It was the middle of my rest day. I had already completed my morning workout and was roaming the downtown area in search of a new restaurant to try out. With as much money and the capacity to eat as much as I could, I planned on going to a new place every day until I ran out of restaurants to try out.
I was still locked in choice paralysis with so many good options around when my Scroll started ringing. It was an unknown number, so not Ozpin or Velvet. That only left…
"Lapis, my friend!" Roman Torchwick cheerfully called out once the line went through. It was bound to be either him or Neopolitan and I didn't expect anything out of a phone call from her. "I hope you've been good."
"I'm sure you do," I sarcastically said as I rolled my eyes. "Let's just cut to the chase and get on with whatever it is that you want."
"Why, I was just going to present a very—" he intoned dramatically, "—interesting job I think you might like. I heard from Neo that you'd be agreeable to bodyguard work and a VIP has recently reached out in search of good hired muscle. I was thinking you could come down to Junior's this Sunday to meet with the client. I'll be there, then, so it'll be a good time to pay you off for ignoring Neo's attempted robbery."
Bodyguard work? That could be interesting. If it was for someone with Roman as a networking connection, it was probably someone high up on the criminal underground of Vale. That could lead to all sorts of fun situations. It was worth considering, but only if whoever it was that wanted to hire me wasn't an irredeemable piece of garbage and could fit my time on their schedule. If they couldn't then they could go to someone else for protection or whatever it is they planned on needing bodyguards for.
"Send me the details of the time and place and I'll be there Sunday," I said.
Roman and I traded goodbyes and a few seconds later, I received a text with the information I requested. I made a contact profile for his number and stored my Scroll away before turning back to my quest for food.
A familiar Ki Signature entered my sensing range and a most devious idea popped into my head. As the person I'd locked onto stayed put, I made a beeline for their direction. A couple minutes later, I found myself outside yet another prodigiously extravagant restaurant.
To my immense self-satisfaction, I was not questioned today when I asked for a table at the clearly elite restaurant. I may or may not have taken the jab that white-haired lady had thrown at me for dressing casually to heart.
I could admit that she had a point considering I had tons of fancy clothes and fashionable wear as unaccepted Uncommon and even Rara Item drops from Gacha; but she didn't know that! I could have been some poor guy who was treating himself out or something. Yeah… Even internally, I could tell that was a bullshit excuse when I didn't bat an eye at a nearly 150,000 bill and dropped another 50,000 on top of that as a tip.
In any case! I was still a petty individual and that white-haired lady just so happened to be the one I honed in on. I didn't bother to learn the Ki Signatures of everyone I saw, but I did for people I either spoke to or, at the very least, specifically noted; like with Amber. I was drawn to the white-haired lady hoping to find some entertainment by annoying her with another one of my "meals."
She looked like she was dining out with the rest of her family as all four of them had white hair. My luck was good enough to land me a table right next to hers once I requested it and from there, the game began once we made eye contact.
I grinned at her startled look which quickly soured, before turning to the server who had pulled my chair out for me. "I'd like to get my meal started with one of everything," I said while making no attempt to lower my voice.
"One… Of everything?"
The waiter looked decidedly uncomprehending, so I elaborated, "That's right. One of every drink — non-alcoholic, that is — as well as one of every appetizer, soup, salad, entree and dessert, please."
"V-very well, sir," he said before taking his leave.
As the waiter left, I turned to the white-haired woman — the younger one who'd chastised me the other day — and smiled, daring her to say something, anything to me.
"Hmph," she turned her nose up and looked away like she was disgusted with my presence.
"Weiss, that is very unbecoming of you. What's gotten into you," her father, I presumed, said as he only caught her actions and not my very direct, yet subtle taunts.
"That…" Weiss started, but couldn't find the words to defend herself quickly enough before her father looked over at me and I waved cheerfully at him with my best winning smile.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
"Young man, I apologize for my daughter's actions," he said a little too smoothly and hard-faced for me to truly appreciate it as he didn't even give Weiss a chance to defend herself. I wasn't trying to wreck their family outing, just to get a kick out of Weiss' entertainingly snobbish reactions. "Do you two perhaps know each other?" He asked.
"Wh— I don't—"
I cut Weiss off as I shook my head and laughed, "Not really. To be honest, I kind of goaded her into reacting like that. She caught me being a… 'sinful little glut,' I've once been called, and didn't appreciate my healthy appetite for quality food."
Katayoki let out wheezing sounds that put chainsaws and drag car engines to shame and I didn't fault him for it. It'd been a funny insult then and it was a fun little quip to throw out against these people now.
"That doesn't excuse her poor manners. A Schnee must strive for perfection and excellence," the man said, casting a disappointing look at his daughter. He turned, stood up from his chair and came over to me with a business card for… A charity gala?
"I would like to apologize on her behalf and invite you to next Tuesday's Gala. I am sure a man of your caliber would be well met there. Moreover, if a gourmand is what you are, there will be plenty of great food there for you to enjoy," he added.
"Thanks…" I lamely said as I accepted the card. If this was the guy who raised Weiss, I no longer fully faulted her for the attitude. Looking over at her hateful gaze, I felt the slightest bit guilty for purposefully antagonizing her and mouthed a, "Sorry."
When the first round of my food arrived, I still ate everything without leaving a crumb. But I didn't fully pig out like intended when I came to the restaurant. The Schnees left while I was still in the middle of my entrees and I didn't say or start anything else with them after the exchange with their patriarch.
