Chapter 7: Knights and Loyalty

Jeremiah ponders what he'll do going forward with his immortal life, Suzaku handles a task Lelouch lumped on his table, and Kaguya is given a prime taste of what sort of chaos Milly embodies and brings whereever she goes.

The sun had slumped beneath the horizon, with the dozens of rows of orange trees shrouded in shadows. Before one lost sight of them, they could have seen their branches, filled with rich green leaves, but nothing else, as they had been picked clean of every orange on them. The dirt between the many rows of hundreds of trees was bruised and messy from all the workers who had trekked through, while the roads between groups still had muddied tire tracks.

The June air was heavy and warm, the night hardly as cold as it could be, and citrus lingering even around the farmhouse. But it was a sweet yet tart scent that Jeremiah had come to love, for it was the smell of his home and all he had built since he first gained this land.

The Knight of Two sat at the edge of his patio, a plate of his dinner perched atop a small table, roasted potato wedges, roast lamb with sauce, and some cabbage. Of course, it was a large serving, but you needed your calories when you were an immortal as large as he.

"It's a lovely moon tonight," Jeremiah mused, enjoying the silence as the pickers had long gone home, as had the supervisors. He would be listening to the radio, perhaps some light music, but this was better. He could even tune out the irregular zaps from the bug zapper he had hung to the side.

"But I do wonder…if perhaps…" Jeremiah paused, his hand gasping at his wine glass, filled with perhaps a cliché orange coloured wine. His home was large by commoner standards. 2 stories tall, large rooms, a well-designed kitchen and living room, attic and basement, 4 bathrooms, 6 bedrooms, 2 of which had private bathrooms.

It was small by noble standards, but Jeremiah hardly spent time at court when he wasn't deployed, as most of the Knights of Round did these days. So for him, this was big—more than big—it felt empty. He was but one person.

Anya didn't live with anyone anymore. Once she finished her degree, he held a large party for her, inviting all her new friends, and she moved out shortly after. She had a good place in town, closer to work.

Sitting there with just the zap of flies, mosquitoes, and the moon to keep in company was lonely. It was raised a few times by people he knew that perhaps he should seek a wife. He was still his father's eldest son, and he would inherit the House of Gottwald, which would come with new duties. One of them was siring children. But he didn't just want a broodmare or a pretty face.

He wanted a true partner, someone he could trust with everyone, love and cherish as deeply as his loyalty to his Majesty.

The only problem was…he had terrible dating skills. Oh, sure, he could hold a conversation and had lovers in the past, but nothing that lasted, and never with a woman who he could have seen himself staying with for more than a few months, nevermind for what would functionally be her entire life.

Another issue was immortality. It couldn't be kept from the public for long, as sooner or later, someone would notice that he looked far too young for a man his age. He needed a bride who could weather that and not allow their physical appearances over the years to break their bond.

'I just hope mother isn't trying to find me another match…' He sighed. He loved his mother; truly, he did. But sometimes she could be much, as ever since he reconciled with his family over events in the former Area 11 and his support of the current emperor, she had been dead set on finding him a 'proper bride', and it was going as well as his own search, as she seemed to limit herself to the upper echelons of society.

It made sense, as the Gottwald name was perhaps one of the most influential because of his closeness to the emperor and position as a Knight of the Round Table. Still, when she brought them over, he could laugh at how those women looked horrified to see him working the fields like a commoner.

Safe to say, not wife material.

His musing on his rather dry romantic life was cut short when his phone rang. Pulling it out, he saw that it was Anya.

With a smile, he answered the call. “Good evening, Anya. I trust you’re in good health.” He greeted.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good. Listen, I need your help!” Anya begged over the phone, sounding close to panic, which immediately put him on alert as he jumped to his feet, his arm blade instinctively shooting out, ready to carve up anyone who was threatening Anya or put her in such a state.

