Debuff Master

Chapter 525

“There is no guarantee the Marchioni Empire will not torture her until she divulges everything she knows. Should she divulge Your Majesty’s plans, then our relationship with the Marchioni Empire will be in a tricky situation.”

“Oh? Thank goodness you said that!” Siegfried exclaimed after realizing the trouble he could have ended up in.

“Our relationship with the empire is very good right now, and I believe there is no need for us to drive a wedge between us and the empire.”

“Y-Yeah, you’re right.”

Getting on the bad side of Emperor Stuttgart, of all people, was something even Siegfried didn\'t wish to do.

“Then... Should we just kill her here? Let’s say she resisted while we were arresting her, and it was an acci—”

“You scumbag!” Selena retorted after overhearing their conversation. She was in utter disbelief that not only had he been cold this entire time, but he was now thinking of murdering her and covering it up with a lie just so he could monopolize her treasures.

“I’m telling you that you can marry a beautiful and sexy woman like me! Who the hell are you to kill me?! You’re kicking fortune away when you don’t even deserve it! You piece of trash! Human scumbag!”

“Yeah, sure, okay,” Siegfried flatly ignored the thief’s rambling and redirected his attention back to Oscar.

“Your Majesty, she is indeed a criminal, but her skills do deserve recognition.”

“Yeah, I recognize her as a skilled thieving scammer.”

“Who are you calling a scammer?!” Selena retorted.

Siegfried ignored her again and asked, “So, what do you propose, Dame Oscar?”

“Since Your Majesty is not attracted to her in the slightest as a woman, why not just hire her? Then, you could simply tell the empire that you caught her and retrieved the Portrait of Evil Ghost, but you ended up losing her, as she managed to slip away.”

“Hmm...”

“Then Your Majesty could hide what you have plotted while keeping all of the treasures to yourself, and...” Oscar trailed off. Then, she stole a glance at the thief before continuing, “We will be gaining an excellent spy if she joins us.”

“An excellent spy?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. We cannot fool ourselves and claim our kingdom’s information department is strong. But what if we convince her to join our ranks and put her in charge of the information department? I can confidently say that she will greatly contribute to our kingdom.”

“Oh!” Siegfried exclaimed after hearing Oscar’s idea. She was absolutely right. He had no intention whatsoever of marrying Selena, but monopolizing the treasures while making the kingdom grow stronger was definitely tempting.

“You’re right, now that you\'ve mentioned it. Of course, the most convenient method would be to kill her and make sure she’s silenced forever, but her skills are definitely a waste.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Selena felt dizzy listening to the back-and-forth conversation between Siegfried and Oscar. She was the infamous Phantom Thief, yet some lazy pervert had managed to catch her. To make matters worse, the lazy pervert was looking down on her so much that he still could not make up his mind whether to spare her or kill her.

How did she end up in this pitiful state?

Not that Siegfried cared...

“Yeah, I guess that’s better. I don’t feel that good killing her anyway,” Siegfried said.

“Yes, Your Majesty. It is best for you to avoid putting blood on your hands. Also, someone with her skills is quite rare, even among the spies on the continent,” Oscar replied.

“Let’s do that,” Siegfried agreed. Then, he smiled and thought, ‘Oscar’s advice is always worth listening to.’

He reminded himself once again just how important it was for him to be open to the advice of his subjects.

Siegfried walked over to Selena and said, “Hey.”

“...What?”

“Why don’t you work for me?”

It was then...

Kwachik!

Selena’s face crumpled as rage took over her.

***

And that was how Siegfried ended up recruiting the Phantom Thief, Selena, as his subordinate. Siegfried promptly passed her over to Oscar.

“Please take care of her. I’ll have to squeeze her dry until the day she dies,” Siegfried said.

“Yes! Your Majesty!” Oscar replied with a salute.

Meanwhile, Selena could not accept the fact that her offer to marry him had been rejected, and she ended up becoming his subordinate instead.

“Hey! You scumbag! You dare reject me?! What’s so good about you?! Ha?!” she started screaming and hurling curses at him.

It was then...

“Enough. If you dare insult my liege in front of me one more time, then...” Oscar warned icily.

“...”

“I will kill you.”

Oscar’s voice was as cold as ice and as sharp as a blade. Then, she commanded, “Pay your respects to His Majesty, the King. He is now your lord, too.”

“B-But...”

“Think of how you will repay His Majesty for his mercy and grace if you consider yourself human. And stop insulting him, lest you end up committing a grave crime against him.”

Selena zipped her mouth after realizing Oscar was not making empty threats.

‘As expected of Oscar!’ Siegfried exclaimed inwardly and gave a thumbs up after seeing how the arrogant thief was silenced in an instant by Oscar\'s words.

“Then, I will go reclaim the Portrait of Evil Ghost and rescue Marquis Keitel. I’ll leave her and the rest to you, Dame Oscar.”

“Please leave it to me, Your Majesty!”

Siegfried and Hamchi left the inn and went to reclaim the Portrait of Evil Ghost and rescue Marquis Keitel.

***

Two hours later, Siegfried found both the Portrait of Evil Ghost and Marquis Keitel.

Then, Siegfried returned to the Palace of Beauty.

“Your Majesty! Did you manage to apprehend the Phantom Thief?!” Duke Randoll rushed out to greet him. His eyes shot wide open the moment he saw the marquis, unconscious on Siegfried’s back.

