Magic Is Learned For Nothing [EN]: Chapter 426

Magic is Learned in Vain – 427

# 427

A Sign of Calamity 3

To be backstabbed like this.

Everyone was so dumbfounded that they just stared blankly as the Legion disappeared into the portal.

It felt like they were being robbed right in front of their eyes without even realizing it.

Everyone was just muttering, “Huh? Huh? Huh?” No one knew what to do.

The only one who managed to regain her senses was Fritia, the Red Dragon who had lived here the longest.

Not that she wasn’t mentally shaken.

She was just thinking, “What is this?” because she was so dumbfounded.

Ultra-Class Janus.

A handsome young man with playful eyes that were captivating. He had the kind of face that made you want to trust him.

He was also a good talker, so everyone around him liked him.

It wasn’t just his looks that he relied on.

His martial prowess was also considerable.

Recently, the most powerful human she had seen was Drazzer.

That crazy bastard kept doing stupid things, but his skills were genuine.

Drazzer was a genius. He couldn’t have built up that much skill at that age unless he was a genius.

Like that insane Alexander D. Recordian.

But…….

This young man was also a genius.

It was almost impossible to accumulate this level of magical power at this age.

What kind of opportunity did he encounter to accumulate this much magical power?

If Legion heard this, he would clutch his neck and collapse. As someone who became a mage after a slip of the finger, he was shuddering at the process.

He even remembered running all day with dozens of kilograms of military gear for over a year to lose weight.

And what about the armor he wore for half a year?

It was a gruesome memory for him.

Unfortunately, Fritia knew him as Ultra-Class Janus.

Not only her, but everyone here knew him as Janus.

Fritia, who had been quite shocked, regained her consciousness. Her recovery was definitely fast.

“Teleport!”

She used magic to reach the front of the portal in an instant. The portal was already half-closed.

It didn’t matter.

She would give up an arm to catch this damn Ultra-Class Janus.

She grabbed the portal with both hands filled with magical power. With her immense magical power, she forcibly stopped the portal from closing temporarily.

“You! Ultra-Class Janus! I trusted you.”

Legion didn’t answer. He just shrugged his shoulders.

“Sorry. If we ever meet again in this life, let’s have a mojito. I’ll pay.”

“Come back! You son of a bitch! I’ll kill you!”

“Sorry. Bye-bye.”

Fritia, enraged, tried to put her body into the almost closed portal. It was a dangerous act. If she made a mistake, her upper and lower body could be cut in half.

It would be better to die.

If she was even more unlucky, she could be bounced to another dimension.

But-

Thwack!

A hard object struck her face.

“Argh!”

It hurt so much that she grabbed her face and stepped back.

Thwack! Thwack!

It struck in succession. She hurriedly deployed a barrier, but it was easily penetrated.

It was like a pickaxe.

W-What the hell?

Fritia, who had been properly hit, was bounced out of the portal.

And waving at her…….

She saw a Lich [an undead creature, often a powerful sorcerer].

“Sayonara!” [Japanese for goodbye]

Fritia was dumbfounded. She never imagined that a Lich would be hiding in the portal. But how could a Lich’s fist be so spicy? His magical power was also much greater than she had expected.

She felt it for a moment…….

It was a Lich with at least 8th circle magic.

Sub-Demon King level.

Where the hell was this monster hiding?

Fritia gritted her teeth. She had to catch him. She had to catch that bastard who ran away with 400 million gold no matter what.

First, she had to get out of this place.

Fritia opened a portal and ran away alone.

* * *

The continent is shaking.

Something unexpected happened.

It was something that no one had ever imagined. Who could have imagined this?

The Nex House Kingdom went bankrupt.

The dynasty collapsed.

The reason is unknown.

Other kingdoms sent spies to find out the reason, but they failed to uncover it.

The Nex House Kingdom has entered IMF receivership [International Monetary Fund, implying financial bailout with strict conditions]. They have to pay back the principal to the Empire with interest from Nex House.

Whether they know it or not, the IMF will suck the marrow out of the Nex House Kingdom.

At least 10 years.

These 10 years are the dark ages of Nex House.

Even after 10 years, the problem was not over. The wolves around them would not leave the weakened Nex House Kingdom alone.

They would obviously invade the kingdom outright to take the land.

The Trebia Duke’s mansion.

The Trebia Duke’s eyes were half-glazed over. Many whiskey bottles were rolling on the floor in front of him.

The maids were too afraid of the Trebia Duke to clean up the whiskey bottles.

The Trebia Duke was always perfect.

He was polite and courteous.

He was the perfect aristocrat that everyone wanted to be.

He drank in moderation.

No one had ever seen him drunk.

His relationship with women was not complicated either. Once he dated someone, it lasted a long time.

The Trebia Duke had only dated three women so far.

The unmarried high-ranking aristocrats were often womanizers. They brought a different woman into their bedroom every day.

Some aristocrats were said to have slept with all the women in their territory.

Regardless of whether they were virgins or married women. In the process, there was considerable bloodshed.

The Trebia Duke never did such a thing. He never coveted women by force, and he protected the elderly and the weak.

But…….

The Trebia Duke had been drinking for days. It was like he had completely let himself go.

Knock, knock-

Someone knocked on the door of the Trebia Duke’s office.

The Trebia Duke looked at the office door with blurry eyes, then put the bottle to his lips again and drank the strong whiskey. It seemed like he didn’t care whether they came in or not.

