90 Ch 5: A Spark of Hope (1)

"So, what exactly are we doing here?" Jaune asked as he and Ray wandered through the bustling main street running down the center of the village. Delmore was situated in the middle of a high mountain pass through the mountain range that divided the border between the forests of Vale and the desert of Vacuo. Stores selling goods from both kingdoms lined the avenue that served as the hub of cultural and commercial exchange between the two kingdoms that had allied together during the Great War. People, clothing, and goods of all shapes, colors, and ideals could be seen laughing and smiling together in harmony. In Jaune's eyes, there seemed to be nothing wrong that could require a huntsman's interference.

"You are almost 10 years behind everyone else. There is no way around that. Everyone around you has been working hard to become a huntsman for almost 10 years longer than you." Ray informed Jaune of the hard truth, "This is an irrefutable truth that no amount of effort can fully make up for. Blake, Ren, and Nora grew up in the wilds outside the kingdoms and learned to fight and watch out for Grimm as soon as they could walk. Weiss and Pyrrha, though for different reasons, received the best training money could buy and worked hard to make the best use of their opportunities. And Ruby and Yang had me driving them forward and pushing them since the day they were born. You had none of that. While everyone else is moving forward and getting stronger, you are still struggling to reach their starting point."

Ray's ruthless words cut deep, causing Jaune's head and shoulders to bow beneath the truth of his words. Seeing how despondent his friend looked, Ray fell silent to let his words sink in and give the optimistic blond walking next to him a chance to think about and accept the hard truth he had laid out before him.

"Thankfully," after a couple of minutes of silence, Ray continued, "There's more to being a huntsman than what you can learn through training. Especially since you are a leader." Jaune's slumped figure straightened as he looked at Ray with hope and determination shining in his sky-blue eyes.

Ray couldn't help but smile at how fast his friend bounced back, "Tell me, what do you see." He asked, gesturing at the lively town around them with his chin.

"Ummm, lots of businesses. Lots of different people." Jaune's gaze swept over the bustling street, trying to find some standout or inconsistency in the chaotic mess of multiple clashing cultures and traditions and the universal yet diverse language of a hectic market. How was he supposed to find anything in this cacophony of sights, sounds, and smells?

His eyes were temporarily drawn to a young Faunus girl with rabbit ears that was skipping happily through the crowd without a care in the world because of the startling contrast between her jet black hair and snow-white skin. However, while she stood out even in this mosaic of color, the appearance of one little girl wasn't of any real significance, and his gaze quickly moved on, searching for an answer.

"Watch out!" Jaune screamed. Shortly after he had lost sight of the bouncing bunny in the crowd, he spotted something much more urgent. A group of young boys had come running out of one of the alleys branching off the main street. Laughing happily as they played some game together, they failed to notice that they had stepped out in front of a large cargo truck.

*HAAUUNH HAAUUNH* Without saying a word, Ray reinforced his body to the max and dashed through the crowd towards the oblivious boys. Jaune was hot on his heels as the driver laid into his horn to warn everyone and jerked the steering wheel to the side, trying to avoid turning the lads into red smears on the pavement.

*SKEEEEEE CRASH* With inches to spare, Jaune and Ray snatched up the still giggling boys as the truck careened off the road and slammed through the front of a clothing store displaying bright Vale and sturdy Vacuo attire.

"Is anyone hurt?" Ray called out as he did a quick once over of the boys cracking up in his arms from their near-death experience to confirm that they were not physically harmed. Carefree calls of "Fine" and laughter reassured Ray that no one was hurt while Jaune tore the bent door off the truck and carefully helped the dizzy driver out. However, the crowd's gaiety at the near-fatal accident was unnerving and caused all the hair on Ray's arms to stand on edge.

"You kids, be more careful!" The driver started scolding the boys as soon as his head stopped ringing. "You could have gotten seriously hurt! Didn't your parents ever teach you to look both ways before crossing the street!?"

"Now now, sir. It's fine. No one except a couple of manikins were hurt, and you don't hear them complaining." The store manager stepped over the tattered remains of his products and clapped the irate driver on the shoulder, "Why get so worked up over it? Boys will be boys after all."

