Debuff Master

“Ex… Excommunicated…?” Emperor Frederic muttered.

His expression quickly turned ugly.

Excommunication.

It meant that a believer was no longer recognized as a member of the church.

It was a severe punishment in most religions, but it had a completely different meaning in the Constantine Holy Empire. The entire empire’s existence was built on the Nameless God, so excommunication was as good as being exiled from the empire.

In the case of members of the imperial family, there was an iron-clad rule that was implemented into the constitution of the empire—the empire had to be a follower of the Nameless God. It was an absolute rule that could not be circumvented.

This meant that Emperor Frederic had lost his right to be the ruler of the Constantine Holy Empire and had been dethroned by the Saintess.

This was not the first time Frederic was excommunicated, as he had been previously excommunicated by Pope Theopilus. However, he protested against the excommunication, which led to the current turmoil in the empire.

However, he couldn’t protest anymore as the excommunication order had come from the Saintess.

The Saintess was the absolute representative of the Nameless God.

“S-Saintess! Why would you utter such a word?! Excommunicate? Me, the emperor?! I am covered in shit right now, but I am still the rightful ruler of the Constantine Holy Empire!” Emperor Frederic retorted.

“Silence,” said Saintess Janette.

“The Nameless God has never taught his followers to push others to death just to save their own skin.”

“No! How can you compare my life to those peasants?!”

“Everyone is equal in the eyes of god, be it an emperor or a peasant.”

“B-But…!”

“You are hereby excommunicated, and it is absolute.”

“Y-You…!”

Emperor Frederic felt rage welling up from inside of him as being excommunicated was no different from sentencing him to death. He stood to lose everything, including his status as royalty. ȑα₦О𝐛Еȿ

His political rival, the pope, was finally dead, but the Saintess had excommunicated him?

“You dare!” Emperor Frederic lashed out at Saintess Janette. “A bitch like you dares to excommunicate me?! Die! Everything will be alright as long as you die…!”

The emperor picked up a sword lying on the ground and tried to cut the Saintess down.

Without the Saintess, no one could stop him from ruling the empire.

“You bitch!” Emperor Frederick screamed and raised the sword.

Puk!

Siegfried picked up a boulder and smashed it on the emperor’s head.

“Kuheok!” Emperor Frederic groaned before passing out.

“Ack! I almost got shit on me!” Siegfried cried out as he frantically jumped away.

Buzz… Buzz…

A swarm of flies orbited the emperor.

“Ack!” Chae Hyung-Seok’s cry echoed.

“Hmm?”

Siegfried turned and saw Brunhilde splitting Chae Hyung-Seok into two. It turned out that Brunhilde had made quick work of the Genesis Guild members before finally taking down Chae Hyung-Seok.

End.

This long and arduous civil war finally came to an end at an isolated village in the forest…

***

“Oh, hero from another dimension,” Saintess Janette called out.

“Yes?” Siegfried replied.

“Thank you very much. You have saved the people and clergymen from the clutches of evil, and you are truly the empire’s savior.”

“Not at all, I just did not want to be on the same side as those vile creatures,” Siegfried replied with a shrug.

“No, whatever your reasons may be, it is undeniable that you have saved the empire from the peril it was facing.”

“Hahaha…”

“But this is not the end of your calling.”

“Huh? But I don’t plan to do anything more than this…?” Siegfried replied before he grimaced and added, “This place has already given me enough headaches…”

“Please help me until the empire stabilizes,” Saintess Janette asked.

“Hmm? What should I do to help?”

“I, the representative of god, need to appoint a new pope and emperor.”

“So? What does that have to do with me?”

“If you would agree to become the regent until the appointment, then…”

“Have a nice day,” Siegfried said with a bow before turning around.

“H-Hero-nim!”

“Ah, what is it this time?” Siegfried grimaced and said, “I’m a busy person, you know?”

“The Constantine Holy Empire still needs you! Please! Please help me! There are hundreds of civilians suffering right now! Because of those corrupted clergy and nobles…” Saintess Janette said before biting her lips.

“I said I’m busy!” Siegfried retorted.

He was already sick and tired of this place.

‘Barely a minute passed since I finally felt free from all the frustration this place had to offer, but what? She wants me to work more? I’m not going to accept it! Never!’ Siegfried steeled his resolve to leave the empire as soon as possible.

“P-Please wait a minute, Hero-nim!”

“Stop calling me a hero! It’s embarrassing!”

He was in a game, but his fingernails and toenails still curled up at the word hero.

“Hero-nim!”

“I’m not going to do it! Leave me alone!”

“I will reward you for your troubles!”

Ding!

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

[A Savior Till the End]

[Help the Saintess to stabilize the Constantine Holy Empire.]

[Rewards: Gold, Tax Benefits When Trading]

[Progress: 0%]

[Note 1: This quest will continue until the Saintess is satisfied!]

[Note 2: You will be rewarded even if you do not directly help the Saintess!]

[Note 3: You will continue receiving rewards while doing this quest!]

A thought suddenly flashed in Siegfried’s mind after reading the quest details.

‘I think I can send a few knights to protect the Saintess while dumping all administrative work on Michele…’

The quest details definitely mentioned that he didn’t have to be directly involved.

“Hero-nim! Please! I cannot stabilize this nation alone!”

“Hmm…”

“I will make sure you are handsomely compensated for your time!”

