Debuff Master

Chapter 391

“We have to stop Oscar? What do you mean by that?” Siegfried asked. He couldn't understand what Carell was going on about.

“Dame Oscar went on vacation. She personally came to report to me, too.”

“It is not something we can discuss here, Your Majesty,” Carell replied while looking around.

“Hmm?”

“There are many eyes and ears here, Your Majesty.”

Siegfried looked around.

“Wow... It’s Siegfried.”

“Amazing!”

“His titles are as crappy as the rumors say... Just what on earth did he do to get those kinds of titles...?”

“Haha! Demon King of Backstabbing!”

“I wonder how much adult content you have to consume to get that title...?”

People were staring at him and were murmuring something among themselves.

“Y-Yeah, let’s go somewhere else...”

Siegfried decided to continue the conversation somewhere else after finding the attention quite burdensome.

“You reap what you sow, owner punk! Who told you to do so many bad things? Everyone’s looking at you! Kyuu!”

“Shut up,” Siegfried grimaced at the hamster’s teasing.

“Your daughter’s going to be embarrassed of you later! Kyu! You better start anew and live nicely from now on if you don’t want your daughter to walk around with her head down!”

“T-That’s taking it—!”

“Kyu! Do it for your daughter! Do better!”

“Ughh...”

Siegfried cried tears of blood at the thought of becoming an embarrassing father to Verdandi. The trio went to a secluded forest away from the Great Rift and continued their discussion.

“So, what about Dame Oscar? What happened?”

“Please take a look at this first, Your Majesty,” Carell replied as he extended a letter to him.

[Alert: You have obtained Letter From Oscar!]

Siegfried found it absurd the system notified him of things like this.

He opened the letter to check its content but...

“W-What the hell is this?”

He doubted his eyes after seeing the first few words on it.

— Letter of Resignation

The letter was none other than a letter of resignation, which was something most employees dream of submitting.

“Letter of resignation?!” Siegfried exclaimed as his eyes were about to pop out of their sockets, and then he wondered, “D-Did I overwork her...?”

It was said that a guilty conscience needed no accuser, and Siegfried immediately reflected on himself first.

“Did she run away because I’m a bad employer? Is it because I didn’t let her rest much? Argh...! Oscar was the first to come to work and the last to leave always! Is it because her pay was low? No! I should’ve given her bonuses!”

Siegfried could not think of any reason for Oscar to suddenly quit, so he tried to find the blame in himself.

“Owner punk.”

“Y-Yeah?”

“Why are you being so dramatic? They say you have to listen to Korean until the end, right? Kyu!”

“Y-You think so? Hey, where the hell did you learn that, and why are you mentioning Korean all of a sudden?”

“I heard it from the Korean Adventurers! Kyu!”

“Hey, I told you not to loiter around with Adventurers and learn strange things from them, right? You’re only learning bad things from them. Tsk tsk tsk...”

It was unknown why the saying listen to Korean until the end was a bad thing, but Siegfried decided to read the letter just as Hamchi suggested.

To,

His Majesty the King of Proatine and my one and only lord, King Siegfried van Proa.

It is I, your loyal servant, Oscar.

I apologize for abruptly submitting my resignation. The reason for my resignation is due to an unforeseen personal circumstance that I must attend to, and this issue could bring harm to the Proatine Kingdom.

Thus, I have decided to resign to avoid bringing harm to the kingdom.

(omitted...)

Your Majesty, please do not forgive this unfaithful servant of yours for abruptly leaving your side.

I swear to dedicate my life and my soul to Your Majesty if I get to serve you in my next life.

- Your Disloyal Servant, Oscar

“What the hell is this? She resigned because of some personal issue? The issue can bring harm to the kingdom?” Siegfried muttered as he tilted his head in confusion after reading the letter.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Carell replied.

“But what kind of personal issue does Dame Oscar have that will bring harm upon the kingdom that she ended up resigning from her post?”

