RWBY: A Lord's Tale

Chapter Eleven: Owed an Explanation.

"Wouldn't hurt," Qrow said, lifting a battered flask toward Quin. "Especially since I woke up to almost a dozen soldiers stabbing a tree… Kinda felt like I missed an invitation."

"Oh… they did? Huh, who would've thought." He hummed, trying to change the subject.

Qrow stared at him, expectantly. The slimes behind Quin weren't helping his case– one of them had melted halfway over a flat rock and was… snoring. At least, it sounded like snoring.

The soldiers looked more like summer campers than anything else– one was sharpening a pike, another trying (and failing) to reconstruct a toppled card house for the third time.

"…Think of it like… magic," Quin said, reaching for a ration bar and peeling it open.

"Magic." Qrow's brow arched, slowly

"Mmhmm," He nodded, trying to chew past the cardboard texture. "Didn't expect it to work either, I just… did something weird, maybe said something weird, and next thing I knew, I had a bunch of blobs following me around… so I tried it again last night."

Qrow just stared at him for a few seconds more. Then, downing the rest of his drink down, he reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Believe me, please... I swear I'll be good from now o—

"Magic," he repeated again, quietly. "Gonna have to talk to the man upstairs about this one."

"That's not reassuring," Quin muttered, knowing that must've meant one of the only two leading authorities of magic on Remnant… Ozpin.

"Oh, I'm not reassured either," Qrow grunted. "This kinda stuff tends to come with paperwork and even more time away from my nieces."

He stood, tapping his scroll. "Give me a sec… I'm calling someone."

Quin gave a thumbs up and turned his attention back to the crackling fire. Might as well take the downtime, he thought. Let's see what's new.

---

[ System Interface Active ]

"Now with dental!"

[ Stats ]

[ Inventory ]

[ Missions ]

[ Gacha ]

[ Units ] (New!)

---

He tapped on the glowing tab, something he's had access to for almost forever and just never bothered to check.

---

[ Units ] (NEW!)

Because one disposable minion just isn't enough!

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[ Units: ]

4× Slimes (Origin: Stardew Valley)

☆

Benefits: +1 Charm

Class: Familiar

Description: Gooey. Friendly. Will absolutely steal your socks.

Status: Dreaming about farms

---

"Huh," Quin murmured, looking over at the collection of slimes, now almost piled together into one ginormous blob. "Didn't know they could dream… I guess that solves the snoring I wanted to ask about."

---

5× Servo-skulls (Origin: Warhammer 40K)

☆

Benefits: +1 Authority

Class: Scout, Support

Description: Hovering skulls with scanners and creepy laughs. Surprisingly efficient data managers. Not great for hugs nor weekly checkups.

Status: Scanning the forest.

---

"So even when they're not with me, they're still scanning... Hopefully they find us soon." He looked to the skies… nope, still silent.

---

1× Stone Imp (Origin: Elden Ring)

☆

Benefits: +1 Authority

Class: Assassin

Description: Small, heavy, and very stabby. Tends to sulk when ignored.

Status: Poking a tree with a stick.

---

"Hey, so the one with the stick wasn't the one who died," Quin said, feeling slightly relieved. "Good, I liked the little guy."

---

9× Pike Soldiers (Origin: Bad North)

☆☆

Benefits: Speed Boost (All Units)

Class: Army

Description: Ten feet of steel, Ten times the loyalty... and ten times the energy, find something to distract them with during downtime.

Status: Goofing around

[Army-Class Units]

Units designated as an Army-Class provide passive buffs to other units. They almost always have an increased unit count, but there are some exceptions

---

"Yup..." Quin turned again, looking as all 9 pikemen were throwing an assortment of objects, from rocks and leftover garbage, into the slimes massive form. "...that checks out."

Hey, at least they give all his units a buff... but, with how the slimes acted so far, they mightve just given them all their hyperactivity.

---

1× Vorpal Chicken (Origin: Fate/Grand Order)

☆

Benefits: Scream (Skill)

Class: Striker

Description: It clucks in Latin. Also, it's supersonic… No, seriously.

Status: Nearby

---

"…Wait," Quin muttered aloud. "Nearby?"

A rustling sounded from the brush. A soldier, about to drop a handful of leaves into the slimes, blinked and pointed.

"Uh… is that… a chicken?"

Another leaned in, squinting. "Looks like one… but it's bigger, could be a mutant?"

Quin's blood ran cold.

He turned slowly, locking eyes with the small, feathery figure now standing just a few meters away. Beady eyes. Impossibly still. A faint crackle of pressure in the air around it.

"…Oh no."

He remembered this thing vividly, it was his first unit to form besides those imps... it also was his first and only unit to defeat a deathstalker, and by the notifications he got, it was vastly outnumbered.

Quin slowly walked back to his nest, where he slept in the dirt the night prior, with his eyes never leaving the bird.

"Qrow," he called softly. "If your call went through… you might wanna make it real fast."

