As I promise, the second part of the last chapter is here! This got delayed as the person I asked to review it took longer than I thought it would, still-this isn't a bad way to start the new year by posting a chapter for this story. Not sure what I'll post after this but if luck's on my side, it will be up by early February. I won't keep you much longer, so enjoy.

Chapter 13: Budding Roses – Part 2

For the next four days, Lelouch spent some of his time planning out how best to aid the princess in her endeavor, as while he could just straight up walk up and help her as Grey did, that wasn't his style, nor did he think she would appreciate it. In fact, he was sure she would see it as pity and that was something she would reject, much like how he would have back in the day. He still leads them on trips to gather firewood in the evening, with Panache and Bozes seemingly having decided to stick with him whenever they split into groups.

The blonde had taken his words to heart and was much more careful as she collected firewood, and whenever he saw her with her friends afterward, he would see she was sorting out her own hair with a small metal rod which was no comb, but he supposed that it worked. Of course, there were times when she did also seem to forget that, as he would turn and see her climbing a damn tree to get some of the larger and thicker dried branches which led to him having to catch her once after she lost her footing. Oddly enough, he found the scolding part…didn't know how to approach it, so he just did what his teachers would so whenever they caught him slacking off…which was often.

At night, he cooked their dinners after the group voted on it, which led to everyone saying that they wanted him to remain as their chief for the trip. He liked the praise, Janaysia knew his ego loved it, but he did find it annoying at times. After he finished that task, he would leave them to decide who cleaned the dishes while he worked on trying to figure out what he had done to himself when he changed. And so far, he didn't have much to go on besides what Kali could tell him and his own theories about it. So far, he knew that when he changed into form X, he gained, among other things: A massive increase to his magical capabilities; and his healing.

From what Kali told him, he theorized that the reason for his increased body temperature and the flames was that his code was somehow forcing his body's natural processes in healing to be hyper-charged, so much so that he set himself ablaze, but he had little to back that up. It was not like he could change again and have people document it, as he didn't know just how he did it, and last time, he was bedridden for an extended period of time. Outside that, it seemed like turning into form X served as the catalyst for his body to change into what it was now, as he while he didn't pay much attention in biology, he knew for a damn fact that the human anatomy didn't have space in it for wolf ears, never-mind having them actually replace his old human ones so that was another reason to avoid changing on a whim, as he had no clue what that damned goddess had planned for him with these changed.

All of which left him with little time to work on his alchemy, forcing him to do so as they traveled, which meant he couldn't write as much thanks to having to slow down due to the rough ride. There was also the fact he was simply running out of material to make notes with. While the book Cato gave him was important—it helped him learn a lot whenever the old man was busy with other stuff for helping Lelei with her studies—he felt like he had outgrown the thing. He was nearly done with it, and while there were some little nuggets of information he had yet to find, he knew he needed more. But seeing how they hadn't seen a settlement for the past four days, he hadn't had the chance to look for a merchant that sold books about magic.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Right now, their column had stopped for a short break on the side of the road. Which gave him time to try his hand at something.

"I couldn't find anything I liked in town the other day, so I'm making my own," he answered Chirona's question.

"Wait, you know how to sow?" she asked him, as she didn't think she had met any man outside a dressmaker that knew how to work with cloth.

"Yes, though to be honest, most of what I know is how to mend clothing. This is my first attempt at making something new," Lelouch admitted. He was largely going in blind with this, but he had figured he could manage. Just to be on the safe side, he was constantly keeping track of where he was and trying to see if he couldn't fit a mental version of the finished product onto himself in a comfortable way.

"But…didn't your mother ever do that?" Chirona asked him, aware that his relationship with his parents wasn't good by any measure going by how he admitted he would swear oaths on their names just to break them, but surely-

"Ha, I don't even think she knew how, not like she ever did after she gave birth to me." Lelouch snorted. Marianne may have been a commoner, but now that he thought about it, he didn't know much about her other than that. What was her life like before she joined Charles? Before she helped him rise to power through blood and iron? She never told them anything about it, and they never asked. Maybe he should have looked into it during his time as the emperor.

"Then how'd you learn if not from your mother? An older sister or something?" Kali, who had been loitering nearby, asked as she took a seat next to him. His smile only increased at the thought of Cornelia cooking a decent meal or Guinevere cleaning, which reminded him that he made that money waster do via geass, and despite how childish it was, he still thought it was a sweet way to get some payback.

"I had many siblings, but I can assure you none of them could even cook their own damn meals. I learned through trial and painful error," Lelouch said,, which was the truth. As when he and Nunnally were sent to Japan, he did as much as he could to care for himself and his sister, which included mending their clothes whenever they got damaged. As he had only been ten and had no experience with such tasks, he pricked himself more times than he cared to admit and, more than once, had to clean the clothing to get rid of the small blood stains his efforts left behind.

"How long do you think it will take?" Chirona asked, as she had only ever seen or worked with clothing for her own species. She didn't know much about how he would make clothing for himself. Hearing her question, he paused as he did the math in his head.

"Don't know, but my best guess is that if I work on this for around two hours a day…I should be done by the time we get to your village." He didn't need to make something too fancy, even if he did like the thought of himself wearing ornate robes. He wasn't a narcissist, only prideful and practical. He knew there were numerous reasons why he shouldn't try to go for broke with this, at least not right now.

