Debuff Master

‘I need this NPC.’

Siegfried didn't have the grand ambition of turning the Proatine Kingdom into a massive empire. The continent was still peaceful. It wasn't in turmoil or anything of that sort that could act as the catalyst for the birth of a new empire.

Moreover, Siegfried preferred to pursue his personal growth journeying around the continent rather than do something chuuni like unifying the continent.

However, he was indeed planning on transforming the Proatine Kingdom into a "proper" and strong nation.

“Proatine Kingdom…? This is my first time hearing about such a place.”

“Eh? How can you call that small kingdom the size of a booger a kingdom? That’s just a backwater province.”

“Was there such a kingdom…?”

“Is it a kingdom on another continent?”

Siegfried would always be infuriated whenever someone was looking down on the Proatine Kingdom, so he wanted the Proatine Kingdom to become a household name.

“The price of grain has increased once again, Your Majesty. Our kingdom will always suffer a loss in maintaining our food security programs… We need to be self-sufficient when it comes to food, and it is already proving to be critical to our kingdom.

Sigh… It pains me to watch us burn through our funds like this…”

Michele had always been struggling with maintaining the food supplies of the Proatine Kingdom.

Why?

It was all because more than eighty percent of the kingdom were mountains.

It was impossible to establish its own agriculture industry due to the lack of flat plains.

The food supply records of the Proatine Province before Siegfried's ascension to the throne showed that it was normal for the people to starve to death if the harvest was poor or there was a famine sweeping across the region.

The problem was still present. In fact, it had gotten worse; the kingdom had experienced a boom in population, but food production levels had barely improved at all. Thus, the kingdom was forced to spend a lot of money importing food supplies from other nations, which cost the kingdom an arm and a leg for every batch of imports.

It was truly unfortunate that none of the Proatine Kingdom’s allies were food producers, so the kingdom was forced to import food from non-ally nations that were agricultural powerhouses on the continent.

The problem with this was that these agricultural powerhouses had the tendency to form a cartel and play with the price of food. For example, if the price of grain on the continent went up by five percent, then the Proatine Kingdom would be charged an extra fifteen percent.

These agricultural powerhouses knew that the Proatine Kingdom could not produce its own food, and it was in desperate need for food due to its ever-increasing population. In other words, they often did such despicable things to squeeze as much money as they could out of the kingdom.

‘The Cronasia Plains is a food basket, but it’s not enough to solve our food shortage problems. We will need to increase production if we want to resolve our food-related problems and export to our allies. To do that… I will definitely need this NPC.’

Siegfried knew that he absolutely needed Viscount Cornelius if he was going to resolve the food shortage problems of the Proatine Kingdom.

“Viscount Cornelius.”

“What is it?”

“I respect your loyalty toward His Imperial Majesty.”

“Then kill me.”

It was then.

‘Damn this guy! Should I just kill him?!’ Siegfried almost lost his composure, but he composed himself through superhuman self-control. Then, he replied in a very gentle voice, “It is not difficult for me to kill you.”

“Then what are you waiting for? Just kill me.”

“Like I said earlier, I respect your loyalty toward His Imperial Majesty. Therefore, I do believe you deserve a quick and honorable death.”

“So just kill me then. What are you hesitating for?”

“The people.”

“...!”

“The reason I sentenced you with exile rather than death was that you took care of your people as a righteous lord.”

“My people…”

“That was why I reduced your sentence from the death penalty to exile, but I changed my mind.”

“What is it?”

“Viscount Cornelius. I want you to be my subject.”

“...!”

“I am not asking you for my sake. I want you to become my subject for your people that you have fairly ruled over for decades. Also, think of this as your last act of loyalty toward His Imperial Majesty. If you do that, wouldn't you succeed both as a noble of the Marchioni Empire and as a feudal lord?”

“That is…”

Viscount Cornelius was silent for a very long period of time. His silence was understandable, as Siegfried’s logic made perfect sense.

“It would be over for you upon your death, but what about the grief that your people will feel? Do you truly plan to die in such an irresponsible manner? Are you truly going to abandon your own people?”

“Argh…”

“I will give you three days to think about it. If you still wish to die after three days, then I shall respect your wish and grant you what you want,” Siegfried said. Then, he turned to the marines and commanded, “Escort Viscount Cornelius to a place where he can think things through! And make sure all of his needs are attended to!”

“As Your Majesty commands!”

The Proatine Marines escorted Viscount Cornelius out of the banquet hall.

‘I should write a letter to the emperor asking for his help or something…’ Siegfried thought of being shameless and requesting for Emperor Stuttgart’s help to convince Viscount Cornelius.

After a while, the judgement resumed.

“Death penalty, exile, death penalty, death penalty, death penalty, I’ll give you time to think, death penalty…”

Siegfried executed those who deserved to die, exiled the ones who were neither here nor there, and he gave time to those with talents he coveted.

All in all, it could be said that he had given the nobles a very fair trial.

“Count Gunther.”

Last but not the least, it was time to pass judgement on the leader of the nobles, Count Gunther.

***

“S-Spare me, Your Majesty! I beg you! Please spare me! I will swear loyalty to Your Majesty, so please grant me mercy!”

It seemed that Count Gunther greatly valued his life despite instigating the Espadrille Province’s nobles to fight back against the Proatine Kingdom.

“Count Gunther.”

