Chapter 1
Philip, who possessed the ＜OVERLORD＞ skill, became the new King. His power was nothing short of staggering. With the might of his ＜OVERLORD＞ skill, he purged every rebel element from the land and silenced the monsters that had long plagued the kingdom.
The former King, Maximilian, had been a wielder of the ＜PHILANTHROPY＞ skill. Under his grace, the people had lived in carefree tranquility.
The new King Philip was brilliant and highly capable, but perhaps due to his ＜OVERLORD＞ skill, his personality was fierce and unyielding. Because he was so exceptionally talented, he harbored a deep disdain for inefficiency. He surrounded himself only with a hand-picked elite, and a suffocating tension always hung in the air wherever he went.
“Philip, a kingdom needs its ‘waste.’ People cannot find happiness in a place where they can barely breathe. It is like a river that is too pure—no fish can live there.”
Maximilian’s warnings fell on deaf ears. To Philip, incompetence was synonymous with being a tax thief.
“I shall slash the wages of those with useless ＜DUD SKILLS＞,” Philip declared. “There is a proverb from the East: ‘Start with the person closest to you.’ We shall begin by cutting down the ranks of the royalty itself.”
The former King, Maximilian, who possessed the ＜PHILANTHROPY＞ skill, was also a notorious womanizer. Taking advantage of the Queen’s resignation, he shared his “love” indiscriminately with everyone from high-born nobles to lowly commoners. This resulted in a massive brood of children: eight princes and seven princesses, starting with his eldest son by the legal Queen, Philip.
Among all the siblings, the one with the most useless ＜DUD SKILL＞ was summoned: the seventh princess, Margot.
“Margot. Your skill is... ＜WEED PULLING＞, if I recall correctly?”
“It is ＜WEEDING＞, dear brother,” Margot replied, puffing out her chest with pride.
Philip’s brow furrowed in blatant displeasure.
“Either way, it is a disgraceful skill, utterly unworthy of royalty. There is no value in protecting you with tax money. You are hereby expelled from the Royal Family. From this day forward, you shall survive on your own.”
“With all due respect, Brother—” Margot stared back at Philip without a hint of fear, her large eyes glittering with a fierce intensity.
“My mother and I receive no allowance from the Royal Family. My mother works as a cook, and I work as a gardener right here in the palace to earn our wages. We are ‘royalty’ in name only; in truth, we live like commoners.”
“I... I was unaware of that.” Philip faltered for a moment, caught off guard.
“However,” he continued, regaining his composure, “having you on the palace payroll is bad for our reputation. It is practically the same as receiving tax-funded aid. No doubt you were given these ‘jobs’ in name only.”
“Oh, how insulting! Both my mother and I work with the utmost sincerity.”
“Fine, fine. I shall investigate whether your work is sufficient or not. I will contact you later. You are dismissed.”
Philip waved his hand dismissively, as if swatting away a fly. Margot opened her mouth to snap back with another word or two, but the Royal Guards promptly escorted her out.
“What is with him?! He knows absolutely nothing! He makes me so mad!” Margot hissed and grumbled in the hallway for a while, then began to stomp away. She had to find her mother.
“Mother!”
Margot hurried to the kitchen and called out from the entrance. Her mother set aside the dough she was kneading, wiping her flour-covered hands on her apron as she approached.
“What is the matter, dear? Is your gardening finished already?”
“It’s much more serious than that! Philip—I mean, His Majesty—says he is going to slash the wages of anyone with a ＜DUD SKILL＞. And he’s expelling any royals with ＜DUD SKILLS＞ from the family entirely!”
“Goodness,” her mother replied. “That is quite a way for him to put it, isn’t it?”
“If things go poorly, he might even take away our jobs here.”
“Oh, that would be a problem,” her mother said, yet she offered a carefree, gentle smile. “Don’t you worry. With our skills, Margot, any manor in the land would be happy to hire us.”
Her mother was a wielder of the ＜BAKE DELICIOUS BREAD＞ skill. It was true; even if she were fired from the Royal Palace, she could find work anywhere. Margot let out a long sigh of relief.
