"As you might know, the island is under my Anaheim's control, the Britannian control has been removed, and now we are looking for someone who could manage the island for us." Marcus began the conversation the moment they were in the warm Sumeragi estate.
"And that would be me." The man leaned into his chair as he crossed his arms. He pondered for a second before looking at smiling Kaguya.
"I assume this was your idea?" He asked the Princess of the Sumeragi family.
"You do realise I left to live in Hokkaido for a reason."
"I understand, uncle. But this is something you would be good at, and this is a simple island, not a major place.
Besides, you would keep your eye on the Sakuradite resources this place has." Kaguya explained. Marcus was a bit surprised by how she saw his real reason for claiming Hokkaido, the moment he claimed Japan's main island.
"... I understand the idea." He nodded at the idea.
"Don't worry. I will be helping you and your daughter to stay safe." Marcus assured him, as he looked to the side and saw two pairs of purple eyes looking at him from the side of the room.
Jugo's gaze went to the side. He sighed, seeing that his daughter and Sakura were eavesdropping on them…
The Prince followed the man's gaze and saw the two girls, who were nearly identical.
"Don't worry, Sakuya, your uncle is going to leave a few powerful machines to protect you from whatever could threaten."
He commented, making her come out from the shadows, and she was followed by Sakura.
"Are you really my uncle?" She asked with a confident voice, reminding him of the classic Britannian royal trait.
"Yes, your mother was my older sister. She has a considerable number of siblings, though not many are like me."
"You don't say, my Prince." Kaguya giggled at his comment.
"And this is your cousin, Kaguya. She is a fan of my work." Marcus jokingly introduced the Princess of the Sumeragi family.
"Moh! Don't introduce me like that!" Kaguya rushed over to Sakuya and then looked at Sakura.
"You both are my family!" The girl grabbed both girls' hands, greeting them.
"...oh…"
"..."
It took a couple of moments for them to process that there were more family members around.
"Regardless, your Hokkaido will be treated like a fortress; you don't need to worry about protection or anything like that.
I make sure that people that I like are protected by the best." Marcus explained to his brother-in-law while looking at Kaguya interact with Sakuya and Sakura.
He can easily differentiate them just from behaviour. They might look identical, but their characters are different.
Sakuya is more guarded and a bit suspicious of them, while Sakura is more naive and easier to please. These traits are visible through their actions.
"...So you need a manager?"
Prince's brother-in-law understood what Marcus wanted from him.
"Indeed." The Inventor nodded. He looked away from the trio and looked at the Jugo.
"Resources will flow here; you can use them to improve the lives of people here.
Space is a very big place. It doesn't lack resources."
"...Do you have access to any of it?"
Instead of answering the question, he showed him a few pictures.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"This is impressive. I am genuinely excited…" He saw pictures of Mars orbit, SWORD construction, and brought over asteroids in Lagrange 3.
"Now that I think about it. The night sky changed a bit." Jugo stroked his chin. He never considered that those were asteroids brought over by Anaheim to use as building material.
"Indeed. We are at the precipice of a new age. The old guard IS getting replaced by Anaheim.
Many people want to be on the winning side of history."
"True. History is repeating itself." The man leaned into his chair while crossing his hands. He finished checking the pictures.
Meanwhile, Kaguya broke down the two girls' defences and made them come over.
"My Prince, they said they want to be astronauts." The Princess of the Sumeragi family asked with a smile.
"Is that right?" He looked at them, his eyes stopped on his niece.
"If this is what you want, we can arrange that." Marcus chuckled for a second.
"Let them grow up first, brother Lelouch. They still need to learn the essentials with Natalia." Jugo chuckled, seeing them blush when Kaguya mentioned astronauts.
"Sure. By the time they get a bit older, the habitat areas aboard the stations should be finished."
"Oh? We are that close to actual space life?" The Prince's brother asked, a bit surprised that they are short years away from living in space.
"Indeed, the habitats are already under construction. Robotic labour is Anaheim's calling card.
The only issues we are working out are rotations and gravity generation; ignoring it could lead to muscle loss. We don't want overexposure of a gravityless environment."
"...Never heard of that before…" He replied with a shameless laugh.
"Indeed. Leave that to experts." Marcus smiled before looking at his niece.
He patted her head for a second.
"Study well, Sakuya, and I will take you to space. Who knows, you might help us to turn Venus or Mars into habitable worlds."
The girl's reaction was small awe.
"...That's quite a task." Jugo was a bit speechless, but the pep talk was effective, as the girl was inspired. Maybe that would help her transition to her mother's loss. It did happen not long ago, and losing one of the parents at a young age traumatised the girl.
"I won't fail you, uncle!"
Marcus smirked.
"You know, I was around your age when I started 'playing' with computers." The Prince recalled that around ten, he was sent here and eventually received his first laptop from Ashfords, and began programming Legion.
At that moment, he got an idea.
"Playing?"
"Making things. Those robots you saw outside, they are my creations."
"...Ohhh…"
"You made them?"
