Volume 1 Chapter 4

Qrow didn't know what to think anymore.

Be it the crazy story the girl just told him, that Ainz guy's semblance that allowed him to make those summons from the dead bodies of bandits, the mental gymnastics Ainz had to go through to have the girl avoid going to the nearest town, his insistence on having her contact Ozpin, or the crazy earthquake that everyone just felt.

Well, the crazy theory Ainz told the girl had many loopholes in it, but for someone who didn't know how the Branwen tribe operated, the theory would be plausible, but he knew better: the Branwen tribe didn't have that much sway in the nearby towns, mostly for fear of getting the attention of a hunter who didn't care about Raven's reputation or pissing off the big crime families to the point that it would cause a war to break out.

Raven wouldn't be afraid of fighting anyone from any organization in Mistral, but she would want to avoid anything troublesome. As for what that one piece of shit of a bandit said, it wouldn't be odd for some of the tribe's men to visit some establishment in a nearby town to "relieve some stress." Of course, they would be disguised so as not to attract attention.

Qrow wanted to inform the girl about this but stopped himself halfway through the girl's recounting of the events.

Most of what he knew about the tribe could be outdated, and from what the girl had told him, Ainz had figured out that someone had orchestrated for Jade and her sister to be attacked in that village with minimum input. So, for all he knows, the Ainz guy could be some genius, but Qrow wasn't that good with intrigue; that was Ozpin's thing.

Speaking of Ozpin, he was currently listening to Jade's retelling of the events by way of Qrow's scroll.

Qrow had promised the girl to connect her to Ozpin in accordance with the instructions of Ainz. Qrow understood why the girl was so insistent on following his instructions: in times of great despair, people would cling to any hope of survival, and when someone saves them from the depths of the abyss, they can become somewhat attached to that person and would follow their commands.

'That Ainz should have known that, so why was he insistent on having the survivors take another path, and why should the girl contact Ozpin when she could have contacted Lionheart? This doesn't make any sense'.

Qrow grumbled in his mind.

When he looked back, the girl looked like she was about to finish her story.

"After that, he said that I should contact you, and it could only be you and no other headmaster." The girl concluded.

"I see," Ozpin answered. He didn't seem to take the situation as seriously as the girl seemed to take it, reaching the conclusion that Ainz was overthinking the situation, but he didn't make it obvious to the girl.

"Did he tell you anything else?" Oz asked to make sure the girl would be at ease, believing she had done all that she had to do.

"Anything else... um, I'm not sure about it, but I do recall him calling you a wizard, but I could have misheard it." The girl said she was a bit unsure if she should tell the headmaster about this.

Just then Ozpin's expression changed; if before he looked like a consoling old man, now he looked like a serious veteran huntsman.

Qrow didn't fail to notice the change and figured that this situation just got more complicated.

"Did he now?" Ozpin asked no one in particular.

Jade was surprised by his reaction, but Ozpin managed to calm himself and address the girl.

"Well, if that is the case, you have done well to tell me, Ms. Lapis. I believe it would be better for you to get back to Vale immediately; we will take care of things from here. As for the summonses, I think it would be for the best to bring them over with you; we will provide a transportation method."

Ozpin said while still maintaining his expression, but Qrow could notice the serious tone he took.

"But the summons were lent to me; it would be inappropriate for me to take them back to Vale." The girl argued, but Ozpin anticipated that.

"It wouldn't be logical to leave them in this town when the townspeople are uneasy about them, and Mister Gown might find it hard to find them later, so it would be best for you to take them with you to Vale; that way he would know where to find them."

Ozpin's logic seemed to leave the girl a bit unconvinced, but after a bit, she seemed to have decided on something and nodded.

"If that is the case, then it can't be helped, but if you managed to make contact with Sir Ainz, could you please inform me of that? I have yet to repay him for his help." Jade said it with a serious face.

After that, she excused herself, took her sister's hand, asked Lilo if he remembered correctly, and went to get the summons and prepare to leave.

Qrow waited for her to get a distance away before he addressed Ozpin, who hadn't disconnected the scroll yet.

