Slamming her weapon into the tree, it practically exploded, sending countless leaves and most of the sap flying before being carried by the breeze. The smell in the air became even sweeter as the tree fell to the ground with a crash, a large hole in what remained of the trunk. "Aaaaaaand there." the energetic girl held her jar up to the sap pouring out of the hole in the tree, filling it to the top in an instant. "See? Easy peasy!"

"Now this is an idea I can get behind." Winding up as if his weapon was a bat, Cardin's weapon blasted another tree to pieces. Most of the sap flying off, but what remained of it was easily collected into his jar.

"Hah!" Sophie patted Nora on the back. "Not bad! I'm starting to like you! Slowly filling it to the top was taking too long anyway. Certainly a lot better than anything that blockhead Cardin could come up with."

Cardin's face wrinkled, dropping the jar and pulling out his mace. "You wanna go!? Don't think I'll hold back against you just because you're a girl!"

"Bring it on!" Sophie drew her tonfas, pointing one at Cardin. "I've been just ITCHING to shut you up for a long time now!"

Things looked like they were heating up in the group. Nora seemed to be at a loss, unsure of what to do. Blake stopped resting, opening one of her eyes to watch the two of them, but otherwise didn't interfere.

"Come on." Weiss said, crossing her arms. "We need to focus on our team right now, not theirs."

"Fair enough." Giving them one last look, from afar, I shook my head. "Good luck Nora, you're gonna need it..."

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"Well..." Weiss said, breaking the silence, and looking at the three of us after we had left. "I didn't expect THIS to be my team for today..." She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "But! As the professor said, a good huntsman or huntress is capable of adapting! So I'm going to make sure none of you drag me down."

"Wow." I smirked, shaking my head. "I feel so inspired already."

Russel let out a sound of disgust, rolling his eyes.

As for Raelin...she didn't respond. Or react at all for that matter, because why would she...

Weiss didn't seem to notice the awkward atmosphere, continuing to speak. "The first order of business for any team is to elect a leader. So, just for today, I nominate myself to be in charge. Those who agree, raise your hand."

"..."

"..."

"..."

I looked around in the accompanying silence. No one had their hand raised, leaving Weiss the only one with her arm up.

"As if I'm gonna obey some spoiled rich girl." Russel sneered, crossing his arms.

"What was that?! I am TRYING to organize this group in an orderly and efficient manner! I don't suppose YOU think you're leader material!"

Russel frowned at that, shaking his head. "Maybe not, but at least I know how to take a hint."

I lifted my arm, speaking up to interrupt them. "Raise your hand if you think I should be the leader today." Russel and Weiss stopped arguing, turning their attention towards me. However, none of them raised their hands. "Russel, your options are Weiss as a leader, Raelin who can't talk as a leader...or me."

"Tch." Russel clicked his tongue before begrudgingly lifting his hand. "Whatever."

"Raelin, which of the options do you suppose is the lesser of two evils?"

"..." The girl was silent, quietly thinking to herself, before also raising her hand.

"Great, we got the majority vote."

Weiss sighed in defeat, grabbing her jar. "Fine. That's the result of the vote, so I have to accept it. What are we going to call ourselves?"

"Eh? Do we really need a team name? It's only for today that we're going to be grouped up."

Weiss let out a 'hmph!' crossing her arms. "If we're going to do something, we need to do it right. No half measures."

"Okay, uh. A...W...R...R. Oh! What about Team Aero (ARRW)?"

"We are NOT calling ourselves that!" Weiss shouted, becoming rather flustered. "It's bad enough I have to deal with MY group being named after a teammate! I don't need another."

"Fine fine. Buzzkill..." I picked up a stick, writing letters into the ground. "I'll use my last name, let's go with Chartreuse (CRTS) as our temporary identity."

"Does it really matter what we call ourselves?" Russel laid back under a tree, stifling a yawn. "All we need to do is collect a jar of sap. Then we can spend the rest of the trip relaxing."

Hmm, while Russel IS correct, he should probably take this a little more seriously. I turned to Raelin. "I don't suppose you have anything to add."

The girl simply shook her head, holding her jar close to her chest.

"Great..."