Actually, there were several issues with Academy students diving straight into Monopoly.
Monopoly is a board game that easily takes hours per round, and there was only one set in the Astron dormitory. Plus, the rules are quite complex for a strategy game, so it naturally took time to get used to.
Still, there were three reasons why Monopoly shook up the entire Academy.
“Wait, these are all the rules? Compared to Kill the King, this is practically a textbook-level game.”
“So, you’re not gonna play? It’s a board game donated to the Academy by Kyle Byron himself.”
“Kyle Byron or whatever, you Westerners might know him, but we Easterners don’t… Ugh, fine, I guess we have no choice.”
“That’s because there are way more Westerners than Eastern snobs, right?”
“Yeah, you got it, punk.”
The first reason was Kyle Byron’s reputation. To be precise, it was because a lot of students at the Academy were from the West.
While Kyle Byron’s name was slowly gaining recognition across the Empire alongside the popularity of Abracadabra, created by Arkhé Magic Tower, his fame was still mostly limited to the West. But since about 40% of the Academy students were from the West, it wasn’t a big issue.
The student ratio by region changes every year, so this was purely a stroke of luck.
With so many Western students, trends at the Academy were often led by the West, and as Western students showed great interest in Kyle Byron’s board games, others naturally followed suit.
“Hmm, so this is the event chosen by Astron, huh?”
“Board games… Monopoly. It looks pretty complicated at first glance, but it’s surprisingly simple.”
“The lack of any magical elements is bothering me. Is this really okay as a competition event?”
“On the other hand, doesn’t this mean that the high-and-mighty Lukesil has been pushed to rely on a brainy board game? Let’s see. If she still ends up last after all this… we can talk about it then.”
“Well, at least this should get us out of last place…”
The second reason was that the Academy professors didn’t react too badly either.
Since it was a magic-focused Academy, competition events had always been related to magic, like magical battles or demonstrations. But Lukesil of Astron broke that unwritten rule.
Still, the professors understood. They couldn’t ignore the fact that Astron had been in last place for five consecutive years, now going on six.
At first, they could laugh it off or joke about Lukesil’s wallet, but after five years of Astron being in last place, even the professors were tiptoeing around her. No matter how competitive the towers were, hardly any professor could mock Lukesil as she grew visibly thinner.
But they couldn’t just tell students to lose to Astron on purpose, nor was it appropriate to suggest a team event just to accommodate Astron. After all, their own first place was what mattered most.
Besides, even if they did a team event, there was no guarantee Astron would escape last place. Five years of being last had lowered the quality of students choosing Astron.
Considering the Academy only has three grades, some students spent their entire academic career in last place. The chances of top talents choosing Astron after that were extremely low.
So, while they felt sorry for Astron, when Lukesil broke the unwritten rule and brought in a board game, no professor could refuse that level of consideration.
At least with this, they could escape last place.
“Hey, but isn’t this taking too long? There’s only a week left until the competition, and at this rate, we won’t even get through 10 people.”
“That’s true. But just looking at the rules…”
“A game that takes hours… If I want to play after class, can I manage one round a day? How many students are waiting now?”
“Why are you so worried? Did you forget what kind of people are gathered in this dorm hall?”
“Huh?”
“Astron and Glesia! And you Arkhé guys, come out! You know the magic to speed up perceived time, right? There’s that joint magic from the three fields we learned recently, remember?”
“Are you insane? That’s Great Magic! At our level, it would take over 100 people just to speed up the perceived time for three or four people! That’s a really stupid idea!”
“So, you’re not going to do it?”
“Let’s do it right now.”
In the end, it was because all the Academy students were magicians.
If they were ordinary people, it would have taken them weeks to play Monopoly, but compared to those who entered the Magic Tower, they were still at a cultural level, but they were also magicians.
Astron defined the space around Monopoly as a different dimension, Glesia isolated that space with ice, and Arkhé confused the sense of time.
As a result, over 100 students had to maintain the magic, but they created a space where the perceived time around Monopoly sped up several times.
Thanks to that, Monopoly, which used to take hours, could now be finished in just 30 minutes of real time.
“What? The students managed to perform Great Magic to speed up their perceived time on their own?”
“These lovely kids! Let’s go help them right now! They’re future graduate students!”
“Enough, let’s just go help. I’m personally curious about that Monopoly board game anyway.”
“Then don’t hunt… I mean, don’t recruit! We’re short-handed as it is!”
“…No, that’s not it.”
Moreover, the professors who heard the news helped the students with pure(?) intentions.
Now, they could finish a game of Monopoly in just 10 minutes, and some professors even canceled classes and told students to go play Monopoly, saying it helped their magic skills.
With all this luck and environment overlapping, finally, any Academy student could play Monopoly whenever they wanted.
“I’m building a hotel.”
“Hey! That’s all your assets!”
“If I don’t get caught, it’s fine, right? But if I do, it’s 1500 gold.”
“This is crazy… Please! Argh!!”
“Haha! Give me 1500 gold!”
“No, this makes everything I’ve done so far meaningless! A single click on a hotel and it’s a reversal…!?”
The Academy soon fell into the frenzy of Monopoly.
During meetings, one person from each of the six fields would play, so students also played Monopoly in groups of six.
Naturally, like in Monopoly, only one or two of them were smiling happily, while the rest ended the game filled with excitement and frustration.
And the students, or rather, the magicians.
“Hey, it’s just fake money, right? You can lose, so don’t get too immersed.”
“Fine, you won. I admit it.”
“Oh, finally admitting it?”
“But will this fireball admit you!?”
Boom!!
They had no intention of holding back, and they didn’t.
It was common for attack spells to fly during Monopoly, and many even headed straight to the magic duel arena right after the game ended.
