CH 84

“Go ahead,” Siegfried allowed Michele to speak.

“First, I wish to sincerely congratulate Your Majesty for becoming a Dragon Slayer,” Michele said.

“Thanks. So what is it that you wanted to say?”

“Please bestow me an official governmental position.”

“A governmental position?”

“The administrative state of the Proatine… it’s a mess, so there is a limit to what I can do with my current authority. If you bestow me with an appropriate rank, then I can—”

Siegfried interrupted the boy and said, “I hereby appoint Michele de Petronas as the Minister of State.”

Siegfried appointed the boy as the Minister of State on the spot.

“Your Majesty!” Michele exclaimed, stupefied by the sudden appointment.

He wasn’t alone…

“Ha! Minister of State?!”

“Oh my god!”

“Haha! A boy is the Minister of State?!”

A quick look at tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w will leave you more fulfilled.

The officials of Proatine were taken aback as well.

It was understandable. After all, the Minister of State would be the king’s proxy when it came to the internal affairs of the kingdom, and it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Michele was now the second-in-command in the kingdom after Siegfried.

“I have high expectations from you, Michele—no, Sir Michele. I know that you likewise have high expectations from me, but I want you to be patient for now. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Your Majesty! I understand!” Michele replied while bowing once again to show his reverence toward his liege, and then he said, “Then, Your Majesty. Can I establish a decree to commemorate the day I started officially serving Your Majesty?”

“A decree?” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion.

“Please, read this,” Michele said before extending a document toward Siegfried.

‘What the hell is that…?’ Siegfried wondered. He took the document and read the large letters written on its first page.

Three-Year Development Plan: National Defense Plan of the Proatine Kingdom

Siegfried was instantly interested in the document and asked Michele, “A three-year development plan… When did you come up with this?”

“I started on it the day I decided to become Your Majesty’s subject,” Michele replied.

“Haha…” Siegfried chuckled. Michele’s cleverness had astonished him.

‘They said that he was a genius administrator… Who knew that he would come up with something like this so soon?’ Siegfried was awed when he realized that the boy’s title as a genius hadn’t been fake.

“Hmm… This three-year development plan… the core plan is to make an elite force? Basically, you want to go with quality over quantity?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Why do you think so?”

“This place is hopeless. The Proatine Territory is seventy percent rugged mountains, and we also do not have many natural resources. On top of that, our population is low, so our productivity is very low.” Michele went straight to the point and hit a sore spot.

“Well… It is hopeless indeed…” Siegfried muttered.

“And each of the three borders of our territories borders different countries, so our lands will be in danger the moment the three-year protectorate status the empire had promised us expires.”

“So? You want us to establish a small group of elite soldiers?” Siegfried asked while going over the document.

“Yes, Your Majesty. That is the course of action we have to take. We will have to fight with quality over quantity, in whatever field it may be in. For example, we should cultivate and export expensive items like spices or luxuries instead of normal agriculture and industrial products.”

“Oh…”

“And it is quite evident that we do not have manpower due to our low population, so we will have to establish ties with the other races to supplement our lack of manpower. Afterward, we need to establish schools in each village and city to educate talented individuals.”

Michele said all the things he thought would benefit Proatine, and Siegfried seemed like he agreed with everything the boy had said.

‘He is indeed different. It was a good idea to recruit him,’ Siegfried thought.

He was extremely satisfied by the fact that he recruited the boy to work for him, and he could finally somewhat understand why the Church of Osric wanted to brainwash the kid and have him work for them.

“However, these plans will take time and a huge budget, so it will be difficult to execute all these at once,” Michele said.

“You have a point,” Siegfried replied.

The time in BNW flowed equally with reality at a 1:1 ratio, so it would take an extremely long time to implement the policies Michele had mentioned just now.

“We need to prioritize our national defense. The only way this hopeless country can survive is for us to create an elite force powerful enough to protect our lands from invaders.”

“So you basically want us to recruit Adventurers?” Siegfried asked.

