Gacha Kingdom Building

There used to be a single person who called me that.

But that very person has been leading others to do the same in the capital residence of the Evretis.

Miwen: "...Nina, right? You don\'t have to call me that. We have pretty much the same position..."

Nina: "Eh? But Mei said that..."

Recently, a bunch of the maids of this place have started treating me differently.

They are all smart enough not to do it in front of the Evretis\' family members, but... their actions are becoming so standardized that it\'s obvious someone is behind them.

Miwen: "Don\'t worry about her. So... what do you want?"

Nina: "The Young Lady seemed in a good mood yesterday so we decided to prepare that fancy sweet you did last time again, but..."

Miwen: "I\'m getting up..."

The staff in this house is way nicer compared to the ones at the main residence, but to make up for that, they are way less experienced and capable.

Most of them have good intentions, but things tend to get rowdy more often than not.

Mei and I always help them, which is why they have started to respect us more and more.

Since I have this weird position where I\'m an employee in name only and only work if it\'s beneficial to Isabella, the Evretis family has no idea how they should treat me, and so, I\'ve been getting the guest treatment for the most part.

This made the staff pretty confused. Especially since Mei is free to do as she pleases and takes care of pretty much every task she\'s handed perfectly.

Since she\'s way more capable than me with housework and yet treats me the way she does, people have been going after her to learn about me.

This way, they avoid making any mistake that might seem disrespectful to me or the Evretis family.

However, Mei is certainly twisting my image...

I doubt they would treat me this way otherwise...

Miwen: "And here you go. Nina prepared this one, so blame her if you have any complaints."

Nina: "Eh? T-That\'s not true! It was..."

Isabella: "Hm... It\'s great! Thanks, Nina."

Nina: "...You\'re welcome..."

She seemed mad at me for doing that.

But I know Isabella\'s tastes pretty well by now, so I was sure she was going to like it.

Sweets for breakfast might not be the best, but we do have reason to indulge Isabella a little.

She had done pretty well on most of the tests.

To the point where even if she did badly on general knowledge, she\'d still be at a comfortable rank.

And so, after breakfast, we headed towards the school.

This time, there were no incidents along the way.

I also got to rendezvous with Lana.

The boy from last time wasn\'t lying. He did have others to feed, however...

It seems like the family is waiting for a payment for what they did.

I\'d like to investigate it further, but it\'ll have to be on a day off.

It\'s hard to keep a big group around Isabella since most nobles only have one or two escorts.

Even the Terith crown prince only has three, and two of them are also students.

The girls told me that nobility takes a lot of pride in the most meaningless things and that I shouldn\'t do anything that could disrespect their hierarchy.

To my surprise, even the number of escorts one has also counted for that. Since the prince only has three escorts, that\'s the ceiling.

It sucks since Isabella needs more than any other due to her condition, but we have no option. The alternative would risk creating an unnecessary problem.

But that\'s where Lana\'s ability becomes especially useful. I can keep her around without anyone knowing.

Together with Anna and Mia, they\'re pretty much the best bodyguard service we can offer.

Almost nothing gets past Mia\'s senses, and if someone manages to give her the slip, with Anna blocking the way, there shouldn\'t be anything capable of hurting Isabella.

But if somehow they both fail, Lana will act as our surprise last line.

This setup might be good enough, but I\'d like to have Bea with us too since we are lacking a little in magic defense and knowledge.

Since I\'m the better mage in this formation I\'ve taken charge of our magic defenses.

There\'s not a lot I can do without being too conspicuous, but Bea gave me some advice.

For now, I\'m keeping a thin air veil around everyone and a small dome.

The dome is meant as a layer of recognition more so than protection. Basically, if any magic is launched toward us, I should detect it when it crosses the dome layer, even if it\'s invisible.

The thin air layer around everyone is connected with... a small cable made of air. At least that\'s the best way I can describe it.

The intent is that I can know everyone\'s location as long as they don\'t go too far.

I can also use it to redirect my mana and make someone\'s barrier stronger if needed. By keeping track of this layer constantly, I can also change the element or use light magic to provide a small amount of healing.

My magic is not too shabby, so I should be able to protect us this way. Or at least I hope so.

