Surviving As The 5Th Prince Of Hellman Kingdom [EN]: Chapter 12

012

A month had already passed since I became aware of my past life. After finishing my routine early morning swordsmanship training, I headed to the bathroom to wash the sweat off my body.

*Swishhh-*

The moderately cool water poured fiercely from the showerhead, quickly cooling my body, which was overheated from training.

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sensation of the water patting my face. A wave of relief washed over me; the perception of cleanliness wasn’t much different in my past and present lives.

If even nobles had been reluctant to wash, as in the Middle Ages and early modern period on Earth, it would have been a great ordeal from the moment I became aware of my past life.

‘It must be thanks to magic?’

I knew that clean water and a lack of heat to warm it were among the reasons why people in the Middle Ages didn’t wash.

Even a 1-star mage could solve both of those problems in an instant. On top of that, there was also magical engineering, which replaced mundane engineering from Earth.

I opened my eyes and looked at the showerhead spouting water. If you looked closely at even such trivial things, you could invariably find traces of magical engineering.

Due to the influence of magical engineering, even though my current life was in a transitional era somewhere between the early modern and modern periods, there were sometimes absurd conveniences of civilization.

Video orbs.

Space expansion pouches.

Flying ships, airships.

Ah, things like airships consumed enormous amounts of money as national-level projects.

There were also believe-it-or-not rumors circulating that the Hamel Empire and other great powers were developing giant combat golems. Were they like super robots?

It’s just a rumor, a rumor.

The Lionel Kingdom is…

Forget it, let’s take care of myself first.

‘Shall I head out now?’

I turned off the shower and approached the full-length mirror, wiping my body with a towel.

Was it because I was eating nutritious meals and exercising during a period when I should be growing every day? It had only been a little over a month since I became aware of my past life, but I seemed to have grown by 3cm. I’d probably be over 160cm soon.

‘I’m already starting to see abs.’

Not the skinny kind, but real, solid abs from working out. If I checked through the [Stat Window], my strength had actually increased from E to D-.

‘Is it innate?’

Well, there seemed to be several complex reasons. When I practiced swordsmanship, the mana flowing through my bloodstream and spreading throughout my body constantly stimulated my muscles, which must have a big impact. It was no wonder knights were so burly.

Suddenly, I felt a pang of regret that I couldn’t use RP [Reward Points] to raise my stats instantly like skills.

‘Am I being too greedy?’

Maybe. If I unlocked the locked [?] in the initial status window, there might be a [Stat Shop] among them.

…It felt like daydreaming about winning the lottery in my past life. I chuckled and put on my clothes, leaving the bathroom.

Alphonso, who should have been waiting, had gone to get breakfast. He’d been doing that ever since I started my early morning training.

He’d take care of breakfast on his own and come to the study. I headed there first.

The Emerald Palace servants I met along the way greeted me.

“Good morning, Your Highness.”

“Good morning. Are you two still doing well?”

“Yes, thanks to you, Your Highness.”

“Your Highness, I wish you a harmonious morning today.”

“Is your father okay now?”

“He quickly recovered after taking the medicinal herbs you told us about. Thank you again.”

“I wish you peace today, Your Highness.”

“Did you find the ring your younger sister lost?”

“Yes, it was her fiancé’s doing, as you said, Your Highness. We broke off the engagement cleanly. Thank you so much for saving our sister.”

It took some time to respond to each one, but even when I arrived at the study, Alphonso hadn’t arrived yet.

I sat at the desk and waited for him.

『Understanding Complex Attribute Magic: Lightning』

The brand new magic book that Alphonso brought back after returning from his 3-day vacation yesterday was on the desk.

Comparing the magic I learned through skills with the theories contained in the actual magic book was finished a while ago.

‘Learning through skills is superior.’

Sometimes, when it came to phenomena whose principles were not clarified, such as ‘Why does the color of fire turn yellow when you add a mana circuit connecting 5 points to the [Ignition] spell?’, there were frequent conflicts with different hypotheses.

