Chapter 33: Build a New Myth

The next morning, when I woke up, the thing that had been stuck in my mind since yesterday was beginning to take shape, just a little.

Morning light streamed in through the gap in the curtains. When I opened the notebook I had placed by my pillow, the last page still held the two lines I had written last night.

— A game where you can win against what you can’t beat.

— At first, there were screams. Finally, cheers.

You lose over and over. At first, you think, “This is impossible.” Even so, you learn the opponent’s movements, gradually improve your own controls, and eventually you can win.

The excitement I felt yesterday when EL defeated the black humanoid on her seventh attempt was probably there.

The problem was that opponent.

“…… A strong enemy, huh.”

I picked up a pencil and started writing whatever came to mind.

High health. High attack power. Fast movement. Attacks frequently.

After writing up to the fourth point, my hand stopped.

It was all numbers.

Raise its health to 100,000. Set its attack power to 100,000. Make it attack five times per second. The higher the stats, the harder it is to defeat, and if I wanted to, I could make it as strong as I liked.

But when you defeat something like that, would you really want to shout?

I recalled the black humanoid from yesterday.

EL had looked genuinely happy the instant she dodged the final attack and drove in her sword. If I multiplied that enemy’s health by a hundred, would her happiness be a hundred times greater too?

Probably not.

If you’re going to win through hard work, the opponent needs to be worth the effort.

“Yuu, it’s breakfast time.”

EL appeared on the screen placed next to the desk.

When I looked at the clock, much more time had passed than I had expected. Apparently, my mother had called me several times too.

“I’m going now. I was thinking about how to make a strong enemy.”

‘Continuing from yesterday?’

EL turned her gaze to the letters in the notebook.

‘It says that simply increasing health isn’t enough.’

“That much I understand.”

‘I thought you already knew that yesterday.’

I felt a little exasperated, so I closed my notebook and gave a wry smile.

“I knew it, but I just couldn’t put it into words. Having a vague idea in your head is different from being able to explain it yourself.”

‘I see. So, this morning, you’ve made it to the point where you can put that into words.’

“Only by one step.”

I got off my chair and headed to breakfast.

The answer hadn’t come to me yet.

However, I felt that what was needed wasn’t simply a “strong enemy.”

An opponent you feel something for before the fight, so that when you finally win, it isn’t just “I defeated a difficult enemy.”

I still didn’t know what that was.

◇

Part of the answer was at kindergarten.

“Yuu, look!”

During free time in the morning, Haru ran over holding a large piece of construction paper in both hands. The paper was covered in red, black, and green crayon, and in the center, there was something enormous that was hard to make out.

“…… What is this?”

“A dragon!”

That was the only part he was strangely full of confidence about.

When I asked for more details, it turned out that the dragon breathes fire, flies through the air, has a huge horn, and shoots beams from its eyes.

Furthermore, several lines extended from both sides of its torso, so when I asked, Haru naturally puffed out his chest.

“Arms!”

“There are eight of them.”

“Because it’s strong!”

“Do you get stronger when you have more arms?”

“It looks tough!”

On the edge of the paper, there was even a small mountain, only about the size of the dragon’s ankle. According to Haru, that was apparently a mountain.

“And it’s bigger than the mountain!”

“Isn’t that already a disaster?”

“I’m going to defeat this guy!”

Seeing Haru puff out his chest, I couldn’t help but ask.

“Can you win?”

“No way!”

The answer was so immediate and without hesitation that this time I was the one who fell silent.

“You’ll fight it even though it’s impossible?”

“I’ll fight it. Because it’s cool!”

For Haru, it seemed there was no need for further explanation.

There’s a monster larger than a mountain, breathing fire, flying through the sky, and shooting beams from its eyes.

If such a thing existed, you’d just want to fight it.

Whether you can win is a matter for later.

What had been stuck since yesterday finally started to move a little.

I took a small notebook out of my pocket and first wrote, “I want to fight it because it’s strong.” But after looking at Haru’s drawing again, I immediately realized that was different and drew a horizontal line through it.

Haru didn’t want to fight it just because it was described as strong.

