Isekai Online Game Developer

“What? A blacklist?”

“Y-yes… It seems that way. You caused a commotion at the Illusion Tower…”

“What do you mean by that…”

At that moment, a thought crossed Count Logos’ mind.

Not long ago, he had sent one of the family’s knights to visit the Illusion Tower.

That was the only thing he could pinpoint.

“So you mean I can’t buy this now? Do you know how long it took me to get here?!”

“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing we can do about it. Unless they release you from the Illusion Tower, we can’t sell to you.”

“Just a bunch of merchants daring to…”

– If it’s not working out, get out quickly!

– Count! There are many more people waiting behind you!

– Do you think you’re the only one waiting here? Everyone came from far away to wait!

Angry voices from other nobles came pouring in from behind.

If it were just a matter of dealing with merchants, he could leverage his status, but he couldn’t bear the weight of all those noble’s complaints.

“Bwaaaaah— My, my Maple Leaf!”

“Ha…”

“What is this noise? A blacklist?!”

“Father! If this goes on, we’ll all be sold out!”

In the end, the Count had to leave the guild with his youngest child, who was throwing a tantrum.

His wife and eldest son wore equally dazed expressions.

Of course, the Count felt the same way.

“Count! Count Logos!”

As soon as they stepped out of the guild, there were people waiting for him.

They were none other than his relatives.

“Because of the Logos family, we’ve been put on the blacklist!”

“How are you going to take responsibility for this? I’ve been waiting since last night!”

“What are we supposed to do after waiting for months?!”

His relatives were also on the blacklist.

“B-bring me Knight Phenil immediately!”

*

“W-wow…”

“I didn’t expect that so many nobles would invest this much.”

Hina’s eyes went wide as she looked at the pile of money.

Unbeknownst to us, the popularity of ‘Maple Leaf Story’ had skyrocketed among the nobles.

So much so that it had attracted several nobles to visit the Illusion Tower, starting with that unfortunate knight.

Among them were polite nobles, but also some who were as unfortunate as the initial knight.

Those people were all put on the blacklist to prevent them from purchasing ‘Maple Leaf Story’.

“Is it really okay, Rai? Nobles might retaliate.”

Concerned, Rain asked.

That part should be fine.

For one, there’s Galleard.

If we end our services for ‘Maple Leaf Story’ because of them, other users who have already enjoyed it would likely retaliate against them.

It would be them who’d have to bow their heads.

Knock, knock—

And just as I predicted, the nobles on the blacklist came to the tower.

“I will personally apologize for this. It seems that my family’s knight made a mistake. Please, release the blacklist.”

“I-I’m sorry! I was just so out of sorts after traveling such a long distance at such a late hour!”

The first to arrive were Count Logos and his knight.

The knight who had caused trouble for us first.

It seemed that even the Count’s relatives being placed on the blacklist had been quite effective.

The knight, who had been throwing a fit, was now flat on the ground, bowing his head.

“Please, just this once. The child is being quite the handful.”

What should I do?

I could either take the money and lift the ban, but I wouldn’t feel good about it.

“Let’s think this over. In any case, you won’t be able to purchase anything right now, so please go back for the time being.”

Even if I released them now, they wouldn’t be able to buy anything.

The second production had sold out in just one day.

The tower’s personnel were limited, and it took a while to create artifacts.

I intended to send them back and think about it later, but the Count urgently held onto the closing door.

“P-please! Just this once…”

“If this happens, there could be rumors that Count Logos is delaying the next production.”

“Ah, ah…”

With a desperate expression, the Count let go of the door.

Seeing him collapse helplessly was almost pitiable.

But I wouldn’t feel pity over that.

Though he was begging like this now, he had always looked down on the Illusion Magic School.

Many nobles, just like other mages, had ignored the Illusion School.

For a long time, they had mocked and belittled Illusion Magic whenever the topic came up in high society.

Because of that, the perception of the Illusion School had plummeted, contributing to their current poverty.

Why do people who have nothing look down upon others?

It was incomprehensible, but such people existed everywhere.

Still, it felt good to see those who had once ignored us bow their heads now.

At the same time, a feeling of disgust arose at how easily they flipped their stance.

“Did everything get resolved?”

“Yes. No need to worry. They won’t be able to bother us anymore. But what about the Tower Master?”

