Jeanne looked perplexed as she saw their house lights off. That means Milly was not in the estate, nor was the maid Kinue.
That leaves only her and Marcus.
As the pair entered the house, the lights one by one turned on as the AI picked them in the building.
[Good evening, sir. Is there anything I can do for you?]
The AI was not Legion, but a virtual butler. Marcus programmed this one to call him 'Sir' as if he has guests, and the AI calls him 'Your Majesty'. It could be a bit awkward.
Though by this point, he could start using his real title… though not that he cared. Instead, he took off his shoes and put on slippers, then took off his jacket and unbuttoned a couple of buttons of his undershirt.
"What do we have in the fridge?" He asked as he walked deeper into his house. Jeanne followed right after him.
[The fridge is full of ingredients, but there is nothing pre-made from the last time. Mistress Milly removed whatever prepared food there was before your trip several days ago.]
The AI explained to him.
'Yes, well, we moved to the South Pole for several days.'
She needed to throw the stuff because it could get bad.
"Well, we are going to wing it." Marcus declared as he walked to his bedroom; he swiftly changed into leisure clothes and went to the kitchen.
He then looked at his bodyguard.
"Jeanne, change out of those clothes, you will be my second chef today."
"...Umm…"
The Emperor gave her a stare, which caused her to scramble. No one questions him; it's as simple as that.
As the red-haired girl was changing her clothes, Marcus decided to go with something simple. He pulled out some eggs and sausages.
He quickly brought out a glass bowl, broke the eggs, and spilt them into the bowl. He then brought a selection of spices, spraying them into the bowl before 'beating' the contents.
Midway, the girl was standing before him, dressed in a simple shirt and pants. It looked like one of her exercise clothes.
"Good enough. Your job is to cut veggies for salads." He gave her a cutting board and a selection of veggies.
"...Umm…how do you want them cut?" She asked with a strained voice. She lacked confidence in these specific tasks; she would prefer to pilot a mobile suit and engage in combat.
"Watch."
Marcus spent a couple of minutes showing her before returning to his cooking.
After seeing how to cut, the girl was a bit more confident. It wasn't that hard after trying a couple of times. Her natural talent showed its true nature. As someone born with above-average abilities, the whole process was quite easy!
A bit later, the pair were sitting at the dining table, enjoying a simple evening snack. Midway, Marcus turned on the News.
[With Celestial Being's defeat, the world is entering a new page in history.
The world is united under the United Nations, which will change its name to the United Federation of Nations. With the current secretary as the governor, while the Peacekeeping Force under the illustrious Custodian General Commander Marcus Anaheim.]
'They are even brushing the Governor aside. Damn… I should tell them to glaze me a bit less.'
Marcus was a bit worried about the media's favouritism.
But alas, there is not much he can do. It would take a couple of days for the command to reach something as basic as media.
His propaganda engine is in full swing, and it takes a bit of time for changes to take place.
"...do you ever get annoyed by listening to all of this?" Jeanne asked him as she felt a bit… dissatisfied with the sheer volume of ass-kissing he was getting.
For her, this was like a sugar overdose. A bit is fine, but this much? To the point that the Federation leader is ignored in favour of the top general of the Peacekeeping force.
She knows the leader is just a puppet, but the regular people don't.
"In a way? I watch this to see the level of the propaganda. I don't care about anything else. I get the news faster than the news itself." He chuckled after explaining to her.
"...So you ignore what the reporters say?" She furrowed a bit.
"I do. Praising me by this point is dull to the ears. But I do listen to discern the level of praise. Praise is equal to how much propaganda there is.
In our world, we have levels to this. The right, the left. The Pro-Imperials and even Anti-Imperial news. Though they all still say the same message with different levels of 'spices'." He explained to her.
"We have Anti-Imperial news!? A-Aren't you worried?"
"You do realise that we possess all sorts of people with all sorts of views? I can't erase every single different opinion.
It's bad for creativity, that's why I control all of the views." He explained to her as he continued to eat his fried eggs.
"...So… Your Majesty… you even have someone… on purpose to speak badly about you?" The Knight was a bit baffled; she knew about the Secret Police, the so-called Geass special forces, and the A.S.P.
But this? Just how deep does the manipulation go?
"No. That's treason, Jeanne." He pointed his fork at her. "What they do is begrudgingly agree with me, always. The magic is in the way the words are being spoken.
I have the best scriptwriters and actors to work in these channels. I made sure the puppet show is the best one could ever ask." He smirked while saying that.
"...I see… I should have known that nothing is direct when it comes to this." The red-haired knight shook her head. This was what she should have expected. Now she learned the whole thing… from the source.
"I leave direct things to you and my G-Force. In the news area, we keep a balance and give people what they want to hear.
In other words, we provide the issue, and the next moment we provide the solution. So that people don't worry and can focus on their lives.
This is where my next plan comes into play."
"...The creation of man-made forces?" Her eyes widened for a second.
