38 Boarding the ship

"Neo, are all the things that we'll need inside the luggage?"

"..." In response to my question, Neo gives a thumbs up and hands me one of the bags she was carrying, it is significantly heavier than before showing that she must have put all our essentials from the apartment inside.

We were both currently standing in the airport waiting for our plane to arrive, while I was wrapping things up back in the dojo, Neo was taking the last of our luggage that was in the apartment and after that we had both agreed to meet in the airport to wait for our plane to arrive.

I have taken off the clothes that master had given me in exchange for my previous casual clothes, except for the armor and weights that I chose to keep beneath my clothes, while Neo on the other hand had taken off the maid uniform at my request and was currently using much less conspicuous clothes that allowed us to blend in while waiting.

And after a short wait, the passengers were called in allowing us to finally board the airship going to Argus.

As I entered it, I couldn't help but notice how different it was compared to the one I usually take to travel between Ansel and Mistral, that one was much smaller, had a thicker hull and much more guns mounted on to it, it was very obvious that that airship was made to deal with the flying grimm that might attack it while flying in the wilds, this one on the other hand was bigger but it was built more focused on passenger capacity and comfort than anything else, there were other smaller airships as escorts accompanying it but it was obvious that this is a flight that is not expected to be interrupted.

It's not the first time he has boarded such an airship but it's always very interesting to see the difference in the precautions taken against the Grimm threat between those in the cities and those in the Frontier. It's not a lack of information as everyone knows what they are and the danger they bring but it's a much bigger consideration for those outside the walls.

Living in such a world, one would imagine that the Grimm would be a cause of fear and concern for everybody, but that's not the case. The ones in the major cities can live their entire lives without ever seeing one, only hearing stories of villages that were attack and showing sympathy while thinking that such a thing could never happen to them, after they hear enough of this stories they eventually grow numb and continue living their lives unconcerned with it.

That illusion can only be maintained because of how inactive the Grimm has been for the last years, attacks still happen but in a much lower frequency than a few years ago, so much so that the attack on Kuroyuri by the Nucklelavee could be brushed aside as just an unfortunate event, but I know that Salem is only biding her time and increasing her army's numbers waiting for the time to strike, the ones who rule the Kingdom do not think the same, kept ignorant and unaware of the danger that lurks in the dark.

'Ozpin, I can understand keeping this information a secret to the wider public in order to reduce panic and prevent others from coveting the maidens and relics. But now they're left vulnerable to the true enemy while they bicker and waste time fighting themselves and when the illusion inevitably brakes, it will be much worse then if you had just revealed it yourself.'

But I quickly end this line of thought and instead opts to just focus on the present, I can't do much about it for now anyways so I don't need to think much about it.

So I enter the airship alongside Neo and in a few minutes then it takes off, heading towards our destination.

...

The flight was about as long as the one he had before, but this time he didn't even feel the time passing, as he now had a distraction to keep his attention focused during the flight.

Neo was displeased about it, but years of living with her had taught him how to effectively coax and stop her from sulking.

And the activity that had him completely absorbed for the whole flight was reading a book that he had scanned and its contents were currently inside his Scroll. But not any book, frankly most books are incapable of keeping him absorbed for so long, as he can finish most of them in half the time it took to reach their destination.

But the one that he had been reading was instead one taken from Ryu-Bang's collection, a book detailing aura techniques and martial arts exercises to be precise.

As he read through it, he once again recalled how a few minutes ago, he obtained the books that he was denied and had been longing to read for years.

|A few minutes ago...|

"Before you leave, I have one last thing to tell you." After saying his final goodbyes, Ryu-Bang suddenly stopped Jaune as he was already halfway out of the dojo.

"..?" Jaune looks back confused, but patiently waits to hear what he has to say anyway.

"*Cought*... I just want to say that since you've already completely mastered the crushing fist style, you are now allowed to visit my personal library." Ryu-Bang bang clears his throat to try to hide his embarrassment for having forgotten to mention that before their emotional send-off.

After hearing this, Jaune shows a brief elated expression before returning to a curious one and asks "Why now? Of all times, why despite all my requests over the years you only decided to open it to me now?"

"The reason I prohibited you from entering it to begin with was because I feared that it would make you unfocused and therefore would slowdown your progress, your natural curiosity and thirst for knowledge was to me both a blessing and a curse if not reigned in. But now that you have already mastered all the techniques I taught you, naturally I won't mind if you try to learn about other styles."

