"Finally, done." You spoke aloud, only to earn CC raising an eyebrow at you in response to your mumbling. "Now... to get these to Milly and see if she's had any luck getting me in a meeting with the Ashfords." Your new Knightmare Frame design was both cheap to produce as well as effective for the population to use. Though it wouldn't be allowed to actually be classified as a Knightmare Frame publicly, and would have to go by names such as "Civilian Heavy Lifter." thanks to the military connotations that Knightmare Frames themselves have... even if the 'Heavy Lifters' are literally just Knightmare Frames in every regard. Of course, you had to design your Knightmare Frame to fit in with all these regulations, which is why the modular design was so useful. It would be exceptionally easy for the user to switch out practically any part of the Frame. Of course, to do that they'd need to buy a Frame Mount too, but... that was simply a way to earn an additional amount of money.

You designed the Frame to be as easy to use as you possibly could, and though it was only a set of blueprints, using these blueprints, one could easily bring the design into production almost immediately. With any luck, the Ashfords would be impressed enough with the design that they'd hear you out further, or at least give you access to a proper Knightmare Frame factory to bring your designs into reality. While your Workshop was good, it wasn't good enough to begin the mass production of Knightmare Frames. With the Ashfords backing your new design, you were quite certain that they'd be able to make a great deal of the new frames, earning themselves both a ridiculous amount of money as well as subtly arming the population without the Britannians noticing. The Britannians wouldn't see much of a problem in the massive increase in productivity brought about by your design, after all.

But as you looked at the design, you realized that it needed a name, but... what could you call such a machine? You... were really struggling to come up with a decent name for it...

>Ask CC if she has any ideas.
>Call Milly and ask her for a name.
>Variable Model 1 Frame - Basic.
>Civilian Frame - Modular.
>Modular Frame
>Something Else...

>>5064696
>>Ask CC if she has any ideas.
CC seems bored, let's involve her. We should also enroll her in school or something.
>>Something Else...
Otherwise I suggest something like the Squire, Page or Regular. Since it can't be called a Knight, but with a bit of "Training" can become one.

>>5064696
All
Purpose
Exoskeleton

Terrestrial
Universal
eXosuit

Robotic
Exosuit
Device
Certified
On
All
Terrain

All-purpose
Naturally
Gyrating
Labour
Exosuit

Function
Alterable
Work
Kinetic
Enhanced
Suit

>>5064696
>>Ask CC if she has any ideas.
seriously this though. And order her a pizza for her trouble.

Also they should be getting a suitable branding scheme. Distinctive from regular military, people should come to like seeing these around.

>>5064716
+1 throwing these ideas at CC, then hearing her suggestions.

>>5064696
CC is bored. Has she considered cutting her hair? Dying it another color? Wearing contact lenses? Does she have places to be? Does she want to do as anything?

>>5064696
>Ask CC if she has any ideas.

>>5064696
>Call Milly and ask her for a name.
We'll have to tell her we're done anyway

>>5064696
>Ask CC if she has any ideas
Then buy her a pizza

>>5064696
>>Ask CC if she has any ideas
Letting the immortal name our first knightmare a thousand year old meme is a great idea.

>>5064713
>>5064716

These names seems like a good step

>>5064696
>>Ask CC if she has any ideas.

but i also want to see what she has in mind

You looked at the design on the table, and started to bite the end of your pencil in frustration as you were stumped on the name... All Terrain Superior Model...? No. Variable Modulation Frame...? No, that's no good either... you kept pondering just what a good name for the design would be. You were... never really very good when it came to naming things, and a potential Knightmare Frame like this was really not that much better. Hell, even your false identity was simply a shortening of your real name! Of course, compared to Lelouch's 'false identity' it's about two dozen orders of magnitude better. It baffled you constantly just as to how Lelouch had yet to be found out with his current identity, it requires practically everyone around him and Nunally to be willfully ignoring the fact that the two of them are clearly the missing imperial children who disappeared during the war on Japan.

Worse than not being able to think of a name for the Knightmare Frame, you were allowing yourself to get distracted by questions that you may never know the answer to, where the only answers possible were either that the Ashfords were way more powerful than you gave them credit, that everyone is simply too stupid to notice somehow, or that Lelouch was taking refuge in the sheer audacity of literally not even trying to disguise his true identity, which would be understandable if the country hadn't been taken over by Brittania!

"Damn it!" You slammed a fist on the design, trying to refocus on it so that you could come up with a good name, letting Lelouch's apparent power to evade the consequences of his poorly thought out actions get to you wasn't going to help you come up with a name for this damn thing at all!

"Bastian...? Are you OK?" CC looked over to you, she looked just a little bit concerned at your angry outburst.

"Oh, CC... it's... nothing, I'm just struggling to think up a name for this design I've been working on." You quickly attempted to assure the immortal girl that you were very much fine, you didn't want to throw some sort of temper tantrum in front of her, that would just be embarrassing.

"Right, you were drafting up plans for some sort of interchangeable Knightmare Frame, I saw when I peeked over your shoulder." Not only did she see, but she also managed to figure out just what you were up to from looking at the incomplete blueprints?! "It's a pretty good idea, but you know how the saying goes, don't you? Jack of all trades...?"

