Debuff Master

Chapter 403

Chapter 403

‘Who was that?’ Siegfried wondered and turned toward where the voice came from.

“Hey! Long time no see!”

He saw Taycan waving at him with a huge smile, and his attire was not something a knight could dare to wear.

“Huh? Why are you here?”

“I am accompanying my king.”

“Oh? So you’re the knight accompanying your king?”

“Yeah,” Taycan replied before he turned and said, “Your Majesty, this is my friend—“

Siegfried interrupted him and grumbled, “Hey, who’s your friend? Is a knight trying to be on equal footing as a king?”

“T-That is!”

“The hierarchy will get messed up if you do that. Introduce me again, and do it properly this time.”

“Tsk...” Taycan clicked his tongue and pouted. Then, he immediately changed his tone while thinking, ‘He’s right. I have to keep personal matters separate.’

Even he found it absurd that an aide would try to introduce himself as a friend of someone attending this event as a king.

Of course, that wasn't Siegfried’s intention at all.

‘Who’s your friend? Hmph!’

He only said it out of petty spite...

“Your Majesty, this is His Majesty, King Siegfried van Proa of the Proatine Kingdom.”

Taycan introduced Siegfried to the man standing beside him.

“Ah, I see,” the man extended his hand and introduced himself, “It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Aaron van Caesar, the King of Kyiv Kingdom.”

King Aaron was a young king who seemed to be twenty years old at most.

‘Oh? He’s really young,’ Siegfried thought. Then, he introduced himself, “My name is Siegfried van Proa, and I am the king of a small kingdom called Proatine.”

“I have heard you are quite skilled with both the pen and the sword.”

“Huh? You have heard of me?”

“I have heard it from Uncle Taycan over here.”

“U-Uncle...?”

“We are distant relatives, but he is my uncle, going by our family tree.”

“I see...” Siegfried nodded after recalling that Taycan was of royal descent, too.

“It is a pleasure to meet you. Ah, your knight must be the famous Dame Oscar.”

Surprisingly, Aaron van Caesar seemed like he knew about Oscar as well.

“I have heard great things about you, Dame Oscar. Rumor on the continent says that you are an excellent knight.”

“I greet Your Majesty, King Aaron van Caesar. Thank you for your kind words,” Oscar slightly blushed and replied with a nod.

‘Oscar is quite popular, too,’ Siegfried realized that she was much more famous than he thought.

They finished exchanging pleasantries and were about to walk when—

[Alert: Status Ailment!]

[Alert: You have been afflicted by Absolute Containment!]

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

“What the hell?” he grimaced and checked the status ailment's effect.

[Alert: You will not be able to use any mana or energy from now on!]

The Status Ailment: Absolute Containment was a debuff that stopped those afflicted from using mana or any kind of supernatural energy.

“I can’t use mana from now on?”

Taycan chimed in. “Did you sense that too?”

“Sense what?”

“You can’t use your mana if you cross this line.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, my Lightning Force uses lightning-attribute mana, but I can't feel it over that line.”

“Why?”

“The World Peace Conference will be hosted here, after all.”

“Oh?”

“They probably set it as a safety precaution just in case someone tried to do something.”

“You mean like an assassination?”

“Exactly,” Taycan nodded in response. Then, he explained, “Even the most impossible assassinations can be pulled off with mana, so they probably decided it’s best to level the playing field for everyone just in case someone really did try to do something.”

Mana, along with various other energy sources, made it possible for humans to do the impossible, and it only made sense to prevent the use of such supernatural powers in a place where the rulers of the continent would gather. If a parallel was drawn on Earth, then it would probably be something like banning all firearms in the places where world leaders would gather.

“I think it was ten years ago? There was this one incident.”

“What incident?”

“One of the knights that came along as their ruler’s aide detonated the mana in his body and tried to kill numerous kings.”

“Heok?!”

“You’re aware of it too, right? Just how deadly an explosion caused by mana could be.”

“Yeah, I know.”

An explosion caused by mana going wild in a person’s body was extremely destructive. If somebody decided to trigger such an explosion, then even a powerhouse would not be able to protect themselves and their liege at the same time.

“Two kings and five knights died in that incident.”

“So that’s why...”

“And the kingdom the knight was affiliated to was—well, I don’t have to tell you what happened, right?”

There was no need to mention what happened to that kingdom. Siegfried was not troubled by the fact he could not use mana. “Well, it doesn’t matter. It’s better for me this way.”

“What do you mean by that?” Taycan tilted his head in confusion.

“I’m confident I can take on anyone, even without mana,” Siegfried confidently replied.

Why was he confident?

Because he had the ability to back it up...

***

One year ago, when he was still training under Deus’ tutelage...

“My disciple.”

“Yes, Master?”

“Let’s say you’re in danger, and you can’t use mana.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Are you going to just give up and die?”

“No, Master.”

“That’s right. You need to know how to survive even without depending on mana, right?”

“I agree, Master.”

“Good, then it’s time for you to get beaten up by this great being without your mana.”

“W-Whaaat?!”

“This is your crisis response training! Keke!”

“Aaaack!”

Siegfried had undergone intense training under Deus on how to survive without mana.

“Young ones these days always assume they can always rely on their mana and start neglecting the basics...”

“Aaack!”

“How will you handle mana when you don’t even have the basic foundation?! The foundation of martial arts is your body!”

The Perfectionist, Deus, did not allow his disciple to neglect the basics. Thus, if neither side could use mana, then Siegfried would turn into a predator that could defeat anyone.

