The weeks leading up to the Vytal Tournament had been the most hectic of my life. Oobleck came through on those bounties and the medal. Killing eighty bad guys mid prep for a massive terrorist attack including Vale's most wanted stacked cheddar to the ceiling for me, and I got to experience the joy of being independently wealthy. The medal; however, caused the biggest change to my day to day life.
I'd spent the last eight months isolated from the outside world by Beacon Academy and isolated from my fellow students in an anti-social bubble. As such, I had no idea that I'd been tabloid fodder ever since I became Pyrrha's partner. A quick search of the net for 'Jaune Arc' provided a number of articles written about me. Many were utter trash, but right after I started dating Pyrrha they picked up in both heat and accuracy.
Someone from Beacon and Ansel had obviously blabbed about me, and I quickly became a heartless sexual deviant in the eyes of the public. A heartless sexual deviant that corrupted Pyrrha Nikos, the girlfriend and daughter-in-law of their dreams. So for about a month every swinging dick and his mom hated me. Too bad I missed out on that, the heat of their garbage fire flame war would have kept me nice and toasty.
After that initial hate wave, public opinion started shifting again after my undefeated record in combat class got published in an article that explained that my team had been in the highest level combat course available at Beacon from the start of the semester. With each week I went with a big 0 in the L column, my reputation slowly changed from the jerk every guy wanted to smear to the manly man every guy wanted to be. I transitioned from a sexual deviant to a sex symbol. Pictures of me drunkenly walking around Vale shirtless definitely helped that part along.
All that positive opinion shot up into the stratosphere when I got my medal and the Vale Council declared me a national hero. Somehow the politicians had spun my mission report into a new tale that mind bogglingly managed to both downplay the danger to Vale and inflate the heroism of my actions. They definitely didn't go with my suggested headline of 'Teenage Terror Turns into Terrorist Murdering Madlad'. I felt it fit what happened to a T… ha, I kill myself with these sometimes, but the council chose to go another way with it and I couldn't blame them. Keeping the public happy was a life and death matter in Remnant, and the kingdom needed its top prospect to be seen as a hero, not walking talking nightmare fuel.
The public version of the mission had me separated unexpectedly from my team and suddenly locked in a desperate struggle from my own survival and the safety of the kingdom, rather than a guy who walked into a fortified position full of hostiles armed to the teeth in stolen military hardware and killed everyone inside then lined up the bodies for photographic evidence.
Anyway, the people in charge of Vale wanted to push for me to be a hero, and I went with it. I did the scripted interviews, delivered speeches at the combat academies throughout the city, kissed babies, shook hands, smiled for pictures, and signed autographs. I was paid for all of it after all, and working propaganda for the government served as an excused absence for my Beacon classes.
My work as a government shill was everything Pyrrha hated about being famous, and definitely not how the girl wanted to spend our honeymoon. The whole Pyrrha Arc thing definitely took the world by storm. One trip down to the courthouse with Ren and Nora signing as our witnesses hammered all that out. Because I am practically the new 'Captain Vale' (still waiting to hear back on the whole dope shield situation) we didn't need to go to a bunch of different departments to get Pyrrha's new documents, no waiting for the new ID in the mail, we didn't even fill out most of the forms, the clerks did that for us.
We informed Pyrrha's parents of the wedding after all the documents were signed and notarized, and needless to say they weren't thrilled - even less so when we explained our domestic situation. There was a distinct lack of joy when we introduced Nora as a part of our polygamous household and Blake, my former ex turned baby momma. They'd encountered families like ours before, but never thought their superstar daughter would join one.
Blake's parents were far more pleasant to deal with. The lack of a CCT Tower in Menagerie meant we just sent them a letter and a photograph that would take weeks to get there. Any fallout would land on Future Blake and Jaune, and why should we care too much about those two?
The council kept me busy during the days and my new wife and concubines ran me ragged at night. Ren and Blake permanently swapped dorms, leaving me at the mercy of three incredibly fit and thirsty women. On one hand, I now operated on three hours of sleep a night and caffeine pills. On the other, my abs never looked more shredded. It also worked as training. The grimm don't let you sleep in the field, so why shouldn't I prepare for that situation? Long hours of acrobatic enthusiastic lovemaking could one day be the difference between life and death! Sign me up for it.
I'd been out signing autographs for kids at the fairgrounds the day before the tournament started when the public face of evil approached me.
"Alright kids, I gotta go. Very important huntsman stuff to get ready." I laughed aloud after I'd spent the entirety of the conversation trying to sell the kids on the general excellence of aloha shirts.
"Thanks Captain Vale!" the kids yelled at me as I left them behind.
"Captain Vale, eh?" came the sultry voice of villainy from my left.
Five feet and eleven inches of twisted wickadry and sex appeal rolled up on me with a smile on her face. Even purposefully dressed down while trying to sell her role as a martial artist type huntsman, Cinder Fall looked good - like the kind of girl that can convince a guy to join her doomsday cult.
"Superhero name I am focus grouping and grass rooting." I told her, "Slays it with the preteen demographic, but I see the over thirty crowd is skeptical."
"We are the same age." she countered while her golden eyes narrowed.
"U-huh." I non-committed.
"I heard about your exploits with swords, but never heard the sharpest sword you carry is in your mouth." she continued whatever this encounter is, "It makes a girl wonder if the other stories are true?"
"They probably are." I answered.
"Oh," she even oh'd sexy, "I think your tales of heroism are a bit...exaggerated."
"I'll let you in on a secret if you promise to only share it with your friends." I told her with a smirk, "The whole heroic battle to save the kingdom thing is totally exaggerated. The top wants the rest of the kingdom to think I fought this heroic battle to protect the kingdom and survive an encounter with overwhelming odds. But the truth. The truth is different."
"Different how?" she fake begged me to continue.
"The truth is that I didn't get separated from my team and stumble into danger." I laughed, "I walked into a fortified enemy position, and killed everyone there without breaking a sweat. It was super easy, barely an inconvenience. It took me longer to line everyone up to document the kills. I tried to find all the pieces of everyone and put them back together like fucked up jigsaw puzzles. I'd cut one guy into four pieces with a single swing. Personal best."
I doubted she actually felt any of the shock she portrayed on her face, maybe frustration or the general fury she must feel all the time to operate as such a shit human being.
"Now that is a much naughtier story." Cinder rebounded, "I wonder if the other rumors about you are as deceptive. I wouldn't mind finding out for myself if you really are some kind of god in the sack."
"Get in the long line with the others." I told her, "Maybe I'll get to you if I ever feel like slumming it with all you whores."
Cinder's visible eye widened and became a bit bloodshot. I felt pretty good about myself, great even. Every second I spent pissing Cinder off seemed to fill me with this warm but powerful glow.
"The fuck did you just call me." She growled.
"Something about you rubs me the wrong way, bitch." I told her with a disgusted look on my face, "You now what? I think I know what it is. You team with that silver haired prick. Gotta a real mouth on him when he thinks no one is listening. Guy just outright says whatever fucked up thing is going through his mind. I bet you're just as fucked in the head as he is, maybe more. Pray we don't get matched up in the tournament tomorrow. I'll fucking eviscerate you fucks and laugh it off as an accident."
The dumb bitch actually started sparking up, but seemed to pull back before her eye started blazing completely.
"You'll regret this." She growled and retreated.
"I already regret having met you!" I called at her back, "Apologize for being born into my world!"
The warm glow faded away as with each step she took, but overall I felt amazing. My weariness faded away, and I wondered if I just discovered the fact that I am a natural dick head. If this is what people feel like when bullying I can see the appeal.
That night I went home and put my trio of lovers to the test.