The Quest (Dark Paladin Book #2) LitRPG Series

by Vasily Mahanenko

  Verdict not confirmed, case investigation incomplete

  Case “Moral Degradation” is relegated to the nearest Judge. Remaining verdict error limit: 99

  The world exploded in blinding white shards. The left side of my body became both numb and fiery hot, making me scream with torturing pain. My legs went out from under me; I crashed down on the pavement and rolled around trying to beat down the flames. The pain was so extreme that I lost all self-awareness.

  “So in addition to everything else you are a Dark one?” It felt like I was burning for an interminable time before it all ended, leaving behind just a phantom of the pain. Breathing heavily, I realized that I was next to Samantha, who was frozen in place like a stone statue. We were both lying on the ground. “Get up‒ enough of soiling the title of Judge.”

  Shaking off the residue of pain I stood up sharply. A leprechaun was standing next to me, looking at my dirty armor in disgust. In his hands he was twirling a small object; the Book of Knowledge identified it as Samantha’s cross on a chain. In her pleadings the woman had pulled it off and shoved it into my hand as a bribe.

  “It’s amazing how many true believers there are among prostitutes.” The leprechaun followed my gaze and relaxed his fingers; the cross and chain fell to the ground. “A common cross pendant turned into a source of Light and nearly sent for respawn a Dark one playing a Judge. Congratulations! You failed this case most spectacularly.”

  “Would you perhaps at least introduce yourself?” I did not like the tone of the leprechaun as he started this dialogue. Of course, kudos to him for taking the cross away and all. I am filled with gratitude and such, yet my pride would not allow me to forgive someone openly mocking me even so.

  “Of course I will‒ what else?” The leprechaun pulled out a vial from virtual space and sprayed the air around him, grimacing in displeasure all the while. The fragrance of lilacs floated on the air. “Judge Redel at your service. I hope you will take care to clean your armor? Well, do it later, as now we need to deal with poor Samantha. Aren’t you a hero: just barely showed up in the city and already found yourself a prostitute and sentenced her to death.What did she do‒ deny you service?”

  Without waiting for me to respond, Redel approached the immobilized Samantha, donned rubber gloves, pulled out a small pair of pincers and lifted the woman’s left eyelid. She did not even twitch.

  “Well, well, well. A procurer, thirteen years in the profession, lately business has not been too good, not making enough money to get a dose… Where’s the interrogation record?”

  A shining scroll appeared out of the air. The leprechaun perused it quickly and stared at me in amazement:

  “And that’s all you found out from the suspect?!”

  Redel was obviously used to asking rhetorical questions. Without waiting for me to answer again, he started his own examination:

  “Tell us, madam, how many minors do you have in your care and where are they now?”

  “Thirty two.” The prostitute regained just enough mobility to be able to answer. “They are locked in the brothel’s basement. I need to feed them at least once a day, or else they’ll croak.”

  “Who else knows about them other than you?”

  “Only Rick does, but if they were to croak he’d just find new ones. He was never worried by the bodies.”

  “And the keys to the basement are…?”

  “In my pocket. I don’t trust anyone, so I carry them with me at all times. If something happens to me, at least I’ll not die alone.”

  “Where do we find Rick?”

  “He spends his evenings in the ‘Lush Garden’ with his gang.”

  “Now that’s really it,” the leprechaun said, pleased; then looked at Samantha, pulled out a small vial, put a drop from it on the woman and commanded: “Die!”

  Her eyes opened wide as she tried to scream but failed: her vocal cords did not work anymore. I grimaced from the sight: the NPC started imploding as if dissolving from inside.

