The sight of his teammates bowing so deeply caught Sokram off guard.
He’d expected their request, but not the reverence in their gestures.
Sokram swallowed hard, his fleeting surprise quickly masked.
He rushed forward, a hand reaching out, "Co on, straighten up. Warriors of Norwinter shouldn't bow so easily."
He heard the quiet shuffle of their boots on the stone floor as they straightened, their faces alight with an almost desperate hope.
Their eyes t his, and Sokram began explaining, raising a finger.
His face was stern, his tone firm, tinged with a patronizing undertone: "It won't be easy. You'll face extensive studying and reading. And frankly, you don't seem overly keen on acquiring knowledge. Furthermore, the contract and benefits I can offer will be slightly less than Amber's and the others."
“But you will help us with our cultivation and techniques? Because the guidance you offered us during our training exercises already helped us imnsely.”
Kan's eyes, burning with an almost feral eagerness and raw ambition, t his. He leaned forward, knuckles white where his hands clenched at his sides.
Seeing the determination in their eyes, Sokram nodded.
“Yes, but I won’t offer you to beco blood-bound to like them. I’ll offer you a temporary contract until the end of your mandatory service. Everything I teach stays secret. I’ll add the possibility of renewing your contracts if you don’t receive better offers. That’s the best I can do. Do you still want it?”
"Yes!" They chorused in unison, poised to bow again, but Sokram halted them with a firm hand.
"Stop bowing so easily, I’m not becoming your Master. I’ll be hiring you and teaching you what you need for the job.”
Sokram waved a hand, and as if piercing spaceti, four contracts materialized in his hand.
The scent of dusted mithril and diamond dust lingered as the blood-etched contracts shimred into existence, their runes glowing faintly as their finely etched script beca visible even from a distance.
“Though you four coming here to ask for it was expected, I thought it would take at least a few more missions. Take these ho, and ask your elders to see if there is any conflict with your oaths to your families. I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow at sunrise. I don’t want to be accused of poaching their most talented youth from them.”
They looked at him, stunned by his readiness.
Nora’s fingers trembled as she lifted the parchnt, its edges crisp with fresh ink, the tallic tang of blood reaching her nostrils.
'By the sll of the blood-ink, He’d prepared these a while ago.'
Still, knowing what kind of person he was, they all chuckled to themselves and thanked him as they stored the contracts.
“The girls and I are cultivating in the backyard. Do you want to stay and hang out?” Sokram offered out of obligation, but they all shook their heads no.
“It’s best if we take these contracts for our family to examine as soon as possible.” Nora's tone was eager, almost a little too much, just like the greedy grin covering her lips.
“Alright then. Be here at sunrise,” Sokram said, already ushering them toward the door.
Yet, inwardly, he was beaming as this was another step forward in his plans.
When Sokram returned, he didn’t say anything despite his two grandmothers glancing at him knowingly and went outside.
But upon arrival, he found the three girls cultivating as usual.
So he decided to focus on Sayuri for the rest of the day.
When night ca, right after Sayuri and the girls left, his mothers, sister, and grandmother returned from their hunts.
He was happy to see them well and unhard.
Then he noticed that Hilda’s and Astrid's cultivation was a Tier higher and congratulated them on it.
After chatting with them for a while, he returned to the backyard to resu his cultivation until the morning of the next day.
When sunrise ca, Sokram was happy to see his team there, all with their contracts signed and ready to learn.
But his two mothers and his grandmother, Brunhild, didn’t share his excitent.
Before Sokram could start his team’s training, they pulled him aside for a talk.
Hilda’s grip tightened on Sokram’s forearm, warm but tense.
Her brows pinched, lips thin, but her voice ca soft, dangerously so as they took him to the kitchen for a private chat.
“…We were fine with you ‘hiring’ Lucy, Savannah, and Amber. Lucy, because of her Devotion linking you two, Amber is family now, so that’s fine too. And Savannah is Moira’s relative. But now you have hired your whole team. Don’t you think you’re overexposing yourself?”