“What is it? Are you safe? Where are you right now?” Jeremiah had half a mind to rush to his car, or board the custom Sutherland he kept on the property, but Anya's retort calmed his fury.

“Gino asked me out to the Imperial 10th anniversary!” She screamed like it. She told him the sky was falling, leaving him perplexed.

“Oh…is that all?” Jeremiah asked.

“The hell you mean ‘is that all?’?!” Anya yelled so loud over the line that he moved the phone away from his ear and could still hear her going at it. “He came out of nowhere with it! I thought he was into older women with big butts! I’m not that!”

Of course, he knew about that. Anya had brought it once or several times, but she insisted she was merely making conversation and didn't care about Gino's dating habits or taste in women.

He was just lucky she respected herself enough to not try something crazy like plastic surgery.

Pointing that out, however, would not be needed or wanted, so he coughed into his offhand to try and regain his composure before he spoke. “Well, Anya, people can have more than one preference, and truth be told, I was wondering when he stopped fooling around and asked you out.”

“You knew?!” She hissed, sounding like a great beast instead of the petite doctor she was.

"Everyone did, it was quite comical to watch," Jeremiah replied, as it wasn't just him. Still, he was half convinced every long-term worker he had knew how often Gino would spend time at the farm, or how she would talk about him and vice versa when they were around.

Anya went silent for a moment, and he imagined she was red as a tomato right now at the response before she replied, sounding deadpan and expressionless, like she once did. “I’m going to get Modred back, and I’m going to burn your stupid orange farm to the ground.”

Jeremiah laughed at her threat, ignoring it as he continued the conversation. “So, I fail to see the issue here. If I’m not mistaken, you care deeply for Gino. There is no harm if he wishes to take you to the event as a couple."

“The harm comes from the fact that I don't know how to act on dates! You've seen my track record, I can't fuck this up, Dad!”

Jeremiah felt his heart swell at her words, but he couldn't make a fuss of it. So he would merely act as the father she desperately needed right now, in what he still thought was a minor issue, but was smart enough not to say. “Well, as someone well-versed in what not to do, I can offer you some help. Would you like to come over tomorrow, and we can go into town together to shop for something?"

“I’m already on my way, be there in 5 minutes!” Anya yelled, which explained the sounds of a car in the background, and based on that, she must have been speeding.

She cut the line before he could say more, but he couldn't help but chuckle at her response. "Youth," he shook his head as he returned his phone to his pocket and picked up his plate. He'll finish his meal later.

He didn't have a wife yet, but it seemed like his panicking and excitable daughter was coming home, so he should prepare for that.

Line Break

“Shit.” Suzaku cursed as he dropped the report he had been reading, his desk full of them.

"Language, young man," Cecile spoke, looking through the cabinet for something. The two were not in the imperial palace or even Arthur's Point, the official headquarter for the Knights of Round, but in their private residence built on the outskirts of the capital.

One stood out from the rest because it was an oddity. Mixed in with the Britannian-designed estates, it was built in a style befitting a castle fortress of Suzaku's homeland, only on a larger scale.

Did Suzaku need to build it in this style? No. Had it upset more figures at court? Yes. Did he care? Not in the slightest. It wasn't as if they would dare whisper about their displeasure when the Knight of One could hear them.

“I’m 27 years old.” But right now, he was not the reaper or the man who killed Bismarck in one-on-one combat. He was just an overworked and tired husband and father.

“Not old enough to get away with mindless cursing when our child is in the other room.” Cecile reminded him as he pulled out the folder she had been looking for. Diana's study was right next to her father's, ensuring he was always close, at least when he was at home.

"She should be busy with her lessons," Suzaku replied, only for his wife to look at him, amused that he thought that was a proper counter.

“She’s our child, and 6. Such things aren’t absolutes.” Diana was energetic and curious, two things that meant they had to babyproof the place early on, and even now, they retained some things. After all, children were always pushing things, and like her mother, Diana liked to learn through experimentation and example. If she started swearing in her pre-school class… “Still, what seems to be the issue facing the Knight of One now?”