“It’s better than someone that goes around causing problems for the kingdom! Kyu!” Hamchi suddenly threw shade at him.

“What did you say, punk?”

“Did Hamchi say something wrong? You’ve been going around causing problems for the kingdom despite being the king! Kyu!”

“W-When did I?!”

“Dame Oscar is a hundred times better than you! At least she’s responsible! No, she’s a thousand times better than you! Kyuuuu!”

“S-Stop hitting meeee!” Siegfried screamed as he huffed and puffed while grabbing his chest after getting dealt critical damage by Hamchi.

Then, he straightened himself and looked at Carell.

“Let’s go back to the kingdom first.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Carell replied.

Siegfried decided to return to the kingdom first and try to make sense of the situation.

***

He summoned Michele, Carell, and Seung-Gu as soon as he arrived at the Proatine Kingdom and convened an emergency meeting.

“Hmm...”

Michele expressed his thoughts. “As expected, Dame Oscar is truly different from a certain individual I know.”

“What did you say, punk?!” Siegfried immediately retorted.

“What is the matter, Your Majesty?” Michele asked with raised brows.

“You were talking about me just now, weren’t you?!”

“Oh? Is it perhaps your guilty conscience?”

“N-No...”

“Then why is Your Majesty so worked up?”

“That is...”

Michele shrugged to show he was not interested in Siegfried‘s sorry excuses, and he turned to Carell instead.

“Sir Carell, I believe you know something about this situation.”

“That is...” Carell hesitated to reply to the question.

“Huh? You know something about this?” Siegfried asked.

“Yes, Your Majesty...”

“What? Then what is this about?”

“This is a very personal matter for Dame Oscar, so I am hesitant to say this, but...”

“But?”

“This is a serious matter, so I will tell you. Dame Oscar, please forgive me for my loose lips...” Carell displayed his class and etiquette by apologizing first before sharing the reason why Oscar had decided to resign.

“It seems that Dame Oscar has...”

“Dame Oscar has?”

“Resigned to save her first love.”

“Ha? What nonsense is he spouting right now?” Siegfried grumbled in disbelief while dismissively waving his hand, and then he pointed at Carell and asked, “Hey, do you expect me to believe Dame Oscar resigned to save her first love?”

“That is my speculation, Your Majesty—“

“Hey! Just go write a !” Siegfried cut him off and shouted. Then, he berated the young knight, “Do you even know what kind of person Dame Oscar is?! Do you really think she’s the type of person that will resign over her first love? Ha?!”

“...”

“Your has to make sense, at the very least!”

Siegfried’s reaction was understandable because anyone familiar with Oscar would dismiss Carell's words just now.

What kind of person was Oscar?

She graduated top of her class at that famous Knight Academy of the Macallan Kingdom, and she was considered the crème of the crop, an elite of the elite!

She not only possessed balanced combat prowess but she also excelled at strategy and tactics, too. In addition, she had a knack for administrative work, and she was second only to Michele when it came to paperwork.

Her calm and composed demeanor was also impressive.

That Oscar resigned from her position just because of her first love? Even the stray dogs in the Proatine Kingdom would laugh if they heard this joke of speculation.

“Even I think it is absurd but... That is the only personal reason that would push Dame Oscar to resign...”

“Come on~” Siegfried sneered in response.

It was then.

“I agree with you,” Mcihele seconded Carell’s opinion.

“What? You think so, too?”

“Yes,” Michele replied with a nod before explaining, “Even I find it hard to believe, but I know a bit about Dame Oscar’s past.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“What is it? Does Dame Oscar have a love story like the Romance of the Century[1] or something?” Siegfried asked as his ears perked up. contemporary romance

Michele shook his head and replied, “No, it is the opposite of that.”

“Opposite?”

“Dame Oscar was...”

“...?”

“She was fooled by a piece of trash who had no other good qualities aside from his looks. I think this was during her days at the Knight Academy... Am I right, Sir Carell?” Michele asked.

