Princess Maiden (1)
Everyone possesses a childlike innocence when they're young.
There's no rule saying adults can't retain that innocence, but as people grow older, they compromise with reality in one way or another, and eventually that childlike heart fades away.
But what exactly is childlike innocence?
I think it's the ability to feel your heart race with excitement.
The ability to dream about something and feel thrilled by it.
If that's how we define a childlike heart, then people who possess one can't help but be happy.
Simply being able to dream would make them happy.
Yet adults struggle to do something so simple.
They read fairy tales like The Little Prince and resolve never to lose their childlike innocence, but when they're actually told to start dreaming again, they can't.
“In that sense, Princess Maiden was a game that gave people back their childlike hearts.”
A game about raising your daughter into a princess.
Why did a game like that awaken people's childlike innocence?
There was no need for a long explanation.
Because through the game, you raised a child.
From twelve years old to eighteen.
You watched one girl's growth until you reached an ‘ending.’
Some players might successfully raise their daughter into a princess.
Others might see her become something entirely different.
What kind of person the daughter eventually became depended entirely on the player's efforts.
In that sense, perhaps the daughter's future could also be called the player's dream and childlike innocence.
That was why adults and children alike could play this game and experience the same sense of wonder.
The Crown Prince's young daughter would probably love it too.
“But Lord Ian, do you truly intend to sell this game to the public?”
“That's the plan. Is there a problem?”
“No… not exactly. If anything… I think it is a good idea. It is just…….”
“Just?”
Selen hesitated for a moment before continuing.
“No. I suppose it was nothing worth worrying about.”
“Hmm. I don't know what you're worried about, but don't overthink it.”
Selen brushed the matter aside, and I didn't bother pressing her about it.
I wouldn't understand what she'd been worried about until some time after the game was finished.
***
“Looking back, the world really does seem to be changing quickly.”
Jacques, the head of an ordinary commoner household in the Empire, briefly lamented how rapidly the world had been changing lately.
Under normal circumstances, Jacques would have spent his life cultivating his palm-sized plot of farmland and barely managing to feed his family.
But one year, a poor harvest struck, and Jacques had been forced to send his son into the army.
It pained him to send his son, still in the flower of youth, into military service, but there had been no other choice.
Reducing the number of mouths to feed was the only way he could somehow keep his wife and remaining children alive.
Some time later, news arrived that the northern barbarians had invaded again and that the modernized forces had been deployed.
Jacques assumed his son would never return.
But he was wrong.
“Father. I'm back.”
“What? John! You're alive!”
His son, who had joined the modernized forces, returned home.
And he came back wearing an officer's uniform.
Apparently, he'd distinguished himself in battle and become an officer.
“Our family's circumstances are finally starting to improve.”
Once his eldest son returned as an officer, the family's financial situation improved considerably.
While his eldest son had been away, Jacques had worked at sea and saved money, while his wife had done business.
By gradually growing the money they'd accumulated, they'd managed to become fairly well-off by commoner standards.
Jacques thought living like this was good enough.
His wife, however, seemed to think differently.
“Dear, why don't we put a little more effort into raising the younger children?”
One day, when his wife said that, Jacques couldn't help tilting his head.
“What exactly are you suggesting?”
“You know… maybe we could have them study or something…….”
“Study? What nonsense! Just teach them how to work! Son or daughter, that's how all of us were raised!”
Jacques answered firmly.
Study?
Why would they need to study when they could simply learn to work like everyone always had?
“Honestly. Shouldn't our children at least live a somewhat better life than we did?”
“Enough!”
Jacques snapped at her and stormed out of the house.
But his own heart wasn't at ease either.
In truth, with the amount of money his family had accumulated, they could probably afford to educate their children.
“But I don't even know how you're supposed to educate them…….”
The problem was that the very concept of ‘educating your children’ was unfamiliar to him.
This was a world where the average approach was to have sons and daughters, hope they didn't die young, and then put them to work in the fields.
So Jacques had no idea where to even begin.
“Why the long face?”
“Haah… Well, you see……”
One day, Jacques was playing Tetrix with a friend at a tavern that now doubled as an ‘arcade,’ and he began lamenting his problem.
He wanted to raise his children properly, but he had no idea how.
“That certainly sounds troublesome. But have you heard the rumor?”
“What rumor?”
“Baron Ian has apparently made another new game.”
“Another one? We already heard that story last time.”
Baron Ian Maxwell, the ‘Sage of Games.’
Apparently, he'd made yet another game.
Truthfully, Jacques was curious about what kind of game the man had created this time too.
‘The Empire really has changed tremendously because of his games.’
Only a few years ago, people like Jacques had lived trembling in fear of monsters, thieves, bandits, and ruffians.
Now, martial artists and knights hunted such villains down.
When poor harvests struck in the past, there had been few ways for people in the Empire to earn money.
But now commerce had developed, maritime trade had increased, and more jobs were becoming available.
Not every commoner could become wealthy, but hardworking people could at least earn money.
‘It's thanks to that man's games that people like us can live this way now…….’
Jacques felt grateful toward Ian despite never having seen his face.
Then his friend continued.
“They say this game is somewhat special. Apparently, it was made for His Highness the Crown Prince's daughter… Princess Fiona.”
