"And as for the formation of teams…" A man in a dark green suit and green jacket was speaking while standing on a raised platform, while the mass of Beacon-applicants stood in front of the platform.
Ainz tried not to stare while he listened to the speech of the Headmaster of Beacon.
He was only partially listening, though, as he was currently experiencing… emotions. One of them being rapid-fire [Emotion Suppression].
'...Right. [Detect Mana] is not a reliable way of gathering information. This was not a surprise, but either this 'Ozpin' is making some sort of joke while using the local equivalent of [False Data], or something is seriously off.' Ainz scratched the 'chin' part of his helmet while in deep thought, all the while Shizu was staring forwards with a disinterested look on her face.
Ainz had asked Shizu to record the speech for later, though, because Ainz found it a bit hard to think at the moment even though [Emotion Suppression] kept him from panicking too hard over the news that Shizu had given him, after she had used [Detect Mana] on Ozpin. 'So, apparently the Headmaster has mana equivalent to a speculative level two hundred human from YGGDRASIL.'
The hidden Overlord felt as [Emotion Suppression] activated again, bringing him a semblance of calmness and allowing critical thinking for a moment. 'Then again, stock mana pool at racial level isn't a very good way of evaluating total level, since you could buy mana pool enlargements with microtransactions in YGGDRASIL and different races had different amounts of mana at same level, like how Beastmen at level hundred had very little mana compared to Djinn at level hundred and so forth, so it might just be that Ozpin has expanded his mana like how I have done. Or he's a heteromorph who is currently disguised as a human.'
Ainz thought even further on the matter, and realized one more possibility. 'Or maybe [Detect mana] doesn't actually see 'mana', and it sees something else entirely… There's the whole 'Aura' situation that might also play into it. Actually, that might be the likeliest scenario… Although, when Demiurge interrogated the Arc couple, he found that their mana would go down as they took damage and they only started to suffer wounds when they were out of mana. However, what exactly counts as mana for Hunters, or if Aura works as mana or if it's just a side-product, is not yet certain… '
"Shizu. Stop using [Detect Health] and [Detect Mana], and start using just proximity detection spells. There's no point in wasting mana and daily casts on scouting mana levels if the spells don't return any worthwhile results. We can't afford to start using the results of the mana detection for decision-making if it's so inconsistent." Ainz sent Shizu a silent [Message] and the Pleiades responded with a short, silent 'yes, lord Ainz'.
The Headmaster finished his speech in the background and the students clapped politely.
"Applicants. You have had a long day, and we have prepared lodging in the main hall of Beacon. You'll be provided sleeping bags and mats. The lounge is also open and serves food." Glynda Goodwitch stepped forwards to speak as Ozpin withdrew from the announcement hall. Ainz recognized the woman from the introduction speech during the air-ferry ride and focused on the present once again. "As Ozpin mentioned, you'll be taking your entrance exams tomorrow after breakfast, and form teams at the same time. I suggest that you'll use this evening and tomorrow morning to socialize, get to know each other, plan teams, and prepare your personal weapons and gear. The entrance exam will include combat. That is all."
Glynda closed the wide pad-like Scroll that she had held in her hands, and the lights returned to the wider announcement hall. The strict-looking woman in a pencil skirt then turned and left the room, causing the mass of students to slowly start to murmur amongst themselves.
"Right. Shizu, I'll see if I can convince Weiss to form a team with us. Having a Schnee on our side would be a gigantic boon for Nazarick. Try to see if you can spot anyone exceptional and report back to me." Ainz sent his orders to Shizu via magic as he didn't want anyone to overhear them. "Oh, and see if you can find out more about that red-clad girl from before, like what sort of spell she tried to use on me that caused lethargy."
"Yes, lord Ainz." Shizu responded via the silent [Message] while the two of them moved amongst the students who were filing out of the announcement hall.
"Do not hesitate to contact me if you run into trouble, alright?" Ainz added as a half-thought and moved off to find Weiss.
.
.
.
"Hi! How are you doing! I'm Yang, this is my sis, Ruby!" Yang offered her hand to a girl who definitely looked like she didn't want to shake hands with anyone.
