Debuff Master

The Salut Kingdom proved its reputation as a powerful kingdom on the continent with the amount of treasure stored in its treasure vault. There were gold bars stacked all the way up to the high ceilings, and the sheer amount of gold in the vault made Siegfried wonder whether this was really wealth a person could amass.

Aside from that, there were rows and rows of glass cabinets with all sorts of treasures displayed on them, and some of these treasures were absolute works of art that boasted centuries worth of history.

But that was not the end of it...

The treasure vault was divided into four rooms, and every room was filled with all sorts of extremely valuable treasures and mountains of gold bars.

“Whoa... Shit...” Siegfried muttered while in awe of the blinding materialization of wealth in front of him. Then, he clicked his tongue and grumbled, “Tsk... My kingdom is just a grocery store on the corner of the street compared to this...”

He felt and saw the sheer difference between his Proatine Kingdom and the Salut Kingdom. He did not have to make any calculations as he could tell at a single glance that George the Third was at least a hundred times wealthier than him just from the contents of this treasure vault alone.

Siegfried was right to call the Proatine Kingdom a grocery store, as the Salut Kingdom was more like a conglomerate when compared to his kingdom.

The Proatine Kingdom could be considered extremely strong relative to its size, but that was only due to it being a very small kingdom. On the other hand, the Salut Kingdom boasted a long history of two centuries, which served as their foundation to become the powerful kingdom they were today.

It was a no-brainer that the quality and strength between the two kingdoms would be like the difference between heaven and earth.

Siegfried felt a chill travel down his spine after seeing the sheer wealth that the Salut Kingdom had amassed over the years.

What if he had decided not to play the villain and fought head-on rather than spread the Curse of Decay?

‘I would’ve been thoroughly destroyed...’

Siegfried could not help but let out a sigh of relief after realizing just what kind of trouble he would have been in if he hadn't destroyed George the Third first. The realization served as a reminder for him once again of how cruel reality could be.

What did he have to do if he did not want to be devoured by his enemies? He had to hit them first and make sure he hit them hard, even if he had to resort to a biological weapon of mass destruction like the Curse of Decay.

Siegfried steeled his resolve once again and looked around the treasure vault.

“Kyu! It’s money, owner punk! Money!” Hamchi exclaimed while swimming in the gold coins on the floor.

“Kyuuu~ Kyuuu~!”

Gold coins would splash whenever Hamchi swam in it.

‘Why the hell is a Great Spirit so obsessed with money...?’ Siegfried grumbled inwardly, which was ironic as he was worse than the said Great Spirit.

The first room he entered was called the Hall of Arts, where most of the works of art were gathered. These artworks had zero functional value, but their aesthetic and historical value alone made them extremely valuable.

The value of the artworks in this room alone was already so astronomical it was a figure Siegfried and the Proatine Kingdom could never even dream of.

‘I’m going to take every single one of them and sell them all.’

Siegfried was not really into arts, so he decided to sell all of these for a high price to the nobles who appreciated their value. Of course, he did not forget to flash his Rune of Insight on every artwork he took, as he planned to keep those that possessed any magical properties or were actually artifacts disguised as artwork.

Around two hours later...

“Tsk...” Siegfried clicked his tongue in disappointment after finding not even a single artifact. Then, he turned toward Oscar and said, “Let’s go, Dame Oscar.”

However, Oscar did not respond as she continued to stare at a painting on the wall.

“Dame Oscar?”

“Ah, Your Majesty,” Oscar flinched and replied. Then, she said, “Apologies, I was distracted for a—“

“What were you looking at?”

“A famous painter by the name of Camuser painted this piece.”

“Really?”

Siegfried looked at the painting. There was a knight kneeling in front of a woman wearing a crown in it, and there was a sense of tranquility in the painting.

“This piece is called Knight’s Vow.”

“Oh?”

“It portrays the love and loyalty between a knight and his queen—“

“You can have it then, Dame Oscar.”

“Y-Your Majesty?! This painting is worth hundreds of thousands of gold! How can someone like me own such a valuable work of—“

“Meh~ I’m not interested in all that. You can keep it if you want.”

“But...”

“Think of it as your bonus. Ah, it'll be nice if you hang it in your living room and look at it from time to time. Anyway, let’s go,” Siegfried said after handing Oscar her bonus.

***

The next room he entered was called the Hall of Radiance, and this was where all sorts of precious pieces of jewelry were displayed. Siegfried checked every single one of them with his Rune of Insight just in case there were any artifacts hiding among them, but he found not even a single artifact once again.

The Hall of Radiance was filled with all sorts of expensive pieces of jewelry, but they were just ordinary accessories.

“I’ll give this to my darling~” Siegfried said with a grin while holding a necklace called Ocean’s Joy.

The Ocean’s Joy was a work of art crafted from a rare mineral called Cobalt Diamond, which was one hundred times more expensive than a diamond of the same weight.

Siegfried thought that Brunhilde’s neck was where this necklace truly belonged.

He swept the Hall of Radiance clean and headed to the third room, which was the Hall of Power. novelbuddy(.)com

There, he finally discovered what true happiness felt like.

“Boo-Yeaaaah!” Siegfried screamed at the top of his lungs after seeing the rows and rows of weapons and armor lined up.

The artifacts found in the Hall of Power were Unique, at the very least, and he could even see some artifacts that were top-of-the-line models crafted by the top three workshops on the continent.

“I found the MOTHERLODE!” Siegfried screamed at the top of his lungs once again. Then, he went on a rampage, scanning every single artifact he could lay his hands on with his Rune of Insight.

