Reylor and his group walked back to their residence. Along with Khes, he had also snagged Flint. Flira and Gelt were decent enough, but Flint still had better karma. Besides, Flint had never really fit in with the other two, so it was only natural for Reylor to grab this acquaintance.

Figuring it would be best to get Khes introduced to everyone, Reylor had everyone gather around the table. “The rest of us know each other, but I figured we should properly introduce ourselves to you, and give you the same opportunity. So, I’ll start with my self—I’m Reylor, I’m from the Otium region, and I’m a void mage, but I’m not exactly normal, as I’m sure you’ll realize if you haven’t already.” He then nodded to Elany, who was stifling a giggle.

“Hello, I’m Elany, and I’m a Holy mage! So if you get cut up or something, I can heal you!” She said with bright eyes and a cheery smile.

Khes wore a slightly confused expression. Elany wouldn’t give hardly any guy the time of day, yet here Reylor was making her want to burst out laughing, and now she was actually talking to him—Khes! What a weird girl… Also, did she just say she was a holy mage? What the heck! Where did that come from?

Aileen just reiterated that they were knew each other and passed to Flint.

“Hello, I’m Flint, and I’m an earth mage. I joined Reylor, Elany, and Aileen on the way over to Votran, so that’s why I know them. In fact, I actually met Aileen and Er—wait, what happened to Eric? Flint glanced at Reylor. “He’ll be back.” Reylor said simply. Flint understandingly did not push the conversation and returned to his discourse, oblivious to Aileen’s somewhat darkened expression.

“So, Khes, what don’t you tell our squad a bit about yourself?”

“Oh, ok. Yeah. My name is Khes. I’m… I’m also a bit different. I use dark magic. I-I usually don’t talk much… I can control puppets. Uh, nice to meet you all.”

“Is he shy, or just unsure of himself? Oh, well. Doesn’t really matter to me,” Reylor thought to himself. “Khes, would you mind if I shared how you can control your puppets?”

Khes scrunched his eyebrows a bit. Well, I suppose it’s fine if you want to take a guess. I dunno why you find it so interesting, though.

It was a lie, and Reylor knew it. Nevertheless, Khes seemed like a decent enough person, and having a necromancer would be very helpful for mass crowd control.

“Khes is a necromancer.” Khes’s sleepy-looking eyes shot open, and he crossed his arms defensively. Apparently he had encountered many unfortunate events from his necromantic activities and was prepared for the worst. Contrary to his expectations, however, the worst ended up being a starry eyed blond cutie standing up and nearly bursting his ears with a shout of “Woah, Khes! That’s so cool!” Seeing the exchange, Flint nearly doubled over from laughter, while Reylor let out a few chuckles of his own. Even Aileen had to smile.

Elany was just like sunshine. With just a single sentence, she had effectively ended every feeling of tension from the room and cheered up Aileen while she was at it.

“Khes, you’re fine. I guess I should have stated that we are all a bit abnormal. As long as you aren’t causing suffering with your necromancy, no one here will have an issue with it. In fact, it looks like one of us is quite excited about it.” Reylor tapped Elany, who was still staring at Khes. She quickly sat back down and looked at the ground in embarrassment, but she was evidently still happy.

“Now, let’s get down to business. We are not your average squadron. You can still back out, but there are a few things you will need to know, and they are very sensitive. I need you to swear not to undermine our cause, which in loose terms means fighting the shade, and fighting tyranny. That is all I can say before the oath.”

A magical circle appeared, but it was a bit different—the magic seemed to be an eerie black that gave off an odd feeling.

Seeing Khes’s odd expression Reylor briefly explained what the formation was made from, then explained the purpose of it to everyone there. It was a divine contract. Everyone would put their hand on the formation, swearing according to the input terms, and they would be bound by its terms for the time length specified (20 years in this case) with the punishment for violation of its terms being soul destruction. Only a Seldin or a deity could annul the oath.

This was strict, but necessary, in Reylor’s mind—especially since Khes was not bound to the karma system. Having turned into a lich, the karmic system classified him along with common animals.

Elany and Aileen immediately agreed to it, and after a bit of pondering, Khes and Flint agreed as well. The oath was completed.

“That being complete, I will inform you of a few things that will likely surprise all of you, save for Elany. That’s because Elany and I have known each other for quite some time. You know we came from Otium, but we haven’t told hardly anyone about where in Otium.”

Flint raised an eyebrow, while Khes stared intently. We’re from Splendor.

Nothing happened for a moment, but then it was like a bomb had gone off, as all three; Aileen, Flint, and Khes, opened their eyes wide like saucers.

“What?!” Flint practically bellowed out. “Are you messing with us?”

“No, he’s not,” Elany said softly. One glance at her darkened visage was enough to dispel any doubt. They were indeed from Splendor, and it wasn’t pretty.

“I hear the Crystal Witch and her rebel army was from there. If not, then what really happened?” Flint asked.

