Chapter 75
Chapter 75
Dragon Road and Sports
Even in the midst of it, the fairies clung on desperately and finally pushed their score past 30.
Then the match ended.
“Devastator has won by a cold victory!”
The stadium filled with cheers, but the fairies’ expressions were dark.
“Why are they like that?”
“Well, in a typical league, two teams face each other in a best-of-three series, and this was only the first match.
In the first match, the fairies expended too much stamina and mana.
If tomorrow’s match is not extended due to rain, the ogres will likely win the best-of-three.”
“Ah, I see….”
Idnia was strongly impressed by a game that paid attention to even those kinds of details.
As the match came to an end, the live crystal simultaneously powered off.
---
Ludwig gathered the live crystal into his arms.
“This is Wizard Ball. What do you think, Idnia student?”
“I understand now why noble children are not allowed to play it.”
When Idnia pointed that out, Ludwig looked flustered as if she had struck a sore spot.
“This was only because you happened to watch an especially extreme match.
When human teams compete, they fight with different tactics, so the nature of the game changes.
Rather than forming a prejudice from this, I hope you keep your perspective and way of thinking flexible.”
“Do you also want to play Wizard Ball, headmaster?”
“Rather than that, we prisoners have been confined within the academy for so long.
Honestly, we simply want to do something, anything, and bring some change to our daily lives.”
Lachias answered in his place and chuckled.
“Bureumhilde and Ludwig are somewhat serious about it.
Ah, in Ludwig’s case, he does like it himself, but since he has the duty of restraining Bureumhilde, he suppresses his own inclination.”
“It’s not to that extent.”
Ludwig shook his head, but soon admitted it.
“However, it’s undeniable that after being confined like prisoners within the academy for so long, one naturally wants some change.”
“Come to think of it, is Bureumhilde all right?
If a Wizard Ball team were to be formed again, I’m concerned he might go on another rampage.”
Seeing Lachias say that, Idnia felt inwardly speechless.
He himself was the kind of madman who would fly into a frenzy and attack the moment he sensed even a hint of the Tyrant’s style, yet here he was calling others insane and out of their minds.
‘Well, Bureumhilde may like Wizard Ball, but isn’t he just like a baseball fanatic?’
Still curious, Idnia asked.
“What would happen if Professor Bureumhilde became obsessed with Wizard Ball?”
“Have you heard of Albion’s Great Plague?”
“Yes. Roughly….”
“Bureumhilde succeeded in a great magic that turned copper into gold. However, the gold created in that way carried a curse that spread a terrible poison of death.”
“Ah, so that’s why….”
Idnia recalled the massive amount of copper ingots piled up in Bureumhilde’s lair.
So that was why he had them… because he could turn copper into gold….
“Fortunately, that gold does not pose a great danger unless it is ingested, but at the time, the elves had a vulgar custom of decorating food with gold leaf.”
“Ah….”
“Hmm?”
“No, I think I understand what you mean.”
Idnia smiled as she recalled the gold-decorated foods she had often seen on Earth.
“Bureumhilde, unaware that the gold he produced was cursed, mass-produced it, and the wealth generated from it allowed him to run a Wizard Ball club.
At that time, Albion enjoyed immense prosperity, to the point that the global price of gold collapsed.
Because gold became so abundant and cheap, elves even went so far as to spread thin sheets of gold leaf over sweets and bread for decoration.
The problem was that the gold Bureumhilde created was cursed gold.
Those who consumed his gold—elves and fairies alike, and even the hardy ogres—fell ill with incurable diseases and died.
This was the Albion Great Plague.”
Hearing Lachias’s explanation, Idnia was shocked.
A culture of eating gold… he must be referring to edible gold decorations?
‘On Earth it’s not uncommon, but in a civilization at this level, it would certainly be considered extravagant.
But turning copper into gold… could he have done it using something like a heavy-ion accelerator principle?
If the result was not ordinary gold but an isotope of gold, it would emit radiation while decaying… and if that was ingested, internal radiation exposure…?
No, but I recall that most isotopes of gold have half-lives on the order of milliseconds.
Well, depending on the type, but even at the longest it’s under a year… without books or a wiki, I can’t be sure.
Still, since it was done with magic, thinking in scientific terms might be unreasonable.’
In other words, the catastrophe caused by Bureumhilde could be described as a disastrous collaboration between Bureumhilde, who turned copper into gold, and the Albion people who happily ate that gold.
Unnecessary actions coinciding by chance led to a disaster that spread under the name Albion’s Great Plague.
From the perspective of Idnia, a person from Earth, it sounded almost absurd, but to the inhabitants of this world, it was a terrifying magical catastrophe born from a dragon’s arrogance.
Idnia grew curious and asked Lachias.
“So what happened in the end?
Albion’s Great Plague?”
“In response to Bureumhilde, who had caused massive loss of life through magical disaster, the kingdoms of Albion, along with elves, fairies, humans, and giants, formed a coalition army to hold him accountable.
The arrogant tyrant of Lancaster, Bureumhilde, faced the coalition alone alongside his golem army, and the Albion coalition suffered devastating losses.
The Gustav royal family that had established a human kingdom in Albion was unable to maintain its rule; the collateral branches were wiped out, and only the main house remaining in Oxbach survived.”
“The Gustav royal family?”
“Yes. They are now the Ansbach ducal family.
In the past, they invaded the Fowr people of Albion, enslaved them, and established a human kingdom in Albion.
