"...Um." Pyrrha sounded somewhat uncertain.
"Huh." Yang had her hands on her hips and she was somewhat surprised.
"...Guys, I… I have a bad feeling about this." Jaune sounded quite nervous.
Blake eyed the pile of bodies.
The group had found the large black tower that had been built precariously off a cliff and was suspended in the air by a spider-web-like network of thin bridges and walkways.
It was starting to get somewhat late, mostly because Yang-induced cave-in had forced the team to retreat the way Yang and Pyrrha had come from, which in turn forced them to walk the long way around a particularly tall hill until they had finally seen the tower and had started to navigate towards it.
The Grimm presence had been somewhat light for the majority of the time, which Yang had attributed to the possibility that the would-be students were so excited and happy to be attempting to enter into Beacon that Grimm would find it hard to properly hunt them without actually physically running into the students- After all, the creatures were attracted to negativity, so being positive was a defensive mechanism against Grimm even if staying positive wouldn't do much to stop a Grimm after it had managed to spot their prey.
Not to mention, Pyrrha had grabbed Jaune's hand at some point as the boy had been quite nervous as the day's light had started to turn towards the glow of the evening, and the closing of the nightfall had caused the shadows to extend and give ample room for worried imagination to run wild with Grimm hidden in the shadows… Yet to Yang it felt as if Pyrrha was radiating enough happy feelings to easily overpower Jaune's nervousness, and that she had enough left over to probably seriously confuse any Grimm in their local post code.
Jaune seemed to grow more comfortable walking hand-in-hand with Pyrrha after a moment as well, quickly evaporating the boy's earlier nervousness and, unfortunately, replacing it with awkward bravado which caused quite bit of second-hand embarrassment for Yang as she heard the boy's attempts to 'talk' to Pyrrha.
If Yang was fully honest with herself she didn't see what Pyrrha saw in Jaune, considering that the two were so far apart that they might as well have been from different worlds, but she was self aware enough to not question Pyrrha's tastes.
Yang had tried to strike a conversation with Blake while the group had walked, although Blake looked like she was more than fine with being ignored by her actual partner and quite annoyed when Yang had tried to approach her.
The conversation had not gone anywhere as Blake had just responded with glares, hisses, and angry retorts which had eventually caused Yang to lift her hands up in surrender and mentally throw Blake into a time-out bin as the black-clad girl was acting like a cat after someone had stepped on her tail- Although the comparison wasn't fully apt as Yang was fairly certain Blake wasn't faunus due to her lack of visible animal 'parts'.
Nonetheless Yang felt quite nervous as the group reached the large tower and discovered a pile of unconscious students in the middle of a room that housed a number of chess-pieces on pedestals.
…And that had led them to take cover around a corner and look at the pile of corpses with wary eyes.
"Um, shouldn't we go and help them?" Pyrrha asked.
"I'm betting that at least half of the people in that pile also had the same idea and fell prey to the same trap." Blake noted, albeit begrudgingly.
She then glared at Jaune, who tilted his head in confusion.
"Well? You're the most expendable of us, so go and-" Blake pointed at Jaune and then at the pile of bodies.
"Excuse me, what was that?" Pyrrha stepped between Blake and Jaune, causing Blake to visibly re-evaluate the wisdom of going off on Jaune to vent her own foul mood.
…Or at least that was how Yang chose to interpret the situation.
However, the group of students who looked like they had passed out on the stone floor was a worrying sign.
"Do you think we should contact the teachers? This doesn't look like it's part of the test." Yang tried to be the voice of reason, even if it caused cold shivers in her skin as the role was not something she had much experience in.
There were a number of loudspeakers in the building for some reason and Yang got the feeling that they were recorded, but at the same time, the loudspeakers were smoking slightly and the air had a acrid scent of burnt electronics, thus leading Yang to conclude that whoever had attacked the students had also likely destroyed whatever recording devices might have been in the room.
"Right, let's grab a long stick and try to drag one of those students here." Yang continued as Pyrrha was glaring at Blake and Jaune tried to get between the two to break up the fight. "It doesn't look like those guys are dead- They don't seem to have any wounds and there's no blood."