This was the key solution stipulated in Michele’s three-year development plan.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Adventurers are excellent human resources since they grow strong really quickly, and they are immortals as well. They are basically an infinite resource.”

“Adventurers… Then, what kind of adventurers do you wish to recruit?”

“Your Majesty should be aware after looking at the document, but I wish to recruit Adventurers like Necromancers, Summoners, Golem Makers, Elementalists, Magicians, etc.”

“A small group that can act as a one-man army with the potential to cause massive destruction?” Siegfried said. He accurately pinpointed the common similarity between all of the classes Michele had mentioned.

“That is correct,” Michele replied with a nod before explaining, “If we recruit just ten of these individuals who are as powerful as an army of thousands, nobody will dare to look down on our national strength.”

“Ah!” Siegfried exclaimed in awe at Michele’s words.

It was exactly as the boy said. They wouldn’t have to work so hard to establish a standing army if only they could hire Adventurers who could fight as a one-man army.

However, Siegfried didn’t hurriedly accept Michele’s proposal.

‘Betrayal… I don’t want to experience that again, though…’ he grumbled inwardly.

Siegfried found it hard to trust other players once again after being betrayed by his previous guildmates.

“Michele.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I… I can’t bring myself to trust Adventurers, to be honest...”

“Why can you not trust them, Your Majesty?”

“Betrayal.”

“Have you experienced it?”

“A huge one,” Siegfried replied with a downcast look.

‘I got stabbed real bad…’ he thought.

This was the reason Siegfried didn’t exchange contact details with his party mates and stubbornly chose to solo play. It was all thanks to the fact that he had to experience the pits of hell because of the traitors who betrayed him.

“Your Majesty, you only get betrayed if you deserve it,” Michele said.

“What do you mean?”

“A betrayal has many reasons behind it: envy, greed, hatred, mistrust, and other emotions.”

“…”

“Please try to recall the time you were betrayed. What kind of a person was Your Majesty at that time? Were you someone trustworthy enough to trust until the end? Were you someone worth risking one’s life for?”

“That’s…” Siegfried tried to retort, but he couldn’t find the words.

“Trust is the most important thing in a relationship. I have no idea what kind of a person Your Majesty had been, but I can tell you one thing—Your Majesty probably failed to earn the trust of your comrades and subordinates, and Your Majesty probably failed to give them hope as well.”

“Yes,” Siegfried agreed and said, “Back then, I was weak, and my enemies were simply too powerful. We would have been ruined if we continued fighting, and I did get ruined in the end.”

“What about now?” Michele asked.

“I will win,” Siegfried replied without an ounce of hesitation before saying, “It will take some time, but I will definitely succeed and get my revenge.”

“Then, go and gather comrades whom you can trust to be around you. Your Majesty has already become someone who can earn people’s trust and give hope to others. Not many people will be able to betray Your Majesty as long as you remain the same as you are now and as long as you become stronger so that Your Majesty will—” Michele said.

Siegfried interrupted and concluded Michele’s words for him. “Will be feared. I need to become strong enough to show those who betray me the kind of hell I will drag them through.”

He agreed with Michele’s words, and he thought the same as well.

‘In the past, I was… yes… I would have betrayed myself and joined the Genesis Guild as well because I was weak,’ he thought.

However, that was no longer the case.

“Those who are truly strong will have people following them around even though they didn’t do anything to warrant such a following.”

Siegfried was reminded of Deus’ teachings.

He still wasn’t at the level where people would follow him without telling them to do so, but he somewhat understood what Deus meant.

“Okay, let’s try and recruit Adventurers,” Siegfried decided.

It seemed that he had matured even more after pushing away his fears.

Was physical strength the only measure of growth? No, being able to overcome one’s painful past was also a form of growth. Doing that indicated mental growth, and at times, mental fortitude would be a far more important trait than physical prowess.

“One-man army, mass destruction, small elite forces… Alright, these sound good to me,” Siegfried said with a nod.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Michele bowed.

Siegfried and Michele smiled after coming to an agreement on the matter.

***

The next afternoon, Siegfried visited the Hometown of Death once again.

