Isekai Online Game Developer

Culture usually trickles down from the upper class to the lower class.

This was true in this world as well, just like in modern times.

Naturally, “Maple Leaf Story” was a hot topic among the commoners.

“It seems quite popular even among the commoners, this ‘Maple Leaf Story.'”

“That seems to be the case.”

But still, the speed of its spread was astonishing.

The price of “Maple Leaf Story” was currently steep for commoners, and probably very few have experienced it.

Yet, thinking back to my previous life, it was an expected phenomenon.

Games are typically enjoyed and adored by ordinary people.

Of course! Dreaming of ideals and becoming engrossed in a new world is something those people do.

With the discussion of a new world unfolding, it was only natural for the commoners to get excited.

I felt the same way, and understanding that sentiment, I planned to lower the price as much as possible once mass production became feasible.

Offering perks or titles to those who had purchased it at a high price would probably suffice.

“I plan to lower the price soon so that commoners can enjoy it as well. Of course, that depends on this endeavor being successful.”

Rain and I were currently traveling across the continent to procure a new Illusion Mage.

We aimed to recruit someone with the attributes suitable for game production from those previously investigated in the Illusion category.

“This is it. This person has Grade A Illusion qualities, but refused to come because they wouldn’t accept a place like the Illusion Tower.”

Worry crept in as this was someone who had already rejected us once.

However, such concerns were quickly alleviated.

“Alright.”

People accepted without much persuasion.

“If you become an Illusion Mage, you can be a part of ‘Maple Leaf Story,’ right?”

Thanks to the widespread popularity of “Maple Leaf Story,” everyone was ready to join.

Even those who initially declined changed their minds once “Maple Leaf Story” was mentioned.

I hadn’t even discussed the salary yet, and they were already accepting! I never anticipated it would become this famous.

“That’s great news! Rai.”

“Yes! I didn’t expect it to unravel so easily; it should allow us to start production even sooner.”

Thus, we returned to Trinity with the potential new recruits.

“…Huh?”

“That looks like a royal carriage…”

Upon reaching the Tower, a splendid carriage stood before us.

Could it be they’ve come to purchase “Maple Leaf Story” from the royal family?

I was instructed not to let anyone in, no matter who came.

In a panic, I opened the door and was met with a gruesome scene.

“AAAH!”

Medeia’s scream pierced the air.

And a man was swinging a sword at her.

I watched as Medeia’s head fell, and she collapsed to the floor.

At that moment, all rational thought snapped.

“…You. What are you doing?”

He calmly responded, annoyed at her, so he cut her down.

It was undeniably infuriating.

I shoved aside the Royal Minister obstructing my path and approached him, gathering my magical energy.

Though we were in Trinity, where spellcasting was generally prohibited for mages, there were exceptions for those attacking mages.

Of course, I couldn’t kill him using illusion magic.

But witnessing Medeia like that was unbearable.

I was so tired of being looked down upon and attacked as an Illusion Mage.

-THOOOOMP-!

Giant golems shot up from the ground, stretching their limbs.

Not just one or two; several massive golems began to rise just as big as our shabby Tower, causing the ceiling to creak.

Soon, the golems began attacking the man.

“Rai? What in the world…”

Rain, who had been outside, rushed in, startled.

But she didn’t try to stop me.

After all, all of this was just a well-crafted illusion.

Even knowing that, the illusion was so vivid it still felt threatening.

BOOM-

A golem slammed the ground.

In sync, an illusion of the earth collapsing followed.

The man sidestepped the golem’s assault quickly and began rushing toward me.

I fled outside the Tower, creating a massive sinkhole in his path.

A chasm so deep it seemed endless.

“Interesting.”

But the man disregarded it completely and started sprinting across the sinkhole.

He looked as though he was running in the air.

He wasn’t fazed because he understood this was all an illusion.

However, to leap atop it without hesitation would normally take considerable courage.

He was definitely no ordinary human.

As those thoughts crossed my mind, his sword was already at my face.

His blade swung at my shoulder, digging deep into my chest and spilling my blood.

“Rai—!”

Rain’s shout echoed, but I felt no pain.

Because, after all, it was just an illusion.

The moment he struck the clone, I dashed forward and grabbed his neck with a dagger.

All the illusions faded, and the man came to a halt.

“…I didn’t know that was a clone.”