"Master of none, yes, I am aware. However, as Sun Tzu writes in the Art of War: 'the ability to gain victory by changing and adapting according to the opponent is called genius.'" CC looked somewhat impressed by your quick answer. "An army that is capable of changing to adapt to multiple different threats will almost always perform far better than an army specialized to do a single thing outside of that one specific thing. That is what I am designing this Knightmare Frame for, to not only increase the number of civilian owned Knightmare Frames in the country, but to also have an army that can be easily drafted and equipped with whatever tools they might need in war, to adapt and overcome the enemy's forces!" You were getting incensed now, while the new design would almost always lose in a one on one battle with the Britannian model, that wasn't the point of their design, you had designed them to be cheap to produce while only skipping out on quality in a few areas that were of little importance, the strength of the design lied mostly in the modular nature of the Knightmare Frames, the ease of which you had designed them to be changed and altered meant that just about anybody with the proper tools could change the modules.

"Hmm... if the idea of the design is to be an affordable counterpart to the ones employed by the Britannians... and you're stuck on a name... how about Yeoman?" CC yawned as she made her suggestion, and you stopped and stared at her for a few seconds.

"Yeoman?" It wasn't the flashiest sounding name, but it did have a meaning that was perfect for what the Knightmare Frame would represent. A term that was once usually mostly applied to commoner landholders back in the day, but the term could also be applied to retainers, guards, attendants and lesser officials. So, in a sense, it was the perfect name for what you had suggested. "Yes... yes, I think that might work, CC. The Yeoman." It wasn't exactly the flashiest or most powerful sounding title, but the name would likely be popular with the Britannian clients buying them for their native workers to use, by doing the equivalent of elevating the peasantry to a level above that, they would in turn be elevating themselves! Or something like that, anyway.

"I'm glad you like it, Bastian... now do you have any new books? I keep getting bored and trying to read your notes, and trying to figure out what the cipher on some of your notebooks is is getting on my nerves." Hold on a second.

"You're trying to break the ciphers on my notes? Why?"

"Because I'm bored, and it seemed like a fun way to spend my time... unfortunately, you had planned ahead so I couldn't peek in your diary." Diary? Damn it, how did she figure out that you had a journal so easily?! You had made sure to hide it among the rest of your technical notebooks that were similarly coded with a cipher... "Of course the one on your diary was-" You decided you needed to cut her off before she went any further.

"I don't have a diary, CC, I only write down specifically important notes I need to remember!" You lied, and you just hoped that the lie would be enough to get CC off of your back, or at least to get her to stop teasing about the fact that you owned a diary which you definitely didn't own, because it was a journal. Diaries were for teenage girls to write about their days in, while journals were kept to keep important knowledge safe. It is not a diary. It is a Journal.

"Mhm, what's the cipher for this book then? I tried to crack it myself but it's pretty ridiculous, you put a lot of effort into this one, so you obviously don't want anybody figuring out what's in it." The green haired witch was teasing you now, though all the while she was doing so with a completely straight face, you didn't even know how to respond to her.

"Can we please talk about something else, CC?" You wanted her to stop with her teasing already, you were already regretting allowing her to stay in your workshop and not having Milly set out a private room for her somewhere, but... there wasn't much that could be done now, telling her you wanted her to move to a different area would be rude at this point, and it wasn't a lie in that your workshop was probably the single most secure location in the whole school.

"I suppose if you don't want to keep talking about your 'journal' I'll lay off." The girl reclined on a chair in the corner. "So... do you mind if I tag along to your meeting with the people you're going to try to sell this design to? I'm kind of bored, and I doubt Lelouch is going to be doing anything interesting just yet either..." Despite the casual way that she asked to come with you, it was very clear to you just how much she wanted to come.

>"Yes, CC, you can come."
>"No, you need to stay here."
>Something else...

>>5067926
>"Yes, CC, you can come."
>Something else...
Maybe she can offer some selling points and advice.

>>5067926
>"Yes, CC, you can come."

>>5067926
>sure
>how do you want to be introduced? Consultant? Assistant? Maybe inventor?

She’s such a treasure, that girl.

>>5067926
>>"Yes, CC, you can come."

>>5067926
>>"Yes, CC, you can come."
"Are you sure ? We will need to work on it, we can t leave untouched any details. Unwanted attention is the last thing we want. Though what you know of civilian knightmares and their market ? What you want to do at the meeting ?"

Make a mental note to have more books around, maybe order a dozen of them on the internet, Now that i think about it though.... this will attract attention to us, but a commercial/scientific one more than anything serious.

Get her a wig and a false name or something. We don't want her connected to Baston in his legal identity.

Sorry for the silence, I've been totally swamped with work right now, Covid + Christmas perioid has made things a nightmare and means I have barely any time I can focus on writing this quest with.

>>5072710
I hope your schedule clears out. I enjoy this quest and would hate to see it vanish.

>>5072710
Np

Bump

Quick Update, just so you don't think I'm dead.
I'll probably be able to start writing again in a few days.

nice

"Yes, CC. You can come." While it was potentially dangerous to have CC accompany you around the school on account of her status when it came to the authorities... the authorities weren't exactly that competent when it came to finding people that they were looking for, hell, all you had to do was take a look at Lelouch and Nunally if you wanted any confirmation of that. But even so, with the Britannian Authorities' apparent incompetence in mind, you still didn't want to take any sort of risks. "But... you'll have to go by an alias, and... also dye your hair too."

"My, aren't you the cautious type." CC asked, a smug smile on her face as she regarded your careful nature with curiosity. You didn't really like being judged for the way you decided to do things, but... considering who the one judging you was, you found yourself not minding so much. CC had saved your life when your careful nature failed.

