Gacha Kingdom Building

Still, I neither wanted to wait until it was late at night nor did I want to have it start right in the morning, which led to us having this tranquil breakfast as if nothing was going to happen.

I let the girls go about their business in the morning as usual, and after a few hours, we met again in the kingdom's walls.

The same view as when the Merchant first appeared, and we would be using the same strategy.

While that didn't go well against the Merchant, no strategy could do any good against that guy.

Assuming a defensive, and using the walls and the natural obstacles should give us an advantage against any normal enemy.

I received the kingdom points and the daily tickets for today, but I refrained from using them immediately. Instead, I asked the girls if they were ready, and after receiving their confirmation, I forcefully started the event a few hours earlier than scheduled.

[Invasion! The Demon Queen Falls Down

For an Invasion to begin, a free plot will be added to the Kingdom from which the invaders can come. Please, select a new plot of land to be added.

Please note that an invasion event provides greater rewards if success is achieved.]

The same as last time, I get a free plot inside the kingdom. I can choose to add in any direction as long as it makes contact with an already existing plot.

Right now the kingdom has kind of a corridor shape since I'm only adding plots forward, but I'm not sure what would happen if I started expanding the sides either.

As such, I once again expanded in the forest direction.

Due to the trees, I don't see too well what was added, so we'll have to check it out later but at the very least, the trees in that area seem a bit taller. Perhaps it's due to a change in the terrain's altitude or a change in the trees themselves, but it makes for an annoying cover as we couldn't see the invader.

It was probable that some monsters were going to spawn there too, and seeing thunder fall from the sky, gave us a good idea of what might be happening there.

After a few minutes, a figure started flying above the forest and confirmed what we were thinking.

The monsters had spawned in that area, and that woman was responsible for killing them with her thunder attacks.

Ellie: "... I don't see any weapons on her so... a mage?"

Anna: "Seems that way."

This is already better than what happened with the last invasion, at least we got some information in advance.

That woman started coming in our direction. We readied our weapons but didn't attack first. We also took care to not show more hostility than necessary.

She didn't approach us too fast, either being cautious of us or trying not to raise tensions.

There were no weapons in her hand, but we have plenty of good mages with us, and Bea especially should notice if this girl tries to use any magic.

Bea: "... She's most definitely a mage. She's using wind magic to be faster, probably due to a lackluster speed status. It's a bit wasteful of her but she's using the perfect amount, which means her control is incredibly good... still, her wasting some resources works in our favor, right?"

Of course, since I can't see her status, this must mean that she either has quite a few levels over us, or she has skills to block my appraisal, either way, thanks to Bea, now we know that speed-wise we don't have to worry too much...

The girl was wearing a crimson-black gothic dress, it was difficult to read her expression. She seemed disinterested... her eyes seemed void of life or purpose. Her hair was also a dark tone of red, but there it faded to a grey at the tips. Odd as her expression was, once she started talking, her expression changed just a little, and her blue eyes started to look like jewels.

I presumed this was her best attempt to overcome her own feelings in order to show politeness, so I readied myself to respond in kind.

Demon Queen: "Greetings. I'm... Liz... a demon. Due to circumstances outside of my control, I found myself in this unknown land."

At the very least she seems willing to talk... I guess we can try it out, if things go well I'll be able to end this without fighting.

Miwen: "I'm the king of this land..."

The moment I said that I could feel some sneers coming from my side, but I let that slide and continued.

Miwen: "If you're willing to listen, I might be able to explain your situation, but it would take some time as it's a long story.

Demon Queen: "That would be beneficial. I suppose I can enter then?"

...I would've liked her to stay away from the wall but... there was no point in it once again, this girl standing in front of us just flew above the river and for obvious reasons, the wall also didn't mean anything to her.

Since neither of those could offer us any protection, I decided to let her enter.

To show off a little bit of my power as the king I decided to make a new house for us to talk.

It felt essential to prove to her my standing in this place, and also make clear that I had power over the land.

Bea treated her in high regard as a mage, so I suspected she would be on the lookout for the use of magic, and seeing me create a house out of nothing might confuse or scare her a bit, making the chances of a combat decline.

As for what I could do aside from that... Since things were going well and it seemed like we could talk, I decided to invest in the [Reputable Ruler] skill that I unlocked after the last event.

I didn't know how much this improved the chances of our conversation going well, but I was willing to bet on the best possible outcome.

The girl's expression was becoming more alive by the minute, her eyes started looking sharper as she tried to understand everything surrounding her.