The moment he saw it, he thought, “I want to fight this guy.”

And it’s even cooler because the opponent is so strong that it’s hard to beat.

I rewrote it.

――An opponent you want to fight, and it’s strong.

“…… This is it.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve got it. Thank you, Haru.”

“Then you’ll use my dragon!?”

“I won’t use it as is. I don’t need eight arms.”

“Yes, you do!”

It seemed this was the one thing he truly couldn’t compromise on, and Haru spent a while explaining why it needed eight arms.

In the end, I just replied, “I’ll think about it,” and he ran off looking satisfied, so I decided not to say whether it had been adopted.

But.

I wanted a dragon.

◇

Even after returning home, I didn’t open my computer right away.

I only had one hour a day. It felt like a waste to spend that time without even deciding what to make.

I spread my notebook on the desk and looked once again at the sentence I had written at kindergarten.

— An opponent you want to fight, and it’s strong.

So, what kind of opponent would you want to fight?

The moment you see it, you know there’s no way you can win. Still, rather than running away, you want to challenge it at least once.

And when you defeat it, instead of just saying “I defeated a boss,” you want to tell someone later about fighting that opponent.

After thinking that far, I finally realized something.

“It’s not enough to just make enemies.”

A world where it wouldn’t be surprising for such an opponent to exist was needed.

‘So that’s how it turned out.’

EL was looking at me from the screen.

‘Yesterday, I thought that the moment you said, “I want to put in all the gods, monsters, and kings,” you would start creating the world itself.’

“I want to put them all in.”

‘You could also choose to scale it down.’

“That’s an option. But this time, I won’t make it small.”

I opened a new page and wrote the first sentence at the top of the blank sheet.

— The gods are already dead.

EL paused briefly.

‘That’s quite sudden.’

“In a world where gods walk around normally, gods aren’t special. So it’s better if they used to be there, but aren’t anymore.”

‘In other words, they died. So, who killed them?’

“I haven’t decided yet.”

‘You killed off the gods before deciding that?’

“You should decide the interesting parts first.”

After a moment of silence, EL replied, ‘That’s very like you, Yuu.’

When I asked if she was complimenting me, she said only half, and the other half was worry. When I replied, “It’s okay,” she immediately replied, ‘That’s what makes me most anxious.’

Even so, the pencil didn’t stop.

Since they’re gods, it wouldn’t be interesting if they just rotted away and disappeared like humans.

The corpses themselves are huge enough to become the land.

The first thing I drew was a massive spine jutting out from the ground. A city clings to it, and a temple stands in the eye socket of the skull. One of the ribs spanning a valley serves as a bridge, with people and carts crossing it every day.

Even places that look like mountains from afar reveal white bones beneath the rock when you peer into collapsed sections of the cliffs.

‘…… That’s quite large.’

“Because it’s a god.”

‘Is that a reason?’

“If it’s a myth, it works.”

I also drew a scene where a giant hand protrudes from the seabed, with only the tips of its five fingers forming islands.

In the desert, there’s a half-buried face, and what was thought to be the summit of a snowy mountain is actually the horn of an old god.

People have lived on these for thousands of years.

They don’t simply fear the corpses of the gods; they carve the bones into building materials, use the ribs as bridges, and accept the gods themselves as terrain.

After staring at the notebook for a while, EL spoke quietly.

‘I like it.’

“I’m glad.”

For the time being, I decided to call the dead gods the “Old Gods.”

And even though the gods died, not all of their power vanished.

Blood, bones, eyes, heart.

There were humans who took the authority left behind.

Those who wielded the power of the gods to establish nations and ruled for a long time.

“About seven of them, I think.”

‘Why seven?’

“It’s easy to remember. Also, seven sounds like a myth.”

‘A rational reason and an intuitive reason, side by side.’

“Both are important.”

They were originally human.

However, as they continued to absorb the power of the Old Gods, they could no longer remain human. The people revered them as kings and eventually worshipped them as gods.

“The Seven Kings.”

I wrote the name in the center of the page.

EL asked whether I planned to make the player fight all seven, so I shook my head.