“It’s these new recruits.” Suzaku held up another folder, this one not as thin, for it belonged to a younger knight, someone he half recalled teaching ethnics at some point.

"I thought we weren't expanding the Knights of Round," Sakuya asked, as the husband and wife weren’t alone in Suzaku’s private office. Still, he had called for the Prime Minister's daughter, and the Knight of 5.

"That was the plan, but the House of Lords and Commons have been insistent, and thus, in his wisdom, the Emperor stepped up and left the task to me," Suzaku grumbled. Lelouch had gone to some military test, but he was no doubt having some fun in the sun and surf while Suzaku was stuck with all this.

At times like this, he kind of regretted Leila's suggestion that Lelouch would listen more seriously to the two houses of parliament. They still held no official legal power or authority, but they helped with the day-to-day running and provided good ideas and revisions to existing laws.

"Is that such a bad thing? You've always been going on about how well these new knights have been trained." Sakuya asked, as Suzaku and Jeremiah had a heavy role in training many of these knights, including Ash.

"It would be good to add some new blood to our ranks. Is that why I'm here?" Ash asked.

Suzaku corrected him, pointing to both of them. "That's why I summoned both of you. Sakuya, you have an idea for details. I'll need your help sorting through the list of potential candidates."

Sakuya paused but could see the merit in it. Despite not having an official title, she was considered to be a genius, similar to her emperor uncle and monster uncle, Schneizel. That was why she kept getting involved in government work. And because of all the times she'd worked to aid the state's affairs, she had a better eye than most for some things.

“How many? 10-50?” To become a Knight of the Round was a difficult thing, near impossible in the old world, as one would need to be appointed by the emperor himself, with only the Knight of One being able to even suggest candidates for the honor.

“1200.” Sakuya's jaw fell wide open. Ash looked wide-eyed at the number as Suzaku pulled out several other folders and dropped them on his desk with an audible thud.

Seeing their expressions, he and Cecile chuckled, though his was hollower as he had already gone through some of the hell that awaited them. "Oh, and those are just what I've received. It could still rise, with the close date for new applications being the 10th anniversary.”

“I thought knights themselves couldn’t apply?” Sakuya called out, gesturing to all of the folders on the desk, now fearful that they were all related to this.

"They can't, else this list would be in the tens of thousands, but wealthy benefactors, high-ranking government officials, and military officers can sponsor up to 10, and plenty are trying to gain some leverage by having people close to them among our ranks," Suzaku grunted, as Sakuya quickly joined him.

“Of course it’s politics, it’s always politics," She moaned, as she had forgotten about those reforms the emperor had put in place. A means to open up appointments to more people, especially those from commoner or former number background, as if you could bypass the traditional means of advancement, provided you have the skill and merit for it.

In most cases, all that was needed was the stamp from the emperor himself, and you were promoted. Still, she hadn't known it had included the Knights of Round simply because it hadn't expanded since Ash joined last year, and before then, none since Akito and Ashley.

"…Any way I can back out?" She asked, eyeing the window and wondering about her odds of surviving the drop from the 3rd floor into what she was sure was one of the koi ponds….no, it was too shallow.

“No.” Suzaku shut that down as Cecile laughed and walked around his desk, laying a kiss on his cheek before she turned to leave.

“Don’t be a dictator, dear. Or it’s the couch for the next month.” She playfully threatened, Suzaku just being happy that their guests hadn't known she had been serious with threats like this, particularly when they were dating. She expressed how displeased she had been with his actions leading up to and following the first F.L.E.I.J.A. incident.

"Well, I need to get back to work. If all goes well, the new Lancelot will be ready in time for the big event. See you at dinner?" she asked when she reached the door.

