Kapitel 49: Chapter 49 - Resolving Huntsmen Unemployment Issue
Another month went by rather quickly after the incident on Mountain Glenn and the Mutated Dragon Grimm.
The objective since then has been recuperation. The military suffered great losses especially the destruction of the Airships fleet. Even after a month with the number of shipyards being doubled, Atlas only managed to produce six Airships after rushing the production. Forget about expanding the fleet when recuperation is already this difficult.
The six Airships were rushed into production due to another worrying issue. Ever since the Mutated Dragon Grimm, the Infected finally added flying Grimms into their ranks. The Airship is needed to maintain safety over Vale airspace which AA defense system is simply insufficient.
———
On a monday morning, the first week of October, Adam is heading to work as usual and Agent is by his side explaining his schedule for today and what he will be doing. On the schedule, he noticed Agent mentioned Professor Ozpin.
As the morning approached afternoon, the time for Professor Ozpin's visit arrived. The man arrived just in time for the appointment and Adam invited him to his office while Agent went to prepare refreshment.
"So, is there anything I can help? I doubt the headmaster would set up an appointment for something trivial." Adam asked as he scanned the man in front of him curiously.
"Indeed, it's a dire matter that requires your help." Ozpin nods and his expression turns serious like he is on an office business.
"First, I want to thank you for restoring the supplies of Dust to the public. I didn't have the opportunity to." Ozpin first thanked Adam and then he began. "I am here as the representative of the Huntsmen."
"As you know, Huntsmen had been the lifeblood of Remnant and Vale itself. However, due to the sudden appearance of the Virus. This has changed. They were prevented from fighting against the Infected Grimms and as a result, many suffered and lost their source of income." Ozpin said while maintaining a calm and professional tone which made what he said sound less like an accusation on him and more like a word of reason trying to reach him.
"Indeed, I do and it is necessary. You yourself know how dangerous it is to fight against those Infected Grimms considering Professor Port is a friend of yours." Adam argued back. "You couldn't expect me to allow them to fight the Infected Grimms just because they are losing jobs."
"It's an unfortunate situation but this is a necessity which I will not budge away from." Adam holds firm on his choice, thinking it's for the best.
After all, the source of the Universe's power to resist the Outer God is based on the population of the world. If he allows people to be killed left and right, it would be giving his enemies an opportunity to grow stronger.
Arriving at a stalemate in their discussion, Agent arrived in time with a tray carrying the tea for both Adam and Ozpin.
"Mhm. Thank you, Miss Ange, for the tea." Ozpin graciously accepted the drink despite him would rather prefer coffee instead of tea.
Agent simply gives a nod of acknowledgement and then turns to Adam before whispering something. She had a suggestion for this issue which Ozpin is raising. He felt stupid to never think of it when the solution seems to be quite obvious but he could miss it.
"Professor Ozpin. You mentioned the source of the problem is because the Huntsman were put out of work and simply needed another source of income. Am I correct?" Adam asked.
"Yes. As you just said." Ozpin looked very curious and also glanced at Agent because she whispered to Adam a moment before.
"Hmn. Then my suggestion is easy and a win for both of us. You are aware, right, that I have 20 thousand children under my care and I have been trying to educate them in mastering Aura. But honestly, the progress is slow as the teachers were only two handfuls to teach that many children."
"So, I was thinking about hiring a proper Huntsman. Although they aren't qualified to teach more advanced topics of Aura, they can take care of the basics and lighten the loads of the proper teachers. Besides that, Huntsmen can also guide them in the manner of insight in combat and experience which the academy style teaching was lacking."
Ozpin didn't really need to consider much. It's perfect in his eyes. A mutually beneficial plan.
"Indeed. Your suggestion is perfect and I agree with it." Ozpin nods satisfied. "But how about their salary?"
"Just set it according to a normal teacher's wages. However, if they can offer more to the table, they can renegotiate the price and you can handle it at your discretion since you are their representative." Adam shrugs and basically said, 'You deal with the minor details yourself. I'm too busy.' Then he threw the money on Ozpin. Adam let him hammer out the finer details.