"So, what do you think of this, Ainz? Your expression after he called you a wizard had more meaning to it."

Qrow propped Ozpin for some answers.

Ozpin didn't tell those within his circle all the secrets he was hiding, and he understood why. Too much information being given would lead to a higher chance of it being leaked. However, he would appreciate it if he trusted him a bit more.

"There is a high chance that Ainz Ooal Gown knows about our secret war." Ozpin answered him, and Qrow wasn't that surprised; Ozpin's previous reaction told him as much.

"And the fact you don't know him means he's not on our side?"

Qrow asked if Ainz was truly on Salme's side, then his saving of the village wouldn't make any sense as he would only expose his activity to them, and his contacting Ozpin didn't make sense either.

"Not necessarily; he could have figured it out on his own," said Ozpin.

Before Qrow could voice his confusion, Ozpin continued.

"From an outside perspective, his action would make one think he is paranoid and is overthinking things, but if you take a look back on his actions, you would realize he knew what he was doing when he told Miss Lapis to contact me; it means he wanted me to know about either the current situation or an upcoming one; the fact that he called me a wizard means he knows of the crisis that is hanging above Remnant and about me; and finally, this conversation, had Miss Lapis not informed me of him calling me a wizard, then we would have choked the whole thing up as a bandit attack."

Ozpin informed Qrow of his conclusions.

Qrow, as great a huntsman as he was, couldn't brag about his analytic skills, so when he heard Ozpins, he could only believe his words. But one thing was not addressed.

"Then did he avoid contacting you through Lionheart?"

Qrow's question didn't go unanswered for long.

"Because he wants to tell me that Lionheart can't be trusted or that any information he gets is as good as compromised."

Ozpin said it with a heavy voice.

Qrow was startled by that sentence.

Lionheart was part of Ozpin's circle long before Qrow became a huntsman; he was a great huntsman and the headmaster of Haven Academy. The possibility of him being a traitor or having moles within his group was unbelievable to Qrow.

"Of course, it could be a trap set by Salem to spread mistrust amongst us. However, we shouldn't let any possibility pass without scrutinizing it first; otherwise, our lack of vigilance would be our own undoing." After Ozpin finished his words, Qrow's memory kicked into high gear with that last sentence; he had heard it before—not that long ago, actually—from the girl's mouth. When she told him the story, it was a part she had forgotten to tell Ozpin about.

"Qrow, can you hear me?" Ozpin's question brought Qrow out of his thoughts.

"Oz, he knew you would say that." Qrow said after a bit.

"What do you mean?" Ozpin asked, perplexed.

Qrow sighed and told Ozpin about his revelation.

Ozpin was silent after hearing Qrow's explanation.

"This is intriguing." Ozpin's face was something that Qrow rarely saw; it was his face when he had to ponder something outside of his plans and schemes.

"Qrow, if what you said is true, then there can be only two explanations for this; the first is that Ainz Ooal Gown is someone who is capable of predicting the course of actions that people he never met before would take and planning accordingly that would put his mind for intrigue above anything I have seen in my life."

Little did Qrow know how much the scope of that evaluation covered.

Qrow thought for a bit and asked.

"And the second?"

Ozpin didn't answer immediately but smiled and said it in a somewhat joking tone.

"The second is that I'm overthinking this, and all this is nothing more than a simple coincidence. Ainz Ooal Gwon found a village that happened to be attacked by the Branwen tribe by coincidence, saved it, had an interesting conversation with an individual who can make contact with me, referred to me in a way that would let me think he knew about our secret war, sent her away from Lionheart to another town under a somewhat logical thought process, a town that you happened to be in with someone who would be able to remember a line the girl forgot to say and told me about it after I said it, all by accident." Ozpin finished, after which he looked at Qrow, who had understood the message.

"Yeah, there is no way that is a coincidence; do you think Salem is behind it?" he asked.

"Highly unlikely; smart as Salme is, she can't come up with something this convoluted; if she could or had someone on her side that could, I would have lost the war by now."

Ozpin said it in a confident tone. He knew Salem the most, and he was sure she couldn't make such a plan; there were too many variables in it to work, and for what, to confuse Ozpin? That would be illogical.