“I wish to make a request,” he said.

“Request? What request are you talking about? Don’t tell me! Did you perhaps… successfully hunt the Green Dragon?” Quandt muttered with a hint of disbelief in his voice.

“Yes, I hunted it,” Siegfried said with a smile.

“Ha! To think that Your Majesty would succeed! I’m certain you had a hard time with your current level!”

“I got lucky.”

“Ha! What amazing news!”

It seemed that Quandt was really surprised by the news.

“The dragon’s remains will soon leave my kingdom’s warp gate and arrive here.”

“Hmm?”

“Will you be able to craft artifacts out of the dragon’s bones?”

“Hoho! Of course! Of course! We were having a rough time these days due to a lack of dragon bones! I’m willing to craft them for free if you’re willing to spare us some dragon bones!” Quandt exclaimed.

“That sounds fine to me,” Siegfried replied with a nod.

It was a win-win situation. The Bavarian Workshop would get their hands on precious and rare dragon bones, while Siegfried would get to have artifacts for his subordinates for free.

“And will you be able to craft around a thousand javelins with the dragon scales?” Siegfried asked.

“Javelins? Why do you need a thousand javelins? What’s the exact purpose of those? A javelin is usually considered a consumable item since they are thrown, so making those out of dragon scales will be very inefficient when it comes to feasibility…” Quandt asked.

“That’s…” Siegfried muttered. He hesitated for a moment before whispering into Quandt’s ears, “I have a skill called Torrential Flower Rain… I learned it from someone…”

“Shakiro!” Quandt immediately exclaimed.

“…!”

“Don’t tell me you inherited the skills of Weapon Master Shakiro?!”

“Ah… that’s… just his spearmanship and the Torrential Flower Rain,” Siegfried muttered.

“You might as well have inherited everything if you managed to learn Torrential Flower Rain from him! Torrential Flower Rain is the most powerful skill of Weapon Master Shakiro! It’s his ultimate skill as well!” Quandt exclaimed.

It seemed that Quandt was familiar with Weapon Master Shakiro.

Actually, it would be weird if Quandt wasn’t familiar with Shakiro. After all, Shakiro had a personal relationship with the head blacksmiths of the top three workshops on the continent.

“I see… Are you thinking of using something throwable like a javelin for your Torrential Flower Rain?”

“I do not have the ability to use all weapons freely, but I think I will have a shot if it is with a javelin.”

“You’re right. The Torrential Flower Rain is a skill that uses throwables instead of normal weapons. Shakiro’s Torrential Flower Rain was… rather unique since it was closer to the ‘Heart of Swords’ rather than a skill…”

“So… will you be able to make them for me?”

“I will make you the best possible throwing weapon set,” Quandt confidently promised Siegfried before saying, “You’re Shakiro’s disciple, which makes you my friend’s disciple. It is only right for me to make you the most destructive and deadliest weapon set out there.”

“I will be grateful if you can do that for me.”

“In return, why don’t you give me some time this time, Siegfried van Proa? You’re my friend’s disciple and a Dragon Slayer. I will need some time to craft you a throwing weapon set befitting of the Torrential Flower Rain that you will unleash.”

“Of course,” Siegfried replied with a nod. Afterward, he extended a long belt-like object and asked, “And… can you take a look at this?”

“This is…!” Quandt was astonished when he saw the object. “Isn’t this Dragon Steering? Hoho! This ancient artifact is…”

“I think it got destroyed.”

“That’s right. It has been destroyed, so trying to control a dragon with this will be impossible.”

“So… It’s a useless piece of garbage then?”

“Not quite.”

“Huh?”

“It seems that you are a lucky man, Siegfried van Proa.”

“What do you mean…?”

“The Dragon Steering has been destroyed, but it wasn’t rendered useless. Actually, this rein is not leather or cloth but metal!”

“Huh? How is that a metal…?”

“That’s right! It’s an extremely rare metal called mind metal. It’s a metal capable of releasing the same wavelengths as the brain of a living creature…” Quandt explained with a slightly sinister smile.