Well, even if he said he didn't care. Agent will definitely go out of her way to manage it personally and make sure everything is perfect and none of the money he spent is wasted or funneled away again but Adam believes Ozpin is trustworthy.
After Ozpin got what he came for, he left after finishing his tea and returned to set everything in motion. Perhaps tomorrow he can already see the results.
———
Next morning, it's one of those rare days where Adam returns home and sleeps instead of sleeping in his office as usual.
"Good morning, Master. It's time to wake up." Both Agent enter Adam's room to wake him up for breakfast only to find Jeanne arrived before her and is about to steal her job.
They paused and stared at each other. One has the avatar of a fierce demon behind her and another has the avatar of a righteous angel.
"I am the maid here. Miss Jeanne didn't need to bother with such a task. It's my job to wake Master up." Agent said with a low and borderline threatening tone.
"Ara. I'm just trying to help. Besides, he isn't your Master alone." The usual kind hearted Jeanne changed and was replaced with a different and assertive personality.
Sparks flying between them as they glare. It's like two raging storms duking out on each other until they hear the half awake mumbles of Adam.
"Another… minutes…" He mutters while hugging and resting his head on one of the Alice's chest while being piled on by other Alices and also Tina. The Alice he is hugging even hugs him back on the head as they continue to doze off peacefully.
Seeing such an adorable scene, not even Agent is willing to continue the fight.
"It's already 7 am in the morning. It's not good to sleep for too long. Besides, the food will get cold soon." Jeanne went and coaxed him to rise up from his slumber much to Agent's annoyance but she still had a strategic advantage compared to others. So, she isn't afraid of small losses like this.
Adam did wake up in the end but half awake unlike the girls which is energetic. Even Tina as she had long adjusted her sleep cycle to be awake during the day and sleep during the night.
In the dining room, Winter also joined along with Jalter. They had their breakfast relatively uneventfully as they finished their meal and went to prepare themselves.
Adam remembered that he promised to visit the girls. Since he also wanted to see this new Mentorships program that Ozpin made. So why not both? He thought and suggested this to everyone on the dining table.
"It's a wonderful idea. You didn't know how much they wanted you to visit them, Master." Jeanne, one of the caretakers of the Children revealed.
"Yes. Everyone wants you to visit them, nii-san. But they also understand you are always busy. So, none of them dare to selfishly ask about it. But they are definitely ecstatic if nii-san is visiting them." Tina nodded too as she regularly visited them.
As for Alices, they were excited to visit many of her playmates.
Jalter however, was trying to sneak off the dining room to not be involved in this shit. She has better things to do than mingling with brats. She just isn't good with children but they don't hate them either after learning the truth about them. She can feel a kindred spirit with those girls as they experienced nearly the same suffering.
Although her escape was unsuccessful…
"How about you, sister? Are you coming with us?" Jeanne asked and ignored the angry scowl on Jalter's face.
"I'm busy…" She said evasively and left quickly before anyone could question her.
Jeanne sighed as she had worked hard to reform Jalter's hatred. She did mellow a lot compared to before but she is still sometimes stubborn and become tsundere-like. She obviously liked the girls as she sometimes visits them when Jeanne isn't there but she stubbornly wouldn't visit together with her. Because she didn't want to be seen by Jeanne in the act. It's something about her pride that she wanted to protect.
As for Winter… there's no need to ask. She will follow Adam like his shadow wherever he goes when she has no task or job assigned to her.
With that, Adam, Alices, Tina, Winter, Jeanne and Agent depart after the breakfast session ends.
———
In the morning, Siegfried usually is in the mansion courtyard teaching any of the girls or even students from Beacon that is here for the mentorship program.
At this moment, he was giving Jaune a swordsmanship lesson as he usually does.
"Good. Your basics are improving well. However, you still need to improve your footwork. They are a complete mess." Siegfried held a blunt steel sword while it was placed on Jaune's neck which he pulled back once the sparring ended.
Jaune collapses like a house of cards the moment the blade is away from his neck and gasping for breath hungrily. Siegfried looked at Jaune worriedly.