“Let’s pack our things so we can leave at a moment’s notice.”
Margot nodded at her mother’s suggestion.
“I’ll go consult with someone who has a ＜PACKING＞ skill.”
Leaving her mother, Margot dashed toward the maids’ quarters. In the large communal room, there were many workers with organization-type skills, such as ＜LUGGAGE ARRANGEMENT＞ and ＜BOX PACKING＞.
Everyone was furious when they heard Margot’s story.
“What?! Without us, this palace would fall into utter chaos. He hasn’t a clue!” “It’s pointless if everyone only has ‘mighty’ skills.” “An ＜OVERLORD＞ skill won’t keep a palace clean, that’s for sure!”
The maids were fuming.
“If Margot is getting fired, maybe we should all just quit.”
“Everyone, please, don’t be hasty! My mother and I will be fine,” Margot said, hurriedly trying to calm them down.
Jobs at the royal palace offered excellent pay and benefits. They lived in the maids’ quarters with all meals provided, and since they had uniforms, they barely needed to buy their own clothes. It was total security for their daily lives—not a job to be thrown away lightly.
“I’m going to go talk to the other gardeners.”
Margot left the quarters and headed for the gardens. Her expression softened when she spotted Tom pruning trees in a beautifully manicured section of the grounds.
“Tom!”
“Margot!”
Tom smiled warmly as he climbed down from his ladder. He brushed back his messy bangs and wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve.
“You were summoned by His Majesty, right? What did he say?”
“He said he has no need for royals with ＜DUD SKILLS＞. There’s a chance I might even be fired from my job as a gardener.”
“What?!”
Tom cried out, then quickly clamped a hand over his mouth.
“That’s absurd! I mean, it’s already unusual for a Princess to work as a gardener, but still... It’s thanks to you that these gardens stay so beautiful, Margot.”
“Our ‘Lord Overlord’ doesn’t care about something like ＜WEEDING＞,” Margot replied with a shrug.
“That’s terrible... What will you do?”
“If I am fired, I’ll seek refuge at the Temple for a while. They still need to eat bread there, and I’m sure the weeds in their gardens won’t stop growing.”
“Ah, I see. That’s a relief,” Tom said, his voice softening. “I was afraid you might go somewhere far away.”
“I’d prefer to stay in the Royal Capital, but if push comes to shove, I might have to head to my mother’s hometown.”
“Then... I’m coming with you!”
The words burst out of him. Tom suddenly reached out and squeezed Margot’s hand. The heat of his palm startled her, and for a heartbeat, time seemed to stop.
Realizing what he had done, Tom pulled away just as quickly, his face flushing a deep crimson. Margot, feeling her own cheeks burning, began to fan herself frantically with her hands.
Margot finished ＜WEEDING＞ at a frantic pace, then finished her shift early to return to her room. She and her mother had been granted adjacent private rooms. Her mother had originally been a commoner cook. Maximilian, astonished by the bread she baked, had summoned her to offer praise—and then, he had claimed her.
If he had simply “claimed” her, she might have been cast aside. But her mother gave birth to Margot. Thus, moving from the communal quarters to a private room was only natural. Her mother had persuaded Maximilian, saying, “I am not cut out to be a Concubine. I will continue to bake bread as I always have.” And so, she had kept her place in the kitchen.
Following that lead, Margot had also taken up gardening despite her royal blood. She owed no one an apology, for she had never wasted a single coin of the commoners’ taxes.
However, the decree from Philip was merciless.
“Halving both my mother’s and my wages? And moving us back to the communal quarters? I can endure the room change, but there is no justification for cutting our pay!”
“It is His Majesty’s decision,” the messenger replied curtly.
“Then I quit. Right here, right now!”
Margot barked the words. She promptly hauled out the luggage she had already packed and headed for the Temple with her mother.
“Ugh, he makes me so mad!”
“Now, now. Let’s have some delicious bread,” her mother said, as calm as ever.
While Margot vented her frustration, her mother baked bread just as she always did. After sharing the meal with the people at the Temple who took them in, Margot finally began to calm down.
