Pulling up to the Winters family mansion Leonard all but runs inside. The servants and guards don't stop him as he swings open the front door and walks inside as he's been over before and the staff knows he's the Young Masters best friend.
"Young Master Wolfe." The butler greets him as Leonard steps through the door.
"Where is Nova?" Leonard asks the butler politely. Butler James had been working for the Winters since Jade and Novas parents were children. He was Mr. Winters personal servant before he became the family butler.
"The Young Master is having lunch with the Young Miss in the dining room. Would you like me to guide you there?" Butler James asks kindly.
"No need I know the way." Leonard says with a small smile before making his way towards the dining room.
Meanwhile at the table Jade sits on her chair contentedly as Nova carefully spreads jam on the scones for her before holding one to her lips.
Jade happily takes a big bite making her cheeks puff out like a squirrel as she chews the sweet scone before swollowing.
Just as Nova holds up the rest of the scone to her mouth the door is pushed open and Leonard walks in without knocking.
Jade doesn't pay much attention to the uninvited guest as she happily bites the scone.
Nova rubs her head dotingly before turning to glare at his best friend who interrupted his time with his cute sister.
Leonard doesn't seem to see Novas glare as he replays the scene he just witnessed in his mind.
'What was that affectionate smile I just saw?'
'Nova Winters can smile?'
'Since when?'
'Is that really the Ice Princess?!'
'That young girl in a rabbit onesie?!?!?!?'
'???'
"Why are you here?" Nova asks coldly, making Leonard finally turn to look at him.
"Do I need a reason to visit you?" Leonard asks with an innocent smile as though he didn't come uninvited.
"Yes" Nova says coldly.
Hearing this Leonard is silent for a moment. He was shocked. Whenever he was bored Leonard would go to see Nova unannounced. He would sit on the couch in Novas office or sleep in his bed at the mansion and Nova had never once said anything about it.
"Brother~" Jade calls out softly as she turns her head to look at Nova lazily.
"Hm?" Nova looks at her questioningly, his expression visibly softer.
"Peach." Jade says pointing to the peach jam on the table innocently.
"Ok" Nova agrees as he reaches out to spread the peach jam on another scone.
Seeing this Leonard just stands there dumbfounded.
After eating the last scone Jade yawns sleepily as she slowly stands up.
She pulls out her phone and sends a quick text before finally acknowledge Leonards presence.
"Your friend?" She asks Nova curiously.
"Unfortunately. He's stupid, you can ignore him." Nova says as he gently pulls Jade towards the living room.
"Oh." Jade says but she still waves hi to Leonard as they pass.
It takes a moment for him to come back to his senses and follow them.
By the time he catches up Jade is already curled up on the sofa comfortably as she texts someone. While Nova watches her patiently.
[If we do that we'll have no money left. The team leaders won't be happy to hear about this. I'm afraid they might try to take over.]
Seeing this message she slowly types a reply.
[Do what I said. After this get rid of anyone who isn't our people them give the order to come back. If you aren't back by tomorrow everyone will die.]
Jade wouldn't have cared if this was before but after understanding affection she realized she was worried when she lost contact with her people in her last life. Even now she didn't know if they had survived the outbreak.
[What's happening???]
Seeing Jades message the Commander started to become anxious. He wasn't sure what was going on but he trusted that anything his boss said was true. He was sure she wasn't threatening them. Jade was a good boss. She didn't kill anyone loyal to her. It goes without saying that traitors were tortured and killed but Jade had never treated them badly. She seemed to know something was going to happen.
Something that could kill all the Snow Knights together had to be on the level of a nuke.
The Snow Knights are a special group trained by Jade personally so they were incredibly strong people.
Jade doesn't reply. She knows the Commander will convey her orders to the other Snow Knights. By tomorrow she knew they would be back. They had never disobayed an order and she knew they would continue doing as she says. She knew that any one of them would happily give up their life for her. She had cleansed the order years ago and everyone still alive was loyal. Of course the Commander and the Captains would occasionally question why she asked certain things and they sometimes gave her advice but a subordinate who never questions orders isn't a good subordinate.
"Why are you still here?" Nova asks with disgust as Leonard sits beside him on the couch.
Jade slowly puts her phone away as she stares at her brother thoughtfully. She didn't know what siblings did together. She had never been particularly close to her brother so she wasn't sure. Then she remembered the Captain of the Snow Knights Team Storm -Lisa- had once said she liked to play games with her brother.