"I see... So, can I go there now and take any book I want?" Jaune asked cautiously, but ultimately failing to conceal how excited he currently is.

"Yes, but I wouldn't take too many. I'm only 'lending' you these books and I want them all back in one piece once you're finished, besides I don't think you can carry them all in your luggage anyway."

"Don't worry master, I don't plan to take even a single one of them out of the library. Thanks to the wonders of technology, there is a much more convenient way for me to read them while I'm away." As he spoke, Jaune showed his Scroll and moved to put his plan into action.

He once again entered the dojo and went directly to his master's private library, reaching there he took a deep breath to calm his rapidly beating heart and went inside.

As he entered he was faced with a very old and dusty room, much older than the rest of the dojo and many wooden bookshelves containing all the martial arts techniques that Ryu-Bang acquired over the decades he traveled Remnant.

But he didn't have much time to admire it, Neo was probably waiting him in the airport afterall. So with his Scroll in hands, he started opening books that he thought were the most interesting and taking pictures of them page by page.

But after a few minutes, he had to unwillingly stop as he couldn't waste more time here, but as he left, he promised himself to return after the trip for the ones left.

|Back to the present...|

'Soon, all that is held inside you will be laid bare before me. All the knowledge accumulated across an entire lifetime is within my grasp and I can't care less about the fact that it's impossible to incorporate all those techniques into my fighting style, the knowledge itself and the insights I'll gain from it are more than enough by themselves.' As Jaune thinks that, he licks his lips in anticipation. Afterall, acquiring all the knowledge he can has become at this point one of his biggest goals alongside increasing his strength.

...

Argus was simultaneously a very familiar sight but also held a strong sense of novelty. This contradictory feeling comes from previously having been to this city to visit Saphron a few years ago, but the changes made since then being a source of constant surprises, that in turn contrasts with his memories from the place when showed in the original which was years into the future and exported even greater changes to the city.

The reason this city was able to change so much in just a few years is due to it being a major trading hub in Anima, one of the most populated cities in the continent after Mistral and its access to other continents via its ports results in this being a place where many cultures concentrate wich further distinguishes the place.

But Neo snaps me out of my thoughts and once she gets my attention she signs with her hands [Come on! Stop staring at the scenery in silence, Saphron's house should be just up ahead.]

But she gives me no time to respond as she takes my hand and drags me towards the house, with our difference in height and strength this would be impossible but I decided to just follow along considering that we're pretty tight for time.

Arriving at the front of house, she briefly patted the dust out of herself and checked her clothes for any wrinkles, after confirming that it was all fine she then ringed the doorbell.

*Ding-Dong*

It took a few seconds, but footsteps were soon heard coming from inside and with a simple click the door was opened, revealing the one inside to be...

"Hello? How can I help yo-" But before finishing this sentence, the person quickly recognizes me and changes their tone "Jaune?! I-I didn't know you were coming. Come inside, your sister will be happy to see you."

The person in front of me right now is Terra Cota, my sister's girlfriend and soon to be bride. After she recognized me, she also saw Neo at my side who greeted her with a wave which she reciprocated.

But my mind was focused in another thing during this exchange which made me remain silent instead of greeting her back, so I couldn't help but open my mouth take it off my chest.

"Terra, don't you think your home security is a bit lacking? You should install a viewing hole in the door or some chains in order to make sure no one would break into the house."

"You think so? But this is such a calm neighborhood, I think that's a bit overkill." She responds not really showing much worry after hearing my advice.

"This is a house with only two women living inside, you're a prime target so no amount of precaution would be too much. Talk with Saphron and start taking a few precautions, this would give me a lot of peace of mind."

"*Sigh* Honestly, sometimes I wonder which of the two siblings really is the oldest one." Knowing that I won't back down, she eventually agrees and led us inside. I might appear a bit paranoid but knowing as much as I do of all the dangers that lurks in the dark, it's no wonder I ended up becoming a bit overprotective and always trying to keep those around me away from danger.

Since I cannot contain or predict the effect of the changes that I already made then it's better to take as many precautions as possible.

As we made our way inside, I got to observe the interior of the building and I can say with confidence that despite it being much smaller than the Arc household, it still manages to capture some of the homely feel that it has.

"Ter, who was at our door?" As we reached the living room, from the second floor came the familiar voice of his oldest sister, one that he didn't meet in a very long time.

