Gacha Kingdom Building

Anna, Licia, and I were talking with Marin late at night on the deck of her ship.

It had been a week since we joined her, so we were a little more comfortable talking about ourselves.

Her Gift, [Blue Revenge], allows her to summon any ship she has sunk, alongside its crew, as ghost familiars.

However, the crew doesn't have access to their Gifts, free will, or any semblance of conscience.

That aspect of her Gift is closer to Cassandra's ability to summon the spirit of the swords she has eaten than my ability to summon people from [Gacha Kingdom Building].

Aside from that, there's also an initial mana cost for summoning each of them and she needs to keep spending mana so that they don't disappear over time. The mana cost also increases the more ships she has summoned, meaning that if she goes all out she won't be able to fight for too long.

Those downsides might make her Gift look bad, especially compared to [Gacha Kingdom Building], but they are all normal and expected for a Gift like this.

Hell, judging by the number of summons she can maintain at her level and their power, I'm actually quite impressed by how powerful her Gift is.

It's just that comparing it to [Gacha Kingdom Building] is meaningless. Even if some similarities exist, mine is a complete outlier in almost all its aspects.

In any case, I assumed it was obvious that she had joined the Navy because of her Gift.

It felt like the obvious choice if she wanted to make the most of it, but... Things weren't as simple as I had initially thought.

During her early years, she was actually known as a troublemaker around these parts.

While she wasn't committing any crimes, she was a total bum. Her life revolved around leaching off her friends and family to spend her time drinking in the bar.

She'd often find herself in brawls, wrecking things everywhere she went.

Thanks to her reputation it shouldn't have been an easy feat to be accepted in the Navy, much less become the North Fleet's Admiral.

I couldn't help but get a little curious about it...

Miwen: "What made you want to join the Navy then? Seems like a drastic change."

Marin: "Drinking every waking hour for a job sounded like a dream~"

Miwen: "...Really?"

We've already noticed that she sometimes likes to hide her feelings with throwaway lines like this so I didn't buy it for a second... Even though it is pretty believable considering her personality.

Marin: "Well... It's a long story, I guess... There were people I really liked, you know? But... When trade intensified around these parts, some bad actors started to appear... Some friends ended up fighting against them, others joined them... I felt like I had to do something about it. Even if it was against their will, I didn't want to lose anyone anymore, so... I stepped up to show the bastards how it's done!"

I see...

I don't it was done out of a sense of responsibility... It feels more like she truly did it for the sake of those around her, not even to repay them, but just because she couldn't bear to see them go.

For such a person to sacrifice her lifestyle like that... Yeah, I can respect that.

However, it's a little bit tragic as well.

Eventually, she ended up alone anyway as the goods imported from Maides' Island started to decrease and the entire North Fleet moved to the South, leaving her alone.

Marin: "It's fine~ Men gotta dream big, you know? Besides, they got a proper captain down south, and I got a free pass to drink on the Navy's dime, so everyone won out in the end. Also... Someone needs to keep the house in order, right? I sure as hell wouldn't like to come back home to a mess."

I could understand if there was some resentment in her words considering how difficult it must've been for her to change her entire life this way just for everyone to leave her behind, however, there was no trace of that.

She was very optimistic and she seemed genuinely happy about the prospects of her friends getting better opportunities.

But while there wasn't resentment, I'm sure there was a sense of loneliness in there.

I've seen her drink a lot throughout the days and I became more aware of her way of drinking.

It is unusual for her to force a bottle down like that last one.

Even more out of character, she leaned against the chair, avoiding my eyes for a second before changing the topic slightly.

Marin: "What about you? You don't strike me as a butler. Especially to the Evretis' daughter."

So her reputation goes all the way from Evretis to Licerce, huh?

Marin doesn't seem like the type to pay attention to rumors so for her to know about it probably means that she heard Isabella's name mentioned quite a few times before.

Miwen: "I got hired recently."

Marin: "...The Evretis must be in quite a good position to hire someone confident enough to take on an Admiral as their butler."

Miwen: "That was before I knew what you're capable of though."

