CHAPTER 4:

THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF BEING AN OVERLORD

"I must say, boy, this is turning out to be more entertaining than I thought."

Lelouch looked back at where CC was lounging on his bed, chewing on pizza, and so early this morning too. While she initially intended on having Pizza Hut, he persuaded her to try a pizza created within Nazarick, with ingredients they brought in. She took one bite…and was instantly hooked. Lelouch was sure that she wouldn't betray them now, not given the disturbingly orgasmic noises she made while eating said pizza. "You call my intentions to conquer the world entertaining? Most people would call that insane, megalomaniacal."

"I've lived a very long time, longer than even you given your two lifetimes, boy," CC said. "I've fought alongside Jeanne d'Arc, met George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte. You may have very powerful individuals, powerful enough to withstand most modern weaponry…but you are relatively few in number. But you have ideals on your side. Just try not to let them get you killed…or too many other people killed, especially for the wrong reasons."

Lelouch scoffed. "Don't get me wrong, I was more than a little self-righteous earlier. In a way, this is revenge on my father for my mother, and for Nunnally. Not to mention I want to prevent the world I grew up in, poisoned and grey. But I also do believe that I should try to make a difference, to relieve suffering. Plus, spreading the reputation of Ainz Ooal Gown might just attract any Players who made it to this world, including my comrades. Not to mention it gives the former NPCs something to do. Many of them had evil karma, thanks to the settings given to them, but hopefully, I've managed to work around that."

"By appealing to their lives before they regained their memories, and telling them of the history of your guild," CC remarked. "It was not a bad idea, instead of just playing up the evil overlord role. Having lived lives as humans, they now have perspective, despite their innate misanthropy. And with perspective may come empathy. In theory. But sometimes, some perspectives may lessen it."

"You speak from experience?" Lelouch asked, looking at CC. "You mentioned fighting alongside Jeanne d'Arc…you must be at least five centuries old."

"It's rude to speculate about a lady's age, boy."

"You're wearing a straitjacket, eating pizza on my bed, and you claim to be a lady?"

"I'm seven centuries old, boy," CC said. "I have acquired unusual tastes. Besides, this straitjacket is actually quite comfortable when it's not done up fully. I'd hate it…but the fabric's actually quite nice. And the undersuit could double as a nice swimsuit. It feels like I'm wearing nothing at all." To make the point, she wriggled her derriere as she lay on the bed.

Lelouch blinked, staring, before he returned to typing on his computer, working out a plan on how to supply things to the Tomb of Nazarick. Unfortunately, while he knew CC had done it to tease him, he couldn't get the image of her attractive rear, along with the rest of her out of his head, saying, Nothing at all. Nothing at all. NOTHING at ALL.

Stupid Sexy CC.

"Incidentally, boy, you do know that Kallen and Millicent, the reincarnations of Albedo and Shalltear, want to jump your bones?" CC asked.

Lelouch winced. "Yes. Albedo was my fault entirely. I shouldn't have sullied Tabula's NPC like that, not if I knew this was going to happen."

CC shrugged. "Having an NPC reincarnate in another world and be brought to life? It sounds like something out of bad fiction. I doubt you could have foreseen it. Fantasised about it, maybe, but foreseen it? I saw your memories as Satoru Suzuki. To be honest, if I were in your shoes, I might've done something similar out of boredom. But it's happened, and you have to live with the consequences. Of course, Albedo was your fault, but Shalltear is wholly Peroroncino's. Why exactly were you friends with that guy, again? I mean, I saw the settings he gave her from your memories. He basically dumped a list of various fetishes and disturbing paraphilias, into the body of a girl who looks fourteen. At least Milly's closer to your age. Plus, I don't know whether you've noticed, but they were, to a small degree, self-aware before Yggdrasil shut down. So while you're an older salaryman with the body of a teenager, they're technically in their twenties at least, in terms of experience. Anyway, my point is, don't take advantage of them. I'm not saying you shouldn't bed them eventually, only that what they feel for you is infatuation. Well, Milly you've known for a while, but Kallen?"

Lelouch knew what she was saying. Don't yank their chains. Try not to hurt them. Allow the infatuation they felt to become something more. "Kallen and Milly…and I've noticed the looks Shirley has been giving me too once she remembered being Solution. God, I don't know how my father copes with having 108 consorts. I know most of those are for political reasons, but still…"

"Oh, Kallen and Milly seemed fine with you having a harem. I got involved with an argument with them last night before we left Nazarick. They agreed to be part of a harem, but they still seem to think that the head wife will be an issue between them."