“Are you really confident?”

“Yeah,” Siegfried replied with a nod, and then he said, “I can even go up against a Master if they refrain from using mana.”

“Liar liar pants on fire~” Taycan sneered, and then he grumbled, “How can you go up against a Master without mana?”

“We may find out. Emphasis on may because I’m not sure whether a fight will happen or not,” Siegfried replied with a shrug as he walked past Taycan and entered the main hall.

***

The main hall hosting the World Peace Conference was lavishly decorated, and it was the epitome of both luxury and extravagance.

‘Wow... I think the cost of decoration alone could buy an entire feudal territory with cold, hard cash...’ Siegfried thought in awe.

Unfortunately, his calculations were wrong.

Why?

The cost of building and decorating the World Peace Conference’s venue was more than enough to buy five feudal territories in cash and still have some left over.

This was something only the most powerful nation on the continent, the Marchioni Empire, could pull off.

A servant approached him and asked, “Would you be His Majesty, King Siegfried van Proa, and your knight?”

“Yes, he is,” Oscar replied instead.

“Your Majesty’s seat is over here,” the servant said and led the way.

Each ruler was assigned a seat, and Siegfried’s seat was unfortunately located at the furthest isolated corner...

Plop!

A tear fell from his eye.

‘To think I’ll get this treatment here too...’

Fortunately, he knew this would happen, so he sat down with Oscar without voicing any complaints.

“Your Majesty, please do not be troubled,” Oscar comforted him.

“Oscar...”

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“Don’t try to console me right now...”

“...”

“The world is a dirty, unfair place...”

The world had always been unfair. The most influential or richest person was bound to sit at the best seat even in small gatherings, so it only made sense that the ruler of a weak and tiny nation like the Proatine Kingdom would get the worst corner seat in a conference of all kings.

‘Just wait and see! I’m going to confidently sit at the front one day!’ Siegfried swore to turn the Proatine Kingdom into a powerhouse one day.

Well, that was not impossible as long as he got his act together...

Thirty minutes later, the conference finally started after most of the rulers were in their seats.

“We've prepared an opening act before the conference starts! Please welcome the continent’s greatest singer, Gringore!”

The World Peace Conference kickstarted with a performance by the continent’s most famous celebrity, Gringore.

“Why the hell is he over there? Che!” Siegfried grumbled and pouted after seeing Gringore on stage.

***

Gringore’s performance ended, and each ruler went up to the stage to briefly introduce themselves.

The rulers went up to say a few words, but...

“I am delighted to be a part of this World Peace Conference with everyone.”

“I am honored to be invited to such a prestigious event.”

“Let us set aside our differences and—“

Anyone could tell that none of them meant a single word they were saying, and all of them were harboring some sort of secret agenda deep inside. It was quite funny how they could speak of honor and peace when they were going to go back to waging wars for their own benefit as soon as the conference was over.

‘Tsk... The pretentiousness of those in power is the same regardless if it's in reality or in a game... Just why do we have to waste time on something so useless like this?’ Siegfried grumbled inwardly, but he did not dare voice out his thoughts, so he just quietly waited for his turn.

“His Majesty, King Siegfried van Proa, who is attending this conference for the first time, will now come up to say a few words!”

Siegfried was the last to go up the stage.

‘I don’t have anything to say, so let’s just get this over with. Sigh... I could be playing with Verdandi right now instead of wasting time over here...’ he thought as he went up the stage.

“Well... It is a pleasure to meet all of you. My name is Siegfried van Proa, the King of the Proatine Kingdom.”

Fortunately, quite a number of rulers seemed to be paying attention to him. It seemed that they weren't quick to dismiss him just because he was the king of a weak and tiny nation.

Some of the rulers that Siegfried was acquainted with, such as Lord Angele of Stone Island, King Arsha of the Macallan Kingdom, and Saintess Janette of the Constantine Holy Empire, were eagerly paying attention to his speech.

Thanks to that, Siegfried was able to deliver his speech without a hitch.

“I am grateful and honored to be invited to such a prestigious event despite being the king of a weak and tiny kingdom. I have just become a king recently so I am eager to learn from all of you, my seniors, so I hope you will impart your wisdom to me. Also, our kingdom might be weak and tiny, but we are committed to world peace—“

Unfortunately, not everyone was going to be respectful or well-mannered just because they were rulers.

“Hey, I heard you got a new throne recently?”

“Are you really freezing taxes this year?”

“Hmm... I’m thinking of getting a new concubine...”

Some of the rulers of strong nations ignored Siegfried’s speech and were busy chatting amongst themselves. There was no problem if they wanted to chat, but the problem was that their voices were so loud that it was starting to interrupt Siegfried’s speech.

Thus, Oscar decided to approach the rulers and politely request for their understanding.

“I am His Majesty, King Siegfried van Proa’s knight. I apologize for making such a request, but may Your Majesty please speak softly as my lord is currently—“

It was then.

The King of the Salute Kingdom, which was quite a strong kingdom on the continent, screamed at Oscar, “Ha! How dare this lowly wench tell me what to do?!”

King George the Third was infamous for being quite authoritarian, rude, and ill-tempered among the rulers of strong kingdoms on the continent.

“Who are you to tell me what to do with my mouth?!”

“But Your Majesty, this is an official setting, and my lord is currently delivering his speech. I hope for your—“

“Hey! You fucking bitch! Are you telling me to shut up?! Ha?! Who brought this wench here?!”

Smack!

King George the Third slapped Oscar with all his might.