Debuff Master

Chapter 282

Thirty minutes later, a deep sense of hopelessness swept across the entire Vaper Fortress. They had overcome the overwhelming difference in numbers and even sallied out to attack the invaders.

It was a battle that would inevitably be recorded as a miracle in the annals of history, and they were just a few steps away from emerging victorious.

However, Emperor Frederic lost his battles and ran to Vaper Fortress, bringing along the entire papal forces with him. He even brought the pope along with him, which meant that the entire fortress was doomed.

In other words, he shat poop all over the battlefield, which was as good as won.

Tremble… Tremble…?

Siegfried trembled in anger and felt his blood pressure skyrocket.

‘Argh…! What an absolute moron! This guy is so frustrating!’?Siegfried felt his anger welling up while glaring at the emperor.

He was impressed when the emperor came up with such a strategy, so he decided to support him by fighting as hard as he could, but he didn’t expect that the emperor would not only lose but also bring all of the enemies with him.

‘Hold it in… Let’s hold it in… It’s not even his fault anyway…’?Siegfried gritted his teeth and exerted superhuman self-control to prevent himself from grabbing his +15 Gaia’s Fist and cracking the emperor’s skull open.

It was true. The emperor was not at fault.

He tried his best to come up with a strategy, and he almost succeeded.

However, the problem was that the pope had completely outsmarted him.

The pope was as clever as the emperor was, but he was a step ahead this time. He had the foresight to hire droves of Adventurers at the last minute and even forcefully conscript people from his territories.

Not only that, he led his army to Crane City and Tenshall Territory to attack the imperial forces from their flank.

Pope Theopilus had kept an eye on every single move the emperor had been making, so he had no problem reading what the emperor was going to do, and his efforts blossomed.

— Listen, fake emperor! Heed His Holiness' words and open the gates! Surrender yourself to the will of god, and I will guarantee at least your life!

The Vaper Fortress was completely surrounded by the papal forces, and Emperor Frederic was trapped along with Siegfried.

— Heed His Holiness’s words, you heretics! Repent! His Holiness is willing to forgive you of your sins and free you from the demons possessing you!

The message reverberated throughout Vaper Fortress.

“…”

“…”

“…”

Emperor Frederic, along with his officers, were absolutely speechless.

None of them uttered a single word, and all of them had their heads down.

‘Are we at a funeral or something?’?Siegfried grumbled and observed the emperor while leaning against the wall. Then, he shook his head and thought, ‘No, this isn’t the time for me to be worrying about them. Damn it… Knowing how to line up is a crucial ability for survival… Why did I have to stab the pope of all people in the back…’

Even Siegfried thought that Emperor Frederic was done along with the imperial faction.

The Constantine Holy Empire was under the rule of the pope, who was no different from a cult leader committing genocide.

Siegfried already knew the papacy’s next move. They would aim their swords at the Proatine Kingdom. The Genesis Guild would definitely lead the charge in that war.

‘Ah… I’m royally screwed now… What should I do? Do I have to move my army? Should I summon Decimato as well? But he went to train… Tsk…’

The Great Wizard, Decimato, was the most powerful force in the Proatine Kingdom, but he was currently away training under the tutelage of Daode Tianzun.

However, Siegfried needed to—no, he absolutely had to summon him back if the Constantine Holy Empire invaded the Proatine Kingdom.

‘This is the worst case scenario… but if we can break through this encirclement and win just one more battle…’?Siegfried thought as his head started calculating like a supercomputer. He hadn’t given up yet, and he was trying to come up with all sorts of ideas to save the imperial faction that was on the brink of ruin.

‘Should I spend some money? What if I recruit some Adventurers and hit the papal forces from behind…?’

“I guess we have no choice…” Emperor Frederic broke the silence. Then, he continued in a solemn and defeated voice. “I have no choice but to request assistance from the Amalone Kingdom…”

“Your Majesty! You cannot do that! Our empire’s prestige will plummet if the Amalone Kingdom joins, regardless of who wins this civil war!”