"So why go through all that? What's his aim?"

Qrow asked as he took a sip from the drink in his hand, hoping to move the conversation forward as all that talk of plans and schemes hurt his head.

"I'm not sure. He already alluded to Lionheart being untrustworthy, but he could have told us that in a different way. My best guess is that he wants to get my attention to tell us that something is going to happen here."

Ozpin said this while trying to glean more information from the events.

"Maybe that earthquake has something to do with it?"

Qrow said he was unsure about the whole thing.

"Quite possible, but it co-."

Ozpin didn't get to finish his sentence as abyssal darkness had swallowed everything.

That was not an exaggeration. From all over, Remnant darkness took hold.

The darkness wasn't what one would consider when thinking about terrifying darkness, but what comes to mind when one thinks of the infinite, uncaring darkness that envelopes the universe, the darkness that would make those staring at it understand the insignificance of their existence? One could call that darkness cosmic darkness.

But it didn't last for long; just as it came, it went away, and light came back to Remnant.

No sound was heard for a long time until Ozpin regained his composure and addressed Qrow.

"Or maybe something like that... Qrow, I need you to go and check the Branwen camp immediately. This could be related to our new friend; it goes without saying, but if you make contact with him, try avoiding any hostility and try contacting me; I'll get there as soon as I can."

Ozpin ordered and cut the connection.

Qrow didn't waste any time and moved to the location of the camp, hoping that the information on its location wasn't outdated.

As he exited the town and transformed into a crow, he understood one thing.

'I really don't know what to think about anymore.'

POV Change

Ainz never lost consciousness throughout the whole process of unlocking his aura, but his mind went through a lot of information and emotion; he might as well have been.

But he is conscious now, and he knows well enough what had happened to him; he knew on an instinctive level.

In short. He had {Leveled Up} and knew that something within him had changed. His body feels more powerful than before, is much lighter, and is much more durable. That would indicate an increase in stats; back in the game, this would be shown as a value in the stats sheet in the UI, but now Ainz feels this change more personally.

After the power had subsided, Ainz had a lot of information coursing through his mind; it reminded him of when he cast a spell.

He wasn't that aware of it at the time due to his paranoia, but he could tell every aspect of his spells; from the range to the cooldown, he knew everything about most of his abilities on an instinctive level, so when he had leveled up, he knew of the power that was now available to him.

To put it simply, Ainz had extended his level cap. He wasn't sure about how it happened, but he knew three things: first, that he is now a level 101 player; second, that his level cap is now 110; and finally, that his new level is in a job class, a {Dark Aura Hunter} to be exact; it was a warrior-type rare class with only five levels to it.

'This is more than I thought I would gain from this gamble!'

Ainz was delighted by such a revelation. In Yggdrasil, rare classes were a very rare thing to have (no pun intended), and information on how to get them was next to non-existent. The fact that he gained an unknown one in this world is something to jump in delight for.

It should be noted that the conditions to unlock a rare class were usually very hard to accomplish, from finishing unique quests and having the prerequisite high classes to having a certain rare item or even having another rare class.

With that in mind, gaining another rare class had without a doubt increased Ainz's battle potential.

'If only it were a magic-based class, though.' Ainz thought but didn't take it to heart; he had already gained more than he had bargained for; he would sound too greedy if he asked for more.

'The fact that I now know that my level cap has been increased means that leveling up is possible in this world, and I have a very good source for XP. From what I gathered, the kingdoms won't complain if I hunt a lot of them. There are also those Disaster Class Grimm; they are powerful from what this woman had known, but she compared their power to the Death Knight, so maybe they're not that strong?'

Ainz shook his head after that thought.

'No. That woman was prideful; she must be underestimating the Disaster Class Grimm; from her memory, those Grimm would reach unbelievable sizes, so judging them by the words of one person is foolish.'

If Disaster Class Grimm is the term given to the highest realm of power that a Grimm can reach, then the destruction of the kingdom is the bare minimum for a Grimm to qualify for a Disaster Classification, which would mean that a disparity in power could exist between the multiple Disaster Class Grimm.

