'You've done it!'
'You're our family's pride and honour!'
There were cheers everywhere. The candidates have been named for Operation Finis – the special unit who would be groomed to become Milites's trump card. Word was the Emperor himself had picked the 11 candidates who would become the Crown Prince's lifelong comrade.
Being chosen from among all the children of nobles and army generals was the greatest honour a child of seven or eight years old could receive. The candidates of Operation Finis would be under the direct command of the Emperor and the Imperial Marshal, and their families would receive honorary titles for their contribution to the Empire.
However, the Operation was not all sugar and rainbows. All 12 candidates, including the young prince, had to throw away their given names and answer to only the name they were given.
Deuce…
That was the name I was christened with. And that had been my name since that day thirteen years ago. What my real name was… I had forgotten… along with the death of my father by the hands of war ten years ago.
Yet I can remember the day I stepped into the room with all the other children for the first time – clear as day. A woman, tall and slender with sharp eyes and luscious black hair, had introduced herself to us as Doctor Arecia. She said she would be in charge of us and we were told to call her Mother.
I looked around at my new comrades and a platinum blonde haired kid immediately caught my eye. I knew who that was, the prince. He turned around and looked at me with wary blue eyes. Blushing, I quickly averted my gaze.
That was rude of me. He's the prince after all.
So I approached him afterwards with the intention of apologising for my rudeness.
'There's no need for formalities,' he said calmly, 'I'm here for the same purpose as every one of you. Father told me that we are all comrades, so shouldn't we treat everyone equally?'
Such wisdom for a seven year old…
Soon, we all became friends and all manner of barriers of hierarchy were dismissed. No titles, no birth rights, nothing. Sure, some of us, like Ace and Sice, took a little longer to get out of their shells. But we all arrived at the same spot.
Operation Finis – no, Class 0 – the highest order of knights of the Milites Empire. We had sworn our loyalty, not to the Emperor or the Imperial Marshal, but to the Crown Prince - such was the will of the Emperor. No one thought of questioning his decision back then. But now that I am older and with the Emperor missing and all… I began to wonder…
If what the Emperor wanted, was to ensure that his son would always have people loyal to him by his side?
If so… why?