Otherworld TRPG Game Master

Chapter 8: Second Imperial Prince’s Visit

༺ Second Imperial Prince’s Visit ༻

 The research was in its final stages.

 Implementation of the five senses through an illusion. NPCs that move on their own without my control.

 Even in its current state, it was close to a virtual reality game.

 With the help of the super-genius Archwizard, Purple Magic Tower Master Yuna, the modeling work was progressing smoothly. While she floundered to create unfamiliar things like martial arts or sci-fi, the things the Tower Master had actually experienced were completed at an astonishing speed.

 When the number of workers increased to two, an unexpected advantage arose: the ability to embrace new perspectives. One example of this was when the Tower Master suggested putting a choker on the butler’s neck and the satisfaction of the Purple Magic Tower’s females significantly increased.

 Now, I only needed one more thing. 

 A semi-permanent, movable energy source.

 Even a game needed a server room that was provided a boatload of electricity, didn’t it? Similar to that, I needed an immense amount of mana to maintain my world permanently.

 Such an item wasn’t easy to obtain, no matter how much money I had. After all, it would require an output that was at the level of a national treasure.

 Gathering shitty, inferior mana stones to maintain the server was not cheap, even with the increased grants for the Magic Tower.

 As such, I consulted the Tower Master about this.

 “A semi-permanent energy source…….you say. Hmmmm, mmm. To my knowledge, the Imperial Family has the Dragon Heart of a thousand-year-old Ancient Dragon. It naturally generates immense mana……..truly a dream Artifact for wizards.”

 “Then should I try asking them for it?”

 “Are you crazy?”

 Her crystal clear pronunciation of ‘Are you crazy’ indicated this was a difficult task. The Tower Master gave several examples of semi-permanent energy sources, but none were attainable.

 I couldn’t just grab a sword and set off to cut a dragon’s throat, after all. 

 “As expected, perhaps requesting a permanent loan from the Imperial Family is…….” 

 “I already said that’s crazy! T-The c-current political situation is turbulent. This is a time to be careful, you know?!”

 “I’ve been so focused on research, so I don’t know anything about the outside world…….How is it recently?”

 “Sigh….Ugh.”

 The Tower Master sighed deeply and conjured a whiteboard with Illusion Magic. This was one of the few advantages of Illusion Magic: saving paper.

 “His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor, has declared that he will decide on his successor in three years.”

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 “Oooh.”

 “There are three children under His Majesty. First Princess Elaine, Second Prince Irid, and Third Prince Sledo. According to rumors, all three are vying for the throne.”

 I could practically smell the stink of blood that resulted from veiled enmity and conspiracy. An internecine feud for the imperial throne was underway, huh.

 “His Majesty has set the criterion as someone ‘who made the Empire prosperous’ without cutting into its flesh. Although interference is condoned, he promised severe punishment for things like fratricide, so it’s relatively quiet.”

 Ah, my mistake. So there wasn’t any stench of blood.

 “The First Princess is passionate about reclaiming the lost eastern lands, the Second Prince is focusing on nurturing future talents, and the Third Prince is building his power at the Academy.”

 “There’s even an academy here? Where noble and commoners both attend, and although it’s ostensibly merit-based, they still engage in faction wars, and there are all sorts of terrorist attacks happening all the time, making it more dangerous than a battlefield?” 

 “It’s true that nobles and commoners attend together and fight each other and it’s true that terrorist attacks occur, but how could it be more dangerous than a battlefield? That’s impossible, you know. The Academy is an educational facility.”

 So, terrorist attacks did happen, huh. I wasn’t wrong! Even in an otherworld, the unwritten rules of academies persisted.

 Come to mention it, I once thought my otherworld reincarnation could be some template in the lines of a book possession. But there was no resurrection of a Demon King or an axis of evil in the world, so I thought maybe that wasn’t it.

 To be fair though, wasn’t the trend before my death from an original work that was made n amount of years ago? So, anything could happen, even though it didn’t seem like that type of worldview.

 The Purple Magic Tower Master continued her explanation, drawing on the whiteboard. The fact that she was on her tiptoes because she was a bit too short was highlighted. She just needed to make the whiteboard smaller, though.

 “The First Princess has the support of the nobility and the Third Prince is networking with the new generation of the Academy. The mainstream theory is that the Second Prince is fairly weak in authority. All three have different ideals, so their evaluations are clearly divided, even among their supporters………”

 I nodded quietly, listening with one ear and pondering about other things with the other side of my brain.

 The Purple Magic Tower Master seemed quite interested in politics. I mean, I guess it makes sense since the Imperial Family directly gifted grants to the Tower.

 If the next Emperor declared, ‘I won’t give research funds to Illusion Magic because it sucks balls’, then the Purple Magic Tower could actually become mere beggars on the street overnight, couldn’t they? There were no other sponsors from nobility, after all.

 Considering this, it might be better to slowly look for an energy source rather than request something absurd and offend an Imperial Candidate. But…….

 Couldn’t this actually be an opportunity?

