Debuff Master

The moment he read the name of the old parchment.

He felt his heart stop.

Who would have imagined he was getting a +10 Enhancement Coupon?! Who would have thought he was going to find the tissue paper that would wipe the shit off of Horse Fly here, of all places?!

Siegfried’s hands trembled as he carefully held the parchment, but…

Was it because it was old?

The edge of the enhancement coupon crumbled into dust the moment he touched it.

What if the entire enhancement coupon crumbled?

Siegfried was certain he was going to suffer and lose millions of gold once again if he were to attempt to enhance his shit-stained Horse Fly.

[Bavarian Workshop +10 Enhancement Coupon]

[Enhances a +0 to +9 piece of equipment to +10 with a 100% success rate.]

[You may not use this on a piece of equipment above +10.]

[Type: Coupon]

[Rating: Unique]

[Workshop: Bavarian Workshop]

[Warning: This enhancement coupon is old, so caution is advised when handling it.]

“A-Are you really giving this to me? But the succession war hasn't even started…” Siegfried asked in a trembling voice.

King Allen replied, “Yes, King Siegfried. I was told you will be delighted by this gift, so I hope it is indeed to your liking.”

“Who told you that…?”

“My chief steward has told me that the Adventurers love to enhance their weapons. I figured, as Your Majesty is also an Adventurer, that this gift would be to your liking.”

Perhaps it was because King Allen was educated in royal ethics as early as he started speaking, but his manner of speech did not lag behind even the most seasoned diplomat.

“Please accept my present, King Siegfried.”

“Oh yeah, I will, alright,” Siegfried replied without a hint of hesitation and accepted the enhancement coupon.

King Allen was like an oasis in the desert for Siegfried. No, he was more than that, as this was not even the reward he was going to receive in the event they won the succession war.

“Thank you very much for this gift, King Allen.”

“Oh, please, it is my pleasure, King Siegfried.”

“I will use it well,” Siegfried replied as he placed the Bavarian Workshop +10 Enhancement Coupon in his inventory.

It was after they were done exchanging pleasantries that one of the officials, who looked like a dashing old gentleman, said, “Your Majesty, it is now time for the strategic meeting on how to subjugate the Rebel Faction.”

This dashing old gentleman was Duke Undertaker van Stunner. He was a member of the Kyiv Kingdom’s royal family as well as Taycan’s father.

“Is it so, Duke Undertaker?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Then I shall—“

Duke Undertaker cut King Allen off and emphasized, “Your Majesty must attend. I might be Your Majesty’s representative, but all authority within the kingdom is in Your Majesty’s hands. If Your Majesty does not take charge in making decisions, then how am I any different from Duke Taranis and his greed to become your regent?”

A regent was someone who would rule when the king or queen couldn't rule due to illness or their young age.

Duke Taranis immediately tried to become King Allen’s regent after receiving the news of King Aaron’s demise, and it was very obvious what he was trying to do.

What was he trying to do?

The ambitious duke was, without a doubt, going to use the powers he would gain through his regency to cull the officials in the Royal Faction, and what was going to happen after that was quite obvious as well.

King Allen was going to become a puppet king who would mysteriously die before coming of age. This was probably the cliché of all cliché stories one would find in both reality and in the media.

Thus, the Royal Faction nobles vehemently opposed Duke Taranis’ regency.

In response, Duke Taranis labeled the nobles as traitors impairing the judgement of King Allen and used that as his justification for starting the rebellion.

Of course, Duke Taranis and his faction convinced the people that they were patriots putting their lives on the line for the kingdom rather than rebels.

This was the reason Duke Undertaker tried to force King Allen to attend important meetings; he didn't want the latter to become a mere symbolic figure.

“Your Majesty, please do not forget you are the king of this nation. You must attend all important meetings and exert your authority in them.”

“I understand, Duke Undertaker,” King Allen replied and sat back down on the throne to attend the strategy meeting.

As for Siegfried…

He fell asleep as soon as the meeting started.

***

“Hey.”

“Hey! Wake up!”

“W-Whoa?!”

Siegfried jumped up from his seat after Taycan poked his side.

“Did something happen?!” he exclaimed and looked around.

“…”

“…”

“…”

The Kyiv Kingdom officials looked at him as if he were pathetic. It was understandable, as everyone saw that he started dozing off as soon as the meeting started.

“…”

“But I was paying attention, so you don’t have to—“

Taycan grabbed him and pulled him away. “Let’s just go.”

As soon as they were out of the meeting room, Siegfried asked, “So what’s the plan?”

“I thought you were paying attention?”

“T-That's… Hehehehe…”

“We decided to hold off the Rebel Forces at the frontlines and prioritize getting rid of the traitors at our rear.”

This was the basic of all basics when it came to the art of war.

The rear of the Royal Faction was never going to be safe as long as the traitorous nobles who had sided with the Rebel Faction were still out there.

“We are at a disadvantage. We are fighting on two fronts, and we have to fight the traitorous south of us with few troops only.”

“Yeah, that does sound bad.”

“Father hopes that you will go south and deal with those traitors.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s the most efficient way of doing things.”

Taycan was right. Siegfried was strong in one-on-one situations, but he was extremely strong and efficient in large-scale battles. He had proved time and time again that the NPC knights who only possessed high levels and no other specialty were no match against him due to his Splitting Heaven and Earth as well as Irradiate.