  “Since you are new, I’ll give you a couple of free lessons.” The leprechaun was not very original, and started with his advice, paying no attention to what was going on. He bent down to the remains and pulled a bunch of keys from the dead NPC’s pocket. “Lesson number one: for a Judge all cases are equal. There cannot be a case that you like or don’t like. Emotions have no place in this. All the cases need to be investigated most thoroughly. Any error will result in a fine. The Game doesn’t care about the kids locked in a basement‒so what if they die?‒ but the Judge must do his job thoroughly. Forget the distributed judiciary system. From now on you are a Judge in the Game! You are the investigator, the prosecutor, the attorney, the Judge and, well, an executioner if need be. We have a singular right to judge. Lesson number two: if new facts appear in the course of investigation, you need to initiate an additional case and investigate it as well. You found out about Rick. Why did you decide to pretend that this did not concern you? That’s why the Game punished you, and not because you decided to sentence the prostitute to death. Even if you were to kill her without any trial at all, no one would say a word to you. Within the Sanctuary players are completely safe, and the police turn a blind eye to things like that. If need be, the Game will simply generate new residents. Oh, and lesson three: cut that out – all those high-flown statements – “in the name of justice”, “the sentence is final” and such. It is enough if you say them in your mind – no reason to entertain the public like a clown. Those phrases belong in the courthouse, not in a dark alleyway. And last: if you decide the person should die – kill them yourself, don’t wait for headhunters.”

  A street cleaner slowly approached us and began putting Samantha’s remains away into a trash bag. The NPC’s face showed no emotion, as if he were dealing with a pile of leaves.

  “Here’s a good remedy I am happy to recommend.” Redel showed me the vial he had used on the prostitute. “Alrian oil. Dissolves bones and tendons and pumps the body full of adrenalin, so that the victim does not lose consciousness and its heart only stops half an hour later. Even now Samantha is alive and feeling all the aspects of her unenviable situation. Criminals should be punished, but no one said the punishment should be painless. She tortured the minors, so now she may suffer herself. In this world Dark ones need to generate emotions themselves to replenish their Energy. In this respect, just in every other, actually, Judges’ hands are not tied.”

  “What do you mean by ‘in every other’?” I caught the phrase, but the answer came to me unbidden: “So it means that in the Game there are no regulations and laws that we may follow? Only the internal feeling of being right? But this is complete anarchy!”

  “You only figured that out now? The Game doesn’t care about any laws players invent for themselves to fit their needs; all it cares about is self-preservation. Judges have the right to judge in whichever way they please. Why do you think I am sitting here in the Sanctuary? It’s not just me – the entire Panel of Judges of Earth would not dare take a step out of Zurich!”

  “Because a Judge is target number one for any player,” I grumbled heavily, feeling just how unenviable my situation was. “Since we have the right to judge in line with our current perception of the world, we become extremely undesirable figures. Because today we may think one way, tomorrow another, the next day something else, and every time we sincerely believe in what we are thinking. No one knows what to expect from us, what will wander into our heads… But then what does the Emperor confirm? What for? Or is it all fake?”

  “The Emperor checks whether a Judge sincerely believes his verdict is just, whether he sincerely believes that the punishment is commensurate to the crime, as well as whether the Judge took into account all the circumstances when delivering the verdict, as it was in this case. If Samantha had not mentioned Rick, your investigation would have been deemed successful. So… I took the keys, tomorrow morning I will generate a quest – send some young players to release the kids. As for you – it is preferable
for you not to show up in my office tomorrow. As you understand, the life of Judges is not easy in our world, so without a high-level protector it is not a good idea to advertise what you do. Level up some, find someone who will stand up for you; then you will be able to present yourself to the world as a Judge. Registrars will keep silent; nobody else on Earth knows who you are.”

  “Some players saw me questioning Samantha.”

  “You’ll have to deal with them yourself. If you want, find them and make arrangements. Or forget about it if that’s what you prefer. That’s for you to decide. But I do need to assign some kind of case to you. Let it be the one about the stolen pendant. There is a similar quest‒ we’ll use it to cover up the investigation. Go to the bank tomorrow morning; I will leave an envelope for you under a new name with a description of the case and the quest. What is your name now?”

