Chapter 890

The details of the quest were the following...

[12 Tasks]

[Resolve the petitions brought forth by your followers.]

[Type: Holy Quest]

[Rewards: +3 Levels, +3,000 Divine Power]

[Progress: 0%]

- Punish the Evil Loan Sharks

- Find the Cause And Resolve the Infection At the Ranch

- Find Ring Ring

- Fix the Well

(omitted...)

- Resolve the Drought

The quests were quite simple, but the rewards were...

‘

T-Three levels?!’

Siegfried screamed inwardly.

He thought his eyes were going to pop out of their eye sockets after seeing that this simple quest gave three whole levels as a reward.

‘

W-Where have you been my whole life, my honey-dipped quest?!’

Siegfried hurriedly pressed the accept button before this juicy quest with laughably low difficulty disappeared.

[Alert: You have accepted the Quest — 12 Tasks!]

Then, he turned to his followers and declared, “I will resolve your troubles.”

“T-Thank you, Your Majesty!”

“Ah! Your grace is immeasurable!”

The people bowed low to the ground and worshiped Siegfried.

[Alert: Your Divine Power has permanently increased by 1!]

[Alert: Your Divine Power has permanently increased by 1!]

[Alert: Your Divine Power has permanently increased by 1!]

(omitted...)

[Alert: Your Divine Power has permanently increased by 1!]

As a bonus, Siegfried gained a bit of Divine Power, too. He might not have cleared the quests yet, but his words alone were more than enough to make the people worship him.

‘

Good! The quest is simple, so I can clear them, gain three levels, and then read the report on the empire,’

Siegfried thought.

This juicy quest was one thing, but he was more concerned about the current situation in the empire.

He was bound to be concerned with the current status of the Marchioni Empire, as the whole continent’s balance of power would shift should any change happen in the empire.

But what he was more curious about was...

‘

It’s about time he called for me, but... why isn’t he calling?’

Siegfried could not understand why Emperor Stuttgart had yet to ask for his help. The emperor greatly favored Siegfried, and he liked the emperor, too.

Well, he liked him due to the fact that the emperor had bestowed huge rewards to him on more than one occasion, so there was no way that a person like Siegfried would dislike such a generous person.

‘

I will drop everything and run to him the moment he calls me...’

Siegfried was willing to help Emperor Stuttgart if he asked for help.

‘

Oh well, I guess I’ll focus on clearing this quest first.’

With curiosity filling his mind, he decided to distract himself by resolving the petitions of his followers while waiting for the report.

***

The quest "12 Tasks" wasn't particularly challenging or difficult. To begin with, the petitions submitted by the people were hardly an issue for someone like Siegfried.

While these problems would be difficult to resolve for ordinary people, they were simple issues for a king.

Siegfried summoned various experts from the capital city, Preussen, and tasked them with analyzing the problems faced by the villagers before assigning each of them to resolve each issue.

In the case of the lost pet, Ring Ring, he deployed soldiers to conduct a thorough search, combing through every bush they came across.

As for the remaining petitions, none of them posed much of a challenge, so Siegfried either handled them himself or dispatched soldiers to resolve them.

And as a result—

[Alert: You have made 8.3% progress in the Quest — 12 Tasks!]

[Alert: You have made 16.6% progress in the Quest — 12 Tasks!]

(omitted...)

[Alert: You have made 74.7% progress in the Quest — 12 Tasks!]

Siegfried managed to clear nine out of the twelve quest items in just two hours, and it was only a matter of time before he completed the quest, as the remaining three items were easy matters to resolve too.

“I will go attend to some stuff for a while, so please assist the people in whatever they need. Please remember to do your best to resolve their problems, all right?”

“Yes, sire!”

The knights and soldiers from Preussen raised a salute and responded in a unified booming voice.

“Then, I’ll leave things here to you guys,” Siegfried said before heading to where Michael and his party were located.

The petitions submitted by the people were so simple that he did not feel the need to personally clear them, which was why he decided to do something else instead.

Swoosh!

Siegfried flew through the air with his +10 Black Crow Wingsuit until he eventually found Michael’s party. The party was wandering around a lake located fifty kilometers from the village, so it was not difficult at all for Siegfried to spot them from the air.

“Hello, Your Majesty.”

“Greetings, sire.”

Metatron and Chaos immediately knelt and greeted Siegfried the moment he landed.

“Hello, welcome,” Shakiro greeted him with a smile.

“Oh, hello,” Michael greeted him, too.

“How have all of you been?” Siegfried greeted them back. Then, he tilted his head in confusion and asked, “But... What are you doing here? And why are you all wet?”

The reason Siegfried asked that question was simple. Michael and the others were completely soaked from head to toe.

“

Ah,

I can feel the energy of my wings coming from this lake,” Michael answered.

“

Oh?

”

“That’s why we kept diving over and over in search of it, and, well... we ended up like this.”

“That sounds tough,” Siegfried said, looking at the lake.

The lake was massive, and its depths reached down far beyond what the naked eye could see, making searching for something at the bottom of such a vast body of water seem nearly impossible.

‘

Diving down that to find a pair of wings? Yeah, no. That’s impossible,’

Siegfried thought.

He had no idea what Michael’s wings looked like, but he knew one thing for certain. Finding them would be no easy task if they were underwater in this massive lake.

“But we have no other choice. I can feel the energy of my wings coming from within this lake, so our only option is to keep diving and searching for it,” Michael said.

“Yes, I agree. We’re really in a pinch right now, and every wing counts, I guess,” Siegfried replied with a nod.

“I will just have to keep doing everything I can.”

“But this method you guys are using is very inefficient. How long do you think it will take to find your wings at this rate?” Siegfried said bluntly.