Lelouch turned in his chair once more, and fixed CC with a flat look. "What. They're okay with me having a harem."

"I didn't stutter. I might even join in," the green-haired immortal shrugged. "Though for now, we're more accomplices than lovers."

"Well then, accomplice…I want to know a few things. A few things I should be able to find out myself, experimenting with Geass…but there's something that worries me. When you spoke to me shortly before giving me the Geass, I caught a glimpse of what appeared to be my father, saying something about a convergence with the Ragnarok Connection, and a legend beginning once more. Tell me…what does my father have to do with this? Does he have a Geass? What is the Ragnarok Connection he spoke of?"

CC peered at him, almost cat-like, the impression heightened by those golden orbs of hers, before she said, "You ask a lot of questions, and expect a lot of answers. But I know you. When playing Yggdrasil, part of the fun you and the other players had was in discovery, even when it led to danger. You hated spoilers, preferring to gain intelligence through your own means. And to tell the truth…if I did tell you too much, it would make you and your charges even greater targets than they were before."

Lelouch glared at CC. "I could just send you to Demiurge and Neuronist to get answers out of you. Or use my Geass on you."

"I never broke under Clovis' torture," CC said, matching his glare. "He was a fool, but he and his underlings were creative when it came to inflicting novel means of pain and death. And I cannot be affected by any Geass I give out. I don't think that is very grateful of you, given how I managed to unlock your memories and powers. So how about we make a deal? As long as an issue is not immediately vital to the safety of you and yours, I will let you figure it out. I won't leave you in the dark, not wholly. I'll be like your exposition fairy, only, I won't be annoying by saying 'HEY! LISTEN!' Instead, I'll annoy you in other ways. However, I will answer at least one of your questions. Your father does indeed have a Geass. But every Geass is different. And I was not the one to give it to him. That was a certain annoying blonde midget by the name of VV. VV and your father will be…the final bosses of your game."

Lelouch was tempted to chew the green-haired immortal out on calling this a game. But then, the part of him that was Momonga, the Guild Leader of Ainz Ooal Gown, the one who had been an infamous Player Killer…he relished the challenge. "You promise to tell me if necessary?"

"Indeed. To sweeten the pot, I should warn you about something. In Yggdrasil, powers and abilities would sometimes come with costs. Your overlord body in that game came with weakness to fire and holy light as well. Your Geass will eventually grow in power and strength until it becomes permanently activated, a condition called Runaway Geass. Given that you are capable of issuing an absolute command to anyone, that would mean a careless word could end in disaster."

Lelouch nodded in thought, his rationality winning out over his anger. "Is there any way to prevent that?"

"Your Geass requires eye contact, so something as simple as a pair of mirrored sunglasses would help," CC said. "And given your other abilities…I doubt you would have to worry about Runaway Geass for some time if you are prudent about using it."

"Any other Geass users I should be worried about?"

She hesitated for some time. Eventually, she admitted, "One of my former contractors has the ability to read minds. He is obsessed with me, true, but because he cannot stop hearing the voices of others, he lives in an isolated region of the Chinese Federation. Once you've established an intelligence network, I will give details to your spymasters, just in case he decides to come out of hiding. But I will deal with him myself. I am the only person whose mind he cannot read." CC peered at Lelouch. "Keep in mind, Lelouch, that it is beneficial for me to keep you alive and free to act. I may not tell you everything, but I have your interests in mind."

"Not my 'best interests'?" Lelouch asked.

"…Since when was it in anyone's best interests to help them take over the world?" CC asked with a wry smile.

When he emerged to have breakfast, he saw that Nunnally was glaring at Kallen and Milly. He had decided, unless they were acting as part of Ainz Ooal Gown, he would think of them in their human identities. Their NPC names would be codenames, to shield them during operations…well, save for Lelouch. He wasn't going to use Momonga as a codename now, no matter how much Albedo or the others loved it. Momonga, after all, was a Japanese flying squirrel.

"…And you will not fight about who will be the head wife in my presence, or that of my brother!" Nunnally was saying. "I may have been one of the Pleiades before, and it will be my pleasure to defer to you on other matters, but I will not budge on this!"

To his astonishment, both Kallen and Milly, formerly Albedo and Shalltear, looked cowed. Lelouch couldn't help but laugh. "It's strange how the different relationships in the people we reincarnated as change things a little," Lelouch said, walking over, and hugging his sister. He then gave Kallen and Milly the same, to assuage any possible jealousy. Kallen, he noted, was dressed in the Ashford Academy uniform, her hair brushed down.

