Debuff Master

Chapter 503

Ding!

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

[Destroy the Ignite Soul]

[Find a way to destroy one of the Fragments of Apocalius, the Ignite Soul, and destroy it.]

[Progress: 0% (0/1]

[Reward: Level +3]

[Warning: The Ignite Soul cannot be destroyed through ordinary means, so you will have to find a special method.]

Kwachik!

A vein bulged on Siegfried’s forehead after going through the quest window.

“Hey.”

— Y-Yeah?

“Are you playing games with me?”

— Games? Me? Hey, why do you look so scary all of a sudden?

“You’re really going to try settling this with just three levels?” Siegfried narrowed his eyes and glared at Cheon Woo-Jin. Then, he grumbled, “I also got the Ignite Soul, you know? Wow, I didn’t realize this guy was a hooligan. What’s with this daylight robbery?”

— H-Hooligan?!

“You gave me some uncertain quest last time and stabbed me in the back. Now you’re planning to settle such a difficult quest with just three levels? I’m not doing it!” Siegfried shouted in anger. Then, he turned around and walked away, “What? Asshole? If I’m an asshole, then you’re a shithead hooligan.”

— S-Shithead hooligan?!

Cheon Woo-Jin was subjected to verbal abuse that made his blood pressure skyrocket.

What was this case of the pot calling the kettle black?

Cheon Woo-Jin wouldn't have been so affected if other people had called him "hooligan," but it just had to be Siegfried. Cheon Woo-Jin couldn't quite accept it.

— Hey! What did you just call me?!

“Why? What’s wrong? Did I say something wrong?”

— Why you little!

“What?”

— What’s your level now?!

“Level 280, why?”

— Do you even know how much Experience Points you need to gain to level up once from Level 280 onward?!

Siegfried glanced at his experience bar and said, “I need 240 million more.”

— So that means you need at least 850 million Experience Points to level up, right?

“I guess?”

— Do you have any idea how much time you have to spend in the Great Rift just to gather 850 million experience points?! I’d love to see you try and rot in there!

“Two months at the earliest, a month if I’m lucky, or three months if I’m unlucky?”

— So you were aware of it? But you dare say just three levels?!

“I-Is that how it is?” Siegfried replied while seemingly dazed.

BNW was designed to make it easy to level up, but the leveling speed would dramatically slow down the moment an Adventurer reached Level 200, and they would start feeling agitated by the time they reached Level 280. It was a different story if they managed to discover a special dungeon while in the Great Rift, but aside from that, it was excruciatingly difficult to level up from Level 280 onward.

“Hmm... I guess three levels doesn’t sound that bad now that you mention it— ”

— And you called me a hooligan?!

Siegfried blinked twice and replied innocently, “Hey, I didn’t call you a hooligan.”

— What...?

“I called you a shithead hooligan.”

— HEY!

“Hey, why are you raising your voice— ”

— Take that back! Who’s a shithead hooligan?!

“Anyway, I’m busy so...” Siegfried said and quickly accepted the quest.

[Alert: You have accepted the Quest — Destroy the Ignite Soul!]

Then, he switched the communication device off.

Bzzt! Bzzt...!

The communication orb turned gray, and Cheon Woo-Jin’s hologram vanished at the same time.

Meanwhile at the communication room in the headquarters of the Guardians.

“T-That little...!”

Cheon Woo-Jin was gnashing his teeth and trembling in anger.

“Han Tae-Sung... You asshooooole!” Cheon Woo-Jin's scream filled the entire communication room and echoed out the hallways.

***

Siegfried left the Constantine Holy Empire and prepared to return to the Proatine Kingdom.

“See you next time, Gosran-nim.”

“Sure, let’s keep in touch.”

“Ah, don’t forget about our duel, okay?”

“Of course.”

He made sure to say a proper goodbye to Gosran and remind her about their duel. He would love to duel with her right now, but he did not do so, as he was simply too busy.

He had already been away for ten days, causing his work to pile up. Also, he dearly missed his beloved Brunhilde and Verdandi too.

Siegfried rushed back to the Proatine Kingdom and was greeted by the natives of the Southern Great Jungle upon his arrival.

“Hurray for the Great Chieftain!”

