Surviving As the 5th Prince of the Ruined Kingdom

012

A month had already passed since I regained my past life’s memories. Having finished my routine early morning sword practice, I went to the bathroom, drenched in sweat, to take a shower.

Shhhhhaaah—

The pleasantly cool water gushed forcefully from the showerhead. My overheated body from training rapidly cooled down.

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sensation of water splashing against my face. Suddenly, I felt relieved that the awareness of cleanliness did not differ much, whether in my previous or current life.

If the nobles had also shunned bathing like in the medieval and early modern eras on Earth, it would have been a great ordeal from the moment I became aware of my previous life.

‘Is it thanks to magic?’

I knew that the lack of clean water and heat to warm it was one of the reasons people did not bathe in medieval times.

Even a 1st-circle mage could instantly solve those two issues. Not to mention, there is also magitech, which replaces Earth’s engineering.

I opened my eyes and looked at the showerhead spraying water. Even in such a trivial thing, one could undoubtedly find traces of magitech upon closer inspection.

Despite this era being a transitional period, more advanced than the early modern yet not quite modern due to magitech’s influence, there occasionally exist absurd remnants of civilization.

Video orbs.

Spatial expansion pouches.

Airships, aeroplanes.

Ah, aeroplanes are national projects that consume enormous funds.

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There are also unverified rumors that the Hamil Empire and other great powers are developing colossal combat golems. Like super robots?

They are just rumors, rumors.

The Rionel Kingdom is······.

Alright, I should take care of myself first.

‘Shall I go out now?’

I turned off the shower and approached the full-length mirror, drying myself with a towel.

Is it because I am in a phase of rapid growth, combining a nutrient-rich diet with exercise? It had only been a month since I became aware of my previous life, yet I seemed to have grown 3cm taller. I would likely exceed 160cm soon.

‘My abs are already starting to show.’

Not the skinny kind, but real, toned abs from exercising. Checking my [Status Window], my strength had indeed risen from E to D-.

‘Is it innate?’

Well, there were probably various combined reasons. The mana flowing through my veins and stimulating my muscles constantly during sword training would have a significant effect. Knights don’t get that bulky for no reason.

Suddenly, I wished I could instantly raise my stats like skills by using RP.

‘Is that too shameless?’

You never know. If I unlock the [?]s in my initial status window, there might be something like a [Stat Shop] among them.

······ It seemed like a delusion similar to imagining winning the lottery in my previous life. Chuckling, I got dressed and left the bathroom.

Alfonso, who should have been waiting, had gone to prepare breakfast. He had been doing this since I started my dawn training.

He would take care of his breakfast and come to the study. I headed there first to wait for him.

The servants of Emerald Palace greeted me along the way.

“Good morning, Your Highness.”

“Good morning. Are you two still happily together these days?”

“Yes, thanks to you, Prince.”

“Prince, I wish you a harmonious morning today as well.”

“Is your father alright now?”

“After taking the herbal medicine you recommended, he recovered quickly. Thank you again.”

“I wish you peace today as well, Prince.”

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

“Yes, just as you said, Prince. Her fiancé had taken it. I broke off the engagement cleanly. Thank you so much for saving my sister.”

Even though responding to each person took some time, Alfonso had still not arrived when I reached the study.

I sat at the desk and waited for him.

[Understanding Complex Property Magic: Lightning Edition]

The brand-new magic book Alfonso had brought back from his three-day vacation was sitting on the desk.

I had just finished comparing the theories in actual magic books to the magic I had learned through skills.

‘Learning through skills is superior.’

Sometimes there are unexplained phenomena, for example, “Why does the color of fire turn yellow when adding a five-point mana circuit to the [Ignition] spell formula?” Different hypotheses often clash over such occurrences.

Most magic books only contain the author’s claims. You can’t blindly believe them. The saying that a person who has read only one book is the most dangerous is not without reason.

On the other hand, skills instantly ingrain all hypotheses related to unexplained phenomena. It would be even better if they just gave the answer outright…

‘But that’s greedy.’

I scratched my nose and reached for the magic book. I knew that magic books other than the basic ones from the Four Great Magic Towers were really hard to obtain, but this one was easier to get than I thought.

– Alfonso, I need a magic book.

– What kind of magic book, sir?

– Any, other than the ones the Four Great Towers release for recruiting talents.

– …… Why me?

– 3-day vacation.

– I’ll bring one when I return!

I don’t know how he got it. I told him to because I thought he could, and he brought it. I wonder if I could find out by asking Genie, the librarian of [Library] like Suzhengno?

Of course, I provided the funds needed to purchase the magic book. It hurt to spend all the allowance my sister had given me to get this one.

Enough idle chatter.

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

But from then on, it’s different.

The strained relations with the servants of the Emerald Palace now burdened me with the daunting task of learning RP.

‘Learning magic seems to have a poor cost-effectiveness……’

With the [Lionel Guardian Swordsmanship] alone, even a complete novice could make it to the 3rd-rank knight, but magic required mastering many subjects at exorbitant prices.

I understood. I did understand.

Even in reality, they say it costs as much to train one mage as it does ten knights.

So I had this thought:

Must I learn magic through skills? I know magic is a discipline near-impossible for self-study, but I decided to give it a try. If it proves utterly unmanageable midway, I could just discard it then.

‘Might as well check a few things while I’m at it……..’

I opened the first page of the magic tome.

+ + +

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There’s a misconception among the apprentice mages who couldn’t even become true wizards – that lightning is merely a sub-attribute derived from fire.

What drivel! There’s a simple way to shut those fools up.

Among magics of the same tier, water-elemental trumps fire-elemental. Ask them how lightning, supposedly fire’s sub-element, could overpower water-elemental.

They’ll shut their traps and slink into a corner.

