A New Game (2)
“You want to spar with us? Oh, gladly! For a mage to challenge knights to a spar, you are a bolder fellow than you look!”
“No… I meant through a game, not in person.”
The knights were delighted at the word sparring.
Of course, they were somewhat disappointed when they heard it would be through a game.
“A game… I managed to get my hands on that ‘Civilization Development’ game you made and tried it, but the combat in that one was rather simple.”
“This will be quite different from that. I think you'll probably like it.”
“Now that sounds promising. A new game from the man who captivated the emperor.”
What kind of weird title is that?
Anyone overhearing it could easily get the wrong idea.
Still, I didn't bother pointing it out and led them to where the game consoles had been set up.
The game consoles contained a beta version of Honorlord.
The entire game wasn't finished yet. For testing purposes, I'd only recreated the Custom Battle feature.
Using the multiplayer function, nearby game consoles could also be linked together for simple duels.
“Incredible! You recreated combat this realistically?!”
It was still difficult to show them the full scope of Honorlord's gameplay, but even this was more than enough to satisfy the knights.
“This is genuinely impressive. The troop types are divided realistically. Their roles are reflected well too.”
“However, the knights' combat strength seems somewhat underestimated. This looks about the level of rookies or those still in the middle of training.”
“Most knights are around that level in general, so I do not think we should judge it too harshly.”
Their overall evaluation wasn't bad.
There were criticisms that some details lacked authenticity, but that was precisely why I'd brought them here.
“I invited all of you to fill in those missing parts. But… to get a better idea of exactly what's lacking, I'd like to have 1:1 duels against each of you in the game.”
“Ha ha, it may only be a game, but do you really think you can defeat us? After playing a few rounds, I believe I have already gotten the hang of it.”
At the knight's confident words, I merely smiled faintly.
“If you're that confident, let's start right away.”
And so the duels began immediately.
“Th-That's impossible! You countered that?!”
“What was that strike just now? I could never have imagined an attack like that!”
“Argh! That one does not count! Give me one more match!”
And just as expected, I easily swept the knights with a complete victory.
***
At first, the knights had thought it was nothing more than a game.
No matter how realistic Honorlord was, it was obviously still different from actual combat.
But it was also a game with far too much tactical depth to dismiss as something simple.
“Remarkable. I did not expect it to implement parrying in addition to guarding.”
“I saw you mix a feint into your attack just now as well. I would not have fallen for it in a real fight, but I did not expect even that to be implemented in a game.”
“The way you turned an attack itself into a counterattack was impressive too. A response at that level would be impossible for a beginner.”
Guarding, parrying, chambering, feints…
They were all techniques I'd stayed up all night learning while playing Honorlord in my previous life.
Honorlord was a game that implemented all those techniques in meticulous detail, but cruelly enough, the only things the game itself taught you by default were attacking and guarding.
Everything else, such as parrying, chambering (countering an attack by meeting it with an attack), and mixing in feints, had been techniques veteran players figured out on their own.
Simply knowing those concepts didn't make them easy to perform.
Just like actually training in swordsmanship, you had to practice the controls and then develop practical combat instincts.
Only players capable of using all of those techniques freely were called veterans- or Swordmasters.
“I acknowledge it. Your skill is genuine.”
“It's only a game. It's different from reality.”
“No. We competed under equal conditions, and we lost. Even in reality, if the conditions had been the same, we might have lost there as well.”
Normally, there would never be a situation where those conditions were actually equal, but I accepted their judgment for now.
Continuing to act excessively humble here would be rude in its own way.
“Thank you for thinking so highly of me. Still, it's true that my game isn't finished yet. I need your opinions to complete it.”
“Hmm, understood. We will cooperate to the best of our ability.”
Having accepted the results of the duels, the knights stopped arguing among themselves and became cooperative.
“The baseline combat ability of knights seems set too low. It would be better to divide them into more tiers and distinguish rookies from veterans, as well as weaker knights from masters.”
“There were more patterns than I expected, but compared to actual combat, a few parts still felt lacking. How about adding things like these?”
The knights offered their opinions without hesitation.
I incorporated most of them.
As a result, this world's version of Honorlord became somewhat different from the original.
The basic framework remained intact, but because the knights' real martial arts had been incorporated, the finer details of the controls changed somewhat.
If handled poorly, it could have destroyed the fun of the original Honorlord, but I adjusted those parts carefully.
The original game already had plenty of depth, so making the combat a little more detailed didn't change it all that much.
“Then only one final test remains.”
“The final test… What are you planning?”
“The guns. The new weapons the military is planning to introduce. I intend to test them in the game.”
“…So you knew about that as well.”