The person who opened the door and came in was Smith.

“Is that you……. How are you?”

He was asking if his daughter, Olga, was in Ice City at the time of the bombing.

“Fortunately……. She survived.”

“Oh, that’s good fortune. The royals and nobles were all killed.”

“She was on her way to run an errand. She said she heard a huge explosion the moment she left the resort. When she turned around, she saw endless shells falling from the sky.”

“I can’t understand it.”

The Trebia Duke raised his slumped upper body. His eyes were starting to come back to life.

“What do you mean?”

“The construction cost of a battleship is enormous, isn’t it?”

“It’s enormous. Other kingdoms know the effectiveness of battleships, but they can’t build them. It costs too much to build one ship.”

“We’ve also drawn up a budget, haven’t we?”

“Yes.”

“How much was it?”

“Approximately 20 million gold per ship. The operating cost is about 10 million gold per year.”

“It’s an unimaginable amount.”

“That’s right. It’s impossible to handle. Moreover, battleships are prohibited from operating alone. Three ships always move together to protect the battleship.”

“It costs 60 million gold to create a minimum fleet. The operating cost is 30 million gold. Right?”

“Yes.”

“It’s impossible. Impossible. Not only us, but other kingdoms can’t operate them either. Even if we forcibly build a battleship, we’ll only increase our huge financial debt. We’ll only increase the people’s taxes and cause an explosion of dissatisfaction.”

“That’s right.”

“That day……, the Empire didn’t launch a battleship. I officially confirmed it. The Empire’s weather was also not good, so the environment was not conducive to launching a battleship. Right?”

“That’s right.”

“Judging from the scale of the bombing, it’s at least two fleets.”

“That’s also correct.”

“Are there any neighboring countries that can operate two fleets?”

“No.”

“What are the chances of a distant superpower sending a battleship here?”

“They have to pass through the Empire. It’s impossible.”

“The radar unit didn’t detect a battleship either.”

“That’s right.”

“That means they were coming and going over our kingdom like it was their own home. How the hell?”

“Could it be a new weapon?”

“Which kingdom?”

“I’m not sure…….”

“We have to catch him.”

“Who are you referring to?”

“That damn traitor!”

“Ultra-Class Janus?”

“That’s right. That damn bastard planned this whole thing.”

At the time-

Even though Janus ran away with 400 million gold, they couldn’t move.

They were supposed to give him 400 million gold anyway. As long as the prince was safe.

The prince ran over crying. And hugged Count Anaconda.

“You came to save me.”

“……Who are you?”

Count Anaconda looked at the man in his arms, who was mistaking him for the prince, and asked.

“How rude. Can’t you recognize me!”

“I recognize you. Prince. But I can’t recognize you. Who are you?”

“It’s me! You lowly bastard! Me! First Prince Pele!”

Just in case, Count Anaconda grabbed the man’s cheek and looked around. Only the height was similar, and there was no resemblance at all. He deliberately made him wear sunglasses to make him look like a prince.

Ah~, damn it, I was deceived.

“Where is the Prince!”

Count Anaconda, enraged, drew his sword and emitted aura.

If something happened to the Prince, he was going to behead them all.

But…….

They all ran away.

The mercenaries who had occupied the Tower of Babel were also fleeing. Trebia’s armed forces, with their eyes turned upside down, were arresting the mercenaries indiscriminately.

Nevertheless, more than 300 people escaped.

Those who were captured spat out shocking stories.

The First Prince is dead.

The Trebia Duke could not overcome the shock and collapsed to the floor.

And Ultra-Class Janus planned all of this. We have no sin but to listen to him.

Like this…….

The Trebia Duke was completely stuck with all the blame.

He was really hit hard.

So hard that the kingdom went bankrupt.

So hard that the dynasty collapsed.

Until then, the Trebia Duke could only watch the collapsing kingdom without being able to do anything.

It was like he was possessed by a ghost.

How…….

Did it come to this?

Should I just die?

The urge to commit suicide arose dozens of times a day. He actually slit his wrists while taking a shower. The surprised maids hurriedly called a high-ranking priest.

“It’s a symptom of depression. You’ve been through too much mentally. Take this medicine. You should stay away from alcohol. It will worsen the symptoms of depression.”

The priest pleaded, but the Trebia Duke did not listen.

It seemed like the kingdom had collapsed because of his fault.

He couldn’t fall asleep without alcohol because of guilt.

But…….

As he talked to Smith, the remnants of anger that remained in his heart were reviving.

“Let’s catch him and get at least 400 million gold.”

“Will he give it up willingly?”

“It’s 400 million gold. You can’t spend all that money even if you die and come back to life. If we find 400 million gold, we’ll be relieved of at least some of the burden.”

“I guess…….”

“From now on, we’ll move the Cobra Corps.”

“That’s…….”

“Why?”

“The Cobra Corps was disbanded because it cost a lot of money financially……. Some were transferred to other units, and some others…….”

“Some others?”

“Are unemployed. More than 1 million people are unemployed.”

“Hmm.”

“It also means rebuilding the kingdom, but the pain is too great until then.”

“Gather the Cobra Corps who are unemployed. What about Count Anaconda?”

“He’s been hospitalized in the temple due to severe depression.”

“Get him out. Prepare everyone. That bastard. We’re going to catch Ultra-Class Janus.”