Gacha Kingdom Building

Since Bea had a lot of books she hadn\'t read already, I made a deal with her. I wouldn\'t be putting tickets into spellbooks anymore until the Merchant departed or, if he got the ring he\'s looking for.

Of course, I wasn\'t gonna break my promise to her, so as soon as he\'s gone I\'ll get her enough to make up for the ones I\'m not getting now.

While I hate to admit it, I felt kind of bad for him, so I couldn\'t help wanting to help him out.

It\'s not enough to make too big of a difference, but it\'s at least something.

As such, I spent 25 tickets on wedding rings for another guy even though I still had yet to get a single one for my fiance.

The chances were abysmally low, and yet, upon a quick glance at the dozens of rings scattered around, the Merchant claimed victory.

Merchant: "Jackpot! I told you I was lucky."

Yeah, something tells me he cheated some way or another. Perhaps he has a skill that increases his luck, or a buff he can apply to himself.

I just can\'t believe he got it with such unfathomable odds.

Still... it doesn\'t matter if he did something or not, I was glad that I managed to help this idiot...

Merchant: "Hm... Now I feel indebted to you... that\'s not good..."

What does he mean? Did he forget I gave him a small fleet? And while the weapons and armor he got weren\'t good enough for him, he still took them anyway so that his blacksmith friend could use his Gift to try and learn something.

Even if he didn\'t get the ring, I\'ve been giving him enough goods for a lifetime.

Miwen: "So... why is the ring so important?"

The description just tells me that it\'s a ring made to represent one\'s promise and that it gives an "immortality" effect.

Somehow, it feels like the description is a bit lacking though... perhaps, if I had more levels in [Appraisal] I would be able to see more information about this ring, but as it stands, I didn\'t get new details about it, which made it look like a simple wedding ring with a strong effect, even though I already knew that there had to be more about it than just that.

Had I gotten this by myself before meeting the Merchant, I would think it\'s a pretty incredible item due to its effect, but the Merchant doesn\'t need immortality, to begin with, so I don\'t really understand what is the importance of this thing.

There\'s also the fact that apparently, the owner of this ring is not to be messed with, and would even kill the Merchant to prevent him from getting it.

It\'s a bit scary to be his accomplice when thinking about what might happen if this person discovers this, but since nothing happened after we acquired it, I think we are safe...

It isn\'t above me to throw the Merchant under the bus either, after all, it was his idea and it\'s completely his fault. I\'ll totally wash my hands off of this if I have to.

Merchant: "This... is something the other cycles didn\'t have. It will be a second chance."

Yeah, the blame is on me for expecting a direct answer.

At the very least, the way the Merchant talks about it makes it seem like a good thing, so I\'ll trust that he\'ll put it to good use.

Miwen: "Have you thought about what you\'re going to summon next? Since the first one didn\'t count, it\'s gonna be your last."

He looked a bit disappointed before starting to think deeply about it. He understands that I\'m not his personal wish-granting machine right?

You can\'t rub me or throw coins and expect an unlimited food supply to appear.

Merchant: "... More ships would be useful, but I don\'t wanna risk another sure-to-sink monstrosity... the weapons are lacking, they wouldn\'t be able to hurt a God... hm... Meet me in my house tomorrow, I\'ll have something ready by then."

Mysterious as always, but I\'m looking forward to have he might have in store. There are a few banners that would be pretty bad to be used inside a house, but he wouldn\'t be dumb enough to use them... I think.

Since the Merchant and I were done with our business, we went to check on the girls that were in the kingdom.

First was Mia and Licia. Their training was... very extreme. I thought Mia was pretty hard on me, but it seems like she\'s even harder on herself.

I guess it\'s to be expected given her age and her abilities. She was facing a Licia that was going all-out though, so even with the level gap, she barely had any breathing room as she struggled to keep the pace using the daggers.

Surprisingly, the Merchant decided to help them out as well and made the two of them fight him on the promise he wouldn\'t get away with his Gift.