'Well, I'll have more time to think of this later; for now, I need to move.'

Ainz had decided to order his stealth-focused summoned minions to keep hidden and monitor the destroyed camp, while ordering the others to gather any valuables and the corpses of the bandits.

"Now on with the plan. I hope this will work."

Ainz made a plan after digesting the information he had gotten from Raven; the goal of it was to guarantee his safety in this world.

The plan was simple.

If all the relics were to be gathered, then the brother gods would come back to Remnant, so logically speaking, if Ainz were to take one of the relics and hide it in a place no one would reach, then the brother gods wouldn't come back.

At least by the will of someone on Remnant.

And wouldn't you know it, the key to opening the vault within Haven Academy is under his control.

Ainz stared at Raven, who still had an unfocused look in her eyes and thoughts.

'Who would have thought that I would find the key to the vault on the same day that I got to this world? This is convenient—almost too convenient!'

Ainz's paranoia took control of his mind for a second before his emotional suppressor calmed him down.

Being careful is not wrong, but being paranoid would be counterproductive. For now, he should move to infiltrate Haven Academy, get the location of the vault from the headmaster, get the relic from the vault, hide the relic, and finally erase all traces of the operation.

That would be for the best.

'I wasted enough time; I should start now.'

With his mind made up, Ainz cast [Perfect Unknowable] on both him and Raven, after which he opened a gate to a hidden location close to Haven Academy.

After exiting the gate, he saw an alleyway hidden by the darkness of the night that was approaching. Ainz looked around him.

This location was extracted from the memories of Raven.

Not many people come here, so it was a good location to open a portal unnoticed.

"Now, lead me to the academy."

Ainz ordered Raven, and she started moving without hesitation.

Along the way, Ainz took note of the architecture of the surrounding buildings and streets; it reminded him of the words his friends Punitto Moe and Tabula used to tell him about the ancient Japanese cities.

The design also had some inspiration from other east Asian civilizations, but Ainz wasn't knowledgeable enough to recognize all of them, but he did equate them to designs he saw in Yggdrasill, so the main takeaway from this remained.

'The fact that this kingdom had architecture similar to Earth and Yggdresill could indicate that some players had come to Remnant in the past, so there is a possibility I'm not the only player here.'

Ainz put this information aside for later analysis as he saw a huge building in the distance.

'So, this is Haven Academy.'

It didn't take long for them to reach the gates of the academy.

"Do you know the location of the headmaster's office?"

Raven nodded to Ainz's question, after which she said.

"Then take us there."

Raven acknowledges Ainz's order by nodding and moving towards the academy.

POV Change

'This is all hopeless.' Those words were repeated by Lionheart on many occasions in his recent years. They indicated just how little faith he holds in Ozpin and his mission.

This wasn't his opinion; it was a fact. After all, nothing could stop Salem; she is immortal.

So, he had to do what he had to do. He had to think about the future and plan for the inevitable, when Salem would rule Remnant.

He didn't betray Ozpin out of fear, but out of necessity.

'At least that is what you tell yourself.'

An inner voice within him called him out—perhaps it was what remained of a once brave huntsman.

'That is all in the past now. I have to be realistic.'

Lionheart was a loyal companion of Ozpin and had truly believed in their chance of beating Salem. Even when he was told she was immortal, he still believed in Ozpin.

However, there was a limit to his faith in Ozpin.

After years and years of sacrifices and losses, he became numb to loss and death. He didn't find himself feeling anything when more hunters were found dead under mysterious circumstances, when simple missions would have veteran teams who had recently gotten within their circle go MIA.

They knew it was Salem's handy work and that she must have a mole on the inside to know about the position of those teams.

Many started to doubt each other, but Ozpin was adamant that there was no traitor within the circle and that the information leak existed elsewhere.

And he was right; at the time, no traitor existed within the circle. The traitor was in the council; Leo didn't know that at the time, but after joining Salem, he found out that she had people in each kingdom's council.

As if he needed more reasons to betray Ozpin.

He didn't feel a lot of shame about his choice anymore.

