"Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in." - Napoleon Bonaparte

I moved through the guests with learned precision, gliding like a specter through the crowd. I gave some smiles and handshakes, a few kind words and pleasantries exchanged. Everyone seemingly had something to say to me, but it was remarkably easy to end conversations with them.

Pushing aside the last partygoers between my target and myself, I reached the man in the center. Oh, sure, Jacques wasn't in the literal middle of the room, but everyone oriented themselves around him like he was.

It made it distinctively clear who the most important person in the room was—when you see people with more money than the wealth of entire generations sucking up to the white-haired man, it showed who had the power here.

Jacques isn't the sort of person I'd call charismatic…no, he really wasn't. Exchanging pleasantries was simple with him, but it was obvious that he didn't care for anyone he talked to. You could leave a conversation despising him, but it wouldn't change the fact that he had you in his webs.

He was a spider in the skin of a human. He laid traps that were invisible, imperceivable to the naked eye. Jacques did not pull people into his hooks with honey and a likable personality—he did so by enthralling them when they took a single misstep, clamping down on any mistakes like a snake to a mouse.

Well, perhaps I'm exaggerating slightly. Regardless, Jacques is a talented businessman. He didn't become the wealthiest man on the planet simply by being handed lien.

I pushed past the very last person, reaching the white-haired trillionaire. Jacques was talking to someone, an unimportant man with black hair and a monocle. Jacques momentarily paused when he saw me, giving the man he was talking to a look of finality. "We shall discuss this later, Montogmery. Give your wife my regards."

Montogmery, the man Jacques was talking to, shuddered with the smallest of vibrations, a white pallor crossing over his large cheeks. "I'll—I'll be sure to do that, Jacques." He swallowed saliva deeply, shuffling away from the Schnee's orbit.

My eyes followed after Montogmery as he left, curious as to what that was about. I looked back to Jacques, our gazes near even. He was an inch or so taller than my five-nine height. A friendly smile crossed over my lips, but I made sure the critical light never left my eyes. "Adultery?"

"Among other deeds." Jacques confirmed, not caring if we were overheard. The ever-present chatter of the room did help to mask our conversation. "Will I be having the pleasure of seeing your parents tonight?"

I shook my head, carefully schooling my features. I let a hint of frustration gleam in my eyes, the smooth skin on my face crinkling ever-so-slightly. "Not tonight, no, and I think it is preferable that way."

With Jacques, I need to let him form the conclusions I want him to make—he is certainly smart enough to look beyond mere words, so it is the minutiae I control. And if he decides I am the sort of person he likes, opposed to the sort of person I am? Well, who am I to complain?

"I see…" The man gazed at me for a long moment, inspecting my face. "Your presence is always encouraged, Roy. I do believe I have told your mother and father that before, even if you so infrequently come." He quieted momentarily, leaving me to my own thoughts. Jacques spoke again soon after. "What did you think of my daughter's performance tonight?"

Jacques was trying to push me away from my parents, I imagine. It is, after all, the first time I have been around him without my parents being nearby. Well, he'd be in for some interesting surprises in the future…

My lips moved into a small smile, a mild light to my eyes. "As excellent as any other time I have seen her sing, Sir. Your daughter is blessed with remarkable blood." I purposefully made a subtle-show of biting the skin of my lower lip, feigning hesitance. The expression faded away. "I spoke to Weisis after the show, you know."

"Did you now?" A flicker of surprise had passed over his eyes, but it left faster than it appeared. Jacques let me continue speaking.

"I did, yes. Weiss allowed me into the backstage afterwards, so it would only have been impolite to not stay for some time." My smile morphed to contain a smidge of wistfulness. It quickly faded to a blank expression twinged with disappointment. "It is a shame that she is leaving to go to Beacon."

"Yes…it is shameful." He agreed easily, not bothering to hide the scowl that crossed over his lips. Jacques was visibly annoyed. "Weiss could do far better than Beacon. And yet, she insists upon fighting like a brute." Jacques hisses, the noise eventually cooling into a frustrated sigh. "But I was not aware you held such…strong...convictions regarding my daughter?"

There was a question there: explain yourself. I moved my hand to scratch the back of my neck in a show of awkwardness. "Well, it is not my place to decide her choices. As a friend, however, it would be inappropriate of me to not care for your daughter's wellbeing."

