Isekai Online Game Developer

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Riji chuckled at her own reflection.

In her hand was an artifact shaped like a maple leaf, crafted by humans.

In the room of the Illusion Tower that Rai had guided her to.

Originally, she had planned to leave in search of her egg, but she ended up accepting Rai’s suggestion.

“To think there’s a human begging on their knees for help…”

Rai had grabbed Riji, claiming he would surely find the egg for her.

Dragons all possess eyes that can see through the truth.

Rai’s plea for her to please wait and play a game instead was utterly sincere, without the slightest hint of falsehood.

She couldn’t grasp why that was.

But Rai vowed to quickly help her find the egg using the magic of each tower.

That too was entirely true as seen through the eyes of a dragon.

Rai was genuinely trying to find and return Riji’s egg.

If there had been even a hint of deceit in his eyes, she would have turned back immediately.

But since there was only truth in his gaze, she decided to go along with his words.

It seemed faster than roaming the continent in flames.

“What is this… a game?”

Riji turned the maple leaf artifact over in her hands.

It was a human artifact, caked in illusion magic.

She had heard it was something called a “game,” but Riji didn’t even know what that meant.

“It was because of this that humans acted so recklessly… Did they feel any sense of responsibility?”

After pondering for a moment, Riji set the maple leaf down.

No way could she focus on such things after losing a child.

“I’m bored.”

However, after a little time passed, she quickly became bored.

Being cooped up in such a small room felt stifling.

Rai had said to wait until the scouting results came in at least.

“Um…”

Ultimately, Riji picked up the Maple Leaf Story again.

“What is this even about…”

Curious about why humans had acted in such a way, she decided to give it a try.

Logging in, she began creating her character.

“Eban… Is this the one in question?”

The class she chose was Dragon Master Eban.

An arrogant human who tamed dragons.

Character creation completed, and Eban’s story began.

– Until time separates us…

The tale of a human named Fried and a dragon named Afrien, who had formed a pact with him.

The game started along with their story of fighting the Black Dark Mage in the past.

The dragon Afrien, having partnered with Fried, fell asleep while defending the world together.

Their relationship seemed like that of friends, comrades, or something even deeper.

The profound bond they forged while fighting for the world.

The pledge they made even in the face of tragedy before them.

Their tale was entirely different from Riji’s assumption that they would have simply disregarded dragons.

Thus, as the past story of Afrien and Fried came to a close, Eban’s story began.

Eban, a descendant of Fried, would join with the dragon Mir, Afrien’s son, to fight once again for the world.

Though called a Dragon Master, the two were practically friends.

“Magic Missile! O-oh… this is fun… right?”

Riji had the role of a human, not a dragon, but it was still quite enjoyable.

After all, the game “Maple Leaf Story” itself was incredibly fun.

Riji lost track of time as she continued the story of Eban.

The more the story progressed, the more she became immersed in “Maple Leaf Story.”

– Fried fought against the Black Dark Mage…

Tap—

“Ugh?!”

It was a scene where Eban saw the memories of his ancestor Fried while on an adventure.

Her vision suddenly went dark while she was deeply engrossed in the story.

Suddenly, she returned to reality.

With a silly sound, Riji woke up.

“Oh, I see you were having fun, Dragon.”

It was Rai who had awakened her.

Wiping the drool from her mouth, she fixed her posture.

“Fun, you say! I was just watching what humans did to dragons!”

“Is that so? I had no intention of humiliating dragons. I didn’t anticipate this happening. I will take full responsibility and retrieve the egg.”

There was still not a shred of deceit in Rai’s words.

Riji stared at him, her gaze fixed on his honesty.

“With the help of Tower Masters, I’ve roughly pinpointed the location of the adventurer who stole the egg. I think we’ll be able to find it soon.”

“R-really?”

Rai had been gathering news about the adventurer who had stolen the egg.

Using the power of the Space Tower and Wind Tower, he had approximately tracked the adventurer’s path.

Half a day had already passed while he was busy with that task.

Riji had been so absorbed in the game that she hadn’t realized time had passed.

“It’s getting late… Shall we return to the nest? I will bring the egg back as soon as I find it.”

“Ah, no. My lair is in a place that’s hard for humans to reach, so it would be difficult to bring the egg back.”

“But staying here any longer…”

“Then hurry up and find it! Anyway, it’s unlikely humans will carry the egg. As long as you tell me the location, I can bring it.”

“But it could take several days…”

“It’s fine, right? So just hurry up and find it.”

“Yes. Then…”

Rai politely bowed and left.

Riji picked up Maple Leaf Story again.

It wasn’t that she wanted to continue playing the game; she simply trusted Rai because he wasn’t a liar.

“This was an important scene…”

Riji logged back into Maple Leaf Story.

*

“Why do I have to go with someone like you…”

“I’m fine with it. The Electricity Tower Master said to take me along, so what can I do?”

I was moving with a few companions towards the suspected location of the dragon egg thief.

Thanks to the assistance of the tower, we could quickly gauge the location.

This was made possible because the majority of the Tower Masters had been friendly to me since the Arcane War.