"Y-yeah, you're right." Jaune looked slightly less queasy and glanced around for an implement to reach the students with, but Blake sighed and stepped forwards.
A shadow-Blake was left where Blake had stood, stuck to a pose where it took a step forwards… And Blake kicked the shadow-clone into the room with the unconscious students.
A faint 'pop' sound came from somewhere and a meaty 'whack' rang as the shadow-clone disintegrated into particles from the projectile that hit it in the temple.
"...Sniper." Blake spoke quietly while hiding deeper into the shadows.
"...Oh." Jaune blinked. "Um. D-do Grimm have snipers? Can they use guns?"
"No, I do not think that is something that happens." Pyrrha reassured Jaune. "I think someone is attacking the students that walk into the open."
"Shit. Someone's trying to keep other students from teaming up and getting accepted into Beacon." Yang deduced. "Any ideas? I'm not sure we can just bob and weave into the room and grab the pieces, that shot looked really accurate just now."
"...I should be able to deflect bullets." Pyrrha lifted her round shield while she looked quite worried. "Um, Jaune…"
"I have a shield as well, so I'll defend you!" Jaune sounded quite resolute and lifted his shield, even if it was clearly more than a bit awkward for him.
Moreover, Yang noticed a few scratches on Jaune's face now that he focused on the blonde boy more, and realized something. "Wait, Jaune? What happened to your Aura?"
"Wha- oh, um, t-that is, eh… I might have ran out when I fell with Blake?" Jaune jumped a bit and started to sweat profusely from nervousness.
Pyrrha tilted her head a bit, almost as if she just now realized that the boy had gotten a few scratches. "Um, Jaune? Your Aura should have refilled enough to fix a few scrapes and bruises by now?"
"I, uh, am slow to heal?" Jaune rubbed the back of his head in a guilty manner.
"You don't have your Aura unlocked." Blake said what Yang thought, although Blake's tone was quite a few levels colder and more hostile than what Yang might have said- Although, if she was honest with herself, she wasn't sure if she was impressed by the sheer recklessness of someone enrolling to Beacon without having Aura unlocked, or if she should be worried that someone had managed to get past the preliminaries without someone detecting that the applicant didn't have their Aura unlocked.
"Um… well… yeah." Jaune fiddled with the flip-open shield and sword a bit. "I, um, never needed it before so…"
"Um, that aside, Jaune… I'll unlock your Aura for you so please stay still for a while…" Pyrrha came to Jaune's rescue and tied her arms around his shoulders, and put her temple against his temple.
Yang lifted her eyebrow at the act since when her Aura had been unlocked by her father, Taiyang had just taken Yang's hand and focused on the feeling of empowering their will to others, and igniting the flame within their soul. Of course, everyone 'visualized' the unlocking process differently internally and externally, but Yang got a feeling that Pyrrha was perhaps a bit more touchy-feely than what was probably needed- Likely because Blake had sighed and taken half a step towards Jaune with a cold look in his eyes just before Pyrrha had dived right in and taken the reins of the unlocking process.
Nonetheless Yang looked around as Jaune probably wouldn't be much use when he had just gotten his Aura unlocked, and based on the few Grimm the four of them had encountered on their way to the tower, the boy wasn't much of a fighter either.
Pyrrha nodded to Jaune and lifted her shield. "Yang, I think the sniper shot came from the direction of the window- Please hide behind my shield, and Blake can hide behind Jaune's shield."
"I'd rather not." Blake looked warily at Jaune, who was wobbling a bit after suffering the vertigo of getting his Aura unlocked.
"I'm sure that Jaune will do just fine- Besides, I'll be going first, so the sniper is likely going to shoot at me." Pyrrha reassured Blake. "Yang?"
"Sure- But first… Hop!" Yang pulled out a Fire Dust round from Ember Celica, crushed its safety cap, and tossed it into the room's window like a flashbang.
The round went off from impact because of the crushed cap, causing the regular dust in the room to billow and then ignite in a flash to cause a small smoke cloud.
"Good thinking! Let's go!" Pyrrha charged…
.
.
.
Jaune gulped and steeled himself and followed after Pyrrha and Yang, even though his legs felt like jelly and his head was spinning from the exertion of having his Aura unlocked.