'It doesn't matter anymore; I already made my choice, and there is no point in thinking about it now.'

It would be better to invest his mental labor in figuring out what just happened.

Approximately 5 minutes ago, the world fell into darkness. It was a momentary phenomenon lasting no more than 5 seconds, but everyone felt it.

It wasn't a natural phenomenon, as even indoor lighting didn't affect the darkness, as if the light was sucked from the world.

It was horrifying, to say the least.

The problem was that Leo didn't know what had caused it; at first, he thought it was the doing of Salem, but after contacting her for any orders and explanations, he was informed that she hadn't caused the phenomenon.

He wanted to contact Ozpin after that, but Salem told him to gather information on the cause of this phenomenon first and contact her before Ozpin, so she could filter out what to tell him.

And that is what he is doing right now—well, what he had ordered the hunters under him to do—they were loyal to him and him only, so he didn't worry about the information leaking to Ozpin.

On the off chance that one of them betrayed him, he had already taken measures to ensure Ozpin wouldn't find out.

The irony of a traitor worrying about a traitor within his group is not lost on him.

But Ozpin should have known better.

If he had just kept quiet about the fact that Salem was immortal, maybe he wouldn't have betrayed him. Ignorance would have been a blessing for them right now.

Ozpin didn't tell everyone within his inner circle about Salem's immortality, but only those he believed could handle it and could be trusted. Apparently, he had a bad experience with this in the past, so he became more selective about whom to let in on that detail.

Leo still remembers that day pretty well. He had been a part of Ozpin's circle for a while back then, and Ozpin decided that he should be informed about Salem's immortality. He didn't just tell him that outright; he gave him a choice in the matter.

He still remembers what he was told back then.

'The choice you are about to make will change the way you view our mission going forward, and for that reason, I'm giving you the chance to no longer be a part of this. You can go on living this life and not worry about the future, follow your dreams and ambitions, start a family, or continue protecting Remnant on a smaller but no less important scale. There is no shame in not continuing.'

Leo's mind paused, and he wondered if it would have been better to have made that choice back then. After which, he sighed and remembered the rest of the conversation.

'With that being said, know that the only reason I'm telling you this is because I trust you to not only keep it a secret but also handle what this revelation would mean for you. I had seen many great individuals fall into despair and lose hope to continue after herring the conclusion of this conversation, so know that no one would think any less of you if you chose to not take this revelation.'

And Leonardo Lionheart made his choice, and he had come to wish he hadn't; the revelation was more to take than he had thought. Salem is immortal; she can't be killed.

Leo went into despair the moment he heard those words. To tell someone who had been trained to hunt and kill all that threatened Remnant that the ultimate threat to Remnant couldn't be killed would certainly make them question their choices.

But apparently, not all hope was lost. Ozpin had informed him that a method to stop Salem still exists.

The silver-eyed worriers are individuals with the capability to petrify Grimm with their eyes, and in theory, they can petrify Salem as well.

Unfortunately for them, Salem had mounted a crusade to hunt them all down to the last, as the thought of her being petrified did not leave her with a mind to rest and wait.

But Ozpin had hid the information on them from Salem and the world at large, with only certain members of his inner circle being privy to their existence.

And unfortunately for Ozpin, Leonardo Lionheart was one of them.

It could be said that the greatest mistake Ozpin had made in the latest decades was believing that Leonardo Lionheart was a better man than he truly was.

That had led to him knowing about Summer Rose.

Leo didn't know much about Summer Rose, but he knew about her silver eyes, and that was all Salem needed to know to order her death.

He was ordered to provide Salem with all the information regarding Summer missions and activations, as her moles within the council had limited reach within Ozpin's circle.

And before long, an opportunity provided itself for them.

Summer had a solo mission that took her out of Ozpin's reach, and it was then that Salem struck.

She didn't want to take chances; she had ordered an ambush and had moved there herself to see the results of the ambush.

Salem went as far as to have Leo watch the whole thing with the help of one of her Grimm.

Leo shook his head, not wanting to remember the memory.

To summarize what has occurred, Salem fought Summer at the start in an attempt to show her how futile her efforts were, as no matter how many times Summer managed to cut and destroy Salem, she would just regenerate.

