Debuff Master

The family members of the Rebel Faction’s high-ranking officials were standing behind Siegfried.

The General’s daughter, the knight captain’s wife, one of the feudal lord’s sons, and a few other valuable hostages. Moreover, he was even holding hostage the wife and daughter of Duke Taranis’ loyal subject, Count Oslo.

In other words, Siegfried had decided to forego the enemy’s bases, which had iron-tight security, and instead go for those related to the high-ranking officials of the Rebel Faction.

Why?

Because it was way easier than the former…

All he had to do was make the Huracan hover above his target’s location. Then, one of the Adventurers would cast anti-gravity magic to make them float all the way up to the airship, just like how aliens would abduct humans in movies.

Once the target was on board, the Huracan would zip through the air undetected.

Of course, there were times they had to fight, but those were just minor skirmishes with some guards. Most of the powerful people in the Rebel Faction were fighting the war, so only the bare minimum number of guards was left in the nobles’ estates.

Count Oslo rushed toward the communication device and shouted, “R-Rachel! Are you alright, Rachel?!”

He could not maintain his cool after seeing his beloved daughter in the hands of the enemy.

“Rachel! Racheeel!”

Siegfried flashed an absolutely evil smile and looked at Count Oslo.

— Your daughter is quite the beauty!

“W-What are you—?!”

— I’m sure you have heard of my reputation, have you?

“Y-Your reputation…?” Count Oslo muttered while racking his brain, and then he carefully asked, “Are you talking about you backstabbing people…?”Nᴇw chapters are publɪshed on novelenglish.net . ꜰirᴇ.nᴇt

A cross-shaped vein popped up and bulged on Siegfried’s head.

— Not that!

“T-Then, what are you talking about…?”

— You know! That one!

“…?”

Count Oslo racked his brain once again, trying to think of what the kidnapper was trying to say.

“N-No way!”

Siegfried van Proa was infamous for a lot of things. A few examples of his ill repute were his habit of backstabbing people, being classless despite being royalty, and his love for money.

However, the worst one was..

“You sex fiend!”

Yes, it was the rumors of his never-ending sex stamina, which he took advantage of to sleep around with multiple women. Sex Fiend, Lecher, and Seggs Stamina King—these were some of his infamous nicknames.

It seemed that the rumors of him being an absolute lecher had spread not only among the Adventurers but even among the NPCs, too.

“N-No way! M-My daughter…?!”

Siegfried let out a laugh that made him look and sound like an absolute sleazebag.

— I love how milky white your daughter’s skin is!

“N-No! Don’t!”

“Who’s your father-in-law?! I’m not your father-in-law!”

Siegfried slurped his tongue a few times and brought it close to Rachel’s face.

Rachel screamed and thrashed despite being gagged and bound just to get away from the tongue inching toward her.

Count Oslo’s heart dropped and broke into a thousand pieces.

“N-No! Noooo!”

“…!”

Siegfried looked like the perfect combination of a scumbag and a sleazebag right now, and he looked at Duke Taranis behind Count Oslo.

— Hey, bro. Why don’t you pull your troops back?

— I’m sure you’re smart enough to know what’s going to happen to them if you don’t, right?

Siegfried did not stop there as he snickered in the most sleazy manner possible and taunted Duke Taranis.

— It’d be best if you listen while I’m being nice. Okay, bro?

“…”

— Pull your troops back while you can.

However, Duke Taranis did not respond.

“…”

That was it, as Siegfried one-sidedly ended the call after saying what he wanted to say.

When the communication device turned gray...

Duke Taranis slammed his fist on the table and screamed, “Siegfried van… SON OF A BITCH!”

Alas, Siegfried had succeeded in making yet another enemy.

***

Siegfried let out a sigh of relief and shuddered at his own acting.

“I think my acting made me look very… dirty just now, right?”

“What?”

“Isn’t that how you are usually?”

“Hey, you crazy bastard! When did I ever do that?!” Siegfried angrily retorted at Hamchi after remembering the way he tried to slurp and sexually harass Rachel a while ago.

The problem was that Hamchi wasn't the only one who thought that way.

“…”

Everyone present in the room was glaring at him with eyes full of contempt.

“N-No! I’m not that kind of person! It was just an act!” Siegfried shouted and tried to defend himself, but the damage had already been done.

Everyone was looking at him as if he was a filthy piece of trash. Yes, it was because of his realistic acting a while ago, but his titles played an even greater role in earning him the ire of the people.

After all, there was no way they would believe a word he said when he had a whole list of negative titles to his name.

“That's…” Siegfried weakly muttered before he conceded, “Yes… I’m a piece of trash…”

He decided to give up on defending himself.

