Debuff Master

[Let’s try working as a Gravity Stone Miner for the Sea Merchant Company!]

[Type: Repeating Quest]

[Progress: 0%]

[Reward: 15 Gold per day]

[Warning 1: It is extremely difficult to run away while undertaking this quest.]

[Warning 2: The job is extremely difficult.]

[Warning 3: You might learn a life lesson while undertaking this quest.]

The quest details looked quite dangerous for some reason, and the quest title alone looked highly suspicious. The warnings also raised all sorts of red flags that reeked of forced labor.

Of course, fifteen gold was quite a lot when taking into consideration the cost of living on the continent, but still…

‘Hmm… Is it telling me to take this quest to hitch a ride on their ship?’ Siegfried felt like he knew what the exclamation mark on top of the NPC’s head was trying to tell him.

In the end, he decided to ask the NPC, “What\'s our route like? Won’t it be dangerous?”

The NPC flinched at the sudden question and failed to hide his reaction. Still, he cleared his throat and said, “D-Don’t worry about that! We won’t be going anywhere near the habitat of the Silver Sea Serpents!”

“Really? Are we really not going anywhere near them?”

“W-Why, of course! H-How can we work in such a dangerous place to begin with?”

“I see… Hahaha!”

“Yes! Hahaha!”

The NPC was extremely bad at lying, so he accepted the quest.

‘It seems like we’re going to the Silver Sea Serpents, after all.’ He knew from the NPC’s awkward demeanor that the place where they were going was definitely teeming with Silver Sea Serpents.

“Hmm… I guess I’m willing to work.”

“Are you sure? I guess you will be since you’re an Adventurer, and there won’t be any problem if you die—Oops!”

“There won’t be any problems if I die?” Siegfried narrowed his eyes and stared at the NPC before asking, “Are you trying to say that the workplace is extremely dangerous?”

“N-No! I-It’s just that working in the sea always comes with risk, so I just wanted to warn you about it. The sea is different from dry land! The sea is filled with dangers! I mean, even a fisherman can drown while fishing, right? The sea looks calm and tranquil, but it’s quite a ruthless place!”

“Ah~ I see~ I thought we were going to be working in an extremely dangerous place with monsters~ Hahaha!” Siegfried said. He emphasized certain keywords as he spoke.

The NPC’s back was drenched in cold sweat as he replied, “I-Is that what you understood? N-No, you’re mistaken. Hahaha!”

Then, he asked, “A-Anyway, what about it? Are you willing to work?”

“Yes, I’m really in need of money right now,” Siegfried replied as he accepted the quest.

[Alert: You have accepted the Quest – You Might Enter at Your Own Accord, but You Cannot Leave as You Wish!]

The quest acceptance message popped up in front of his eyes.

“Follow me; the ship is over here,” the NPC said. Then, he suddenly turned around and said, “Oh, by the way, you will be only receiving ten gold.”

“Why? Where did the five gold go?”

“Introduction fee.”

“Ha? Introduction fee?”

“Yes, I’m running a manpower recruitment agency. I’m introducing you to work with the merchant company, and I’m taking a portion of your salary as my fee.”

“Why are you taking that from me? Shouldn’t you be taking that from the merchant company?”

“That’s how we do things over here. It’s tradition.”

“Ha? What kind of tradition is that? It’s only right for the merchant company seeking laborers to pay you for your services, no? Why are you taking that from my pay?”

“Why are you asking me that question? You should go ahead and ask the merchant company instead. I’m happy as long as I’m getting paid.”

“…”

“Oh, you won’t get paid if you die, so bear that in mind, okay?”

Siegfried was in utter disbelief. ‘What the hell? I wouldn’t put up with these bastards if I had a ship to ride. Damn it…’

He was upset about losing five gold, but he had no other way to reach the habitat of the Silver Sea Serpents, so he had to go along with it.

