Our trip into Vale was thankfully unremarkable after the Goliath was dealt with. Once we were close enough to connect to the Kingdom’s CCT (Cross Continental Transit) Tower we were able to send a call to the city letting them know what had happened and where we were.

  And fortunately for us, while a town being lost to the Grimm was rare, Vale did have procedures in place on what to do when a few hundred people suddenly showed up with little more than the few things they could grab as they fled their previous home. A few hours later three VTOL aircraft had flown out to join us with the fuel and supplies and escort us to the city gates.

  It was a relief to everyone when the last truck passed into the city and the gates closed again.

  It meant that we had truly escaped the Grimm Tide.

  At first I was just as happy as the rest of them. The civilians were safe, we had made it to Vale, and Leona and I had a much better chance getting whatever we needed for the Horizon and the eventual device I wanted to build.

  Then bureaucracy started to rearing its ugly face.

  There wasn’t a convenient place to suddenly house a town’s worth of refugees. Politicians and officials were dragging their feet to open up funding without confirming Thornbell had really been destroyed by the Grimm. And everyone in the convoy was getting pulled aside for individual interrogations to make sure this wasn’t some kind elaborate scam.

  Which is why I found myself in a police interrogation room mindlessly answering the same twenty questions slightly reworded for what felt like hours on end.

  At least I had been until the detective stepped out for some reason.

  Now I was just counting blocks on the wall while waiting for them to let me go. And then the door opened again and I realised it might not be as easy as that.

  Not when Ozpin, current Headmaster of Beacon Academy and head of the secret cabal fighting the Queen of the Grimm in their shadow war, just walked through the door – cup of coffee in hand – and closed it behind him.

  “Hello, Miss Cross.” The silver haired man said as he took a seat. “I’ve heard some interesting things about you.”

  “All good things I hope?” I said lightly.

  “Interesting to be certain.” He repeated. “It’s not often I hear about two young women helping evacuate a town using a completely unique airship. If I may, where did you come across it?”

  “I designed it and a friend of mine built it.” I said, not seeing a reason to conceal it. We had already told the mechanics some of that information while we were staying in Thornbell. It would be pointless to try deflecting when a single conversation with one of them would reveal the same info.

  “It’s very impressive. I know quite a few people that would be extremely interested in discussing the design or even purchasing a similar one for themselves.”

  I gave him a bland smile. “Unfortunately my friend isn’t in this world, and I plan to move on once the refugees are settled.”

  Ozpin shifted to lean forward. “I see. In that case you might be waiting longer than you anticipated. As you’ve no doubt realised, organising so many people at once is a great challenge. Preferable in many ways to the alternative, but something that will likely take months to fully resolve.”

  I furrowed my eyebrows.

  That didn’t sound right. Would a government really leave so many people without shelter that long after they managed to escape a disaster? Would Ozpin? There were so many instances where he was hinted to have done questionable things, but I never saw them ever expanded upon.

  “And there is nothing you can do to help?”

  Ozpin raised a single dark eyebrow that contrasted with his silver hair. “And who do you think I am that I could do something like that?”

  “You’re Headmaster Ozpin. The head of the premiere Huntsmen Academy in Vale.” I pointed out, not that this was news to either of us. ”You are one of the most influential people in the kingdom. I’m sure you have a few politicians that owe you enough favors that you could at least speed up the process.”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “You would be surprised how little one person can affect a large enough situation. Even one as connected as I am.” He said, and my frown deepened. That didn’t actually address my point. He never said he couldn’t help, but just made it seem like he wasn’t going to.

  There was a knowing gleam in his eye that I didn’t like. Ozpin was angling for something and seemed perfectly fine implying he was leaving the Thornbell refugees situation for the city to handle if he didn’t get it.

  I sighed.

  I hated politics like this. It reminded me of the games the Varden had played and this time I wasn’t sure I’d be able to say ‘no’ without some major complications.

  “If you aren’t here to help with the refugees, then why are you here Headmaster?”

  “Well, as I said, when two unique young women come out of nowhere with a unique airship…people tend to notice.” Ozpin said. “I saw a chance to present my offer before some of the others put everything together and make their own offers.”

  I tensed at that. “And what offer is that?”

  The silver headed man took a slow sip of his coffee before answering. “I’d like both you and your friend to join me at my academy.”

  “I don’t think either of us are interested in becoming Huntresses.” I replied, still trying to figure out his angle. “Leona doesn’t even have her Aura unlocked.”

  “Neither of you do.” Ozpin calmly pointed out, which made me tense up just a little more. “And while you did an impressive job of using alternate methods to obscure that fact, the sensors you passed through are a little more sophisticated than what you might find in a scroll.”

  He shot me a serious look over the top of his glasses. “Before you reject this offer out of hand, you should know that there are groups that actively hunt down people with abilities like yours. Just recently another young woman was almost killed by one such group, and she was much more discreet than your display with the goliath.” Ozpin took another sip of his beverage. “Not that I am criticizing your choice, but you should be aware you and your friend could be in danger because of it.”

  …Shit, Ozpin thought I was a Maiden. And somehow I doubted he was going to change his mind without some very convincing evidence. Not that it would help, because he might be just as interested in me for bringing something ‘new’ to his shadow war.

