Chapter 138: The Soccer Project

There was absolutely no reason to refuse the vacation the Emperor had granted.

He had told me to rest after all the hard work I had done. It would be strange not to go.

I was not some kind of workaholic, so I fully intended to accept it.

“Why the south specifically?”

There were two other villas besides that one.

But there was no need to overthink it.

Simply put, the southern villa was the best vacation spot.

Unlike the still-chilly Perias, it stayed warm year-round.

Moreover, the dry season had just begun, making it the perfect time for a trip.

Plenty of nobles besides me were probably heading to their southern villas right now.

When people were even buying entire islands for leisure, that said everything.

Vacation is vacation, and work is work.

Even if I stepped away immediately, there would be no major problems in Perias.

Trials could proceed without me.

The junior judges had become quite capable by now.

Using my precedents, they could uphold justice without major issues.

That was exactly why I had set such clear examples all this time.

Besides, there was nothing urgent in the market administration that required my immediate attention for the time being.

The illegal gambling dens were also closing down quickly.

“The soccer stadium will take a while to build anyway, so I just need to form the teams and then leave.”

I spent a leisurely afternoon sitting in a rocking chair in the mansion garden.

It was about time for those half-demon guys to bring back the team members they had recruited…

Sure enough, loud noise came from the entrance.

It seemed Shugl and Feltron had arrived.

I stood up leisurely and walked over.

I was looking forward to seeing what kind of talent they had brought.

“Huh? Isn’t that Sir Miles?”

“It’s been a while, Your Grace. I’m sorry I couldn’t visit more often even though I work nearby.”

“And this is… Sir Taylor?”

“Haha! Nice to meet you, Your Grace.”

I looked around at the people gathered in front of the mansion with a stunned expression.

Every single one of them was an Imperial Guard knight lent by the Emperor.

Why were they standing behind Shugl and Feltron?

“Can you explain what’s going on?”

Why do we need words? You told us to recruit players.

—That’s right! So we brought the guys who looked like they could run the fastest!

The two half-demons stood with proud expressions, hands on their hips.

They looked so confident that I almost nodded along for a second.

Their logic was not entirely wrong.

The only mistake was that I had unconsciously treated Korea and the Enpher Empire as the same.

This world has aura, after all.

Would a modern player who injected every kind of drug be comparable to a knight?

No, absolutely not.

It might work against a complete beginner, but against an expert? Not even close.

Just the two in front of me—Sir Miles and Sir Taylor—could easily crush a World Cup winning team.

It would feel like professional players versus children in a soccer class.

“Hah! Who told you to bring knights? I said find people with good physical ability and footwork.”

But knights are exactly that.

“No…….”

At a loss for words, I let out a long sigh.

If knights played as soccer players, it would basically be cheating.

What team would call that a fair match?

Then Feltron suddenly flapped his wings to get my attention.

Hey, Boss!

“What?”

─I understand what you’re worried about.

“You wouldn’t understand.”

─Just listen. When the soccer tournament is held anyway, people who have learned even a little aura will participate. They’ll naturally be able to run better than anyone.

“Tsk! I suppose so.”

I had planned to prevent the destruction of the soccer world’s balance by setting a few conditions.

Like modern drug testing.

It would not be fair unless those who had learned aura were disqualified.

But Feltron’s next argument was quite tempting.

─If it’s hard to stop anyway, let’s just go all out. Imagine holding a martial arts tournament but only allowing ordinary people to participate. How boring would that be?

“Oh?”

Now that he mentioned it, it sounded pretty good.

Knights with insane physical abilities playing soccer?

A match between superhumans, like Shaolin soccer or Tecmo World Cup ’98!

Just imagining it was thrilling.

“Hoo? Not bad at all.”

—See? I told you my idea was good.

“But these gentlemen won’t do.”

─What? You just said it was good! Why are you being so tyrannical now!

“You idiot. If the Imperial Guard knights all become soccer players, who will protect my territory?”

─Ah……? R-right.

At my pointed remark, Feltron made a dumb face.

It seemed he had finally run into the wall of reality.

And that was not the only problem.

These were Imperial Guard knights, practically the Emperor’s right-hand men. Who was I to casually take them?

If I made one wrong move, I could be charged with lèse-majesté and lose my head.

“Please return for now. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

“Ah, no, it’s fine. We followed these two because we got excited by what they said.”

When I apologized with a slight bow, the knights waved their hands in embarrassment.

They seemed to agree with what I had just said.

Still, they looked a bit regretful.

The half-demons must have made the idea sound very appealing, talking about fun games and gaining popularity.

—Then what about our players?

—Even if we gather people here, there won’t be anyone better than them.

Shugl and Feltron complained with thoroughly dissatisfied expressions.

After seeing such monstrous talents like knights, ordinary people no longer looked impressive.

So I offered a compromise.

“Alright. How about mercenaries then?”

—Mercenaries? Most of them can’t handle aura, right?

“Among the higher ranks, there should be some who have awakened it slightly. We don’t need them to fully manifest aura anyway.”

Soccer was purely a physical sport.

Even without being an expert, they should be able to put on a good performance.

Strengthening the body was possible even at the beginner stage.

They might be novices as knights, but in the world of soccer players, it was different.

─Understood!

—I’ll go first!

—Hey! You damn senior!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Realizing something, the half-demons disappeared in an instant.

