8 Consequence-free actions

Jonathan felt weird. Very much so in fact

On the one hand, he had committed a crime. A very, very serious crime at that. Robbing a bank for ten million lien. A criminal act that he had committed on a clear day. In public. And without anything to cover his identity from possible witnesses. Luckily, he's a mage, so that pesky problem called getting away with it was only a matter of preparation.

If before, if he was caught with his petty theft and perhaps some trespassing, it would only land Jonathan with, most likely, with a bit of a fine or, perhaps, community service. IF instead he was caught now...

Well, let's just say that Jonathan would've been thrown behind bars for a very, very long time, Something that should make him incredibly nervous as he contemplated how to hide his ill-gotten gains.

Instead of worrying about it though, Jonathan felt… excitement.

Jonathan let out a completely shrill laugh, filled with overwhelming emotion. Of what, Jonathan can't really decide. Is this what adrenaline junkies feel?

Refraining from shivering from a fit of chills, either from the cold or something Jonathan can't really describe, he pulled his cloak closer. As if by doing so he could hide the unhealthy excitement behind his clothes.

Ten million lien! Ten million lien for… hmm. Even if he counts all the time he spent preparing, of developing the plan, the time he spent scouting the location, or even the money needed to purchase all the equipment, it was still an overwhelmingly large return on investment!

Crime does indeed pay!

Jonathan tugged at his cloak again, hastily pulling on his hat, so that it covered the somewhat demented grin on his face. He even moved it further so that it covered his face a little, somewhat covering his line of sight.

Still, excited or not, Jonathan's mind continued working, planning for what he's going to do. All his thoughts, all his mind was occupied exclusively with this new preoccupation.

Jonathan now have ten million lien on hand, and he could spend them on whatever he wanted. Though in truth he only has one million lien right now

Jonathan refrained from shrugging his shoulders at the inane thought, instead just rushing down the street, moving his legs quickly to distance himself from the crime scene, all while not paying attention to the hurrying people around.

Jonathan's bag contained a million lien in cash, as he did not dare to take all the money at once, leaving most of the bags full of banknotes lying in the sewers, all hidden with a little bit of debris.

However, even with only a million lien inside it, his bag crackled ominously from time to time. Its overburdened capacity, causing the seams to try to open up, to then dump its contents out.

Jonathan bit his lip to avoid… Something.

Jonathan wasn't even sure about what he needs to do right now, he really doesn't know the first step to take after gaining all this fund. From all the 'heist' movies he watched in the past, he knows that he needs to find some way to 'launder' his money… not that he have the first clue on how to do that of course.

Although, perhaps this confusion was not that surprising.

Lately, Jonathan seems to be flying by the seat of his pants, making decisions after decisions on a shear trigger. Maybe now that he has the funds to support Cinder for the foreseeable future, he could start thinking about his long-term plans…

Or he could die, he supposes.

Preoccupied with thoughts on how to find a criminal fence, Jonathan was no longer paying attention to the road. A clear mistake as he flew into another random passer-by with his bag full of ill-gotten gains flying through the air.

As he was falling though, his momentum was then taken advantage of by a strong and calloused grip on his shoulder. Jonathan was being pinned to the ground.

The person he crashed into was not a casual passerby...

Jonathan did not even have time to prop himself up as he fell to the ground, plopping down on his stomach with his hands behind his back. Whoever took him down was very trained in this matter.

His hat instantly flew off Jonathan's heads, flying along with his bag filled with illicit money. Fortunately for Jonathan, the bag did not break or make a strange noise. Too bad it landed next to the man holding him down, so there's no way for him to teleport without leaving his bag behind.

Jonathan blinked in surprise as he lay on the ground, his mind barely catching up to what had just happened.

Ha, should he be surprised or vexed that Atlas policemen acted so quickly and successfully? They were quick, very quick. It barely took them an hour to catch him, Jonathan could only applaud them for it.

