Chapter 181: The Orcs of the Orc Empire and Games
After seeing Gamers, Tadallo came to understand the game industry of the Republic of Smite to some extent.
It was hard to know the exact figures, but one thing was obvious: the gaming population was enormous, and an absurd number of games poured out every month.
“1 million copies?!”
The market size was astonishing as well. In the Orc Empire, computer games were nearly impossible to find, yet over there, games played on computers sold in units of a million copies. Even worse, the prices of those games were eye-poppingly expensive.
50 Del... Then how much money is that if they sell a million copies?
He was horrified by the astronomical amount while simultaneously realizing just how poor and backward the Orc Empire truly was.
But he did not despair.
The Orc Empire was certainly poor, but it was no longer as bad as before. The nation was developing while shouting reform and openness.
Even Tadallo himself had already tasted a certain degree of success by bringing in electronic entertainment that he would never have even imagined in the past. It would not be easy for them to become like the Republic of Smite overnight, but if he steadily expanded his business, then one day he too could become a company like Meta Soft.
That was what he believed.
And the Orc Empire was not necessarily inferior to the Republic of Smite in every aspect. Individual citizens were incomparably poorer, but the empire’s land and population were several times larger. Even if computer games were impossible for now, there were still ways to sell large quantities of cheaper products instead.
No, perhaps even the Orc Empire would eventually gain more people capable of playing computer games. Tadallo himself was already considering buying a computer.
Gamers taught Tadallo many other things as well.
One of those things was that the game he was selling, Fighters’ Club, had actually not been released very long ago.
Perhaps it was because he had overestimated things. When Pippin first introduced him to games, he already held the concept that foreign nations were far more advanced than the Orc Empire, so he had envied them while assuming they must have been enjoying these kinds of games for ages.
But games with such vibrant colors had only existed for a few years. Earlier games looked dull and gloomy, the kind that did not even seem particularly interesting.
And as he continued obtaining and reading Gamers, he learned that the development of games in the Republic of Smite had been heavily influenced by Meta Soft.
After all, the company that created Fighters’ Club, the game that had captivated him so deeply, was Meta Soft itself.
It was only natural that Tadallo became interested in the company. He admired it, and at the same time, he began to nurture hope that just as Meta Soft had grown into a giant corporation in such a short period of time, he too might someday achieve the same.
His business continued to flourish.
Fighters’ Club was simply too fun, and it perfectly matched Orc tastes. As long as he installed the machines, customers flocked to them.
And perhaps because rumors had spread somehow, unlike in the early days, there was no longer any need to attract attention manually. Tadallo, who had become fairly skilled at running a business, had originally planned to hire people to act as hype men and put on demonstrations around the machines, but there was no need for that anymore.
“So this is that game machine?”
His arcade machines were incredibly eye-catching in the Orc Empire.
Crowds constantly gathered around them, but even the machines themselves were unusual sights in a place where mud walls and thatched houses were still common. The cheerful sounds and flashy graphics naturally mesmerized the Orcs.
And because so many people gathered around them, they inevitably drew the attention of the ruling class as well.
“Yes, Lord Bullard.”
The Orc called Bullard was somewhat short, but horizontally he looked one and a half times larger than the other Orcs accompanying him. He was not simply fat either. Even beneath the thick layer of fat, the muscles underneath were clearly visible.
He was the mayor of Kazabar.
Just the title of mayor sounded important, but his actual influence went far beyond that.
He was one of the trusted subordinates of Shencu, the local warlord, and Kazabar itself was one of the most developed cities under Shencu’s rule as well as the gateway through which foreign currency entered. The fact that Bullard controlled such a city alone demonstrated his power.
“There are quite a lot of customers.”
“Yes. They say he’s raking in money these days.”
These men could technically be called officials, but perhaps because they were Orcs, they felt more like gangsters.
One of the attendants answered Bullard’s remark rather calmly, and another attendant immediately seized the opportunity to speak.
“That’s right. Hundreds of people come every day and spend 10 Kro each. And there are dozens of those machines. Yet he still hasn’t paid his respects. What an insolent bastard!”
The Orc with the unusually large right eye was named Teamkan.
He was a stereotypically corrupt official who had accumulated massive wealth through bribes from businesses operating in Kazabar.
“Ahem.”
Bullard actually knew that perfectly well. But Teamkan did not simply fill his own pockets. He also paid tribute properly and had talent for extracting the funds necessary for governance, so Bullard actually favored him.
But this time, instead of agreeing with him, Bullard frowned.
Teamkan immediately began reading the atmosphere, and Bullard cleared his throat before speaking.
“Just leave him alone. Our subjects have been needing new forms of entertainment lately anyway.”
Fortunately for Tadallo, Bullard viewed his business quite favorably.
The words Bullard had just spoken were not empty either.
Other foreigners might see things differently, but the results of the reform and openness policies were obvious. Especially in Kazabar, wealth was visibly growing. But culturally, there had been almost no change.
People still gambled, fought, and drank themselves senseless.
Bullard desperately wanted to escape this pre-modern world and join the advanced mainstream societies, so the arrival of electronic entertainment, which was popular in other nations, felt like a positive sign to him.