(Four days later)

As time passed and he worked on his own things, he noticed some things, mainly about the princess. While Bozes and Panache had grown somewhat relaxed and comfortable around him,, the princess kept her distance from him, though he could tell it wasnt out of fear or disgust but more out of missguided pride as she dead set on not needing help. However, she grew frustrated with their tasks and their lack of any real accomplishments so far. From how her shoulders would shake whenever he heard some of the soldiers and even the bicorns talking about her, he knew she could hear them and it was getting to her.

Lelouch could see where that frustration was coming from though, as all they had done the entire time was simply grunt work, helping to fetch things like water and firewood and passing messages from one wagon to another by foot. Right now, they had settled down for a rest before they finished their last leg for the day. He decided to give himself a break from his research and was instead looking over some chess pieces made from ivory. Grey had given him the cracked horn recovered from the scene of the fight with the Minotaur—said that he deserved to carry a trophy from that fight. He in turn had wondered what to do with it for some time, maybe making it into a dagger of some kind? But then he figured out something better.

He had given it to Kali and asked if she couldn't carve them into game pieces for him. After giving her a basic instruction of what he wanted each to look like, she had been more than happy to fulfill his request. That had been almost a week ago, and she had given the finished pieces to him not too long ago. This led to him now inspecting them, while watching the Rose Knights run through some marching drills. He observed them from his seat for around twenty minutes, at which time he noticed some of them start to falter from exhaustion. Piña looked like she was about to yell at them when Grey stepped in.

"You're observing them as well?" Rory asked, stopping beside him.

"How can I not? They are supposed to be part of our protection, right?" Lelouch smirked. She returned it as she took a seat next to him, picking up one of the blockier pieces that he had with him and appraising it herself.

"Come now, I doubt you still have such poor views of them. If you did, you would have found a way to avoid aiding them with their duties." Rory had seen him go out every evening with them and return with their firewood. Sometimes the two girls he was with would be in conversation with him, and while she couldn't hear what they talked about, the smiles they sported told her enough on what they felt about it.

"Chores, you mean?" Lelouch turned back to the sight of Grey talking to Piña. "But I can't deny that they have grabbed my interest."

"Oh, I'm surprised, Lelouch. I didn't think you liked them young," Rory teased him, to which he gagged on his spit and coughed in response. A mild blush and very unamused frown warred for dominance at her implication.

"Get your head out of the gutter. I'm interested in their progress as knights. They are taking this quite seriously," he firmly stated.

"Hmm, yes. I admire people who know what they want, but I have my reservations about youth such as them being so eager to head off to war." Rory glanced to the side, sadness in her eyes. She had lived long enough to see this play out dozens of times. While it got easier to see the youth rush off to war, it wasn't a feeling that would vanish completely.

"Ignorance is truly bliss, Rory, but I must admit, I didn't think you would be against such." Lelouch didn't really have much to say about it, having been thrown to the wolves before he hit puberty himself. He knew that only those who had seen destruction and death could say that they understood it.

"And why is that?" Rory asked, her melancholy fading when confronted by his audacity. Anyone else would be walking on eggshells around her, thinking that the topic of her God and Master would be taboo with her, but it was quite the contrary. She enjoyed these kinds of talks, these debates, as one couldn't change someone's mind and bring them to your way of thinking without fully understanding them. If their followers don't engage in such talks, how else would people learn to understand and properly worship God?

"Need I say, servant to the God of war and death?" Lelouch didn't know much about this Emroy, but from what he had heard about how others discussed him, he believed that he was this world's version of Ares, just not as battle-hungry and temperamental.

"Those are just some of the things Emroy is the God and Master of, but contrary to popular belief, one can only have a good death after they have led a good life." Rory leaned back, staring at the clouds, as he watched her with a surprised but invested gaze. She suspected he didn't expect that kind of answer from her.

"Emroy believes that one shouldn't waste their lives, nor should life be wasted, and I happen to firmly agree with that. Why else would I go out of my way to hunt down killers?" Rory explained what she had come to understand about her master. He wasn't some war-mongering monster; he was far beyond that. He understood that death was just another aspect of life, that it shouldn't be sought out, nor should it be feared. Because he respected death, he respected life and wished for her and those who followed him to do the same.

It was why she had come to share his disdain for those who dared to use his name to justify meaningly slaughter, pillage, and rape. Too often she had found criminals and monsters who thought that if they prayed to him, that if they offered up some sacrifice, he would shine favor on them. All that ever did was anger him, allow her to track them down, and end them for their transgression.

"Because it gives you a sick thrill to end the lives of filth?" Lelouch asked. He hadn't needed to see her dispatch the remainder of the raiders. He had seen the look in her eye before and knew what it meant.

"Don't act like you're any different," Rory shot back.. Meanwhile, it seemed like Piña had calmed down, as she ordered her knights to rest. More than a few just collapsed where they stood. "Which brings us back to the little ones, so eager to prove themselves, but blind to the realities of war, pain, and death."

"That being said, they want to make something of themselves, and you and I both know one of the quickest ways to do so is through proving their metal in combat," Lelouch added as he placed one chess piece down and traded it for a crudely formed knight. He thought back to Suzaku, and while being a think-headed fool, he also understood that fact when it comes to empires.

"Well, the empire has its periods of expansion every now and then, so it's not like they wouldn't have the opportunity." Rory had been around when the empire was only a quarter of its current size. Honestly, there were times when she wondered if they would one day conquer the entire continent. What then? Would they try to move beyond Falmart? She had never seen anything beyond these shores. What would the rest of the world look like? What people would they be?

