Debuff Master

Chapter 340

“V-Video?!”

“Ma Dong-Po confessed on his own just now, didn’t he? He worked together with Chae Hyung-Seok to illegally loan money to gamers.”

“Heok!”

“People tend to say everything if you just play along with them a bit. Hohoho!” Siegfried said while flashing a smile so despicable that it would make the most hardened criminals flinch.

“T-Then, you had no plans of starting a money-lending business, hyung-nim?” Seung-Gu asked.

“Huh? Do you think I’m crazy to dabble in money-lending?” Siegfried grumbled in response. He suddenly narrowed his eyes and asked, “Hey, don’t tell me you really thought I was going to do that?”

“N-Not at all!”

“What the…? I think you did?”

“No! I really didn’t, hyung-nim!”

Seung-Gu started sweating profusely at the suspicious gaze Siegfried was giving him.

Pat! Pat! Pat!

Droplet after droplet of sweat rained down on his forehead.

‘Hyung-nim loves money, and he does all sorts of despicable stuff, so… I thought he was really going to do it… Hahaha…’

Actually, Seung-Gu was convinced that Siegfried was more than capable of doing such a thing against other gamers. No, he was probably capable of doing more than what others could only imagine.

Siegfried, at times, acted worse than the devil himself, which made it seem highly likely for him to commit all sorts of atrocities. Fortunately, most of the evil things he did were only directed at his enemies.

“All right, since Ma Dong-Po had abandoned Chae Hyung-Seok…” Siegfried narrowed his eyes and started calculating. Then, he shared his plans with Seung-Gu, “Chae Hyung-Seok probably has no idea that I know what’s going on, right?”

“That is highly likely since Ma Dong-Po seems to fully trust you now, hyung-nim.”

“Let’s see… If we analyze the information from both Ma Dong-Po and the Thieves Guild… I think we can roughly estimate when Chae Hyung-Seok is going to attack, right?”

“Probably?”

“Then let’s use that against him,” Siegfried said as he slapped his knee. He then smirked and said, “Hey, isn’t this basically a free win? I mean, we will be able to tell how many troops they have, when they are going to attack, and even when they are going to attack even before they attack! We can just set a few traps, and boom! It’s over!”

“Wow! So we’ve already won?”

“Exactly,” Siegfried replied with a grin that made him look like a demon…

“Then what are you going to do with Ma Dong-Po?” Seung-Gu asked.

“What else?” Siegfried replied with a shrug, and then he explained, “We will spread the video online and report him to the police. I’m sure there are dozens of victims out there, and he will probably have a few charges on his head, too.”

He then rubbed his chin and said, “Hmm… Violation of the usury law, blackmail, intimidation, extortion, fraud, organ harvesting, assault, and—Ah, I’m sure the list goes on… Huh? What the… why does it feel like he has committed every crime out there?”

“I think he will stay for at least ten years in prison, hyung-nim.”

“Ten years? He will serve at least twenty years, in my opinion. Kekeke!”

“Then, will you get started now?” Seung-Gu asked.

“Ah, no, not now,” Siegfried shook his head and said, “I have to clear a quest first.”

“A quest?”

“Yeah, a quest to obtain an Epic Weapon.”

“What?! E-Epic Weapon?!”

“Yeah.”

“Wow… Where did you find such a quest…?”

“I came across it after I picked up whatever opportunity that came my way. That’s why you shouldn’t throw away things, no matter how worthless they look. Who knows? One day, you might earn a handsome profit from it,” Siegfried said while thinking of how he had kept the half-torn treasure map with him.

He started sharing the gospel of picking up trash from the ground with Seung-Gu. Well, this gospel did rely heavily on luck, but it did not matter as Seung-Gu earnestly wrote down Siegfried’s every single word.

“Pick up even the trash… keep them with you… they could be useful one day…” Seung-Gu muttered as he wrote them down. He was using a notebook and a pen. It was unknown where he got the pen, but he made sure not to miss a single word.

“There are three materials I need to obtain an Epic Weapon, but I already know the location of the two, so I can just go get them. However, I will need to ask around for the third one.”

“Oh!”

“Anyway, I’ll go collect the two materials I already know of before dealing with Chae Hyung-Seok. Even the NPC that gave me the quest doesn't know where the third one is,” Siegfried said as he thought of the Essence of Golem King.

‘They have to give me information if they’re going to give me a quest in the first place, right? Does it make sense to ask me to find it on my own? Geez… talk about being irresponsible…’ He cursed the quest giver, Quandt, while walking away.

“I’m planning to go to the West Sea first; do you want to tag along?”

“I will excuse myself this time, hyung-nim.”

“Why?”

“I’m doing a quest these days, and it says that this is my class’ main quest. I’m quite busy these days because of it.”

“Really? Do you need help?”

“No, hyung-nim. I want to try and clear it with my own abilities.”

“All right, but call me if you need any help.”

“Thank you, hyung-nim.”

“Alright, I’ll head to the West Sea now,” Siegfried said as he left.

‘Hohoho! My dear Hyung-Seok is ruining himself? How nice of him!’

He couldn’t help but find Chae Hyung-Seok’s recent actions to be adorable.

***

Right after Siegfried, Hamchi, and Gringore headed for the West Sea…

“Damn it!”

Carlisle fumed in anger in a small room located within the Proatine Kingdom’s castle.

“That son of a bitch! Oh, God, why have you abandoned me? Why have you given me such false hopes? Why did you plunge him into the pits of despair only to fish him out again? Why?!”

