Gacha Kingdom Building

Chapter 184: The Labyrinth, The Ghost, And A Saint

Raella has spent decades watching the teachers and the students of the school.

She knows everything from disturbing secrets to embarrassing stories, but more relevant to us, she also knows a lot about the systems and spells in place.

Thanks to her help, Bea has managed to eliminate many of the spells that were getting in her way by confirming with Raella some of their aspects.

Thus, our investigation has proceeded smoothly these past few days, albeit Bea still insists that she hasn't been able to reach a level of understanding where she feels comfortable enough to interact with the system that is bringing monsters to the school.

It's also a little bothersome that choosing to protect Raella has created friction between Edmond, Sabrina, and me.

They aren't fond of the idea of keeping Raella around. Even though I made a good case about her identity and innocence, they still believed it would be better to exorcise her to guarantee the students' safety and that there wouldn't be any new victims.

However, Raella's knowledge was just too valuable for me to give up.

So I promised that I'd personally keep an eye on her. Which meant I had to assign the Valkyries to Isabella.

Thankfully, everything worked out, because among the things Raella knew about was the Labyrinth.

This immense structure has been a mystery to us for the longest time.

Battle encounters can often send the player's party into the labyrinth, which results in a game over.

Not only is the location the player falls into random, but the monsters inside can wipe the party in one or two battles.

Due to its multi-layered structure, it was hard to map this in the game as the battles prevented us from exploring as much as we wanted.

We couldn't even find the entrance until Raella showed it to us.

It was hidden in one of the dormitories and once we went through it, we finally started effectively exploring the labyrinth.

Miwen: "That's all of them down... How's your side?"

Mia: "No one's hurt. We can keep going."

Even in the first layer, the battles weren't easy, even for a group of experienced adventurers like us.

The monsters' levels weren't the problem, but they felt stronger than they should have been.

They seemed much more used to battle, which according to the girls can happen with monsters that have escaped from the dungeons as they fight against each other and grow stronger, even if they don't get more levels.

As such, we had to be careful with every battle, but we noticed a reduction in their numbers every time we returned.

Slowly we were cleaning up the place and advancing a little more.

Ellie: "It's been a while..."

Claire: "Right? It makes me want to go all out!"

She spoke as if she was not always doing that anyway.

Still, I shared the same feelings.

A lot had happened since the last time we were in a Dungeon fighting monsters together, so being with the classic party again felt a little nostalgic, even if we were missing Elizabeth and had a new addition in Cassandra.

With Anna, Claire, Licia, and Mia taking care of the front while receiving Ellie and Bea's impeccable support, things felt just right.

Especially since our coordination hadn't deteriorated as much as I would have imagined it to.

Bea was especially outstanding since she was also occupied analyzing the barriers and systems of this structure.

However, it's not like we didn't have some problems.

Our coordination relies on everyone's understanding and awareness of each other, which means that any factor we are not counting on can break things.

Even if their intention is only to help.

Miwen: "...Didn't I tell you not to do anything?"

[Sorry... -I only wanted to help. My heart, heavy with unspoken remorse, feels as though it might break under the weight. I acted too quickly, without thought, and now there's nothing left but this overwhelming sorrow -So terribly, endlessly sorry. Each breath feels like-]

At first, she was a little reserved when talking to us.

I couldn't help but think that perhaps this method of communicating with us was uncomfortable for her.

But I soon realized that it wasn't the case at all. She has a lot of fun writing her thoughts and words, and now that she's more comfortable around us, she truly doesn't mince words.

Not that I could blame her either.

It must have been ages since she last had the chance to talk properly with someone, so being overly enthusiastic about it is more than understandable.

Miwen: "That's fine... Just try not to waste your Demonic Power."

[Filled with determination, I took his words to heart and promised-]

She agreed.

We truly did not need her help when it came to fighting.

But I couldn't get mad at her. She was trying to help to the best of her ability, but we rarely need buffs or healing since even the two idiots who rush ahead know themselves enough to retreat when it gets dangerous.

This left her with only the option of helping offensively.

Surprisingly, for a Saint, she's not half bad with offensive spells. However, it is hard for an outsider like her to find gaps in our fighting and react quickly enough to cover it.

Perhaps if she spent more time with us, she'd be able to do it, but as it stood, it was better if she focused on simply guiding us.

This was a piece of advice that I gave her a few times, but she always gets restless and ends up acting on impulse.

But even with that considered, we continued progressing on the one path she knew, and eventually, we reached a room.

Some letters were carved with fire, and its entrance didn't have a door or a gate.

Instead, there was a small hole in the wall.

Using earth magic or air magic to feel the wall on the other side of the hole, we could notice some chains.