He had trained other students like Blake, Weiss and Pyrrha. Jaune when compared to them is like day and night. The former shows that they have solid basics and a well trained physique. Jaune however is the opposite but he made up with the unwavering willpower. Even so, it could only carry him so far.
"T-Thank you… Mr Siegfried. For the lesson." Jaune stood up and thanked Siegfried after catching his breath.
"Mhm. You are doing good. Don't worry too much about the lack of immediate results. Rome wasn't built in a day and so is your swordsmanship." Siegfried gave encouragement to the boy before he left the sparring ground.
The dejected Jaune immediately lifted up his head and looked at Siegfried. He didn't understand what Rome meant but he understood the meaning of the sentence. With a smile and invigorated spirit, he went to Ren and asked for pointers on footworks which Ren gladly helped.
Next, Pyrrha entered the ring and first she thanked Siegfried for willingly helping Jaune despite his obvious lack of aptitude in swordsmanship.
"Hmn. Talent isn't everything. Lack of talent can be compensated with hard work. I had seen such a person before and all it takes is willpower and dedication." Siegfried replied as he saw many heroes that didn't necessarily have talent but still reached the Throne of Heroes through sheer dedication and hardwork. "Besides, I can also see the seedling of a hero inside him." Siegfried added with a trace of sadness on his face.
"Seedling of a hero?" Pyrrha asked.
"Indeed." Siegfried nodded but didn't elaborate what he meant. "However, the path of a hero is wrought with tragedy. It's best if he never needs to become one."
Pyrrha is curious and confused about what Siegfried meant by his words. But she can feel it, the words came from his personal experience. Perhaps a wisdom from the experienced ones to her and Jaune.
Anyway, she didn't really have time to dwell into the thoughts as Siegfried drew his blade and the suffocating pressure that wasn't shown to Jaune in his sparring suddenly appeared and oppressed Pyrrha as her eyes were looking not at a friendly man that introduced himself as Siegfried. But at the famed hero and king, the hero that slayed the Evil Dragon Fafnir.
Pyrrha lifts her short sword up along with her shield in a defensive stance while warily anticipating the move her opponent would do and counter instead of playing aggressive as she obviously knows she is the weaker one here.
Seeing the choice Pyrrha made, Siegfried tensed his right foot on the ground and launched himself to her right in great speed and slashed. Pyrrha was caught off guard by the speed but still not losing yet as she quickly angled her sword and deflected the slash that looked heavy for a casual slash. Then she used her shield to bash her opponent and stagger him for an opening but Siegfried anticipated that and dodged to his right. He was about to perform a counterattack but stopped when he felt a force trying to guide his sword. Obviously, it's Pyrrha's Semblance.
While Siegfried is distracted, Pyrrha makes a quick stab on his abdomen and by reflex, Siegfried goes for a parry but her Semblance continues to redirect the path of his swing. Well, if her opponent is someone else. It would work but not Siegfried because his strength could resist the magnetic pull the Semblance caused.
He decided to end this sparring. After all, the purpose of the sparring is to give Pyrrha experience fighting against stronger opponents.
An instant shift in his stance caught Pyrrha off guard as his slash became faster and heavier. But Pyrrha is ready and dodges as best as she can. Those that she can't dodge, she blocked with her shield and sword. But even so, she still gets hit here and there and her Aura gets depleted in less than two minutes.
"Hmn. To last a long time is wonderful. Get used to it and improve after all, if you can keep up with me, you can keep up with anything the world can throw at you." Siegfried said which sounded like an arrogant boast but he indeed can be considered one of the strongest in this world.
(Well, Servant is uncontested in Remnant. Probably only Ozpin and Salem can give him a challenge when excluding the Brother Gods and the Outer God.)
After getting pointers from Siegfried, Blake was going to take her turn next but an unexpected guests made an appearance.
"Master." Siegfried immediately greeted Adam and everyone else in his entourage.
"Hello, Mr White." Team RWBY and JNPR greeted Adam.
"Morning everyone." Adam greeted back and saw that he had interrupted the training. "Well, don't mind me and continue with the training." He said and went the other way, toward the Cursed Children who are being trained by other Students that volunteered in this mentorship program and actual teachers that Ozpin helped him find amongst the veteran Huntsmen that have no job currently and needed one very badly.
