In front of the antiheroes lay the medium sized- however by medium sized, it is only by the standards of the Empire- port town of Githard.
In reality, it was extremely large and bustling. The town spread out for miles in either direction, and the four could just barely see the ocean in the horizon from the entrance.
Wide stone walkways, large enough for carriages to ride on either side and still with room for pedestrians to traverse alongside them in groves, painted the landscape in a rough grid with a few tilts and kinks here and there, in between which most buildings were made of wooden structures.
Soldiers in bronze armor and spartan helmets walked from place to place in groups of anywhere from 5 to 50 men, and civilians wearing long white tunics seemed to be hard at work either traveling from one place to another or working in their shops which were located within the gridlines.
Fishing huts, restaurants, lumberyards, ship building areas, tailors, and general stores were a common occurrence if one were to simply take a walk down any random street. As a port town, the primary purpose of this city was of course the water trade, and everything and anything that had to do with it.
Tailors mainly manufactured the sails of ships as well as ropes and other cloth products used in naval operation. The lumber yards provided the timber for the ship builders, and the military were stationed here to prepare for the coming invasion.
The people didn't seem necessarily happy nor oppressed- simply that they were busy in their work. It was an everyday scene in the city.
There were of course, a few mercenaries here and there- but it seemed that not many had arrived yet. After all, Trevor had enabled a form of fast travel using his light speed, which allowed the four to travel faster.
First he had fast traveled them back to the town of Erthos using his fast travel skill. As part of his [Speed of light] skill, Trevor had discovered that he was not only able to accelerate himself to the speed of light, but anyone who he dictated to use the skill on around him.
Essentially, the way it worked was that he transformed his own physical body into EM rays, which he then would control their respective vector magnitudes and directions as a function of time. He could input the data into a computerized system for a predetermined travel, or control it manually.
Not only this, but he was able to manipulate the speed to slower than light by creating an oscillation which prevented the rays of light from moving forward at the speed of light, so they could essentially travel at whatever speed was necessary.
His intelligence and perception was so high that he was able to alter the vector direction every nanosecond, making it so that he was able to alter the direction his EM wave body was traveling in 1 billion times per second.
He was also able to choose to revert this wavelike body back to its material form at any one of these nanoseconds, as well as his comrades or any others around him.
Furthermore, since they were made of EM waves, they were able to travel through transparent materials such as glass or water just as light could, but with a slightly different speed due to refraction.
However, this type of travel was only useful in the situation where they wanted to get somewhere quickly.
"It would be a waste to speed by and not take any opportunity to obtain information about the terrain along the way, no?", Trevor suggested.
Of course, Trevor's perception was so high that he was able to memorize and store the entire landscape within his database as a detailed surface, just by passing by the area while traveling at the speed of light.
In reality, he just wanted to enjoy the scenery.
It was not every day that they were able to witness human society as they could in their previous lives, and there was a certain sense of adventure which would be lost if they simply used their abilities to the maximum.
Just as Samantha kept her mind control to a minimum, Trevor decided to keep his speed of light travel to a minimum unless there was an emergency or a situation that warranted it.
The four walked through the town, and Samantha immediately started wishing she could turn off people's thoughts.
'I have to get these blueprints to the shipyard master ASAP!!!'
'I think I might have just shit myself... I better just waddle home... everyone looks too busy to be paying attention, so maybe if I am careful nobody will notice anything....'
'As soon as I get back from this shopping trip I am going to relax with in a nice hotel with a new woman as a new man... my wife will never know the better while I am here in this town on merchant business during this booming campaign!'
'I'm so hungry... I wonder if I should just try to grab one of the fruits that vendor is selling over there and make a run for it...'
'Hey... that woman over there is looking real fine today... her husband isn't with her... perhaps I should show her that it's dangerous to be walking alone in the streets like this...'
'They called the Legion Commander of the first Legion himself for this endeavor... this must be the beginning of something big... maybe it's time to rid this world of those vile monsters once and for all...'