“Yes, as far as I know,” Carell replied.

Then, he revealed Oscar’s backstory.

“Any knight my age would have heard of Dame Oscar’s unfortunate love story at least once... It was quite famous so...”

“Unfortunate love story? What happened?”

“It is not that big, to be honest. A new knight arrived at the academy as an instructor when Dame Oscar was in her third year at the academy. He was quite handsome, well-mannered, and quite skilled too—at least on the outside.”

“So?”

“They were secretly dating, but they eventually got found out.”

“And what happened after that?”

“That instructor abandoned Dame Oscar and married some woman from a noble family.”

“What?”

“He turned out to be an ambitious guy who wanted to get ahead in life. I mean, that is the only explanation for dumping someone like Dame Oscar in the first place, right?”

“What a piece of trash...”

“Yes, he is a piece of trash. He quit his job as an instructor as soon as he married, and he became the lord of a territory. That was when his real personality came to light as he ruled the territory like a tyrant.”

“So? Are you telling me Dame Oscar is going to save that piece of trash? Like a moron?”

“I believe that is the case.”

“But what’s happening to that piece of trash right now?”

“That is...” Carell explained the situation.

***

The situation was quite straightforward.

War broke out between the piece of trash’s territory and another territory, but the territory of the piece of trash ended up losing the war. Thus, the piece of trash was sentenced to death by hanging.

The problem was that both territory belonged to the Emporio Kingdom, which was one of the powerhouses on the Nürberg Continent, and the winning territory was the same size or larger than the entire Proatine Kingdom.

“So you’re telling me... Dame Oscar is about to conduct a one-man rescue operation against such a territory? Just to save that piece of trash?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Carell replied with a nod.

“Ack...!” Siegfried grabbed the back of his neck.

“Your Majesty! Are you alright?!”

“Chemo... I need chemotherapy...”

“Your Majesty!”

Siegfried felt dizzy after hearing what kind of problem Oscar was stirring up, and he couldn't understand what she was thinking.

Why did she go as far as resigning just to save a piece of trash who had abandoned her for someone else? Why was she willing to risk going through extreme danger just to save him? Why was she putting her life and honor as a knight for a guy like that?

Love was truly a funny thing that worked in mysterious ways.

“What should we... do...?”

“If I will speak frankly,” Michele paused for a moment and said, “Throw her away. Discard her.”

“Throw her away?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Michele’s advice was extremely cold, but it was certainly the best choice. The Emporio Kingdom was one of the five powerhouses on the continent, and becoming enemies with one of their territories meant that the entire Emporio Kingdom was going to become the Proatine Kingdom’s enemy.

It was only right to abandon Oscar for the safety of the kingdom.

“We cannot turn the entire Emporio Kingdom into our enemy just for Dame Oscar.”

“Yeah, I guess throwing her away is the best choice...”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Yeah, we should do that,” Siegfried nodded in agreement as he got up from his seat.

“Your Majesty? Where are you going?”

“Huh? To save Oscar, why?”

“You f—“ Michele uttered something before he stopped himself.

“Hmm? F what?”

“N-No, it is nothing,” Michele shook his head before sighing in resignation, “Haa... Do you not learn, Your Majesty? You already suffered last time with the Constantine Holy Empire, but—“

Siegfried interrupted him by tapping his head with a finger and said, “It's this thing's fault.”

“But...”

“And the Proatine Kingdom does not abandon its citizens.”

“...!”

“Dame Oscar is my subject, and I don’t abandon my people. I would do the same if you were in her shoes.”

“Your Majesty...”

“I’ll try my best to come up with a solution, so don’t worry so much.”

“I knew you would say that.”

“Huh?”

“You will be needing this, Your Majesty,” Michele said as he took out a scroll and passed it to Siegfried.

1. A Korean children’s book with a collection of historical love stories. ?

done.co