Chapter 61: Merchant of the Brunyard Federation

Then colorful foot-shaped nodes slowly descended. O’Neill lowered her stance and prepared to move her feet.

At last, the timing to step on the panels as they passed through the center of the screen arrived, and O’Neill’s legs began to move.

It was an unfamiliar yet familiar sensation. She moved her legs here and there as if dancing while stepping on the panels. In response, light sound effects played, and the word “GOOD!” appeared on the screen.

Was I a little slow?

O’Neill sharpened her sense of rhythm even more. Then, instead of GOOD, PERFECT!! began appearing, and before long, the screen was filled entirely with brightly flashing PERFECT messages.

She gradually grew more accustomed to it. O’Neill’s movements went beyond merely watching the screen and pressing the panels. She began moving as though she were truly dancing to the rhythm. The dazzling arrangement of nodes raining down from every direction naturally created those motions.

“Ohhh!”

At that sight, someone among the spectators let out a spontaneous exclamation.

O’Neill continued clearing stages. However, the game consumed more stamina than expected, so she could not keep standing and performing flashy dances forever. Eventually, she grabbed the metal bar in front of her.

And as the difficulty continued rising sharply, even though she had trained herself through Beat Heater, this was still her first time playing “Pump.” In the end, she was hit with a flood of BAD results and failed.

Feeling the gazes of the people waiting for their turn, she slowly stepped down. Then she thought:

This is fun!

This liveliness, the music, and the attention all resembled the atmosphere of the parties O’Neill loved. No, thanks to the game’s uniquely fast reactions and flashy graphics, she even felt this might be more enjoyable.

Of course, that might have been because it was her first time playing it. But one thing was certain: for the foreseeable future, she would keep coming to this arcade to enjoy “Pump” and relieve stress.

Similar reactions appeared at other Arcade Game Land branches ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as well. Honestly, its popularity was only about on par with the other arcade machines, but in terms of attracting attention and generating buzz, it was overwhelmingly dominant.

It reached the point where songs like “Broken Moon” and “Crashing Waves,” which had been included in “Pump” and had previously remained almost completely buried, were rediscovered, causing record sales to surge dramatically.

“Yes. Yes. If we produce a sequel next time, we’ll contact you first.”

Thanks to that, the singers and record labels that had signed contracts with Panchi Games, despite initially reacting indifferently, began showing great interest and even inquired about the next sequel.

Anyway, once it started drawing attention like this, businesses outside of Arcade Game Land also became interested. As a result, despite its drawbacks of being expensive and enormous in size, it started selling quite well.

And because this “Pump” gathered attention and publicity, it created another unexpected development.

Leshuko was a merchant from the Brunyard Federation. This forty-year-old gnome was extremely passionate, so despite having quite a lot of employees, he still personally traveled around searching for good products.

He was not strictly a trade merchant, but because he was the type who did not distinguish between ways of making money, he often visited other countries. This time, he had come to the Republic of Smite.

Recently, he had heard rumors that a new type of computer had appeared in the Republic of Smite and become extremely popular. So he intended either to import it or somehow learn its manufacturing methods and produce it in Brunyad for sale.

That was why he had even met a young man named Victor, who worked at Hammer Computer, but the results had been disappointing.

That arrogant bastard!

As Leshuko slowly walked through the bustling streets of Ranchelt, he gritted his teeth while recalling their previous meeting. The young man named Victor was undoubtedly a capable human, but he was just as arrogant as he was capable.

From the start, he had clearly acted annoyed by the meeting. And like some people from the Republic of Smite, he subtly spoke as though looking down on Leshuko for being from the Brunyard Federation. He had also been excessively stubborn in negotiations.

Of course, Leshuko had fully intended to copy the product. But even so, despite offering to purchase a considerable quantity, Victor had not seemed to care at all.

“Everything we produce is already selling immediately anyway, so we have no intention of offering discounts.”

“No, a volume of five hundred units isn’t exactly small. Considering future business, couldn’t you show at least a little consideration?”

He did feel somewhat pathetic saying it. But merchants were originally shameless creatures, and he believed it was a merchant’s duty to lower the price even slightly, so he attempted to negotiate.

However, the bastard dismissed him as though dealing with a beggar.

“Ah! Then don’t buy it.”

“What?”

“I’m telling you not to waste any more of my time.”

As Leshuko recalled this far, anger surged through him again, and he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠felt the back of his neck grow hot. That was where the deal had ended. Being a persistent merchant, he had not given up entirely, but there was no point enduring such rudeness and making himself look miserable, so he had withdrawn for the moment.

And now he was wandering around Ranchelt aimlessly while looking for another method and searching for other products.

Then he noticed a building crowded with many young people.

Arcade Game Land?

He knew what games were. But this was the first time he had seen such a large building carrying the name “game.” Standing in front of the building, he looked upward. A uniquely designed structure wrapped in glass rose three stories high.

Even without entering, the inside was clearly visible, so he quietly observed it. It was filled with arcade machines he was familiar with, operating by taking in customers.

