"The king's envoys arrived yesterday with the proposal; however, I had been expecting them for a while. I doubt a more suitable or beneficial match exists. Just looking at the portrait they brought with them makes it clear that princess Pyrrha is superior to any other maid in this country, and only in matrimony will she find an equal partner in her soon to be husband. A fair complexion, long red hair, green eyes and so on. There are of course things a painter known how to hide, but we'll see for ourselves soon enough." Cardin exclaimed from atop his horse. "Though, I suppose soon might not be the right word."

Behind him, Jaune followed on a mule. Listening while carefully repressing any retort, and instead focusing on polishing his master's sword. Cleaning the blade diligently, until he could see his own wry smile reflected in the silver.

"later. Perhaps sometime this year. Before the wedding hopefully."

Jaune trailed his finger along the edge. A fine inscription had been chiseled into the metal, so delicate it remained invisible until bright sunlight filled the blade with radiant luster. Then between old cuts and scratches faint letters appeared. Virtue is Strength made feeble by judgment.

"If I had known you were just going to be a rock chained to my legs, I would have pushed you off that cliff where I found you a long time ago."

Jaune looked up to see his master had stopped.

"I'm sorry sir, it's just difficult to go at your pace while preparing your weapon for the ceremony as well."

"HA! The Lord knows I'm the one who is truly sorry for having taken in such a useless servant. Perhaps after the wedding, you should look for hire in the kitchen, as something like a potato peeler or a dish washer, as you will most likely in all future be utterly superfluous to me."

Cardin gave his horse a light kick and then continued head on. Jaune placed the sword back in the satchel and followed him.

"Perhaps time would seem to pass quicker if you could tell me about princess Pyrrha?"

"I just did! Her mother, the queen, is dead. She's the only child of his majesty the king and will soon be my bride. Now, quit your dawdling and hurry up."

"But is that really all? You have only seen the portrait sent by the king and you've already decided to take her as your wife?"

"Don't worry boy." Cardin turned around to give Jaune one last sneering look. "I know how to put a woman to good use."

Jaune had the resolve necessary to remain silent, but he did not like it. He looked at his master as he always had, now with a regret for the lack of change. Virtue is Strength made feeble by judgment. It had been carved as a message to be passed down, but he could not tell if it was a puzzle or a prayer. The meaning now seemed lost and forgotten, buried beneath the sand.

They continued to move across the barren moor, Cardin only occasionally thinking of slowing down to accommodate Jaune's short-legged steed. However, a much more pressing interlope for their journey was the imminent passing of the day. Dark orange hues colored a landscape that was already desolate and torrid, and darkness would soon replace what array of light was embedded into the dunes.

"I'm very sorry sir, but perhaps if we took a quick rest for the night, we will have time to catch up? We would arrive in the morning with fresh energy and you would be ready to greet your betrothed immediately." Jaune suggested, making a desperate attempt to keep up.

"There is nothing I would hate more, but I can also easily imagine how someone like you would get lost in the darkness." He stopped for a moment to survey the landscape until he noticed distant smoke rising into the sky. "The Wounded Bear would be the last inn before we arrive in the city, so we better stop there for tonight."

Twilight dissolved into the bleak firmament as they hurried across the road, and faint stars were already visible when they arrived at the windblown cottage. Jaune took the horses into the stable while Cardin dealt with the innkeeper. It took some time until he managed to bargain his way to a fair deal, but then the accommodations for the night were at least secured.

When Jaune returned inside the tavern, he found Cardin surrounded by several other wayfarers of various repute. In one gulp he managed to finish his second beer and wild applause erupted amongst his new friends.

"There you are, boy! I was starting to wonder why a man would need to spend such a long time alone with a horse."

Everyone at the table roared with laughter, even those still stable enough to understand the joke.

"Well, while you did whatever you did out there, I got you food that's edible and a haystack you can sleep in. Now, I know you're not used to those kinds of gifts, but that is what genuine hospitality looks like."

Jaune was about to muster a heartfelt thanks to his generous master, but then an older gentleman who had been lurking in the shadows suddenly stepped forward.

