Magic Is Learned For Nothing [EN]: Chapter 62

Magic is Learned in Vain – Episode 62

# 62

Number Three (1)

Also known as Crazy Dreyzer.

An X Master and one of the Seven Greats of the kingdom.

People classified him as one of the Seven Greats because of his appearance and personality, but he prided himself on being in the top five.

He was dreaming.

He was in a battle against Preitia, the Red Dragon, ruler of the Düsselph Mountains.

He unleashed his full mana from the start.

It was mana so powerful that the ground sank and the sky roared. His mana devoured the energy of all living things around him, dominating the battlefield as a predator.

Although in the middle of a battle, he was satisfied.

Overflowing mana!

The courage not to be intimidated even when facing the strongest creature in history, the dragon!

Seeing the dragon’s expression of frustration seemed to relieve his pent-up feelings.

This was a real fight.

And I will become the Dragon Slayer. I will become one of only three Dragon Slayers in history.

“Haaap!”

The Armor of the Overlord, obtained from an ancient dungeon, shone brightly. The runes reacted violently, absorbing mana to its limit.

-Physical defense increased.

-Magical defense increased.

-Mana amplification.

-Stamina enhanced.

-Mana amplification.

-Attack power increased.

-Toxicity blocked.

-Holy power generated.

Numerous spells were automatically activated. This was the power of the Armor of the Overlord. Even for non-mages, it greatly enhanced the wearer’s abilities.

Dreyzer poured as much mana as possible into his battle axe.

-Attack power increased by 10 percent.

-Aura amplification.

-Critical hit chance increased.

-6th circle magic ‘Bombardment’ cast every 5 seconds.

The battle axe was also an ancient item. The power of the item, which ordinary knights had never even seen, began to run wild.

“Hahahahaha! Here I come!”

Dreyzer burst into a frenzied laugh and flew like a ray of light towards the Red Dragon Preitia.

The scene changed.

‘Damn it…’

He was barely breathing. The muscles throughout his body were torn, and his bones were broken. His internal organs were a mess.

His body, which had some regenerative abilities, was unable to move due to the severity of his injuries.

The ancient items he had trusted were shattered.

Should he have expected this?

Was it inevitable?

Dreyzer had failed to defeat the Red Dragon Preitia. The two had fought fiercely for a full seven hours, completely devastating one of the mountain peaks.

He knew why he couldn’t defeat the Red Dragon Preitia.

Endurance!

Preitia had at least three times more stamina than Dreyzer. Although the battle was fierce at the beginning, Dreyzer became more and more disadvantaged as time went on.

Growing impatient, Dreyzer rushed to finish the fight-

And this was the result.

He had landed several critical hits on Preitia, but confirmation was impossible.

Well, he was as good as a living corpse now.

He would die if he stayed like this. He walked with all the strength he could muster. He didn’t know how long he walked.

He was unconscious.

Even if low-level demi-humans or monsters like goblins or kobolds attacked, he wouldn’t be able to stop them.

It was the worst condition he had ever been in.

He moved unconsciously and encountered someone.

He didn’t know if it was a pig or a human. Fortunately, it seemed to speak human language.

The scene changed again.

His consciousness was still hazy. But the pain in his body had mostly disappeared. It seemed someone had helped him.

I am an X Master, a treasure of the kingdom.

It is only natural that someone would help me. There is no need to thank them. But since they helped me, I will repay them later. That is the way to uphold my honor as an X Master.

But…

Maybe it’s because my consciousness is hazy, but I’m not sure if what I’m seeing is real. At first, a pig was coming and going… now a skeleton is moving.

A skeleton with bobbed hair.

I’m going crazy. I’m not in my right mind.

“Wow, where did you get such a servant? His mana is no joke. He’s legendary.”

The bobbed-hair skeleton said.

“I found him in the mountains. He suddenly appeared and said he would serve as a slave for life if I saved him.”