"Blake." The black-haired, black-clothed girl with amber eyes and a bow on her head narrowed her eyes while glaring suspiciously at Yang's outstretched arm. "I'm not looking for a team."
"Oh come on, I was just making small talk! Let's be friends at least!" Yang made a show-offy motion of putting her hands on her heart, as if she was hurt by the refusal.
However, refusals would need to hit the gym way more to actually have a chance of hurting Yang.
"No." Blake repeated while taking a step backwards.
"Yeah, this one's a lost cause." Yang sighed and moved off, and winked covertly at Ruby.
Ruby got the hint and nodded nervously to Blake, as Yang had bugged Ruby to 'try making friends herself'.
And after that had failed, Yang had decided to try giving Ruby a hand- At least, that was the theory.
"H-hi!" Ruby blurt out.
"No." Blake repeated, this time with a glare aimed at Ruby, and took another step backwards.
"Uuh…" Ruby wilted and Blake paused in sheer bewilderment as she saw Ruby making an 'awawawa'-face that was like a kitten who had been kicked. Which was a very accurate view of Ruby's current mental state.
"Um…" Blake looked a bit uncertain but shook her head nearly instantly afterwards. "That won't work on me."
"What work where?" Ruby shook the depressive mood at fairly suspicious speed. "Oh! Wanna go and clean our guns together? Perhaps compare our scopes? I bet my gun has a bigger scope and longer barrel! Crescent Rose is cool But I'm sure your gun is cool too!"
"That sounds like an innuendo for something else…" Blake took a third step backwards.
"P-perhaps we could go and read magazines about all sorts of Dust-based hand-held artillery and designing interchangeable parts-" Ruby took a step forwards to match Blake's step, but paused as Blake took yet another step backwards and almost collided with a short girl that had approached the pair from behind Blake.
The orange-haired, half-maid half-armor half-camouflaged (Ruby was never great on math that didn't involve guns anyway) girl from before had stopped to stand and stare at Blake for a moment, during which Blake's hairs stood on ends, and then the orange-haired girl sighed a bit in a disappointed manner, and moved on.
Blake stared at the strange girl as she came to a stop in front of Ruby.
"Hey! You're… you!" Ruby waved her hand at the orange-haired girl who, while scary, was at least a familiar face.
Somewhat.
Well, the orange-haired girl was a killer and likely a criminal and probably bad news, but at least Ruby had seen her before. Not to mention, the girl had a cool gun, so she was probably not that bad.
Well, hopefully. Besides, Yang had told Ruby that she should try making friends, so she should at least give it a shot! Metaphorically!
"What are you casting on Lord Momon?" The girl asked, causing Ruby to blink and stare in sheer confusion.
The strange maid in combat clothes (whom Ruby dubbed 'battle maid' inside her head because it was a super-cool title) tilted her head a bit at Ruby, and then scrunched her face as if she was looking at something that was upsetting her as she likely thought Ruby's confused blinking to be a refusal to talk, and she finally turned to walk off.
"Hey! How are you doing? I'm Ruby and this is Blake! Want to be friends?!" Ruby got desperate and dashed in front of the strange girl as the refusal was enough to break her out of her confusion.
Blake didn't seem to get the hint and backed away slowly, once again.
The battle-maid tilted her head at Ruby while scrunching her face again.
The girl turned to another direction and tried to walk off, but Ruby appeared in front of the maid while keeping her hands folded in front of her as if she was praying.
The armored, camouflaged girl seemed to pause while she stared unblinkingly at Ruby, and then she tilted her head. And then tilted her head in another direction, as if she was talking to someone inside her head.
Finally the girl turned to stare at Ruby with the same emotionless, unflinching stare that she had used before. "'Ruby' has to cease debilitation attempts."
"Uh, what?" Ruby blinked. "Um, come to think of it, we haven't been introduced… Um, I'm Ruby! Ruby Rose! This is Blake! Blake, um, surname something?"
"Leave me out of this." Blake tried to back away but the orange-haired girl turned to send a look at her as well, causing Blake's hairs to stand on ends again. "You're creeping me out."
