Edited by: Kuro and Lille
After resting for the night, Grey quickly got dressed, ate a small breakfast at the Shadow Guard's canteen, before going to his teacher's office.
His teacher, the man from yesterday, was a retired Shadow Guard who used to be Number 1. But after retiring, he became Teacher 1. Grey honestly didn't know how most of the Shadow Guards looked, including his teacher. Their looks were a mystery.
Oddly enough, he was more talkative than any of the other Shadow Guards. He had an aura of someone outgoing and cheerful. No one would have been able to suspect he was once a powerful Shadow Guard, though.
"18, you arrived as punctual as always. Not too early, not too late. Are you ready to go meet your Master candidates?"
Grey only nodded because he was a man of a few words. He didn't mind that at all. Slowly he would try to speak more, but for now, keeping the quiet and cold attitude was enough.
He followed Teacher 1 through the hidden passageways of the palace. These hallways were made just for the Shadow Guards. They were away from the main corridors, hidden, and extremely difficult to access. There was always someone on guard in the halls, making it impossible for intruders to hide in them. Also, because of how narrow the spacing was, they had to be careful when running into others. The Shadow Guards were taught a skill to notice the presence of other Shadow Guards, making it impossible to run into another Shadow Guard on duty.
Teacher 1 and Grey quickly arrived at the Emperor's study room. Inside, Emperor Emeron was sitting at his desk, while his sons were sitting on couches in front of the Emperor. A small coffee table sat in the middle of the three sofas. There was one couch for each Prince. The Crown Prince was seated on the sofa directly facing the desk; to his right was the Second Prince, and to his left was the Third Prince.
Teacher 1 went into the room first to inform the Emperor of their arrival before having Grey come into the room. They both bowed and kneeled, before stepping to the side.
With the mask on his face, no one could tell what he looked like or what his expression was. The Second Prince was the only one who could sense Number 18's Aura. He knew the man was powerful.
Aura was similar to magical energy, training, and battling honed Aura. Only expert-level warriors could harness the power of Auras.
"So you are Number 18. It is a pleasure to meet you in person." Emperor Emeron greeted Grey.
His face was cold from years of sitting on the throne, but as a parent, he equally loved his children. It could be seen from how he wanted the best Shadow Guard to guard one of his sons, even giving Number 18 the option to choose. This showed he didn't favor one and neglected the rest.
"It is an honor to be noticed by Your Majesty." He then made a bow that was different from the one he gave the Emperor to the three princes, showing how he was only loyal to the Emperor. "This one greets their highnesses." His words were cold and straight to the point.
The three princes didn't say a word as they looked at Grey. It was the first time they heard about the Shadow Guards. The 30 Shadow Guards have been chosen, so that was the reason why they were getting assigned. Once Number 18 accepted his new Master, they would distribute the rest of the Shadow Guards.
"My first son, Levi Uferna, is the Crown Prince. He is sitting in the middle."
Grey glanced at the Crown Prince. He had the typical long blonde hair, blue eyes that exuded arrogance. Crown Prince Levi's outfit was adorned in gold, was pure white, with a red and white cape. It seemed like he wore a ceremonial outfit compared to his brothers. He also had a cold side to him, making him quite hard to approach. All in all, Grey deduced that the man was a narcissist prick. The Crown Prince looked down on Grey with just a glance.
The original Number 18 picked the Crown Prince, but there was no way in hell he would do so.
"Sitting to the right of Prince Levi is my second son, Prince Cecil Uferna; to the left is my third son, Prince Zachary Uferna." This was from Emperor Emeron’s angle.
Prince Cecil nodded his head. He was also a man of a few words. His hair was blonde, like the rest of his family, but his blue eyes were icy compared to the rest of his family. He had a face full of discipline, so when he narrowed his eyes, it had a heroic look. He wore a black military outfit with a red cape. He had shin-high boots, but no armor. It seemed it was a more casual military outfit used for when they were in the palace. He had a sword that he placed down next to him. If he were to have placed the sword at his side, it would be pretty long. Maybe a bit more than half the man's height.