"That's just the way I do things, if you want somebody who doesn't think his plans through properly and has glaring flaws in his strategies, go find Lelouch." For as intelligent as Lelouch was, sometimes, he overlooked very blatant flaws in his thinking, such as the fact that his false identity was something that any Private Investigator worth his salt would be able to discern as the true Lelouch vi Britannia in about an afternoon's worth of investigation. "Now, what hair dye would you like? I think I've got some spare blonde... as well as some black hair dye." You didn't exactly ever use the black hair dye, but... you had it anyway... just in case you needed to create a third false identity.

"Oh? You dye your own hair?" CC sounded vaguely interested in that, and you shrugged.

"Of course I do, I can hardly go wandering around with my natural hair color, and that includes going to a hairdresser to have them take care of dying it." Having such an unnatural purple color of hair meant that you'd have your true identity realized quite quickly if you weren't careful, so you didn't leave it up to chance... of course, learning how to dye your own hair wasn't fun, but... after years of practice, you'd managed to get it to a point where it was almost impossible to tell that your hair had been dyed at all.

"Interesting... I'll take the blonde dye. How long does it last?" CC quickly made up her decision.

"About a week if you don't reapply it." CC frowned at the length of time it will take for her hair to return to its natural color, but didn't back out of her choice. "That's not a problem, I hope?"

"Not really, no." CC didn't object, but it was clear that she wasn't entirely happy with the idea of changing her hair color just for the sake of being harder to detect. "Oh right... and for my alias, call me... Catherine." Catherine? You supposed that as far as fake names went, it was good enough, far better to call her Catherine than to call her by something as obvious and intriguing as CC.

"Alright then... meet me at the school's meeting room in about 3 hours, you'll be playing the part of my business partner for the meeting, but... just let me handle most of the talking, alright? I know Milly's family, after all. Only talk if you feel like you have something to add to the meeting." You laid down a few ground rules for CC, and she nodded. It wasn't going to be the most interesting meeting, but it should at least be more interesting than just leaving the woman to stand around in your workshop with nothing to do. It would be a disaster if CC ended up trying to start causing trouble for her own amusement, so this should hopefully reduce that risk. You didn't really know the immortal woman well enough to be able to truly trust her right now, while she had saved your life all those years ago, you weren't entirely sure about just what she wanted right now.

A few hours later, on the way to the meeting room, you had changed into a suit and gotten yourself to the most presentable you possibly could. CC was wearing a business dress and looked quite smart with her blonde hair, even if she kept fiddling with it, annoyed at the temporary loss of her natural green. You walked inside and were quick to be seated, with Milly and her parents on the opposite side of the table.

"Ah, Bastian." Milly's father was quick to address you. "It's wonderful to see you... and who is this woman with you?" He turned his attention to CC.

"This is Catherine, she's my business associate and helped me come up with a few design features." A total lie, but not one that they'd have any reason to doubt. After all, designing an entire new Knightmare Frame design in what basically amounted to an afternoon wasn't exactly something that anybody would expect of someone.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." CC smiled at Milly's father, who nodded before turning back to you.

"So... why should I take a chance on your new design? Milly has been telling me about your new big idea, but... why don't you explain it to me?" Seemed like he wanted to be given a rundown on just what you had designed.

>Take an informative approach and explain the design in detail.
>Try to get them to invest in you by talking about how much money it'll make.
>Give them a simplified explanation and refer to market stats more than the design.
>Focus on how impressive the design is, and how it'll revolutionize the market and restore their name.
>Something else...

>>5091291
>Take an informative approach and explain the design in detail.
>Focus on how impressive the design is, and how it'll revolutionize the market and restore their name.
>Also how its a form of paying it back for all the assistance they've 'given' too us and family members.

>>5091291

>Open with very brief description of the hole in the market and follow with how the concept of the frame is tailored perfectly to fill it, delving into detail listing features that stand out and how they represent opportunities for application.
>Be factual, but try to keep self from going too deep into technicalities to not distract from the general concept.
>Close by giving several estimates for market size for the frames, perhaps with variants contingent on response from bureaucracy, macroeconomic atmosphere and reaction time of prospective competition.

>>5091291
>Give them a simplified explanation and refer to market stats more than the design.

These are businesspeople, no gain in talking over their heads on tech minutia.

>>5091291
>Give them a simplified explanation and refer to market stats more than the design.
If they want more then:
>Take an informative approach and explain the design in detail.

>>5091291
supporting this >>5091363

>>5091291
>>5092109
+1

>>5091291
>Give them a simplified explanation and refer to market stats more than the design.

also support
>>5091363
Time to make some money

"Well... I'm sure you're already aware, but there's... something of a hole in the market for commercially available Knightmare Frames... oh, and by Knightmare Frame I of course mean a harmless Hydraulic Powered Exosuit, and not some sort of military grade weapon that is subject to all sorts of government regulation." You said with a smile, ensuring the Ashfords that your new design wasn't something that could be mistaken for a weapon... well, it could quite easily be refitted into a weaponized model, but... Britannian Regulators were actually kind of incompetent when it came to that sort of thing, so long as it didn't come with military grade hardware and software, it would be safe on the market. After all, just because military jet bombers exist, it didn't mean that passenger aircraft were banned. Not that starting up an airline was a particularly good idea with the current global level of geopolitical instability. Not many people are really able to fly if the world is plunged into war, after all.

"Yes, I'm... somewhat aware from looking at the early design copies you sent through. You do wish to stress, with absolute certainty, that this will pass the regulator checks to ensure this is safe for civilian usage, correct?" Milly's father asked you for some clarification, and you nodded... but after a moment of hesitation, you corrected yourself.