"No, I doubt they'll ever see actual service. Odds are, they'll be kept around as décor for the empire. Besides, I seriously doubt any noble house would risk their only daughter's chastity and life in war."

Hell, Cornelia only ever got the chance to serve by cutting herself off from her family, leaving Euphemia as the heir to their holdings. And that had been in a world where she could fight from the relative safety and superior position within a knightmare.

"If you believe that, what would you do then?" Rory asked, as she had a feeling he wasn't going to sit around and do nothing.

"Why," he started with a smirk, lifting the piece with a crown empathetically. "I'll play them in a little game."

"Grey, you wouldn't mind if I borrow the knights for a little bit, right?" Lelouch asked as he walked up to the resting knights.

"That depends on what you plan on doing," Grey replied as the apostle took a seat and pulled out a checkered pattern cloth along with some odd-looking ivory pieces.

"I want to play a little game with them, see what they can do," he answered, setting up the game as Piña walked over, none too pleased with what she was seeing.

"What is that?" the princess asked him with a frown.

"As I just said, I would like to play a game with you all," he replied, setting the last white piece on the opposite side before moving on to his own black pieces.

"We don't have time for that! Can't you see we're training?" Piña pointed towards the field, even though the image wasn't as strong as she thought, as most were still too tired for any real training, but he took it in stride.

"Training can take many forms, and while I understand the need to work on the body," Lelouch started, leaving out the part about how much he hated to physically work out as he finished setting up the board, "one must also work on the mind."

"The mind? Does your game train that?" Grey asked, not recognizing the game and assuming it was from wherever he came from.

"In a way, yes. It is one from my homeland, one of tactics and strategies, as each piece in the game has a set way it can be used, and you only get a fixed amount to work with," he explained, getting some of the other knights interested in it.

"Oh, so it's a war game?" one of the knights, a girl with purple hair asked, to which he laughed.

"Of course not. If anything, it's a simple mind game but one I've found to be quite informative and helpful." He had learned the hard way that real combat was nothing like chess, as unlike the game, it was rare to start out with the same strength, nor could one see their opponent's pieces, where and what they were. Throw in the fact that real battle had few if any rules, and the reason for his amusement was evident.

"Did you bring it along to play with us?" Bozes asked him, wondering where he had the time to get the pieces.

"Bring it along? No. I just had the pieces made and I got us something to use as a game board." Lelouch told them as he had used some of the leftover fabric from his attempt to make himself some clothes to stitch together something they could use for this.

"I would like to play with you to help you with some simple lessons." He held up one of his knights.

"And what would that be?" the boy, the one he guessed this Norma he had heard Bozes talk about, asked him, to which he smiled.

"War is won by strategy, not tactics," he repeated the same thing he told Xingke, back when they defeated the Eunuchs. "You could have ten whole legions under your command and still lose to just one. Leadership is what keeps an army functional, loyal, and effective."

For all that Lelouch hoped his father was burning in hell, he reluctantly acknowledged that he had been an effective leader. Charles had come to power when Britannia was reeling from decades of violence and upstart nobles squabbled amongst each other, using the military to further their personal interests instead of national ones. Through brutality, tempered with poisoned mercy and rewards, he broke the Empire to his will. His army would have never been betrayed, unlike the Black Knights.

"Oh, I see. You want to test us to see how well we can manage whatever troops we might have under us?" Panache figured out.

"Yes, but I also want to see how you react. Here is how it will go: I shall play a single game against each of you and use each one of your losses as a way to gauge you."

The assembled knights bristled as they either glared at him or crossed their arms with the princess looking the most outraged as she snarled back.

"Arrogant much? What makes you think you'll win every time?" At her fury, his smile turned to a smirk.

"Please, if any of you could defeat me right now, I would throw myself into a pit and stay there for 200 years." While it had been some time since he last played, he would never forgive himself if his skills had rusted to the point novices could best him.

"Alright, as the leader of the knights, why don't you go first," he stated, not asked.

Put on the spot, Piña couldn't refuse to stand down.

"I accept. I refuse to be a leader that sends my people to do what I cannot." She glared at him, peering straight into his eye with nothing but determination.

While her knights were in awe mindset, he had to suppress an eye roll. 'First mistake, a leader needs to have people with skills they don't have to broaden what they can accomplish, but let's see what she can do.' He would have to teach her that lesson before she got herself or someone else killed. "Alright, here is how the game works," he said beginning to explain the rules.

He paused every now and then when he noticed she was lagging, giving her a chance to ask question and process the rules. "Did you understand all that?"

"I think so," she replied.

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want you claiming ignorance for your loss."

"I'm fine!"

He raised his hands in surrender.

"Very well, let us play then."

Lelouch waited for her to make the first move. She didn't take much time to think, slamming her knight down before her pawns. Their game didn't last for long, mainly because Piña moved her pieces without regard to their roles and limitations, almost as if this was an actual war map. It never took her more than ten seconds to make a move as she fixated on chasing his queen.

Lelouch, on the other hand, held back and played a much more relaxed game, easily moving his pieces where he wanted to be, purposely avoiding taking her pieces where he could, and sacrificing a few pieces of his own. He wouldn't need them, not with how she was playing. Four minutes later, he finally sprung the first of his traps.

"Check."

Piña looked down in surprise as she noticed he had two pawns close to her king and his bishop had a direct line of attack towards it as well. All three were close, but not that close, at least to her.

