Four months had passed since the initial development of Legend Fighter when I received the notice of completion from the Minister’s Office.
Through the communication crystal ball, Mineva expressed her gratitude to me.
“Thanks to you for successfully completing the request, I, on behalf of the Minister’s Office, would like to express our appreciation to the Irene School. Thank you for your hard work.”
“You worked hard too, Mineva.”
I heard that the compensation, a tax reduction, had already been discussed between Sylvia and the Edward Consortium.
From what I gathered, an enormous profit beyond Super Thomas was expected.
What to do with that money?
Jerry mentioned that if we bought any more land, we might end up purchasing the entire village, causing friction with the Southern Lord’s family, so we needed to think of other uses.
I thought I should discuss it with everyone later.
“Then Mineva, I’ll let you go since you must be busy.”
“Wait! But Wizard Yuren, have you thought about what I mentioned?”
“Huh? What are you referring to?”
Both Mineva who works in the Minister’s Office and I were busy people.
Just as I was about to end the call, she spoke urgently.
What could she possibly want to say?
“Curie! Curie’s kick is too weak! Are you planning to strengthen it any further?”
“Hahaha, is that what you meant?”
“It’s absolutely not because I’ve been using Curie a lot; I just noticed it while watching the arena!”
She had been strongly requesting a buff for Curie for several weeks now.
At first, she seemed to just like Curie, but now she was specifically asking for improvements to her weaknesses.
From what I could tell, Mineva had likely logged over 200 hours to reach that level of understanding.
Isn’t the Minister’s Office supposed to be busy?
When did she have the time to play so much?
“I’ll think about it. Well…”
“Wizard Yuren? Yuren!?”
Click!
Everyone wants their character to feel stronger, and they want to be powerful.
But when someone becomes strong, someone else becomes weaker.
If you simply adjust the balance to what feels good without thinking about that, chaos, destruction, and oblivion are bound to occur, which is the essence of game balance, and I’ve seen that happen countless times in my previous life.
…I even created such games.
So, not wanting to disrupt the carefully constructed triangular dynamic of Legend Fighter, I decided to keep her suggestion on hold.
“Hah, is it finally over?”
Just like in my previous life, dealing with national agencies came with a lot of stress and things to worry about.
Still, I didn’t regret creating a fighting game, one of my bucket list items.
However, even though I had finally regained my freedom after four months, it didn’t feel like freedom at all.
Bang! Crash! Boom!
“Yah! Take that!!”
“No way!!”
Because I wasn’t actually free.
Listening to the sounds of martial artists battling outside, I heard footsteps approaching.
A moment later, the door opened, and Jiren stepped in.
Click!
“A challenger is waiting, sir.”
“Got it, I’m heading there now.”
As the manager of the Irene school, a first-class magician, and a game developer, I was now accepting challenges as the champion of the Irene Arena.
How did I end up like this?
The beginning of this situation goes back to about a month after the launch of Legend Fighter.
*
It became customary to receive unimaginable requests after the game was released.
There was even a wealthy person who offered 1 billion gold in exchange for the secret to creating Super Thomas’s superstar.
However, no one expected such requests—or rather, visits—to occur.
“Is this the Irene School that created Legend Fighter?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
One day, a muscular dwarf wanderer visited our Irene School.
He immediately knew that we were the ones behind Legend Fighter and suddenly clasped his hands and said,
“I’ve come to learn a technique.”
“Huh?”
The dwarf revealed he was a practitioner of the dwarf martial art called Valparia, having heard rumors of legendary masters at the Irene School that developed Legend Fighter.
It turned out that the rumor stemmed from Apollon mentioning that there was an Irene master who had learned the elf martial art Yudra.
> There is someone in the Irene School who has learned the practical elf martial art from the South.
> There is a master who has learned the practical elf martial art at the Irene School.
> There is an elf master in Irene.
> The reason we were able to create a game like Legend Fighter is because there is a legendary master at the Irene School.
Isn’t this rumor blowing things way out of proportion?
“We are magicians, not martial artists!”
I understood the situation, but I had to politely decline the dwarf’s challenge.
Then, the dwarf became angry and said,
“No! Are you saying that mere humans who know nothing about martial arts created such a game that embodies the essence of martial arts!?”
“Well… it’s not that we don’t know martial arts.”
“What do you mean by that?”
To create a fighting game, even as a magician, I had undergone intense training to use martial arts but simply didn’t want to fight.
As I pondered how to explain this strange statement, Jiren rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward.
“How bothersome. I’ll take care of it, sir! That should be enough!”
Jiren boldly accepted the dwarf practitioner’s challenge.
The dwarf smiled satisfactorily at Jiren’s masculine presence and began to position himself.