Yorkshire and Bankshire elves, Bureumhilde of Lancaster, the fairies of Munster, and the ogres of the Highlands had all signed peace treaties with them, and they used Albion as a base to operate as a pirate kingdom plundering the western coast of the continent.”
“Remarkable. If such races had formed an alliance, it must have been a massive army, yet Professor Bureumhilde defeated them all… but why is he here now?”
“Lachias and I subdued him.
And we asked whether he would die or be bound to the academy.
In the end, he became a lifetime professor at Dunaise Academy, and as a result of that contribution, our sentences were somewhat reduced.”
Headmaster Ludwig said calmly.
“Then, professors, why did you assist them when Professor Bureumhilde devastated Albion, but did nothing when the Demon King descended upon Betelgeuse? There must have been a request from the Empire, no?”
“…….”
At Idnia’s question, the atmosphere suddenly froze.
---
Idnia’s question was bold, but by no means trivial.
Because of that event, the Principality of Betelgeuse was destroyed, countless people lost their homes and became refugees, and even now many continue to suffer.
Why had these powerful mages of Dunaise Academy saved some, yet not others?
At the very least, Idnia, the ducal daughter of Betelgeuse, could not help but ask the reason.
“That… is entangled with the secrets of the academy, so I cannot speak of it carelessly.”
“What? What do you mean….”
Lachias stepped in to clarify for Idnia.
“Ludwig is telling the truth. To the extent we can explain… we are bound to the ancient civilization that created the academy, not to the Sacred Eldar Empire.
And that ancient civilization that built the academy regards the war between demons and humans as a civil war among humans.”
“A civil war, you say.”
In other words, whatever ancient force still governing the academy regarded Bureumhilde as merely an individual deviation or disturbance, permitting him to be captured and bound as a prisoner, while viewing the emergence of the Demon King and demons as a legitimate matter of human nations and authority.
They seemed to consider it a sensitive international situation—something that should not be interfered with lightly, something that must be resolved by humans themselves, a matter where one cannot casually step in to judge good and evil.
Ludwig rebuked Lachias for his loose tongue.
“To say that much… your mouth is too light, Lachias.”
“Well, it was you who explained to her that demons are ultimately humans, Ludwig.
But is it really all right?
If that Bureumhilde were to resume public activities, would the elves of Albion remain silent?
No matter how much they like Wizard Ball, if it’s Bureumhilde, they would come charging at him with their eyes blazing.”
“About that, I have already spoken with the elves.”
“Really? What did they say?”
“The queen of the elves, the ‘Daughter of Spring and Life,’ said that if a Wizard Ball team formed from young nobles of Dunaise Academy could rise to the regular first division league, then even a great criminal like Bureumhilde would be welcomed.
She even said that if those delicate young masters and young ladies, who only know how to cherish their own fragile bodies, could make it to the first division league, she would respect them… though it sounded more like mockery.”
“Ah, the elves’ team has been performing well recently. It seems they’ve grown rather arrogant.
But to look down on Dunaise Academy… truly.
I have little interest in Wizard Ball myself, but even I find that unpleasant.
If Bureumhilde had heard that directly, with his temperament, it could have turned into quite a disaster.”
Professor Lachias subtly revealed his irritation at the elves’ provocation.
Though he claimed not to be particularly fond of Wizard Ball, he clearly disliked being looked down upon.
With such a strong competitive spirit, if a Wizard Ball team were ever formed, he would undoubtedly become deeply invested, laughing and lamenting over wins and losses alike.
---
‘Hmm. It seems Professor Lachias is also in favor of forming a Wizard Ball team. In that case….’
Idnia clearly grasped the situation.
The five prisoners of the Empire, the lifetime professors of Dunaise Academy, are fundamentally bound to the school.
In other words, they cannot leave unless it is an official school event.
Therefore, if they can participate in external activities through legitimate school events—such as forming a Wizard Ball team that advances through competitions and goes on away matches—they could use that as a pretext to travel anywhere in the world.
Separately, they also seemed to genuinely enjoy Wizard Ball itself.
‘Being confined as prisoners, they must be going crazy from boredom.
That was reflected in the original game as well—performing well in Wizard Ball matches greatly increased reputation stats.
Affinity also went up significantly… so that was the reason.
But in the original, it was just an event completed automatically by assembling paid cards into a squad.
Here, you actually have to play Wizard Ball yourself.
No, you even have to build the team from scratch….’
So Idnia spoke up.
“Then we should properly cultivate the fields first.
If we can produce good harvests here, it should make it easier to lure students.
So, may I ask for permission to log some timber from the nearby forest?”
“You are requesting permission to cut trees?”
“Yes. There seem to be many good trees nearby, and I think we’ll need wood if we are to cultivate the fields.”
“Surely you are not planning slash-and-burn agriculture, are you?
If that is the case, I cannot grant permission.”
Slash-and-burn farming, which involved burning trees to use as fertilizer, was prohibited in most civilized nations, including the Sacred Eldar Empire.
Fertilizer was endlessly needed, but burning valuable timber to obtain it was an inefficient practice that forest owners could never permit.
And Idnia agreed with that point as well.
“No, that’s not it. What I want is materials to build facilities.”
“Oh? So you’re planning to build a greenhouse? That would require a certain amount of timber.”
“Hmm, well….”
Idnia sketched a blueprint in her notebook.