Allow me, the author, to present the answer:

The ritual that constitutes lightning magic incorporates not just fire, but also ‘metal’ – the sub-attribute of earth that subdues water – along with the ‘wind’ element.

A whole three attributes combined – that is ‘lightning.’ Little wonder so many give up learning lightning magic.

Fear not.

Just trust and follow this author’s guidance, and……

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+ + +

*Growlll*

My engrossed reading was interrupted by the roaring of the savage beast in my belly.

“Why is it so late?”

*Knock knock knock*

“Your Highness, I’ve brought your breakfast.”

As the saying goes, ‘Even a tiger comes when called,’ Alfonso knocked on the door shortly after.

“Come in. Leave the sandwiches on the side.”

“Yes!”

Ever since becoming aware of my past life, I’ve been living intensely every minute and second, so I begrudged the time spent eating. That’s why I usually had chicken breast sandwiches for breakfast. Considering the calories burned, I ate five at a time.

“They say Prince Akard might visit around lunchtime today.”

Ah, is that why he was late?

George, who used to torment Alfonso, is now faithfully carrying out his assigned duties. He periodically forewarns me of the Fourth Prince’s appearance through Alfonso.

Thanks to him, I haven’t encountered that guy who had a hobby of tormenting me, or perhaps felt obligated to torment me from time to time, even once since becoming aware of my past life.

‘Looks like I’ll have to eat lunch at the 3rd Knight Corps again today.’

Thinking this, I tapped each sandwich one by one with my ghostly hand. Nothing happened. They were all just ordinary sandwiches.

Next was the milk.

‘Huh?’

━━━━━━━━━━━━×

[Poisoned Milk]

Grade: High

Milk laced with the powder of [Mana Numbweed], which causes mana insensitivity when consumed over a long period.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

‘Who could it be?’

Over the past month or so, I’ve improved my relationship with about half of the Emerald Palace’s servants to a more than normal degree. However, the rest still ‘distrust’ or ‘regard me with suspicion’.

Even if I want to improve relations, there’s nothing I can do if I don’t have any useful information.

I tapped the desk with my index finger, trying to recall the servants who had a negative relationship with me and could have tampered with the milk.

‘Too many?’

In the end, I asked Genie for help.

┕ Can you tell me who tampered with today’s milk?

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

‘Damn it.’

I barely managed to swallow the syllables that had risen to my throat. In terms of the cash value from my past life, it was about 30 million won. She demanded a fee that one would only get for achieving a considerable feat.

It’s expensive, but not too expensive. It makes sense when you think of it as information that could decide someone’s life or death.

After revealing that I was learning the Mana Cultivation Technique at the 3rd Knight Corps’ training grounds, there were quite a few people who seemed displeased. I would occasionally discover pranks like this.

I didn’t have the heart to simply ignore it. How could I sleep soundly when there was someone glaring at the back of my head with a dagger in hand?

Of course, I had no intention of crudely unleashing RP like blood.

– To provide information above a certain level, a reasonable amount of RP is required, depending on the quantity and quality.

By utilizing the rules of the [Library] that Genie had explained, it should be possible to identify the culprit.

Now, before lunchtime, I just need to ask Genie if there’s anyone among those who can access Milk who has worries, troubles, and the like.

There’s bound to be information on someone demanding an absurd amount of RP. Perhaps around 3,000RP? That person has a 99.99% chance of being the human who tampered with Milk.

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

If there’s one downside, it’s that it’s a pity to spend every second living intensely with the thought that I could die tomorrow.

‘…… Cancel that thought.’

It would be a big deal if something unexpected happened like a ‘Lost Saga ver.2 Update!’ where my appetite suddenly caused the loophole to be blocked.

Hopefully, there won’t be any obstacles, even if I spend all day identifying the culprit.

‘Let’s just eat a sandwich and get started right away.’

After glaring at Milk for a while, I made up my mind and was about to reach for the sandwich when Alfonso spoke up.

“That’s right, Prince. Remember Silvia, who went on vacation with me? Apparently, her fiancé was being unfaithful or something. She’s ready to die.”

Silvia? Does he mean Silvia Roten, the kitchen assistant? I looked up at Alfonso’s eyes. His pupils were drawing a squiggle.

I lowered my head again, pretending to tidy up around the desk, and tried utilizing the information I had just obtained in a conversation with Genie.

┕ Tell me why Silvia Roten is ready to die.

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

I picked up Milk and asked Alfonso, “You want some of this?”

“hahahaha, I’m actually allergic to milk……”

Allergic to milk, my ass.

Over the past month, I’ve been getting the feeling that Alfonso is well-versed in poisons. No, I’m almost certain of it.

‘That guy is the worst scumbag.’

He must have recognized the [Cozy Nightmare] that was by my bedside before I regained my past life memories.

Why would he just leave something like that there?

“Oh, I have some change left from buying the magic book you requested……”

“Use it as pocket money.”

“Thank you! I’ll serve you with utmost loyalty!”

Yeah, right.

Before lunch, to avoid the sh*t called the 4th Prince, I went to the training grounds of the 3rd Knight Corps with Alfonso, packing our belongings.

The moment we arrived, I couldn’t help but pause.

A redhead accompanied by escort knights and attendants was waiting for me. George Watson, with an expression like he had eaten sh*t, glanced at me and averted his gaze.

“Well, our little brother. **It’s so hard to look at your face.**”

The 4th Prince of the Lionel Kingdom.

My half-brother, Akard Lionel.

I’ll omit his full name. The benefactor who shattered my skull and made me realize my past life.

Why did that bastard come here?

“**Indeed.**”

“**In, deed?**”

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His chubby cheeks wobbled like a bulldog.

But······.

‘Was he always this small?’

I must have been quite tall.