There was a little girl. She was always looking at a certain boy’s back. As the boy was brave, strong, and brilliant. He always took the lead, always being at the front. She always looked up at him. But, she couldn’t keep up with him. Because, the boy was following his father, who also followed his predecessor. And wherever his father went, there would always be fire and blood. She couldn’t take it. She didn’t want the boy to follow the warpath that had been carved by his predecessors.

“Please, stop. Don’t go”

The girl begged for him to stop going. Even a simple girl like her could tell that if the boy continued on, he would turn into something she couldn’t love anymore. He would be soaked in blood. He would be a pincushion for many weapons. And there were many enemies that surrounded him, even those who were supposed to be his allies. She simply couldn’t look at it, or even helped him. Because she was weak. There’s nothing she could do to help him. 

And for that reason, she would become stronger, so she could take the pain and scars her “hero” carried.

“Oh damn it! I will be late!”

A girl was running through the streets with a half eaten bread in her mouth. It will be her first day to be in the newly formed Legion. She shouldn’t be late at all for the first inspection, but being so tired after the training she went through as a recruit, she couldn’t help but to sleep more. Now, as a result, she’s taking a risk of being scolded right on her first day as a Legionnaire.

Fortunately, the streets were still empty, or still have been empty for long. After all, the city she was in, the port city known in the past as Naples,  currently had only just been taken recently by Nova Roma. It was a town for savages and warring tribes before. And just like Rome, the city too had been abandoned for centuries once. As a result, there were only about a thousand people living here, most of them are the armies that had taken control of the city, now taking post here to secure Rome’s influence in the area.

The girl was sprinting as fast as she could, making the wind blow as she went through as a result. As a child of the New Era, sprinting as fast as a car was no hard task, especially for a trained Legionnaire like her. After going through a process of selection and training, she was able to pass through. Her brunette hairs blew unkempt as she rushed through in hope she won’t get punished by her assigned commander, who she knew for being strict.

Finally, she arrived on the inspection ground. But, before she could join her comrades in the ranks, she was welcomed with a hit on the head by a standing officer that had been waiting there.

“You sure took your sweet time going here, Lucia”

“Ouch! I’m so sorry!”

When she looked up at the officer’s face, the brunette girl knew that she'd screwed up a lot more than she expected. It was her own commander.

His commander was a black haired young man with a handsome face. While his face was still boyish, his behavior made nobody but his own father could treat him as a boy. His eyes were green, looking fierce as if it could glow in the dark like a predator. He and his father were the heroes that conquer this city

 He had been waiting for the last person who hadn’t showed up on time. Now the girl could only look down and cower in fear as she awaited for her commander’s judgement. He too was looking down on her with a grim looking face.

“Fortunately for you, had you wasted just one more second, I would have expelled you on sight. You are just right on time before we start. Go join your rank before you get ‘decimated’ by your own comrades. Men and women are treated the same here! Don’t forget that!”

“Y-yes sir!”

The girl then hurried up to get in the formation with her comrades, who are mostly males. They all look ready and stern, enough to make Lucia to get even more nervous. But, their commander was even intimidating. He stood in front of them above a platform. From there, he could see everyone in the lines. Now the commander could start his morning speech.

One week before....

“Son, i will leave Naples in your hand”

In the castle, before dawn, Aurelius was talking as he gave his son a paper. On it, there is a list of names. The name “Lucia” was included. They continued their conversation from when they had just taken Naples the night after. They were now talking into details. His son looked at the paper with a serious stare, then turned his gaze towards his father.

“You are returning to the ‘city’ soon, father?” The son asked as he looked at his father

“The king has called me to discuss the future’s plans along with the other leaders. Our territory has been growing larger everyday. Surely it draws everyone’s attention in Italy to us for the better or worse.” The father replied, explaining the reason for his sudden summoning to the capital

“We now rule over almost a third of Italy. But it’s as far as we can go. I can see that Rome is at its limit to rule over a vast territory. We can barely satisfy everyone that has joined us. If it continues like this, our dream of a united civilization will perish.” The son further explained using his own understanding from his observation under his father’s wing. He could feel that the state had reached its limit.

Rome had been taking a large portion of Italy into her dominion ever since her foundation. Mostly small tribes and families had come to the city to pledge allegiance to the new state. They seeked protection from a bigger power, and to be able to live in peace and prosperity. However, when they discovered the city of Naples, they found out that it had become a nest of warring tribes. 

Rome was seen as a valuable ally and also an external threat by the inhabitants of Naples. Rome tried to negotiate with the tribes there. But it failed because the ones that tried to ally with Rome were seen as immediate threats or even traitors by the others. Seeing that negotiation was impossible, Rome declared war with the excuse of her allies were slain by savages. 

With the help of her local allies and superior strength, Rome was able to achieve decisive victory over Naples, killing and driving out any hostile force out of the port city. Naples then was included under Rome’s dominion. This victory made more friendly tribes to come to Rome and pledge their allegiance to the ever growing state. While it also made enemies with other tribes who were friends with the defeated, and thanks to the influence of the naval state of Sicily who didn’t welcome the Roman rules.

And so, Italy was split into three factions. First is the state of Nova Roma, or simply called Rome based in the ancient Eternal State. The second is Rome’s rival, the Milanese in the north. After winning a very costly victory in Florence, Rome was able to control over the western part of Italy. Separating Rome from Milan, and east Italy was the Apennine Mountains, where powerful Beasts lurk. Lastly, was the Sicilian naval state, who was one of the first ones to dare and challenge the treacherous seas. And now, it became a powerful naval power. The only region in Italy that was not yet included in one of those powers is the southern and eastern Italy, which were mostly smaller tribes and clans.

