RISE OF EROS

At Oliver's comment, everyone turned to look at him, as if urging him to continue and he didn't hold back, "I hadn't mentioned this to the young master, because it wasn't my place, but now that the young master needs it, I'll say it."

Oliver paused to collect his thoughts and continued speaking, "About a month ago, an old friend found me and I've been keeping in touch with him."

He paused again and evaluated the expressions of those present in the office and seeing that no one seemed to recriminate him, he continued speaking, "This old friend is the leader of a small group of assassins who used to work for me."

At that moment, Carolina, Helena, and Aki were surprised, because they didn't know anything about Oliver's past, but Andrew was different. He knew of Oliver's past and wasn't surprised that he had subordinates from all walks of life, though he had to admit that he hadn't expected them to show up in the red-light district.

Andrew was curious as to what Oliver meant so he waved for him to continue and Oliver continued explaining. It turns out that when he was general of the small kingdom of Nufa he had created an intelligence squad because in battle information was valuable.

This group was known as "Black Night" and although they were not numerous, they were very good at moving in the shadows. When the battle between the kingdom of Nufa and the empire of Cannaris began, Oliver disbanded them and ordered them to flee, as they were all orphaned children that Oliver had rescued and trained, so he appreciated them very much.

It turns out that this group followed the order to flee, but they never dissolved and by fate, they arrived in the city, where they did work for different people collecting information and thus survived.

In one of those missions, one of the members came across Oliver who was patrolling the surroundings of the Heavenly Palace, and made contact with him. At first, they wanted to kill Andrew because they believed that he had turned Oliver, his savior, into a slave, but after Oliver explained the situation to them they calmed down.

After a month of talking to them, he had managed to convince them to join the Heavenly Palace, but they had conditions and Oliver couldn't meet them, since it had to be Andrew who did it and Oliver was in no position to demand anything from Andrew.

After Oliver finished telling them, the office fell silent again and a few seconds later Andrew asked, "What are the conditions?", but Oliver didn't answer.

Andrew could see that Oliver had a conflicted expression when he asked him and being an intelligent person, he sensed what the members of the black night wanted.

"Ask them to come over," Andrew said decisively, but Oliver was reluctant. Andrew understood his conflict and spoke again, "Don't worry, ask them to come over." This time Oliver nodded and left.

As soon as Oliver left, Carolina couldn't help but ask, "What do you think they want?" Andrew smiled and replied, "They probably want me to release Oliver from slavery."

They were all shocked and then wrinkled their eyebrows, knowing that freeing Oliver was difficult, as he was the strongest fighting force in the Heavenly Palace, and losing him was a heavy price.

"Don't worry, at the end of the day, I was planning to free Oliver and Aki," Andrew said nonchalantly, surprising everyone again. A shocked Aki couldn't help but ask, "Why me too?"

"Because Aki will become my wife," Andrew said smiling and Aki instantly blushed. Carolina and Helena chuckled to the side because they already knew that Andrew wanted to do that, he had told them the night before.

Aki wanted to retort, but Andrew didn't give her a chance, "I already have the cream for your scar, so there's no excuse. I also know you like me so don't deny it, just accept it."

Aki's jaw dropped. She wanted to say something, but her words wouldn't come out. She really had feelings for Andrew and although they weren't as strong as Carolina and Helena's, she was unquestionably interested in him, since he had treated her well all this time and that touched her.

She easily fell in love with Andrew, because she had been mistreated in her entire life and this was the first time she had been treated well, so her inexperience with that feeling made her lose it.

Not wanting to give Aki a chance to regain her reason, he took out the tissue repair and rejuvenation creams and told her, "Apply them to your face at the same time every day, within a week you should be fully recovered."

Aki didn't move, she was still in shock, so Carolina and Helena moved, took the creams, and dragged Aki into the room to apply the creams.

The little assassin was so shocked that she didn't even resist. Andrew waited for a while and Oliver appeared accompanied by a girl. The girl wore clothes similar to Aki's.

She was of average height, but next to Oliver she seemed small, her hair was short brown and although she wore a mask that covered the upper half of her face Andrew knew she was a beauty because his Eros's eyes rated with 725 points. normal beauty.

That wasn't the only thing he identified with his eyes from Eros, he also checked her aura. This one was like Aki's, but the dark silver ramifications pointed not at Andrew but at Oliver, showing her loyalty to him also some pink could be seen.

It was hardly logical since Oliver was her savior, trainer, and even father figure of her. Andrew got up from his seat and politely greeted her, "Nice to meet you, I am the owner of Heavenly Palace, Andrew."

The girl didn't expect Andrew to receive her with such courtesy, but she soon regained her composure and introduced herself, "Marie". Her response was a bit curt, but Andrew didn't care and he kept talking, "So, Marie, Oliver told me that you have conditions, let's listen to them."

Marie didn't mince words and cut to the chase, "We agree to help you gather information in exchange for releasing Mr. Oliver," then the office fell silent.

Andrew was staring at Marie and Oliver. The girl had part of her face covered, but he knew by looking into her eyes how determined she was, on the other hand, Oliver had a bitter expression on his face.

Andrew knew what Oliver was thinking. To anyone else, this was a trick to gain his freedom, but Andrew knew that Oliver had already recognized him as his master thanks to Eros's eyes, so he knew that wasn't the case.

"I don't accept your condition," Andrew said, but added before Marie could say anything, "I can release him, after all, I was planning to, but I don't want you to do a job for me and leave, I want you to join the Heavenly Palace with Oliver."

Marie and Oliver were shocked at Andrew's words and unexpectedly the one who spoke was Oliver, "Young master, are you going to release me? Why?", to which Andrew replied, "I thought about that a long time ago. I also know that you will not leave and for your loyalty, I will grant you something good, so convince Marie and the others to join the Heavenly Palace, I promise not to treat them badly."

Oliver had no idea what Andrew would give him, but for some reason, he didn't doubt his words. Marie on the other hand did not trust him. She thought that Andrew wanted to enslave them too.

Before Oliver could say anything to convince Marie, Andrew pulled out a small dagger and cut his finger, and began to recite some sort of incantation and by the time the blood hit the floor Oliver's slave contract had been removed.

Both Oliver and Marie knew what Andrew was doing and so they were surprised at how decisive it was and then Andrew spoke again, "See? He is already free ".

Marie did not know what to say, but Oliver approached Andrew and kneeling on one leg said solemnly, "I, Oliver Brown, offer my unconditional loyalty to the young master."

This was an oath without any ties, but to loyal people, it was a token of the greatest respect they could offer, and Andrew just smiled. "Get up, you don't need to be so rigid, better help me get Marie and her companions to join us."

Oliver then stood up and said, "Young master, let me speak to them in private." Andrew nodded and Oliver left with Marie. Andrew wasn't worried about Oliver running away, as he knew that the man was loyal to him, so he just waited for him to succeed in convincing the group of the black night.

Shortly after Oliver and Marie left, Carolina, Helena, and Aki left the room, and Andrew performed the same ritual to free Aki from the slavery contract.

Carolina and Helena had already accepted Aki as her sister and began to talk to her about many topics. Andrew just watched them from the side with a smile on his face.

Although it was more delayed than they thought, Oliver returned to the office after two hours, but this time he was accompanied by 10 people, including Marie.

They all looked young about the same age as Aki, all of average height and dressed in tight black clothes with face masks. 4 men and 6 women could also be distinguished.

"So what did you decide?" Andrew asked with a smile as if he already knew the decision they had made.