The Perfect Scapegoat
The influence of the Sadiq Order has been eradicated from Canaan Castle.
The reputation of the Archisus Church within Canaan Castle has increased.
You have thwarted the Sadiq Order. Reputation has increased.
Your Holy stat has increased.
More message windows popped up. It was practically a free lunch, but Tae-hyun remained shamelessly proud.
Perfect. I can blame everything bad that happens from now on on Sadiq!
Thud! Thud!
The First Prince, having failed to find the gold, stomped toward him with a thoroughly enraged expression.
"Count Kim Tae-hyun! That bastard is incredibly stubborn. He refuses to reveal the location!"
"He is a truly wicked soul, Your Highness. I know his kind well, having clashed with the Sadiq Order back in the Atali Kingdom."
Tae-hyun egged the prince on. He fully intended to pin every future mishap on them.
"I knew it! The recent thefts, the grim atmosphere hanging over the castle—it must all be their doing!"
"..."
In truth, both of those were Tae-hyun's doing.
"And I hear the raging fire out on the plains is their handiwork as well."
"How could they! Their wickedness truly knows no bounds!"
"Which brings me to my point. Count Kim Tae-hyun, I want you to take care of those flames."
"..."
The atmosphere instantly turned icy.
"Me, Your Highness?"
"Indeed. Who else but Count Kim Tae-hyun could resolve such a crisis?"
"No, Your Highness, what power do I have... Besides, aren't there many capable nobles who follow you?"
"Those fools are nothing but scarecrows! To think the Sadiq bastards were operating right under their noses, and they didn't notice a thing!"
Hearing the First Prince's booming voice, the surrounding nobles scowled with discontent.
"I cannot trust such incompetent fools. Count Kim Tae-hyun is a hero who has already triumphed over the Sadiq Order! Furthermore, are you not the Pope who leads the Archisus Church?"
Extinguish the Plains of Fire
You have performed exceptionally well under the First Prince. Extremely furious with the Sadiq Order, the First Prince wishes to clear the flames raging across the plains. His goal is to ensure the Sadiq Order can never set foot here again!
By order of the First Prince, you must suppress the flames.
Of course, even if you succeed, the greedy First Prince is unlikely to offer a grand reward. If you fail, however, you will face his deep disappointment.
🎁 Rewards: ?, ??, Reduced discontent in Canaan Castle, Increased reputation of the Archisus Church in Canaan Castle.
※ This quest cannot be rejected.
※ The quest has been forcibly accepted.
Ugh...
His good mood evaporated. Tae-hyun grimaced. He felt like he had just been sucker-punched by the First Prince, whom he had pinned as a total pushover.
He had been setting up the perfect scenario—blaming his own misdeeds on the Sadiq Order, winning the First Prince's absolute favor, and even drawing the prince's faction of nobles to his side...
I didn't see any obvious way to put out those flames, though. Would it just be easier to slice the First Prince's throat?
Tae-hyun weighed his options. The First Prince would believe him even if he claimed beans were made of gold, and the nobles of his faction trusted him implicitly. Eliminating the prince now wasn't a bad idea.
But if I'm going to take him out, I need to take out the Second Prince at the same time. Hmm, is there another way? Maybe I should just pretend to try and put out the fire? I need to buy some time.
Since no immediate method to eliminate both princes at once came to mind, Tae-hyun decided to check the situation regarding the fire first.
He was the one who had started the fire, but other players were the ones suffering the consequences. Surely, those desperate to resolve the issue had looked for a way to extinguish it.
[Sadiq's Flame Quest Info]
Famous explorer player Jekas has joined the quest.
Currently infiltrating three secret temples of the Sadiq Order to find the Sacred Ring! Click the link below to watch the stream!
Huh?
Browsing the community boards, Tae-hyun tilted his head.
The Sacred Ring?
That was definitely...
An item currently sitting in his inventory!
Tae-hyun read the rest of the information. To extinguish Sadiq's Flame, one needed the Sacred Ring, which was why players were currently tearing the Sadiq Order's remnants apart looking for it.
The explorer player's voice droned on from the broadcast.
Tae-hyun pulled out the Sacred Ring from his inventory to inspect it.
A sudden pang of guilt hit him.
Unaware of this, the explorer continued his speech.
Tae-hyun couldn't bear to watch any longer.
I can't watch this. It's not my fault, so go curse Buford instead.
"Those people who were so kind to us? Oh my, really?"
"I'm telling you! They were actually Sadiq cultists all along! Setting fire to the plains, raiding the First Prince's royal treasury—it was all their doing!"
"What horrible people!"
The voices of the castle NPCs buzzed with gossip.
Tae-hyun nodded with a satisfied expression. History was indeed written by the victors! Having successfully pinned all his misdeeds on the Sadiq Order, Tae-hyun felt light as a feather.
"And building that massive temple for the Archisus Church was actually a secret strategy to draw out those Sadiq cultists!"
"What? Really? I mean, they did extort a lot of gold from us..."
"Exactly! Why else would they do it? They did it because they knew those Sadiq bastards would crawl out of hiding if they did!"
"Though, Count Kim Tae-hyun did look awfully happy while extorting that gold..."
While some remained skeptical, the First Prince's grand public announcement seemed to have convinced the majority of the castle's population for now.
