Chapter 269

Chapter 269

“Canal construction, streetlight installation, landfill construction. Hmm, the budget looks quite tight this month. Argh...!”?Michele groaned in agony while going through the mountain of documents.

Tik, tak, tik!

His left hand was busy flicking beads on four different abacuses without stopping for even a second. He could not afford to take a break, as he had to work out the kingdom’s budget, and he had to take into account even a single copper coin to make things work.

This was a glimpse into Michele’s genius and why he was a prodigy in the first place.

“The budget somehow works out thanks to the fifty thousand... fifty thousand—argh!?I meant... forty thousand gold His Majesty brought. Ah, maybe I should’ve just asked him for all fifty thousand?” Thê source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n))

Siegfried would probably sweat buckets if he could hear Michele right now.

“No, His Majesty is a king, so he needs money to keep up appearances. I guess the budget has to be tightened this time...” Michele would have loved to take all fifty thousand gold to make his life easier, but he decided to let Siegfried have his allowance.

“Yeah, I will be able to somehow make the budget work even without the ten thousand gold as long as His Majesty doesn’t stir up trouble—”

Snap!

The quill pen he was using inexplicably broke in half.

“...!”

Michele’s face turned ghastly pale.

Why? Just why did he suddenly recall his conversation with Siegfried before he left?

“I will go visit the papacy.”

“What business do you have there, Your Majesty?”

“A request came in from the Mercenary Guild.”

“Are you going to join the civil war in the Constantine Holy Empire?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, but please...”

“Hmm?”

“Please do not cause any trouble, Your Majesty. Especially something that could trigger a diplomatic issue. Please... I beg of you...!”

“Nah, don’t be such a worrywart. Do you really think that I’m some kind of a troublemaker? Can’t you have some faith in me?”

“No, I find that hard, Your Majesty.”

“...”

“I feel like getting on my knees and begging Your Majesty right now.”

“Y-You’re mean...”

“Please do not cause any diplomatic issues, and be careful out there.”

“Just have some faith in me! I won’t cause any problems, so don’t worry!”

“Yes, I hope that is indeed the case...”

Why did he suddenly remember that?conversation? A chill traveled down Michele’s spine as his heart became filled with an ominous sense of foreboding.

“Haha... No, it can’t be. I must be tired and overreacting. His Majesty isn’t that stupid to go around causing problems left and right. Yeah, I’m overreacting right now. Haha!”

Michele tried his best to ignore the ominous feeling, but...

“Ahem...! Ahem...!”

He couldn’t ignore the anxiety growing in his heart for some reason, no matter how hard he tried.

“Let’s have some faith in His Majesty... I went as far as to beg him so he probably won’t cause any problems...”

Michele decided to trust Siegfried.

***

“Have you decided to stab them in the back, hyung-nim?” Seung-Gu asked in a tavern at Aria City.

“Yeah, how can we be on the same side as these pieces of trash? Nah, I can’t stomach that,” Siegfried replied.

“I fully agree with you, hyung-nim!” Seung-Gu exclaimed while frivolously nodding. It was difficult to partake in the atrocities being committed by the Adventurers under the encouragement?of the papacy, even if this was only a game.

It seemed that the evilest part of humans was being shown in this content. The Adventurers partaking in the massacre of innocent civilians were doing all sorts of despicable things that they would never even imagine doing in real life to the NPCs.

After all, the Adventurers regarded the NPCs as nothing more than a lump of data, so they didn’t feel even an ounce of guilt while carrying out their massacres.

Siegfried also saw the NPCs as a lump of data, so he didn’t feel even an ounce of guilt whenever he killed those who were his enemies. However, killing NPCs in battle and massacring innocent civilians was a different story for him.

“Kyu!?Hamchi agrees with stabbing them in the back!”

“I support Your Majesty’s decision.”

Hamchi and Gringore supported his choice.

“First of all...” Siegfried trailed off. He opened a bottle of mana potion and downed it. He had depleted his mana after using Torrential Flower Rain. “Well, the milk has already been spilled, so we should kill all of the Genesis Guild members and papacy forces in this city before making a run for it.”

“Ah, are they planning to burn them alive? Something like those witch hunts?”

“I think so?”

The Genesis Guild members scoured the city for women after receiving orders from the papacy.

“Hey! Come out!”

“P-Please spare me, Adventurer-nim! Please!”

“Shut up!”

Puk!

“Kyahhh!”

“Damn it! It would be easier to just kill these bitches... What are you doing? Hurry up and drag them out!”

The Genesis Guild members rounded up every single woman in the city without mercy, and they plundered and committed arson at every chance they got.

“This is the best stress reliever ever!”

“Do you remember those stories of soldiers massacring civilians in the past? I think this is why they did those things! For stress relief!”

“Oh!?This house is full of gold! I think it has at least ten thousand gold! Jackpot!”

The atrocities the Genesis Guild members were committing were nothing more and nothing less than stress relief?in their eyes.

“Hmm... I think there should be something in this house...” A Genesis Guild member entered a mansion in search of women and gold. “Oh!?This place looks quite fancy! There must be something—”

Pukeok!

A mace flew out of nowhere and smashed the guild member’s head in.

“Close it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Gringore rushed and closed the door at Siegfried’s signal.

A minute later, two Genesis Guild members entered the mansion.

“Hey! Are you plundering by yourself? You fucking cheater!”

“Leave some for us, too!”

Pukeok!

Siegfried killed one of them with his +15 Gaia’s Fist.

Puk!

The other was killed by Hamchi’s paw in his giant hamster form.

“This mansion is awesome,” Siegfried said with a smirk.

There was a mountain of corpses behind him, and each corpse was a Genesis Guild member.

“I agree, hyung-nim!”

“Kyu!?You’re right, owner punk! This mansion is excellent bait!” Hamchi cried out.

Was it because the mansion looked quite luxurious? The Genesis Guild members immediately dropped what they were doing and would rush over to the mansion in hopes of plundering its riches upon seeing it.

All Siegfried and his party had to do was wait behind the door and kill whoever entered, and the number of Genesis Guild members they killed through this method numbered more than fifty.

“It’s time to go somewhere else. I think this place has served its purpose, and word will get out quite soon,” Siegfried said. He decided that the excellent bait was no longer effective.

“Adventurer-nim!”

A female NPC living in the mansion cried out to Siegfried and held him down. She was the only survivor in this mansion, and she managed to survive when Siegfried and his companions suddenly appeared.

“Please save my little sister, Adventurer-nim!”

“Sister? Where is your little sister?”

“She went to welcome the soldiers of the papacy, but I lost contact with her. Please save my little sister, Adventurer-nim! My parents are no longer with me, so she’s my only remaining family... Please...!”

Siegfried couldn’t easily accept the request.

Why?

‘She’s probably dead...’?he thought. The papal forces spared no one, and they killed the young, women, and the elderly. In fact, they went as far as killing even the infants in the city.

In other words, the woman’s little sister was most likely dead.

“Please! I beg of you, Adventurer-nim! At least try to find her... I will gladly give you our family’s treasure if you manage to find news of her...!” she desperately pleaded.

Ding!

A quest message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

[Alert: The Quest: Scene of Madness has appeared!]