The armored girl didn't look like she cared either way as she turned to look at Ruby and spoke like she was playing a prerecorded message. "I am Shizu Delta. I am Lord Momon's aide… We come from Menagerie. We were kidnapped to Vale by White Fang during a purge of noble families in Menagerie. We escaped before we discovered what White Fang intended to do to us. I shoot things that Lord Momon tells me to shoot. Your request for 'friendship' has been processed... In turn, you will tell us about what you're trying to cast on Lord Momon, and why…"
Blake paused.
Ruby stared a bit at Shizu. "So… We are friends?"
"Yes…" Shizu didn't look like she intended to follow up the statement, and neither did she look like she had an opinion one way or the other on the matter.
"Yay!" Ruby grabbed Shizu's hands and jumped in joy. "We can talk about guns and tanks and artillery and Dust armaments and designing recoil mechanisms and… Ohmygosh have you seen the new Atlesian Paladin model 290?! It got previewed in the arms magazine some time ago! It's so coooool, like, it has a laser targeting array and a heavy gauss gun and…"
"What was that about White Fang?" Blake creeped a bit forwards while Ruby was gushing all over Shizu, who in turn looked like she was slightly bothered by Ruby bouncing around the armored maid-clothed girl.
"This topic is acceptable." Shizu's spoke to Ruby with flat tone. And even though Shizu's expression didn't change, she somehow looked slightly interested in Ruby's choice of subject, which caused Ruby's excitement to grow even further. "However, only after 'Ruby' explains what she is using on Lord Momon."
"Do you like guns and mechs and tanks and stuff like that too?!" Ruby gasped in sheer joy while holding Shizu's hands, as the revelation caused her to miss what Shizu had said just now.
"Confirmed. Detachment and recombination into a battle mecha is the dream of every young girl." Shizu's tone was bland but her eyes sparkled while she spoke.
"Yea! That too! I have no idea what that is but it sounds cool!" Ruby nodded her head with such a rapid rate of speed that she almost concussed herself. "Wanna go and-"
"You said you were from Menagerie and that you were kidnapped by White Fang. Don't try to hide it- I heard you." Blake stepped between Ruby and Shizu and spoke to the latter. "What did you mean by that?"
Ruby slowly started to remember the part about 'Shizu being kidnapped by White Fang' as her initial cheer from finding a friend in Beacon had driven over the realization of the trauma that Shizu must have suffered.
"Lord Momon and I were kidnapped by White Fang from Menagerie and brought to Vale. We fought our way to Vale..." Shizu recounted.
"Um, it's alright if you don't want to say anything if it's too personal, I understand if…" Ruby hesitated for a while and then patted Shizu's shoulder just a bit.
However, Blake had a different opinion.
"It's not okay- Speak! What do you mean that White Fang attacked the leaders of Menagerie?! You said that earlier!" Blake reached to grab Shizu by her shoulders… But she missed.
Ruby blinked as it looked like Shizu had dodged, somehow, and was a couple of steps away from Blake while having a slightly scrunched-up expression, almost as if she was weighing her options.
Moreover, the battle-maid had her rifle in her left hand again, even though she was pointing it at the floor, making Ruby pale a bit.
"Heeeey Blake! Listen, bullying Shizu is not cool!" Ruby tried to draw attention to herself so that neither side could escalate the conflict, but it looked like Blake wasn't distracted that easily.
"White Fang don't attack people like that! You are lying! That couldn't have happened- You're not from Menagerie, they- My pare- mew!" Blake took a step towards Shizu… And then topped over as Shizu had lifted her gun so quickly that Ruby had barely caught the motion, and fired a single shot through a Glyph that had appeared in front of her gun-barrel.
The shot hit Blake square in the temple, and the girl crumbled to the floor like a puppet with her strings cut, after her body flashed with dark violet light of breaking Aura.
"Blake! Blakeeee! Don't die!" Ruby fell on her knees instantly as the trauma of seeing the random white-clad criminal from earlier get his brains blown out by Shizu resurfaced, and even though Ruby hadn't known Blake for long, she wanted to know her, and perhaps even have the all three of them be friends.