Just to be safe I\'m also trying to get a few protective amulets through [Gacha Kingdom Building] since it\'s one banner I still have available to me due to not having spent a ticket on it before...

Student #1: "I thought the Evretis\' daughter was an unthinking beast?"

Student #2: "Pfft. She must\'ve bought that score."

Mia: "...My patience has limits, Miwen."

Miwen: "So does mine. But... every sour word will make her rise sweeter, alright?"

It\'s frustrating for us to listen to things like that.

We know that Isabella\'s score was fair. Hell, she could\'ve done even better.

But more important than the score itself was the fact that the girl, with no talent or prior opportunity, did her best to achieve it.

Even had she placed lower, we\'d all be proud.

Because helping her also took effort from us.

Dismissing her is the same as dismissing us.

I can understand why Mia is frustrated. It\'s a shared sentiment since I would also like to have some words with them.

However, I know that this would only work to our detriment.

...It\'s especially frustrating for us to hear that.

Thus, we hold back.

Isabella: "Hey..."

Miwen: "...Don\'t mind them too much. Refusing to see the truth is the same as going blind."

Isabella: "That\'s not it... I wish to express my gratitude. It\'s all thanks to you."

Miwen: "..."

So she says, but...

I\'m sure she is frustrated about this.

Probably more than any of us since these are the people she wants to make friends with.

Seeing her effort to dismiss their comments, Mia steeled her resolve and we made our way to the classroom.

The classes are divided by rank, and Isabella\'s rank awarded her a spot in class one.

There are only about 15 students in the class, but most of them seem to be from upcoming backgrounds.

Most of the nobles from established renowned families ended up in a lower class.

It would\'ve been a damn reality check if not for the fact that even the poorest student here was born with a silver spoon.

Isabella: "I know you said I shouldn\'t approach the saint carelessly, but... Everyone is congratulating her. Wouldn\'t it be bad if I didn\'t do the same?"

After everything was said and done yesterday I spoke with Isabella about what had happened.

I couldn\'t show her proof, but I did promise to make up for it.

Whether she fully forgave me or not only the girl herself knows, but I like to believe she did.

As for her question...

Sabrina managed to snatch third place, just a single point below Isabella.

As such, the other students could interpret Isabella\'s inaction as a form of provocation or arrogance due to her higher rank.

The problem is...

Miwen: "How are you going to approach her?"

Isabella: "Hm... I was going to say something like: Congratulations on third place. You deserved it..."

Miwen: "Hah! Yeah, no."

I understand that these are the words she wanted to hear from others.

And yes, most of the students in this classroom are saying something similar.

The problem is her position. With her being a rank above, it sounds condescending as hell.

It was a surprisingly difficult situation to be in. If she did nothing, she would be seen as arrogant, but if she went there and congratulated the girl on placing below her, it would also be seen as arrogance.

Maybe with someone normal, this wouldn\'t happen, but considering her Gift...

It\'s always best to prepare for the worst scenario.

Thankfully, a way out of this situation came to us.

Terith\'s first prince joined the classroom, and the students all flocked to him.

There are obvious attempts to win favor, but since he did place first amongst all students, congratulating him is completely justified, no matter the situation.

Miwen: "Alright, here\'s what you\'re going to do..."

I wasn\'t very social in my school days, but I would sometimes pay attention to how everyone interacted.

It might sound sad, but I did learn a lot this way.

And well, I never cared to know them personally either, so it\'s not like I feel anything about it.

The only regret I have is that I might not be able to help Isabella too much.

Mia: "She\'s nervous..."

Anna: "Did you forget she likes him?"

Miwen: "Hm... I might\'ve miscalculated..."

She stumbled through her words, but since I told her to keep it brief, there probably wasn\'t too much damage.

As for what I told her to say, it was simply to congratulate him and then the saint as well.

This way, she would kill two birds with one stone, and it wouldn\'t seem weird for her to congratulate Sabrina as well since she was already congratulating the prince.

Miwen: "So, how did it go?"

Isabella: "It was fine..."

She lied straight to my face.

But I think it\'s more shame than anything else.

Miwen: "Don\'t worry, it only gets easier after the first time."

Mia: "...Did you need to say it like that?"

