Baron Ian Maxwell (1)
“Our Imperial Army won a great victory against those Nordrin bastards!”
“I heard as well! The modernized forces introduced by His Majesty played a major role, did they not? Truly, His Majesty the Emperor possesses remarkable foresight.”
News that the Imperial Army had crushed the barbarian army and won a great victory quickly reached the imperial capital.
Although the battle had taken place in the north, far from the capital, the people rejoiced as though it were their own victory.
It wasn't simply because of pride in the Empire.
The threat posed by the northern barbarians was that real.
“Thanks to this, we should have a peaceful year. Prices won't skyrocket because of pillaging.”
“I heard some merchants are actually disappointed about that.”
“Hmph, those bastards would rather have an excuse to charge higher prices. Ah, look! The heroes of the northern front are coming!”
When the Crown Prince returned to the imperial capital with the northern army that had fought in the battle, the citizens welcomed them with wild enthusiasm.
The sight of the modernized forces marching triumphantly in precise formation was somewhat unfamiliar, yet undeniably imposing.
“Are those the modernized forces that distinguished themselves this time? They certainly look unusual. Can they really fight dressed like that without proper armor?”
“Those clubs they're carrying… I mean, those ‘guns’ are apparently incredibly powerful. I heard that whenever they fire, there's a thunderclap, and the barbarians drop in heaps.”
“Is that true? I'd almost like to see it myself.”
Amid the people's endless praise, the Crown Prince eventually came to stand before the emperor.
The marching troops halted in perfect order, and even the cheering crowd fell silent.
“You have done well, Crown Prince.”
“Your Majesty.”
“You must be tired, so we shall save the long discussion for later. We have plenty of time.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. However, there is one matter I would like to raise.”
“What is it?”
“Ian Maxwell should also be included among those rewarded for this victory.”
At the Crown Prince's words, the emperor put on a mildly surprised expression.
Not because the suggestion was absurd.
Rather, because he had been thinking the same thing.
“You think so as well?”
“Yes. He will continue to be useful to the Empire in the future. I believe he is a talent who must never be allowed to leave the Empire under any circumstances.”
“I agree. But I am concerned that others may grow jealous of him.”
“No one will dare oppose Your Majesty's will. Moreover, the knights who experienced the battlefield will understand.”
“Even the traditionalist knights?”
“Yes. If anything, they will understand better than anyone.”
Hearing the certainty in the Crown Prince's voice, the emperor saw no reason not to proceed.
Indeed, he too had believed that an appropriate reward would be necessary if they wished to bind Ian more firmly to the Empire.
“Very well. However, granting him too great a reward from the outset would create difficulties in several respects… For now, I shall grant him the title of baron.”
It would, of course, be an honorary title without any territory attached, but it was still a more honorable position than that of the newly ennobled merchants who purchased titles with money.
Compared to Ian's accomplishments, it could even be called a modest reward…
But it was also the greatest reward the emperor could realistically grant him at present.
Anything more would likely provoke too much resistance from the nobility.
“For now, that should be enough.”
The Crown Prince also accepted that limit.
Like the emperor, he intended to make great use of Ian in the future.
If they wished to entrust Ian with greater responsibilities later, they could not become impatient from the very beginning.
They needed to let him contribute to the Empire little by little until everyone acknowledged him.
This reward would be the first step toward that.
***
“I hereby grant Ian Maxwell, mage of the Imperial Magic Development Department, the title of baron. I expect you to continue serving for the glory of the Empire.”
As soon as news of the great victory in the north arrived, I was summoned to the Imperial Palace.
Apparently, my contribution to the war had been recognized.
To be honest, it was a little troublesome.
All I'd done was make a game, yet a commoner's son like me had suddenly risen all the way into the nobility.
I was worried about how everyone around me would react.
Surprisingly, though, there was no need to worry.
“Ian Maxwell? Isn't he the man who created ‘Civilization Development’ and presented it to His Majesty?”
“Indeed. I hear he was granted a title because the ‘Honorlord’ game he made played a decisive role in the victory.”
“Huh, is that really true? Well, Honorlord's combat was remarkably realistic. The claim that the knights used it to devise tactics does not sound entirely ridiculous.”
If anything, the nobles who knew my games seemed to understand why I was being rewarded.
Of course, some probably thought I was a commoner who had risen far too quickly.
