Debuff Master

“Keke! Let me pour you a drink, little brother!”

Vulcanus let out a peal of hearty laughter and filled Deus’ wine glass with God’s Droplet—an expensive and extremely rare wine.

“Kekeke!” Deus laughed, enjoying the wine poured by the ancient red dragon. The two of them seemed to get along pretty well, which came as a surprise to Siegfried. In the end, he sighed in relief and shook his head in disbelief.

‘Sigh… What kind of elder brother pours drinks with both hands?’[1]

Vulcanus was pouring wine with both hands while Deus was holding his cup with one hand. They had agreed to call each other brothers, but it was as clear as day who had the upper hand in their hierarchy.

‘That glib dragon is doing his best to survive,’ Siegfried thought, sneering at the ancient red dragon inwardly.

It was then.

Michele approached him and whispered, “Your Majesty.”

“Yeah?”

“I was unable to inform Your Majesty, as I was busy, but we have received a formal notice from the Marchioni Empire.”

“A formal notice? What notice?”

“It is nothing important. Just that the Marchioni Empire is requesting us to submit Her Highness' enrollment to the Empire’s Imperial Royal Academy.”

“Huh? Enrollment? Why do we have to enroll her? Are they aware how old she is? The ink on her birth certificate hasn’t even dried yet,” Siegfried asked, grimacing.

“It seems Your Majesty is not aware.”

“Of what?”

“The Imperial Royal Academy is a prestigious institute that attending it alone is already an honor for the entire household.”

“R-Really?”

“It is not an exaggeration to say that all of the continent’s knowledge and wisdom are gathered there.”

“Hmm…”

“Also, the Imperial Royal Academy only accepts royalty in power. Even people of royal lineage will find it difficult to enter.”

“Whoa? Seriously?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. The academy was set up to educate the children of kings and emperors. If I were to compare the level of education that it provides to Your Majesty’s world, then… it's probably better than Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and MIT combined.”

“What?!” Siegfried exclaimed out of shock. Then, he asked, “I-It’s that good?”

“Yes, sire.”

“Hey, wait a minute…” Siegfried muttered, narrowing his eyes. Then, he raised a brow before lashing out, “How the hell do you know what Harvard is?!”

“The Adventurers told me when I asked them regarding the level of education in Your Majesty’s world.”

“Oh?”

“I heard that the so-called Seoul National University is the peak institute of education in your country. Is that right, Your Majesty?”

“Y-Yeah, it is…”

“Which university did Your Majesty graduate from?”

“Ah… that's…”

Siegfried found it difficult to respond to the question.

‘Hey! Why do I have to be stressed out from my educational background even while playing a game?! What the hell?!’

He couldn't have imagined, even in his wildest dreams, that an NPC would ask him questions about his educational background.

“Oh, but I am certain Your Majesty did not graduate from Seoul National University,” Michele added with a strange look.

“W-What do you mean by that?”

“Your Majesty does not strike me as an academic type of person.”

“Y-Yeah, I don’t.”

“But I suppose your alma mater is somewhere in Seoul, right? It is only natural that you—”

It was then.

“Huh? What’s that?” Siegfried muttered after seeing a bunch of letters floating in the air going toward somewhere.

“Where are you looking, Your Majesty?”

“Hey, can’t you see that?” Siegfried asked, pointing at the letters.

“What are you talking about, sire?”

“Hey! Look at this! There are letters flowing out from people’s heads and going toward that direction!”

“Is this one of Your Majesty’s new tricks to change the subject?”

“It’s not! I’m not changing the subject so just look!”

Siegfried felt extremely frustrated. The letters used in the Nurburg Continent were floating right in front of his eyes and out of the banquet hall.

“It is alright, Your Majesty. I still respect you even though your educational background is so pitiful that you are ashamed of even bringing it up and resorting to these kinds of tricks.”

“Hey! I said that’s not it!” Siegfried lashed out.

It was then.

“O-Owner punk! Kyuuu! We have a big problem! We have a really big problem!” Hamchi rushed into the banquet hall and cried out.

“Huh? What problem? Did the price of nuts go up?” Siegfried asked, blinking a few times.

“Kyaaak! That’s not the problem! Your child is acting strange!”

“What? My child? Hey! What happened?!” Siegfried exclaimed, jumping up from his seat.

“It’s hard to explain! Just hurry up and go see it for yourself! Kyuuu!”

“Where is it?!”

“This way! Kyuuu!”

Siegfried kicked off the ground and ran like the wind after Hamchi.

***

“Huh? Isn’t this Duke Decimato’s laboratory?”

Siegfried was perplexed after realizing that the place Hamchi led him to was the laboratory used by Duke Decimato.

“L-Look inside, owner punk! Kyuu!”

“What’s going on here? Did Verdandi ingest something?”

It was then.

The letters he saw floating in the banquet hall were making their way into Duke Decimato’s laboratory.

“Just what in the world is happening…?” Siegfried muttered and opened the half-opened laboratory door.

Creak…

“Huh?”

He opened the door and saw a little girl with her eyes closed and her entire body surrounded by a bright pink light.

“Who’s that little—”

It was then.

‘No way, could it be…?’ Siegfried grimaced after noticing that the girl looked like Verdandi for some reason. Then, he shook his head and thought, ‘Nah, that’s not possible.’

His daughter, Verdandi, was an infant who had just started walking rather than a little girl. She was extremely smart and active for a girl her age, but there was no way she could be that big.