Miwen: "It counts as two lessons."

Isabella: "...?"

The classes were as boring as I imagined. Hell, they were even worse than what I was used to on Earth.

At least there was an effort to make them interesting and relatable. This one is just... theory and exercises on top of exercises.

It\'s like they are trying to teach a machine through repetition.

I think Anna slept while listening and Mia has been counting the leaves of a nearby tree for more than two hours now.

Mia: "...Three hundred ninety-seven..."

Miwen: "One hundred seventy-six..."

Mia: "...One hundred seventy-seven... AGAIN?"

As for me, I was having fun my own way.

It felt like this wasn\'t going to end. It was truly hellish.

But thankfully the bell rang... telling us that we had only made it halfway through.

Miwen: "This is torture. Do you know how long it took me to get away from this?"

Mia: "Don\'t worry, it only gets easier after the first time."

Miwen: "Yeah, you\'re very funny. I\'ll bring a phone next time to try the game."

Normally pulling a phone in a classroom isn\'t very productive, but I felt completely justified in this case.

After the first period was over we went to the dining hall, where Isabella bought the most expensive meal for all of us.

It was way overpriced, as expected of an academy for nobles. But it also preyed on their pride as almost everyone was buying the same thing.

The only exception was Sabrina...

It made her stand out, which was what worried most students, but surprisingly, in her case, it wasn\'t a bad thing.

No one was looking down on her for that.

The food was great though. The only thing I\'d complain about is...

Miwen: "A bit of a waste, huh?"

It was just too much for a single person.

Of course, it was fine to buy another option, but... this was obviously by design.

The amount didn\'t justify the price at all. Anyone who has ever cooked would know that.

And that\'s precisely why most nobles wouldn\'t question it.

Miwen: "You can leave it to Anna. She\'s a glutton."

Anna: "Hey!?"

She asked me for seconds once, and since then, I slowly increased her portion.

I think she didn\'t realize it, but she\'s been pretty much eating for two nowadays.

Miwen: "Or you can also give it to Lana through your shadow. She doesn\'t like to waste food."

Isabella: "Really? She always seems a little upset at me..."

Miwen: "Yeah, she\'s hard to approach at first. But she\'s not bad or anything. Throw her a fruit and she\'ll turn all smiles."

Following what I told her, Isabella slowly approached the floor with her hand and then released one of this world\'s fruits in it.

Before touching the ground, it simply disappeared, and then a thumbs-up briefly appeared from the shadow below her.

She ran a few more tests with the things she wasn\'t able to eat until she finished her plate.

As for Mia, she gave Anna her veggies. I already knew this was bound to happen since Mia likes meat more than anything else, so I ate all of mine and gave Anna what was left on my plate.

Pretty much a second serving, but that didn\'t impede her.

Back to the classroom, the day kept going. There were a few assignments related to the floating city that they\'ll be visiting, but nothing major.

I thought that maybe we had been a little unlucky with the classes today, but it seems like it\'s done this way in preparation for the break they\'ll have while exploring the floating city.

The idea is that they\'ll have a bunch of exercises to do so that they can focus on something else aside from magic while there.

Thus, I got my hopes up that this was going to be temporary.

And when the day finally finished, a pleasant surprise for once.

Edmond, Terith\'s crown prince, called Isabella to talk.

Apparently, he was interested in one of the questions he had gotten wrong in the general knowledge test.

I was hoping that maybe she would be smart and tell him they could study together but... she got nervous and just explained the rationale behind it.

It was cute in its own way though.

However, I did notice he wasn\'t very pleased with me and the girls.

I couldn\'t know the reason exactly, but it was probably because we didn\'t bow to him.

I don\'t ask this type of thing from the girls, so of course, I told them they shouldn\'t bow to anyone.

Thankfully we have a good excuse. Since Evretis used to be its own nation until very recently, there are a bunch of people from there who don\'t recognize the royal family.

They are sworn to Evretis and no one else.

If the prince was angry with us for not bowing, he probably chose to not say a word thinking that this was the case.

After seeing their interaction, a few other students came to greet Isabella.

Their interaction was pretty brief since she was still nervous, but once she came back to us, she had the biggest smile