I Made a Game Featuring Constellations - Chapter 34



The Director’s Apostle (1)

Leyra Academy Research Lecture Hall, Room 3

Murmur Murmur

A scene of camaraderie, with people who know each other gathered in small groups, chatting.

I squeezed into a secluded spot to avoid the academy students and pulled out a chair to sit.

Thud

Then I collapsed onto the desk.

‘So sleepy…….’

As the director of the hottest game on the continent, who also has to fend off interdimensional invasions, I have to attend academy classes.

After spending the entire night tinkering with game development and then going to school in the morning, my body can’t take it.

‘I’m one of the richest people on the continent… I don’t think I need to attend academy classes.’

So, I told the Celestial that I would drop out of the academy and focus on game development.

[The storyteller in my dream put his hands on his hips and lectured me with a stern voice and expression, saying that if I dropped out of the academy midway, I would be branded for life and people would laugh at me.]

He said it was absolutely not allowed.

Even if I attended the academy classes, it wouldn’t help either the Celestial or me, and I didn’t care about academic background or reputation, but he was strongly opposed.

He said that while a commoner who graduated from the academy might be fine, a commoner who dropped out would be looked down upon, and he couldn’t bear to see his apostle being disrespected.

‘Not that I care about such things anyway…’

It felt like being nagged by my mom.

But as an apostle, I couldn’t ignore the Celestial’s orders.

Even if I didn’t properly attend the classes, I was still present at the academy.

“Hey, did you draw the Demon King?”

“Yeah. I just did a 10-pull to get a 4-star character, and he came out. Such a waste of stacks.”

“This guy is bragging like it’s nothing.”

“I cried at this story…”

“Yeah, me too. It was so sad…”

“Poor Rina, what should we do…!”

“Rina-chan is so cute and cool! I’m going to support Rina-chan!”

“Did you see the new enhancement stone dungeon?”

“I couldn’t get to the end as a knight. Do I really need to draw the Demon King?”

“You should draw him. What kind of demon doesn’t have the Demon King?”

“Oh? Racist comment?”

From noble mtl dot com

“No matter how much I hit the weekly boss, I can’t figure out the pattern.”

“If you don’t know, you have to get hit.”

“I’m getting hit, but I still don’t get it. …Ha. When will I clear this? I need to clear the boss quickly to strengthen the Demon King.”

Flinch!

I tried to sleep lying down, but the stories of many students about the [Akashic Archive] echoed in my ears.

As the sole developer, director, and owner of the game, I couldn’t fall asleep while listening to the customers’ stories.

[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Sloth nods, saying that the game you made is indeed popular.]

It was also because of the goddess who floated beside me in a spiritual form, protecting me.

[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Sloth wonders why the stories about you and your companions have decreased so much.]

-Well… it’s because the story of the Demon King Perlerina is the main focus now. The goddess’s story ended a while ago.

I answered her with determination, lying on the desk.

[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Sloth looks shocked, saying, “Ended…?”]

-No, I mean, it’s not completely over, but the trend has passed… something like that. Especially now, the new weekly boss is hot. When we go to catch the Monster Queen, everyone will recall the stories of the goddess and the heroes.

It’s natural for previous characters to be forgotten when new characters rise with story-driven and various receptions.

Thanks to the usefulness of [Knight Ren], a single dealer in the weekly boss battle, the Demon King was almost forgotten, but with the subsequent addition of reception events and content, all the attention shifted to [Demon King Perlerina].

It wasn’t strange that people only talked about the Demon King’s story.

-Don’t worry. I’ll release Ren in a separate version later. Along with an event story.

[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Sloth says that there are many gods in heaven who want to appear as the main characters in your game.]

[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Sloth’s eyes sparkle, asking if you will still create our stories again.]

-Of course. The goddess is my first investor and my companion.

If it weren’t for her, the Dream Story project of [Akashic Archive] might have been scrapped from the start.

In fact, she was practically a life partner walking shoulder to shoulder with me.

…Moreover, there’s also the part where we can sell the already successful narrative again in the form of an event.

[Overcoming laziness, sacrifice is indeed only you! She jumps in.]

I was startled by the sensation of the goddess hugging me tightly from behind and sprang up as if bouncing upwards.

Even though she had transformed into an avatar of the soul rather than her original divine body, I felt an inexplicable soft touch and warmth, and I reflexively acted without realizing it.

Contrary to my desire to quietly pass the class, I thought I might have attracted the attention of other students, so I looked around.

“What did you just say?”

Fortunately, there was a stronger attention-grabber.

A male student sitting three rows ahead of me stood up, roughly pushing his chair back.

He looked intellectual, perhaps because he wore glasses.

Wearing the academy uniform perfectly, he asked the female students sitting next to him.

“Are you seriously cheering for the Demon King Perlerina? Are you serious?”

As the man pushed his glasses up with a cold expression, the female students shrank back.

…Come to think of it, those girls were the ones who were talking about how pitiful Demon King Rina was earlier.

“Unbelievable. Have you not properly watched the story?”

His voice echoed loudly, drawing the attention of all the students in the lecture hall to him.

