Chapter 41: The End of the War and the Beat Heater Arcade

For example, if military power became too strong compared to neighboring nations, a “Coalition Event” would occur. The player would still be given opportunities, such as dispatching talented personnel to break apart the coalition.

However, it was impossible to raise only diplomatic talents, and persuading every faction was difficult, so no matter what, the situation would become less favorable than before.

Likewise, if too much wealth was accumulated, events involving pirates or bandit groups would appear. If the territory under control became too large, rebellions could break out in regions far from the center. The probability of rebellion increased even further if there were citizens and talented individuals of races different from the region’s primary race.

“It’s important to make the events feel as natural as possible rather than forced.”

“Yes...”

Aspa wore a troubled expression at the abstract instruction.

Still, it could not be helped since this was the nature of the work. Moreover, he knew his role in this project was smaller compared to the other employees, so he could not help but feel pressure. Because of that, he was secretly glad just to be given work like this.

While development continued, the upper floor remained quiet. Although those brats had taken a hardline stance, they seemed cautious since they understood very well that they were the weaker side.

However, among the children, there was one person who kept standing out and drawing attention.

“Um, Boss.”

It happened while Ras was deeply focused on coding. Someone lightly tapped his shoulder and called out to him, so he turned around. It was Nebrania, with her green hair and gray eyes. Since she rarely came to see him first during work hours, he found it a little strange.

“Did you come to have me check what I asked for earlier?”

“No. Over there.”

She lightly shook her head at Ras’s question and pointed toward the office entrance. Following her gesture, Ras raised his eyebrows at the unexpected sight.

A young girl was sticking her upper body through the slightly opened front door while frantically making gestures and facial expressions toward Diska, who stood nearby looking troubled.

Judging from the gestures, she seemed to be asking Diska to stay quiet, but now that Ras had already noticed her, it was pointless.

Ras quietly observed the girl, wondering who she was, and realized he recognized her. That did not mean they knew each other. More precisely, he did not recognize her face itself, only her build, hair color, and general impression.

She was the very same girl he had thought was a member of the Orphan Gang hiding in the alley and watching him before.

“Ah?!”

Realizing too late that she had been caught, the girl widened her eyes in surprise. Only then did Ras notice the red ears standing upright on top of her head and realize she was a Beastman.

The girl hesitated briefly, met Ras’s eyes, then suddenly gave him a cute grin before running away.

Ras had already risen from his seat, but he could only stand there as she escaped before he could chase after her. Afterward, he slowly walked toward the entrance. Watching Ras’s reaction, Diska cautiously asked,

“Boss, who was that person earlier? Your girlfriend maybe? She was really pretty.”

“What?”

Ras had indeed thought the girl was pretty. However, hearing the completely unexpected word “girlfriend” made him reflexively respond in a raised tone.

“Ah. She’s not?”

“...No.”

For a moment, the word “girlfriend” made his heart flutter, but she was probably a watcher from the Orphan Gang. Still, something about her felt strange. Looking at her behavior, she did not seem cunning enough to play that sort of role, nor did she show any hostility toward Ras.

But if she was not a watcher, he had no idea what she could possibly be.

Simple curiosity or interest?

She was much older than the other little kids, but at most she was probably in her late teens, so it was not completely impossible. Still, it was more reasonable to think of her as a watcher. Just an unusual one.

Ras did not know exactly what her objective was, but if her goal had been to make him curious and interested in her, then she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had certainly succeeded.

Even afterward, she kept appearing within Ras’s sight. Normally that should have irritated him, but every time their eyes met, the pretty girl would smile brightly at him, making it impossible to feel annoyed.

At first, there had been distance between them, and she would run away too quickly for him to properly observe her. But as she gradually came closer and stopped fleeing so quickly, he realized something. She was unbelievably beautiful. Ras was startled when he belatedly realized his heart had begun to waver without him noticing.

What is this? A honey trap?

Of course, having a beauty follow him around was not necessarily a good thing. Especially when he got off work, he feared the Orphan Gang would discover where he lived, so he had to take taxis. Taxi fares were not much of a burden, but it was frustrating to have his movements restricted.

Walking home while looking around and buying things had been one of his small pleasures.

For now, Ras decided to endure it. Once Project War was finished, he intended to come up with some sort of solution. Besides, these days, after work he had to eat and immediately head to Bert’s house to study magic, leaving him no time to relax anyway.

With his desire to resolve this situation quickly added on top, development for Project War accelerated even more.

Thanks to that, before long they succeeded in implementing most of what had been planned and created a prototype that was playable to a certain degree.

Ras pushed everyone except the coders handling the remaining work into testing duty. Catching bugs and awkward elements was important, but balance was especially crucial for this game, so they needed to play it as much as possible to adjust that delicate scale.

“I think this is way too hard.”

Nebrania, who had been diligently playing the game despite it not being her preference, came over with a complaint after expanding her territory a little and then getting completely crushed by the computer.

