Isekai Online Game Developer

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“Time for us to win this match!”

The Queen’s words broke the silence.

The Dark Elves glanced at the Elf Queen for a moment before turning away with a sigh.

“Clearly, we contributed more to defeating the Ender Dragon. And we used one more Eye of Ender when opening the portal. And also…”

The Queen continued to assert her reasons for victory.

Yet none of her arguments could precisely declare it a win for the Elves.

In the first place, if either side had been absent, they would have lost.

The Dark Elves looked away in response.

It seemed to be a familiar scene.

“And also…”

“…Yeah. Let’s do that.”

Interrupting the Queen, Kilia spoke up.

It wasn’t anger or protest about the victory but rather a defeated tone.

“So if you win, it’s as if it never happened. Sounds good to me.”

“Huh…?”

Kilia dusted off her behind and stood up.

One by one, the other Dark Elves started to follow her up.

The Elf Queen watched their movements in slight bewilderment.

She wasn’t used to them moving on without conflict.

“Everyone, let’s go. It seems like building is more fun than just surviving.”

“Me too. Surviving is fun, but we can’t build freely like in Creative Mode.”

“It’s nice to build freely after a long time.”

The Dark Elves chatted in such trivialities as they walked towards the portal.

It didn’t feel like they had just fought a historical battle moments ago.

The watching users looked on with confused expressions at the scene.

The results of this match felt hollow, and the Dark Elves seemed deflated.

It was obvious to anyone that the contributions to defeating the Ender Dragon were similar.

Yet the Dark Elves themselves remained calm.

It was a familiar occurrence for them.

For a long time, they had learned that the Elves would ultimately remain unchanged.

Now, the Dark Elves saw no reason to step forward and get hurt.

“-Wait a second!”

Just before the Dark Elves crossed the portal, an Elf stopped them.

It was Riana.

“Please wait just a moment.”

The Dark Elves turned around with indifferent expressions.

The Elves looked at Riana in surprise.

“If it were just us, we wouldn’t have been able to defeat the Ender Dragon.”

“Riana…!”

The Elf Queen gasped.

Riana gently placed a hand on the Queen’s shoulder.

Riana understood the Queen’s position as well.

As the Elf Queen and the son of the World Tree, she couldn’t possibly dishonor the World Tree.

Still, Riana felt the need to say this.

“Of course, if it was just you, you wouldn’t have defeated the Ender Dragon. In the end, we defeated it with similar contributions.”

That was just the truth.

The Dark Elves’ expressions remained unchanged.

“So… how about we call it a draw? After all, I don’t think a real winner will emerge…”

“…Let’s say that.”

The Dark Elves turned back around.

Riana opened her mouth once more.

It was something she had been holding back since the Piglin fortress.

Perhaps it was something she had never said to the Dark Elves even once.

She might not have needed to say it.

After all, the Dark Elves and Elves would continue to live as enemies as they always had.

The deep chasms of emotion built up over time wouldn’t easily mend.

Yet not saying it would mean Riana had received too much help.

Even as an Elf, she couldn’t neglect to be grateful to those who had saved her life.

In a short time, they clashed many times and were hurt a lot. Then as their wounds healed, calluses formed.

The once soft skin of the Elves had become a bit tougher.

Everyone grows like that, and there are things that can only be seen after much growth.

“And…!”

Determined, Riana raised her voice.

“Sekeunna. No, Kilia…!”

As Kilia’s name was called, she turned around in surprise.

Even though she recognized her as a Dark Elf, in the game, it was the avatar of the character.

It meant she had recognized her by their speech or habits.

It meant she remembered the name of someone she had long been apart from.

“Thank you for saving me from the Piglin fortress… truly. It’s a fact that I owe you.”

“I-I also…!”

“I also thank you for blocking the Ender Dragon’s breath earlier.”

As Riana shouted, a few Elves began to speak in turn.

All of them were in debt to each other for their lives during the battle against the Ender Dragon.

At that moment, they couldn’t say it, and perhaps they could never say it to the Dark Elves who were their sworn enemies.

