Chapter II: A good night
2017 a.t.b.
Imperial Reception hall, Governor Palace, Tokyo
To say that Clovis' parties where something the whole nobility looked forward to was an understatement. Clovis , despite his incompetence and lack of skill in government ,made it up with his ability to entertain and host some of the most memorable parties in high society, and tonight he pulled all stops to give his little brother a proper welcome to Area 11.
All of the nobility there had gathered to meet the famous "Iron Prince", the hero of the empire, who had made the E.U. tremble, among them were ambassadors from China , generals and politicians who came from the mainland specifically for this reception, and even the members of the N.A.C came ,both out of a desire to meet him and to scout a potential opponent for their resistance movement.
"Major General Lelouch vi Britannia , Brigadier General Jeremiah Gottwaldov , Brigadier's Villeta NU and Kewell Soresi , and knight of honor and Captain of the guards …"SK". "
At this the whole room went silent , turning their eyes towards the entrance of the ball. There they saw a figure wearing a black uniform ,donned with armor on his chest, legs and arms with a cape and a tri horned helmet, flanked by the above mentioned four officers for his military victories. Lelouch was also famous through-out the world in spite of, or because of the fact that he never showed his face. He always appeared with a mask when in public, the same was for "SK" , for he was also wearing a white smiling mask to conceal his face .
And so the Prince looked at the bewildered crowd he then turned his head to his subordinates and told them "Men, it seems that we are faced with superior numbers in an environment which is unfamiliar to us ". A small round of chuckle came from his subordinates.
"What's our strategy, commander?" replied Jeremiah.
"Divide and conquer, we separate into smaller forces , confuse them, hit hard , then get the hell out of dodge !" Lelouch said, earning another small chuckle from his officers.
And so they all went their separate ways to mingle with the various party guests. Kewell was the first to be "intercepted" by the enemy or so to speak, namely and Earl Rosencrantz.
"Brigadier Soresi, it's pleasure to finally meet you" the fat nobleman said ,extending his hand. Kewell was hesitant, for in the back of his mind dreaded the thought of entering a long and boring conversation with this human hippopotamus, but politeness made him smile and shake the ham man's hand in return.
"Forgive my boldness Brigadier, but why does the Prince and his knight of honor conceal their faces?"
"His highness wishes to conceal his identity in order to avoid any assassination attempt by enemies ,the same going for SK as well" Kewell replied.
"Understandable for a prince , but slightly cowardice of a knight" he said while taking a sip of his champagne.
At this Kewell smiled and put his left arm around the noble's shoulder, the Earl turned to look at him and then Kewell's smile disappeared, his eyes where that of pure hatred . He suddenly grabbed the Earl's throat with the arm he had around the man's shoulder, starting to choke the man.
"If you insult SK one more time I swear I'll strangle you to death , you silk wearing fat pig!" he whispered, then released the man and went to another portion of the room. For Kewell ,anyone who insulted SK, no ,anyone who insulted any other of his comrades deserved to die .
"Are you aware of the fact that the Europeans are calling you the "Niddhog" now because of your recent action in Siberia, little brother ?" Clovis asked him.
"The mythological monster who starts the end of the world in Norse mythology… I rather like that title ! " Lelouch said with a chuckle , which modified by his voice scrambler made it sound as if it truly belonged to a monster, making Clovis be a little scared.
Just then a guest arrived at the party, or rather the last one you would rather expect at such a gathering.
The doorman looked at him confused for a second, then looked at the invitation the man had and his entourage gave him, then announcing to the whole room :
"Colonel Kyoshiro Todoh and Co." . Suddenly , at this news the whole room , as if being struck by thunder, turned around and saw him, the only man who had managed to defeat the empire's armies.
The crowd of nobles then started whispering among themselves, mostly words like "what's he doing here" and such.
Right after that, something shocking happened . Lelouch strolled up to the man , giving him a slight bow and a wave of the cape and said :
" Colonel Todoh it is an honor that you had decided to accept my invitation"
Todoh did not knew what shocked him more , the fact that Lelouch was the one who sent the invitation or that fact that he spoke Japanese, and rather a fluent, formal and elegant dialect of it too.
"Since you are here, would you do me the honor of a chess match?"Lelouch said.
"So that is why you invited me here, to humiliate me in front of the nobility" Todoh though to himself.
"Forgive me but I am afraid I'm a little rusty at chess" he replied to the prince.
Lelouch seemed unfazed, or so Todoh thought for he could not tell from his facial expression , as of the Prince's mask.
"I see you are hesitant, well then should I make things more interesting ?"
"What about this , if you defeat me at chess then I will give you this" Lelouch continued, while pulling his dagger from beneath his cloak.
Todoh was shocked once again, the dagger was something that was given to the top cadet at West Point when they graduated, it was the highest honor a newly minted officer could receive, the britannian equivalent of a samurai's sword value to it's owner.
