The King of Steel (RWBY/ Ozpin SI): Chapter 13

Esmeralda Pierce, a young Faunus with dog ears, walked nervously into the interview room which had hundreds upon hundreds of potential workers lining outside of it in just a single day since it opened its doors.

It was something that the young woman had foreseen given the sudden and obscene layoffs performed by various industries across the boards just a short few days ago after replacing their workforce with automated systems.

Even the SDC, the greatest ‘employer’ of cheap labor, had suddenly shifted to automated manufacturing and mining systems after staunchly opposing such a transition for over a decade now.

While it was great news for the industries and the consumers since the buyers could get things for cheaper and the industries could make more profit, it was terrible news for the low-skill workers who were employed in these industries and lost their jobs to these damned machines.

Then, out of nowhere, more than a dozen companies, including Seasons Inc. the company responsible for making those automated solutions in the first place, suddenly put out a notice for all these workers who were laid off, saying that they were hiring for low skill labor for their factories and manufacturing units all across the world.

Many people were rightfully skeptical and thought that this was nothing more than a PR move to push the blame away from them for this sudden unemployment crisis.

However, Esmeralda and many other workers like her who came to one of the hundreds of recruitment offices that day were able to confirm with their own eyes that this was no PR move or any other nefarious way to leave people on the streets with false promises.

This was a genuine hiring process with nearly seventy percent of the applicants receiving a position in these industries by the end of the day. Even those who did not manage to secure a position were still hired on a contract basis and given a chance to improve their skills and eventually become a permanent worker if they managed to show improvement.

No matter how skeptical and beaten out of hope by the world, Esmeralda could not help but think that this was it, her ticket out of poverty and a life of misery.

As the line in front of her grew shorter and shorter, the time she had been anticipating and dreading finally arrived and her name was called by the recruiter.

Walking in, she spotted a human man waiting behind the table with her file and she immediately felt her stomach drop in fear.

It was an understandable reaction since most of the Faunus, especially those in the working class, had no real positive interaction with humans most of the time. While there were few good people, they were the outliers and not the norm.

Esmeralda intellectually understood that the Faunus Rights revolution was to blame for this issue since there were heavy casualties on both sides during that short but violent conflict so much so that it was hard to find a family that had not lost a loved one to the Revolution.

But emotionally, she still could not help but feel fear and hatred every time she saw humans because of the hatred she had endured while growing up just because she was born with an extra pair of ears on her head.

Her previous experience while looking to be hired came to the forefront as the young woman stood with a small hunch, making herself look smaller, and did her best to appear as submissive as possible.

Experience taught her that human recruiters preferred submissive Faunus who looked easy to control while any that looked even slightly better than the recruiter were through straight out of the office most of the time.

But, her fear then intensified when she saw the human frown at her actions before taking on a neutral look and polite body language.

“Miss. Pierce. I am Markus Ruben, the designated Seasons Inc. recruiter for this sector of Vale. A pleasure to meet you.”

“T-Thank you for your time, Mr. Ruben. As you already know, I am Esmeralda Pierce.”

“A pleasure. Now, shall we get down to business?”

“Y-Yes”

The man called Markus shifter through her folder before speaking again.

“I see that you have five years of experience working for various industries and in various positions. Assembly Line worker in Ranteck Automobiles, Dust Refinery machine operator in SDC, and the last position you held, senior refinery operator in Juwel Dust Solutions located in Mantle.”

“Yes. I have also done a few odd jobs and unregistered work for various industries over the past few years.”

As the man continued to speak, the young Faunus slowly found her confidence and managed not to stutter out of fear.

So far, she felt like the interview was going very well and the man did not seem to be biased like the many others she had faced in the past. He did not even try to discredit her or say that what she did was not up to the mark and nothing to be proud of.

Markus simply looked at her work experience objectively and judged it based on the opening available in the company he was working for. Esmeralda could appreciate such neutrality and was even thankful for it.

Soon, the various rounds of questioning and answering came to an end as Markus nodded in satisfaction.

“Well, Miss. Esmeralda, I think your profile matches what we are looking for. We are willing to hire you as a Senior Assembly Line worker for now and will be promoted in the future based on your performance. Here is the contract.”

Esmeralda felt her eyes widen in disbelief as she read through the contract. Putting aside the generous salary package, the benefits afforded to her were something she had not heard of in her work experience.

For a split second, uncomfortable thoughts passed through her mind, thinking that this man was looking to do something to her or that the company was lying blatantly on the contract, just like many other industries she had worked at that said one thing and did something else entirely.

But looking at the clear, solemn, and easily intelligible legal documents, she could not help but doubt such nefarious thoughts.

Unaware, or probably uncaring of her inner turmoil, Markus continued speaking.

“As part of Seasons Inc, you will also be entitled to Health Insurance and emergency paid leaves in case of natural disasters that effect your family. You are also entitled to workplace injury compensation which will be equivalent to five years of your salary. We are also compliant with the Grimm attack compensation norms of the Vale council, which means that your family will receive ten years' worth of your salary in case you meet an unfortunate fate after a Grimm attack on our facilities in the frontier locations.”

Esmeralda felt dizzy as she heard those words as these kind of compensations and coverages were something that she could not even dream of, much less obtain in her life. Even more so for a Faunus like her who was the subject of hatred by Humans.

She was not naïve enough to think that the company would follow through with everything that Markus said and that they would not try to use loopholes to escape their responsibilities, but she still felt it was nice to have legally binding documents in her hand that could reassure her in dire times.

Even a false reassurance was better than having no reassurance at all.

Sneaking a peak at the waiting human, Esmeralda hurriedly picked up the pen and started signing the contract, looking through the details keenly and making sure to imprint them into her mind despite being given a copy of the agreement by Markus.

Just as she was preparing to leave, she herd Markus’s words that made her flinch.

“Also, before you leave, Miss. Esmeralda, as you have completed the procedures, you are now a part of Seasons Inc. This means that you also represent the company and we cannot have you appear timid and weak in front of outsiders. Please work on your confidence and make sure you don’t appear submissive or weak in front of others, even if the person in front of you is the CEO of this company.”

She felt butterflies in her stomach at those words as she worked hard to suppress the tears that were about to spill from her eyes.

She silently nodded and rushed out, fearing that she would expose this vulnerable state of hers in front of her employer.

How long had it been since someone told her to have more confidence in herself? How long had it been since someone genuinely looked at her skills without her race clouding their vision?

How long had it been since she had been treated as an actual person instead of an animal?

She did not know. But she knew one thing.

With just this gesture alone, Seasons Inc. now had her loyalty.

With those thoughts in her mind, she excitedly ran home, wishing to share this good news with her family.