Marin: "And yet, your attitude hasn't changed. What's yours all about anyway?"

...I already expected the conversation to take this turn when I asked her about hers, but obviously, I couldn't talk about [Gacha kingdom Building]. Explore more at m,v l'e-m|p| y r

Outright lying could be dangerous as well. She's way more experienced than Roy and Sam, so she might catch on if I'm not careful.

Thankfully, I had a few options.

Since I get a boost to my defense and strength thanks to the effects of Anna's Gift I could lie about them and pretend they are higher than they should be as an effect of my Gift.

Alternatively, I could tell the truth about [Hollow Destiny] and pretend it's my only Gift.

While it's a trump card I wouldn't like to reveal so casually, it's something I can prove instantly, so she probably wouldn't question me much more about this.

Miwen: "My Gift is called hollow-"

Before I could continue, I heard the loud sound of something landing behind me.

I was worried about what might've caused it, but I was instantly relieved when I saw Ellie's figure.

Ellie: "Miwen! Captain Marin! I saw movement ahead!"

Although she didn't need to scare the shit out of me since we have the psychic link I couldn't be more glad.

It was perfect timing.

Marin: "Was it a ship?"

Ellie: "No... Five-winged beastmen. I couldn't tell their race, but I think they turned around when they noticed I saw them."

It isn't that suspicious for a merchant's ship to send scouts during nighttime, however, Marin's vessel has Terith's official Navy flag.

While pirates might be able to reproduce something similar, it's a little weird for them to turn tail without trying to confirm it first.

Still, while it was too early to reach any conclusions, we could at least move in the direction Ellie pointed us to to intercept them and see for ourselves.

While the girls figured out things up there I went downstairs to wake the others.

I thought about having Isabella go inside the Kingdom so that we don't risk anything going awry, but I believed we had more than enough power between us to guarantee everything was going to work out no matter how much her bad luck affected things.

She's also useful enough now that I think it's worth to have her onboard.

Especially if the enemy has a curse master.

After a few minutes, we finally got close enough for me to also see them.

Although it wasn't easy to tell what exactly they were doing, it was clear that they had a lot of hands on the deck.

Their ship was also coming our way...

And as for their flag, surprisingly, it wasn't black.

Instead, it was... Terith's Navy flag.

Claire: "Finally! Can I blow them up already?"

Marin: "No!"

We've been with Marin long enough to know most of her facets.

She's confident and carefree, but she's also quite responsible and calm.

She had never raised her voice or looked so anxious before. If anything, she always seemed in control.

Marin: "...We'll board then."

Miwen: "That would be reckless. They outnumber us at least 6 to 1."

And that was judging only from the people I could see on the deck.

Marin: "How do you expect us to confirm their identity?"

Miwen: "Confirm? Look at the flag they are using. In the North. Do I really need to remind you how many ships carry that flag around these parts?"

It was clearly a cover, and I was surprised Marin had any doubts about it.

Marin: "They could have come from the south-"

Miwen: "You know very well you would have been informed were that the case."

Since Terith's territory crosses the continent such a voyage would take weeks at the bare minimum.

Marin would definitely know if another ship had any business here.

Marin: "It's an order. We'll board them."

Claire: "...Miwen?"

While the girls respected Marin, they obviously wouldn't take her orders over mine, so they waited for me to decide.

Miwen: "...If we capture their captain it will be easier to prove that we have successfully dealt with the pirates."

Marin: "...Right."

While it's true that it would be better than letting Claire burn their entire ship and crew, this wasn't why I decided to follow Marin.

Her excuses were poor and it was obvious that someone as experienced as her could see through that they were our targets.

However, I was interested in what caused her behavior to change so drastically. It was out of the ordinary for her to look so anxious, and strangely, it felt like she was trying to protect the ship coming in our direction.

While she never seemed to care too much about her country and politics, she also didn't seem like a traitor to me...

But whatever the case, we would understand once we boarded the-

Claire: "Huh. Would you look at that?"

Seems like they had the same idea.

