They say Liu Bei went to great lengths to meet Zhuge Liang.
After visiting three times, he finally met him, but I felt like I experienced that all in one day.
Visit home > Go to the workshop and fail!
Visit the workshop > Nothing happened, so fail!!
Visit home again > I thought I’d really return to the workshop, fail!!!
If there’s a god of meetings, I could feel the malice of the divine!
Finally arriving at Sora’s workshop, the door was open unlike before, and I knocked cautiously, entering the workshop.
Knock! Knock!
“Um… is anyone there?”
Upon my knock, a cat-eared girl with white hair and protective goggles appeared inside.
She seemed to be [Sora Otozu].
I thought it would be a male dwarf given the setting, but she was a girl… but wait, haven’t I seen her somewhere before?
“Who are you?”
“I am…”
I tried to introduce myself to her.
“Oh! You’re the part-timer who was coming today! Just in time. Please help me with this!”
“Excuse me?”
Maybe she misunderstood something, as she grabbed my hand and pulled me inside.
What’s happening here?
“I remember you said you could do a bit of [Game Magic from the Irene School]?”
“Ah… yes, a bit.”
If I fail, that would be a problem, and her surprisingly straightforward question caught me off guard for a moment.
Seeing my flustered face, she comfortingly said, “Don’t worry! You just need to help with something really simple. Come on! This way, please!”
I followed her inside.
And there it was, a familiar magical tool.
“What is this?”
“It’s an old Magic Engineering Machine. Is it your first time seeing it?”
She showed me the outdated machine for testing purposes. It had various rune stones embedded like computer circuit boards around the crystal ball, and seeing that magical device after a long time amazed me in various ways.
Because old Magic Engineering Machines…
“No, but isn’t this difficult to use?”
Using the old Magic Engineering Machine required precision control, making it very tricky to operate.
To put it metaphorically, if a new Magic Engineering Machine is like a GUI operating system such as Windows, the old one is like a text-based OS like DOS.
At my comment, she scratched her head and replied, “It is a bit tricky, but once you get used to it, it’s easy. And I have some problems with the Magus Society, so this is the only thing I could get.”
“Ah… I see.”
I recalled the incident she caused that I had read about.
“Okay! Let’s not dwell on sad stories; let’s quickly create a game. Please connect to the mana circuit over there.”
As the atmosphere began to grow heavy, she seemed to try to lighten it by cheerfully guiding me to a spot across from her, explaining.
“Am I just supposed to connect?”
“Yes, after connecting, it would be great if you could control the flow of ‘Voyer’ (Void Magic) according to my circuit setup… but that technique is a bit advanced. Just keep the flow steady; I’ll handle the rest.”
I began to understand what she was trying to do. When creating a game with the old Magic Engineering Machine, one of the problems is that someone needs to control the flow of ‘Voyer’ during the essential system setup initially. Once set up, it wouldn’t be needed anymore, but the first time is necessary, and I had received help from Jiren on mine.
“Understood. You want me to control it.”
“Right, then let’s start. 3… 2… 1… go!”
Brrrrrrr
Vroom vroom
I began to connect according to the timing Sora indicated.
*
Sora was amazed as she connected to the Magic Engineering Machine.
Because of the problems caused by the outdated machine, she had no choice but to hire a part-timer. She thought that the skills of part-timers like this usually weren’t that great, and she was just happy if they could connect and maintain the flow.
But then…
“Wow! This person is amazing! They’re creating a flow that matches my circuit setup, no wait… they seem even faster than me!?”
He wasn’t just maintaining the flow; he was skillfully controlling it and helping Sora build her system.
If she had to do the system setup and the expansion alone, it would have taken twice as long, but with the help of this part-timer, the work progressed quickly.
Sora wanted to hire this part-timer for a longer time.
Yuren felt the same surprise.
“Wait, they’re constructing the mana circuit system at this speed!? Wow.”
Even Yuren could tell that her working speed was astonishing. She felt she might be faster than him in just the system setup.