Meanwhile, Tae-hyun led his party toward the plains.
Durability: 1/1
Requirement: Holy 5,000
Penalty: May be cursed if the wearer does not worship Sadiq.
A sacred relic of the Sadiq Order, containing the sealed power of Sadiq. Under the right conditions, it can summon Sadiq.
A Holy requirement of 5,000, huh...
Tae-hyun checked his current Holy stat.
He had traveled around the cities of the Auston Kingdom, forcibly constructing temples, plundering gold from both the First and Second Princes, and hiring paladins and priests to spread across the land.
Naturally, every time he expanded the church's influence like this, his Holy stat increased.
Yet, it still hadn't reached 3,000.
The requirement of 5,000 felt incredibly daunting.
Fortunately, he had a skill that allowed him to equip it anyway...
"Hey, do we really have to go to the plains?" Cain muttered anxiously beside him.
"I have something to check."
"Aren't you scared?"
"Scared of what? Those flames move incredibly slowly. We can just dodge them."
"Not that, you idiot! We're the ones who started the fire!"
"Ah, that? It's fine. Nobody knows. Seeing how it hasn't spread by now, it won't spread in the future either."
"Have you never read a mystery novel? The culprits always get caught because they return to the scene of the crime!"
"Haha. Cain, I've already thought of everything."
"Oh, yeah? Like what?"
"If anything goes wrong, I'm going to say you did it."
"..."
"Just kidding."
Tae-hyun said it was a joke, but Cain didn't find it funny at all.
This bastard... If only he didn't have dirt on me... No, if only he didn't have dirt on me, and my class wasn't tied to him, and I wasn't in the Archisus Church, and he wasn't so famous...
Listing it all out only made Cain feel more depressed. No matter how he looked at it, escaping Tae-hyun's clutches seemed impossible.
Tae-hyun equipped the ring.
Your Holy stat is insufficient. You may equip the item using [Deceiver's Authority].
You do not worship Sadiq. You are afflicted by Sadiq's Curse.
As the Avatar of Archisus, you have successfully resisted Sadiq's Curse.
It was a relief that his privileges as the Avatar of Archisus allowed him to withstand the curse.
Conditions have not been met. You cannot summon Sadiq.
You can now control Sadiq's Flame.
Your Holy stat will be consumed whenever you control the flames.
"..."
Tae-hyun stared at the roaring flames blanketing the plains.
The Sadiq's Sacred Ring on his finger granted him the power to manipulate the widespread inferno.
To the side...
Your Holy stat has decreased by 10.
Ugh.
Checking his stats, he saw his Holy had decreased by 10.
Tae-hyun stopped manipulating the flames in disgust. The fire had indeed moved exactly as he willed, shifting instantly like an obedient animal.
I shouldn't waste my Holy stat. I'll just extinguish it all at once.
"What was that just now?!"
"Whoa, you startled me."
Startled by Lee Da-bi's voice, Tae-hyun spun around.
Lee Da-bi was pointing at the flames with a shocked expression.
"Didn't those flames just move in the opposite direction?"
"That's because I moved them. I'm about to put them out, so quiet down."
"You can put them out?!"
"Yeah. Can I put them out now?"
"Wa-Wait a minute! If you can extinguish these flames, we should make it a bit more dramatic..."
"Why make it dramatic? There's no need."
Despite the countless players participating in this massive quest to extinguish the flames, Tae-hyun was about to clear them as if he were putting out a small trash fire in a neighborhood alley.
"It'll be much better if everyone knows who put them out!"
"It's a hassle... Besides, won't it be broadcast anyway?"
"We didn't make this quest public for broadcasting."
"Ah, right."
Since there was a lot of information starting from the underground dungeon that they didn't want to reveal, Tae-hyun had already informed the broadcasting station in advance. Lee Se-yeon had also agreed not to broadcast this quest.
As a result, Bae Jang-wook of MBS was in tears. To think he had to let such a golden opportunity slip away!
"Popularity is power, power! Just like how our Power Warrior guild gathers people through various means..."
"You guys aren't popular, you just have a lot of haters."
Lee Da-bi pretended not to hear him.
"Right now, every player in the Auston Kingdom is terrified of these flames. If you extinguish them without making it public, it's a huge waste. If we reveal that you did it, everyone will be so grateful!"
"Even though I'm the one who started the fire."
"...Nobody knows that! Anyway, there's absolutely no downside to doing this, so why not?"
"True. Then I guess you guys can broadcast this part."
"Huh? Who?"
"You guys. What, doesn't your guild do personal streams?"
"No, no! We do! We do! Please let us do it!"
She had never imagined Tae-hyun would let her guild broadcast such an important moment.
Lee Da-bi jumped up and down, shouting.
"Our guild specializes in this kind of thing!"
"If you say you specialize in it, it somehow makes it sound even less trustworthy."
At Tae-hyun's words, the Power Warrior guild members avoided his gaze.
"Ah, but... is the broadcasting station okay with this?"
"It's not like they have an exclusive contract for this. My broadcasts are usually special features that run long, so airing a single clip of me putting out a fire doesn't really fit. Let's just use your stream."
"Yes!"
If Bae Jang-wook had heard this, he would have screamed, "No, it's not! We can easily stretch that into a highly entertaining episode!!"