The pig replied.

Dreyzer thought he had misheard.

At first, he was confused about who they were talking about.

‘Surely they’re not talking about me?’

Then he remembered the last scene before he lost consciousness.

‘What did that pig say?’

Ah, he complained that he didn’t need a servant. Surely, that bastard doesn’t really think of me as a servant, does he?

“With this much mana, he might not listen well.”

The skeleton said again.

“They say you have to beat dogs that don’t listen. I can’t just throw him away because he doesn’t listen. Do you know how many jewels went into this guy? A whopping…! Ah, I can’t bring myself to say it. I put quite a few jewels in him, so I have to make him work that much.”

“How much?”

“What’s the average wage for our exclusive servants?”

“It’s 15 gold. You are a truly benevolent master. The wages are significantly higher than in other territories.”

“150 gold a year, then.”

“…180 gold.”

“You little punk, you were making fun of me for not being able to calculate, weren’t you?”

“Ah, no. How could I dare…? I just thought it was a high-level joke.”

“Is that so? Then what about 10 years?”

“It’s 1,800 gold.”

“Good. Let’s make it 30 percent interest.”

“30 percent interest means?”

“Give him 10 years’ worth of salary and make him work for free for 3 years.”

“Ooh, that’s a good idea. If we contract him for 20 years, we can make him work for 26 years. That’s a brilliant idea. I’m impressed that any lord could come up with such a thing.”

The fatty smiled contentedly.

“30 years.”

“Yes?”

“We have to contract him for at least 30 years. Unlike the other guys, I spent a lot of money on him.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Do you have the soul contract?”

“Yes, I do.”

“What about the blood contract?”

“I have that too.”

“The spirit contract, the life contract, the curse contract, the oath contract. Bring them all out.”

“Even if he’s a servant with great abilities, it will be difficult for him to use his abilities if you put so many restrictions on him.”

“Look at his face.”

“Why his face? Ah, I understand.”

The skeleton nodded.

What? What, why do you understand? What’s wrong with my face?

“I can read faces. This face is a rebellious one. He’s terribly disobedient. Then would I be upset? Or not?”

“Of course, you would be upset.”

“Normally, I wouldn’t associate with someone like him. But I have a big heart, so I saved him. I also spent a lot of money. So I have to get my money’s worth, right?”

“Of course, you do.”

“I have to write a hundred or a thousand contracts until I get my money back, right?”

“You have to write ten thousand. I will prepare a contract that even the seven demon lords of hell cannot escape.”

With that, the bobbed-hair skeleton took out a considerable number of contracts from the air.

Dreyzer still couldn’t tell if this was a dream or reality. If it was a dream, it was a nightmare. He didn’t want to hear any more of these crazy bastards’ conversations.

“Okay, then, big guy. I don’t know your name, so I’ll just call you big guy. We’re going to make a contract now. It goes without saying, but a contract cannot be against the will of either party. Listen carefully. First, I owe Alexander de Legion 200,000 gold.”

“Um, is it really 200,000 gold? Does the territory even have that much money?”

The skeleton asked in surprise.

“I have my own jewels. They are jewels that cannot be converted into money. But do I have to convert them into money? I’m losing out.”

“Ah, I misspoke. That’s a possibility.”

“Sorry, sorry. Let me do it again. First, I owe Alexander de Legion 200,000 gold. I will pay it back in installments over 39 years. I will work for 9 years instead of interest. No lump-sum repayment allowed. It’s a soul restriction, so the big guy has to allow it unconditionally. Now, blink once if you agree.”

You son of a bitch! Are you telling me to live as a servant for 39 years? Do you know who I am?

“Come on, hurry up. Just blink once. Then you agree.”

Don’t talk nonsense!

Dreyzer blinked his eyes wildly.

“Wow, he must really like it. He blinked his eyes more than twenty times.”

The skeleton even clapped.