And just as I was about to stab him,

“Wait a moment, Rai! Stop it!”

I heard Medeia’s voice.

“…Huh?”

She was alive.

*

“…So you knew it was a clone and still went for it. Is that right?”

“Yes, yes! Of course, our Prince has illusion-related attributes, right?”

Somehow, the misunderstanding was cleared up.

Medeia claimed she heard him saying he was striking against an illusion, so it seemed he had no real intention of killing.

This man was the Third Prince Rikal.

He was notorious in Trinity for being a reckless prince.

He had dozens of dead people in his wake, rumored to cause havoc when things didn’t go his way.

Even knowing it was all an illusion, I couldn’t look kindly on someone who drew a sword when things weren’t going as intended.

“I understand. However, you must acknowledge it was your royal highness’s fault for swinging a sword recklessly in Trinity, so I won’t apologize. Rather, we deserve an apology.”

“Th-that… well, yes, that’s true, but…”

My stubbornness made his advisor Hanon sweat profusely.

Clearly, he was worried about when the prince might erupt in anger.

Of course, I knew Rikal wouldn’t remain quiet after that.

But I had no intention of bowing my head to him.

After all, this was Trinity, and no matter how royal, a prince couldn’t kill a mage and walk away unscathed.

“I have a suggestion regarding ‘Maple Leaf Story.’ That brat’s preventing us from playing the game, so deal with it quickly, Riot.”

“…It’s not Riot; it’s Rai. Oat.”

Rikal merely rambled on without an apology.

I didn’t care either way.

What surprised me, however, was that he was a user of “Maple Leaf Story”.

He came to complain, not to raise concerns.

“…But what is this suggestion?”

If it were a purchase issue, I would have blacklisted them immediately, but as a user’s suggestion, I was willing to listen.

The game still had plenty of areas needing maintenance.

While I didn’t particularly like the prince, I decided to hear him out.

“There are users robbing kills from others without permission. It’s not just once or twice; they’re systematically targeting users with slower hunting speeds.”

Kill stealing, huh?

That was something that happened often in my previous world.

This was less a legal matter and more a matter of poor manners in gameplay.

Although I couldn’t ban accounts over this, it was undoubtedly a significant issue among players.

I expected this to occur eventually, but I didn’t think it would happen this quickly.

“That’s indeed a problem. However, we can’t ban them or blacklist them just for that.”

“Those brats are causing me not to be able to play the game. Are you kidding me?”

“A hunting area is open for everyone, right? It’s a public map. The idea of ‘taking a spot’ is more like a matter of manner. An unspoken agreement, you might say.”

“So you want me to deal with those who break that agreement.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. It’s not illegal.”

“Ugh…”

As I kept denying his request, Rikal rubbed his forehead, evidently frustrated.

I understood that it was a troublesome issue.

And since I anticipated it, I had already thought of solutions.

However, those wouldn’t be methods like account bans.

“But I can give you a new update. Once this update is done, it should mitigate those kinds of issues to some extent.”

“…Update?”

“Yes.”

Originally, I had planned to include this in the next large-scale update.

However, since kill stealing had popped up, I thought it was advisable to prioritize this update.

“I’m planning to implement a popularity system and an announcement item.”

“…Popularity and an announcement item?”

I briefly explained those concepts.

Certainly, this wouldn’t completely eradicate kill stealing, but given the nature of this world, I believed it would be somewhat feasible.

The influence of popularity would be much higher than it was in my previous life.

“Do you think that’s enough to stop it?”

“It will work. Next time someone tries to steal, use the announcement item to let the entire server know their nickname.”

“…Hmph.”

Though skeptical, the prince seemed to grasp the concept.

As the announcement item was a cash item, I thought it might be time to update the cash shop too.

I planned to lower the price soon; I needed additional ways to make money.

Though I wasn’t sure about other items, the announcement item was basically the centerpiece of “Maple Leaf Story.”

Initially, it would only be used for this purpose, but later, users would adopt it for countless other reasons.

“If it doesn’t work, then come find me again. For now, this is the best I can do.”

“…When will this update take place?”

He’s quite the talkative one, isn’t he?

Rikal was annoying, but I held my tongue.

After all, I had another objective in mind.

Being a prince likely meant he had a vast sum of money.

“Actually, I can whip it up quickly, but to add new functionality, I’ll need a large quantity of mana stones. And as you can see, our Tower is quite short on funds.”