There is one part of the story which appears to be valid, which is that the person you call the Crystal Witch did indeed reside there, but I can assure you that the rest were by no means a rebel army. Splendor was a regular village, save for the frequent shade beast attacks. She was there to help the village, helping repel the beast attacks. Vilnor had a bone to pick with her, and so they sent an army to kill her. Sadly, the lives of the citizens were nothing to them in exchange for being able to kill her. So they fought with her and her friend, killing many citizens in the process. When she still managed to escape, they didn’t want to lose face, and so murdered the remaining villagers to cover their acts. As we were returning, they went after us, allowing the ‘Witch’s’ friend to escape. As far as I know, Elany and I were the only ones to escape, other than those two; and it is likely that the only reason we survived was because we made it to the Sylvan woods, and our pursuers were afraid to enter.

Flint took a deep breath. It was a lot to take in. Khes was silent. Aileen glanced at Elany with watery eyes. She then went over, sat on Elany’s lap, and hugged her. She whispered an “I’m sorry” as they embraced each other. It was sad, but it was also nice to see they both were good friends, not just acquaintances through Reylor.

Reylor spoke up again. “Now that this has been said, let’s talk about what the future will have in store for us. To certain officials of Vilnor, justice will be deal. That being said, it is more of a personal grudge for our lost people. I have no intention of involving the rest of you in it. What we will focus on is getting rid of the shade. While we are at Votran, our freedom will be restricted, so our first order of business will be to gather merit points. After we have enough, our squad, and therefore all in it, will be able to graduate.

“So, we should first start with our default battle formation. Elany is a non-combatant, so she will stick with Aileen, who can put up a shield whenever necessary. Being both a light mage and a holy mage, Elany will provide healing support and some buffs (spells which can improve someone’s offensive/defensive strength).

“Flint and I will be aggressors, typically working outside of the barrier. Khes, you will be outside with us if there are not many opponents. If there are a lot of enemies, you will stay inside the barrier with Elany and Aileen. That way you can focus on providing support through necromancy.

“There is one thing that must happen with each battle: Everyone leaves alive. If necessary, Flint will help with defense. In the worst case, we will link up, and I will use spatial energy to teleport us away. True teleportation takes a lot of a limited resource, though, so it will only be a last resort. Of course, I will use void magic instead if possible. Sometimes it may not be, though.”

Reylor leaned back in his seat. “That’s it for today. Make sure you sleep well, because tomorrow we’ll select a quest and set off.”

*** *** ***

“Patrolling for thieves? Come on! I was definitely looking for something more exciting,” Flint grumbled.

“I’m actually glad we got this mission. Those guys are really mean!” Elany replied.

Reylor chuckled before voicing his own opinion. “I’m looking forward to it. Remember what happened on our way to Votran, Flint?”

“Uh, huh. If not for flame girl, we would have been the toast.”

“Yep. So it’s probably more than just petty thievery. If my guess is right, the ones who reported the robberies were only let by so there would be some people who made it through, preventing Votran from getting suspicious. We are actually likely looking to take out murderers. I’ll bet this Class-C squad mission is probably far underrated.”

The mission they were given was to reduce the frequent robberies happening along the path between Votran and the Votran Outpost, so they were travelling along the same path as when most of their group had first come to Votran. It was quite nostalgic, and they all drifted off to their own thoughts quite quickly. Khes included, as he was not one to talk much anyhow.

“Hahaha! Well, well, aren’t you a fast one?”

“Shevli, block him please? I feel like having a duel. He’s fast, so I might actually get a bit of entertainment out of this.”

Reylor’s group froze in their tracks, glancing to see if everyone had heard the voice nearby.

“Sure, Glesten.”

“Bam!” A person slammed into a simple barrier.

Hehehe, did you seriously think you could run from us? Now, cough it up now if you want it to be painless. We know you have money. Or, we can play a game of cat and mouse. So, what’ll it be?”

“Help!” a man called out.

“Aileen, Flint, and Khes, you guys sort it out. I’ll cloak Elany, so no worries there Aileen.”

The three nodded before rushing off. Reylor and Elany followed a bit behind.

“Naughty, naughty! Calling for help was not one of the options.”

“Um, Gleston we have—“

“Bam! Kapshhh” The barrier shattered before she could say “we have company.”

“Oh? You guys want to play too?” Gleston said.

“Gleston, you moron, those guys are part of a Votran squadron!” Shevli was not stupid. Seeing three mages coming from Votran together, coupled with the focus displayed on their faces, there were no other less likely options. This was a full-fledged Votran squad, albeit with two or three missing. Even if the members were not all there, it was likely that the ones who were here were the strongest of the group. This was not a situation to take lightly with just the two of them. “Let’s get out of here!”

“Aww, Shev, I still want to play”

“Gleston. We are leaving.”

“Aww, fine, ok.”

Just as Khes began to swing his sword down on the man before him, the two seemed to flicker, and then disappeared, leaving behind only air to slash through.

“Man! We didn’t even get to fight!” Flint wailed.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get your chance, and It’ll be better than just this,” Reylor said, as he examined the mana that had not yet dissipated since the magic barrier had been shattered. He smiled. Magic sure was useful on Aretor.

He silently activated a spell.

“Void art: Mana trace”