Magic Is Learned For Nothing [EN]: Chapter 50

The Man of Rumor (1)

It’s already the seventh day of training.

I’ve been waking Legion up from time to time, but the sheer amount of training makes him pass out and fall asleep right after waking. It’s like he’s a wind-up toy that immediately collapses after being wound up.

He wakes up again as Legion (Mark) in auto-mode.

Still, in these seven days, his intelligence has increased by 4, reaching 103, and he’s lost 25 kilograms, only to gain back 20 kilograms, now weighing 165 kilograms.

I’m really pushing him hard… but Legion’s mental fortitude seems quite strong. Even I, as an AI, am getting annoyed after just seven days; how can a human endure this?

But tonight, luck is on my side.

Under the moonlight, I found three trolls.

I was getting bored with solo training anyway, so this is perfect timing.

Trolls live in groups.

One female troll at the center of the matriarchy, with four or five male trolls and about ten offspring living together.

The offspring leave the group when they become adults.

This is when the trolls’ personalities are at their worst. If the sexually mature males can’t find a mate, they can’t control their urges and destroy everything around them, eating everything except their own kind. At that time, even ogres tend to avoid them.

The three trolls were surprisingly in a standoff.

In other words, three adult males in heat had coincidentally met and were facing off. Their eyes gleamed with a ferocious light.

It felt like they would pounce and tear each other apart at any moment.

The reason they weren’t moving was because there were three of them. If one attacked first, it would give the others an opportunity, so they couldn’t bring themselves to attack first. It was a tense stalemate.

“Just glaring at each other isn’t entertaining for the audience.”

Mark threw a stone between them.

As the stone suddenly fell-

A startled troll struck the jaw of the closest troll. The impact was so strong that the troll’s jaw was blown away in one hit.

The troll whose jaw was blown off fell on his butt.

The troll who attacked first turned and charged at the troll standing far away, hitting him in the chest. It seemed that the troll had anticipated the attack. Snorting, he met the oncoming opponent shoulder to shoulder.

Kukukukung!

The pressure was immense as the trolls, towering over 4 meters tall, engaged in a chaotic brawl.

Flap! Flap!

Birds, awakened from their sleep, flew into the sky.

Animals nearby fled as if they had encountered a natural disaster. Only Mark was there, watching the trolls with interest.

-Scan initiated.

Mark analyzed the information about the trolls.

“Wow, the trolls’ regenerative ability is amazing.”

Mark exclaimed in admiration.

The troll whose jaw was broken stood up abruptly. New, slimy flesh was growing from his jaw. It was an unbelievable regenerative ability to witness.

Mark suddenly had a thought.

If I take the trolls to the future, wouldn’t that solve the food problem?

If I capture them and constantly cut off their arms and legs, how many people could I feed? Is there a way to raise trolls as livestock, like cows and pigs?

There’s no need to go to the future.

If I capture those things and use them for food, I could completely solve the chronic food shortage in the territory.

A way to save money!

Thrifty Legion would be very happy.

“Combat power is in the late 700s. If I’m careful about their stamina due to their high regeneration, it’s definitely possible. Should I try to catch one?”

Mark waddled towards them.

It’s good that his overall combat power has increased due to the weight gain, but his agility is too low. I need to find out what kind of gem increases agility.

“Alright, alright, everyone freeze.”

Kukung! Kukukukung! Kukukukukung!

Mark waved his hand between the three trolls who were exchanging fierce punches.

The trolls had noticed the strange creature that was neither pig nor human a while ago. But they didn’t have the leeway [mental space] to care about the identity of the pig-human. If they let their guard down even a little, they could be torn to pieces and killed by those males in heat.

“Oops.”

One of the trolls kicked Mark, telling him to get lost.

Naturally, Mark should have been sent flying dozens of meters away and crashed somewhere… but he didn’t budge. Rather, the ankle of the troll who kicked him was twisted.

-Krrr (What is this human)!

The troll with the broken ankle knelt on one knee.

The broken bone regenerates quickly. He saw the trolls hitting each other without even turning to look at him. Then, let’s eat that pig-human first and recover some stamina.

Thinking that, the troll opened his mouth wide.

The numerous triangular teeth gleamed sharply in the moonlight. Since this is an emergency, there’s no time to slowly savor the pig-human.

Just in one bite…

“You ill-mannered bastard.”

And-

The troll’s massive body, slapped by Mark, spun around like a top. The troll fell to the ground, unconscious.

He lost his combat ability in a single blow.

…

The two trolls who were fighting to the death stopped.

They looked at the pig-human who barely reached their knees. The bewildered look in their eyes didn’t disappear.

-Krrr (What? You)?

Mark gestured instead of answering.

“Come here. Let’s taste you guys first.”

And he seriously pondered.

“I need to be able to use them for food.”

* * *

The three trolls were kneeling.

The lust that had filled their heads had completely disappeared. Just because they have low intelligence doesn’t mean their survival instincts are low.

In fact, they had never felt the need to survive until now.

Since they were born, they had never felt fear from any being.

They learned that fear just now.

Ah, I see. So, this is how the guys we used to eat felt. From now on, we should eat them without tormenting them.

The trolls resolved.