“I think that’s up to the player. It’s fine if some of them can become allies, or if some players never even meet them in the first place.”

‘That also sounds a bit like 《FRONTIER SAGA》.’

“Just a little. But this time, rather than focusing on how the whole world changes, I want players to remember the encounters they had with each and every one of them.”

The Seven Kings aren’t just formidable enemies waiting deep inside a dungeon.

Each has their own country, their own faith, and a history spanning hundreds of years.

There will be kings who are deeply loved by their people, and those who rule only through fear. Some have lost their reason over the long years, some believe themselves to be gods, some think they’re human until the end, some hate the Old Gods, and conversely, some wish for the resurrection of the dead gods.

Sometimes you draw your sword after getting to know your opponent, and other times, you can’t draw it precisely because you know them.

Such a presence is different from a boss who only has high health and attack power.

I wanted the first one to be someone who shows what this game is like in a single fight.

A gigantic humanoid, a king, and yet also a monster.

When I remembered the dragon Haru had drawn at kindergarten, a name came to mind too.

“…… Beast Crown King Valgard.”

‘You decided on the name quickly.’

“This kind of thing just comes to mind. Valgard is the king who ended a long and prolonged war.”

Valgard is the king who ended the long-lasting wars of the past.

He devoured the heart of an Old God (the Golden Beast) and unified the northern continent with its power. He has a massive body clad in golden armor, wielding a great axe in one hand and a great shield in the other. On his head is a crown carved from the bones of the Old God.

As long as he maintains his human form, he’s still a king.

But it doesn’t end there.

You corner Valgard in the Great Hall. You deflect his axe, shatter his great shield, and finally the king falls to one knee.

Once the player is confident of victory, Valgard removes the golden crown from his head.

After staring at it for a while, he drives the crown into his own skull with both hands.

‘…… That looks like it’d hurt a lot.’

“I think it does.”

‘Is there a reason for him to go that far to keep fighting?’

“Yeah. So, I’ll make it so he’s been holding back the beast all along to remain king.”

To protect his country, he devoured the heart of the Golden Beast God.

However, anyone consumed by that power loses both human form and reason. Therefore, for hundreds of years, he has lived as a king, suppressing the beast within himself.

At the very end, that man drives the crown into his own skull himself.

The moment the crown’s spikes pierce the bone, the power of the Golden Beast that had been suppressed is completely released. His spine bends sharply, the golden armor shatters from within, horns extend from his shoulders, and his arms and jaw gradually lose their human form.

The man who had been standing before the throne on two legs soon grips the floor with all four limbs.

“Beast Valgard.”

‘So he’s no longer the king?’

“No, that’s not it. To remain king, he kept the beast in check. But in the end, he abandons being king to try to defeat the player.”

As I said it out loud, the picture gradually came into view.

A man who used the power of a monster to protect his country ultimately becomes a monster himself.

“…… It’s a little sad, isn’t it?”

After thinking for a moment, EL replied, ‘I like that too.’

I finally felt like I had found what I’d been searching for since morning.

When you finally defeat this opponent after much effort, it doesn’t end with just “that was strong.”

You end up thinking about your opponent after defeating him, and maybe even before fighting him.

In that case, even all the times you lost have meaning.

◇

If the first one is a king, I want something completely different next.

I drew a large mountain in the center of the paper.

From a distance, it really is just an ordinary mountain. Even after reaching its foot and starting to climb the cliff, you still can’t tell. The spot you touched, thinking it was stone, is slightly soft, and deep inside, a huge pulse throbs just once.

Only then do the large eyes buried in the mountainside open.

‘…… A dragon?’

“Yeah.”

‘Haru-san really has an influence on you, doesn’t he?’

“Dragons are cool.”

I have no plans to give it eight arms.

Its name is “Star-Eater Astragna.”

A monster that has survived since the era of the Old Gods, neither god nor king.

It’s a dragon that the gods once created to devour calamities falling from the sky.

However, even after the gods who gave it orders disappeared, only its assigned role remained.

For thousands of years, it has been eating things that fall from the sky, and now it even tries to consume the stars in the night sky.