Yet now… Blake was lying motionlessly on the floor with a massive hole in her temple.
The girl's closed eyes seemed to stare accusingly into Ruby's eyes, telling her 'why didn't you save me?'.
"I'm… I'm so sorry… Blake…" Ruby hiccupped at her dead would-be-friend.
"...Stun shot. Non-warning." Shizu commented blandly while putting her rifle behind her body, and then returning her hand to her side as the rifle had disappeared somehow. "Momon-sama forbid shooting to kill unless authorized… After the last time…"
"Um…" Ruby stared a bit at Blake, who on closer look only had a considerable bruise on the dead center of her temple instead of a massive gaping hole, and the black-clad girl's chest was rising and lowering with slow and steady pace.
In other words, Blake was alive.
Ruby hugged the unconscious girl. "I'm sho glad… sniff… Blake…"
"Remain here." Shizu turned to address Ruby, then walked up to Blake, bent over, and lifted the taller girl to her shoulder without the slightest effort.
The armored orange-haired girl then turned around and marched off with parade steps and disinterested look on her face, leaving Ruby kneeling on the floor and staring at Shizu's back. All the while Ruby was trying to push down the shakiness from once again witnessing Shizu shoot someone in the head and then haul the 'kill' away for 'jailing'.
Ruby was slowly starting to realize that Shizu might actually be really dangerous.
But at the same time, Shizu was Ruby's friend. And Ruby was Shizu's friend!
In other words… Ruby had to teach Shizu that it wasn't alright to shoot people in the head as a first response!
"Yeah! I can do this!" Ruby hyped herself up, and ran after Shizu… Only to realize that she couldn't find her anymore after Shizu had moved out of the hall-like side-lounge.
And Ruby realized that all of the students who had been present in the room to socialize were now staring at Ruby with various degrees of shock, as they had likely seen and heard Shizu shooting Blake just as clearly as Ruby had seen it.
.
.
.
"Greetings again, Momon." Weiss curtsied just slightly, even though she looked slightly wary. "I wonder, were you perhaps looking for me?"
"I must confess that my wariness of complete strangers got the better of me, after the encounter with the White Fang. Moreover, I feel that our conversation was interrupted midway through, and I was looking forward to continuing it." Ainz bowed slightly to the girl while using his backstory as an excuse. "I hope that I have not caused distress."
"So are you in the habit of following girls around?" Weiss snipped while tying her arms across her chest in a hostile manner. "I wish to be left alone."
"Very well. I apologize for interrupting." Ainz bowed again with his hand on his chest-plate and made to leave, well aware that insisting on staying would likely get him tied up and shot to the back of the head by Weiss's invisible cavalcade of potentially apocalyptically strong bodyguards.
The fact Ainz couldn't sense anyone following Weiss around, other than himself, was an extremely worrying sign. He had even dropped [Perfect Warrior] for a moment and cast half a dozen detection scrolls, and found no-one particularly interesting in the proximity of the building, outside the crow that was perched on top of one of the tall windows and was eating a donut.
However, the strangely level-up crow was known for Ainz, and he was certain that Weiss's bodyguards wouldn't be sloppy enough to let themselves be caught with even low-level detection scrolls, so Ainz had come to the conclusion that since Pyrrha hadn't been the mock-bodyguard since she had just walked off, the crow must have been Weiss's fake bodyguard.
Moreover, Ainz had gotten quite worried after the follow-up higher-tiered detection scrolls hadn't found anyone other than the crow that would perk his attention.
In other words, Weiss's actual bodyguards were likely invisible, intangible, possibly dimension-hopped to a different plane of reality like the Eight Edge Assassin mercenary-monsters, and possibly had even greater forms of detection-evasion than what Ainz knew of. After all, his knowledge was based on YGGDRASIL abilities, and as far as he knew, Remnant might have far stronger abilities.
Ainz knew that since the Hunter illuminati had kept true knowledge of Grimm hidden from the populace that regularly ran into Grimm, there was nearly no limits to what sort of knowledge they could come across and hide away.