But he was too far, having walked out of earshot to get a little privacy.

The damn bird just continued to stare at him with those beady little eyes. It looked at him with something between judgment and disdain, like it had just assessed his fashion sense, moral character, and GPA… and found all of them lacking.

Then it strutted over to him

ゴゴゴゴゴゴ

Cluck, Cluck

ゴゴゴゴゴゴ

Its talons clicked softly over root and dirt, head bobbing with swagger.

"Oh? You want to fight?" He kneeled down slightly, grabbing the forked greatsword embedded into the dirt next to him.

He didn't feel confident but hey, that's just life, sometimes you gotta fight something that's killed more Grimm than you've touched… wait, that's just me? oh, ok.

"Instead of running away, you're coming closer?"

The bird reached him. Stopped. Tilted its head in challenge.

Cluck.

Then it threw itself at him.

He fell backwards, not even having the chance to fully swing his blade before landing flat on his ass, the chicken just sat on his lap, puffing out its chest, and gave a smug little wiggle at him.

It didn't take long for it to settle down with the confidence of a beast that feared no god, man, or vacuum cleaner... well maybe not the last one.

"...You've gotta be kidding me," he muttered.

And just like that, it closed its eyes.

Nap time.

Quin looked over at Mordred, the plushie having been knocked away from his arms and landing right-side up as always.

"You know, now's the time to prove Qrow wrong and fight back–"

She just stared blankly at him.

"Nope? Just gonna leave me here to the vices of an overgrown chicken? Okay…"

...

A minute later.

"Hey, Commander-In-Sheets, heard something goi–"

Qrow's voice drifted in through the trees as he sauntered back into camp, flask swinging in one hand, until he caught sight of the scene waiting for him.

He froze mid-step.

"Wow… this alcohol is taking effect quick," he muttered, squinting. "I swear I'm seeing a chicken use you as a cushion."

"This is happening," Quin replied, his voice utterly flat.

"Oh."

The chicken, still perched squarely in Quin's lap, puffed up its chest ever so slightly. Its feathers fluffed with purpose. It turned to Qrow and gave a slow cluck, like it was a noble addressing a lesser… great, another arrogant unit, he needed more of those.

Qrow stared at it, then at Quin, then back at the bird.

"You know what? I don't even want to know anymore."

"Good," Quin muttered. "Because I don't have answers."

The chicken gave another pleased cluck, clearly in agreement.

He sighed and reached up, gently trying to push the chicken off his lap. It resisted rather stubbornly, and it didn't take long for him to give up.

"So," Quin started instead, glancing toward Qrow. "How'd the call go?"

"I've got good news and bad news." Qrow took a swig from his flask, grimaced, and let out a slow exhale through his nose. "Good news: you've got an invitation to Vale to talk with someone."

"And the bad news?"

Qrow tilted his head, gesturing vaguely to the world at large. "It's Vale… but I guess it's marginally better than surviving in the wilderness."

'So either talk with the thousands of years old wizard about magic that I don't actually have and possibly risk exposure of my system, or stay in the wilderness…'

"And if I decline?"

Qrow shrugged in that way only he could, half exhausted, and fully inebriated.

"Then eventually I'm going to get asked to bring you in regardless. The only difference is whether you walk into that meeting or get dragged in."

The Vorpal Chicken clucked again, like it was weighing the odds itself. It sounded unimpressed either way… he could take him on!

Right?

Quin leaned back slightly, carefully balancing so he didn't upset the bird on his lap. "So basically… either I go voluntarily, or I get a knock on my door and a black van outside."

"Yep." Qrow took another sip. "And trust me, you don't want to be the guy making me use a van."

"…You have a van?"

"No, that's what makes it terrifying."

Quin sighed, dragging a hand over his face. "Okay fine, I'll go. But I swear, if I get poked, interrogated, or asked to join some secret club to save the world…"

"Then you'll finally be caught up with the rest of us."

The chicken clucked again, proudly, then nuzzled down into Quin's lap like it was the fluffiest cat in existence.

It was warm, and quiet… so he didn't mind much, now that he calmed down that is.

"…I don't even know what my life is anymore," Quin muttered.

"Get used to that feeling."

Makes sense, coming from the bird guy.

1745 Words

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Another chapter! This is basically just an addition to the previous chapter, as it was meant to be one but I just wanted to get it out ASAP.

As an apologies, here's my system for ranking units and classes.

And like always, do give some powerstones if you like the work 🙏

[☆☆☆☆☆ Stars]

Stars, while also meaning the rarity of a unit, are direct scales of power, with each star above one being at least 2x as strong as the prior if not stronger [10x]

[ Classes ]

Each unit as its own class, with the hierarchy amongst the units being decided by this.

1. Familiar

2. Scout

3. Support

4. Assassin

5. Striker

6. Defender

7. Frontline

8. Army

9. Commander

10. Monarch

Each as its own specialty that you can find in the auxiliary chapter.