"No"
"What?! Why?" Mike asks incredulously
"This mask is something dangerous and as a believer and follower in the goddess Drohdia I cannot standby and let it be used for evil!" Synthia answers with the common reverence that any paladin would have as she makes the pledge
"..."
Now that Mike was actually hearing this being told in full seriousness by a human being who was not just saying it due to roleplaying Mike kinda cringed back at her words.
'Thank god I never played as a paladin' Mike thinks to himself as he reflects on some of his previous games where one of his party members were a paladin
Luckily Mike knew how to deal with such people.
"Miss Synthia I assume that you are here on some sort of quest given to you from the goddess Drohdia was it? However, you must believe me that my intentions are good," Mike says
"Your words are not enough to persuade me you might be a worshiper of demons for all I know and a heretic," Synthia fires back
"I am a Royal Wizards apprentice and I am not a heretic or a demon worshipper," Mike answers
'Unless you call commanding a legion of Chaos Marines being worthy of burning' Mike thinks as he recalls the demons in the Warhammer world
Now, most of Mike's roleplaying games were not just limited to just D&D he did play a lot of other games such as Warhammer, but D&D was the game he played the most regardless since he did not really need to spend that much money on items for the game. [1]
Enough about roleplaying games as Mike is getting off track a bit so he pulls his full attention back to the situation.
"Ha if you are a royal wizard apprentice then you ought to be the worst apprentice ever" Synthia laughs at Mike's claim
'Ouch that hurt' Mike thinks sarcastically as she is probably right since he has not even met any other apprentices and considering he just joined their ranks Mike was probably the worst of them for now
"What can I do to get my mask back?" Mike asks just wanting to be done with this as soon as possible so that he could just leave this place
"Hm... if you want this mask back you need to help me," Synthia
"Alright, then what do I have to help with?" Mike asks immediately giving in
He does really want to take the mask back with force since she could definitely overpower him if she decided to use some magic against him. Plus considering that she was a fallen paladin her powers deal with darkness magic power generally so even if Sarenthia were to take action Mike was not sure if she would be safe from her magic if they fought it out. So just helping her out with something to get the mask back peacefully Mike would be glad to do so.
"You need to help me find 100 heretics and sinners of the goddess Drohdia, within this, town," Synthia says
"That it?" Mike asks
"Yes help me find them and I will give this mask to you," Synthia says
'Ding'
Special quest is given to the host
'Special quest?' Mike thinks as he opens his quest log with a quick thought
...
Return to Grace [Chain Quest]
Explanation: The fallen paladin Synthia has been given a series of tasks for her to return to her former position as a true paladin of the goddess Drohdia and is asking for your help in completing the divine quest given.
Task 1: Find 200 heretics and sinners of the goddess Drohdia. 100/200
Task 2: Unkown (Complete previous task first)
Task 3: Unkown (Complete previous task first)
Completed Tasks: None
Rewards:
Task 1 - 600 exp and 2 Usable points
Task 2 - 1,000 exp, 3 Usable points, and x1 daily spin
Task 3 - 2,500 exp, 4 Usable points, and x1 rare equipment
...
'Holy!' Mike thinks as he sees the stuff he can get from helping Synthia
"So you just need 100 people are you sure about that?" Mike asks
"Yes I am sure about that, my goddess made me collect 100 people before you came here so-"
"What are we waiting for we got to find more people!" Mike buts in as his excitement cannot be contained
"Eh... alright if you are so keen on helping then I guess I should tell you what you need to do," Synthia says as she takes out an amulet from a pouch on her belt
"This is a magical item that I have enchanted for a while, it will glow red whenever there are people who are deemed as sinners of my religion and it will glow gold if someone is a devote follower," Synthia says with a demonstration by putting it near her general direction to show how it works
"What about if someone is neither then?" Mike asks
"Then it will just stay a gray color"
"Effective range?"
"Within twenty feet of them and it will activate"
"How do you have this?"
"My goddess Drohdia bestowed it to me after I fell from grace and wanted to return back to her light"
"If you don't mind me asking what caused you to fall?" Mike asks this cause he was genuinely curious how a paladin fell from grace even though it might be a bit personal to them
"I would prefer to not tell," Synthia answers
"Fine by me," Mike says while moving to the bed and taking a seat on it
"So what is your goddess known for?"
"She is the goddess of life," Synthia answers
"Really now?" Mike says while also thinking 'Yeah probably not'
Gods were without a fact powerful beings but they could still die it was just hard to do so as there needed to be some sort of item to actually do that. Mike had killed a few gods in his time or similar beings that rivaled their power before in some of his campaigns. Now in order to do so, it was incredibly difficult but with Mike having a system and all the stuff it offered Mike was confident that he could deal with a god by himself in the future.
