Princess 'King' Maker 1
The virtual reality game Heroes Chronicle was something close to an OOPArt — a game that had fully realized an entire world. It wasn't about conquering a tower by following predetermined quests. It was a game about living freely in a fantasy world.
It wasn't one of those so-called open worlds that were nothing but empty grasslands, nor a supposedly free game with a single linear quest line. From players who refused to become adventurers, ran away from home the moment they started, and ended up as beggars, to famous overseas streamers who built fortunes through alchemy and trade caravans and were preparing to purchase noble titles — it had seized the world's attention.
And given that a guy like me had been kidnapped soul and all and dumped into it, I was starting to wonder whether this world wasn't just a real world copied wholesale and turned into a game.
But mixing tower-climbing with political intrigue? Give me a break…
It was a natural consequence of that realism.
The kingdom's power was split among the royal family, the nobility, and the Temple. When the Temple put someone forward and one of the royals took an interest, getting tangled up with court factions and other political issues was the natural flow of things — the same way a chaebol-story protagonist making money inevitably ends up meeting politicians and dealing with legal talk.
And that was exactly what the assassin dressed as a desert dancer was carefully explaining.
"Her Highness was born the youngest daughter, and so she stands farthest from the throne — but that is only true when viewed through a simple lens."
If a war of nerves was playing out between the harpies and the Stone Dwarves inside the Tower, then outside it, a political war of nerves seemed to be unfolding thanks to the princess's appearance.
The idea that the First and Second Princes shared a deep brotherly bond that kept the kingdom peaceful? Pure bullshit from the past. The moment a benevolent princess backed by the Temple's power appeared, the two princes' ambitions for the throne shifted right along with her. According to Warda, it had become a three-way free-for-all — the clever first prince, the valiant second, and the compassionate third, each eyeing the crown.
"The First Prince is intelligent, but he carries himself with arrogance, believing that inheriting the throne is his divine destiny. The Second Prince is valiant, yet he uses that strength to look down on both his elder brother and Her Highness."
She was speaking from the position of someone who served the princess, so there was bound to be some bias — but based on her description, I got a strong impression that neither prince was fit to lead a kingdom.
For one, the First Prince was so smart he'd soaked himself in elitism and chosen-people ideology, deluded into thinking he was the great eldest son chosen by the Goddess. And the Second Prince, for all the packaging as "valiant," had a short temper and a violent streak — basically a drunk Zhang Fei.
…The kingdom's future looked a lot darker than I'd thought.
"Of course, Her Highness is human, not a goddess, and so she may make mistakes. But she is at least more compassionate than either prince, and she would govern the kingdom wisely."
"Hey, throwing a whole new genre into the mix all of a sudden is making me dizzy. A civil-official faction around the First Prince, a military-official faction around the Second…"
The viewers erupted into a clamor like they were about to stage a coup themselves. After staring at pale skin day in and day out, the sight of bronze skin had them reacting as violently as water dropped into boiling oil. Of course, I couldn't help reacting either.
No wonder the damn reward was so generous.
A proper mansion complete with magical tools and servants. It wasn't quite the sprawling estate I'd been looking to buy, but it sure as hell wasn't something you'd hand out as a reward for just clearing the 40th floor. Like they say, there's no free lunch — if you've eaten something, you've got to cough it back up. That's just how it works.
And when the meal came from a politician, the story got a little more toxic.
"And so, Hero, I humbly ask that you make a wise choice and…"
In short, the message Warda had delivered from the princess was a request for the Hero's party to push the third princess onto the throne.
In a world where both royal authority and the Hero were bestowed by the Goddess — where Holy Power existed and priests, nuns, and Temple knights glared daggers at anyone who stepped out of line — who would dare question the Hero's legitimacy? If Han Se-ah chopped off the 50th-floor boss's head and then casually dropped a few words of support for the princess, it would trigger a political upheaval.
Getting tangled up in annoying political games, locking horns with the First and Second Princes' factions, becoming a massive pain in the ass———
"Yes! We'll do it!"
It was a quest.
For Han Se-ah, there really was no reason to refuse.
To Roland, a resident of this fantasy world, this was a thoroughly political and thoroughly annoying affair. But to Han Se-ah the player, it was just a side quest with no real reason to turn down.