Pulling them eventually made the hole bigger, which allowed us to enter the room.

Then, by releasing the chains, they started to be pulled back, and the hole closed again.

It took some work but to make a room in a place like this, you couldn't rely on a simple door.

The place was quite dark, and we couldn't see two steps ahead, so we had Claire light up some torches.

Their light revealed the remains of a corpse still sitting on a chair.

In much the same way as when we first met Raella, a chilling air surrounded it. It kept growing colder until an eerie figure was revealed.

The second ghost of the school used fire to mark the walls around us.

The message made by it confirmed its identity as Raella's teacher and killer.

[You came back. I knew you would. I was waiting.]

Raella's first book starts as an innocent story of a girl who falls in love with her teacher.

After a while, the man accepts her feelings, and their secret romance blossoms slowly.

Those first few chapters are heartwarming enough. However, even then, the more acute girls who read it could already notice a few oddities in the man's behavior.

And with the story's progression, it became more obvious that he had ulterior motives.

Not that Raella, a woman who grew up in a church, surrounded by only love, affection, and the hopes and wishes of others for her to grow into a Saint, would know anything about how even the strongest malice can easily be hidden.

On a certain day, innocent-looking as any other, she was drugged.

The perpetrator took her to a very dark room, where sometimes strange noises could be heard outside, but no matter how much she screamed, no one came to help her.

The only one in that room was the man she fell in love with, a master of [Fire Magic] at the school, but also secretly equally as good with [Dark Magic].

However, contrary to her first impressions, his reasons for abducting Raella were far from envy of her recognition for being a Saint with powerful [Light Magic].

He showed deep interest in two concepts. One he called "Divinity", a rare power that sometimes manifests in very special people.

The other, he called "Dark Divinity". According to him, it should be its inverse force.

If Divinity is born out of the good sentiments, then, this "Dark Divinity" should be born out of the bad ones.

Had demons existed in this land, he might've known that he was actually thinking of Demonic power.

And if that were the case, perhaps Raella's fate could have been avoided.

Alas, someone else would suffer through something similar were that the case.

Fascinated by both concepts, he used Raella as the only capable vessel of acquiring Divinity he knew, and infused and tested her with plenty of Demonic Power as well.

As I've come to know, that doesn't do any good. Without the proper technique that Elizabeth and The Merchant use, those two can't coexist.

So, the more Demonic Power he infused into Raella, the more Divinity she lost.

Since this world is not so powerful or populated, her initial amount was already pretty low.

As the months passed, with no news of her anywhere, the wishes and prayers directed at her were subsiding, and so, her Divinity eventually dried up completely.

So, the Demonic Power started to take root. It kept increasing, all the way until her death.

Unfortunately, this isn't where her tale ends.

Due to the Demonic Power she possessed, she didn't pass on properly. And while [Gacha Kingdom Building] seems to have its own way of interpreting that, her case had her manifest as a ghost.

And that is when the curse was placed on her.

To acquire even more Demonic Power, she would be forced to lock others into an eternal hell. Unstoppable suffering that would use her innate powers as a Saint to guarantee that death would never come to relieve the victims.

Their hate, anguish, and ire would only grow, impeding her from exhausting her Demonic Power, and strengthening the curse, causing more and more victims with time.

Not only that... Judging by the monster standing in our way, he also experimented with himself after Raella's escape.

Even now, decades after, he still saw her as an object of his. A toy he had complete control over to do with as he pleased.

Seeing his message, instead of using her book, Raella panicked and started letting out several shrieks whose meaning we couldn't tell.

However, a new book appeared, and with its pages flipping, several lightning balls started to appear.

All of them were fired and homed at the ghost of her past lover.

It was unclear whether or not it had any effect.

Reading his expression was almost impossible since just seeing that thing was already hard.

And it didn't seem like he could bleed even if he wanted to.

So, all the magic Raella launched looked like it had simply disappeared upon impact.

Still... We got her answer.

It didn't seem like she was interested in joining him again.

Anna jumped at the ghost, a large swing of her sword made the ground shake, but when it came in contact with the ghost it simply went through, hitting the ground and leading to yet another quake.

Not only that, her body passed through him, and...

Anna: "I'm feeling... weak..."

Miwen: "...!"

Five black flames started to appear around the ghost. All of them seemed to be filled with a different curse.

Since Cassandra could also be affected by the curses even in her sword form, I couldn't afford to deflect them and had to focus on taking Anna out of their way.

Beatrice cast a wave separating Anna and the monster to help me, but while the flames were extinguished, he targeted one of his curses and transformed it into a quick dark arrow.