To be frank, since the sale of the second production run, we had seen many more investors and sponsors.

Most sponsors were individuals who had been blacklisted.

They had agreed to support our Tower for free under the condition that their blacklist status was revoked.

“I still haven’t even made the third production run. But for such a big update… I suppose I’ll need a substantial investment.”

I had secured funding for game production already.

But with such a golden opportunity before me, I couldn’t let it slide.

“If your highness invests, well, it could speed things up significantly.”

“…Tch. I’ll give you however much you need, just make it fast.”

“Oh, then of course!”

Just a moment ago, I wanted to punch him, but now he started to look quite handsome.

Is this the power of money?

He was still an irksome brat, but since he was investing, my evaluation of him went up a notch.

Seizing the opportunity, I drafted a one-sided investment contract that benefitted only us and presented it to him.

“Please put your mark here. Since investment contracts are sensitive matters, it’s essential to keep a record.”

“…What a hassle.”

“Wait a moment, your highness!”

Quickly, Hanon raced forward to stop the prince.

But Rikal’s finger was quicker.

As Hanon snatched the contract, Rikal’s mark had already been placed.

“Thank you! I’ll make you a copy, so please take it.”

“Handle it how you see fit, Hanon.”

Upon reading the contract, Hanon immediately knelt and began to wail.

Rikal, however, was unconcerned, merely cleaning his fingers.

“Alright, hehehe… There will be a notice when the update is completed, so keep an eye out.”

Previously an annoying figure, now he made me want to burst into laughter.

Though I couldn’t overlook him swinging a sword recklessly, I was willing to agree to this much.

Having received the money, I was about to send this troublesome kid away when a sudden curiosity struck me.

“…By the way, your highness, which profession are you currently leveling? A warrior? A thief?”

Given Rikal’s personality, I suspected he would have chosen an aggressive job like a warrior.

I figured if he did encounter any trouble, he’d easily fend them off.

“…D-don’t waste time asking about that and just hurry up with the update, Rai.”

Rikal didn’t provide an answer.

For some reason, his eyes seemed to flicker, but was it just my imagination? His hands looked like they were trembling.

Well, he might just want to try something different.

Since it’s a fundamentally anonymous universe, no one would pry too deeply into information from “Maple Leaf Story”.

“By the way, can users actually find out who someone is in the Illusion Tower?”

Rikal asked, seemingly sweating.

His pupils were wandering in the air.

From my position as the operator, I could indeed discover user information.

In this world, mana acts like fingerprints, automatically displaying the info about which mana was used to activate artifacts.

Of course, most users wouldn’t know about this.

If it were an Illusion Mage like Hina, she might pick up on it.

But I had no intention of revealing anything. I wouldn’t use personal information for any purpose.

As previously stated, “Maple Leaf Story” should be a world where players escape from reality and embark on entirely new adventures.

If personal information from the real world were exposed there, one wouldn’t be able to play the game joyfully.

“No. We cannot even find out user personal information.”

“…Really?”

For some reason, Rikal looked relieved.

Returning to his usual self, Rikal stood up.

“Then hurry up with the update or whatever. I’m furious and can’t play the game because of that brat.”

“Yes, I will ensure that happens. I’ll utilize your funds wisely.”

Creeeak—

Together with a wailing Hanon, Rikal exited the Tower.

Only then did the people hiding emerge.

“How did it go?”

“It was resolved nicely. He’s an annoying bugger, but I managed to squeeze a lot of cash out of him.”

With that remark, everyone began to look relieved and pleased.

In any case, the outcome was good.

“Rain, please guide the new members and summon the Tower Master so they can learn some Illusion spells. I have something I need to check.”

“Yes, understood, Rai.”

Rain hugged me tightly, rubbing her cheek against mine.

It was a habit she’d had since childhood; she still did it. Her height matched mine now.

With that, I set aside my other tasks and headed to the room housing the artifact that implemented the main server of “Maple Leaf Story”.

I needed to discover what Rikal’s character was.

By chance, during the recent battle, he had used his magic, leaving traces of his mana behind.

“…Huh? Is this the user?”

Upon discovering Rikal’s character, I was taken aback.

It was because the user was someone I never expected.

But my surprise quickly morphed into laughter.

“Hehe, I can’t believe this user is the Third Prince. You’re done for now.”

I had learned a fun fact.