Ras vividly remembered the image of her playing guitar in the alley before, so seeing her struggle against the computer was somewhat amusing. Of course, he did not want to earn her resentment, so he hid it.

“Yes, understood. But Miss Nebrania isn’t very familiar with these kinds of games, so please play a bit more first and then give your opinion again afterward.”

Even people familiar with computer games had a great deal to learn with war simulation games like this. Because of that, they planned to start using the data only after at least three or four days had passed.

Garazt also found this war game extremely interesting. At least a quarter of the code inside it had been typed in through endless pounding on the keyboard by his own fingers, yet despite that, it still felt amazing.

Every man had probably imagined becoming a king at least once, and this game allowed players to experience that to some extent. That alone made it attractive.

He quietly glanced toward Senior Kelliper and the other employees nearby. The game was fun on its own, but with everyone else playing together like this, it felt as though the neighboring nations in the game were truly being ruled and controlled by other people fighting against him, which made it even more exciting.

Then how fun would it be if real people actually played together in one game?

The game’s artificial intelligence had also been created through everyone racking their brains together, so it did not go down easily and gave some feeling of fighting real nations. But in the end, it still followed obvious patterns. Those patterns would eventually be figured out.

To begin with, Garazt himself had created some of those patterns, which made it even more so.

But if it were a real person equal to himself rather than artificial intelligence, then even these crude graphic soldiers and armies might seem to come alive like something real.

In any case, the testing proceeded smoothly, and they continued making revisions while receiving all sorts of feedback. This work alone continued for over a month.

But because he was so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠focused on work, thoughts about the Orphan Gang gradually got pushed to the corner of his mind. If not for the girl constantly lingering nearby, he might have forgotten about them entirely.

The girl now acted as though the office entrance was her personal spot. In fact, she had even tried to enter the office itself before, but Diska desperately blocked her from doing so.

At the time, for some reason, the girl had looked at Ras with pleading eyes, and he had nearly given in. Back then, he had honestly thought it might be fine to just let her come in and sit around since she already loitered nearby every day anyway.

He had almost been completely captivated by that pretty face and innocent gaze.

Still, he could not help thinking that someone looking ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at him with eyes like that could not possibly harbor malicious intent.

Of course, she was not some princess raised in a palace but an orphan girl hiding in abandoned buildings, so she was probably not completely innocent. Even so, since she was still young, it did not seem likely she could fake even her gaze while hiding vicious intentions underneath.

In any case, development continued amid all this and entered its final stage.

As a result, it was about time to start thinking about an official title for Project War.

“Boss. It’s Barbal Soft.”

Ras learned from Paul Roxy that the arcade machine for Beat Heater, which Panchi Games had been developing, would be released first.

Not long before that, at the Panchi Games factory.

“How is it?”

Cheims asked. He was sitting beside a young employee currently playing Beat Heater on the newly completed arcade machine.

Even beside the machine glowing with flashy colors and lively, exciting music, Cheims’s face, lined deeply with wrinkles and covered with black beard stubble, remained extremely serious. That was only natural, considering this game was practically a product upon which the fate of his company rested.

Pac-Man and Tetris had been fairly successful, allowing them to catch their breath for the moment. However, they still had debts piled up from before, and they had not fully recovered their once-shrunken market share.

Even if market share decreased, a company in reality did not physically shrink. Their current market share was only enough to barely maintain this massive company. That meant they were merely clinging onto life while repaying debts, and one wrong move could send them plunging back into ruin.

That was why Cheims had decided that, if things were going to be this way anyway, he might as well bet big on Beat Heater.

Of course, at first it had simply been one of the ideas they found while desperately trying to save the company somehow. But things had developed into this situation. Moreover, a Barbal Soft employee named Amans had spoken with extreme confidence, and they had also confirmed that the game had achieved significant success in the PC game market, which gave Cheims the courage to make this gamble.

Considering these circumstances and the enormous development costs that had gone into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the machine, it was only natural for his heart to pound while asking for impressions.

“It’s incredibly fun.”

Fortunately, the young employee responded like this. It was not just empty words. With his years of experience, Cheims could tell the young man was sincerely impressed.

“Phew...”

Only then did Cheims finally let out a sigh of relief. After further testing, the arcade machine was officially released.

Even while releasing the game with confidence, Panchi Games still felt anxious. The reason was the arcade machine’s extremely expensive price. Other machines cost around three to four thousand Del, but this one was close to six thousand Del, making it over fifty percent more expensive.

A high price was a major weakness. They had tried to make it cheaper somehow, but with the development costs and manufacturing costs both being so high, they could not lower the price any further.

So they put some thought into promotion and personally rented locations to install fifty machines throughout the country wherever their sales network reached. Another strategy they adopted was a rental policy. If customers found the enormous machine cost burdensome, they could rent it first and later convert it into a purchase.

“That’s a pretty good idea.”

This had been Ajabran’s idea. Cheims accepted it immediately, and perhaps because it worked, they received a considerable number of orders despite the expensive price.