A bunch of different elemental magic was being cast around their ship, illuminating the night all the while the people on the deck of their ship started to raise their weapons.

Miwen: "Ellie, you can take down anyone approaching us from the sky, right?"

Ellie: "Easy."

She said that but the sky was, of course, incredibly dark. The scouts from before were all winged beastmen, meaning their aerial movement should come as second nature to them.

And all she had was a bow and a lot of confidence.

However, I trusted that a lot.

Miwen: "Bea, Claire, you're on magic defense."

Claire: "Defense!?"

Miwen: "Are you saying you can't make a simple flame shield?"

Claire: "That's not...! Haah... I know exactly what you're doing and I'm still pissed off. You'll regret it later."

If it works, it works.

As for Anna, Licia, and Mia, I asked them to wait and be around Isabella to make sure nothing happened to her.

If anything happened to get past Bea and Claire's defenses, the odds of it hitting Isabella were through the roof.

With these orders, we should be able to passively wait for them to strike first while allowing Marin to do as she pleases.

As for what ensued, it was pretty much as I expected.

Even though the numbers were on their side, the quality was definitely not there.

Both Beatrice and Claire looked bored as hell at the magic striking their barriers.

It was a given for Claire since she really dislikes being on defense, but it was pretty surprising to see Bea share that sentiment since she is normally enthusiastic about all types of magic.

As for the winged beastmen... I only saw them falling to the sea.

I think Ellie was having a little more fun though. Or at least I hoped so.

Marin already knew we were quite capable, so she only summoned three of her ghost ships.

Instead of having them fire at their ship, she used them to block some of the attacks coming our way as well.

By now, there should not be any excuses. It was obvious what we were dealing with.

Still, I decided not to voice any questions.

Until a proper threat appeared.

From behind their ship, a small fireball was launched into the sky.

It exploded like a firework, making fire spears rain down on us.

Marin's ships fired at it to block the attack, but it was no use. They were quickly overwhelmed by it, being destroyed and disappearing.

Bea: "...Oh?"

Claire: "I call dibs on that."

Marin: "..."

She only summoned one more ship in response to that.

Since we were approaching them anyway, it was hard to believe that they would use whatever that was again, however...

They sent two more of those fireballs into the sky.

Miwen: "Anna, Claire, Mia, and Licia. We'll board their ship after this wave. Claire, I'm leaving that spell to you. Licia, make us the bridge."

Claire seemed overjoyed that she got to try her hand at stopping the two fireballs.

I thought she was going to use one of her more powerful spells to stop it, but she improvised a quick chant and launched a wave of fire towards the spears raining down.

I couldn't tell the result, but I noticed she started chanting again, which probably meant she was losing and needed another spell to reinforce it.

That... surprised me a lot.

Thankfully, her second wave was enough to stop the attack.

But even though not a single spear managed to touch our ship I still called Lana and Eir to protect Isabella in our absence.

I thought these guys weren't going to be a problem but them posing a challenge to Claire made me reevaluate.

Still, Licia decided to show off a little more than necessary and froze both of our ships in place, alongside the sea between us, giving us way more than a bridge to cross.

Licia: "It's better than fighting at their ship since I can control the field."

Miwen: "True, but is that the only reason?"

Licia: "Well... Everyone was showing off so... Just a little bit is fine, right?"

I can't really argue with that.

And well... She was right about the field helping us.

It gave us way more space to fight which favored Mia and me.

She was also able to support us and herself by creating pillars and not reinforcing the ice in places, creating holes for men to fall only to then close them again for them to drown beneath us.

The control she has over her magic never fails to impress me. The way she uses it is also always unpredictable and slightly terrifying.

Every time I see it I start to agree more with Claire's statement that fighting ice mages is a nightmare.

We kept fighting for a little more than an hour.

There were a lot of men to fight off, and while most of them were easy enough, some Gifts were a little annoying.

However, no one used that spear firework spell again, so no one on our side got hurt even with Isabella cheering us on from the deck.

That spell wasn't the only thing missing in this battle though... Coincidentally, Marin was nowhere to be found...