Debuff Master

“Canal construction, streetlight installation, landfill construction. Hmm, the budget looks quite tight this month. Argh…!” Michele groaned in agony while going through the mountain of documents.

Tik, tak, tik!

His left hand was busy flicking beads on four different abacuses without stopping for even a second. He could not afford to take a break, as he had to work out the kingdom’s budget, and he had to take into account even a single copper coin to make things work.

This was a glimpse into Michele’s genius and why he was a prodigy in the first place.

“The budget somehow works out thanks to the fifty thousand… fifty thousand—argh! I meant… forty thousand gold His Majesty brought. Ah, maybe I should’ve just asked him for all fifty thousand?”

Siegfried would probably sweat buckets if he could hear Michele right now.

“No, His Majesty is a king, so he needs money to keep up appearances. I guess the budget has to be tightened this time…” Michele would have loved to take all fifty thousand gold to make his life easier, but he decided to let Siegfried have his allowance.

“Yeah, I will be able to somehow make the budget work even without the ten thousand gold as long as His Majesty doesn’t stir up trouble—”

Snap!

The quill pen he was using inexplicably broke in half.

“…!”

Michele’s face turned ghastly pale.

Why? Just why did he suddenly recall his conversation with Siegfried before he left?

“I will go visit the papacy.”

“What business do you have there, Your Majesty?”

“A request came in from the Mercenary Guild.”

“Are you going to join the civil war in the Constantine Holy Empire?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, but please…”

“Hmm?”

“Please do not cause any trouble, Your Majesty. Especially something that could trigger a diplomatic issue. Please… I beg of you…!”

“Nah, don’t be such a worrywart. Do you really think that I’m some kind of a troublemaker? Can’t you have some faith in me?”

“No, I find that hard, Your Majesty.”

“…”

“I feel like getting on my knees and begging Your Majesty right now.”

“Y-You’re mean…”

“Please do not cause any diplomatic issues, and be careful out there.”

“Just have some faith in me! I won’t cause any problems, so don’t worry!”

“Yes, I hope that is indeed the case…”

Why did he suddenly remember that conversation? A chill traveled down Michele’s spine as his heart became filled with an ominous sense of foreboding.

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“Haha… No, it can’t be. I must be tired and overreacting. His Majesty isn’t that stupid to go around causing problems left and right. Yeah, I’m overreacting right now. Haha!”

Michele tried his best to ignore the ominous feeling, but…

“Ahem…! Ahem…!”

He couldn’t ignore the anxiety growing in his heart for some reason, no matter how hard he tried.

“Let’s have some faith in His Majesty… I went as far as to beg him so he probably won’t cause any problems…”

Michele decided to trust Siegfried.

***

“Have you decided to stab them in the back, hyung-nim?” Seung-Gu asked in a tavern at Aria City.

“Yeah, how can we be on the same side as these pieces of trash? Nah, I can’t stomach that,” Siegfried replied.

“I fully agree with you, hyung-nim!” Seung-Gu exclaimed while frivolously nodding. It was difficult to partake in the atrocities being committed by the Adventurers under the encouragement of the papacy, even if this was only a game.

It seemed that the evilest part of humans was being shown in this content. The Adventurers partaking in the massacre of innocent civilians were doing all sorts of despicable things that they would never even imagine doing in real life to the NPCs.

After all, the Adventurers regarded the NPCs as nothing more than a lump of data, so they didn’t feel even an ounce of guilt while carrying out their massacres.

Siegfried also saw the NPCs as a lump of data, so he didn’t feel even an ounce of guilt whenever he killed those who were his enemies. However, killing NPCs in battle and massacring innocent civilians was a different story for him.

“Kyu! Hamchi agrees with stabbing them in the back!”

“I support Your Majesty’s decision.”

Hamchi and Gringore supported his choice.

“First of all...” Siegfried trailed off. He opened a bottle of mana potion and downed it. He had depleted his mana after using Torrential Flower Rain. “Well, the milk has already been spilled, so we should kill all of the Genesis Guild members and papacy forces in this city before making a run for it.”

He reckoned that it was possible for them to defeat the Genesis Guild members in this city if they employed assassination and guerilla tactics.

“What should we announce to our guild members, then?” Seung-Gu asked.

“You take care of it since you’re the vice guild master. Tell them that I’ll be stabbing the papacy in the back and crossing over to the imperial faction, so try asking them to avoid staying in the papacy faction,” Siegfried replied.

“Yes, hyung-nim.”

“I don’t want to see my guild members running around massacring innocent civilians…”

“Don’t you think most of them will be against it in the first place? The guild was created with the goal of destroying the Genesis Guild, so I’m sure quite a lot of them find it uncomfortable being on the same side as them.”

“I can only hope. Anyway, let’s get moving.”

“Yes, hyung-nim. I will log out now and make the announcement to our guild members.”

“All right.”

It was right after Seung-Gu logged out that Siegfried walked over to the dead woman.

“I’m sorry for being unable to protect you, and this is…” he said as he placed the necklace that the woman’s husband had left behind in her hand. The necklace looked like an expensive legendary necklace, but Siegfried’s greed didn’t get swayed by it.

“I hope it accompanies you in the afterlife…”

The NPC wasn’t even a real human being, but Siegfried gave a short prayer for her before walking out of the tavern.

He gripped his +15 Gaia’s Fist tightly and walked out to the streets.

***

The cleansing operation instructed by the pope was still ongoing in Aria City, and the ones leading the senseless massacre were none other than Chae Hyung-Seok and the Genesis Guild members.