Yet because of Riana’s courage, they could now speak.

“W-Well, I also… received help.”

“W-Well, it wasn’t like I was trying to save you or anything, but…”

The Dark Elves turned their gazes and returned a word or two.

The distance between the two races remained unchanged.

Yet for a moment, they were looking at each other.

“So, shall we go then?”

The Dark Elves turned back once more, intending to cross the portal.

At that moment, someone once again stopped the Dark Elves.

“Wait! You can’t leave like this.”

Among the crowd of spectators, it was Rai.

“After you defeat the Ender Dragon, portals leading to special locations open up all over the End World. You can obtain special items there too.”

In accordance with his words, purple beams of light began to rise throughout the End World.

Rai smiled at the Elves and Dark Elves.

*

“They really do seem like kids, just as Galleard said.”

I remarked while watching the Elves taking turns to test out their wings and fly in the sky.

The wings are items obtained from the End Ships in the End City, accessible after defeating the Ender Dragon.

With these, one can glide in Survival Mode.

It feels really nice, like flying with real wings.

“Yeah. If left alone, they’d probably live like that forever. Those kans.”

“…It seems your aversion to Elves has gotten worse.”

“I just don’t understand why they feel the need to say something every time they spot Mai.”

“How can you tell if that user is an Elf or not?”

“The Elves have ‘Elf’ written right in their nicknames! ‘[Elf World]’ or ‘[Elf Queen]’. Geez, those guys…”

Galleard, who had been watching the battle with us, muttered.

It seemed this old man needed to tone down the COL a bit.

“I think they’ve improved somewhat though, don’t you?” I said.

“A five-year-old growing into six is still just that. They even seem embarrassed to say thank you.”

“Well, that really does make them seem childish.”

“…But they look better than before.”

Just as Galleard said, character grows in the context of relationships.

Elves, who live their entire lives in a closed society, clearly lacked in this regard.

Not knowing how to express what’s inside leads to unnecessary words.

“Still, it looks like they have a long way to go. I can’t understand why they fight so much amongst themselves.”

“It’ll take some time, I guess. Isn’t that what family is about?”

To be honest, I didn’t think that the relationship between the Elves and Dark Elves would be immediately reconciled from this incident.

It still felt like there was hatred between them, with deep tides of emotions built up.

Right now, it seemed like it was just a half-step forward.

Yet that alone should be enough. Time is on the side of the Elves.

“Love is something you just give. Just like my father does.”

“Eh?”

“That’s what Aria said. She said faith eventually leads to love. Thinking back, it seems that’s true.”

“Aria?”

“The name of the previous saint. She embarked on adventures with me.”

“Oh…”

“For the Elves, the World Tree must be like that. The World Tree is their faith and their mother.”

Love is simply something you give. Faith is ultimately love.

Clerics call God “Father.”

Elves call the World Tree “Mother.”

God simply grants divine power, while the World Tree bestows the grace of the forest.

However, neither speaks nor demands anything.

If that is love and faith, then it certainly makes sense.

“The World Tree isn’t just a big tree, I see.”

“That’s an obvious fact, but those kans made it so.”

“Seems so…”

Whatever the case, all of it made sense.

It’s true that a kan is a kan, and the saying ‘the World Tree is just a big tree’ came about because of the Elves’ naivety.

Still, the World Tree continues to bestow grace, so it’s only right to say that it loves its children.

Eventually, those Elves too will find the right path.

The first step is always the hardest.

Peace and love are the way, not hatred and conflict.

“So when are you going to give Mai a buff?”

“A buff? Don’t be silly… Mai’s balance is just fine right now. If you want to win in the upper tiers, play a different champion instead.”

“Are you telling me to play with a weak champion like Amumu?!”

“Why not just play something like Grub?”

“I’ve never even touched a gun!”

I ignored Galleard’s nonsense and cleared the world.

Thus, the commotion caused by the release of ‘Minecraft’ and the Elf’s bet came to a close.

As a bonus, after this incident, the Dark Elves began to gain attention once more.