The pair asked, wonder written all of their faces.
"Yep, and I can give you some toys to play with as well," Marcus replied. He then got up from his seat.
"Give me a couple of minutes, I am going to bring something."
The prince hurried out of the room and eventually the house.
"...Never expected Sherry to have a brother like this… her family is…different." Jugo needed to pick his words properly in front of his daughter, who seemed to like her uncle quite a bit.
"You can say that again, uncle." Kaguya smiled. She wondered what kind of type of researcher or scientist her nieces would grow up to be.
"Yes, well. It was a bit different when I first met the Britannian Royals."
'They were pompous assholes. Sherry was the only one who didn't have that air of arrogance around her.
And then this young Prince appeared… an inventor obsessed with space? How rare is that?'
A few moments later, the prince returned with a laptop. It was a brand-new model, designed specifically for Anaheim staff.
"This is one of Legion's terminals. Legion is an artificial intelligence that is assisting my company in the development of things.
Now you can have it. This laptop will help you learn. You can learn anything you want." He handed the laptop over to his niece, who, like a curious cat, inspected it from different angles.
When she opened it, there was wonderment in her eyes.
Though the nearly identical girl next to her looked a him with puffed cheeks like a hamster.
"Sorry, there was only one of them in the transporter. But don't worry can bring one soon." He winked at Sakuya's body double.
"...Don't worry, Sakura, we can share it."
But then Sakuya had the look of surprise.
"W-Wait, uncle! How do you know that I am Sakuya!?" The girl realised that from the very beginning, he saw through her!
And that is bad! It's like Sakura's role is not even relevant.
"That's quite simple. Your disposition is different from Sakura's." His reply made her even more confused.
"What he means is that your character is different from Sakura's." Jugo clarified, prompting his daughter to ponder and then glance at Sakura for a moment. Who was looking at Marcus and then at Sakuya.
The pair were a bit too small to grasp all the details.
"Don't worry, eventually you will pick up these small things. You need to practise a bit and it will be fine."
After a bit more talk and explaining to the girls about the new toy he gave them, Marcus returned to the matters at hand.
And that was where he is planning to build his base expansions, Sakuradite mines, woodcutting camps, and all that stuff.
One thing is for sure: what Hokkaido has is Sakuradite and wood.
Oh, and fish…
Resources that he will use… and most likely bring over to space.
Ecosystem management is something he will need to look into and ask if Anna has some ideas for that as well.
'I need more scientists…'
Thankfully, his recent territory grab came with eager people who want to work for him.
Eventually, Kaguya and Marcus left Jugo and his girls to process the information and prepare for the upcoming changes.
The Exiled Prince left a token of Setantas in Hokkaido for now. As the permanent garrison is on its way. The Inventor ensured that Hokkaido was getting its troops.
"Heh, I never expected that you like kids so much~," Kaguya commented the moment they left the island.
"Hmm?" He looked at her.
"Where did that come from?" The Prince asked with a sign.
"Well, how did you treat Sakuya and Sakura. I think it's cute~~."
He rolled his eyes when he heard that. As if he can tell her one of the endings he knows.
'I can't tell her about my father's clone, who turned Hokkaido into his toy box and wanted to exterminate all humans. That would be too much.
Or how my counterpart gave Sakuya Geass… the end result caused her to use Geass on herself and become mute.'
"I doubt I would end up as an uncle with my other siblings…considering their characters." Marcus mentally recalled the siblings he knew.
None of them is parent material.
"...Heh, who said about being uncle~." The girl winked at him, making him roll his eyes at her again.
"What? I am not good enough?" The girl puffed her cheeks after seeing his reaction to her words.
"Not really. You need to work a bit more to make me interested in something like that, Kaguya." He tried to reply in a diplomatic manner.
Something like 'kids' is very low in his queue…
"My plate is full of things that I need to do before even thinking of settling down in any way or form."
"I understand that. But people don't live that long." The girl tried to remind him of that.
But he simply smiled at her. That smile reminded her of her father, who would look at a child and tell how 'cute' her efforts were.
In other words, he found her comment amusing.
"..."
The girl didn't say anything afterwards as she realised that they were on different brainwaves.
~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~
In Japan, a monumental shift was happening. A considerable number of Britannians were leaving the area as they were returning to their homeland.
Among them was Shirley, the girl was enjoying her last days of the academy life as she would leave Ashford behind.
"I'm sad to hear that you are leaving Shirley." Milly patted the girl's shoulders. It was a loss! She enjoyed teasing this girl!
"...Yeah… my father was working for the Britannian government and since…well…" The orange-haired girl didn't finish that train of thought.
"I know. Lelouch is allowing all people to return without hassle." Milly smiled while saying that.
"Yes… Anyway, give my best regards to him when you see him." The girl looked down as she said that.
"Don't worry!" Milly tried to brighten the mood. "For now, let's enjoy your last days in the student council!"
"You are forcing me to do paperwork on my last day in the academy! Damn it, Prez!" Shirley complained with red cheeks!