Larven's outskirts, a racetrack.
Warm afternoon sunlight filtered through the enormous glass dome, gilding the circling pegasi in brilliant gold.
Pegasus racing was a sporting activity far more expensive than ordinary horse racing.
Calling it a sport was perhaps a little strange, though. In this activity, the horse's qualities mattered far more than who rode it.
As magical creatures, pegasi had long gone extinct in the wild. From the perspective of biological evolution, they were a spectacularly failed species.
Their average wingspan exceeded three meters, yet it was not enough to lift their heavy bodies into the air and could only serve as assistance. Their ability to fly actually depended more on magic.
Unfortunately, pegasi lacked the ability to gather magical power and had to store it by consuming plants containing magic.
Beautiful flawed products.
That was the evaluation the orc tribes who first discovered pegasi gave the species, and it remained the same to this day.
Of course, the orcs' original wording had been more direct. "Beautiful flawed products" was the polished translation.
What they actually said was, "Fancy-looking trash."
So what kind of group would be deeply interested in beautiful flawed products?
Without question, nobles with nothing better to do all day.
Perhaps pegasi's elegance, beauty, utter lack of survival ability, and lack of practical use struck a chord with the aesthetic tastes of some nobles.
In any case, pegasus racing became the most popular competition among the nobility.
They did not personally ride the pegasi. Instead, they raised entire clubs responsible for training riders, caring for the horses, purchasing and breeding them, and entering competitions.
A racehorse that needed magical plants as feed year-round could easily cost hundreds of thousands of kroner. Therefore, anyone who could afford to maintain an entire club belonged to the absolute upper