CH 4: Planning and Purchases

POV Leon

It took half-an-hour to explain the basics of our current situation to Luxion, ranging from the events of the original series, to my status as a company contractor. Once I finished, Luxion just stared at me for an uncomfortable few seconds before finally responding.

"I would like master to undergo an extensive psychological evaluation."

I just shook my head, before sending my Mjolnir armor and MA5D rifle back into my pocket space.

"Look, I know how it sounds, but its true. I am here to prevent mankind ending itself, for good this time."

"And to capture so called waifus?" His monotone voice unable to hide his sarcasm.

I shrugged, "hey can you blame me? I'll be busting my ass trying to prevent these idiots from wiping themselves out, isn't it right that I'm rewarded for my efforts? Besides, those girls all meet terrible ends without yours truly there, so it is my morale obligation to help them."

"The fact that you spin can your sexual desire for a harem as a humanitarian quest is quite remarkable."

"I know, you can praise me more."

"I was using what you humans call sarcasm master. I would've assumed that someone who claims to be from the United States would recognize this."

I put my hand over my mouth in faux surprise, "really? You should go to Hollywood and become an actor because I definitely couldn't tell in ANYWAY that you were being sarcastic!"

"AI were banned from becoming actors after the ER-1734 v. Harrison case of 2164."

I blinked in suprise. "That is actually pretty interesting, BUT we are getting way of track here buddy, so we're gonna put this conversation on hold for now."

"Understood master. I will be bringing this conversation to your attention in the future."

"Of course you will, ya damn cueball," I said with a sigh.

"So then master, I am ready to assist you in in ruling over these primitives."

"No Luxion, I don't intend to become king and rule over these idiots. Too much sitting around with stuffy aristocrats who believe themselves to be superior to the 'lowborn' peasantry. God knows I don't want to spend decades having to listen to their bitching and whining. Instead I'll just put another old-human new-human hybrid on the throne, while I control everything from the background."

"This Marie you spoke of?" He moved his orb sub-body closer while staring at me with great intensity.

"Hell no! If she became queen, then that would mean making Julius king. That would be a disaster not seen since the war you were built in."

"Having any full new-human on the throne is a poor decision, but a necessary one, unless you were to marry this Marie, then two humans of old blood would be in charge. This would be far more acceptable."

"Yeah...no. No way in hell am I getting it on with that crafty little semen demon. Just be patient and I'll point out my candidate for the throne when we meet them."

"Very well then, what is this plan of yours?"

"We're gonna convert this country into a democracy from the inside! Spreading freedom and liberty across this backwards world."

"That is the start of a plan...I suppose. Very well, eliminating the existing aristocracy should be a simple endeavor. I will make preparations to use my main body to wipe them off the face of the earth." 

"Hold your horses there partner. I like the enthusiasm, but a direct assault is our last option, not our first. Instead we'll use the existing powers to reform the system from within."

"Master, I must protest this course of action. New-humans cannot be reasoned with. They almost wiped out all of mankind in their hubris once before."

I shrugged. "True enough, but the royal family has been planning to restructure the country into a democracy...of sorts. Most likely a constitutional monarchy with a parliament systems, though unlike 21st century UK, the royal family will have actual political power."

"Even a broken clock is right twice a day."

I glared at him. "I'm technically a new-human too you ass."

"Precisely my point."

I couldn't help myself from snorting and cracking a smile. "I walked right into that one. Regardless, in order to achieve our goals, WITHOUT resorting to indiscriminate mass destruction, we'll need our own faction, one loyal to us first and foremost. Lucky for us there exists a certain group of nobles would happily follow us with minimal coercion."

"What makes you so certain that they would be willing to follow us so easily?"

"Well you see, these guys have been specifically targeted by the law for generations now. The law and the country's social engineering strongarms them to take on wives of noble birth, who are trained to spend exorbitant amounts of money in the capital. That's not even mentioning the rampancy of pirates that the royal army is incapable of responding to in a timely manner. Finally, these guys are from frontier baronies just like me, so they'll see me as one of them."

"What is your intention with these new-human minions of yours? I am unconvinced that turning those new humans to our side will prove to be worth the extra effort to do so."

"Relax man, I already got it planed out. We establish an alliance of the border nobles in the name of mutual defense. This coalition will be using advanced weapons, armors, ships, and tactics, all provided and MAINTAINED by house Bartfort. This will allow our forces to overcome more numerous and experienced opponents which will allow us to eliminate pirates within the frontier reaches."

"And any lord who wishes to gain the coalition's protection will be forced to contribute their own men to the coalition forces."

"Exactly! If that ain't enough, any lord who joins the coalition will see a solar power grid and running water installed in their territories. Combine that with water condensing units, public bathrooms/bathhouses, and advanced farming equipment? The frontier lords will flock to us in droves. It'll take some work to start, but the payoff will be well worth it."