Just like animals dashing off in an old American cartoon.

After watching them leave, I immediately called for Butler Chase.

“Is there any empty land near the workshop district?”

“Yes, we have more land than we know what to do with, Your Grace.”

“Pick out a flat grassy area and put up a fence around it. It should be fairly high so the ball doesn’t fly out.”

“How large should the area be?”

“Something around the size of the mansion walls should be fine.”

“Understood.”

After giving instructions to the butler, I headed straight to Vargas’ laboratory.

I was curious about the progress of the experiments, and lately I had been hearing quite concerning noises.

The frequency of explosions had increased recently.

This guy… instead of focusing on his work, he seemed to be doing all kinds of unnecessary things.

As expected.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“Uh? You’ve arrived, Your Grace.”

I need an explanation. No matter how I look at it, what you’re holding in your hands doesn’t look like a soccer ball.

“Ahaha! This? These are spikes.”

Vargas was fiddling with an iron plate covered in densely packed sharp points.

I wondered what he planned to use that for when a bad feeling suddenly hit me.

“You’re not going to make it explode, are you?”

“Of course not. This is just for attaching to the bottom of soccer shoes. It increases acceleration when kicking off and shortens braking distance.”

“Then why is black smoke coming out of it?”

“That shouldn’t be…”

Hssssss! Boooom!

Before he could finish speaking, the workbench erupted in flames with a small explosion.

I let out a small sigh and tapped the red device next to me.

Vargas picked up the rolling sphere.

Soon, white gas and intense cold spread out.

The rising flames were instantly suppressed.

“Fortunately, it wasn’t a big incident. Haha!”

Vargas laughed awkwardly as he pulled the spikes out of the ashes.

The process was strange, but it seemed he considered it a success anyway.

But the situation went in a completely different direction from what he thought.

Psssss—!

The spikes crumbled into powder and scattered.

The experiment ended in a futile failure.

“At least it just broke apart. That’s fortunate. I’ve been hearing a lot lately about you making things explode all the time?”

“I had no choice. Skipping safety tests wouldn’t be right. In the end, I still made what Your Grace wanted, didn’t I?”

“So where’s the finished product?”

“Ta-da! Here it is.”

Vargas dramatically pulled off the cloth covering something in the corner.

A round object bounced and rolled toward me.

It was a soccer ball made by stitching together pentagonal and hexagonal leather panels.

Seeing it realized exactly as I had requested filled me with deep emotion.

It was something that had only existed in my memories.

Tap tap tap.

I dribbled it a few times with the tip of my foot, and old sensations came flooding back.

Wow! I never thought I’d get to do this again.

More than half of Korean men had played soccer during their school days.

It was the same in the military.

Some even continued playing in company teams after becoming working adults.

I had always quite liked soccer.

“Nice. What did you make it with?”

“The inside is made from ogre tendons. I processed them by stretching them thin and glued them into a round shape. The outer surface is drake belly leather. It’s soft yet tough, perfect.”

“That’s why it’s tougher than I expected?”

“Of course. I did so many strength tests.”

“So all those booming explosions were for this?”

“Haha! Yes.”

Vargas’ soccer ball was of extremely high quality.

It was comparable to modern balls, and in some aspects, it even felt superior.

The way it clung to the foot was particularly excellent.

“The soccer shoes will be finished soon too. Though honestly, I don’t think I need to handle those myself?”

The ball required Vargas’ touch because it was shaped and assembled using potions.

But soccer shoes were different.

I just needed to attach spikes to shoes made of monster leather.

Assembly would probably require setting up a separate factory.

“Good. Leave the rest to me.”

Since I had already instructed Martin on the uniform production, all that was left now was to build the soccer field.

Of course, that would take at least several months.

During that time, I would go on my vacation.

What about player training?

I’ve prepared rulebooks and tactic manuals, so they can learn on their own.

The rest could wait until I returned from the south anyway.

There would be plenty of free time until the stadium was completed.

“Do the experiments in moderation. Also, you can leave the spikes to Theo.”

“You can’t just make them out of ordinary iron. They need to be rust-resistant, light, durable, and safe so people don’t get hurt. Plus they need to provide enough propulsion…”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it. Do it your way.”

“Hehe! Thank you!”

Perhaps because he had more things to experiment on, Vargas was grinning from ear to ear.

I shook my head and was about to leave the laboratory when Vargas suddenly followed me to the entrance.

“You don’t need to see me off?”

“How could I forget something like this? This is a prototype made exclusively for Your Grace, the Duke. Please try them on.”

A pair of soccer shoes was placed before me.

Seeing the family crest engraved on the top, it was clear he had put a lot of effort into them.

“Hah! When did you prepare something like this?”

“In that sense, if you could increase the supply of Dried Cordyceps Pills just a little…”

“Alright. I’ll buy some more while I’m on vacation.”

“Thank you! Your Grace!”

Vargas bowed so deeply that his forehead nearly touched the floor.

I smiled faintly and tried on the soccer shoes.

They fit perfectly from toe to heel.

They seemed shaped exactly to my feet. Despite being hard soccer cleats, they were surprisingly comfortable.

I could easily run out onto the field with them right now.

Should I go out and play myself after so long? Or should I just join as a player?

It would break the balance a bit, but who cares?

As long as it’s fun.