"Why did I accept? Because the princess is connected to the Temple, right? There's no way she's some ultimate mastermind who fooled even the Saintess and the Goddess~"
Politics or whatever — the third princess was a reward-shuttle NPC chosen by the absolute NPC Goddess. The mansion, the servants, the royal seal, the political fallout from Temple funding… none of that headache-inducing stuff was worth thinking about.
Whether the princess fell to corruption or betrayed them somewhere down the line, you took the quest and cleared it. Was there an RPG player out there who stopped leveling just because the tribal chieftain might later turn into a crispy-on-the-outside, juicy-on-the-inside roast chicken struck by lightning?
Whether you were fighting for nothing or grinding so you wouldn't end up a slave, a player cleared the quest first and asked questions later.
"So what now? It's getting a bit late — should we hit the Tower tomorrow?"
"Things did get a little awkward with someone from the royal family showing up. Warda, was it? She snuck in just to deliver the message, right?"
"She snuck in, all right — only to end up in Roland's room and get subdued."
Grace, who'd been chatting about the princess and the royal family, fixed me with a pointed stare. Drawn by that, everyone's eyes flew my way.
Well, an elegant assassin-type beauty had scaled the mansion walls, slipped past Grace's senses, and infiltrated the place — only for me to knock her out with a fist in the middle of the night and hand her off to a maid. The complicated looks coming my way were inevitable.
Irene, ever the gentle one, looked more curious than anything. But Grace and Katie's gazes were a bit sharper. Not the childish jealousy of "you let another woman into your room at night" — more like a reprimanding "why on earth did you do that?"
"…What?"
"Roland, um, next time… even if someone seems suspicious, maybe try treating them a little more politely…?"
The viewers might be cackling about gut punches and whatever else, but our innocent Grace and Katie had no idea about any of that. They seemed to think I'd just beaten her unconscious on suspicion alone. Look, I didn't know the young lady would go down in one hit and still be clutching her stomach the next morning.
Still, she was a 4-star. Clutching her stomach with that pitiful face the whole time she was talking had to be some kind of protest gesture. Even if an assassin's body was fragile, half a day had already passed — there was no way the aftereffects of a light restraining punch would still be lingering.
…Don't tell me some pervy setting like "exposed midriffs are a weak point" carried over into Heroes Chronicle?
"Well, I was startled too, so I just swung. I did hold back, though."
"You did?"
"If I hadn't, she'd be dead."
"Uh… I guess that makes sense?"
That said, our party still had no real awareness of how strong they were.
They'd reached 5-star, Upper-grade territory — the kind of level where princesses bowed their heads, nobles fretted, and monsters shed tears — and yet they barely seemed to feel it. Probably because they hadn't been through any real, proper combat yet.
I could tell just from the way they looked at a mere 4-star — a scrub assassin who'd gone down to a single punch — with that admiring gaze reserved for someone impressive, just because she'd come to deliver the princess's words.
No, she's just a letter courier and you're the Hero's party…
"Then let's rest up today and head for the Tower tomorrow. I'm going to rent an alchemy workshop and craft some more arrows."
"Then I'll stop by the guild and see what I can learn about the 45th floor."
"Ah, I should probably stop by the Temple."
While I was thinking that, the party naturally scattered. Han Se-ah, muttering something at the camera — probably some alchemy-related mission — dashed off toward the Mage Tower and the alchemy workshops, and Katie and Irene naturally followed after her.
We'd been walking toward the mansion entrance as we talked, so the ones left standing alone were me and Grace. She flashed me a bright smile and spoke up.
"Hanna seems to be in a hurry. She looks so reliable inside the Tower, but moments like this make her seem so young."
"Hmm… why?"
"Well, if you're going from the mansion to the Mage Tower, taking a carriage would be much faster — but she didn't even think to ask Sebastian to call a coachman, just bolted out the door. It was like a little kid running off to play. The others too."
Now that she mentioned it…
Se-ah… there's a carriage and coachman prepared for the players, and you just flipped your eyes at the money and tore out of here like that…?
Thanks to that, the carriage prepared for our bustling party now had just me and Grace climbing aboard. Neither of us had anything particular to do — so how about we go out on a date?