A derelict near his village was always fun for him to explore, and it led him to a calling.
Jaune now learned of the striders, a salvage group that scavenges from ransacked villages for materials give others a fighting chance.
Inspired, he went on t...
Ten months later Northwest Anima, 12 km from Lake Matsu
A small group of Grimm were currently in a dormant state, their version of resting. The forest was devoid of any human settlements, this phenomenon was near impossible to witness. Unless the area reached a certain threshold of aura or negativity, their strangely peaceful slumber could last for weeks... The tree a lancer was on began to fall, and crushed several manticores along with it. The remaining Grimm awakened slowly, still too drowsy to evade the second tree, leaving only the Ursa Major. The demonic bear raised itself, ready to bat away any further arboreal attacks. A strategy that left it open to two chainsaws now splitting the Ursa in half, revealing the culprit as an armored convoy, led by a buggy.
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"Good job Mudrunner, keep on point and we should make it to Argus by tomorrow morning." Hollow, now revealed driving the main convoy vehicle, put back the radio and glanced at the back. "You two okay back there?"
"Doing fine boss, just finished a supply check and we're green." Rusty informed with a grin.
"I'm packing the magazines and i should be done in an hour, and the programs for Grinder's AI are being uploaded now, so I'm good" Jaune said, who wore a militia jacket that was too big for him to keep warm.
"Why did I let the two workaholics on the vehicle that needs the most repairs," he muttered, realizing the headache he gave himself only after the friendly question.
"Why are we heading to Atlas anyway? I know we usually trade with Mistral since it can't go to us by boat, but Argus sent a boat to us last week." The ten year old asked.
Ever since he got the station to himself, he kept going to the militia to help out, eventually joining as the co-mascot with the mousing cat, Steel. After six months of light training with Jewel as his coach, they began with weapons and improved his non-combat skills, such as sewing, foraging, and vehicle repair. While the Trine had a rather impressive library that allowed people to teach children with actual book, Hollow and Bearskin taught Jaune themselves, with both teaching the history, math, and writing. Once he reached the kingdom's standards in education, they showed him the unusual history of the village.
The Trine was a small village that used the swamps to defend against Grimm, foraging and fishing until they made proper farmland. Then refugees from Sanus and Anima came, wanting no part of the war, People from Solitas came by boat soon after. Eventually, the original tenants had the refugees build three new towns within reach of each other. What pleasantly surprised Jaune was that the refugees didn't ostracize each other, proving that they didn't care about the war or the people that caused it. However, the three kingdoms saw different, and viewed them as traitors(Vale was the exception, they feared for their safety and mounted a rescue). In fears not unfounded, a plan was formed. When a small army from Atlas and Mistral came, they demanded the "traitors". When no response was given they broke down the gate to reveal a ghost town.