"Indeed. The way my current forces are is that they could… possibly rebel one day, since they are made up of regular people.
Regular people have their families and desires, their morale can suffer when I could ask something like alien extermination."
Marcus had specific creatures in mind from the Mass Effect universe he lived in.
"...That is true…" Jeanne nodded, but then her expression turned serious. "If they hesitate, tell me, Your Majesty, and I will whip them into shape!" She exclaimed with a bit of zeal.
In her eyes, these people should be thankful for being born in this Empire! They have no idea what she went through in her youth. What they have now is paradise compared to that!
"Relax, Jeanne. The only thing you should care about is me, that's what knights do, no?" He shook his head; his knight girl is far too eager.
When she heard that, the girl blushed from shame and something more. The way he worded it made her recall the make-out session in the limo.
She wants something more, but at the same time, she doesn't want to get in the way. In this world alone, Marcus gained two more women, and the list is not the smallest before that.
So for a bodyguard and a knight to get into that… well…
"...Yes…Your Majesty… you are right." All she can do is nod and follow his lead.
"Good. Now let's finish our food and hit the bed. I am dead tired." He said with a sigh.
Jeanne slowly nodded. She wondered if anything would happen…
~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~
In space, a streak of green rushed from the south pole and blasted towards the asteroid field.
This was the Nemesis Gundam, a mobile suit designed for a mercenary to take on side jobs for the new ruler of this world.
But that never happened; the mercenary became food for fish, and the one piloting the machine was an Ex Celestial Being's Gundam Pilot.
"Damn… the response of this Gundam." Lockon was grinning as he did a couple of spins in the plane mode. The plane mode of this machine was more like a bat than a regular plane, like Kyrios.
Still, the thrust increased several times as the GN verners became like thrusters in this mode, assisting in acceleration.
But it was not all, as this machine had something more: gravity resonators, making it a cross between two worlds, a prototype of two technologies from two worlds.
And Lockon was the first one to experience that.
Before long, the Gundam pilot realised that he was in the asteroid field, and the speed of travel was insane!
'No wonder I could not follow them. These Empires' machines are on a different level.'
He needed to reel back his speed as the space rocks were getting far too close.
"Now where are you…"
The brown-haired man looked around with the assistance of AI and neural interface, which was assisting him in looking for the Celestial Being's stash.
"Gotcha."
His eyes ended up on a specific asteroid that was responding to Veda. He flew over there, and soon enough, his Gundam's finger was entering a pin in a console that revealed itself the moment the machine was closed.
'It would seem it is reacting to the Veda systems on this Gundam or the GN reactor. Regardless, let's see what we have in this stash.'
After entering the pin, the base doors opened, and the Gundam could fly in. What he found inside were parts… a lot of parts for Gundams.
*Whistle*
"I can see Exia, Dynames, Virtue… Kyrios… all of them had spares…" Lockon was pleased with what he saw. With this, he could potentially get his Dynames back.
Maybe… hopefully.
Though this new Gundam was good, there was even a bit of satisfaction in piloting a machine that was intended for that man, and now he has it!
"Tell the boys to collect it. The stash is secured."
[Understood, sending the message.]
The AI of Nemesis replied as the Gundam left the base, and soon enough, spaceships appeared with empty containers.
After letting the space ships fly in, the Gundam flew away and transformed into Bat. The pilot was enjoying the Neural Interface power; he could navigate in the pitch-black void thanks to AI and the systems this machine had!
His gaze eventually settled on a specific destination.
"The next stash is on the other side of the Earth Sphere of Influence, over damn three million miles away…
In that case, let's test… TRANS-AM."
The cockpit turned red as particle dispersion spiked; a TRANS-AM logo appeared on the spherical screen for a few moments.
Not that Lockon paid attention to it while piloting the rapidly flying mobile suit.
"Shit! Damn! Fuck!" He almost flew to the damn sun; thankfully, the AI moved to the side, and he was able to circle!
Without even realising, he circled the sun… does that mean he was a year older? Well, he pondered physics later! For now, he needed to learn to control the Gundam.
"For future reference, do not turn both systems on at once! Fuck… I neatly cooked myself!" Lockon complained loudly as the AI was recording this. It was a test they had never done before.
Two particles working together, plus Trans-Am… does it mean they invented a proper Jump Drive technology of some sort?
Well, the Gundam developers will figure out, for now, he has to stash to collect.
Not long after, Lockon arrived at another asteroid field.
And a few minutes later, he located the next stash.
But what he didn't expect to find in this stash was… a Gundam, a Gundam he had never seen before.
"...CB-001 1 Gundam… 1 Gundam? First time hearing about this machine…" The Ex Gundam Meister was confused. Veda knew of this machine, and from the looks of it, this Gundam is not related to the Empire… so a Celestial Being Gundam?
"Even more secrets…damn you, Celestial Being," Lockon complained under his breath.
~~~
500 powers stones = 1 Extra Chapter
1000 Power Stones = 2 Extra Chapters
And so on, You know what to do.
~~~
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