Gacha Kingdom Building

--This Chapter was written using Ellie's POV--

The discovery of the first corpse in the camp caused many changes in the past few days...

Our routine, which was already pretty tight, became even more strict.

Every morning, we marched out of the forest and toward the city to resume our attack on Hamperlon.

Our attempts were as productive as on the first day, which helped a little to maintain enthusiasm, but every time we returned to the camp, the soldiers had to assist with the investigations. Between participating in rounds of interrogation, looking for suspicious activity, and reporting on every small thing, I'm not sure which annoyed them more, but clearly, this was quite tiresome for everyone involved.

However, this also had a positive side.

Trouble was bound to start unless we figured out what exactly was happening, but thanks to everyone's tiredness, besides suspicion and minor complaints, things had not escalated even though we had yet to bring an end to this case.

As for our side...

The only one really angry about all of this was Bea. She hated having to waste her mornings going out of the forest and then back again, and she also did not like one bit that her research speed decreased drastically.

Miwen always managed to convince her, though...

The other girls were all fine or understanding of the circumstances for the most part...

And I...

I was actually kinda happy.

Angelica is usually a bit difficult to approach. She is not mean or ill-tempered, but she can be a little bit... unresponsive? Or maybe emotionally reserved is a better way to put it...

She pays a lot of attention to everything and everyone around her. I have no questions about that.

But... Her expression doesn't really reflect her feelings all that much.

She always seems a little bit stoic. Whenever silence is an option, she chooses it, and she rarely shows happiness or sadness...

Even surprise...

However! I know she can open up to others.

She doesn't talk much, but I've noticed she's more does it a lot more when Anna is around. Miwen has also mentioned enjoying deep and long conversations with her.... Although I'm not sure how much of this is him trying to provoke me, I was determined to use this chance to become good friends with her!

Ellie: "..."

Angelica: "..."

...Yeah, it didn't really work as I had imagined.

Angelica is the daughter of two rare races who tend to isolate themselves.

Dragons, due to being monsters, are not always creatures you can reason with, so there's a lot I want to know about her.

But it's not even all about her upbringing and race.

She's so dedicated and smart... She's quiet, sure, but that also makes her a little... cool.

I can never tell what's on her mind, but I'm so incredibly curious to understand her!

Ellie: "..."

Angelica: "..."

And yet, five nights in a row, all I've managed to do was silently watch the camp with her, as Miwen asked to...

I'm not the most extroverted, but I do have my own arsenal of conversation starters and small talk topics.

I also have a lot of experience fawning over interesting-

I mean, talking with interesting people.

But whenever I try to start on something, her sharp gaze pierces me, her eyes, as if they were seeing through my very soul as she silently focuses on the meaningless things I have to say...

I get flustered...

But I'm not giving up!

No matter what, I'll become a friend she can share-

Angelica: "...You know, I-"

Ellie: "W-Wha!?"

Aw.

She looked so focused on her task, but then subtly looked at me and started talking as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

It was so surprising, I jumped up and almost fell off the tree.

So much for being a wood elf who spent decades living in a forest...

And what's the deal with [Faster Tree Climbing]? It didn't help me keep balance at all!

Is it really just about speed? At the unreasonably high level it currently is, I thought it would have more to it...

Angelica: "...Are you alright?"

Ellie: "Y-Yes! I was... Uh... Y-You know... Stretching a little... B-But in any case... What were you saying?"

It was the first time she tried to break the ice.

Normally, she only answered me with simple single-word sentences, but now, she was going out of her way to start a conversation!

I had to respond in kind to her effort.

Angelica: "Yes, well... Have you heard of cursed woods? Where I lived, it was said that people who aren't welcome in the woods often meet their end there. I remember such stories being especially popular among elves, so..."

Hm...

When I was young, I'd often hear about those as well.

Unfortunately, they are merely precautionary tales to ward off invaders.

And also...

Sometimes, they are used to calm children about their security and reinforce the idea that the woods welcome us elves...

But for her to be interested in them...

It was the perfect opportunity!

Ellie: "I-I know a bunch of them! Do you want to hear one? There's this one that still spooks me-"

Angelica: "No... I was talking about this situation... You talked about the possibility of monsters being responsible, so I thought this could be related..."

Ah...

I should've known.

Ever since the first confirmed death, we've had 5 more, one for each day.

In all of the cases, the victim's body was found inside their own tent, already deceased.

The one to find them has always been a tentmate.

It's obvious by now that there's foul play involved, but we can't figure out exactly what is causing the murders.

The first and most obvious suspects are the tentmates who find the corpses, but deaths have happened while they were apprehended, and there doesn't seem to be any correlation or links between them.

The same applies to the victims, too.

Rank, role, gender, age... Not one of those things has mattered.

And the fact that there have been no signs of struggle also makes things weird.

The first victim was one thing; they could have been caught off-guard, but now that everyone is on high alert, this almost implies that the perpetrator is somehow able to get very close to the victims before killing them.

Yet, in some cases, based on the reports, we are sure no one besides the tentmates and the victims was inside the tents.

It's strange...

But it could be explained by a spell of some sort...

The only problem with this theory is that Bea has placed traps to detect, track, disrupt, and counter spells.

A good enough mage might be able to elude her, but... So many times? Without her getting a single clue?

The chances are almost zero.

Because we couldn't get any leads, Miwen decided to call Raella for help.

Being a ghost, she stays awake twenty-four hours every day.

The doll she inhabits, albeit extremely pretty and expensive-looking, is inconspicuous enough if she chooses to stay still.

Positioned strategically, Raella had the entire camp under surveillance.

And still, she found nothing unusual.

Cassandra also tried to infiltrate the armory, hoping to track the murder weapon, but the murders were happening so randomly that it became impossible for her to remember what everyone had taken.

Lastly, Lana has been stalking the few suspects we have, but...

Nothing.

Time and time again, all she managed to do was cross out suspects by confirming their alibis.

Bea confirmed no one in the camp was casting magic at the time of the murder.

Cassandra also confirmed something similar regarding the weapons taken from the armory.

Raella confirmed that this isn't the work of a ghost like herself either...

It really makes no sense.

To the point where I'm not even surprised a smart girl like Angelica has resorted to considering things like children's tales...

Hm...

Ellie: "Well... I have one theory... B-But... I'm not sure yet."

It's hard to be confident when everyone who is smarter than you seems so lost, but...

Perhaps because of my own circumstances, I'm inclined to believe that-

Angelica: "Oh... Please, tell me."

Yes!

Finally! I got her interested in something!

I felt so accomplished, if I had not embarrassed myself already, I'd jump out of joy.

Ellie: "S-So... Bea is looking for spells being used during the time of the murder, right? But what if that is the wrong approach? Maybe the caster is doing it at a different time..."

Angelica: "Hm... But I've heard she has the entire camp covered. Even if they do it when she's not looking for it, as long as they do it within the camp-"

Ellie: "Maybe they are not. Maybe... They are doing it when we leave the forest. It would be hard even for Bea to track a spell among the barrage we cast every day against Hamperlon, right?"

I fully believe in her ability, but that would be such a meaningless and labour-intensive task...

I can see her not even caring for strange spells cast by mages she considers... boring.

Angelica: "Then... What exactly are you suspecting? The dead have been stabbed, physically. Inside their own tent... Unless..."

Ellie: "...There are certain debuffs that don't-"

Before I could finish, Angelica suddenly flew towards me, quickly pulling me into her arms and jumping out of the tree we were in.

Ellie: "E-Eh?"

Angelica: "Enemy attack!"

It took me a second longer, but after Angelica shouted, I too noticed the faint image of men approaching from the woods.