Hilda’s tone was packed with worry, but also reprimanding, which by her expression would beco obvious even if one didn’t hear her voice.
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“Don’t worry, Mom.” Sokram’s confident grin flashed as his hand squeezed her shoulder, his silent promise of security.
“I know what I’m doing. Besides, I won’t teach my other teammates how to cultivate Chaos; I’ll only teach them Spirit Magic or Titan Force.”
Sokram said, thinking this would appease them, but Miralyn still frowned.
“What are you going to do if the Elder Council finds out that you have your own thod of cultivating Titan Force? What if your identity as an heir of Ellaria cos out?”
Miralyn couldn’t help but shudder at the thought.
But Sokram reassured her, “It won’t happen because of our family’s na.”
Brunhild raised an eyebrow when she heard that, as she knew where he was going with it. “Are you going to proclaim yourself to be the heir of Draggonia? The sole heir of Emperor Drokmin?”
“Why not? Why not say that we found his inheritance, or at least part of it, sothing that Great-Grandpa was hiding? Sothing only a person with both bloodlines of the Andronys and Dracnakrids could unlock. We have the ans to spread rumors in a way that our information will be protected.”
Sokram scratched his head tiredly but then decided to point out the obvious, “Damn, the Matron of the Purple Pavilion has been visiting our house daily for over a month, and no one noticed. Isn’t that strange?”
He glanced at Miralyn, “Don’t you find it strange that, after I received that dallion, the empress never saw those compromising reports from your guards?”
His gaze shifted between Hannah and Hilda, “Don’t you think it’s strange that even after she nad her heir, there weren’t any moves from Dracony? And all those people who were clearly spying on us suddenly disappeared?”
While their eyes widened at the realization, Sokram pointed at Sayuri, who stepped out of the shadows with her hand raised in mock surrender, pretending to look caught.
Sokram continued, “Don’t underestimate the competence of the Pavilion and how seriously they take Oaths of Friendship.”
But then Miralyn’s eyes widened, “She knows about…”
“Yes, princess, the Pavilion received news of your arrival as soon as you stepped out of that continental teleportation tower years ago,” Sayuri admitted.
“Though I won’t pry, I don’t understand why you would be playing mom to Sokram unless he is your son, the son the empire believes you lost during the ti your late fiancé kidnapped you. This would also explain why Duke Garuth’s mother treats Sokram as a grandson.”
“But what makes confused is why the Dracnakrid? Why Eversnow? Unless you’re trying to hide sothing under their nose…” Sayuri only stopped talking when Hannah raised a hand.
“You, see? The Pavilion knew, always knew that our reason for converging here was him. You didn’t think I threw caution to the wind, right?”
Hannah’s gaze switched between Hilda, Miralyn, and Brunhild, clearly disappointed because she was paying close attention to Sokram’s interactions and every move, and so was Margiory.
But they were so focused on protecting him that they didn’t realize that he was protecting all of them.
“You two are mothers, I understand how you feel. Believe , I do. But you overprotecting him is not doing him any good.”
Hannah’s voice was calm, yet Miralyn and Hilda could sense the scolding coming, “Soone as talented as him would’ve been celebrated and crowded, in any empire. And I know we lack the power to guarantee his safety if all of our secrets co out before we are strong enough.”
Hannah looked at Sokram with a complicated gaze, “But while all you do is worry, he acted. A move so perfectly hidden that not even I could see through it. And closed all the holes in our plans.”
Then the glint in her gaze started to match the pride in her smile, “And now he is starting to build his alliances and forces. With a gift for finding talented people, I’m starting to think that he no longer has a simple dragon sight, but has reached the level of Agorath’s King Sight.”
“Not that far yet, Nana.” Sokram chuckled, then his gaze shifted to his two mothers, rejoicing in the contrast between tilines. Seeing them support each other instead of hating each other.
