I Create Heretics for You

13

Without saying anything else Mike walks out of the alleyway from which the two of them were in and Mike walks out into the middle of the street. He looks around a bit for something that will make him stand above the people just a bit so that they can see him once he starts making heretics. Mike finds exactly what he was looking for as it is a giant barrel against the wall of a building which Mike can probably stand on if there is something inside it.

Mike moves over and tries standing on it to see if it will support his weight which it does. So Mike stands on it as he steels himself for what is to come.

Synthia was extremely confused about what is happening and what Mike's plan is but as she sees him put on his mask she realizes that he took it off of her when she was distracted by what he was going to do.

'That bastard I swear I am gonna eradicate you after this' Synthia promises to herself as she sees him wink at him before he fully puts on his mask

'Hm... how to best go about this?' Mike thinks as he ponders to himself

'Ah this will work'

[Ice blast]

36

Mike has taken 5 frost damage

'Ow' mike thinks as his hands go numb from casting the spell

Now Mike cast the spell in the air causing the people on the busy street to stop moving and slightly back away from Mike for fear of being attacked by him. There had been plenty of cases of rouge magic users attacking regular people just for the fun of it so they were defiantly wary that Mike was one such person.

"Now now I am not gonna hurt anyone I just wanted to get your attention," Mike's voice rings out quite loudly as he was circulating his mana to his throat so that he could be heard over the remaining noise

"The reason I have brought your attention to me is to tell you all of the goddess Drohdia," Mike says first and foremost

That one statement causes a lot of people to start moving again as they think that he is one of those religious preachers that were going to spread the will and glory of their god to others. However, Mike was not finished in fact he was far from it.

"I am going to be talking about the goddess Drohdia and how her followers have been abusing their authority to gain money from hard-working people such as yourselves and using them for their own benefits at your expense," Mike shouts out loud

That statement dumbfounded most of the people there including Synthia as she hears Mike's words. This one statement brought in those people who were about to move on down the road and ignore him before.

This was Mike's plan, when there were no non-believers it would be best to just make some non-believers by spreading lies

"Their higher figures preach their god and her miracles but have you ever seen those said miracles? Where are they if their god is so benevolent as they claim to be then there should be more of them helping you all by healing your sick, feeding the poor, and helping others through actions and not through words written on paper" Mike goes on

As Mike says this the amulet around his neck starts glowing a faint purple color that flickers in and out of existence as Mike goes on. All the while more and more people start muttering amongst themselves as Mike continues as this once-bustling street was now captivated by Mike's words.

"Think about it all these churches of gods always ask for gold which is a bit suspicious if you ask me I mean why do they need so much of it?" Mike asks prompting more mutterings from the people

"I understand that they need to pay for certain things such as upkeep and maintenance of their churches but think about it if all of you here just gave one gold coin to the church of Drohdia they would be gaining more than 100 gold pieces from just those here right now"

"What would they do with this money? Last I checked the church of Drohdia did not need to pay taxes unlike all of you hard-working people. So where does the money go then?" Mike asks once more to the crowd

Eventually, a voice from the crowd rings out from the mutter people.

"Where does it go?" The person asks

'Perfect' Mike thinks as he smiles from beneath the mask as he knew he had captivated the crowd with his words

"That is simple to answer my friends the money all goes to the higher up of the church to spend as they please while getting fat on the money of those who they took money from with promises of salvation," Mike goes on

"How do you know this?" Another voice rings out

'Alright time to do this'

"Simple at the grand church of Drohdia I was a just a simple worker there who was trying to make ends met and help my sick mother at the time as a cleaner there washing their marble floors, busting their paintings, and doing many more tasks that they asked of me," Mike says

17

With the roll of the dice, people start muttering to themselves as the sob story that Mike is about to lay on them.

"Friends before I continue onward with my story I must tell you what I am going to be telling you is not for the faint of heart," Mike says prompting the crowd to stop talking amongst themselves and listen in as they wish to hear

"As I said before I worked there in their grand church as a cleaner doing the tasks they assigned me, but it was one fateful day that brought me here to where I stand now," Mike goes on

"One morning I had been told to take care of emptying the trash in all the rooms of the church and burn them outside with the other garbage. As I was moving through the rooms I took out all of the trash I found, but as I went into the head bishops room I found a paper in the bin that shocked me to the very core as I had stumbled upon something that I should never have," Mike says pausing to add some sort of dramatic effect and to make it seem he is recalling what he saw

"I-i saw written on a piece of paper... the records of funds that the church had received and how it was spent with most of the funds going to high ranking individuals in different churches, orphanages, and other institutions. That itself is not suspicious but the next piece of paper I found sealed my fate as I read a letter from the head bishop thanking a well-known slave trader in the region for stopping by to spend some time with his products as he put it," Mike says

17

'Huh another one' Mike thinks to himself

Gasps ring out from the crowd at Mike's words and the dimly flickering amulet was now glowing strongly in a faint purple color.