Two days ago, Chae Hyung-Seok negotiated his reward with Emperor Frederic before immediately going to the papacy. Then, he met with Cardinal Romulus—the head inquisitor and the proxy of the pope, who held the true power throughout the papacy.

An inquisitor’s job was to find the heretics in the empire and punish them accordingly.

“We will pay you 1.5 times more than whatever that imposter of an emperor agreed to give you. Our papacy values you and your guild highly.”

“Thank you.”

“How great is it that such holy warriors have joined us! Praise the Nameless God!”

“Praise the Nameless God!”

Cardinal Romulus’ personality matched quite well with Chae Hyung-Seok’s personality.

“But, Sir Desire…”

“Yes, Cardinal-nim?”

“I’m asking just in case, but… can you punish those heretics in the name of His Holiness?”

“Hmm? What do you mean by that?”

“I’m talking about those heretics who sided with the emperor. We can’t let those devils be, don’t you agree? Excommunicating them would be ideal, but… that would set a bad precedent.”

“…?”

“The papacy plans to cleanse these lands of those devils by using a few cities as an example. That way, the other devils will wake up and repent! Don’t you agree?”

“You want to use them to teach the others a lesson?”

“Haha! You catch on quite fast! Yes, I’m talking about using those devils to give others a chance of repentance! This cleansing is not an option but an absolute necessity!”

“Then, if we do the cleansing for you…”

“Hoho! What good is it when a person dies? The only thing they bring with them to the afterlife is their faith in the Nameless God!”

“We will do the cleansing. Please leave it to us.”

Chae Hyung-Seok understood what the cardinal meant and agreed to the proposal.

“I will consider the materialistic things left behind by the devils as god’s way of rewarding us for our services.”

“Haha! The Nameless God is quite a benevolent god!”

“I’m certain without a doubt.”

If the Genesis Guild gained ownership of whatever was left behind by the NPCs they massacred, then…

‘I’ll pay you back within a week, you bastard.’

This was the perfect opportunity for Chae Hyung-Seok, as he was quite pressed for money. Of course, he was already the type of person who would do anything and everything for his own benefit, so he was still going to accept this proposal even if he had no debts to Siegfried.

The papacy and the Genesis Guild’s cleansing of Aria City was progressing quite well.

On a street in Aria City…

“Hey! The papacy said to round up all the women and bring them back!”

“Why? Are they going to use them as sex slaves?”

“I don’t think so? They seem to be setting up wooden stakes with firewood underneath…”

“Ah, are they planning to burn them alive? Something like those witch hunts?”

“I think so?”

The Genesis Guild members scoured the city for women after receiving orders from the papacy.

“Hey! Come out!”

“P-Please spare me, Adventurer-nim! Please!”

“Shut up!”

Puk!

“Kyahhh!”

“Damn it! It would be easier to just kill these bitches… What are you doing? Hurry up and drag them out!”

The Genesis Guild members rounded up every single woman in the city without mercy, and they plundered and committed arson at every chance they got.

“This is the best stress reliever ever!”

“Do you remember those stories of soldiers massacring civilians in the past? I think this is why they did those things! For stress relief!”

“Oh! This house is full of gold! I think it has at least ten thousand gold! Jackpot!”

The atrocities the Genesis Guild members were committing were nothing more and nothing less than stress relief in their eyes.

“Hmm… I think there should be something in this house…” A Genesis Guild member entered a mansion in search of women and gold. “Oh! This place looks quite fancy! There must be something—”

Pukeok!

A mace flew out of nowhere and smashed the guild member’s head in.

“Close it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Gringore rushed and closed the door at Siegfried’s signal.

A minute later, two Genesis Guild members entered the mansion.

“Hey! Are you plundering by yourself? You fucking cheater!”

“Leave some for us, too!”

Pukeok!

Siegfried killed one of them with his +15 Gaia’s Fist.

Puk!

The other was killed by Hamchi’s paw in his giant hamster form.

“This mansion is awesome,” Siegfried said with a smirk.

There was a mountain of corpses behind him, and each corpse was a Genesis Guild member.

“I agree, hyung-nim!”

“Kyu! You’re right, owner punk! This mansion is excellent bait!” Hamchi cried out.

Was it because the mansion looked quite luxurious? The Genesis Guild members immediately dropped what they were doing and would rush over to the mansion in hopes of plundering its riches upon seeing it.

All Siegfried and his party had to do was wait behind the door and kill whoever entered, and the number of Genesis Guild members they killed through this method numbered more than fifty.

“It’s time to go somewhere else. I think this place has served its purpose, and word will get out quite soon,” Siegfried said. He decided that the excellent bait was no longer effective.

“Adventurer-nim!”

A female NPC living in the mansion cried out to Siegfried and held him down. She was the only survivor in this mansion, and she managed to survive when Siegfried and his companions suddenly appeared.

“Please save my little sister, Adventurer-nim!”

“Sister? Where is your little sister?”

“She went to welcome the soldiers of the papacy, but I lost contact with her. Please save my little sister, Adventurer-nim! My parents are no longer with me, so she’s my only remaining family… Please…!”

Siegfried couldn’t easily accept the request.

Why?

‘She’s probably dead…’ he thought. The papal forces spared no one, and they killed the young, women, and the elderly. In fact, they went as far as killing even the infants in the city.

In other words, the woman’s little sister was most likely dead.

“Please! I beg of you, Adventurer-nim! At least try to find her… I will gladly give you our family’s treasure if you manage to find news of her…!” she desperately pleaded.

Ding!

A quest message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

[Alert: The Quest – Scene of Madness has appeared!]