“I-I know it’s not ideal, but what other options—”

“Please, come this way.”

“

Huh?

”

“Hurry.”

Siegfried grabbed Michael and pulled him along. Then, he opened his inventory and took out a table, chairs, and various kinds of food.

“Let’s eat first.”

“But my wings are my top priority—”

“They say you can’t hike on an empty stomach, so why is it any different for diving? Sit down and take a break.”

“O-Okay...”

Siegfried forced Michael and the others to take a break before taking out a communication device to relay a message to the Proatine Kingdom.

Afterward, he turned to Michael and asked.

“About the Blue Knight of Death...”

“Yes?”

“How did you imprison him in the celestial prison?”

“Ah...”

“Three out of the four apocalypses have already been taken care of. Only the Blue Knight of Death remains.”

“It was... pure luck,” Michael replied.

“

Huh?

” Siegfried muttered, his eyes widening in shock.

He could not believe that even Michael, the Chief Archangel at that time, had to rely on luck to imprison the Blue Knight of Death.

“To be frank... The Blue Knight of Death is not really a calamity,” Michael proceeded to recount the terrifying tale of the knight that would bring death to those around him.

***

“The Blue Knight of Death is... a bit difficult to describe,” Michael said.

“And why is that?” Siegfried asked.

“The laws of life and death are not only applicable to this world but also to the entire universe.”

“

Hmm...

”

“Any living creature cannot escape from the one thing that’s inevitable—death. And the Blue Knight of Death is the very embodiment of that inevitable natural occurrence.”

“I see...”

“The Blue Knight of Death is a transcendent being that cannot be defeated. Even I struggled against him.”

“

Oh?

”

“In fact, I didn’t win against him that time.”

“Then what happened?”

“He imprisoned himself out of his own will.”

“What?!” Siegfried exclaimed, his eyes widening in shock.

If even the Chief Archangel, Michael, could not defeat the Blue Knight of Death, then it meant that Siegfried had no hope of defeating him.

“But why? Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know either,” Michael replied, shaking his head. Then, he continued, “All I know is that he is a being that’s beyond our understanding. What might seem to us to be logic does not apply to him.”

“Then... there’s no solution?”

“I’m afraid so,” Michael replied with a nod. Then, he clenched his fists and added, “That’s why I wanted to stop Lucifer from opening the celestial prisons.”

“Oh...”

“Lucifer is completely oblivious to what he’s done. He has no idea what the consequences of his actions will be.”

“This is bad.”

Siegfried’s expression turned serious, and worry was visibly written all over his face.

What did it mean if even Michael had no way to stop the Blue Knight of Death? That meant only one thing—the world would face its demise the moment the Blue Knight of Death was unleashed from the Northern Great Rift.

Anything with life in it would have no choice but to embrace its inevitable demise.

“Then what do we do? Do we just wait for our impending doom?” Siegfried asked, his voice filled with frustration. Then, he grimaced and complained, “Isn’t this too unfair? How can there be no way to stop something like—”

Michael interrupted him and said, “Well, there

is

a way.”

“...!”

“Where there is death, there is life.”

“Ah!”

“Life and death are one. One cannot exist without the other.”

“Then that means...!”

“We must find Terra, the Incarnation of Life. She exists somewhere in this world. If anyone can stop the Incarnation of Death, then it’s her.”

“Where can I find her?”

“That is...”

Before Michael could say anything, a quest message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

[O, Great Life!]

[Summon Terra, the Incarnation of Life, to fight against the Blue Knight of Death.]

[Type: Epic Quest]

[Progress: 0%]

- Phoenix

- Gaia’s Chalice

- Neptune’s Blood

“We might be able to meet Terra if we perform this ritual. Things were quite dire back then for us to even attempt this ritual, but we still have some time on our side, so it is worth trying,” Michael said.

“Okay, I will do my best,” Siegfried said. Then, he shrugged and added, “It’s better to have some hope rather than not have any options at all.”

A message popped up in front of his eyes.

[Alert: You have accepted the Quest — O, Great Life!]

The quest did not look like an easy one, but this was the only hope they had in order to stop the Blue Knight of Death.

“As long as there’s hope,” Siegfried said with a smile.

Michael nodded and replied, “Yes, hope is always—”

It was then.

Rumble!

A teleportation magic circle suddenly appeared by the lake’s shoreline.

But that was not all.

“Your Majesty! Our airships are approaching!” Chaos shouted.

A few seconds later, fifteen thousand elite soldiers of the Proatine Kingdom appeared from the magic circle.

It was one whole division.

The division commander raised a salute and exclaimed at the top of his lungs, “Loyalty! We greet His Majesty the King!”

And the rest of the soldiers exclaimed in perfect unison.

“LOYALTY!”

“Hello~ Hyung-nim! Did you call for me?” Seung-Gu approached and said casually.

Behind Seung-Gu was the professional labor force of the Proatine Kingdom.

“What’s up, hyung-nim?” Seung-Gu asked.

Siegfried pointed at the lake and said, “Can you move this for me?”

Seung-Gu looked around, puzzled, and asked, “

Huh?

Move what? There’s nothing there?”

“Move

this

,” Siegfried emphasized, pointing at the lake.

“Hold on... You don’t mean...?” Seung-Gu muttered. Then, his jaw dropped as he shrieked in horror, “T-The lake?! You want us to move the lake?!”

“Yup.”

“The whole thing?!”

“Yep~”

“...”

Seung-Gu was absolutely speechless at the command.

Moving a large obstruction or even a building was one thing, but moving an entire lake?

Siegfried’s request—no, command to move the massive lake was so ridiculous that Seung-Gu’s brain simply refused to even process it.