But Summer didn't lose hope; something drove her to fight, something that Leo couldn't understand.

When Summer realized that she wasn't getting anywhere, the huntress attempted to use her eyes. Salem knew it was coming and retreated from Summer's line of sight.

It was then that Salem's Trump card joined the fight.

Leo was frightened by the memory of that thing.

From Summer's point of view, the whole thing must have been a blur. One moment she was attempting to use her Selver eyes, and the next she must have felt an insufferable pain in her eyes as everything went dark.

She wouldn't have seen the Grimm, but Leo did.

Not because he could catch it with the speed at which it was moving, but due to the fact that it had been affected by Summer's eyes when it attacked her.

It was a horrific-looking Grimm; its upper body looked like a thin humanoid Grimm that had scythe-like mandibles in place of its arms. The lower body had looked much more impressive; it had six one-meter-long bulging legs as thick as a pine tree's trunk. Most of its bone armor was gathered on its legs, with red lines coursing through them like a pulsing vine filled with power.

It was only after he inquired from Salem that his fears were confirmed.

That Grimm was a Disaster-Class Grimm.

Which means that Salem can now control them; that thought still sends a shiver down his spine to this day.

But he had to admit that both he and Salem underestimated Summer Rose and her mastery of the silver eyes.

When the Grimm had struck Summer's eyes, they had already activated, and for that short moment, it had affected the Grimm.

That was how Leo could see it, as a part of its body had been petrified by the time they noticed it. The creature screamed in what looked to be pain—something that he never thought a Grimm was capable of feeling. It stopped the spread of the petrification that started in his mandible by cutting it off.

Leo didn't know why the Grimm did that, as the petrification would have worn off in a decade or so, and time was not something that negatively affected the Grimm, but maybe the Grimm didn't know that as complex thought processes were foreign to the Grimm, even the highest of their echelons.

The memory of the hatred and scorn the Grimm had in its eyes for Summer at a time is still etched within his memories; if looks could kill, Summer would have been dead a hundred times over, not that it mattered; her fate was sealed from the moment that Leo had found out about her mission.

He didn't want to look, but he didn't want the queen to think he was having second thoughts; he had to keep on observing the execution.

And that is what it was.

Salem approached the kneeling Summer, who was still holding her wounded eyes, and said something that Leo couldn't hear before stabbing Summer with a magically constructed sword through her heart.

And that was it. Salem killed Summer Rose and left her to be devoured by the Grimm or found by Ozpin to be another hit to his and the circle's morale.

'Well, all that isn't important anymore; I'm a part of the queen's group now, and I should do what I can to prove my usefulness'.

With his thoughts made up and back to his mission, he decided to check in on the team he sent to investigate the current incident.

Just before he contacted them, he felt his vision sway and his eyelids grow heavy.

And just like that, he fell asleep.

Had he been awake, he would have seen how someone had appeared from behind him.

POV Change

Jade leaned back in her seat as she let a sigh of exhaustion escape her. This whole day was more action than she could take in a year.

She didn't expect someone would try to assassinate her and her sister, that they would be saved by an enigmatic Huntsman, and that she would be used to deliver some secret message to Ozpin.

Indeed, she had figured out that there were some hidden meanings within the words told to her by Sir Ainz, but she didn't mind delivering them; he had saved them after all.

And sometimes too much information could be harmful to a businessman, as one cannot unlearn what they already know.

However, all that didn't matter; it could even be said that, with the exception of the loss of caravan guards, not much was lost on this journey. If anything, she is now sure that someone within the company is planning to assassinate her.

Someone listening in on Jade's thoughts would think them to be rather cold or uncaring, but that is far from the truth.

As a matter of fact, Jade considers everyone who died within the caravan to be more than simply employees; they were part of the few who supported her after the death of her father; they were like family to her and her sister.

But now they're dead, like her father, like her mother, and like many who once promised to support her and her family.

Jade wasn't cold to their deaths; she was tired of it. She knew being sad wouldn't help, so the only thing she can do now is be pragmatic with her decisions.