“So what?”
“From what I've heard, it's already popular in the capital. Especially among people with daughters.”
“Hmm? Why?”
“I don't know exactly. I'd have to play it myself to understand. If I get the chance, I'm thinking of buying it too.”
His friend's words sparked Jacques's curiosity.
Popular among people with daughters?
Jacques had a daughter himself, so he naturally wanted to know what sort of game it was.
“Is this the game? 『Princess Maiden』?”
Some time later, Jacques finally managed to obtain a copy.
Princess Maiden (Princess maiden)……
It sounded like a game involving princesses.
But why was it popular among people with daughters?
Curious, he started playing.
And then……
『Daddy! Thank you for raising me so well!』
“Sniff… My daughter grew up so wonderfully……!”
After spending several entire days absorbed in the game and finally reaching the princess ending, Jacques was overwhelmed with emotion.
And he made a decision.
“I'll make sure my daughter grows up well too!”
He would raise his real daughter just as wonderfully as the princess in the game.
That very day, Jacques became an utterly doting father.
It was difficult to call that anything but a good thing.
The problem appeared some time later, when his daughter also played Princess Maiden.
“Daddy! When I grow up, I'm going to defeat the Demon King!”
The childlike dreams of this world's children were far greater than Ian had imagined.
***
“…Just what kind of game did you make?”
Naturally, the Crown Prince summoned me not long afterward.
“So… I made a game where you raise your daughter into a princess.”
“Is that so? Then can you explain why aspiring heroes have begun appearing throughout the Empire?”
“…Technically, the game does have an ending where she defeats the Demon King.”
People sometimes say children are like mirrors.
Literally, they see things and learn from them.
Perhaps……
The Empire's children, overflowing with innocent dreams, had seen the Demon King ending and begun dreaming of defeating the Demon King themselves.
What magnificent childlike innocence.
“But it's not really a problem, is it? That's the kind of dream children normally have.”
“Yes. It would not have been much of a problem… if my own daughter had not started saying the same thing.”
“Ah.”
So Her Highness has some pretty enormous dreams too.
I hadn't realized.
“…Well, I have no intention of blaming you over that. There have actually been some benefits.”
“Benefits?”
“Fiona has become serious about her studies. When I told her, ‘If you want to defeat the Demon King, you need to study hard just like in the game,’ she accepted it immediately.”
Ah.
So the game successfully handled his parenting for him.
Should I be happy about that or not……?
“Fiona has never been this enthusiastic about studying and training before… so honestly, I consider that a good thing. My wife is pleased as well.”
“Then there is no problem……?”
“Of course there is. She insists that when she grows up, she absolutely wants to defeat the Demon King.”
“Ah.”
Had I underestimated a child's imagination too much?
Apparently, the princess had become far too influenced by the game.
Still, dreams like that usually disappeared as children grew older, so perhaps there wasn't much reason to worry.
……Though saying that did remind me of one concerning possibility.
The games I created had repeatedly manifested ‘magical possibilities.’
The magic contained within games distorted or created phenomena, causing things that happened in games to become possible in reality.
Something along those lines.
What if the princess……
actually ended up becoming a hero?
For a moment, even I couldn't help worrying.
There was nothing good about a princess of an entire nation voluntarily throwing herself into such dangerous work.
More accurately, it wouldn't be good for anyone, princess or not.
And from the looks of things, the children playing my ‘Princess Maiden’ were all being influenced by the game somehow.
“I hope it will pass as well… but Fiona is a stubborn child, so I am worried. In any case, there is one other matter I wished to discuss with you.”
“What is it, Your Highness?”
“His Majesty has recently become very interested in ‘education.’”
“Education?”
“Yes. His Majesty and I both believe that if the nation is to grow stronger and wealthier, we must now turn our attention to education. It appeared in ‘Civilization Development’ as well.”
Of course education was necessary for a nation to grow wealthy and powerful.
Education was one of the fastest paths toward modernization.
The problem was that implementing it was nowhere near as easy as saying it.
Nobles paid some attention to educating their heirs, but even they didn't all possess systematic educational systems.
At best, they hired private tutors.
Commoners?
Most of them probably didn't even understand what the word education meant.
Of course, schools existed in this world……
Academies, in other words.
But attending one required a considerable amount of money.
And even people who possessed that money rarely sent their children there, because they didn't feel any real need for education in the first place.
“So His Majesty actually sees this incident as an opportunity. People have begun taking an interest in educating their children. Thanks to your game.”
That was true.
Princess Maiden.
Or ‘PM,’ for short.
It had sold extraordinarily well even among the people of this world.
It was a proven masterpiece, after all.
As a result, something of an education craze was already beginning.
The only question was how many people would actually start flooding into the Academies.
“So we intend to use this opportunity to reform the Empire's education system.”
“I see… That sounds like a good thing.”
“Indeed. It is a good thing. And I would like you to contribute to that good cause.”
“…? Me?”
“Naturally.”
The Crown Prince smiled broadly.
“We have created an Honorary Professor position at the newly reorganized Academy. Go there and shape the Empire's future with your own hands.”
Somehow, I'd suddenly ended up on the verge of becoming an Academy professor.