87 Quint Rauss [13]
Quint threw his sight out of the window as he sat inside a car. Beside him was the girl that he had befriended since his childhood while his master was one who drove the car. They were heading to a place that his master mentioned to be head quarter. As his gaze seeing the view outside, Quint's mind was wandering to a memory few years ago..
"Was killing a bad thing, Father ?" Quint asked his father in one of the weekend they spent together.
"Why did you suddenly ask that, Son ?" His father asked back.
Quint shrugged his shoulder. "My teacher said that taking other's life is a sin," he said then turned his head to his father, "But how come you and your troops were considered as heroes, even given rewards and medals."
His father chuckled and disheveled Quint's hair. "Your teacher is not wrong as he taught something principal. In a perfect world, where there was no evil things, it might be true," His father said. He smiled to see a confuse expression on Quint's face.
"However, Life is not as simply as black and white. We can not group things only in that two colors. Did you know that between color black and white there are 254 other colors ?"
Quint nodded. "Greys."
"Right. And world are full of greys. In fact, there is not a single human being that is a pure white or a pitch black," his father continued.
"So.. killing is not a sin ?" Quint confirmed.
His father smiled. "Now, you still judging it in black and white," he warned Quint.
"I don't understand."
"Hmm.. let me give you a case. Let's say that you are a judge in a court. There was a man who murdered another man. Would you consider him guilty ?"
"Of course," Quint answered quickly.
"But then you learnt that the man killed the victim because he raped his daughter. Would you consider him totally wrong then ?"
Quint didn't answer right away. He was drowned into his thought for some seconds. "Well.. not really. I mean.. I can see why the man held grudge to the victim because he raped his daughter.." Quint then said.
His father smiled. "Then.. you knew that he raped her because she ridiculed the size of his penis in public. How guilty is the man ?," his father added.
Quint frowned. "That was too complicated," he said in confusion.
"It was," his father admitted. "Unfortunately, Son.. the world is filled with that kind of complicated things." He disheveled Quint's hair again.
"For another instance, me and my troops. We did killed people. We killed them because if we didn't, they would kill us.. or perhaps the whole country," his father continued.
"This country ??"
His father chuckled. "No. Other country. Far away from this country."
"Why would you care about other country ?"
"I didn't. But the leaders of this country did. And I am just a subordinate who took order from them."
"Was it hard.. to take others' lives ?" Quint asked.
"It was super hard. Especially when you killed wrong persons. Some of my men have mental broke down. Many have mental disorder post-war."
"How could they kill wrong persons ?" Quint asked in curious.
His father sighed. "In a war, the methods to kill were vary. Sometimes we had to just annihilate the whole district or perhaps city with explosions. Thus, the victim might also be women or children. Sometimes, enemies took innocents as their shields and we have no choice but to take them both..." The more his father explained, the thicker gloom on his face.
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"What are you thinking, Boy ?" His master asked while glancing at Quint from the rear-view mirror.
"Nothing," Quint answered, glancing back at his master.
"Do you have second thought ?" his master asked.
Quint frowned. "No," he answered after understood what the second thought his master meant.
About six months ago, after he won the Close Combat category for the six times and Marksman for the third times, his mother hugged him tight, told him how proud she was about him. She then brought Quint to a quite serious conversation on his master's living room.
"You'll be seventeen soon. Have you thought about what do you want to be ?" his mother asked him.
Quint nodded. "I have," he answered.
"What is it ?"
"I wanna be a soldier."
"Like your father.. ?"
Quint frowned and moved his sight to his master. "Master said there are other soldier beside joining the military."
"It's true. What kind of a soldier you really want to be in your mind ?"
The frown in Quint's forehead was deepened. "One that didn't take ones' lives randomly. I mean.. Father once told me about how his men have mental disorder because the war and killing innocent people. But.. is it possible to be a soldier and avoid those things ?"
His mother smiled. "Well, my soldiers don't go to open war."
Quint widened his eyes. "You have soldiers ?"
His mother nodded and kept her smile. "I do. They are secret soldiers. Your father went to open wars, while my soldiers go to secret wars. They killed exactly what they are told to kill. No mistake. No false victim. If they did, they couldn't have regret since they would definitely be vanished."
Quint stared at his mother. "Secret wars ?"
"Yes, Dear. There are more wars happen that what they said in news. This kind of war happens under radar, in a total silence, and leave no trace."
Quint saw his mother with amusement. The information his mother just gave him blew his mind away.
"Are you interested joining my soldier ?" his mother then asked him.
"I am," Quint answered with glimmer on his eyes.
