Spirit Adventure (4)

To tell the truth, at first Ragna hadn’t thought of the idea of releasing cards as merchandise at all.

He was just thinking about selling certain props appearing in the animation as merchandise, as he had done so far.

“…So you mean the Spirit Voice?”

“Yes. The merchandise we’ll release to commemorate the opening of “Spirit Adventure” this time will be the Spirit Voice.”

The ‘Spirit Voice’ was the magic tool that the ‘Children of Destiny’ used to evolve their partner spirits in “Spirit Adventure”, and.

Ragna thought that this was the perfect item to sell as merchandise.

Because in his previous life, when Ragna was very young.

After watching the original work that became the motif for “Spirit Adventure”, he too wanted that item with Tamagotchi functions so badly.

So he judged that if a Tamagotchi in the shape of the Spirit Voice was released in this world, it would surely sell like hotcakes, and.

However, if there was one problem.

“Hmm… I’m sorry, but mass-producing such a thing as merchandise is beyond my abilities.”

“…Pardon?”

It was none other than Aris shaking her head and expressing reluctance after hearing Ragna’s plan.

Of course, Ragna couldn’t help but feel perplexed hearing Aris’s words.

No, was there something that couldn’t be done even with magic?

How come you can make televisions, movies, and even video phones with magic, but not a Tamagotchi?

Objectively speaking, isn’t making a Tamagotchi much easier than making a television?

But unfortunately, that wasn’t the case in the common sense of the fantasy world.

“Of course, you’re not wrong, Ragna. If I mobilize all my abilities, it wouldn’t be impossible to create a magic tool that roughly contains the functions you’re talking about.”

“…Then isn’t there no problem?”

“No, there are many problems. What did I just say? I said if I mobilize all my abilities, right?”

Saying this, Aris gave Ragna a bitter smile.

“You want merchandise to sell in large quantities to the audience who watched the theatrical animation, right? But it’s impossible for me to mass-produce magic tools with such complex structures. I might be able to make a few prototypes like the Book of Life and Death replicas in the past… but anything more than that is difficult.”

“…..”

At those words from Aris, Ragna ended up looking up at the sky and lamenting.

Damn it.

Despite being able to make televisions, video phones, and even drop meteors with magic.

It’s impossible to ‘mass-produce’ a mere Tamagotchi?

As expected, in terms of otaku culture, the superior science and technology of the 21st century was one step ahead of mere magic….

Anyway, as his initial plan had been thwarted, Ragna had no choice but to find another breakthrough.

That breakthrough was none other than-

“Then, what do you think about releasing cards as merchandise?”

“…Cards? What cards?”

“I mean, how about drawing illustrations of the spirits from “Spirit Adventure” on cards, and then selling them? And if we make it so that people can play games using those cards, it would be even better. Don’t you think?”

“…?”

Of course, Serika, Kaya, and everyone else didn’t understand what Ragna was talking about.

That’s because the concept of TCG didn’t exist yet in the fantasy world.

And he’s saying to play games using cards with characters from the animation drawn on them?

Really?

“Umm… If we’re going to play card games anyway, wouldn’t more people say to just play poker or baccarat? At least that’s what I think.”

“Will that really make money?”

“…..”

By the way, Ragna didn’t bother to persuade them here with tiresome words.

A few days later, he just distributed decks he had made himself as ‘prototypes’ to the staff.

“Now then, you have your decks. Let’s have a duel.”

“…A duel? With these cards?”

“No… We don’t even know the rules of this card game in the first place…?”

“The rules are simple. First is the draw phase where you draw cards from your deck. Next is the active phase where you process or reset various effects. And then-“

Ragna explained the rules of the card game to Kaya and Serika, who had question marks floating above their heads, and.

Exactly one hour later.

“I activate the mana card ‘Sacred Evolution’ from my hand! I release Patemon on my field and summon Archangel from my deck!”

“Ohhh! Lady Serika has evolved Patemon!”

“Could it be that Lady Serika intends to recreate the famous scene from “Spirit Adventure” here?”

Hearing the murmurs of the people around, Serika slightly twisted the corner of her mouth upwards.

“I’m sorry, Miss Kaya, but it seems our duel ends here. I’ll end it with this. Archangel, attack the Fallen Spirit Evelmon!”

Just as Serika was about to put an end to this duel by giving the attack order.

“…Well, I wonder about that, Miss Serika.”

“Pardon?”

“I activate my face-down option card, ‘Dark Wave’! This turn, I forcibly devolve all monsters that evolved on the field!”

“I-Impossible!”

“With this, Archangel devolves back to the original Patemon. What do you think will happen if such a small and pathetic Patemon engages in battle with my Evelmon? The result is too obvious, isn’t it?”

“N-No! Patemon is just…!”

“With this, it’s my victory, Miss Serika. As we promised earlier, I’ll be taking the director for myself this weekend.”

“How could this be…. My date promise with Ragna this weekend, so easily…!”

“…..”

Though the details are unclear, it seems Serika and Kaya had a shadow game over Ragna.

“So, what do you think?”

To Ragna’s question, Serika and Kaya spoke with their eyes sparkling.

“It’s fun, incredibly so!”

“The rules are quite intuitive, and there’s not too much left to chance, so it’s very enjoyable. If the card pool becomes a bit wider, I think it would be fully possible to employ various strategies.”

Not just those two, but even the staff who had been watching the duel were very interested in the TCG Ragna had developed.

As all the troublemakers who had been putting the brakes on Ragna’s plan disappeared, all work proceeded smoothly.

And.

“…Hm? The attack power of ‘Transcendent Dragon of Light and Darkness’ is as high as 3000?”

“That’s right. ‘Transcendent Dragon of Light and Darkness’ is planned to be the main card in this booster pack, so shouldn’t it be about that much?”

At Ragna’s words, Kaya made a somewhat worried expression.

“But… ‘Transcendent Dragon of Light and Darkness’ has very simple summoning conditions and even has its own destruction effect. If this card is released, it seems like it will immediately become tier 1.”

“That’s fortunate. Because I was doing this to make the deck using this card tier 1.”

“…Pardon?”

For a moment, Kaya tilted her head, unable to understand Ragna’s words.

So now… what did he say?

“We’re not doing charity work, we’re in a position where we need to make consumers buy cards by any means necessary. So to stimulate consumers’ greed, it’s essential to release a card with such overwhelming performance.”

“…Even so, that’s-“

“From the consumer’s perspective, if the pack only contains mediocre cards, why would they buy card packs? There need to be things like rare cards that only come out once in dozens of packs, or secret rares that shine with rainbow light on the card itself to make opening packs worthwhile. In that sense, you could say I’m doing this for the happiness of consumers. Understand?”

“…..”

Seeing Ragna speak in such a brazenly shameless tone, Kaya ended up keeping her mouth shut.

Well, it’s not wrong, but still, is this something to say so proudly…?

“Well, you don’t need to worry too much. If the worst-case scenario comes where the ‘Transcendent Dragon of Light and Darkness’ card really destroys the balance within the game, we have a method for that time too.”

“…Yes? What exactly is that method?”

“We just ban its use in official duels. If not that, then we can release a new broken card that can perfectly counter ‘Transcendent Dragon of Light and Darkness’ in the second booster pack to be released later….”

“…..”

And so.

The first booster pack of the trading card game utilizing the “Spirit Adventure” IP.

“Legend of the Red-Eyed Dinosaur”.

Release complete.

Let’s all have enjoyable duels by following the rules and manners!