After another moment, Jonathan's thoughts cleared, making him fully take in the situation he was in. So unexpected and stupid to be caught this way, he should have just teleported away back to his room as soon as he was away from the bank.

A moment later, Jonathan's brain began to work on a plan of escape.

He was just grabbed and thrown to the ground... After he crashed into someone not immediately after he robbed the bank. This was an important point to note.

Even if this was happening because of the bank robbery, for example the bank he robbed was somehow watched by all of Atlas' Magisters of Ars Temporis and Ars Fati - Jonathan would have been detained during the robbery, not after it. If on the other hand the Atlas bank was not protected by Ars, and here Jonathan took a moment to reproach himself that he made such a gross mistake, not even checking the bank of another world for magical protection! - it is unlikely that the police were able to track down Jonathan himself so quickly that they could instantly catch and detain him now, all without having any information about him.

Did he, somehow, without noticing it, ran into some local gang?! Really what shit luck, he did not even leave the main street...

"Hey, what are you doing?!" As he was complaining about his rotten luck, a soft squeaky voice, most likely from a child, was heard by Jonathan. The voice sounded like a young girl's, she sounded older than Cinder. And most of all, likely a spoiled brat.

The latter was hinted at to Jonathan by the particular timbre of the voice. Such a high squeaky voice, with vowels stretching oddly, with a strange, even 'characteristic' echo. Yeah, even from just her voice, Jonathan could tell that his gains from the bank was most likely nothing much to the girl's parents.

"Let him go!" At the very least, the annoying voice is asking the mass of muscles to let him go. Should Jonathan be saying gratitude the moment when the mountain of muscles pressing on him disappeared? Free at last, Jonathan took a deep breath, before slowly getting up off the asphalt and dusting himself off.

"Who are you and why are you attacking my guards?!" Well, what a weird Umbral world logic, being pinned down counts as attacking someone.

"I didn't do such a thing." Jonathan replied instantly to the accusation, as he glanced at the giant of a man, that he had accidentally walked into. "It was just an accident. Though, I do must say, that the manners of your guard are quite peculiar!"

Jonathan took an inspecting look at the guard that had just made him eat a dust sandwich. To call him a huge man would be an understatement, he looked like he wrestles bears bare-handed as a hobby. It didn't help that with his short-haired haircut, paired with his sharp-pressed pristine suit, now somewhat marred with dust tracks in some places, he cut a very dangerous figure. Oh! And how could he forget? Huge defined muscles that bulges under his clothes!

With his face, as if made of a single solid piece of concrete, that did not express any emotions he was the stereotypical bodyguard of a young ojou-sama of a mafia family. At that last thought Jonathan then looked at the girl who was completely lost in the background against the giant brute.

Well, with the gender and age of the speaker now apparent, Jonathan's deduction was definitely right on the money.

The one who spoke, and now looked at Jonathan with a certain disdainful interest, was a girl who looked about ten or twelve years old. She was dressed in a white and pale blue dress embroidered with white snowflakes. With her white hair tied in a strict bun, Jonathan had never seen so much white on a person. He thinks that it looked a little comical on her. Jonathan would laugh if not for her piercing pale blue eyes looking at him like trash.

She would almost definitely grow up with a stick up her ass.

"Miss Schnee!" A panicked voice attracted Jonathan's attention to the side. There he saw a middle-aged balding man with a well-fed physique running towards here from a distance.

Now that he's closer, Jonathan's attention was taken by the thick mustache that covered a significant part of the mouth of the hurrying man. It's only much later that Jonathan notes that he was dressed in a decent raincoat and bowler hat that was askew by his haste. "My dear Winter! Please don't go to far from me!"

"Klein!" - The now named Winter turned to the middle-aged man with a frown on her face, definitely going to grow up with a resting bitch face. She then unceremoniously pointed her finger towards Jonathan, - "This man attacked my guard!"