"As a friend." Jacques repeated my phrasing, searching my face. I allowed for embarrassment to show on my face, but I also subtly crushed the microexpressions. He can interpret that as he wants. "Yes, it'd be deeply wrong of a friend such as yourself to not care for her wellbeing."

We both knew Weiss and I did not ever give even the slightest of damns about one other. I'd let him sit on this for a while. "Yes, Vale is…not the sort of place I'd recommend to any person of class. Their practices are beyond barbaric."

Jacques hummed in agreement, nodding his head. "Vale's endeavors to take power from the hardworking industries have made trade an irritant as of recent." An unreadable expression fell on his face. "What is your opinion on it, Roy?"

I blinked, surprised he was dragging me into a conversation on economics. Earth's economic practices were far more robust than anything on Remnant, so this would be fun. "Well, there is a reason that Atlas has towers that pierce into the heavens while Vale remains clinging to the dirt like rats." I scoffed, an amused smile on my face. "The feel-good Valeian council wants to thrust the hard-earned wealth of men like you and I into the hands of the poor and lazy; ironic, is it not, that their efforts to restrict the free market has only resulted in their economy being stifled?"

"Mh. And to think that Vale was once a worthy rival of Altas…" Jacques clicked his tongue, a cold gleam to his eyes. "Now they are only a cesspool of crime and vagabonds. The outrageously high tariffs they place on the dust trade has only made the cost of living rise. In their attempts to push out my company, they only strangled their population."

It is interesting to completely lie about my positions on certain matters. Jacques is an incredibly selfish man, but I have years of experience in greed-induced rhetoric. There is, however, some truth in what was said. Over regulation is detrimental to any economy based on capitalistic ideals.

I snorted, shaking my head in amusement. "There is no one else to blame for their nation's woes besides Ozpin, that short-sighted fool. His well-meaning, blind calls for all sorts of policies have left Vale ten steps behind Atlas. When he decided that workers in our factories deserved more lien than the labor they performed and lobbied for raises, my parents simply ceased production in Vale. When laws were passed to raise tariffs and taxes, we raised prices accordingly. He is full of heart, not brains."

All of that wasn't even mentioning the mistakes Ozpin made in the incarnation where he was the king of Vale. He may be a good wizard and huntsman, but there is a distinct lack of skill in statecraft there.

You'd think that an immortal with thousands of years of experience and magic would have taken over the world already, but…nope. Perhaps he is simply too rigid, stuck in thoughts hundreds of years behind the current thought? It'd explain why his actions in regards to modern economics were simply terrible

Vale wasn't as bad as, say, Mistral, of course, but it was getting there. The major problem that Vale had was that their market was dominated by Atlasian goods. Mistral, on the other hand, barely had an economy.

If I had to compare it to the real world, Vale would be like the Weimar Republic and Mistral would be Tsarist Russia. Vale, like the Weimar Republic, is a rapidly liberalizing nation that is heavily influenced by foreign companies. However, the people in Vale know that they are controlled by the rest of the world, much like the people in Weimar Germany did.

Interesting to think that Vale might have a rapid growth in ultra-nationalism in response to fast-paced adoptions of radically different ideals along with foreign economic dominance.

"Ozpin is a fool." Jacques said, an approving look on his face. "But he is a clever fool with power and clout. Ozpin is an observant man who creates irritating solutions. With the way things are going in Vale, the SDC will be forced to abandon activity in the city."

"Why not make subsidiary companies in Vale? That way, you can avoid the tariffs." I curiously asked.

If anything, that made Jacques look ticked. There was a stony anger in him, full of frustration. "Any dust sold in Vale by a subsidiary company is given a tax proportional to the tariff they would typically pay when exporting the goods into the country." His mustache ruffled in annoyance, something I did not even know was possible. "Have you ever heard of Growmen Minings, Roy?"

I furrowed my eyebrows in thought and then shook my head. "I have not, no."

"Such a minor company is easy to never hear of, so that does not surprise me in the slightest. Growmen Minings was once a company that went by Vale Dust Exchange, but that was when I owned it." The usually stoic man nearly growled in anger. "Due to laws passed by the council of Vale, the subsidiary became unprofitable and majority shares were bought out by James Growmen, a native of Vale."

"So it is your main competitor in Vale, then?"