Murmuring comes forth once more amongst the people.

"What happened next?" Someone asks as they had been effectively caught up in the story that Mike made

"Next the head bishop came into the room and saw me holding the paper in my hand reading it after that he had the guards of the church bring me into the dungeon beneath the church where they punished the evildoers and naysayers of their god Drohdia"

More murmuring.

"What proof do you have of what they did?" Someone asks from within the crowd

"Simple how else could I get these?" Mike says as he takes off his shirt revealing gasps from the crowd as they looked at him

8 and 16

The 16 stays as Mike reveals his scar-ridden body as a gift from the three individuals who constantly tortured and regenerated his body back underground when he was their prisoner.

"This is my proof to you all of the deeds of which those of the church of Drohdia did unto me and robbed years of my life while tormenting my body and mind in the name of their god just to silence me," Mike goes on while also thinking 'Since when did I have muscles?' as he looked at his slightly toned body

With this, the dull glowing amulet has now shone a bright purple hue in color from what is going on.

"I was only 9 at the time I was taken in by the church and during that time my sick mother passed away wondering where her child was, if he was safe, and why he left her. When in reality her child was kept from her by the very church that preached life and love for all," Mike says causing some sobs to be heard from the people in the street

"Now do not shed those tears for me as I do not need them as I have already shed tears for days and nights for my lost mother and my lost years of life before I was released by the church because the head bishop's plights were brought to light," Mike says

"What happened after that?" Someone asks from the crowd

"After my release, I was given 10 gold coins. 10 gold coins for the loss of 8 years of my life and the loss of my mother! What else could I do, but bring to light what happened to me in the hopes that others who had similar experiences would come forth as well to speak out against the church of Drohdia. So that you all could know what is going on with the church!" Mike shouts out with gusto trying to stir up the hate and negative feelings of the crowd as best as possible by spinning some whimsical tales

His words did have the desired effect as the crowd started getting angry with the church of Drohdia that the people started shouting their agreement with Mike's words.

Synthia who was in the alleyway was getting scared from what she was seeing as these normally peaceful people were now out for blood for the bishops, nuns, and priests of her church. At first, when Mike was speaking she had wanted to rush up there and drag him down for soiling her goddess great name and deeds. However, she stopped once she realized what Mike was doing she realized what he was doing was extremely effective in making these people go against her church so she did nothing to see how things would play out.

She never imagined though that things would escalate so quickly with just mere words alone to get the crowd of regular people in this state in the span of fewer than thirty minutes.

"Now then if you all here wish to help me with my fight against the church I have an offer to you all," Mike says instantly quieting down the crowd of rowdy people

"I have gotten wind of a secret church here in this city in the slums and tomorrow I wish to expose their secrets for the entirety of the city to see before I destroy it myself!" Mike proclaims

Dead silence remains from Mike's claim of destroying a church. This was something that they had never thought of being allowed to do in their society, overthrowing a church.

"Fear not my friends for I will not be undertaking this task alone as a fallen paladin of the church of Drohdia will be assisting me in this fight as they feel the same way as me. His vocal cords were ripped out from his throat to prevent him from speaking out about what he found while serving the church and through that act, this noble soul fell from the churches grace and from the god which he once served," Mike says trying to get the crowd going again

3

'Shit'

"Where is this fallen paladin you claim of then? Bring him out!" Someone shouts from the crowd

"Very well then can I ask you to make some room for him so that he may approach," Mike asks the crowd prompting them to make a path

Synthia freezes up at what is happening before her as the crowd just opened up a path up to Mike. Mike seeing her freeze up helps her out by expending a bit of mana to make a small flash of light causing her to break out of her freeze.

Seeing as she had no way out of this she moves out of the alleyway and through the crowd to stand by Mike.

"My friend here was hiding now to ensure my safety as I am unfortunately unable to defend myself properly from assassins of the church of Drohdia that are ever wary of what I have been attempting to do," Mike explains

14

The crowd murmur amongst themselves with phrases such as "How dare they" "Should be eradicated" and other such phrases of enmity against the church of Drohdia were said that caused Synthia felt extremely uncomfortable as if she were being stared down by a pack of bloodthirsty undead.

"Now then my friends we both shall return here tomorrow morning with evidence of their deeds and shall give physical proof that the church Drohdia should be eradicated from the city!" Mike declares as he puts up his fist with his shirt balled up in it

This sets the crowd into a frenzy as they show their support for Mike and his fake cause, with this much enmity the amulet around Mike's neck changes into a dark violet color. Mike gets down from the barrel causing the people to surge towards him and give their blessings to his cause against the church.

"You really know how to get a crowd rowdy now but... are you really okay with this?" Abbey asks Mike

'I need the exp so I don't mind that much' Was his only response as he moves through the crowd with Synthia following behind with complicated feelings lingering within herself