RWBY the Shadow of Aincrad.

[blueayes]

Aincrad shook as the Fanus attack grew stronger and yet the meeting room couldn't have been any more silent.

'I see ." Heathcliff said as he read the report, this world was real which meant that their bodies were real.

Again the attacks stopped as the monsters inside the flying castle flew out to defend it, but the silence wasn't welcomed by anyone, as the guild leaders had to make a choice.

The faunus or the animal Humans of this world had attacked them, not only that they had tried to take Aincrad from the Players, and when they failed to do so, they tried to take several of the towns and even a floor for themselves.

Granted it was the player's fault for allowing them to enter, but they had no way of knowing that the Faunus hated humans so much.

Needless to say, the monsters didn't like the new arrivals, and the Faunus weren't expecting so much resistance, so the monsters were able to push them out.

So that just left the players to make the choice.

Would they punish the entire race of animal people for the crimes of the ones that they made contact with or would they try to make contact with another group and start over?

"I," one by one the guild leaders said as they all agreed that no faunus would be allowed to enter Aincrad unless they were someone's plaything or property.

"Now all that we have to worry about is what are we going to do when we meet other Humans or Faunus?" Klein the leader of Fuurinkazan asks everyone.

"The outside world has its rules and we have ours."

"So we don't get to decide how they do things, just as they don't get to decide how we do things." Poh, the leader of Laughing Coffin answers Klein.

The mood in the room seemed to lighten as the roars of animals began t echo around them, but this time they weren't alone, the sounds of explosions and players calling out whatever special skills they had could be heard inside the room.

The Guild leaders silently decide that it was better that they didn't hesitate any longer and made their decision now.

From the information that they managed to gain after Aincrad gained access to this world's internet, they discovered that this world relied on something called Dust to power everything.

And that wasn't a joke, everything from the buildings around them to the machines that helped people process food was powered by dust.

If that wasn't hard to believe weapons such as swords and some sort of magical clothes had dust put into them, so Dust is incredibly valuable to the people of this world.

All of this was important because Aincrad had landed on top of an area that could supply the kingdoms of this world for the next ten years before it was gone.

"I say that we should take it all and sell it to whoever wants it." Heathcliff says to everyone in the room, he doesn't bother to say what he's talking about as everyone in the room is aware of it.

"That's not the problem here, going out there and mining the gems that Dust is made of is the easy part, hell we have more than enough room to store it."

"But the problem is that as time passes our economy will become a part of this world and we will be affected by what happens on the outside." Klein says to Heathcliff.

"Not only that but people will want to come in here, and things like imagination will become an issue." Thinker the Leader of the Army adds.

"No, it won't." Poh says to everyone and everyone turns to look at him.

"We know from our world that immigration is going t happen regardless of what a government wants and as things stand we are the government."

"So I say that we should make two types of citizens, Workers, and fighters."

"We Players are both."

"So anyone that was a simple worker, it doesn't matter if it was a farmer, a store clerk, doctor or whatever, decides to join the army can become a part of us and be allowed to live in one of the towns or cities inside Aincrad." Poh says to everyone and grins when he sees them all frown.

"You want to create a cast system." Heathcliff says to Poh with a furious tone but he never rose his voice.

"No, I want to create a system that makes sure that Aincrad has nothing but people loyal to it, not us, it, living in it."

"What I just said goes for anyone that use to fight but decides to be a worker, these people have the skills of fighters and the usefulness of workers and best of all they won't want to leave or see their homes burned to the grown.

For a long moment, there was silence as no one could find a reason to argue with the Murder Guilds Leader.

"I'll only agree to it if the families of those men and women can move into Aincrad even if they don't haven't done any of that." Asuna the second in command of the Knights of the Blood Oath says.

She looks around the room and sees everyone nodding in agreement, she takes a deep breath and decides to push a little harder to hopefully make a path for those that attacked to redeem themselves.

"I suggest that the same opportunity to live in Aincrad and be given the title of Players to the Faunus, if they prove themselves to be loyal." she adds and the room becomes silent before everyone begins to yell at her.

"I agree." Poh says before he starts to talk again.

"We are going to need monsters to fight monsters, and Faunus to fight Faunus."

"So every faunus that is allowed to live in Aincrad, has to see themselves as a separate group that has no ties to the ones living outside of Aincrad."

"This goes for their families as well, so that we don't have to worry about them staving us in the back." Poh explains to everyone why he agrees to Asuna's suggestion.

"Before we vote on this, we decided that the Faunus should be treated as useful monsters."

"What makes you so sure that the ones that we let in won't betray us if they are discriminated by us or see their people being mistreated by us?" Kirito asks Poh.

"Human nature, to everyone on the outside Aincrad will be seen as a place where the Elite live."

"A safe place where they can live, a place of abundance. No one wants to risk losing that, especially if they worked to reach it."

"History has shown us that when a small group of people that belong to the lower classes reaches the top, they're the ones that treat their people worse than those that once ruled over them." Poh answers Kirito.

"I," Heathcliff says as he starts to vote in favor of allowing people to enter Aincrad.

"I" Kirito votes in favor of using this method to keep Aincrad safe.

"I' one by one the guild leaders agree.

"Now let's go help everyone out there." Heathcliff says to the guild leaders before he leads them outside to help the players and monsters fight the creatures of this world.

Five years later.

 

[blueayes]

The sound of the airship landing made it nearly impossible for Jaune to hear his grampas words, it was hard enough for him to stop himself from throwing up, even after he took the medicine for it.

"Come on Jaune, you don't want to be the last one off do you?" his grandpa says to him before pushing the button on his wheelchair and leeds Jaune off the airship.

The sounds of people talking, along with the various noises of the animals that the people of this kingdom use for everyday life could be heard in the distance.

He had heard stories about the Kingdom of Aincrad, people said that the moment a person sets foot on it they immediately notice how peaceful it feels.

Jaune had to agree with the stories, the hot sun combined with the ocean breeze along with the smell of the various spices made him feel as if the kingdom was welcoming him.

Unlike the other Kingdoms, Aincrad didn't have a place for airships to land, so the airships had to either land just outside of the kingdom and risk being attacked.

Or the passengers would have to walk down a ramp that led to a biding where they could get off, he and his grandpa had chosen the latter.

As they walked into the building and handed the guard their passports, Jaune began to see just how different Aincrad was when compared to Vale.

Everywhere he looked men and women wore knight armor similar to the one that his grandpa had given him, except that the people around him had a crest on them somewhere, that represented one of the ruling houses.

Despite being a new kingdom Aincrad was rich because of its large amount of dust.

While he doesn't know how the people here managed to do it, the main kingdom or the castle is inside the ocean.

And underneath the castle is one of the largest dust mines in the world, from what the players, the people of Aincrad said, Aincrad's shield pushes the ocean around it away, so that they can reach the dust that's in the ocean and not bother anyone else.

How the shield does that, Jaune doesn't know, but what he does know is that it works and it's the reason that the areas near Aincrad started being developed.

Aincrad is between Vale and Mistral s it sells its dust to both kingdoms and it's the reason why he and his grandpa are here, it's up to them o make sure that the deal that his dad made with the players stays the way it is despite everything that's going on.

"Okay you're free to enjoy yourselves." the receptionist says to them before showing them where the door is.

"Wow." Jaune says as he steps outside.

He knows that he is still in Vale but the town or maybe it is the small city that he's standing in is completely different from the Vale that he knows.

Giant creatures pull wagons filled with people, while other giant creatures pull wagons filled with machines or food.

The people around him are dressed completely differently than what he is used to.

The people here are dressed in bikinis or shorts and while he has seen people wear these kinds of things when he goes to the beach he never expected to see so many people casually walking around like this.

The city itself is surrounded by giant rocks, that were put together somehow to make a wall that keeps the city safe from Grimm.

Unlike the other kingdoms, Aincrad doesn't bother to name its cities, instead, it just calls them city A, city B, and city c.

While the mining town is named Temporary Mining Town because one-day Aincrad will have to move when all of the Dust has been mined, so no one gets any idea about living their lives there.

As they walk to their destination Jaune is tempted to buy a lot of the food but he stops himself, he has to follow his grandpa's lead, it was his grandpa who stood up to everyone and said that Jaune would follow him into Aincrad.

His grandpa had argued that it was time that he learned to stand on his own two feet and that meant throwing him into the fires of life without his family's protection.

As they walked to where the teleporter that would take them into the castle or the main kingdom, Jaune began to see the reason for the problems that Aincrad was starting to have with the people of Menagerie.

He could see several Faunus that wore a collar around their necks to signal their low status in the Kingdom and while the collars didn't have a lock on them the Faunus still wore them regardless.

June knew why they chose to wear the collars but he still didn't like seeing them wear them.

Aincrad had a rule that every Faunus regardless of what position they had outside of Aincrad was to show that they were at the bottom.

He didn't know where or when the collars became common, but this was how the Faunus showed that they were at the bottom, however, the Faunus could take the collars off and never wear them again if they had a job for more than a year.

As they passed the various brothels and bars Jaune knew that the player's way of doing things worked as there was a division amongst the Faunus.

He saw it clearly when a woman that had the ears of a rabbit but wore the armor of a knight hit a woman who had spots covering her body because she crossed the street in front of her.

Jaune wanted to say something to the woman, but his grandpa grabbed his hand and silently told him that it wasn't their place to say or do anything about it.

And so Jaune had no choice but to follow his grandpa towards the teleporter that was guarded by several beast men and golems.

Before they stepped onto the teleporter Jaune turned to see what had happened to the two women and found that they had gone their separate ways.

He couldn't help but let out a breath of relief because he feared that the knight faunus might have killed the lower faunus.

Jaune had heard that it wasn't out of the ordinary to see people owning faunus in one of the cities or seeing a Knight faunus own entire families before someone in those families proved themselves to be worthy of gaining their freedom.

The moment that that person was given their freedom, they were allowed to take their families away from the knight that owned them.

As for the knight faunus that owned the person or family of Faunus they were given another family of Faunus or a single faunus depending on what had gained their freedom, so that they didn't lose anything too valuable.

This was the reason why the Kingdom of Aincrad had quickly become the enemy of Menagerie the Kingdom of Faunus.

And yet despite their harsh treatment none of the faunus in the kingdom wanted to leave because they hopped to one day be a knight Faunus\a Player.

Unlike the Humans or the Faunus, the knights could live in the castle, it didn't matter if they were Humans or Faunus as long as they were a player they were given everything that the kingdom had to offer, but they had to prove their loyalty first.

So while the Humans of Aincrad could visit the castle and enjoy its luxuries, the faunus had to make do with what the Humans sold them, until they could prove themselves useful and join the knights.

The world vanished in front of Jaune for a moment and then Jaune felt his breath leave him, now he understood why everyone didn't leave.

He could see the ocean circling the castle, while at the same time, he could see fish and Grimm swimming in it.

there was a green field that didn't seem to end and he could see animals grazing in the distance, he looked u out of instinct and gasped.

While he could see the blue sky, he could also see the people on the other floors.

"Welcome." A woman says t them before she hands them a bag filled with gems.

"The gems will help you with whatever you may experience, just hold a gem and squeeze."

"If you look on the side you can see what the gems are for, and if you are experiencing something that we didn't give you a gem for feel free to tell us so that we can help you before you get worse." the woman says to them before she walks away from them.

 

[blueayes]

Aincrads Cast system
1; Guild Leaders and Intelligent Floor Bosses, are at the top because they have to make the decisions that affect everyone.

2a; Regular Players\ Knights.
It doesn't matter if they are the original players, Humans of Remnant or Faunus these are people that maintain Aincrad, the mines, or the cities that have formed around Aincrad.