  “Evgeniy Frolov,” I responded. The new name to be used with NPCs had been assigned to me in the Town Hall together with the “legend” for life on Earth. From now on I was a fitness instructor at one of the gyms in Moscow. There was no reason to even bother to remember my new name; while talking to NPCs “Evgeniy Frolov” would transform into “Paladin Yaropolk” and vice versa. In this sense the Game took great care to preserve the NPCs minds: to them my game name would have sounded silly and strange.

  “Fine. What else? Oh, of course! I forgot to tell you one of the most important things: stop judging NPCs! The teachers were supposed to have told you: anything NPCs do is predicated by the algorithms of the Game and a Judge does not need to bother with them at all. Even if they were to all exterminate each other, we care only about the players and minions. But still, if you decide to level up using NPCs, do it skillfully and professionally. Remember why you initiated a case against the prostitute: because you decided that she was a criminal. You evaluated her in accordance with your moral system. As a starting point that’s fine. For small cases that are judged correctly the Game will enable you to increase Energy, but that only works in the beginning. And don’t forget the limit of 10 concurrent cases. The more you disapprove, the more you suffer. For example: is that young man not committing a wrongdoing?”

  Redel pointed out a young guy jaywalking. The NPC had supposed that in the falling darkness no one would notice his transgression, but my view differed: a message on initiation of a new case flashed in front of me immediately. Redel hemmed: he had expected my reaction.

  “That’s exactly the situation against which I am trying to warn you – you should not let your internal self control you. Jaywalking, being noisy at night, flashy clothing, aggressive behavior – you should dispense with internal evaluations. Every time you disapprove of an NPC, the Game perceives this as a signal to open a case. It’s more complicated with players. I’ll tell you about that later, after we finish the case with the pendant. Let’s see how good you are at learning lessons. Perhaps Koni was too hasty when he sent you to me.”

  Seven hours later I was sitting on a bench in a Zurich courtyard and contemplating. I really wanted to find a nice bed and get some sleep, but life was conspiring against me. Redel was right: the problem with an internal assessment of whether others’ actions were right or wrong was real and something needed to be done about it. I punished the jaywalker with a couple of days of community service and received a unit of Energy. The verdict was deemed correct. Then there was an arrogant woman who pushed me because I was standing in her way. Again community service and a unit of Energy for me. A young girl with a dog who crapped on the sidewalk. Same thing. A loudly laughing couple, a group of slightly tipsy friends. A punk, striding peacefully somewhere. A policeman smoking on duty… The moment I thought that an NPC was doing something wrong, the Game instantly initiated a case which needed to be immediately investigated.

  Another problem appeared that I had not thought of previously: correct verdicts increased my Energy level by twelve units, yet the bar was not even close to being full. As the interface informed me, the game world “Earth” had practically no available Energy! It would take a week to reach full level with the crumbs that were available from the surroundings! In the Academy I was used to relying on shields that were active all the time, and now I felt unprotected and vulnerable. Something needed to be done about that. It was impossible to continue on elixirs alone, I needed regeneration. I hoped Gromana would explain how Dark ones survive in the Light worlds. I did not feel like continuously torturing NPCs, extracting emotions from them as it had happened with Samantha.

  “Would you like some coffee?” A sweet voice jerked me out of my slumber. I had fallen asleep unawares. “It’s cool; you’ve been sitting here all night and must be chilled.”

  A huge woolly sweater was standing next to me; above it was a lovely face framed in blond hair. Smiling, the blue-eyed charmer extended me a cup from which the exhilarating fragrance of freshly made coffee was floating.

  “Warm yourself! It’s fresh here in the mornings.”

  “I do love coffee.” I beamed, took the cup and tensed. The girl was perfect. Her appearance was so close to my ideal of beauty that there was no doubt: our meeting was no accident. Particularly since the girl was an NPC and spoke Russian to me.

  “How long have you been in Zurich, and where are you from?”The girl’s voice was so sweetly delicate it made her even more attractive.