But with both the emperor and the Crown Prince supporting me, they couldn't carelessly say such things aloud.
“You are now a noble of the Empire in both name and fact.”
“I am deeply honored, Your Majesty. It is all thanks to Your Majesty's grace.”
“Your own ability brought you here as well, so there is no need to be excessively humble. Still, continue applying yourself. Now that you have begun to soar, the number of people who envy you will only increase.”
I could feel the sincerity in the emperor's advice.
Just as he said, if I became complacent, others would eventually try to undermine or restrain me.
Unfortunately, that was part of what it meant to become a noble.
Honorary nobles in particular, whose advancement depended heavily on imperial favor, were easy targets for envy and jealousy.
“Of course, Your Majesty. I will keep that in mind.”
If I wanted to avoid such problems, I needed to make as many allies as possible.
I absolutely couldn't relax simply because I had the favor of the emperor and the Crown Prince.
Fortunately, I already had a few people who could be considered allies.
For one, Count Terren, head of the Magic Development Department, was on my side, and most of his connections were friendly toward me as well.
The knights introduced to me by the Crown Prince were also almost universally favorable.
Some of the knights belonging to the modernized forces had even come to me personally to establish connections.
As for the traditionalist knights…
Things were slightly more ambiguous there, but they didn't seem to resent me nearly as much as I'd expected.
Perhaps that was because many of the knights who had helped during development had ultimately remained traditionalists.
Still, that wasn't enough.
If I wanted to act more freely in the future, I needed a broader foundation.
“For now, I should get close to people in situations similar to mine.”
At the moment, it would be difficult to directly befriend people whose status was much higher than mine.
Those with truly lofty positions would probably think I wasn't in the same league as them.
In that case, the connections I should target were people around my own level.
Of course, even if their rank was similar, they still needed to possess influence.
People with low titles or positions, but considerable social influence.
There was only one group like that.
Merchants.
***
“It is an honor to meet you, Baron Maxwell.”
A man dressed every bit as splendidly as any noble bowed respectfully to me.
At a glance, his elegant appearance made him look like an aristocrat.
But in noble society, men like him were often shunned.
They were merchants who had purchased titles.
Some had paid enormous sums to the imperial household for honorary titles, while others had effectively bought noble blood by marrying the daughters of fallen aristocratic houses.
In other words, they were the Empire's nouveau nobility.
“The honor is mine, Sir Blackwood. You're a renowned adventurer and great merchant.”
“I am honored that you would say so, but I cannot compare to a great inventor such as yourself.”
“I haven't done enough to deserve a title like that.”
“Surely you jest. Your fame has already spread widely among us merchants.”
“Has it?”
So I'm famous among merchants…
I wasn't sure whether that was a good thing, so I remained a little cautious, but it didn't seem particularly bad.
“Yes. Those ‘games’ that captivated both His Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince are the envy of every merchant now. I have tried them myself, and they were one astonishing experience after another. If only we could produce and sell such goods ourselves, nothing could be better… but I suppose daring to hope for that would simply be greed.”
Sir Blackwood spoke as though subtly hinting at what he wanted.
From his perspective, there probably seemed to be no reason for me, the sole game developer, to let merchants sell my games or reveal the secrets of their production.
Of course, I had no intention of teaching anyone the secret of game development either.
That wasn't even possible in the first place.
It required a certain level of magical mastery.
But ‘development’ was a separate matter from ‘production’ and ‘sales.’
Those needed to be separated.
That was actually why I'd sought out the merchant class.
I wanted to focus on developing games, so I needed other people to handle production and sales if I wanted the games I made to reach more people.
In other words, I wanted to create a proper game market.
The problem was that capitalism hadn't matured much in this world.
Unlike the modern world, I couldn't simply start a company and call it done.
Opening up the market, establishing production processes, building distribution networks—I would have to create everything from scratch.
Naturally, I had no talent for that, so my only choice was to entrust it to someone reliable.
“Sir Blackwood. I'll get straight to the point. I'd like to make a contract with you.”
“A contract…?”
“Contract manufacturing. I'll grant you the right to manufacture the ‘game consoles’ and ‘games’ I create from now on.”
“…! A-Are you serious?”
“Yes. Of course, I'll take substantial royalties. In exchange, I'll give you full authority over production and sales.”