Suzaku would love to sit and have a proper meal with his family. He and the Mrs. had been far too busy, and he hated how many nights one or both missed it. God knew he didn't want his daughter to start seeing him as he saw his father. “See you then, just make sure you don’t strangle Lloyd.”

Cecile rolled her eyes. "I've gained years of experience handling him; I won't touch him." With that, she left, the door sliding shut behind her as she hummed down the hallway.

Putting that aside, Ash got things back on track. “As for me, what is my role in this?”

"Sakuya and I can pore over their files and performance records till the sun explodes, but first and foremost, I need our Knights of Round to be a cut above the rest in a knightmare," Suzaku explained, which Ash was quick on the uptake.

“So I’ll duel them.” He didn't ask as much as he stated, to which Suzaku nodded.

"Duel them, and then confront them in a series of mock engagements I'll leave you to create. I'll just approve of the final criteria you submit. We can cut these applicants to 6.” Suzaku gave him his matching orders, though Sakuya frowned at the number.

“Just 6, not something higher?” That seemed like it would exclude too many people. Couldn't His Majesty be convinced to expand the Knights of Round to 20 members?

Suzaku didn't see it that way. Leaning back in his seat, he explained, "Originally, Britannia had 12 swords for the Knights of Round, and while Charles played fast with which number went to whom, we're retaining that facet. So yes, just 6."

It wasn't to say that Britannia didn't have other high positions or knight orders that the rejects couldn't apply for. But most were specialized or region-restricted; he knew some would see it as a downgrade.

"That doesn't give me much time to examine them," Ash noted, as he was already thinking of ways he could judge their combat prowess. Still, it would work best if most of the tests were single events, so he could judge them when they would be the prospective Knight of Round in the field with no backup.

"No, but our job is to cut down these files to just a fraction of them, no more than 50," Suzaku stated, already looking like he regretted it. They'll need to study each applicant's records with a magnifying glass to ensure that they only select the best, and that meant sending feelers out, interviewing friends and colleagues, and conducting first-stage interviews.

In other words, work-work and more work.

"That seems doable; however, why me?" Ash asked, as all the current Knights of Round were effective fighters. Some even had combat experience in true combat, something he lacked.

Suzaku listed them as odd. "If I were to handle this as well, I would have no time to complete my other duties. Jeremiah and Nonette are on leave, Akito is already deploying to supervise some training in Africa, and Ashley's on the hunt for some Separatists through Euro Britannia."

Ash winced, as he had known some were busy, but he hadn't realized that none were in the capital. Perhaps they should try to expand their ranks beyond just 6, but he'll leave that to Sakuya to argue. "I see, well, that would explain why both the commoners and nobles were able to push for an expansion of your numbers, correct?"

"Among other things, though I cannot sit in on such meetings. It would intimidate the representatives." Suzaku snorted, as in the past, members of the military, particularly those of high rank and influence, could do just that.

But in the past, parliament was little more than a joke. Charles was just too lazy to dissolve it, as the monarchy had long since slowly regained its power since Britannia established itself in the Americas. During the reign of the previous emperor, most of its members had been sycophants and brown-nosers who rubber-stamped whatever came their way and didn't raise a fuss when Charles made degrees without even telling them.

"I doubt you'll make any such moves," Ash replied, as he had never been given to see Suzaku as anything less than the example of what a good knight and soldier needs to be.

His praise didn't land with Suzaku, who let out a bitter chuckle, his gaze turning acidic, remorseful, and angry. “You, Knight of Five, have not seen me at my worst." Both shivered under his gaze, which spoke of nothing but ruin and death, of misery and fury. Rarely did people see the true face of the man who earned the nickname ‘White Death’.

With a blink, Suzaku sealed that part of himself back up, relaxing in his chair. “But let us hope you never have to, I like not needing to deploy to warzones and helping things on the domestic front.”

