Chapter 53
Chapter 53: What?
The Demon's appearance had inflicted devastating losses upon the Royal Capital.
But in the end, it was the human side that claimed victory.
The impact of the event was enormous. Word spread from mouth to mouth out of the Royal Capital without any media needing to embellish it further.
After all, many people had witnessed the Demon's form with their own eyes.
The Demon's overwhelming power had filled everyone who saw it with dread, and its rampaging Tentacles had shattered the sanity of all those present.
Whether it was the Demon's frenzied rampage within the Academy, or its savage appearance on the Back Hill from the very start—both had left people trembling.
The terror of what felt like the end of the world had become a shadow that none of those present could ever erase from their lives.
And it was also because of this that Viktor's image—and his terrifying magical power—had been branded into the hearts of everyone there.
The Empire's youngest 4th-Tier Mage. That fact, too, quietly spread beyond the Empire's borders.......
***
3 days later.
Viktor sat at his desk, still holding that same profoundly complex Spellbook he never seemed to tire of reading.
Weija had complained about it once—why did he keep clutching the same book and refusing to put it down.
"Does that book really contain some arcane Magic so deep that even you have to keep studying it?"
But Viktor had never given it the answer it wanted.
"The damage report for the Royal Capital has come in."
At some point, Leah had pushed open the door and placed a slip of paper covered in writing onto Viktor's desk.
Viktor had long since grown accustomed to Leah walking into his Study without knocking or announcing herself.
He closed the book, looked up, and took the slip of paper.
It listed every category of loss in the Royal Capital in clear detail.
Shops, streets, scenic sculptures...
The most severe of all—the Academy had been razed entirely to the ground.
The day after the Demon was eliminated, the old man Rashel had finally rushed back from the City of Mages.
The Academy he had always known was gone. He looked at the empty land and the enormous crater before him, and let out only a quiet sigh.
No one knew how complicated the heart of this great Mage—who had devoted his entire life to the Academy—truly was in that moment.
Though everyone knew it was Viktor who had destroyed the Academy, no one blamed Viktor for it.
In a battle against a Demon, the Academy's destruction had only ever been a matter of time.
Viktor's intervention had merely accelerated that outcome—swiftly eliminating the Demon in order to ensure the losses would not grow any larger, and to minimize casualties as much as possible.
Correspondingly, Dewen Rether's charges had been fully confirmed as well.
"Someone found Dewen Rether's body outside the city gate, along with a number of dead Knights."
"From the looks of it, those Knights likely tracked down the fleeing Dewen Rether, but he still had enough strength left to put up a fight."
"During his confrontation with the Knights, he injured quite a few of them—and in the end, they took each other down."
Leah waved the newspaper in her hand.
"At any rate, that's what it says."
Viktor felt little in the way of reaction. As far as he was concerned, whether Dewen Rether lived or died was of no real importance.
He was already half-dead to begin with.
He asked calmly:
"And the punishment for the Rether Family?"
"That's in there too."
Leah reported everything to Viktor in an orderly fashion:
"The Rether Family has voluntarily agreed to bear all costs of the Royal Capital's damages—while His Majesty has also handed down additional penalties."
"Compensation is to be paid to every Mage and Knight who participated in the battle."
"Of course, you count as a Mage as well, so your share of the compensation is included."
"Though I figured you probably don't need it, so I went ahead and gave your portion to Heni."
Leah said this as though it were entirely her decision to make. Viktor found it completely unsurprising.
Leah was a normal woman at heart—it was commerce that had forced her to learn how to be ruthless and cold.
Whatever identity she carried behind the scenes, however cold-blooded or severe she appeared—
All of that was a mask she had put on as a necessary sacrifice for the family.
In truth, she was deeply emotional.
That day, after the battle, he had left early and brought the unconscious Heni back to the house.
He had explained everything to Leah—including what Heni had been through.
Leah had listened with great sorrow, and had promised Viktor that she would take good care of that poor child.
At this moment, Leah narrowed her eyes and said, in a tone that seemed to imply something:
"Tsk tsk—the Rether Family really is loaded, aren't they?"
"How many people participated in the battle that day? Just within the Academy alone, there were well over a thousand Mages."
"Compensating per head—that's an absolute fortune!"
Viktor picked his book back up in silence, apparently unwilling to waste even a moment of reading time.
He replied briefly:
"Pay to make the disaster go away."
"You're right—then what shall we use to make our disaster go away?"
Viktor was quiet for a moment.
"Financial crisis?"
"Did you hear that, Weija? No more meat for you going forward—just grain."
The Crow on the desk lifted its head and shot Viktor a displeased look, making its displeasure abundantly clear.
"Just kidding. I was only talking."
Seeing Viktor's reaction, Leah was very satisfied.
Lately Viktor had been far too smug about things—she had long wanted to take him down a notch.
"The item shop has reopened. After the battle with the Demon, the reputation is established."
"Our daily stock gets completely wiped out by those Mages every single day."
"Someone even asked whether we could put out more stock per day."
The thought of it drew a laugh out of Leah.
Potions that cost virtually nothing to make—selling for 1,000 Geo apiece.
50,000 Geo flowing in every day. Over a month, that was 1,500,000 Geo!
The most profitable half-year the Clavenas had ever had came out to just over 5,000,000—those Mage lords really were in a different class of wealth.
"I actually want to thank that Demon—good lord, I ought to be sorry for thinking that."
Leah waved her hand with delight, her eyes practically radiating the glow of money.