The officer made perfect sense. The empire was going to be subjected to not only ridicule but even interference if they received help from a third-party nation to win their civil war.

However, Emperor Frederic begged to differ.

“What’s the use of prestige right now?! I’m about to have my head cut off and paraded on a stake! Do you wish to see that cult leader have my head on a stake?!”

“N-Not at all, Your Majesty! I just wanted to preserve the authority of our empire…”

“Silence!”

Bam!

“…!”

“The imperial bloodline has to survive for our empire to continue! That means I have to survive!” Emperor Frederic shouted in anger. Ironically, he was only concerned about his survival. He didn’t care if his people had to live in misery for years to come.

“I’m going to send a message to the Amalone Kingdom at once and request for help! Don’t even think about stopping me!” Emperor Frederic said before storming out of the room.

‘Wow… That guy is a real scumbag… The people are doomed regardless of who wins this civil war… Geez, what a country to live in…’?Siegfried was amazed at how pathetic the emperor was. However, he was kind of relieved that he didn’t have to mobilize his army as the emperor had decided to request help from the Amalone Kingdom.

‘But the important question is… How are we supposed to hold out until the reinforcements from the Amalone Kingdom arrive…?’?

Siegfried accurately picked out the most pressing matter.

‘No, we need to hold out no matter what. We will have a chance if we manage to hold out until the Amalone Kingdom arrives. Phew… It’s a relief that guy’s an even bigger scumbag than I originally thought he was…’?

Ironically, the emperor’s trash-like attitude ended up helping Siegfried, but the same could not be said for the empire’s citizens. However, Siegfried could only worry about the people of Proatine and the Proatine Kingdom alone since he was their king.

It was great that the emperor’s trash-like attitude saved him this time, as he was feeling extremely guilty for putting the lives of everyone in Proatine in peril because of his actions.

‘I need something… Something that will go with a bang…’?Siegfried tried to come up with a surefire solution to their problem.

***

Meanwhile, at the papal forces’ base of operation outside Vaper Fortress…

“Hoho!”

Pope Theopilus let out a laugh while looking at the gates of Vaper Fortress. Surprisingly, he did not seem bothered at all despite seeing the severed head of Quasimodo hanging on the fortress wall.

‘Hmm… It’s a shame losing such a valuable servant… he was quite a good hunting dog…’?he thought.

And that was all he felt about the hunchback’s death.

One of the cardinals suddenly asked, “May I suggest that we demand them to surrender once more? It has already been three hours since then, Your Holiness.”

“No, there will be no more chances,” Pope Theopilus replied.

“Why not, Your Holiness? I implore you to bestow your wisdom upon this fool.”

The cardinal was asking because Emperor Frederic was still the emperor regardless of how much of a scumbag he was, and making him surrender of his own volition was much better for public sentiment than barging in and capturing him.

This was a civil war, but it was still going to stir negative sentiment among the people if they conquered the fort and beheaded the emperor. It was far better for them to force the emperor to surrender and send him into exile on some distant island before assassinating him with poison and covering it up as natural death.

However, the pope seemed to disagree with the idea.

“That fool won’t even think about surrendering.”

“Pardon me, Your Holiness?”

“I’m certain that fool is going to try and seek help from the Amalone Kingdom.”

“The A-Amalone Kingdom?!”

“Hoho! It wasn’t enough for him to be fooled by the devil and betray god, but he’s actually going to turn his back on his own people for the sake of power?! What a treacherous heretic!”

Pope Theopilus was a master politician. He could clearly see the emperor’s next move.

“Then we should commence the siege and capture that fake emperor right now, Your Holiness!” the cardinal exclaimed.

“Not yet,” Pope Theopilus shook his head and continued, “We will wait until the Amalone Kingdom’s forces cross our border before commencing the siege.”

“Oh!” the cardinal exclaimed in awe and slapped his knee.

