The Duke looked at Marcus and noticed a tinge of fear in his visage.

Duke White had a complicated expression on his face, he nodded, "Let's work this out once we are out of here, I will definitely compensate you all for the boy."

Once the trio turned around, the Duke turned to Hunter and nodded. He then pointed at the two mercenaries other than Marcus.

Hunter looked at them with pity in his eyes.

The next second, he was gone from his location and held Marcus by the back of the head, making him kneel.

Marcus noticed he was kneeling and had fear in his eye and said in a weary tone, "Have mercy, Duke, I have never divulged anything ever."

"We have worked together for many years, please have mercy."

He was almost crying when he finished saying these words.

Thud

Thud

Two sounds came behind him, Marcus looked back only to see the two mercenaries were decapitated.

He looked with fear at Hunter. It had been only a few seconds since he turned around and during this time hunter managed to decapitate the two mercenaries and also make him kneel. His fear increased, he thought to himself, "What kind of monster is he?"

Duke White looked at Marcus and said: "You see, I have already considered our previous dealings…"

He sighed, then said: "We are so familiar, so I do not want to kill you, but I also do not want people to know about my dark element, "sigh," what can I do?"

Marcus was very scared, "Duke .. pleeease … I have never told anyone anything about our dealings…"

Duke White shook his head, "Marcus, you are smart enough to know our previous deals were nothing too great. Nor are they this risky. They would not pose a threat to me or my seat at the council, but if my elemental affinity is divulged things will be far more troublesome."

Marcus said meekly, "Duke I will do anything… ple…ease… let me live." Marcus was breaking down, his eyes were teary, and snot was coming from his nose. A burly guy who was very dominating with scary a face that would make children cry and have nightmares was crying at the moment and begging to be spared. This clearly showed that in front of true-power, everything else is obsolete.

Seeing how broken Marcus was, Duke White had an unusually joyous smile. He was obviously enjoying this, he chuckled, "Do not worry, I am not planning to kill you, but your life will no longer be yours."

The evil smile made Marcus and Hunter shudder, he then said, "You have 2 options now."

Marcus said: "Duke, what are they?"

Duke White replied, "The first option is you can kill yourself, as you have been loyal to me, I do not want to harm you. As my loyal subordinate, you should know it is your job to save your boss from future problems."

Stuttering Marcus said in a meek voice, "annnnnd the second opti…on."

Duke White looked at his face and was silent with a pondering expression. He was enjoying the suspense and fear that Marcus was undergoing.

After giving enough time for Marcus to have a full breakdown from the torturous wait, he said: "I will add a submission seal in your soul this will create insurance for me to trust you…"

Marcus replied in a happy crying tone, "Yes, boss, I accept."

Duke shook his head, "Marcus, you know the saying, "things look too good to be true", of course, there is more to it than this."

Marcus's face drained of colour from this rollercoaster of emotions and the constant torturous wait. His heartbeat was getting louder, and he felt suffocated. He thought to himself, "this devil is playing with me."

Seeing the ashen face of Marcus, Duke White looked joyous.  Duke White wanted to just enjoy seeing Marcus suffer and was reluctant to talk. After some time, he finally said, "This seal although will give me a level of insurance it will not let me sleep well at night, so there are conditions for it."

"One, you from now on will only work for me, I will not stop you from mercenary work, but my work takes priority."

Marcus nodded, he knew that the odds of getting out this situation alive was minuscule and that he needs to make many concessions to stay alive. Hearing these conditions, he was happy because he knew that the more severe they are, the more likely he will not be killed later on.

Waking up Marcus from his calculation, he heard the voice that sounded like the grim reaper to him.

"Two, you have to bring your family to my fief and let them stay there, they can be maids and guards at my estate."

Marcus nodded, he knew that he can no longer get out of this situation, and his family made all his whims of escaping from the seal disappear.

He was not too reluctant either, few jobs would grant safety, and good-pay; working in the estate of a noble was one of them. He was happy as he no longer needs to worry about his family's safety and finance, as they would have a job with good money. He could have gotten a far worse deal for his family and wife. At least something good came out this horrible situation, he thought.

"Three, before I accept your family you need to complete a mission, which is not new….. It is our previous agreement, but a slightly modified version."

Marcus nodded, he knew that making trouble with the nobles would bring him a lot of problems. However, his options were death now or possible problem in the future, it was not a hard choice for him to make to extend his life. But, his relative happy expression had sunk again.

Seeing this Duke White chuckled, "do not worry, I simply would not go through the trouble of recruiting you only to make you lose your life."

"The new plan is you will wait for 1 day and tell everyone that makes it there that a nobleman got the grass and would auction it off in 2 days.

After that, you should go to the nearby village and organize a fake auction and book a hall, then in the night you should sneak away and meet me in the city… no actually go to directly to my fief with your family."

Marcus made a forced nod.

Seeing this, Duke White saw his reluctant agreement.

He asked, "What is wrong?"

Marcus said in a gloomy tone, "Boss, you see I do not think I will be able to make it with my family to your fief after the nobles realize that the auction is fake."

Duke White nodded in understanding, "You do not have to worry, by the time they realize that the auction is fake, I would have already made contact with the royals. With my upgraded reputation, I would announce that you are part of my force, and no one will touch you."

The plan was further developed by the Duke, Hunter and Marcus in the next minutes.

Then Duke concluded it by saying to Marcus, "Oh, and remember not to tell them my name? Just tell them I would like to remain anonymous."

The Duke and Marcus had a perplexed look "..."

This look was warranted because, throughout their travel, they did not wear a mask or took any precautions to remain hidden.

The Duke remained unperturbed by their look and said to Marcus, "these two bodies, take them and put them in the formation."

Marcus followed the Duke's instructions and took the task of putting his friend's bodies in the formation, which looked like a snake strangling a man under the little boy's cradle, with a tinge of regret.

Although he was reluctant to put his friends in possible demonic formation, he could not do anything about it.

He knew that in this world, those without strength could not do anything to those with it.

He was part of the group without strength at the moment. Especially now that his life and death relied on his new, "Master," and he also had to prove his worth and loyalty.

At the same time, he had a bit of anger built up.

After thinking about how the young mercenary wanted to demand extra payment for the boy, his anger flared. The greed of the young mercenary would have brought him down too if he did act as he did. That is what he believed.

Then, he thought to himself that things probably would have ended up the same anyway. However, he also knew that the greed of the young mercenary made it easier for the Duke to make a deadly move on them. Perhaps they could have all been slaves and not die, he thought.

The greed of the young mercenary made his decisions of possible desecration of his comrades' corpses a little easier.  He first took the young mercenary's corpse to the formation with the hope that it would be enough for the ritual to activate. He prayed that there would be no need for his other comrade's corpse; whom he was not very comfortable feeding to the formation. Carrying the bloody-corpse had made Marcus gag a few times. The blood and other fluids from the body had created a foul-smell.