"Technology is a difficult matter. This is kind of an extreme example, but let's say I give iron tools to a civilization still back in the Stone Age. Most of the time, once they're handed that new technology, they stop advancing entirely. Admittedly, it's not uncommon for Stone Age civilizations suddenly thrown into the Iron Age to last a long time, but if they stop developing basic technologies just because iron is so convenient for them, their technological progress stagnates, and so does their whole civilization."
"I'm aware."
I'd played my fair share of civilization development simulation games.
One specific incident came to mind. There was this series that had made its way to Japan about half a year back. The goal was to establish a new civilization and eventually grow your town into a city-state or a full-blown country. Something like Age of Imperials 2. There were a lot of single-player games in that genre, but this one was different because of its sheer scale. The game incorporated a lot of MMO elements and had pretty deep mechanics. I jumped right into it the day the international edition hit the shelves. I used to play on the US-West 3 server back in the day, which had advanced all the way to medieval civilization. So far, so good. Until the overtechnology incident.
One country, given the memorable nickname of Diggy Diggy due to their passion for archaeology, was exploring some ancient ruins when they came across a fully-functioning flying warship packed to the gills with cannons. It wasn't long before they were building their own primitive cannons. I remembered well the chaos that ensued. Taking cannons onto a battlefield previously dominated by swords, lances, and crossbow-wielding cavalry demolished the balance of power. The players who'd made the discovery expanded rapidly, but it was only a handful of days before espionage saw the secrets of airship and cannon manufacturing leaked to the whole world. Things went downhill fast from there.
The overtech spread across the world like drops of ink corrupting a pure well. Everybody shifted their focus to manufacturing airships and mounting invasions, leaving only the countries with the most resources standing. The craze continued until a bunch of players started complaining about how the server was falling behind the others in terms of progress. The cause was plain to see. Instead of advancing uniformly through the tech tree, everybody had grown fixated on mass production of airships and cannons, tying up all their resources in production and maintenance. By that time, the other servers had advanced far enough to be producing tanks and airplanes, roughly on par with World War I-era technology, but our server was still plagued by cannon-loaded airships manned by sword-wielding knights.
"I'm painfully aware. I've seen it happen myself."
It really had been painful. All I'd wanted to do was develop my country, but I had my hands full just protecting myself from invaders. All my budget and talent went into defense. Before we got out of the slump, a tremendous amount of assets had been wasted. We'd burned through an insane amount of both resources and people in our world war.
"Oh, have you now? Then you should be aware just how little value you would actually derive from bringing a modern computer to the labyrinth."
So that's where she was going with this, huh? Maybe it'd make some things easier if I had my phone and the internet at my fingertips, but that would just be a crutch. "I appreciated the warning, really... but she was missing the point here."
"Of course, I understand that. But see, all I want is to play games."
"..."
It was unusual to see Karumi so puzzled. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. I gazed back at her, cold and serious. I had to stay firm. I wanted to make her believe the only way to keep me happy was to satisfy my request.
During my training period, I'd lived for three months straight in that fantasy world. It'd been hard work just to survive, but it'd been fun, too. I could still remember all the intense moments I'd endured, all the danger and uncertainty I'd overcome. Every day had felt fulfilling, like a good adventure game should. That said, life wasn't as hectic in the other world, compared to Japan. My days went along at a more relaxed pace. If the most excitement I was going to get most days was the simple games I made for myself, it'd mean certain death for a gamer like me.
It wasn't that I was dissatisfied with having just Ann as my gaming partner. She was a ton of fun to be with! I would never have made it through without her, and I owed her my thanks. But I'd been in there for three months. Can you imagine how many new releases I'd missed? The lineup at the arcade must've been completely different from the last time I'd set foot in one, and I bet I was ages behind on the popular online games.
I had no issues with the working hours. The expectations from HQ actually seemed quite fair. From what Karumi had told me, there were a fair number of labyrinth managers who commuted between Japan and the labyrinth for work each day. Apparently they had trained individuals around to take care of the labyrinth during their absence.
But there was no one but me and Ann in Labyrinth #228. I couldn't just go back home and leave her alone every night. It didn't matter how many times she told me she'd be fine. I couldn't bring myself to leave a girl alone at night like that. So even if I took a day trip back to Japan, I would definitely be returning to the labyrinth that night. That was why I was so starved for games.
"So you really intend to use the computer just for gaming? And you really, truly need it?"
She asked the question once more, but she sounded a little shaken this time. She looked like she was desperately searching for a way out of some terrible predicament. Was it really all that bad?
"Yes. It's vital to me."
I nodded firmly. Just like bunnies died from loneliness, gamers had been known to perish if you took their games away.
"Very well. I'll figure something out."
"Thank you very much."
I positively beamed at her.
"All right, now that that's settled, I'll be heading out."
