Troy and his group made their way through the crowd to the stand, and Troy climbed up to take the spot of the executioner.

His squad members took places in front of the stand. The stairways to enter the stand were on the sides, and his soldiers were lined up in front of the stand so as not to block the entrances. Many people at this point were gathering around for the execution, and as the time came closer and closer the density of people became thicker.

'This might be difficult... but I have no intention of letting Wexus get killed. I'll save him, even if me and my troops have to become criminals to do so....'

The time finally arrived, and the Colonel, with two Sergeants by his side, were pushing Wexus forward.

Wexus' arms were bound by ropes and he was wearing mere rags. His face was bruised as if he had been beat, and he looked much thinner than the last time Troy had seen him. A bag covered his hands, in order to prevent the public from having to see the mutilation he had endured.

The people in the crowd made a path for the Colonel and his entourage to make their way through, and they escalated onto the execution stand. The Colonel then thrusted the back of his spear to the ground, and a loud thud dispersed throughout the area, bringing the crowd to silence.

"People of the Vythguard Empire! Before you stands a man who committed the crime of theft from the very storehouses in which he was assigned to guard! Our Emperor is a kind man, and cares sincerely about his people, however this is an act of treason which cannot be overlooked! This man has violated the law of this land, and he will today be executed for his ungrateful response to the kindness the Emperor has shown to his people!"

The people began shouting.

"Kill him!!!"

"Ungrateful swine!!!"

"You dare to call yourself a soldier!?!"

"You're a disgrace to this Empire!!!"

The crowd was getting rowdy, and Troy's nervousness only increased. Would he actually be able to make it out of this crowd, even if he managed to hold back the Colonel?

'I can't kill anyone... if I did so, then I would be just as bad as the ones sentencing Wexus to death... what if I were to use the crowd to my advantage? If it was that much.... I suppose there shouldn't be an issue...'

Wexus was taken to the stand and forced down, placing his arms so that they leaned over the execution block with his head hanging forward, ready to be decapitated.

The Colonel stepped back, as did the two Sergeants, and the Colonel waved to Troy to signal that it was time to commence the execution.

'Can I really do this? I have no choice here...'

Troy grabbed the executioners ax and walked up to the stand.

He raised the ax above Wexus, ready to bring it down onto his head.

Then, a sound was heard. It was the sound of a hand chopping the back of another person's neck.

The soldiers stationed at the front had chopped the necks of the two who were not going to betray the military, rendering them unconscious. If they were unconscious, then there would be no way they could be suspected of treason.

Troy quickly realigned himself before bringing the ax down, but not on the head of Wexus- rather on the rope connecting his arms.

"Let's go. We're getting you out of here."

Wexus looked at Troy surprised, however when their eyes met, he recognized him.

"Troy!?! You-"

"No time to talk. Let's get out of here."

Troy grabbed the arm of Wexus, and pulled him up, however the Colonel was in shock.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING SOLDIER!?!? IS THIS TREASON!?!?"

"Yes, Sir!", Troy replied, jumping off the stands with Wexus, rolling to the ground- his heavy armor clanking around. He had ditched the ax and was now empty handed, however the people around him had been knocked out of the way.

The soldiers at the front of the stands began to rush into the crowd in front of Troy and Wexus, and Troy began pushing people down behind them so that they wouldn't be so easily followed.

"WAIT!!! GET BACK HERE!!!", The Colonel screamed, as he and his personal subordinates tried to make their way through the crowd while jumping over the pushed bodies- however they had not ditched their weapons, and as such progressed much slower- especially because they were trying to avoid harming people.

People started running out of the way of Troy.

"AGH!!! It's a maniac!!!"

"He's trying to save that criminal!!!! They must be in league!!!"

"The entire squad is working together!!! Colonel!!! They must be stopped!!!"

People were screaming and getting out of the way, however all the soldiers under Troy's command were grabbing people and following his lead- throwing them down behind them so that there would be no path left for them to be pursued.

Finally, the group made it out of the crowd, and broke free into a sprint.

"Troy... Barnabas... Uriarus.. why would you do this for me?", Wexus asked in confusion.

"What are you saying, Sir? Do you think I could live with myself after killing you?"

"Take me back!!! You might only face a light sentence if you do so!! I did what I did, knowing that I might have to face this- but I was ready to die proudly knowing that I did what was right for those suffering around me. Why did you stop me from dying there?!?"

"I'm simply doing the same thing. I can't sit back and let you die."

Wexus grit his teeth and kept running with Troy and the group. Most of them had ditched their helmets and some of their armor at this point, and they were running freely.

That was 3 years ago.

