Little by little, Gellor and his mercenary group were about to find themselves lured into a situation that they would have never expected.
All of it brought down carefully by Lucius.
"I'm glad that you and your team have chosen to accept this offer. I won't take too much of your time now that everyone has said yes. I'm quite sure that you and your team must want to rest as well." Lucius said.
Gellor and his mercenary member exchanged looks before Gellor slowly shook his head.
"Lord Asher, if you must inform us about what are the requirements and responsibilities of becoming a member of your special class of warriors, we would be happy to hear it now."
"Nonsense. I've already kept you and your people here too long at my insistence." Lucius said. "I'm sure that all of you were simply expecting that you'd drop the rune crystals and call it a day, right?"
At those words, the other members of Gellor's team looked embarrassed but nodded.
"After we finish a mission, if we're not all exhausted, we go to our favorite pub to drink and unwind, Lord Asher." Ariana said.
"Or we take our time to go recuperate in an inn, since they have better beds most of the time." Albus added, rubbing the back of his neck and then glancing at Finch. "Although some of us have better beds to go to."
Finch's face turned bright red in anger and some shame as she glared at Albus, but then cleared her throat discreetly and nodded.
"We usually do go on our separate ways to take care of our personal and private matters, Lord Asher. However, after all this hospitality and kindness you've extended to us, we all feel quite refreshed and are more than ready to listen to what else you'll have to say for us." Finch finished with a smile.
"Yes, we're all interested in what makes this special class of warriors different from others, and how we might make it possible." Barty added.
"We're ready to listen." Gellor said with a respectful nod.
"I'm grateful that you are all eager to listen, but it has occurred to me that perhaps I have not given all of you enough time to think this thoroughly." Lucius said.
"We… we have accepted, Lord Asher." Gellor said in confusion. "We trust in your capacity to hold up the end of your deal. So we do not know the issue."
"It's easy to pay for people to perform a certain task. However, I would like for the people who'll be joining this special class of warriors to do it because they also believe in what I stand for." Lucius smiled and looked at them sincerely. "I do not wish for all of you to feel compelled to say simply because I will be paying you, so I've thought about it just now."
"What is it, Lord Asher?"
"I would like all of you to go home for now and rest, recuperate and have the time to consider my offer and then later meet me at the re-education center as I'll share my ambitions and goals as to why I am forming this class of warriors." Lucius said. "If I am able to convince you, then and only then will I be happy to receive all of you as members of my special class."
"We… we are honored, Lord Asher." Gellor bowed his head alongside the rest of his mercenary group.
Even though they had already said yes, the fact that Lord Asher was allowing them to think it over one last time was something incredible.
Gellor, Finch and the rest of the group could tell that Lord Asher Inanis was truly creating something remarkable and only wanted the most devoted of them to take it.
It was with these thoughts in their heads that Gellor and his mercenary group respectfully left the Inanis mansion, headed to a tavern and conversed among themselves about what had happened.
***
Meanwhile, back at the Inanis mansion, Lucius knew that he had been able to make Gellor and his group willing to accept his offer, but that was not enough.
He could tell that they were not naturally loyal to him as opposed to say feeling indebted to what he provided them and thinking that they had another new and good opportunity at their hands.
There was a distinct difference between those two, and Lucius wanted to secure and have everything go his way when he would place the Mark of Obedience on them.
This was why it was far better for Gellor and his team to have gone away so that they'd be able to talk about their new opportunity among themselves and feel more grateful.
If there was an off chance that Gellor and his mercenary group were to change their mind, they would feel like Lord Asher Inanis didn't force them into saying yes because he also gave them an opportunity to talk among themselves.
Of course, this was also Lucius's chance to add the Mark of Obedience spell matrix, and prepare a far more compelling narrative that would make them submit willingly.
He had no intention of letting them go now that he decided on their use.
'My promises to Kiana back then seem like the right place to start, alongside what I've also done at the re-education before. A combination of those two should provide them the desire to want to devote themselves to me.' Lucius thought.
It was going to be a little different though, since Kiana was naturally loyal to 'Asher Inanis' due to their upbringing and was naturally caring of the prosperity of the Inanis family.
As for the ones in the re-education center, Lucius provided them the chance to have their revenge alongside promises of a better tomorrow.
"Alright, let me just prepare the spell matrix for Mark of Obedience first." Lucius closed his eyes and meditated in his room.
Once he finished the spell and added it into his soul space, Lucius headed for the re-education center.
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