"So what do I do once I find one of these people?" Mike asks
"Just bring them here and hand them over to me and I will deal with them," Synthia replies
"Alright then I am gonna get going then," Mike says as he moves to the door only to be blocked by Synthia
"Did you really expect me to let you leave with that amulet without me allowing you to keep an eye on you?" Synthia asks
"No... so how are you going to keep an eye on me then?" Mike asks
"We will both go around looking for these sinners and heretics," Synthia says
"No offense miss but you will just slow me down and I work better al-"
'Ding'
Party function activated
"One sec," Mike says as he moves away from the door
'Abbey, what is the party function?' Mike asks
"Hm... the data on that is loading... give me a second to process it," Abbey replies
Mike waits a few seconds before Abbey starts talking again.
"Alright the party function is the same function that is in D&D with you and your group being able to share exp amounts each other from each enemy killed while in group combat, individual combat will result in only those in combat having the exp gained going to them," Abbey answers
"How come this just was added now?" Mike asks
"It will only activate when you form either a temporary or permanent party with other's with the minimum for each being four"
"Then who is in the party now?"
"Take a look for yourself" Is Abbey's response
Mike opens up his system and sees that a new tab labeled 'Party' is available for him to view. Mike clicks on the tab to view what is there.
...
Temporary Parties: Group 1
Group 1: Synthia Roseward, Mike H Briggs, Orion, Sarenthia, and special member [Unnamed]
Permanent Parties: None
Exp division: Temporary (More exp given to most valuable member) and Permanent (Equal division of exp)
...
'Um... Abbey who is the special member [Unnamed]?' Mike asks first and foremost
"I don't know as I can't take a look at those in the party system," Abbey replies
'Well, then can you tell me why Orion is considered as part of the party then?' Mike asks as that is confusing him slightly
"Your pets are instantly shown in the party since they are living beings," Abbey answers
'Then could it be the phoenix egg?'
"It actually might be since it shows as unnamed and is a living being that is in the system space right now it can be considered as a member of your party but since the egg has yet to hatch the system could not allow the party system to be made," Abbey guesses
"Alright then I guess we should be going then," Mike says as he turns around to face Synthia
"Alright, then we shall go then. Samantha, please tell her that I will be out for a few hours to complete my mission," Synthia says to the other girl who still had rope in her hands
"Alright I will tell them"
Mike pays the girl that he scared earlier with his mask and once that is out of the way both he and Synthia leave the brothel through the front entrance.
"So how do you usually find these so-called heretics of your goddess?" Mike asks as he was curious as to how she got 100 people so far
"I was staying in this establishment and acting as a guard of sorts to deal with the unpleasant customers that visited there," Synthia answers
"How long have you been staying there though?"
"Around a year now"
'A year I don't have that long to wait!' Mike shouts out in his mind as he hears how long this lady had been here
"Look do you want to get more of these people?" Mike asks
"Of course I want to be brought back up in the eyes of my holy goddess I-"
"Yeah yeah cut the crap I know your types are very religious and such but how far are you willing to go to get 100 people in a week?" Mike cuts in not wanting to hear her make another oath to her god
"Oh well I am willing to do anything as long as we don't harm anyone," Synthia replies obviously confused
"Alright then I guess I know where we should be going then," Mike says as he starts walking away
"Hey you are going the wrong direction the center of the slums are this way"
"I know, but I ain't taking you there," Mike answers her and continues walking
Synthia can only hold back her questions and inquires as she starts following Mike out of the slums and back into the regular parts of the city. Along the way, the amulet does not activate even once as they pass by some people causing Synthia's confusion to grow as she already tried going to populated areas in the hopes of finding people who are deemed as sinners by the amulet. She did ask Mike some questions as to why they were doing this when she already tried this, and Mike just tells her to wait and see.
Eventually, they both are standing in an alleyway beside a very busy street, but still, the amulet had not yet activated it didn't even flicker from the number of people passing by.
"What are you going to do I already told you that there are going to be no heretics or sinners here," Synthia says
"I know that, but the good news about this is that there are neither sinner's nor-fervent believers in your goddess, so that will make this easier for me," Mike says
"Easier to do what?" Synthia asks not understanding
"A lot easier for you to make heretics and sinners to capture of course," Mike answers
____________________
1. Alright I (The author) have never played Warhammer unfortunately but I am gonna do a lot of research on the game to potentially incorporate into the book later because as said in the synopsis of the book Mike will travel the multiverse and I know that this is kinda slow to a point but I don't want to rush it like other books that just skip a lot of stuff.