Filthy humans. Driven by selfishness, lust, greed, and envy. Ever since obtaining the ability to read minds, Samantha was beginning to hate humans... and perhaps even like monsters... more and more.
The monsters in the dictatorship at least understood that she was in a different dimension than they were. These arrogant humans would never understand something like that.
"Is something wrong... Sarah? You look a little disgusted.", Trevor asked, clearly concerned for her.
"No... just that we are surrounded by so many of these lesser beings."
"Ah. Indeed it is a bit distasteful... especially in your position. Please bear with it for now however, as our role here is exceptionally important. I am eagerly waiting for the Determined to report back on the status of the fishmen village."
The four made their way through the crowds, and Samantha did her best to keep a charming smile on her face as she always had done before arriving in this world. She was always disgusted with others back then, but now her disgust was only magnified by being able to read others minds, and by seeing their true colors... on top of the fact that she now existed as a demon, which was... only slightly influencing her personality, as there was not much to change in the first place.
Interestingly, this shift in her view of other people managed to increase her view of her three comrades. It was partially because she couldn't hear the corruption going on in their minds... but it was something beyond that.
She, through the observation of her comrades, had come to realize exactly why they thought the way they did.
Garett once told stories about how his friends in college were always using him as the guinea pig. Whenever an assignment was to be done where nobody knew what to do, Garett was always the one to be right on it.
As a result, he had nobody to fall back on when trying to see if what he did was correct or not, and he ended up gaining a confidence in his own judgement more than others, however others simply relied on him whenever they didn't know how to do something.
Even if Garett didn't know himself, and had merely made an educated guess or made some assumptions to figure things out, they took his word for law and then if they got it wrong they would blame him.
They would use him to do all the hard work, and take all the credit for it. They would cheat off him, and he would turn a blind eye because he would catch more attention if he called them out on it.
That was the way things were.
It wasn't exactly a tragic past, but she could understand well why he hated the people who were lazy and always getting others to do everything for them while sweeping up the credit.
Was Garett jealous of others? Perhaps. But to Samantha, it seemed like a righteous jealousy.
Trevor had a lot of secrets about his past that he hadn't told anyone, but she couldn't help but respect his excessive pessimistic views.
He planned for each and every scenario, and tried to get as much out of an opportunity while trying to minimize risk in every aspect.
After hearing his ranting to himself throughout the walk, she was certain that he took many more things into account when concocting his master plans than she would ever try to understand, and she loved that about him.
She wanted to know more about Trevor and how he became this way, but she could tell by his excessive thoroughness and decisive actions that it wasn't something as simple as 'That's just the type of person he is'.
She couldn't find herself to just ask so openly. This wasn't the time nor place. Perhaps when they were back in the dictatorship alone she would ask him to talk about it, when things settled down.
But the person who Samantha had become closest to due to her new ability and experience in reading the minds of others, despite all odds, was Ashley.
Samantha and Ashley were nothing more than two sides of the same coin.
They were the same, and yet from an external perspective they seemed and acted so different.
Why?
The only difference between Ashley and Samantha was the way they reacted to being rejected socially.
Samantha took the stage and tried to show the people she hated that they were wrong.
She tried to make it so that the three sluts had no choice but to sit back and growl while she swooped up everything they had ever gained by spreading rumors about her, and more.
Yet, Samantha did it out of hatred, desire for revenge, and fear of being held in spite of the populace.
Ashley was exactly the same. The only difference was that she was a shy and antisocial girl who was unable to do what Samantha did. Instead, she crawled up into a ball and stuck to herself, not caring what others thought about her. No, it was exactly because she was scared about what people thought about her that she did so. However, now... she seemed different then before. Just like Samantha, she now viewed others as nothing more than inferior beings.
They both hated people for their envious hearts and irrational actions.
They both wanted to see the people who laughed at them begging for help at their feet.
And they both had a disdain for the scummy humans who walked both this planet and the last one.