Adam even spotted some familiar people like the Brotherhood of Saw, preaching about the gospel of chainsaw while surrounded by a large group of young girls that were roped into their belief.
Basically, most of the group are formed based on the type of weapon they are interested in. It's easier that way for them to learn since Aura application isn't just on Barrier but also to protect their weapon or else the fragile mechashift weapon would break on their first battle with how many brittle parts inside it. They also need to learn how to activate Dust ammunition, manipulate Dust for battle application, crafting weapon, infusing body with Aura to aid battle, etc
On the side of the massive courtyard are sparring rings used by teachers and students to learn how to fight and improve their skill. Meanwhile the middle is an open class with several teachers conducting classes in the open field rather than building as to be honest, to build a classroom for that many children is very difficult. It's not just a matter of money but the location since building a school to accommodate twenty thousand of them is very difficult.
When Adam made his appearance in the courtyard, he was noticed by a few girls that weren't paying attention to the lecture.
"Papa!" One of them called out and like a chain reaction, the other girls turned around and spotted him too.
"Perhaps this is a bad idea…" Adam wondered when a stampede of girls rushed at him. "G-Girls, please calm down!" Adam tried but failed as he resigned when he saw one of them with Rabbit-Factor just like Enju from the main cast leaped up to the sky and dived toward him like a guided missile.
"Daddy!"
*Crash*
"Uhk!" Adam felt like all the air was ripped out from his lungs as he fell down to the ground and continued being piled on.
"Girls. Cease this immediately and behave or else, there will be no snacks for everyone." A motherly yet stern scolding tone causes the girls to immediately turn into terror and turn their collective eyes towards the person scolding them.
"Grandma Willow! Ah crap!" A tomboyish girl with pale blond hair and tanned skin accidentally cursed and immediately covered her mouth in fear.
"We are sorry, Grandma Willow! Please not the cookies!"
"Haah, now please help your father up. Geez you naughty children. Look, look what had you done to him." Willow rushed to her son and helped him up while trying to dust his clothes and straighten them up again but still look dirty and wrinkly.
"Ah haha. I don't mind it, mother. It's my fault for not visiting them more regularly." He said that a large portion of the girls nodded and blamed Adam for it.
"But you have a reason. You have a lot of work to do, to manage two kingdoms isn't an easy job." Willow sighed and knew it was not an easy job even if he reassured her that he had plenty of people supporting him.
"Yes. Indeed it's difficult but it's necessary." Adam replied, knowing that Willow is not happy with the new government Adam formed which he hoarded most of the power. But it's necessary to make the government work like a machine, unified internally and no one will try to sabotage him, especially after learning of the existence of Outer God. What will stop it from planting a traitor in the government if Adam gives it the opportunity?
Willow snorted and said no more of this heavy topic. Instead, now she simply wants to enjoy the presence of her children together in a warm and cozy home in contrast to before when she still lived in the Schnee mansion that felt cold and oppressive.
"Now, apologize to your father and or I will ban snacks for a week." Willow said, which caused the sea of faces to turn into horror.
"Please don't! We will apologize!" The large group of girls that jumped on Adam immediately apologized which Adam accepted with a smile and apologized too for not spending more time with them.
"Anyway, get back to your classes. We can have fun later when class ends. I will be here for the whole day." Adam announced and ushered them to return to their respective class.
The girls were excited at the promise of bringing them out to the city and eagerly returned to the class for now. Only then did Adam sighed in relief and turn back to his entourage to find their number reduced as Alices wandered off somewhere without him noticing and Jeanne too.
"So, why are you here? Do you not have work today?" Willow asked.
"No. I decided to take a rest today." Adam shook his head lightly. "I will probably be away for a while and I want to spend some time with everyone before I do." He added his reason which made Willow raise her eyebrows and so does his entourage of Tina, Winter and Agent.
Willow is shocked of course but understands it's probably due to his job. Maybe he has something to do in another kingdom. But what intrigued her even more is the reaction of the others.
"A-Are you g-going away a-alone again!" Winter is the first to react and very badly too, at the verge of another breakdown. Adam has to quickly calm her down lest she cause a scene.