"Well, it'll be about as dangerous to the general public if misused as a semi truck is, or slightly less, honestly. Considering that the government isn't in any rush to ban freight and shipping, I believe that there's a precedent set that will enable this product to fill the hole in the market that I have designed it for. As you are likely already aware from the advance copies of the plans I sent you, the Yeoman is designed specifically as a variable model that will allow for a multitude of applications. Construction, mining, firefighting... all jobs that are considerably dangerous or difficult for a single human worker to undergo by themselves, oftentimes requiring specialized equipment in order to go about their jobs efficiently." You nodded as you moved to a stand that you had set-up for the meeting, changing the page on the stand. "See, this right here is the Yeoman configured as a firefighting frame. While under normal circumstances, fires would be dealt with through fire-engines or fire-fighting drones, there are a few massive problems with both drones and land vehicles." You paused for impact. "We'll start with the land vehicles. While they can carry a great deal of water in their internal tanks, they are... bulky, slow, and prone to getting caught in traffic. Which is why..." You turned the page to reveal how much time could be saved through the usage of a Yeoman model. "We can see that while a traditional fire-engine has to follow the roads and potentially get caught in traffic, a group of fire-fighters with Yeoman model suits is able to take the fastest route, and at a max speed surpassing what they would be able to max out on the road as well!" You got a little excited as you explained just one of the applications of the suit. "Now, of course, while the Yeoman won't be able to internally carry nearly as much water, it does have the ability to use fire hydrants in order to not only replenish itself, but it can also directly travel into a burning building with almost no danger to the operator!"

"Interesting... so you mean to say that... your new design would allow for the city's emergency services to more easily serve the public?" Milly's grandfather spoke now, eyeing you carefully in between looking at your plans. "Quite a noble goal... but not why you designed this to pitch to us, I believe." Milly's grandfather was sharp despite his old age, the fall of his family had happened through no fault of his, and could really only be attributed to bad luck. In fact, the fact that the Ashfords were still so rich and powerful despite their years of degradation was testament to just how good his leadership skills were.

"Well, not just that... while I'm sure I don't need to tell you, Mr. Ashford... but Area 11 is in something of a... political situation right now. I couldn't tell you how much I believe that an upgraded fire-fighting force would be appreciated by the city... this is of course only a single application of the design, on account of it being variable and interchangeable, but... it is the design I believe is most relevant to the needs of the country." Of course, construction and mining would no doubt also be popular, but a squad of fire-fighting Yeomen in the aftermath of a terrorist attack would mean that the firefighters, as well as the company that produced their suits, would gain a massive deal of popularity and goodwill. "But I digress, the Yeoman is designed to be easy to operate, and the potential industrial revolution that could come of this is immense... I needn't tell you how the application of technology originally designed for war absolutely revolutionizes the world around it, but... I believe that we are standing on the edge of that moment. I believe that my design could make the Ashfords the most powerful family in Area 11... no, the most powerful family in the world! Well... with exception to the Britannian Imperial Family, that is."

"Of course." Milly's grandfather nodded wisely. "I can see your enthusiasm for the project... and I believe that you might just be right, there is nothing like this on the market right now, all the other Knightmare Frame producers are... busy taking contracts for Knightmare Frames to use to upgrade and replace their previous models, the constant rapid advancement of their enemies in this Cold War means that a Knightmare Frame produced even a year ago will soon be nothing more than fast moving scrap metal compared to the newest model." It was true, Knightmare Frame advancement was incredibly rapid, and while this meant that the Yeoman would almost always be at a disadvantage against one, a dozen Yeomans armed with heavy caliber machine guns would tear through even the newest production variants... should things come to that. "While these military contracts are... lucrative... they are also stifling. Expansion is impossible, dealing with the military in situations like this one is like drowning yourself in red-tape. It's an honest wonder how quickly half of the companies producing their equipment are able to negotiate with them." Negotiating with government agencies was pretty notoriously hard, and for Britannia's case, it was only thanks to their fascist dictatorship nature that they were able to swiftly come to decisions when it came to replacing their military... and even then, that only happened when you were dealing with Viceroys. Anybody below that level had their hands tied by the red-tape just as much as one of the bureaucrats in the European Union did.

"Yes, I understand that the military is... a hard market to corner." You shook your head. "However, I believe that the commercial applications of this technology to be of roughly..." You turned another page on the stand, revealing a page of charts that you had made shortly before the meeting, showing a tiny bar next to a colossal one. "100 times larger. With a far greater turnover and with less regulation, allowing for profits dozens of time greater than a company attempting to sell the equivalent to the military... the variable design of the Yeoman means that practically every market is able to be breached, I believe that this technology can and will revolutionize the world... and the Ashfords will be the one leading that revolution... I hope you understand that we can be on the forefront, and it's only so long till our opportunity to be in such a good position disappears." It was funny how you were talking about leading a revolution, when you were planning in no small part to use the funding and dissemination of Knightmare Frame technology in order to help your own revolution against the shadows that run Britannia.

"Well... I think I've seen enough." Milly's grandfather stretched. "I'm willing to take a chance on your new design... though I want to ask you something..." He had a wry smile and a glint in his eye, and you were a little worried by what the man might have planned. He was of course aware of your true identity beyond being Bastian Ashford.

