Chapter 500.2

“So, you have something to tell me?” (Yuki)

“Yes, I have some matters to discuss with you. The world is in a time of great change. There are airships developed by humans, the world’s divides are weakening, and interactions between humanoid races are increasing. Then the next thing we need is entertainment.” (Queen Naphthalese)

“Ah, Bread and Circuses.”

(T/N: Bread and circuses is a metonymic phrase referring to superficial appeasement.)

That sounded like a word that was originally used in a judgmental way, but I guess it was actually necessary.

It was something we needed to have in order to live happily day by day.

“Oh, that’s an interesting way of putting it. Well, as far as food is concerned, since transportation by airship is expected to improve the situation, we have to think about entertainment. So, I’ve decided to organize a festival for all humanoid races together.”

“Oh…! That’s great, that’s very exciting.”

A joint festival with other races.

It was a great opportunity to interact with other cultures, and it sounded like a lot of fun.

“But as we were planning this, Finar had a few words with me. [Looking ahead, I would like to add more elements to the festival].”

“Elements?”

Naphthalese nodded and said, “What what we would like is – a proxy battle… or something.”

“…I see.”

With that one word, I understood what the Leaders were thinking.

“It’s probably because of the Demon Race’s fighting instinct… I guess that couldn’t be helped with them.”

“Mm. Just recently a great war took place and ended in our victory. Therefore, all races are satisfied now except some people from the Rogard Empire…but that will change as time goes by. However, the Demon Race, in particular, has a strong sense of value that power is everything. Finar has been thinking on how to deal with it, but it will take at least a hundred years to solve that problem.”

The natural instincts of living creatures did not change so easily.

In this world, the natural environment was more severe than in my previous life, and because of this, no race could escape from “fighting instinct,” which was strongly embedded in them, especially for the Demon Race.

The demon race had a strong tendency to be like that, but having seen the changes of people in my previous life, I was sure that other races could also change in time, albeit slowly.

There was also the fever of having won a war, but that too would cool off at some point.

But a proxy battle for the festival, huh? I could think of something…

“So we need some sort of competition?”

“You’re very perceptive. A tournament would be fine…but we wanted to make it a little more different than just simple battles. However, in a joint competition with other races, there will inevitably be advantages and disadvantages due to differences in ability. We were discussing what to do about that.”

After the Elf Queen, King Reyd followed.

“As Your Highness Naphthalese said, Humans and Elves do not stand a chance in a competition of physical abilities such as running and jumping. It would be better if the competitions were more tactical…but for now, we are thinking of having a competition which involves both magical and physical abilities. That way, all races can still be in the competition.”

“What do you think, Demon Lord? Do you have any good ideas?”

I thought about what they said for a moment.

A competition with the nature of a proxy battle.

When I heard that, what came to my mind first was sports. And the Olympics.

The Leaders were thinking of creating something equivalent to that.

However, in this world, there were no easy-to-understand ball games, but they did have a lot of simple physical competitions, such as athletic competitions, weight lifting, track and field events.

When I asked Layla about it, she told me that the most popular among them regardless of race were competitions in which they fought each other.

That was interesting, but in such a game where physical ability was highly involved, as the King said, it would be difficult for a human or other weaker humanoids to win.

In other words, it would become something like a battle between Lefi and I.

There would be times when I could beat her, but it was only when she was not familiar with the game or its tactics yet.

…Yes, I do know of many competitions where you could win by understanding the tactics even if there was a difference in physical ability.

In this case, I had to think of ones that could be played by a group of people, rather than those that could be played by individuals.

Soccer, baseball, and basketball come to mind first… Hmmm…