To put it simply, Siegfried was a killing machine against droves of weaker enemies.

“Sure, why not,” Siegfried replied with a shrug. He agreed to go to the Bayaba Territory and exterminate the traitors just as they agreed in the strategy meeting—that he slept through.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“I want to ask something. You’re the Descendant of Thunder God Vajra, right?”

“I have my ways, punk,” Siegfried replied with a smirk and asked, “But why does the Thunder God have two descendants?”

Taycan looked downcast as he replied, “Based on what my master told me… Master’s original disciple when he was younger was that bastard, Taranis.”

“But?”

“He betrayed Master and did something despicable against him.”

“What?”

“Master accepted Taranis as his disciple since he showed promise, but he later found out that Taranis' personality was absolutely horrible. It became the reason why Master did not teach him the secret techniques of the Thunder God.

"Taranis obviously coveted those secret techniques, so he tried to steal the book containing the secret techniques.”

“That’s the kind of person he is,” Taycan replied with a bitter smile, and then he continued, “Anyway, Master suffered a near-fatal wound but thankfully survived, and he was forced to live in hiding to avoid Taranis.”

“Then he somehow met me and accepted me as his disciple.”

“I see…”

Siegfried finally understood the reason behind there being two descendants.

Who would have known that there was such a backstory?

“Master recently passed away… he left me his will asking me to stop Taranis from achieving his ambition and strip him of his title as a descendant of the Thunder God.”

“But be honest with me. It’s not going to be easy, right?” Siegfried asked.

Taycan honestly replied, “Yeah, Taranis is strong, and he has trained far longer than I had.”

“And he probably knows you better than anyone.”

“That’s right.”

“And that is the reason you needed my help, right? Because you can’t beat him one-on-one as things are?”

“Exactly,” Taycan did not deny it and even went as far as to thank him once again, “Thanks for coming to help me.”

Siegfried smirked and replied, “No need to thank me. I’m here for the money.”

“Still…”

“Anyway, I’m going to drop by the Bavarian Workshop on the way to the Bayaba Territory. I’ll leave the frontlines to you.”

Siegfried immediately headed to a Warp Gate afterward.

How was he supposed to resist the temptation?

His top priority at the moment was to wipe the shit away on Horse Fly with the Bavarian Workshop +10 Enhancement Coupon.

***

Siegfried put on the Metamorphosis Mask to secretly enter the Bavarian Workshop.

“Are you really going to be like this? I’m going to be sad if you keep this up,” Quandt said while looking genuinely saddened by Siegfried sneaking into the workshop like a rat.

However, Siegfried did not look sorry even one bit.

“What did you just say?” he sounded quite harshly.

“Ha! What is it to you whether I sneak in or come through the front?”

“H-How can you say that…? Why are you being like this, Siegfried…?”

“Hey, why don’t you make proper enhancement machines if you have the time and money to do all that fanfare? Or why don’t you make proper artifacts?”

“W-What do you mean by that…?”

A vein bulged on Siegfried’s forehead at those words, and he started barraging Quandt as if he were rapping.

“Do you have any idea how much I spent on your enhancement machine?! How does this make sense? I spent so much money, yet I couldn’t even reach +10!”

“B-But that is…!”

“I know you’re running a business, but you need to have a conscience as well! Are you sure you didn’t rig your enhancement machines to squeeze as much money as possible from your customers?!”

“N-Never! Our workshop has never rigged our machines! No, rigging the machines is impossible to begin with!”

“Then how do you explain what happened to me?”

“T-That is…” Quandt could not answer the question.

Why?

Because the only answer he could think of was that Siegfried was a very unlucky person. In fact, he found it hard to believe someone would actually fail to reach +10 after spending such an astronomical sum.

“All I can say is… Your luck is—“

“Don’t try to make excuses.”

“…”

“It’s either you rigged the enhancement machines or smeared shit on my artifact.”

“T-That’s too—“

“You must be happy making a lot of money from your enhancement machines.”Follow current s on Noᴠᴇlꜰire.nᴇt

“Enough,” Siegfried curtly cut him off and took out Horse Fly.

“Just enhance this for me,” he said.

“E-Enhance? D-Don’t tell me, are you asking me to enhance this for free because you lost so much money? I’m sorry, but that’s impossible even for you! Enhancing is—“

“I’m not a beggar!” Siegfried screamed and took out the Bavarian Workshop +10 Enhancement Coupon, “I have this, so enhance it for me!”

“That’s none of your business.”

“…”

“How long is it going to take?”

“Let me check if I have the materials needed. Give me a moment.”

Quandt returned ten minutes later.

“I can start right away, and it will take three hours to complete.”

“Then please get started right away.”

“A-Alright…”

Quandt started profusely sweating after Siegfried gave him the cold shoulder. He took Horse Fly and immediately rushed to enhance it.

“Wait! Wait a second!” Siegfried shouted.

“Hmm? Is there a problem?”

“Hold on, let me think about it first.”

“Think about what?”

“How I’m going to use these babies,” Siegfried said while waving two pieces of paper in his hand.

The reason was that…

“A-An enhancement coupon and a protection coupon?!”

The pieces of paper Siegfried was waving were none other than the Bavarian Workshop Enhancement Coupon and the Bavarian Workshop Gear Protection Coupon.