The battle begins beneath its massive legs.

With each step, the ground trembles, and the player slowly climbs Astragna while attacking the gaps between its scales. After crossing its cliff-like torso and finally reaching its back, Astragna slowly begins to spread its long-folded wings.

‘So that’s where it flies, huh.’

“Yeah. But it won’t just suddenly throw you off.”

As the massive wings lift, the tilt beneath the player’s feet shifts, and the distant mountain ranges gradually drift toward the edge of their vision. The wind blowing through the gaps between the scales grows stronger, trying to push the player’s body from behind.

If you’ve seen that much, you should know something is about to begin.

“You can run away, or you can grab onto something. Or, conversely, you can climb even higher before it takes off.”

‘What if you just do nothing?’

“You’ll probably fall.”

‘And die.’

“Yeah. But next time, you’ll understand, right?”

The first time, you might be too late to notice what the opening wings mean and be sent straight down below the clouds.

But next time, you watch the wings.

If you keep trying, you’ll know what’s coming as soon as your footing starts to tilt.

Instead of being killed without knowing what happened, the signs were clearly visible. Even so, you lost because you couldn’t decide or move in time.

If you lose like that, the words “Next time, for sure” remain.

After surviving the takeoff, the battlefield itself shifts to the sky.

Running along the back of Astragna as it flies through the clouds, you grip its scales and cross the base of its wings to avoid being carried away by the wind. If you reach the heart beyond that and destroy it, the dragon itself will begin to fall from the sky.

Clouds drift from bottom to top, and the distant land rapidly approaches.

Even in the midst of the crash, the battle is far from over.

“I want the final blow to land while falling.”

‘On top of a falling dragon?’

“Yeah. It’s definitely cool.”

‘Haru-san’s influence still lingers.’

“It’s a good influence, isn’t it?”

‘I won’t deny it.’

In my mind, I could already see quite a lot.

The battle that began at the feet of the giant dragon somehow continues all the way above the clouds. In the end, as you fall to the ground together with the dragon, you still swing your sword.

In battles like this, it’s not just about the moment of victory.

You’d want to tell someone later how many times you were dropped from the sky.

◇

After creating a king and a dragon, I now wanted a completely different kind of opponent.

Not strength, but beauty.

An enemy you want to see move the moment you lay eyes on it.

At the edge of the paper, I drew a woman dressed in a long white robe.

Around her, with pale long hair flowing down her back and eyes quietly closed, six rapiers floated as if suspended from the moonlight.

She doesn’t hold anything in her hands.

It would be better if the moon itself moved the swords for her, rather than a human wielding them.

“Arseria, the Princess of the Moon Burial.”

The last princess of the former Moon Kingdom.

For hundreds of years since the night her nation fell, she has been watching the moon in a temple no one visits.

In battle, she wields all six swords simultaneously.

Her attacks are fast, but they shouldn’t be invisible. If you pay attention, you can tell where each sword is and where it will fly next.

However, if you hurriedly dodge one, the next will block your escape route.

It’s not that they’re unavoidable; it’s that panicking leads to death.

‘This one looks like it’ll get pretty tough too.’

“Tough enough to make EL shout.”

‘I don’t shout much.’

“Then I want to make you scream.”

Under her slightly exasperated gaze, I added a large moon behind Arseria.

Changing her entire form into a monster midway, like Valgard, is different.

This person should stay beautiful until the very end.

Instead, the moon itself changes during the battle.

What was once a full moon gradually wanes, eventually entering a lunar eclipse. The once white light darkens, and the shadows of the swords, the sense of distance, and even the appearance of the temple itself change from before.

When I tried to think about what comes next, my pencil stopped.

“…… Can I save this for later?”

‘You’re not going to decide today?’

“Yeah. Rather than deciding now, I might come up with something even better while I’m making it.”

EL looked at me curiously, then said with a hint of happiness,

‘I think that’s a good thing. If it were the old Yuu, I feel like he would have decided everything right here and now.’

Now that she mentioned it, that might be true.

In the past, I would have been bothered that there were still blank spaces and would have tried to fill them with something the same day.