I stood up, grabbed my bag, and headed to the shiny metal door with the iridescent glow at the back of the office. I put the key to the keyhole engraved with the company's logo, turned it, and before my eyes, the door creaked open to the scent of loam and the familiar sight of Labyrinth #228. It was so nice that the travel from my office to my workplace only took a couple of seconds. It seemed all the labyrinth managers departed from here, each with their respective door and key, but I hadn't come during normal opening or closing office hours yet, so I hadn't met any of the other managers.
Later that day, a delivery arrived at the labyrinth. The Tundra representative brought me an oblong, vaguely watermelon-shaped package. I unwrapped it to find a jet-black object, the surface smooth like polished stone. When I slid the cover aside, I found a couple of old friends: an ordinary power outlet and a LAN connector. Now, the black spheroid wasn't connected to anything else, which admittedly troubled me a bit, but when I plugged my computer into its power outlet and LAN port, everything ran just fine, so I decided to not sweat the details and just appreciate the marvel. If I started analyzing all the magic in this world, I'd probably lose my mind.
And that was how Labyrinth #228 ended up with an internet-connected gaming machine. I brought in a fluorescent lamp as well once I got the computer, since staring at a monitor in a dark room could ruin your eyes. A true pro was in it for the long haul---you had to take care of yourself, or your gaming would suffer.
Maybe a month or so after it arrived in the labyrinth, Ann started using the computer to play games as well. She still wasn't that familiar with the keyboard, and she mostly used the mouse instead of hotkeys, but even so she was adapting pretty well.
◇
"So you used one vitality potion and one stamina potion. I'll replace the empties. Now, let's see how the other potions here are doing. Execute Appraisal. Hmm. Still pretty good quality! They'll work just fine for a while yet, but make sure to use the older ones first next time you need a potion."
"All right. You're a lifesaver, Aoi."
I'd come to Milt,
the pioneer village near Labyrinth #228, to check on the magical potions I stocked at the mayor's place. We'd struck a deal very similar to how provincial doctors once worked, where I kept the village stocked with quality medicine, and in exchange the villagers would bring me fresh vegetables, grains, and sometimes even meat.
"Please, have some tea. I just prepared it."
"Thank you very much."
While the hulking minotaur of a mayor went to put away the medicine box, his wife, July, offered me tea. Mayor Hopper and his wife were a study in contrasts. Where he was bulky and muscled, she was slender and elegant, with delicate, youthful features. Her pointed ears sat horizontal, as I'd come to expect from the elves in this world. The smile on her face was gentle. She gave a remarkably distinct impression from Deneb and her seductive grace, though I couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was that made them so different.
"Sorry for the delay."
Mayor Hopper returned and sat across from me at the table. The chair gave a pitiful creak as he eased himself into it. His tea cup, which I almost mistook for a beer stein at first glance, looked small and delicate in his massive hand.
"The truth is, I wanted to ask for your advice. Oh, but wait, there's something else I need to attend to first."
The mayor placed a sturdy-looking leather sack on the table. Looking inside, I found a number of DL coins---the Great Dark Lord's currency was accepted everywhere in this world. Mostly copper and silver, but even a few gold coins were mixed in. It was a considerable amount of money.
"What's this for?"
I certainly wasn't expecting a bribe.
"The lord of the land entrusted me with this. It's your share of the ransom for those humans and the big things they brought with them. Uh, what were they called again? I've forgotten."
"The Extended Knight Armor?"
"Right, yes. This is the ransom fee for the Exten...whatsit."
I'd heard about what happened to the giant clockwork armor the invading humans had brought along. Apparently the armor suits were quite expensive, enough so to warrant sending troops to collect them. I wouldn't have had any use for them, even if I'd brought them to the labyrinth, so we'd requested the feudal lord to take care of them.
"Would you mind explaining what happened in a little more detail?"
"Mm, of course. You'll need to understand more about our country first."
After his explanation, things made more sense.
Per the Dark Lord's order, there was no slavery in this country. When a human was captured, if they were a normal citizen like a peasant or a merchant, they would be released on the spot, but soldiers and enlisted civilians were generally released only after they were ransomed by their country or family. If neither the country nor the family paid up, the prisoner was made to work off their ransom. The fee was quite high. It seemed that a simple soldier would have to work for several years to pay off their debt.
The policy towards slavery seemed surprisingly upright for a place like this, and I found myself admiring the efficiency of the system. Handling slaves was hard. A slave with no hope of release wouldn't be motivated to work, so you'd have to both hire people to keep an eye on them and also prepare some kind of reward so they felt like they were working towards something. Good food or other pleasures, for instance. In the end, simply hiring people to do the work generally ended up being cheaper than hiring supervisors, preparing incentives, and maintaining the slaves. Whippings, beatings, and forced labor were the sort of thing that came to mind with slavery, but you'd be mistaken if you thought a whip was all you needed to get someone to work. A slave wouldn't be able to work if they were injured, and if a wound festered and the slave died, you'd be lucky if the worst fallout was a drop in morale and production. On the other hand, if you pampered a slave too much, the work might progress to some degree, but you'd likely end up getting less out of your workforce than if you'd just employed them normally.