The driver turned on the manager to righteously admonish him for caring so little about the kids' lives and his products. However, his criticism died in his throat as the townspeople around him happily took the manager's side and chided him for being too uptight and severe. Looking at the smiling faces around him, the experienced driver felt an instinctual revulsion towards these people and took an involuntary step back before quickly turning around and reentering his truck. Thankfully, cross-continental cargo trucks were built to withstand and outrun weak Grimm attacks, so with a turn of the key, the wounded steel beast roared to life and took off.

Jaune was also looking around at these people, as shocked and unnerved as the driver had been. How could these people still be so happy when children had nearly died? They should at least have been scolded so that they would think twice before running out into the street again. As he continued to watch, the people that had moments before looked so happy and peaceful milled around for a while, talking and laughing before heading off to continue their day. Their smiling faces began to look too wide and their sparkling eyes too bright. What had once been warm and cheery was now dark and maniacal in his eyes.

"Things are not always what they appear on the surface." Ray rested a strong, reassuring hand on Jaune's trembling shoulder.

"As a leader, it is your responsibility to notice the inconsistencies on the surface that might point towards the dangers lurking beneath. You, the leader, must deal with the dirty human interaction to protect your team and let them focus on dealing with the Grimm." Ray explained,

"This town, for example. As you said, it looks happy and prosperous on the surface, but it is, in fact, too calm. Numerous huntsmen and merchants have entered this village and never left. Not too unusual at first glance, this is a city of travelers. Tens of people come and go every day. It's inevitable that some will decide to stay instead for numerous reasons. However, a few of those people weren't those who would settle here. Some had thriving businesses elsewhere that they simply stopped caring about for some reason. Others had family elsewhere that they suddenly decided to move without warning, sending only a message informing them one day that Delmore was their new home. A few were known to speak about the big dreams they had for their future that they all but abandoned in order to stay in this town."

[And some had responsibilities to Spider Lotus and me that they failed to uphold even knowing the cost of abandoning their duties and regardless of the trust they had built up through their past successes and loyalty.] Ray added silently to himself.

One of the major projects he had pushed for once he gained the resources and manpower of Spider Lotus was setting up a series of laser relay towers that would facilitate rudimentary communication between kingdoms via morse code once the CCT towers went down. Delmore was a mandatory site for one such relay for communication between Vacuo and Vale. However, the teams he had sent to add the relay to the top of the Delmore CCT relay tower had all stopped reporting in shortly after arriving. They had completed their assignment here but had refused to move on to the next part despite having already made their commitments to the project. So he was here to get his men out and help Jaune learn to see and understand the darker side of humanity while he was at it.

"So you want me to find the problem and solve it?" Jaune asked apprehensively. [Where am I supposed to even start?]

But Ray shook his head, "This isn't your problem to solve. What I want you to do is See, Assess, and Decide. Is something going on below the surface? Does it affect my team and me? Do we need to do something about it? These are the questions you need to ask yourself everywhere you go. You can't solve everything, but you do need to be aware of any problems to protect your team from them. And if you really can't stand by, then figure out what you can do or who you need to talk to and get involved. So…?" Ray looked at Jaune with an encouraging half-smile on his face.

[Is something going on here?] Jaune thought to himself before nodding, "Yes, something is going on here. Something is affecting the people's moods, making them too calm and happy and, from what you said, reluctant to leave.

[Does it affect us?] Jaune frowned in thought, "Maybe. Probably, but I don't have enough information to decide."

Ray nodded in agreement, "Then how do we find more information without getting ourselves too deep into whatever is going on?"

"Uhhhhh," Jaune's eyes wandered around, looking for inspiration as he pondered the question before his eyes landed on a certain building, "Aren't bars supposed to be good places for gathering information." He suggested remembering how the heroes in the adventure novels he had read got their information.

"That's one option, but a more direct and reliable option is to look for those who deal in information. Though they do usually set up shop in bars and similar high traffic establishments where people can come and linger without drawing attention." Ray said as he tapped what Jaune had at first thought was a random crack in the wall on the corner of the building as they walked towards the entrance to the bar. However, after Ray drew his attention to it, he noticed that it looked remarkably like a spider web.