"Wait, what does that mean?" she asked as he pointed towards the bishop and showed her how it could take her king in his next move, winning the game.

"It means you have to move your king because one of my pieces threatens it," he told her.

The princess saw what he meant, but then she pointed towards one of her pawns which was right next to his bishop.

"But I have my pawn right there. It should be able to take your piece out," she said as if it were a simple fact, he had overlooked but he shook his head at that.

"As I said, each piece can only move in a certain way." He repeated the rules, making it clear that her pawn couldn't strike his bishop, nor could his bishop strike the pawn.

"Fine." She pouted, moving her king back and not realizing that she escaped one trap only to fall into another. One that he sprung when he moved his queen into position, boxing her king in.

"You lose. Checkmate."

"What!" She jumped to her feet, but he didn't bother letting her outrage get to him as he recalled he had acted similarly when he had lost his first….6 games to Schneizel. Okay, maybe he was a little impatient at the time but he had only been six. Even though he had only ever beat him in the end, he had learned to take his defeats in stride.

"Once more, I threaten your king but now, it has nowhere to go, so it's my win," he explained.

Now, she noticed that his king was also close to hers, but she hadn't counted it till now as she was focused on his other, stronger pieces.

"But how? I've only lost five pieces. I still have most of my stronger ones." She still had one knight, her queen as well as the rooks and the bulk of her pawns. He had lost more pieces than her, so she was in the stronger position, right?

"If I put a knife to the emperor's neck, wouldn't that mean I defeated the empire?" he asked. His smile was no longer as inviting. She couldn't help but imagine him with a dagger to her father's throat as the entire senate watched in horror. He could demand anything of them and would most likely get it.

Seeing that she was starting to understand it, he explained. "It's the same here. Losing the king is an automatic loss. All the pieces are under their control, no one else can give them orders. So even if your army is still largely intact, they don't have a single commander they all obey, which leads to chaos and infighting." He used the example of how troops were more likely to follow their general than another, hence why Rome always had to worry about some upstart marching in and declaring themselves emperor. He wondered if the empire had a similar problem or if they finally found the solution to that.

"But why can't my pawn just take out your queen? it's right there." She pointed towards another one of her pawns which was right in front of the queen. Couldn't the damn thing just move back on it?

"That's impossible. I suppose one way to think about it is that pawns are peasant armies, made up of ill-trained conscripts armed with, at best, some spears." He gestured to the pawns still in play. "Whereas the queen would represent the best of your armies, as it can move like any other piece. You could look at it as composed of multiple types of soldiers from trained footmen to cavalry."

Grey, who had been silent for the most part, pieced the rest of it together."And such a force would be able to destroy a group of farmers and laborers." The man had seen that kind of scenario play out in actual battle. And it was a massacre every time, with the only reprieve coming if the so-called queen offered the pawns a chance to surrender.

"Yes." He began resetting the board, giving her one last piece of advice as she stared at the board despondently. "Take this loss as a lesson. It was your first game, and you're still young. You have plenty of time to improve, understand?"

He gave her an honest smile, and she found herself feeling a little better about her loss but also even more determined to make him eat his words one day and defeat him. "Yes. I'll make sure you beat you one day."

He chuckled. "I accept the challenge."

She sat down with the rest of the group as he waited for the next person to step up and try their luck. Now that they had all seen a game played, they seemed less eager to play, maybe because they didn't find the game all that interesting or maybe because they saw how easily their leader was beaten. But before he could just pick someone from random, one of the smaller girls shakily stood.

"I…I'd like to go next." She rubbed her hands in a nervous manner that reminded him of Nina, so he decided to try and be as approachable as he could be. If nothing else, she was the only one willing to try her hand, so he could see she had more bravery to her than her looks told.

"Then by all means, if you speak your name…" he prompted her.

She blushed and jumped a bit as she sat down."Oh, right! I am Hamilton Uno Ror."

"Lelouch Ja Nemesis. Would you like it if I explained the rules again, or do you understand them as is?"

"Yes. please."

He gave a quick run-down of how each piece moved and what it could and could not do. Once she was comfortable enough to play, they started, and unlike the princess, she clearly moved with more knowledge about what each piece did, but she was far too indecisive, and reactive than proactive.

He defeated her in a little over seven minutes having taken even fewer losses than he did against Piña.

"Oh," Hamilton said as she saw that she was also trapped, with her king, who had barely moved the entire time, now being threatened from two different directions.

"Your problem was that while you know how to play, you never tried to take the initiative. Always remember that while it's important to watch your opponent, being proactive can be just as important as being reactive. Think of it as a dance between two people, you can't let the other person do all the work, can you?" Lelouch explained to her, musing that this was also Tohdoh's weakness, as he spent far too much time waiting for an opportunity to present itself and never tried to make one.

The next person to step forward was another knight who introduced herself as Beefeater E Caty. She didn't need the rules explained to her, but she did ask for something interesting, a handicap. She said that since he was so good at this, he wouldn't mind starting the game with fewer pieces than she had to which he agreed and asked which pieces she wished for him to remove. She chose one of his knights, a bishop and a rook which he agreed and placed them aside.

"Is that alright?" Lelouch asked once his he had removed the aforementioned pieces.

"Yes, you already know how to play, we need to keep things fair." Beefeater replied as she looked at the board with an intensity he found to be strange compared to how the first two approached it.

'As if there is such a thing in war,' He silently mused before he observed her make the first move, the blonde choosing to start out with her knight.