Jonathan wanted to intervene in the conversation and defend his sanity. But, after thinking about it for a bit, attracting attention to himself by interrupting the very rich and on a hair trigger girl whose family somehow have made a gorilla wear a suit, while having a million of freshly stolen lien in his bag was not the best decision that Jonathan could do right now.

So he tacitly allowed this Winter to continue his story where the just a second ago force to appreciate the quality of Atlas' roads Jonathan somehow came out of nowhere and punched the gorilla in a suit in the face. Jonathan was pretty sure that his hands doesn't reach that high.

Plus, um... Miss Schnee? As in the Schnee Dust Company?

Jonathan could barely believe his strange luck.

What luck, haha...

Jonathan chuckled internally, he met a Schnee as soon as he had a lot of money. It seems that he's finally moving up in the world!!

It is unlikely that in front of him was the owner of this business, he's pretty sure he fell in an Umbral world not one of his comic books. She's more likely one of the children, or, perhaps, grandchildren? Perhaps even the heiress of the business. He guesses that any member of such a prestigious family would clearly be under strict protection.

"Achoo!" After a moment, the middle-aged man, who heard Winter's exaggerated version where I drop-kicked her guard, sneezed deafeningly before then looking at Jonathan. "Yo-young man, so what ha-happ Achoo! happened?"

Jonathan noticed how the man in front of him closed his eyes during a sneeze, and then opened them again… And, um... Were his eyes of a different color now?

Jonathan noted to keep strange detail to himself.

"Just bad luck, I suppose, I wasn't paying attention to the road and stumbled." Jonathan smiled genially as he reached for his bag that is still lying on the pavement… Only to notice the diminutive Winter heading towards him, bypassing both Klein and her guard. Looking uncomfortably close to Jonathan in the face.

"No, you hit my guard!" Winter frowned into Jonathan's face, lifting her chin high, annoyingly poking him in the chest, - "You can't do that!"

"My dear." Klein, whose voice, or rather intonation, for some reason changed all of a sudden, tried to waylay the annoyed heiress, For some reason Klein sounded somewhat... grumpy. "It was just an accident…"

"Klein!" Winter threw an indignant glance at her... Butler? Or maybe another guardian,,, no definitely a butler. Though Jonathan couldn't be sure since he wasn't very good at guessing the specific interpersonal relationships of the scions of noble families,

"He hit my guard!" The heiress shouted petulantly. Well, he better placate the kid soon before he draws more attention to himself.

"Um," Jonathan coughed into his fist, drawing the attention of Klein and Winter to himself. The guard, who had been standing next to them like an immovable rock all this time, continued to silently drill Jonathan with his eyes. He clearly did not have any other emotions, "I beg your pardon, Winter?"

"Yes!" Winter instantly lifted her nose, when she hears her name. "Winter Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company!"

"I ..." Jonathan sighed at his growing familiarity with dealing with children. Hah, over the past... couple of days, he had learned a little bit on how to calm children down. Even so, Jonathan was not completely sure how he could calmly get out of his current predicament. But, if there's anything that he could be proud of, is his ability of observation.

"I'm sorry, I was to blame for running without paying attention to the road, I apologize for my indiscretion and for harming your guard. I sincerely apologize and assure you that this will never happen again." He tried his best to school his features into the perfect picture of regret.

Winter, hearing Jonathan's apologies, blinked, then suddenly rolled her eyes. She completed the picture of snobbishness by snorting with her nose. "Not to me, you boob! You crashed into Senne - so apologize to him!" The heiress then pointed towards the piece of granite in a suit behind her.

Jonathan exhaled, it looks like his action was more than correct, he was able to both instantly resolve the unexpected conflict, and do it in such a way as to evoke extremely positive emotions in Winter. Something which Jonathan considered his greatest prize. After all who knows how she will react if she suddenly decides that she didn't like Jonathan's face not encrusted with bits of pavement.

However, turning to the guard, who was still just silently standing there, who seemed to haven't even moved a step from his original place, Jonathan exhaled and smiled as welcoming as he could. "Ah, I do apologize Mr. Senne for this incident and promise that this will not happen again."