Kallen, after a moment, said, "As much as Entoma…I mean, Nunnally was insolent, I understand her protectiveness. My brother…in this life…he was protective. Oh, Lord Momo…I mean, Lelouch, if only you could have met him! For a mere human, he had valour in spades. Most of the rest of the cell have determination, but they lack direction. The current leader, Kaname Ohgi, is a reluctant leader, a schoolteacher. He fights well for someone so weak, but he lacks the nous to be a leader. I feel that you would give them the direction needed…though having a Britannian prince leading them could cause problems."

"Meaning that if I do lead them, I would have to disguise myself. Not that I wouldn't have, anyway," Lelouch said. "This is something we will have to remember. Can any of us disguise ourselves, even if it's using armour?"

Kallen and Milly nodded, and they summoned their respective armours. Kallen was now clad in Albedo's pitch black armour, while Milly was in the blood-red Valkyrie armour, with the swan-like helmet and wings on her back. To his astonishment, Milly's face was replaced by Shalltear's, but not the Shalltear who looked like a girl of fourteen, but rather, closer to Milly's age. And when Kallen removed her helmet, she looked like Albedo, albeit about seventeen.

On an impulse, Lelouch tried the same thing, and found himself draped in robes. He turned to a nearby mirror, and saw that he looked just as he had before, an eight foot tall skeleton man. An overlord. On another impulse, he tried to see if he could change his appearance, and was rewarded, with the skeleton being replaced by an idealised version of Satoru Suzuki. He touched his face, and smiled. It felt like real flesh and blood.

Still, he needed a decent mask to go with this. That Mask of Envy might be a bit too garish. And really, in the end, while these robes were quite useful, given the enchantments, they also gave him too much of a fantasy dark lord vibe. If he wanted people to flock to his banner, he'd need something…well, less sinister, though dark wasn't his problem.

With a smirk, dispelling the robes, he said, "Create Greater Item," visualising the costume he wanted. And soon, it appeared around him in a flare of light.

A massive cape-like cloak was draped around him like the wings of a predatory bird. Underneath was a uniform that looked vaguely noble and military, both acknowledgement and rejection of the Britannian society as it was now. A mask with an eerily opaque reflective visor was perched on his head.

After a moment, he turned to CC. "Well? What do you think?" he asked. He knew that the NPCs would praise him even if he was wearing a copy of the Sixth Doctor's outfit from Doctor Who, and that looked like a rainbow shat itself to death all over it.

"Portentous, pompous and pretentious," CC said flatly, before a smirk came across her lips. "I like it."

"Hmm. Still, I may have to go to the Treasury and retrieve items to enhance its defences," Lelouch mused as he dispelled the costume, Kallen and Milly doing the same to their armours. "I'll have to ask Pandora's Actor for as complete an inventory as he can manage. Or better yet, see if we can create the costume itself from scratch without needing Create Greater Item. I'm sure we have enough items to do so."

"Forgive my insolence, my lord," Kallen said, "but while the name of Lord Momonga brings nothing but joy to my heart…I fear that, given that it is the name for a Japanese flying squirrel, it may provoke unwarranted hilarity amongst the uneducated rabble. I fear I would be unable to keep myself from slaughtering them otherwise."

"I understand, Kallen," Lelouch said. "I have been thinking of another title, and while it may be a little unoriginal…it serves as a rejection of the Numbers system. Originally, I had considered taking on the name of our guild, to serve as a beacon to any of my guildmates who may have ended up here, but it will serve as the name for the organisation that will change this world. No…I believe the name I will take up will be Zero. Not just a symbol of nothingness and anonymity, but a refutation of the Numbers system. In private, you may refer to me as Lelouch or Momonga, whichever you prefer. You can even call me by my former name of Satoru Suzuki if you like."

"Ah! My lord is too kind!" Kallen said, writhing in ecstasy. CC and Nunnally looked amused, and Milly…did not.

Lelouch cleared his throat. "Kallen…I do have a confession to make. Remember, originally, the Floor Guardians, and other members of Nazarick, save for the Supreme Beings, are creations of the Supreme Beings. Your love for me…it was an alteration made by me to Tabula Smaragdina's original plan for you. It was a foolish decision made on a whim, and…"

"…My lord, please. Does my devotion, my love bother you?"