However what she forgot was that Lisa has a younger brother who is now only 9-years-old.
"Brother." Jade says as she stands up.
"Hm?" Nova asks with a smile as he turns to look at her.
"Play with me." Jade says as she looks at him expectently.
"What do you want to play?" Nova asks dotingly.
Jade looks thoughtful for a moment as she tries to recall what Lisa said.
-
"Rose my brother is too much!" Lisa said to the Captain of the Snow Knights Team Blizzard.
"What did he do this time?" Rose asks curiously as she turns to look at Lisa.
"He asked me to play dragon versus knight with him and made me be the dragon." Lisa says with a pout.
"How did it go?" Rose asks with a smile.
"Of course I let him win. I had no choice, as the older sibling I have to play what he wants. How else do we bond? My mom keeps telling me to show an interest in whatever he likes as it will 'brong us closer' or something." Lisa says rolling her eyes in annoyance.
"That's normal. Older sibling should play whatever their little sibling likes to do." Rose says with a shrug.
-
"Uncle James! Get my brother and his friend a change of clothes! We're going to play in the basement!" Jade yells to the Butler who she knows is standing on the other side of the door before pulling Nova towards the basement by the wrist.
Nova was surprised. He knew his sister spent a lot of time in the basement but he didn't know what was down there.
He had long forgotten that they're parents had it turned into a gym for Jade 8 years ago when she said she wanted to learn martial arts. At the time he just assumed she would give up in a few days so he forgot about it.
"Yes, Young Miss." Butler James says respectfully as they pass him before turning to instruct a nearby servant.
By the time they reached the basement door someone was already waiting respectfully with two sets of folded clothes.
"Thank you Mary." Jade says to the maid as she takes the clothes. The maid just nods in acknowledgment as she opens the door for the group.
Seeing the dark staircase Nova raises an eyebrow in surprise while Leonard feels hesitant to follow but in the end they all desend.
"Berry activate." Jade says as they reach the bottom of the stairs and enter a huge dark room.
"Yes, My Lady!" A cute childlike voice comes from the speakers in the walls, leaving Leonard and Nova completely speachless.
The lights slowly increase in brightness from nothing, allowing the groups eyes to more easily adjust to the sudden brightness.
"Go." Jade says as she passes the two men the new clothes and points to a nearby door.
She doesn't wait for a reply as she happily enters a room with her name painted on the door.
Once inside she quickly changes into her gym clothes. A royal blue sports bra and matching shorts. She also pulls her hair up into a ponytail.
By the time she's done and walks out of the room Leonard and Nova are already waiting as they scan the large gym in confusion. They didn't know what she wanted to do but Jade seemed excited so Nova was willing to do whatever she wanted to. As for Leonard he just wanted to satisfy his curiosity.
"Come." Jade says as she pulls Nova towards a large empty area.
"What are we doing?" Nova asks with a small chuckle. He had never seen her so active before.
"Doing what I like." Jade says and Nova can clearly see the excitement and happiness in her eyes.
Jade pulls Nova to stand in the middle of the large area.
"Can you fight?" Jade asks curiously as she looks at her brothers hopefully.
"I can." Leonard says with a smile as he walks over to stand near the siblings.
"Level?" Jade asks questioningly as she turns her head to look at Leonard.
"Huh?" Leonard asks in confusion.
"The girl is asking what your strength level is." A voice comes from a door on the other side of the room.
"Grandpa Moore!" Jade says as her entire face lights up in excitement.
"How have you been Little Lady?" Grandpa Moore asks dotingly as he pats the young girls head lovingly.
"Missed you." Jade says softly as she looks at the old man.
"Likewise." The old man says before turning to face the two young men. One looking at him curiously and the other with annoyance. "You never answered the question young man." Grandpa Moore says looking at the curious Leonard.
"What do you mean by 'strength level'?" Leonard asks curiously.
"If you don't know then you likely haven't reached the professional level. The Little Lady here is a Peak Martial Saint and this old man is a Middle Martial Grandmaster." Grandpa Moore explains clearly.
"Martial Saint? Martial Grandmaster? What does that mean." Nova is the one who asks as he looks between the old man and his little sister.