The four continued walking through the village. As they walked, they passed by many galleons- too many to count as a matter of fact. The naval strength of the Empire was certainly no joke, and about 50% of it was concentrated here in Githard. About 15% was concentrated at the town near the wall, and the rest was in another western port city for use against a possible war with the kingdom- not that that was likely, however it was never acceptable to be unprepared, and so the Emperor always kept at least a single legion stationed at each of the countries boarders.
The first legion was going on a campaign in the monster realm, and the third legion was stationed at the wall. The second legion was stationed in the western capital and near the border with the Ruthobold kingdom, while the fourth legion was stationed south of the capital near the border of the Asarith Sultinate. Finally, the fifth legion was stationed at the far Southwestern border with the Alliance.
The galleons were impressively made. Not only was the woodwork top notch, but the craftsmanship and design impressed even Garett- despite the fact that his craftsman skills far surpassed any mortal ability.
The four finally reached a large tacky hut that looked more like a Western saloon than it did a Roman tavern. It had the symbol of the mercenary guild on the sign, and the antiheroes approached the building.
"It seems that we've arrived. Ally, are you ok to go in? I know you don't like being around people too often... especially if we have to mingle with them without the pretense of being dictators...", Trevor asked.
"I'll... I'll be fine as long as you all do the talking. I don't want to have to deal with anyone if I can't terrorize them..."
Trevor nodded.
"There's nothing wrong with that. Just stay behind me.", Garett offered, while putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
Ashley smiled lightly and crookedly. Garett thought it was adorable how she couldn't even properly smile unless she was torturing someone.
The four entered the saloon doors with a bang, and Trevor took the lead with a businessman gleam in his eyes. Samantha and the others had seen this look far too many times before to understand that he was about to put on a show.
There were a number of mercenaries dressed in foreign and localized armor, holding different staffs, tools, trinkets, and weapons all around the room sitting at tables. Many were gossiping and drinking to pass the time before the campaign.
"Everyone! Your attention please! The punishers have arrived.", Trevor stated in a way that could only be described as a salesman advertising a product.
He made a fancy maneuver before taking an elegant bow and then waving his hand over to introduce his comrades.
"As many of you from Erthos may have witnessed, we of the punishers mercenary group made our debut as mercenaries by defeating the jester in his devious games and preventing him from performing his tricks on yet another group of unknowing rookies... that's right! We are not your average rookies, oh no. We- who have been acknowledged by Legion Commander Tirius himself as worthy of starting out as a corporal rank equivalent- do not plan on idly sitting by as a mere sideshow in this campaign. Indeed not!"
Trevor at this point pushed his glasses forward with his hand. In this land, glasses were not something which existed, however most people thought it was some sort of elven magical tool, perhaps to see spells being cast or something along those lines. As always, the four were using illusion magic to project themselves as elves to those around them.
"But do not listen to my words, for words are nothing more than cheap lies that could lead any man to believe that which is not the case. Please watch our actions from here on out, and determine for yourselves whether we are truly as I say we are. Let me say one more thing though, which you all may decide for yourselves whether this is true or not...."
Trevor held his hand forward and grinned arrogantly, and slowly grasped the air within his palm as if he was grabbing hold of possibility itself.
"We are here to change the world."
Many were captivated by Trevor's marvelous acting, and Samantha knew better than anyone that his performance was successful.
Why would Trevor say something like this though?
To attract attention? To gain merit for their mercenary group?
Who knows. It was certainly effective for most... aside from a select few.
'Whoa... who are these people? The punishers? I've never heard of them before, but they have one hell of a leader...'
'I saw them defeat the jester back in Erthos... it was amazing.'
'That elf was so cool... I wish I could be more like him...'
'Look at his followers as well! They all look so strong and the women are so beautiful!'
'Ng... young kid thinks he can come in here and rule the place saying what he wants... I should put him in his place... corporal ain't nothing to be proud of... he'll soon learn the harshness of the life of a mercenary.'
'That jester was nothing more than a clown who took advantage of idiots... defeating him isn't anything if you know his trick and are able to get around it by offering a non-marked deck...'