“They’ve gone in to play. They’ve been staying up all night doing just that. It’s fun, of course.”

“Hmm… Game addiction isn’t a good thing, though. We need to hurry with the next production…”

With so few people in our tower, it took quite a while to make artifacts.

After all, once the main server was established, it should only take granting the Illusion Share Spell, but that was difficult.

The Illusion Share Spell is quite a high-level magic, which only those with high Illusion Attributes, like myself and Hina, can use.

Body duplication type spells aren’t any help for producing artifacts.

“If it keeps going like this, it seems it will take a long time until the update or the next game release…”

We needed a solution.

To be precise, we needed a high-level Illusion Mage.

“But why aren’t any newbies showing up at our tower? Shouldn’t someone come if a high-level attribute emerges?”

“We usually go to fetch them. But everyone refuses when we ask them to join the Illusion Tower. Rai was the first in about eight years, and no one has come since then.”

“Ah…”

So it was okay to refuse. I should have declined back then.

Should I just grab some money and run now?

“I was really happy when you came, Rai. Hehe.”

Wiping away bad thoughts while recalling our first day.

“So, there are quite a few talented people out there?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then let’s give it another shot. This time, since we’ve made quite a bit of money, let’s go by carriage.”

“Sounds good!”

Thus began the search for staff.

*

In the world of ‘Maple Leaf Story,’ Victory Island,

The user nicknamed [Empire's Light] was hunting just like any other user to level up.

Their job was Cleric.

It was currently the most unpopular secondary class among all job types.

That’s because when choosing the secondary class for a mage, Clerics were described as support characters who heal and assist party members.

But [Empire's Light] had unwittingly and without much thought chosen Cleric.

Since it was impossible to reset the character, they begrudgingly started leveling up as a Cleric.

Their secondary attack skill, Holy Arrow, was absolute garbage.

The damage was so low that they had to continue using their primary skill, Magic Claw, just to hunt.

Though healing and buffing was quite nice, that was all there was to it.

Other jobs would use flashy new attack skills when they advanced to the secondary class, but Clerics were still stuck walking around using Magic Claw.

They were getting fed up with this cursed skill.

Then [Empire's Light]‘s perspective shifted when they discovered something in the skill description.

The skill descriptions they usually didn’t read.

One day, while carelessly reading the description of Holy Arrow, they stumbled upon a specific line.

[Can deal significant damage to undead or demon-type monsters.]

That line.

And even the healing skill was described as dealing damage to undead monsters only.

[Empire's Light] immediately headed to a hunting ground filled with undead monsters.

And there, they experienced a new world.

“Whoa?! This, this is it—!!”

How much had they envied other jobs that used flashy secondary skills?

But now, with healing and Holy Arrow, they could hunt just as well as anyone else.

While leveling up enthusiastically,

“Hey, this is Jejarin.”

“Oh, yes. I’m sorry…”

“Wait a minute. Are you a Cleric?”

“Uh, yes?”

“Want to party with me?”

“A party?”

They received a party invitation from another user they encountered one day.

At this point, forming parties was not common.

When [Empire's Light] bought ‘Maple Leaf Story,’ it wasn’t yet well-known.

By sheer luck, they had purchased the first production run on Lepert’s recommendation.

Back when there were only about 500 users, it was rare to meet another user while hunting.

Even so, their job as a Cleric was sufficient to receive party invites.

“Yes, sure.”

After forming their first party, [Empire's Light] often played with others in parties.

Surprisingly, the act of healing, which was the true calling of a Cleric, was quite enjoyable.

As time passed and the second production was released into the world,

As the user count surged, players actively began attempting party play and boss raids.

Naturally, in such a situation, many sought out [Empire's Light], who had leveled from the beginning as a Cleric.

“Empire’s Light! Want to come with us to take down Balrog?”

“Empire’s Light promised to party with me today!”

“Empire’s Light! Please party with me!”

“No, I’m supposed to go with him!”

They had become a renowned user in the world of ‘Maple Leaf Story’ under the alias of Empire’s Light.

“Wow-wah~? If everyone parties with me, there will be no fighting! I can’t stand it when users fight amongst each other!”

…Along with a somewhat transformed personality.

By the way, in ‘Maple Leaf Story,’ players could choose their character’s gender, and ‘Empire’s Light’ had chosen a female character.