Viktor listened in silence and offered no response whatsoever.
Leah paid no mind to Viktor's puppet-like demeanor—she was used to it by now—and continued:
"Oh, and don't forget—I put in a great deal of effort for this too. It would hardly be fair if you didn't give me some kind of reward."
Leah said cheerfully.
Indeed, just as Leah said—when it came to building the case against Dewen Rether, her contribution had been indispensable.
Those reporters gathered outside the Academy, waiting for first-hand news—that had been Leah's doing.
She had leveraged public opinion to pressure the Rether Family into admitting guilt.
Even though the Rether Family had already distanced themselves from Dewen as a liability in advance, faced with such powerful public opinion manipulation, the Royal Family had no choice but to hand down serious punishments against them.
In short, all parties were satisfied.
Except the Rether Family.
Viktor still did not look up. He nodded calmly and said:
"Then what do you want?"
"50%!"
Leah spread her palm open and held up 5 fingers in front of him, giving them a little wave.
"The monthly earnings from the item shop—you have to give me at least 50%."
Viktor: "........"
He closed his book with a mild headache and fixed his gaze on Leah.
"80%."
Leah blinked, and asked in confusion:
"What do you mean?"
"80% of the earnings—I can give you all of it."
"I need some money for myself. If I didn't, giving you all of the item shop's income wouldn't be a problem either—it's our family's business, after all."
"......."
Leah froze for a moment. She stood where she was, staring at the indifferent Viktor, her mouth opening without finding words.
"You...you mean that?"
Viktor nodded.
He was not lying. He genuinely needed a portion of the money—to study the 4th-Tier Magic he would need going forward.
But there was no need to explain that to Leah.
Besides, the position of Clavena Family Head was something he would eventually pass to Leah anyway.
But what if he needed money in the future?
He'd ask Leah for it.
It was all the family's money either way.
"Don't look at me like you've never seen anything like this before—you're the one managing the Clavena Territory, after all."
Leah did not catch the deeper meaning in Viktor's words. She lowered her head slightly, and her expression turned a little awkward.
"I've been meaning to ask this for a while now, but..."
"No—never mind."
Leah took a deep breath, as though trying to bring her emotions back to an even keel.
Soon enough, she returned to her usual high-spirited self, looking at Viktor.
"80% is what you said yourself—don't go back on it."
"Here, this is for you."
Leah pulled a coin pouch from her chest and tossed it over. Viktor caught it in one hand.
He weighed it in his palm—it still held a faint warmth, and the Geo inside clinked against each other, filling the air with the sound of money.
"What is this money for?"
Viktor was somewhat surprised, but then he heard Leah say offhandedly:
"Kavra, for some reason, gave Gwen a huge bag of money and said to pass it on to you."
"That's a lot of Geo—did you extort Kavra?"
Viktor found Leah's train of thought mildly exasperating, but pocketed the money all the same.
And added, directed at Weija beside him:
"Never mind then—your meat fund is covered."
Leah got no satisfying answer out of Viktor and muttered under her breath a couple of times:
"If you hadn't said you'd give me 80% of the earnings, I was planning to keep all this money for myself."
"But I don't need these small sums anymore."
With that, she swayed her graceful figure and walked out through the door.
As she left she added offhandedly:
"Oh right—that poor little girl still hasn't woken up. I'm a bit worried. If you have time, don't forget to go check on her."
Bang—the Study door was shut heavily.
Weija's expression shifted back to something more human. It looked rather annoyed.
"What do you mean by that, Viktor? The moment you run low on money, you start cutting my food budget?"
"I thought you were above petty things like that."
Viktor pulled his book back out and resumed flipping through it.
"I've been asking this for a while now—what on earth are you trying to do, reading those same books over and over? If you have a question, why not just ask me directly?"
Weija was puzzled.
He was like someone racing to catch up on a backlog—not willing to relax for even a moment.
"I am already a 4th-Tier Mage now."
Viktor said only this one seemingly unconnected sentence, leaving Weija somewhat confused.
So what if you're 4th-Tier? Even if you shot up a few more Tiers, I could still answer your questions just fine.
Weija naturally had no way of knowing.
As a player, Viktor could spend Geo to learn Magic directly.
This meant that although he had become a 4th-Tier Mage, aside from the 4th-Tier Magic his Fire Core had self-awakened on its own, he did not know a single other 4th-Tier Magic.
And 4th-Tier Magic was extraordinarily expensive to learn—so...
【100 hours of reading completed. Skill acquired: 'Heart of the Wise'】
As the notification sounded in his mind, Viktor closed the book and said mildly:
"Good. No need to keep reading."
Weija: "?"
Viktor looked at his Skill panel, where a new passive entry had appeared.
【Heart of the Wise Lv1: Reduces material and Geo costs for learning Skills by 50%】
That was it—Viktor had been farming a Skill.
Otherwise he would never have sat there grinding through books so tediously.
"Let's go check on Heni."
Viktor stood up, and the Crow quickly beat its wings and perched on his shoulder.
Then he heard Viktor say, with something almost like regret in his voice:
"All that knowledge, yet unable to learn Magic—what a strange constitution."
The words had barely landed when Weija gave Viktor an oddly startled look.
"To be honest, I assumed you already knew about that long ago."
This time it was Viktor's turn to be startled. He turned to look at Weija, and for once, a rare expression of genuine confusion crossed his face.
Then Weija's voice came:
"Heni—she's a Succubus."
"...What?"