Especially the Electricity Tower Master Electra.

Considering my lack of combat abilities, she had attached Leah to escort me.

And one Space Mage was with us as well.

“But Your Highness is really okay? You’re not busy?”

Just then, Rikal, who had happened to visit the Illusion Tower, joined us.

I knew he was quite busy, yet he stubbornly followed on this journey.

“I mostly handed my work over to Count Pofos, so it’s not a problem. Plus, I needed a break recently.”

Rikal was steadily improving his position in the royal palace.

No one referred to him as the Reckless Prince anymore.

Instead, Leo’s reputation was gradually declining.

“And I hear the opponent goes by ‘Dragon Thief Hetz.’ A mere Illusion Mage like you could have died without ever returning if you went alone to retrieve the egg.”

“Dragon Thief Hetz? Is he breeding with dragons or something?”

“Not exactly, but that’s just what they call him.”

Rikal explained about the adventurer named Hetz.

“Dragon Thief Hetz is the only one in the world to have robbed the lair of a Gold Dragon. As a result, he became a wealthy magnate. His skills are average, but his use of tools and techniques are anything but ordinary. To steal a dragon or an egg, getting close to Hetz’s hideout won’t be easy.”

The adventurer who stole the dragon’s egg was speculated to be Hetz.

His original home was abandoned, and he had likely hidden the egg somewhere while disappearing.

It seemed that many people were trying to take the dragon egg after hearing the news.

Stealing from a dragon was bound to be riskier than stealing from a person.

“Why do they all want dragon eggs so badly? They’re not even trainable beings.”

Despite an entire village disappearing beneath dragon fire, people were still out hunting for eggs.

I couldn’t help but feel a sense of responsibility.

“It’s likely due to how well the game is made. I felt my heart race while playing Eban this time.”

The Space Mage beside me said.

While it certainly was a world conducive to immersion.

“When we arrive, you stay back. Don’t get hurt for no reason.”

“I’m fully capable of taking care of myself.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. If you get hurt, it’ll just bother me.”

“…Why do you care if Your Highness is bothered?”

Leah frowned and questioned Rikal.

Without answering, Rikal walked ahead quickly.

After a little more walking, we arrived at a small town.

A town near the one that the dragon had burned down.

Just a little more walking in the opposite direction would take us to the location suspected by the Space Tower.

– Huh… Ugh…

“…Is it common for such children to be in outer areas?”

“Sometimes, but there are too many children here…”

Upon entering the city, there were beggar children scattered everywhere.

Their clothes were all torn, and their faces were smeared with black soot.

The children occasionally begged passing folk for help, but there were few willing to assist.

Everyone walked by with indifferent eyes, as if they were a nuisance.

Rikal clenched his teeth as he looked at those children.

“Could they be the children who survived the attacked village? But why are they all just kids?”

Leah murmured as she observed the children.

It seemed likely Rikal’s assessment was correct.

I entered an alley and tried to speak to one of the children.

I was about to speak, but I was struck mute by the scenery in the alley.

“This is…”

“Ugh…!”

Inside the alley, about five or six children lay huddled against the ground.

All of them motionless with their eyes closed.

“You kids… Where did you come from?”

“Hu-hungry… I’m so… hungry… my belly… it hurts…”

One child stammered as he spoke.

From the looks of it, someone had beaten them severely.

We bought food and water for them and fed it to the child, then continued our conversation.

The child, now slightly better, spoke slowly.

Though difficult to understand, to summarize, it seemed these children had all come from a village burned by dragon fire.

In the midst of chaos, it appeared that the village’s adults had fled with just the children.

There had once been one or two adults leading the kids, but they seemed to have died along the way from severe burns.

The distance between this city and the affected village would take just over a day on foot, day and night.

For young children, it might have taken nearly two days to traverse that distance.

The road was well paved, but if they had walked that distance under such conditions, it wasn’t surprising they had perished.

“Ugh… but why isn’t anyone helping these people…?!”

“Exactly. What the hell are those bastards doing?”

The Space Mage and Rikal spoke as if they were ready to topple the city.

But as someone from the countryside, I and Leah understood the situation.

It was common for beggars or homeless people to die in the streets of these remote areas.

In the glorious empire that thrived, it was unimaginable.

But outside, in the provinces crushed beneath the empire’s foot, it was a common occurrence.

Of course, even if that was not the sole reason, such incidents happen all over the world.

In this world, and even in my past life where the quality of living was much higher.

But ordinary people are usually unaware of such matters since they do not directly affect them.

They barely notice until they witness such sights firsthand.

And once they return, they forget and continue their comfortable lives.

As long as such things don’t directly invade their reality, they have little interest in the underbelly.

I brought food and clothes for the children.

As soon as I was done, I planned to take them to Trinity.

“Shall we hurry and look for the egg?”

“Certainly.”

“Let’s do that.”

Without a moment’s rest, we headed straight for Hetz’s hideout.

And at that moment,

“Tower Selection!”

Riji was deeply engaged in a COL game, playing Shibana.