Genius Turned Good-for-Nothing

After Austin and the other two left, Old Castle returned to its usual silence.

Old Laixi, the butler, was still as mysterious and muttering as ever, appearing and disappearing like a ghost all day long.

Dina, who had defeated a high-level Qi Warrior, still wore her tight maid's outfit every day. With two fingers as thick as radishes, she pinched a fine silver needle and hid in her room to practice embroidery.

Allen still spent every day eating, sleeping, then eating again, counting the days until the Mage Association handed out his ten Gold Coins.

Ten Gold Coins were half a year's income for an ordinary family. Allen scribbled calculations with a quill pen, figuring out how many of Dina's meals they could cover once the money arrived.

Though Old Castle was large, only three people lived there, so their daily expenses were not high. Most of the spending went into Dina's mouth.

Only a few boring days had passed before Old Castle welcomed its second batch of visitors.

These guests were very polite. Not only did they wear humble smiles, but they had also brought gifts.

Allen ordered Dina to open the castle gates, and master and servant greeted them with smiling faces.

"Baron, your most humble servant, Yorkshire, clerk of Outpost County, greets you."

Yorkshire wore a crisp uniform that made him look highly capable. His long black-and-white hair was tied into a ponytail, and his deep-set features carried the charm of a weathered older man, though he was only in his early thirties.

After leading Yorkshire into the living room, Allen looked at him with a smile.

Yorkshire understood the situation well. Without exchanging pleasantries, he directly reported all of Outpost County's tax revenue for the month.

After finishing, he nodded to the subordinate behind him.

A small bundle of Gold Coins was placed on the table, and Allen's eyes lit up.

Dina grabbed the little bundle behind him, weighed it twice, and cried out, "Why is there so much?" Before anyone else could speak, she bolted upstairs on her long legs as if a dog were chasing her, seemingly afraid someone would steal it.

Yorkshire smiled awkwardly. After signaling his attendant to leave, he finally explained with a worried expression, "An order has come from the Royal City. Before winter arrives, the Papal Legion will pass through Outpost County and launch another campaign against heretics."

Allen understood. The Holy See was preparing to pick a fight with another race again. Outpost County bordered the Barren Plains, where a hundred thousand barbarians all worshipped Kakarou, the god of the plains. To the north of the plains lay the Gania Plains, home to many dwarves and giants. They worshipped all sorts of gods—anything but the Supreme God.

As for whom the Holy See intended to beat up, Allen did not care. It had nothing to do with him anyway.

As the greatest power on the Saint Cassis Continent, the Holy See basically fought whoever annoyed them. Today they would deal with the Beastmen of Behemoth; tomorrow they would plague the barbarians of the plains. Their reason for war was simple and brutal: unify the continent, unify the faith. Whoever refused to worship the Supreme God would be beaten until they did.

"Do you know which legion it is?" Allen asked casually.

Yorkshire answered in a low voice, "It's the Earth Dragon Legion. The ascetics of the Holy See and the Legion Commander may arrive early. They will stay at Old Castle for a time. The Royal City said we do not need to submit this month's income, since it will be used to entertain those lords from the Holy See."

"Ah!" Allen rose and stood by the window, muttering, "War... when will you stop your march of conquest? Supreme God, does worshipping you truly require provoking conflict between races?"

The blazing sunlight shone upon the emotional Allen, leaving the seated Yorkshire slightly dazed. He had no idea what madness this disgrace of a noble was about to pull.

Yorkshire had once been a promising Royal City constable, but after offending someone high up, he had been effectively exiled to Outpost County. Reality had long worn down his edges, and he always wore a humble, friendly smile before top-tier nobles.

But beneath that mask, Yorkshire did not hold much respect for Allen.

The reason was simple. Allen had once borne many titles in the Royal City that Yorkshire found contemptible.

For example: disgrace among nobles, the Duke's worthless son, shame of the aristocracy, and so on.

Yorkshire was actually very jealous of Allen. As the youngest son of a Duke, Allen not only possessed an unimaginably noble status, but also had a father with overwhelming authority in the kingdom. Yet over more than twenty years of life, Allen had gone farther and farther down the road of disgracing his father.

Yorkshire, who had great ambitions, often imagined that if he and Allen had switched identities, he would definitely have become the kingdom's brightest rising star.

Before Allen had been reborn and taken over this body, the former second son of the Duke had indeed been utterly useless, incapable in both scholarship and martial arts.

When he had just been born, the Duke had held great expectations for this youngest son, because infant Allen had displayed an unusually rare affinity for the elements.

This discovery had thrilled the Duke's family for a long time. They invited every Court Mage they could find to guide him in magical knowledge.