"And... what's that?" You were a little worried by what the man might be planning, but it was unlikely you really had much to worry about. The Ashfords were excellent allies to have, and they did still believe that you were targeted by the same assassin that took Marianne's life... though you still believed that too, and as soon as you uncorrupted the data, you'd know for sure just who killed Lelouch's mother.

"Well... 'Grand Nephew'" He paused again, with a smile. "I believe that you're clearly the best person we have around when it comes to running this operation... which is why if you want my support, I'm going to have to ask you to agree to become CEO of the Ashford Family's newly formed Exosuit Division." Wait... become a CEO?! But... you were far too young for that! Nobody would take you seriously if you actually took the role on yourself! Not to mention all the duties you'd have to take on... but... you'd also have a great deal more power too. As a CEO for the Ashford Family, you'd basically be able to run the Academy however you pleased, even if you weren't technically in charge... and though you'd have a massive workload, you believed yourself in possession of the skills that would enable you to simultaneously run a company and get top grades in school... but it was a risk. You'd be showing your hand to the world, and all it would take was one stray picture and your biological family may just end up recognizing you!

>Decline the offer of CEO.
>Accept the offer of CEO
>Come up with a counter-offer (What?)
>Something else...

>>5094424
>Something else...
I would like to know why he would propose us to become CEO.

>>5094427
+1
Questions first to clear up things and then the choice

the man has correctly surmised Bastian's ambition does not end with money and he doesn't want him hiding behind his skirt entirely.

It could be worthwhile to take the offer, alongside accountability it would take, but it is really very exposed.

An alternative might be creating a dedicated R&D entity that Ashfords would outsource the design to. That would come at expense of part of Ashford umbrella while giving them some degree of protection from backlash to Bastian's eventual antics. It could also provide some justification for having proprietary software on the frames. Such entity would also attract attention of the government agencies. It might get approached for military contracts even. And it would probably have to employ some actual people to look credible, even if all or most of the creative work would be done by Bastian.

>>5094424
>Accept the offer of CEO

>>5094424
>Accept the offer of CEO
But could we maybe make a new identity or two to hide behind?

>>5094424
>>Accept the offer of CEO

>>5094424
>>Accept the offer of CEO

Have a good Christmas QM and lads!!

Merry christmas!!!

a belated Merry Christmas to everyone, I've been a little bit busy, but another update will be coming soon.

>>5097022
>>5097502
>>5098619
Likewise, lads... may this coming year be better than this one.

"Very well, I'll accept this offer." You decided that it would be for the best for your goals that you actually did become the CEO of this new branch company. After all, it was all your idea in the first place to go forward with the creation of a new type of Knightmare Frame, and the offer was really incredibly generous. The only potential drawback with the offer is the increased responsibility and publicity that would come with being a young upstart CEO of a company like this one, but... considering that you'd have the full backing of the Ashfords, you didn't really believe that you'd have all too much trouble adapting. Even without the Ashfords supporting you, you could likely have made it... though becoming an influential CEO isn't exactly what your plans called for... it's not like you wouldn't be able to benefit from the situation.

"Very good." Milly's grandfather nodded. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist, Bastian." He started to sift through a few pieces of paper in front of him. "I hope you understand the responsibility of this role though, you're going to be publicly representing the Ashfords again, and I'm sure that you know that we have... something of a reputation when it comes to this industry."

"I understand... but it's hard to keep going when you suddenly lose all your backing and all your clients suddenly withdraw from their contracts and go for your competitors." Typical Britannian politics, the military is generally more interested in political games than it actually is in winning fights. One of the reasons that the rebellion in Japan had yet to be crushed was the multiple factions on the Britannian side that were still vying for power, often to the detriment of the occupation itself. "Fortunately, civilian owned organizations and companies don't tend to put nearly as much stock into political power games, and tend to just be more interested in turning a profit." It was really remarkable just how much easier it was to enter into the civilian industries than it was to sell weaponry to the military... especially when thanks to the current state of the world, you could either sell weaponry to the Britannians alone, or you could be executed for being a treasonous arms dealer. Hard times for up and coming arms dealers and weapon inventors, you were sure.

"Indeed. It should be quite simple for you to make deals and form contracts with non-military organizations as a new entry into the industry, which is why I'm giving you the role of CEO. I believe that it will give the venture more credibility if the one leading it is the inventor of the new design... you'll be seen as some sort of tech genius... hmmph, you'll even end up having to do interviews!" Milly's grandfather smiled, and you were honestly surprised at just how he was handling your suggestion, while he likely easily could've gone through with your plan in a more traditional sense and headed the new development by himself, by giving you reign over this new company, he was in a way showing that he trusted you, but at the same time, it also meant that his own workload wouldn't get any larger. The Ashfords might be on relatively hard times right now, but managing the fortune of the family and all of their interests still wouldn't be easy, and something like this could easily explode in size rapidly. In fact, there was a fairly large chance that if you played your cards right, in a few years, your enterprise would become one of the leading producers in the country... or perhaps the world! It was really all a matter of scaling up production, you'd have no shortage of orders when it came to people wanting your product, you belived.

"Well... I think that concludes our meeting then." You got up and took the plans for the Yeoman with you. "Catherine, let's go. We have some important work to get on with, namely, we'll need to establish a headquarters for our new enterprise, as well as start the plans to refurbish one of the old Ashford factories... with your permission, of course." While you were technically going into business as a subsidiary of the Ashfords, you couldn't exactly just rely on them giving you everything without asking for permission first.

