Debuff Master

“Hey, can you stay still?”

“N-No…! Aaaack!”

“I’m telling you, I might smash two fingers at once if you keep moving.”

“I-I will tell you! I’ll tell you everything, so please! Aaaack!” the captain screamed out of pure desperation after having his left index finger smashed.

“Huh? Tell me what? I told you not to say anything, right?” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion and replied.

“W-What…?”

“How many times do I have to tell you? I’m doing this because killing you instantly is too boring. Have I asked you any questions?”

“N-No! I’ll tell you everything I know, so please stop torturing me…!”

“Hmm…” Siegfried contemplated for a moment before he said, “But I’m really not curious about anything…”

“Please! I’ll really tell you everything I know, so please!”

“Well, if you insist…”

Siegfried finally let go of the captain. He dragged a chair in front of him and sat down before asking, “Who the hell are you people?”

“I… do not know…”

“Ah… I got scammed…” Siegfried grumbled before he grabbed his +15 Gaia’s Fist.

“I really have no idea! Please believe me!” the captain hurriedly said, and then he continued. “I am just a member, so I am not that knowledgeable. All I know is that we bring chaos to this world…”

“Why?”

“I’m a naval officer who hates the world, and the church’s doctrines fascinated me.”

“Hmm…”

“The church is divided into branches and small groups, so there is no way someone like me will know what the higher-ups are planning or thinking.”

“I see…”

Siegfried could tell from the desperation in the captain’s eyes that he was not lying, so he decided to believe him for now. After all, he did not have much expectation to begin with since the captain did not seem to be that high up the ladder.

“Who’s at the merchant company’s headquarters? Is it one of your higher-ups?”

“There are none.”

“None?”

“Our higher-ups come once a month for collections, but they do not stay here. We only have a few members adept in commerce and trade, along with a few guards.”

“Tsk…” Siegfried clicked his tongue. He would have barged in and captured them if there were any high-ranking church members in there.

“When is their next schedule for collection?”

“There is still a week left.”

“Hmm… It’s a bit long of a wait…”

He was already quite busy, so he did not have the time to sit around and wait for some cult member to come.

“So there’s nothing in your base?”

“Yes, all we have is the pile of gold we earned the previous month from the sales of…”

“What?!” Siegfried exclaimed before he shouted, “What did you say just now?!”

“We have a pile of gold we earned from the previous month\'s sales of the Gravity Stones…”

“Oh, no! Why are you sitting on the ground like this, good sir?” Siegfried said as he helped the captain up.

“H-Huh…?”

The captain could not help but be flustered at his sudden change in attitude.

‘What the hell is he planning…?’

He could not help but feel scared because the devil who had crushed four of his fingers suddenly started acting kind to him…

***

Siegfried could not care less whether the captain was flustered or not as he continued to show kindness to him.

“Oh, no! Your hand is injured! Are you alright? Please hang in there, good sir.”

“What…?”

“I know a very good healer, and she can fix your hand in no time!”

“A-Are you serious?”

“I don’t lie.”

“W-Why are you being so kind to me all of a sudden…?”

“Why else? I just feel bad for doing this to you.”

“…?”

“But why would an ex-naval officer like you harbor so much hatred against the world that you would join this strange cult?”

“What do you mean by that…?”

“I just find it strange, that’s all. Someone who has climbed all the way to the rank of captain and is commandeering a naval fleet is bound to be an elite, but it’s not normal for such an elite person to join a cult and do bad things, right?”

“That’s…” the captain muttered as his face darkened, and then he explained, “I faithfully carried out my duties, but I failed to get promoted again and again…”

The captain proceeded to tell his life story after Siegfried rubbed him a little bit, but his story was quite boring.

‘Ah… this is so boring…’ Siegfried thought as he suppressed the urge to yawn, and the words of the captain went in from one ear and left from the other.

Honestly, he was not interested in what story the captain had, as whatever bad things the captain did were inexcusable no matter what kind of life he had gone through.

“Ah, I see… Those evil bastards…”

“Kuheok…!”

“Now, now, please calm down and let’s turn this ship around, good sir.”

“Huh?”

“I’m going to raid the merchant company’s headquarters from now on, so I’ll be needing a ship.”

“D-Don’t tell me… Are you asking me to betray the church and help you take our pile of gold?!”

“What?! Betray? Not at all!” Siegfried hurriedly retorted, and then he said, “This isn’t betrayal! This is an escape!”

“E-Escape…?”

“Yes! You were influenced by the wrong people and lost your way for a moment, but I know you’re not that kind of person!”

“Hmm?!”

“Let’s use this opportunity to cut ties with them and live a new life! In fact, do you want me to ask around so you could work in the navy again?”

“R-Really?!”

“Let’s talk about the details later on and get out of here first. For that, I will need you to steer this ship.”

“Yes! I will!”

The captain completely switched sides after getting convinced by Siegfried’s glib tongue.

—We are returning to base. I repeat we are returning to base. All fleets return to base at once.

The four remaining warships turned around and went back to their base, and none of them dared to run away.

Why?

Because there was no way they could outrun an Aqua Runner…

***

On that same day, the base of the merchant company owned by the Church of Osric was inundated with red flames and green fog as the God of Death descended upon it.

Siegfried did not spare a single one of the church members. He killed every single church member, but he showed mercy and spared those who surrendered.

‘I have to root these bastards out.’

Siegfried was not merciful enough to spare those who had refused to surrender, and he ended up killing five hundred church members before entering the main building and killing many more.

