Sea of Romance (2)
“Once again, the results are remarkable.”
Emperor Kalbrant II smiled with satisfaction as he looked over the imperial household's recently swelling finances.
After Sir Blackwood returned to the Empire carrying an astonishing amount of treasure, everyone began heading out to sea.
Merchants and nobles who realized there was money to be made on the ocean invested in creating fleets, while commoners seeking advancement volunteered to become sailors.
And nine times out of ten, those who went to sea returned with great fortunes.
Unlike before, when people had been reluctant to venture even into nearby waters because of pirates, now they sailed into distant seas, traded with natives in unexplored lands, or conducted commerce with faraway countries. Doing so almost never resulted in a loss.
Of course, some encountered typhoons, ran aground, or suffered other accidents and never returned……
But everyone seemed intoxicated by the romance of the sea and showed no fear of setting sail.
And most returned with tremendous wealth and fame.
All of it was thanks to ‘Age of Great Voyages.’
Once again, it was because of a game Ian had made.
“Ian Maxwell… If he intended all of this, then that man truly is a genius.”
The concepts of enormous ships and naval cannons had already appeared in ‘Civilization Development,’ but ‘Age of Great Voyages’ was what had actually driven people out to sea.
It was a game that manipulated people's yearning and romantic fascination with the sea almost frighteningly well.
“As expected, that man is an irreplaceable treasure to the Empire. The problem is… it would be difficult to reward him for this particular matter.”
The best option would have been to raise his title further, but Ian had only recently been made a baron.
Moreover, the person who had directly distinguished himself this time was Sir Blackwood, not Ian.
Of course, Ian had probably been the one who taught Blackwood the designs for the ships and naval cannons……
But for some reason, Ian wasn't trying to make that fact known.
He had probably chosen to restrain himself this time out of concern for the jealousy of the surrounding nobles.
“A pity, but I should refrain this time. Perhaps I will have the Crown Prince reward him appropriately instead.”
He couldn't grant Ian another title, but if the Crown Prince gave him some suitable compensation, it wouldn't be the emperor personally rewarding him, so the nobles would have little grounds to complain.
“Good. I suppose that will be enough work for today. I want to see Catalina's ending.”
The emperor had fallen just as deeply for the romance of the sea as everyone else.
***
“I really didn't expect things to turn out like this…….”
The Empire had been incredibly noisy lately.
Everyone was desperate to go to sea.
Commoners without money were volunteering as sailors one after another, hoping to make a fortune overnight, while wealthy merchants and nobles competed to invest in expeditions and trading fleets.
In itself, this was actually good for the Empire.
Until recently, seafaring had been shunned as a lowly occupation that was likely to get you killed, and trade hadn't been particularly active either.
But now joint-stock companies were being established, and even securities markets were beginning to form around them.
Investors who put money into those companies received a share of the profits from each voyage.
Given enough time, other types of investments would probably appear as well.
“The problem is that people say piracy is increasing…….”
Blackwood himself had made money through piracy.
He'd proudly told me about it himself, which had left me feeling more than a little bewildered.
It wasn't even a joke.
These days, people had started calling the act of obtaining trade goods in exchange for cannonballs ‘Imperial-style diplomacy.’
At this rate, it seemed painfully obvious that things were going to develop into imperialism.
Of course, it wasn't like I felt guilty about it or anything.
All I'd done was make a game.
The purpose of a game was to entertain gamers, not teach them moral lessons.
How they interpreted it was up to the gamers themselves.
In my previous life, there had been some developers who got those things confused during the political-correctness craze……
But I wasn't one of them, so I didn't feel particularly guilty.
Of course, piracy and imperialism were still bad.
There were also undeniably positive changes created by Age of Great Voyages.
True to the game's original purpose of portraying the romance of the sea, sailors had become far more popular than before.
Originally, they would've been regarded as drunken ruffians who spent every day drinking in port.
After Age of Great Voyages became popular, however, their reputation transformed into that of brave and romantic adventurers.
As their reputation changed, their own behavior gradually changed as well.
They became friendlier toward people, regaled them with tales of adventure while drinking free liquor, and even began dressing neatly like the dashing characters from the game.
Ridiculously enough, the barmaids at the inns benefited as well.
Nobles completely intoxicated by Age of Great Voyages deliberately sought out harbor inns, flirted with the barmaids, and showered them with gifts.
With the barmaids receiving piles of presents and the inns themselves enjoying booming business as a result, innkeepers sometimes fought viciously over hiring pretty young women as barmaids.
“Besides that, a proper navy has been established, and producing trade goods is naturally developing commerce and industry, which is making people's lives more comfortable.”
Now that a proper navy existed, the coasts no longer had to constantly fear threats from northern barbarians or pirates.
As the economy developed, people's quality of life naturally improved as well.
Even if that prosperity was built on someone else's blood……
That wasn't something I alone could change or do anything about.
Besides, even though I retained the memories of a modern person, I was now a citizen of the Empire.
I couldn't simply condemn the Empire's development outright.
“Maybe all I can do is keep making better games.”
I had no idea what kinds of changes the games I made in the future would cause, or whether those changes would be positive for the Empire or the world.
But I wouldn't deny the possibilities those changes could create.
