NOVEL NEXT Chapter 27
The founding day festival gave the empire a huge shock.
A spectacular event called the gaming tournament,
a fantastic magic show filled with characters and stories,
and the new game, Super Thomas—
all of it was a massive surprise for the people, merchants, and schools alike.
They had dismissed it as mere entertainment.
But now, it had set the ridiculous record of being the “must-buy souvenir for anyone visiting the Zers Empire”… Merchants and scholars felt like they were trapped in a bad dream.
“Who was the idiot that said it would fail?!”
“We’re starting to develop games too!! Call all the wizards!”
Ignoring the game as just a pastime, the merchants and magic schools hurriedly dove into researching game magic.
Once it was proven that it could be more lucrative than most spells, there was no time to hesitate.
However…
“Why isn’t this working!?”
Numerous wizards who challenged the game after seeing Tetric and Super Thomas were hitting a wall.
Creating rules that could be considered a game’s system would throw up a lot of modern-day bugs, but they thought they could somehow manage.
However, generating visible images—that is, graphics—was simply not working.
“No! How am I supposed to make a game like Super Thomas with this portrait?!”
“No!! I can’t even imagine how to do this!”
Wizards from this world, who had never seen or imagined pixel art, couldn’t possibly produce anything resembling dots through video magic.
If they somehow managed to create something akin to realistic portraits, making it into a game would not only be impossible but would also cause them to exceed the magic allowance of their crystal balls in an instant.
In modern terms, it was a classic case of optimization issues.
While the wizards of the Zers Empire grappled with this, the influence of the game began to spread to neighboring countries.
“This is the ‘game crystal ball’ made by the empire.”
“They say strange things are all made by the empire, but this is a bit novel.”
At the Zephia festival, diplomat Paris from the Kingdom of Ra naturally bought the buzz-generating Super Thomas and reported back to his superiors.
No one knew what consequences the game flowing into the ascetic Kingdom of Ra would bring.
And Super Thomas also found its way into another country bordering the empire, the land of magical engineering—the Yura Republic.
Sora, a magical engineer, was taken aback upon seeing Super Thomas.
“You made something like this with this level of magic!? Talk about wasting talent!!”
Thus, the game crystal ball shocked not only the Zers Empire but also the neighboring Kingdom of Ra and the Yura Republic.
Truly, a new era had begun because of games.
And at that moment, Yuren, who could be considered the root of all these incidents, was just having fun and finally returned home.
*
“Finally home!”
After enjoying a dreamlike founding day festival released by Super Thomas for two days, we returned home.
The glamorous inn in Zephia was nice and all, but nothing compared to our old home.
After a long time away, we began our day cleaning the main hall of the Irene School, but it felt like we had too much on our plates.
Amazing news started flooding in.
“500 billion gold!?”
Our school’s lawyer, Jerry, brought us this astonishing news.
The ridiculous amount rendered me, my master, and my disciples speechless.
500 billion gold was enough to run the Irene School for a century.
“My gosh…”
“Disciple, it feels like a dream.”
Even more shocking was that this was just the ‘beginning.’
Both Tetric 2 and Super Thomas were “still being sold at this very moment.”
The fact that this money was just the start was even more terrifying.
“What should we do with it, Yuren?”
“…………”
After the Zephia festival ended, I gathered everyone to discuss this issue.
Since it was money from everyone’s hard work, I wanted to share it, but everyone refused, saying they had already received plenty.
Instead, they expressed a desire to use this money in the name of the Irene School.
In a world where financial concepts were few and far between, they lacked the courage to handle such a grand sum themselves.
Hearing my disciples say they trusted me to manage it almost brought tears to my eyes.
So after some consideration, I decided to use the money in this way.
“Jerry, please purchase land.”
“Land, you say?”
“Yes, please buy all the land surrounding the Irene School.”
Our Irene School building was made from a dilapidated castle that my master and I had remodeled.
However, no matter how well we remodeled it, it was still a forsaken castle.
There were limits, and I had always wanted to buy land around it to build a new school.
Until now, the lack of money had been an issue, but that was no longer a problem for us.
