“Alright, let's say I become your lapdog. When exactly would my punishment be over, there would have to be a set goal.” Locke questioned.

“I haven't fully decided on that part yet, but I assure you it will be reasonable.”

“Of course it will be.” Locke replied sarcastically “What happens now?”

“Consulting with the assassins guild comes first. Need to make sure this can work. Until then my guards will be confining you to a guest room instead of a jail cell. I apologize in advance but there is only so much special treatment we can give before god intervenes on our actions.”

Just by the expression on Vincent's face, Locke could tell that the apology was fake, but he didn't seem to be lying about God intervening.

“Sounds good Vincent, can we get moving on this plan? I don't want to be here all day.”

Vincent nodded and then knocked on the door to have the guard let him out. Not long afterward Locke was escorted to a bathroom and instructed to take a bath while they cleaned his gear. There was no reason to object to this as he was filthy and they were nice enough to give him some privacy.

The next destination was his guest room if you could call it that. The room was actually a prettied up solitary confinement. The room was small. It barely could fit the bedroll that sat on top of a wooden slab. At least it was clean and devoid of dust or foul smell. This meant the room was either cleaned regularly and unused, or they rushed to clean it on Vincent's orders. He saw down on the makeshift bed and began to ponder.

I'm very curious if Vincent really couldn't assign me to a proper guest room because the system flagging me as a criminal; Or if was it actually his hatred towards disciples. I expected the one week punishment I read on the forums to be standard....turns out that was not the case. There is no way I could have predicted this outcome from my actions earlier today.....it's actually kind of fun.

Without anything better to do Locke started to practice both his mana control and senses while he waited. The progress was slow, but it will be worth it in the end. Roughly six hours passed by before the door opened again. Vincent stood in the entrance looking down at Locke who was in a meditative position.

“You look rather comfortable, I was worried you would not appreciate your accommodations.” Vincent smiled.

Locke stood up and stretched. “Somehow I doubt that..... Wasn't expecting your return to be so quick, seems like you're excited to get this plan in motion.”

Vincent laughed. “Of course, I have been waiting for an opportunity like this for a while. With the recent explosion in chosen population we have been struggling with what to do about these con artists and criminals.”

“There are not normally this many disciples of god?”

“No, it was uncommon to run into them before, but not rare enough to where the regular citizens wouldn't know about them. Nobody can figure out what God intends to do by sending this many chosen to our lands. My best guess is something big is going to happen soon that will require chosen to prevent it. The issue is there are many chosen running around that have zero respect for our laws or my people. What can people like this do to help? They only seem to care about themselves.”

“It's good to question things that don't make sense, however sometimes there are no correct answers....especially when it comes to god.”

“Wise words. Several centuries of recorded history and philosophy have not been able to determine god's plan. If even famous historians and philosophers cannot find the answer what could someone like me possibly come up with.”

Locke nodded in agreement.

“How about we take this discussion to a better location. No offense this guest room is kind of cramped.”

He was escorted back to the interrogation room before they continued their discussion.

“I was able to make a deal with the assassins guild, they were even nice enough to give me discounted rates. This type of treatment is rare, it will only happen when they have a similar idea in mind. Looks like they were already looking for a way to deal with the chosen I planned to target.” Vincent laughed.

“Why would the assassins guild care about that? I figured they would be an organization that only cared about money? Also, how were they able to give a discount? Wouldn't god restrict them?”

“Seems like they have fewer restrictions on them than I thought. Or they know a way around them, I didn't bother to question it. As for them only caring about money that is not exactly correct, but not far off the mark either.”

Vincent shifted in his seat a bit before continuing.

“Their guild will generally not accept jobs without proper justification behind them unless a large sum of money is presented. For example, it would be impossible for someone to afford a contract that would result in my death. The assassins appreciate the balance of power just as much as any of the other guilds and do not want to disrupt it.”

“Taking those words at face value it appears that the chosen are starting to become a threat to the balance of power on this continent. Thus the assassins are starting to recruit disciples of god as assassins to maintain that balance.”

“Correct, my focus however is dealing with the group that you encountered at the cathedral. They call themselves The Shifting Coin. Due to how many members this clan has their influence over the other chosen is quite strong. I wouldn't say that they are the strongest, however, the other large clans choose to ignore their crimes.”

Locke stood up from his seat and shouted “Are you serious? Nobody stands up to them when they are threatening new players?”

“Sorry, could you repeat that in the common language? I didn't understand you.”

Locke sat down and without shouting. “Oh sorry, I was questioning why nobody stands up to them. Threatening new chosen that arrive in this city is disgusting.”

”I wouldn't say nobody does, but their numbers are too few to make a difference. Like I said before most chosen seem to only care about themselves.”

“If numbers are the problem then why do you think this assassin and I will be able to take them on?”

“The guardsmen that arrested you informed me that you were pretty strong for a chosen. If utilized properly there is a way.”

“Based on our previous conversations most likely our assassinations will be happening within the city walls while your guardsman clear out of the area. Are you planning to have us kill key members as a warning?”

Vincent stood up and started pacing again.

“A warning would be something we could easily do, but I plan for something bigger. Currently, the majority of you chosen will not stand up to criminals inside or outside of our city due to their influence.” Vincent grinned.

If this is going where I think it's going.....this will be a lengthy process. Should I turn him down?

“I plan to make you a symbol for other chosen to rise up against them. It might be difficult and you might fail, but honestly, you don't have much choice in the matter. If you choose not to do this I am going to banish you from this city.”

Shit of course it would be something like that, no backing out now. With the NPC's being able to assign the punishments they can be better or worse. Banishment is much worse than a week in prison where I could just practice my mana related passives.

This is the only starting city of this continent. I don't know how strong a player needs to be before they move onto the next big city. Also what if this city contains methods to learn more advanced sigils but the next one does not. I don't want to take that risk. The only upside here is that he seems quite desperate to have me take on this so called punishment quest. That means I still have some leverage.

“Can you clarify exactly when my punishment would be over?”

“Yes of course, your punishment will be deemed complete when you weaken The Shifting Coin's influence. At least enough to where they cannot openly extort the chosen within my city. Or half of their members leave the clan.”

“Fair enough, I have one final question and some conditions before I agree to this crazy scheme.”

Vincent stopped pacing and glared. “Do you really think you're in any position to bargain right now?”

“Yes actually I do, banishment from this city would only be a minor setback for me. This isn't the only city on this continent and I am strong enough to make my way to them. Especially if I enlist help from other chosen. Also based on how quickly you got the ball rolling on this plan of yours it looks like you personally believe I am the right man for the job. My assumption is you don't have many strong criminal chosen that you have similar leverage on like me. With how much you hate chosen it is reasonable to assume that you don't trust us, making me the perfect candidate.”

Vincent slammed the table causing it to crack. “Fine let's start with that question before you discuss your terms, make no mistake though you are not irreplaceable.

Locke almost jumped out of his chair into a defensive stance when Vincent slammed the table. The only thing that kept Locke from doing so was that he believed the system would prevent Vincent from attacking him. God would restrict him after all because there was no threat....or at least he hoped.

“Something has been bothering me about this whole thing, Why can't you just recruit chosen as guards to stop all of this. It would save you a lot of work in the long run.”

Vincent's expression twitched. “Recruiting chosen as guards is something we're already planning on doing. God stops us from doing so in the short term, the requirements to assign the role as guard to a chosen is extremely high. There is not a single disciple of god that has met those requirements, not even close.”

Vincent stopped and looked down at Locke with a grin. “Now what are those conditions.”

“My two conditions are to restore my missing arm and provide me with books that allow me to learn more advanced magic.”