And from a pragmatic point of view, she gained a lot of information and an important contact from this incident, which in a way could be a positive outcome.

So, Jade should have been happy, or at least pleased, right now, purely from a pragmatic point of view.

But she wasn't; she was furious, annoyed, and filled with misery about her situation.

The reason for this isn't just the loss of the good people that had supported her in this journey, but the attitude Ozpin had taken with her.

Jade wasn't stupid; she knew what he was thinking when she told him about her situation and the attack. She knew what he was planning when he advised her to take the summons with her to Vale.

Ozpin had arranged a bullhead to separately transport the summons, or death knights, as they were called to Vale. The reason he gave for that arrangement was to avoid any negative emotions or fear that they would entice in people.

From a certain viewpoint, this was logical if one didn't consider the fact that he insisted on having Jade and her sister take a different bullhead.

It was then that she realized that there was more to his offer than meets the eye.

Ozpin had divined something from Sir Ainz, calling him a wizard; she didn't know what it was, but from the reaction he had, it must be something big. So, she concluded that the reason why Ozpin wanted the Death Knights to be separately transported to Vale was to keep an eye on them and their master's movements. And if her reasoning didn't fail her, he would put her under surveillance in case Sir Ainz ever contacted her again.

To summarize, she was just another piece on the board for him. an insignificant girl who made contact with an important player in whatever the hell the game he was playing was.

She hated that feeling, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Logically speaking, Ozpin's actions weren't evil; at worst, they were manipulative, but in a way, he did take the safety of her and her sister into consideration.

And in a way, keeping in contact with Sir Ainz would help her in the future, so technically speaking, she's not losing anything throughout this whole deal.

The thing that bothered her the most was the way he was looking at her.

That look was filled with pity.

The way he looked when he told her that he would take care of everything, like she's some naive little girl who doesn't know how to wipe her own nose, was infuriating.

The logical side of her mind told her that she was being unreasonable, but she ignored that part of her as the emotions she ignored before had come rushing out, from the never-ending terrible deals the company was part of, the undermining of the family, that stupid mustache-faced fool's idiotic offer, to this recent assassination attempt.

The amount of negative emotions that filled her at that moment felt enough to attract a horde of Grimm, but she railed those emotions; the last thing she needed was another attack.

Once she calmed down, she started to think logically about what she should be doing.

'Should I take Schnee's offer? It would put an end to all the hardships Lilo is currently feeling; it would guarantee a future for Lilo; I doubt I would be happy in that marriage, given the fact that I'm heterosexual, but I'll manage, as I always do.'

She thought about it for a moment before shaking her head.

'This isn't about me anymore, not even about my sister. How can I face my dad in the afterlife if I were to give his company away? He put his life in the blood of the ones who dragged it through the mud. No! I won't! I can't!'

'But what can I do? No matter how much we try, we can't get enough manpower to operate within the mines.'

The problem that comes with operating a huge mine is the accommodation of the huge manpower that will have to work within it. A lot of facilities have to be built and operated to make sure that the miners are fully functional. Housing the miners and providing them with daily provisions becomes an issue when one looks at it from the outside.

However, the answer to that problem is simpler than one might think: to have an entire town or settlement built around the mine.

When an entire town is built around the mine, it becomes the lifeblood of that town. The more the town thrives, the more profit the mine will bring.

It could get more complicated than that, but in general, that is the idea.

Of course, if the town is incapable of sufficiently sustaining itself, then, by extension, the mine will collapse, not literally but figuratively. No one will mine and operate within the mine; it becomes nothing more than a property waiting to be sold to someone who can operate it.

That is what happened to most of the mines operated by the L.M.C. A series of misfortunate events caused the collapse of many mining towns and settlements, from an inability to provide daily necessities to the workers due to an unfortunate attack on the supply line and bad management to terrible decisions made by the higher-ups within the company and the sudden choice of those providing the infrastructure within the town to leave in search of opportunities elsewhere.

All of those events caused the monopoly to start shaking.

Jade could venture a guess on who was orchestrating all this.

But it didn't matter at this point; by the time they felt something was off, it was already too late.

