Dave Sagel was born in an unknown small town near Pato City. His parents were ordinary merchants, living moderately. He himself was never discovered to have any extraordinary talent or ability. Following a normal trajectory, Dave probably would not have achieved much in his lifetime, let alone getting a chance to enroll in Pudding Knight Academy, a renowned (not so far) prestigious (compared to the village level counterparts) institution.
All of this did not come easily...
Thirteen years ago, a plague descended on the small town of less than three hundred families without warning. In less than two days, almost everyone died in a very strict ceremonial order. The bodies never rotted, and there were eerily strange smiles on their faces, as if experiencing extreme pleasure in pain.
Although the Holy Church Union had dispatched people as quickly as possible, it was all in vain. It is said that when the main priest leading the team arrived, there were still dozens of people alive in the town, but they exploded and died on the spot the moment he entered the town limits.
Out of two hundred and ninety-six people in the town, only a seven-year-old boy survived.
That boy was Dave. Sagel...
He was found in a haystack and followed the advance team back to the Holy Church Union headquarters, located in the City of Light downstream of the Golden River in the northeast of the continent. After much moving around, he was eventually sent to the Holy Church Union branch in Pato City.
"Take care of this child, even though he is not outstanding," the regional bishop personally instructed the High Priest of Pato City. "As the sole survivor, he bears the hopes and dreams of the two hundred and ninety-five deceased."
Thus, Dave grew up year by year in the joint church and was baptized at the age of fourteen, naturally becoming a believer. He believed in the God of Justice and Courage, Black Helm.
"The Holy Church Union..." Motan repeated quietly to himself, recalling information he had learned from the Mage Notebook, "It is an organization formed by the union of believers and factions of many gods, such as the Dawn Goddess Pakec, the God of Justice and Law Black Helm, the Harvest Goddess Serila, the Sun God Tisu, the God of Creation Eren. They are one of the most influential entities in the northeast of the continent. I wonder how these so-called 'gods' will view this deformed and bloated alliance?"
Despite Motan's seemingly casual words, he has been aware of an extraordinarily inconsistent detail - in his regard, this inconsistency is glaring.
"A believer in the God of Justice and Courage?" He rolled his eyes, "If that boy, who can easily kill his companions, can believe in him, then no matter from which perspective, I can be considered a man of upstanding moral values."
Apparently, Motan is aware that his current value system is slightly skewed...
But he wasn't joking. Although Tan Mo has been labeled a 'non-believer' by the system and cannot believe in any gods, the utterly neutral Hei Fan has long been a believer of the Dawn Goddess Pakec, and was tricked out of 20 copper coins.
Motan clearly remembered those two system prompts:
[Do you agree to become a believer of the Dawn Goddess Pakec?]
[Reminder: Betraying your faith will incur a heavy price]
No matter what the so-called 'price' is, one thing is certain - it won't be good!
Although nobody has told him what the so-called 'betrayal of faith' looks like, this does not prevent Motan from guessing.
The first is direct, which is the easiest to explain. For example, someone suddenly goes insane, swears at their own gods, smashes churches, steps on statues, hacks at priests, plays with saintesses - this is definitely a taboo among taboos. The price to pay should be huge, such as being directly struck by lightning.
Of course, if you are a gunner, you could potentially be struck by lightning in all situations, after all, weapons are long, sharp, and conductive. It's not because of luck or any superstition... or... maybe...
Then there's the indirect, Motan also feels there would be such a situation. Two factions or denominations in a good relationship might have some internal circulation between them, leading to a kind of peaceful breakup. The risk of this situation happening is very low, but it isn't zero. If the relationship between the two gods (unrelated to believers) was genuinely good, then you probably won't have to pay any price.
Of course, this assumption isn't applicable to Dave, it is based on Motan's third very probable speculation.
Indirect yet blatant betrayal!
The game [Realm of Innocence] has a very extreme stance regarding player alignments; this should also apply to the NPCs within, including the gods. From the information, the God of Justice and Courage, Black Helm, appears to be a leader of lawful neutral or lawful good. Dave's actions aren't aligned with the beliefs of a follower, and so the question is...
Don't worry; I'm not planning to chat about excavators now.
Would any god allow their believers' values to conflict with their own?
Absolutely not!
No matter how tolerant or honest the God of Justice and Courage, Black Helm is, Dave's actions have absolutely violated many of the rules in their teachings!