Siegfried proceeded to brazenly lie to the duke’s face. “I managed to apprehend him, but he got away the second I dropped my guard. Fortunately, I managed to recover the Portrait of Evil Ghost and Marquis Keitel. It would have been a disaster if I had lost all of them.”

“Ah!”

“I apologize, Duke Randoll,” Siegfried said while putting on his most sincerely apologetic face he could possibly make.

“Not at all, Your Majesty! You lost the Phantom Thief, but you managed to recover one of His Imperial Majesty’s favorite artworks! And you rescued Marquis Keitel, too!” Duke Randoll hurriedly waved his hand and comforted Siegfried, who was still putting on his apologetic and sad face.

‘To think King Siegfried would be this disappointed in himself. Hoho... He really doesn’t have to be so disappointed...’ Duke Randol thought. Ironically, he was completely oblivious to the fact that Siegfried was actually scamming him.

However, there was a reason why Duke Randoll had completely fallen for Siegfried’s acting.

“Your Majesty, your face looks too bright. You need to look sadder to show you’re really sorry.”

“Like this?”

“A bit more emotions.”

“How about this?”

“That’s a bit better.”

Siegfried first met Gringore and received a special thirty-minute express acting class before coming to see Duke Randoll. The result of that was splendid, as the duke had completely fallen for his acting.

“Your Majesty, thank you very much for your hard work. We almost lost the Portrait of Evil Ghost after I got myself drugged, but Your Majesty retrieved it. All merit belongs to Your Majesty.”

“No, I should’ve been more alert until the very end... Sigh...”

“Your Majesty, please do not be disheartened. I will personally report Your Majesty’s exploits to His Imperial Majesty and see to it that Your Majesty will be rewarded for your merits.”

“I... do not know what to say...”

“Haha...”

Duke Randoll could only let out a laugh after seeing Siegfried van Proa\'s humbleness.

On the other hand, Siegfried thought, ‘Hehe... I’m sorry, Duke Randoll.’

He was apologizing for something else to the duke.

***

In the Imperial Infirmary of Artiur, Marquis Keitel woke up slowly late in the afternoon.

“W-Where am... I...?”

“Are you awake, Marquis?”

“D-Duke Randoll? Why are you here?”

“That is...” Duke Randoll proceeded to explain what happened to Marquis Keitel.

“Ha!” Marquis Keitel was shocked after hearing that the Phantom Thief had come while he was unconscious over the past few days. He covered his face out of guilt and exclaimed, “S-Something like that happened?! Oh my god!”

“But King Siegfried here managed to retrieve the Portrait of Evil Ghost from the Phantom Thief,” Duke Randoll said as he introduced Siegfried to the marquis.

“Oh! I sincerely thank Your Majesty on behalf of His Imperial Majesty!”

“Please, I was just doing my duty.”

“I should have been more careful as the person in charge of the Palace of Beauty. I am ashamed of myself...”

“Ah, please do not be disheartened or blame yourself. We were up against the Phantom Thief. You had already been abducted even before the warning was sent to Artiur,” Siegfried comforted the marquis.

“But...”

“We had failed to capture the Phantom Thief, but everything is back in their place. So please, do not worry.”

“I am grateful for Your Majesty’s words of comfort.”

Siegfried continued chatting with Duke Randoll and Marquis Keitel before opening his Inventory. He took out the painting he received from Deus and showed it to the marquis.

The Marquis Keitel, who had inspected the portrait the last time, was not the real marquis, so he was asking the real marquis this time.

“Do you... know this painting, by any chance?” Siegfried asked while angling the painting in a way that would allow the marquis to take a good look at it. “I am not asking about the emotions or what the painting is trying to say. I want to know if you are familiar with this painting... And if you know who painted it.”

“Hmm...” Marquis Keitel grimaced and observed the painting carefully. His head seemed to have yet to clear up, judging by his grimace.

“Hmm... Mmm... Mmmmmm...” Marquis Keitel observed the painting without saying anything.

‘I guess he doesn’t know anything about it,’ Siegfried thought, disappointed. The marquis would have said something by now if he was familiar with the painting, and he wouldn\'t have inspected every nook and cranny of it.

“I guess you don\'t—”

“Yes, I am familiar with this piece.”

“...!”

“I was not so sure initially, but yes, I do remember this painting.”

“R-Really?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I wasn\'t the one who sold this painting, so I cannot be one hundred percent certain, but I do remember seeing it while going through the inventory of the Champs Elysees Auction.”

“And then?”

“If my memory is serving me correctly... This painting was purchased for an astronomical price in the Champs Elysees Auction a hundred and fifty years ago.”

“What?!”

“The records state that an old man bid an amount that nobody dared to compete with one hundred fifty years ago.”

“...!”

“This painting is titled ‘Sending Temeraire Off,’ and the painter was...”

“Is it Acheron, by any chance?” Siegfried asked with his anticipation rising.

“Hmm?” Marquis Keitel raised a brow. Then, he shook his head and replied, “No, Your Majesty. By Acheron... Your Majesty must be referring to the alchemist regarded as the best centuries ago, am I right?”

“Y-Yeah?”

“But this painting was painted by a female painter named Christie. She once lived here in Artiur almost two hundred years ago.”

It was then...

‘What?!’ Siegfried doubted his ears.

The reason was...

‘It\'s not a dude?!’

The name "Christie" was not a masculine name but a feminine name.