Therefore Ainz couldn't act too pushy when it came to Weiss, since if he went ahead and disrespected her, she might just mention to her bodyguards that Ainz was bothering her, and Ainz would experience the chain-killing that he had before, except without Touch Me to save him this time around.
'I was probably a bit too pushy. Weiss initiated the conversation back in the airship, so I may have come off as a bit too creepy when I searched her out afterwards…' Ainz noted his failure and decided to go for another approach later.
"Stop. You may accompany me." Weiss's voice came from behind Ainz and he glanced over his shoulder at the girl.
She was giving Ainz a sharp, evaluating glare.
"I see. I take it that you were worried that I wouldn't take a 'no'?" Ainz tilted his head a bit, as acting too subservient wouldn't be good either. "I feel as if I should be offended, but I can't fault you for your caution."
"In that case we shall search for Pyrrha." Weiss flicked her knee-long offset ponytail a bit to the side in a manner that came across as slightly embarrassed and a bit angry, making Ainz fairly certain that he had hit the nail in the head. Not that it offended him, as he had already guessed what was going on.
The fact he could even tell what Weiss was 'emoting' was a bit strange, considering that Suzuki Satoru couldn't say that he was particularly good at reading emotions from body language, specifically those of noble young girls with high-class corporate backgrounds, but it looked as if 'Momonga's background detail as 'dark necromancer lord' and 'guild leader' were shining through the personality somewhat and allowed him to 'punch up' in terms of analyzing people and speaking to them in person. 'Come to think of it… Am I 'Momonga' or 'Suzuki Satoru' now? I'm in 'Momonga's body, but am I just the driver, or the car, or both at the same time? Where does one start and the other end?'
Ainz shook off the internal conversation quickly, though, since Weiss had started to move and Ainz couldn't afford losing the chance by acting weird.
Of course, Ainz could have pointed out Pyrrha's location instantly by sending Shizu a wordless [Message] and asking her to scout the red-head out, but just as Ainz was weighing the pros and cons of the action…
"Lord Ainz. I have encountered the target 'Red', who has introduced herself as 'Ruby'. Gave no response when asked about hostile lethargy attacks. She appears to be blocking my way. Request permission to engage."
"Wait, hold." Ainz quickly halted the situation from deteriorating- He couldn't afford to draw attention to himself and Shizu, specifically when the situation was delicate enough without further destabilization.
The destruction of Far Hope seemed to have flown under the radar of the authorities, and it didn't look like anyone had drawn parallels to 'Momon' being vetted by 'Nicholas Arc', but a shootout during the application process would definitely cause a lot of heat to fall on Shizu, and by proxy, Ainz.
Specifically if the Hunter Illuminati learned of it, which they would definitely do.
"Is she saying something? Making threats or using that 'lethargy' spell?"
"Yes, Lord Ainz. She is standing in front of me and using it as we speak."
"Have you asked her to stop?"
"She did not comment. However, she asked to be 'friends'."
"...Right." Ainz thought briefly on Shizu's words while pointing in Pyrrha's 'direction' for Weiss, which was opposite to where the red-head actually was, since Ainz had spotted the girl in the distance, speaking to a blonde-haired kid from earlier who had bruises on his face.
He needed a moment to think and figure out the situation that Shizu was in, and the search for Pyrrha gave Ainz a good opportunity to stay in Weiss's proximity while also not speaking much as he needed his full attention to deal with the issue that had popped up. "Has Ruby acted in a hostile manner otherwise?"
"No."
"...Hm… Try telling her that you'll be her friend, see how she reacts, find out if she can be of use to us. That strange effect might be some sort of aura ability or something like that- We'll need to be careful here. Absolutely no killing when you have witnesses." Ainz pondered if the red-clad girl from earlier was somehow chasing Ainz around, considering that he and Shizu had now run into her three times in four or so days. "It might be better to draw her closer, see if we can get her to talk, speak about her allies, and then silence her if she poses a threat or try to get her on our side if she is exceptional or useful…"
"Confirmed."