He had always thought of arcade machines as things installed in places with heavy foot traffic to earn small change, so he had never imagined business could be conducted in this manner.

Would this work in our country too? Hard to say. I don’t think there are that many people willing to spend money on games. Their earnings are different, after all...

As he observed while thinking this and that, one particularly unusual-looking game machine caught his eye.

Normally, games involved sitting close to the machine, staring at the screen, and pressing buttons. But with that one, people stood on top of it, moving around and dancing.

Greatly intrigued, Leshuko entered the store.

“Welcome.”

“Oh. Right.”

He answered the employee’s greeting reflexively, but the feeling was not bad. He had thought they simply placed machines around and did business, but apparently they hired staff and managed things properly. Leshuko stored that fact away mentally and headed toward the machine from earlier.

Then once again, he saw people dancing energetically in sync with proper music rather than mechanical sound effects.

“Hmm.”

Without realizing it, he let out a low groan. Originally, he had little interest in games. Even when importing things occasionally from the Republic of Smite, he believed his own country could make similar games anyway. That was why he had never bothered with them, but this felt distinctly different.

Of course, perhaps this could also be copied somehow. But such a unique game would inevitably reveal itself as an imitation no matter how it was copied.

It was an open secret that Brunyad copied products from Smite, but nobody in Brunyad wanted something so obvious that it invited ridicule and criticism.

In that case, officially importing it would be better instead.

Afterward, he asked the store employee about the game, learned that its name was “Pump,” and discovered which company had created it. Then he sent a purchase inquiry.

And at Panchi Games, Cheims was delighted upon receiving word that a merchant from the Brunyard Federation wished to purchase his games. Even putting aside all other reasons, exporting his products to another country ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was something considered a tremendous honor in this world.

Of course, even on Earth, having a company’s products exported was glorious. But in this world, aside from raw materials and certain traditional trade goods, countries strongly tended to produce things domestically whenever possible, making such events far rarer.

Anyway, after receiving the proposal, he had Ajabran handle sales activities, successfully convincing the Brunyad merchant to purchase several company products besides “Pump.”

Among them were Meta Soft original games adapted into arcade versions: “Pac-Man,” “Tetris,” and “Beat Heater.”

“Oh! Really?”

Ras was shocked after hearing the news from Panchi Games. It was a bit disappointing that only arcade adaptation titles had sold rather than games directly developed by him, but regardless, the fact that his games had finally gone overseas made him happy.

Since Panchi Games had already established business ties through Arcade Game Land, news like this had long since begun reaching him directly without needing to go through Barbal Soft.

Anyway, after congratulating each other, Ras and Cheims hung up the phone.

And some time later, Ras found his own name in the newspaper.

<Computer Software Company Rises as an Export Enterprise!>

“Haha...”

Wearing pajamas, Ras sat on the sofa with coffee while reading the newspaper delivered to his home. Then he suddenly choked and spat out his coffee.

Of course, the feeling was not entirely bad, even if they had attached some unknown photo of him to the article despite him continuously avoiding interview requests.

Still, the provocative headlines and content, which seemed focused on stirring national pride, inevitably left him feeling awkward.

Considering this world’s historical background, it was unavoidable. The Republic of Smite was at least considered a major power, so it only went this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠far. He had seen in a magazine before that the neighboring Brunyard Federation was truly on another level.

Anyway, it seemed unavoidable now that his face had become publicly known.

He wanted to complain, but there was no way anyone would listen. And even if he sued, regardless of whether he won or lost, the atmosphere was such that people would not understand why he was suing over something like this. It would only exhaust him and damage his image, so he had no choice but to endure it.

Still, articles appearing like this were a good thing. Especially since criticism about games had slowly begun appearing lately. Articles like these might serve, even if only weakly, as protection against public attacks.

If Ras were actually a person from this world, he might have turned that article itself into a placard and hung it in front of the company office building. Thinking that, Ras snickered softly.

And not long afterward, the Republic of Brunyard experienced a gaming boom due to arcade games imported from the Republic of Smite.

Pump attracted attention, and Beat Heater also became fairly popular, but even more than those, Tetris and Pac-Man exploded in popularity.

Even before this, arcade machines from the Republic of Smite had occasionally been imported little by little.

However, shooting games and racing games were common genres in the Republic of Smite, with many varieties available. Because of that, Brunyard already had numerous plagiarized games produced under the guise of “independent development,” so they created little reaction.

But these two games were completely different from existing games. And that point overlapped with the subtle admiration Brunyard people held toward the Republic of Smite, giving them the impression that games from Smite really were something special.

Of course, the games themselves were exceptionally fun, which allowed that interest to continue.

Anyway, in Brunyard, everywhere these two games appeared became packed with crowds, prompting businesses one after another to contact Panchi Games expressing import interest.

Naturally, there were also attempts to simply create copied versions, and some even appeared. However, because the two games had become famous specifically as games from the Republic of Smite, they were harshly dismissed as cheap knockoffs and inevitably avoided.

“This is a fake!”

“Huh? What? It was fake? No wonder the graphics looked kind of crappy.”