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Following his master, Quint walked through a humongous french door that was acted as the front door of a more humongous building. The building was more appropriate to be called a mansion, or maybe a castle. Once they entered the building, they were in a wide and long aisle, maybe as wide as a two lanes road.
"Wow.." The girl next to Quint murmured her fascination.
Quint didn't utter a word, but his eyes also mesmerized by what he saw. Two walls were on each of their sides, painted clean white decorated with huge framed paintings. Below their feet was a marble floor covered with thick rug. On the ceiling high above, chandeliers were hung for every few meters.
"Can you guess how rich is the person who own this place ?" the girl whispered to Quint.
"This is one of castle owned by Lord Neckloghn," His master was one who answered her.
"Who ?" The girl asked again.
"Lord Neckloghn," His master repeated his answer then turned his head and smiled to both teenagers behind him. "But he doesn't live here. He is a High Seater of another chapter. It is sort of rule that each High Seater provides a building as a headquarter for the other chapter," he added.
"So who lived here ?" The girl asked again. Quint frowned a little. He felt that this girl was asking too much. But his master was only smiling and answered her.
"No one, Miss. It is used as headquarter of our chapter."
"Chapter ?" The girl asked in confusion.
"Yes, Miss. a chapter."
"Headquarter of what ?" This time it was Quint who asking.
"The organization," his master answered.
Before Quint asked further question, his master stopped in front of a french door on his right. He took something out from his suit jacket's inside pocket. A black mask. He then put the mask to cover his eyes and nose before opened the door and said, or rather more like announced their existence to ones behind the door, "Poison Master and Marksman have arrived."
Side by side with the girl, Quint entered the room. It was as beautiful and glamorous as the aisle. In the center of the room there were a set oh couches who had been occupied with some teenagers. They were all looking at Quint and the girl.
"So, only the Bomber left," a woman sat next to a teenage girl said in a cold tone. The woman was also wearing a black mask.
"We're here.. we're here.." a man responded quickly. Hasty steps were heard behind Quint and the girl. They both stepped a side to give room for ones on their behind. Soon, a middle aged man, also wearing a black mask, with a brown-skin teenager showed up.
The teenager grinned awkwardly at all remaining in the room. "Hi," he said while scratching the back of his head.
"Alright.. all are here," A silver masked man who sat on a love seat suddenly stood up. "I will call the Madam," he continued then walked to another door that was on the other end of the room.
Around two minutes later the man went back to the room, but not alone. Behind him was a woman. Quint widened his eyes a little. Al though the woman was wearing a golden mask that covered right until her nose, he was assure that she was her mother.
Yesterday his mother said to his father that she would have a high school reunion for the weekend. How could she be here ?
"Madam.." All adults in the room quickly stood up, some grabbed the teenager they brought to stand as well.
The woman, well.. Quint's mother, was approaching the group with a calm smile. "Hello, prodigies.. welcome to the organization," she said with full of authority. She then sat on one of the armchair. While putting her gaze one by one to the teenagers around her, she gave them her perfectly trained smile and called them one by one,
"Strategist"
"Hacker"
"Melee Fighter"
"Mind Bender"
"Bomber"
"Poison Master"
"And.. Marksman"
She put her gaze a second longer to Quint before shifted it away.
"I am one of the seven High Seaters of The Conduct of Olympos. You all can call me Madam," the woman introduced her self.
The Conduct of the Olympos was the name of the organization. But it was forbidden to all of its members to speak or write its name, except by the High Seaters inside their headquarters. The High Seaters was seven persons all around the world who made highest and final decision of the organization. Each seater was representing a powerful country or continent in the world, called Chapter. These information would be known by Quint way after this meeting.
Meanwhile now, Quint could only held his jaw not to drop. His mother had been always charismatic and authoritative, but never had he seen them this level. He couldn't believe the woman who was talking in front of him now was the same woman he called 'mommy'.
"Every fifteen years, we gathered the best prodigies, and you are them. You are about to become the next Royal Knights, our ultimate soldiers." She smiled again before continuing her words, "However.. you need to prove to us that you really are the chosen ones."
Once again she wandered her gaze among the teenagers. "You need to accomplish a mission first before legitimately bestowed to be the Royal Knights."
@@@@@ AUTHOR's NOTE @@@@@
In this chapter II was a little bit more blunt in giving information about the organization. If you notice, I rarely gave blunt hint and information to my readers. I think it is more fun to connect the dots by ourselves, isn't it ? ;) I just want to remind you that everything that happened is connected one to another. Everything ! So, don't skip little details while you enjoying the story ;)