“Yes! Your Majesty! Please just spare my life!”

“I will spare you.”

“A-Are you…?! Really?!”

“Yes.”

“Thank you for your benevolence! I will swear loyalty to Your Majesty from now on! Long live His Royal Highness, King Siegfried van Proa! Long live the king!” Count Gunther screamed at the top of his lungs and praised Siegfried’s name.

Ding!

All of a sudden, the title "I Am Backstabbing" flashed above Siegfried’s head, but there was no way the count, who was an NPC, could see it.

“Count Gunther.”

“Yes! Your Majesty!”

“Burning at the stake.”

“Eh?” Count Gunther muttered, seemingly baffled and startled at the same time.

Burning at the stake? How was that different from the death penalty?

“Y-Your Majesty? Pardon me for asking, but… didn't you say that you'll spare my life?”

“Don’t worry about that, Count Gunther.”

“...?”

“Our kingdom does it in a way that doesn’t involve killing you.”

“What do you mean by that…?”

“It’s a punishment that lasts for eternity. Basically, you will be roasted until golden brown and all crispy, but you’ll still be alive.”

“H-Huh…?”

“You’ll understand once you get there. Kekeke!”

Siegfried finally showed his true colors. He cast aside the charismatic, righteous, and fair ruler cosplay he had put on and went back to his true self after passing judgement on the other nobles.

“Men!”

“Yes, sire!”

“Lock up Count Gunther deep underground the Aoji Mines and burn him at the stake.”

“As Your Majesty commands!”

The Proatine Marines dragged Count Gunther in response to Siegfried's command.

“Y-Your Majesty! What is the meaning of this?! You said you’d spare me! Your Majesty!”

“Yeah, I’m not going to kill you, so what’s the problem?”

“What bullshit is that?! You fucking bastaaaard!”

“Geez~ Thanks for the kind words! Hehe!” Siegfried grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head out of embarrassment, even though the count was profusely hurling curses.

Why?

It was all because anyone subjected to the burning at the stake punishment deep underground in the Aoji Mines would beg for death every single day. Dying was definitely a hundred times better—no, it was 10,000,000,000,000,000 times better than being burned at the stake,

The Proatine Kingdom’s methods were a bit unique.

They'd cast a spell that would burn the criminals with an unquenchable fire while injecting top-grade healing potions directly into the criminal's veins. As a result, the criminals wouldn't die, even though they were burning alive.

“That’s why you should’ve played nice when you had the chance to do so,” Siegfried said, smiling icily.

***

Siegfried was done purging the local nobles, but he couldn't rest yet.

“The Siege of Avignon is almost over!”

“Our men have completely occupied the Chateau Territory! Congratulations, Your Majesty!”

“The Paraffin Territory has fallen! Congratulations, sire!”

The main hall of the Cabochon Territory was converted into a command center, overseeing the battles happening all over the Espadrille Province.

“Your Majesty! The Avignon Territory’s soldiers are putting up a fierce resistance!”

“Send Scribe Gringore and Count Lamborghini in.”

“Yes! Your Majesty!”

On top of commanding the battles from the command center, he also had to do his duties as king, so he didn't have the luxury to rest. As if that was not enough, he also had to go to a warp gate, pop out at one of the territories, join the battle, and end it.

The night passed and daybreak came.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty!”

“Long live His Majesty, King Siegfried van Proa!”

“Long live the king!”

“Long live the Proatine Kingdom!”

The Proatine Forces successfully conquered the entire Espadrille Province in a single day, and they congratulated Siegfried for the overwhelming victory.

“Kyuu! Good job, owner punk! Congratulations!”

Hamchi, too, did not forget to congratulate him.

“Good job everyone—yawn!” Siegfried said. He stretched lazily before sitting on his throne. Then, he looked at his subjects and said, “First things first—”

And that was the end of it…

Siegfried's figure was flickering, which meant that he had drifted into dreamland. After running around all night, Siegfried finally succumbed to the fatigue and ended up falling asleep as soon as he sat on his throne.

“Kyuu… You should work harder while you’re still young, owner punk,” Hamchi said, shaking his head. Then, Hamchi took out a blanket from his pocket, which was suspiciously deep, and covered Siegfried with it.

“Kyuuu! Sleep tight, owner punk! Hamchi will take a nap too!”

Hamchi curled up at Siegfried’s feet and went to sleep.

***

While Siegfried was fast asleep, something was happening at the Capucines Territory.

The Capucines Territory had a large space the size of two football fields hidden underground. This was a secret location, and its walls were riddled with all sorts of magic circles.

There were also traces of aged and faded scribbles on the walls.

This secret underground space was none other than a training ground only used by the heads of the Gray Family.

At last, Count Arial opened his eyes. Count Arial had pale white skin, a tall stature, and dark blue hair. He was already in his mid-thirties, but he looked just like a teenager.

Count Arial was wearing a long, flowing navy robe embroidered with golden stars, sun, and moon, giving him a very mystical vibe.

“I…” Count Arial muttered under his breath. There was a withered decayed corpse lying in front of the count. “I am… omnipotent.”

As soon as Count Arial's words fell…

Swoosh!

The corpse’s decayed bits of flesh started regenerating right before Count Arial's eyes. The wave of regeneration spread slowly from the corpse's bits of flesh to its entire body until the corpse looked full of life once more.

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