Gacha Kingdom Building

---This chapter is written using Licia's POV---

We had predicted a long battle to take the castle we now occupied, but since that didn't happen, we used the time we had to prepare and establish our army in the region.

The soldiers of Terith were more confident now than ever, and they were looking forward to an opportunity to face and defeat Hamperlon's main army, if for no other reason than to prove themselves better than Evretis.

Unfortunately, that enthusiasm was a little wasted as we waited a few days without ever meeting our opposing army, and as time went on, it became more unlikely that this would ever happen.

Thus, we started weighing our options.

With the soldiers' morale so high, a surplus of supplies, and being ahead of schedule, it would be insane not to use this position to probe the enemy where it hurts the most, their own territory.

Or at least, that's what Gullard thought, and of course, Claire and Mia were fully onboard, alongside all of the soldiers, dying to strike fear into their enemies and finally prove their value.

And so... We marched.

This time, our battle was going to be inside enemy territory.

Our instructions were simple, and so was our objective. A single castle, heavily fortified, but we were hopeful that it wouldn't take long for it to fall, considering the situation of our army and our overwhelming numbers.

Licia: "They are very quick..."

I've never fought against a nation, so I couldn't be sure if this was normal or if Hamperlon was just this highly used to war, but... A warring nation is impressive.

Still, the defenses they prepared were astonishing.

The entire city was encapsulated in a giant dome of water, a current stream of about 5 water jets poured down from its center, moving in circular motion and offering a second layer of protection aside from the dome itself.

It was quite obvious who caused such preparations to happen, but the person herself...

Claire: "Hmph! If they think this is enough, they are in for a surprise!"

She took it as a challenge, as the flames started to pour from her body and the soldiers cheered on, anticipating yet another quick victory.

The doubters, making claims about type disadvantage and worrying about her prospects, were silenced by her newly acquired cult-like followers.

Unfortunately, although her attack was as impressive as always, burning the fields and scorching the earth for as far as the eye could see, ultimately, it was not enough.

The water jets reacted to the approaching flames. When they met... It was hard to tell what happened.

The steam blocked everyone's vision, and we were left anticipating the result.

The more mana sensitive of us could tell though... The mana present in Claire's flames was nowhere to be seen.

And so, when the steam subsided and we could have a clear view, we confirmed that the walls had not suffered any damage, and that, likely, the dome had not been penetrated at all.

Even the jet streams resumed, as if mocking her attempt.

What followed was... Well, Mia found it entertaining.

The soldiers, once cheering for Claire, stopped, and silence took over for only a few seconds before Gullard started instructing how we would perform the siege.

Easy come, easy go, but... I felt a little bad for Claire.

Her face, usually a soft shade of pink or rose, was now bright red with shame.

Although.. Claire is not the type to run from a challenge, and her attack was hardly the best she could do, so... All this accomplished was to light her fuse.

Claire: "I see, I see... They must have hired a good water mage, huh? Well, let's see how they-"

Licia: "Stop, stop! That one is prohibited!"

Two flame orbs manifested in the palms of her hands. The fire emanating from them was hot enough that I had to coat Mia and myself in a thin layer of ice... It was either that or stripping in front of everyone.

It was unbearable... But I knew exactly what she was about to do.

And I did believe it was powerful enough. However, by her own admission, she's still not able to control this attack.

The chances of it backfiring or, at the very least damaging our side as well were quite high, and even though Mia and I could probably protect everyone, with the soldiers' fickle mood, just being in danger might be enough to make them change the way they see and treat Claire for the worse.

Claire: "Fine... You two are gonna try something then?"

She was more understanding than I imagined, but perhaps this was more due to her own personal connection to this attack and wanting to use it sparingly.

As for her question...

I wondered if I had enough power to pierce that barrier.

I'm pretty sure I could deal with the jet streams, but I'd have to pour a lot of mana to penetrate the dome after overpowering them.

It seemed like a fun challenge, honestly... I really wanted to try it too...

But!

I had a duty. To be responsible and keep an eye on Mia and Claire.

If the mage responsible for this system was still inside the city, there was a small chance he could pose a difficult challenge for Claire, so it would be best for me to save my mana.

The same would be true if instead of a single, Claire-level water mage, this had been done by multiple several ones.