“I know, right? Well, now that we have a mutual agreement, let’s put our seals on it.”

At the fatty’s command, the skeleton grabbed Dreyzer’s unmoving hand and stamped his thumb on the contract.

There were a whopping 22 contracts.

Don’t do it! Don’t do it!

Dreyzer blinked his eyes like crazy. Just try to move. I’ll kill you all!

“Yeah, you’ll like it. You came back from the dead. Then rest a little more.”
The pig, who introduced himself as Legion, patted Dreyzer, who was experiencing paralysis all over his body due to high blood pressure, on the shoulder and went outside.

The bobbed-hair skeleton followed him.

Cough, cough-

Foam came out of his mouth.

Damn it, I’ll kill you. I’m going to kill that pig bastard.

* * *

Count Persimmon wiped the blood from his hand with a silk handkerchief embroidered with roses. He carefully folded the blood-stained handkerchief and placed it on the desk in his office. If he left it there, the maid would wash it clean and put it back in its place.

Then, he picked up the still lukewarm cup of black tea and moistened his lips.

“Hic, hic.”

At his feet, Paring trembled violently.

His head was cracked, and his nose was broken. His teeth were also broken, and moist blood flowed from his mouth. His face was so swollen that he couldn’t properly see his own face.

Nevertheless, he wiped the blood on the floor with his sleeve.

Count Persimmon seemed unable to calm his anger. His eyes still burned like flames.

“You’re saying that you still haven’t heard from the White Lion Knights squad that was sent to Alexander’s territory?”

“T-that’s right.”

Heinz barely managed to speak, bowing his head deeply.

If he hadn’t been the Count’s closest aide, he would have suffered as badly as Paring.

Now he had nothing to say, even if he had ten mouths.

Even though they had deployed a squad of knights who could use blades [knights skilled in swordsmanship], they had all disappeared.

This was the first time this had ever happened.

They had deployed troops three times, but everyone was missing.

He didn’t know if it was the Alexander family’s territory or the Düsselph Mountains, but there was no information about the place.

It was like a blind man touching an elephant’s trunk and guessing the shape of the elephant [a metaphor for understanding something incompletely].

Although the three knights squads were the weakest, they had sent one squad there, but they disappeared… After this, the only way to deal with it was to treat it as an emergency situation equivalent to war.

That would be a war with the Alexander family.

But there was no justification for it. Although he had never met Baron Legion, he clearly belonged to Count Persimmon’s territory.

To put it bluntly, they were subordinates.

Send troops to a subordinate’s territory and devastate it?

For no reason?

It was clear that it would provoke the opposition of other nobles. Perhaps even the nobles of Count Persimmon’s territory, who had been united in a firm alliance, could break away because of it.

“I really… feel like I’m possessed by a ghost.”

Count Persimmon chuckled in vain.

The number of missing knights was only twenty-six.

They weren’t just stupid knights who carried swords and took knight oaths. They were all 2-star or higher knights who could use blades.

Those knights had disappeared, and no one knew if they had soared into the sky or sunk into the ground.

“Paring…”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“You know that everything that has happened is because of the information you brought, right?”

“Ah, I know. H-however, there is definitely a mithril mine there.”

“Enough.”

Count Persimmon stopped Paring from speaking.

Paring closed his mouth. If he made any more excuses, his head might fly off. The atmosphere was that grim.

“Give me your head.”

“……”

Paring’s face turned white.

“I’ll say it one last time. Give me your head. If you resist, you will die a miserable death.”

“I… I have a way. A way to avoid deploying any more knights.”

Mirculously, Paring had come up with a way.

If he told this method and still failed to persuade Count Persimmon, he would die.

“A way?”

“We can recover all the losses so far in one fell swoop. Please, just listen to what I have to say first.”
Count Persimmon’s fiery energy subsided slightly. He glared at Paring with red eyes.

“I will listen to the last words coming from your mouth.”