"Permission granted, those old factories aren't exactly doing much just sitting around without producing anything." The old man shrugged, clearly happy to accommodate the request. "As for an official headquarters... I do believe we own a building downtown that we aren't making much use of right now... empty office space, mostly. Feel free to make use of that if you find yourself needing a headquarters. Nobody will take you seriously if you operate out of Ashford Academy, after all." The man tapped his finger against the table as you gathered up your documents and plans.

"Thank you for everything, Mr. Ashford." You turned to leave the room, satisfied with how things ended up going, but... now you were going to be far more busy than you had ever been before, this responsibility was no joke, even for somebody like you.

"Please, call me Ruben, Bastian." You had been refraining from referring to the old man by his first name as a sign of respect, but now that you were effectively working right under him, it seems that the man didn't mind being referred to by his actual name... you were technically a student of the academy, after all.

"Very well. I look forward to working together, Ruben." It... really didn't sound right to refer to the elder man by his first name, but you did anyway. You were business partners with the man now. "Come on now, Catherine." You informed CC that it was time to go, and you soon left the meeting room, returning to the grounds of the school proper, you needed to get back to your workshop now, wandering around with plans for a new Knightmare Frame as you were could potentially get you in a lot of hot water depending on who you bumped into, so-

Just as you had that thought, you walked past a blind corner and immediately found yourself taken off your feet by a fast moving object, you collided with the floor making sure to protect your head and not attempt to stop yourself from falling, though in doing so you dropped all of your rolled up plans on the ground. You noticed that the cause of your fall had seemingly also hit the floor, and as you got up from the ground, you noticed that they were getting up even faster than you.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" The voice apologizing for bumping into you was none other than...

"Stadtfeld?!" You voiced your alarm at seeing the girl again, and she flinched backwards in surprise at your raised voice, clearly she was trying her hardest to put on her act as a meek and shy student, and not the terrorist Knightmare Frame pilot that you knew her to secretly be. "Ah... my uh... my apologies, I wasn't looking where I was going." You quickly try to escape from the situation, though with all your rolled up plans still scattering the floor, that... probably wasn't going to happen for you. CC... well, she wasn't exactly interested in helping much right now, instead merely choosing to observe your interaction with Stadtfeld.

"Uhm... It was... Ashford... right?" Kallen was still playing up her innocent act, even now. Only now did you truly realize that back then when you thought that she was merely a troubled student who chose to be a truant to avoid going to class, she was likely scheming to leave the school altogether to partake in terrorist activities, and that your life was in genuine danger at that time.

"That's right." You confirmed for Kallen, before you started to pick up your plans, which were all still folded into tubes. Unfortunately though... Kallen decided to help you, picking up one of the plans and observing the outside for a moment, it was... clearly a blueprint of some kind, even when rolled up as it was... but you didn't really know just how knowledgeable Stadtfeld was when it came to stuff like design documents... so maybe she didn't notice?

"So... what exactly is all this stuff anyway?" She asked the dreaded question, clearly you had aroused some suspicion, and while you weren't particularly afraid of Stadtfeld, despite her terrorist connections, she was still a potential threat, and the likelihood that she had a concealed weapon couldn't be ignored either.

>"Blueprints for a new school building."
>"Blueprints I'm taking care of for my great uncle."
>"Design documents for a technology project I'm working on."
>"Nothing important, just... school stuff."
>Something else...

>>5101035
>"Design documents for a technology project I'm working on."
I wonder how good idea would it be to try and embed her in the new company right away. She could make a good test pilot and could be fed information. But she’d be difficult to direct and control in what she’d be handing over to her handlers. Probably too risky at least until the startup is properly established, she may volunteer then, even…

>>5101056
This, but mention we'd like to discuss more about this with one of our buisness partners. She might know him already.
>"wink."

>>5101035
>"Design documents for a technology project I'm working on."
Don t mention anything else, call Catherine and grab the rest of those tubes already. Let's keep it as a surprise.
When the yeoman will enter the market, we will already become famous. Mostly for both the scientific and economic sector, but being this young attracts even more the media. We might become a target for terroristic attacks honestly.
Our plans and blueprints will need a better way to be carried next time. Move the argument on her schools lessons instead.

>>5101035
>>"Design documents for a technology project I'm working on."

>>5101035
>"Design documents for a technology project I'm working on."

>>5101035
>>"Design documents for a technology project I'm working on."

"These are all just... design documents for a technology project I've been working on, nothing important, really." You scrambled to pick up the blueprints and plans from the floor, and quickly grabbed the plan still being held by Kallen too. "I've been working quite a long time on them, and I'd hate for you to copy my work, you know." It was a relatively flimsy excuse, but... so long as Kallen believed you to be nothing more than a high-school student, you'd be able to get away with it. There was no real reason for her to be that suspicious of you right now, other than the fact that you were just a little bit more observant than the normal person, at least. Though that was more a reason for her to try to act less suspicious around you than it was a reason for her to be suspicious of you.

"Oh... of course, my apologies, Bastian." She quickly relinquished the document she had picked up to you, and you internally breathed a sigh of relief, you hadn't a doubt in your mind that if Kallen had read the blueprint, she would've instantly put two and two together and realized that you had created a plan for a never before seen Knightmare Frame... and that would've been bad. If a terrorist realized you had the ability to actually design weapons of war, then you'd be a prime target for a kidnap, and... creating weapons for terrorists wasn't exactly the goal you had in mind... well it kind of was, but not directly. That would be a failure state, being forced to go along with the goals of terrorists was not the plan at all.

