The seven of them went into the forest on the western side of the road to circumvent the town of Wrand. It had taken them almost two weeks to reach this point and they were avoiding the town to keep a low profile. When they got to Dhalmer, which was a larger port town, they would be able to blend in with the crowds. Wrand was a small town, merely a stopping point for people heading to or from the capital, so they would have a greater chance of being noticed.
On the west side of Wrand, Evren stopped and was staring deeper into the forest. He glanced back at the others and then jogged in the direction he was looking. They soon came upon a small clearing next to a stream. There was a crowd of people around a tree there. One person was standing on top of a log with a rope around his neck, another was lying on the ground, tied up and beaten.
Evren looked over his shoulder and made a motion with his hand for everyone to stay where they were and approached the group. As he got closer, he was spotted and was questioned.
"Oi, who are you lot?" the one holding the slack end of the rope asked.
Evren flashed a pleasant smile and said, "I'm Chesterfield Cunningham of the Madelaya Cunninghams. We just arrived in the area and noticed you all and thought we'd stop by to see what's going on."
"We's the local mil'sha, an we's takin' care o' a couple o' traitors." He stated.
"I see that. Could I ask what they did?" Evren said with the same smile, while moving forward slowly.
"They was desertin'. Tryin' ta run away, they was. We caught 'em an now we's gonna strung 'em up!" He said with enthusiasm, the others of the group cheering with him.
The beat-up man on the ground couldn't say much from the broken jaw, but the one in the noose, with pleading eyes begged for help.
"Well then, traitors are simply terrible." Evren said. As he continued to move forward. "Have you questioned them yet?"
"Questionin? Ya we done a lot o' questionin." One of them laughed and held up a wooden club Evren assumed was used to beat the one on the ground with.
"The how would you know they are deserters?" Evren asked.
"Oi! I seen them when I was in St. Gloria!" the man nodded, "Them's summoners, and they ain't summonin' nothin."
Evren's eyebrow twitched at the word summoner but wasn't noticed by the mob. "Summoners, you say. Ah well they should be pretty valuable indeed. But they should be brought back to St. Gloria for punishment there." Evren said with a pleading look and hands held in a shrug.
The mob looked at each other and chatted among themselves. Evren continued, "I just happened to be traveling to St. Gloria. How about you leave them under my charge, and I'll see to it they get what they deserve?"
They continued to talk amongst themselves, and Evren tried to push the subject. "There might be a reward for them."
The man holding the rope finished tying it off and kicked the log out from under the man. "An 'ere ye are sayin' yer gonna take 'em from us. You's planning on gettin' that reward all on yerself." He said as he stepped towards Evren.
Evren looked at the hanging man and turned back to the lot saying, "Well yes, but I was going to pay you good men for your time, that way you would receive a reward just as I would."
The man nodded, "Or we could jus' hang 'em an take yer money."
Evren's posture collapsed and his face reflected how dumb he thought the man was. "Not this old trope." He said to himself.
The mob charged at Evren, and he walked through the group of people, hands flying and knocking everyone of them out before standing before the leader. Evren shrugged and said, "I gave you a chance." He stepped forward and punched the man in the stomach, the wind knocked out of his sails, making him collapse on the ground.
He looked up at the hanging man, who's eyes were more confused than scared. He calmly said, "You two are summoners for the Holy State Grandia?"
The man nodded and said, "Yes, yes sir!"
Evren then asked, "You've deserted the Holy State Grandia? Left that all behind?"
The man shook his head from side to side, "No sir! We would never do that!"
The man started to choke a little and Evren said, "Don't lie to me."
Evren looked down to the injured man and lifted him with telekinesis. He set the man's bone and cured the cuts on his face enough that he could talk. He said to the man, "Perhaps you'll answer my questions truthfully."
The man looked to the other man in the tree and back to Evren. Evren said, "He won't die right away."
Evren turned the man so he couldn't see the one hanging in the tree and could only see Evren, "Now then, same question. Have you deserted the Holy State Grandia?"
The man nodded repeatedly, "Yes sir!"
"You left all of that behind?"
"Yes sir!"
"Why?"
The man started to turn his head and Evren said, "No no, look at me. You won't find the answer over there."
The man's eyes darted around before closing, "We got tired of them, the puppets, the supervisors, the nobles, the royalty, all of them. We were sick of working for them."
The man hanging from the tree stopped choking and breathed in deeply before coughing. Evren looked at the man and said, "Coughing's good, it means you can breathe."
His eyes focused on the tied-up man in front of him. He stared at the man for a while before he said, "You wish the Holy State would fall?"
The man didn't say anything, he just nodded.
"Do you want to set the puppets free?" Evren asked.
The man's head dropped down, and he said with barely a whisper, "They can't be saved, sir."
"I didn't ask if they could be saved, I just asked if you wanted to set them free." Evren said.