“Hey, owner punk… Don’t you feel like being trafficked for organ harvesting? Kyu?” Hamchi whispered.

“O-Organ harvesting…?”

“You shouldn’t hop on someone else’s ship so easily. Who knows? They could be bringing you to an island to enslave you for the rest of your life!”

“That’s a bit scary…”

“The work is going to be more difficult than loading up parcel delivery trucks! Kyu!”

“H-How the hell do you even know that?”

“I heard it from the Adventurers! Kyu!”

“You and your big ears…” Siegfried shook his head with a smirk. Then, he confidently said, “Hey, don’t worry. There’s nothing more difficult in life than loading up parcel delivery trucks.”

“Kyu? How do you know? Have you tried it?”

“I did it from time to time when I used to be poor. Oh… That was really tiring… I thought of running away while working at least once or twice.”

Siegfried, armed with the memories of his hardships, confidently boarded the ship. Unfortunately, his confidence was utterly shattered less than an hour after stepping onto the ship…

***

The first thing he did after boarding the ship was…

“Heave! Ho!”

“Heave! Ho!”

“Heave! Ho!”

…to row the ship alongside the other laborers.

The route from the port to their destination had no winds, so they were forced to row their way across the sea.

“Hey! I thought we were going to mine Gravity Stones?! Why the hell are you asking us to row?!” Siegfried screamed and complained while rowing.

“Kyuuu! Owner punk! Look how pumped Hamchi’s arm is! Is loading delivery trucks harder than this? Kyuuu!”

“I didn’t know it was going to be this difficult…” Siegfried grumbled in response while looking like he was on the verge of dying.

Oh my god! There was a job much more difficult than loading up delivery trucks?!

“Y-Your Majesty… I am too tired… My arms feel like they are going to pop out from my shoulders any moment now…!”

“Just shut up and keep rowing!”

“Heuk…!”

Siegfried shouted the moment he caught Gringore trying to slack off.

‘Damn it! Why the hell am I doing a part-time job from hell in a game?! Aigoo! Curse my luck!’

While Siegfried was busy cursing his rotten luck, a muscular man with an aggressive look and a whip in one hand screamed at his party.

“Hey! You guys over there! Shut up and keep rowing! I’m going to throw you overboard if you keep yapping!”

‘Damn it! Should I just kill them all and take over this ship?’ Siegfried thought of going to the extreme. However, he had no idea what kind of trouble he was going to land in if he killed the innocent NPCs and what kind of diplomatic issue he would inevitably cause.

If he caused another trouble, then…

“Your Majesty! Please, just fuck off! Just fuck off, please!”

The Draconic Minister of the Proatine Kingdom, Michele, would definitely inundate him with a barrage of curses.

Siegfried wasn’t in a position to do as he wished.

‘Ugh… Let’s hold it in for now…’

In the end, he decided to endure the hellish part-time job until he was done hunting the Silver Sea Serpents.

***

Meanwhile, back at the Proatine Kingdom…

“Your Majesty, we have prepared some snacks for you.”

“Thank you, Kyle.”

“These are freshly baked muffins and cookies. Please enjoy them, Your Majesty.”

‘You horny pig! How can you eat twenty portions of snacks all by yourself?!’ Carlisle thought after receiving Brunhilde’s sincere gratitude. However, he joyfully continued to deliver snacks while waiting for something fun to happen.

Why?

It was all because he had injected the Cockatrice Poison into the muffins before serving them to Brunhilde. Soon, the wife and child of his mortal nemesis would become petrified and turn into stone statues.

“Omo! These are really good, Kyle!”

“Is it, Your Majesty? Please, have more,” Carlisle replied as he watched Brunhilde eat the snacks. However, he started thinking that something was wrong after he watched her eat more muffins.

“These are good, too; please try them, Your Majesty!” Carlisle said as he offered the cookies as well.

“You’re right! These are good!” Brunhilde replied after taking a bite of the cookie.