"Those kinds of renovations will take considerable time and resources." He shook sub-body in denial. "I cannot be everywhere at once."

I put my hands on my cheeks in the scream pose. "OH no! If only one of us could summon some help from across the multiverse. Damn, I really should've considered such an important detail." I said with a sarcastic smirk.

"Ah yes, your 'contractor claim. It would certainly would help solve the issue...if it is not just your delusion."

I shot him a cocky grin. "Watch and learn cueball. Watch and learn." I whipped out my company device and went to the companions catalog.

Luxion's sub-body moved behind me, and stared at my device screen from over my shoulder. "Your supposed otherworldly connection is accessed with a 21st century touchscreen cellular device?"

"Yep!" I said with a pop. "This is my company device, standard issue. Also, we call them smartphones Luxion, not touchscreen cellular device."

"Noted. I assume these profiles are the individuals you can purchase to assist us?"

I nodded. "Yep. Now let me cook." 

I started talking myself though my choices. "Now let's see here...I'm thinking of grabbing some pilots to expand our core team...blond and a damn good mech pilot, yes please...this one is a hell of a pilot, but she's a little insane...insanely hot...ah fuck it..."

Luxion tried to get my attention. "I believe I might be able to assist you in narrowing down your selection of personal, master."

I was already too far in my own head too respond. "Thanks to those sweet 92 credits I got from Luxion, I have enough to splurge a little. It would probably help to have a military officer whose actually good at their job....plus then she can handle all the thinking, while I get to fight on the frontlines like a hero....oh! I can't forget a copy of Grail knowledge for each of them, that way I won't have to explain everything to them as they'll know general knowledge of the world,with context too! I should probably grab them papertrail to, having a solid identity in this world would make things easier. And with that our team is...set!" I slammed the purchase button on my device. "What were you saying Luxion?"

He just shook his sub-body. "It is irrelevant now. Master was too distracted to take my advice under advisement."

I actually felt kind of bad for that. Poor dude was just trying to help, and I totally ignored him. Sadly before I could apologize, a portal opened in front of us and out stepped three of the most beautiful women I've every seen, each one of European descent. The blonde in the back was clad in a green Cold-War era BDU, with blue eyes that were filled with calm determination. Next was a sexy raven haired women in the same BDU, but whose eyes were sharp and predatorial. Finally, the women in front was another gorgeous blonde, whose eyes red eyes were filled with boundless confidence and a hint of amusement. She wore an ornate uniform, primarily white and red with black accents and silver pauldrons. These girls would make some of Earth hottest models jealous with their looks alone.

The two in BDUs looked around a little before fixing their gazes on me, which was damn intimidating for a formerly average tech nerd like myself. I knew that I purchased them from the catalog, but I didn't fully understand what I was doing, this caused my mind to shutdown for a moment. My brain was still trying to process that I just ordered three women like they were a big mac with extra fries, when the one at the front stepped up. She walked towards me with a confident gait, each step crisp yet elegant. She came right up to me without hesitation or fear.

"I am Serena Holz, daughter of Marquis Holz of the Graccan Empire." She said with a slight bow. "Am I correct in assuming that you are the one who brought us here?"

I managed to reboot my brain to give a mostly coherent response and an awkward smile. "Yes...that is correct Miss Holz. The names Leon Fou Bartfort. I hope we can get along." 

Serena quirked her eyebrow, amusement shining her eyes. She was about to say something, no doubt sarcastic, but before she could we heard a snicker from one of the other women. Serena and I looked at the other two, only to see the raven-haired woman covering her mouth with her hand. We just stared at her as laughed for some time before she finally composed her self enough to speak. "You are quite ze eloquent speaker, aren't you darling?" Her rich alto voice was laced in a thick German accent, and it was so hot.

The other woman reprimanded her with a more gentle tone, but no less German. "Beatrix, zere is no reason to embarrass him like zat. He is no doubt even more nervous zan ve are." She turned towards Serena and I. "I apologize for ze disrespect my comrade has shown you Herr Bartfort."

"Aw don't about it, it'll take a lot more than some teasing to hurt my ego. Also you ladies can just call me Leon, its just us after all." I said while trying to look cool, though I doubt I was very successful.

The blonde in BDUs gave me a small smile. "As you vish Leon. My name is Irisdina Bernhard, and she is-"

"Beatrix Bremhe, commander of ze Verevolf(Werewolf) Battalion. I am alzo ze East German army's top ace." The raven haired women, Beatrix, boasted. "Of course you already knew zat, didn't you Leon?"