They have experience in both fighting as well as maintaining civilian jobs, so every player is an experienced soldier. It's well known that for someone to be allowed to live in Aincrad, they have to pass some sort of test first.

2b; Intelligent monsters, they maintain Aincrad or the mines, are usually the first to enter any new mine, and are more than happy to be the first ones to fight the Grimm, as they see them as just another threat to them.

3a; Soldiers, and workers.
They are Uncollard Faunus or Humans that either don't want to stop doing what they like or simply haven't changed their jobs yet.

These people are the majority of Aincrads population, as the people working in the farms, stores, mines, or ships belong to this category.

3b; Servant faunus.
Contrary to popular belief, the Faunus that is owned by someone has to ask someone to take them, as this is the easiest way for them to gain training and access to jobs that they normally wouldn't be allowed to work in.

4a; Collard Faunus.
They are the majority of the Faunus population in Aincrad and as such are seen as the lowest of the low.

Most of them work in the mines or brothels because it's the quickest way for them to be recognized, and be awarded the license that allows them to join the army or work in one of the better-paying jobs.

Most are people that lost everything because of a Grimm attack, criminals that needed a place to hide, or people that drifted from place to place until they found their way to the kingdom.

It's well known that the moment that a Faunus removes its collar it will break any connection to the collard faunus, as they don't want to be seen by everyone else as a part of said group.

4b; Slightly smarter monsters.
These monsters can use tools but lack any higher form of thinking so people hunt them for food or use them as guards, similar to how people use dogs to guard their houses.

 

[blueayes]

elsewhere
The sound of her fist hitting the punching bag echoed throughout the room, she made sure that every punch she gave had the same amount of power.

Her body still ached from last night's test, her dad had worked hard to be recognized and be allowed to take the test and it was because of him that she and her sister were allowed to live inside the castle.

The knights had welcomed them with open arms and treated them as if they were always there.

her fist hit the bag again as she remembers how strange it felt, their entire lives they had been discriminated against just because they looked a little bit different from the Humans around them and all of a sudden everyone around them looked at them as equals or looked up to them.

Her father made sure that she and her sister quickly learned that their words now had more power than they ever thought possible when he ordered a Human that use to hurt them because he thought it was fun beaten by the lower classes.

Her arms hurt but she couldn't allow herself to be weak, she couldn't allow herself to forget what it was like to be a Faunus, to be someone that was at the bottom.

Even if she was a knight now, she was still a Faunus.

It didn't matter that both men and women wanted her and made no attempts to hide that they thought that she was attractive.

She couldn't allow herself to forget how it felt to be hungry, even if she now has so much food available to her that she could never hope to finish it all.

She had to remember that her house used to be the streets of Mistral and that the only shelter that they had was once nothing more than the clothes that they wore.

It didn't matter that her house was now a simple cottage that is surrounded by farms that grow some of the sweetest fruit in the world and had several different kinds of animals that she enjoyed raising.

She tries to punch the bag again but she fails and falls to the floor because she used up all of her strength.

As she lies n the floor facedown she remembers that she has to go meet with the representatives of the Arc family and escort them around the castle but she is too tired to do so.

"Computer code three." she says to Aincrads help system.

The computer answers her order and shows that her sister has received her message and is now heading to where the ambassadors are.

She uses what little strength she has left and turns her body around so that she is laying on the floor with her back so that it's easier for her to breathe.

She is the eldest daughter of the Leader of the Guild which is simply called the Alliance, a guild made of nothing but Faunus.

She can feel the hot tears burn their way out of her eyes and run down her cheeks as the war inside of her rages.

In a few years, her younger sister will have to take the test and prove herself worthy of being a knight and she would be there when her sister becomes a Player.

And yet despite knowing that this is the best for all of them, she can't help but hate herself for it.

The castle has so much, there's so much room, and its resources seem endless, and the players wish for nothing more but the best for the people that they rule over, yet despite this her people are treated as less than beast men.

They are at the bottom at the bottom, she was at the bottom and now that she is at the top, she is expected to turn away from everyone that she left behind.

'Forget about them." her father's voice fills the room as he walks in.

She doesn't bother to move as he walks up to her and stands over her, she can see the disapproval in his eyes.

her father looks like a giant that she can never hope to stand next to and his green armor a symbol of their guild is the same color as the grass that they now farm.

"Why can't we go down there?"

"Forget about them." her father stops her from saying another world and the look in his eyes has so much power that she is unable to think anymore.

"We are Players."

"We are Knights, we have proven worth to those that were here before us and those that came after us. They have to do the same." her father says to her with a soft voice, that somehow carries the same amount of power that it did earlier, but with none of the force that it once had.

Her father sits before her and smiles as he looks at the holes that she made in the punching bag.

"I wish we could have found this kingdom before your mom died, she would have loved it here." he says to her as he removes the green glove from his right hand.

"I want you to inherit the guild when I die, but you have to keep our traditions," he says to her as he holds the glove over her chest.

She wants to take it, but doing so would mean that she would have to forget where she came from and everything that she saw and experienced, before and after coming here.

"I spoke with Asuna and she says that we Players can leave the kingdom whenever we want and attend one of the schools for Huntsmen if we want to kill Grimm."

"And if we just want to see the world, we can simply leave and come back whenever we want, but we will be tested again so that tehe kingdom knows that it can trust us." he says to her with a heavy voice.

She doesn't know when but her hands moved but she now wears he father's glove on her right hand.

'What if I can't forget?" she asks him.

"You have to because it's in you the next generation that our people's future lies with." he answers her.

She has to use all of her strength to sit and she hugs her father tightly before she passes out from exhaustion.

She doesn't see the tired eyes that her father has or the regret that his aged face has.

Her father lets out a grunt as he stands up before he carries her to her room.

"Lucy we finally made it, I wish that you were here to see the girls and how they turned out. I'm sure that you would be proud of them." her after says to her mother who isn't in the room as he lays her on her bed.

He looks at her with pride before he kisses her on her forehead, he knows that last night took a lot out of her so he makes sure to cook her something before he leaves the house and goes back to work.
][][][][

"Mr. Arc Sinior and Mr. Arc Junior I apologies for being late but I hope that you can understand that things are busy at the moment." A girl says to them.

The girl has long silver hair and white almost pale skin, she wears a black single piece dress, that somehow blends nicely with her black tail and black horns.

 

[blueayes]

"Don't worry we haven't been waiting long." Jaune hears his grandpa say to the girl while at the same time squeezing one of the crystals in his hand, the crystal shatters, and Jaune can only look at his grandpa with sin shock.

The moment that the crystal shattered his grandpa's body was covered in white light and then as if it was out of instinct his grandpa stood up.

"So the stories are true." his grandpa says as he moves his legs.

"Yes, but for security reasons, the effects will stop working the moment that you leave the kingdom." the girl says to his grandpa.

"So let me show you around, I understand that you came from City C, and while it is a good vacation spot I'm afraid that it is quite limited on things to see." the girl says to them.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that Jaune here couldn't keep his eyes inside his head." His grandpa says to the girl before they both started laughing.

Jaune wanted t id himself, while his grandpa was one of the nicest people he knew, the man said everything that was on his mind no matter how embarrassing it was.

"Yes, we do have some attractive women in our kingdom." the girl says to his grandpa, before locking eyes with Jaune and winking at him.

Jaunecant help but look away, and he can't help but feel his face turning red when he hears her giggling at his embarrassment.

"Now all jokes aside, the Guild Leaders will meet with you tomorrow, but they are in a meeting with the people of Menagerie, so maybe they won't be able to meet with you tomorrow either." she says to them.

"Oh, more problem?" his grandpa asks the girl.

"No, those hypocrites just don't know their place." the girl answers his grandpa, but Jaune can't help but look worriedly at his grandpa s the temperature around the girl rises.

Somehow he knows that the girl is angry despite her maintaining the same smile that she had since she greeted them.

"Well, there's nothing that we can do about that, so how about showing us around." his grandpa says t the girl who immediately stops doing whatever she was doing and starts to lead them to a nearby teleporter.

"So our first stop is City B, while I could show you around the castle, it will be quicker and easier for me to show you around the cities first." she says to them as she steps on the teleporter.

The first thing that Jauine noticed was the sounds of the world around him and how the roars of people fighting while the sounds of fists hitting flesh along with metal hitting metal seemed to come from every direction.

"Gentlemen welcome to City B." the girl says as she walks away from the teleporter and into the coliseum that surrounds them.

"People come here to see the Gladiators fight, and before you ask no one dies here." she says to them.

As Jaune walks he starts to notice that several of the Faunus have what looks like a scratch or the face of a beast tattooed somewhere on their bodies.

Not only that while several Faunuas wear collars, but the ones that have tattoos also have locks on the collars so that they can't take them off.

The girl leans on the stone wall and smiles as she looks at the Humans and Faunus training.

"If I wasn't a knight I would be down there with them," she says to them with a softness in her voice that borders on fondness.

"Why all that I see are criminals and soldiers training together?" Jaune asks her.

"Hmm, is that how you see it."

"Everyone down there is learning to trust each other's skills so that they know that their backs are safe during a fight."

"And those criminals are doing something useful, they are using their lives to pay for everything they broke."

"Maybe if they're lucky they will prove their worth someday and they will be free to take the collars off." she says to him, but her voice is cold and almost cruel when she speaks about the people that have locks on their collars.

"But enough about trash and my fellow soldiers, let's go see the town."

"City B is in the Kingdom of Mistral, so it has everything from different kinds of clothes and food from all over the world."

"Unfortunately the White Fang attacks it frequently, so B's relationship with the Faunus population isn't the best."

The girl pushes a giant wooden door and Jaune finds himself looking at a city that is filled with Humans and Faunus living together.

As he walks into the city he finds that everyone is dressed in exotic clothes that he has rarely or never seen before, and while he has seen some of the clothes that he's familiar with he can't help but feel as if something is off.

Then he notices it, almost all of the Faunus that don't have collars on them, are wearing some sort of emblem somewhere on their bodies.

As they walk deeper into the city, Jaune notices how several of the stores are selling weapons, armor, explosives, and even motorcycles, there are even entire sections that are just for selling cars.

"So I noticed that the nobles of this city put their emblems on what they own." His grandpa says to the girl who turns and looks at him with a confused look on her face.

"What do you? Oh." she says as she looks at the emblem that's painted on the wall of a store next to them.

"No the family that owns the store is owned by the person who the emblem belongs to."

"That emblem warns everyone that whoever tries to hurt the owners or the store will have to deal with the owners of the family." she says to them before she continues to lead them deeper into the city.

"Grandpa." Jaune says to his grandpa who just smiles at him ad pushes him to follow the girl.

"And this is cute A." the girl proudly says to them.

"We miners come from here and we're the ones who are the ones responsible for mining the dust that makes Aincrad rich." she announces to them.

Jaune can't help but stare in horror, monsters are walking between Faunus and Humans, but the groups are separated into two sections, those that have collars and those that don't.

He can't understand how the girl looks so proud when the people around her are filthy, some look as if they haven't slept or eaten for days, while others look as if they're bout to die.

The girl hums to herself while at the same time, she skips past several people that are begging her to look their way and she stops to pet a pair of Dragon Faunus boys before she continues to walk.

'Look straight ahead Jaune and keep your mouth shut." his grandpa orders him.

"But Grandpa." Jaun says to his grandpa.

"You at an adult now, so act like one and walk." his grandpa orders him.

The smell of roses and perfume begins to fill the air and they soon find themselves in a city that's covered with different kinds of light.

There are men and women dressed in very little clothing or clothes that make their curves show more than they would normally do, kids are selling all sorts of things next to what Jaune can only think are their mothers and fathers.

"This is our pleasure area, every city has one, but this one doesn't bother to hide away. People from all over Aincrad come here to have fun, so it's the biggest one of them all."

