Debuff Master

Chapter 572

“Just what in the world is going on... How can Master Shakiro... No, there’s no way it was him. I’m sure there’s another hidden disciple like Gerard. Master Shakiro would never do something like this,” Siegfried bit his lower lip and muttered. He refused to believe Shakiro was the culprit behind the atrocity committed at the Bavarian Workshop.

However, he still decided to track down the culprit just in case there was a sliver of chance Shakiro was indeed the one behind what had happened at the workshop.

“Kyuuu! Did something happen, owner punk?” Hamchi asked as soon as Siegfried left the workshop.

“Ah, that is...” Siegfried proceeded to explain what happened inside the workshop.

“Kyuuuu? That really happened?”

“Yeah.”

“Then what should we do?!”

“We need to find him first. The chances are low, but there’s still what you call a just-in-case scenario, right?”

“Kyu! You’re right!”

“But how do we find him...” Siegfried grimaced and grumbled. He had no idea how he was going to track down the culprit, as he could be anywhere right now.

“Kyuuu! Do you want Hamchi to try tracking that guy down?”

“Hmm?”

“Hamchi’s nose is really good!”

“You can track his scent?”

“Kyuuu! Hamchi will try!”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Alright! Give me a second! Kyuuu!” Hamchi exclaimed before running into the Bavarian Workshop.

“Ah... What the hell am I doing when I should be preparing for the tournament...” Siegfried pouted and grumbled, but his grumblings lasted only for a moment.

This matter involving Shakiro was far more important to him than the Super Rookie Tournament, so he decided to stop complaining about it.

‘Let’s see...’

He activated Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance while waiting for Hamchi and searched the entire city. He even went as far as to click on the magnifier and look up Shakiro’s name.

[Search Result: N/A]

His search came up empty.

“Hmm... Will it work if I write down the details?”

He decided to be more specific with the search this time and entered "the guy who attacked the Bavarian Workshop and stole the Demon Sword Papiyas" into the search bar.

[Search Result: N/A]

As expected, his search came up empty once again.

‘Is this thing the problem or did the culprit already leave the city? Ah, I guess it’s difficult to find something without any information. No, this thing is quite smart, so it’s more likely to be the latter,’ Siegfried thought and decided to try again.

He entered "the blacksmith obsessed with Siegfried," which sounded vague even to him.

Ding!

Then, a screen appeared in front of his eyes. He looked closer and saw that it was the minimap of the Hometown of Death located inside the Bavarian Workshop. On the minimap was an arrow pointing at a red dot with the name Quandt under it.

“Eh? It worked?”

It turned out that Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance was capable of searching for what the user wanted, even though the details entered were vague.

This could only mean one thing.

‘The culprit has already left the city.’

Siegfried came to the conclusion that the culprit was no longer in the city, as the search with Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance had turned up empty.

‘I can only rely on Hamchi now. If Hamchi can’t find traces of the culprit, then... I guess I’ll have to put in a request with the Thieves’ Guild and ask them to search the entire continent.’

Siegfried racked his brains, trying to think of additional methods to find the culprit before the Bavarian Workshop did while waiting for Hamchi.

Around ten minutes later...

“Kyuuu! Owner punk!”

Hamchi returned from the workshop.

“I found his scent!”

“Really?!”

“Sniff! Sniff! I can smell him! Kyuuu!”

“Where?!”

“Over there! Kyuu!”

“Go after his scent! I’ll follow right behind you.”

“Alright! Kyuuu!”

Hamchi ran after the culprit’s scent with Siegfried following right behind him.

***

As expected, the culprit’s escape route was far from ordinary. He did not use the roads but rather jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

But that was not the end of it...

The culprit would jump into open windows and run through buildings or exit through the back door before disappearing into the back alleys.

“Wow... It would be impossible to trace this guy with this escape route...” Siegfried muttered in awe of the culprit’s escape route while running after Hamchi.

They combed through the entire city until two hours later when they discovered something.

“Kyuuu! Over there!”

“Where?”

“There! Kyuu!”

“Huh? Isn’t that a warp gate?”

It turned out that the culprit used the fastest method of transportation available to leave the city, which was a warp gate.

“Kyuuu! The culprit used that warp gate, owner punk!”

“Really? Hold on,” Siegfried said and inspected the warp gate.

Three destinations linked to the warp gate popped up in front of his eyes.

“Let’s go,” Siegfried said and selected the first destination.

The two emerged from the warp gate.

“Do you smell anything?” Siegfried asked.

“Kyu! It’s not here! I don’t smell anything from here!” Hamchi replied.

“Really? Okay, let’s go to the next one.”

They went back inside the warp gate and emerged where the Bavarian Workshop was located. Then, they chose the second destination and warped themselves over there.

“Sniff! Sniff! Kyuuu! It’s here, owner punk!”

“Really?”

“Over there! Kyuuu!”

“Let’s hurry before the scent disappears.”

“Alright! Kyuuu!”

Hamchi ran like the wind with Siegfried following closely behind him once again.

The chase continued for five hours. Hamchi followed the scent left behind by the criminal, and they had to go through twenty-seven warp gates in total.