Of course, the voice could also be set during character creation.

Since it was all just fantasy, it didn’t matter if it differed from their real gender.

Naturally, people new to gaming rarely did such things.

“Phew… Today was exhausting since we fought the boss three times. I think I’ll hunt a bit alone before logging out…”

Thus, the renowned user [Empire's Light] was hunting solo for a bit.

Though level gained through party play and boss raids,

Hunting remained a fundamental part of ‘Maple Leaf Story’ and needed to be done regularly.

But suddenly,

Bapapapapapapapat—

“Ah! This is my spot! My money—! Stop stealing my experience points—!”

A user suddenly appeared and swiftly hunted the monsters in the area that Empire’s Light had claimed. Nicknamed Power Archer.

As a Hunter, the second-tier advancement of Archer, that user swiftly eliminated monsters using their main skill, Song of Wind.

Just a mere Cleric like Empire’s Light couldn’t keep up with the hunting speed of a Hunter.

Thus, the situation unfolded where they lost all the hunting prey and experience points.

No matter how much they yelled, that user wouldn’t leave.

“Ha! Seriously! What a dirty move! It’s like stepping in poop on the road!”

In the end, Empire’s Light decided to change spots.

It was frustrating, but there was nothing else a Cleric could do.

“Gyaahhh! Stop it already—!”

But even at the new hunting ground, that user followed and kept stealing their experience points.

At this point, it was clear it was intentional.

“Ugh…! What are they doing not catching those jerks—? What’s the operator doing!”

Ultimately, Empire’s Light returned to the town.

As soon as Empire’s Light appeared, other users gathered around.

Empire’s Light shared their unbelievable experiences in an agitated voice.

“Did you just experience that too, Empire’s Light? That sort of thing happened to me recently.”

“I had it happen to me, too! Those guys are truly the worst!”

“I’ve had it happen to me as well!”

As they talked, it turned out that many others had experienced similar situations.

Most of them also held jobs that were slow in hunting speed, like Cleric.

“Ugh… How can we punish users like that?”

In ‘Maple Leaf Story,’ dealing damage to a user or uncovering their real identity was impossible.

This was entirely intended for players to enjoy the adventure, but there was a problem of being unable to punish such malicious play.

“That has clearly crossed the line…”

“They should be banned from the game entirely.”

“Shouldn’t we tell the Illusion Tower about this?”

“Yeah! This is definitely something the Illusion Tower should address!”

“But what if we disturb the Illusion Tower and end up getting ourselves banned? I heard those nobles who caused trouble last time ended up on a blacklist…”

The conversation quickly shifted to Count Logos and the blacklist.

When you think about it, the users present in the town seemed to log in mostly to chat rather than to adventure.

And this kind of trouble only seemed to happen to a few users, like Clerics.

It was also a minor issue that wouldn’t sway the opinion of the whole user base.

Meaning, there would be no user willing to contact the Illusion Tower directly.

“Then, Empire’s Light will log out now. See you all tomorrow!”

But Empire’s Light was different.

They could not handle such unpleasant experiences in silence.

With the logout music playing, the illusion that had transformed Empire’s Light’s world faded away.

“Those jerks… I will find a way to stop them.”

One man stood up after placing the Maple Leaf-shaped artifact on the table.

As soon as he logged out, he called out in a furious voice.

“Oh, Your Highness! What’s wrong?”

“Prepare to head to Trinity tomorrow. I’m going to visit the Illusion Tower.”

“Y-yes? Why are you suddenly heading to the Illusion Tower… If something happens, His Majesty will…”

Bang—!

He interrupted the minister’s words, slamming his hand on the desk.

“What are you saying? Do you think I’ll be stopped by your nonsense like other ministers?”

“I-I-I’m so sorry! I’ll get it ready right away!”

The royal minister replied, startled by his roar.

“Leave.”

“Y-yes, right away!”

The minister hurriedly dashed out of the room, trembling.

“Those idiots… they must end up on the blacklist, no matter what. Those bastards…”

The renowned user of ‘Maple Leaf Story,’ [Empire's Light].

Currently, he had the highest recognition within ‘Maple Leaf Story,’ and he was none other than the empire’s prince,

famed in the world as the ‘Reckless Prince,’ the Third Prince Rikal Leonious.