The girl surrounded by a pink light seemed to be around eight to nine years old at least.

‘That’s not possible—’ Siegfried thought when something caught his eyes.

There were broken glass shards on the floor and a creature the size of a sparrow or a squirrel near it.

“Kwiiiing! Kwing!”

Siegfried doubted his eyes and ears after seeing the fairy dragon.

“H-Hey, aren’t you Kwing Kwing?”

“Kwiiing! Kwing! Kwing!”

“Why are you so big—wait?! No way?!” Siegfried exclaimed and looked at the broken glass shards.

The broken glass shards seemed to be from a flask.

The fairy dragon was here, and a girl that looked like Verdandi but seemed to be around eight to nine years old of age was with it.

If he were to put the puzzle pieces together, then…

“Oh? I didn’t imagine anyone would leave something like a growth elixir in places children could easily reach,” Deus said, entering the laboratory.

“Master?”

“It seems my granddaughter has ingested a growth elixir.”

“G-Growth elixir…?”

“Based on how she’s absorbing knowledge from her surroundings, it seems her body isn’t the only thing that grew but her mind also grew too.”

“Wha—”

Flash!

A bright light flashed before Siegfried could say anything else.

Verdandi, who had grown to the size of a little girl after ingesting the growth elixir, finally opened her eyes.

“Father?” she called out calmly while staring at Siegfried.

However, Siegfried was far too flustered and dumbfounded to respond.

It was then.

“Ah…” she closed her eyes and fainted.

“...!”

Siegfried rushed forward and caught her just before she hit the floor.

“Are you alright?! It’s me, your father! Open your eyes!” Siegfried exclaimed, trying to wake her up.

“Tsk… Why are you causing a scene when she just fell asleep?” Deus asked, clicking his tongue.

“H-Huh? She’s sleeping?”

“She did ingest the growth elixir, but such an explosive growth of both mind and body in such a short period of time has exhausted her. Also, do you really think I’ll stand by if my precious granddaughter is in danger?”

“Oh…”

“She will probably be asleep for a week, so stop worrying and just let her sleep on a comfortable bed.”

“Y-Yes, Master!” Siegfried replied before carrying Verdandi and bringing her to her room.

“Kyuu! Wait for me, owner punk!”

“Kwing! Kwiiing!”

Hamchi and the Fairy Dragon followed right behind him.

“Hoho…” Deus let out a low laugh while watching them disappear into the corridor. Then, he muttered, “This is too bizarre to call a mere coincidence… Is the world trying to borrow that child’s hand—”

Vulcanus appeared beside him, out of nowhere, and said, “What can we do? This civilization is already due to receive its judgement.”

“I agree but…”

“Don’t worry about it too much. Nothing will change even if you worry, as you are no longer a part of this world.”

“I guess you are right. Then, shall we go drink more?” Deus said with a sullen look before returning to the banquet hall.

***

The commotion in the Proatine Kingdom could be said to be capable of turning the kingdom upside down, but there was also a commotion in the headquarters of the Guardians.

Sirens blared as everyone moved busily to respond to the alarm.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

“...!”

Cheon Woo-Jin headed straight for the command center. The blaring of the sirens meant that the Eye of Behemoth had picked up a signal.

“What happened?!” Cheon Woo-Jin asked as soon as he entered the command center.

The operator of the Eye of Behemoth replied, “We have detected strange energies from the Arctic Pangea!”

“Is it the Soul Fragment of Apocalius?”

“No, sir! This is pure mana!”

“What?!”

“Based on the signal the Eye of Behemoth had picked up… something in the core of the Arctic Pangea has started moving!”

“The Arctic Pangea…” Cheon Woo-Jin muttered under his breath.

The Arctic Pangea was located at the southernmost tip of the Nurburg Continent, and it was similar to the South Pole of Earth.

“Is there anything in the Arctic Pangea that could cause that?” Cheon Woo-Jin asked.

The Arctic Pangea's human population was extremely sparse, and most of them were natives. The fact that they picked up strange signals coming from that place meant that it was highly likely that someone was up to no good over there.

In that case…

“Are those Church of Osric bastards plotting something again…?” Cheon Woo-Jin muttered under his breath.

He suspected the Church of Osric to be the culprit behind the strange phenomenon coming from the Arctic Pangea.

The Arctic Pangea was the coldest place on the Nurburg Continent, and temperatures over there would drop to lower than negative one hundred degrees celsius.

Who in their right mind would think of plotting something in such an extreme environment unless they were already crazy to begin with?

Cheon Woo-Jin pondered for quite a while before making up his mind and said, “Please connect me to the Proatine Kingdom at once.”

“Yes, sir!”

The first person he thought of was none other than Siegfried.

Cheon Woo-Jin was the Quest Maker. He had the ability to grant quests to Adventurers, and he'd gain experience points and energy stacks whenever his quests were cleared successfully.

He had used all of the energy stacks he accumulated in the battle against Count Arial, so he was hopelessly weak right now. In other words, he needed to rely on someone else to clear the quests he'd create to regain his powers.

“Making use of Han Tae-Sung is the best whenever I need to accumulate energy stacks,” Cheon Woo-Jin muttered with a rotten smirk. He decided to give a quest to Siegfried to investigate the strange things happening in the Arctic Pangea.

1. In Korean culture, the younger one has to always pour drinks with both hands while the older one can pour it with one hand. ☜

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