"How can you?"Jaune begins to say what he truly thinks about what he has seen and his heart nearly stops when he finds that the girl now has her fingers near his throat.

The girl was several steps away, but she managed to cut the distance between them before he could even finish.

"Please let him finish." Jaune hears his grandpa say to the girl and he notices that the girl didn't stop her attack, his grandpa was holding the girl's hand.

His grandpa had saved his life.

"What Jaune was trying to say, is how do you get to get one of these lovely ladies to join you, sorry join us while we're here." his grandpa says to the girl whose cold eyes immediately regain their innocent look.

"Oh, sorry for misunderstanding you." she apologizes to him.

"You just walk inside and choose a girl, they will prepare everything for you." she explains.

"So how about I lead you to your rooms or would you like to see everything that's in the castle?" she asks them.

"No we have been walking for a while and I just got to use my legs again, so I'm a little bit tired." his grandpa says to the girl who nods and snaps her fingers.

"You, our guest need" She starts to order a girl that isn't that much older than Jaune.

'No, we don't need them right now, like my grandpa said we're tired so we should get some rest." Jaune stops the girl from saying anything else.

'Okay them come with me, she says to them before leading them back to where the teleporter is.
][][][
"Your late." Heathcliff says to him.

'I had to tuck my daughter in." he says to Heathcliff as they listen to the two men arguing with Asuna in the other room.

The Schnee Dust Company wanted to form a better relationship with Aincrad.

Unfortunately, the Leader of Managerie wanted to open trade with Aincrad so that his kingdom could begin to have better relations with Aincrad.

Normally this would have been a good thing but the ruler of Managerie was the original leader of the White Fang before abandoning it to lead his people in a more peaceful direction.

The same group was responsible for attacking the cities and the caste, as well as the Schnee Dust Company.

Needless to say, names were being called and both men insulted each other, while Asuna was forced to try and keep them both from attacking one another.

 

[blueayes]

Aincrad is currently between Vale and Mistral City A is the island at the bottom where all the white trees or mountains are.

City B is on the islands that belong to Mistral but aren't completely connected to it, while City C is where the small patch of trees are in Sanus.

the patch of trees is the ones that are not near the ruins, they are the ones that are away from the ruins.

The mines are underneath Aincrad, meaning that Aincrad is the only one capable of getting the Dust on the ocean floor.

 

[blueayes]

"Well, that was a disaster.' Ghira Belladonna the Chieftain of Menagerie says to himself as he sits down to eat.

The restaurant he is in is one o many that exist inside the castle, while it's nowhere near as fancy as he would have imagined it to be, it is luxurious in its way.

The trees on this floor are covered in different colors flowers bloom everywhere and the air here is so sweet that he understands why the people of Vale and Mistral pay so much, only to come here during their vacation.

He barely has enough time to take the first bite of his stake when he hears a familiar voice.

"You have a lot of nerve coming here White Fang." He hears the deep voice of a dragon Faunus.

"What do you want?" he asks the man as he tries to ignore the knight.

"I want to know why you are here." the dragon asks him.

'To negotiate trade between this Kingdom and my own." he answers the knight who sits in front of him.

For a long moment, Ghira doesn't know what to think the dragon in front of him has long blue hair and red horns but the man is wearing green armor that reminds him of a certain grass that is sold as medicine.

Ghira cuts another piece of his stake and takes a bit, he ignores the man's glare and continues to eat.

'I'm trying to decide if I want to help you or not." the man in front of him says to him.

"like you help those beneath you?" Ghira says to the man before he takes a drink from his glass that is filled with expensive wine.

"Everyone is free to leave when they want, and the only group that is forced to stay here are the ones that come here to cause trouble." the man says to him, before letting out a small breath of fire.

'What I want are the teleporters, a trade deal, and an alliance." Ghira says to the man bluntly, there's no reason for him to hide why he is here.

the man starts to laugh loudly before suddenly stopping and looking at him with a mixture of amusement, disbelief, and mockery, but there's something else in the man's eyes, curiosity.

"Why would you the leader of the Free Faunus world would want to form an Alliance with us?" the dragon asks him.

"Because you don't lie and because the teleporters can change the outcome of a war, either by getting civilians away from harm or by sending specialized troops where they are needed the most." Ghira answers the man.

"That's true." Asuna says to him as she sits on the remaining chair.

"If we agreed to do this, what do you offer in exchange?" she asks him.

Ghira can feel it, years of combat have given him a sixth sense, he is in more danger than he's ever been, he controls his instincts because he can feel them, they surrounded him, so there's no way that he can escape if he wanted to.

A place where you can have an embassy, where you can rule over however you want, as long as trade between my people and yours is fair." he answers Asuna.

"But Chiefman, what do your people consider fair?"

"Would they want access to the castle, when no other kingdom or our own people are allowed to enter freely?" Asuna asks him, as she signals to him to look at the many golems that are guarding the restaurant.

Ghira knows that the woman isn't threatening him, no he has seen the monsters, the guards, the undead, and the golems that patrol the kingdom, he is well aware that the castle has more defenses than the ones that he has seen.

"No, they would just want to trade and visit without having to worry bout having a collar on their necks." he answers her.

"What about the embassy, will those that don't like our methods agree to not attack it?" the dragon asks him.

"No, I can't guarantee that.' he answers the man.

'Then how about a compromise, if someone attacks our people o the embassy itself then the ones that are responsible will be handed over to us."

Ghira turns to look at the dragon, he is prepared to yell and threaten the man, but he stops when he sees that none of the mockery that was in the man's eyes earlier is anywhere to be seen.

"You want me to let you enslave my people?" he asks them.

"No, we want to live without having to worry about someone attacking us, because they don't like the way that we do things." Asuna says to him.
[][][]
The sound of someone knocking at the door caught their attention and Jaune was surprised to see a woman that has the spots of a leopard and a woman with wolf ears push themselves into his room.

"Lord Heathcliff." His grandpa says as both women sit next to him.

Jaune doesn't say anything as his brain can't understand that his grandpa has a woman in each hand, both women giggled as they look at his grandpa as if he was the most desirable man in the world.

"So are you going to let me in?" Heathcliff asks Jaune and Jaune steps aside to let the man wearing the red armor walk inside.

"So you're here to renegotiate our contract." Heathcliff says to his grandpa who nods.

"Okay let's begin."
][][][][
Jacques Schnee looked at the crystal in his hands and frowned, this technology or maybe it was some sort of naturally occurring crystal was worth a fortune and he was being denied it.

The man in front of him had made it clear that the potions, medicines, and crystals wouldn't be sold outside of Aincrad.

The Leader of the Army Guid had come to his room to hear what he had to say.

Jacques said everything that he rehearse so that the man didn't believe that he didn't want anything more than to form good relations between the kingdom and his company.

"I'm sorry Mr Schnee but I'm afraid that that isn't possible at the moment." thinker says to him.

"Why, isn't my offer good enough?" Jacques asks the man.

"No, your offer is great but we would have to rewrite everything to make it work."

"While I am not saying that working with you is impossible, I am saying that at the moment we aren't able to."

"Let me explain, Atlas and Mantle are simply too far away, and we are having a lot of problems transporting what we sell to Vale and Mistral, because of the attacks of the Grimm, and the raids of the White Fang.

"And as you know we don't have any trade with Mantle, Atlas, Menagerie and Vacuao for similar reasons."

Jacques didn't say anything he just shook the man's hand, there are other ways for him to get what he wants even if he has to put others in front of him, to do it.

Thinker had heard him and even gave him a valid reason why they couldn't work together at the moment, he could respect that, but he was still a businessman and that meant that he didn't accept the word no when someone said it to him.

 

[blueayes]

"Jaune wake up we're leaving." Jaune heard his grandpa say to him and he ignored the old man's words.

'Wake up or I'll leave you here.' His grandpa says to him, with a louder voice.

"Grandpa what's wrong?" jaun asks him.

"Nothing, we did what we came here to do, now we are going home' his grandpa says to him before he sits in his wheelchair again.

The smell of the hot coffee that his grandpa made reaches fills the air and when Juane opens his eyes he finds that his grandpa is holding the cup next to his head.

"Do you get why I brought you here?" His grandpa asks him as he takes the cup from the old man's hands.

"No." Jaune answers his grandpa.

"To teach you that the way that you see the world isn't the same way that others see it."

"Jaune, do you think that any Humans are living in Menagerie?"

"The answer is no Jaune, at best there are the tourist that don't ever leave the areas that keep them safe from the locals." his grandpa says to him before he can answer.

"Look in the bag Jaune." his grandpa says to him and Jaune turns to look at the only piece of luggage that they brought with them and he nearly feels his heart stop.

It's Crocea Mors, the family's sword, it belonged to his great-grandfather, his grandpa, and his dad.

"Grandpa."

"It's time Jaune, it's your time, if you live or die that is up to you."

" My boy you've become a fine man, but you are too sheltered, you need to see the world."

"I can see it in your eyes, you have greatness in you but it's never going to become anything worth having unless you put it to the test."
His grandpa says to him.

Jaune can feel it it's now or never, he has to tell his grandpa what he wants to do, so maybe if his grandpa hears what he wants will support him.

"Grandpa I want to be a Huntsman." Jaune says to his grandpa with all of the confidence that he has.

'N.' his grandpa shatters his hopes with a single word.

"Do you feel how crushed you are, how a single word broke you?"

"This is what I'm trying to teach you, Jaune you're a man, a Huntsman doesn't need others' permission, because he is risking his life every day."

"Sure there are combat schools, now, but they are a recent creation."

"When my dad was alive, he would say that he was there when the first combat schools were made, and how back then, people would train together, by fighting each other or the Grimm.

Jaune can see the smile on his grandpa's face as the old man takes the sword out of its sheath and signals Jaune to kneel.

"I Jaune Arc the First grant you Jaune Arkc the Second the title of knight and grant you our families sword." His grandpa says as he taps Jauns shoulders with Crocea Mors.

"Lots of bad things are going t happen Jauneand we are going to need you, with us when they happen.' his grandpa says to him before he hands Jaune Crocea Mors.

Jaune looks at the sword in his hands and sees his reflection on the silver blade.

"Okay, what now?" he asks his grandpa.

'Now we go home and get someone to train you." his grandpa says to him before he forms a mischievous smile and looks at Jaune.

'I have just the teacher for you, and who knows maybe the two of you will hit it off and I can see my great-grandchildren before I die." His grandpa says to him/

"Grandpa." Jaune wines, but smiles as he sees his grandpa's wheelchair head towards the entrance of the room.
][][]][
Ping, ping, ping. Jacques listened to the sound of the coin hitting the side of the airship before it rolled back to him.

He was going to have to do this carefully, any major moves that he made would need to have several plans behind them just in case one plan failed, that way his target wouldn't be lost.

Png, the oin hit the wall again, the dust mines that are in the ocean floor were once thought to be impossible to reach, and even if they weren't, it was too dangerous to get to them.

It wasn't just the Gimm, the normal creatures that live in the ocean and the ocean itself was a threat that stopped any progress or attempt that was made.

Png, he remembered his two daughters, they were both beauties in their own right, but how could he use them now?

Ping, he remembers the partners of Aincrad his other targets, but he now knew that they weren't anything important.

Jacques felt the coin roll back to his feet and he remembered that he saw something, someone familiar.

He activated his scroll and began to look through the pictures before he smiles.

"Well I guess this will kill two rocks with one stone," he says as he looks at Jauns's picture before he sends General James Ironwood a copy of the video that he recorded while in Aincrad, through their private channel.

'Winter this is your father I have found the perfect Husband for you, and before you say no, I believe that General Ironwoo will agree that you should at least meet him." He says t his oldest daughter.

