Debuff Master-Chapter 69

Silence ensued, and the deafening silence didn’t come as a surprise.

A king. He was indeed the king. The little greenhorn Adventurer turned out to really be the king His Majesty the Emperor himself had appointed, and he was indeed the new ruler of the Proatine Province.

They thought it was an obvious lie…

‘Damn it! He’s really the king?!’

‘That little greenhorn Adventurer is the new king?!’

‘Ah fuck! We’re fucked!’

‘Shit does happen if you live long enough! Damn it!’

‘What kind of a messed-up turn of events is this…?’

As such, the guards were extremely anxious. After all, every single offense they had committed would be enough to have them beheaded over and over again.

“M-My lord! I have committed a grievous sin! Mercy! I ask for your gracious mercy, my lord!”

Ronan, who was the most vocal one when it came to having Siegfried killed, had to push his head on the ground and ask for Siegfried’s clemency while inwardly thanking Oscar over and over again.

“I, Oscar, greet Your Majesty Siegfried van Proa,” Oscar respectfully said while bowing her head toward him.

“Ah, yes, sure…” Siegfried mumbled, seemingly embarrassed over the whole fiasco.

‘This is making me feel awkward as hell…’?he thought while cringing hard inside.

He couldn’t help but still find it awkward to hear people address him with titles such as ‘my lord’ or ‘Your Majesty,’ even though this was all in a game.

“Enough with that. Please rise,” Siegfried said toward Oscar, and then he added, “It is a pleasure to meet you. Dame Oscar, Sir Ronan…”

“Your Majesty,” Oscar said. She remained in her spot and bowed her head even deeper before continuing, “I, Oscar, dare to request something from Your Majesty.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“Please grant your gracious pardon on me and the others for our insubordination toward you, Your Majesty.”

“Ah, that…” Siegfried smirked and scoffed as if he found it funny before continuing. “Just forget about it. It wasn’t intentional anyway, so isn’t it better for all of us to forget about it this one time?”

“Are you certain, Your Majesty?”

“Yes,” Siegfried replied as he helped Oscar to her feet and said, “I would have found the whole thing difficult to believe as well, so let us all forget that it ever happened.”

“I, Oscar, thank Your Majesty, King Proa, for your grace!” Oscar exclaimed and bowed her head once again.

“T-Thank you for your graciousness!” Ronan also bowed once more.

‘I… I survived!’

‘I almost got fucked…!’

‘I thought I was going to lose my head for sure…’

‘Crazy… he was really the king…!’

The guards finally managed to let out sighs of relief as they bowed their heads toward Siegfried. After all, if their new king had a bit of a temper, he could have said, “off with their heads!” rather than pardoning them.

“Shall we go in for now? I will have to meet Baron Verbon as well.”

“Please allow me to lead the way, Your Majesty,” Oscar said as she ran up beside Siegfried.

‘She seems pretty dependable. She knows how to take care of her subordinates, too.’

Siegfried smiled while looking at the knight.

***

Siegfried met Baron Verbon at the banquet hall of Casein Castle.

“Hello, King Proa. I am the lord of this place, Verbon.”

“Yes, hello. I am Siegfried van Proa.”

“I am certain that you are famished from your long journey, so I have prepared some food for Your Majesty,” Baron Verbon said, showing off the feast on the table.

“Thank you. Please join me, Baron Verbon,” Siegfried said as he took up his knife and fork.

“Your Majesty,” Baron Verbon called out.

“Yes?”

“I, Verbon, sincerely congratulate Your Majesty for your appointment.”

“Please, do not mention it.”

“I wanted to ask you—may you kindly give your servant some time?”

“Time?”

“There are still some citizens who are unaware of your Majesty being crowned the king. I wish to announce this joyous news far and wide, so I would like to host a coronation event for you, Your Majesty.”

“Hmm…”

“How will people accept their new king if such a basic formality has not been carried out? Do you not agree, Your Majesty?”

“How much time will you need?”

“It will require at least a week to get everything in order, Your Majesty.”

“A week, you say…”

“Please approve my request, Your Majesty!”

“Fine, you may do as you wish.”