Now, Troy sat inside a room in a cave, surrounded by wanted posters of himself. Around him were all sorts of trinkets- gold, food, jewels and jewelry, equipment, armor, weapons, herbs, and all sorts of things.

On that day 3 years ago, after they had made their escape from the execution, Wexus had later told Troy and the rest of the group who saved him the reason why he did what he did.

"The Emperor... he is a good man... but the senator in the capital is corrupt... he does things behind the back of the Emperor, and is trying to rid the Emperor of his power... he wishes to establish his own faction and eventually take over as Emperor, using the unfit son of the Emperor as leverage for his claims. He's been taking control over more soldiers day by day... and I have reason to believe he's formed a pact with at least one of the Legion Commanders... but I discovered something recently which led me to do what I did."

"What was that?"

"The Senator had been stealing the profits which were supposed to be used to pay the laborers in the industrial district, and using his connections with the military to keep his actions hidden from the Emperor. The people were having their small paychecks halved, just so that greedy man could do as he wished and expand his palace and influence over others! He has been trying to rob the Emperor of power from the moment he took the position of Senator, and even now he is likely continuing to exploit people... I watched from the sidelines when I was stationed in the capital as people suffered to get by, and begged for just a little more to feed their families... however the soldiers above me wouldn't budge. 'Senator's orders. Consider this a tax.', they would say. It was horrible, and I couldn't live with myself watching it...but nobody would dare bring this to the attention of the Emperor, who would likely have put a stop to it!"

Wexus looked extremely strained as he remembered the people begging for food for their families, asking if they could be paid just a little more.

"And who's paycheck should I take it out of?! This is a tax for the senator! If you don't like it, then stop working and just go die!", one soldier yelled while shoving a man down.

As a soldier, he wasn't able to do anything about it- he had to obey his superiors. Even if he was a relatively high rank, in the capital that meant nothing, as he was surrounded by many who were above him.

"So, I took my own initiative, and started working in secret... when I had night shifts to guard the senator's storehouses, I began smuggling food out on my own in order to get the food to those who had been cheated out of their wages... but I was caught. Those fiends... they went on about me betraying the country and the Emperor... if only he knew about this... I am sure he would bring that awful Senator to justice... but politicians live in another world... I can't even get an audience with the Emperor, and who knows if he would even believe me if I were to say anything... gr..."

"I've heard enough Wexus. I know what we're going to do from now on."

Troy looked pissed and motivated.

"We've all thrown away our clean records in this country. After hearing your story, there is only one thing we can do. We need to become vigilantes. We will gain comrades... supplies... strength... and we will work in secret towards the goal of removing that corrupt Senator from his position. Senator Brutus..."

----

Or so Troy thought.

But it was not easy living life as a group of wanted criminals.

To begin, he was completely unable to show his face in public.

They found a cave, and made it into their base, however it took a lot of effort just to convert it into a livable space.

They were unable to go into the cities to purchase supplies without risking being caught red-handed. He could walk around with a hood, but it would look suspicious and he could only do this in areas where there was a low guard density, so he couldn't be moving mass amounts of supplies- not to mention he couldn't make it through any checkpoints without being inspected and investigated.

They had to resort to an alternative in order to get food to survive as criminals, and despite the fact that they wanted to grow as a vigilante group, they first needed to survive.

After not eating anything for three days, and after a risky trip into the city that only yielded a handful of bread for his men, Troy made a decision.

"We can't keep living like this. We need to find another way to get food and supplies."

"Senator Brutus has his own crest on any companies which are transporting goods under him... we would be able to easily know who is working under him...", Wexus suggested.

Troy turned to all the people around him, and they all gave him the nod of determination.

"We will resort to banditry, however we will not kill anyone. We will only rob the convoys who bear the banners of Senator Brutus, thereby weakening his influence and reducing his trading income- while gaining supplies while were at it. We will become thieves... and criminals... but we will not be a mere group of thugs. We have a purpose. Little by little, we will gain members and influence, and work in the shadows to take down Senator Brutus from his pedestal of corruption!"

"Yeah!!"

"That's right, Lieutenant! We're more than just thugs!"

"We have a goal! A purpose!"

And so, the group made their decision.

Three years later now, Troy was sitting in his room filled with supplies, treasures, and resources- however he felt that what he was doing was not enough.

'What do I do... I need to make a change... we started attacking those convoys, and they stopped sending them to this region... I guess after this long it's only obvious that they would stop losing supplies at the cost of cutting off transport between one city...'

The reason why Troy had survived to this day as a group of bandits was because they had created a natural trap in the entrance to the cave system which they now considered their home.

They utilized a cave in at one point to make it so that the only entrance was a ravine. If you couldn't fly across, then you wouldn't be able to enter the cave system.