“Please lock them up,” he said.

One of the Proatine Knights replied, “Yes, sire!”

The hostages were escorted to a cell by the knights.

— What are your plans now, King Siegfried?

“Who knows?”

— Duke Taranis is not someone to waver from this. He is an ambitious man, and he has waited years for this opportunity. He would not bat an eye even if his wife and kids were among the hostages here, so how do you expect him to pull his troops back when the people you've taken hostage are just the children and beloved of his subordinates?

Duke Undertaker was right.

Power was something that would make a father kill their child with his own hands, and there was no way someone as ambitious as Duke Taranis would be an exception to that.

However, Siegfried had other ideas.

“That is the problem right there.”

— Pardon me…?

“Even if Duke Taranis is fine with losing his wife and kids, I don’t think the same can be said of his subordinates, right?”

— T-Then?!

— That’s an excellent idea!

“I don’t expect to get all of them, but I think we can get half of them to defect over to our side. That should make things very difficult for their military to properly function.”

— I understand! I will immediately make preparations to grant royal pardons to those willing to side with us!

***

As expected, Siegfried was spot on…

“My lord, I will give up my wife and daughter for our cause,” Count Oslo said while crying tears of blood.

“Oslo…”

“I can have a wife and daughter again, but this is the only opportunity to realize my lord’s grand ambition! I will not become my lord’s stumbling block just because of my own flesh and blood!”

“You are truly my most loyal subordinate, Oslo,” Duke Taranis said as he could not hide his awe. Then, he exclaimed, “To think you would abandon your own flesh and blood for my cause! Though, are you really fine with it? Everyone in the kingdom knows how much you doted on your daughter!”

“I strongly believe that the Kyiv Kingdom has only one rightful ruler, and that is you, my lord!”

“Our soldiers are dying on the battlefield as we speak, and they are also someone’s father, son, and husband.”

“Yes, they are.”

“How can I choose not to make sacrifices when they've sacrificed their own lives?”

“My lord, I implore you not to get distracted by small matters like these and focus on our cause!”

“Thank you. I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart, Oslo. I will never forget about your loyalty,” Duke Taranis said as he grabbed the count’s hands with both hands. Of course, this was one big fat lie.

Why?

Because that was what power was all about…

Needless to say, anyone who had greatly contributed to seizing the throne was going to have too much influence, and eliminating them was inevitable to strengthen the crown’s authority.

“You must keep this hidden for now, my lord. This must be kept under wraps for as long as possible until we achieve our goal. If not, our officials might waver.”

“Thank you, Oslo. I will do as you say.”

In the end, Duke Taranis was able to cover up the kidnapping incident thanks to Count Oslo’s willingness to maintain his silence.

“Please order our troops at the southern front to launch a full-scale attack tomorrow, my lord.”

“Alright,” Duke Taranis accepted the count’s advice to launch a full-scale attack tomorrow.

***

The next morning, Duke Taranis called the commander of the southern front to issue the order for a full-scale attack, but…

— Where are your commander and vice commander?

“T-That is…”

The adjutant could not respond to Duke Taranis’ question.

— Put the commander and vice commander on!

“M-My lord…!” the adjutant squealed before he reported in a weak voice, “The commander and vice commander are unable to answer my lord’s call…”

— Why?! Does it make sense that the commander of the southern front can’t answer a call for more than twenty-four hours?!

“T-There is a reason, my lord…”

— What is the reason?

“Last night, the commander and vice commander had…”

— Have they been assassinated?

“No, my lord…”

Duke Taranis made a wild guess, but he was fortunately off the mark.

— Then what is the reason?

The adjutant started profusely sweating before he replied, “The commander and vice commander has… deserted last night…”

— What? Des—what?

Duke Taranis failed to understand the adjutant, so he asked once again.

“T-They have… deserted…”

— Deserted?

“Yes, my lord…”

— Are you telling me the four-star general and three-star general have deserted? Not a conscript or a private, but a general?!

“Y-Yes, my lord!”

— Those sons of…!

— Why?! Just what is the reason?!

“That is…” the adjutant muttered while stealing glances at the duke.

Then, he cleared his throat and said, “Based on the letter that they had left… They claimed that they are not willing to fight for somebody who treats their subordinates like stray dogs…”

— What did you say?!

“It says here that they felt sick after finding out that my lord had decided to hide the fact that their families had been kidnapped, so they have decided to defect to the Royal Faction rather than fight for someone like my lord…”

The adjutant's words had yet to finish echoing, but…

The final strand of string holding Duke Taranis' reason together had already snapped in half.