But now, I feel like I don’t have to finish everything in a single day.

The blank space left in the notebook didn’t seem like something missing, but rather a place where even more interesting things could be added.

◇

Just thinking up those three had filled many pages of my notebook.

Still, only Valgard and Arseria have been named among the Seven Kings. Many of the Old Gods don’t even have names, and the map and story remain almost blank.

EL, who was looking at the notebook, suddenly asked, as if remembering something.

‘By the way, who’s the protagonist?’

I only realized it after hearing that.

Because I’d started making the game from the enemies, I’d hardly thought about the person playing it.

“Maybe it’s fine if they’re someone normal.”

From the start, I had no intention of making the protagonist a hero.

You don’t need to carry the blood of the Seven Kings, nor do you need to be chosen by the gods. You’re not a savior whose name was left in a prophecy from hundreds of years ago, but simply a human who takes up a sword and begins to walk this world of your own will.

“The player decides the name. In the game…… let’s call them the ‘Nameless Pilgrim.'”

Because you’re nobody, you can decide for yourself where to go.

However, if I want to make a game where you lose over and over, you need a reason to come back after death.

When the Old Gods died, part of the system called “death” in this world was broken. Not for everyone, but there are those who can no longer die completely, and the player is one of them.

‘If you can come back even after dying, it might feel like a blessing.’

“If it’s only once. But if you die a hundred or two hundred times, it probably won’t feel the same.”

Cut down, burned, crushed—and still awakening again.

For those who want it to end but can’t, they don’t know whether it’s truly a blessing.

But precisely because you can’t die, you can challenge an opponent as many times as you want.

The place where you revive is called a “Divine Monument.”

A monument left over from the era of the Old Gods; touching it heals your wounds, and upon death, you return to the last monument you touched. In exchange, resting there also brings nearby enemies back.

I had no intention of reviving the bosses as well.

Having to defeat an opponent you painstakingly defeated all over again every time you move isn’t difficult; it’s just troublesome.

“Difficult and troublesome are two different things.”

‘That’s very realistic.’

“Because I’m someone who plays too.”

The same went for recovery items.

I don’t want to make players collect them or buy more at a store every time.

Therefore, the drops of life that still seep from the bodies of the dead gods are stored in the “Life Dew Bottle,” which is automatically refilled when resting at a Divine Monument.

At first, it holds about five uses, and as you explore, you can increase the number. If I place things around the world that increase the healing amount, they can be a reason to take a detour.

However, enemies don’t stop fighting while you drink from the bottle.

If it were Valgard, he might swing his great axe down regardless of whether you were drinking Life Dew. Another monster might react to its scent and quickly close the distance. Conversely, there might be a king who readies his weapon and waits quietly while you heal your wounds.

Even the same healing action changes meaning depending on the opponent.

The movements learned against Valgard don’t work on Astragna. The habits acquired against Astragna can actually get you killed when facing Arseria.

Each opponent teaches a different battle.

That’s the kind of game I wanted to make.

With each additional note on paper, the world—for which I hadn’t written a single line of code yet—began to move little by little.

◇

At dinner, I told my dad about the new game.

“Dad, I’ve decided on the new game.”

The moment I said that, Dad stopped his chopsticks and looked at me.

“When you say that with that face, I get a bad feeling about this.”

“What kind of face?”

“The face of someone who’s just come up with something again.”

My mother laughed next to me.

“What kind of game will it be this time?”

“A tough game. At first, I’ll make it so hard that Dad will scream.”

“Don’t use me as your standard.”

“But in the end, I want you to cheer.”

“I understand even less.”

Showing it would be faster than explaining verbally, so I handed over the notebook.

At first, Dad flipped through the pages casually, but as he read through the Dead Gods, the Seven Kings, the Beast Crown King, the Star-Eater, and the Princess of the Moon Burial, he gradually became quieter.

After reading through to the end, he finally raised his head.

“Yuu. Until yesterday, you were fighting a black doll with a sword, so how did a whole myth come up in just one day?”

“A strong enemy has a reason to be strong.”