Prince Zachary had fluffy blonde curly hair and ocean blue eyes. He wore the typical white nobleman's clothes with gold stitching. He wore a blue cape to match his eyes. Compared to his family, he was like the sun, bright and always smiling. He seemed very relaxed compared to his tense family members. The man was happily living his dream as a painter.
"Number 18, whoever son you pick, please take good care of him."
The Emperor only had three kids. After his wife died and left him with the third son, he didn't want to find another woman. Many thought he would be like his father, who had a harem full of women, but he stayed faithful to his wife. Regardless of whether she was here or not, no one could replace the woman who stole his heart and took it with her.
Grey glanced at the three men, a bit "hesitant" to choose.
Seeing the man's hesitation, Crown Prince Levi felt annoyed. Wasn't the most powerful Shadow Guard supposed to become his guard? Wasn't he the Crown Prince? How could the man not want to serve him?
He already knew who he was going to pick, but he found it funny that the Crown Prince was getting irritated. He decided it was best not to cause any more trouble and just choose the Prince he was going to pick anyways.
Seeing Grey walk, Crown Prince Levi was confident that he was going to be chosen until he saw Grey standing in front of Prince Cecil's couch and kneeling.
"Your Highness, Prince Cecil. Please allow this one to serve you from now on!"
Everyone in the room was shocked. Even though he had the option to choose, they all thought he was going to serve the Crown Prince as he was probably going to be the next Emperor. Seeing Grey in front of Prince Cecil made the Emperor want to grin and laugh. It was the first time someone had gone against his calculations. How interesting!
Prince Cecil looked around the room before nodding. He stood in front of Grey and looked down at the man who was kneeling in front of him. "Stand up."
"Yes, Master!"
Grey quickly saluted his Master. His right arm across his chest, fist clenched at the heart, while his left hand went behind his back, that hand also clenched. That was the salute that all Knights, including Shadow Guards, had to do in front of their King/Emperor or Master. Bowing and kneeling were other forms of respect. It depended on the situation.
"Swear loyalty."
"I pledge my life to you. I will protect you with my life, Master."
"Good. You may withdraw for now."
"Yes, Master!"
Grey immediately went to the side, almost blending in with the shadows.
[Grey, congrats on completing the Side Mission: Choose a new Master. Keep up the good work.]
'Mm, Thank you.'
Emperor Emerson nodded. "Now that the strongest Shadow Guard has picked his Master, I shall assign the other 14. Remember, even though these individuals will protect you from now on, be sure to remember that they will always come back to the Emperor in the end. If you want to keep your Shadow Guard, become Emperor. For now, think of them as my gift to you all. Hopefully, they will be able to help you in trying times."
This was the way of the Shadow Guards. They will protect who they have to protect, serve whoever they have to serve, but in the end, if the Emperor commands it, that will override all commands from anyone else to do as the Emperor says. Though that hasn't happened in the history of Shadow Guards.
It didn't take long for the Emperor to assign the Shadow Guards to his sons. Numbers 16-20 were assigned to Second Prince Cecil as Number 18 was already his guard. Numbers 21-25 were assigned to Crown Prince Levi, and Numbers 26-30 were assigned to Third Prince Zachary.
Seeing that his second brother had some of the best Shadow Guards made Crown Prince Levi grit his teeth in anger. He should've gotten better treatment! He was the Crown Prince, was he not?!
After being assigned his Shadow Guards, Prince Cecil left the study after thanking his father. He had some work to do as his job as the Knight Commander was always busy. He had to do paperwork, train his men, train himself, and go on expeditions. Just before going to his Father's study, he was supposed to go to the Southern Border because small armies from the Liyas Empire were attacking and trying to break through the border. Many small countries ran to the Uferna Empire for protection as well, giving him a massive headache.
"Number 18." Prince Cecil called out to him when they reached his office.
"Yes, Master?" Grey immediately popped up from the shadows and kneeled in front of Prince Cecil.
Prince Cecil knew he was there but didn't even feel his presence.
"You will be the leader of the Shadow Guards who are here to protect me from now on. I am heading to the Southern Border. Get ready to head out and meet me in my office in an hour."