“Understood. I will proceed with the purchase immediately.”
“Okay! Then I’ll leave it to you.”
We would handle the construction ourselves on the purchased land.
Since we had previously received construction requests, I had some experience, and it was also a chance to teach my disciples the 『Wood Manipulation Magic』 and 『Rock Manipulation Magic』.
In addition, remarkable things began to happen.
“A ‘Magic Exchange Meeting’?”
“Yes, we at the Claudia School would like to have a magic exchange meeting with the Irene School.”
[Magic Exchange Meeting]
It was a kind of seminar for exchanging magical know-how among wizard schools.
In the case of our school, any unique magical know-how had already been shared hundreds of years ago, leaving us with almost nothing.
Yet, in the month after our return, four schools proposed to hold magic exchange meetings.
“We welcome a magic exchange with the renowned Claudia School, known for its 『Clania (Weather Magic)』. But may I ask what kind of magic you wish to exchange?”
“Well, that would naturally be…”
Naturally, all four schools requested the sharing of know-how regarding game magic.
They lamented that when they attempted to follow along, their characters disappeared to strange places, or the images turned out odd, making it nearly impossible to create games.
Having been developing games since my past life made it easy for me, but I realized for the people of this world, it wasn’t so simple.
Conversely, both my master and I were very interested in the specialty magic of the other schools, and since I desired to see more enjoyable games arise in this world, I promised to hold the magic exchange meetings with them.
It would truly have been unimaginable treatment in the past.
*
And finally, we went for the long-awaited last flex.
My disciples and I blindfolded our master and drove the carriage toward the location.
“Disciples? Where are we going?”
My disciples and I prepared a gift for our master in secret.
Today was the day we would show him that gift upon its completion.
“A nice place, Master.”
“A nice place?”
Hmm… It was undoubtedly a nice place, but (due to the blindfold hiding) my master’s young-looking eyes, and the fact that (the sturdy) Jiren and I were sitting on either side, made it feel like a scene from a crime movie I had seen in my past life.
Creeeak!
“Are we there yet?”
“Just a moment. Master, please keep your eyes covered for a bit longer.”
I cautiously guided the master along.
Then I took off the blindfold.
“Tada!!”
“Disciple, what is this?”
In front of my master stood a large, clean, and beautifully built orphanage, resembling our new school building.
This was the gift my disciples and I prepared for our master.
“We built the new structure for the Southern Orphanage together with our school building because you said you’d like to see that, Master.”
“Disciple…”
Many disciples, including Jiren and Noirin, came from the Southern Orphanage.
We met our master there, became his disciples, and now he continued to support Sister Miranda, who runs the Southern Orphanage.
However, the Southern Orphanage had begun to deteriorate recently, worrying our master.
Thus, this was our chance to repay his kindness and fulfill his wish.
“Also, Karen and I will handle sending money to the orphanage every month, so please use the money for yourself, Master. Buy as many magic books as you’d like.”
My master’s hobby was collecting magic books.
However, he often had to use his funds for living expenses instead of indulging in that hobby.
While I hadn’t had much money until now, after today, I planned to manage it strictly, and my master seemed to understand, smiling like a child.
“Okay! I’ll buy all I want!”
All the other disciples, who had been hiding in the new orphanage building, came out.
Everyone had worked hard to complete two buildings by today.
Thinking that I should reward them for their efforts, I glanced at my master. Just then…
My master looked at us with glistening eyes, as if getting choked up.
“Disciples, thank you. And…thank you for growing up so well.”
Much like a parent receiving gifts on Parents’ Day, my master began to well up upon seeing us, and watching him, the younger disciples found themselves getting teary-eyed too.
“Master…”
“We’re grateful too, Master!”
“Master! Don’t cry!!”
Before my master could shed tears, the young disciples rushed over to plant kisses on him.
“Eeww! Disciples, that’s gross!”
A hilariously absurd situation of kids taking care of kids.
But this was the daily routine of the Irene School,
and the very reality I wanted to protect by earning money.
It was a day that proved we had truly succeeded in making a game.