"No. I will bring everyone along. You don't need to worry, Winter." Adam reassured her and caressed her head as her wet pair of eyes stared at him and asked, "Really? You promise? You promised! You cannot break your promise!"
"Yes. I won't break it. Don't worry, alright?" Adam said with a calm voice and smile which worked on her.
The frown on Willow's face deepened. She noticed her eldest daughter is acting weird lately. At first she thought Winter is still in shock just like herself when she grieved her son's death. She thought Winter is just afraid of losing her brother again and thus becomes clingy. But this… it isn't clingy, it's borderline obsession.
The previously lustrous and sharp light blue eyes, the eyes of a warrior that Winter Schnee, the Winter Schnee that became the Ace Specialist and the right-hand man of James Ironwood had. Those sharp and lustrous eyes were gone, replaced with dull and lifeless pupils. The eyes had lost their luster. It can no longer see anything as if it was covered by a thick fog. The only thing she can see is Adam White, the only purpose for her husk of an existence. In her dull eyes, there is only a reflection of Adam.
Willow felt it, something isn't right. Something is wrong about Winter. Something that she didn't know because she was never there for her. Even at that night when Winter killed herself alone when she stabbed her sword through Jacques Schnee's heart. She was so close to Winter but she was too busy wallowing in her own depression.
Looking at the hysteric face of Winter suddenly changed to a child-like smile after Adam made the promise to her with a flick of a switch. Willow noticed or perhaps realized. She realized why Winter is acting weird, she knew why Winter's eyes are dull and lifeless. It's the expression of people driven to insanity their mind shattered and grasping on the last rope hanging over the abyss.
"Mother, are you alright?" Adam asked when he noticed Willow's face looked pale like all her blood drained from her face and looked like she was about to collapse.
Adam went and helped Willow and brought her somewhere with shade and a chair to sit. Agent arrived moments later with a cup of water and Klein also arrived with a personal doctor who worked permanently in the mansion.
Willow still looks pale and resting. The doctor said she was just exhausted and needed some rest.
Klein blamed himself for not stopping her from exhausting herself everyday baking sweets for the girls. But Adam didn't blame him and just asked him to do better next time to ensure she worked in moderation.
(I went overboard again and focused too much on this.)
———
When it's 12 pm, the class ends and everyone gathers in the cafeteria which is very big and hardly able to accommodate everyone and they have to split four groups that eat in rotation.
Everyone is done by 1 pm and comes to the promised outing in the city. This time, Adam is prepared with Agent, Alices, Tina, Jeanne, Siegfried and both Team RWBY and JNPR that he roped in at the last moment. They will help him herd the girls and make sure none are running off on their own and steal another dangerous zoo animal this time.
Beside that, he also has his card that contains 50 Million Lien. This should be enough, right?
Well, turns out that's hardly enough to last till the end but Agent can help him top up the balance at any moment and the girls gobble down his money faster than he could make that money.
At the end of the day, everyone is satisfied. The girls get to buy new clothes, toys, electronics, etc. the cause for his money taking a big dip is because Ruby and Yang introduced video games to these young girls and now all of them want a latest model Scroll to play games. Meanwhile those same culprits are joining on the bandwagon and use Adam as their wallet to buy games, comics and many more.
Well, he did promise that he will pay for anything they want as long as it's in moderation. At least it's not as weird as a lifetime supply of pancake mix or a small library worth of limited and rare erotic novels.
Anyway, everything went well and everyone went home satisfied. So what if he is nearly broke again? Adam didn't really have any use for the money he made anyway. If he can bring happiness for them with those money, then it's a worthwhile exchange in his book.
—————
(I don't have a place to add. But Adam didn't take his money from the kingdom's GDP.
Instead, those Dust mines, ore mines, factories that he created are under his own name and managed by Agent. The money he made is obscene even when compared to SDC because he have more mines as he dare to operate outside the safety of the kingdom territory and into the previously Grimm infested territory.
But a big portion of those money are going back to the kingdom to finance the military etc or how else can they afford those batteries on the walls, the wall itself and many more that I probably forgotten.)
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