God's Law

CHAPTER 1 : THE SELLSWORD AND THE PRIESTESS

                      It is the Friday afternoon, Roirohm is looking for work after his one year break being a sellsword. Now, he his looking for jobs to do in a once wealthy town called, the Withered Poppy in the plains of Deadmans State, which in the past was called Blue Poppy when Deadmans State was still part of The Kingdom of Lasure. Unfortunately, Roirohm came to the mercenary guild during close time and its sour his mood a bit. After all, he had travel far from his home which is a cross country trip, even though no payment was needed when he crosses the border between his home country, Sakis Empire to Deadmans State. Gathering all of his remaining optimism, he decided to go look for work at Guild's Public Billboard, which is the last he wanted to do. Being an experienced mercenary, he hates doing jobs from the billboard. While it is free money, as most of the jobs in the billboards are easy and usually pose no risk but for someone like Roirohm, it is not fun. Roirohm have always been an active child. Playing, jumping, climbing and running as hard as he could whenever he got the chance. During his young teen he began to find joy in fighting. Whether it is in a ring or a sparring match, Roirohm will enjoy it to the fullest. He loves the adrenaline flow in his veins during any fight to the point he will laugh, either giving or receiving damage he will laugh uncontrollably. However, desperate times calls for desperate needs, he has to take a job to rent a room at one of the inns and he needs to do it fast as one inn in particular had a beautiful maiden when he was scouting for a place to sleep earlier.

              The billboards are empty, it had nothing, NOTHING that even resemble a job or anything that can be done to earn coins. With all his mood and spirit drain from him, he decided to use the lasts of his coin and his charm to rent a room for the night at the inn where the beautiful maiden was working. He took out his coins and count but before he could do it, he heard a voice coming from behind.

                  "Excuse me, are you perhaps a sellsword?" asked the voice.

             Roirohm turn around and see an old lady wearing a robe from the Panul Conduit. Conduit is a school of thoughts for worshipping of True, the god of Memshyen Nor Rahil. There are five Conduits in the world of Memshyen Nor Rahil and one of the them is Panul. There are other religion which worship other gods and celestial beings but the religion of True is the most popular as it has been around since the beginning of mankind. Other religion became such a minor belief that some Conduit adapt them into their own to attract more followers, though this is not encourage after a Conduit have gain mass followers as it may redirect the prayers to other gods instead of True. Roirohm is not in any Conduit nor religion but he believes True exist but he does not believe in procedures or protocols to prove his faith.

              The old lady who seems to be in her 70s, is smiling in front of Roirohm with her hands clutch together. She bows slightly as a greeting to Roirohm and Roirohm reacts with the same gesture as sign of respect. After the bows, Roirohm sees a young woman behind the old lady. The woman wears the same robe as the old lady but her hood is covering half of her face, her hair is flowing from the right side of the hood's opening. The woman's hair is red with a hint of brown, sort of like a the colour of red chilli. With a partial of her face revealed, not covered by her hood, Roirohm can see she is not happy to see him and he notice the woman is carrying something on her waist under her robe but Roirohm could not tell. If it is a sword, then it should be bigger and wider but its thin, something like a stick. Roirohm dismiss this and answer the old lady's question.

                "Yes, yes I am. The name's Roirohm, call me Roy. At your service." answered Roirohm with a cheerful salute.

               "Thank the True, we have been looking for someone to escort..." the old lady pause and look to the young woman behind her.

               "...my servant to a nearby forest to meet someone. But the guild is close today and nobody want to be hire."

              "Well, I think we can help each other here. So I just need to accompany her right? But how much are you willing to pay though."

              "Is a two thousand coin fine?" the old lady held up a pouch full of coins.

              The hooded woman flinch and Roirohm is shock by the amount of coin the old Conduit lady willing to pay just for an escort job. Usually with that amount of coin, missions involving the eliminating of monster's nest or a bandit camp and enemy outpost. Five thousand and more are usually jobs involving the killing of a high ranking outlaw or the killing of a giant monster. Escort mission however, only pay around 100 or more depending on the distance and the possible risk it may come across during the journey.

               Without hesitation, Roirohm grabbed the pouch and assess the weight by motioning his hand up and down. The pouch seems to be at the right amount but then it felt light like a feather. He looks around at his feet thinking he might have drop it but it was not there, then again he did not hear it drop.

            "I don't need an escort, Priestess Amarah. I can fend for myself and I don't trust him." The hooded woman suddenly spoke.

             Roirohm look up and sees his payment in the hand of the hooded woman. Roirohm did not notice her getting close or even try to grab the pouch. so how did she manage to do get a hold of it, Roirohm thought.

            "These are hard times. You never know the dangers you might face and even the greatest warrior need help from time to time. The money is nothing compare to you and I cannot let you risk your life too much out there and you should know, I promised him." Said the old lady.

            The hooded lady sigh while Roirohm is still confuse on how did he not see the hooded lady grab the pouch from him. He is an old time mercenary, he met foes faster, smarter and stronger than him yet he defeats them all but how come the hooded lady just snatch it from him. Is he getting old? Is he getting blind? Is he not fit for this job anymore? The thought of it kill the man from the inside, but then he remembers something on the Guild's Public Billboard and dismiss his anxiety completely.

            "You're right, it has been so long since that day. Alright, I'll take him with me but only because of your promise." Said the hooded lady.

            "Stay safe young one. You are our only hope." Said the old lady with hopeful tone.

             The hooded lady smiles a little and proceed to lower herself. They both hug and the old lady kiss the forehead of the hooded lady. The old lady walks away and left the hooded lady to Roirohm. The hooded lady looks at Roirohm with a sour expression and hold up his soon to be payment.

            "You will get your money after you've done your job, sellsword". The hooded lady spoke with a strict tone.

            "Understandable, but can I at least have ten coins. I just got here and I haven't got anything to eat." Said Roirohm.

A loud grumble could be heard from the Roirohm's stomach. They both are at an empty street so the sound was clear to the both of them. The hooded lady is already regretting her decision.