After the insurgents returned back to the village Ethan informed them to take care of Samuel and make sure he feels well when he wakes up.
On the other hand Ethan took the Assassin they brought back with them to the same room he interrogated the previous Assassin.
Ethan had planned to make it the interrogation room. He threw the Assassin on the floor and cut his ropes freeing him.
Naturally the Assassin tried to attack Ethan and escape but Before he could make his move Ethan kicked him in the gut making him fall on the floor.
Ethan continued beating up the Assassin for the next 5 minutes and then sat down on a chair. The Assassin was bewildered. He was given training to never give any information during interrogation. But he had never seen anyone beat him up without asking any questions.
He thought Ethan was a mad man who came here only to blow some steam by beating him up. But the reality was far from that.
Ethan had his men bring a small wooden tub with water to the room. He placed the beaten up Assassin on the water. The chill from the water made his wounds hurt more than they previously did. It was winter so the water was much cooler adding a burning sensation to the assassin.
Before the Assassin could get used to the water Ethan pulled him out and started beating him again. He continued the process of beating and using cold water for the next 13 hours.
When the Assassin was completely drained of mental energy Ethan asked him "do you want to live?"
By this point the Assassin would do anything to stop getting the torture. So he nodded.
Ethan said" Then you have to join my army and become my spy."
The Assassin was shocked but accepted Ethan's condition.
Ethan called Kurt to the room.
" Take him to his city with a few men and bring his family along with him back to the village. If he tries to do anything on the way you have my permission to kill him."
Kurt nodded Ethan and took the Assassin away.
Ethan planned to use the Assassin as his spy. Depending on how talk with Samuel he would decide whether to place him in the royal city or in Hatio.
A day later Samuel woke up. He was not able to understand where he was. As he sat up he saw that he was not restrained by any ropes. He immediately ran out of the house. He saw many bulky men moving around.
He saw a good stall on his right. He was very hungry but his priority was to run away from this place. He looked around and thought of moving towards the fields as they seemed to be the way out.
Before he moved the man from the food stall came towards him and offered him a bun. Samuel looked at him with suspicion.
The man said" Our leader asked you to meet with him after you woke up. Have this you didn't eat anything yesterday."
Samuel was thinking to run away but he knew that all the people here would catch him if he tries to run away. So he took the bun and followed the man.
As they reached a room the man knocked on the door and a man opened who looked to be around 25-30 years old. He looked at Samuel and let him enter the room.
Samuel cautiously entered the room. He had heard the assassins taking about selling him to the brothels. Samuel was scared of what was going to happen after meeting the leader.
As he looked into the room he saw an 8 year old boy sitting on the other side of the table. Samuel thought the 8 year old boy must have also been kidnapped like him and brought here.
As Samuel entered the room York closed the room and motioned Samuel to move towards the table.
Samuel sat down thinking York was the leader he was meeting here. But as he sat down the boy sitting opposite him said
" Hello Prince we finally meet I am Ethan rolfe the leader of the insurgents"
"w...what how do you know my identity?" Samuel was shocked that Ethan was the leader but he had more pressing things to talk about so he didn't say anything about that.
Ethan relayed to him what happened with the assassins and how he rescued him.
"Why did you save me?" Samuel didn't understand why a rogue group would go through all the trouble to save him.
"That's not what's important what's important now is what do you plan to do now that you are free" Ethan didn't want to say the reason he saved Samuel was because he was a small boy. It would not make sense to anyone who heard it.
Samuel was shocked to hear Ethan say he was free he already expected Ethan to get a good sum of money from his father for saving him. Samuel stayed silent for some time before replying
" I need to take revenge on my step mother. I need your help with that"
Ethan was surprised to hear that. He said
"Why should I help you?"
"Because I am the prince of the Kingdom"
"Why would I care"
Samuel saw him as an 8 year old boy like himself so he thought of taking his support as the prince of the Kingdom. Helping the prince would be very helpful for anyone especially since his brother would become the king in the future. But hearing Ethan's response Samuel didn't know what to say.
"I could pay you*
"I don't need money"
Samuel didn't know how to make Ethan join him. He was in an unfamiliar place and had no one to help him. He could only ask for Ethan's help.
"What do you want?"
" I will help you defeat your step mother but In exchange I need you to give me a noble title."
In Maepis Kingdom the prince was allowed to give the baron title to people. But unlike the king the princes couldn't give the baron a land to rule over. In other sense the person who became noble this way was allowed to have an army of 8000 but was not given money to take care of them. More often than not the nobles would maintain a 1000 men army because they couldn't maintain the expenditure themselves.
"I accept"
Ethan smiled and said "then tell me about the target"