One magic book usually only contains the author’s claims. You shouldn’t blindly believe it as it is. There’s a reason why they say the most dangerous person is someone who has only read one book.

On the other hand, skills engrave all hypotheses related to unregulated phenomena ‘instantly’. It would be even better if they told me the answer…

‘That’s greedy.’

I scratched my nose and reached for the magic book. I knew it was really hard to get magic books other than the basic ones from the Four Great Magic Towers, but I got it more easily than I thought.

– Alphonso, I need a magic book.

– What kind of magic book are you talking about?

– Anything other than the magic books that the Four Great Magic Towers release for the purpose of recruiting talent.

– ······ Why me?

– 3 days vacation.

– I’ll bring it on the day I return!

I don’t know how he got it. I asked him to do it because I thought he could, and he brought it. I wonder if I can find out if I ask the librarian genie of the miserly [Library]?

Of course, I provided the funds needed to purchase the magic book. I used up all the allowance my sister gave me to get this one, so my stomach hurt.

Enough with the nonsense.

I learned all the basic magic contained in the magic books scattered as bait by the Magic Tower through the [Skill Window]. It was possible because it was cheaper than I thought.

But, it’s different from then on.

Now that improving relations with the Emerald Palace servants has become infrequent, it demanded RP that was burdensome to learn.

‘Learning magic isn’t cost-effective…’

With [Lionel Guardian Swordsmanship] alone, I can probably milk it until I become a 3-star knight at the very least, but there were many things to learn in magic, and the price was high.

I understand. I understand.

Even in reality, they say that you can raise 10 knights with the money it takes to train one mage.

So I thought.

Did I have to learn magic through skills? I knew that magic was a discipline that was almost impossible to learn on your own, but I decided to give it a try. If I couldn’t do it along the way, I could quit then.

‘I also have something to check…’

I opened the first page of the magic book.

+ + +

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.

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There is a misconception among the trainee bastards of the Red Tower who haven’t even become mages: that lightning is just a lower attribute derived from fire.

Stupid! The way to shut those guys up is simple.

If it’s the same star-level magic, water attribute magic suppresses fire attribute magic. But ask them how lightning, a lower attribute of fire, can overwhelm water attributes.

They will shut their mouths and shrink into a corner.

The author will present the answer.

That’s because the spell that makes up lightning magic contains not only fire, but also the lower attribute of earth that suppresses water, ‘metal’, and additionally the attribute of ‘wind’.

An attribute with as many as three combined. That is ‘lightning’. That’s why many people give up learning lightning magic.

Don’t worry.

If you trust and follow the author…

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.

.

+ + +

Grumble.

I was reading with interest, but my concentration was broken because my stomach was making a fuss.

“Why is he so late?”

Knock, knock.

“Your Highness, I brought breakfast.”

Speak of the devil, Alphonso knocked on the door not long after.

“Come in. Put the sandwich next to me.”

“Yes!”

After becoming aware of my past life, I lived every minute and second fiercely, so I felt like I was wasting time eating. So I usually eat chicken breast sandwiches for breakfast. I eat five at a time, considering the calories consumed.

“I heard that Prince Akard might visit around lunchtime today.”

Ah, is that why he was late?

George [a servant] was faithfully performing his assigned duties; he was the one who once harassed Alphonso. He periodically announces the appearance of the 4th Prince through Alphonso.

Thanks to that, I haven’t encountered the guy who has a hobby of harassing me, and sometimes seems to have a sense of duty to harass me, even once since I became aware of my past life.

‘I should go to the 3rd Knight Division for lunch today.’

Thinking that, I tapped each sandwich with my ghost hand [a technique to sense hidden dangers]. Nothing happened. They’re all ordinary sandwiches.

Next is milk.

‘Huh?’

━━━━━━━━━━━━×

[Poisoned Milk]

Grade: High

Milk mixed with [Malignant Spirit Herb] powder, which causes mana insensitivity when taken for a long time.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

‘Who is it?’

