CHAPTER 102
CHAPTER 102
Defeat Celebration Gathering
“So. If you want to send that letter, I suggest you think it through. Baroness Willem.”
“Then wouldn’t it be even more necessary to send the letter?”
“No. Even if she is the former Demon King’s wife and the birth mother of the second prince, how did a saint like her build such immense influence among the demonkind?
Who would benefit if the demonkin started a civil war?”
“What? Headmaster. What do you mean by that?”
“The Emperor is in collusion with Flora.
The contents of the letter you intend to send are already known to the Emperor as well.
Rather, he will use that letter as bait to exploit your loyalty.”
“Even so, isn’t that a natural course of action for the supreme ruler of the Empire?
I believe it is only natural for the Emperor to promote a civil war among the demonkin in order to ensure the safety of the Empire’s citizens.
And seeking the true power of Dunaice Academy is also for the sake of the Empire’s stability….”
Baroness Willem was surprised by the fact that Flora was still alive, and that she had already been recognized as the queen among the demonkin, even staging a succession struggle by putting forward a prince, yet she still showed loyalty to the Empire.
However, her eyes were wavering.
When she recalled her school days with Flora, she could not possibly view Flora becoming the queen of the demonkin and stirring conflict among them in a favorable light.
Moreover, the Emperor was in collusion with the demonkin?
No matter how much it was meant to promote internal conflict among the demonkin for the sake of the Empire’s stability, she could not simply accept collusion with them without hesitation.
“If the Empire were in a life-or-death crisis, that might be understandable.
But is the Empire not currently prospering?
For the sake of the Empire’s stability? Or is it not out of personal ambition?”
“Are you telling me to doubt His Majesty the Emperor, whom I pledged loyalty to solely based on the Headmaster’s words?
That he has joined hands with Flora out of personal ambition and is inciting civil war among the demonkin?
Then are you saying I should simply overlook the fact that Miss Isolde Polzen is using void magic… and that Student Idnia appears unsuitable as a saint?”
“…Whether you believe it or not is your freedom.
Baroness Willem. No, Alice. Even if you send the letter, I will not stop you.”
At the name Alice, Baroness Willem flinched in surprise.
It was the name from her childhood.
The name she had hated so much that she had abandoned it herself, the name of the daughter of a concubine.
But when she was called by that name, she had been a student at Dunaice Academy.
And back then, Ludwig had stood firm against any external threat in order to protect her as a student.
No matter the situation, if a student did not betray Dunaice Academy, the academy would protect that student. Baroness Willem recalled that principle once more.
“Gibbs.”
“Yes, Headmaster.”
“Since you’re going to Dunaice anyway, could you bring back some tea? The usual one.”
“Pardon?”
Gibbs was surprised to hear Ludwig speak so casually.
‘You’re letting her go after saying that?
Entrusting everything to Baroness Willem?’
“…….”
Baroness Willem let out a sigh and threw the letter into the fireplace.
The letter, sealed with magic, burst into blue flames as it burned.
“You have always looked after me whenever I was suffering.
Headmaster. You truly are a harsh man.”
“I’m sorry, Alice.”
Ludwig left those words behind and began to walk away.
“Ah, and Gibbs, even if the letter is gone, still bring the tea. I came here to say that.”
“Yes, understood.”
When it was lunchtime, the students of the Wizard Ball club headed to the clubroom to hold their victory gathering.
Idnia also headed to the Wizard Ball clubroom together with the students of Euross.
“Oh my, I’m starving. My stomach feels like it’s about to stick to my back. I’m really looking forward to this gathering, Lady Idnia.”
Atos approached Idnia, casually expressing his hunger.
Idnia smiled and nodded.
“Yes, I’m looking forward to it as well. I checked in a book that Afraksa are spirits from the East who are highly skilled in cooking. Professor Buremhyde also seems to be quite accomplished in cooking, so I believe this will be a very satisfying gathering.”
“I, is that so. Hehe. Wow, Lady Idnia is responding to me!”
Then Christian and Pacifier looked at Atos with envious eyes.
“Do not be rude, Atos. Of course she will respond when greeted. There is no need to make a fuss over something like that…”
Christian spoke modestly, but unlike him, Pacifier quickly found an opportunity to speak to Idnia.
“Ah, um, Lady Idnia. About that garden patch… what will you be planting? Will you be planting turnips again this time?”
“Ah, the turnips were just for testing. Next time I’m thinking of spices. The meals have been quite bland, so I thought we could add some seasoning to improve them.
Am I deciding this too freely?”
“No, no. Of course Lady Idnia should decide.
In fact, you prepared the garden patch and grew the turnips yourself. We have contributed nothing, so we have nothing to say. Truthfully, we don’t even know much about farming.”
Pacifier, being a former adventurer, must have had plenty of experience, yet he seemed delighted just to be speaking with Idnia.
From their perspective, Duchess Idnia was a noble lady straight out of chivalric literature.
Although rumors were swirling in high society about her bold act of kicking down Crown Prince Rudolph, seeing her in person made it impossible to associate her with such baseless gossip—she was a truly admirable individual.
“Ah, um, Lady Idnia. Uh… th-that is…”
Seeing Atos and Pacifier speaking to Idnia, Christian tried to join in as well, but he could not think of anything to talk about.
While he hesitated over how to start a conversation, Idnia noticed an unexpected situation.