“Demon King Perlerina is a clear mass murderer. No matter how justified it is to break the chain of hatred, the fact that countless people lost their lives in the sea of lava she created is an undeniable fact and history. This can never be denied.”

Hey, who is that guy?

Don’t you know? He’s the apostle of [Wisdom].

The Apostle of the God of Wisdom?

Oh, those kids stepped in it too. Of all things, they got bitten by the Apostle of Wisdom.

‘……The Apostle of the God of Wisdom?’

I listened to the murmurs of the surrounding students and turned to the goddess beside me.

[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Sloth nods, saying, Ah, that guy’s apostle, hmm.]

– Goddess, do you know the God of Wisdom?

[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Sloth replies, We’re not exactly close, but I’ve heard stories here and there.]

Well, it makes sense that a reclusive goddess who stayed holed up in her room wouldn’t know.

[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Sloth tilts her head, saying she just felt a very rude faith.]

The God of Wisdom, huh.

I think he was a god who liked debates and revered more experiences and wisdom.

“If you chose to hinder the Demon King’s great work, you would prevent a massacre at the cost of allowing the chain of hatred to continue. If you chose to help the great work, you would break the chain of hatred but cause a massacre involving innocent people. It’s truly an intriguing dilemma.”

[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Sloth explains that the Apostles of Wisdom will grab anyone for a debate if there’s a topic, and they’re quite avoided because they know so much and their logic is so solid.]

Seeing the way he’s talking now, I really don’t want to get involved.

Even if we talked about a game I made, I’d get completely torn apart.

“You ignore this beautiful dilemma created by a fantastic game developer and simply cheer for her because she lived a tragic life. No matter how much she overcame hatred and lived a life of self-sacrifice, this is not the logic and thinking an academy student should display.”

I appreciate the compliment, but… that wasn’t really my intention.

“Can you refute this?”

…….

No one in the chilled lecture hall answered his question.

“Oh dear. Was my argument too perfect? That’s unfortunate. I thought we could have an interesting debate since everyone was talking about [Akashic Archive].”

……Perhaps there’s another reason why the apostles of the god of wisdom are avoided.

“Of course, there are parts of the game’s actions that are inexplicable. Like the part where the curator of [Archive] was forced to choose only the correct answer despite presenting a dilemma. Well, I think this is a clue intended by the game company. Since before, there have been hints that [Archive] prioritizes the restoration of the original history above all else.”

You caught the bait I threw perfectly.

A loyal customer? I’ll have to check later if they spent a lot of money.

“In the end, it’s impossible to predict how the next story will unfold now that the curator is dead.”

At that moment

Bang!

“Not dead.”

A female student slammed the desk and stood up.

What’s it this time?

“The curator is not dead.”

The female student glared at the apostle of wisdom with strong hostility.

“…Alright. Are you proposing a debate on the curator’s life or death? This is interesting. I never imagined we would debate this topic.”

Slowly, the two approached each other.

The male and female students stood facing each other.

“The curator is not dead. In the last chapter of [Akashic Archive] Act 2, the curator was pierced by the [Assassin of the Abyss]. And then he died in the player’s arms. The scene where the curator squeezed out his last bit of strength to create the battlefield with the power of the cube was impressive. But no matter how you look at it, it was a scene where the curator seemed to have died. On what grounds are you claiming that the curator is not dead?”

The male student asked the female student, pushing up his glasses.

“……It’s simple. Because the curator is not dead.”

This feels strange.

Seeing others discuss the continuation of the story I created.

…It was fun.

So this is why writers spy on reader reactions.

[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Sloth asks out of mere curiosity… Did the Director really die?]

-The Director who appeared in the game died… but the Director himself didn’t actually die.

[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Sloth tilts his head with a question mark on his face, asking what that means.]

The Director of [Archive] is a character modeled after my past self.

No matter how much I try to avoid self-insertion, I wouldn’t simply dispose of ‘another me’ who is supposed to drive the story forward.

The Director is alive.

However, I placed the clues about his survival in a side quest that’s practically impossible to find.

Moreover, the current state of the Director is something that people in this world would find hard to understand, making it difficult to use as evidence.

That’s why I paid more attention to that female student.

Not her ample game pockets… but how she managed to recognize the fragments of the follow-up story I intentionally hid.

I was curious about how well she found the clues I scattered.

“So, I’m asking for the evidence. There are plenty of circumstantial evidences that suggest the Director is dead. On the other hand, there is no evidence to support his survival. What evidence do you have to present? If you can’t provide a plausible evidence, your opinion cannot be accepted.”

The male student’s persistent questioning.

How will the female student respond?

Will she answer based on the clues I hid?

That would be evidence that people who haven’t done the side quest wouldn’t understand. Even if they did the side quest, it would be hard to accept.

It takes a long time and is tedious and pedantic.

That’s why I was even more excited about her answer.

“Then…”

The girl raised her hand above the boy’s head.

?

What?

“…Die.”

Bang!

The next moment, the girl grabbed the boy’s head and slammed it hard onto the desk.

Sparkle

I could see through the commotion.

A badge attached to the inside of the girl’s fluttering jacket.

A bizarre badge with the director and the male deputy director drawn on it, with a heart in between.