“You’re not your ordinary human, good! Teach me a technique.”
“Here it comes. It might hurt a bit, dwarf uncle!”
Jiren took the position of the Nidra martial art he learned from Apollon and prepared for the challenge.
The battle between the dwarf practitioner and Jiren ended surprisingly with Jiren’s victory.
When did that guy become so strong?
“I lost! You’re truly strong!”
“You’re not bad yourself, dwarf uncle. I learned a lot!”
I soon figured out why Jiren stepped in.
Noirin had learned dwarf martial arts, and by sparring with Noirin, Jiren had become quite adept at handling Valparia.
Plus, having reluctantly undergone combat training with me and my master prior to any martial training, the efforts of my apprentices seemed to have made them extraordinary martial artists compared to regular practitioners.
“Then I’ll accumulate some more training and challenge you next time; I hope you’ll teach me a technique then!”
The defeated dwarf challenger waved goodbye as he left.
I wished he wouldn’t come back.
But that was just the beginning.
“I am Blancia, the 120th successor of the Black Forest. I request a challenge.”
“I am Ryumin, champion of the Flame Festival in the Kingdom of Ra. I wish to challenge you!”
“I have come to learn a technique from the legendary master.”
“I want to learn the practical martial art Yudra!”
With people desiring to learn techniques or challenge legendary masters, martial artists from all corners of the world began flocking to our village at Irene School, creating a crowd.
“What do we do about this, Yuren?”
“True, I’ve had quite a lot of experiences in my life, but nothing like this.”
We brainstormed on how to handle it.
The rumors that had spread would not disappear anytime soon.
If we randomly provoked these martial enthusiasts, there could be fights.
While pondering how to manage this, my master offered a fantastic idea.
“Disciple, if those who wish to fight are gathered, shouldn’t they just fight among themselves?”
“…That’s it!!”
I told those wanting to learn techniques that we would only accept challenges from the strongest champion among the challengers.
Until then, I rented out a space for competitors to conduct a tournament to determine the champion.
Thanks to having purchased plenty of land previously, this was doable.
Thus, the moment came when the Irene Arena became known as the sacred place for training future martial artists and a tourist attraction in the South.
Bang! Crash! Boom! Whoosh!
“I’m coming! The Dance of the Burning Dragon!”
“No way! Zergas’s Lightning God Spear!”
Thus, challengers began to draw lots in our Irene School’s backyard to determine the champion via tournament.
The challengers created the battle stage with rock magic, and the village merchants who sought to make a profit sold food as the arena resembled a sports venue.
Karen watched with interest from the laboratory window and said,
“They fight really well.”
“Let them be; they’ll tire themselves out and head home.”
I thought they would all tire out and go back home after fighting like that.
Yet, the determination of those obsessed with martial arts exceeded my imagination.
“I, Blancia, the champion of the Irene Arena, challenge Yuren, the master of Yudra!”
The female dark elf martial artist, Blancia, current successor of the Black Forest, had truly taken down everyone and declared a challenge to me directly.
Why me and not my master?
“Hey, Jiren, what’s going on? Why is she challenging me instead of my master?”
“Well, it seems the rumor that you created Legend Fighter is in the sense that you are a legendary master.”
This crazy rumor!
Why does it always get twisted in such weird ways?
I intended to clarify the misunderstanding and hand the challenge over to my master or other apprentices.
However, the multitude of gazes pressing upon me was overwhelming.
“Should… I just accept it?”
“Yes, if you refuse, there might be a riot. Sir.”
“Ha…”
Faced with the gazes of the surrounding martial artists, including champion Blancia herself, I eventually succumbed and accepted her challenge.
Since I was fighting anyway, it was only courteous to give it my all.
So, I accepted Blancia’s challenge using all my power with Yudra, learned from my master… and won.
I became the official champion of the Irene Arena, acknowledged by all martial artists.
This isn’t how it should have been…
Afterward, I was called to the arena every couple of weeks to face martial challengers.
Even so, the Minister’s request was over, so I felt a bit more free now.
While managing the Irene Arena moderately, I thought it was time to create the next game.
Just as I was pondering such a delightful future, a week later, I received a call from Mineva.
“Hello, Mineva, what’s the matter?”
“Um… Yuren, please don’t be surprised at what I’m about to say.”
“Could it be… something happened again?”
“Well… the second prince of the Kingdom of Ra has requested to meet with you.”
“Huh?”
“So, um… the prince is a fan of Legend Fighter.”
“Wait, what!?”
“Additionally, he wishes to have a match with you, the champion of Irene Arena…”
“Eh!!!?”
It seems I still needed more time before I could be truly free.
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