Forged Destiny [Book 3: Ch. 1, Ch. 9]

My shoulders tensed. "The staff?" I asked. How did he know about that? He'd said information was his business, but this was a little beyond that. The only ones who knew were Ozpin and Miss Goodwitch, surely?

"You came back with one from the Quest if I recall," Roman said. "Where did you get it?"

"It was from a Mage in Atlas," Pyrrha answered. "He gave it to us as a gift."

"Pyrrha," I hissed under my breath.

Her eyes widened. "O-Oh, sorry. I shouldn't have…"

"Now, now," Roman laughed. "There's no need to be like that. I have my ways of finding out. It's not like she said anything wrong." He smiled again, and I felt my anger slip away. Pyrrha hadn't done anything wrong per se, but we weren't supposed to be giving anything away. "I don't see why you don't sell it, though. I'll knock eight thousand off the debt right now for it. Doesn't that sound good?"

"It does," Pyrrha nodded. "We should-"

I clamped a hand on her arm. "It's not for sale," I said. That had been given to us by Kaedin, given to us by a man who lost his best friend because of our – my – weakness. I wasn't going to sell it to some random guy, and least of all someone like Roman Torchwick.

Also, eight thousand? That was barely more than what Coco's bow went for, and I refused to believe a staff used by someone two to three times her Level would be worth a similar amount. This was a scam. There was no way it wasn't. Mom would have laughed in his face. She hadn't trained me to be an idiot, either.

"Everything is for sale," he said. "How about nine? Trust me, it's a good deal. You won't get better elsewhere."

"Jaune, I think we should," Pyrrha said. "It's a good deal."

What? No. No, it wasn't. I shot her a confused look, but shook my head. "It's not for sale," I repeated. "It has sentimental value. I'm sorry, Torchwick. That's not on the table."

Irritation flashed across the Thief's face, but it was gone before I could really process it, replaced by an easy smile.

[...]

Roman stood up and moved over to a bookshelf. He pulled out a scroll, considered it, and then moved back over to sit down. He pushed it across the table. "NPC's aren't the only ones who can give Quests," he said. "I can too."

I didn't dare touch it. "You want us to work for you…"

"Temporarily. I'm not asking you to join my Guild, but there is some work that my people aren't so adept at doing. You guys have shown yourselves to be pretty resourceful. The offer is there." He leaned back. "I can't legally pay you for it. Quests can only be given from a Questing House. We'd both be in trouble if I tried to skip that. What I can do, however, is take money off your debt."

A good offer. It would cut down what we owed, while also letting us avoid the small cut the Questing House, or Beacon in this case, would take.

Why did I feel so reluctant, then?

"We'll consider it," I said, taking the scroll and stashing it away. "We make decisions as a group, though, so I can't give you an answer right now." That could also be my excuse for not reading it. I wasn't sure what to think. A part of me was telling me to trust him, that he was hardly going to screw us over when we were paying him.

Another part of me said that was nonsense. That I couldn't trust him at all.

[...]

"It was a slip of the tongue." Pyrrha sighed and palmed her forehead. "I don't know. I just… he asked, and I just answered before I could think about it." She sighed. "Do you think we should have sold it to him? Eight thousand sounds like a good deal." She smiled. "We don't get better elsewhere."

"Yes, we would," I said. "Look, Pyrrha… I'm not willing to just sell that. Let's leave it be, okay? Even if we have to down the line, I can get us better than eight thousand for it." I sighed and moved on. "Come on. Let's see if Ren and Weiss managed to find us all some Quests."

"We're not going to do Roman's?"

—Forged Destiny [Book 3: Ch. 1]


"But he said he wanted to sell it to us," Pyrrha said. "Jaune and I met with him. He seemed more than willing to go ahead with it. He seemed trustworthy."

"Pyrrha, he's a crook! He caught us in a bad deal and now wants to fleece us for what little we have left."

"I don't think he would do that. I trust him."

