Gacha Kingdom Building

Chapter 180: Monster Encounter

Going back to Rodky was not an option after what happened. Lenard and Isabella understood that pretty quickly, but Albert was a little harder.

Since he wasn't involved at all he had a hard time believing us, but thanks to Lenard we were able to convince him.

I felt like it was a bit of shame since we basically took away what might as well have been his last opportunity to learn from the mages of Rodky, and considering he is a decent mage for his age, staying in the city could have been a viable path for him if not for our intervention.

However, he didn't mind that too much when I talked to him. It seems like he enjoys his current position and doesn't want to leave the country.

His reasons for that were a little cloudy though...

In any case, a week passed by. and now we were watching Isabella do a presentation about her stay in Rodky.

We had to hide everything to do with Nissa, and while we visited a bunch of workshops during our short stay, due to her element, Isabella wasn't able to do much in almost any of them.

This worried her a little since she felt like she didn't have enough to get a good presentation. Especially since she couldn't count on her group as they disbanded halfway through.

It's been my policy to guide and teach her instead of doing everything but... this time it couldn't be helped.

I promised she could leave the script to me.

The only workshop we could use was Jackie's, so I had her explain and show Isabella how she works and what her research is all about.

I made a few subtle criticisms about how everyone focused so much on the most popular workshops and didn't bother going out of their way to see the others, but I made it so it emphasized Isabella as a girl interested in giving a chance to those who normally don't get one.

Then I started to bullshit about how that reflects the nature of her element.

On someone else's hand, or even my own, this wouldn't be so great, but when she repeats my bullshit with all of her confidence, it suddenly becomes way more believable.

It's clear she understood the subtext of what I wrote, and I

I'm quite fond of that look of hers, it's a shame it's so rare as she's often the weakest in any altercation.

In any case, with this done, we started having normal classes.

It was pretty much as expected. Both the game and this world had lessons and questions that were pretty easy, and while it seemed like the students of this world struggled with them, they were a breeze for Isabella.

What I was most interested in, however, were the outdoor lessons. In other words, their P.E.

In the game, these are usually a sequence of quick-time events. As long as you perform well, everything is alright.

As is the case with the other lessons, by doing well you earn a few affection points with all the love targets.

The thing is... If your rival also does well, then the amount of points you earn diminishes.

This is one of the factors that makes Sabrina's campaign easier than Isabella's.

But the P.E. also has something extra.

Now and then the normal lessons are interrupted by a monster attack.

It seems to be random for the most part, but the first P.E. lesson is guaranteed to be interrupted.

Which is why I changed our formation today and brought Beatrice with us.

I'm almost sure there's a reasonable explanation within the academy for the random monster encounters that happen in the game.

But...

Beatrice: "There are too many systems... It's going to take a while for me to figure it out..."

The students mana as well as the teachers... A bunch of tools and systems that have been in place for who knows how long... your-NovelFire-story

All of these help mask... whatever we are looking for.

Miwen: "Hmm... Don't worry. I was expecting it to take a long time."

The best way to describe it would be... Trying to figure out a labyrinth's structure to reach its end.

The problem is that with so many systems entangled like this, you can easily start from one and end up finding the exit to another.

And that would be one of the best cases. More realistically, with how hard it is to follow the mana, you may jump through three or four different systems.

It makes it really hard to determine even a single complete structure.

Still, while it may be almost impossible to get everything right in the first go, after each attempt we'll get close to discovering each system's function.

Beatrice: "...I can't believe I'm back at a magic academy..."

This school is not actually dedicated to magic only, it teaches almost everything a noble will need, but that's beyond the point.

Bea rarely talks about herself, so I got a little curious and asked her about it.

Bea: "I used to study at one with a few other people... I guess there were fun times but... I felt like I wouldn't be able to study properly there... The magic there was even dirtier than here, you could never tell if a spell failed because of your own ability or due to a lingering system's interference..."

Beatrice and Elizabeth are the most knowledgeable mages in the Kingdom.

They understand a lot about almost every aspect of magic.