Yuren was determined to hire her.
As their work, like an orchestra, came to an end, Sora dashed over to Yuren with an excited expression.
Still wearing her work goggles, everything looked dark to her, but she spoke as if it didn’t bother her.
“You’re amazing! To keep up with my speed, no one in the Magus Society has skills like yours. Where did you learn?”
“Well, um… I learned from the Irene School.”
Upon Yuren’s response, Sora clapped and excitedly exclaimed, “Irene School! You learned from the source!? That’s why you have such amazing skills! But why would someone like you do a short-term part-time job? You would surely get more support and cash from the Magus Society…”
“Um… that is…”
Just when Yuren thought she should clear up the misunderstanding, there was a noise at the door.
Knock knock knock
“Hmm? Who could that be?”
As Sora turned towards the workshop entrance, a plain-looking man stood there.
“Excuse me… I’m here for a short-term part-time job today?”
“What!? Then… who is this person…?”
Only then did Sora take off her goggles, put on her glasses, and properly look at Yuren.
“Ah!? You’re the person who looks like Yuren I saw this morning!?”
Sora realized that the part-timer who helped her was the same person who resembled Yuren she bumped into that morning.
Yuren extended her hand and said, “Nice to meet you. I’m Yuren from the Irene School.”
“……………….Really?”
“Yes, really.”
Yuren showed her ID as proof, and Sora stared at Yuren with wide eyes…
Wooow! Bam!
She collapsed onto the floor immediately.
“Sora!? Sora!? Stay with us!!!”
An anxious Yuren shook Sora, trying to wake her up.
Watching this chaotic scene, the part-timer Alex sighed softly.
“Ha… another part-time job gone wrong.”
Alex was sad that every part-time job he took ended in trouble.
*
After the storm subsided,
I introduced myself properly to Sora as she regained her senses and sat at the narrow table inside the workshop.
First of all, she was indeed the game developer I was looking for.
“Sora?”
“Please, just ‘Sora’! No need to add ‘san’ or anything.”
“Alright, Sora… then?”
“Yes! Yuren!!”
Sora straightened her posture and looked at me with a very tense expression.
“Can I ask about the game you were working on earlier?”
“Of course! This game is based on the theories I created at the Magus Society, it’s inspired by the rides I saw in my dreams. But just that felt boring, so…”
She rambled on excitedly without pause, and I quietly listened. When our eyes met, her face turned red, and her voice dropped to a whisper.
“I was… creating a racing game, Yuren.”
“A racing game? You mean a game racing using vehicles?”
“Yes!”
“But the mana circuit felt quite small for the vehicles, didn’t it?”
“That’s the thing… just a moment!?”
She hurriedly ran to another room and brought back a small crystal ball.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a test build! Please try it out, Yuren!”
I executed the crystal ball she handed me.
There it was, a racing game with a clumsy carriage and racing track on the screen.
Vroom!!!
“Th-this is!!!?”
But the moment I started playing, I felt something different.
The lightweight control and drift system. This game was a cart racing game played with small vehicles.
“The racing game I saw in my dreams seemed too heavy. So I thought if I made it lighter, many kids would enjoy it, so I modified it my own way.”
Sora, unlike me, said she had seen this game from a past life, dreaming of it and improving it on her own to develop that far!?
I felt my lower half getting soaked.
“Sora, come with me to the Zers Empire (for game development).”
“Wh-what!?”
Grabbing Sora’s hand, I said, “I need you (for my game development team).”
“Um… that’s great, of course, Yuren, but… there’s a process and protocol to everything in the world…”
I was so excited that I lost track of my own words. But I couldn’t let her go.
“I will take responsibility for everything (related to game development).”
“Um… although I’m just a novice… I look forward to working with you.”
Thus, it was confirmed that the treasure of the Yura Republic, another genius [Sora], would go to the Zers Empire.
And at that moment, a grand misconception also took shape.