The girl had tried to break her tie with him, the poor fool couldn't even imagine that the military accept anything he did as long as it benefitted them.

He hangs up the phone and immediately smiles like a predator that realizes that the parents left their defenseless child unprotected.

General Ironwood gave him the green light, meaning that he is willing to look the other way as long as Atlas and Mantle benefit from whatever scheme he is doing.

Ping the coin hits the wall and Jacques smiles.
[][][]
Ghira looks at the map in front of him, the Players agreed to let him choose the location of the embassy and so he chose the worst area of the desert.

This way anything that the Players brought into Menagerie, by ship or by using their teleporters could be seen by everyone so his men could stop anything that wasn't supposed to be there.

He hadn't lied about why he wanted to form an Alliance with Aincrad, his people needed to become stronger, they needed to grow and that meant that they needed to trade with the outside world.

Mistral had rejected his offer after the White Fang tried to kill the headmaster of their combat school.

Vale simply said that trading with them would be hard because of how far their two kingdoms are, the only kingdom left was Aincrad and he hated himself for contacting them.

Next to him were the rules that Aincrad had for any Faunus that wanted to enter it to find work or simply start new lives.

He wanted to tear the pages and burn them when he saw that any Faunus from his Kingdom would have to wear the emblem of his kingdom so that they wouldn't have to wear a collar.

He couldn't help but grow in frustration and as he read what his people were expected to do, he felt whatever guilt he had for making the Humans build their embassy in the desert vanish.

There is an unspoken rule that both Humans and Faunus follow.

And that rule says that whatever beliefs the people have will eventually create certain rules that everyone in society follows even if there isn't a law written anywhere.

"One thing at a time," he says to himself, as he looks at the picture of his runaway daughter, he can't help but remember the day that the three of them were together and took the picture.

they were so happy back then, and then that girl had to run away and join that man.

Tomorrow he will hand the players the location he has chosen for them, but he would warn them about the dangers in it.

It wouldn't be his fault if some of the workers died or if they couldn't finish anything because of the heat.

None of that was his problem, after all, he had warned the players about what they would run into.

 

[blueayes]

The sounds of old music from a time that he doesn't bother to remember plays in the background, as the smell of alcohol fills the air.

He sees his contact and he looks just as depressed as people told him.

"What?' the man asks him

"Oh, it's you what do you want?"

"So you want to know everything that I know about Aincrad, tell you what buy me as many drinks as I want and I might remember a few things."

"Gee, thanks."

"Okay let me start from the beginning and trust me when I say this, it's easier to start here." he takes a drink.

"Aincrad is the youngest of the Four, Now Five Kingdoms, but I won't talk about it yet."

"You may ask yourself what would drive people to move to a place that uses slave labor? hell, why do the Faunus go there at all if they're treated so badly there."

"The answer is protection." takes another drink.

"You see Aincrad has these three major settlements, City A, B, and C unofficially it has created several villages that don't follow the kingdom's way of doing things."

The man takes a deep breath and looks at the wall in front of him, but he knows that the man is remembering something important.

"You know there are villages everywhere that were lost to the Grimm, some of those villages that were reclaimed by the people that risked their lives to reach Aincrad."

'Those villages make a living by selling whatever they can to the cities, who in turn sell it to the castle, and the castle sells everything it makes to the people outside of it."

"Pretty easy to understand, but why do people go there? The answer is security, it's easy to forget how dangerous Grimm is when you live in one of the kingdoms and that villages are constantly being lost or attacked."

"Unlike the rest of the world, Aincrad keeps its official settlements and its unofficial ones safe, with a mixture of Soldiers and Knights that constantly patrol both the inside and outside of the cities."

"The thing is that because the villages aren't technically a part of Aincrad the soldiers can always look the other way and let a village be destroyed if they feel like it."

He signals to the bartender for another more expensive drink.

"You probably heard about the deals that the kingdoms are trying to make with Aincrad and how they all want those Teleporters of theirs and it's because of those things that everyone wants to go out into the world and take back the villages that were lost."

"But Aincrad is keeping those things locked behind so many defenses that no one can get to them.

"It's a good thing too, because if people spread out too much it could start another war."

"Look let me explain what's happening since you look so confused."

"There are three ways of getting to Aincrad, by Airship, by ship, and through the land."

'Everyone of these things is making a fortune, because of how many people want a piece of the pie."

"But the ones that are making the most money are the caravans that go through the continent."

"Mercenaries, regular people, Huntsman, and so on, have unintentionally created a new way of living they call it the Broken Road, because of how many carriages, cars, and weapons people see on the way from Vale to Aincrad."

"There are villages whose only purpose is to give the settlers a place to rest, needless to say, they're growing quickly."

"Why am I wasting your time by telling you this?"

"Well is because of what's happening to the world because of that kingdom."

"The thing is, that when people see someone doing something and they see that it works, there's a high chance that, they're going to copy it to see if it works for them."

 

[blueayes]

"Now let me tell you about the Villages that surround the cities and why they haven't vanished like so many others."

"First of all let me make this clear."

"The treaty signed between Vale, Aincrad, and Mistral, says that Aincrad can't have any more settlement on either Vale or Mistral, the same goes for the islands that belong to the two kingdoms."

"I would like to say that Aincrad has kept its side of the deal and truth be told they have to a certain point."

"You see the Cities are protected by Knights, monsters, and soldiers, so they are safe, but the cities need to bring things like food so people can live."

"That's where the villages come in."

"You see when you first arrive at the colonies, the first thing that you are going to see is the Broken Road going into different directions, and that's when you know you are as safe as your ever going to be."

'Excuse me can I get a plate of this and one of those soups that this place is famous for." he says to the bartender who nods.

"There are Four Kinds of Villages, the ones that everyone sees, and the ones that you have to stay away from."

"There are the villages, colonies, or whatever that are responsible for growing crops, cutting trees for wood, or simply raising animals, but already knew that."

"As you know both Vale and Mistral send inspectors into each of them to see that no one is breaking the law and that Aincrad has kept its side of the deal."

"needless to say that they are either bad at their job or they choose to look the other way."

"If you go further away from the pretty looking farms you will find several of Aincrads Military villages, full of Human soldiers and while there are Faunus amongst them there are few when compared to the Humans around them."

"It depends on your luck, but God help you if you find a village of Faunus that hasn't earned the right to enter the city."

"Look the villages of Faunus can be separated into two groups those with collars and those without collars, both don't like strangers."

"The village without collars is a group of Faunus that are training to join the military, normally they would train with the other villages, but they decided that they want to go up the ranks with their own kind."

"The ones with the collars, well they're just people that want to prove that they are worth having around."

"Both groups have to survive for a year without weapons or armor given to them, so anything that you see them using they make themselves."

the faunus that wear the collars are called scouts, but everyone calls them the First as in the first ones to die."

"Next are the Faunus without collars who fight alongside the Huma villages when they have to."

"Then there is the military village, they have everything that they need to deal with any Grimm or Raider that shows up."

And finally the Penal Villages"

"These are villages that are made of nothing but criminals, who either prove that they will never betray Aincrad or die because they failed to prove their loyalty."

"The Players and Soldiers say the same thing t anyone that is sent to these villages."

"You can escape if you want but if the Grimm and wild animals don't kill you, we will."

"Needless to say, no one ever tries to escape and if they do, they either come back or are never seen again."

"These groups are constantly patrolling the outside of the villages that people normally see and they're the reason that Grimm rarely attack them."

"So ask yourself this, if you were an inspector, and found that the farms that filled the grocery stores are being protected by a combination of soldiers, criminals, and people who are desperate to go up the social ranks would you report it?"

"Even if that meant destroying the farms and fields?"

"No, didn't think so."

 

[blueayes]

Aincrad Dust Mines][][][]
Kirito looked into the eyes of the prisoners and he hated himself for allowing this to happen to them, but what other option was there?

Unlike Earth, this world doesn't allow anyone to make a jail at least one that would keep the prisoners alive.

The Grimm are creatures that are attracted to negative emotions and needless to say criminals had plenty of that to spare.

The village that he is standing in today is a special one because it is controlled by the prisoners whose job is to mine the dust in the area, but that's not the reason why it's special.

Every Faunus here is a survivor of the attack that led to Aincrad creating the system that it now has.

As he looks at the people in front of him he can't help but smile and at the same time feel ashamed of himself for doing so.

"prisoners, you have served your time!"

he says to them as the collars on their necks open by themselves and fall to the ground next to them.

Kirito looks for any joy or shock but whatever emotions these people had before they were put to work are gone.

"So no you have three options in front of you."

"Will you leave and rejoin the people that abandoned you here?"

"Will you join the military and prove your worth to us?"

"Or will you go into one of the cities or villages and try to start over from zero?" he asks the Faunus who don't react to his words.

He lets his words sink in ad he can see the spark in their eyes, these people survived the mines, they survived fighting Grimm, Monsters, and the Players so he knows that they have the will to live burning inside of them.

"f we stay what's in it for us?" a man with the horns of a deer asks him.

"You will have everything a citizen of Aincrad has available to them except for entering the main kingdom that's something only available to people who have finished their duties to the kingdom." he answers the man who doesn't say anything else.

"What if we want to leave?" a woman with shark teeth asks.

"Ten everything that you brought with you will be returned to you and some extra food, because of your contribution to the kingdom." he answers her.

"So everyone that wants to leave take one step to the left, everyone else, step forward and we can start your paperwork," he says to everyone and smirks when he sees that no one even tried to move to the left.
][][][]
Menagerie][][][][[
Blake gasped for air as she opened her eyes and looks around her room, again the memory of that day forced itself into her dreams, she can feel herself sweating coldly despite how hot it is today.

She can still remember those moments as if they happened yesterday,

They had heard that an island had appeared near the Genn Mountains, so most of the people she was with decided to bring it down.

It didn't matter if the island belonged to Vale, Mistral, or if it was some Atlas experiment, the only thing that they knew, was that they couldn't allow the Humans to have it.

Everyone that was with her died at the hands of that man.

The one that wore the white armor that had a large white cape, that had what looked like the image of a Luauging Coffin painted on it with black ink.

the memory takes control of her mind and she remembers one of the men screaming "Mom" over and over again as his brother desperately tried to put his guts back into his body.

She can still remember the monster that held the giant sword in its hand.

the creature had the head and horns of a goat, but what she remembers the most are the creature's eyes.

The monster had a pair of red eyes, but there were a pair of tiny red lights coming from each of them.

The eyes didn't have any power, but the intensity in them was enough to freez anyone where they stood.

She can still remember how silent everything became when the two monsters stood behind the brothers, the two beats grinned as they stood surrounded by corpses and the stench of blood.

She can still remember how one of the brothers insulted the man and began to insult the creature, who silenced him by putting a hand on his shoulder.

"What a monster that can't even talk, is trying to act like a person!" she remembers him saying to the creature who leaned forward and spoke.

"Why would I talk to someone that I'm going to kill?" it asked him, before picking the man up and tearing him to pieces.

the two monsters turned to look at her, but every time she thought that she had escaped they would find her and drag her back to the spot where the other man was still laying, as he died.

"She remembers how the creature did something with its hands and heald the man just enough so that he didn't die.

"Please let me die." the man begged the creature who grinned cruelly but never said anything.

"You know we could do plenty of things with you girl." the Human, no the monster said to her as he walked around her.

"We could turn you into a breeder."

'Just imagine it, you came here to destroy us, but instead, you will carry the children of us Humans and those children will help strengthen our kingdom."

'We could simply let you run and hunt you like the animal that you are."

"Or we could let you go so that you can warn them not to mess with us, so which is it going to be?" he asks her as he placed a hand over her stomach.

'I'll" she tried to say, but she was too afraid to speak.

