Josh relaxed in the back of the wagon as it rolled into the brightly colored city of Magnolia. Robert and Diana huddled together on the floor, still sobbing.
It's not that Josh didn't understand what they were going through. The last half a day had been truly terrible by his standards. Sold off to an empire for God knows what reasons, forced to watch as his most competent peer was murdered in cold blood, and then dragged through a maze of magical Pathways filled with monsters by guards who were constantly on edge and always at the ready to grant him the same fate they gave those monsters. If there was anything that deserved a bit of crying, it was this.
But Josh knew, calm people live where others die. That was true in survival situations, and doubly true in social situations.
The walls, buildings, and even the people they passed all wore an eclectic mix of gaudy adornments that somehow looked like the perfect mix of neon punk and medieval renaissance fair. At least, Josh assumed it would be perfect for someone who liked those two genres. Personally, it made him feel like throwing up.
Magical illusions hovered over shop doors, providing animated depictions of their wares. People covered up their bodies through the use of cloth, make-up, and even more magic. Guards patrolled through the streets with bubbles of distorted light around them, which made them appear nearly invisible, just enough to be subconsciously ignored so long as you didn't focus on them for too long.
Robert and Diana began to perk up and look around. Their small sense of relief probably came from the display of normalcy, as normal as a medieval punk styled city could be. The people looked happy, the streets and buildings looked clean, and despite their arrival to the city as slaves, there were no chains or holding cells in sight.
'Not that such things are needed when everyone around you is already locked into a soul contract. No need to constantly remind the slaves that they're slaves.' Josh thought sarcastically.
He suspected there were ways out of or around it, considering the guards' willingness to skirt the edges of their supposed orders, but that didn't do Josh much good considering his current strength. 'Soul contract? That's just overkill. Just send some guards after me and I can't do a thing. Hell, these random civilians who look like half-baked clowns could probably take me down.'
The wagon traveled straight through the city to a massive castle sitting in the very center. In complete contrast to the cheerful colors and soft designs they passed on the way here, this castle was covered in innumerable sharp points, incredibly lifelike depictions of gargoyles and dragons, and even giant iron cages hanging along the walls like macabre decorations.
'Now this would be a pretty sweet gig, if the threat of those cages wasn't so clearly meant for us' Josh thought with admiration.
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As the wagon came to a stop and the students were herded off by their two impatient escorts, a neatly dressed old man that looked the perfect part for a butler, stepped out of the castle and approached their group.
“You are with the Dawn Sun's Legion? The ones responsible for procuring the Astrals from that recently connected Pathway, yes?” he questioned.
“Yessir, that's us!” the lead guard answered immediately, even adding a salute at the end. His fellow guard simply stood behind him, eyes at the sky, in a permanent salute while hoping not to be addressed.
“I heard there were five targets this time.. Why do I only see three here? Explain yourselves.” the old man demanded.
“We believe one o' them was a fake. Freaked out 'n everything when he found out he'd have ta use his abilities fer the good o' the empire. He tried to take off with another one in tow 'n we had to dispose of them both.”
The butler gave his socially obligated glare of disapproval at the loss, before conceding “I see, I hope you didn't leave any evidence to lead back to us? You know how bothersome these magicless primitives can be sometimes, expecting us to follow their tiresome customs, even when dealing with subjects we've already purchased.”
“No sir, of course-”
“No worries!” Josh cut in sarcastically “Those bastards who sold us off couldn't care less what happens to us!”
The butler turned his glare to Josh over the interruption, but failed to conceal his satisfaction at Josh's show of frustration.
“Very well, I suppose that is acceptable. You may leave, I will send payment to your guild headquarters.” he announced. As he turned away in dismissal, their former guards jumped into the wagon and sped off faster than Josh had ever seen the wagon move.
“I'm sure you three are very confused” he began in a kindly old man voice, the kind crooks use when they're trying to take advantage of somebody they think is too stupid to understand their intentions.
“Damn right I'm confused!” Josh griped “I was told there'd be money, women, and parties, but all those guys did was treat us like a sack of potatoes! It was awful.”
His two fellow students broke out of their stupor to stare at him in disbelief, while the old man looked appreciative at his perfect set-up.
“I see, I see. How dreadful. I'll have to talk to their boss about their job etiquette. However, they aren't wrong about your possible rewards! We do things a bit differently here than you're probably used to, but if you give it a chance I think you'll enjoy it here. You can call me Clive and I'm in charge of personnel here in Magnolia castle” he explained with a large smile.
He looked quite proud of his good cop routine, until Diana broke down in tears once more, screaming “Junior and Michael are dead! You killed them!”
“That's not true” he stated defensively. “They were killed by the Dawn Sun's mercenaries who were contracted with me yes, but they weren't killed by me. There's a difference. And you must understand, now that you've been legally procured by the Eden Empire, you're obligated to follow our laws. While I sympathize with your loss, those mercenaries were perfectly within their rights to, uhh, punish your, well, friends, for choosing to betray the empire.”
After standing there awkwardly for a moment and realizing that nothing he said was getting through to either Diana or Robert, he determined “I will have the maids show you to your rooms so that you can compose yourselves. Please don't take too long to pull yourselves together” as he waved several women in the background to come forward.
Socially incompetent though the old man may be, it was clear to Josh that the empire truly did want to buy their loyalty. 'Meaning we have leverage over them. I just have to find out what that leverage is.'
He followed behind the stoic-looking maids who half carried Robert and Diana along with them. It didn't escape his notice that their inner terror only started to recede once they left Clive's presence.