"Thanks, Kallen. Say... what are you up to, anyway? You look like you're kind of in a hurry." It was good to know that she got out of the Shinjuku Ghetto alright though, even if she might theoretically turn into an enemy down the line if you weren't careful, right now, she was a potential ally... and you couldn't blame her for being a terrorist, not really. The Britannian occupation could be called a total disaster by anybody with any sort of intellect. Clovis' attempt to rule this former country were disastrous, and from what you had read up on the Japanese people, they were a proud race before the occupation, so Britannia should've installed one of their most talented leaders to run the country... at least for a while. That they put Clovis of all people in charge of Area 11 was a terrible idea. The man was realistically only good at courtroom etiquette, and was a complete imbecile in most other topics. One of his intended plans to make the populace less rebellious was to build a theme park named after himself! He surrounded himself with sycophants that praised his every action, and wouldn't stand for an advisor who dared suggest his plans weren't great, either. In fact, the only people that Clovis would really listen to in the first place were his family members... convenient for you and Lelouch, you supposed, but not much else.

"Oh... I'm just late for a class." Kallen lied. It wasn't even a good lie, it was a genuinely obvious lie that even an idiot would've been able to see through.

"Classes ended 45 minutes ago." You crossed your arms as you stared at her, and she started to clearly become a little more visibly panicked, you knew that you probably shouldn't push your luck too much with this dangerous terrorist, but... you also knew that to keep up appearances as a concerned member of the Student Council, you couldn't just let her keep doing as she pleased. You were walking a fine line here... you really needed to finish up creating a personal weapon for yourself so you wouldn't be blindsided if she suddenly decided to attack you with whatever concealed weapon she had... and she had to have at least one on her.

"Aha-! D-did they? I guess I'm... really late then, huh?" She scratched the back of her head, trying to appear apologetic for her truancy... again. Even though what she was trying to disguise as truancy was in fact terrorism. One would get you a detention from a teacher, and the other would get you executed on state TV.

"Just... try to be a little more discrete, alright? It's only so long until you end up running into somebody who isn't as understanding as I am, Kallen." Kallen's face turned to one of confusion for a moment, clearly trying to determine from your advice whether you knew what she was really up to or not. "But... I need to get going now anyway." You turned to CC. "Come on Catherine, we need to get going."

"Catherine?" Kallen asked, confused at CC's appearance. Her choice of clothing made it somewhat hard to believe that she was a student of the school... but she did at least appear young enough for it.

"She's a foreign exchange student. Though she's not officially on the school's records right now. Something about an error in their systems... I don't know, I'm not really that good at computers." You lied. You almost laughed at the lie. But... seeing as Kallen couldn't possibly know how good you really were at basically all forms of technology, she shouldn't realize at all!

"O-oh." Kallen seemed to accept that, and you walked off without any further questions. Now that you were free of the girl, you started to ponder your next move.

>Return to your workshop and work on one of your projects. (Which one?)
>Go visit the HQ of your new company.
>Go visit an Ashford factory.
>Go meet up with Lelouch.
>Go find the warehouse that Clovis had organized to have your requested parts stored at.
>Something else...

>>5104891
>Go find the warehouse that Clovis had organized to have your requested parts stored at.

>>5104891
>Go find the warehouse that Clovis had organized to have your requested parts stored at.

We need to have those parts moved away. The warehouse of Clovis is only safe for now, his incompetence though might be enough for others to concern themselves with this structure.
Afterwards we can return to our dear projects. Thinking about it we might have more space in the HQ of our company, for our projects though the place is not much of a secret than the one at the academy. Lastly if we want to see the production starting for our Yeoman, we should concern ourselves with the HQ and factory. Both for direct production and quality of each Yeoman made, and the first steps of the company it self.

>>5104937
We're going to need to install more defenses and countermeasure for both arent we.
Perhaps we should build several survalence drones? Silent flying drones armed with various cameras, humanoid drones, rail turret drones.

>>5104891
>Go find the warehouse that Clovis had organized to have your requested parts stored at.

>>5104947
It depends, but there is no doubt that with the new rise of the Ashford and any activity of our own, we are going to have more people looking around.
So yeah those would be good. We will need sometime for make all, the AI might help in that regard or for help us in our projects.

>>5104891
>>Go find the warehouse that Clovis had organized to have your requested parts stored at.

Rip quest

>>5108393
You must be new here.

As for what you should do next, it was obvious to you that it was terribly important to actually go ahead and find the warehouse that Clovis had arranged for your parts to be delivered to. Of course, with no true secure way to actually contact Clovis, it wouldn't really be possible for you to confirm whether or not that he'd actually done it just yet... or if he was still in the process of actually getting it done for you. Unlike you, Clovis wasn't exactly the fastest worker around, and he had a bad habit of sometimes procrastinating things that he should obviously be focusing more on getting done. Sometimes, you just couldn't rely on other people, especially not people as frequently useless as Clovis was.

So... with no way to determine if Clovis had done it from Clovis himself, you had to switch your tactics up a little bit. You returned to your workshop with CC in tow and swiftly positioned yourself in front of your computer... after a few seconds of boot-up, the computer was primed and ready for you to unleash yourself upon the world... or more specifically, it was primed for you to unleash yourself upon Britannian military records, documenting the movements and activities of the majority of their forces. This sort of stuff was almost always required to be filed and reported the moment that a mission was completed in order to keep their systems working properly, but... despite having the best security that money could get them... you'd managed to hack into their systems once again in about 5 minutes of effort. Exploiting a back-door that you'd left the last time you snooped around in their files, though that last time was mostly back when you were still searching for information about Marianne... unfortunately, there wasn't anything on the Japanese network, of course, why would there be? It wasn't like Marianne was murdered in Japan... you don't exactly know what the younger you was thinking when he thought that it would be a good place to search... though you strongly recall that you were also looking for Lelouch and Nunally at the time too, so that might've played a role.