He nodded while keeping his head down. The ropes binding his arms and legs fell to the ground, and he was lowered down until he could stand on his own. The man in the tree was lifted up slightly, the noose loosening and coming out from around his neck.
The man who had been punched in the stomach sat up and before he could do anything, Evren kicked him in the face, knocking him back out again. He lowered the hanged man, his bindings falling to the ground.
Evren looked at the both of them and said, "Come, let's meet the others." He then looked at the bodies lying on the ground. "Ah and get out of here."
From there, they started heading south west. When they were far enough from local militia, Evren introduced himself and the others. In turn, they replied with their names, Bryan and Tim. They walked until Wrand was out of sight, and exited the forest, crossed the road and entered the forest on the other side. They went back until they found a clearing and sat down.
He asked Harley to help Ellis and Karina as they healed the two of them and take over when they were out of magic power. Evren began speaking with them.
"Over a year and a half ago, I was summoned to this planet."
Bryan spoke up, "You're 548,590!"
Evren stared at him for a moment before looking at the rest and then back to them. Bryan then clarified, "I'm sorry, you're the missing puppet! But…"
"But I'm not a puppet?" Evren asked and Bryan nodded.
Evren shook his head and said, "My summoning was tampered with. It summoned me to the eastern end of this continent, completely naked and alone, with a crystal in my hand."
Tim then spoke up, "That's the slave crystal they put in the depository!"
Bryan nodded and asked Evren, "What'd you do with it?"
"I broke it." Evren replied and Bryan's eyes opened wide.
"You ain't a puppet" Tim sed.
Evren smiled, "Now that we've got that clear let's move on."
"Wait a minute!" Tim said, "'e doesn't have the dead fish eyes!"
Bryan nodded, "How are you …"
Evren opened his shirt, showing his chest to the two. "No tattoo." They said in unison.
Bryan said with wide eyes, "You're going to take down the Holy State Grandia."
Evren nodded.
Bryan then said, "You've got to take us with you! We can help!" Tim nodded enthusiastically.
Evren turned to the others, "That was easy." The others nodded. "Alright, let's set up camp here, get these two healed up and head out in the morning. Fletcher, Isobel, could you scout around and find something to eat?"
Both nodded, grabbed their bows and headed off into the woods. Walter looked at Evren and asked, "Why do you keep sending those two out together?"
Evren turned to Walter and said, "I may not be able to tell the difference between your male and female bodies, but I'm not an idiot when it comes to seeing when two people keep flirting with each other."
Ellis spoke up and asked, "What do you mean you can't tell the difference?"
Evren looked at Ellis with surprise, "Oh? I guess I didn't tell you. You see the world I came from, before I was summoned had a different species than humans. We looked dif… you know what? Here this is what I looked like, 'image.'"
Evren conjured an image of himself for the others to see. It was when he was younger and more attractive in his eyes. The body was average in length, but muscular. The legs and arms were considerably longer and also quite muscular. The head looked like an otter's, but the eyes were more forward and larger, and there were no whiskers on its face.
Evren stared at the picture and said, "This was after the military had mutated me, normal coamen are not usually as muscular. More like the trolls of this world." He dispelled the illusion and conjured up another one.
"This one is with my wife and kids when they were still young." Evren stared at the image for a while, glad that he could make his memories visible.
The image faded as he dispelled it and Evren blinked his eyes a few times. He looked at Ellis and said, "Human noses are weak. I can't smell the difference and every time I try to follow someone's advice I get in trouble."
Karina said, "So you didn't know I was a girl?"
Evren scratched his head and looked at the ground, "No, not until I asked Walter."
Karina's eyes went wide, and a look of sadness came over her face. Evren suddenly thought of how much of an insult that should have been. "I'm sorry, but if it makes you feel better, I can't tell with Bryan and Tim."
"They're both men."
"Thank you, Walter."
"Mr. Evren!" Harley said.
Evren shrugged as if giving up. He sighed and stared off into the woods. "What was I going to ask?" He turned to Bryan and Tim.
"What can you two do? You probably know magic, right?" he asked.
They both shook their heads. Bryan spoke up and said, "Summoners can't use magic. That's one of the requirements of being a summoner. We can transfer magic and initiate the summoning circle, but we're unable to cast magic."
Evren frowned and said, "That's interesting. Aside from transferring magic and the summoning circle, what else can you do?"
Tim spoke up, "Nothin. They wanted us to not be strong 'nuff to question or talk back. Most of the time we was just cleanin'."
Evren looked at the two and then rubbed his head. He looked at the others and shrugged. He suddenly got an idea and went over to his backpack, pulling the scarletite spear he had made out of it. He handed it to Bryan, ignoring the looks he was getting from the four that had never seen it before and said, "Put magic into this."
Bryan held the spear and poured magic into it, the spearhead bursting into flame. He looked at Tim and asked, "Can you do the same?" Tim took the spear from Bryan, and it also burst into flame. Evren smiled and took back the spear, putting it back in his backpack. "That gives me an idea." He said.