But...

“Kyu! Owner punk!”

“What?”

“The scent trail ends here!”

“What? The scent disappeared?”

“Too long has passed! I have no idea where he went now!”

“Damn it...”

Unfortunately, they ended up losing the culprit.

“Kyu! What should we do, owner punk?”

“Let’s go back to the Proatine Kingdom for now,” Siegfried replied.

“Kyu?”

“We have to inform the other disciples. They’re somewhat related to this incident just as much as I am.”

They headed back to the Proatine Kingdom. His destination within the kingdom was none other than the Weapon Academy, where the Weapon Maestros were located.

***

Siegfried stepped into the warp gate and appeared in the Proatine Kingdom. Then, he headed straight for the Weapon Academy located on the outskirts of the capital.

Creak...! Creak...!

“Phew...”

“Kyu! Why the long face, owner punk?!”

Siegfried and Hamchi were currently in a carriage heading to the Weapon Academy.

“I mean, it seems like all I bring them is bad news...”

“Kyu...”

“Master Shakiro and the disciples are upright people, but why is it only bad things seem to keep happening to them? That’s what’s bothering me...” Siegfried said, looking downcast.

It was exactly as he said. The Weapon Maestros had gone through so much since they received news of Shakiro’s passing. They were somewhat able to distract themselves with the academy thanks to the massive financial support the Proatine Kingdom provided, but there were things that money or being busy could not resolve.

“Sigh... I hope this somehow resolves itself.”

“Kyuu... It’s probably nothing big, so don’t worry about it...”

“I hope so. I really hope so.”

“Kyuuu...”

“I guess the only silver lining is...”

“Kyu?”

“That they are safe.”

“Kyu?! What do you mean by that?!”

“This is just something that crossed my mind, but... If the culprit stole the Demon Sword Papiyas, then he’s surely going to go after the other weapons, too, right?”

“Kyu?”

“That means he will go after the other disciples, but that’s not an easy thing to do. It’s extremely difficult for people to sneak into our kingdom.”

Siegfried thought that the culprit would go after the disciples, but the reason he did not head straight for the Weapon Academy was that he knew just how difficult it was to infiltrate the Proatine Kingdom.

On top of that, not that many people knew about the existence of the Weapon Academy within the Proatine Kingdom; its existence was something like a classified national secret.

“The disciples should be safe, and that’s all that matters to me.”

“Kyu! I agree!”

“Let’s go and deliver this news to them first before anything else–”

All of a sudden, Hamchi started looking around and sniffing. “Sniff! Sniff!”

“What’s wrong? Hey, I already gave you a pack of nuts a while ago.”

“Kyu! That’s not the problem!”

“Hmm?”

“I can smell that scent again!”

“What did you say?!” Siegfried exclaimed and shot up from his seat.

Hamchi stuck his head outside the window, “Sniff! Sniff! Kyuuu! It’s over there! The scent is coming from that road!”

“That road is...” Siegfried muttered.

The road Hamchi was pointing at was the road leading to the Weapon Academy from the capital, and the fact that the culprit’s scent was coming from there meant...

‘Don’t tell me?’

Bam!

Siegfried smashed the carriage door open and jumped out.

Boom!

Then, he ran at the speed of sound.

“Kyuuuu! Wait for me, owner punk!” Hamchi cried out before jumping out of the carriage and running on all four after Siegfried.

***

On the road to the Weapon Academy...

‘How?’

The same word kept running in Siegfried’s head.

Just how? How did the culprit know the Weapon Maestros were in the Proatine Kingdom, and how did they enter the kingdom undetected?

However, that wasn't what was important right now.

‘Faster! I need to go faster!’ Siegfried squeezed every ounce of his strength to run faster.

Every second counted right now. Yes, the Weapon Maestros were strong, but the culprit was strong enough to single-handedly wreak havoc at the Bavarian Workshop and leave unscathed after stealing the demon sword from them.

Siegfried deduced that the Weapon Maestros would last only ten minutes at most against the culprit, who was most likely a Master.

‘I can’t lose a single one of them! I will protect them all!’ Siegfried thought as he gnashed his teeth and ran with all of his strength.

He finally reached the Weapon Academy, and what greeted him was—

“A-Argh...”

“Aaaaack!”

“H-Help me...!”

—The students and the kingdom’s knights were moaning in agony on the ground.

Quite a few of them were already dead.

A knight recognized Siegfried and hurriedly called out to him. “Your Majesty!”

“Take care of the wounded! Hamchi, you go help them! I’ll leave this place to you!”

“Leave it to me! Kyuuu!”

Siegfried asked Hamchi to tend to those who luckily survived before running inside the academy.

Baaaaam!

A loud sound echoed, followed by a powerful burst of shockwave the moment he entered the academy.

“Argh...”

“Ugh...”

“B-Brothers...”

“I-Is everyone alright?”

The Weapon Maestros were scattered on the ground, moaning in pain, and at the center of them was a man wearing a long robe with his head covered by a hood.

Wooong...!

Demon Sword: Papiyas orbited the man and the Weapon Maestros' weapons.