He knew that he was a disappointment, even though his father Nicholas Arc had never said so to Jaune, nor had the father signaled it any way… But Jaune knew that his father was expecting Jaune to become a Huntsman, and he had trained his hardest to become one.
However, his hardest was not much, because he had not been able to attend Signal after failing the entrance exam to the prep-school, and training alone by trying to swing his grandfather's sword and shield at a tree had not produced all too great results.
Buying forged papers to apply to Beacon had taken all of Jaune's savings so far as well, leaving him with pretty much nothing to his name except his clothes, and since his sisters had already 'left the nest', so to speak, he didn't really have a chance to beg for money either. Not that he'd do so unless he was about to starve to death- He did not want to be a useless leech on the family. He wanted to be useful. To be worthy of his father's and his family's name and legacy.
His mom and dad were off on a mission, so Jaune had seen his chance and used the forged papers to enter Beacon's entrance exam, and… It had not gone well.
However, Jaune had a partner now, even though Blake didn't seem too thrilled by having Jaune as her partner, and with Yang and Pyrrha, he had a team as well!
Moreover, Pyrrha looked like she wanted to be Jaune's friend, and Yang seemed like a cool person, and Blake… was most likely at least… p-possibly reliable?
The blonde knight-wannabe knew that they would get through the ordeal, and with help of expert advice from the professors in Beacon, Jaune knew that he would train so hard that his skin would fall off his hands, and that he'd become strong enough that he could save everyone.
Moreover, Pyrrha had a plan for getting the Pieces, and it looked like she was completely certain that it would work, so Jaune felt relieved.
All he needed to do was to protect Blake right now as the group entered the smoke-covered room and Pyrrha held her shield towards the window-hole that was obscured by the smoke…
A bang rang out.
Jaune felt as if everything happened in slow motion.
A ricocheting sound came from a stone pillar that was behind them, and then another similar sound from came from the floor.
Yang toppled over while something hit and exploded in the back of her head.
She didn't get up.
"Yang! No! Pyrrha! She-" Jaune saw as the girl fell and tried to warn Pyrrha.
Pyrrha's eyes widened and she looked behind herself, at Yang's motionless body.
Her shield lowered slightly because of the motion.
Jaune saw a flash from the corner of his eye, and tried to lunge forwards while his eyes widened in horror, trying stop it, even if it killed him-
Pyrrha's head snapped back as something hit and exploded on her temple.
The girl crumbled down like a puppet with her strings cut.
She didn't get up either.
"PYRRHA! NOOO!" Jaune saw the girl fall and tried to futilely reach for her, but instead of taking a step he fell to his knees in despair as his mental fortitude broke.
A howl of a Grimm came from the distance as a response to Jaune's despair.
"The Grimm-!" Blake's eyes widened as she turned around and looked at the rickety sky-bridge which the group had used to enter the tower, and saw that Grimm beasts were starting to converge on the cliff-side end of the walkway and start to run on the thin bridge in single file. "We have to stop them before they can get to the tower! If the Grimm gets past the choke-point and have space to spread out and swarm us, we'll be wiped out!"
Jaune looked in horror as he saw the Grimm start to approach them quickly over the bridge that led to the tower, and realized that Blake was right. Moreover, Yang and Pyrrha, as well as the group of students that were splayed into a pile near the chess pieces, were either dead or unconscious and thus couldn't help them so it was all up to Jaune and Blake to stop the Grimm.
After all, if the Grimm got past them… The beasts would certainly kill the still-living but knocked-out students.
"Idiot! Get up and make yourself useful!" Blake tried to tug Jaune to his feet, but his legs had frozen in terror.
"I- I…" Jaune stared at the approaching horde in terror. 'That many Grimm… We'll die for sure!'
"Hisss!" Blake let out an angry hiss and kicked Jaune in the center of his back, causing the boy to get knocked on the floor. "Fine, be useless!"
Jaune saw as Blake charged off to block the incoming horde of Grimm, even though the girl was quite shaky. The girl then left a shadow puppet behind herself as she clashed with the first Grimm, leaving the beast to strike at the puppet that popped like a balloon and caused glue-like substance to cover the Grimm and restrict it's movements.