Although the ‘Beggar Archmage,’ who served as the Academy’s headmaster, had forbidden killing within the Academy using Great Magic, causing burns or fractures was still possible.
But that was never a problem.
Injuries of that level were common in traditional magic duels or team battles. Since magicians were the empire’s top talents, follow-up measures like recovery were always ensured.
The real problem was Monopoly itself.
“Monopoly is the devil’s board game! Kyle Byron, who made this, must be the devil!”
“Isn’t that just because you lost three times in a row?”
“No, it’s not!!”
“Then go play Kill the King or something. Isn’t that the real board game you guys claim to love when you gather around?”
“…But it’s not fun. Kill the King doesn’t give the same vibe as Monopoly!”
A game where if six people play, five end up venting their frustration. The unpleasantness of being helplessly tossed around and losing.
And yet, the overwhelming joy of overcoming all that and seizing victory.
That’s why students who’ve experienced Monopoly curse at it but still cling to it.
Monopoly was fundamentally different from static board games like Kill the King.
Thus, the Academy became deeply engrossed in Monopoly.
If nothing could provide the same thrill as Monopoly.
Then the best approach was to research and find strategies to win.
“This isn’t a jail. You can still participate in auctions from jail, right? Isn’t it practically a privilege to avoid landing on other properties for three turns…?”
“Are you a genius? Jail, jail is the answer!”
“Hey, can’t we manipulate the dice with magic? Those Astron or Arkhé guys could probably do it.”
“If I could use magic without getting caught while students and professors are watching, I’d be the Archmage.”
“How about we just prevent anyone from monopolizing? Players agree not to monopolize and just buy properties, playing with only basic toll fees!”
“Did you forget you get 200 gold every lap? Without buildings, properties are worth at most 50 gold. What do we do with all the accumulating money?”
New strategies are discovered, attempts are made to manipulate with magic, and some even come up with bizarre ideas.
And the professors weren’t much different.
“Building limits… This rule makes it impossible to build freely. Sometimes, building hotels might even be a loss.”
“Did one person really create a game with this much depth? Why hasn’t such a genius been recognized until now?”
“Arkhé Magic Tower got lucky. They secured this talent to create Abracadabra…”
“Quite intriguing. Since the assembly is just a few days away, let’s just cancel the lectures. Students are skipping classes to focus on Monopoly anyway, so let’s give them a break.”
“Even so, that’s a bit much, isn’t it?”
“Coming from someone who delayed a lecture by an hour to play Monopoly, that’s rich.”
Under the pretext of preparing for the assembly, professors who got hooked on Monopoly even canceled all lectures until the assembly.
At this point, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that every student and professor in the Academy’s magic department was playing Monopoly.
Even those who weren’t personally interested in or didn’t enjoy Monopoly were paying attention to it in some way because it was a category in the ‘assembly.’
The Astron dormitory hall, where Monopoly was set up, was always packed with students and professors, and the magic duel arena was similarly overbooked.
And so.
The day of the assembly arrived.
*
“Is this really the right thing?”
Lukesil sighed as she looked down at the Astron dormitory from her office.
The Astron dormitory, packed with students and professors, was on the verge of bursting on the day of the gathering. As a result, the Monopoly game set up in the hall was moved to the auditorium.
Even so, perhaps because of the memories of gathering in the Astron dormitory to play Monopoly and conduct research, the students chatted about all sorts of things while waiting.
But it was definitely not a peaceful scene.
“I know it sounds weird to say this, but don’t you think Astron might have blackmailed Kyle Byron? Otherwise, there’s no way such a devilish game could’ve come out.”
“Huh? Isn’t the Kyle Byron story a lie? Didn’t Astron make a deal with the devil to escape being last place for five years in a row and get this game?”
“Whether it’s Kyle Byron or the devil, the fact that Astron brought it doesn’t change. Professor Lukesil, I didn’t expect this from you……….”
“Hey! I’m about to have a magic duel with this jerk! Anyone wanna be the referee? The losing condition is two or more fractures!”
“Two fractures? Is that even a duel? Just don’t duel at all.”
“It’s the gathering day, and the duel arena is still packed? I don’t mind the duels, but can’t we just settle it with Monopoly later?”
“………Why does that sound like a good idea?”
Slander against Astron, and magic duels that had somehow become the norm.
Even though the duels, which caused painful injuries (though not fatal), were avoided, they were revitalized thanks to Monopoly. Some students even formed a Monopoly club, taking it so seriously.
The Academy was slowly being consumed by Monopoly, and even the professors, who were supposed to stop it, were preparing research papers, calling it an interesting subject.
Could we really just stand by and watch this devilish game swallow the Academy?
Of course, the one who accepted Kyle’s proposal to “publicize Monopoly” had no intention of stopping it.
“Now that it’s come to this.”
Only first place matters now.
Since it felt like the Academy had been sacrificed, Lukesil didn’t aim to escape sixth place.
‘After all, I’ve been taught strategies and tips by that devil.’
Only first place. And an overwhelming one at that.
That was the only way to break Astron’s vicious cycle.
Being consistently last meant new students avoided Astron, there were still no standout talents, and they couldn’t even compete in the one-on-one matches that dominated the gatherings.
Moreover, Astron’s students were either drowning in defeatism or being subtly mocked by students from other fields.
Lukesil had made a deal with the devil to break this cycle.
“Please……!!”
Today, on the day of the gathering.
Everything would be decided.
A sense of tension and anxiety overwhelmed her, knowing she had to win.
“Ah, Lukesil! I brought some corn chips and drinks! Let’s go watch together!”
“………….”
Only Kyle Byron was smiling purely.