His voice was cold and expressionless. He wasn't the type of person to be friendly and kind like his little brother, Prince Zachary. He grew up being schemed against by his own older brother and his father had done nothing to help him. His mother died when he was two years old, so he didn't remember any familial love. It was no wonder the man was colder than ice.
"Yes, Master."
All the Shadow Guards dispersed from the area to grab their belongings. They didn't know how long they were going to be there, so they grabbed the essentials. Food was provided by the military so they only had to grab equipment, changes of clothes, money, and other hygiene necessities.
Knowing that he was alone, Prince Cecil sat at his desk and gave a heavy sigh. He knew that Number 18 picking him was going to increase his troubles. He could only imagine the look on his older brother's face.
****
Prince Levi shouted after his younger brothers left the study room. "Father, why didn't the strongest Shadow Guard pick me? Am I not the Crown Prince?"
Emperor Emeron raised an eyebrow at his son before looking back down at the documents on his desk. "Son, I gave him the option to choose as this was always done when the strongest of the 15 is decided upon. Even I wanted him as my Shadow Guard but rules are rules."
"Rules are meant to be broken." He immaturely muttered under his breath.
Emperor Emeron sighed. His oldest son had always been like that. Prince Levi didn't care for anyone but himself. It was like the pressure of being Crown Prince was too much and it left him paranoid, like Emperor Emeron's own father. He felt as if it was a mistake to make his oldest son the Crown Prince, but he thought that his son would be reasonable like he was. Even though he wasn't the oldest, he had to become Emperor to save the Empire. His son probably didn't value the Empire as much as he (Prince Levi) valued himself. Emperor Emeron was starting to regret his decision but deep down, he didn't want his sons to fight for the throne.
"If there are no laws, there is no order. If no one followed those laws, there would be no countries. Regardless of your anger, remember that Emperors who do not care for their subjects will have no Empire. If everyone dies of famine and disease, there will be no Empire. You must think about the people before you think of yourself. That's what it means to be a ruler. You may think that bleeding your citizens dry will be beneficial to you right now, but that is only a momentary gain. When there is no one else under you, who will call you Emperor?"
Emperor Emeron was a wise man. It was no wonder he was able to pull together an almost completely broken empire and bring it back up, way past its former glory, within a decade.
But the Crown Prince who rode on the cocktails of his father's achievements could not even process what his father had to struggle with to get to where they were. It was like everything went into one ear and went out the other.
"If I were to convince him to come to my side and protect me instead, is that allowed? If he chooses to follow me then, would you stop him?"
Emperor Emeron knew where his son was going and could only sigh. He knew his son was picking at his sore spot of giving people, regardless of their gender, basic human rights. Freedom of choice was one of them.
"That is only if he chooses and he isn't coerced. Then I may talk to his superiors about it."
It wasn't exactly a no but it most definitely wasn't a definite yes. He didn’t even know why he was having this conversation when he knew that Number 18 was resolute in his answer. As a father though, he felt a bit soft when he said his answer.
"Understood, Father!" With that, Crown Prince Levi left the room without an ounce of decency.
Seeing his door shut, he could only give an exhausted sigh. Looking at Prince Levi who felt he was entitled to have everything and Prince Cecil who was colder than ice, he couldn't help but think that he wasn't a good father. At least Prince Zachary grew up well.
It was tough to be a father but also someone who ruled an Empire. He wondered if it would be different if he was just a commoner or a nobleman...
Maybe the love of his life wouldn't have left him alone so early.
Mini theatre by kuro_kama:
God System is in a very ...difficult mood after seeing this chapter play out.
God System: 225, don’t you think this choosing scene reminds you of something or like it’s very ambiguous?
System 225: (indifferently) I don’t think anything of the scene and there’s nothing ambiguous. It’s just your rotten thoughts and possessive ass.
System 225 was angered to profanities even though systems couldn’t swear.
Grandpa Marky: Merry Christmas/Christmas Eve, my grandchildren! Also happy holidays to those who don't celebrate Christmas but other holidays in the month of December. If I can finish Arc 10, I will update another chapter ahead of schedule. If not, sorry my brain hurts lol. Anyway, enjoy the chapter and once again, have a happy holidays :D