It was only thanks to the handicap and his own relaxed style that she lasted longer than the first two, with him only claiming a victory after eight minutes. She had lost more pieces than he did, losing all her pawns, as well as rooks and one knight. He explained that she wasn't creative enough with her pieces, using her pawns as sacrifices in attempts to draw his stronger pieces out or just largely disregarding them.

When she asked if that was wrong, he told her that even a pawn can be crucial if used wisely, pointing out that there have been plenty of battles where serf armies have defeated larger, better armed and trained armies of knights.

Of course, as he worked his way through the Rose knights, he picked up how some of the troops watching started to laugh and mock them to one another, voicing how they thought these kids could at least win a dumb game which he found to be vexing, as they probably didn't even know the damn rules.

Still, while he won every match, it was never by the same method as the knights proved capable of learning from their friend's failures and while he was going easy on them, he was impressed by their intelligence as they adapted their play styles, learned from their mistakes and tried something new. They went on for another hour before they decided to pack up, by which point many of them had asked for rematches at another time, or in the case of Hamilton and Piña, had asked him for lessons in the future.

(That evening)

"Gentlemen, might I interest you in a game?" Lelouch smiled as he approached a group of soldiers. They had recently stopped again for the night, and he had just gotten back from helping the Rose Knights with their chores.

"What, you think we're interested in that stupid thing?" one of them asked him.

"I can think of two reasons," Lelouch said, gesturing towards the table he had borrowed. On it was his makeshift chess board, already set-up for them to play. The potential of something new proved enough to draw their attention as the five soldiers followed him to inspect it, but none sat down just yet.

"Go on," one of them said.

"Firstly, the bragging rights of beating an Apostle at his own game." He knew that most went their entire lives without ever seeing one, and for those who did, they often saw it as a sign of good luck as a once-in-a-lifetime event. The right to brag that you not only met one and then defeated them at something wasn't something to be casually ignored.

"That's not bad."

"That would sure be one hell of a conversation starter."

"I'm still not sold," the third said, although he had already picked up a piece. He had the wisdom to have the entire proposal laid out before he committed.

"Well, that's where the second part comes in. We throw in a little wager. What's your salary?" he asked.

"Salary?" one of them asked, unfamiliar with the word.

Lelouch corrected himself, reminding him that these people wouldn't know some of the words he did, even if he did his best to translate it to the local tongue."How much do you earn monthly?"

The soldier's eyes narrowed. "Why do you need to know that?"

"It's part of the wager. Don't worry, I don't plan to curse your money."

"Fifty-five Denari."

Lelouch took out fifteen silver coins from his purse, then put them into another small bag which he plopped into the center of the table, visible to all.

"Alright, if you put up fifteen Denari, I'll match that. Winner takes all?"

While it wasn't like they were betting serious cash—15 silver wasn't anything to scoff at—he knew it could get you some VIP treatment and booze at a brothel thanks to hearing Cato mutter how he would do just that if he had that kind of cash to burn. There were other things it could get, but he didn't need to really explain that to himself as he knew what these guys would most likely blow it on, judging from their faces.

"Alright, let's play." One of them eagerly took a seat. For a moment, he could've sworn that the apostle's pearly white teeth took on a sinister glint, but when he refocused, the dark haired young man he had agreed to play was merely smiling pleasantly and invited him to make the first move.

(Later)

"What's going on?" Chirona asked as she and the rest of their group looked towards a large crowd of people. They had been looking for Lelouch because he hadn't made dinner yet, only to discover this.

"Some kind of gambling match." Rory guessed by the sound of clinking coins, the cheers, and the loud screams of frustration from whoever had just lost. Hearing that their men had broken from their discipline to do that of all things had Grey sighing to himself as Piña looked up to him in confusion, wondering why they would even gamble to begin with.

"Really, and they are supposed to be professionals," he muttered to himself as they pushed their way through the crowd to the front.

"Dammit! That was my savings for the last three months!" The last loser cried as his friends consoled him as they walked off.

"Poor guy." Someone shook their head. The current match-up was still going on, but they all pretty much knew how it would end as white had been taking nothing but losses since it started.

"Should have known better than to put that kind of silver on a bet," another grunted as they waited their turn to win that cash prize—a prize they saw was a massive sack of coin, nearly overflowing. They didn't know how much it was, but they could tell it was well over 500 coins just from the size of the bag itself.

"He's playing with only half the pieces, how is he still winning?!" someone yelled as they held their head, leading them to what this was all centered around. A chess match.

On one side of the chess board, Lelouch calmly played black across from his sweating opponent. Lelouch sat there as if he had nothing to lose, and went by the even larger sack that they used for grain next to him—they couldn't blame him.

"Come now, was that the last of you? You all know the rules. If you win, you get all of this," Lelouch egged them all on as he patted the smaller bag of cash on the table. It had grown immensely since this little thing had started, with him increasing the amount he was betting with each victory. For the first ten matches, he had merely increased it by 5, the same as the opponent. But afterwards, he increased it even more. As his own winnings just kept on climbing higher and higher, he wagered more and more, enticing more and more of these fools to try their hand.

"Honestly, I would have thought the best of the empire would put up a better challenge than this, but it seems like I was wrong," he mocked them. The winning pot at this side stood at a very fat stack of 820 Denari, plus some additional Soruda and Sinku mixed in with them. And based on how this current match was going, it was only going to increase as he moved his knight into position.