I managed to get Anna out of the way, but the arrow did graze my leg.

To keep me from bringing Anna back to the group, the ghost tried to create multiple dark pits in my way, however, all of them were frozen by Licia's magic, and as soon as I passed over them, they became multiple ice spikes that were launched at the ghost.

All the while, Claire and Ellie started bombarding him as well.

Miwen: "Doesn't seem like physical attacks will work. Mia, can you focus on getting his attention? I will... huh?"

I felt a warm feeling in my leg that wasn't caused by the blood.

A small bubble of light was quickly healing the injury.

[I'm sorry...]

Again, she was a girl who couldn't contain herself.

Whoever, this time it was very welcome.

Miwen: "Do you know if the magic is having any effect?"

Even using my skills I wasn't getting any return, and visually everything just disappeared when touching him.

The only thing that went through was Anna, but she was afflicted with a weakening curse as soon as she did.

[No...]

...Perhaps we would have to use Divinity or Demonic Power to damage him.

Or maybe...

Miwen: "Do you really want to help that much?"

[Yes! It has been my deepest desire-]

Miwen: "Then here's what you'll do, Saint."

We changed our formation to surround him with our mages. Even though attacking him wasn't effective, this way we could at least prevent any of his attacks from hitting anyone.

And in front of Raella, we had Claire.

It didn't seem like he could attack physically, and ghost or not, there was no way someone with his level could outpower Claire in a [Fire Magic] contest.

All the while, Raella started making her preparations.

The two books disappeared, only for a new one, much thicker, to show up.

While the pages were flipping, golden circles started to form around the ghost.

They filled the entire room, and soon, a strong light started to emanate from them.

He must've realized his fate... His attacks became much more fierce and numerous, but to his dismay, no matter how much power he used, his flames were always intercepted and destroyed by Claire's.

She went as far as to make sure hers would still hit him after their collision, showing off just how much stronger she was.

The circles started to engulf the ghost, and in desperation, he started to use his fire to carve a message on the ground.

[Don't do it. We can be together forever. Isn't that what you wanted?]

In response, Raella created a new book.

[How truly foolish I was to believe a creature like you was capable of love. All you know is how to use and corrupt others... My soul will find solace in your demise, monster of my youth, may this world become brighter in your absence.]

[That is not true. I truly was-]

He never finished.

While he was craving the words, he also had prepared a powerful spell that used Demonic Power.

He almost exhausted all he had considering it was enough to pierce through Claire's.

However, Bea and I fired a second shot to intercept it, and Raella's idiot attempt to sacrifice herself by moving in front of Claire became unnecessary.

She really couldn't help herself.

Even though I said multiple times that we didn't need her help, she must've been over the moon now that she had a role to play.

Ultimately, she did her job brilliantly, and the ghost of her past was exorcised.

She took a moment to stand there, the lack of any shrieks or writing showed that she was silently contemplating.

We decided to leave her alone for a while and entered another room.

We found a second corpse there. Their identity was obvious.

However, there were also multiple books and different kinds of tools scattered around.

The room also had an elaborate magic circle with an ornate altar resting in its center.

Miwen: "Is this what's causing the monsters to go to the surface?"

Bea: "...He is not good with [Spatial Magic]. This is just a fix on top of an already existing system. It used [Dark Magic] to misdirect others so that they don't approach the room."

... I was hoping we could place all the blame on him, but unfortunately, that didn't appear to be the case.

Bea: "However... I've come to realize one thing... When we entered this room... There wasn't the same mana flow as in the rest of the labyrinth."

Miwen: "Huh. Then..."

Bea: "I believe that... The labyrinth itself is... A magic circle of sorts. It is part of the system. Not only that... I think I know what its purpose is."

She prefaced by saying that what she was about to say could be a clue to something bigger, and thus, she couldn't be completely sure about it.

However, she seemed to be putting a lot of thought into it.

Bea: "Since the system it is a part of only uses [Spatial Magic], there is no reason for monsters to exist inside. They must have come from somewhere else. I believe there's a Dungeon Gate currently rampaging inside this labyrinth somewhere. And I think that's on purpose. Whoever made this... was trying to understand the connection between worlds that the Dungeon creates.

But... If this place is trying to emulate a Dungeon... It might be the case that it's not only sending monsters out but also... Trying to attract monsters in. And if the target is not only monsters, but-"

I could see why she was so unsure.

There were a lot of unknown factors and assumptions, however... Things would definitely fall into place.

It would also confirm some of my theories, which, unfortunately, had us in the worst-case scenario. The chances of us playing someone else's game had just skyrocketed.

However, I didn't get to discuss too much of my theories with Bea before Raella arrived.