"Why don't you come here and see for yourself?" Responds Terra with a hint of anticipation towards Saphron's reaction.

Then, as we all took our seats in the sofa, a figure came from upstairs and as it descended the stairs a sudden exclamation was heard.

"What do you mean mean by that? Why are you-" Then she finally recognized who was sitting in the sofa and shouted "Jaune?! and Neo! What are you two doing here?"

After saying that she bolted downstairs and quickly aproached us with a big smile on her face.

"It doesn't matter, I'm so happy to see you two after so long. You could have warned us you were coming though, we would have prepared a better reception for both of you." She says in a leisure pace while feigning a bit of annoyance.

But I quickly started explaining of our visit before she started getting ahead of herself and preparing for a long stay.

"Actually, it won't be necessary, we were just passing by and decided to pay a quick visit since it was already on our way. Later we'll-"

"Go into your little honeymoon trip? Yeah, mom and dad already called me to pass on the news, though they said nothing of you passing by." She said in a teasing tone, I'm already used to it by now but Neo still blushes at her statement.

"Exploration and Discovery trip to be correct, I have no plans to to enter in a relationship just yet. But if you said that they already informed you, then they probably did the same for the other sisters, that saves me the work of having to call each one."

"Perhaps, but I think you should still call them directly, they would be very sad if you left without saying anything to them directly." Saphron maintain her light and cheery tone but my instincts tell me that she's hiding something.

And my doubts only increase as she shows for a brief moment a cunning glint but quickly hides it.

"By the way..." She says changing the subject but this time I can feel that her attention is instead directed to someone else. "It seems that there's someone present that forgot to give this big sister a hug!!!" A she exclaims this, she suddenly pounces towards where Neo is sitting with her arms spread out preparing for a hug.

Maybe it is due to the natural instincts she developed while living on the streets in addition to her almost 4 years of training, but as soon as Saphron made her move Neo immediately leapt off the sofa and used her acrobatic skills to land flawlessly on the ground after a flip.

Terra that was watching from afar couldn't help but clap at Neo's performance while I just shook my head at my sister's antics.

My sister was then left hugging nothing but air, so with a hurt expression she turned towards where Neo was now before saying:

"How cruel! Is this how you treat your dearest sister, a person who took care of you all these years? Unfair! I bet that if it was Jaune offering a hug, you would have meekly accepted it. Why is our treatment so different despite us being siblings? I call this double standards!"

Hearing such a blunt statement takes Neo off-guard and she becomes momentarily unable to respond as she blushes in embarrassment, meanwhile Terra just stands to the side trying to hold her laughter watching it all unfold.

"Maybe she's just avoiding you because you're too clingy, if you didn't try to catch us by surprise all the time then maybe she wouldn't be so weary near you." I curtly respond as Neo sits near me, putting herself a good distance from Saphron.

"If she wants me to stop, then she should just stop making such cute expressions everytime I tease her." She says winking at Neo who was covering her face in shame.

So we all continued talking and sharing all the interesting events since our last meeting. Such as the plans for the wedding that is happening very soon, Neo's academic progress that is slowly catching up to other kids her age and some of my projects for the future. But the conversation was constantly getting off track thanks to Saphron's playful remarks.

"Okay, I think that's enough of your pranks. Neo and I will be leaving in about an hour so I'm thinking of using this time to rest before the departure. If you don't mind of course." I say, intending to have some proper rest on land before we went to the sea as I don't know if this body has sea sickness on top of motion sickness.

But before I get the chance, Terra suddenly interjects. "Just hold on second! Aren't both of you forgetting something very important?"

"..?" Neo and I look at each other and shrug before returning our questioning gaze to Terra.

"Your parents have called in the early morning to inform us of this trip, after taking a flight from Ansel to Mistral and one from Mistral to Argus, adding the time in between flights and the wait before your ship arrives means that you'll be from early morning to the late afternoon just moving about."

"Yes, that's right. What is the problem?"

"Tell me, have any of the two of you eaten anything since leaving Ansel?"

Hearing this, I then suddenly come to the realization that aside from breakfast we have not eaten anything till now. Looking at Neo reveals to me that she had also completely forgotten about it.

I guess that our minds were so occupied with the trip and sorting everything else that we ended up completely ignoring our empty stomachs.