He even asked me to participate as well, so thinking that this little mock battle would be a great exercise in preparation for the boss battle that was to come, I actually brought everyone.

The Merchant kept healing us of our fatigue and mana since we weren\'t in the best shape due to fighting in the dungeon today. Doing it like this also meant we could keep going for way longer than it would normally be possible.

It\'s a bit bad to intrude on the girls\' resting time this way, but a chance like this doesn\'t come often since the Merchant rarely takes anything seriously.

Even though it was a mock battle, the girls were seriously fighting to kill. It was fine since our weapons couldn\'t even hurt him, to begin with, but since he kept messing with them during his whole stay, the girls decided to use this opportunity to deal with their pent-up grievances toward him.

Them taking this so seriously wasn\'t the best choice though... even without using his Gift, the Merchant was simply too fast for us to accompany. He made sure to always be just a step ahead, answering our every move with a perfect counter.

I\'d say we improved quite a bit since the last time we faced him, both in power and teamwork. And with him replenishing our mana, some of the girls were going way beyond all-out.

The very scenario outside of the kingdom walls was becoming that of scorched earth, with an insane amount of arrowheads spread all across that made it look like two armies just finished an intense battle.

Even though by the end we didn\'t manage to land a single hit, it might\'ve been the best practice we\'ve ever had.

In sheer desperation, as if their lives depended on it, the girls were trying all types of different combos and sneak attacks, pairings, and formations that we\'ve never tried in the dungeon were all used to try and get ahead of the Merchant.

Not only collectively, this also yielded a few results individually as even some of the more experienced girls were refining their craft bit by bit.

While the girls usually do some one-on-ones, doing big mock battles like this inside the kingdom proved to be pretty beneficial, so perhaps I should set up some sort of arena or training ground for it in the future.

By the end of the "training", the Merchant gave every single one of us a few tips and provocations, then, he happily went to his house saying he needed to rest after breaking a sweat.

Even though he didn\'t sweat at all.

Or even seemed like he had wasted a fraction of his energy.

And even though we gave it our all for more than an hour straight, we also weren\'t in bad shape thanks to his abilities.

Thankfully it was pretty easy to clean up the kingdom using a few kingdom points. There\'s not much point in doing it, but it\'s good to at least have a pleasant scenario since this place doesn\'t offer much else.

Once we were home, it was pretty much the same as always, except I also had to take some time to help the girls with their newest interests.

Mia: "I hate it, but I\'ve gotta say... You actually do for a fine househusband."

Miwen: "Yeah? I still have a wedding ring left you know?"

Mia: "...Dream on, pervert."

Even though she talks so harshly, my fiance\'s blushing face betrays her words.

If I were to point that out to her right now though, she\'d probably place the blame on the hot water from the bath she just took or something like that.

Still, that only makes her even cuter in my eyes.

Miwen: "...Look I tried to keep your nails pointy like you\'ve asked but I\'ve never done something like this, so..."

Not to mention, her nails were pretty hard, so even doing them normally would\'ve been a challenge.

In contrast, even without the products Bea bought, her hair has always been one of the prettiest, so I barely had any trouble with it. However, it would be better if she took care of it more regularly.

Mia: "Eh?"

Miwen: "Hm? Something wrong?"

I thought perhaps she hadn\'t liked the way I combed her hair but...

Anna: "Woah... you look like a princess!"

Miwen: "She\'s technically one you know?"

I guess the Snow White Wolves had a tribe and not a kingdom, but still, she had pretty much an equal position.

Mia: "Mmm... thanks..."

She barely looked me in the eye, and if I didn\'t have my full attention toward her, I probably would\'ve missed what she said. As soon as she left the chair though, she requested to enter the kingdom.

She\'s still not so good when it comes to receiving help and compliments, but she still makes sure to be thankful.

Mia ended up being the last one I helped, and after she was gone, the girls started leaving one by one too, putting an end to the night.