The silent mountain of muscles, who scarily looked at Jonathan, was apparently already accustomed to Winter's peculiar behavior and just nodded. Jonathan wonders how the guard address his ward. Boss, mistress, object of protection? After a while, the guard spoke with a gravely voice. "It's okay, I apologize for my actions. Be careful henceforth."

Jonathan, somewhat surprised by such an answer, blinked, then nodded and finally hastily reached out to his bag, after Winter took a step away from his face.

Also, luckily from the bag containing a million lien.

Jonathan quickly lifted the bag, then smiled at the three before him. "Sorry again, but I need to hurry."

"Go." Winter, satisfied by his apology, easily dismissed Jonathan, as if allowing him to leave her audience, before taking a close look at him and wagging his finger. "And don't run like that anymore!"

"Ai-ai, sir!", - Jonathan jokingly saluted the girl, and then headed on his way.

More time spent thinking about how he should spend the stolen ten million lien, and not about the completely random and unexpected meeting.

***

Cinder didn't let her emotions show on her face. At this time, I need you not to draw attention to yourself in any way.

Cinder could do such a small thing. Such an easy thing that she has done all her life. Just don't attract attention.

But for some reason, Cinder felt her hands sweating from remembering Jonathan's words. She could feel her heart thumping over and over again in her chest just from some simple instructions.

Don't draw attention to yourself.

Cinder bit her lips painfully, as she washed the next plate.

Everything will be ready by the end of the week.

Cinder tried to refrain from doing… Something.

A thing that she herself did not understand. Cinder closed her eyes for a second, then closed her eyes with all her might.

Here she is… Outside and still she's chained down.

Cinder was not allowed to walk out into the street. Not that she herself seek to leave the hotel, she can't.

She had no warm clothes, not even decent shoes that would allow her feet to not be stuck in the snow and for the asphalt to not scratch her feet bloody. As it was always freezing cold outside, she can't go anywhere, Not that she would try anyway as it was too easy to walk… too far from the hotel.

Cinder winced, sucking in air before returning to washing the dishes.

She… won't stay here for long!

She will be able to look at the dawn! The sunset! Even the full moon!

Cinder continued to wash the dishes, one by one, as he imagined the day Jonathan would take her away from this horrid place. She could literally feel the distant clouds floating before her eyes, going ahead to the big, warm sea!

She could imagine the cry of seagulls in her ears.

Cinder once heard that there are many seagulls on the shores of Mistral. So, when she's free she's going to sit on the shore and listen to the seagulls... and the sound of the ocean...

Cinder loosened her grip for a moment, but that was enough for the plate to easily slip out of Cinder's weakened hands. She reflexively and abruptly tried to catch the plate, successfully catching it a moment before it crashed into the surface of the countertop next to her.

If the plate fell, it would break. And if the plate broke, Miss Sunny would know about it. If Miss Sunny found out about it, there would be punishment. And Jonathan asked her to be careful of receiving punishment, so Cinder in no case could allow this to happen!

Cinder sighed, as she felt her hands trembling with jitters before lowering the plate gently, picking another one to clean.

Just a little bit more.

Cinder at first did not believe what Jonathan was saying. It was like some… some kind of fairy tale. Some accidental miracle that suddenly happened in the life of a book's protagonist. Something that is impossible to happen to her.

Cinder was afraid that he would suddenly wake up and realize that it was all a dream.

But Cinder's faith was much stronger.

After all, Jonathan had promised her. And Cinder believed Jonathan.

It was like how a small children could believe in magical creatures. How people could fully put their trust in something even if only for one time.

And Cinder had no doubts about Jonathan. He had promised her, and that was enough.

Jonathan will return, and do... something to take her away from here, that's all! And Cinder will be free!

Cinder bit her lip so hard that after a moment she felt a familiar cold, iron taste in her mouth, before slowly licking off the emerging drops of blood and continuing to sort out the dirty dishes.