Blake then stabbed her gun-blade into the throat of the Grimm beast, causing it to let out a ragged howl and disappear into motes of darkness.
The girl dodged backwards as the Grimm horde pushed on without the slightest concern for self-preservation, and forced Blake to yield ground as the girl was clearly not the sort of fighter who could start face-to-face damage-grinds with Grimm creatures and come out on top.
"Dammit- Jaune! Get up and-" Blake turned towards Jaune to shout at him, and got hit in her stomach by a Grimm Ursa due to the lapse in caution… and the bear-Grimm's blow sent the girl flying to the room where Yang and Pyrrha were.
Blake's eyes widened in horror as she realized where she was, and looked at the window from the floor as she had been knocked off her feet.
Jaune's eyes widened in shock and realization and he bolted forwards instantly… And managed to scoop Blake up from the floor. "No- Not her-!"
"Blake! I'll get us-" Jaune felt hope reverberate in his chest as he managed to at least save Blake-
Blake looked at Jaune and opened her mouth while her eyes were full of blind terror, and she pointed at the window-
A 'bang' rang out and Blake's head twisted to the side, and the girl became motionless with a red mark having appeared on the center of her temple.
"...No." Jaune's voice broke while fell to his knees.
The black-clad girl's body was still in his princess carry, as the adrenaline had given him strength beyond what he could normally exert.
Yet, Blake was motionless, and her face was stuck to an expression of horror while she had a red welt on the center of her temple.
Jaune looked up at the Grimm Ursa that had waddled closer.
"I… I…" Jaune realized that he was a massive fool.
Because he had cheated his way into Beacon's entrance exam, was a worthless baggage.
He couldn't save Pyrrha. He couldn't save Yang. He couldn't even save Blake.
If the girls had partnered up with someone who was actually competent, someone who actually knew what they were doing, like the towering black knight that Jaune had seen in passing during the air-lift, then they would have survived.
But…
The Grimm were approaching them, and even though the girls didn't look like they were dead, they most certainly would be once the Grimm got to them and rend the unconscious students into scraps of meat.
'It's all because of me, because I let them down… Because I'm not good enough…' Jaune felt more like an imposter in his own life than he had ever before… And the feeling soon turned to frustrated anger.
"Aaaagh!" The scream that left Jaune's mouth was more akin to a girly screech than a bellowing roar, but he nonetheless let Blake fall to the floor and he grabbed his stolen sword and shield, and charged the Ursa.
"I- I'll- Even if I die, I'll keep you sa-" Jaune charged the monster with his shield up and his sword held high above his head… And the Ursa casually stepped over Jaune, flattening him against the floor with the monster's entire weight on him.
"Ow…" Jaune whined as the monster sniffed the air, and then reached for Pyrrha's unconscious body. "No! No! Pyrrha! Leave her alone! No! Please don't- Don't!"
The red-headed girl couldn't flee, however, as she was not conscious. Nor did the Grimm listen to Jaune's pleas as it reached for Pyrrha, who was in front of the piece-pedestal…
…And then the Ursa's head disappeared.
No, rather, the Ursa's head disappeared from the monster's shoulders and was splattered all over the wall opposite to the window.
'The… The sniper helped me?' Jaune thought for a moment while the Ursa's body dissipated into motes of darkness, and then the blonde boy sprang up as he realized that he was wasting time.
Just because the bear-like Grimm was dead, it didn't mean that the Beowolves weren't swarming the tower's sky-bridge.
'Blake was right- The chokepoint! If I hold it, then the Grimm have to fight in single file… I can't fight multiple Grimm at once, but maybe, if, if I get the choke point then I may be able to fight a single Grimm multiple times!' Jaune's head spun with suicidal thoughts as seeing Blake get shot while she was in Jaune's hands, as well as seeing the Grimm reach for unconscious Pyrrha, had completely devastated his mental state. 'It's the only chance to save them… But…'
"I'll… I won't be able to hold them for long. I'm sorry." Jaune glanced at the group of unconscious girls and other students who were near the chess-piece pedestals, except for Blake, who was unconscious on the floor near the entrance to the room.