Yang bristled and looked like she might attack the other girl, but Ruby stopped her with a hand on the arm. Nora did the same with Pyrrha.

I couldn't help but watch with narrowed eyes. Pyrrha trusted Torchwick? Why would she do that? The idea itself was nonsense. No. it was stupidity beyond belief. Pyrrha wasn't an idiot, nor was she gullible. "Why do you trust him Pyrrha?" I asked. "What made you think he had our best interests in heart?"

The Champion's eyes widened. "Well, I… he…" Her face twisted as she looked for the answer. Sweat beaded on her brow, and she cringed as if in pain. "I… don't know," she finally admitted. "I just… he said we could trust him. I…"

"And you believed him?" Yang asked. She laughed. "Seriously Pyrrha, don't be an idiot. He's a criminal!"

"But he said-"

"Forget what he said." I stepped towards her and looked into her eyes. She looked confused, hurt, but also a little vacant. I scratched my chin and went with a random idea. "Hey Pyrrha, do you remember the deal he proposed for us when we met him?"

Her eyes lit up. "Yes! He asked us if we'd be willing to sell the staff we got from Kaedin."

"That's right. He offered us eight thousand lien for it." I tried not to react as Nora snorted, and Ren whispered about the amount. I kept my eyes on Pyrrha's. "What did you think of that deal?" I asked. "Was it a good one?"

"I think so. Eight thousand is a lot of money."

"Pyrrha, eight thousand for a staff like that is a joke," Weiss said. "Kaedin Sands was a powerful Mage. His staff is likely the same. It would be worth ten times that, or maybe even more."

"I-It is?" Pyrrha looked around for help, but no one provided it.

"It was a bad deal," Ren agreed.

"Yep." Nora said.

"I mean, he was really old," Ruby whispered. "That was probably his tenth weapon or something, and he'd have gone for the best he could find. That bow we got was almost worth that much…"

"I…" Pyrrha's brow creased. "But it was a good deal. It was the best we would get."

"It's the best deal you'll get."

The exact same words Roman had told us. I took a deep breath, but wasn't sure what to do with the suspicion.

[...]

Weiss raised an eyebrow towards me. "Is there any reason you didn't want me looking into that? I'd have thought I would be the best fit for research."

"You would be, but I want you to come with me and meet Torchwick."

"You suspect something…"

"I suspect a lot of things right now," I said. It was hard not to. "I have more suspicions than answers, but we need to sort something out. I want to see what he has to say about this, and we probably need to meet with him anyway."

"Why take me? I want the real answer, Arc. There's something that's rattled you, and I don't appreciate being left in the dark." Her eyes widened, and then narrowed. "Is this about Pyrrha's reaction to Torchwick?"

Weiss caught on quick, as usual. She was smart like that, or maybe I was just obvious. Either way, I shrugged my shoulders and nodded. "When we first met him, Pyrrha wanted to go ahead with that deal."

"Eight thousand is a fool's amount…"

"I know, and… I think Pyrrha knows that too, or knew it."

"Explain." Weiss commanded.

"At the time, he used the exact words `the best deal we would get`, and Pyrrha's repeated them almost three times now. She believed him instantly, and I know she's not great at bartering, but this is a step too far. She's not an idiot, but she definitely seemed it there."

"You think there's foul play involved, and that Pyrrha might already be affected. You also think I'll be better suited against it…" She hummed to herself. "The differences between Pyrrha and I would be my Intelligence Stat. You assume that will let me look above such ruses?"

"Actually, I was thinking more on your Charisma," I admitted. "I remember in Class, Oobleck said Mages have a B score in Charisma. Is that right?"

"It is. Some schools of Magic actually use Charisma as their primary Stat, hence we need it. Pyrrha, on the other hand, would not. Hmm, so you think she was influenced somehow and had no defence against it? Interesting…"

—Forged Destiny [Book 3: Ch. 9]