After all, Jonathan promised her.

Jonathan wouldn't just lie to her.

HE COULD NOT!

Cinder felt her palm warm up before she came to herself, letting go of the plate before it cracked from the extreme temperature.

If the plate had cracked, Miss Sunny would have known about it. If Miss Sunny found out about this, there would be punishment.

And Jonathan asked her to avoid any punishments.

***

Jonathan mood was in the clouds. He had enough money to buy… probably everything he wants. A house, extravagant foods, some personal servants, heck maybe even a personal helicopter!

Jonathan took a deep breath to calm himself, restraining himself from another bout of unhealthy mania. As the world had already proved to him, not paying attention to his surroundings could lead Jonathan into very... unexpected situations.

Still Jonathan had passed through one with only a slight fright as he almost vomited his breakfast from worry just from meeting someone unexpected. Luckily he hadn't been accosted by any police or any other law enforcement or else he would really evacuate the content of his stomach.

Of course, formally speaking, nothing could really be done to him legally at all, there's not any evidence that he committed the crime after all. Well, except for the piles and piles of lien he has that he couldn't really explain the source from.

And so between his sense of self-preservation and his propensity to not test his luck, he decides that discretion is the better part of valor in this instance.

Therefore, right now, Jonathan was not planning a prison break or sitting in the police station, but instead walking between the aisles of the bookstore, looking at the books on offer to him.

Fairy Tales of Remnant... Well, not what Jonathan was looking for - but this book will fit well into the rest of Jonathan's purchase. After all, if one were to look at what other books Jonathan had bought, in one way or another, it would be something that was suitable specifically for children - and not for such an adult as he.

Geography of Remnant for the Little Ones - with photos for example would be a great camouflage for Jonathan's need to study the world he had found himself in.

The Kingdoms of Remnant - with photos was also perfect for him. A great source of information on not only the geographical location but the countries itself, called kingdoms for some reason. With this he would have the features of the countries themselves.

Language and literature for the Little Ones - Jonathan added this book after he became interested in why this world spoke English for some reason. It seems there a series of the books? Is it like the 'for dummies' series of books?

And also something that caught his eye, a book imaginatively titled Business Start. Should he also look for Bankruptcy and You or Tax Evasion for Beginners? Jonathan chuckled as he added today's newspaper to the pile.

Jonathan understood that ten million lien was certainly a pretty decent amount, and if he suddenly started making million-dollar deals or purchases out of nowhere, the tax man would probably ream him in the ass. He needs something to 'launder' his millions, god knows you shouldn't fuck with the IRS, Jonathan wouldn't start with this Umbral World equivalent. Opening a business seemed like a very good and a fairly quick way to legalize his income.

The newspaper is self-explanatory, it's useful to keep up with today's news.

In the end, finished with his pickings of various books, Jonathan went to the checkout - after which, having paid for his purchases without any problems, he took a step out the store door...

Only to crash into a huge black limousine, which had enclosed the entrance and exit from the store.

Jonathan blinked in confusion.

Somehow, shortly after meeting a very rich person, he's about to meet another one… An assumption that was proven wrong later when he heard a familiar voice. He's not going to meet another rich scion, he's going to meet the previous one.

"There he is!" Jonathan sighed as his gaze found Winter leaning out of the open car door, pointing a finger at Jonathan.

Ha, did he really actually invited trouble for himself?

A moment later, a guard appeared from the front door of the obscenely long black limousine. Actually the same one that Jonathan managed to meet, still as big and just as imposing as the last time... Damn, he was clearly at least seven feet tall!

The silent man, who glanced at Jonathan, just as silently handed him… His hat.

Holding it in his hand, Jonathan finally realized that he was not wearing his hat, knocked off during the collision with the same man half an hour ago.

"You forgot your hat, you idiot!" Winter leaned out of the limousine again, looking at Jonathan patronizingly and triumphantly at the same time. "Do you at least understand how troublesome it is when I had to go after you?! You boob!"