Members of the Notos dorm were planting something in the garden patch.
“What are you planting? Lorenzo?”
“Ah, Lady Idnia.”
Lorenzo turned around.
His subordinates, Fiona, Alisa, Esther, and Rex, who were also members of the Wizard Ball club, were planting crops in the garden patch.
“We were planting herbs.
Basil and garlic, to be precise. Given that meals continue to be like this, we thought we should try to achieve some level of self-sufficiency.
Considering the size of this garden patch, it doesn’t seem possible to grow staple crops like wheat flour, so we’re trying to grow spices as supplementary food.”
“Ah, I see. I was thinking of doing the same. It seems our ideas are quite similar.”
As she said that, Idnia glanced at their farming work.
It looked like they had simply planted seeds or seedlings in pots and applied a rapid growth potion.
They had baked the soil in the pots with fire to sterilize it, but if parasites or bacteria were already attached to the seeds or seedlings, even those would be affected by the rapid growth potion and grow quickly along with them.
‘Hmm, that’s not a good way to grow them. It will consume more potions, and pests or diseases could spread from the seeds or seedlings.’
Idnia thought this, but since the garden was divided among the dorms, she refrained from giving advice, as it might be seen as unnecessary interference.
Meanwhile, students from other dorms gradually began to arrive.
Among the Zephyrus dorm students, Isolde could be seen, but she still looked absent-minded.
She seemed to have had a sleepless night; her eyes were sunken, and it was obvious to anyone that something was wrong.
‘She’s still like that. What’s wrong with her?’
Idnia, sensing something was off, called out to Isolde.
“Miss Isolde. Are you alright? You don’t look well.”
Isolde startled slightly, then replied with a weary expression.
“I am fine, Lady Idnia. I appreciate your concern, but this is not something you need to worry about.”
“Pardon?”
Idnia was taken aback by Isolde’s sharp response.
At that moment, Professor Buremhyde appeared.
“Now then, have you been waiting long, losers… Ah, of course, defeat in Wizard Ball is a common occurrence. No one can win every match perfectly; losing is always possible.
However, even so, you should have been able to dominate something as low as the fourth division filled with amateurs. To tarnish the name of Dunaice Academy like this… Won’t those exam candidates relish this victory for the rest of their lives, recalling it over and over again?
Saying that Dunaice Academy was nothing more than an empty reputation…”
“Professor.”
When Idnia applied subtle pressure, Buremhyde quickly came to his senses.
They had gone to the trouble of holding a gathering to boost morale, and grumbling like this would defeat the purpose.
“The more I speak, the worse it gets. Let us eat first. Meals have been rather poor lately, have they not?”
Although Buremhyde’s nagging was dreadful, his brief and straightforward opening to the gathering was very good.
All the students were astonished by the well-prepared food.
Asado ribs slowly grilled with various sauces.
Roast beef from the oven and rainbow trout.
For some reason, grilled mackerel wrapped in kelp with sauce, despite belonging to this cultural sphere.
Along with fresh bread, pastries, cinnamon rolls, and even doughnuts.
“Wow, this is amazing. It’s on par with yesterday’s imperial banquet.”
Even Crown Prince Rudolph gave high praise.
“The imperial kitchen staff may be human, but I am a dragon. Just the time I spend in the kitchen would be enough for an imperial chef to have been reborn twice. Perhaps even more.”
Buremhyde seemed quite confident in his cooking.
It was certainly a dish worthy of pride.
Although the students were discouraged by their poor defeat and Buremhyde’s sharp criticism, after receiving good food and a new training method, they were filled with renewed courage.
It seemed they had been starving for quite some time, as they kept eating and eating without ever feeling satisfied.
“Ah, I’ve lost a lot of weight since entering the academy.”
“Same here.”
Atos, Pacifier, and Christian were happily enjoying their food.
At that moment, Idnia approached them.
Since she had already started speaking with Atos, who seemed easygoing, she decided to ask him something.
“Mr. Atos. Did Miss Isolde get injured during yesterday’s match by any chance?”
“Hm? No, not that. But Miss Isolde did have a hard time yesterday. The rest of us were simply not at the proper level…”
“What exactly happened?”
“Well, originally the pitcher and catcher were Alisa and Esther, two Notos girls who had experience in Wizard Ball.
But… the opposing team kept hitting the kind of balls typically used in women’s Wizard Ball practiced in monasteries.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. To defend the honor of those two Notos girls, the balls themselves were actually not bad.
However, the ‘Exam Candidates’—despite their funny name—were not an easy team.
It turns out they are a strong team that often wins in the fourth division of the Dunaice region, fluctuating between the third and fourth divisions.
So the coach, Professor Buremhyde, called a time-out and replaced the pitcher with Rex, a male student from Notos. He threw quite well.
He used telekinetic magic to enhance the speed of the ball and applied a sustained spell that caused the ball to rise slightly just before reaching the batter—a rising fastball.
The problem was that Alisa couldn’t catch it.
The ball was too fast and had too many variations, so the catcher kept making errors, resulting in walks.”
“Ah.”
“When Pacifier took over as catcher, she was able to catch the balls, but Rex’s mentality was shaken by the catching errors, so he couldn’t throw strikes properly, and walks continued. In the midst of that, Miss Isolde volunteered to pitch and switched positions.
Surprisingly, Miss Isolde threw the opponent pitcher’s signature flash ball and shade ball.”