The knights had ears of their own, so they must have known that I was the reason the emperor had decided to introduce guns in the first place.
In that case, being honest would make things quicker.
“I'll be frank. One reason I invited all of you was to provide objective data regarding the introduction of guns.”
It was something the Crown Prince had asked me to do, but I was personally somewhat interested in the matter as well.
What did the knights actually think about guns?
If I objectively simulated their usefulness, would they accept the results?
“Hmm… So if the results are convincing enough for us, you want us to acknowledge them.”
“If the results aren't convincing, you may reject them instead. If anything, that would give you stronger grounds for your position.”
“Good! Let us do that. We will stake our honor on accepting whatever result we obtain.”
Surprisingly, the knights readily agreed.
They seemed to view it as an opportunity instead.
It might only be a test conducted through a game, but the game was realistic enough that they believed it could serve as an objective experiment.
“Then we'll begin by objectively reflecting the gun's power. If any of you have objections, please speak up.”
To eliminate any suspicion of manipulation during the process, I tried to reflect its combat strength as transparently as possible.
We personally fired the guns, discussed their power with the knights, and objectively incorporated the results into the game data.
After that, we conducted simulated battles under a variety of circumstances.
And the results were shocking.
BANG!
“Ghk! We lost again.”
Ten simulations.
We varied the conditions extensively: 1:1 combat, small-scale engagements, unit-level battles, open plains, mountain warfare, and more.
Sometimes we gave the knight characters advantages, while other times we gave advantages to the soldiers armed with guns.
But in most cases, we had to give the knight characters or their teams the advantage.
Because aside from three battles, the knights lost every single one.
A 30% win rate.
And even those victories came under conditions where the knight side had been given substantial advantages.
“I have no choice but to admit it. Guns are powerful weapons. Powerful enough to bring about the downfall of knights.”
“In reality, the soldiers using the guns will have different levels of proficiency. And the way we've represented their power isn't perfect either.”
“Even accounting for such things, I cannot deny their usefulness. Taken to the extreme, perhaps a world may come where knights are no longer necessary at all.”
Perhaps.
That was what had actually happened on Earth.
But there was no law saying this world had to follow the same history.
This world wasn't Earth.
“Then……”
“I acknowledge it. We will no longer oppose His Majesty's will. We will personally make sure of that.”
“His Majesty will be pleased. But I doubt His Majesty wishes for the downfall of all of you either.”
“Of course not. We knew His Majesty's intentions perfectly well. We were simply being stubborn while refusing to face reality. If anything, when a weapon like this appears, we should actively adopt it and change ourselves to adapt to it.”
Of course, perhaps not everyone would be capable of changing.
Some knights might refuse to abandon their pride as knights and reject change.
But it would be wrong to call such people merely foolish.
Just as Don Quixote was not simply a madman charging at windmills, even as the times changed, the value of the chivalry these people carried would remain.
“In that respect, we are grateful to you.”
“You are? That's surprising. I thought you'd blame me.”
“Ha ha! Do you take us for such petty men? On the contrary, we are glad that your game may allow us to adapt a little sooner. Whether we accept change or cling to tradition, each of us will find our own path. That is the path the knights of the future must walk.”
…Their answer was deeper than I'd expected.
I realized these men weren't merely simple musclebound warriors.
Then a thought suddenly occurred to me.
What would I do from here?
Would I continue making games?
If so, what would I make them for?
At first, I'd only made one to protect my job.
But did I need to keep doing it for that reason?
There was no longer any danger of me being fired from the Development Department, and I'd already earned quite a bit of money.
I needed something beyond merely advancing my career and making money.
“…Then I suppose I should walk my own path as well.”
“And what is your path?”
“I'd like to make the world a little more entertaining.”
“The world? Through games?”
“Something like that.”
To be honest, this world wasn't particularly entertaining to me.
It was livable enough, but compared to Earth, this medieval-style otherworld severely lacked entertainment in many ways.
What would happen if I dropped Earth's masterpiece games into a world like this?
How would this world change?
I couldn't know for certain, but perhaps it would become far more entertaining than it was now.
Whatever that future looked like, I was the only person in this world capable of trying it.
Something only I could do.
Why wouldn't I try?
Even if all I was really doing was plagiarizing masterpiece games from Earth…….
“Now that is something to look forward to. Then I wish you good fortune in battle as well. May your path reach the stars in the heavens.”
“Hearing you say that makes me feel like I've become a knight.”
“Ha ha! Have we not crossed swords with one another? In that sense, you are a knight too!”
With those hearty words, the knights departed.
And not long afterward, I released the complete version of Honorlord.
Once again, the Empire was thrown into an uproar.