Yet his following request carried a weight that two words made it too brief for its importance, “Trust .”
Hilda ignored it for the mont, shifting the subject as she pointed at Sayuri, “When did she find out?”
“After I saved her life, she felt it in my energy. But I knew she would, and I still chose to save her. After that, I only had to show her my title.”
He pointed at Hannah, “Nana, saw through it too, and the others didn’t sense the Chaos energy in that day because she blocked it sohow.”
Miralyn asked then, “Did she make an oath?”
Sayuri frowned, but before she could speak, Sokram pulled out the dallion.
“What do you think this is? Do you think they would be protecting us if this dallion were just symbolic? Why do you think I went so far to save her? She is beautiful, yes, but our survival depends on their protection too, at least until Nana Brun or Nana Marg reaches the Perfect or Superior Existence level.”
Sayuri then leaned close to Sokram’s ear and said, “You shouldn’t play with the heart of an old fox like , Lord Sokram.”
Her breath was warm against his ear, her silken tail flicking lazily behind her, a playful contrast to the weight in her words.
Hilda frowned as she watched them stand so close, and Sokram frowned at being called Lord, “Please don’t call that.”
Hilda sighed and walked up to Sayuri.
Her gaze didn’t waver.
Her tone sharpened into a blade. “Thank you for your friendship, but please…”
But even before she could finish, Sayuri raised her hand for her to stop.
Sayuri smiled sincerely, “More than that dallion, I owe him my life and my continuity on the Path of Evolution. Keeping and protecting a few secrets is nothing much.”
But then a mischievous smile ford on her pink lips, “Besides, he promised to teach once he discovers a safe way for and my disciples to cultivate Chaos, as long as I join his harem in the future. So, I guess we are among family here.”
Hearing that, Brunhild shook her head, defeated, “A dragon to the end… Sigh…”
Sokram shrugged, and with a teasing grin, “Heh, it’s not like I’ll limit myself... to just her and her daughters.”
His gaze slid over each of them, slow, deliberate, daring them to challenge it.
All they did was stare back at him wide-eyed.
But not minding their reactions, he asked, “So, can I go? I have a lot to do today.”
“Go, darling,” Hannah ran her hand through his hair, “But until you’re fifteen, I don’t want to hear of more girls joining your future harem, you hear ?”
Sokram grinned, dispelling the sound barrier he raised when their conversation started, “I can only promise you, your spots are untouchable.”
His gaze t each of their gazes as he shrugged, “I like being surrounded by beauties, it’s in my nature.”
And dashed away before they could say anything else.
“Sigh… I should have accepted when Margiory offered a bigger house.” Brunhild pinched the bridge of her nose, shoulders sagging. Her voice, usually so steady, carried a rare tremor of defeat.
Yet, despite her lant, none of them dared challenge Sokram's declaration.
They knew that tomorrow would co, but they weren’t ready to face it yet.
As Sokram sat in his backyard, teaching his team, his family watched, their gazes complicated and unreadable.
Even for them, Sokram remained an enigma; they couldn't fathom the true extent of his foresight.
The training session continued until the afternoon.
After Sokram’s explanations, Kan, Nora, and Lara decided to learn Titan Force.
Kiana, knowing Magi could empower her shield better, chose Spirit Magic.
When they asked what Amber, Savannah, and Lucy were learning, Sokram only said, “It’s the sa secret technique my family and I are using; more than that, I won't reveal.”
They all accepted that answer promptly and without further questions. After all, Sokram was already giving them a lot, and they couldn’t be overly greedy.
A week later, Sokram and Savannah were called to the City Lord’s office to receive the bounty for the porter and the thieves’ leader, adding another 20 gold for each team mber.
When Sokram asked why the reward was so high, Licarus didn't reveal much, only informing them that the thief had revealed sensitive information that involved the security of the kingdom.
As for the team, the generous compensation only increased their satisfaction with Sokram’s leadership as they continued to train hard under his guidance.
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