Debuff Master

Chapter 416

“Because the World Peace Conference is a gathering of all of the rulers on the continent, and a terrorist attack occurring in such an important event is definitely not an easy thing to pull off.”

“I guess the level of security here would be on a whole different level...”

It was redundant to mention just how stringent the security of the Marchioni Empire’s palace was, and it was probably easier to pull a star in the night sky to the ground than to invade the palace undetected.

“Not many would be able to pull off something like this.”

“That’s obvious, but who in the world will—Heok!” Siegfried gasped mid-sentence.

Just as Oscar said, how many people on the continent would be brave enough to carry out a terrorist attack on the World Peace Conference? Who would be crazy enough to risk going through the airtight security of the Marchioni Empire?

Without a shred of doubt, there were not that many people crazy enough to attempt such a ridiculous idea.

However, if people were to pick someone who would be the likeliest culprit, then...

‘It’s understandable why everyone is suspecting the emperor...’

Emperor Stuttgart was indeed the likeliest suspect behind this terrorist attack.

“So they\'re thinking that the emperor did this to assassinate his political opponents? Come on, do you really think that he’s insane or something? If he had staged all this, everyone would have died. He wouldn’t risk having loose ends like this,” Siegfried said, begging to differ.

“My thoughts are the same, but...” Oscar trailed off before adding, “How can ordinary people like us understand the workings of Emperor Stuttgart’s mind...?”

“Hmm...”

“I agree that the emperor was also in danger. Not only that, Marquis Randoll losing his right arm is definitely far too extreme for it to be just for show.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“But until the real culprit is caught, the rulers will not let go of their suspicion of the emperor.”

“I guess that makes sense no matter how unlikely it is for him to be the culprit behind all of this...”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I mean, the emperor stands to lose more than what he stands to gain from doing this, but there’s always a one percent chance, so...” Siegfried trailed off. Regardless, he didn\'t think that the emperor was the culprit behind this incident.

“Ah... This is just too annoying. I mean, just who would be so daring to do something like this?” Siegfried grumbled. He could not help but feel tired from trying to understand this chaotic mess riddled with all sorts of political mind games.

“I believe we should return to Proatine first, Your Majesty.”

“Yeah, I agree.”

Siegfried easily agreed to Oscar’s suggestion as he wanted nothing to do with this political mess. All he wanted to do was to return to the Proatine Kingdom and rest.

***

On his way to the Warp Gate...

“Huh?”

Siegfried ran into the Descendant of Thunder God Vajra, Taycan. He was standing all alone in front of the Warp Gate leading to his kingdom.

“Hey! Taycan!” Siegfried called out.

Taycan looked at him but did not respond.

“I knew it! There’s no way you die— ” Siegfried swallowed whatever joke he was about to make after seeing the look on Taycan’s face.

“You... Don’t tell me...”

“...”

“Ah...”

Siegfried could not say anything after that.

Why?

He knew what the downcast look on Taycan’s face meant.

Both of them stared at each other without uttering a single word for a while.

Taycan finally broke the silence and uttered, “Your Majesty... King Siegfried...”

“Hey, what majesty? Just speak comfortably like you used to.”

“...”

“It’s hard, right?” Siegfried asked.

“Very,” Taycan did not hide how he felt and summed it up in one word.

The fact that he failed to protect his liege as a knight was going to weigh heavily on him for the rest of his life and would remain a trauma of his.

“What about King Aaron’s remains...?”

“People from my kingdom will come to escort him...”

“I see...”

Taycan suddenly looked at him and said, “Hey, Siegfried... Can I ask for a favor?”

“Favor? What favor?”

“If ever I ask for help... Can I count on you at that time?”

“Help? What help would you need from me?” Siegfried asked in response.

He had asked because the Descendant of Thunder God Vajra, Taycan, was an extremely powerful individual. To be honest, he wasn\'t confident that he could beat Taycan if they fought one-on-one right now.

In fact, he still had no idea of the true extent of Taycan\'s power.

“Do you need an ally to carry out revenge?”

“No,” Taycan shook his head and said, “I can only get revenge once the culprit is found, and I will have my vengeance with my own hands. Besides, there are plenty of others waiting to avenge their losses, so I won’t really need someone then.”

“Then?”

“I think a day will come when I will definitely need your help.”

“My help... Can you be more specific?”

“It’s a bit difficult to tell you—at least for now.”

“Hmm...”

“You can refuse if it’s difficult. All I ask is that you would listen and consider it when the day I come asking for your help comes.”

“Sure,” Siegfried replied with a nod.

The Descendant of Thunder God Vajra, Taycan, was someone he had to defeat one day, but his relationship with him right now wasn\'t that bad. Siegfried also knew just how much Taycan was beating himself up right now for failing to protect King Aaron, so he could not bring himself to reject Taycan\'s request.

“I don’t know what kind of help you need, but come find me if you need help. I’ll help you.”

“Thanks...”

“Take care of yourself.”

“I will.”

Siegfried did his best to comfort Taycan before heading to the Warp Gate leading to the Proatine Kingdom.

***

Siegfried didn\'t feel great after experiencing the biggest terrorist attack of the century.

“Your Majesty.”

He was greeted by Michele, who looked just as troubled, at the Warp Gate.

“It must have been rough for you.”

“It was really rough."

“I heard something unpleasant had happened during the conference?”

“Oh? The news has already traveled this far?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Michele bowed and whispered, “May you chat with me for a moment?”

“Sure.”

The two went inside the castle to continue their conversation.

“Excellent work, Your Majesty.”

“Huh?” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion and asked, “Did you praise me just now...?”

“Yes, I have,” Michele replied with a smile and continued. "I also heard about how you scammed George the Third in broad daylight.”