"What, you better speak clearly or I just might choose for you." he said to her, the tone of his voice showed that he never felt like he was in any danger, and he was now just toying with her.

The screams of the man that hadn't died shook her enough so that she could scream her answer.

"I'll tell them not to attack you, I'll tell them everything!" she begged.

"Run." he ordered her just before he kissed her lips.

She ran as fast as she could, she ran until she couldn't hear the man screaming in pain, she just kept on running., until someone found her and took her to a safe area.

No one bothered to ask her what had happened, everyone assumed that her group had been attacked by Grimm, she didn't blame them it was the only thing that made sense.

After a few weeks, she finally reached a White Fang hideout and showed everyone the video of what had happened to her group, before she packed her things and came back home.

she picks up her scroll hoping to find something that will help her forget and finds that her dad is on the news.

Blake feels her heart stop and the sweat on her body become even colder, her dad just made a deal with those monsters and they were coming to their island.

 

[blueayes]

"Thanks for the food."

"I'll tell you a little secret that almost no one knows."

"Tell me have you ever heard of something called the Grand trade, no, didn't think so."

"Listen everyone knows that Aincrad sells the dust it mines to both Vale and Mistral and that's the reason why expensive things aren't so expensive anymore."

"What does the Grand Trade have to do with this?" Everything."

"You see on the surface Aincrad is just selling the two kingdoms dust and it's getting rich because of it, but look a little further, and you find that the three kingdoms are trading completely different things."

"Both Vale and Mistral are sending tuns of oil, coal, and natural gas to Aincrad and Aincrad pays them by giving them the same amount of Dust for whatever they send to it."

"Normally this wouldn't make sense, after all, why would anyone want those things if Dust exist."

"The answer is the Aincradian Military and a little company called Arc Electronics."

"You see while ust can be used to do a lot of things with hardly any training."

"Coal, oil, and gas need to be processed through different machines so that they're useful, otherwise they would only be good for burning."

"The problem is that while those machines are needed, they're easy to break and almost immediately attacked and destroyed by Grimm whenever they see one of the machines."

"You see how the more I talk the more it makes sense for their military to be as big as it is."

"Besides if you think about it everyone wins, with this deal."

"Along as the coal, mines, and oil companies exist people that wouldn't have found work have work."

"Old mining towns that were abandoned when the dust mines ran dry have been reclaimed and are now thriving, all because of this deal."

"Unfortunatly one bad thing that has come from this agreement is that both Vale and Mistral have taken a page from Aincrads playbook and are starting to grow their militaries."

'All of those new farms and mining towns that have popped up, need to be protected and Huntsmen can't be everywhere, so teams are sent out to protect those towns."

"So far it's worked."

Another thing about the Grand Trade is that it showed the world just how rich Aincrad is.

For example, from the very beginning, both Vale and Mistral have been paying Aincrad for everything that the public sees with gems and other valuable minerals.

Aincrad has been paying for everything that they bring in with gold and silver.

It's no wonder why the Schnee Dust Company and the Kingdom of Atlas want in on the deal.

 

[blueayes]

"It's amazing how quickly things change."

"Hold on let me start over."

"Arc electronic Robert Arc is the current head of the Arc family, he is also the man that made official contact with the kingdom of Aincrad."

'Why is this important?"

"Well, the man took one look at that kingdom and pulled his father out of retirement."

"By now you have seen the leaked videos, how the two eldest men of the main family asked the Council of Vale to step aside and let them handle things."

"The council agreed, but only because it was the Arcs who were telling them this."

"After you leave Vale you'll find the first city or should I say military stronghold, after that, you'll find the Arc research city, where they experiment with all of the technology that people coming back from Aincrad bring with them."

''With that out of the way let me tell you what I know."

"The two men didn't see a prospering city, what they saw was another Mantle or Mistral that was either about to expand or thinking about expanding its borders."

'The council agreed with their point of view so they put a single demand on the two men. Whatever you do, make sure we know about it first."

"It was Juane Arc senior or the First as he likes to be called, that contacted Aincrad and met with its council, he offered to open trade between the two kingdoms."

'Sure the Arcs don't control the Dust that is being sold, but they don't have to they got their hands on something else.'

'Aincrads technology."

"You see while the Schnee Dust Company makes and distributes things that use dust, the problem with them is that you need to keep buying dust to use them."

"So there's an untapped market for things that don't use dust."

"Think about it this way, a farm that depends on constant dust shipments is in danger if the monthly cargo doesn't arrive, because they depend on the dust that's brought in to survive."

"Now what if that same farm has a couple of solar panels, gas generators, and a couple of other alternatives to keep them going until the dust that they need finally arrives."

"And if you think that they only sell big things, they sell little things too, things that regular people need for everyday life."

"This is how the name of a family that was only famous for its war heroes found its way to the homes of everyday people."

"Remember those two cities, well guess who is responsible for managing them."

"You see the Arcs only proposed to open trade with Aincrad so that they could gain access to their technology, it didn't matter if they got their hands on simple toys or outdated pieces of junk, they just needed to know how it worked."

"Those two cities are responsible for studying Aincrads technology, figuring out how it works, making their versions of it and they also try to see if they can blend it with our technology to make something better."

"The two cities also have another purpose, they exist as an early warning system for Vale, as the only safe route from Aincrad to Vale is the Broken Road."

"Needless to say both cities are armed to the teeth and people are constantly offered a chance to join the military and live in them."

"The cities themselves are protected by the soldiers that live in them and a literal wall of guns.

"Bullets that use some sort of chemical instead of dust that were bought from Aincrad make the majority of them, but believe me when I say."

'Those armor-piercing rounds are deadly."

"The Arcs are responsible for our sudden boom and why things don't feel so dark these days."

"Think about it, if you're down on your luck or don't know what to do with your life just join the military and the military and they will put you to work."

"Coal mines need people, farms need people, scientists are needed to create or copy things, you get the idea so I won't have to draw you a picture."

"All of this plus the fact that the Arcs treat their employees and soldiers fairly whether they are Faunus or Humans gives the family a high position on everyone's mind."

'And that's the reason why that has a lot of people worried."

I turn to look at the TV and I can't help but take the glass from the man's hand as I drink the, I don't know what it is in a single mouth full.

'Winter Schnee the oldest daughter of the Schnee family is now engaged to Jaune Arc, the only male member of the main Arc family.'

 

[blueayes]

If she had the strength to sit down she would have, if she had enough will or maybe it was confidence to cry she would have.

She began to close her eyes, She could handle the nightmares for now, but the nightmares were one thing and the guilt of what she did was even worse.

Blake closed her eyes and remembered what she saw when the White Fang, in all honesty, she didn't know what their goal was, she just knew that she could have tried to warn everyone to stay away.

Maybe if she had warned or talked with whoever was in charge at the moment she could have stopped them from being captured.

Her scroll still has the videos of that man and his team hunting the White Fang members like animals.

She could see the pleasure he took as the women were dragged kicking and screaming to a spot where that monster stood over them, its eyes were just as hate-filled as she remembered them.

Blake can see the female faunus desperately attacking the knights as their captured and dragged back to where the monster is.

She wanted to say that some of the girls managed to escape, but the truth was that the knights who captured them simply let them go.

They did this so that they could catch them again, over and over again until their wills were broken and they were too exhausted to run away.

The men had it even worse.

Blake can still hear their screams, she didn't know when the White Fang attacked and how long it was before they were beaten, but considering how the video jumps from day to night.

She knows that the knights took their time breaking every bone in their bodies.

"Are we done?"

'Greate!"

"Everyone these beats have come to us to help our kingdom prosper so let's take these breeding beasts and the worker drones to their new home!" that monster said as his men placed the collars on the women's necks and the half-dead bodies of the men.

"What were we fighting?" she asks herself as she starts to compare how the world treated the Faunus and compare it to how Aincrad treats them.
][][][][
Aincrad ]][][][]\
The sound of children laughing as they play is something that he enjoys, maybe some of them are his, perhaps they belong to one of his men or maybe they were fathered by the beasts that work in the mines.

"Ladies I'm here to visit again!" he announces proudly as he enters the brothel.

He enjoys the smell of perfume and scented candles along with cheap alcohol and hot food, but what he enjoys the most is the children that run to him and hug his leg, he enjoys the innocent look in their eyes as they smile at him.

It almost breaks his heart to have to tell them that they won't be wearing their collars anymore.

"Now now children, I will play with you later."

"Now I need to speak with your mothers, all of them." his kind and cheerful voice lowers and the receptionist immediately runs to the back to make sure that all of the women are present for his announcement.

"Ladies and monkies." he hears the kids giggle at his joke.

"I'm proud to announce that you are now citizens of Aincrad, you don't have to wear your collars anymore."

"So you can keep doing what you are doing, join the military, or go to a village or one of the cities to start your lives again." he looks at the women's faces, and sees the defiance in their eyes, but he can see something else, submission.

They want to tear him apart, they want to kill him, to hurt him just like he hurt them, but they won't, because they can't.

"Of course, you can always leave and rejoin that group that sent you here, but is that what you want?"

'Will you want them to join the same people that gave you to us?" he asks and smirks cruelly when he sees the last bit of defiance die in their eyes.

The collars fall off every woman's neck as well as the necks of the children.

"I'm going to tell my friends the good news!" one of the boys says eagerly, as he starts to run toward the door.

He grabs him and carries him in his arms before he tickles the little critter.

"Now now, you aren't a collared anymore, so you can't talk to them until they don't have a collar either, if you do people will get mad at them," he says to the boy.

He doesn't raise his voice or even do anything to show that his son did anything wrong, but the boy needs to learn the rules of the kingdom and this is one of them.

"Now go to your mother, she needs to decide what she is going to do" he says to the boy who nods and runs to his mother's side the moment that he puts him down.

His eyes meet with the lion woman's eyes she grows but it doesn't have any power and he smiles when she lowers her head and lowers herself to hug the boy.

"Oh where are my manners?' children I can't play with you today, for I need to go tell the men that they are free to go, so we will have to play next time."

'And girls why you should turn on the news." he says to the women before he leaves the building.

"What a time to be alive, There are so many things happening that it almost feels as if the death game is starting all over again." he says to himself as he walks to the mines where the men are being kept.

He soon stands over a large hole, the sound of machines can be heard coming from it, and carts filled with dust are coming out of it.

He doesn't understand why Kirito insists on treating the slaves as people when they aren't.

Oh well, he's had his fun and Kirito has had his, so now it's time to let his pets loose.

 

[blueayes]

One by one the Faunus began to leave the mine, he had to admit he was proud of himself, granted more than a few men had lost a limb or two, but he didn't care to remember if it was because of the mine or because of how injured they were when he fight brought them here.

He can't help but raise an eyebrow when he sees that several of the men have dust crystals coming out of their bodies.

"Gentlemen, I'm afraid that I'll have to change what I said earlier." he says as he grabs one of the men's hands and lifts it high for everyone to see.

"Everyone that is infected with dust, will be joining the military immediately, as you have proven your worth and are now considered weapons of Aincrad you won't have to take part in the year's trial."

"However I recommend that you do it anyway for your own good, everone else feel free to do whatever you want." he says to his pets.

He watches as the men separate themselves before he lets go of his pet's hand.

Dusk sickness is something that should be fatal, but Aincrads health potions make it possible for people to survive having dust crystals growing inside of them.

He would have the men in front of him leave with the others if it wasn't for the fact that they could use the powers of whatever crystal or combination of crystals that are growing inside of them.

Meaning that the men in front of him are nothing more than living weapons. They aren't any different from the monsters that live in the castle as equals with the players.

"Gentlemen your time in the military as untested will be more brutal than the time that you spent as prisoners in the mines, but I am confident that you will survive."