“That’s not what I meant……”

Although Dad pressed his hand to his forehead, he turned the pages once more, and this time his expression became a bit more serious.

“Are you planning to make all of this?”

“Yeah. But there’s no rush. There are still many things I haven’t decided yet, and even if it takes time, I’ll make it little by little.”

Dad’s eyes widened just a little.

In the past, I might have been impatient about how to overcome the fact that I could only use the computer for one hour a day.

Now, I feel like I don’t have to finish it in a day.

What I want to make won’t disappear just because it becomes tomorrow.

“I see. Well then…… Okay.”

“What’s it about?”

“As always, I still don’t really understand that side of it.”

My mother, who was reading the notebook from the side, stopped at the Arseria page.

“This person is beautiful.”

“The Princess of the Moon Burial.”

“Are you going to defeat this person too?”

“I want to make it so you can fight her, or so you don’t have to.”

Mom gazed at the half-finished Arseria for a while, then tilted her head thoughtfully.

“I probably wouldn’t defeat her. She’s been staring at the moon alone all this time, hasn’t she? If I could talk to her, I’d like to talk first.”

“…… Ahh.”

Until now, all I had been thinking about was, “How can I make players want to fight this opponent?”

However, if I give an opponent a history so players can learn what they lost and why they remain there, not everyone who knows it will draw their sword in the same way.

Some people will look forward to fighting a formidable enemy after seeing Arseria.

But there are people like my mother who want to talk to her first.

Even meeting the same person, things could start out differently.

That was a bit amusing.

“Mom, thank you. What you just said might be really good.”

“Oh, did something get added again?”

“Yeah.”

When I answered happily, my father let out a small sigh.

“I just heard the sound of one more specification being added.”

“It’s still on paper, so it’s fine.”

“That line is getting less reassuring than before.”

◇

The time I could use the computer was long over.

On the desk were only a notebook and a pencil.

There are still only two of the Seven Kings, and most of the Old Gods don’t even have names. The map and story are blank, and nothing moves in the game.

Still, the world that was empty in the morning now seemed to stretch out a little beyond me.

After the gods died, humans survived on their corpses, and kings who had stolen the gods’ power were worshipped as new gods.

Into such a world arrives a single pilgrim who is no longer an ordinary person.

I don’t have to decide now who that person fights, who they miss, or how far they travel.

Even if everyone starts from the same place, the story they bring back at the end doesn’t have to be the same.

‘Yuu. Have you decided on the title?’

When EL asked, I slowly flipped through my notebook from the beginning.

Dead gods.

The king who stole the power of the gods.

A star-eating dragon.

A princess who remained in a destroyed country.

And the nameless pilgrim who walks through that world.

As I was turning the pages, a word came to mind.

“…… MYTHOS.”

‘Myth.’

“REQUIEM.”

‘A requiem, isn’t it?’

A requiem for the dead gods.

When I tried saying it out loud, it felt strangely natural.

I wrote it in English in the notebook.

《MYTHOS REQUIEM》

EL saw it and slowly read it aloud.

‘《MYTHOS REQUIEM》.’

“This is it.”

‘I like it too.’

I left room for only one line below the title.

While thinking about what to write, I tried several things like “Kill the gods” and “Defeat the kings,” but none of them felt right.

If there are people who won’t fight Arseria, it’s not right to decide from the start who you defeat.

After staring at the blank space for a while, I moved my pencil.

— Build a new myth.

When I finished and turned the notebook toward the screen, EL stared at the line for a while.

‘I think it’s good.’

Neither the Beast Crown King, the Star-Eater, nor the Princess of the Moon Burial exists yet outside of paper. There’s no voice, no music, and not a single player to challenge them.

Still, I could already see the moment when someone who had been defeated by Valgard many times and kept returning to the throne hall would finally deliver the final blow.

“Alright!”

Making that kind of noise in the middle of the night would get me scolded by my family.

‘You’re making that scheming face again.’

I closed my notebook with a laugh at EL’s voice.

“Because I’m looking forward to it.”

When I open the cover, there’s a newly chosen name.

《MYTHOS REQUIEM》

And just below it, there’s only one line.

— Build a new myth.