“Ah, apologies. I did not realize.” I nodded sagely. “I’ve come from a different world myself, so I do empathize.”

It was a little bit exhausting to be in Butler-mode all the time, and Ellem didn't seem to fall under the Employer entity umbrella. Something told me that it might be best to be a little bit more casual with her, maybe try a different tone.

Ellem just grunted at the revelation. “It does not matter. You are still an Excelsian.”

Ellem’s voice was normally gravelly, with a gruffness and shortness to it. However, the undercurrent of anger when she actually said the word “Excelsian” sounded like the tremor before an earthquake. Quickly, I tried to mollify her.

“Having been here only a few hours, I wasn’t aware there was another option. They didn’t exactly give me a travel booklet and a Pocket Guide to Excelsia.”

“Yes, perhaps they should have given you an orientation session. Welcome to Excelsia, please do not kill your Summoner. Watch out for men in silk clothes. The washroom is on your right.”

I could make out a small smile on Ellem’s face. Not necessarily completely at ease, but she did at least seem to trust me more now that she knew I was a Summon like her. Moreover, given that she hadn’t yet stabbed me or anything, and given that the Bandits hadn’t seemed to wish bodily harm on me, I wasn’t particularly feeling like I was in trouble. I couldn’t take on five people at once, but with As You Command, taking on just Ellem would hopefully be relatively easy…if it came to that.

Still, I didn’t want to fight her. I wanted to see if words would get us someplace a little bit more palatable.

“Speaking of-”

“If you wish to use the bathroom, you shall need to wait. Balthazar has the next watch.”

“Ah, no, not quite. I wanted to know about Baldric, the man in silk clothing? Is he a Summon too?”

“All of us are. He was first.”

“First?”

“The oldest Summon between the five of us. He has been on Excelsia almost 4 months now.”

“And the others?”

“…Less time than that.” Her reply was a little bit more terse. Given that I was dancing on the edge of knife by trying to get a stray Summon to trust me, maybe I needed to push a little bit less.

“Apologies. Just simple curiosity. I haven’t met any other Summons since coming to Excelsia.” Well, except the Chosen One, but now didn’t feel like the right time to mention that.

“I have been here two weeks.” She relented. “Balthazar arrived yesterday. The others, I do not know. Baldric is the talkative one.”

Ellem didn’t really want to talk a lot more after that, but she also didn’t seem opposed to having me talk. So I did, hoping that Conversations After Midnight would help her warm up to me.

“Like I said, I’ve been here a few hours. My Employer is inside, and you’re practically the first people I’ve met other than him.”

“…You keep saying that. Employer. Tell me, does he pay you?”

“Well, we haven’t quite had the opportunity to negotiate a contract.”

“You will not. He will not pay you. He does not need to.”

He doesn’t need to? Listen, if I’m getting forced into being a Butler and adopting these odd class-abilities, I’m getting paid. I don’t know what their currency is exactly, but I want it!

“I don’t think Aastor is like that…”

“They all are. You have not been here long, but Summons have no legal authority. No status, no documentation, and precious few rights. We are…tools. Would you pay a hammer that complains about striking a nail? It is more sensible to purchase a new one.” She spit into the dirt, to show what she thought of the idea.

An image of exactly what Excelsia really was started to form in my mind. And it was not…pretty.

“May I ask you some…questions?”

“Perhaps I shall even respond.” Another wry smile. Well, at least she had a sense of humor about it.

“Do you have a Spark?”

Ellem said nothing, so I assumed this wasn’t one of the questions she would respond to. Maybe it was even a faux-pas to ask people if they had a Spark? I continued to the next one on the neverending list.

“Are you not a Craftsperson? Some kind of trade, I assume? Why do…this?”

“Hah! Instead of what? Going to a village and opening a shop? Perhaps making and selling goods?” She laughed out loud, but it was a hopeless laugh. The kind that had no humor in it, only sadness.

“Well…yes?”

“With what paperwork? With what money? With my looks, they shall know I am a Summon before I say a word, and immediately take me to prison. Or to a Summoning Facility.” She sighed, and continued. "This, as you called it, is banditry. And since it is already illegal, it requires no oversight and no bureaucracy."

There were a lot of implications buried deep in the answer that Ellem gave. First and perhaps most importantly, all commerce was tightly controlled, and Summons were likely discouraged, if not prohibited, from taking part. Second, being an escaped Summon, or a Summon without a native Excelsian, was…illegal.