"As the hosts, it would be shameful to have our guests leave with their bellies empty. So you two can sit right there while I prepare something in the kitchen." Terra says already moving to the kitchen without leaving any room for refusal.

So without anything else to do until the ship arrives, we both enjoyed the hospitality.

Though something tells me that things are not as simple as they seem.

...

It was late in the afternoon and sunset was already on the horizon. In the port, we both waited as the ship heading towards our destination was not far from arriving.

Neo and I stood among the crowd, baggage in hand silently communicating with each other unperturbed by all the noise around us.

But then, I heard very familiar voices among the endless chatter around me. So I turned my head and just arriving at the crowd was a group of people that I would recognize even if I ended up dying and reincarnating once again.

There, much to my shock, stood the entire rest of my family vigilantly peering into the crowd to what I can assume is to find us.

"They're over there!" Came the voice of my mother, it's not surprising we were found so easily even amidst the crowd considering how conspicuous Neo's hair is.

So seeing that they already found us, we both made our way towards them, exiting the crowd.

"Hello" "Greetings" "Hi! " "How's going?" "Surprised?×2" "If it isn't our runaway brother."

And what followed was pure chaos as their voices all overlapped with each other, each person giving their greeting at the same time but in various different ways.

"What are you all doing here?" I asked dreading the possibility of them all having decided to follow me on the trip despite my request.

"What? Can't we come to send off our little brother before he goes away for possibly months?" Aquamarine retorts in an accusatory tone.

After hearing her sharp question, I become a bit flustered and quickly respond "You can but, How did you all even managed to come here in time? If I remember correctly some of you should've been very far from here."

"This morning we all received a call from home telling us of the news, so we all decided to come and give you a surprise. And after seeing your face just now, I'd say the trip was worth it." Opal says while Lazuli giggles behind her.

"But what about the compromises you all had? Wasn't Rouge supposed to be traveling with her band to Vale for her next show?"

"As soon as I got to know that everybody was coming for your departure, I cancelled the flight and boarded one coming to Argus. But it's no problem, at worst the performance will be delayed a day or two." Rouge responded without showing any regret or guilt.

"And what about the other band members? And your fans!? Isn't backing out on such an appointment a bit too irresponsible?" I couldn't help but exclaiming as I considered that she might have her career affected because of me.

But in turn, she responds with a very serious expression "Jaune, for the last years you've been spending your hard earned income as a game developer on us, going so far as buying our parents a romantic cruise trip last year. So after spoiling us all these years, why can't we show some appreciation in return now?"

"Yeah! Compared with all that boring stuff, spending some time with our family's youngest and the newest addition to our family is much more important. I know that you would do the same if our positions were switched." Saphron also cuts in an gives her stance.

Hearing all of this leaves me without words to respond and frankly a bit emotional. But with a lot of willpower I hold back the tears and manage to stand firm.

But suddenly I'm caught by surprise as while I was distracted, one sibling manages to aproach me and give a hug. "I'll miss you." The quiet voice and small stature of the figure allows me to quickly identify her as Violet, the second youngest and quietest of the group(except for Neo).

In response, I hug her back and respond with an "I'll miss you too."

"Aww.... everybody, let's do a family hug!" Mom, seeing the scene can't resist and invites the rest of the family to join alongside her.

"Come on Neo, you too!" Saphron, seeing Neo a bit reluctant pulls her along to join in.

A few seconds pass and I start to feel some embarrassment as I can sense the gazes of those around us on our human ball of familial love. But the rest remain clueless or just unconcerned with their surroundings and just continue on.

"All passengers can form an orderly line and start making their way on board with their passport in hand! I repeat, please stay organized while boarding the ship!" But we're quickly reminded of our purpose here as the ship arrives and the passengers start to enter it.

"Well, we already spent too long here, come on Neo. Let's get inside before they leave without us." I say as I sign Neo to follow and waive to the rest of the family that's behind me.

"Bye!" "Stay safe!" "Ciao!" "Bring us some tickets from there!" "Don't forget to send some photos!" "Be strong my son!" "Come back soon my little prince, mom will be waiting for you."

So as I board the ship, I knew that it was time to say goodbye.

Goodbye to the leisure time I would spend in my hometown with my family.

Goodbye to not having to worry about anything else other than enjoying my time and gradually becoming stronger.

And goodbye to making changes to the future through a Scroll while remaining completely safe.

From now on, I will make those changes myself without having to borrow someone else's hands.

(End of the first Volume)