But that was not the only reason he looked favorably upon Tadallo’s business.
There were actual benefits that Bullard himself gained from it.
Not personal benefits, but benefits related to governance.
Crime rates had fallen significantly.
The Orcs of the Orc Empire were quite rough by nature, so crime rates were fairly high. Yet at some point, the crime rate around this area began dropping noticeably. When they investigated the cause, the timing and affected area strongly suggested Tadallo’s business was responsible.
Bullard was fairly educated in his own way, and he knew that entertainment had, since ancient times, been effective at reducing dissatisfaction and crime among subjects. That allowed him to easily connect the two through cause and effect.
As a result, rather than extorting money from Tadallo, Bullard instead instructed people to make things convenient for his business before leaving.
But Fighters’ Club brought about more social changes beyond merely lowering crime rates.
“No, you cut off the waterway on our side first!”
“So what was I supposed to do after you destroyed the dam?!”
Like any society, the Orc Empire constantly had disputes between people. Ideally, the parties involved settled things peacefully, but that was not always the case.
“You bastard!!”
“What, you gonna hit me? Then do it!”
Humans were not purely rational creatures. They were influenced by emotion.
That was why the two Orcs were now grabbing each other by the collar with murderous expressions.
Humanity had therefore created various methods to resolve disputes. Usually, this involved laws, rules, and third parties who judged based on them, such as police officers or judges.
But the Orcs of the Orc Empire possessed a somewhat more unique solution.
“Graaah!!”
It was dueling.
In truth, this was not unique to Orcs. It was a common method of dispute resolution in pre-modern societies.
However, the Orc Empire still strongly preferred duels.
There were many reasons for this. One was the Orc Empire’s macho culture that valued toughness. Another was that compared to other nations, they lacked sufficient police and administrative power.
Some claimed it was because Orcs were violent and stupid, but since Orcs living outside the Orc Empire did not particularly favor duels, the prevailing opinion was that such claims were nothing more than nonsense from racists.
But recently, this culture had begun to change slightly.
“Damn it. Then let’s settle it with that!”
“With that?”
“The game!”
“Ah! Fine!”
Not across the entire Orc Empire, but at least around Kazabar, more and more people had started settling disputes through Fighters’ Club.
Resolving arguments through a game might sound ridiculous or hard to understand, but there were reasons for it.
First, dueling had been banned.
The rulers of the Orc Empire were not fools. They understood that if individuals settled disputes through duels, the authority of the nation’s laws and public power would weaken. They were already looked down upon as little more than a collection of warlords, so they could hardly tolerate even ordinary citizens disregarding their authority.
Moreover, duels causing deaths or injuries worsened the social atmosphere and reduced productivity.
That was why the warlords of the Orc Empire, now enjoying a certain degree of prosperity thanks to reform and openness, had begun cracking down heavily on duels.
Another reason was that games were surprisingly fair.
Physical differences and equipment differences did not exist, allowing people to compete under the fairest possible conditions.
Additionally, the areas around the arcade machines themselves carried a feeling similar to duel arenas. There were endless spectators willing to serve as witnesses, and in an Orc society where money was still valuable, the game fee itself, which could not be considered cheap, gave the match a sense of formality.
And lastly, Orcs simply liked it.
They were using disputes as an excuse to play games.
“You bastard! Using cheap tricks!”
“Hahaha! The loser sure makes a lot of excuses!”
That was why the area around the arcade machines was always overflowing with excitement.
Even ordinary gameplay ignited competitive spirit, so once actual disputes were added on top of that, the intensity naturally exploded.
Yet surprisingly, games rarely escalated into real fights.
This too was because of Orc culture.
Dueling was certainly barbaric, but even within that culture there were unspoken rules that absolutely could not be broken, and one of them was accepting victory and defeat.
Otherwise, duels themselves would lose all meaning.
Anyone who violated that principle would become completely ostracized in Orc society.
That was why the two Orcs, despite possessing those massive green muscles, were merely arguing with words.
Entertainment certainly helped reduce crime, but the reason Bullard noticed such a dramatic change so quickly was likely because games had become a substitute for duels.
In this way, arcade games, this new form of civilization, gained overwhelming popularity.
“Hmm...”
Yet rather than celebrating, Tadallo was clutching his head in worry.
Up until now, things had unquestionably been successful. The problem was that it felt as though the road upward had suddenly been blocked.
Originally, his plan had been to spread the arcade machine business throughout the nation.
Naturally.
But after traveling inland to investigate expansion opportunities, he realized there was a problem with that plan.
There’s no electricity...
The Orc Empire was far more underdeveloped than he had imagined.
Tadallo considered himself relatively enlightened by Orc Empire standards, but in the end, he too was merely an Orc whose vision only extended as far as what he personally saw.
Since he had lived in one of the empire’s more developed regions like Kazabar, he had not really understood what the inland territories were like.
He had traveled around before, but there were many things that could not be understood just by passing through.
Of course, the inland areas were not completely without electricity.
But it was extremely rare, and furthermore, urbanization in the inland regions was poor.
Footnotes
Translator’s Notes
Munpia — South Korean web novel publishing platform founded in 2002, known for hosting serialized fantasy, martial arts, and modern genre web novels.