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ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 376 Part 1

ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 376: Beam-Mounted President, The Great First Step Part 1

It has certainly been a while since I was last unable to focus on the things at school to this extent. Well, it was certainly not good to be this way at school, but the important thing is that I am finally going to be able to play the Kazegumo President tonight.

「…… The NPCs carry on with their lives as normal, so should I just drop by and bring Emul up to speed, just to be on the safe side?」

That is why I decided to log into ShanFro really quickly here. I told Emul that I am going to sleep for quite a while and that I won’t be able to wake up. Of course, since I could not give him the real reason for my absence I had to make some lie on the spot. So I chose the following: “A faceless Priest came before me and told me that I have to defeat the King of the Yellow Mantle that appeared inside of the dream world and threatens to destroy it unless something is to be done about him”.

Fortunately, it seems that the NPCs tend to rationalize the irregular login patterns of the players, so it should be good for now. The only real problem would be if I were to completely disappear from the game, but that is very unlikely to happen.

And now that this thing was taken care of, I could log out of ShanFro with a clear conscience and venture into the virtual world once more!

「The world has been plunged into the new era of war and conflict……」

「With the death of the late Emperor and the ascend of the new one on the brink of death to the throne, the glory days of the Millennium Empire are long since gone……」

「Guided by greed and their selfish desires, people take arms and go to war with one another, hoping to be the one last standing and becoming the new rulers of the world.」

「But still, while the war rages on between those at power, its flames consume more and more innocent lives on the daily basis.」

I see, it’s a pretty common plot setting in games such as this one. It’s a pretty safe narration device, to introduce the characters and the world during the time of conflict on a pretty large scale.

「That is why you must raise and make a stand!」

「The world must sing of love and peace!」

「Only love and peace can hope to extinguish the flames of war!」

Ahh, now it’s getting disturbing. Why do I get a feeling that things are going to take a sudden turn to the left for no explainable reason?

「Yes, that’s right! You have to make a stand! Because if you won’t, then who will!?」

「You are the one who is going to bring peace back to this world…… Because you are the President!!!」

Not that I really care about it all that much, but does that mean that you are the President right from the get-go? But is it not a contradiction, and a rather great one at that? I mean isn’t it like calling yourself a millionaire while only having about one thousand yen in your pocket?

「This is the story of a great human being who has single-handedly managed to bring the war to an end––!!」

Then there was a big dark screen and the title card dropped.

「KAZAGUMO PRESIDENT」

Moving on to the character creation screen, I was initially thrilled by the vast amounts of potential that this game would bring me.

I get the feeling that during the PVs and presentations the developers were trying to make it sound and look as serious as possible, but I can already feel the aura of shitiness and stupidity oozing out of the screen.

One of the many “selling points” of this game that was being advocated was that it apparently has multiple endings to itself, but…… You are unable to get a feeling like that from a few minutes of playing. The protagonist is mute, and he feels really bland and uninteresting. However, you can say that as far as shitty games go, this game is going to be good. As weird of an opinion as that is.

「Hm, what’s this? Please input your last name……?」

Eh? Then how about…… What should I do here? For now I have created a male character and named it Sanraku Grilled McDonald Mackerel

Next on the list, I had to prepare the avatar for Donald Mackerel, who is going to be this game’s iteration of Sanraku…… Yes, that’s good. How about a beard? Yeah, let’s make it long and thick, just for the hell of it…… Next, the initial weapon? Let’s make it a Saber. Or no…… Let’s change it to tomahawk. But wait just a moment here. Wasn’t this supposed to be a management game? So why the hell would the player need to hold a weapon?

「Then there is the pattern of the suit you are wearing…… Then the time setting……」

If I was paying that much attention to every single detail here, I would be unable to properly play my shitty games. That is why I decided for a simple dark blue suit and basically speedrun the rest of the character creation process.

Now, onto the tutorial.

Hmm, I see? In the management mode, the player can use the skill “President’s Aura” to make things easier for themselves, and in combat mode you can use the skill “President’s Beam” to attack your enemies from a distance…… Wait, combat mode!? What the fuck!?

「So, this strange glow is supposed to be the President’s Aura? Right, so if it is like that, then it should be all okay…… Yeah, alright, I think I got this.」

The problem here would be the President’s Beam. I mean, aren’t beams the kind of attacks that are usually reserved strictly for fantasy games? Or maybe it is I who failed to understand the category of the game that I play here? Oh?

I already understand where the combat mode is coming from. Sometimes it is just easier to go directly to the scene and solve the problems yourself rather than only managing things from the backroom. And this President knows that and is really aggressive about the way he does things.

「And here we have flag design……」

They are not bad or hard to make, but…… You cannot really make the designs that you would call your own. You can only make a combination of already re-set assets that the game has to offer. So I have chosen the design that resembled that of the cuts you would make on a skewered fish.

Of course, even with pre-set assets you can make miniature works of art if you put your mind to it, but since I do not possess neither time for that nor the skills required, I just set my mind on making it as simple as possible and being down with it.

「Muh, what’s next? Huh? What the hell is that? Secretary’s character design? Personality settings? Come on, give me a break……!」