But to everyone's astonishment, although young Allen's elemental affinity was absurdly high, he could not cast a single spell—not even the most basic one. Put simply, magical elements would rapidly gather around him without needing him to chant.

Unfortunately, that was completely useless. The elements gathered, but the magic simply would not come out. It was like waving a hand and calling over a whole crowd of underlings, only for them to stand behind you watching leisurely and refuse to help you beat anyone up.

The Duke had gone to great lengths. Since Allen could not become a noble mage, then he would switch paths and practice Martial Skills.

On the Saint Cassis Continent, where war was the main theme, high-level Qi Warriors always earned the reverent gazes of others.

Allen had been a big eater since childhood and had grown sturdy. With careful instruction, perhaps he could become a high-level warrior in the future. Thus, the Duke placed his hopes in another path for his youngest son.

A tiger father truly did not produce a dog son. Allen learned Martial Skills exceptionally quickly. Whether it was military combat techniques or obscure swordsmanship, he understood them the moment they were explained.

And then... there was no then. From age six to sixteen, Allen failed to cultivate even a trace of Battle Aura. Instead, he only grew more capable of eating and stronger in body.

Even an ordinary noble child, after tempering their body for several years and constantly breaking their limits, could definitely awaken their potential and cultivate Battle Aura within five years.

But Allen could not. In ten years, he had cultivated neither Battle Aura nor a damn thing. After the poor Duke swallowed his pride and begged every Court Mage, he went on to beg every martial instructor in the court, only for it all to come to nothing.

The Duke, who had begun to wonder whether Allen was truly his biological son, only grew more determined with each setback. Magic did not work, Battle Aura did not work, so they would try something new. He would study. If martial strategy was impossible, then perhaps literary learning would work.

If they had not changed approaches, the Duke might still have loved his foolish son. But the moment Allen came into contact with books, he would immediately grow sleepy and collapse into sleep within seconds.

When everyone thought Allen was simply being lazy and dozing off, the Chief Mage of the court revealed the truth with a single remark. He was not sleepy—he was meditating.

That one statement caused a huge uproar. Many mages who heard the news were jealous to death, and even the Chief Mage of the court shouted three times in public, "Blessed by heaven!"

A mage had to calm their mind and empty themselves of all distractions in order to enter meditation and accumulate magical power. This process was extremely difficult. Even many famous High Mages could not enter a meditative state in a short time.

But Allen did it effortlessly. He only needed to glance at a book twice before growing sleepy and entering meditation. It worked every time, and when he meditated, he looked exactly like he was asleep—he even dreamed in the middle of it.

The facts proved that the magical power Allen had accumulated throughout his body over the years was comparable to that of a Magus.

But that was still useless, because Allen could not cast magic. It was like having a twenty-centimeter monster but being unable to get hard at night, leaving one utterly frustrated.

The Duke collapsed. He felt that his stupid son would have been better off simply being lazy and sleeping, since at least that would not have been so irritating to watch.

It was not only the Duke who collapsed. Allen's biological mother, the noble Duchess, also collapsed.

Duke Claire was a renowned high-level Qi Great Swordsman of the kingdom. The outside world called him the Shield of Locke and the kingdom's guardian.

Yet such a formidable figure had produced such an absurd son. No one in the kingdom could accept it. The Duchess had nearly sworn and cursed that Allen was not Duke Claire's child.

The two parents, who had no doubt that he was their biological son, adopted an out-of-sight, out-of-mind attitude and directly sent Allen to the most remote Outpost County to fend for himself, so they would not have to feel upset every day just from seeing him.

The group that accompanied Allen to Outpost County included Dina, the burly servant who could eat even more than Allen, an experienced butler named Old Laixi whom no one in the Royal City had ever heard of, and then Yorkshire.

A top-tier great noble, along with an elderly, weak, and ugly trio, took control of Old Castle in Outpost County and nearly a thousand subjects.

Yorkshire did not know about the others, but he knew his own circumstances well. Becoming the clerk of Outpost County was equivalent to being exiled, because he had previously offended Allen's father.

As for how he had offended him, it was rather ridiculous. He had publicly asked everyone a question: between himself and the Duke, who was more handsome?

The Duke had given him a simple answer: "Get lost!"

And then he had been sent off to the barren Outpost County to serve as its clerk.

His work was also simple: he was responsible for public order, monthly tax collection, agricultural development, border defense outside the county, cultural education, receiving nobles, and more.

Besides serving as clerk, poor Yorkshire trained the militia, mediated disputes between neighbors, and even delivered babies for pregnant women. In only a few months, his thick, smooth black hair had turned prematurely gray.