"I'm very sorry my good man, but we don't see that many noblemen, such as yourself, around these parts. I was curious about what business has made you venture into these lands?"

"Well, what it is, is my business and certainly not your business," Cardin said while more beer was being poured into his cup. "But as I am about to be your king, I might as well tell you that I have been selected to marry the king's daughter and gain the legacy of this kingdom as dowry."

Suddenly, all noise in the little tavern dispersed instantly. Laughter, screaming, crying, everything stopped. His small gathering seemed to awake from the thrall of camaraderie and now looked terrified at the man beside them. Even from distant tables hidden in the alcoves, private conversations ended, and foreign eyes now peered at the knight who remained only lightly troubled by this development.

"So, will you attempt to challenge the specter then?" The old man continued.

"What specter? There isn't any specter." Cardin answered, now more visibly disturbed.

Murmurs echoed sporadically in the small room. "He does not know", followed by "he has not heard" and concluded with "the scarlet specter will be coming for him soon" was whispered all around.

"My noble lord, there is a nefarious specter guarding the young princess. Many young men have come to woe her, but they all ended up defeated and driven from his majesties castle by this elusive fiend. This demon praying on any man that sets foot in court with any matrimonial considerations."

"Is that really so?"

"It is really so." The old man nodded, and Cardin's comrades nodded along and the whole inn agreed with confident nods.

"Well, nobody told me anything about a bloody fiend!" Cardin then bellowed. He got up with a jolt, spilling half his beer all over the table. "That's it. I'm not going. I'm not risking life or health for any royal damsel, regardless of kingdom or titles. Have at it herself, I'll be home by morning."

Jaune immediately pushed aside the old man and leaped across the table, facing his master with unfamiliar bravura.

"Why? Didn't you hear? Some demon has possessed the princess and you want to go home now? You're a knight with sworn duties to uphold! You must protect the weak, defend the crown and, most importantly, care for your wife who is probably suffering immense pain from this ghoul right now-"

"My wife you say, boy?" Cardin reached out with his large hands and pulled his squire even closer to him. Leaving him only inches away from his bloodshot eyes that seemed to throb to the beat of his voice. "She is certainly not my wife. Never was and now never will be. If some demon has taken her, then it can keep her. Being a knight doesn't mean to confront otherworldly spectacles, and I'll kick the shingles off anyone who says otherwise."

Cardin then dropped Jaune again as he turned his attention towards the barmaids serving the opposite table. "Now, let's see if I can't find a way to be compensated for this great waste of time it has taken us to arrive here in the first place."

Jaune, left dazzled and perturbed by the will of his master, was ultimately not surprised by any of this. He stumbled back unto his legs, as Cardin went to put a much gentler hand against a passing serving girl. This kind gesture being reciprocated with one quick left hook to the chin that sent him flying across the room with a howl that sounded like a donkey in heat.

When Cardin finally hit the wall at the back end of the room, a couple other girls had joined the indignant waitress and were now ready to properly requite his offense. While unsuitable and distasteful violence now blossomed in the little barroom, Jaune had in the meantime returned to the old man, who had somehow managed to fall asleep in his chair. The little corner he had kept to himself was dimly illuminated by a half-burnt candle, which finely projected all the cobwebs hanging above him in fragmented patterns.

Jaune took what remained of his master's beer, and sat it next to the man, who immediately awoken by the sound of the mug hitting the table.

"That's very kind of you stranger. I was just going to pick up a cup myself, but the walk all the way to the counter is such a long and strenuous journey for such an old man as myself." Then he took the cup and downed it all with a vigor that could match Cardin's at his most depraved state. "But I suppose you must be the one who has done the most strenuous wandering? Having traveled for so long just to end up here and soon to be going back again."

"I don't know if you can say that, Mr.- "

"Ozpin."

"Mr. Ozpin. I don't know if you can say that. I have traveled for a long time with my master, seen much but done very little."

"That sounds very much like a strenuous journey. I don't just know it; I can see it as well."

"please." Jaune took a seat opposite Ozpin, looking earnestly at the old man. "That thing you mentioned about princess Pyrrha. I have heard of phantoms and ghosts before, but never actually met any… Is there really something unholy living in his majesties castle?"

