Gacha Kingdom Building

Which brings us to today.

Since the Travelling Merchant decided to stay for a while, his event didn't end, as technically he was still an invading force that hadn't been repelled or subjugated.

And yeah, I tried making him a citizen, but he refused saying that I couldn't pay him enough for that.

Which while true, also makes me wonder if he's reluctant due to the potential unknowns of my Gift, since aside from this, he's been quite friendly and agreeable.

If we are talking about payments though, I think he's the one in debt given what he did to Earth.

Even now it's hard to believe how much changed in a single day.

Catherine's call for a Divine War changed the way dungeons worked, and for a society that had largely adapted to the dungeons' behavior, this brought about a huge impact.

After her message, reports came one after another of different, fantasy-like creatures being spotted in the dungeons. Normally we'd call these monsters but the way these creatures behaved was completely different.

They could speak and didn't attack people out of the blue, instead, they seemed to hunt monsters the same way we do.

This quickly instigated rumors, and people began to approach these creatures, identifying them as elves and dwarves.

By dwelling deeper in a floor, reports came of settlements that didn't belong to humans, surrounding new exit gates.

This was confirmation that these new creatures weren't coming from other worlds and debates started sparking about what to do.

On one side, you'd see people excited about meeting others from other worlds, trading goods that you can't find on Earth, visiting new places, and seeing new cultures. Of course, there were also people justifiably worried about the prospects of this new state of affairs.

Sure, there were yet to be any attacks by them against our adventurers, but who could say this would last for long?

If they are life forms that can think on the same level as us, then undoubtedly they'd be capable of egoistical or hateful acts.

What's more... the dungeons were now a two-way street, these creatures could come from inside the dungeon to our world by using the exit gates in our settlements the same way we could go to theirs by passing through their exit gates.

So, if a sufficiently powerful nation wanted to... they could use an entire army to invade through the dungeon.

There would of course be a lot of problems with that, and it was mostly speculation... but since the possibility wasn't zero, calls for closing the dungeons started appearing.

People who also thought about the same possibility argued that maintaining a strong presence inside the dungeons was actually preferable.

Anyway, the debates are still going strong, but there was no official statement for now, and even when we entered the dungeon, the most we received was a warning that there would be no guarantees of security and whatnot, the same they tell you when you first enter.

From the looks of it, seems like the government will wash their hands off this issue by arguing they aren't responsible for any event that may come from one's entering the dungeon until they decide on an official policy.

As I was walking with the human girls from our group through the dungeon, searching empty spots where I could get Mia and Ellie to come, we started seeing groups consisting of a variety of species, including humans.

Given the short amount of time and the familiarity these teams seemed to have, it's doubtful that these groups were from our planet, which means these weren't humans from Earth...

I could already see the myriad of problems this would bring, but there was no point in thinking about it for now...

Today our group's objective was to defeat the floor boss so that we could advance to the next floor and farm a few levels while the Merchant was preventing the start of a new event.

The only problem was that there were new paths in the dungeon now, presumably the ones that were blocked by Catherine prior.

This made it very annoying to follow the map and we couldn't count on remembering the path since the scenario in a bunch of places had changed as a result of the newly added paths.

Licia took charge of that and I summoned Mia and Ellie since we could just pass off as a team from another world now.

The mistake I made was believing that people from Earth would be a problem.

While groups of humans that seemed to be from Earth kept away from us, a group of elves seemed pretty angry, and as they passed us by, I could hear the guy who seemed to be their leader clicking his tongue.

Upon hearing that, by instinct, I turned and faced him.

Claire: "You do that again, and I'll be sure to feed your tongue to a dog."

Mia: "I'm not eating that shit."

As it so happens to be, I wasn't the only one who took offense to that.

Claire and Mia were a given due to their explosive selves, but all the girls seemed ready for a fight. The only exception was Ellie, who looked down and... disappointed.

Upon hearing that, one elf from their group turned to us with anger showing all over his face.

Female Elf: "Apologize now, inferior ones. Your rudeness towards His Highness is worth of death."

So he is a noble huh...

I wonder what someone of his status is doing inside a dungeon, and on a lower floor to boot.

I'm in no position to comment on that though since currently our party has a princess and a duke's daughter throwing shade at them.

Licia: "You should be the ones apologizing. Your impolite behavior has greatly upset His Majesty."

His Majesty?

Is she referring to me?

I guess I'm technically a king, though my kingdom would barely pass off as a small village.

I definitely don't have the pompous and dignified attitude you'd expect from one though, so I doubt they'd believe her words, even if they're true on a technical level.

Elf Leader (?): "I'd be amazed if even a beggar was willing to follow such a crude man, to call that a king is such a laughable and shameful bluff."

Anna: "His Highness seems to have tunnel vision. As expected."

Elf Leader (?): "As expected? Is a lowly human trying to insult our species?"

Anna: "Not at all, a lowly human is just insulting an ignorant elf, is all."

Things kept escalating and it was obvious that a fight would soon start.

When it comes to numbers, we had an advantage, and since we were all at the level cap for this floor, there wasn't much we had to fear aside from their Gifts.

The real problem though, was the presence of other adventurers that were now watching us.

We could probably defeat them here, hell, I think we could kill them pretty easily, but if he's really nobility, this might end up turning into a diplomatic problem.

Not to mention, if someone from Earth were to record this, I might get identified and things would surely turn into a big problem.

... Everyone had their weapons out ever since we entered the dungeon, and most of the girls, namely Anna, Claire, Licia, and Mia, were already in fighting positions.

I was still thinking about what to do and the risks of beating them up until I suddenly felt Ellie grabbing my wrist, still looking down.

I could tell she didn't want things to end up in a brawl.

I wanted to respect her wish, but I also didn't feel like bowing my head and letting them go like this, so...

Miwen: "Alright, I've heard enough. Here's the thing dipshit, if you wanna throw down I'm all for it, so either we get this thing started like men already or you can take your dignified ass somewhere else. Personally, I think our rude selves would beat the shit out of y'all, but I'll allow your highness to decide."

The girls' might've been a little surprise since I'm rarely, if every this rude in front of them.

But seeing the quietest and most polite girl around us getting this treatment for no reason at all made my blood boil a little bit.

I knew that she didn't want to further provoke them, and this could definitely lead to more problems, but I had dealt with my fair share of bullies in the past, and I knew that it was better to stand against them than to cower.

I also thought that seeing them backing down like the cowards they were was going to be fun.

And I was sure that they would.

They only possess half of our numbers, and I doubt a prince would come out to the dungeon without being escorted by at least one or two strong guards.

And strength recognizes strength, when it comes to real battle experience, our party possesses veterans who know dungeons and battlefields better than anyone should in a lower floor like this.

If even I could recognize that these girls aren't amateurs, anyone with a proper braincell on their side would probably understand that it's an unwinnable fight.

As predicted though, they turned their backs and went away, but still left behind a remark full of spite: "You should be ashamed."

It was obvious who this statement was meant for, so I gave Ellie a few words.

Miwen: "Don't mind them, if anything, I only have pride in you. And I'm sure the others do too."

I excessively patted her head and messed her hair until she started smiling and tried to stop my hand.

Truth be told, I had no idea what happened, but the way they acted towards Ellie was enough to piss me off beyond belief.

Once the show was over, everyone went their own ways, and we also headed towards the boss room.

Mia kept pestering me about letting them go too easily though, but it felt like the best compromise I could make between our group's desire to teach them a lesson and Ellie's desire to let them go.