Many people were searching for the Blueprints of the Dark Elves among the uniform magical engineering structures.

Additionally, even within ‘Minecraft’, their popularity grew as they shared various information and architectural advice.

Although the Elves were still being called kans, that was nothing new.

In any case, the incident wrapped up nicely.

*

“Huh, so you’re Sekeunna. This is the first time meeting you in person.”

Weeks after the Elf’s bet.

[The World Tree is Just a Big Tree]. Sekeunna visited the Illusion Tower.

Since the last incident, work had started becoming available again for the Dark Elves. It seemed she wanted to express her gratitude toward the Illusion Tower.

“Still, it seems Dark Elves have a bit more manners than the Elves~”

“I think the Elves are changing a bit too; please stop the Elf-hating…”

“Hmm. They haven’t changed a bit since I was an apprentice mage.”

Rina, the Water Tower Master, who happened to be hanging out at the Illusion Tower, spoke in her unique tone.

She visited occasionally since she was one of Hina’s few friends.

“Well, we don’t really need anything from you. Any expansions to the tower can be done only with artifacts.”

“Whatever it is, I want to repay the favor. The Dark Elves owe a great debt. I’ll repay it somehow.”

“Ye-yes?”

Kilia spoke with sincere eyes.

It seemed she meant it in a way Dark Elves excel at, but it was a remark that could easily be misinterpreted.

“It’s really fine. Instead, please continue with ‘Minecraft’. It would be great to share these various elements with people. Writing books is fine. Sharing architectural knowledge is fine too. Just don’t let it interfere with real-world requests.”

In my previous life, various content was popular for sharing information about ‘Minecraft’.

Since so many bizarre things were possible, just watching and copying them was enjoyable enough.

Considering the skills and intellect of the Dark Elves, they were sure to manage various tasks within ‘Minecraft’.

“Of course, I’ll keep playing Minecraft…”

“That’s all I needed! I’ll be busy, so not coming is actually assisting me.”

After sending Kilia and the others off.

Not long after, the Dark Elves became well-known as ‘Minecraft’ experts.

“Hey, did you know? When you’re surviving, you absolutely must make a boat first!”

“A boat? Why’s that?”

“Haven’t you seen the Dark Elves’ ‘Minecraft Survival White Paper Vol. 3, Chapter 2: Universal Boat’? As long as you have a boat, you can do anything! No matter how high you fall, if you have a boat, you’ll survive! Plus, you can take villagers in a boat and arrange them wherever you want!”

“Whaaaa?!”

Now, it had become a norm for kids in the streets to talk about Minecraft.

While they still engaged in ridiculous antics, the children’s innate innocence remained unchanged.

In keeping with the name ‘Minecraft’, many were creating and enjoying their own worlds.

With that alone, this game was a success.

With a satisfied smile, I headed to the top of the tower.

“Now then… let’s finally get to those COL item updates I’ve been putting off.”

Recently, Galleard had been crying for buffing Mai more than once or twice.

While I wasn’t planning on buffing Mai, I was preparing an update that might indirectly serve as a buff.

It was an item that had caused massive waves in my previous life.

Not releasing it was one option, but having it in the current meta would definitely raise the joy of the game.

Additionally, new job releases for ‘Maple Leaf Story’ were also on the horizon.

So far, the Resistance job line had been released.

Unlike the order from my previous life, only one of the Hero job lines had not been released.

I expected that this update would introduce two Heroes and one job from ‘Maple Leaf Story’, which is an entirely foreign entity.

It was also the point where the story of ‘Maple Leaf Story’ would begin to notably expand.

In particular, the storyline of the third job to be released was still etched firmly in my memory.

It was an emotional tale, and it had drawn me deeper into the story.

Recently, the popularity of ‘Maple Leaf Story’ had begun to wane.

However, I had a feeling that this update would reignite the Over-Investment once again.

That character had a story that was undeniably captivating even to me.

The skills and actions were guaranteed to be flashy.

And soon after.

An unexpected event shook the world.