"Well, I have never been engaged to the young lady myself, so I can't give you a firsthand description, but many dejected suitors have traveled past this place, so I think I can safely say to have heard all the stories. Stories about a red, crimson, scarlet specter. A mystic being lurking the hallways, a living shadow with eyes glaring with the flames of hades. An expert marksman, an advanced strategist, a supreme duelist. It lures you out at night, and then promptly challenges you to fight with the tip of its saber pointed straight at your neck."

As Ozpin pointed his own finger at him while finishing the last part, Jaune could feel a cold chill move down his spine. The feeling subsided into him and formed a new synthesis, as it reached an unfamiliar burning deep down inside of him. A fervent heat that was slowly evolving, changing.

"And then what happens?"

"you lose. There is no man with the ability to match the specter, so you either surrender or die." Ozpin then took up the cup again, just as Cardin tripped over the table with one excellent three-foot dunk. Everything scrambling down to the floor, with a bruised Cardin in the center of the mess. The knight did not even get a moment to whinge about his wounds, as he was soon dragged out into the crowd again by two more girls having joined the slaughter.

"Good thing too, I was done with this anyway". Ozpin said as he threw his cup down to the floor as well. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience. The king has done much to contain the rumors, though, to my mind, such actions only validate the truth of the matter. I hope you can go home now and tell your family and your kin about the horrible travesty that plagues the royal family, so no one will ever again be duped by lofty promises of princess and kingdom."

Jaune looked at the old man, but his eyes were blank. It was clear his mind had already moved far beyond this conversation. "Yes, thank you very much, sir. You're much too kind." His voice rather soft and hushed, Jaune bid farewell to the old man and went to look after the remains of his master.

Cardin was found disheveled, unconscious and totally beaten in a dark corner in the far end of the room. Someone had attempted to stuff him into a trashcan, but the result was just more garbage everywhere. Not really knowing the appropriate way to clean all this up, Jaune decided to just drag his master to his room. On the way up the stairs, Jaune turned towards Ozpin one final time and found he was already asleep again in his chair. The innkeeper silently sweeping up the mess below him, and quietly putting the table back up.

Jaune figured now it was time to move on, even if he had to be alone.

The crude knight had never been an easy burden to bear, especially not when such a phrase was to be taken literally. Jaune had tried to get used to these circumstances for about five years now, but it never seemed like his aversion to this fate would settle.

Going up one step at the time, passing door by door until he finally reached the quarters rented for the night. Only gurgles and the occasional yawn was heard from Cardin, otherwise, everything was left up to Jaune. He pushed, carried and shoved him around until his body was finally resting in the bed. As his duty had been fulfilled, Cardin for once looked to be in tranquility.

Looking around, Jaune realized that this place had only been made ready for one person and that Cardin had meant what he said earlier, which did not really surprise him.

The room was very simple. Only a bed and one closet. Jaune knew he was soon going to find the haystack for tonight, and then prepare for even more hours on the back of the mule listening to his master, meanwhile, some princess was in the clusters of some demon specter. Alone. Alone and with no one to count on, and no one to believe in. The fair daughter of the king was condemned to live in solitude with a monster, and tomorrow she would be abandoned by yet another suitor.

Next to the closet rested the silver blade of his master. Virtue is Strength made feeble by judgment. He took it out of the satchel, inspected it thoroughly, but the light was too dim to make the letters appear. Yet, holding the cold weapon in his hands filled him with a mysterious awe. He felt it so unlikely that a blade like this had been made so long ago by a man that looked so much like his master.

Holding the sword made him realize that he had already decided what to do a long time ago. Perhaps he had always known, but it did not matter before he acted. Did his duty, the duty being what was necessary, for honor, for glory, for the king and to save the beautiful and fair princess.

His master was still sleeping heavier than a mortar brick when he made the preparation, and then when the darkness finally covered each and every tree and sapling, he rode out with a single lantern guiding his way. On horseback and armed with a single sword, this ghostly figure traversed the land with unrecognized speed. So fast that when the sun finally crept above the horizon again, the first long shadows of the castle walls already reached his lone figure.