Miwen: "...For my own protection, I'll have the others inside the house. However, I'll also give you my word they will be there only as a defensive measure, I won't allow anyone to attack you unprovoked."

Demon Queen: "Fine."

She was starting to become more and more cautious, but at the very least, inside the house, we would be protected from her lightning attacks. At least the ones that come from above.

Undoubtedly that's just one option she has to attack us, but by stacking small advantages on top of each other, if a battle started, we would be in a big lead from the get-go.

For this discussion, I had her sit across from me at the table, and even offered her some food. She ended up refusing though, which is understandable given the strange circumstances, not to mention the fact that they could be poisoned.

I had to be careful with my words, I wanted to reveal to her just enough information that she could understand what exactly was happening and what her options were, especially the ones that would lead to the event ending peacefully.

It would've been bad for me to say too much about my Gift, so I kept the important parts and some mechanisms that weren't important out of this conversation.

Her questions were fairly normal, she wanted to know who we were, what this place was, and such things.

I ended up having to explain to her that the majority of the girls here were summoned through the use of my Gift, while Mia was a war survivor who took refuge in the kingdom.

The Demon Queen questioned me if she was the same, summoned by me. And while that's kind of true, I had to make clear the difference between them. Which led me to tell her the event description.

The words in the description weren't very kind to her, calling her a former shell of herself and telling her about her loss in a war. Of course, this also made it obvious that I knew a little about her past and tried to use Mia's so that they could relate, but since the words were true, I didn't feel ashamed about it.

I tried to be as honest as possible with her but I could tell that something was changing about her.

Demon Queen: "I see... well, that's better than expected I guess."

Miwen: "Hm?"

That reaction was a bit unexpected.

Demon Queen: "I had a necromancer in my army, so I'm not that amazed. Still, your Gift does a better job than hers, aside from my powers, my body and mind seem to be the exact same as they were before. Though the fact that you don't have control over me is a very bad trade-off."

Miwen: "So you died when you were defeated."

Demon Queen: "Yes. There's no doubt about that. After all, I fought knowing that I would die."

That's... something that brings me bad memories.

It's the second time I've seen a queen who refuses to abandon her territory, perhaps there's a code of conduct like that of a captain that someone might've forgotten to send me.

Well, I can't make any comments about it without knowing the circumstances as they might differ from Melissa's, but I don't like how she talks about her own death like this.

Considering that she died, it's also a bit strange to me that she came as an invader. I thought only the Companions's Banner could do something like that. It's even more strange that she probably has some levels on her as she's using magic.

Demon Queen: "...How is your relationship with the Gods?"

Miwen: "Hm... I'm not on their side, nor against them. I'm basically a bystander."

They haven't done anything against me. While I have a friend fighting against them, I myself don't have any grudges with the bunch.

Demon Queen: "I assume that's the same for the rest of your world?"

Miwen: "Basically, yeah."

Demon Queen: "You leave me no choice then. Your Gift would be a tremendous asset on either side, I cannot allow you to fall to them. I was also going to need a world to restart the World Punishment, so I'll be taking yours."

So she's the same as the Merchant. It's just been two times, so it's not enough to set a pattern but... for the two invaders to be against the Gods...

Well, more pressing though...

Miwen: "A World Punishment, is that what caused your death?"

Demon Queen: "Yes, the God who killed me used an attack that wiped the whole planet. That's also why I'm interested in your Gift, you managed to revive me even when there wasn't a body to use necromancy on. With something like this, I would be invincible."

Quite the grandiose dream there. Except that both the events and the Companion Banners are completely random, so the chances of me repeating that would be near zero.

Not to mention, I also cannot survive an attack that destroys the planet, and I'm quite doubtful that I can use my Gift while being dead.

Miwen: "I can't let you drag Earth to a war, sorry. I could throw you into another world so that you can have your fun there though. I also won't be coming with you, I might not have made it clear, but I have no desire to face the Gods or start meaningless wars."

Demon Queen: "Oh, I understood that. What I'm saying is that your desires don't matter. You and your world will be mine. You'll learn to be thankful to me later."

So much for [Reputable Ruler]...

Her stare became way more vicious, her intention was clear and electricity started pouring out of her body.

Negotiations had broken down.

I wasn't going to be her subordinate, even more, if it was to fight a war I have no stakes in.

I also couldn't let her take over Earth just to use it as her little stage.

As such, unbeknownst to the world, a war to decide its fate was about to begin.