Crimson Servant

A handsome young man with short blond hair walked out from behind the curtain. He had beautiful features and a tall figure. He was wearing bright silver metal heavy armor. The disgust in his eyes was undisguised, and the atmosphere dropped to freezing point.

"Wait a minute, Karl, have you misunderstood something?" Lightning struck Haha in an attempt to stop the dispute among his companions. He stopped in front of the paladin and subconsciously opened his wing hands to block John's figure.

"Don't let him fool you! Lightning! His smell is as pungent as the putrid stench from the sewers on a warm sunny day. I could smell his evil magic from the moment he entered our tent."

Lightning looked at Jurgen for help. The dwarf druid thought for a moment, shook his head, stood side by side with Lightning, and stood in front of the paladin Karl.

"No, there is indeed a slight elemental imbalance in his body, but it is far from the level that needs to be worried. You are making too much of a fuss, Karl."

John was actually a little surprised. After performing the Wiltis ritual, he had undergone blood transfusion, and under various detection spells, he showed the nature of a warlock's wild magic power. John originally thought that the paladin's disgust was more due to the concealed appearance and the unexplainable spiritual intuition. However, the paladin named Karl directly pointed out "evil" instead of "chaos".

John is a warlock, and his own overlord, the Crimson God Veltis, is an absolute paragon of evil. His body transformed by the crimson spell is soaked in crimson power. It is not surprising that he is called evil, but the paladin Karl can point out the hidden divine power.

Is he born with keen senses? In other words, he is also a loved one who is paid attention to by the gods.

These don't matter for the time being, now is the time to perform on your own.

John Crenzo patted Lightning's shoulder to express his gratitude. He stepped forward, stood up, and bowed humbly to the cold-eyed paladin.

"First meeting, distinguished paladin, I am John Crenzo, a warlock..."

"John? That sounds like a fake name," Carl interrupted sarcastically.

John smiled, a proud yet gentle smile on his face.

"I swear by my mother's name that this is my true name. I also swear by the gods I believe in that Crenzo is my true last name."

Carl was speechless. As a devout paladin, he knew how solemn this oath was.

"As for the evil that your Excellency spoke out... I would like to thank you instead. This may have solved the problem that has confused the Crenzo family for many years. That is the source of our warlock bloodline. Because of Crenzo's habit of hiding in the world, the family's historical inheritance After being cut off for a while, our origins cannot be explored. Forgetting our ancestors is undoubtedly a scar of shame. But now, I probably have a direction..."

"Krenzo's power comes from evil. Perhaps my ancestors contracted an old red dragon who was extremely evil, which made the warlock Crenzo flow with evil blood. I am extremely sorry that it has caused the vigilance of the Holy Knight."

"If it is true that my evil bloodline has caused you discomfort, I am willing to leave immediately."

John raised his head and saw the blond paladin's expression as if he was eating shit.

Karl would not believe any of it. Paladins trusted their intuition rather than reason. Their muscles were usually more developed than their brains. The bloodline comes from the red dragon, bullshit. Karl didn't believe this, but he didn't have the relevant knowledge reserves or the corresponding eloquence to refute John.

And John's goal was achieved. His rhetoric seemed to be trying to convince the Paladin, but in fact, Karl's opinion was not important. Dungeon adventure is a team activity. His words were addressed to Lightning and Jurgen.

The warlock noticed the urgency in the words of the ranger and the druid to explore the dungeon. They needed to form a team as soon as possible, just as John expected. His seemingly reasonable explanation had already impressed Lightning and Jurgen, and John's deliberately polite conversation had already drawn them to his side as early as the beginning of the contact.

Karl also noticed this, that's why his expression was so aggrieved. It turns out that this paladin is very good at observing people's emotions. After noticing that the gazes of the ranger and the druid became firm, he compromised a little.

"Well, if you are all willing to believe him, then take what he says to be true."

"I am Carl Demiras, Paladin. I agree with you to join our team, but there is one condition."

Paladin Karl took out a holy emblem with the image of an octagonal sun from the pocket on his side and placed it in his raised palm.

"My condition is that, under the watchful eyes of the greatest notary, Mithras, the god of sun and judgment, you will swear an oath of non-treachery to me, the sorcerer John Crenzo. Under the unquenchable flame, We must work together, help each other, support each other, and not betray each other. This oath takes effect during the exploration of the underground city of Optitdam. Whether it is you or me, if you dare to pierce the other side with a sword, Back, let your hands be stained with the blood of betrayal, Mithras of the Sun and Judgment will give us the punishment we deserve."