And now the L.M.C. has become a shadow of its former self; technically speaking, it still holds the largest number of mines and mining rights throughout Remnant, surpassing even that of the S.D.C., and yet they could only operate a minuscule amount of that number.

"If only I had enough manpower to operate 1/4 of the mines we own, then we would manage to get out of our situation; if I had enough manpower to operate half of the mines that I own, then we could easily surpass the S.D.C."

Jade wasn't exaggerating with that statement.

Although the mineral industry pales in comparison to the dust industry, after the death of her grandfather and the sudden change of policies the S.D.C. had taken, her late father decided to expand their ventures into the dust market, and surprisingly, he had a lot of success outside of Atlas.

Unfortunately, he had bitten more than he could chew.

The number of dust mines they had managed to discover in her father's lifetime was extraordinary, but keeping these mines operational was impossible.

They had spent so much money discovering and obtaining those mines that providing enough funds for the manpower needed to operate those mines became impossible.

The fault of this couldn't really be put on her father, as he had planned to have those mines be the opportunity for many unfortunate souls within Mantle; he would have provided them with a new settlement and business opportunities to venture into.

It would have worked had the S.D.C. not launched a smear campaign against her father and the company. Everything from suspicious business partners to unethical working conditions and corporate greed.

And as great a man as her father was, cunningness was not something he was good at. The smear campaign put so much stress on her father that she had seen him grow old by the second. Before long, all the stress took her father.

And just like that, she got to her current position.

'This is the worst; if only I could summon monsters that would obey all of my orders, I would have had them working their bones off in the mines'.

A self-deprecating smile came to her lips before her brain stopped at the thought she had just reached.

Following that thought, her mind went to the conversation she had with Sir Ainz on their way to the village after he had saved her.

She asked him if the summons were his semblance, which was a stupid question to ask, as what else would they be? The way he looked at her was odd; it was as if he didn't know what a semblance was.

But that thought was erased from her mind as he somewhat confirmed that the summons were indeed his semblance. When she asked him about the condition to summon them, the only thing he said was that it only required a corpse.

At first, she was horrified by the revelation, but when she considered it, he never specified a need to use a living creature's corpse, so it could be possible that a Grimm's corpse would work.

Contrary to the belief many people hold, Grimm don't immediately disappear after they are killed—well, not all the time, as depending on how damaged they take the corpse, the Grimm leaves behind would last for a minute or two, or three if the damage to the body's structure was minimal.

So, if you take that into consideration and the fact that, throughout their entire journey, the summons didn't disappear or seem to exhaust Sir Ainz's aura, then they are permanent.

Which means if she could have him summon a large quantity of them, assuming that there is no limit to the number that could be summoned, she would obtain enough manpower to have multiple mines back in business.

Jade's mind was filled with many thoughts at that moment, to the point that one would be surprised that she didn't overheat it yet.

But after all that thinking and excitement, she calmed down.

All of the plans you just thought of were built on many assumptions. There was no guarantee this would work. However, on the off chance that it does, this would be the turning point for her.

Jade showed a toothy grin as she thought of the possibilities.

'If everything works out, I want to see the expression on Jacques Schnee's face.'

With that thought on her mind, Jade Lapis finally let the fatigue and exhaustion she had accumulated take hold of her and went to sleep next to her sister.

End of Chapter 4

AN: Thanks for continued support everyone, I was planning on releasing this chapter tomorrow, but I figure I'll do it today.

In any case, as embarrassing as it is to admit I didn't notice the problem with the point of view changed before I hope this chapter will provide a much more comprehensive reading experience for everyone. I had formatted the shift in the point of view in the previous chapters but for some reason the site doesn't recognize them in any case I hope you have enjoyed this chapter.

Do I have something I am curious about what do you all think about the pacing of the story, I'm planning to make this a long fanfiction, with this volume serving as the prologue.

However, I am worried that I'm taking too much time providing information on the world, and mechanics of the power systems given the fact that I'm dealing with two different worlds, and it somehow feels unnatural to me. I hope I'm overthinking it but I would appreciate some feedback on it.