  He hadn’t mentioned Leona specifically though or anything about her own magic. Did he not know? It wouldn’t surprise me. Leona tended to use tools and mystic codes more than direct spells since they were less draining. Ozpin might have overlooked her because of that.

  “And if I or Leona say no to your offer?” I asked to gauge how hard he was going to fight for this. The situation was different from when I rejected Ajihad’s demand to submit to a mental scan. There, I was confident I could escape any prison he stuck me in and that I would be able to operate with minimal disruption thanks to the lower technology level as long as I did not specifically call attention to myself. I was still confident I could escape anything I needed and even protect Leona if needed, but on Remnant all Ozpin had to do was share my picture and several doors would close to me.

  I didn’t believe he would harm us though. That didn’t mean he couldn’t make staying in Vale very difficult for both of us.

  “Then you say no.” Ozpin shrugged. “And then I imagine you will get a visit from the Vale police about the various missing permits your ship is missing, you and your friend will need to join the others while they wait for new documents to be drawn up. I imagine if things move quickly the first ones will be done in six months or so.”

  I barely resisted glaring at him. He was basically blackmailing me if I didn’t accept his offer!

  I took a deep breath and decided to think things through before rejecting him out of principle. Unlike that time with the Varden, I was technically the weaker side right now. Maybe not physically, but Ozpin could easily have me subtly blacklisted from suppliers or hounded by inspectors and officials that would poke at me and Leona until they found we had violated some law and used that as an excuse to detain us.

  Would he do that?

  Maybe, maybe not. I had no idea what Ozpin would do to get his hands on a suspected Maiden but I wouldn’t put him past meddling in my affairs.

  Ugh, it was like dealing with some unholy union of Ajihad and Kisuke’s personalities.

  Then what benefits could we get from taking him up on his offer?

  Ozpin’s potential support in securing anything I needed to order, first class labs and workshops considering Beacon’s reputation, and probably combat training for Leona.

  …Honestly, that didn’t sound half bad.

  Still…

  “I’d need to talk to Leona before I promise anything.” I temporized.

  “She already agreed to whatever decision you decided, but I understand if you want to talk to her yourself.” Ozpin nodded as he stood and moved towards the door. “I’ll have her escorted over.”

  I nodded back to be polite, but I think both of us knew we were going to take him up on his offer.

  I just needed to make sure it was as much on my terms as possible.

  -o-

  “Absolutely NOT.” Glynda Goodwitch, professor at Beacon and Ozpin’s deputy, said sternly at my opening demands for Leona and I to accept Ozpin’s offer.

  The reason for that?

  The both of us decided attending as students was mostly incompatible for our goals. Neither one of us were planning on being Huntresses for the obvious reason we wouldn’t be staying on Remnant. I was currently more focused on building the devices needed to expand my magic use than polishing my fighting skills. And Leona was still interested in expanding her skills as a medi-mage than becoming a better fighter – though I did want her learning more for self defence at the very least.

  Besides those issues, there was also the fact it wouldn’t be fair to anyone that got stuck with the two of us as teammates. Either we would kick out two people that genuinely wanted to be at Beacon, or we would saddle another two with teammates that had zero experience with anything Huntsman related and little desire to catch up to where we would be expected to be.

  So I suggested that we join the staff instead.

  I would be fine as a combat assistant and Leona could join the medical staff.

  Professor Goodwich obviously had an issue with that.

  “Ignoring the issue with their age. Neither of them have any sort of credentials or qualifications.” The stern blonde woman stated. “It would be irresponsible for us to accept you as a staff member.”

  “And if we could prove our qualifications?” I asked. “We aren’t asking to be put in charge of classes or anything. We just feel that not being students is a less blatant show of favoritism.”

  “You could test us if you want.” Leona offered. “I may not have the most formal education, but Alexandria made sure my practical skills are passible.”

  I hid a wince at that. Her skills were passable based on my half-assed teaching of modern medicine combined with magic. It was the best she could get on Alaga?sia, but probably substandard for Remnant.

  Probably best to not mention that point.

  Though considering most of her experience was dealing with war wounds, I doubted anything Beacon could throw at her would trip her up much.

  “It would be easy enough to organize a few assistant positions. Tsune has been asking for more staff for a while now.” Ozpin mentioned. “She would actually probably prefer to train an assistant from scratch.”

  “That does not mean that Ms. Cross would be capable of acting as my own assistant. Teaching someone to fight is not the same as being capable of fighting.” Professor Goodwitch countered, glaring at her boss.

  Ozpin easily ignored the look and took a sip of his coffee.

  Goodwitch sighed at her boss’s attitude and shifted her glare to me.

  “Before we continue negotiating, I will demand a demonstration of both of your ability to perform the roles you are asking for. If they are acceptable we can continue the discussion, but if accepting you even as junior staff would endanger our students those positions are off the table.”

  That was actually a stance I could respect.

  Checking Leona just to be sure, I got a nod of acceptance and turned to Goodwitch with a smile and an outstretched hand. “I think we can accept those terms, Professor. Just let us know where and when.”