It was going to take at least three days for the Amalone Kingdom’s forces to reach Vaper Fortress, and the pope could accuse the emperor of treason against the empire once the Amalone Kingdom crossed into the empire’s border.

In other words, the pope’s siege was going to be fully justified. In addition, he would have a reason to capture and execute the emperor without stirring up negative sentiment.

If Emperor Frederic was a clever tanuki, then Pope Theopilus was a 999 years old imugi.

“We will launch a full-scale assault on Vaper Fortress as soon as the Amalone Kingdom’s forces cross our borders, so make sure to have our holy warriors prepared for battle,” Pope Theopilus said with a smile.

“Yes, Your Holiness!” the cardinal replied and rushed out of the room.

Pope Theopilus grinned. He seemed certain of his victory.

It wasn’t strange because he could see three steps ahead of whatever the emperor was seeing.

***

A few hours later, Siegfried called Michele only after the emperor requested assistance from the Amalone Kingdom.

—So… You are saying that Emperor Frederic is on the verge of losing everything?

“Yeah.”

— And that is the reason he requested assistance from the Amalone Kingdom?

“That’s what he said? He said they’re on their way now since they already stationed their army at the border.”

— N-No!

Michele suddenly screamed.

“W-Why not?”

— It’s a trap! The pope will commence the siege as soon as the Amalone Kingdom’s troops cross the border! He doesn’t have any justification to capture the emperor right now, but the emperor will be branded a traitor against his country as soon as the Amalone Kingdom’s troops enter the empire’s borders!

Michele had the foresight to accurately see what was going on in the civil war without even stepping foot in the Constantine Holy Empire.

“Wow?”

—Your Majesty! You need to hold out for as long as possible and protect Emperor Frederic!

Ding!

A message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes as soon as Michele finished his words.

[Protect the Scumbag!]

[Protect Emperor Frederic from the papacy!]

[Reward: None]

[Note: You will be royally fucked if you fail this quest.]

The quest details sent shivers down Siegfried’s spine.

— I will mobilize our allies, Your Majesty.

“What? Our allies?”

Siegfried was surprised at what Michele said.

“Don’t tell me… You’re planning to mobilize an army…?”

— Yes, Your Majesty. I will form a coalition with our allies and send them immediately. It is impossible for us to have any influence in this civil war with our strength alone.

“But this is my own private matter…”

— It is a hundred thousand times better than war breaking out in our lands, Your Majesty.

“…!”

— Your Majesty is the kingdom, and the kingdom is Your Majesty.

“Michele…”

— If you realized anything from this situation, then I hope you reflected on it and will be mindful of your actions from now on, Your Majesty.

Siegfried could not say anything in response to what Michele said.

‘I’ve put many people at risk because of what I did… I have to become stronger. I need to become much, much, much, much stronger so that I can clean up my own mess. That’s the only way I can protect the Proatine Kingdom from my enemies and myself.’

?Siegfried reflected on his mistakes and vowed to become stronger. However, the problem was that he didn’t resolve to stop causing trouble from now on, and he even foresaw that he was going to continue stirring up problems in the future…

— You need to protect Emperor Frederic. I will immediately mobilize our army, and Your Majesty just has to hold out for a day.

“A day?”

— Actually, I have already prepared our armies in advance…

“Wow!”

— And please stop Emperor Frederic if he ever tries to escape. He is dancing in the pope’s palm, so I’m sure the pope already knows the emperor’s next move.

“Alright, thanks, Michele. You’re the best.”

— Please do better from now on. PLEASE!

“A-Alright… I’m sorry…”

— I will hang up now.

The call ended.

“Hehehe…” Michele started laughing. “You need to take responsibility if you caused a mess, Your Majesty. Hehehe… I’ll make sure that you can’t retort this time. Kekeke… Bwahahaha!”

Michele broke out in a sinister laugh before signing a document and stamping it with the seal of the kingdom.

Bam!

What document was it?

The title of the document was…

Royal Marriage Agreement Between Elondel and Proatine