Chapter 52 - 『Penny for Thought』

Jack stood on the very top, the climax, of the Academy. His feet seated on the angle of the spire roof of one of its handful of towers. A small grin over his lips as he was overlooking the campus and the rest of the Empire's Arwintar, their capital city.

"Probably around next week I'll get that orientation..." He'd whisper to himself, he wasn't talking gleefully, but he was definitely looking forward to it.

Meeting a bunch of school goers. When was the last time he actually attended an institution for learning? High School then College, university? This place was a great place for not only beating down the entitled nobility, but also a place to brainwash children into serving a new cause.

The Emperor wants to use the school to turn the children loyal to the Royal House, the Empire itself, rather than the nobility factions which had sprouted up and fallen over and over again.

Fallen nobles, extended members of the royal family. Factions could be tamed, turned into puppets here. Jack definitely hit the jackpot.

With his wings still tucked within his body, his eyes turned towards the one known as Jet who was entering the building with a group of classmates. He was sure they all stopped to look up at him for a few seconds. It even caused him to chuckle as he could hear Jet dismissing his presence as a continued commonality.

Even bragging that he knew him, and how powerful he was and his 'plans' for the club.

He was sure that he could definitely help those who wished to become Mages, be the top of their class. He wanted to indoctrinate everyone, especially those similar to Fluder.

He knew those obsessed with gaining power for themselves and recognition, would want the contacts which he could extend their way. A small chuckle erupted from his lips.

"Oi..." Jack couldn't help but look in the general direction of his City home. If he could have her, Arche, here with him he'd be even happier. Yet she had already let herself be known, she didn't want to come back to the academy.

She wanted to be with her sisters and earn her keep. She couldn't do that whilst attending school, studying, working and so much more all at once.

Jack himself never truly studied, never in his life had he studied for an exam or a test. His mind kept a lot of information as trivia, even if it wasn't something a normal person would memorize. Though when it came to testing, it was always a fifty percent chance he'd forget everything, know half of it or even completely ace it.

Yet if he were to study, hard or not, he'd fail and his chances of success were higher when he didn't. Why? It could be that studying it over and over again just makes the subject stale.

The mind not wanting to hear it, know about it, any longer... Just abandons it!

He was a horrible test taker, why? It wasn't because he was stupid. He had a high IQ, a high understanding of emotions, but a troublesome learning curve when it came to his memory.

His eyes shifted towards the Palace, his head turning with his sight. It was a massive construct, he knew and could very well tell that the interior was even larger.

Someone who had punished the inept nobles, who still lived in luxury whilst favoring the poor and common folk. It made him think of them as a hypocrite, but that was what humanity was.

Jack would've done the same thing. Destroy the nobles, take their wealth and build an amazing Empire where people lived with smiles on their faces.

Now, the only thing keeping smiles from the faces such as the twins, Arche's little sisters, was the darkness that laid beneath it all. Slavery. Elves, he could somewhat understand. However there were humans who had become enslaved, ones who owed money or were collateral for someone else's debt. Jack saw it as disgusting.

"Jack-oniisama!" He could hear Aura's voice in his head, immediately causing him to shift where he stood. His eyes daringly looking to the West, the direction of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

It seems she had used a Message scroll.

"Aura, what's the problem?"

"I've been watching the Mansion after you left. There's something strange going on outside the property." She informed him as if there was definitely something fishy going on.

Raising a brow at this, he would cast the spell known as Fly with silent magic, hovering away from the Academy in the general direction of his home. "Tell me about it?"

"Yes, Jack-oniisama!" Aura sounded happy to be depended on, he could imagine her jumping up and down at this. Though at the same time, her voice was direly serious. "Some shady figures have been watching it for a while now."

"Oh? Loan sharks probably looking for collateral." Jack's mind went back towards her parents and let out a sigh. If he didn't shed her identity, it was clear that she wasn't going to live a peaceful life.

Even though a Worker hardly had one of those.

"Oniisama, Can I kill them?" Aura asked almost a little too directly, she was egging to do something, as all there was to do back in Nazarick was follow scheme after scheme.

Plus he had promised to get her some sort of wild animal unique to this world! So she was all too happy to give him more attention that the Guild Leader for the time being!

Jack nodded slightly, "Keep watch on them for the time being. Only attack should they try to enter the premises when I'm not present. It's best to keep the inhabitants of Nazarick hidden for the time being."

"As Expected of a Supreme Being... Showing these lesser life forms their place, by exercising subtle mercy, only getting ready to pounce when they least expect it." It was Demiurge.

"Are you guys always in the same room together or something?" Jack developed a sweat drop on the side of his head as he chuckled to himself.

"No, actually I have been tasked with developing new scrolls from finer material."

"Have you tried using baby pigs? Humans used to use them for premium parchments for their holy texts from what I remember. Born in numbers and in excessive quantities. Perhaps baby calfs even?" Jack was drawing on knowledge from medieval times he remembered from art history class. It was an easy class to take, so he had it quite a few times. The history of war wasn't the only thing the repeated over and over again.

"Ah, exquisite taste, just as I assumed, Jack-sama! However... I'm not sure if the quality of a pig's hide would do for such a significant task given to me by Ainz-sama. Hm.."

Jack visualized the Arch Devil pressing the specs to the bridge of his nose, like a smart nerd, with a creepy self-confident grin across his lips. He couldn't help but shake his head at this.

"The people of the Slane Theocracy are moving in troves from their villages to their walled cities. Perhaps you could use them... They're savages anyways. Free the elves they have as slaves though..."

"Elves?" Demiurge almost scoffed, "Jack-sama must have an interesting idea, I presume?"

"Some Kingdoms are bought with fear and some with love for its people, but we must first start with the relations of people and Nazarick. Have them build a colony around the Amphitheater, they will learn the benevolence for mortals who willing serve Nazarick. Plus... How would you feel towards humans if they clipped your ears?"

There was a short pause, before a laugh sounded in his head. "Perhaps we could use this opportunity for breeding experiments with willing Elves?"

"It'll be pretty hard to get an elf to agree unless you use magic to dominate their minds," Jack snickered at Demiurge's thoughts. "And isn't the Sixth floor..."

"I'm still here," Aura seemed to have a shrinking voice as if she had been forgotten and was brought into the middle of a conversation that she didn't necessarily want to hear.

"So no breeding experiments on that floor," Jack tried not to laugh, suppressing the urge rather well. As he kept his eyes in the distance, people eying him from the ground. He was already off the campus and going over the normal streets of the city, showing off his ability to fly casual.

Aura sighed in relief, "Thank you Jack-oniisama..."

She was a beast tamer, she knew how animals were made, she had plenty of them. They didn't just appear out of nowhere and for sure, the Vampire doesn't keep her mouth shut. Despite how innocent and naive Shalltear could be, the two of them learned a lot from one another as they lived their daily lives in the Tomb.

"So, how is the breeding experiment going with the blonde human?"

Hearing Demiurge's words, Jack nearly choked on his own tongue. "I haven't gotten that far yet, I'll let you know once there are results."

This was met by a know-it-all chuckle from the Arch Devil himself, "As expected, Jack-sama is looking for the perfect moment to strike!"

Jack stressed his eyelids as he looked to distant horizons ahead of him. "So embarrassing..."