"I can see the hate that you have towards me, use it, make yourselves stronger and maybe one day you have a chance to kill me."

"Now go join the untested and earn your freedom." he says to them.

"Why should we, you said that we were free, or was that all talk?' one of the troublemakers says to him in a tone that makes him want to discipline the bugman, but the man is now a citizen so he won't react to the man's lack of respect

"Fine I wanted to be kind to a fellow citizen, but if you want the truth here it is."

'Those crystals growing inside of you are dangerous, for you and the people around you, so you need to train to use them and to stop them from activating."

"What better place than the military, you will have no choice but to learn to control those things or die in the process." he says to them before he lowers the tone of his voice and abandons any of the joy that he had before.

"No one will stop you if you leave, but you can't blame anyone other than yourselves if you kill people because you can't control those things."

"After all, we are giving you a way to learn how to use them before that happens."

He waits for someone to say or do something and he starts to smile again when he sees that even the troublemakers of the group all look as if believe him, good they won't ask any more questions.
][][][]
City A ][][][][][
Asuna listened to the crowd cheer as the gladiators one another, She couldn't help but join them, the men and women that were down there had only one talent to them and that was fighting.

So they used to and used it well.

Unlike most jobs in Aincrad Gladiators earn a lot.

There are three reasons for this, the first is that anyone who isn't a part of the military has spent years training the second is that the men and women are part of the military and this is how they earn some extra money.

The last reason is that everyone no matter who it is, likes to see the people that they hate being hurt.

She looks down as Yui hands her the soda that she was drinking earlier before the boy with wolf ears points at the bear faunus that is being pushed back by the panther faunus.

As the panther knocked the bear unconscious, and the crowd cheered Asuna couldn't help but feel happy about the state things were in, everything was so peaceful.

Sure there were things that Aincrad was doing that she didn't like, but for the most part, everything was okay.

They had already cleared the one hundred floors of the castle and the kingdom was growing, if things kept going this way in a few years the council would agree to her guild's petition to end the collar system for the faunus that didn't commit any crimes.

"Asuna sorry to call you on your day off but there's something that you have to see." She hears Thinker's voice inside her head before her help screen appears in front of her.

As she reads the information that Thinker sent to her, she can't help but think that this is going to cause a lot of unnecessary problems.

'A guild, not a team is being asked to go to Vale and see what the kingdom is like, and a second guild was being asked to go to the kingdom of the Faunus to make sure that nothing happened to the people that would be building the embassy.

 

[blueayes]

"So your back, I guess seeing the Schnees and the Arcs becoming one was too much for you considering how much you drank yesterday."

"What you want me to keep talking about Aincrad?"

"Fine but you gotta pay for my lunch and drinks."

"There are several kinds of Faunus in Aincrad, those that are criminals, those that work in the military, those that work in the sex industry, and those that work everywhere else."

"You see the kingdom doesn't care if you are a Faunus for the most part, just as long as you stay on your side of the teleporter."

"Confused well this should help you."

"To make things easy, the people that you see wearing collars and those collars having locks on them are the criminals."

"Sio seeing someone with a collar that doesn't have a lock on it means that those people are barely above those that are in jail, or at least that's how the Faunus and Humans of Aincrad see it."

"Now here is where things get tricky, chokers, scarfs, chains, ribbons, and bandanas all have their own meaning."

"For example, someone that worked in the brothel be it a man or woman will wear a scarf around his or her neck."

"Someone that worked in the mines will wear a thick necklace, while someone that worked in the military will wear a chain around his or her neck."

"While someone that worked in a store or doing someone job will wear a ribbon or something soft that clips on and off."

"The reason for this is that they got used to wearing the collar and so they have to do something to make themselves feel comfortable."

"Then there are the Faunus that don't wear anything on their necks."

"The simple reason is that either they are just visiting Aincrad or they're the kid of someone that did their time and so they didn't have to wear the collar."

"Now imagine this next day you are walking without a care in the world and you see your husband, wife, son, or daughter walking into a building and the person they are walking with is wearing a scarf."

'With the information that I just gave you, what are your first thoughts?"

"Each one of these groups has certain areas that they aren't allowed to enter, not because it's a law, but because the people themselves won't allow it."

"And before you ask what the bandanas mean, well every kingdom has its dark side."

"Don't look at me that way, for as bad As Aincrad is at least they're open about it, and they make no attempts to hide any of this from the public."

"....."

"Sometimes the worst kinds of people that you will find are those that are just like you."

"For everything that the kingdom does, I'll at least say that they keep their word and so they allow anyone that earns the right to be one of the knights to have everything that a knight should have, regardless of who they are."

"I wouldn't trust this bunch with a glass of water."

"Sometimes people need to do things that will get them into trouble, this is where the ones with the bandanas come in, these people will help anyone for the right price."

'There is nothing that these people won't do for money, and it's a cancer that hides underneath the kingdom, one that is almost as old as Aincrad itself.'

 

[blueayes]

"Thinker what is the council thinking we are already stretched thin, so why would they make it harder for us to protect ourselves," Asuna says to thinker who nods in agreement.

Asuna can't help but shake her head in frustration, it's true that to people from the outside world, Aincrad looks like it's prospering, but the truth isn't so black and white.

The monsters of this world are attracted to negative emotions, envy, anger, sadness, despair, and anything that can be added to them, so having a large number of people gather anywhere is a bad idea.

This is one of the reasons why Aincrad has focused on growing its military and why the players decided that everyone has to enter the military at some point in their lives.

"The reason that they're sending a guild to Vale is because Vale keeps on sending or letting people come here, so everyone thinks that it's time that we do the same."

"The reason that they are sending a guild instead of a team or a single person, is that either one could easily be captured and Vale could claim that they are being suspected of something."

Asuna wants to point out that by sending a guild over to Vale the people there would have good reason to believe that Aincrad was sending a message to the kingdom.

Whatever that message was didn't matter as long as people believed that something was being said.

"Now as for the faunus kingdom, well we can't just have our people going to a place filled with people that hate us." Thinker says to her.

'Greate." Asuna says to Thinker as she accepts his answer.

"So why are you telling me this i all of you already made the decision?" she asks Thinker.

"Asuna, the guild that accepted to go to Vale was your Guild, Heathcliff wants you to stay because of your daughter."

"Unfortunately the third and fourth seats want you to go because you have a family." Thinker says to her and Asuna can't help but put her hand on her forehead as she feels a headache coming.

"Thanks for telling me." she says to Thinker before the help screen vanishes.

Asuna notices that Yui and her friend are looking at her, but they aren't the only ones, the people around them are all looking at her, so she decides that they should leave and go see what's happening outside the coliseum.

As they walk out of the coliseum Asuna makes sure to hold onto both of the kids ' hands, while Yui and her friend are old enough to be allowed to play without having someone to look at them, City A isn't the safest place in Aincrad.

The city has people from all over the world because it is a place where people whose only skill is fighting.

Somehow word about the coliseum got out faster than anyone could imagine so people from villages and even the kingdom came here to earn money and send it home to their families.

"Lady Asuna!" Asuan hears a man call to her She can't help but smile at the man with the rabbit ears, but her smile quickly fades when she notices the Human woman hat is accompanying him is wearing a black scarf.

She almost didn't notice the woman that had rabbit ears next to the prostitute, or maybe the woman still worked in the sex industry.

"This is my cousin Vevel." Sash one of Heathcliff's underlings says to her as the rabbit woman tries to shake her hand.

Yui immediately takes the woman's hand and shakes it.

"The one next to her is Coco." Sash introduces the Human to her, but when the woman tries to shake her hand, and Yui tries to do the same that she did before Asuna makes sure that her daughter doesn't dirty her hands.

"Coco show some respect take off the Scarf!" Sash chastises Coco who reluctantly does what he says.

"Sorry mam, she is just visiting, so she doesn't know what it means." Sash says to her.

"Oh, I'm sorry for misunderstanding, kids say hello." Asuna says to the kids who immediately shake Coco's hands.

"Lady Asuna if you have time I would like to speak to you about something." Sash says to her and judging that she has some free time Asuan decides to listen to what Sash has to say.

"Okay, I'm with my daughter and her friend so is it okay if you tell me here?" she asks Sash who reaches into his back pocket and takes out five sheets of paper.

"I know it's not my place considering that I haven't entered the military yet, but." Sash takes a deep breath.

"I'll say it as clearly as I can."

"There are people bringing children from the outside and selling them to the villages around the cities."

"I know that you and the knights are doing the best that you can to stop it, but most of the families and children aren't receiving much food, and I was hoping to set up a way for them to receive a little more."

Sash explains to her and Asuna begins to read what he wrote down.

She reads for what feels like a few minutes and she only stops to look for Yui and her friend who are playing with the two women who were accompanying Sash.

Asuna can't help but smile, Sash has given her the blueprints for the Public school system as well as a food bank system.

"Sash why are you showing me this, You thought about everything.?" she asks the rabbit man.

"There are people that won't like the fact that this help will exist and the only thing that will force them not to attack us at least directly is the guild seal." Sash says to him.

Auna can't help but rub between her eyes.

"Sash, I can't do that." she says to Sash and looks at the defeat in his eyes.

"Look, get the grocerystores or farms to agree, if you can get just one person to sign their name, it will be enough for me to tell everyone that I gave you permission." she says to Sash.

Sash immediately smiles and eagerly shakes her hand before she hands him back the papers.

"Hide this and dont show it to anyone else." she warns him and Sash immediately nods.

He knows that there are people who benefit from the way things are right now, and that they won't hesitate to hurt him so that things don't change.

"Kids we are leaving!" Asuna calls to the kids as Sash and his two women are leaving.

As Asun to both kid's hands Sash glares at Coco, who smirks at him.

"I told you to keep that thing off." he says to her with a harsh tone in his voice.

"So that woman doesn't like me wearing a scarf that's her problem." Cocvo says to him.

'Look around you, look at who is wearing a scarf and who is wearing what." he says to her in a low voice but his words still carry his anger.

Both Coco and Velvet begin to look around and see that most of the men and women who are wearing scarves are all either wearing risky clothes or are wearing clothes that draw people's attention.

"Velvet listen I can't lose this chance, I want to go to the castle so listen when I tell you not to do something while you are here." Sash says to his cousin but his eyes are on her partner.

Velvet and Coco look at each other and accept Sash's words, both Beacon Academy and Shade Academy asked them to come to Aincrad to record everything that they can.

Unfortunately, they found that the stories about the kingdom were true and the only reason that Velvet wasn't being forced to lower her head to every Human was because she was wearing a chain collar.

"So what did she say?" Velvet asks Sash.

"Lady Asuna approved of my idea, but I need to find someone to sign a store or a farm and she will handle everything else." Sash answers Velvet.

"Why?" Coco asks him.

"Believe it or not but there are people that don't want things to change, so anything that the guilds do to help people will be slowed down by them." Sash answers Coco.

'Why would.?" Coco begins to say but Sash silences her with a glare.

"It's not the Players that I have to worry about, it's everyone else that's the problem." Sash says to her as he reaches for his sword.

The enemy vanishes behind a crowd and Sash lowers his stance, he can't help but shake his head in frustration and anger.

The White Fang has managed to infiltrate Aincrad and they are an infection that needs to be removed before they stop any of the changes that his group is trying to make.

He turns and looks at his cousin and her friend, teammate, and maybe lover and hopes that his group can do enough so that Velvet doesn't have to wear a collar every time she comes to visit him.

It's been three years since he came here and started fighting, most of the money that he makes he sends back home, and from what Velvet and Coco told him, his family put that money to good use.

"What was that about?" Coco asks him.

"Forget about it, let's go look for someone to sign their name."