Siegfried decided to accept Baron Verbon’s request because he didn’t see any reason to refuse it in the first place.

“Oh! Thank you for your overflowing grace, Your Majesty! Please, feel free and rest assured while I prepare everything that is required—”

“But first,” Siegfried cut Baron Verbon off.

“Yes?”

“I want to receive a report about the Proatine Province first.”

“A report…?”

“Yes...”

“What kind of report do you mean…?”

“Well, what is the total population, how many villages are there, how many troops we have, our total production in a year, and our annual tax revenue, something like that?”

“Ehem!”

“It’ll be better if I just take the detailed report later, so why don’t you give me a rough estimate for now?”

“Ah, I understand, Your Majesty. I shall ask the administrators to work on a report at once.”

It was just for a brief moment, but Baron Verbon’s eyes glared at Siegfried as he thought, ‘Look at this greenhorn?’

“Then, shall we continue with our meal?”

It was unclear whether Siegfried had noticed it or not, but he seemed to be enjoying his succulent steak as well as the other dishes.

***

After the banquet, Siegfried was escorted by the maids to the best guest quarters in the castle.

The reason Siegfried wasn’t escorted to the lord’s quarters despite being the ruler was that Baron Verbon was still occupying it.

“My name is Elize, and I shall be Your Majesty’s personal maid from now on. Please, do let me know if you need anything, Your Majesty.”

The young-looking maid named Elize placed a tray with water and whiskey on Siegfried’s bed table.

“Then, I wish you a pleasant rest,” Elize said with a bow.

“Thank you…” Siegfried replied.

Once Elize was gone, Siegfried finally started complaining to himself, “This isn’t a reward but a bag of shit…”

He couldn’t help but think that the emperor was a scammer. The emperor should have given him a developed territory as a reward, so what the hell was this?

The terrain was hopeless, and the population was sparse. On top of that, there was close to no infrastructure and talented individuals in this place.

“I wasn’t expecting lands similar to Gangnam or something, but shouldn’t he at least give me land in Gangbuk? This is just a rural mountain province!”

However, Siegfried knew very well that nothing would change even if he grumbled about it.

“Let’s just do our best… These lands are mine now after all…” he decided to work on developing his territory as long as it wouldn’t get in the way of his personal growth.

Why?

It was because he was alone. He had to have at least this territory for him to be able to stand up against the Genesis Guild. After all, he had already promised not to join any other guild.

On top of that, he still had a lot of time. The emperor misled him, but he did promise to place the territory under his protection for a period of three years, which meant that the Genesis Guild would not be able to invade it for now.

“Anyway, I should clear all of the dungeons here as soon as I’m done with the coronation…” Siegfried grumbled before he suddenly turned his gaze toward the terrace.

Then, he summoned his spear stored within Megingjord and threw it toward the terrace.

Shwiiik!

The spear flew at a ferocious speed.

Clang!

The sound of metal clashing with each other reverberated throughout the air.

***

“Huh?” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion when he recognized the person hiding on the terrace.

The intruder was none other than the knight that he initially thought would be a dependable ally.

“Dame Oscar…?”

“I, Oscar, greet Your Majesty the King,” Oscar said as she kneeled down before Siegfried.

“Why are you on the terrace this late at night…?”

“I had something I had to tell Your Majesty in secret.”

“In secret...?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“What is it? No, before that, you’re bleeding,” Siegfried hurriedly approached her when he found that her hand was bleeding. It seemed that she was grazed by the spear he had thrown.

“You should have at least informed me or something if you had something to say in secret…”

“I am fine, Your Majesty. I am a knight. A scratch like this is nothing to—”

“Stay still, will you?” Siegfried grumbled as he retrieved a potion and a bandage from his Inventory and applied it to her hand.

“Y-You do not have to… Your Majesty…”

“Don’t be so reckless with your body. You are my subordinate after all.”

“Your Majesty…”

“So, what is it that you wanted to tell me in secret?”

“That’s…” Oscar muttered, seemingly hesitant before she carefully said, “Does Your Majesty truly wish to rule over these lands?”

“What do you mean…?”

