Tokyo: Oreimo

"—I ask you, are you my Master?"

In the scene, it's as if a person with closed eyes opens their eyes, dispelling the darkness, and a beautifully illustrated CG image appears.

A female knight in blue-patterned silver armor appeared in the scene. Shirou Emiya collapsed to the ground, staring incredulously at the stunningly beautiful woman before him.

[Coming at your call]

From this day forward, my sword will be with you, and your fate will be intertwined with mine. — Thus, the contract is made.

"Amazing!"

Before Ryosuke could speak, Takashiro Ryouno, who was sitting in front of the computer, exclaimed in admiration.

"Will my drawing be displayed this clearly in the game? I've rarely seen this level of visual fidelity in the visuals of the visual games I've played before."

"It's really quite good."

Ryosuke nodded in agreement.

To the naked eye, the screen displays a resolution of 800×600 pixels, which is higher than 480P but slightly lower than 720P. I remember the original video had a resolution of about the same.

After confirming that there were no problems with the display, Ryosuke left his sister's side and sat alone at his workbench to continue writing the script.

Aren't you going to play with me?

Ling Nai glanced at her with displeasure.

"As a creator, I know what will happen next with every click, so there's no need for me to play games; finishing my manuscript is the priority."

Ryosuke replied.

"Humph!"

The blonde girl didn't mind that he had refused her invitation and turned to focus on the game.

Actually, this work still has some shortcomings. Although the music and the original manuscript are expected to be completed as planned, a relatively important piece of the puzzle is still missing.

That's a voice actor.

However, he simply didn't have the budget to do this. He was already grateful to have managed to scrape together the cost of digitizing the original manuscript. After the game was completed, he would still have to face a huge financial hole due to the cost of burning CDs.

"They're really short of money. If they were to add full voice acting, even hiring new people would cost at least ten million yen."

Regarding this, Ryosuke consulted with Shizuka Hayakawa; by asking around among his peers, he could get a general idea of ​​the market price.

Newcomers are charged around 1,000 yen per line. Considering the amount of dialogue the female lead has, the voice acting cost for just the character Saber alone is around 1.5 million yen.

"However, it might not be impossible to do voice acting for some of the main characters..."

Thinking this, Ryosuke glanced at his younger sister.

Seeing Ling Nai staring intently at the computer screen, slowly advancing the plot.

"If she's willing to lend me money..."

As far as he knew, Ling Nai had at least five million yen in cash in her private stash.

If he invests all of his resources, it will relieve a significant portion of his stress, allowing him to allocate some of it to hiring voice actors.

With such high specifications, the probability of losing money is very small.

The problem lies in whether his sister is willing, and afterwards, he will need to give her a higher share of the profits.

.....

An hour later, Ling Nai reached a crucial plot point.

The girl had a slightly nervous expression on her face.

The blue, fierce dog chased after them to the door.

[Great, at least we can enjoy it a little now, right?]

The oppressive feeling created by the text and background music was quite stimulating to her.

"Am I going to get killed again?"

In previous episodes, the protagonist, Shirou Emiya, had already been killed once.

Even if one uses magician techniques to harden a weapon to one's liking, it is still no match for the absolute power of a Heroic Spirit.

There is only one way out: to escape.

Ling Nai stared at the screen.

Shirou was kicked into the warehouse, his life hanging by a thread.

"Checkmate! That really surprised me, kid."

"whispering sound!"

Takashiro Ryouno showed her displeasure upon seeing this.

"What the hell? Is this guy determined to hunt me down to the death? Is it because I chose the wrong branch earlier?"

The girl couldn't understand it. Getting to this point was practically the same as death, wasn't it?

In previous episodes, she was killed several times by a white-haired girl because she chose the wrong storyline.

"Shouldn't we summon the Heroic Spirit as soon as possible? That female protagonist whose real name is 'Arthur'."

She considered reloading the save file, but after thinking about it, she decided to continue watching this part of the story first.

The red spearhead was aimed squarely at the heart.

[Although I don't think so, you might be the seventh person. Oh well, even so, it's over.]

"This blue guy has a personality just as awful as him. He could kill me with a flick of his wrist, but he still says things that make people angry."

Takashiro Ryouno suddenly turned her head and glared at Ryosuke.

"What's wrong? I hope I haven't bothered you?"

Ryosuke felt somewhat confused.

"It's nothing, I just find you annoying."

"?"

Ignoring Ryosuke's expression, Takashiro Ryōno turned back to look at the screen.

The scene turns gray, as if death is imminent.

But in the next instant, a cluster of sword tips, as bright as day, pierced the darkness.

The gleaming silver of the speeding car brought with it the sounds of clashing swords and spears.

"Huh?"

Ling Nai's face showed a surprised expression.

and many more!

Is it summoned here?

She recalled the plot in reverse chronological order from the beginning.

[—Really, it's the seventh Servant...!?]

The blue hound was driven out of the warehouse.

The image on the screen swayed like a person's gaze before finally settling on the suddenly appearing Knight King.

Background music began to play, and the beautiful melody made Ling Nai feel a little excited.

Unable to utter a sound, and stared directly at by the person in the picture, the stunningly beautiful knight king uttered the line from the game's opening.

【I ask you, are you my Master?】

"Oh my god... this is so cool?!"

Ling Nai couldn't help but cover her mouth.

Who understands the feeling of being saved by divine intervention?

But the next moment, just as she was about to continue watching and witness how her own heroic spirit would take on the blue hound, the screen suddenly went black.

Then a message of thanks appeared.

"Hey! You bastard!"

The girl pounced on Ryosuke Takagi like a tiger descending from the mountain.

"How dare they stop the progress at such a crucial moment!"

Chapter 48 Poor Ghost

"Heh, the budget is limited, and besides, it's just a demo. Isn't it normal for it to stop here?"

Ryosuke chuckled softly.

"You're obviously doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

Gao Chengling couldn't believe it. He could have stayed further ahead, but it stopped abruptly just as he was about to reach his climax.

This is clearly a deliberate attempt to cut out the passage.

She had to admit that her appetite had been whetted.

Although I've played a large number of visual novels, this is the first time I've encountered one with such a wonderful storyline and setting.

How is she supposed to live her life after this?

After experiencing a visual novel of this caliber, playing some inferior games might make it difficult to immerse oneself in them.

How long is it expected to take to complete?

"Well, probably four or five months? I plan to sell this work at the summer CM exhibition."

"So long!?"

Takashiro Ryou said with dissatisfaction.

"That's already quite fast. By the way, do you think there's anything lacking in this work?"

Ryosuke watched as she ejected the CD from the computer and carefully put it back into its case, and casually remarked.