Scrolling through the new reports and not finding what you're looking for, you pulled up a search bar and simply searched the files for any warehouse in the city's east district specifically called 'Warehouse 4023'. It was the name Clovis had agreed to send the supplies to, back when you were discussing things with him. Honestly, you had half the mind to believe that if Clovis actually had the authority to do so, he would've gotten up out of the throne Lelouch had cornered him in and had the two of you take over as Viceroy of Japan... he was the sort of person who believed himself to be better than almost everyone, but as a result, acted quite spinelessly around people who he believed to be superior to him instead. A terrible trait for somebody to have, through and through, but still useful to you right now.

After actually searching for what you were looking for, you found it. A highly classified document, of the bits that weren't completely blanked out entirely for the sake of secrecy, you could see what little remained of it.. 'Delivered 20 containers of [REDACTED] to Warehouse 4023 E. District in order to [REDACTED] by order of [REDACTED]' after that, the rest of the file that hadn't been redacted were simple non-incriminating words, like 'and', 'to' and oddly enough, 'glorious'... typical Britannian officer.

"What are you doing anyway?" CC asked from behind you, and you were almost startled by her sudden interest in your actions. "And how long does this hair dye take to come out again? I don't like it." Of course she didn't like it, and of course she'd prefer to act as a huge attention magnet to everyone around you. She was extremely wanted by all sorts of parties right now! What part of her brain didn't function properly to make her think that green hair was a good idea when it came to keeping a low profile? She was probably the single most wanted person in all of Britannia right now!

"Oh, nothing much, just hacking into the Britannian's military database again, they leave some pretty useful information in their archives, and it would be impolite if I were to just... leave it as it is." You smiled at CC, who still seemed curious as to the functions of the computer more than anything else. Of course, you didn't exactly know how long she'd been alive for, there was always the chance that she'd never even gotten the chance to interact with a genuine computer before. She may have momentarily interacted with them back when she was active, but... even people ten or twenty years older than you had difficulty figuring out new technology, how would that apply to somebody with hundreds of years on you?

"Sounds impressive." CC clearly didn't really know how impressive what you were doing was, but offered praise anyway, which you felt was at least somewhat considerate of her.

"Not really. They run their security teams the same way they run the majority of their military command... with the power of nepotism and corruption." CC actually cracked a smile at that, and you had to do a double take to see if you didn't imagine it... unfortunately, the smile had disappeared on your second look... so maybe you did imagine it? "Their systems are state of the art... by Britannian standards, anyway... Honestly, the only reason more hackers don't try to hack them directly like me is that they aren't as confident in their skills, and they fear the retaliation of Britannia in the form of some sort of kill-team sent to eradicate them and destroy all information they may have.

"Well, I think it's impressive." CC didn't budge on the issue, and you just sighed and moved on. You had the information that you needed now, so you locked the computer and got up again. "But... what exactly do we do now?"

"Well... our next stop is the East District of the City, I need to pick a few things up, and then... maybe make a few phone calls to Ruben..." The Ashfords should be able to arrange pick-up and delivery of whatever Clovis actually managed to get his hands on. Depending on the quality of such items, his already not entirely great image would be damaged further... more than it already has been by his failed purge, at least.

Storing the plans for the new design securely in a locked drawer, you left the workshop with CC in tow, still wearing her disguise and assuming the role of 'Catherine' and still taking annoyed glances at her less attention drawing hair color. It really did feel like she was kind of hung up over the fact that she had to hide her true hair color... something you thought would be pointless for an immortal to get upset over. Of course, CC barely actually acted like a woman who was most likely many times your own age, and a lot of the time, it was possible to easily mistake her for a girl around your age... though this much was probably by design.

As you and 'Catherine' stepped out of the repurposed school warehouse, you noticed somebody running towards you, and you recognized them almost immediately. Raising a hand to greet him, and smiling at him as he appeared.

"Oh... hey, there you are, Bastian." The white haired youth greeted you upon finally making it to you, and you tilted your head. What could Rai want with you?

"Oh, hello Rai. What's up?" You were still intrigued by the mystery behind Rai, but you didn't have any leads on what to even investigate about him... curiously though, CC's reaction to the boy was... really quite unexpected. She stepped back upon seeing him, as if she were surprised! Were they... somehow familiar with each other?

"Right... but that's not important... Lelouch sent me to go looking for you, as he's apparently got something very important to talk about...? He also said that I'm a faster runner than he is, and he was busy... but he says that it's urgent, and he needs to talk with you right away!"

>"He can wait, I'm busy. It can't be that important".
>"Alright Rai, lead me to Lelouch."
>Something else...

>>5109350
>"Alright Rai, lead me to Lelouch."

>>5109350
>"Alright Rai, lead me to Lelouch."
>Something else...
discreetly text Lelouch to see if he send Rai.

>>5109367
support

>>5109350
>>"Alright Rai, lead me to Lelouch."

>>5109367
is it wise to use the phone when Lelouch opted not to use it himself?

Alternatively we could ask where to go and head there by ourselves.

>>5109350
>>"Alright Rai, lead me to Lelouch."

>>5109367
+1

New
>>5114180