“The Ruler of the Great Jungle has returned!”

“Our Great Chieftain has returned!”

The natives along with the chieftains of each tribe greeted Siegfried with a parade of their traditional dances. Not to mention, they also bowed and worshiped him at his feet.

“Ah...” Siegfried was rendered speechless by the parade.

He had always felt burdened by the love and respect shown by his people, and the natives on top of that only made it even more burdensome for him.

Not that the natives cared...

“GREAT CHIEFTAIIIN!”

“We love you!”

“Ruler of the Great Jungle!”

The natives continued to worship him, screaming at the top of their lungs.

As if that was not enough, they even went as far as...

“Great Chieftain! We have prepared the most beautiful women from each tribe!”

The natives brought three beautiful women from each tribe, and a total of fifteen women were presented to Siegfried.

“We greet the Great Chieftain.”

“We greet the Great Chieftain.”

“We greet the Great Chieftain.”

All fifteen women bowed at Siegfried’s feet.

“W-What’s this?!” Siegfried shrieked in horror. He quickly looked around while thinking, ‘Why the hell are they putting me on the spot?!’

Most of the kingdom officials did not show any particular reaction, and there were a few who nodded while watching him.

However, the same could not be said for Brunhilde’s maidservants.

‘T-That piece of trash!’

‘He’s philandering in broad daylight now?!’

‘His Majesty was actually an asshole?!’

A small silver lining was that Brunhilde was currently away at Elondel with Verdandi, so Siegfried was spared from the worst outcome possible.

“N-No! This is wrong! How can you offer people as if they are objects?!” Siegfried retorted while frivolously waving his hand.

“Your Majesty,” Michele interrupted and drew closer. Then, he whispered, “I regret to inform you that those women were not forced.”

“W-What?! They’re not forced?!”

“All of them have volunteered to become the concubine of the Great Jungle’s Ruler—no, Your Majesty's concubine.”

“I-Impossible...”

“These women were carefully selected, so please do not think they are victims or anything of that sort.”

“Why? Just why would they do that?”

“Why are you asking me that, Your Majesty?” Michele replied curtly. Then, he continued, “Even I do not understand why those beautiful women would line up to become the concubine of someone like you— I mean, Your Majesty.”

“What did you say? What’s wrong with me?!” Siegfried retorted in anger after understanding what Michele was trying to say.

“Hmm? What do you mean by that?” Michele feigned ignorance.

“Are you acting coy with me?!”

“Tsk...”

“W-What?! Tsk?! Did you just click your tongue?!” Siegfried raged after also understanding that Michele’s tsk meant something along the lines of "he’s too sharp for his own good."

Well, it was undeniable that Siegfried was indeed pretty sharp.

“Ahem... Ahem... Anyway, it will be best for Your Majesty not to try to understand them. They are natives that resided in the Great Jungle their entire lives.”

“Hmm...”

“They are taught to seek powerful warriors that could defeat the vicious beasts and predators of the Great Jungle to be their husbands, so giving birth to a child from the seed of such a powerful warrior is the greatest honor for them.”

“R-Really?”

“If a person grows up in a different environment, then their culture is bound to differ from ours. A good ruler should be prepared to accept differences and embrace those differences, would you not agree?”

Michele was right. A good ruler indeed had to discern between what was wrong and what was different— no, this was not something that only applied to a king but to anyone else living among people.

“Your Majesty too, came from a different world and had to adapt to the culture of people like me, who are in this world, am I correct?”

“Yeah, and I’m still learning how things work over here.”

“So, I hope you would be understanding of them. Should you find their gesture of goodwill to be burdensome, then I suggest you gently refuse their offer and send them back.”

“Oh! As expected of you, Michele!” Siegfried exclaimed in awe of Michele’s wisdom, and he immediately used his advice to send the native women back. Then, he went back to the castle with Michele and explained everything that happened in the Great Jungle.

***

At Michele’s office...

“So, Your Majesty ended up getting into a fight with the United Guild?”

“Yeah.”

“Your Majesty.”

“Yeah?”

“Please take this first before anything else,” Michele said as he took out a white envelope and passed it to Siegfried.

“What’s that?” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion and asked.

“This is my letter of resignation.”

