Chapter 177
The next day.
District 11.
Tokyo Concession.
The Governor's Office.
Cornelia narrowed her beautiful eyes as she gazed at the quasi-first-level administrative order displayed on the terminal's UI.
Beside her, Euphemia's expression was still somewhat dazed, her lips moving slightly. "Why so suddenly... Suzaku, and the honorary Britannia in the 11th Area Army, are all leaving District 11 for the Eastern Europe front? He was just cleared of the accusation of assassinating Clovis's brother..."
"Euphemia, don't be willful."
Cornelia gave her sister a deep look. "This is Vera's idea."
Meanwhile, at the Ashford Academy, Suzaku Kururugi, who had recently enrolled and reunited with his childhood friends and classmates, received a military transfer order.
Sigh, I went back to my hometown, but the moon is supposed to be fullest on the 16th of the lunar month. It wasn't too late, just right.
173
Chapter 173 Her idle game, your heavy burden.
"Transfer order?"
"The Eastern Europe front? The territory of the Third Princess, 'The Lamp Goddess,' who is most likely to succeed to the throne?"
"The Honorary Britannia Task Force of District 11, specially formed to counter the WZERO Unit's special operations against the European Republic Alliance Army?"
After class, gasps of surprise suddenly erupted from the student council room at the Ashford Academy.
Upon hearing that it was about military mobilization, the people in the room reacted in various ways.
"I'm sorry, I've only been in the student council for a short time and I have to leave."
Putting down the cat toy, the boy with chestnut brown, slightly curly short hair spoke with a regretful expression, "Because of my military duties, as a member of the Britannian Army, obeying orders is my responsibility."
"Thank you all for your help during this time. I really appreciate your guidance. I've had a great time, and I'm very grateful to everyone."
After speaking, Suzaku Kururugi stood at attention and bowed to the students in the activity room to express his gratitude.
"Suzaku ..." At the conference table, Lelouch was interacting affectionately with his sister as usual, looked up and stared in disbelief at Suzaku Kururugi, who had come to say goodbye.
He refused to believe what he was hearing.
Having narrowly escaped death in the Shinjuku Incident and overcome numerous difficulties to clear himself of suspicion in Clovis's assassination, Suzaku Kururugi, who was about to successfully transfer to the Ashford Academy and reunite with himself and Nunnally, was about to be sent to the Eastern Europe battlefield as cannon fodder by the Britannia authorities.
The Eastern Europe theater was unlike the suppression or counterinsurgency wars in District 11. As the main battlefield directly confronting one of the world's three major powers, the EU, it was a true hell on earth.
Once the people of District 11 were brought to that land, it was a no-brainer whether the Britannia authorities would allow the colonists to remain in safe positions.
"Damn it, has the military degenerated to this level?!"
Lelouch clenched his fists, his dissatisfaction with Britannia evident.
"Is this recruiting student soldiers? The guy who helped you out, the one who said 17-year-olds should be in school, he must be a nobleman, right? Doesn't he have the authority to protect you? Didn't you say you were from the technical department?"
"If you're going to help someone, then help them all the way through."
With his only childhood friend's life at stake, Lelouch's emotions were stirred, and he became somewhat flustered by concern.
"It's no use."
Suzaku Kururugi simply shook his head. Although his clear green eyes were filled with reluctance and regret, as a native of District 11, he was used to being treated differently. He said calmly, "This is a quasi-first-level order."
There are officials above officials.
As soon as these words were spoken, the surroundings fell silent.
In the current military and political system of the Holy Britannian Empire, the revocation of a quasi-first-level order requires the signatures of a governor or higher-ranking officer, or three officers of the rank of general or higher.
Suzaku Kururugi could clearly see Lelouch's expression turn serious in an instant, and the hesitant expressions of the students listening and paying attention. Some shook their heads, some frowned, some talked in hushed tones, and there were expressions of surprise, shock, pity, sighs, indifference... and so on.
"A near-Level 1 order? Really?"
