“All right, bro. What do you think this item does?”
“Looks like some kind of sparkly potion… I bet drinking it makes you temporarily invincible or something.”
“Ding, ding, ding. Heh-heh.”
Gobta was barraging me with questions.
We were looking at a game’s settings screen.
“You’re amazing, bro. You understand it all right away.”
“That’s because your game design makes it easy to understand right away.”
And we were in Gobta’s room at his family’s place.
Gobta had asked me whether I liked action games, and I’d answered yes. In that instant, Gobta started acting restless and brought me back to where he lived with his father.
The Bouchers lived in a three-story apartment built of stone. The contrast created by the white walls and the black woodwork was beautiful and reminded me of medieval Europe. The third floor, meanwhile, was full of modern electric appliances. It felt like I was inside some nice Scandinavian bed and breakfast.
When we arrived, we were a little hungry, so we decided to share the cockatrice omelet that Elma had given me. Gobta made tea to go with it. I had no idea what kind of tea it was, but the blend went surprisingly well with the omelet.
After he finished eating his half of the omelet, Gobta got quiet and fidgety. But after a while, he opened the door to the attic in the living room and pulled out a laptop—an old model from years ago. We moved to his room, and he turned on the laptop. On the screen he brought up Pixel Game Builder—an old program that let you create your own original games.
“Hey, Gobta. Does this thing work?”
“Psh, of course it does.”
Gobta excitedly pushed the ENTER button.
…Dun, da da dun, da dun! ♪ Dun, da da dun, da dun! ♪
The laptop’s screen turned dark before a pixel art image of a building appeared. Upbeat music began to play.
I think this is called MIDI, right? The melody sounds really retro, like something out of a game from a few decades ago.
It reminded me of the retro game shops where I had hung out in Akihabara back in Japan.
On the screen, a macho-looking character appeared in profile as his body bounced to the music.
Justice Fighter
Da da da da duuun ♪
The game’s original title floated up into view.
“This is awesome.”
Chills of excitement ran down my spine. I wasn’t expecting to get this hyped up.
“For another race in a fantasy world to make a game using Game Builder…it feels like a miracle.”
This kingdom in another world is overflowing with Japanese things and imitating Japanese culture…
And it’s gone so far that a twelve-year-old gamer in this world even made his own original action game. I would have never expected that this world had been raising a fellow gaming fan all this time.
“What are you mumblin’ about? Miracle? You’re weird, bro.”
“Is this playable?”
“Obviously. Try it.”
I did as I was told and placed my trembling fingers on the arrow keys and the Z and X keys.
“What, the only playable character is a goblin?”
“Well, duh. I’m a goblin, aren’t I?”
“Then who was that character that was just on the screen?”
“That’s just the default human character. But his clothes and stuff look pretty old so he looks kinda off. What, you don’t wanna play as a goblin?”
“No, it’s good. I like all different fantasy races.”
They all had something special about them, which made things interesting. I like that, because I don’t have anything interesting about me.
I started clacking away at the keyboard and began Stage 1: The Street.
There are many different kinds of action games, but this one was a beat ’em up side-scroller. I started on single-player arcade mode.
“All right, bro. Time to show me your gaming skills.”
“Is that a challenge? Yeah, you’re on. Let’s get this goblin going.”
At some point, we had started bantering casually like old friends.
I had originally come here for the investigation, but I had forgotten all of that once he put a game in front of me. I got absorbed into what I wanted to be absorbed in.
A few minutes later…
“Stage cleared. That was easy.”
I started acting a little cocky. It always felt good to clear a game stage.
Stage 1 was just a bunch of monk-like characters dressed in white coming at me with weak kicks and punches. I had picked up an item called a spiked club pretty early on and just beat them all to death with that. Maybe this was supposed to be like one of those games where you’re just one guy against a huge crowd of weak enemies.
Last Stage: Enemy Headquarters
Without any time to catch my breath, the stage changed to what looked like a pro wrestling ring.
“I only made two stages so far. But the final boss is tough.”
A tall man with white hair swinging a whip walked out from the right side of the screen.
I had a feeling like I had seen this character somewhere before. But before I had time to think of where, the screen started flickering black. Black tentacles flew from the right side of the screen to the left.
You Lose
“Come on, that’s just cheating! No way!”
“You givin’ up?” Gobta was cackling.
“…No, I just need to remember his attack pattern and back him into the corner.”
“Now that’s cheating, bro.”
Just as we were starting to really have fun with it…
“Sorry, time out for a sec.”
Gobta turned toward the house’s entryway.
“Huh? What’s up?”
“He’s back.”
Gobta shut the laptop on me, so fast that he almost closed it on my fingers.
“Wha—? He’s back? What are you talking about?” I hadn’t heard anything.
“Sorry, I’ve gotta put this back. I don’t wanna have to explain so just stay here.”
Gobta took the computer, ran out to the living room, and put it back in the attic. I stayed sitting next to his desk, looking on dumbfounded. He came back to his room and shut the door.
Clack, clack, clack. Ka-chack!
I heard a sound coming from the entryway. After a while, a listless voice called out, “Hey, I’m home.”
It was Gobta’s father, Goburo Boucher.
“Gobta…what’s up with your ears?” I asked.
Gobta’s ears had changed shape and were moving up and down in a twitching motion.
“Oh, you’ve never seen this before? It’s a special goblin skill, All Ears. My dad’s has gotten rusty over the years, though.”
His ears did look like they had taken on a shape to better pick up sounds.
That seems convenient. I wish I could do that.
I felt this without a second thought…and just as I did, I saw the words Skill Unlocked: All Ears light up inside me.
“Hey, Gobta. What’s this omelet thing?”
“I’m studying! Go ahead and eat it!” Gobta answered him through the door. “He works as a delivery person. Sometimes he stops home during work to blow off some stress by having a snack.”
I nodded in understanding and kept trying to stay as quiet as possible.
“Ahh.” I heard him let out a sigh and a burp. “All right, I’m off.”
The door slammed shut. Gobta’s father was headed to work again.
But the excitement that had built up from playing video games was totally gone now.
While Goburo had been eating the omelet and drinking tea, my eyes had wandered around Gobta’s room. And something had struck me as off. For someone who was so into game design, his room was surprisingly devoid of game-related things.
“Hey, Gobta. Are you hiding that you like video games?”
“Games are forbidden in our house. Thanks to Gilvert Trinity.”
“Huh? The high priest?”
“Mom won’t come back. I hate living like this. There’s no point.”
His wandering statements had gotten my attention.
“Those guys were the ones who messed up the inside of that building anyway. They were doing experiments with forbidden magic.”
“Forbidden magic? Who?”
“…I know you won’t make fun of me, bro.”
After being silent for a moment, he started falteringly telling me his story.
“It’s all his fault. Gilvert Trinity, and his Black Scales…”