Smooth sailing.
Everything is going smoothly.
The gaming console has shown an unbelievable amount of sales, and within a week of its release, everyone in town, including the nobles, owned one.
I’ll say it again, selling gaming consoles in this entertainment-starved world is absurdly profitable.
Think about it for a moment.
How was the cold village where I was born and raised?
What did the kids around me play with?
The boys mostly played ‘knight games,’ swinging around sticks or throwing stones at each other in something called ‘stone battles,’ which was about as barbaric as it gets.
And the girls? They played house with wooden dolls, didn’t they?
Other than that, there was hide-and-seek and tag, right?
As for adults, if you went to the tavern at night, they were always playing dice gambling.
Nobles had more strategic games like backgammon, or noble pastimes like hunting.
Now imagine introducing a video game, with brightly colored screens where you can freely control all sorts of characters, into a world like this. What do you think would happen?
It’s obvious.
You don’t need to pretend to be a knight when you can become one in the game.
You don’t need to play house when you can become a parent in the game.
No one could resist getting hooked.
“I’m home.”
“Ah, welcome back.”
I finally returned home… well, not really home, more like Francis’s villa where I’m staying as a guest, but still, I returned.
When I saw Francis after a week…
“Gah, take that!”
She was endlessly playing the game…
The game console I released this time is a handheld gaming device.
It comes preloaded with a falling block puzzle game called ‘Tetross,’ and we’ve also released several types of software.
First and foremost, there’s the game I based on the classic 2D action game Rackman — The Adventures of Arthur the Magic Knight.
Everyone knows Rackman, right? A humanoid robot with an energy cannon for an arm who fights evil robots… it’s that kind of action game.
However, in this world, where even vacuum tubes don’t exist, robots wouldn’t make any sense.
So, I kept the game mechanics the same but changed the character sprites and story. The game is now about a handsome mage setting off on a journey to defeat the evil demon lord! It’s been altered into something like that.
The main character, Arthur, with his blond hair, longsword, and staff, has to clear nine stages and defeat nine bosses to win. It’s a simple game.
Arthur can move left and right, jump, slide, and attack with a sword or magic (fireballs). His unique feature is that he gains new abilities after defeating each boss.
Francis is completely obsessed with the game and plays it non-stop…
“Gah, take that! Ah! I messed up again… hey, Exus? How do I beat the ‘Dark Knight Sullivan’?”
“For Sullivan, you should first defeat the ‘Elder Lich’ and learn the fire spell ‘Prominence Edge.’ That will help.”
“Really?! Can I tell my friends too?!”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Yay!”
And that’s how it is.
But, someone like Francis, who plays in moderation, is rare.
Apparently, some people have even started skipping work or pulling all-nighters just to play games, becoming ‘gaming addicts.’
Of course, I don’t know about that.
I have no responsibility in that matter.
If someone becomes addicted to games, it’s their own fault, right?
In fact, I’d rather they get hooked and buy up all the related products.
I plan to work on media mixes and related books in the future.
I went to school.
“Oh, Exus?”
The one who casually spoke to me was Zess Haul.
He’s the heir to the renowned House Haul, known for its many warriors.
I had presented a new magic I created in a magic class recently, and it seems he decided it was usable and has been approaching me frequently since then.
He has a fierce appearance with his three white eyes and large build, but he’s surprisingly easygoing.
And he had a gaming console in his hand.
The game he was playing was ‘Dragon Emblem.’
This is a knockoff of a certain famous fantasy strategy game I made.
Of course, the story is entirely original. It’s just the game system that’s similar.
It seems that even in this fantasy world, fantasy games work well.
Moreover, strategy games have greatly captured the interest of the nobles.
They’re seen as intellectual pastimes.
The story, which I wrote, is quite serious.
One reason it’s been well-received might be that I used the myths and legends of this world, learned from my tutor, Margaret, as a model.
From the perspective of someone like me, from modern Japan, the story is a rather cliché and boring template…
“That’s an incredible story…! The part where ‘Old Knight Baldwin’ protects ‘Prince Charles’ with his own life to help him escape the enemy… I was truly moved.”
The game received high praise.
It’s no wonder. There aren’t any major stories in this world to establish story templates.
In a society where even paper-making isn’t properly developed, publishing books is rare…
Books are basically limited to academic texts and scriptures, with stories mostly recorded in legends.
Printing technology doesn’t exist, so many people don’t even know those legends.
Oral traditions have changed over time and lost their original form…
In other words, if story templates are to be made, it’s up to me to create them.
In fact, I’ve already done so.
For example, ‘the holy sword that only the chosen one can pull from the ground,’ ‘the veteran soldier who dies protecting the young protagonist,’ or ‘the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon Army’…
Also, ‘the Four Heavenly Kings who resurrect in the final stages,’ or ‘defeating a fallen parent’—those kinds of story templates…
Oh, by the way, the story of this game is about the prince of a fallen kingdom defeating the evil empire and restoring the kingdom.
Since I was at school, I decided to visit the headmistress.
“Oh, it’s young Exus.”
“Wow.”
Does she have one too…?
“Just right, I’d like to hear a bit about this.”
Ah, she’s interested in the mechanism.
It seems she’s playing several types of puzzle games, but she’s more curious about the structure of the gaming console.
Well, since she probably can’t copy it, I guess it’s okay to explain the basics…
“This is, first, binary numbers controlled by the on-off magic…”
“I see… so, what about this part…”
“Oh, that’s called a random number generator…”
“You’ve thought this through well, so this part is…”
“Well, roughly speaking, it’s like this. Strictly speaking, it’s set up like this…”
Yeah, talking to someone intelligent is enjoyable and educational.