The blonde boy felt shaky all over as he charged towards the Grimm who were swarming towards the tower on the sky-way, and he was fully aware that he was going to die…
…And he was instantly trampled underfoot as the Grimm swarm crashed out through the doorway, immediately crossing the chokepoint and making Jaune's heart sink and his panic rise.
The claws and teeth of the beasts rend into Jaune's skin, breaking his Aura in moments, all the while the majority of the pack charged past him and swarmed into the room with the rest of the students.
"No! No! Stop!" Jaune screamed in agony and fear as he realized that he failed once again- And that the girls would die. "Aaargh!"
He had failed them, again.
The claws of the black beasts rend his face, and Jaune managed to get his sword free just for a moment, so that he could stab the Grimm Beowolf in its throat.
The beast recoiled back, but the feeble strike from an awkward angle wasn't even enough to slay the beast, but just enough to make it rear back in surprise… And then it lunged on top of Jaune again. "Get… off me! I- I have to-!"
A second Beowolf bit into Jaune's leg, causing him to scream as he struggled to get away from the Grimm, struggling to get back to the room with the chess pieces to defend the unconscious teammates…
And then there was a sharp, metallic 'clink'.
And then there was a flash of bright light, and hot fire.
.
.
.
'I believe that I may have been discovered.' Shizu's message echoed in Ainz's head.
"...Umu. Right. Umu." Ainz's head was spinning in cycles as he felt [Emotion Suppression] force his sudden nervousness down.
Shizu had messaged Ainz, informing that she had engaged several students with tranquilizer darts, and that the students had been attempting to seize the King Piece that Shizu had secured for Ainz.
Ainz wasn't sure why the other students coveted the piece, unless they wanted to partner up with Shizu themselves… And it made him angry that the students would go so far as to employ violence in order to achieve that goal. 'What are those guys? Rapists? Why would they go after Shizu like that? Hrm… However, if Shizu thinks that she has been found out then I can't tarry here for long. Chances are that if she was forced to defend herself, then the professors of Beacon will soon discover the fight and the results of it, and I have no doubt that Shizu would get herself into trouble if she tried to explain herself alone- It's always a struggle to testify innocence when you come out of the firefight as the victor.'
He even thought for a moment to tell Shizu that she was allowed to use lethal force against student attackers, but disregarded it after [Emotion Suppression] quelled Ainz's outrage- He had already gotten himself to way too hot a water by acting recklessly in vengeance.
Ainz was too busy in his thoughts to care that Weiss was furiously stomping on her burning clothes behind him, as he had taken Weiss to de-thaw in the Bath House of the Ninth Floor of Nazarick in an attempt to influence her opinion of the 'Momon'-persona.
'I have to cut this short- It won't help much if I impress Weiss here but get kicked out of Beacon in the process. I still need to know how the 'Grimm' functions, how to get them to stop attacking Nazarick…' Ainz considered briefly if sending Hanzo's and other high-tier spying monsters would help or harm the situation, but since he had gotten a report from Demiurge that had detailed the loss of five Hanzo's in the village of Far Hope, he decided against it. 'Losing Hanzo's… I didn't think much of it since Shizu had already seen high-level targets so it only makes sense that Hanzo's would die in a direct battle. Those mercenary monsters were always better at counter-spying than they were at combat anyway… I should probably get more information about Beacon's facilities and defenses before I try to infiltrate more monsters into Vale proper. I've poked the beehive enough as it is, I can't afford more screw-ups, and if Ozpin found out about the spies and counter-attacked then the results could be disastrous for Nazarick.'
Ainz almost turned around to tell Weiss to hurry up, but he stopped at last second as he remembered Weiss's threat- Not that being sued really worried him right now, but the threat seriously rattled the part of him that was 'Suzuki Satoru', as being sued by a megacorp would have been near instant death sentence.
"Momon." Weiss's calm voice came from behind Ainz. "Do. not. turn. around."
"Of course-" Ainz nodded, even though he had stayed facing towards the door.
Naturally, he had dropped [Perfect Warrior] when Weiss had asked him to look away, re-equipped armor-cast ring, and had cast silent [Planar Eye] on himself so that he could 'rotate' his view hundred and eighty degrees so that if Weiss tried to stab him in the back under the guise of undressing and drying her clothes, Ainz would see it coming.