“Fine. I’m going to go do some ＜WEEDING＞.”
To work off her lingering anger, Margot set to work and beautifully trimmed the Temple gardens to perfection.
＊＊＊
“The bread tastes awful lately.”
At Philip’s words during dinner, the movements of the maids and chamberlains came to a dead halt.
“Your Majesty... the former King’s concubine, Lady Rita—Princess Margot’s mother—possessed the ＜BAKE DELICIOUS BREAD＞ skill,” a chamberlain whispered tentatively.
“I see,” Philip muttered, chewing the dry, tasteless bread with a grimace.
＊＊＊
“Monsters in the garden? Impossible!”
“It is true, Sire! Plant-type monsters are running rampant—Mandrakes, Dryads, and even Treants!”
“What?!”
When Philip led his troops to the gardens, he found them in utter chaos. Weeds were overgrown, and the trees had become so dense it looked like a wild forest.
“What is the meaning of this? Where are the gardeners?”
“Well... after Lady Margot left, they began to quit, one after another. Before we knew it, we were severely understaffed.”
“Tsk. Plant monsters are nothing before my power!”
Philip swung his sword with all his might, but the plants swayed and dodged his strikes with eerie, fluid movements. He couldn’t land a decisive blow. The entire day was wasted on a fruitless struggle against the vegetation.
“Your Majesty, perhaps you should recall Lady Margot and Lady Rita. I am told it was Lady Margot’s ＜WEEDING＞ skill that kept the gardens at peace.”
Philip remained sullenly silent.
＊＊＊
But over the following days, one problem after another arose.
“Why is the palace so filthy?”
“Because you fired those with the ＜DUSTING＞ skill, Sire. You said a simple feather duster would suffice.”
＊＊＊
“I found a cloth with a hole in it!”
“That is because the ones with the ＜THREADING THE NEEDLE＞ skill were dismissed. Sewing efficiency has plummeted.”
＊＊＊
“The chandeliers are cloudy.”
“Those with the ＜FURNITURE POLISHING＞ skill have quit. They said the atmosphere in the palace had become too stifling to work in.”
＊＊＊
“Your Majesty! The plants in the garden are rioting again—!”
“What?! Not again!”
＊＊＊
Finally, Philip could hold out no longer. He paid a visit to the Temple in incognito. The grounds were sparkling clean, and the savory, mouth-watering scent of baking bread filled the air.
“Your Majesty.”
“Rita. Margot.”
Philip strictly ordered his retinue to give them privacy. Once the three of them were alone, he bowed his head deeply.
“Your Majesty... It is not proper for you to bow to commoners,” Rita said softly.
“It is fine, for we are family. Rita, Margot... I was wrong. Will you forgive me?” Philip looked them both straight in the eye.
“I have realized that the order of the Palace was maintained by the cooperation of many different skills. It must be true for the entire kingdom as well. A nation cannot be run by a handful of ‘Super-Skills’ alone. I was arrogant.”
Rita and Margot exchanged a look. Philip continued, his voice earnest.
“Please, return to the Palace and work there as a royal duty. Neither I nor our father can enjoy a meal unless it’s Rita’s bread. And without Margot to tend the grounds, the plants run wild. I will provide better rooms, increased wages, and higher allowances. I will restore your royal status. We shall sit and decide the nature and amount of your duties together.”
“I don’t mind returning to the Palace, but I will not return to the Royal Family,” Margot announced cheerfully.
“You see, I’ve already married Tom, the gardener.”
Since she had been expelled from the royalty, she had wasted no time in marrying him.
Philip stood there, mouth agape in stunned silence, before finally bursting into a laugh.
“I see. Congratulations on your marriage. Please, return to the Palace with my new brother-in-law.”
And so, Rita, Margot, and Tom returned to the Royal Palace. The others with ＜DUD SKILLS＞ who had been fired were also formally invited back to their original posts.
Philip issued a royal decree throughout the land: “I forbid the ranking of skills and the discrimination of people based upon them. Every skill is precious and noble.”
Philip the ＜OVERLORD＞ became known as the Wise King, and his kingdom flourished in every corner.
