Gacha Kingdom Building

Mia and her tribe defeated Hamperlon's army, but we still had to deal with a few problems.

Many city citizens expected it to be pillaged or razed after the army's defeat, however, I had already ordered Mia and her tribe to hold back.

Instead, on the day of our victory, we focused on looking for more members of her tribe kept as slaves, ultimately finding about a dozen of them.

The problem was that while several people fled the city, many had no option but to remain.

They were ready to fight for their lives against us, so the Snow White Wolves were being ambushed in almost every home they entered at the beginning.

I already predicted something like this and instructed them to be careful and work in groups, which is probably why it took them so long to finish, but at least they were safe.

Ironically, after the citizens calmed down about our presence in the city, the situation became even more chaotic.

People started to raid the homes of the ones who escaped, searching for food and valuables, even taking animals with them.

I imagined something like that could happen, but I had no idea how to prevent it.

I wanted to keep a civilized image of ourselves, in hopes that this would facilitate further attacks by not having to face civilian resistance, but to prevent what we were seeing, I would have no choice but to employ the Snow White Wolves to police the citizens and crack down on house invasions.

To do this effectively, I would have to spread them out a bit too thin for my liking...

And so, I decided to have the Snow White Wolves only patrol and prevent violence. The raids themselves were completely ignored.

Miwen: "Haah... I'm way out of my depth..."

Licia: "I think you are doing good..."

It was the morning of the second day after taking the city.

While I was reading the reports made by Mia's tribe members, Licia gave me a relaxing massage and some sweet comforting words.

Claire: "I still think you should have killed a few of the worst actors... You know? Make them an example and all..."

On the other side of the table, Claire enjoyed a few sweets she had stolen.

While certainly hypocritical of her to say that while she enjoyed eating snacks she had stolen, she did have a point about being able to restore order to the city by making a few examples.

However...

Miwen: " ... I only care about keeping the order because it should make it more secure for us, but... I'm starting to plan how to use this chaos in our favor..."

Claire: "Sounds terrifying."

Miwen: "C'mon, give me some credit. I'm not going to do anything~"

Claire: "Uh-huh~"

After that, we continued talking about the current circumstances and our plans a little more, until suddenly, we were interrupted by the loud noise of the door hitting the wall.

It had been pushed with immense strength, moving incredibly quickly.

Licia's massage turned into torture for a brief moment as her body quickly reacted to the noise and her grip on my shoulder stiffened.

Claire was also surprised and quickly gulped down what she was eating.

The door had caught our attention the most, but the initial surprise quickly passed and we focused on the figure behind it.

Mia: "Miwen!"

I stood up and left the chair I was in to greet her, a little worried that something might have happened since It wasn't normal for Mia to be loud like this.

She caught me completely off-guard though...

Almost jumping from the corridor, she closed the distance between us and immobilized me before I could even process the situation.

Although that's probably not the best way to say that she gave me a very tight hug.

Mia: "We won!"

Miwen: "Yeah? I told you we would."

I couldn't see her much during the siege or when she was coordinating her tribesmen, but I've seen how she acts with them around plenty of times.

Because she is always trying to maintain an image of a strong leader it should be obvious that she would be eager to celebrate her victory after so long.

She doesn't usually show much affection for me, or anyone, in such a blatant way, but I was happy that she ignored everyone and came to me to share her excitement.

Claire and Licia also did a good job not pointing out and allowing her to be. Enjoy new stories from My Virtual Library Empire

Mia: "So... What are we going to do now?"

It was quite blissful to have her mellow so much, but eventually, she noticed the others in the room, and since she had already said everything she wanted, we moved on to a more serious discussion.

Miwen: "It will depend on how the other nobles move..."

Hamperlon's main army was busy in Terith, so we only had to account for the surrounding nobles.

Even though we have the advantage of playing defense, holding the city might be difficult if we have to face the armies of the surrounding nobles...

Claire: "With the death of this city's lord, both our other possible targets might try to take the city for themselves and use the momentum to propel an attack against Everith of their own. Especially if they can coordinate with the army already in Everith."

Miwen: "Yeah... But I don't think they can reproduce the same numbers as that army. They had to cooperate with their lord's main army, so the people sent to Everith were only a few officials. Most of them were mercenaries and adventurers. Assuming they have similar funds to invest, with the growing danger, they should only be able to recruit a fraction of the numbers they did before."

Mercenary manpower can be scarce, especially if a lord has already gone and recruited bands from the region.

Adventurers will always evaluate between the potential pay from the dungeon and the offer of joining the fight. To recruit even a single powerful party can be quite difficult.

Both mercenaries and adventurers don't tend to be much nationalistic considering that no matter who is in power, their job and circumstances will remain the same for the most part.

Assuming that most of the soldiers accounted for were forced to join the main army with the rest remaining to defend their own cities, it would take a while for the surrounding nobles to recruit enough manpower to siege this city.

Miwen: "In that case... Their best bet would be to somehow join with the army that departed."

Claire: "We can't have them march back to a friendly city and station there. They could resupply and reinforce. We should intercept them."

Mia: "Hm... But that would mean leaving the city defenseless... And we would also be in the open... It's much more dangerous than protecting a defensive position..."

Right... It's a bit of a catch-22.

We might have to sacrifice what we have gained to make the most of it, and if we sit and wait, we might lose it all the same without benefiting as much from it...