Seeing Ruby one-shot Cocytus had rattled Ainz's bones something fierce, but now that the situation had wound down somewhat, the anger had been replaced by paranoia of the nth degree.
"I may have had a… wardrobe malfunction." Weiss's tone was quite calm and controlled, and she was clearly picking each of her words very carefully.
"...Excuse me?" Ainz asked a bit faintly.
"I may be in need of a spare set of clothes." Weiss sounded thoroughly, extremely neutral.
"I… see. Umu." Ainz paused while slowly lifting his hands up as if to surrender. He knew that Weiss had burned her clothes, for some reason, but 'Momon' hadn't seen that. At least, he needed to keep it that way. "Did something hap-"
"I may have set the clothes on fire by accident due to external factors that were completely outside my control." Weiss noted with the same carefully controlled tone. "I suppose that you don't happen to have a spare set of clothes?"
"I'll, umu, actually, umu…" Ainz blinked internally and then struggled to actually put into motion the thought that he had just now. 'I could donate Weiss some trash-tier clothes, but those were farmed by me and my friends… The clothes that were created by them are absolutely off limits. Umu- Actually, I could just walk out and use [Create Item] to make something Weiss could wear.'
'That should work.' Ainz nodded to himself. "I'll go and see if I can find something. I had a look around and I think I saw something like a wardrobe out there. Stay here."
"What, and should I just hide in a bush?" Weiss glared at Ainz's back while bunching her arms up.
"Unless you want to walk out like that- This bath-place seems somewhat safe so it should be alright. Moreover, I haven't seen anyone or anything in here. Umu, and… There were a couple of strange monsters just outside the door, but they didn't seem to be able to enter this room." Ainz told the naked girl while facing at the door, mixing in a small lie about monsters to keep Weiss from wandering about as the Ninth Floor was spectacularly undefended due to it being the 'residential' zone of the Tomb, with it's only NPC's of note being the Homunculus Maids. '...Well, if worst comes to worst, Sebas and the rest of the Pleiades should be in the Tenth Floor so they can move here quickly if needed… And Shalltear, Cocytus, Albedo and Demiurge too, not to mention the rest of the NPC's and monsters in the Tenth Floor.' "Weiss? Can you wait here? Perhaps soak for a while if you still feel cold."
"I can just wait here, but… Fine, just be quick about it." Weiss sounded a bit annoyed for some reason and Ainz heard an almost protesting splashing sound as the girl re-entered the bath. And then he heard a small, somewhat cute 'achoo'-sneeze that Weiss clearly tried to hide.
'Right, I just need to make something and get right back.' Ainz nodded and left the bath-house to make the spare clothes… And to find Yuri Alpha and ask the battle-maid if she knew anything about fashion, because Ainz didn't want to embarrass himself by donating clothes that were thoroughly tasteless and which would hurt the amount of 'reputation points' he'd get from Weiss from 'saving' her again.
.
.
Weiss felt incredibly frustrated as she sat back into the bath, now without her clothes which did make the bath feel quite nice.
'Stupid, stupid, foolish, idiotic…' Weiss wasn't sure if she was blaming her makeshift Dust-caster, her own mistake, the creeping feeling of dread that had overtaken her, or Momon not helping her put out the fire.
Momon hadn't even turned around when he must have heard Weiss stomp around, but neither had Weiss asked for help per say, so in the end she just felt a mixture of annoyance and gratitude for Momon's lack of situational awareness and his respect for Weiss's modesty.
…Moreover, Weiss wouldn't have minded if Momon saw-
'Stupid brain. I'm just getting tired from all of this, and it is introducing stupid thoughts.' Weiss brood internally while drawing her legs close and lowering her head so that her chin touched the hot, milk-like water.
…And that was when Weiss saw something move from the corner of her eye.
She snapped her head to the direction, but there was nothing there.
'Momon? Did he come back already?' Weiss gripped the sword that she had brought into the bath with her and rose up. 'No, that was something else. Something moved.'
She took a step in the bath towards the direction of the movement… And her leg landed on something squishy underwater.
"Eek!" Weiss recoiled instantly out of disgust, and slipped, causing a splash in the bath as she fell on her butt. "Blububh!"