Anz nodded and the communication closed. "Lady Schnee- I think I saw Pyrrha in that direction. She's talking to a blonde boy."
"Haa… I suppose being tall has its perks." Weiss looked to be pouting a bit as she glanced up at Ainz, who was over six and half foot tall in the armor and was towering over the rest of the students, most of whom barely reached his shoulder, compared to Weiss who was five foot three something.
However, as the pair were moving towards Pyrrha and the blonde boy, Ainz got another [Message]. "Lord Ainz. I am being confronted by a girl with level fifteen mana. She is calling out Lord Ainz's backstory as fake-"
"Silence her quickly and nonlethally!" Ainz replied instantly. "After that, bring her to me when I am alone!"
"Yes, Lord Ainz."
"Ah, Greetings, Weiss… Momon." Pyrrha looked slightly cornered as she drew her attention from a blonde boy towards the pair who had stopped in front of the two.
…And then the sound of a gunshot came from the direction of the separate lounge.
'...' Ainz closed his eyes and sighed internally. "...[Message]. Shizu, did you shoot just now?"
"Target down. Commencing retrieval operation."
"..." Ainz resisted the urge to cover his face with his hands, and managed to do so, even if barely, as [Emotion Suppression] came to his aid at the last second.
"Um- What was that? I'll investigate…" Pyrrha looked in the direction of the gunshot and then took a step in the direction.
"Don't worry. My aide was bothered by other students and her gun went off by accident." Ainz shook his hand a bit to dissuade Pyrrha. "No-one was hurt."
"I think I see an orange-haired girl hauling a body out of that room!" The blonde boy, who was quite tall as well, looked over the crowd and pointed in the direction.
"Alright, no-one died…"
"She has a red mark on her temple! I think she's bleeding!"
"I instructed Shizu to use nonlethal bullets after the last time…" Ainz let out a small groan as [Emotion Suppression] came in clutch, but a second too late as his exasperated words had already left his throat.
"The last time?" Weiss had a slightly high-pitched tone as she turned to stare at Ainz.
"We were apprehending a dangerous criminal named Roman Tochwick, who was associated with White Fang operations in Vale City, and Shizu's… finger slipped. He survived, but was wounded." Ainz reassured while throwing Torchwick under the bus.
He didn't know if Torchwick was associated with White Fang or not as the criminal hadn't exactly been forthcoming with information on his associates, but he was apparently a underground criminal figure in Vale so he might have those kinds of connections, and the potential was enough to make the lie believable.
Moreover, if Ainz tied the lie to 'White Fang', he also secured a good motive as to why he had gone after Torchwick if someone asked, since Ainz's 'Momon' backstory put him opposed to White Fang.
"I… see. Well, in honesty I wouldn't have cried if a White Fang scum enabler had ended up dying either way." Weiss sighed in relief while Pyrrha looked shocked as she stared at Weiss.
"Um… Should we be hearing that?" The blonde boy asked.
"Come to think of it, we haven't been introduced. I'm Momon." Ainz offered his hand to the blonde boy with cordial motion, and bowed his head slightly as the kid shook it.
"J-Jaune. Arc. Jaune Arc! Um… Ow… Pleasedontcrushmyhand…" The kid winced a bit.
"My apologies." Ainz let go of the kid's hand as he realized that he'd have to be really careful with those sorts of motions when he had [Perfect Warrior] active, and thus had the stats of a level hundred Warrior. "Say… Do you have any relation to Nicholas Arc?"
"Ah- He's my dad! I want to become a Hunter just like him!" Jaune looked resolute. "Uh, I hope. Er, that is, I hope I'll get a chance, since I heard the entrance exam can be tough and I was, um, erm… P-privately taught…"
"I'm certain you'll do fine, Jaune." Pyrrha smiled a bit at the boy.
"Thanks, Pyrrha. It's great to hear someone else say that too… Um, that is, it's great weather, and uh, have you heard about the new coffee shop in town?! It's great! My sister told me everything about it! They even do this, uh, I forgot the name but it was like half a book long order and it looked awesome when she sent a picture of it…" Jaune seemed to break down mentally and went on a completely unrelated tangent.