The first thing she saw was her own corpse.

She approached it as if she had forgotten about the other people in the room.

She looked at it from every angle possible, even though there was barely any flesh there.

She didn't materialize any books... All we could hear were the eerie shrieks she was letting out.

She stood in front of it and stayed there alone with her thoughts for a while.

Like before, we decided to not utter a word and silently watched.

Eventually, one of her books appeared for us.

[Thank you for allowing me to come back. I feel like I can rest now... As I promised, in return, you can have my Dark Divinity.]

Once we had broken her curse, she immediately released the magic keeping the victims alive.

She wasn't absorbing any more Demonic Power. Losing all of it now would spell her end.

But it seemed like she was satisfied.

Although the words she said earlier had the opposite meaning. Stay tuned with mvle-mp _y,r.

Miwen: "You said you regretted it, right? If you could, how would you have liked to live?"

[That is such a mean question. I suppose I would have liked to have more time with the people around me. Their love was warm... I would also have read and write more... There were so many stories I never got to try... Maybe falling for someone decent could have been fun too...

But... I accept this fate. Like the other Saint said, there's no reason for me to exist in this world.]

Miwen: "...For someone who so quickly jumped in front of death, you don't seem too eager to die."

[It's a bit scary. Teehee.]

[I'm afraid of being alone.]

Miwen: "I see. But I disagree with you and Sabrina. I think your desires are reason enough for you to continue existing. I can understand that it would be hard for you to be accepted in this world though. So... Would you like to give a different one a try?"

[...I'm sorry. I don't think I follow -I said with a confused look. Truthfully, no matter how scary the journey into the unknown may be, for the sake of those who still live, I decided to courageously face-]

As she continued to express her feelings on the matter, I called Liz to bring me something we had been working on these past few days.

Elizabeth: "As per your request, Your Majesty."

She brought with her something the girls and I had been working on with whatever spare time we had.

It was definitely out of our league, so we wasted a bunch of the materials and couldn't get it to look even remotely close to her descriptions, but we eventually got a result we were proud of.

[I don't understand...]

It was an egoist thought.

I had promised Licia that if I were going to do something bad in the future, I had to do something good as well to make up for it, so I was bulletproofing-

Licia: "..."

Mia: "Don't listen to him. He's trying to hide the pity he felt. He decided on it the moment he heard your story."

...Perhaps being betrayed by the ones you love is a more common occurrence than I had imagined.

Miwen: "...Blame your own talent. It was a very moving tale."

[You read!? I said only girls were allowed to!]

[...I'm thankful, but...]

Miwen: "Is it not to your liking? We took some artistic liberties since the golden thread wasn't looking good, but we can always change it."

[No... She looks perfect. It's just that... I promised I would give you my Dark Divinity, and I don't think it would be fair to...]

Even though she was trying her best, the shrieks denounced her feelings.

It really was a pitiful existence.

Miwen: "Don't worry about that. As long as you accept coming to my world, it will be basically the same."

[...Thank you... I'm so... so very grateful... I don't have words to express my gratitude... I hope one day... I'll be able to...

write what I'm feeling now...]

She carefully entered the doll... golem... we had prepared. The girls and I weren't sure how to make it, so we tried a bunch of different materials, and we had to make many different versions since Elizabeth and Beatrice were having trouble putting the necessary systems in the dolls without destroying them.

We were a little overly ambitious with it, but... We eventually got it to work.

Raella: "...I... Can... Talk?"

One of the biggest problems we ran into was my desire to hear her speaking.

I knew it should be doable since most of the hard work was going to be done by the speakers, but all she can use to activate them is mana, and it was really hard to come up with a way to make them able to read what someone was trying to say.

Bea, Liz, Agatha, Licia, and I spent a lot of time just figuring that out, and then we also had to connect it to a core and not break it with the systems that use her mana to move the body.

The end result was far from perfect. It's slow and requires a lot of mana to work.

In its current state, it was mostly for her to express things more immediately or for the times when she wanted to speak with her own voice.

Thankfully, mana is an abundant resource in the Kingdom since Elizabeth leaves some cores fully charged there, so with this, she shouldn't have to waste much of her Demonic Power to exist.

Raella: "You... are... good..."

Her shrieks were gone now. But we could still tell she was crying.

We didn't manage to make something that could reproduce tears, but we could feel it through her voice now.

Her hug still wasn't as warm, but I'm sure it felt better for both of us than it would've happened if she still remained as a ghost.

After she had calmed down, I had Elizabeth return with Raella to the Kingdom so that she could be introduced to the others.

However, that was mostly one-sided since I had told her story to everyone and got them to help our efforts wherever they could.