"Check," he announced.

His opponent groaned pitifully and hastily dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief.

"Lelouch, what is going on?" Chirona asked, using her large frame to push up to him. He smiled up at her as if he wasn't swindling an entire group of their savings.

"Oh, sorry about being late. I challenge some of them to a friendly game, and we put some money on it." Lelouch gestured to the game.

She wasn't sold on his innocent expression like she would've been before they had come to know each other.. She knew that while he liked to gamble for fun, he rarely indulged in it, comparing his vice to drinking. There had to be another reason for this.

"Some, my ass," one of the losers muttered to himself, and Kali couldn't help but smirk at their suffering. She started to chuckle, and her father didn't bother scolding her, as he also found it highly amusing.

"Just…how many times have you won?" Piña asked. She had only seen a literal sack of coin that fat when she had peaked into the imperial treasury, and while those ones were still bigger, it wasn't like the one right in front of her wasn't something to scoff at. Lelouch had to actually pause mid-move as he tried to think about how often he had won, as he wasn't dumb enough to keep all his winnings on the table as the cash prize.

"I've played twenty-three matches, won all of them." He finished his move, checkmating his opponent.

"Make that twenty-four. Checkmate." He went to grab the bet of fifty-five silver that the soldier had offered, but the man grabbed his wrist before he could. The man's hand shook with rage at his loss, growing only more furious when he remembered that the damned apostle had started the game with half his pieces off the board, half! Yet he still lost to this prick. Only now did he understand that they had been scammed. They had all been scammed by him, and he didn't even look surprised, ashamed, or anything about it. The damned boy only looked at him with a smirk that said he didn't care if he knew, it was too late.

"No! There is no way you're playing fair and square!" He reached for his dagger; he would keep his money one way or another.

While the others were about to panic, with Rory prepared to step in, that proved unnecessary, as they all felt a wave of anger and bloodlust wash over them like a wave. The apostle's smirk may not have changed, but his eyes had taken on a crimson tint as an image of a bird in flight formed within both pupils.

"Go ahead, see what happens. I would hate to have to show you what happens to those who don't pay their dues." Lelouch's geass flashed though he hadn't given him a command, as he wasn't looking him in the eye when he said this, sparing him from its power.

The man felt ice pour into his veins and he shakily let him go. He wanted to back away as quickly as he could, his sweat-stained face making it appear as if he just saw death.

"My money. Now." But Lelouch wasn't about to let him go just yet, as he knew this one in particular had a very low opinion of his princess, of the girl he was supposed to serve, so he wanted him to feel as small as he had made her and her friends feel with his condescending remarks. His eyes conveyed the silent demand, not request, to pick up the coin purse he had put on the table and place it in his palm.

Nervous as all hell and wishing to be anywhere but here, the man shivered and scuffled forward, picking up the purse with shaking hands. He called upon as much will as he could and put it in Lelouch's outreached hand. Then, he booked it.

"Better luck next time boys, but I have other things to do." In an instance, that air of intimidation vanished as he exhaled and stood, collecting his pieces and winnings and placing the game into his bag. He heaved and picked up the sack, happy that he had some muscle to his bones as much as Kali liked to deny it. The sack weighed close to 30kg(66lbs). Still, he couldn't resist one last jab as before leaving. "It was nice playing all of you, but next time, if I want a challenge, I'll look for the Rose Knights. They put up a better fight." His plan had come together perfectly, with minimal effort on his part. Sure, he had to play most of those matches with only half his pieces, which meant he had to try harder to win each time. But he had done his best to ensure that his approach and reactions to their moves was of a similar level to what he used earlier in the day, and he was sure all of them knew that. This should stop them from talking crap about the Rose Knights, at least for a while.

"Did you have to scare them off like that?" Chirona asked as they had left the group, both infuriated with him but also terrified of what he could do to them if they ever crossed him. And that was a fair fear as he had a habit of holding grudges and collecting on them.

"What? They accepted the bets." Lelouch shrugged as he thought about what to do with his winnings of over 1,500 Denari. Perhaps he should look for whatever passed for a bank in this world and keep his money there, or have it converted to Suwani which would make it easier to carry around. Or maybe he should invest it.

"I say he should have pissed them off more. Did you see the looks on their faces? You would think he just took their savings for the year." Kali laughed, as it wasn't like she hadn't heard some of the things those assholes talked about. She even knew one or two wanted to try a pass with her which only made her laugh even harder, as if she would give any of them the time of day.

"For some of them, I did just that. Serves them right for putting so much on a bet," Lelouch said, as a couple of them clearly didn't think too far ahead or thought themselves skilled enough to wager that kind of cash. Either way, he got what he wanted.

And lastly, we are done! The two-parter has come to an end and while their journey back to Chirona's village hasn't ended yet, it will in the next chapter which will have a little surprise in it. This chapter wasn't as long as the other, but not much and while I COULD have just put them together, that would have bloated things out too much as I'm trying to restrain my chapter sizes. With this chapter, I wanted to show how he wants to approach the task of aiding the Rose Knights to grow as he's not Grey, he's not there to make them better soldiers to the empire, nor would be necessarily rush to their aid when they fight for the empire, rather, he wants to help them as individuals who remind him of himself and those, he once knew with Piña resembling Cornelia in some regards, and himself in others.