" And if I lose?"Todoh asked the prince.
"Then I get your sword" Lelouch said.
Todoh was not one to be tricked and baited into a battle, but his subordinates besides him and Lt Colonel Kusakabe who was standing behind him silently urged him to accept the challenge and put the "royal bastard" in his place, he had no choice but to accept.
A chess table was provided and both players sat down as they were surrounded by the entire room who were now spectators.
Lelouch played with black while Todoh was white. Todoh couldn't help but inwardly laugh at the familiarity of the situation… He was pushed in a battle because of the pressure from his superior and subordinates , surrounded by enemy forces, it was Itsukushima all over again, but then he was able to win because he faced a superior army with an incompetent commander …here he knew that there was no chance of victory.
And so the match began, at first it was a stalemate, after a while Todoh managing to put Lelouch in check, gaining a round of gasps from the nobility. But Todoh could tell that Lelouch was maneuvering him into check mate, for he could see from the position of Lelouch's pieces, that in 5 moves he would be defeated. If not for the check, he would have been done in two moves.
Lelouch then did the unthinkable, he touched his king with his hand and then said.
"Do you know Colonel Todoh, of the story of the roman general Julius Caesar, early in his military campaign? He suffered a defeated by Vercingetorix . Normally ,that would mean the wars would end, but the roman senators who up until then where against Caesars' Gallic War , became afraid that the Gaulls would then invade Italy .Then they gave him all the support he needed to conquer Gaul, so sometimes a man gains more from a defeat than from a victory, once such instant is now" Lelouch said he then put his black king to lie on the chest table and then said:"Checkmate . I lose ."
The entire room was shocked, and Todoh being most shocked off them all for he expected to lose. Lelouch rose from the table, accidentally knock it with his foot, making the West Point dagger and samurai sword fall to the ground. He immediately picked them up, handed both of them to Todoh and then left the room with his officers.
3 hours latter Naritta Mountain
There was a wild party going for the man who had "defeated" britannia's hero and everyone in the JLF was participating, including the members of the N.A.C. Kusakabe was the drunkest of all and he kept on shouting on about how much he pitied the soldiers who must serve under the "Iron Prince" for his incompetence.
Bur for Todoh there was something amiss, his victory was not a victory . He knew that Lelouch, purposely let him win, but why ? At first he thought that the dagger he gave him was with a tracking device or microphone, but it turned out clean at scans .
"Something is bothering you ,Todoh-shogun?" Nagisa Chiba said to the samurai.
"Like you I witnessed the chess match, and find it odd that he let you win " she then continued.
"I would like nothing more than to believe that the victory was of my own skill, and celebrate it . There is a feeling inside me that says I fell into his trap and, this "defeat" he suffered will be the key to his total victory" Todoh said nervously as he squeezed his sake cup.
Nagisa had never seen her commander and the man she admired and secretly had feeling for so tense. On his face, which never showed emotions, she saw something she never though she would see, something she did not see neither when the Second Pacific War began, neither at Itsukushima, and not even when Japan became an Area.
It was fear, fear of the unknown… no ,not the unknown but of that person .Prince Lelouch , somehow he had managed to make Todoh" The Miracle" afraid.
Meanwhile, back at Prince Lelouch's private quarters, the Prince looked at a monitor that was filming the JLF party ." How right you are Todoh, you truly are a leader of men".
Lelouch then leaned back in his chair ,put his right arm on his forehead and started remembering the events which happened just a few hours ago, right after he let Todoh win . He intentionally bumped the table , and while he picked up the dagger and sword he did indeed put a bug on one of them, but it was Todoh's sword and not the dagger, for he knew that they would anticipate, such an action, but they would be too preoccupied with the dagger to check the samurai's sword.
He then thought just how much intel he gathered from his little deception, from their conversation he discovered . The position of their bases ,their immediate plans, even t he names of their supporter, he now had a man on the inside, or rather a samurai on the inside - and no one could or would ever suspect it. For Lelouch had just transformed Todoh from his greatest potential enemy, to his greatest ally , even if the man didn't know it himself.
Just then on the JlF's DJ box , the old Black Eyed Peas song "I Gotta Feeling" started playing . The lyrics of it started flowing the room as Lelouch couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the situation, for tonight the JLF, like Vercingetorix , would enjoy the victory of the battle, but him like Caesar would enjoy the victory of the war .
Yes, tonight was "A GOOD NIGHT"
Author's note
Sorry I took so long , midterm exams came and I had to focus on them , plus I was not sure whether I should continue, the story or not ,anyway thanks for the positive reviews, keep read and reviewing , and you'll be able to read more about the Iron Prince
Editor's note :
Hey guys ~! I just corrected this chapter of the fanfiction. Took me a while but I did it ~ Anyway , don't forget to review ~
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Zombie signing out ~