The blue-haired, center-parted student council member, named Rivalz Cardemonde, scratched his head.
Has the scale of the war expanded again?
The energetic orange-haired girl, Shirley, instinctively covered her mouth, her emerald eyes flickering with deep worry, "Lelouch..."
She looked at Lelouch, whose emotions were unusually agitated, with a questioning and comforting gaze.
"Um, what is the WZERO Unit?"
Nina Einstein, a timid bespectacled girl with dark green double braids, shrank her shoulders and asked shyly, "It sounds very similar to the terrorists [ZERO] who assassinated Prince Clovis. Is there any connection?"
Even though she managed to get along with Suzaku Kururugi, who had joined the student council, for a while after the rooftop cat rescue incident, her strong aversion to him stemmed from his status as District 11 native and a former suspect. Now that he was forced to leave Ashford Academy, was it a good thing for her?
She herself didn't know whether she should be happy or sad...
"There is no connection."
The mature and poised President Milly was no longer in her usual relaxed mood. She tossed her beautiful, long, wavy blonde hair aside and sighed heavily, "Of course, maybe the EU heard that a [ZERO] appeared in our District 11 and killed the governor, and they chose that name to bring bad luck to European Britannia?"
"Nina, having high concentration is a good thing for doing research, but you should also pay more attention to what's happening outside of District 11."
"The WZERO Unit is a special attack unit formed by the EU military specifically recruiting people from District 11 or people of Japanese descent who have fled to Europe. The so-called special attack is a suicide bombing attack."
"Ah?"
Nina shuddered violently upon hearing this, "Self-destruct?!"
She shrank back as if startled, nervously hugging her shoulders, "How scary..."
"..."
Seeing this scene, Suzaku Kururugi felt a pang of pain in his heart, and his eyes grew even dimmer.
He was tongue-tied and didn't know how to refute, let alone how to defend the actions of his compatriots far away in Europe.
Finally, he looked at the silent Lelouch and the blind girl in the wheelchair, walked over, knelt down, and said in a gentle, apologetic tone, "Nunnally, I'm sorry."
A girl with a soft, delicate face and flaxen hair reaching her hips, as exquisite and frail as a porcelain doll, sat in a wheelchair.
The girl wearing the Ashford Junior High school uniform is Lelouch's sister, Nunnally Lamperouge, or rather, Nunnally Vi Britannia.
Formerly the eighth princess, now the eighty-eighth in line to the throne.
As a child, he was involved in a plot to assassinate the Fifth Princess, which resulted in him losing his sight and becoming disabled in both legs. Eight years ago, he and Lelouch were sent to Japan by Britannia as diplomatic tools.
Suzaku Kururugi met Lelouch and his sister around that time.
We spent a precious and happy year together, until the outbreak of the Far East Incident in 2010, Japan's Conquest War, which brought all the beautiful Remembrance to an abrupt end.
In the Britannia royal genealogy, the names Lelouch and Nunnally were declared dead at the very beginning of the war.
"Is the war still going on?"
A look of disappointment and sadness crossed Nunnally's small face as she pursed her lips, "Suzaku, we've only just reunited, and now you're leaving again? And to a place like the Eastern Europe front, which sounds so dangerous..."
As she finished speaking, her soft, weak voice trembled with a hint of tears, leaving everyone present feeling deeply distressed.
"It's okay. I promise I'll do everything I can to come back alive."
Kneeling on one knee in a knightly gesture, Suzaku Kururugi held Nunnally's hand, his still somewhat youthful face revealing an unparalleled determination.
"Really?"
Blind Nunnally turned her face toward Suzaku Kururugi and asked a question.
"Real."
"Let's make a pinky promise."
"Okay, pinky promise."
Although Nunnally's expression changed from tears to laughter as she made the pinky promise, tears still streamed down her slightly reddened eyes.
Lelouch watched all of this with a gaze that concealed worry and deep resentment, his face expressionless.
"Eastern Europe front... the territory of the Third Princess."