In the past month, I have improved my relationship with about half of the Emerald Palace servants to above normal. But the rest still ‘beware’ or ‘distrust’ me.

Even if I want to improve the relationship, I have no way if there is no useful information.

I tapped the desk with my index finger and thought about the servants who had a negative relationship with me and could touch the milk.

‘There are too many?’

In the end, I asked Genie for help.

┕ Can you tell me who messed with the milk today?

「The usage fee for this information is 3,000RP.」

‘Damn it.’

I barely swallowed the swear word that jumped up to my throat. About 30 million won [~22,000 USD] in the cash value of my past life. It demanded a usage fee that was enough to earn by achieving a considerable achievement.

It’s expensive, but it’s not *that* expensive. If you think about it as information that can control a person’s life, it’s understandable.

After revealing that I was learning the Mana Cultivation Method at the 3rd Knight Division’s training ground, there seemed to be several people who were uncomfortable. I could occasionally find pranks like this.

I had no intention of just ignoring it. How can I sleep comfortably when there is someone aiming at the back of my head with a knife?

Of course, I have no intention of throwing away my blood-like RP raw.

– In order to provide information of a certain level or higher, a reasonable level of RP is required depending on the quantity and quality.

It would be possible to identify the person by using the [Library]’s rules that Genie explained.

Now, until lunchtime, I can ask Genie if there is anyone with worries or concerns among all the people who have access to the milk.

There will definitely be information from someone who demands an absurd RP. Maybe around 3,000RP? That person is 99.99% likely to have messed with the milk.

It was a method that exploited the loophole in the Rosa system.

The only downside is that my time is wasted, as I live every minute and second fiercely thinking that I might die tomorrow.

‘······ Cancel my current thoughts.’

It would be a disaster if something like ‘Lost Saga ver.2 Update!’ suddenly happened because I was full and the shortcut was blocked.

I hope that I can spend the whole day searching for the culprit and that nothing will be blocked.

‘Let’s just eat the sandwich and start right away.’

I stared at the milk for a long time and was about to reach for the sandwich when Alphonso opened his mouth.

“That’s right, Your Highness. You know Sylvia, who went on vacation with me? It seems like her fiancé cheated on her. She looked like she was going to die.”

Sylvia? Was he talking about Sylvia Roton, who works as a kitchen assistant? I raised my head and looked into Alphonso’s eyes. His narrow eyes were drawing an arc.

Pretending to clean up around the desk, I lowered my head again and used the information I just got to talk to Genie.

┕ Tell me why Sylvia Roton looks like she’s about to die.

「The usage fee for this information is 3,000RP.」

I picked up the milk and asked Alphonso.

“Do you want to drink this?”

“Haha, I’m allergic to milk…”

*Milk allergy my ass.*

In the past month, I felt that Alphonso was getting deeply involved in poison. No, I was almost certain.

‘That guy is the worst.’

He must have recognized [Cozy Nightmare], which was next to my bed before I became aware of my past life.

Why would you leave something like that there?

“Oh, there’s a little money left over from buying the magic book you asked for…”

“Use it as pocket money.”

“Thank you! I will serve you with loyalty!”

*Like hell.*

***

Before lunchtime, I packed my bags with Alphonso and went to the 3rd Knight Division’s training ground to avoid the 4th Prince’s poop [unwanted attention].

The moment I arrived, I had no choice but to stop.

A red-haired man with his escort knights and attendants was waiting for me. George Waterson, with a poop-eating expression [unpleasant look], turned his gaze away when he saw me.

“Yo, my brother. It’s hard to see your face.”

The 4th Prince of the Lionel Kingdom.

My half-brother, Akard Lionel.

Full name omitted. The benefactor who made me aware of my past life by breaking my head.

Why is that bastard here?

“I know.”

“I, KNOW?”

The way his cheeks were twitching made him look like a bulldog.

But…

‘Was he this small?’

I must have grown a lot.