"Yes I did. Its nice to meet you all. Well we're at it, I'd like to introduce you to Luxion," I said while pointing my thumb at his sub-unit floating behind me. "He's the AI whose ship we're currently standing in, he's also the lynchpin to most of our future plans. Say hi Luxion." I noticed Serena's gaze narrow when I mentioned he was an AI. That wasn't surprising considering the Graccan Empire's history with artificial intelligences. I probably should've thought of that before, but oh well.

"I'm glad you found mates who emit no traces of the new-humans foul magic. With this, old humanity may rise again."

I looked at him wide-eyed, his comment completely blindsided me. Any coherent thought blown away by his incredibly blunt statement. Irisdina blushed a little, Serena's mouth curled up in a smirk, and Beatrix started laughing uncontrollably. 

"HAHAHA, oh I like zis vone!"

While Beatrix was dying of laughter, Irisdina tried to change the subject. "Zo vat are zese plans of yours Leon?" Her blush was still there, but slowly fading.

"Well-" I told them pretty much everything I told Luxion, plus a little extra. When I finished speaking, they all went silent for a bit, even Beatrix, which was shocking to say the least. Finally, Serena broke the silence.

"I see. A decent plan, if a little...vague, but doable. So, where do we start?"

"We need a reputation in order to get other to follow us. So we'll start with one of your favorite past times-" I smirked as her eyebrow quirked up in interest, "-pirate hunting."

Her mouth curled into a terrifyingly happy smile, one that reminded me a of a Suletta Mercury(Gundam: Witch from Mercury) after she crushed a dude with her gundam. "That is something I would be all to happy to lend my expertise with! A wise, but crazy man once told me that pirates are walking piggy banks. At the time I might not have known what a piggy bank was, but now that metaphor seems quite fitting."

Irisdina became very serious, which made me a bit worried that she had an objection, or worse might not be willing to fight anymore after her experience during the BETA war and the revolution. Lucky for me, I was wrong. "We are going to need a ship of our own to operate out of."

"And some new TSFs or Knight Armors as yours people call zem." Beatrix added.

I nodded in agreement. "Right you are, both of you. I guess its a good thing then that I happen to know the world's best shipbuilder, eh Luxion?"

His red eye glowed menacingly. "Of course master, leave the preparations to me."

---

AN: And that is CH 4! I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. So as some of you know I'm taking some time off of work for health reasons, both mental and physical. Thanks to that, I should hopefully be able to get out 2 more chapters this month! Keyword is hopefully, but I'll try hard to get both out.

Now as for explanations on the chapter. 

First up is probably one of the biggest spoilers in the chapter. As of now, I have no plan to have MC waifu Marie. I don't dislike Marie, in fact I think she's absolutely hilarious, but I don't see her as a Waifu for MC. He will help her out though, reincarnation kinda did her dirty after all.

I've received some comments saying that some of my readers don't know/understand the CYOA I'm using for this story. For those of you who haven't seen the waifu catalog, well here is the website waifu-catalog.neocities.org check it out, and this story will make so much more sense.

Thirdly is my waifu selection. I know a lot of people were expecting some of the Code Geass pilots girls, like Cornelia vi Britannia and Monica Krushevsky, but I eventually decided against it in order to spend more time focusing on the female cast. Also I don't understand Cornelia and Monica enough to actually feel comfortable writing about them. Will of D. my boy, I'm sorry brother.

As for the two I did pick, their characters will be largely based on their anime appearances from Schwarzesmarken, but I will be trying to add some of their character traits from the visual novel... even though I've never played it myself. That is why I will have their wiki pages pulled up every time I write about them. As for their way of speaking, I'm basing it on how the German exchange student who went to my high school talked. It might be annoying to some, but I think it helps differentiate them in a good way. As for any German readers, I apologize if it sounds like I'm making fun of you, I promise I am not.

Finally we get to the character nobody expected, Serena Holz. Serena is a character from the relatively new series, Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! Its an isekai where the main character is transported to a world similar to his favorite game, and becomes a top tier mercenary pilot in an interesting scifi world. The story sounds generic, and in some ways it is, but it does enough different to stand out. For one the MC isn't a bitch who runs away from his women's feelings, or chickens out every time they make a move, nah this brother banging bitches from volume one. Also MC is just generally more interesting than 99% of them, he's cool without being edgy cringe like Nagumo from Arifureta, he's funny without overdoing it, and he's willing get down with his harem without being a total perv like Issei from DXD. Sorry about getting off topic, I just really enjoy Reborn as a Space Mercenary and want others to read it as well.

The last thing on my list is the credits. As of the end of this chapter, the MC has 87 credits remaining.

Anyway, I hope all my American readers had a wonderful Labor day, and good luck for those of whose school year is starting. I hope you all have a wonderful day, and I'll see on the next one.