“Your Majesty, you will not be able to half-heartedly rule these lands. The Proatine Province is a vicious place that nobody has been able to tame for the past two hundred years.”

“Hmm…”

“I shall dare say this if Your Majesty plans to become a half-hearted ruler of this place...”

“What is it?”

“Please leave.” Oscar stared right at him with her deep blue eyes.

***

“I am aware that this is not something I should be saying to my lord as a knight, but this is something that you have to be aware of. Your Majesty, if you do plan to half-heartedly rule over these lands, then—” Oscar started with a seemingly determined look.

However, Siegfried cut her off by saying, “Enough.”

“You do not have to worry about that, Dame Oscar. These are my lands now, and I have no plans to rule over it half-heartedly.”

“Those words… May I trust those words?”

“Sure…”

“Is there not a single lie in your words?”

“I already told you…”

“If that is the case then… Your Majesty has to be wary of Baron Verbon.”

“Hmm?” Siegfried furrowed his brows before asking, “I find that hard to understand. You’re Baron Verbon’s subordinate just a few hours ago.”

“I have never pledged my loyalty to Baron Veron.”

“Then, to whom have you pledged your loyalty?”

“My loyalty lies with these lands and this territory. Baron Verbon is not worthy of my loyalty.”

“Why?”

“He is engaged in elf trading in cahoots with the Adventurers.”

“…!”

“And he is sucking the blood of our citizens with his insane tax rate.”

This knight turned out to be a whistleblower.

***

Baron Verbon was rotten to the core, but he was also a skilled individual. He solidified his position in the Proatine Province after being chased out of the capital by working with the Adventurers in the elf trade. 𝒷ℯ𝓭𝓷ℴ𝓋𝓮𝓵.𝒸ℴ𝓶

The deal was simple.

Baron Verbon would feign ignorance toward the atrocities committed by the Elf Hunters. In exchange, the latter had to clear the monsters around Casein Castle. He even paid the Elf Hunters a stipend while disguising it as a price to pay for the maintenance of public safety and order.

In addition, Baron Verbon also managed to prevent the Vampire Lord from invading the territory by signing a pact with the latter, increasing the number of citizens to be sacrificed from one to ten citizens of the Proatine Province every month.

‘How is this different from real life…?’?

Siegfried clenched his fists after hearing Oscar’s report.

A corrupt high-ranking official working in cahoots with a bunch of gangsters and thugs?

How was this any different from real life?

It seemed that BNW replicated even the good-for-nothing real-life events so that the game would be even more realistic.

“Hmm… I see…” Siegfried muttered with a sinister smile before saying, “Then, we just have to get rid of Baron Verbon.”

“Your Majesty, you cannot do that. Baron Verbon might be a corrupt individual, but the public does not think badly of him.”

“Why? Is it because they are safe thanks to him even though he is rotten to the core?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Ah, so that’s why he is sacrificing people to the Vampire Lord…”

Then, Siegfried growled in anger. “You are asking me to turn a blind eye to that?”

“I do not mean to ask you to turn a blind eye to it. Instead, I am asking you to work on it slowly—step by step…”

“For how long?” Siegfried retorted. He then called the knight out. “Dame Oscar.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Time is gold.”

“I am aware of that…”

“And the peace Baron Verbon is providing… isn’t that all at the common people’s expense? Who are the ones shouldering the high taxes? Who are the ones being sacrificed to the Vampire Lord? The common folks are the ones being burdened by everything while Verbon is reaping all the rewards, right?”

“Y-Your Majesty!”

“Let’s go,” Siegfried said as he stood up.

“Your Majesty, where are you going?”

Siegfried turned around and asked the knight in response, “Where else?”

Then, he tilted his head as if he found the knight’s question to be absurd before he explained, “I’m going to smash Verbon’s head first and think about how to deal with things later. Isn’t that obvious?”

Oscar realized it by then. ‘I fucked up!’

A thought flashed in her mind that perhaps—this new king was crazier than even her wildest imagination.

1. Gangnam is the most expensive district in Korea.

2. Gangbuk is another expensive district that is located north of Gangnam