Mia: "There's merit in defending here... Right? We could kill as many of them..."

We could certainly cause a lot of casualties, and even if we lose the city, depending on how long it takes for it to fall, and whether or not we can retreat to Evretis, it could still be considered a victory for us.

However, fundamentally, these are two distinct types of victory.

What Mia proposed would take a lot of commitment and wouldn't change much of our current circumstances.

Adventurers and mercenaries seeing the progress in the siege might be more willing to join too for easy pay...

After the city falls, they will get a boost to their morale...

Killing the entire army, on the other hand, is much more crushing morale-wise, and might prevent the other lords from acting independently in the future...

Not to mention that for them, taking a city already emptied is much less of a cause for celebration...

In other words, intercepting their army is a bigger win for us, and a lesser one for them than engaging in an ultimately hopeless siege...

Miwen: "Alright, I've decided. Mia, I need whoever you can spare to scout and watch the area. I'll ask Isabella to send one of the Valkyries to watch movement from their side too. We will wait for them to retreat or be called back, and then we'll intercept them. After that... We will return to Evretis and wait for the best moment to bring down Terith."

Mia: "Sure. I'll see who's available."

Even though I was basically going against her wishes, she still respected my decision without any resistance.

She's come to respect me quite a lot...

A few days passed after we had decided our next moves. The raids happening in the city had ceased almost completely, both children and men were being seen in the streets more frequently now, and normalcy had returned.

Sadly, we couldn't enjoy this for long.

Eir contacted me saying that the army attacking Evretis had retreated during the night and that as ordered, Isabella's men started giving chase.

The morning after, the Snow White Wolves returned to the Kingdom, and together with the girls, I ran to surround the retreating army.

I didn't want to meet their army in a forest or give them a chance to enter one since it could become a bit too chaotic and defensible.

However, as much as I searched for a hill or a river in the direction they were marching to increase our advantage, I came out empty and had no choice but to meet them in a plain field.

Claire: "I still think we should have burned down the city... Let them conquer rubbles."

Mia: "Hah... Your brain must have burned down already. Can you not go a day without thinking about burning something?"

Claire: "Hey! You can't blame a fire mage for wanting to use fire magic! Besides, that's not the point. Fire, ice, whatever. As long we had destroyed it, I'd be fine. Unless you are telling me you're having more fun digging holes out here."

Mia: "...Much as I hate to admit it, I trust this pervert's plans. If he tells me to dig, then sure, I'll dig. Although it would certainly be helpful if he, you know, helped!?"

She gave me quite a deadly look...

Miwen: "Nothing I can do. Cassandra says she can't turn into a shovel."

Mia: "Then use a normal shovel? Or your earth magic?"

Miwen: "Nah. I'm having a good time seeing you two bond."

Mia: "...You! Ugh!"

Mia and her tribe ended up doing a fantastic job.

I didn't want to lose any of them, and I knew that Hamperlon's army would choose to charge against us to break the encirclement.

Not only because we were fewer in number when compared to Evretis' forces, but also because we would be blocking the way for them to retreat to their land.

If forced to choose, I was certain we would be the ones they would rather face.

And since I couldn't count on the natural terrain... I decided to set up camp and prepare the terrain before facing them.

Thankfully, I timed it correctly, and we finished our job with a full day left to rest.

On the next day, their forces met an unnatural ice field.

Since most mages didn't train their bodies, they were the first to fall behind and be picked off from their army.

The few who remained to defend them from our magic were either magic swordsmen like Licia and Claire, or mages too valuable to be left behind.

However, when faced with our magic barrage and tired from retreating... They were subpar.

Hamperlon's army suffered a lot, and to prevent us from killing them from afar, they had no choice but to charge and attack us.

But even that was problematic.

The Snow White Wolves had much better mobility on the ice and snow.

Not only that... Among the ones who offered help to train them was Licia.

During my first visit to this world, Licia showed how infuriating even the most basic [ice Magic] could be in a fight by messing with one of Hamperlon's generals as he faced Melissa.

One of the tricks she showed involved freezing their foot.

An army full of people who can use the same element... Said element is suited for both attack and defense while also allowing for unpredictable tricks... It makes the Snow White Wolves a troublesome bunch...

However, I underestimated their power a little.

Our battle gave time for Evretis' reinforcements to arrive, and in desperation, Hamperlon's army did its best to break through our formation.

The adventurers seemed especially problematic. Their ability to adapt and go the extra mile to survive, as well as their group coordination, was proving to be quite a challenge.

Unfortunately, the time for games had already ended.

I had purposefully stayed behind, watching the battle, and when the right moment arrived...

Licia and Mia broke the ice covering the field, allowing everyone to fall into the pits filled with ice spears.

Well, "everyone"...

I was careful to do it before the Evretis' troops could get caught in it, and I also forced all the Snow White Wolves back into the Kingdom using an [Order].

But aside from that...

In the end, more than a thousand men died in the battle.

This army was completely crushed, and while we did lose a few of our own, once again, there were no Snow White Wolves casualties.

We ended up having to abandon the city we just conquered, but...

I wonder how the nobles are going to divide it.

And what the situation will become once the people who had their homes raided come back...

While returning to Evretis, I wished for Hamperlon to be as occupied as I would be in the coming days.