Gacha Kingdom Building

Chapter 166: Quiet Waves

Two days after her kidnapping, we managed to repay Isabella's debt and she was finally allowed to leave the white room and return to her normal bedroom.

Lenard also ended up helping out a little with this. I made him feel guilty for confining Isabella and potentially creating the opportunity for this incident to happen in the first place.

It was mostly bullshit, but it worked well and he's been a little more compassionate and understanding towards her.

This made me quite hopeful that we could mend their relationship and get a strong ally for her inside the house.

Now that her punishment is over, we've finally acquired permission to use the courtyard and some other facilities.

Although I had such permissions from the start, aside from taking a look to plan things out, there wasn't much reason to use them without Isabella.

Mia: "I think she's too stiff..."

I took this opportunity to move our classes outside.

While her bedroom is way better than the white room from before, the outside has a refreshing air and allows me to bring more students for our sessions.

Namely Angelica, Anna, Ellie, and Lana.

Some of them, like Angelica and Lana, never had the opportunity to learn how to write and read, so they were behind Isabella for the most part.

As for Anna and Ellie, they are somewhat ahead of the curve. Ellie in particular is participating mostly due to her curiosity.

It's good to have them on board though. Their diversity is pretty helpful since they tackle problems together, sharing ideas and solutions. This makes everyone progress faster and the knowledge they acquire more meaningful.

They are also developing nice bonds, which is a big plus.

Miwen: "Yeah... I was thinking that her stiffness could be useful in archery though."

Ellie: "Hn... Her aim is not bad, but it needs work. And she's insisting hard on the sword."

Since we had access to an open area, it would be a shame not to use it well, so I expanded Isabella's training to include areas we weren't able to explore inside a room like training and magic.

I also employed a few reliable teachers to give me a hand.

Initially, I wanted her to get used to one of the three styles of physical combat that Claire, Licia, and Mia can offer.

However, we ended up facing some obstacles.

She doesn't have the reflexes, instincts, or movements to use Mia's style. Since she's a beginner, the style that ended up being better for her was Licia's. She's also shown some creativity and has improved better under her.

The problem is that she insists on learning from Claire.

That wouldn't be bad by itself, but she wants to mimic her style when she doesn't have talent for it.

Claire spent her entire life learning to handle a sword like she does. For someone like Isabella who has never held one in her entire life, copying Claire won't make her learn anything.

She can do her best to look the same, but when she faces an enemy, it crumbles instantly. Her training has already shown this.

Based on her traits, I introduced Ellie into the equation and had her try her luck with the bow.

She actually doesn't do too bad for a beginner, but she's very stubborn about the sword as a symbol of power and authority.

For now, with Mia helping her improve her movement and reflexes, Licia adjusting her thinking and Claire teaching her the form and technique, it might be possible for her to become a decent swordsman.

Miwen: "She could use the bow as the primary weapon and then bring out the sword when facing an enemy in close combat.."

While watching her hellish training with Claire and Licia unfold, we kept bouncing ideas.

To me, a strategy similar to Ellie's made the most sense. Since she was insisting so heavily on using a sword, we could just allow her as that enthusiasm was helping her improve fast anyway.

However, there was another factor in all of this.

Ellie: "It could work, but..."

Bea: "She needs to come to terms with her magic."

It was a fair point.

Bea and Liz have been serving as everyone's magic teachers since they are the most versed on the topic.

Most of us already know our elemental affinities, but Isabella had no idea about hers, so they ran a few tests to determine it.

As I've come to expect of her, the results were pretty negative.

For most elements, she's barely capable of using them. Her affinity is close to zero for anything other than [Dark Magic].

I thought this might be a result of her Gift, so I tried running the tests again while disabling [Darkest Star] with [Hollow Destiny].

It turned out that her Gift wasn't to blame and we even ended up with more bad news.

Her affinity is average but her Gift doesn't even strengthen this type of magic.

It's hard not to compare her situation with Lana, who has a good affinity for the same element, and whose Gift actually boosts the strength of the element on top of that.

While not the greatest, we could make her magic complement her fighting style, but... her approach to fighting is another obstacle.

Dark magic's strength lies in how versatile and tricky it can be. The user can hide weapons, prepare traps, and even apply curses to himself, his equipment, or the enemy.

This enables a bunch of different tactics in battle, however, like light magic, this element is not as great for direct combat.

Taking Lana as an example again, the fact that she is talented and has a good affinity for the element, as well as a Gift that empowers it makes her capable of dealing with a mage around the same level due to how synergetic her relationship with her magic is.