“Why do you have that with you?”

“Oh, were you unaware? Anyone working in the office carries one around with them at all times.”

“...”

“But before that, I would like to ask Your Majesty something. Why is it so difficult for you to just come back peacefully? Why do you keep stirring up trouble wherever you go?”

“Hey!” Siegfried retorted.

It was inevitable for him to feel wronged. Descartes was the one who had picked a fight with him, and the only thing he did was fight back in self-defense. Well, it was true that he did go a bit too far in his act of self-defense.

“The United Guild is different from the Genesis Guild,” Michele said in a stern voice. Then, he continued with a question, “Do you know why Your Majesty was able to defeat the Genesis Guild?”

“That's...” Siegfried muttered and pondered about it. Then, he replied, “Well, because they had a lot of enemies, and they're riddled with internal strife as well. Their numbers didn’t help in stabilizing the guild too, as most weren’t that loyal to the guild. Their over-reliance on Buffers didn’t help make things better too.”

“So Your Majesty realizes that you did not defeat them with your own strength?”

“Of course? That’s the reason I picked a fight with them in the first place.”

“Then Your Majesty should be aware that the United Guild is on a whole different level compared to the Genesis Guild?”

“Hmm...” Siegfried pondered once again. Then, he replied, “Yeah, I do.”

“Yet you went and picked a fight with them despite being aware of that?”

“...”

“I understand you were acting in self-defense, but you should not have gone overboard. How could you do that to someone just because— ”

“Hehe!”

“WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?! WHY?!”

In the end, Michele ended up raging as a vein bulged on his forehead.

“Our kingdom was finally starting to stabilize and lay our foundation... You couldn’t wait a bit longer and had to go ahead and cause our demise...”

“M-My bad...” Siegfried apologized with his head down.

“How do you plan to fix this mess?”

“Should we just hit them first?”

“Ehhh?!”

Michele was speechless.

‘Is this guy for real...?’

Siegfried was not satisfied with causing this whole mess that he wanted to be the aggressor. Of course, this was not a bad idea at all. In fact, it would be an excellent idea if they could pull it off. Unfortunately, the United Guild was not an organization they could destroy that easily.

The guild was made out of Adventurers, so their war was bound to drag on for long.

In other words, the Proatine Kingdom could end up in danger if they picked a fight with the United Guild.

“As expected, that doesn’t sound easy... This is my fight, so I can’t drag the Proatine Kingdom into this,” Siegfried grumbled while shaking his head.

“But Your Majesty is the king of this kingdom. Your Majesty’s enemy is the kingdom’s enemy in the end.”

“Yeah, that makes sense, but this is a fight between Adventurers,” Siegfried replied with a faint smile.

“Hmm...”

“Let’s monitor the situation for now. It’s not like we can end them by attacking first.”

“I implore you to be careful from now on.”

“Alright, I got it. Anyway, I’m going to go meet Elder Daode Tianzun for a while.”

“Elder Daode Tianzun? Why?”

“Ah, it’s about time I greet him,” Siegfried replied. Then, he showed the Ignite Soul and added, “I need to ask if he knows how to destroy this, too.”

***

At the infirmary of the Proatine Kingdom...

“Hmm... This doesn’t look easy.”

The response Siegfried got from Daode Tianzun was that his request would be difficult.

“It looks like you won’t be able to easily destroy this with the energy of this world, Siegfried.”

“R-Really? Is this thing that powerful?” Siegfried asked while seemingly taken aback. He did not expect Daode Tianzun to tell him it would be impossible.

“I can think of a few things we could attempt, but I cannot guarantee the results.”

“Hmm...”

“Off the top of my head, there are about three things I have in mind. What do you say? Should we try them?”

“Yes, we should try them. We cannot let something like this exist... I guess I’ll keep it in my Inventory for now.”

“That won’t be easy.”

“Huh?”

“An object of that caliber won’t sit still in your Inventory. It will try to break free the longer you keep it with you.”

“Heok!”

“Anyway, I’ll teach you the best methods I can think of, so do your best to try them out.”

“Yes, Elder-nim.”

“The first method is...” Daode Tianzun proceeded to explain the method to destroy the Ignite Soul.

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