That's why he gives them the advice he does, and why he feels that Piña's stance of not making your troops do what you can't is foolish as even if he was in better physical shape during his Zero days, he wouldn't have been nearly as good a pilot as people like Gino, Anya, Jeremiah or Chiba-never mind aces like Xingke and Kallen. Nor would he have been as media savvy as Diethard, as science smart as Rakshata. He knows a good leader can recognize their faults and failings, and find ways to address them, and one way to do that is to bring in people who are good at the things you're not.

The idea to use chess as part of his method to do this came from another story where Milly had any new student council member play him in a game of chess and depending on how long they lasted, and how they played the game-they would assign them their position on the said council. I found it funny, and kind of foreboding that in one story, Suzaku lost due to blundering into a fool's check(something I originally planned for Piña to do, but ultimately decided against as that would be too embarrassing), C.C only played against him when he removed his queen from the board, and lastly-Kallen, lasting the longest and by his own admission, if he wasn't already in the position-he would have recommended her as VP.

The last bit where he swindled all those soldiers out of their money was based on then Sokka, Toph, and Aang went around that one Fire Nation town and scammed all those random people. The difference is this time he didn't target some random blokes but rather, he chose them for a reason outside that they might have some serious cash. Also, if I didn't make it clear before I do it now, this whole thing with the missing bicorns and this mysterious group is all part of the same arc, I don't plan to have too many before the gate opens, max I can see myself writing and somehow fitting into this decade long time period is 8 but even then, that's the ceiling so I could end up writing less.

Oh, by the way, here is the conversion table I'm using for this world. The lowest currency coin is soruda(Copper), 10 surodas made up 1 Denari(silver), 5 silver coins is the same as 1 Sinku(lesser gold) with 5 Sinku's worth the same as a Suwani(Which is just regular gold), so if you want, you can do the math and figure out how much gold he just won for himself.

Now, time for reviews:

Abyss Trinity: Thanks, hope you liked the double update.

Lesancapo: Thanks.

M2R: Yes, the ears are a permanent change, yeah, he'll have to deal with some of that but I have plans in the works for how he'll approach it as he's not the type to back down, he shares that trait with Kallen.

Command Unit: Thanks.

OBSERVER01: Funny part is that he's not even sure if they're more fox or wolf so until he finds someone that can tell him the difference, he'll use the two descriptions interchangeably. Yes, he finds that to be rather odd, but he hasn't said anything about it yet.

darkkrt: I didn't think it would take this long for me to update but life comes in like a lion. Also, she will join but for now, they have to get to know one another as I can't just pull a generic isekai troupe and just…say she's in, I really hate that.

grievousrommel: Well, part of it is because he's not that invested in the people and the world he finds himself in, he's kinda like C.C in that regard, just not as apathetic as the witch. Another reason is that while Schneizel wanted to play being a God, these are literal Gods so he's smart enough to know he couldn't succeed even if he tried.

Shikyo no Kyoufu: As a man who doesn't drink, I didn't even know what her name meant till someone told me and I confirmed it. But I've heard worse.

Dontus -not Donut- Powerus: The hair growth was more just me putting a cap on what his Code considers his base form, his hair can still grow past that point, it's just that if his head was ever damaged-his hair would revert back to that length. His hair covering where his hair used to be is just how anime hair works, especially with characters with animal ears as they always seem to have hair long enough to cover the sides of their head.

I also feel like he could have had his normal ears as well, but that just seemed weird to me, like the idea of having two sets of ears is just weird. With how sensitive they are to sound, that is something he'll have to get used to as time goes on, I'm afraid. Yes, he could fold them but that messes with his hearing and like you say, isn't something that would fit his character as he's too proud to do something like that unless it's necessary.

Again, the whole point of being banished from his world is to keep him from interfering with it, or knowing what is going on over there, when I do finally work on the omakes, they'll just be for fun. As for the targeting of cities, when did he do that? According to what some of the people in-universe said the day he died; he has a secret police force that goes after anyone critical of him. You can't target a city for how many corrupted people live there as that kind of collateral is insane.

With the funk over his fate, he's already largely over it as he already severed those ties before he died to make the Requiem work in the first place. He was prepared to die and never see them again so while he'll have his moments every now and then, it's not like he's depressed over it. Also, I already did write in Microsoft Word, but I have someone looking over these chapters as well as putting them through Grammarly to ensure that as many errors are ironed out.

And the Rose Knights wouldn't like you to hug them, they are cute-no one is denying that but they wouldn't like being called that.

Vein Bloodborne: Thanks, always nice to read about how my works help people feel good.

SomePervyGuy: I saw the video months back, and I do agree with some of the points but I also feel like have gone any which way between Shirley, C.C, and Kallen as he cared for them all, but I don't think he loved any of them, not in a romantic sense.

Zathol: It's a little bit of both with that first part. And thanks, I wanted their introduction to be good, not just surprising. Some of the knights might develop a crush on him, but he wouldn't develop such feelings for them, nor even entertain such as he's far too young an Apostle for him to look past such an age gap. With the fates of some of the Rose Knights, yeah they didn't know what they were getting into but what recruit does? With how they were treated, it could be seen as a little bit of parental care from the emperor, and a little bit of dismissal of their skills. The image of him on a throne with them as knights is a funny one though.

AzureDominon: I'll look into it…I looked into it, that part wasn't supposed to be there, don't know how it survived to the final cut as I scrapped the part that it was alluding to.

demzerff1: He does treat her well, but she mainly acts the way she does with him out of concern as they are fellow students, and quite close, there's no crush or romantic feelings involved. With his alchemy research, he could go down either one of those routes but I won't say which. And he does, it's one of the main reasons he bothered to learn a whole new language to a level higher than what was needed for everyday life, it was that he could perfectly understand the books, scrolls, and other pieces of knowledge he could get his hands on, but he can't dedicate all his time to it.