“Hey! What do you mean by scam?! It was a legitimate transaction! You know what business is?!”

“Ah, sure... I guess giving the disease and selling the cure is what’s considered business these days...”

“T-That is...!” Siegfried tried to retort but ended up scratching the back of his head and coming up with an excuse, “I mean... he slapped Oscar first, and I couldn’t smash his head open, so... I decided to avenge her in that way...”

“That is why I am praising Your Majesty.”

“Really?!”

“Our coffers are full to the brim, thanks to Your Majesty.”

“Hehe~” Siegfried smiled brightly and asked, “Really? I did great?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Michele replied, but his praises did not stop there, “I also heard of your heroic deeds in rescuing the emperor and numerous other rulers.”

“I did!”

“I was really surprised.”

“Why?”

“Please take a look at these,” Michele said as he showed a mountain of diplomatic letters and added, “These letters are from the rulers Your Majesty has rescued.”

“Really?”

“Yes, and all of them are proposing bilateral agreements that are extremely beneficial to our kingdom.”

“Oh!”

“Our coffers will fill up nicely in the future thanks to these. Your Majesty, you have acted like a true king this time,” Michele said.

He wasn\'t stingy with his praise this time, as Siegfried had truly brought massive profits to the tiny Proatine.

The kingdom had no natural resources aside from the B-Grade Mana Stone Mine, which was honestly great, but it didn\'t exactly bring a ton of money. The kingdom heavily relied on bilateral trade with other nations to generate revenue and prop up its economy.

The finances of the kingdom were about to experience a huge boom thanks to its king’s heroic deeds in rescuing the other rulers.

“Not to mention, we still haven\'t received that reward from the emperor himself.”

“Yeah, there’s also that.”

“I have a feeling it will be an amazing reward.”

“I think so, too! Hehehe! I wonder how much he’s going to give us...!” Siegfried said with a stupid grin.

“Ah, this also arrived from the Marchioni Empire before Your Majesty\'s return,” Michele said and pointed at a chest.

“What’s this?” Siegfried asked as he opened the chest.

“Ah!”

Within the chest was the prize for the Hunting Contest, the B-Grade Stone of Transcendence. It seemed that the prize was given to him since there was no other suitable winner after the contest was ruined by the incident.

Of course, this was a separate reward. It wasn\'t the reward that the emperor had promised Siegfried.

“Oh yeah! I can level up with this!” Siegfried exclaimed as he hurriedly stuffed the B-Grade Stone of Transcendence into his Inventory. Then, he looked at Michele and asked, “But why are you not mentioning anything about the terrorist incident?”

“Why should I care about that?”

“Huh? Isn’t it a huge incident? The biggest incident of the century?” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion at the response.

“Yes, it indeed is.”

“But you don’t care about it?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Let us say this incident is going to spark the start of a continent-wide war. Will anything change because of that?”

“Eh?”

“Our kingdom is a weak kingdom nobody cares about. Also, we are located in the northwestern region of the continent, which holds zero strategic value. So, even if we get affected by a continent-wide war, how bad could it be?”

In summary, the Proatine Kingdom was so pathetic that nobody would even bother invading it even if all hell were to break loose on the continent.

“Is that something to be happy about...?”

“You can call it pros and cons. The bigger kingdoms have it good during times of peace, but they will be the first to be affected in times of turmoil. Of course, this is the only good thing about small and pathetic kingdoms...”

Plop...!

A drop of tear fell from Siegfried’s heart before Michele\'s words could even finish echoing in the air.

***

However, Michele was right. The Proatine Kingdom could enjoy peace because of its remote location.

“Kyah~ Kyah~!”

“Hello~ My beautiful daughter~”

“Papa~ Papapa~”

Siegfried cleared everything from his mind and focused on playing with his beloved daughter.

‘I guess it’s time for me to start enhancing...’

The thought of enhancing Horse Fly crossed his mind. He would have suffered way less at both the Sky Tower and World Peace Conference if Horse Fly had been properly enhanced.

‘Yeah, I should enhance it now while I can.’ He decided it was better to be safe than sorry later.

“Honey.”

“Yes, dear?”

“I will go out for a bit!”

Smooch!

“Okay, be careful~”

Smooch!

“Be good and listen to your mommy!”

Smooch!

Siegfried didn\'t forget to shower Brunhilde and Verdandi with love before leaving the Proatine Kingdom to enhance Horse Fly.

‘Hmm... Where should I go?’ he contemplated while standing in front of the Warp Gate. He logged into the BNW Community Forum, The New World, and looked up which place gave the best enhancement chances these days.

The enhancement machines placed in front of the three main workshops had the same chances of success. Therefore, the Adventurers either went to the one nearest to them or went to great lengths to go to the ones rumored to give the best chances of success.

‘The Macallan Kingdom has the highest success rate right now? Okay, that’s where I’m going,’ Siegfried chose the Macallan Kingdom branch of the Bavarian Workshop, which was rumored to have the highest success rate these days.

Murmur... Murmur...

Perhaps it was because this place was rumored to have the highest success rate, but there was a huge crowd of Adventurers lined up in front of the enhancement machines placed outside the Bavarian Workshop.

[Alert: The enhancement requested by VGreatestMagicianV-nim has failed!]

[Alert: The item +13 Sage’s Seal has been destroyed!]

[Alert: The enhancement requested by IWISH-nim has failed!]

[Alert: The item +15 Frozen Needle has been destroyed!]

[Alert: The enhancement requested by Narcos-nim has failed!]

[Alert: The item +10 Sword of Ice has been destroyed!]

Siegfried shook his head after witnessing the numerous Adventurers failing their enhancement attempts. However, he himself started walking into the pits of despair with his own two feet.