Jacques scoffed. "Their impact is inconsequential as Vale lacks the necessary dust reserves to substantially mine it in any major capacity. Vale Dust Exchange produced profit because the SDC stopped selling dust into the area, making the subsidiary generate swathes of lien. Growmen isn't in any position to compete."

"Hm. So why doesn't the SDC reduce the sale of dust into Vale, artificially driving up the price, making it so the council of Vale gives you favorable deals? It is not like there are any other major dust companies that could move in."

"I wish that were a possibility." He tisked, frowning deeply. "But Atlas is still obligated to give Vale preferential trade agreements on the sale of dust due to the Vytal Treaty which ended the Great War."

I hummed, nodding my head. "When Atlas was given dust mining privileges in Vacuo, right?"

In the Great War, Atlas—Mantle, at the time—had taken the west coast of Vacuo at the start of the war. As the largest dust reserves outside of Atlas are in this region, it was a rather big issue for Vacuo and Vale. In the peace treaty, Atlas was given lucrative privileges in the area economically, but a concession was that we had to give reasonable prices for dust.

At the time, it was a really good deal…but now? Well, the entire west coast of Vacuo is basically empty, meaning that there is no one to mine dust there. The only areas that produce dust in substantial quantities are in Atlas. Sure, it stopped settlement into the region by Vacuoans, preventing competitors in the long run…but it also gives Vale a lot of wiggle room in trade policy.

"Given? We already occupied all of their dust-rich regions. It was a luxury for Vale that our cowardly diplomats did not know how to negotiate properly." Jacques hissed, glaring icily heatedly. He wasn't mad at me, but he clearly despised the makers of the Vytal Treaty.

Technically, Vale was in a better position than us towards the end of the war because Ozpin was a cheating wizard-huntsman…but Vale also was in no position to fight for five more years. Mistral and Atlas could due to naval supremacy and the fact that Mistral had, like, three hundred million people while Vale and Vacuo combined had maybe half of that.

Mistral is like an odd mix of Tsarist Russia and Qing China. The economy, technology, and governance there was well behind the rest of the civilized world. Oligarchs and nobles desperately hold onto power while the massive population of the nation grows more and more discontent.

There was a poem about it, once: not like the glowing gold of ancient times past, with ever-stretching limbs surrounding a growing mass. A slumbering beast chugs along, lien her keeper and greed her chains. The Mother of Worlds is kept lulled through time, but even eternity and avarice can not hold her binds. Relinquish your binds, o' chainer of mine. Hear our cry, hear our plea: "Great mother, arise! Set your chains free!" And when eternity sets to darkness, time long forgotten, she feasts on parsimony and bequeaths us a' free. So I lift my lamp by the great beast, beseeching to thee, o' despots hiding the keys, to but stall, pray, and hope that your grip on those tantalus ropes may never grow taut!

Well, whatever. The poem had several implications that I'd like to explore eventually…Mistral has an interesting future ahead of it, but I need to go back to the conversation.

Getting on track, I nod in agreement, lips curling upwards as I laugh. "But that treaty will be voided if the government of Vale ever falls—I certainly doubt they have more than ten years at most left. Of course, it'd likely be Weiss dealing with it at that point."

"Weiss…yes…" His face flickered through a hundred emotions and then a hundred more. We both knew that Weiss would not make for a very good business woman. Even so, she is his heiress. Jacques still looked like he bit into a particularly nasty fruit, though, a sour expression on his lips.

"I am curious what direction Weiss will take your company in, Sir." I added with a smile, purposefully staying oblivious to his distaste. I kept stoking the flames. "I have always thought there was a beauty in handing down your legacy to a like-minded, talented youth. Everything they do will be a reflection of your guidance, of your life."

Jacques forcibly clamped down on the nasty expression crawling over his face. "And is this an opinion shared by your parents, Roy? Do you hope to be their legacy?"

Ooh, trying to create a nonexistent wedge, are we? Unfortunately, Jacques' assumption would require my heart to hold any love for my parents in it.

It certainly does not.

"I hope to be better." I simply say. "Their legacy will be made into my own, built on the bedrock foundation they have laid down. What makes inheriting the will of another person so spectacular is that you can take the life, hope, and aspirations of those who came before you and make them even better."

I paused and a contemplative expression came over my face. "We all die someday, so the only immortality we may achieve is in the minds of those who live. A nihilistic view that may be, but making your purpose be built on shaping a dynasty is my ideal."