[Sword of Truth: Fragarach]

[A replica of the holy sword used by the High Elf Hero, Mac Lir.]

[Evil creatures will not be able to wield this holy sword.

[Type: Two-Handed Sword]

[Rating: Mythic]

[Level Requirement: 240]

[Attack Power: 6,000]

[Requirements: Infamy lower than 1,000, Fame more than 1,000, Less than three dishonorable titles, a pure heart.]

[Options: Swordsmanship +15 Levels, Critical Strike +500, Strength +200, Mana +3,000]

[Effects: The target will speak the truth when this sword is placed against their neck. This sword will become more powerful the purer the user’s heart is.]

‘Oh! Jackpot! A mega jackpot!’ Siegfried exclaimed inwardly.

Then, he reached into the cabinet and took out the Sword of Truth: Fragarach, but...

Zaaap!

The Sword of Truth: Fragarach unleashed a powerful current to electrocute him.

“Aaack!”

“Your Majesty! Are you alright?!”

“Argh...!”

The Sword of Truth: Fragarach dropped to the floor after electrocuting Siegfried down to his soul.

“Your Majesty! Please wake up! Your Majesty!”

“Ughh...”

Siegfried could neither move nor speak for quite a while after getting electrocuted.

“Did this sword try to hurt Your Majesty?” Oscar asked as she picked up the Sword of Truth: Fragarach.

“Dame Oscar! Don’t touch that sword! It’s dangerous... huh?“

“Hmm? Nothing happened, Your Majesty,” Oscar replied.

“What?” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion.

Ding!

Then, a message popped up in front of his eyes.

[Alert: You have been deemed immoral by the holy sword!]

[Alert: Only those pure and righteous may use the sword!]

[Alert: The Sword of Truth: Fragarach despises you!]

Siegfried was speechless after reading the message.

‘I-I’m what? Immoral? Hey! Why would a damn sword judge people like that?! You dare despise me when you’re just a piece of metal?!’ Siegfried screamed inwardly, as he could not accept that a mere sword was judging him.

However, the sword was technically in the right here. Oscar strived to live as a righteous person and a knight, while Siegfried had been tainted by the world and his desires.

“Dame Oscar...”

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“You can have that sword.”

“Pardon me?”

“I think that sword suits you a lot... Tsk...”

“...?”

“This immoral human will go fill my pocket with gold instead.”

“T-Thank you, Your Majesty...?”

In the end, Oscar attached the Sword of Truth: Fragarach to her waist without knowing why Siegfried was throwing a tantrum all of a sudden.

***

Siegfried obtained another amazing artifact from the Hall of Power. It was a staff with a skull attached to it called Lich Skull Staff, and the skull turned out to be the skull of an Arch Lich of all things.

A Lich was a black magician who resurrected as an evil undead with the goal of wreaking havoc, but an Arch Lich was starkly different from a Lich. An Arch Lich were once magicians who reached a certain level with magic but decided to become undead due to various reasons as well as to continue their pursuit of magic.

The Lich Skull Staff had the skull of an Arch Lich attached to it, but what was surprising was the fact that the skull could talk.

“You are... not a... magician... Why did you... awaken me... from my slumber...?” the skull asked.

“I just picked you up,” Siegfried replied.

“I see... Then... leave me alone... You are... not a magician... You can’t... use me... Even if... you are... a magician... you’re too... weak... to use me...”

The reason the skull rejected Siegfried was due to the Level 300 restriction. In other words, only someone who reached the level of a Great Wizard, which was a Master among magicians, could use this Lich Skull Staff.

Then what was he going to do with this artifact?

“I guess I’ll give it to Decimato,” Siegfried decided to give it to his magician, who was currently training under Daode Tianzun.

His only other option was to sell this staff, but there was a low chance that it'd get sold due to the level restriction. Therefore, the best course of action was to give it to Decimato.

“You will... give me... to someone else...? But I... am not something... a normal... magician can... handle...”

“I’ll give you to a Great Wizard, so don’t worry, okay?”

“R-Really?!”

“Yeah.”

“Oh! So I have finally found someone worthy of becoming my owner?! I have waited for centuries in darkness for this exact moment of finding my master, but who would have known I would finally meet my master after spending so long in this stuffy vault that is—“

“Hey, you can chat all you want with your owner later on, so please shut up for now,” Siegfried grumbled and shoved the Lich Skull Staff into his inventory.

Siegfried then continued appraising the other artifacts in the room.

An hour later, Siegfried couldn't help but grumble, “Hey... There are hundreds of artifacts here, but why isn’t there a single one I can use...?”

There were at least three hundred artifacts in the Hall of Power, but who would have known he would not find a single one he could use?

“That damned bastard, George... He should’ve diligently gathered more items... Damn it...” Siegfried blamed George the Third for being lazy and not gathering enough artifacts as he stomped his way to the final room.

The final room was called the Hall of Mysteries, and the first thing that greeted him here was an egg.

“Huh? Why is an egg so big...?” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion as he flashed his Rune of Insight at it.

Ding!

The details of the egg popped up in front of his eyes.

[Suspicious Egg]

[An egg nobody knows what it contains.]

[Type: Consumable]

[Rating: Legendary]

[Note: Nobody knows when it will hatch.]

The egg’s name perfectly described itself—Suspicious Egg.

“Nobody knows when it will hatch...?”

C-Crack...! Crack...! Crack!

Cracks suddenly appeared in the Suspicious Egg!

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