The cookies and muffins soon vanished, but there weren’t any signs of the poison taking effect.

In fact…

“Oh? There\'s gray jelly in the muffin? I wonder what this flavor is… Hmm… Wow! This tastes quite exotic!” Brunhilde exclaimed after seeing, tasting, and critiquing the Cockatrice Poison within the muffin.

It was ridiculous, but she was fine even after ingesting Cockatrice Poison.

‘L-Let’s wait a bit… I’m sure the poison will soon take effect! I just have to wait,’ Carlisle thought. However, five minutes—no, ten minutes later, Brunhilde was still fine.

‘I-Is it because this bitch is an elf?! The poison should have already taken effect!’

“Thank you for the meal!” Brunhilde exclaimed after finishing her snacks, and she rubbed her swelling belly, seemingly satisfied.

‘W-What?! I put poison in all these! How?! Just why?!’ Carlisle was beyond stupefied, and he soon proceeded to console himself. ‘Hmm… Perhaps I stored the poison in the wrong way, and it lost its effectiveness. Yeah, that must be it… I guess I need to use a different poison…’

In the end, he concluded that there was something wrong with the Cockatrice Poison, and he decided to try a different poison on his target.

***

“Ahh… I’m dying…” Siegfried moaned.

He had been rowing for seven hours straight without rest, and he truly felt like dying. Of course, his Strength and Stamina were extremely high, so he didn’t really suffer physically. The issue was that the work was too boring.

He started questioning whether he was a human or a machine after repeatedly rowing in the same pattern for hours like a piece of machinery.

“Ugh… I’m starting to feel dizzy from this mundane work… Huh? W-What?”

Siegfried closed his eyes after suddenly feeling dizzy.

A message popped up in front of his eyes.

Ding!

[Alert: Status Ailment!]

[Alert: Your character is suffering from lethargy, anemia, dry skin, and boredom!]

It was a sudden and strange status ailment.

“W-What the hell is this?!”

He was taken aback by the system’s abrupt nonsense.

[Alert: Your character has not consumed enough Vitamin C for the past 120 days!]

[Alert: Warning! Being a picky eater will lead to various health problems!]

[Alert: Your character has been afflicted with Scurvy!]

[Alert: Hurry up and consume some Vitamin C!]

A gamer didn’t really have to mind what kind of food their character consumed, as nutrition wasn’t an integral part of the game. However, complacency with food was bound to lead to malnutrition, which would spawn various health complications later on.

“Damn it! This game is too detailed for its own good!” Siegfried grumbled after reading the message that he had been afflicted with Scurvy. He was forced to take out a Fizzy Mandarin from his Inventory.

[Alert: The recommended dietary intake of Vitamin C suggested by the World Health Organization is 45 mg per day!]

[Alert: 1x Fizzy Mandarin is packed with 150mg of Vitamin C!]

BNW tended to provide all sorts of facts to their gamers from time to time, and this was a perfect example of it.

Ah, how wonderful was a game that cared about educating its players?

[Alert: Your character is recovering!]

[Alert: Your character will recover from Scurvy in ten seconds!]

Siegfried brought Fizzy Mandarins along with him because he was curious about its taste. He had truly never imagined that it would get him out of a pinch.

“Kyu! Owner punk! What are you eating?! Aren’t you going to share?!” Hamchi glared at him and lashed out.

“Ah, I got Scurvy, so just let me be…”

“Kyu?”

“But this is really good. Is this something like a natural orangeade? It’s sweet, refreshing, and it pops in my mouth—”

Thud!

Something massive struck their ship, and the vibrations from the collision rocked their ship.

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

A giant sea serpent with the head of a cobra shot out of the water and roared.

“S-Sea Serpent!”

“A Silver Sea Serpent has appeared!”

“Aaack!”

Everyone on the ship screamed; they were afraid for their lives.

However, Siegfried clenched his fists and roared, “YEEESSS!”