"Kah- Khah!" She sputtered water from her nose and shook her head to clear the water and stray hairs from her face, and Weiss saw… A blob of some sort that was attached to her leg which was now above the surface of the water.
The blob of slimy substance was stuck to her heel… And then it moved.
"Get off!" Weiss stabbed the slime with the sword Momon had lent her.
The slime let out a 'burp'-sound as the blade penetrated it, and did absolutely nothing to it.
However, the slime lurched when it was hit, causing it to extend over the blade of the weapon and start to creep towards Weiss's hand.
Weiss twisted the blade. 'Dust- if I incinerate this then-!'
She cast a Glyph… Or rather, attempted to do so, as she still had Fire Dust imbued into the sword from the clothes-incident.
However, the slime had covered the blade, and had seemingly scrubbed the weapon clean of Dust before Weiss could use it.
'...Drat.' Weiss's head spun empty, and then the slime launched itself up.
The blob of unspeakable material landed on her chest and stomach, and started to move and scrub around.
Weiss froze up.
"Kyaaa!" The scream that left Weiss's mouth echoed in the bathroom.
"Get off me-!" Weiss struggled to get the slime off her, but as she sank her fingers into the creature, the appendages passed through the slime's exterior with ease and she ended up getting her hands stuck into the blob.
Weiss panicked. "Get off! Get away from me! Pervert! Molester! Heeelp!"
The door of the bath-house opened, almost as a response to Weiss's despair.
"Momon!" Weiss turned around and felt hope reignite in her chest…
…And she saw a elderly gentleman in a butler suit, who was carrying a bath towel that was folded nearly over his forearm.
The elderly gentleman's facial features were hard, almost as if they had been carved out of stone, and were framed by a sharply and professionally cut white hair, beard and mustache.
Weiss's head clicked empty as she saw the man.
The man froze still as he saw that Weiss was in the bath.
"...Grandfather Nicholas?" Weiss whispered.
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.
"Lord Ainz, I have found an intruder in the baths!" Sebas's wordless [Message] echoed in Ainz's head as he tried to grill Yuri Alpha about fashion in the Pleiades Break-Room, and the heavily blushing dullahan battle-maid was detailing all sorts of dresses, while Lupisregina was standing beside her and was attempting hard to stay professional neutral but couldn't stop a small, sadistic grin from showing up through her professionally calm expression every now and then.
Although luckily the rest of the Pleiades present behaved themselves, and Ainz had even gone ahead and promised that he'd say 'hi' to Shizu from them the next time he saw her.
'Do not attack the intruder! She's my guest!' Ainz immediately responded to Sebas, as he had kept the visit to the Ninth Floor a secret so that the NPC's wouldn't look down on Ainz for bringing in an outsider, and a human at that, to the Ninth Floor.
Ainz wasn't sure that the NPC's understood if he tried to explain megacorporations and what sort of influence and power they held, and the significance of managing to manipulate the daughter of a powerful megacorp CEO- or the danger involved if she was hurt or offended in the process- and thus he chose to operate in secrecy.
However, he hadn't expected Sebas to wander off and find Weiss in the baths.
"Lord Ainz. The intruder called me 'Grandfather Nicholas'. Please advice. Shall I take her to the Frozen Prison or-" Sebas's text echoed in Ainz's head.
Ainz was out of time and chances- He couldn't afford another 'Ruby' incident.
So, instead of trying to confuse Sebas with some sort of made-up story, Ainz just blurted out the truth.
'Sebas, play along with Weiss! You don't know the existential danger she poses for Nazarick right now!'
Ainz then paused as something clicked. 'Wait, 'grandfather' Nicholas?'
He froze up. 'Oh. Oh no.'
.
.
A drop of sweat fell down Nicholas Schnee's temple.
"...Weiss?" Nicholas spoke with a hoarse, surprised tone, almost as if he didn't really know what to say. Which Weiss didn't fault.
Weiss had to conclude that it might have been somewhat unusual to walk to a bath and see their granddaughter being molested by a slime-monster in a bath.
However, Weiss had one more thing to say to her heroic grandpa, who she had thought to have been dead for so long.
"Grampa Nicholas, please heeeeeeeelp!"