Jonathan blinked, looking first at Winter, then at his hat, before putting it back on his head.

Ha, okay brain, engage polite bullshittery...

"I sincerely thank you for showing condescension to my stupidity and for wasting your time." Jonathan decidedly did not like any unnecessary drawing of attention to himself, so he decided to break off the dialogue as quickly as possible, - "I am extremely sorry for my absent-mindedness."

"Ha!" - Winter proudly lifted her chin proudly, looking at Jonathan with a satisfied smirk, -

"That's it!" After a moment, Winter turned away from Jonathan, looking inside the limousine, and started talking to someone inside. "I told you, Klein!"

In response to this, Jonathan heard only an inaudible muttering, apparently, from the same Klein, which he had met before. From outside the limousine Jonathan could only distinguish Klein saying 'father' and 'faster', to which Winter rolled her eyes.

"Yes, yes, I know! I was busy with something important, okay?!"

After another moment, Winter glanced at Jonathan. "And don't distract me with such things anymore! Watch your surroundings better!"

After another moment, Winter darted back into the limousine, closing the door behind her, and the guard, still silently casting a wary glance at Jonathan, also entered the limousine. As the limousine started moving, Jonathan exhaled forcefully.

Ha, what a day today have been!

After another moment, the limousine slowly pulled away, finally clearing the exit, so Jonathan could pass. Though Jonathan wonders what event would make an heiress and her father be that hurried.

Not that he was interested in it at all… Although, hmm...

Jonathan blinked as a thought arose in his mind...

A robbed bank would do it. And Jonathan seems to remember that there was a large snowflake decorating the wall in the main hall.

Jonathan blinked again as he realized that if his bag had spilled out its content back then, he would be in a world of trouble.

Jonathan grimaced and exhaled slowly. Not that he could return all the money back and just apologize anyway. And, to be honest - Jonathan could not find any reason to do such a thing. Umbral worlds have insurance right?

So, pulling back his cloak once more, Jonathan went on his way.

***

"What a boob!" Winter rolled her eyes, remembering her recent acquaintance. She can't imagine how someone can be so clumsy and forgetful?! He was very lucky that Winter was there and helped him! Without her, he would have lost his hat! What a boob!

Winter rolled her eyes remembering the idiot, then glanced at Klein, who was sitting next to her. He was unusually quiet in the last hour, and, it seemed, even somewhat worried...

"Klein!" - Winter turned to her butler, annoyed, and so she started demanding an answer, - "Why are you silent?!"

"Miss Schnee", - Klein sighed, looking at Winter attentively with his brown eyes, - "Your father demanded for you to immediately return to the estate and…"

"Yes, yes." Winter rolled her eyes, waving her hand in front of her, as if dispelling Klein's words. "I was busy, okay?! It was a wonderful lunch that he interrupted! It is extremely uncultured on his part!"

"Of course, Winter." Klein's demeanor softened a little and his features turned from anxious to his habitually calm one. "But you know that Mr. Schnee doesn't like it when his instructions are not fulfilled on time…"

Winter, hearing this, grimaced, - "Yes, I know, but…"

Since her mother had gotten pregnant for the third time, Winter has completely stopped liking staying in her house.

There were always too many servants in it and yet there's no one that she can really interact with. The new servants were there to look after Weiss, Winter's younger sister, and the old servants were to busy looking after mom… and mom…

Mom practically seemed to be avoiding Winter lately… Although, probably, it was normal for a pregnant woman? It was hard for her to do anything now, so Winter did not blame her.

While her father… the less said about it the better. He was always inundated with work, so Winter tried not to interact with him when he's working. He was always very angry when anyone distracted him from his work.

With no one she can interact with at home, lately Winter spent very little time at home. After her classes was finished, the rest of the time, Winter went with Klein on a trip of Atlas. Oh! She did like spending time in the Three Swans, it was a great restaurant!

She didn't like going back to the estate.