The both of us went silent after my words, Jacques taking them into consideration. My goal of getting him to respect my perspective seems to have worked, then. I'd let him think it over.

"Then what would you consider my dynasty to be, Roy?" There was genuine curiosity in his words. Even Jacques, it seems, knows he will die someday. "What legacy do you think I have built off of? What is the foundation you believe I will leave behind?"

"Well, you married into the Schnee family and were given the will of Nicholas Schnee of his retirement." I begin, careful in how I phrased my words. "So you built off of the legacy of Nicholas Schnee."

"That is not an answer to my question." Jacques stated with a frown, mustached furrowing downwards.

I nodded. "It is not, I will fix that. From Nicholas, you were passed on a torch of excellence and proactivity. You, however, gave fuel to that flame. Not to be a spaniel, but that strong ember was turned into a raging inferno, embodying excellence, opportunity, dominance, nobility, and prestige. That is the legacy you will leave behind to Weiss."

He had looked suitably pleased with my words, even if his face remained remarkably blank. However, the scowl returned when I mentioned Weiss. Just bringing her up ruined the Schnee patriarch's mood—obviously, I was going to keep invoking her name.

Looking around the room, I spot that there are a plethora of people just dying to talk to Jacques, likely to try and weasel their way into his good graces. I turn back to Jacques. "But, it seems I've been monopolizing your presence for too long. There is an excess of people far more important than myself waiting to speak to you, so I'll go and say goodbye to your daughter now."

Jacques frowned once more before nodding his head. "Very well. It has been a great shame, Roy, that you have not been attending many of the Schnee events as of recent. I will inform the staff at the manor that your presence will be permitted at any reasonable time. Your perspective has been…enlightening, boy."

His words may have been phrased like a request, but it was not. It was an order, yet it was an order I was trying to get him to make.

"Then expect my arrival sometime this week." I dipped my head and left the man momentarily after. I walked away, maneuvering through the crowd of ravenous piranhas dying to get a bite at Jacques.

As my blood was not what they had a taste for, getting past them was not difficult in the slightest. Finding Weiss was only slightly harder, but only marginally so.

Weiss, like her father, had her own orbit. Oh, yes, it certainly was not one she herself earned, but it was a pull nevertheless. Her gift is wealth and wealth is the greatest attractor of all, making people orbit her to try and get in her graces.

While Weiss is an arrogant girl who loves to hear her own praises, she also doesn't garner much joy from lickspittles. Ironic, wasn't it, that a girl who craves affection can only find shallow kindness and empty words?

I made my way over to the white haired girl, the heiress talking to someone beyond irrelevant—after all, they were trying to garner clout through being a suckup doormat. What a rat.

Pulling a charming smile onto my face, I approached Weiss as I eyed the woman she was speaking with. "Weiss!" I called out, voice cheery and warm. I acted like I just noticed the woman was Weiss having a miserable time talking to. "Ah, sorry, I wasn't aware you were speaking to someone. I was just speaking to your father and was directed to you, but I'll just lea—"

The no-name noble paled at the mention of Jacques, quickly backing up. "Weiss and I were just finished speaking—it is no problem at all! You can talk to her now!" With the elegance of an ape, she fled.

"Your father didn't actually order me to go to you." I amusedly say, shaking my head as I laugh. Am I a sadist? No, I just dabble in schadenfreude from time to time… "I just wished to say goodbye before I left."

"You're leaving already?" Weiss said in surprise, subtly checking her Scroll for the time. She hid the device and devolved into empty nobility. "Well, thank you for your presence today. My father, myself, and the Schnee family are grateful for your—"

"Cut it out." I interject, rolling my eyes. Speaking of sadism…I pull the girl into a hug, garnering a choked squeak from her. Have fun fixing your reputation. "You've known me for how long now? Don't be standoffish, I know you. So…see you in a year?"

I let go of the hug and turn, walking away. I gracefully ignore Weiss's sputtered attempts to force me to stay and explain myself. I do not, in fact, do that.

Come on, Jacques, the entire board is set. He has some respect for me, his daughter has now been publicly seen hugging me, and all Jacques needs to do is move but one piece. Friends don't hug each other, not in public, high society events. No one interprets it that way.

The only moves Jacques can make at this point are ones that help my position. Zugzwang, as it is called.

It will only be a month, then, and I have checkmate and an even grander board to play on.