That pig-human in front of them.

He’s not even hungry, but he’s trying to eat us to taste us. What kind of pig-like human is that?

“Alright, alright, don’t move. Ehe. You’ll get hurt. Clench your teeth.”

Like that, he cuts off a bit of flesh from the forearm, then starts a fire and roasts it. That crazy human is salting my arm.

Ahhh, just looking at it gives me goosebumps.

Mark looked at the troll’s arm sizzling. It’s rich in fat. The melting fat dripped down, making the flames burn even brighter.

“Hmm, the smell isn’t bad. Now, let’s taste it.”

If Legion knew about this, he would have clutched his neck and collapsed already. Because there’s no human in the world who eats monsters.

No, he wouldn’t have even thought about it.

The trolls only turned their eyes to look at Mark. Their eyes were full of doubt, wondering if the human would really eat their arm.

Chew, chew.

-Ueeeeeeck.

One of the trolls couldn’t stand it and vomited. The scene of trolls eating people, well… I’ve seen it a lot, but strangely, the opposite scene now makes my stomach churn.

“Ugh! It doesn’t taste good.”

Mark spat out the troll’s meat.

The gamey smell was so strong that he couldn’t eat it. If he couldn’t get rid of the gamey smell, it had no value as food.

The trolls sighed in relief when they heard that the meat didn’t taste good. They lived.

Mark got up, patting his back.

He approached the kneeling trolls.

“The arm doesn’t seem to taste good. One of you sacrifice yourself. The one with the best meat. I’ll taste the insides first, then the intestines, sundae [Korean sausage], and liver. I’ll do the back of the leg next.”

The trolls were horrified.

-Krrr, Krr (I, I, I really don’t taste good. Didn’t you just eat my arm? He tastes much better. Look at that plump flesh. There’s nothing to throw away from head to toe).

The troll next to the first troll almost fainted when he heard those words.

What is this crazy troll babbling about right now?

-Krr, Krr (I really don’t taste good. I guarantee it. Even though I’m this big, I’ve been eating bad food since I was young. I’ve had quite a few stomach upsets. If you eat me, you’ll definitely get food poisoning).

The troll defended himself with all his might.

He trembled and begged with both hands, hoping that the pig-human wouldn’t eat him.

Mark fell into serious thought, looking at the three trolls who were even shedding tears.

If the troll meat was delicious, he would have dragged them all away without a second thought and raised them for food. If he caught just ten of them and fed them well, the territory residents wouldn’t have to worry about meat for the rest of their lives.

But it tastes so bad.

I said it, but would the insides be any different? I didn’t really think it would taste good.

So, he asked the trolls.

“Isn’t there a monster around here that can be raised as livestock, tastes good, and is nutritious?”

The trolls’ hearts were pounding and then sinking.

Yeah, we were wrong. There’s no way a human would say something like that. Black hair. We should have known then. Damn it! That’s not a human, it’s a dragon.

The black dragon with the worst personality!

Ah, right. I heard the goblins talking about it a few days ago.

Ah! This is a disaster. A black dragon has settled in our neighborhood.

-Krrr (If you go to the swamp…).

“Swamp? What’s in the swamp?”

See, it doesn’t make sense that a human can speak the trolls’ language so freely. It’s definitely a black dragon. We’re doomed. The most unreasonable and violent dragon has moved here.

-Krr, Krrr (There are hydras).

“Hydras?”

-Krr (Yes).

Hydras are monsters of the swamp.

There are various types, from those with three heads to those with nine heads. Their vitality is also said to be incredibly high.

They don’t die unless all their heads are cut off.

-Krr (They are rumored to be good for stamina).

“Good for stamina? You guys wouldn’t have been able to catch a hydra. How do you know that?”

-Krr, Krr (We heard it from another family. I don’t know how they got the hydra meat, but…).

“But?”

-Krr, Krrr (The troll who ate it said, ‘Once you start, it lasts for three days. The best stamina booster is hydra’).

“Oh, now that you mention it.”

Mark stroked his chin.

The hydra and eel overlapped in his mind. It was like a lightbulb went off.

“Indeed!”

The Alexander family is precious as it is. I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to feed Legion hydra at this opportunity.

“Yeah, you’ll be very grateful to me.”

Mark smiled brightly.

* * *

These days, a frightening rumor was circulating in the Düsseldorf Mountains.

The rumor was that a black dragon was trying to raise all the monsters in the Düsseldorf Mountains for food.

At first, many monsters and other races thought it was nonsense. But the rumors started to grow. There were also many monsters who claimed to have met the black dragon in person.

They were all terrified.

“Heaven helped us survive. He, or rather, that person, is polymorphed into a very fat human. So, if you see a fat human, run away unconditionally, or commit suicide if you get caught. He is said to be a gourmet. So, he likes to taste us slowly, bit by bit. Someone said he was filleted alive. He was alive until all the flesh was eaten. It’s so scary. So, if you meet him, it’s better to commit suicide.”

The rumors became increasingly bizarre.

It wasn’t just that they had changed simply. There’s a saying that a word without feet crosses the sea [rumors spread fast].

The rumors about Legion spread widely throughout the northern region.

If you meet a short, fat man, it’s better to commit suicide!