"There are 8 levels of professional martial artists. Disciple, Direct Disciple, Master, Elder Master, Grandmaster, Elder Grandmaster, Saint, and Great Saint. There are 3 stages for each level. Lower, Middle, and Peak. This is how we determine a martial artists strength. Anyone weaker is just a martial warrior." The old man explains slowly.
Hearing this the two young men are both surprised and Nova felt guilty for not paying enough attention to Jade before.
"Honestly I'm quite surprised. Besides myself and her other teachers the Little Lady never brings people down here. She even cleans everything herself." Grandpa Moore says looking at the two guys with interest.
"Wanted to play with Big Brother." Jade says softly in a voice reserved for elders she cares about.
Grandpa Moore let's out a low chuckle.
"So you came here?" He asks in amusement.
"Mn!" Jade nods cutely with eyes filled with anticipation.
Grandpa Moore just nods in understanding before slowly pulling something from his bag.
"Well I best not disturb you any longer. This is the thing you asked for. I'll be on my way." He says before slowly walking away.
"Play now?" Jade asks turning to face her brother again. She doesn't open the box in her hand. She already knows what's inside.
"Alright." Nova says dotingly.
-
A while later.
"Weak." Jade says sadly as she looks at her brother and his friend who are both laying on the ground in pain.
Nova and Leonard just stare at her speachlessly. They didn't have the strength to retort.
Over the course of almost 3 hours they had been thoroughly beaten.
Hand to hand, swords, daggers. No matter what they tried they just couldn't beat her. At first they were both afraid of hurting her but somehow they ended up lying on the floor after using their full strength.
"Young Miss! Some people are here to see you!" A maid tells her through the intercom from upstairs.
"Who?" She asks in confusion. She wasn't expecting anyone today.
"There are five people. 2 women and 3 men. I think I heard the other 4 refer to the man in the lead as Commander." The maid says hesitantly. She wasn't sure if she heard right.
"Ah! Already?" Jade exclaims in surprise.
"Who's here?" Nova asks with a frown.
"My friends." Jade says gently. She was genuinely happy to see them again. Nova was surprised. He had never seen her make such a face.
-
When the group is finally done changing Jade hurridly runs towards the reception area where she knows the Commander and the team captains are waiting.
However when she reaches the door she slows her steps and adjusts her expression to seem indifferent. Nova who witnessed this was curious about who could possibly be in that room.
Upon stepping into the room Jade is immediately pounced on by the two women.
"Waahh! I missed you!" The gorgeous blond cries pitifully as she clings to Jades waist.
"The Commander is a meanie!" The brunette pouts as she points at the commander accusingly.
Jade immediately recognized them as Lisa and Rose.
"Lier!" The tall brunette man says as he points at Rose with wide eyes. He didn't expect her to complain to Jade just because of a little teasing.
"You were a little mean." A thin dark haired man says quietly.
"Liam is right. You were a little mean." The last man with dyed red hair says looking at the commander.
"Rose, Liam, and Jake." Jade says slowly ask she looks between the three people.
"Yes?" They asks nervously in unison.
"Shut up." Jade says threateningly
The trio immediately quiets down.
"Dylan, did you do what I asked?" Jade asks turning to look at the commander.
"Of course, but why did you as me to do that?" Dylan asks in confusion. He tried to understand her actions but he was unsuccessful. After thoroughly checking he didn't find any signs that something was going to happen.
"You'll naturally understand in a few days." Jade says quietly. No matter how many times he had asked she never revealed anything and she didn't plan to tell anyone.
She knew no one would believe her even if she tried to explain it.
She had Dylan buy food, clothes, fuel, generations, batteries, water, weapons, medicine, and many more. She sent him a long list of things they would need in the apocalypse and asked him to spend all her personal savings and the Snow Knights funds to buy them.
She didn't think things would be like a novel where her people abandoned her. She knew that her people wouldn't question her decisions. They trusted her and knew she wouldn't do this without a good reason so they were more than willing to help. Dylan was able to get back so quickly because the rest of the Snow Knights helped buy things. If he had to do everything himself he would take much longer.
"Who cares? Our Little Rich Lady always knows what she's doing!" Lisa says happily. Lisa can be said to be too trusting when it comes to Jade. She would believe anything Jade says even if it's an obvious lie she would choose to trust Jade instead of her own eyes.
"Well, she's never been wrong before." Liam says wth a shrug. He was usually carefree. He lived wittuh the belief that it's better to let things happen on their own.