Just as interpreting a game was the gamer's choice, whatever changes it caused in the world were the responsibility of the people living in this world.
I was only giving them the opportunity.
So I had no intention of stopping making games.
No matter what happened.
“Then what should I make next…? Plenty of things come to mind.”
There were countless masterpiece games I could recreate, but choosing just one right now was difficult.
And simply picking something at random……
That didn't feel right either.
I needed some kind of motivation for development.
What sort of game would be more interesting to make?
“This time… should I try something a little more ambitious?”
For the next game, I wanted to make up for something my previous games had lacked.
In my opinion, what my games had lacked so far was ‘narrative.’
‘Civilization Development’ was inherently limited in terms of story because it was a strategy simulation.
‘Honorlord’ also had no fixed story, instead using a structure where the gamer created their own narrative.
‘Age of Great Voyages’ had stronger story elements, but in exchange, its action and graphical elements had been reduced.
Because of the technical limitations involved in keeping the price affordable, I'd had to make it with 2D graphics.
So this time, I intended to capture all three.
‘Story,’ ‘action,’ and ‘graphics.’
Normally, a work that succeeded at all of those was called a masterpiece.
And I knew quite a few games considered masterpieces.
“If I had to choose one among them… it has to be that.”
A game that had succeeded in story, action, and graphics alike.
“Witch Hunter.”
A masterpiece from a famous Polish game company.
***
‘Witch Hunter’ was a game based on a Polish fantasy novel.
The basic premise went something like this.
The protagonist was a ‘Witch Hunter,’ created through special mutation experiments and brutal training, who became entangled with various people and experienced all kinds of incidents.
Its story and worldbuilding, based on the original novel, blended extremely well with its action and graphics, earning it recognition as a masterpiece.
In truth, plenty of games in similar genres had been attempted before Witch Hunter.
But in many respects, none of them had managed to reach the same level of quality.
First of all, Witch Hunter had introduced a real-time solo combat system.
Before that, turn-based systems involving a party of companions had been popular due to the heavy influence of TRPGs.
Witch Hunter broke away from that framework and presented a dynamic combat system focused on the protagonist.
Its story likewise focused on the protagonist's personal narrative, while its graphics showed an advanced level of quality.
And systems incorporating various intriguing elements of the setting drew gamers in even further.
This time, I intended to attempt something like that.
“The problem is… copying this one exactly would be difficult.”
It wasn't that I'd suddenly started feeling guilty about plagiarism.
The problem was the same one I'd encountered with authenticity while making Age of Great Voyages.
In other words, just as Age of Great Voyages had been set in fifteenth-century Europe on Earth and had needed appropriate localization here, Witch Hunter could produce the same sense of incongruity for gamers.
Of course, Witch Hunter's setting was already a fictional fantasy even on Earth.
But even in this fantasy-like world, it could still feel like fantasy.
The thing about fantasy, though, was that it required a certain degree of ‘shared understanding.’
Just because something was fantasy didn't mean it could be filled with nothing but absurd and completely alien ideas.
The elements people found entertaining in fantasy were often things that were actually familiar and relatable.
For example, even the Ring of Kings series might seem like nothing more than pure imagination, but its elements drew motifs from numerous myths and legends, reinterpreting material that people already recognized as fantastical.
Afterward, The Lord of the Rings became a standard for fantasy, branching out into countless other fantasy works and forms of media.
But in this world……
Unfortunately, the very concept of ‘fantasy’ as a genre was still extremely weak.
Folktales and myths existed, but as far as I knew, there were no works that used them to construct fantasy narratives.
In other words, if I copied Witch Hunter's story exactly as it was, people would probably react with, “What the hell is this?”
“Of course, everything has to start somewhere, so I could be the first…….”
But doing that would require an extraordinary amount of effort.
I'd have to put in work on a completely different level from everything I'd done so far.
And there was no way I could do that alone.
Once again, I'd need help from renowned experts in various fields.
But with my personal connections, inviting all of those people would be difficult.
Even if my reputation had grown great enough to knock birds out of the sky, there was no guarantee those proud experts would agree to come.
“If that is the problem, do not worry! I will send you everyone you need.”
While I was worrying about that, Crown Prince Kyle suddenly appeared and solved the problem for me.
Come to think of it, this man had been visiting me far too often lately.
He showed up so frequently that he felt less like the Crown Prince and more like some older guy from the neighborhood.
“Will that really be all right? They're all rather proud people in one way or another…….”
“They will hardly defy an imperial command. And if anything, I imagine they will want to come. They are probably all desperate to test your genius for themselves.”
Ugh.
That's even worse.
I'm not actually some kind of genius.
If they seriously examined me in detail, they'd see through my actual level in one second.
“So do not concern yourself with such things and focus on making the game. I am looking forward to it as well!”
But I couldn't refuse the Crown Prince's goodwill.
I had no choice but to accept his offer.
And then……
“My silver sword cuts monsters, and my steel sword cuts men. Today, it seems there will be no need to distinguish between the two.”
“Toss the hunter a coin. One coin, and I will kill whatever troubles you.”
“I am neither a good man nor an evil one. I am merely a hunter who kills monsters.”
…a whole crowd of people who had gotten far too immersed in it appeared.