“Where is the vault?” Siegfried asked.

“O-Over there!” the captain, who was now a snitch for Siegfried, replied and led the way.

The captain opened the vault, and Siegfried could not help but be in awe.

“Wow…”

The vault was filled with gold and Gravity Stones that the Church of Osric put so much effort into gathering.

“All of these are mine now? Bravo!”

“Owner punk! We’re rich now! Kyuuu!”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“But how are you going to transport all of these? Transporting all of this seems quite the challenge!”

“I can’t move all of these since my inventory space has limits, too.”

“Kyu?”

“Do you have a communication room by any chance?” Siegfried asked the captain.

“Yes, we do.”

“Lead the way then?”

“Of course, right here, please.”

Siegfried called the Proatine Kingdom.

— Your Majesty? What is the matter? I believe this communication wavelength is unfamiliar to our kingdom.

Michele appeared in a hologram, and he obviously seemed confused.

“Guess where I’m at~”

— Huh?

“Just take a guess. Where do you think this is?”

— How should I know, Your Majesty?

“That’s why I’m asking you to guess!”

— I am hanging up if you are going to continue your nonsense, Your Majesty.

“Hey!”

— I am already extremely busy, so I have no time to play around with Your Majesty. Please get straight to the point… Wait, don’t tell me… Did you cause another…

“I did not!” Siegfried retorted at Michele’s assumption, which was completely logical, and then he said, “I’m at the merchant company those Church of Osric bastards have been secretly running.”

— What?!

Michele was shocked at what he heard.

— A-Are you serious, Your Majesty?!

“Yeah, look at this,” Siegfried said as he turned the communication orb and showed the coast that was painted red with blood and littered with the dead bodies of the Church of Osric members.

— Heok!

“See that? I didn’t cause another trouble, right?”

— How did you find that place?!

“I have my ways,” Siegfried replied before he shrugged and added, “This is me! I’m this amazing~”

— Ah, yes… sure…

“Hmm? What’s with that reaction?”

— It looks like you were busy doing something else and chanced upon it…

“What did you say, punk?!”

— Is it not?

“N-No!”

Siegfried felt his heart drop after Michele accurately pinpointed what happened, but he tried his best to act nonchalantly and feign ignorance. Then, he continued boasting. “I have my ways, you know! Ha! I have been suspecting this place for quite a while now!”

— I see. Yes, good for you.

“W-What’s with that reaction?! You can’t trust me?!”

— Anyway, Your Majesty probably called since you found their secret base and are now in need of a way to transport whatever you found there, am I right?

“Y-Yeah, that’s why I called.”

— Please send me the coordinates.

“Sure, but there are a lot of things we have to move, so make sure you send a fleet. One or two ships are not going to cut it.

— Okay.

“And, I really didn’t get lucky and inadvertently stumbled upon—”

Unfortunately, Siegfried couldn’t finish speaking.

Beep!

Bzzt…! Bzzt…!

Michele hung up before Siegfried could continue his nonsense.

Plop…!

A tear dropped from the corner of his eye.

“Am I that untrustworthy…?”

He inwardly lampooned. His own subject wouldn’t even believe him. However, he was clearly oblivious to the fact that his words were nothing but a bunch of nonsense to anyone’s ears.

***

Two days later.

Siegfried proudly returned to the Proatine Kingdom with fifty carts full to the brim with gold and Gravity Stones behind him.

“Three cheers for the Great King!”

“Hip, hip, hurray!”

“Three cheers for the Great King!”

“Hip, hip, hurray!”

The people on the streets cheered after seeing him return with riches in tow, and he triumphantly paraded all the way to the castle gates.

“…”

However, the face of his Minister of State, Michele, was dark.

‘So you wanted to get some recognition…? Sigh…’

He knew that Siegfried put on this parade simply to gain his recognition, and he could not help but think that his king acted more like a child at times.

“Thank you for your hard work, Your Majesty.”

“Come on~ This is nothing~ Hohoho!” Siegfried replied with a shrug.

It was then.

“H-Hold on! Why are you dragging me away?! This isn’t what we agreed!”

The captain, who was tortured by Siegfried before cooperating with him, screamed and kicked up a fuss as he was dragged away by the soldiers.

“Who might that be, Your Majesty?” Michele asked.

“Ah, him?” Siegfried smirked before he explained, “He’s an ex-naval officer who joined the Church of Osric, but I managed to sway him to help me.”

“But why are the soldiers…?”

“Hmm? His sins can’t be forgiven just because he helped me, right?”

“Don’t tell me… Did you use him just because you needed someone to help transport the treasures, and now you are discarding him?”

“Yeah, what’s wrong with that?”

“…”

“W-What’s with those eyes?!”

Michele was rendered absolutely speechless by what Siegfried did.

‘Stabbing people in the back has become so natural to him it’s like breathing…’ He could not help but think that if there was a star called Backstabbing Star, it was probably the star that Siegfried was born under.

“But what about Brunhilde? Is she asleep? Is she unwell?” Siegfried looked around and asked. He expected his wife, Brunhilde, to welcome him back, but he found it strange that she was nowhere to be seen.

“That’s… Her Majesty is currently extremely upset, so she has decided not to greet you,” Michele replied.

“E-Extremely upset…?”

“Your Majesty.”

“Yes?”

“Why did you do that?”

“W-What did I do…?”

Siegfried truly had no idea what was going on.