Carl's tone became excited, his eyes fixed on John with wild fire in them.

"The sun will ignite the betrayer's skin and burn out every drop of water in his body until his bones turn into ashes, and the burning pain will never end."

"John, prove to me that you are trustworthy. I will also put aside my prejudices and stop any harm for you."

The reflective surface of the Holy Emblem lying in his palm shone brightly in the sunlight, and the divine power contained in it made John's eyes sting.

He means it.

John looked to both sides, Jurgen and Lightning were also looking at him expectantly.

"We took the same oath as you, so that's okay."

No, it's not nothing.

"The God of the Sun, the eternal wheel of light, the judge, Mithras. The oaths sworn under his witness must be carried out. He is not the God of contracts, but the God of judgment, precisely because he will not hesitate to punish anyone who breaks the oath. Divine punishment values ​​the punishment of breach of contract more than the observance of the contract.”

After hearing John's story, Lightning shivered with fear.

"I thought it was just a formality... like claiming to wake up early every day."

Cal glared at the arakkoa.

"Lightning, I never lie or tell lies. However, I didn't expect you to understand the Mithras of the Sun so well. Since you understand it, you must also know the consequences of breaking the oath. What about it, do you want to take the oath? John.”

It is somewhat unpleasant to bear the powerful oath of a god for nothing.

John stretched out his hand and covered the sun emblem.

"Of course, I swear an oath of non-betrayal with Karl Demiras, Lightning Spear, and Jurgen Mercer, under the witness of the great notary, Mithras, the god of the sun and judgment."

With divine justice, this team will be more stable than any official organization. John exhaled quietly so he wouldn't have to worry about the incongruity of betrayal. Although the punishment is severe, the restrictions are relatively broad. As long as the interests of fellow adventurers are not harmed, there is no feeling of restraint. Moreover, the power of the gods eliminated barriers. John noticed that although Karl who took back the Holy Emblem still maintained a hostile look, he did not resist the team atmosphere created by Lightning. John guessed that the Paladin had reduced himself from a life-and-death enemy to the level of a hateful person. Under the constraints of the divine contract, he would not do anything to him.

"Then, our adventurer team is established at this moment!" Following the exaggerated scream of the Crow Man, the four people clapped, driven by lightning.

"We should have a unique team name." Lightning suggested.

"Team Sun! We are united by the oath of the sun, and of course we must quote his name!" The Paladin never gives up the opportunity to praise his god.

"Agree." Druid doesn't hate sunlight.

"No." Haha, a Veltis magician from the Dark City joined the "Sun Team", and John only felt uncomfortable and weird. Besides, wouldn't you look like a fool if you let the Paladin do what you want? He gestured with his eyes to Lightning to back him up.

"I also think the Suns team is a good name."

"..."

Within three minutes of signing the oath of non-treachery, John Crenzo felt betrayed.

Mithras didn't feel it.

"Very good, we are the Suns team." Karl waved his fist excitedly, as if he had won a holy war.

John didn't pay attention to the activities of the Paladin. All his attention was focused on the dark birdman.

"Lightning..." John's eyes widened, and his mental power used his magic power to powerfully intimidate the Crow Man, "Are your heads broken? How do we look like the sun?"

Intimidate fails on lightning saving throw. His eyes flinched, his hands were held in front of his chest in a defensive posture, and his body leaned back slightly.

"Well, don't be angry, John, I think it's pretty good to have faith as our name."

"Huh? Sun, is the sun your belief? That is other people's belief! Don't you have any opinion at all!"

"What does John think our name should be?"

"Crimson...that's not important! We are already the Sun Team. I hope you can face yourself, Lightning." John turned around, showing a look of heartfelt regret.

"But, my faith is indeed the sun." Lightning sounded confused, really thinking about what he had done wrong.

John was stunned.

"Isn't the god that you wingmen believe in the god of storm and destruction?"

"Most winged people do, but the arakkoa believe in the sun, not the embodied god with the sun priesthood. We arakkoa all believe in the pure sun and worship the positive energy that nourishes all things in the world."

This entered John Camp's knowledge blind spot. He did not expect that the neutral evil winged race actually had followers of the sun, or an entire arakkoa clan.

Lightning continued to introduce, "The sun is the spiritual symbol inherited by the Crow people. According to legend, when our Winged people relatives were still chasing storms, my people had fallen into fanatical belief in the sun. We are the Winged people closest to the sun, so the sun Burnt our feathers black and melted our wings, allowing the arakkoa to set their feet on the earth and share the blessings of the sun with all things."

"It's... incredible."