100. Next Steps (II)

That evening, Zachary returned to the village just in time for dinner. The professor, Pedro de Soto, was on guard duty while the rest had gathered around a cooking fire. There was a pot of stew and meat roasting on a spit. The air was filled with fragrance and deliciousness.

“You’re back,” Heather greeted him and handed him a wooden bowl and a spoon, “How’s the poison worm?”

“Still a little rebellious.” He replied.

She laughed, “I’m sure. I could hear it all the way from here.”

He shrugged, “I’m usually very nice to my summons. This little guy just needs a little more discipline.”

He sat down next to her and looked around. Oliver and Olga were together as usual. On Heather’s other side sat Shuhua, Nellie, and Carlos. They were chatting happily and enjoying each other’s company after a long day. Carlos was bragging about one of his summons reaching the Eight Paths Novice Rank. Nellie was retelling the morning hunt to Shuhua. Oliver complimented Olga on her cooking, earning him appreciative looks from her in return.

Zachary ate silently and listened intently. He wasn’t trying to be the odd one out. He had a good impression of everyone here. They were all doing their best to survive in this new world, to build a new life from scratch.

“So, Zachary,” Heather said after a while, “What crime did you do that landed you in this dump of a place?”

“Eh?”

“Hehe, I was just curious. This is one of our customs when we meet someone new. We’re all here for one reason or another. If you want to keep it a secret, that’s fine too. But at least for us, it's not a big deal. Here, I’ll start.” She put down her bowl and cleared her throat, “Heather Glenn-Bower, I was married twice and I killed both husbands.”

Zachary raised his eyebrows.

She continued without caring, “My first marriage was set up by my parents. I was only twenty. I was supposed to go to university but instead… Anyway, he had a bad habit of beating people, mostly me. I slipped some poison into his food and that was that. No more beatings.”

“As for my second husband, it was a few years later. He wasn’t any good either. He liked to gamble on summoner matches. He wasn’t very good at it and lost all of his money. He even lost my dowry. So, he had to go. Too bad, I got caught the second time around.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

She finished and saw Zachary’s expression. She laughed and patted his arm, “Don’t worry. If you’re a good boy, I won’t hurt you.”

Zachary chuckled nervously which earned him a round of laughter from the others.

Nellie went next. She was convicted of murder due to an accident during a summoner’s duel. Her summon went out of control and attacked the opposing summoner which was against the rules for normal duels. Usually, such an accident wasn’t a death sentence but her opponent had been the descendent of a powerful family. Thus, her fate was sealed.

Carlos spoke after. He came from a well-off family. He was only two years older than Zachary. He fell in with some bad people while at university and was then set up by some gangsters. He was accused of several counts of rape and other serious crimes after a drunken night of partying. He tried to fight the charges but there was too much evidence against him.

Olga worked as a pharmacist in a small town. Her medicine was blamed for the deaths of multiple people and even their summons. She insisted that it was a witch-hunt and she had merely been the scapegoat. She wasn’t even responsible for making the deadly medicine.

Oliver had a different story. He was a businessman who owned a company that sold summoning supplies such as summoning cards, soul orbs, and anima crystals. He was accused of tax evasion and fraud. He didn’t deny his crimes and even bragged about how much money he managed to cheat the government until Olga shut him up by pinching his cheek.

“Ow… ow… actually, it was all misunderstanding, a misunderstanding,” Oliver said while trying to get away.

Zachary laughed and turned to the last person, Shuhua. She turned away coldly.

“Shuhua doesn’t like to talk about it,” Heather said, “She was accused of being a spy for the western continent. Even though her family had lived in the republic for three generations. It's a shitty situation.”

“Oh,” Zachary nodded in understanding.

The western continent was the largest and most populated continent. It started with Duke Wu of the Western Sea who created the first human kingdom. Several empires came and went in the following thousands of years. Currently, it was divided into four kingdoms vying for power and to unite the continent once again.

“Interesting,” Wander commented from inside Zachary’s soul, “This western continent sounds like a lot of fun! We should go there sometime.”

“Haha… maybe.”

“As for the professor,” Heather pointed to the gatehouse, “It’s a similar situation. He was accused of treason, of selling his research to other nations. Don’t ask him about it or else he will get angry.”

“Understood,” Zachary said.

“Wow, you have some interesting new friends!” Wander exclaimed.

“So, what about you?” Heather asked. “Mister mass murderer?”

The others stopped eating and turned to him with curious expressions. There were some signs of worry but most just wanted to hear his side of the story.

“Uh… yeah. Heather had the cell next to me on the ship so she overheard the guards. Four counts of murder and ten counts of attempted murder. It was with good intentions though… They tried to kidnap my girlfriend. So, I killed them.”

Oliver and several others reacted with shocked expressions.

Heather scooted away a little and said, “I’ll make sure not to kidnap anyone around you.”

Zachary smiled, “Don’t worry. I’m harmless, most of the time...”