Watching Lelouch, who seemed to be struggling internally, and Suzaku Kururugi, who had decided to go to the Eastern Europe front, Milly simply took a sip of water with a complicated expression, muttered something, and then gently patted the back of Nina, the bespectacled girl who was still trembling with fear because of the 'District 11 Suicide Attack', without making any move to comfort Lelouch.
As the eldest daughter of the Ashford family, she knew the true identities of the fallen princes and princesses.
After all, the Ashford family had been supporters of Empress Marianne.
Unfortunately, the bet failed.
Empress Marianne, who was behind the throne, was assassinated, Lelouch lost his right to the throne and was exiled to Japan.
From then on, the Ashford family lost power, was stripped of its title, and the Kinghtmare R&D and mass production rights, which they had acquired with a large investment, as well as a large number of front-line technical developers, were divided up by vested interests led by the Third Princess, Vera.
Thanks to their pragmatism and the leniency of the Third Princess, the Ashford family managed to preserve their noble status and considerable wealth amidst the turmoil. They strategically shifted their focus to the colonies, and Ashford Academy in District 11 was one such product of this change of course.
Although the decline of the family was still inevitable.
Based on her family's tragic past, Milly was all too aware of the power of the Third Princess, Vera.
This is a quasi-first-level order; the Third Princess has this authority. In the entire District 11, apart from Governor Cornelia, no one can stop her.
Was her sudden large-scale conscription of honorary Britannia from District 11 a form of retaliation against the EU, a decision to fight fire with fire? What a wicked yet merciful, contradictory princess!
In this light, it seems that Suzaku suffered an undeserved misfortune because his compatriots in Europe were being mistreated.
Princess Vera, with her countless duties, couldn't possibly be paying special attention to Suzaku Kururugi, the son of Prime Minister of a fallen nation. A suggestion from her advisors? One of the most direct countermeasures against the EU's WZERO Unit? Lelouch and Nunnally's identities shouldn't have been exposed yet...
Milly thought about many things at that moment.
"Lelouch, Nunnally, and everyone else, we'll meet again someday."
After rising and saying his final goodbye, Suzaku Kururugi turned away without hesitation.
The moment he stepped out the door, Milly's voice drifted over. "I will inform the academic affairs office to retain your student status."
"Thank you, Chairman."
With a kind smile, Suzaku left the activity room.
Thump, thump.
Lelouch followed closely behind, and after comforting Nunnally, he suddenly chased after her.
The room quieted down again.
"I never expected the new member to leave like this... District 11, even those numbered citizens who received honorary titles..."
Rival shrugged. "Well, luckily I'm Britannia."
"I hope that Lord Suzaku will return safely."
Shirley clasped her hands together and silently prayed for the Imperial soldiers going into battle.
"Yes, all we can do is pray... huh?"
Just as Milly removed her hand from Nina's thin shoulder, preparing to push the wheelchair to take Nunnally home, she noticed that another sickly young lady from the Hustonfeld Family, one of the eight prestigious families in Britannia, seemed to be acting a little strange.
"Kallen?"
Milly looked at the red-haired girl who hadn't said a word throughout the entire event room with a puzzled expression.
With her short, chin-length hair falling naturally, the girl named Kallen exuded a delicate and frail aura, yet the anger emanating from her face was unmistakable. Her eyes flashed with a fierce light, and her fists were clenched tightly. This contrasted sharply with her usual sickly appearance.
Huh?!
Kallen, does she like Suzaku?
At this moment, President Milly, unaware that her school was full of hidden talents and even harbored terrorists, thought this.
Meanwhile, Lelouch caught up with Suzaku Kururugi.
"Lelouch, there's no need to say anything more. I appreciate your kindness, but I have to go to Europe. Also, after I get to Eastern Europe, let's cut off contact and pretend we don't know each other."
Suzaku stopped in her tracks.
Lelouch, his tone carrying a stern questioning tone, "Why are you always like this..."
"Because I have to."