Why did I know so much about this? Well, I had once played a foreign game which tackled the theme. It wasn't sold domestically through the normal channels, for obvious reasons. The game put you in the shoes of an up-and-coming farmer in ancient Rome, managing slaves and building up a successful plantation. The game was called Green Hortus: Paradisus Perditus. It was a fairly hardcore management simulation game. Go too easy on the slaves, and they'd revolt. Go too hard, and efficiency would plummet and maintenance costs would rise. If you chose bad supervisors, there was a chance they'd go behind your back and abuse the slaves. Forget about growth and profits, just staying afloat was difficult enough. Coincidentally, the same day Green Hortus came out, a Japanese indie game company released a game called Unpaid Overtime 3: Wage Slave's Revenge that put you in the shoes of a company president. You were supposed to exploit your workers in a gloomy, oppressive work environment. Amusingly enough, it was actually way easier than the one where you were a Roman slaver. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"And so, all the captured humans were ransomed, and this is your share. It's customary for 70% of the ransom money to go to the person who captured the criminals."
And the remaining 30% was divided between the country's coffers and the lord's pockets? All things considered, them taking 30% to take care of everything actually seemed a bit cheap.
"Gotcha, that makes sense. Now, what was it you wanted to ask me?"
"Well... July, would you go get Mary?"
"Of course. Wait just a minute."
July went back further into the house and returned with a girl in tow. She wore modest clothes, just like the villagers, but in contrast to them, she had a sheathed sword at her waist. She was, in a word, regal. Her short blond hair swayed slightly as she walked in the room, and her azure eyes shone with determination. Her noble bearing was obvious at a glance. Since she had rounded ears, my gut told me she was human, but what with all the differences over here, I couldn't be certain of her age. If I had to guess, I'd say she was around eighteen? Her posture was flawless, and her poise gave her an air of refinement. To give a more relatable example, she was like that cool, athletic girl who captained all the sports teams and who all the other girls looked up to.
"Mary, this is the man I mentioned before, Aoi."
"I see. So this is him."
Mary looked me over from head to toe. She wasn't exactly hostile about it, but her stare brooked no argument; she was making a decision of some sort about me, and she was going to look at me until she was good and done.
"I wanted to introduce you two. Mary here is a human knight who has been staying with the village since a while back."
A knight? Did she have anything to do with that giant clockwork armor?
"Pleased to meet you. My name's Aoi. Miss Mary, I'm not really familiar with any other humans around here, so would you mind if I ask you what exactly it means to be a knight?"
"A knight is one with the power to wield the armor."
So basically, knights were people who piloted those suits of armor. It seemed the term "knight armor" was more literal than I'd realized.
"So you were one of the pilots during the earlier assault?"
"Indeed. I was the one who struck you by surprise when you were piloting that red copycat armor. Incidentally, you can just call me Mary."
So, this cute girl was the terrifying soldier who resisted until the bitter end? Was it really a good idea to let her walk free like that, and with a sword, no less?
"Got it, Mary. You can just call me Aoi as well."
"Very well. I must admit, Aoi, you are not what I expected when I heard I would be meeting the violent warrior who piloted that red armor. I didn't think you would be so polite."
Was I acting particularly polite? I was just using the typical courtesy one shows to a new acquaintance. Well, I guess people expected soldiers to be a little on the uncouth side.
"Same goes for me. When I imagined what kind of person was piloting the armor that nailed me down, I was thinking you'd be a grizzled veteran."
I couldn't believe it was this sweet girl inside that hulking metal suit all along.
"Oh really? Well, if that's the impression you got, then it seems my daily training hasn't been in vain."
Mary looked pleased, which was reassuring. I'd been debating between "Compliment her on what a badass she is" and "Compliment her on how cute she is", and it looked like I'd made the right decision.
"Mayor, does Mary here have anything to do with what you wanted to ask me?"
"Indeed, she does. You see, while the ransom was paid for the remaining knights and soldiers, and they're all safely homeward bound, it seems Mary doesn't have anyone to pay hers."
So they just paid the ransom and then went their merry way home. It was a far cry from war in our world, at least as far as I understood it. However, if they didn't have anybody back home to pay the ransom, then years of indentured servitude was their only recourse. I didn't know exactly how high a fee they demanded from knights, but it was surely more than what they asked for rank-and-file soldiers.
Strongest Gamer; Let's Play in Another World Volume 2 Page 2
