Ezra went to meet Bolton.
"Sir, I've arrived"
"Come in"
Ezra entered the room.
"I suppose you're here for your servants?"
Ezra noded.
Snapping his fingers, Bolton called the guards.
"Bring me the children"
He then turned to Ezra.
"How many do you want?"
"All of them"
Bolton noded, dismissing the guards.
Minutes later, the children were brought in. They were clean and had changed into leather clothes.
Three boys, two girls. Like before, they were abnormally quiet with gazes lowered and hollow.
Ezra wondered what could've caused such a gaze.
Bolton looked at Ezra.
"Do you still want them?"
"Yes"
Heaving a breath, he put a soul contract on the desk. He had them cleaned up, but grooming them was Ezra's responsibility.
"This is a soul contract, it'll ensure that they can't hurt you" Bolton explained.
"I understand"
"Come" said Bolton.
The children quivered as a girl approached.
"Ouch"
He pricked her thumb with a needle, prompting blood to drop on the contract.
The rest of the children stepped forward and had the same done to them.
Done, he did the same for Ezra andr the contract dissolved into particles.
Bolton clapped.
"My prince, they are now your servants. More importantly, they're now your responsibility. I hope you understand the significance of this matter"
"I do. Thank you Sir Bolton. I'll be on my way"
"Follow" he ordered the children and walked away.
—---------------------
Back in his room, Ezra sat on his bed, while his servants stood at the side.
"Well? Introduce yourselves"
"M-My name is Roxanne, Roxanne Arbana"
Roxanne was red haired, with black eyes, light skin and a height of 4'9.
Ezra narrowed his gaze.
"Arbana..? Where have I heard that name before?" He muttered.
"Avilla…could it be?!" his eyes widened and he pointed at Roxanne, only to see her squeezing her fist as she muttered…
"You don't know, do you?"
Ezra tilted his head.
"Know what?"
*Sniff*Sniff*
Tears fell as she replied…
"The Emperor - your father - killed our parents" she said, staring at Ezra with reddened eyes full of anger.
He looked to see the rest also crying.
'Hmm' his mind swirled.
'The Avillian King is dead'
'How surprising, Fredrick must've not known about this'
Then he looked at the five.
'I thought they were children of nobles. For them to be royalty, and this young as well…the experience must be devastating'
Exhaling, he spoke…
"I see. Is that why you're looking at me like that?"
Roxanne lowered her stare, squeezed her dress, and bit her lip, causing blood to drip.
"Hmm, so you wish you could kill me like my father had done huh?"
They froze. Ezra had practically read their minds.
"I might as well give you a chance" he said and stood up.
"Follow me" he said as he led them to a seclusion chamber.
As implied, it was a chamber made of stone used for training and cultivation.
The room his mother was training her rapier in was also a seclusion chamber.
These chambers came in different sizes and those in the castle were spacious.
Numbering five, they were arranged beside each other and had four guards patrolling at all times.
At the beginning of the passage was a rack of weapons.
Ezra approached, took a short sword, and turned around.
The children stepped back, to which Ezra raised a brow.
"What are you doing? Pick a weapon"
The children were stumped. What was Ezra trying to pull?
"Hurry up" he jolted them into action as each took a weapon.
Ezra noded and approached one of the chambers, but not before the guards approached in a hurry.
"Your Highness, you can't-"
Ezra was having none of it.
He raised his palm to shut them up, before giving a cold stare.
"It is not within your duties to question my actions. Doing so henceforth will be marked as a sign of insubordination. Am I understood?!"
They stepped back, their pride wounded, but bowed nonetheless.
"Yes, your Highness"
"Good" Ezra noded.
"Open it"
They opened the chamber, waited for Ezra and the children to enter, then closed it.
Going in, Ezra tucked his sleeves.
"I don't need disobedient servants, and I believe this is the best way to solve it"
He raised his hand.
"Five of you-"
He then pointed at himself.
"-against me. If you win, I'll have Bolton grant you your freedom, I swear it on my soul. If I win, you shall henceforth acknowledge me as your master. Do we have a deal?"
The children looked at each other, clearly none of them believing him.
So Ezra taunted them.
"If even the death of parents can't get you out of your shell of cowardice, then I'd rather not waste my time on pathetic nuisance. You should've-"
He was cut short by a shout.
"Don't you dare talk about mom that way!"
It was a boy, this one dark in complexion. His eyes were red with fury as his chest heaved with heavy breaths.
Ezra smirked.
"What if I do? What are you going to do about it?"
"I-I'll kill you!"
With that, he sprang into action while holding his saber.
Like flames in a dry forest, his anger spread to the rest and they attacked together.
Ezra stood calm, watching them approach.
Which wasn't long, because…
'They're fast'
With that, the first attacked with a wide swing of his saber.
Ezra easily parried, kicking in him afar as the other four were upon him.
The second boy struck with his spiked mace, which Ezra dodged, and hit the floor, creating a faint crack.
The materials used to make the chamber were anything but ordinary, making a faint crack an astonishing feat.
'He's strong'
Then a girl approached, this one with short brown hair and double serrated daggers in both hands.
Her hands blurred, slashing twice in a short time.
*Krin*clang*
'Short bursts of speed'
With a back flip, he kicked her in the chin, sending her afar as the last two approached.
Roxanne appeared with a sword, the third boy with his gauntlets, and they attacked in sync.
Getting up close and personal, the boys threw punches, while Roxanne swung her sword, which broke into pieces held by a string and approached like a snake.
'Whip sword!' he was alarmed. Staying unscathed while dealing with and fending off punches wasn't going to be easy.
But experience showed the way.
With little effort, he guided the gauntlet and leapt on the boy's shoulder.
"Huh?"
Ezra jumped right after to dodge the whip sword and landed behind Roxanne.
Upon landing, the two boys attacked with Roxanne's whip approached from behind.
'They're good'
They had trained commendably.
'But that's not enough take me down'
Parrying the saber, he amplifies arm with mana, caught the whip sword, and pulled it.
Roxanne, who hadn't expected such a choice of action, was pulled with her weapon and smashed into the mace boy.
With those two out of it, Ezra bent backwards, dodging a fatal dagger strike from the other girl, and kicked her.
He used the hilt of his sword to hit the saber, subtly disorienting the boy's movements as he turned to exchange blows with the one with gauntlets.
*Clang*Kang*
He ended the exchange by hitting the gauntlet to the side and kicking his chest, having him hit his back on the wall.
The dagger girl was about to approach when a voice rang out.
"No, we can't win that way"
The mace boy spoke.
"We have to attack him at once"
Ezra stood still, his sword on his shoulder.
"Anytime you're ready"
He wasn't just aiming to defeat them. He wanted to crush all thoughts of resistance.
The children backed up, each sweating with their chest heaving while eyeing Ezra, whose breathing was calm.
He'd been training in the sun while wearing heavy armor, so it was to be expected.
Mace called the others and they started whispering about how to take him down.
They couldn't take too long though.
"You have three minutes" he said and sat down.
