Becoming Blood Brothers

"And as for you..... Let's hear what you have to say first."

The black clad assassin flinched, but did not falter in his resolve. Slowly, unhesitatingly, he pulled down the black mask covering his face to reveal very youthful features. In fact, he was no more than 15 years old.

"Prince, I'd rather die than tarnish my honour and reputation."

'Go on."

"But I'd rather not die. You see, I haven't avenged my mother yet. B-but I have no qualms in serving you, just not as a slave."

"I think you didn't hear it quite right the first time. I clearly presented you with two options. There is no other way around it."

"C-can I buy myself out of slavery, then ?"

"Perceptive, aren't you?"

Helios couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Sure you can. Tell me, how are you planning to do that?"

In response, the now-unmasked assassin brought out an egg.

"This is an ancestral treasure my maternal grandfather presented to my mother just before she joined the royal court as a concubine. This is the egg of a blood phoenix dragon, a hybrid serpent. Mother gave it to me before they took her away for execution."

While the assassin was speaking, Helios had already scanned the egg using his sapphire eye, and had discovered that the egg was indeed that of a Blood Phoenix Dragon, a giant serpent born only once in a millennia.

Such a beasts egg was indeed a super rare find!

In fact, it took Helios all his willpower to maintain a neutral face, because his inner self wanted nothing other than to laugh madly in self-satisfaction.

But he, of course, did not do this.

Instead, he accepted the assassins deal.

"Very well. Congratulations, then. You have successfully bought yourself out of slavery. But you must understand that in my position, I can trust no one. So I propose we sign a pact and become blood brothers."

"Y-you wanna become my blood brother? You're still a royal, and I'm commoner."

'Pfft – This one seriously is something. What would he do when he learns that I'm not the real Helios Raum Ignaz, and even that the real Helios is also a commoner because though his father is a royal, his mother was a slave?' Helios couldn't help but think. But of course he did not say anything out loud. Instead, he re-asserted his previous statement.

"Yes, I do. Is that impossible?"

"N-no, of course not" replied the flustered young boy of fifteen.

Helios then took out a knife and made a single slash on the assassin's palm and then engraved his magic signature in his blood.

Suddenly he looked up, meeting the assassin's eyes in a profound gaze.

"Your name?"

"W-what?" asked the flabbergasted assassin.

"I asked what your name is." Replied Helios patiently. In fact, he was getting used to repeating everything to this boy twice.

"Eric Von" the boy squeaked.

Putting up a charming smile, Helios said, "Congratulations on becoming my brother, Eric"

And thus, the four assassins have been dealt with without wasting any manpower resource. Helios mentally congratulated himself for this fact.