While most of the younger and less experienced adventurers seemed captivated and filled with hope, most of the more experienced ones either seemed unimpressed or filled with jealousy.
There were a couple who seemed to be completely unfazed, but only a few.
'Certainly, Trevor must have already predicted this outcome?', Samantha thought.
The four signed in to the front desk, and paid the fee of three silvers for a single room. It was slightly more expensive than in Erthos, however that was expected of a larger town. They also received a document which assigned them a ship number and a room on the ship for when the campaign was to begin.
The young man tending the front stand seemed a little too captivated by Trevor's speech.
'Whoa... I can't believe I'm checking in such an esteemed person...'
It kinda creeped Samantha out. His awe for Trevor was something that was a mere quick change of heart, like a temporary drive from a hormone, rather than a legitimate sense of awe that the people of the dictatorship showed for her.
The four took the key to their room before heading up to the second floor to check out the room.
After taking a look around, Trevor found it to be acceptable. As before, he had arranged for 2 mattresses to be delivered, which arrived shortly. After making sure everything was in order, Trevor sat down on one of the mattresses and invited the other three to relax and listen.
"The day is almost over, but... Sarah, I am sure you know better than anyone what the reaction of the people down in the hall was."
Samantha nodded.
"The veterans were unimpressed, no?"
"That's right."
"Gary, I am sure you used analysis on everyone in the room downstairs. Any anomalies?"
"Nobody who would be able to move a millimeter under the pressure of Ashley's magical aura. The strongest guy down there would be able to move a micrometer at best."
"I see. While that is still somewhat impressive, it is nowhere near that monster you noticed in the last guild. An entire millimeter... it scares me to even think about meeting him if we were still regular humans..."
"How ironic of you to say that when we are monsters beyond imagination... heh heh...", Ashley croaked.
"So, let's hear it Mr. Mastermind. What's your plan this time around?"
"Well, to begin- we don't have any information regarding the fishmen village, so I have come up with a number of responses based on what information we receive from the Determined, however they all start the same way due to our current knowledge on the Empire. As we have stated before, allowing them to gain a foothold in the monster realm without at least showing them that we are to not be messed with would put us in danger of being attacked... no, even if we were to show them our power, perhaps some idiots would still attack. Not that we wouldn't be able to deal with such attacks, but I would like to prevent them.... for now. At least until we have more information on the enemy."
Trevor had his hand stroking his chin as he thought.
"Even so, here is the deal. I would like to establish ourselves right now as a promising group of mercenaries who are highly skilled. It would be easiest to draw out anyone who is against a change in the status quo early on to avoid any deviations in this matter."
"I see... so you were trying to draw out those who might be enemies immediately so that we can beat them to a pulp now, not allowing them to tinker with anything later on? Heh heh... I am all for that plan...", Ashley crackled.
"Not only that, but I am also curious to see if there are any people among the mercenaries who are worth sparing, or even inviting to our realm... however this is an unlikely matter to bear fruit. Even in the case that there is a group of seemingly decent people, when they are faced with the terrible truth of our identities it would be more than likely that they would run crying or retaliate in fear. It would require significant molding of peoples personalities and sense of justice for them to accept us- monsters and dictators, slave-masters and absolute rulers as someone they can simply accept and come to terms with."
"Indeed.", Garett responded.
"But that is exactly why we have done things as we have, no? If there exists anyone out there who is understanding enough to accept us, then they truly would be worth sparing.... if we leave psycho's out of the picture like that woman....", Samantha added.
"Absolutely. As a matter of fact, it was the very fact that she was insane that allowed her to accept us as we are. Laughable, isn't it? Only the insane can understand the truth behind our nature. Now then... there are quite a few more things about my plan that I will explain later depending on what developments occur, however I think it's about time we head down for a walk to see if anyone meets up with us... we have plenty of time before the campaign begins, and so there is no need to rush. Let us crush the will of our enemies, and stir up the hearts of our allies."