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.
Iโll 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 โknight games,โ swinging around sticks or throwing stones at each other in something called โstone battles,โ which was about as barbaric as it gets.
And the girls? They played house with wooden dolls, didnโt 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?
Itโs obvious.
You donโt need to pretend to be a knight when you can become one in the game.
You donโt need to play house when you can become a parent in the game.
No one could resist getting hooked.
โIโm home.โ
โAh, welcome back.โ
I finally returned homeโฆ well, not really home, more like Francisโs villa where Iโm staying as a guest, but still, I returned.
When I saw Francis after a weekโฆ
โGah, take that!โ
She was endlessly playing the gameโฆ
The game console I released this time is a handheld gaming device.
It comes preloaded with a falling block puzzle game called โTetross,โ and weโve also released several types of software.
First and foremost, thereโs the game I based on the classic 2D action game Rackman โ The Adventures of Arthur the Magic Knight.
Everyone knows Rackman, right? A humanoid robot with an energy cannon for an arm who fights evil robotsโฆ itโs that kind of action game.
However, in this world, where even vacuum tubes donโt exist, robots wouldnโt 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! Itโs 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. Itโs 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-stopโฆ
โGah, take that! Ah! I messed up againโฆ hey, Exus? How do I beat the โDark Knight Sullivanโ?โ
โFor Sullivan, you should first defeat the โElder Lichโ and learn the fire spell โProminence Edge.โ That will help.โ
โReally?! Can I tell my friends too?!โ
โSure, go ahead.โ
โYay!โ
And thatโs 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 โgaming addicts.โ
Of course, I donโt know about that.
I have no responsibility in that matter.
If someone becomes addicted to games, itโs their own fault, right?
In fact, Iโd 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.
โOh, Exus?โ
The one who casually spoke to me was Zess Haul.
Heโs 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 heโs surprisingly easygoing.
And he had a gaming console in his hand.
The game he was playing was โDragon Emblem.โ
This is a knockoff of a certain famous fantasy strategy game I made.
Of course, the story is entirely original. Itโs just the game system thatโs similar.
It seems that even in this fantasy world, fantasy games work well.
Moreover, strategy games have greatly captured the interest of the nobles.
Theyโre seen as intellectual pastimes.
The story, which I wrote, is quite serious.
One reason itโs 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 clichรฉ and boring templateโฆ
โThatโs an incredible storyโฆ! The part where โOld Knight Baldwinโ protects โPrince Charlesโ with his own life to help him escape the enemyโฆ I was truly moved.โ
The game received high praise.
Itโs no wonder. There arenโt any major stories in this world to establish story templates.
In a society where even paper-making isnโt properly developed, publishing books is rareโฆ
Books are basically limited to academic texts and scriptures, with stories mostly recorded in legends.
Printing technology doesnโt exist, so many people donโt even know those legends.
Oral traditions have changed over time and lost their original formโฆ
In other words, if story templates are to be made, itโs up to me to create them.
In fact, Iโve already done so.
For example, โthe holy sword that only the chosen one can pull from the ground,โ โthe veteran soldier who dies protecting the young protagonist,โ or โthe Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon Armyโโฆ
Also, โthe Four Heavenly Kings who resurrect in the final stages,โ or โdefeating a fallen parentโโthose kinds of story templatesโฆ
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.
โOh, itโs young Exus.โ
โWow.โ
Does she have one tooโฆ?
โJust right, Iโd like to hear a bit about this.โ
Ah, sheโs interested in the mechanism.
It seems sheโs playing several types of puzzle games, but sheโs more curious about the structure of the gaming console.
Well, since she probably canโt copy it, I guess itโs okay to explain the basicsโฆ
โThis is, first, binary numbers controlled by the on-off magicโฆโ
โI seeโฆ so, what about this partโฆโ
โOh, thatโs called a random number generatorโฆโ
โYouโve thought this through well, so this part isโฆโ
โWell, roughly speaking, itโs like this. Strictly speaking, itโs set up like thisโฆโ
Yeah, talking to someone intelligent is enjoyable and educational.