It looked like Pyrrha was interested in listening to Jaune, while Weiss rolled her eyes so hard she almost popped them right off their sockets.
"Miss Nikos, as I was saying back during the ferry, I planned for the two of us to form a team. After I find two more applicants with sufficient qualities I'm certain that we'll make a team that'll go down in Beacon's history- With your prodigious combat prowess as Mistral's arena champion and my intellect, we'll…" Weiss coughed to her hand and spoke to Pyrrha.
'Right. I might have come on too strong.' Ainz analyzed Weiss's words and noticed that she was definitely excluding him from the equation. Which was somewhat worrying sign, not only because it meant Weiss didn't see Ainz as potential team-candidate for one reason or another, it could also signal that Weiss was deliberately keeping Ainz around for now so that when she led him out of the building, her bodyguards would jump Ainz and pummel him to dust.
Ainz considered sending Demiurge a message to prepare an extraction team for himself, but hesitated- After all, if the bodyguard team were actually terrifyingly strong then there was a chance that the rescue team would also get killed.
'However, better safe than sorry, just in case…' Ainz considered the possibility and almost sent the [Message]... But held himself back from doing so at the last second. 'However, if I ask Demiurge to prepare the team but didn't end up needing it… Would Demiurge think that I miscalculated? That could signify that I am a weak leader and he might take it as a sign that I'm not worthy to lead Nazarick, and try to overthrow me? He's way too intelligent- I learned as much during the week I sat in Nazarick while Demiurge interrogated the settlers from Far Hope… No, I can't risk it. I'll have to just try to convince Weiss to spare me. Somehow. Perhaps I've acted too friendly… If I gave her the cold shoulder would that resolve the issue?'
"Um, that sounds absolutely charming, but I fear that I've already promised that I'd form a team with Jaune." Pyrrha had a slightly fragile smile as she listened to Weiss's marketing speech. "I'm sorry."
"Excellent! In that case I'll expect you to brief me on your Semblance and specific preference on combat position in a standard Atlesian defensive and offensive formation and- eh?" Weiss stopped halfway into her sentence as if she had run into a wall. "Excuse me, I may have misheard-"
"Jaune and I will form a team. Sorry!" Pyrrha looked slightly more confident as she spoke, as Weiss's dumbfounded look seemed to give the red-head the courage to speak.
"Ah- it's… Mr. Arc, do you happen to possess extraordinary ability in ranged combat or in academics?" Weiss sounded slightly fragile as she turned towards the boy, who still had some leftover puke on the corner of his hoodie from the earlier incident inside the air-ferry.
"Um, no, my grades are thoroughly mediocre… I mean, yeah! I'm really good at studying, and… Things!" Jaune nodded desperately while blushing hard from Weiss's glare. "I also have a kick-ass sword and shield- Um, they were my dad's old sword and shield but he, um, erm, l-lent them to me s-so that I could become a Hunter! I definitely didn't swipe them from the trophy rack over the fireplace! I can do the defending, so you and Weiss can fight safely from behind me! I… um, hope."
Pyrrha giggled a bit.
Jaune sweated under Weiss's dumbfounded stare, even more when Weiss turned to stare at Pyrrha who went from muted giggle to an awkward wiggle on the spot.
"Well, I'll see you around, Weiss!" Pyrrha grabbed Jaune's hoodie from the forearm and tugged the boy with her, leaving Weiss to stare at the pair's departure in shock. "I'm sorry!"
Weiss looked at Ainz as if she was trying to ask if what she saw just now had been real life.
"It appears my partner has run into some trouble, so please excuse me. I hope we'll both pass the examination." Ainz bowed politely towards Weiss with a hand on his chest, and departed to find Shizu.
…Who was not in trouble right now but would certainly be in one once Ainz found her. '...Hopefully if I take the initiative in leaving, then Weiss won't send her bodyguards after me…'
Weiss was left gawking at Ainz's back.
Roughly five minutes later she recovered enough to flick her hair in indignant fury and stomp away.