I was pretty sure either of them could work this out for me, and since bringing Liz out can be problematic in this world, Bea was the best option.

However, I failed to consider how different the two can be.

Bea is treating Isabella well as her apprentice. She's also quite gentle and attentive towards the girls' of the Kingdom.

Because of that, it's easy to forget that... She doesn't like people that much.

Given the option, she prefers to be alone.

And it seems like one of the reasons is what she calls "magic waste".

Systems forgotten by their creators, left behind only to make things harder.

With how much she cares about this, I think it must even be one of the reasons why she likes the Kingdom so much and why she chose to stay with us.

She and Elizabeth are pretty much the only ones who work with these things, and the two are quite organized and "clean"; They keep track of everything and dispose of it when necessary.

Because of her knowledge, I thought she was perfect for the job, but I ended up making her do something she disliked quite a bit.

The fact that she readily agreed to lend me a hand makes me a bit happy though. Even if she asked me for some of my time as compensation.

Beatrice: "Hm... There is something interesting over there..."

Miwen: "Really? Show us the way then."

That was insanely fast. I was expecting her to take weeks to discover anything.

Mia: "Aren't we going to help her?"

Miwen: "She'll be fine~"

Isabella: "Waaaaah! Hyaaah!"

The first monster encounter is an incredibly tough battle in the game, especially if you're playing as Isabella as there is almost no time to prepare for it.

However, things are different in the real world as we were able to train her quite now, her level is also high enough to face the black skeleton knights that appeared.

With Lana by her side and the possibility of some of the targets coming to help her, there was very little to worry about.

In the worst-case scenario, she can also bring someone from the Kingdom or escape herself.

More importantly, this was a good experience for her. No matter how much we train her, there are things she'll only understand once she's fighting a real battle.

And so, we made our way to where Beatrice pointed. There were a few monsters on the way, but even with just the three of us, they were no match.

It was completely normal... but... when she cut the grass with a wind blade we were able to see some markings on the ground.

Beatrice: "...Weird... Something is missing here..."

Miwen: "What do you mean?"

Beatrice: "I thought this was a summoning circle, but... It's using [Spatial Magic]... The instructions are too complex and messy... And... This feels like a small part of something bigger... I fear I cannot see everything at this moment..."

She seemed quite upset, but I thought it was unbelievable how quickly she managed to find a clue.

It was just one piece, but at least we had somewhere to start from.

[Spatial Magic] is pretty rare. If I pay close attention, I should be able to discover whoever is responsible for this if they are within school grounds.

And if we can't... It should be just a matter of time before Bea figures this one out.

Beatrice: "Sweet talking me... May I know what you're hoping for?"

Pfft.

I was being honest, but it's really hard to resist this witch.

Miwen: "Sadly I can't show you on school grounds. We'll have to wait until later tonight."

Mia: "Ugh... I think I heard Isabella scream so I'll be going now..."

On the other hand, this one is as bad as it gets when it comes to these things.

The contrast is a little cute though.

Miwen: "If it's such a difficult situation we should all go and help~"

Mia: "...Great..."

Surprisingly, Isabella wasn't struggling as much as I imagined from what Mia said.

The teachers had already intervened, and...

She was in an improvised party with the crown prince and the saint.

Normally the one with the highest affection points with him would be the one to get his help, so maybe this meant they were tied...

Still, out of the three, Isabella clearly was the strongest. She wasn't using her magic, but with her swordship alone, she was able to face the opponent by herself.

The only problem was that while she was creating a few opportunities, she would always get anxious when it came time to deal the finishing blow.

I thought about a bunch of different ways to help her, some were meaner than others, but in the end, she had proven she could win.

All she needed was to steel her resolve.

And after killing one time, it shouldn't be too hard to do it again and again in the future.

So, we immobilized the monster for her, and Isabella's first P.E. class, an event that was a barrier for the girls in the game ended with our complete victory.

Neither of the "characters" were hurt, and Isabella was the one to defeat the big bad boss.

I couldn't wait to see how her Gift was going to spin this in a bad way.