However, not paying any heed to her reluctance, the limousine drove through the open gates of her home. Slowly, it arrived to the front doors of the mansion.

At least, Winter thought, the drive here haven't been half bad. She especially liked the limousine, it had such soft seats! It was over so soon though, as the limousine came to a halt, and they exited the limousine.

Klein, after a moment, opened the doors of the estate for Winter. "Please."

Winter nodded with some reluctance, then took a step inside her home...

In the silence of the estate, her footsteps echoed with a booming echo - she never liked this stupid huge place. It was too quiet and created too much echo for even the smallest noise.

A moment later, Winter felt Klein's hand on her shoulder, causing Winter to look towards Klein. There she noticed a kind, familiar smile...

She then jerked her shoulder, causing the hand to drop from her shoulder.

"Stop patronizing me Klein! I'm not a child anymore!" Klein only smiled in response, continuing to look at Winter with a smile.

Winter took a deep breath, and then walked forward with a confident gait.

The journey to her father's office was not too long, but still stressful. The empty corridors made Winter's footsteps echo loudly. The atmosphere was so stifling that Winter was even glad when the silence of the corridors was interrupted by her father's voice...

Although, of course, the screaming probably did not indicate anything good. "Ten million lien, stolen! Do you understand what this means for my company?!"

"My company?!" Mother's equally loud voice added to the cacophony, becoming gradually louder the more Winter approached her father's office.

"Not so long ago you called it 'our' company, and now it 'my' company is it?!" Mother shouted.

"Oh now it's a problem!? I have never even heard you doing something for the sake of 'your' company!" Her father's voice was loud, as it reflected from the walls of the mansion, becoming more and more distorted with each echo.

"If this is 'your' company, maybe you'll deign to tell me how you're going to solve this problem?! This is not just a loss of ten million, it's a massive loss of reputation! The Schnee bank was just robbed in broad daylight! And worst of all we don't have a single clue of who did it! Not even a single suspect! This loss will domino into hundreds of millions more losses! Dozens of our investors will lose confidence in the Schnee! I didn't create the banks only to receive losses because of them!" Winter could hear the spittle flying off of her Father.

"You made them?!" Mother's voice sounded offended. "You tearfully begged me to give you my shares! You assured me that it was only necessary to create a subsidiary, you even asked me to give my support on your knees!"

After another moment, the scream of two people was interrupted by a sound… Winter knew the sound as someone being slapped... That's not possible right? Her parent wouldn't be hitting each other right? Maybe she had heard it so long ago that she confused it? Maybe…

"Winter." Klein's voice made her to turn toward her butler. He was walking towards her.

"Maybe... It's better for you to go to your room? I alone am enough to tell Mister Schnee that you have returned home…"

Winter looked up at Klein, who smiled at her reassuringly.

"Yes, perhaps." Winter slowly nodded, then pulled away from Klein. "I'll go back to my room…"

Klein, now alone, watched as the girl leave the corridor before his attention was attracted by the door, opening a little further down the corridor.

From there Willow emerged. She was still as beautiful as ever in her light blue dress. In spite of her pregnancy, she barely put on weight and looked as slender and graceful as always. Like an ice diva, a work of art… who is coincidentally also seven months pregnant.

The red mark on her cheek, on which the outlines of a red palm were already showing was the only thing marring her beauty.

Not even paying attention to Klein, Willow stormed quickly down the corridor - away from her daughter, leaving Jacques Schnee to remain in the office.

The man probably had returned to his desk, pouring another glass of brandy to calm his nerves...

Klein just exhaled slowly as he walked towards Jacques in his office.

Another typical day for the Schnee family.

***

Jonathan scanned book after book.

It was already Tuesday… Hah, he only has until the end of the week to find a place for him and Cinder to stay.

A very short amount of time to obtain documents for him and Cinder. To prepare the ground and ritual that will remove the collar from Cinder. Then and only then he can run away with Cinder...

Jonathan exhaled, looking through book after book.