 I could invite the candidates and captivate them with my TRPG. I could turn them into addicts who couldn’t live without TRPG sessions, and then blackmail them into giving the Dragon Heart if they wanted another session. 

 There was no way it wasn’t a win-win situation.

 …..Of course, that was a joke.

 No matter how much I loved TRPG, I was not detached from reality. I only did things like the ‘Great Charge of the Male Butlers’ because I was comfortable with the Tower Master.

 I had no intention of attracting the attention of a formidable ruler who wielded grants in one hand and national power in the other. What if I lost my head because I tried to indoctrinate the Imperial Family into my TRPG cult? Nah, ain’t no way I’m doing that.

 After about 20 minutes of this strange standoff, where the Tower Master explained and I was lost in other thoughts, passed…

 “Tower Master! Tower Master! Urgent news!”

 Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud.

 A senior, expressing urgency with his entire body, burst through the door, soaked in sweat.

 Purple Magic Tower Master Yuna, being a capable and humble person, displayed an attitude that she was willing to listen to what had happened, instead of saying ‘You rude bastard!’ and turning him into a frog. 

 “T-The S-Second Prince……..is visiting right now!”

 “?”

 The Purple Magic Tower Master’s icy gaze shot at me. It was sharp enough to pierce through cleanly, even if it had been Ten Thousand Year Old Cold Iron¹Murim term. it basically means cold iron that has been tempered for ten thousand years.. I hastily shook my head in denial.

 “You really didn’t send a letter in secret?”

 “No. Definitely not.”

 “You swear……..on your TRPG?”

 “I swear on my TRPG.”

 As the Tower Master lost her target for resentment, her wrath subsided, and with the anger gone, a flood of panic, confusion, and worry burst forth. By the way, have you ever seen a flower wither?

 Imagine a flower wilting at a thousand times the speed it usually did. That would be this very scene.

 The Tower Master trembled uncontrollably, biting her nails.

 “Why? Why? Seriously why…….? Why to the Purple Magic Tower…….?”

 “Mm.”

 I considered the worst-case scenario.

 “Perhaps the grant amount to the Magic Tower was misrecorded by the person in charge, so he’s coming to claim it back………”

 “HEUEAAAAAHHHHH!!”

 The Tower Master screamed as if her soul was tearing apart before collapsing. It seemed like the shock was far too much to bear, even if it was just in her imagination.

 Anyway, the Second Prince was already on his way. We couldn’t just turn away a member of the Imperial Family, so there was no other choice besides meeting him face-on. I called forth my mana. Heart and the butlers began to appear behind me one by one.

 They were a hologram army now capable of autonomous action and a slight amount of physical force.

 “Heart, hide the bum wizards with the butlers where they won’t be seen.” 

 “Hai²Japanese for Yes!”

 The army of illusions scattered to hide the impoverished wizards rolling around the Purple Magic Tower.

 This was only a temporary fix. Proper command required the orders of the Purple Magic Tower Master.

 I knelt beside the fainted Tower Master, massaging her limbs. 

 ……She seemed thin at first glance, but there was more fat than expected. It wasn’t that she was overweight; it was just right. And there were no muscles, so she was very soft and bouncy.  

 The Tower Master, who had passed out, slowly opened her eyes.

 “This is a dream…….right? What I heard……”

 “It’s not a dream, Tower Master. You need to wake up and pull yourself together. Imperial Blood is coming!”

 “Ugh, ughhh…….How….Why……”

 “Even if it’s for the research funds!”

 The Tower Master, who was whining in stress even after regaining consciousness, stood up resolutely for the sake of protecting the grant. Since we did not know the reason why an Imperial Family member was visiting, we had to prepare for everything.

 The Tower Master picked up a crystal ball connected to the tower-wide voice playback system.

 “Charlie! You stored the apology letter and wheelchair for when we do something wrong, right? Prepare them just in case!”

 “Orinna, lock those bum-like bastards in Research Building A so they can’t get out…….Heart is moving them already? Okay. Then, make sure the ones who look decent are well-dressed!”

 “Mayrel, take the guys from Building C and use Clean to scrub away everything, starting from the first floor of the tower!” 

 Was this how it felt to see Napoleon in person……? 

 Tower Master Yuna Yurensto Violetiris finished all the preparations perfectly. She had potions that would make her wail loudly in case the Prince had come for a rather unsavory reason and impressive-looking research performances in case of a surprise inspection.

 After putting out the immediate fire, the Tower Master sternly instructed me to keep this firmly in mind.

 “When you meet a member of the Imperial Family, don’t ever stutter, answer clearly, don’t make eye contact for too long, don’t freeze, and most importantly, behave respectfully. Got it?!”

===============================================================

 “I-I, I, am….uh….Yuna….Yurenso……..Uh, P-Purple Magic T-Tower…Maste-hic, I-I mean…..Violet…iris……..”

 “⋯⋯⋯⋯.”

 The Tower Master stuttered, fumbled her words, and froze mechanically while making eye contact with the Second Prince.

 I could only pray that the Second Prince was a benign gentleman…..

• 1

  Murim term. it basically means cold iron that has been tempered for ten thousand years.

• 2

  Japanese for Yes