Line Break

The bullet train moved through the countryside like the weapon it was named after. The two Japan’s might have been separate political entities. Still, the border between them was porous, and trade was common. Airships certainly, but mainly on the Britannian side, coming in from the Grand Duchy of Japan.

The Kingdom of Japan and the UFN had been slower in adopting float technology for civilian applications, primarily on maritime ships and trains to transport their goods and people.

But this train wasn't the regular one, but a rolling fortress. Reinforced tungsten plating, reactive armor, bulletproof windows rated up to autocannons, radiant wave shielding, automated missile pods, a hadron cannon turret, a small knightmare force, and over 100 elite soldiers, along with other provisions, ensured this train couldn't be easily undermined or threatened.

Such was necessary when the train was one of the official transport means for the empress. Kaguya looked out the window from her first-class cabin at the countryside as it passed her by. At times, she spotted other trains moving on other lines, or she saw some small village or town, but she didn't pay much attention to it.

Hands folded over her lap, she set a folder, a top-secret one prepared by her intelligence, at her side. It contained all the new reports they had on one Duchess Milly Ashford, Tokyo's true power, while another, smaller one had details on consort Kallen.

Sadly, as she had feared, neither had had much she could use. Milly was nothing like other nobles before her. She was…well, Kaguya liked to call her a good person, but when one was a high-ranking Britannian noble, such a description as 'good person' felt like a contradiction.

Either way, any dirt they had on her was useless. It was well known what she was like, and she was utterly unashamed that she married a commoner and bore his child. More than that, she was a well-respected and, most importantly, liked figure among Japanese Britannians. By this point, it was well known who had pushed for the Grand Duchy's reforms and reconstruction plans for the capital of Tokyo. Such had garnered her plenty of goodwill.

That might have seemed like a dead end, but to Kaguya, it was still an opening, slight as it might be. For better or worse, Milly was someone who at least cared about how she was seen and did the work to maintain that good image. That meant having her ear to things could benefit her long-term.

It was the consort she worried about more, and not because she knew Kallen could kill most people in and out of a knightmare with little effort.

‘She followed her heart and won’t dare compromise on that.’ Kaguya thought, as even now, years after the fact, she couldn’t fault Kallen for the choices she made. If this was what she wanted, then she could respect it.

But it meant that she had more investment in things staying as they were and had more of a connection to the emperor. She may be able to speak for him, but she won't speak against him unless she is given one hell of an argument.

"Focus, that comes later…" Kaguya slowly shook her head as she focused on the other reasons for this visit. It was for trade, yes, but she also hoped they could set up some sort of cross-border cultural events, a means to help Japanese living in Britannia and the UFN express their history and customs and be proud of them.

That was the thought she held onto as the train came into sight of the Tokyo settlement. She was informed they'd pull into the station shortly and to make ready. And she affirmed this as she stood at the door, waiting for it to open once the train came to a stop, with the media out in force to catch pictures of this major event, not even two days after the consort and her children had arrived.

When the doors opened, and the cameras flashed, she spotted Milly, once more playing host to a visiting royal, and where so many would have been proper, snide or downright dismissive, Milly was-

"Heya! I hope you're good with kids, as my house is filled with them!" Milly was Milly. Utterly shameless as she loudly and ecstatically greeted Kaguya, all of Kaguya's careful planning, steady mindset, and years of political experience went right out the window.

“Pardon?”

Line Break

Another chapter and I’m fully rested to boot! No real issues this week. Have been thinking about other WIPs, or more ideas at this point, really, along with how I'll handle things in Code Bakugan Brawler, as I've been really busy and haven't given it as much focus as I should have.

Now, onto this chapter, as the last one was just some good old Caribbean fun, and because I knew people would ask, Nonette and Rai are present, and they're a thing. No, I won't answer any further questions on that :). Now, this chapter was a bit of a challenge to write, if only because I had no set idea on what to do with it, but I've gone over halfway through my allotted word count, so I decided to introduce one more person in full.