Obtaining IDs. Jonathan would probably have to resort to using illegal services for that. But, without any understanding of how he was supposed to get in touch with the local shady side of life, this possibility seemed very unlikely to him.

This means that if he could not get the documents illegally, then the only thing left for him to do was to get the documents legally. As legally as it was possible for him anyway.

Refugee, all he could do was to disguise himself as a refugee… Actually something that is not too far from the truth. The bookstore was a gold mine of information, information that he needs.

As he had discovered, very often settlements outside the jurisdiction of the Kingdoms would be destroyed by Grimm incursions or even from bandits. And although usually most of the inhabitants of the settlement died after the attack, sometimes some survived. They would then make way to the other settlements or, sometimes, even to the Kingdoms.

So with this situation in mind, there was actually a procedure for re-housing refugees. They were provided with temporary housing, and certification courses were held for them to confirm their past qualifications. Sometimes identifications were even restored...

In any case, it was a good step to get official documents for him. He could just to say that his previous settlement was destroyed during the Grimm attack and he himself escaped...

But, Jonathan did not need temporary housing or any other help at all. In addition, he needed to get a complete set of documents as soon as possible if he wanted to legalize his income. A way for him to open a business and buy a decent house.

From what he read, the procedure for obtaining not only a temporary refugee permit, but full citizenship in Atlas, could drag on for several months. Not to mention that a 'refugee' like him could not in any objective way declare that he possesses any significant amount of money…

Or - Jonathan sighed - he could, only to probably then lose it very quickly... A stateless refugee like him couldn't complain that the officials looking after him had stolen his money. Not that a story like officials taking away several million liens from a refugee would sound in any way truthful… So taking that process in Atlas sounds quite bad.

So… he needs to find a Kingdom where he can… speed up the process of obtaining documents somewhat.

After all, he still had ten million lien. And money can grease up a lot of palms, he only needed to find the palm to grease first.

In this regard, Mistral sounded like a good place to start. Judging by the entries in the books, the one for doing business, not the one for children, corruption flourished in Mistral.

There he probably could use his... lien to lubricate the gears of the bureaucratic machine.

However, Mistral was a large kingdom. Even if it was corrupt, it is not the best place where Jonathan could easily hide from the gaze of Schnee and Atlas… Actually, with the criminal element flourishing there, it could actually be the worst place to be.

In addition, there has not been any major destruction of settlements near Mistral for a long time, so his story would have a lot of holes in it. The largest ones that he could find, Oniyuri and Kuroyuri were just being built at the moment.

Then… Jonathan sighed as he scanned the map, matching it to his book. In this case, he needed a Kingdom where nearby a settlement was destroyed not so long ago. Better if the destruction created an influx of refugees. Preferably one that is not one of the Kingdoms but still large enough where the process can take place. And yet still small enough that he could somewhat speed up the process of obtaining citizenship. And, if he could find it, with the least connection with Schnee and Atlas...

Well, Jonathan just found the perfect settlement he needed on the map and nodded.

A nearby settlement, Rosegarden was destroyed just a couple of weeks ago… It's the perfect place.

Jonathan felt a little unpleasant about using someone else's tragedy as a cover for his own plans, but… Jonathan shook his head.

He had made a promise. And he will keep his promise.

And, Jonathan grinned sadly, he had already robbed a bank and was planning to kidnap a child. What's a little document forging to that, right?

Jonathan grinned at the target in his map, then began to nod.

He needed a marker, some aerial Dust and a couple of hours of preparation. Oh right, almost forgot, he needs a knife and a door.

Long distance teleportation was not the most difficult task for Jonathan - but it was better to be prepared anyway. Besides after arriving there, he also needed a way to go back to his room...

But, Jonathan grinned, it was a trifle.

Jonathan needed to begin his preparations right now. He doesn't have a lot of time to waste.

Well, at least the ingredients to teleport to his likely new home for the foreseeable future was easy to find.

Mountain Glenn huh. He wonders how his probable future home looks.