"It would only bother me if it disrupted the harmony within Ainz Ooal Gown," Lelouch half-lied. "But I changed the backstory Tabula gave you…"

"My creator, I am sure, would forgive you if he were present, Lord Momonga. He would view it as an amusing elopement, I am sure," Kallen said serenely. "And in truth, I felt a hole where my heart was, even in my life as Kallen Kozuki. My brother Naoto filled it enough with sibling love, and I will always be grateful to him for being a good sibling to me. You make me whole, Momonga, and I forgive you for the trespass you believe you committed. Because you stayed with us to the end, and now, you have come back to give us purpose once more."

Lelouch was heartened a little. It may have been Albedo's rationalisation, but he hoped Tabula would have forgiven him. So he thus turned his attention to Milly. "So, what is on the agenda today, aside from classes?"

"I intend to invite Kallen," Milly said, shooting Kallen a venomous glance, "to the Student Council. The cover story is that, as Kallen claimed illness for her frequent absences, I decided to bring her into a student organisation that wouldn't require physical exertion. In truth, it will allow her to come into the Council without arousing undue suspicion. As everyone else in the Council is a glorious member of Ainz Ooal Gown, we can use the Council as a cover for planning many of our activities."

"Good idea, Milly," Lelouch said. "However, as a fellow conspirator, we may need to bring CC into the student council somehow."

"I have already thought of that. CC can act as Nunnally's nurse. With the appropriate costume…I believe she can play the part very well." She whipped out a costume from seemingly out of nowhere. "Ta-dah!"

Lelouch stared. While what Milly was showing off did technically count as a nurse's uniform, given the white colouration and the red cross emblazoned rather prominently on certain areas, it was also a mite…skimpy. Not to mention mostly made of latex and PVC. Oh for God's sake, Peroroncino, he groaned inwardly, did you really have to have her into naughty nurse fetishes? Then again, that was pretty tame compared to some of the other stuff Peroroncino got off on…

CHAPTER 4 ANNOTATIONS:

So, Lelouch and CC are having a discussion, and we've had Kallen and Milly being scolded by Nunnally.

I actually realised, Shizu Delta as being part of a mech is older than I thought. There's a story by lord of the land of fire (sadly on hiatus, as it's a good story) called And They Call It Peace, where Nazarick ends up on a post-apocalyptic world (not Earth), and the cover image shows Shizu either wearing a mech suit or integrated into it. Maybe I was thinking of that cover image unconsciously…

Now, I've actually decided that we will have one other member of Ainz Ooal Gown, as in one of the Players, be reincarnated as a Code Geass character, and a particularly important one at that. Their debut proper won't be until Chapter 7, but I think it'll be worth the wait for you guys. Admittedly, I am diddling around with Overlord lore a little here, but they are NOT an OC, they will be one of the more prominent Players…reincarnated as one of the more prominent characters of Code Geass.

Review-answering time! Wow, I'm surprised at the sheer amount of attention this fic has gotten already. Then again, there's not enough Overlord crossovers, are there? I've put challenges on the forums of DZ2 and whitetigerwolf, people, why not give them a go?

coduss: They're basically human, but with the same stats as the characters. However, because they are biologically human, they're not affected by certain weaknesses (like holy light and fire to undead creatures), but they also lack their racial perks. Not the racial levels, mind. As for whether they're immortal or not…I'm gonna say, what the hell, and say yes, after a certain point, they'll stop aging. They're not immortal in the same way CC is, though. They're ridiculously durable, but if something came along capable of matching their stats, they'd still die, though they can also be resurrected.

I answered Voltrasin's review in correspondence, but I will point out that the whole 'Albedo is a bitch' thing came from the official English translations of the light novels, the manga, and the anime. I dunno where the whole 'slut' thing came from (I would say the original webnovel, but Albedo doesn't exist in that).

framfrit: Crap, I forgot about Ariadne entirely, and I only just recently read Book 7's official release a little while ago. I've written in an explanation in a later chapter, saying that somehow Ariadne crashed or deactivated.

Vossoch: I basically described Aura and Mare as they were before they were changed into Rivalz and Nina respectively. I thought I made that clear.

dragon-cloud16: Yeah, that sort of end for VV really appeals to me. I think I might have Nunnally/Entoma sting him to death with wasps. I admit, I hadn't thought about how to heal Nunnally with magic, so I'm bringing it up in a later chapter. Personally, I'm not sure what magic can do for really old wounds and scars, though given how Sebas is able to use a magic scroll to heal what was done to Tsuare over what has to be months if not years of sex slavery, it might be possible.

No numbered annotations for this chapter.