As I worked on my food — and thoroughly enjoyed it too — I considered the opportunity to go to the Gala I'd been invited to. I didn't know much of anything regarding such events, but if there was going to be good food around, it sounded like a worthwhile time. The event was due to start at 2:00 PM and end at midnight on my next dedicated rest day, so it wasn't like I had anything planned.
Unless something else came up, it might be a good way to spend my time, experience more of what high-class society had to offer, and maybe even apologize to Weiss. She hadn't really insulted me enough to ignore the fact that I made her shitty dad reprimand her publicly for my transgressions. I was petty, but I liked to think I wasn't a total asshole.
When I was done with my last desert, I paid another couple hundred thousand Lien in bills and tips before returning to my apartment. I needed to make preparations for when Velvet later showed up for her bartending lessons, so I did that while listening to the news.
"And in other news, the train heist from last Sunday has been attributed to the White Fang, chief of the VPD revealed earlier this morning. During his hour-long press conference, he spoke about getting the information firsthand from insiders working with the White Fang and he quote "trusts it implicitly." In just the last couple hours, tens of thousands of sympathizers with the White Fang have denied the allegations, demanding more solid proof over the net."
The reporter on the television continued, but I didn't pay much more attention and let the TV drone on until a familiar voice drew me back into the news segment.
"When asked to comment about the incident, Schnee Dust Company's CEO Jacques Schnee had this to say," the reporter was cut and the man who'd invited me to the Tuesday Gala appeared on screen to say, "The White Fang have only continued to escalate and escalate in the war that doesn't exist against them. They have made attempts on my life and the lives of all my family members and now they're making off with enough Dust to take out a mid-to-large size settlement just below one of the four Kingdoms. Only the Gods know what they plan to use that Dust for with their terroristic agenda."
Now curious by the apparent history between the White Fang and Jacques, I made a Shadow Clone to do a bit of research while I finished prepping everything I could think we'd need while listening to the news segment until it finished.
Apparently, earlier today, I'd come face to face with one of the most influential and wealthy men on the planet. The Schnee Dust Company which Jacques and his family were sole shareholders of, held a monopoly on all the Dust Mining operations that were effectively in use. Considering Dust was the be-all end-all of energy source and basically integrated with every facet of modern technology on Remnant, that allowed the man's company to rival Vale's gross GDP and trump Vacuo's and Mistrals'.
Unfortunately, while the man's wealth and hustle were respectable, some of his business practices were laughably unethical. Or, they would be if I didn't dig deeper into the claims of legalized slavery and predatory hiring the Schnee Dust Company was alleged to be practicing. It was one thing to hear about it and another thing entirely to see picture and video proof of the working conditions and leaked contracts that were apparently customary for the business.
I thought I'd done my research before and cleared my doubts as to where the Faunus stood against Humanity in this world, but apparently, I hadn't been as thorough as I'd thought. Sure, outright and blatant racist actions were off the table, but loopholes existed everywhere that mattered.
It didn't matter that Faunus were technically considered first-class citizens like the rest of Humanity when the law didn't strictly look out for them under Minority Laws. Who were they going to complain to about there not being jobs, when the Schnee Dust Company always had a demand for cheap dangerous labor? Who were they going to complain to about discrimination when everyone in those positions made equally terrible pay? They were the ones who signed the only contract that was seemingly universally offered to them.
Only the lucky ones managed to get a job outside of Menagerie, their own little isolated island country-continent, or the Schnee Dust Company. People like Velvet, who managed to find a job elsewere only made up 1.03% of the Faunus population and that was in Vale, where they were supposedly very accepting of the demihumans.
No wonder these White Fang "terrorists" were so hellbent on targeting the Schnees. I would too, if getting rid of them and dissolving their terrible company had a decent shot at changing things up for my entire race.
Maybe.
Ok, probably not. I mean, yeah they engage in terrible business practices and yeah it looks like they're legally getting away with owning slaves. But, if you look at the fine details of their contracts, it's not really that bad. Yes, it was scummy and it kept most Faunus from other business opportunities, but it could have been a lot worse.
There was a reason, most Faunus picked working for the Schnee Dust Company aside from the fact that they were the most open to hiring them. Those loopholes I read about? The Schnees didn't stoop anywhere near as low as they could have if they wanted to. The fact that they offered benefits and lifetime support for any injuries sustained on the job was better than some of the deals I'd heard of before looking into them.
Beyond that, even though they paid next to nothing, they provided affordable housing and communities even outside their mining outposts where their workers could live — not luxuriously, but respectably. They even followed the customary two-weeks-off paid leave every three months when they didn't have to and offered maternity and paternity leave.
Breaking out of poverty was borderline impossible if you decided to work for the Schnees as a miner, but you were pretty much guaranteed all the essentials and better benefits than most jobs outside of their employment.
Was that really so bad? Yeah, it was. But you know what? Life is unfair. Some people were born lucky and others were lucky to be born, or something to that effect. I might have cared to do something about the situation if it was completely irredeemably evil. But this was just par for the course as was wont for humanity. At the end of the day, lower-class people were probably inevitably going to get shafted by the wealthy elites. At least the Schnee made an effort to sustain their untouchables.
In a world as developed as Remnant, the Schnee Dust Company's business practices were unseemly and outdated. But it was a hell of a lot better than what I thought could have been and I wasn't about mess with the situation and find out.