"It will be easy to get someone to sign, I have Lord Heathcliff's emblem after all," he says to the two young women as he leads them deeper into the city.

 

[blueayes]

I think that there's been a misunderstanding about Aincrad.

'It's not better than any of the other kingdoms, it just has a lot of resources that other kingdoms don't have because it's not from Remnant.

For example Dust.

All of Remnant uses dust for everything, but Aincrad doesn't.

It only recently began to use Dust, but the Players are people from our world so they only know how to use things from our world.

To put it bluntly, they only know how to use the stuff that Aincrad or the Castle has, but have no way of recreating its magic, unless the person doing so is a blacksmith, someone that works with herbs or a beast tamer because those things need the person to learn how to use magic.

Other than that, the players are just using magic rocks and animals to do stuff.

This is the reason why they are trading dust for oil and coal.

Don't get me wrong they know that dust can be used to do impossible things, but from their point of view, Dust is just another magic rock that they can use to do things.
[][][]
So to answer how the cities were able to form, remember that the castle is enormous inside so it has resources to spare, those same resources were used when the cities were first formed.

This is still happening but not as often as it's not needed anymore, the farms and towns around the cities help each other thrive, so the castle doesn't need to give its resources to anyone anymore.
][][][

Now to answer why the other kingdoms are interested in it.

Just look at our world any country that has resources will be targeted by everyone else and that's exactly what's happening to Aincrad.

Sure everyone is being nice about it, but the only reason that no one has invaded the castle is because the castle is the only one that can get to the Dust that's at the bottom of the ocean.

No one in Remnant is going to risk losing access to those reserves, so they don't attack the castle.

I mean the castle is in the middle of the ocean, that's filled with Grimm and the only thing keeping it safe is its shield and the fact that the castle can fly.

Sure there are a lot of monsters and players that will defend the castle, but the main thing keeping the castle safe is its shield.

 

[blueayes]

][][]][Kingdom of Atlas above the Kingdom of Mantle][][][]
Winter Schnee walked as fast as she could she couldn't accept it, no she couldn't believe what she just heard.

It had to be a mistake General Ironwood would never agree to let her father pull her from the military.

She soon found herself approaching the general's office. Normally she would have stopped to check if her uniform didn't have any wrinkles, but right now she didn't care for any signs of proper maintenance.

"General I need to." she says but her words stop when she sees that General Ironwood is already waiting for her and her father is standing next to her.

"Good you're here, there's something that I want you to see" the general says to her as a video begins to play.

"These were taken by your father and several people that went to Vale and Aincrad."

"The Arcs have used their influence to rebuild two of the ruins in Vale and are now using them to study the technology that Aincrad uses." he says to her as the video changes from inside a factory to one that someone in an airship took.

"We know that Mitral has done the same but they've done so in two ways one that is doing almost the same thing but they are using it to study the effects of this technology on the environment."

'The other road that they created has a prospering slave market that everyone is benifiting from." he says to her as the video changes and the images of faunus held in cages appear in front of her.

Winter can't believe her eyes, slavery was made illegal years ago.

The video changes from the Arcs castle and how it's surrounded by an insane number of guns, while soldiers are patrolling the outside of it.

The video changes again and it shows the faunus that are being forced to work on things that Winter sees the people of Mistral using.

"We have reason to know that the most of the population of Mistral doesn't even know that the slave market exists much less the existence of the slave factories." the general said to her.

Winter doesn't know what to say, she just knows that she came here for one reason and now she is being shown things that shouldn't exist.

"Winter our family has always employed the Faunus, granted but we have always been consistent in our treatment of them." Winter hears her father say to her.

She wants to yell at him and tell him that he is no different than the people of Mistral or Aincrad who gave the people of Mistral a reason for creating the market.

She glares at her father and is about to yell at him to keep his mouth shut but the man says the one thing that will keep her quiet.

'I would have used Weiss for this but she had to get her face scared."

"You were once a member of high society and you should know that no one wants their son to be with someone that isn't perfect."

"That scratch on your sister's face is something that will hinder her for the rest of her life." her father says to her.

Winter can't help but feel her heart beating inside her chest, She knows that her father is right, but Vale and Mistral aren't anything that Atlas nor Mantle should worry about so why is she being forced to marry someone she has never met?

"Tell me the truth." she demans.

'We have shown you the truth."

"Vale is becoming more dangerous because of its growing military, and technology."

"The council of Mistral isn't above enslaving or selling people that it believes no one will care for." General Ironwood answers her.

"No tell me the real reason you're selling me." she demands to her father.

Winter can accept why the general agreed to her father's decision, she can already see how marrying into the Arc family could benefit Atlas if she used her connection to the Arcs to give Atlas and Mantle access to the Arcs computer system.

What she doesn't know is how her father benefits from this.

"The same reason your grandfather allowed me to marry your mother."

"Winter I have always been this way and you know that your grandfather is no one's fool."

"You marrying that boy will allow our family's wealth to grow."

"Not to mention that we will get access to the alternative energy market that the Arcs have generously made for us." her father explains before his voice becomes colder than Winter ever imagined.

'And because I want your children to have access to the Arc's semblance."

'I'll do it but only if you leave Mantle to me." she says to them, her voice is filled with defeat, but in reality, she is already planning her revenge.

Mantle is a dying kingdom, but maybe she can use it to get back at the two men in front of her, by using the very things that they want against them.

She can only watch as the general and her father silently agree to let her handle the Kingdom of Mantleand before they turn and nod at her.

So with no options left, she begins to plan.

"So when do I leave?" she asks her father.

"Tomorrow, it gives you enough time to say goodbye to the rest of the family."

"Oh and Winter Weiss has decided that she is going to Beacon with or without my blessing, I won't stop her." her father says to her.

Winter doesn't say anything, she wants to yell to say that they can't do this to her, but everyone sacrifices themselves for the kingdom, and this was what the kingdom needed her to do.

But that didn't mean that she would make it easy for it, for them to use her.

 

[blueayes]

The sound of the heaters that kept the kingdom of Mantle warm was the first thing that Winter heard as she stepped out of the airship.

Atlas airships and especially Atlas military airships are the most advanced airships in the world, meaning that, unlike the ones that Vale or Mistral use, Atlas Airchips can drop people off on top of a building and not risk damaging anything.

The building that she was on, wasn't anything important, not anymore at least.

It was here that her grandfather built the first Dus factory that started their fortune, the factory was abandoned years ago, because of how dangerous it was.

Back then no one knew how to process dust safely, but no one cared about that as long as their loved ones survived.

She has a lot to think about and unfortunately, she finds herself agreeing with her father.

The cold wind blows forcing her to shiver, but she ignores it and looks at the people going about their lives, She has to admit that she's disgusted that a family of Faunus is allowed to bathe where the humans bathe.

For a brief moment, she is tempted to alert the authorities, but she remembers that Mantle is trying to change and abandon its old ways.

Perhaps she needs to do the same.

The world agreed to treat the Faunus equally and every kingdom has made progress but change takes time and people's opinions take even longer to change.

Not to mention that the faunuses ' actions and demands make it even harder for people to sympathize with them.

She turns and walks to the door that leads into the building but she's forced to break it open when she finds that it's locked.

The inside of the factory is even colder than the outside world, not to mention how dark it is inside.

She summons a pair of lights that work as explosives just in case she runs into something that shouldn't be here.

She soon finds herself in her grandfather's old office and unsurprisingly it's empty, all of the furniture is gone.

She stands in the room and imagines how life must have been back then.

She knew that her grandfather used slave labor back then, it was a common thing at the time after all, but he was different.

The men and women that worked for him did so eagerly, he always made sure that the people that worked for him were fed, and kept warm, that their families were always in the best conditions possible.

She remembers a time that is now nothing more than a memory, a time before her father took control of the company when she was still small and her grandfather was still leading the company.

She would sit on her grandfather's lap as he signed his name on papers or looked through documents.

She remembers how he coughed blood, as the dust sickness began to overwhelm him.

After that was followed by another began to roll down her cheek, her father was right, Winter began to accept her father's words, her grandfather knew the kind of man that her father was.

Her grandfather was a man who lived through a time when everyone sacrificed themselves for the kingdom.

Her grandfather had led his men into the wilderness and worked in the mines with them and paid the price for it, just like the men around him he too was poisoned by the very thing that they depended on to live.

From her grandfather's point of view, her mother marrying her father was just one more sacrifice that would secure their family's future and with it, the kingdom's future.

"What do I do?" she asks herself.

"Do what you want to do." her grandfather says to her as the lights in the factory turn on for the first time in years.

Winter turns and finds that her grandfather and mother are standing at the door.

"You haven't changed. You are still that girl that would run in here with a smile on her face." her grandfather says to her, but his voice is barely above a whisper.

"Grandpa you shouldn't be here." Winter says to her grandfather but he silences her by lifting his hands as if asking her to hug him.

She does before looking at her mother and doing the same to her.

"We knew that you would come here, you always come here when something troubling you." her mother says to her.

"I don't know what to do."

"I mean I know what I have to do, but." she says to the two of them.

"Back then things were different, I thought that we could make things work and we did for a time." her mother says to her.

"Winter do what you want."

"Run away and leave this kingdom behind, marry the Arc heir, or say no to marrying him, but remember that whatever you do there will be consequences and you will have to live them." her grandfather says to her before he starts to cough violently.

Winter wants to say something but she doesn't as her mother takes her hands and looks into her eyes, Winter can see the weight of the years along with the emotions that her mother has felt combined with what the woman is feeling now.

"You've grown into a wonderful woman, no one will force you, We will stop your father from forcing you." her mother says to her and Winter feels her heart hurt.

"What about Weiss?" she asks her mother who can only close her eyes with regret.

Winter closes her eyes and thinks to herself "What's one more sacrifice."

"Grandpa, I'll agree to marry him and I'll do my best to make it work but I want to use this marriage to bring Mantle back to when it was thriving even if it breaks me." she says to her grandfather who can only smile at her words.

Winter turns to look at her mother whose eyes have gained a hardness to them, and they now resemble the same eyes that she grew up seeing.

"You will turn your father and the general against you, not to mention Atlass's council." her mother warns her.

'I know." she says to her.

"Then you won't do it alone." her mother says to her as her little brother walks into the office.

Neither of them says anything but Winter can't help but do something she hasn't done since her brother was in diapers, she hugs him before kissing his forehead.

"I'm sorry." she says to him, before she feels his arms wrap around her as he returns her hug.

"Whitley and I will handle things in Mantle, so let us handle things here." her mother says to her.

Winter takes one more look at her family and says "Goobie." before she leaves the room.

She would have liked that her sister was here but knowing Weiss she would be training and wouldn't know abut anything that happened, until much later.

 

[blueayes]

Aincrad Military
1. Players\ Knights; They are what most people would consider Huntsmen or Huntresses to be.

They are the best of the best in Aincrad and as such they live in the castle and govern the kingdom from there.

2. The Tested; They are men and women who have earned the right to enter the castle and have passed the test to live inside it, but chose to live as a regular person.

3. Beast Tamers and Aura users; These are people who have learned to control the monsters that live in the castle or have awakened their Aura and gained access to their semblance.

4. Soldier; These are men and women who are experienced in using explosives, different kinds of firearms, magic crystals, and dust.

5. The Untested; men and women who are learning to survive no matter the conditions that they are in. They are given nothing and are expected to fight the wild animals that live near the farms.

They learn to fight off Grimm that target the villages and cities as well as bandits that want to earn easy pay with just their hands, and whatever weapons they crafted from the materials around them.

6. Aincrad has a rather decent-sized navy however most of its navy is composed of beast tamers who control several beasts that fight whatever Grimm may attack from the sea.

It is known that Aincrad is building a fleet, but it will take time before its operation as it needs to train the people necessary to man the ships.