I do agree that he feels like it's disconnected, but the fact of the matter is…that's the point for now. They are two different worlds who will never meet but I also couldn't resist just writing on how the Gods changed things to account for the fact he never existed, like ever in this new timeline.

Blaze1992: Lol. Rory herself doesn't seem to mind the modern world, she just takes her job as an Apostle very seriously and her lord and master ordered her to make sure such advancements never happen. With the knights, I doubt they'll be that annoying and again, it's not like he's babysitting them so whenever he wants a break from them, he can just…walk off.

Tolazytologin: I'm working on that; grammar and spelling keep getting the better of me despite my best efforts but I'll keep on trying to address the problem.

Mistletainn: That is a possibility, especially since as far as the anime is concerned, Giselle-the only other Apostle we see, is firmly against them. I'll try to keep the OC, or rather, the OC count for important characters low as I'm not confident enough to juggle all of that. With the other Apostles, I might not even introduce all of them as while he is also one, he's not seeking them out, at least not at the moment. But if I did introduce more, I'll try my best to give them all unique reasons for what they do, and how they see the world.

PersonaNinja Lux: People are made by both their actions and the actions of others. It's why people can criticize some characters who seem to exist as islands, like the rest of the cast, or even plot barely if ever affects them. It's also why time travel stories are so hard to do right as changing one thing now can and should lead to many different things changing down the line. For example, if the SAZ massacre never happened, most of R2 would be scrapped, whereas in a story I read where the Black Rebellion succeeded and Japan was liberated in R1, the writer struggled to adapt anything from R2 as most of the plot wouldn't make sense, like saying Suzaku remaining with Britannia as his entire goal was to help Japan and in R2, it was to help them by becoming Knight of One and taking Area 11 as his personal domain, thereby allowing him to enact whatever laws he wished. But with Japan having been freed by his sworn enemies, the Black Knights, it felt like he stayed…just cause.

Zero was announced dead by the Black Knights before he even became emperor, but at that point, he had been dead before I could buy people thinking it's the same guy who somehow escaped death yet again. I always thought he gathered all of them and placed them on Damocles, before sending the thing into the sun. I mean, he had Schneizel under his control so it's like the guy would have been able to hide secrets from him. As for the omakes, I haven't written any at this point as they'll take place when the gate opens so they would have spoilers in them

ZhaWarudo: One, I never had him fawning over her, he barely knows her. Two, Janaysia will get more development as time goes on but I'm keeping her involvement in the plot low. Three, there is more to that transformation than just power as it left him bedridden for over a week, and it only lasted a couple of minutes so it's not like he has a super Saiyan form. Four, if you wish to stop reading, that is your choice and I will respect that, hope you find a story that you like.

DungeonMaster: I knew of only the two during the planning phase for the first chapters. I also don't really know how they got a submarine through the gate as it's not that big, nor where they got a friendly port to set up shop.

Ewerton Da Silva Rodrigues: Thanks. How he interacted was both his power changing him and the fact at his core, he's fundamentally broken as a human being, like I can't see him being able to cope in a regular setting with some help from a therapist as he's too used to things being dangerous, to plotting, scheming and/or killing. He had to meet her eventually, right? Chirona likes him partly because he's a likable guy and partly because he's a pretty boy-that last part is something he can never escape and as an immortal, he never will. With what he revealed to Rory, he has no reason to lie so why bother?

ZeroSenpai: Yeah, I just unloaded with those three. And I'll let the chapters do the talking with the rest of your review.

polarpwnage:…that was out of nowhere.

Thanos69: Thanks, your name made me chuckle.

LightTrain: Thanks, I might just take you up on that offer.

Chomusuke: You will don't worry.

Guest: You just got more.

Atharvpathak: Already explained this.

Exiled Soul Nomad: More or less.

zealfrost20: Cool, but I do warn you, that might take a while.

edoabb: He woke up in another world where he couldn't even understand the locals. Of course, it's going to take time to learn how to communicate, at least with Japan. He could have looked up some translations but no such luck here. Also, didn't he take over the world from nothing, he used mind control to take over the most powerful nation on Earth, which is a major boost on 'what you need for world domination'. Magic is learned via study and while he is interested in it, he's not so invested that he spends every waking hour working on it. In time, he'll show off just what he is capable of thanks to his studies and intelligence. Cato is a wizard master with decades of skills and study to call on, so how is knowing, not being a fluent master, in 30 languages surprising for someone like that.

ShadoWARmadaN: Nope! It's back but this might just be the last chapter for the year.

Azaira: Yeah, it's a problem I'm still working on.

MiaMorn: Thanks.

akai345: Thanks, I didn't want to just jump to that point as I would just be doing wish fulfillment.

loop2: I decided to change things, so Lelei's going to be much older and more experienced when the Gate opens.

Tri-Edge: I'm pretty sure that I spoke with you about this. But sadly, I wasn't unable to fit in Lelei and Cato in this chapter due to the limits I'm imposing on myself when it comes to chapter length. Still, I already have them in the next chapter so yeah.

DragonTetho: Nice profile pic. And trust me, that debate has been going on for years, and I doubt it will ever end…such is the fate of the waifu wars.