Opening the Dark Souls section of the game forums, Ichin saw exactly what he expected—tons of discussions about the Ringed City. At the top was a player's first-run post, complete with screenshots of their fight against the Demon Prince.
The Demon Prince's mechanics were quite interesting. At first, you only fight one boss. When its HP drops below 50%, phase two begins and a second demon joins the battle. After defeating one of them, the remaining demon will transform into the Demon Prince—and depending on which demon survives, the Prince will have different movesets.
The Demon Prince was no pushover. It had plenty of large-AOE attacks, could take to the skies, and if players didn't fully understand its mechanics, they could easily get chain-hit and wiped out in one combo.
After browsing the forum threads, Ichin opened Bilibili and watched some livestreams. Quite a few streamers had already reached the Demon Prince. Some were getting beaten up at first, but most of them, after two or three deaths, managed to beat him cleanly.
By the time he finished watching a few streams, it was already late. With Utaha urging him, Ichin shut down his computer, brushed his teeth, and got ready for bed.
The release of the Dark Souls DLC once again pushed the game back into Steam's top online-player rankings. Among the top ten games, both Dark Souls and Apex were now listed.
And since it was the end of the year, Apex had also launched its Christmas event—players could complete missions to earn points and unlock free weapons and skins.
Speaking of Christmas, this year they didn't hold any parties. Starting from the 23rd, Tokyo began to snow heavily, so no one felt like going outside.
After finishing the last batch of documents and signing them, Ichin stretched, stood up, and walked over to his office window, gazing at the heavy snowfall outside.
"Rare to see snow this heavy. Luckily, we can still drive home."
Typing away on the sofa, Utaha looked up and said, "This year's snow really is unexpectedly heavy. If it keeps falling all night, we'll probably be able to have a snowball fight tomorrow morning."
"A snowball fight? You dare go out and have one?"
Ichin turned, smiling at her. "Did you forget what state you're in right now?"
"Uh—"
Utaha was instantly speechless, then felt a sudden cramp in her lower belly. "It's all your fault, Ichin, you jinxed me! I almost forgot about it!"
She quickly rummaged through her bag for what she needed, hurriedly stood up, and ran out of the office.
Just as she left, Hazuki walked in.
"What's wrong with Utaha?"
"Nothing. Just her usual monthly situation."
Hearing that, Hazuki instantly understood.
"I see." She smiled and handed over a document.
"Here, take a look. This is the development schedule I drafted for Tales of Berseria's team for January, right after New Year's."
"Fast work, Hazuki."
Ichin took the file and sat down on the sofa to read it. Hazuki also sat beside him, smiling.
"Well, the pressure is real. We have to finish development and release the game next year. There's a lot of content to handle, so I need to plan carefully. Part of it depends on your music too. How's the progress?"
Still flipping through the pages, Ichin nodded. "Don't worry. I can finish everything in January. Most of the tracks are already done. After New Year, I'll arrange recording sessions with the orchestra."
Besides the various in-game tracks, the main theme for Tales of Berseria was almost ready too. He planned to invite a singer—maybe even a top-tier voice actor—to perform it.
After finishing the review, Ichin nodded. "Yeah, this plan looks good. Let's follow it for January. Good work, Hazuki."
"It's nothing. Just part of my job."
Hazuki stood up with a smile. "I'll get back to work then."
"Mm. Oh, Hazuki, help me call Kirino over."
"Is this about the year-end bonuses?"
Hazuki nodded gently. "No problem. Leave it to me."
Kousaka Kirino had joined the company quite a while ago, and she had always been excellent in her role. When the previous financial manager resigned due to marriage, Ichin evaluated everyone in the department and ultimately promoted Kirino to the position.
Since taking over as finance manager, Kirino had handled every task flawlessly—fully deserving of Ichin's trust.
Soon, Kirino came to the office with Utaha.
"Did you call for me about the employees' year-end bonuses, Ichin-kun?"
Ichin nodded. "Yeah. It's the 24th today. We need everything finalized before the end of the month. I assume all the calculations are done?"
Kirino smiled. "Of course. I already arranged for the year-end bonus calculations in mid-month. We're currently double-checking everything. I'll hand it to you on Monday—once you confirm it, I'll issue the bonuses."
"Good. I'll leave it to you."
After they finished discussing work, Utaha finally spoke up. She looked at Kirino and said, "Kirino, you're completely different from when you first joined. You look like a full-fledged elite professional now."
In her proper office attire and refined makeup, Kirino indeed looked every bit the elite—her appearance and ability both fit the role perfectly. She had the entire finance department running like a well-oiled machine.
But at the compliment, Kirino's expression instantly collapsed.
"Oh please, it's exhausting! I wish I could be like Kuroneko, wearing whatever I like while coding games at my desk. But I don't have that kind of skill. All I can do is finance work."
"Well, that's because your college major wasn't programming."
Kirino raised both hands helplessly. "I actually tried! I asked Kuroneko for programming books, but I just couldn't learn it. Zero talent. Eventually I realized I'm only gifted at playing games, not making them."
Her words made both Ichin and Utaha burst out laughing.
If you really don't have the talent, then giving up is the only option—but thankfully, Kirino still found her place and became an irreplaceable member of the company.
After she left to return to her department, Utaha pulled Ichin over to play games with her for a while.
Given Utaha's current… circumstances, Ichin didn't tease her about it and simply accompanied her. Besides, it was almost time to clock out anyway.
When work hours ended, the two left the company and went home to have dinner with Utaha's parents.
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