“…Come with us.”

Goddamit. I didn’t mean it! The System made me say it!

.....

Okay, I meant it. I was jaded, and I didn’t really want to try and fight the powers that had control over Excelsia. In fact, I would much rather have not bothered with the bandit troupe at all. Some past iteration of me would likely have lunged at Ellem, knocked her out, slit all their throats, and left.

But to be honest, I was jaded of the worlds, and not the people. The Chosen One business was appalling by itself, but the legitimized slave trade of Summons was far more disgusting in every single way. No legal rights, no chance for citizenship…My opinion of Excelsia had been somewhere on the lower end already. It had plunged to rock bottom, and seemed destined to sink even lower.

“What?” She looked like she genuinely hadn’t heard me. So I repeated.

“Come with us.”

“No, I heard you. I just assumed that perhaps you would think better about saying it the second time.”

“Well, Aastor seems nice. He’s...not a bad guy, really.”

“And what is your evidence for this? You have met him maybe seven hours ago? Maybe you think that a ride in a magical carriage makes him one of the good ones?”

Something flickered near the corner of my eye, and almost instinctively, I glanced at it, causing the notification to pop up.

—————————————————————————————————————

WARNING: Triggered by Conversations After Midnight

Your instincts warn you that this is an important moment. Whatever you say next will have an impact later.

—————————————————————————————————————

Oh, thanks System! Because of course I couldn’t tell that this was a critical juncture in the way this conversation was going. Nosiree, daft ol’ Blanc has no social acumen at all, right?

I willed the notification away, and thought for a few minutes. Why should Ellem trust Aastor? For that matter, why did I? Besides the fact that the Butler class seemed to inherently trust an Employer entity to some degree?

(I was not a pet. I was not a pet. I was not a pet!)

Well, logically, there were a few reasons. Aastor hadn’t been mean yet, or unkind. He hadn’t fallen into the archetypal wizards I’d seen before, who were generally hungry for knowledge, power or both, and ended up betraying everyone close to them before blowing themselves up spectacularly. Gut instinct, even outside the System, had told me I could trust him.

But it was unlikely that those reasons would convince Ellem. She’d just think I was naive, or delusional. Probably both.

But Aastor was also a disgraced Magus. He’d admitted his failings, talked about how sending Summons to their death was weighing on his conscience. He’d tried to talk the Chosen One out of going on a harebrained quest that he wasn’t even a part of, and had given her instructions on how to contact him.

If the entire nation of Excelsia was broken, wasn’t someone labeled a “Disgraced Magus Emeritus” a good ally to have? Perhaps Aastor was the only sane Excelsian….despite the mountain of evidence that pointed to him not being all there.

“How much longer do we have? This might take a while.”

"You have been here less than a day. How long could it take?"

***

By the time Ellem’s shift ended, I think I had her more or less convinced. Even if she was tall, Ellem wasn’t a fighter, and I don’t think a life of banditry was quite her style. Since she’d only been around Excelsia two weeks, she was still willing to take risks as none had backfired on her.

“I shall... consider your words. Perhaps convincing the others will be harder though, and I shall not leave without them.”

“Well, I do have all night!” And strangely, I actually did feel like I could stay up all night long. Maybe it was dimension-lag, or maybe being a Butler had some hidden perks, like the ability to stay up without suffering any noticeable effects.

I wasn’t sure who had second watch, but anyone except Baldric would do. Well…Chanak seemed pretty surly though, so maybe Ilyana or Balthazar would be better.

Nope, no such luck. Lean, muscular Chanak skulked up to me, and sat down, leaning against the carriage and wrapping his blanket against himself. He looked significantly more disagreeable than Ellem had, but I couldn’t really blame him. Second watch did suck.

A gentle twitching in my breast pocket reminded me of something else, however. Kel!

Kel had apparently woken up, and had managed to wiggle out of the pocket. She was poking her nose towards me, and had a look in her eyes that could best be described as quizzical.

Wait no, hungry.

Wait….Nope. She’s confused about the lack of food. Bonded pets seemed to be a bit more complex than the ordinary counterpart.

“Is that a Spark? Or a pet?” He didn’t mince words, at least.

“Why not both?”

“No reason. It’s hungry.”

I felt strangely offended on behalf of my pet.

“Well, her name is Kel, and I have no idea what to feed her.”

“Well….have you tried asking her?”