The Villainess That Was Once A VRMMO player-Chapter 67，Part3

I took out my magical girl-like wand, and when Barbas saw it, he started talking sarcastically again.

“You don’t think I haven’t tried ranged attack magic? Even the most powerful 7th class magic I can handle [Fire Storm] was recovered in the blink of an eye.”

“…”

Why were you so happy to talk about your own failures? But I see that you could survive 7th class [Fire Storm]… I heard rumors that the top magician of the Caenista Kingdom could only use the 6th class magic, but this was the first time I heard of someone who could use a higher class than that.

Hmmm… the “strongest” 7th class magic, huh? 𝐛𝗲𝗱𝐧𝐨𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝐜𝐨𝐦

“–[I am the one who pursues the truth, the one who seeks the art of controlling reason]–“

As I began chanting, Barbas frowned at the spell, since it was probably the first time he had heard of it.

“…What is that spell? Such a random spell…”

“…–[To thee who was buried in ancient time, struck down by the water maiden, I give thee, by the pact of my blood, the temporary first manifestation of my body]…”

Further chanting released an enormous amount of magical power, and the slime that had enveloped the sealed door turned its attention toward us, and Barbas’s face turned pale.

“What, what is that… I don’t know such a spell!”

“–[Howl, smite, thy voice shall be a hammer that shatters the earth]–“

The slime left the seal due to the magic that became bigger than the seal door, and spread its huge body to cover the sky in an attempt to swallow us like a tidal wave. But it was too late–

“—[Summon Behemoth]—“

[Guaaaahhh!!!]

.

A huge mountain-like demonic beast appeared to split the wave of giant slime, its roar trembling the rocky mountain and Daemon Country, which shaved not only the slime but also the surface of the rocky mountain beyond it, even shattering the sealed gate.

“–Phew.”

After the behemoth disappeared as if melting into the sky, I exhaled, wiping the sweat from my forehead from the huge consumption of magic power.

“”…””

The people from Daemon Country were frozen in a pose trying to escape from the slime, their mouths wide open after witnessing 10th class attack magic for the first time.

…I did it because I was a little pissed off at Barbas, but I felt like it was too much to make even the sealed door disappear. …I wondered if the High Elves would be angry with me.

***

“Retrieve my treasure!”

The spire of the castle was destroyed along with the king’s treasury, resulting in the disappearance of gold and silver treasures equivalent to around 10,000 large gold coins that had been stored within the castle.

Although the King, who was unaware of the disappearance, believed that most of the treasures had been embezzled by the people, he had ordered the recovery of the treasures. He issued an order.

“Even we are in trouble, because of His Majesty. …It can’t be helped. Put this before the council.”

“…Prime Minister, this is…”

The civil official looked over the prepared agenda and involuntarily turned to his superior, the Prime Minister, who frowned and spoke to his subordinate as if he were telling a child.

“Okay? If this doesn’t pass, will His Majesty collect from the noble families? Tell the people in the castle who have put the money in their pockets to do the same. Understood?”

“Yes, sir. But…it’s one thing to arrest the common people who have been embezzling money, but to raise the tax rate by 10%…”

“This level of increase should not be a problem. Caenista’s national power is not that fragile.”

The tax rate in the Kingdom of Caenista is 40% to 50%, depending on the nobility.

In the capital, taxes on merchants tended to be high, while taxes on farmers tended to be high in rural areas. However, because the country was huge, it was able to successfully adjust tax rates on imports and exports with other countries, so the people did not go hungry and were even able to live somewhat comfortably.

Although the uniform 10% increase in the tax rate was a considerable burden, the people could still afford it, and since they were able to enjoy a certain “relief,” they did not complain too much.

About 10% of the king’s treasures were recovered from the melted gold and scattered in the castle yard. Only about 5% of the items had been deposited by those in the castle before being recovered, and the king assumed that all the remaining treasure had been scattered throughout the royal city.

In reality, however, most of it evaporated, and less than 10% of it was scattered around the city.