 But, one could say that this was the furthest Rome can go. As Nova Roma currently was only nothing more than a bunch of tribes banded together under one ‘king’. They still tried to figure out how to manage such a large area. Though a central government body was established, it was still far from a proper nation. Even the concept of ‘money’ was still new to them.

The son turned silent and pondered deeply. He imagined many things that could happen in the future, starting from tomorrow. His father will leave the city into his son’s hand. Of course the son will consider heavily on what will happen.

But then his father tapped his child’s shoulder with comfort, and smiled calmly. His face was covered in scars he got from fighting many Beasts and then the battle for Naples. But he came out victorious despite the odds. For this, he was a hero for his clan and Rome.

“Don’t worry son, I leave you something useful. The city has created something called centuria. The one hundred names on the list will be in it.” He then held his son’s shoulder, and looked at him with a smile of hopeful expectation.

“And you, my son, will be their leader. From now on, you will be a Centurion”.

Though the post he was given was small, it was very important. It was the first organized troop in the New Era history, as before even Rome was fighting using bands of random warriors from each tribe. Now, the state has given him the task to test if their creation will be successful or not. As such, it will determine future conquests, or rather ‘liberation’ by the Romans.

The son looked at the list again, and he found there were women listed in it, and he knew them. Even in this era, the idea of women fighting like warriors was unusual. 

And obviously, he felt confused.

“Father, why are there women in it? What’s the Senate and the king thinking?” The son asked, expressing his confusion

“I asked about it too. The king said that ‘it will be different than in the past’.” 

“What?”

“He said that we and humans in the past are different. It seems he meant about our powers. We know that before the world was destroyed, humans didn’t possess powers like we do now.”

The father rubbed his beard as he was explaining. He learnt that in the past, humans don’t possess “power” like they do now. As a result, men and women had different roles that were hard to be crossed. One such example, even until now, is fighting. Fighting is a field where men can truly prove their worth as male, and has been considered that since ancient times, even in the Old Era. But with the appearance of these “powers”, everyone can have different roles because of it.

“Fine. If you said so, i will believe you”

Aeneas doesn’t really care about those things. If his father said it’s good, then it’s good. He could always trust him. He would never put his people at risk.

Aeneas stoodin the front of his new troops. Though they were an organised unit, there were some elements in it that are not uniform. They did not have a standard weapon or armor. There are two reasons for this. First, they simply did not have the skill, culture, and capacity to make a standardised armor. Their manufacturing skill was not capable of producing a larger quantity of armors or weapons with the same quality. Culture too almost vanished when the extinction event happened. When humanity was broken into only splinters, the idea of culture would reduce into a level of simplicity. And finally, there was not enough manpower and industry to mass produce weapons, and even clothing. 

And another reason that also affected the aforementioned reasons above was that humans now not only have greater physical abilities than before, but also a "skill" that can be said to be unique for each person. Aeneas was no exception. He too had such skill, but couldn't use it before when he was no different than a simple soldier. But here, it would show its full potential. 

Nevertheless, this was a mission trusted to the young hero to deal with. If he couldn't manage to lead this organised unit, then Rome would never be able to achieve her dream. Aeneas then started to walk towards his unit. 

"Good to see you again, Alessandro" He greeted a brown haired man of the same age in the front. Aeneas had met and friend with many since he was a child, and even more when he served under Aurelius. Many youngsters became his comrades. 

"The pleasure is mine, Sir Aeneas" Alessandro smiled happily towards Aeneas who was his most trusted comrade. 

"Sigh, whatever" Aeneas didn't really like the honorific on his name. He's just not used to it 

Then, Aeneas did something to Alessandro. He hugged Alessandro tightly as he seemed to make him to "accept" him. Alessandro was caught completely by surprise by the action, and so was the others who witnessed it. But, they didn't dare to question him. Alessandro too, seemed to have realised something and then hugged Aeneas back. Then, Aeneas released Alessandro and patted his shoulders as he smiled with pride. Alessandro meanwhile had his eyes opened wide, as his stare went empty as if he was deep in his own mind. 

"What are you looking at? You will get the same treatment too" 

Aeneas continued to do the same thing with the next eight people he had chosen to be squad leaders under his command to lead eight others. Man or woman alike. They too became stiff in place as if they had fallen into their own mind. It took them, including Alessandro to recover. And then, they looked more disciplined than ever before. 

Finally, Aeneas came face to face with Lucia, whose height only reached Aeneas' chest.

"Lucia" The young hero called her name as he was now standing before her. 

"Alberto" Lucia called him with a different name. A name she knew before he and his father was bestowed with different names by King Romulus. 

"I will put my trust on you" Aeneas smiled calmly to her, with a warm smile he would show to his most dearest friend. 

"Yes, please count on me" Lucia smiled back happily, as she knew that she and her dearest will be linked together with a powerful bond that she would hold dearly. 

Then, the young hero hugged her. And unlike the others, she immediately accepted him. She didn't turn into a statue when she accepted him and then finally Aeneas walked away to his position. 

"Aaaaah.." Lucia could feel it. She and Alberto could read what he's thinking. His plan for today, his feelings, and even his random thoughts. The same thing goes for Aeneas. Not only Lucia, but the other nine people he chose including Alessandro, he could read their mind, and even talked through them. He made a network of mental link between them with Aeneas as the command center. Aeneas could read them perfectly, but the others could only read back Aeneas, but not as much with the others. Their thoughts were filtered by Aeneas himself to avoid mental strains for his subordinates. 

But, then Lucia's happiness was struck with something that made her stiff with a different kind of dread that others felt before. It was something she feared since little. A sense of selflessness that only she could understand, and that made her worried. Because she could see that that part of him would one day be a cause of his downfall. She then looked at him with wide opened eyes, worrying much about him. 

And now, the inspection can begin.