7. Currently Aincrad has no Airships as the sky around it is protected by several different kinds of flying monsters that fight whatever Grimm is in the sky.

 

[blueayes]

Jaune listened to the voices of the men as they chanted their songs while marching outside of the base.

They were supposed to go home but his grandfather had received a call so he ordered the airship to drop them off near the castle.

Now they were at the second castle, or first depending on which kingdom you were coming from.

"The world is changing Jaune." His grandfather says to him as he stops pushing his wheelchair before turning to look at him.

"In another time I would have told you to go to Beacon and learn to be a Huntsman."

Jaune can only open his eyes out of instinct, he can't believe what he is seeing.

His grandpa a man who until recently hadn't been able to walk was now steppin of the wheelchair that Jaune had grown accustomed to seeing him on.

"Aincrad doesn't know that their cure follows people outside of their kingdom, and it's a matter of time before other kingdoms find out about it."

"And when that happens there will be a war." his grandpa says to him.

Jaune doesn't say anything, because he doesn't know what to say.

"You need to be a man Jaune, because the chances that your dad and I might not be here when it's all over are high." his grandpa stands in front of the cell that has a woman who has her arms and legs held by chains.

The woman has long black hair and piercing red eyes and while Jaune thinks she would be attractive if she didn't look like she wanted to kill him, he couldn't help but feel afraid of her.

"This woman is older than you, so let me fix that." his grandfather says to him before his body begins to glow and his Aura flies off him and covers the woman who screams in pain.

Jaune tries to tell his grandpa to stop, but a glare from the man forces him to stay where he is, and by the time the woman finally stops screaming Janune finds himself surrounded by soldiers who are all waiting for something to go wrong.

"This criminal is your wife, learn to tame her and prove yourself to be an Arc.' his grandpa says to him before nodding at the soldiers behind Jaune who walk towards the half-conscious woman.

The soldiers begin to remove the chains from the woman who seems to come to life.

She begins to throw the men like ragdolls, but when she is about to hit his grandpa, Jaune sees that the woman stops and is struggling to force her body to answer her.

"Everyone in our family has two or four partners Jaune, and there's a good reason for it."

"Our family has created a Semblance that can increase our own Aura to strengthen ourselves or another person's Aura."

"Aura's are special considering that they can make us stronger, heal faster and if we can control them we can use them to reverse the aging process."

'I say that you're about Jaunes aged, don't you agree Raven?" his grandpa asks the woman who tries to say something but her voice sounds more like the roar of a beast, instead of sounding like actual words.

"Grandpa." Jaune says to his grandpa, but the man just tells him to listen.

'You are engaged Jaune to the Schnees first ' born daughter Winter Schnee."

"It's up to you to make your two wives submit to your will and obey your every word."

"Or they can accept you as their husband and work with you to help their family's power grow alongside yours."

"You have no say in this Jaune, the only thing that you can do is add one of two more women to your bed."

'Your training starts now." his grandpa says to him as Raven starts to scream in agony and a portal forms in front of her.

Jaune can only watch as his grandpa steppes through it and leaves him behind.

The moment the portal closes is the moment that Raven becomes silent before she turns and glares at Jaune and the soldiers that are with him.

Jaune tries to hide behind the soldiers but they push him forward, as they walk out of the cell and lock the door behind them.

'Waite!" Jaune says to them, as he feels Raven's blood lust.

Jaune feels his heart stop when he feels Raven's hand on his shoulder before the woman forces him to turn around and begins to beat him to death.

While this is happening Jaune Arc the first can't help but smile, as he remembers the day that he met his late wife.

His dad had done something similar to kin, but a lot worse because he had had to deal with every one of his wives all at once and they were all trying to kill him back then.

Jaune didn't know when he regained consciousness only that Raven had gotten tired of beating him and was now sitting next to him.

She noticed that he was awake and as her red eyes met with his blue eyes Jaune couldn't see any emotion behind them.

There was no hate, no anger not even pity for how she had left him, just cold indifference.

"And you are supposed to be an Arc, pathetic." Raven says to him.

"I'll tell you now, I have a daughter about your age, I abandoned her, a long time ago."

"So don't get any ideas about us having a happy family." she says to him before she raises her hand and shows Jaune a black mark that formed on her wrist.

Raven lifts Jaune's Left Hand and shows him that he has a mark around his wrist.

"The Arc chains, proof that an Arc always keeps his word." Raven says to him.

'So your name is Jaune, I heard the old man say your name more than once."

"My name is Raven and for the looks of it we will be together for a while." Raven says to him before she lifts her leg as high as she can while sitting down and slamming it onto Jaune's chest as hard as she can.

"So what's your plan, cause I got to say if you were thinking about pushing me down and making me yours, it's not gonna work."

"I mean you didn't even put up a fight." she says to him, but Jaune can only moan in pain.

'Waite don't tell me, the old man picked me as one of our wives." Raven says to him before she starts to laugh at him.

"If that's true then I bet you don't even know your family's history, and I mean the one that the public doesn't know about." she mocks him.

"He will learn as he grows."

"Now get up the two of you, we are going to meet your other bride." Jaune hears his grandpa say to him, but he doesn't feel any of the warmth that Jaune always felt in the man's voice.

 

[blueayes]

animals
Remnant is filled with all kinds of animals and insects that can be just as dangerous as the Grimm if a person isn't aware of his or her surroundings.

While the people of Remnant say that this is how animals are the Untested and the Players claim that the animal population of the world is unusually strong.

The untested because they have to hunt for their food, and the players believe this because when they compare the animal population of remnant to the animals that can be found on Earth they are considerably stronger.

Some Knights who have earned the right to live in the castle, claim that the animals in the wild are weaker or just as strong as the animals that can be found in the castle.

The animals from both inside the castle and the outside world vary greatly from predatory species to herbivores and scavengers that live off decomposing plants and the rotting corpses of animals and humans.

 

[blueayes]

Aincrad Aliance Guild House][][][
"We will have order." the second in command says as she glares at the two young women who are kneeling before her.

"Explain, now.' she comadns

"Guild leader it's true that she and were kissing in public." the young woman says to the guild leader, the second in command of the Alliance, and she is forced to become quiet as the room is filled with people's demands for her and her girlfriend's punishment.

"Then the two of you will be stripped of your positions as their daughters." the Guild Leader says as she glares at the two women.

There were no more words to be said, the two of them knew where the Alliance would send them and it would be there that their bodies and souls would be used until they weren't who they were anymore.

'We promise to be the wives of whoever accepted us and tend to him faithfully!" her girlfriend screamed and almost instantly the guild house became silent and the guards that were dragging the two of them away stopped moving.

"Is this true." the guild leader asked the girl who nodded before adding to her girlfriend's lie.

"It's the best of both worlds he gets to have a pair of beautiful women and we never get lonely." the girl answers the guild leader who nods.

"I see, girls we have rules for a reason." the guild leader says as she opens the help screen and sees that the two of them have been friends ever since they were able to walk.

"Honestly, I understand wanting to stay together considering that the two of you are practically sisters, but the rules are to stop misunderstandings like this from happening." she says to them with a gentle voice that had none of the cruelty it had earlier.

"Still you have to be punished."

"One month of separation, and you can go back to doing whatever you did before."

"And girls you better find a man or the punishment that you will receive will make the one that you were going to receive today seem like nothing." the second in command says to the girls before she stands up and walks out of the room.

"They lied." the guild master says to her.

"I know Robert, but sending them to the brothels wasn't something I liked." she says to the Leader of the Alliance.

"When we created the Alliance it was to make sure that our place in the castle was never lost Illia and that means that we to have children of our own." Robert says to her and Illia nods as she instinctively places her hand on her womb.

"I know, but as long as they do what they said they won't have to disappear," Illia says to her friend.

"So changing the subject I hear one of your girls nearly killed the Arc boy for speaking against the way that we do things." she says to Robert who nods and smiles.

"Unfortunately the old man stopped her from doing so, he still has the power of an Arc." Robert answers her as they start to walk deeper into the guild.

"Robert what's going on, You wouldn't have come here to watch me punish a bunch of kids that think that the rules don't apply to them if it wasn't for a reason." she says to the Leader of the Alliance.

"Laughing Coffin is going to Menagerie and we have reason to believe that the White Fang is going to attack them while they are there to turn Menagerie against Aincrad." Robert says to her.

Illia can't help but smirk, not because she thinks that Menagerie could win, even with the White Fang's help, but because of how quickly they would lose.

"I hope that this is a joke because no one in the kingdom has a reason to care about those people." she says to Robert.

"Maybe not, but we both know that the Fang has people in the kingdom, people who would see us all dead and see our kingdom burn to the ground because of some perceived injustice." Robert says to her.


"Injustice?"

"Aincrad never welcomed us here, the only reason that the cities even exist is because they took pity on everyone that was being attacked by the Grimm." she says to Robert who nods.

"They don't even have a reason to let us live in the castle other than, they want the best of us so what injustice?" she asks Robert.

'The collars." Robert answers her.

That's what they call an injustice don't they remember how everyone in the kingdoms treated us."

"At least Aincrad bothered to create a caste system that gave us rights as we went up its ladder." she begins to raise her voice.

"Yet they see it as something that needs to be done away with." Robert says to her.

Illia stops walking and turns to the nursery where the mothers and their children are happily playing together without a care in the world.

"We didn't have this Robert."

'Hell even in the kingdoms some of us still don't have it, and they want to destroy it before it truly takes hold." she says to him.

'What do you need me to do?" she asks him.

Her help screen activates and she begins to read what Robert sent her.

Her white fur turns a slight shade of red as her anger grows, but then it quickly fades as she reads further.

"Mistral has a rather large slave market, I say why not use it to target the Whit Fangs members." Robert says to her before the names of all of the Alliance founding members appear in front of her.

"I went to each person and you have been busy, so I had to wait until you were done." he says to her.

'I'll sign, but only if we bring as many of those slaves to Aincrad."

"I don't care what happens to them after that, they will have to go through the same things we did but they will eventually have a place in our kingdom.' she says to Robert who agrees.

She sees that her words are added to the contract before she signs her name.

"Robert do the Players know?" she asks Robert who answers yes to her question.

"Good. I'll support you and your daughters when the time comes." she says to him before he walks away and leaves her standing in front of the window.

Soon she will be amongst those women with her child.

In this kigdom, unlike those other ones her baby will have a chance to grow, it won't have to die because it's too hot or too cold, her even the collard children have plenty to eat, even if they are dirty.

Her children, the ones that she will have after this one will be able to grow and then will pass their test before returning to the Alliance with their heads held high.

She would protect this future no matter what she had to do.

 

[blueayes]

To avoid some confusion about Nicolas Scnee and Juane's grandpa they are both men who fought at the end of the great war.

To put it bluntly, their dads are from a time when the world was even more brutal than from their time.

They have done and seen things that Jaune wouldn't normally be able to stomach, it's just the difference in the era.

I'm not saying it's right, I'm not saying it's wrong it's what people did during those times.

Raven being forcefully de-aged and married to Jaune wouldn't have been the worst thing in their time.

Nicholas Schnee allowed his only daughter to marry a man who only wanted access to his family fortune because he knew that it would benefit all of them.

Both men can see the writing on the walls and are preparing Jaune and Winter for when it does happen.
][][][

As for why the Faunus don't like homosexuality.

Why would they?

The rest of the world treated them harshly, they wouldn't want to give the people who hate them even more reasons to hate them.

Sure the Players opened a path for them, but there's no reason for them to believe that the Players would accept something like this.

So they stop it before it can be discovered with the reason being that they need children to secure their stay in the castle.

Don't get me wrong this is a good reason, but they are using it to stop the faunus from doing things that would make the players turn and look at them.