  “From Moscow.” The red flags in my mind were flapping madly. “Thanks for the coffee, but I have to go. It has been a pleasure to meet you.” I slowly retreated from the girl.

  “Helen!” The girl extended her hand, not in the least embarrassed. “We have not introduced ourselves yet. And what is your name?”

  “Good bye!” I ignored her hand, put the cup on the nearest bench and quickly left the courtyard. I heard a disappointed sigh behind me, and it took me an effort to not look back. The girl was really good, but I valued my own hide more.

  Avoiding crowded locations since I did not want to incur more cases, I went to see the archivist Taleem. Before meeting Dolgunata or Gromana I needed to research something in the Sanctuary Library.

  “How can I help the new player?” Taleem was a short and plump warlock. He continuously adjusted his glasses that kept sliding to the tip of his nose, and periodically cast a menacing glance around the reading room looking for potential disrupters of the order. There were no players among the visitors; just a few random NPCs were leafing through the books and surreptitiously photographing the richly decorated hall. Tourists: what do you do…

  “I would like to receive a quest…” I gave the information letter to the librarian. “I decided to become an explorer, like you.”

  “Explorer, hm,” Taleem looked at the papers briefly and ordered the closest NPC: “Keep an eye over the room. I need to step out.”

  The warlock calmly took off for the internal rooms of the library, inviting me to follow him.

  “Are you interested in something in particular? Or would you prefer to have the Game select a quest for you?” Taleem asked laconically. That is an enviable level of skillful handling of information: clear and to the point. If you need to issue a quest, why waste two hours following the social norms talking about weather and politics? Come, receive, leave. Perfect time management.

  “I have no specific predilections,” I responded cheerfully. “I would prefer something simple to begin with. I would like to understand the principle of exploration quests. The second quest may be more complex.”

  “Second? The librarian was surprised. This is a library, not an almshouse. If you need a second quest, you’ll have to pay.”

  We entered a small room filled with books. Taleem dug into the pile and extracted a dusty tome.

  “Here! That’s your quest. Find out what it is and for what purpose it exists in this world.”

  All I was able to notice before I carelessly took the object in my hands was that the tome was ancient, and that it was made of human skin. As I took the book, I once again felt the whole range of feelings I had e
xperienced yesterday as I encountered a source of Light.

  “Are you Dark then?” the warlock asked in disappointment, releasing me from the hellish flames. He dropped the book back onto the pile “That’s a shame; I would like to have found out about this thing. So, then, take this map, it needs to be completed. You are being sent to Moscow; that’s good‒ this map is from Russia. So, this will be your quest.”

  I took the scroll, unrolled it carefully and stared at the so-called “map”. Some child, on a piece of paper bearing food stains, had scribbled carefully “Home” “Treasure” “Road” and connected them with a dashed line. There were squiggles, presumably indicating trees, and a “scary” skull in the right corner. I stared at the librarian skeptically and waved away the message concerning the quest.

  “The author’s coordinates are on the back of the scroll,” Taleem said as if nothing had happened. “Your task is to find out everything about the “Treasure”. You will receive three additional Book levels as a reward.”

  “But those are just scribbles!” I was unable to contain myself.

  “That’s right. And you will turn them into a serious document. The minds of NPC children are not capable of original creation; the Game uses them to send us riddles. The more careful you are about the details, the more reliable and precise the research result will be. So your disdain for these ‘scribbles’ is inappropriate. For your information, America was discovered that way as well. This completes the mandatory part. Anything else?”

  “Also, I have some questions,” I started habitually.

  “And I have some answers.” Taleem smiled in a predatory manner. “One twentieth of a granis apiece.”

  “Accepted,” I sighed. What do you do – “those who own information, own our granises”, so it made no sense to bargain. “I have two questions. First: what books will help me level up my artifact? Second: what do players receive for successfully completing a Dungeon?”