Carlisle was in an extremely good mood recently, thinking that Brunhilde and the child within her were about to die, but he soon despaired after his hopes were dashed. The scoundrel managed to not only find the Dragonian Mango but also enlist the help of the monster referred to by the kingdom as the Elder to treat Brunhilde.

As such, Carlisle couldn’t help but feel that the gods had abandoned him.

“No… if a god existed in the first place, then my kingdom would not have been turned into what it is today by that spawn of the devil! Kekeke! God? I don’t need someone fictional like you! I will exact revenge with my own strength!”

A god definitely existed in the Nürburg Continent, which was a fantasy world in a game, but Carlisle started to reject the notion of a god’s existence.

“All right, I will take matters into my own hands from now on. Revenge is a dish best when self-served! Kekeke! Siegfried van Proa, do you really think your wife and child will be safe this time?” Carlisle muttered as he took out a small vial from his pocket.

Slush…! Slush…!

The gray liquid in the vial did not seem like ordinary liquid, and it did not behave like ordinary liquid either.

“The Cockatrice’s poison… Hehehe… What about this? Kekeke! Your wife and child will be petrified into stone statues before meeting their demise! Can they survive this? Mwahaha!”

The liquid in the vial was none other than a poison extracted from the Cockatrice, which was the same monster that Ingrid had released to wreak havoc on Siegfried and Brunhilde’s wedding.

“I heard the queen has developed quite an appetite these days. Have a taste of this, too!” Carlisle exclaimed before he shoved the vial back into his pocket and made his way toward the royal kitchen.

***

Siegfried’s journey to the West Sea didn’t go that smoothly despite using warp gates.

However, it wasn’t strange as the West Sea had a distinct characteristic unique from the other seas on the continent, and this distinct difference was the fact that it was impossible to fly in an airship over the West Sea.

The seafloor was special, as it was riddled with a special stone called Gravity Stones.

The problem with these raw Gravity Stones was that they interfered with the anti-gravity magic cast on airships, making them highly susceptible to crashing into the water.

The airships in this world depended on magic rather than science, so it was difficult for one to stay afloat while depending on its engines alone.

Therefore, Siegfried couldn’t use his super airship, the Huracan, and was forced to use the warp gates to reach the port city near the West Sea, Gravity Port.

“I need a ship, but…”

Siegfried had to find a ship that would take him to the habitat of the Silver Sea Serpents, which were the monsters that dropped Aquarium—one of the materials he needed to complete his quest.

The habitat of the Silver Sea Serpents was so far away from land that it was impossible to get there with the Aqua Runners. The Aqua Runners boasted extremely fast mobility, but their mana stone battery capacity was quite low, making it unsuitable for long-distance travel.

“Excuse me,” Siegfried called out after spotting a middle-aged man who looked like the captain of a ship. He approached the man and asked, “Are you renting your ship and services by any chance? I am willing to pay you handsomely for it.”

“Oh! You’re in luck, chap! I’m quite free for the next few days! Where do you wish to go?”

“I have to go to the habitat of the Silver Sea Serpents. If you bring me close to—”

“You crazy bastard!”

“…?”

“Are you trying to get me killed? Scram!”

“No, that’s not what I was—”

“Ptooey! I stepped on shit so early in the morning! What? Silver Sea Serpents? If you want to die, then die on your own! Don’t drag others with you!”

“I-I apologize—”

“I swear these Adventurers treat lives as a joke just because they’re immortal. Ahem… Ptooey!”

Siegfried was brutally rejected by the first captain he had approached.

“It seems that the Silver Sea Serpents are quite scary… Hahaha…” he muttered while letting out an awkward laugh. He proceeded to search for other captains willing to take him there, but they all had the same reaction.

“Are you crazy? Get out of my sight right now!”

“Ha? Do you have a death wish? Go die alone if you want to.”

“What nonsense are you blabbering?”

“I don’t speak dog, sorry.”

The captains with ships capable of traveling long distances refused the voyage to the habitat of the Silver Sea Serpents.

“Should I just buy a ship…?” Siegfried grumbled in anger.

He seriously contemplated buying his own ship after getting refused so many times.

“Kyu! Can you drive a big ship, owner punk?”

“N-No…”

“Then you will have to find a captain, but who in their right mind will agree when they don’t want to go there in the first place? Kyu! Use your brain, will you?”

“I guess you’re right…”

“You’re acting like those people who got rich overnight! Did you win the lottery? Don’t try to solve your problems with money! Your attitude will become rotten if you think money can solve everything! Kyuuu!”

“W-What are you talking about?! I was just grumbling! I didn’t say that I was going to do something like that! Tsk!” Siegfried clicked his tongue and sulked after getting scolded by Hamchi.

He then seriously pondered over the issue. “Hmm… Should I go play with my Hyung-Seok first before doing this, or should I just go for the other material first…?”

While he was busy pondering over what to do…

“Huh…?”

A yellow exclamation point caught his eye, and he headed toward it.

An NPC who looked like a sailor was standing underneath the yellow exclamation point.

It was not that common to find such an occurrence in BNW, but a yellow exclamation point on top of an NPC’s head meant that they were somewhat related to an ongoing quest the Adventurer had. It was a system borrowed from an old online RPG game.

“Excuse me?”

“Ah! You must be an Adventurer!”

The NPC’s expression brightened after Siegfried spoke to him first.

“So, what business do you have with me? Are you interested in mining Gravity Stones?”

“Huh? Mining Gravity Stones?”

“I’m a recruiter for a merchant company that specializes in mining Gravity Stones, and I’m currently looking for laborers to mine Gravity Stones.”

Ding!

A message abruptly popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.