But even in that situation, she prefers to use it for sneak attacks instead of direct combat.

Isabella doesn't need to focus on backstabbing or surprise attacks like Lana, but it would be useful if she gave up her ideas of an "honorable duel".

In life, battles hardly follow any rules, and using [Dark magic] effectively, she could become a tricky opponent to win against.

I've yet to determine what is getting in her way.

It might be that she thinks fighting resourcefully is besmirching of a noble's position, or it could be jealousy toward her chivalrous brother, but her insistence on fighting fairly and gracefully is pushing her towards Claire's style even though it doesn't suit her.

Lana: "Maybe you could get her some weapons with the dark element to make up the areas she's lacking?"

I'm not fond of relying on weapons too much but I could agree it was not the worst idea.

Especially since she can use [Gacha Kingdom Building] too...

Still, we kept discussing until Chloe showed up with our desserts.

Normally, she should be dead or in jail. Perhaps even as someone's slave.

But Isabella ended up forgiving her.

It was quite surprising to see given the meek personality she shows everyone, but I knew she had it in her.

In that scenario, she saw an opportunity and she seized it.

Chloe and Kyle were in the worst possible situation, but by making me change the story and cover for them we turned them into victims instead of perpetrators.

Considering the consequences that would otherwise await them, they ended up in her debt.

But it wasn't just that.

She used her normal act to her advantage and never told Lenard anything, looking too shocked and afraid to say anything conclusive.

Basically, she reserved the right to contradict my story whenever she saw fit.

Which for the two criminals would be the end.

Thus, she managed to get reins on them by claiming their destiny.

Whether they live or die is up to her now.

She hasn't been abusing her newly acquired power though. She asked Chloe to treat her decently, and she even promised to share some of her allowance with her so that she could fulfill her objectives.

As for Kyle, she sent him to work with Lenard so that he could become a knight and protect others.

More importantly, she now has acquired two allies who would have a hard time going against her.

Using Gacha Kingdom Building she can check their loyalty too, so it seems like she has everything under control.

It's quite a lot of progress compared to the first days, but I like how her personality is developing. Or rather, I'm amazed at her true self. I figured she'd be someone else when she regained her proper state of mind but... she's more cunning than I expected.

As for me, that incident led to a few changes.

The most important being Mia...

She was obviously shocked by the news, and the discovery that this Event was taking place in her world made her quite anxious.

As expected, she was eager to go after them, but I had to make her hold back.

The way things stand, we wouldn't be able to win.

Mia: "...But the ruthless you can win, right?"

She asked me with eyes filled with anger and sadness. It was more like she was pleading with me.

Since the beginning, she's counting on me showing no mercy to them. As she herself admits, she won't settle for anything other than revenge.

She even goes as far as to apologize to me, knowing I'm not particularly fond of acting this way.

Miwen: "Don't worry. I'll destroy them. But first, let's rescue as many of your tribesmen as possible."

Mia: "You don't need them to win, do you? I think you already have a plan. But... I won't ask anymore. I'll be counting on you."

It was hard for her to do this.

She was basically admitting she wasn't strong enough by herself.

But she prioritized achieving her goals over her pride.

What's more, she knows me very well.

It's true that ever since I've discovered that we are back in her world I've been planning how to defeat Hamperlon, and truth be told, I might not need the Snow White Wolves at all, but...

Revenge is only momentarily satisfactory. If it's the only thing keeping someone alive, once it's done... they might think they are fulfilled.

I don't want to lose her.

So I'll give her more reasons to live.

As my wife, or as the Snow White Wolves Chieftainess.

It doesn't really matter to me as long as she lives.

Thankfully, the kingdom should be able to hold a big population now.

And with the time dilation that is making time pass 30 times faster in this world, I'm able to stock a lot of food for the next harvest.

If need be, I can also expand the fields or count on bunny meat for a while.

No matter what happens, I'll achieve our revenge, and I'll do so without losing anything.

Miwen: "...But until then we need to help Isabella. If we give her a happy ending, we can still remain in this world. But if she dies... we'll be forcefully expelled."

And then we might not get another chance.

The odds of an Event naturally taking place in the same world two times must be astronomical.

If there wasn't someone behind this, we probably wouldn't even be here to begin with.

Mia: "Right... Thanks, Miwen."

Miwen: "Anything for my-"

She didn't even let me finish before pushing me down.

But even as I fell from the chair, I could see the embarrassed face she tried to hide.