It's just... I'd have to use too much mana for me to be able to fight reliably after...

Mia: "...Huh. You seem more conflicted than I thought?"

Oh...

I was trying not to show it, but her instincts are good.

And well... I also want to show off from time to time... Just a little bit...

Still... Even if it was a little hard, I resisted.

Licia: "Eheh... What about you?"

My most powerful technique... Changing the subject.

Mia: "...I have an idea, but I'll need your help."

Licia: "Sure!"

Being relied upon by her made me a little happy.

Compared to Claire, Mia tends to be a little more cooperative, especially when she's not competing or being provoked by our short fuse mana bomb.

She wanted to help the army, but Miwen advised her to be cautious and selective when bringing her tribe out of the Kingdom so as to avoid putting them in unnecessary risk.

Of course, Miwen being Miwen, she didn't exactly tell her which battles would be crucial or not, leaving that for her to judge, and ensuring she'd have the final decision and command over her people...

...I think they wouldn't mind being ordered by him, though, many of them already understand he rules over their leader, but...

I wonder what is making Miwen distance himself from this...

Knowing him... It can't be too good.

Unlike Mia's strategy, which I was delighted to hear.

She believed that, with our overwhelming numbers, sooner or later we were bound to destroy the barrier and cause enough damage to make the decision to invade the castle.

And her prediction was spot on.

It took a few days and some help from Claire to waste the enemies' mana and cause a little bit of extra damage, but our army had worn down their defenses enough to attack directly.

Seeing this, Mia employed her strategy to capitalize on the opportunity created on the day of our invasion.

She asked me to support her, and after the dome had been damaged enough and our army charged, I penetrated it with an icicle, destroying, expanding it to the sides, occupying the walls, and destroying the ballistas so that Mia could run towards the end of the castle and surround it.

Since I had used the opening created by the soldiers, I never discovered whether or not I could destroy their barrier and all of its systems by myself, however...

Claire: "Huh. Gotta give it to her... She makes it seem easy."

Mia did exactly as she had promised.

Even though multiple archers and mages took her as their target, not a single projectile hit her as she dashed towards the back gate of the city.

She was so nimble that it didn't even seem like their attempts were slowing her down whatsoever.

It didn't take them long to notice that this attempt would not work, so they started being a little bit more creative, creating walls and water pits in her way.

But our girl was more than capable of jumping over those obstacles, and while the men tried to coordinate a few attacks, thinking she wouldn't be able to dodge them in midair, she proved their effort futile, and the cold and harsh reality of her prowess hit them.

While not as powerful and showy as Claire's, Mia is more than capable of using magic to her advantage as well, and in this case, she showed a lot of control and precision, creating ice barriers and platforms to continue her dash forward.

Obviously, she could also use her magic to freeze the pits or break through the earth walls with her physical strength.

Varying her movements like this made her unpredictable, and the soldiers' coordination simply couldn't keep up with her improvisation.

As Claire said, it was truly impressive. I personally stood in awe watching it.

She was facing a professional army, but she made it seem like they were little kids.

However, I couldn't help but feel bothered by something...

Licia: "...No compliments for me?"

Claire: "You know... If the two of us were to give it our all, they would stand no chance. Sure, that barrier is quite effective against me. But against you? Pfft. No army can defend against us together."

She was a little upset... And to be fair, I was, too.

I also want to go all-out sometimes... But there's a time and place for everything.

Licia: "Maybe next time?"

Claire: "Right..."

At the time, I had no idea how prophetic those words would be.

My chance to go all-out would come sooner than I thought...

The battle went on, and although we suffered a few losses initially, once inside the castle and in the city, we made quick work of the men.

Even the ones who tried to escape were met by Mia, who single-handedly dealt with dozens of men.

She also allowed the people who were unarmed and wanted to escape to do so, though...

I questioned her a bit about this, but she said she didn't really know the reason. She was just doing the same thing that Miwen had done previously, hoping that there was a good reason for it.

Of course, I found her blind trust in his actions quite cute.

And thus, we won another battle and took a little more territory, making the soldiers celebrate the entire night.

Then, on the next day, our small reconnaissance unit was almost completely decimated, with only one man coming back.

His warning?

Hamperlon was coming.

Their man army.