“More a plea than an offer,” Thomas said, folding his arms. “It sounds like a very dangerous monster. If it’s eating souls, then I expect Morvina’s warriors to come and slay the beast. Am I wrong?”

The Paladin’s words were insidious despite his pleasant appearance. At this moment, he was representing every priest of Morvina. If he lied, the entire thing would fall through. If he told the truth, it would weaken the church’s position. Daniel considered the matter, but then realised a simple fact. He didn’t care about the church that much. Sure, they were a tight-knit group, but every time he stared at the night sky, he would still shiver.

“They are incredibly busy with another matter. I don’t know much about it,” he lied with a smile.

“Even more important than souls being devoured?”

Daniel nodded.

“Please, you must understand. As I know it, you have hunting rights in the Emerald Woods. As long as the wolf lives, you cannot ever go and train there,” Daniel said, once again regaining the rhythm of the conversation.

“And why is that?” Thomas asked, tapping his fingers against the table.

“Because it would be the greatest tragedy imaginable if a faithful warrior couldn’t bask in Croelius’ light when he died. Instead, his soul would be twisted beyond comprehension, such that even faith wouldn’t help. Would you wish that on any warrior?”

There were only two options left for Thomas. One was to completely deny the matter, to never hunt in the Emerald Woods again, though even that option was a trap. If it was ever revealed to the public, the reputation of both churches would plummet, which could lead to an even bigger rift in their relationship. How long would it take before they started to clash openly, blood on the streets?

That only left one option - something he had expected from Tavian in the first place.

“I’ll bring the matter up with the Grand Paladin, but, there would be no greater honour than to help a priest when he found his faith lacking,” Thomas replied, letting out a hearty belly laugh.

The more he stayed here, the more he realised how vast the rift already was.

“If he does accept, it’ll be our squad that’s taking charge.”

No matter how many people that was, Daniel was convinced it would need more.

“I implore you to bring two squads, or even three,” he said with the utmost sincerity. It was on the bounty board for a reason.

Daniel spent the next half an hour retelling Finnean’s information to Thomas, exaggerating where he felt it was necessary. The Paladin’s lackadaisical attitude made Daniel’s anxiety spike like nothing before. He had read plenty of stories about people underestimating a great evil, and paying the price as a result. Only when he felt he had truly portrayed the danger of the monster did he finally stop.

“I understand, you can stop badgering me,” Thomas said, looking Daniel over. “I suspect you will be our weak link, not our warriors. Twenty years of combat is telling me that. If the beast is as smart as you make it out to be, it will target you first, and protecting is a lot more difficult than attacking.”

Daniel’s thoughts stopped in their tracks. The man was right, and there was no denying that.

“You’ve got a week, young priest. If the expedition happens, it won’t take more than that to get ready. I suggest you level up or train a new skill,” Thomas said, patting left his shoulder.

Suddenly, adrenalin spiked through Daniel’s body, his heart thundering over any further words. Only barely did he stop himself from casting a spell at the Paladin, which would take his arm clean off. Daniel had to calm down. There was no danger here. The man wasn’t attacking him.

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“I think that’s all we had to talk about. Have a wonderful day.”

He drew in a shaky breath and rapidly excused himself, much to the surprise of the Paladin. Today had taken more out of him than he expected. As Raph guided him back outside, he considered for a brief moment the thought of quitting it all.

The only reason he was going after Velkir was because his bounty board said so. Him devouring souls was regrettable, but someone would eventually come to deal with Velkir when he grew too powerful. Besides, there were plenty of more horrific things happening in a fantasy world. Nothing was stopping Daniel from taking his time, slowly settling into the city and growing his power.

But, could he truly do that? Daniel hadn’t realised this about himself, but even he had changed upon coming here. He had enough of resting, enough of inaction. If he could grasp something now, why wait for later?

Memories of magic flashed before his eyes. There was something wonderful even in the most terrifying of moments. Back on earth, he had died long before Death came to greet him. Every day was the same, his body and his mind rotting away slowly but steadily. Here, however, a day stretched on and on, filled with unique encounters and never to be forgotten memories.

Daniel wished he could say he somehow magically gained the resolve to fight till death, forgetting about his pain, but that wasn’t the case. Still, it gave him a reason to push on, to dream of accomplishing greater and greater things. Maybe that was enough.

To that end, when the both of them stood in the courtyard, Daniel spoke up.

“Is there anyone here who can train me in combat? The previous fight had made me realise I was... less than ready.”

“No Paladin would train someone who’s not a dawn warrior. But, I have an hour free at dusk. If you would listen to the preachings of Croelius, I would be willing to spar with you,” Raph said, a smile on his face.

“With pleasure. I know it’s still far from dawn, but perhaps you could spare a few minutes?”

“Catch,” he said, throwing a wooden sword at Daniel. “Show me what you’ve got.”

The few minutes turned into a proper hour as Raph realised Daniel had no foundations at all. He flinched and closed his eyes from every blow, he couldn’t hold a sword properly, and his feet didn’t even move right, tripping over each other the moment Raph feinted his attacks.

Even though an hour was short, for Daniel, it stretched on for infinity. He was exhausted from the first ten minutes, but as Raph had said, exhaustion got you killed in real combat. At the end of the training session, Daniel collapsed on the ground, staring up at the sky above, thinking about how nice it would be to be a bird right now. It would take a miracle to get him to move his body. Raph loomed over him, telling a story about how the earliest days of Croelius.

Eventually, he regained enough strength to move. Daniel cursed the world when his status showed absolutely no changes. If it was up to him, he should’ve levelled at least ten times. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a god just yet. The thought led to another one - could gods even influence the System? Maybe he’d get a chance to ask that to a god.

Daniel’s body craved another bath, but he settled for wiping off his sweat with a towel. Then, he headed off to Lyra’s shop for another form of training - staring at cute and fierce animals. The hours passed by quickly as Lyra put him to work whenever he wasn’t engrossed in perfecting his skill. As a reward, he even got to eat a healthy meal consisting of a void chicken’s eggs and freshly squeezed milk from a hellish cow.

The night went by before he even realised it. Whenever he wasn’t trying to learn how to fly through the sparrow’s senses, he would go out and socialise. As long as he had his violet robes and his full moon amulet on, every person he met would beam radiantly at him. Thus, he used this opportunity for something truly grand, that is, to teach himself new recipes. Every interaction of him asking for those would end up with practical demonstrations, and of course, they couldn’t just let the priest leave without eating.

By the end of the night, he had visited three different houses and eaten so much that he was on the verge of bursting. It wasn’t all easy - he had to break up more than one dispute, and the questions he was asked ranged in the hundreds. Still, it filled him with a different kind of warmth than the morning dawn. He was part of a community.

Before bed, he read Soren’s diary, and to his surprise, he found something useful. At the bottom of one of the more eventful days of him settling in, he had written a small note of his thoughts as an afterthought.

Unlike the capital, the relationship between our churches is strained. One could put blame on a variety of reasons, but from what I’ve gathered, there is a great number of fanatics on both sides. The dawn zealots steal and provoke fights, which causes conflict with night watchers. In retaliation, necromancers and their cabals form among our priests, swearing revenge using twisted methods. None of them seem to think it strange.

And there Daniel was, playing both sides and hoping to have none of the downsides. One day, it would all come crashing down. The only question was how long he could keep it up.