However, there was a secret entrance. There was a certain set of stones on the side of the ravine which if pressed in a specific order would open up a door that led around the ravine and into the hideout.

The group had made progress. They were now up to around 40 members- all people who they had recruited in the shadows of the cities. They took extreme care when recruiting, however when they found people who were effected by the Senator's corruption, who seemed angry or disappointed, they were able to approach these people. Despite the facts that their faces had to be kept hidden, in the darkness of the nights Troy and his people made their way through the cities, spreading propaganda against Senator Brutus.

However, Senator Brutus had taken notice of the rumors that were being spread about him recently.

He realized that there was a group out there to get him, trying to expose his corruption, and when he looked at the patterns, one of his skilled subordinates was able to deduce the general location of the hideout- based on the nearby cities the rumors radiated from, and the convoys that were robbed in the area.

It didn't take a genius, but it did take many events and a long time for this conclusion to be made.

So Brutus sent out a request to the mercenary guild in the closest town- Githard.

He wanted to be rid of those bandits who seemed to be a thorn in his side. He didn't know who they were or why they were doing these things, but he knew that there was a correlation.

'I don't know who these bandits are or what they're thinking... but if they plan on attacking me, it will take a little bit more than a single group of bandits... for now, I will just pay a small fee to hire some mercenaries... no need to waste any of my personal troops on a matter like this.'

----

The antiheroes walked with the group of mercenaries in order to take on the bandit request.

"So how did you all end up meeting anyways?", Garett asked.

"Well, actually... it's a little embarrassing...", Lance said while rubbing the back of his head.

"Lance here got into a bar fight with Pierre when we first met... Pierre was sitting alone in the corner when Lance got drunk... and Lance started trash-talking his outfit and style. Pierre stood up and refused to take the insults. Me and Melody were simply bystanders who happened to break up the fighting at the time... actually I was working at the bar back then. That was before any of us became mercenaries."

"That certainly is an interesting way to meet. What inspired you all to become comrades, and mercenaries at that?"

"Well... after we were able to calm Lance down and when he sobered up, he apologized to Pierre."

"If he hadn't apologized then I wouldn't have forgiven him, however as soon as he came to his senses he realized that my style is actually pretty good, and we became friends."

"We all had a big laugh over it, and started to drink together for a bit... eventually, we decided to form a mercenary group together!", Charlotte exclaimed.

"I happened to know that inventor even before I met all of them, and so I introduced them and he started designing outfits and weapons to go with them for us. He may be a bit nuts, but he is reliable when it comes to that sort of thing.", Lance explained.

"Is there anyone in this world who isn't nuts?", Ashley asked with a laugh.

"It wouldn't be any fun if everybody was sane.", Garett responded.

"How experienced would you all say you are as mercenaries? To be honest, as you all may know, we are new to this sort of thing. While we have some experience fighting... and I would say that we are certainly above your average person when it comes to strength and skill... however we are still new to this whole system, and have never taken on an official request before.", Trevor asked.

"I guess we're your seniors then! We have been working together for around a year, and we've gone on quite a number of requests, however most of them are simple like escorting merchants or collecting rent from tenants for landlords... transporting messages...finding lost items....trying to get information on people... and other tasks that are pretty basic."

"And that's why we haven't been making so much money recently... there are rarely any bandits around to take care of... the fact that there was this request... made by Senator Brutus himself straight from the capital... must mean that this bandit group is pretty big, and the fact that nobody has completed the job yet must mean that they are pretty well armed and know how to take care of attackers."

"Ho? Is that so... interesting...", Trevor said, while running the information through his mind. "I suppose I haven't had a real challenge in quite a while... it could be... yes... this could be fun..."

"Fighting the hellraisers wasn't a challenge!?", Pierre asked, surprised. "I know you all didn't seem to be struggling... but I thought you all were simply experienced... perhaps you all are on a whole nother level to be able to take them on without breaking a sweat..."

"Those pieces of trash? Please. I could defeat them with my hands tied behind my back and my legs lifted behind my shoulders as if I was doing yoga."

"Hahaha... I see..."

Pierre looked shocked from Trevor's overconfidence, however Trevor was completely certain of this. Those mercenaries had moved so slow that he could literally predict exactly what they were going to do and counteract it, 1,000,000,000 times over before they actually did it.

The group made their way through the town until they reached the edge of town where the roads cut off into a dirt road and no more buildings were present. A green field was in front of them.

"We simply follow this road and the cave should be on the left side of a valley over in this area....", Trevor said while pointing to a map which he had created on a screen using his database.

"What are you pointing at?", Charlotte asked, confused.

"Ah, please don't worry about it. I merely have the information all in my head."