“May I ask… why you would grant me so much?”
Why else?
Obviously because I want to sell more and make more money.
Of course, I did have a more specific goal.
“I want everyone in the Empire to enjoy the games I make.”
“Everyone in the Empire?”
“Yes. Literally everyone, commoners and nobles alike.”
Even now, selling only to nobles made me quite a lot of money.
But somehow, that didn't feel like enough.
Because if I could sell to commoners too, I could make even more.
Of course… many commoners still had little purchasing power, so at first it would probably be limited to urban residents.
But if the Empire continued developing, who knew what might happen?
And money aside…
Part of me genuinely wanted more people to enjoy my games.
What could be more hollow for a developer than making a game only for hardly anyone to play it?
Sure, all I was really doing was plagiarizing masterpiece games.
If anything, that made me even more worried that those masterpieces might simply disappear unnoticed in this world.
“That… will not be easy. Unless I am mistaken, these games are expensive, are they not?”
“That changes if we make the production process more efficient. And you're an expert at doing exactly that, Sir Blackwood.”
I might have been a modern Earthling dropped into another world, but I wasn't some economic tycoon from an alternate-history novel capable of using economics and management theory to single-handedly create a capitalist market.
The best option was to leave it to an expert by this world's standards.
Sir Blackwood, one of the Empire's foremost magnates, was more than qualified.
“I'll handle development. You'll handle production and distribution. We divide the work.”
“I could potentially steal your production secrets…….”
“For a business connected to the imperial household? I doubt you'd want to do that. If you did, you'd become a traitor.”
“O-Of course I have no intention of doing that. Absolutely none.”
“I know. I trust you. More precisely, I trust your ambition.”
He swallowed dryly at my words.
Just as I'd said, he had ambition.
He wanted to make a fortune, certainly, but even more than that, he likely craved a rise in social status.
They were called the ‘nouveau nobility,’ but the term was almost derogatory.
Their only official title was an honorary knighthood that allowed them to be addressed as ‘Sir.’
And even that had merely been bought with money.
A title gained through marriage was effectively limited to the same level.
“If you cooperate with me, perhaps you may eventually obtain what you truly desire.”
Of course, I wasn't making any guarantees.
But right now, I had the full favor of both the emperor and the Crown Prince.
Put another way, I was a promising prospect practically guaranteed to skyrocket while still sitting at an all-time low.
Any merchant with a good eye would want to invest now.
“What will you do? The choice is yours.”
After saying that, I made a show of not caring what answer he gave.
And in truth, even if he refused, there were plenty of people who could replace him.
“Baron.”
Sir Blackwood knelt before me.
“From this day forward, I will serve you as my lord. So long as you do not cast me aside, I will devote my loyalty to you.”
That was a little unexpected.
I'd only been thinking of something like a simple licensing agreement, yet he immediately swore loyalty to me…….
Then again, this was still a world where the class system was alive and well.
Perhaps requesting a liege-vassal relationship with someone you wanted to serve was actually the more natural choice here.
And it wasn't illegal or anything.
Other nobles also kept personal vassals and retainers.
In other words, Sir Blackwood was saying he would stake everything on me.
As long as I continued bringing him benefits, he wouldn't betray me.
In that case, there was no reason to refuse.
“Please accept me as your vassal.”
“I accept your request.”
I accepted him as my vassal, and as a sign of that new relationship, I dropped the formalities and addressed him as a subordinate.
He looked grateful even for that.
“Thank you, my lord!”
“Then we should begin preparing immediately. There is something I need your help with right away.”
“What would that be?”
“Developing the next title.”
At those words, Sir Blackwood's face lit up.
“Your next title…! You are making another one already?”
“It's still only in the planning stage.”
“How may I assist you?”
It hadn't been long since Honorlord was released, but I'd already decided on the next game I wanted to make.
“You know a great deal about seafaring, don't you?”
“Yes. As a merchant, I have engaged in trade, and I have also called myself an adventurer and sailed into distant seas. Thanks to that, I am familiar with most matters concerning the sea.”
“Good. The game I'm making this time will require a great deal of that knowledge.”
“What kind of game is it?”
This game, too, was a masterpiece I'd greatly enjoyed back on Earth.
A masterpiece filled with the romance and dreams of the sea.
‘Age of Great Voyages.’
A masterpiece filled with memories of my childhood.