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Chapter 23 – Crown Prince Legulus
During the time that Alec stepped foot into the dungeon.
In the Royal Gardana castle, a shrill scream tore through the air.
“I’m merely mistaken? …Then… Are you saying that this situation is all my own fault? You damned bastard!!!”
He roared as his body shook.
His rage was like an explosion.
It was clear to all just how angry he was, and they kept silent so as to not ruin his mood even further.
Eventually, the person who was shouting, who was wrapped up in so many bandages that he resembled a mummy, stumbled forward to the man in front of him…and violently grabbed him by the collar.
“…It cannot be. I was tricked by that man. It is his fault that this happened.”
Said the mummy, Prince Legulus of Gardana. Veins popped out on his forehead as he shrieked.
The man who was being grabbed by the collar was a renowned shaman in the kingdom.
“…I am merely stating the truth. You have not been cursed in any way, Your Highness. Nor are there any traces of you having been cursed in the past.”
Lugulus had told him, ‘…That useless magician held a grudge against me, and has cast a curse. You must break it.’
However, he found no such traces. At the very least, it was not a curse. And so he suggested that the prince had assumed wrongly, which resulted in his current anger.
As Legulusly firmly believed that he could do no wrong, he could not accept the words that had been directed towards him.
The shaman was making it sound like the fault lay in the prince’s lack of ability.
…That was impossible.
It could not stand.
“However, it is understandable why you might think this, Your Highness.”
“…What do you mean?”
Legulus suddenly paused thoughtfully at the man’s words.
He tended to react well to anything that suggested he was not to blame.
“After all, the 30th floor of the royal dungeon is the ‘Magic Killer’ floor.”
The entire floor was covered in a barrier that erased all magic effects.
And that included any support magic that enhanced your physical abilities. And so it would be easy to feel as if you had been weakened.
So perhaps that was why he assumed he had been cursed.
It made sense.
However…
At this particular moment, it was just pouring oil into the fire of Legulus’s rage. And his arm began to shake as it clutched the man’s collar.
He did not want to hear anything that gave credit to support magic.
“…However, it is strange.”
It was a miracle that he didn’t lose control already and attack the man. Even the shaman seemed to understand that he would have been struck down, had he spoken a moment later.
“…Wha-what?”
“It seems that His Highness was not informed of the 30th floor’s nature. Because Alec Ugritte had not made it clear.”
Perhaps this tragedy was the result of lacking some information in advance.
The day after Alec Ugritte had been driven from the palace, Legulus had taken in a new member, Vogan, and took on the 30th floor.
But the only thing he gained from the experience were deep, deep wounds.
He was hurt so badly that they had to escape before they could even reach the floor boss. Nothing could be more humiliating.
The one fortunate thing that happened, was that they had been shown how weak they were before they tried to take on the boss.
“…What are you talking about?”
Legulus looked confused.
“…Alec Ugritte is a member of a party that reached the 68th floor.”
You didn’t know that?
The man seemed to say as he looked at Legulus.
However…
“Heh…hehehe… Ahahahahaha!!!”
He burst into laughter.
Contempt, scorn, disdain.
His high-pitched laughter was filled with such emotions.
“So you believe such tall tales.”
“…Tall tales. I see.”
What a complete fool.
The man said with his eyes as he smiled.
“Well, what else could one call it? There is no foundation for it. An S-Ranker would be one thing, but this is a party of some students from the magic academy. I doubt they even reached the 30th floor.”
Legulus said with a snort.
If you thought about it normally, then what he was saying seemed to make sense.
…However, that was too short a way of measuring things.
Besides, it was this kind of mindset that had brought this disaster upon him. And yet Legulus still did not understand.
He would never even consider the possibility.
There was no chance of him understanding.
“You know, these commoners are such crafty creatures. They lie with every breath, and are ever deceitful. But worst of all, they do not understand their own place.”
He went on.
Every word was filled with disdain.
And his smile was cold.
“And so if it is not a curse, Alec Ugritte must have conspired against me in some other way. After all, I cannot possibly be wrong about this. Surely?”
He turned to those around him. And they all nodded their heads in agreement, much to his delight.
This was the reality of the deep-rooted mindset of those in the palace.
“After all, that is the only explanation.”
Blaming commoners seemed to resolve everything.
On the surface, the country pretended to treat all people equally.
And yet, the nobles of Gardana thought very differently. And there was no one to tell them otherwise.
And then he came to a conclusion.
“…How will I punish him for this?”
After all, this injury was completely the fault of Alec Ugritte.
At this point, Legulus was completely taken in by the fantasy that had Alec not sabotaged him, that he would have gone through the 30th floor without a problem.
Even though there was nothing to suggest this being true.
Why Alec had been so resistant against going to the 30th floor. The ‘Magic Killer.’
Of course, the real reason was that he needed more time. Legulus had to grow more before he was strong enough to fight in the 30th level, where he would not be able to rely on any support magic.
Though, had Alec tried to explain this, the overconfident Legulus would have insisted that he was fine, and made the reckless attempt anyway. And so Alec had avoided talking about it completely.
Just then, the dry sound of a knock on the door could be heard.
And then without waiting for a reply, the person turned the knob and opened the door.
“…Forgive me, Your Highness. But His Majesty requests your presence at once. It is in regards to the matter of Alec Ugritee.”
After hearing these words from the servant, Legulus had the greatest smile on his face.
“So my father must agree with me then.”
Perhaps his father had called him in order to devise the proper punishment for Alec.
Yes, he did not doubt that this was the case.