“Saintess-nim… Do I look like someone who will be swayed by gold?”

“N-Not at all! But… please…”

“H-How much are you going to pay me?” Siegfried asked while trying to sound as indifferent as possible.

‘Ah, so he can be swayed with gold…’ Saintess Janette accurately saw through Siegfried. She smirked and asked in response, “How much do you want?”

“Ah, that is… I’ve suffered a lot even before this so… Hahaha…”

“I will make sure to reward you as much as I can within reasonable bounds.”

“All right, I will help you,” Siegfried immediately replied and extended his hand to her.

***

The pope was dead, the emperor was excommunicated, and the Saintess had awakened. Those were the events running up to the end of BNW’s first-ever civil war content, the Constantine Civil War.

None of the Adventurers received the promised bonus because neither side won.

However, there were no complaints as Saintess Janette made sure to compensate all of the participants after taking control of both the papal and imperial factions. Still, she made sure to rank the participants by their contributions to reward them accordingly, and the MVP of this civil war content was none other than…

[Siegfried van Proa]

[Total Contributions: 9,999,999 P]

[Enemies Killed: 7,212 (NPC and Adventurer Combined)]

[Achievements: Aria City: Refugees Rescued, Demon Xanathos: Defeated, Emperor Frederic: Captured, Constantine Civil War: Concluded.]

Siegfried became the MVP of the first-ever war content, and his achievements made sure that nobody would ever question him. Meanwhile, Chae Hyung-Seok was designated as the Constantine Holy Empire’s public enemy.

—The Guild Master of the Genesis Guild colluded with the demon posing as the pope to take over the empire and plunge it into chaos.

— A bounty is hereby placed on the Guild Master of the Genesis Guild’s head along with his guild members.

Thanks to his gamble, Chae Hyung-Seok and the Genesis Guild members became fugitives of the Constantine Holy Empire. Their guild’s prestige and honor crashed and burned as well.

[BNW/Breaking News] Siegfried is the MVP of the Constantine Civil War!

[V Sports] Winner of the World’s Greatest Survival Tournament is the MVP of the first Civil War content!

[BNW/News] Pro Gamer Chae Hyung-Seok tried to make a deal with a demon!

News of the civil war content spread like wildfire all over the world, and the international BNW community started focusing on one person.

[Who is Siegfried?]

[What is his nationality?]

[Is he going to debut as a pro gamer?]

[Is Siegfried an ex-pro gamer?]

However, they could only speculate, as none of them truly had any idea about Siegfried’s identity. Those who knew Siegfried in real life kept their mouths shut.

“Ah… This is so annoying! I’m not agreeing to any interview! Have a nice day!”

Siegfried hurriedly left the Constantine Holy Empire and returned to the Proatine Kingdom. He wasn’t a fan of being at the center of attention. However, anyone playing the game was bound to be interested in him.

This could be considered his pseudo-debut.

In other words, Siegfried was now a rising star in the BNW community thanks to the achievements he had racked up in the civil war.

However, he truly couldn’t care less.

“Michele~ I’m home~”

Siegfried didn’t care whether people were interested in him or not. The first thing he did was return to the Proatine Kingdom for the sake of pampering Michele.

“How have you been, my Michele~?”

“I have been fine. How has Your Majesty been?” Michele asked in response with a very warm and gentle smile.

“Hahaha! I caused some problems here and there, but I’m doing great! By the way, I got us something big this time!”

“Something big?”

“That’s…” Siegfried proceeded to explain his deal with the Saintess.

“What do you think? It’s awesome, right? We won’t have to worry about our budget with this for quite a while, right?!”

“Well… You’re just going to make me work on it instead, right?” Michele asked with a sinister smile.

“Hmm…?”

“Everything else aside from the knights protecting the Saintess will be administrative work… and the only person who can do such work in our kingdom is…”

“Ah~ I’m so tired~” Siegfried said while stretching his arms.

‘Time to run!’ he thought as he hurriedly tried to log out from the game.

A magic circle appeared underneath his feet as he planned to escape from Michele by going back to the real world.

“Ah, Your Majesty must be tired. Please go and have a nice long rest,” Michele said while maintaining his warm gentle smile.

“H-Huh…? You’re not mad…?”

“Why would I be? Your Majesty deserves some rest, after all.”

“Really…?”

“I believe that denizens of the Eastern region of the continent place great importance in marriage, and the groom has to be well-rested before the ceremony.”

“Marriage? Ceremony? Who’s getting married? Is it you? Did you have a girlfriend? But you’re a kid…?”

“No, it is Your Majesty.”

“Me? What about me?” Siegfried asked while pointing at himself. He asked once again, just to make sure, “I’m getting married?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“No? I’m not getting married. Who told you that? This is the first time I’ve heard this.”

“Yes, it must be Your Majesty’s first time hearing about it since I am telling Your Majesty for the first time. Anyway…” Michele trailed off and grinned sinisterly before continuing. “Your Majesty is going to get married soon.”

“I’m getting married soon? What nonsense are you spouting? I’m not getting married. I don’t have plans to do that yet.”

“But Your Majesty has no choice but to get married.”

“Why…?”

“Because…” Michele snickered and extended a document over to Siegfried. “I already signed it.”

“What’s this?” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion. He took the document and read it.

Three seconds later—

“H-hell noooo!”

—the king’s scream echoed throughout the corridor.