"Is something wrong?"
Sonya asked, noticing Kaito's expression.
"It's nothing, don't worry."
Although Kaito brushed it off, inside he was thinking something else.
'How strange… do I have some kind of sixth sense ability?'
After thinking about it for a bit, he reached a conclusion.
'Maybe it's some latent ability from my race… or maybe it has to do with my high sensitivity to things of an evil nature. Whatever it is, I'll figure it out later.'
His conclusion was that… he didn't reach any conclusion.
For now, he decided to focus on what was in front of him.
[You have defeated Lord White]
[Do you choose to kill her or subdue her?]
[Lord White decided to submit on her own, so the previous choice is canceled]
[You have acquired White's territory]
[You have two options:
1. Destruction and reimbursement. The territory will return to nothingness and you'll gain back half of the resources invested.
2. Assimilation and subordination. The territory will be subordinated to yours. You can fully merge it or turn it into a subordinate city and change its lord at will.]
[It was detected that Lord White has no territory, so the previous options have been canceled]
[You have gained a subordinate Lord. You have obtained a silver chest. You can now view her status.]
'Weird… did the system get a bit smarter and less robotic, or is it just my impression?' Kaito wondered. In the past, there were never those messages explaining why options got canceled.
[Since this is the first time you've defeated a Lord, all possible options were shown. In the future, you'll only see valid options.]
'Did it just reply to me? And can it even read my mind?'
Kaito's eyes widened in surprise. He tried to keep asking questions… but the system went silent, so he gave up.
Despite defeating a Lord, Kaito wasn't especially happy. Basically, the gains depended on the defeated Lord's territory. But since White (as the system called her) had no territory, his only real reward was a silver chest, which Kaito assumed depended on the strength of the defeated Lord.
On the other hand, he opened Shiina's status out of simple curiosity.
---
[Name]: Shiina Mashiro / White
[Race]: Fairy Queen
[Title]: Lord of the Territory, The Purest Fallen
[Level]: 14
[Base stats]:
HP: 100,000
MP: 500
Strength: 100
Agility: 80
Constitution: 120
[Skills]:
Affinity with all elements (5/5), Holy/Demonic Magic (4/5), Elemental Spear, Elemental Ball, Elemental Wall, Elemental Spikes, Elemental Chains.
---
The status was basically a summarized version: it didn't show experience, gold, skill points, nor did it explain the stats.
The first thing that caught Kaito's attention was the extra title. Besides "Lord of the Territory", which all Lords had (and which doubled their stats within the territory), Shiina had another: The Purest Fallen. When he clicked on it, the description appeared:
[The Purest Fallen
You, who drew the attention of angels because of the purity of your soul and were made a saint, chose to join the demonic faction for personal reasons. Even so, holy magic refuses to abandon you.
Effects:
+500% resistance to holy magic
+500% resistance to demonic magic
Skill: Holy/Demonic Magic]
After reading this, Kaito's thoughts boiled down to a single sentence:
'What the hell did this girl do?'
According to that, she became a saint just for her purity… and still chose the demonic faction? He left the question for later and checked the skills.
"Affinity with all elements" did just what it sounded like: it made it easier to learn magic of any element, and was a passive skill unique to the Fairy Queen.
Techniques like Fireball or Fire Spear existed in versions for every element; once mastered in each element, they evolved into "elemental skills," which did more damage and used less mana while covering all elements. That's why Shiina had so many with similar names.
But what caught Kaito's attention most was the skill Holy/Demonic Magic. Not just because of the effect, which was already impressive, but because of the explanation:
[Holy/Demonic Magic
Because of the ease of using demonic magic, you decided to follow that path. However, holy magic refuses to leave your body and, seeing it has no choice, adapted to you.
Effect:
Allows you to use the flexible demonic magic system with holy magic.
Nullifies weaknesses against holy and demonic magic.
Increases the power of both by 150%.]
The demonic magic system, really, was very simple: everything depended on imagination.
'So… she joined the demonic faction just because it made it easier to use her magic?'
Kaito sighed, looking at the lazy girl in front of him.
Shiina noticed his gaze and looked back at him, confused.
"By the way…" Kaito said, to break the silence, "Why are your stats so high?"
Shiina thought for a moment, then started "clicking" in the air. Seconds later, a silver armor with elegant golden ornaments appeared, covering her.
Kaito placed his hand on the armor and its description appeared:
[Fairy Queen's Armor
A queen deserves garments worthy of her station.
Effect:
Multiplies all stats ×2 (upgradeable).
Current pieces: 2/5.]
'Looks like the more pieces of the set she has, the more her stats increase.'
"And the rest?" Kaito asked.
"Lost," Mashiro replied, falling silent again.
"And the HP?" Kaito insisted.
Besides her very high MP, Shiina's HP was 100,000, many times higher than his, even with his ×10 multiplier.
Shiina didn't answer. Instead, a high-pitched voice behind her spoke.
"I'll explain that."
They all turned around. They saw a small fairy about 15 cm tall, wearing a long blue dress and with hair of the same color.
"Who are you?" Kaito asked.
"I'm Undyne, the Fairy in charge of the water element."
"And what does that mean?" Kaito asked, now even more confused.
"You see, it all starts with spirits: concentrations of mana of a single element that take form. Since they're mana turned into matter, they control that element with incredible ease. Many races make pacts with them for help.
But spirits have no consciousness; they're like animals. When they awaken it, they evolve into fairies. Among all the fairies of each element, one is chosen to lead them. Our mission is to protect the fairies and spirits under the Fairy Queen's command.
The Fairy Queen is directly in charge of everyone. It's like if a human made a pact with all the spirits and fairies in the world, which is why her elemental control is so high… and also why her vitality is huge."
"And you're telling me all this, why?" Kaito asked, frowning. "I don't think it's just to explain the HP."
"Hehe… you noticed," Undyne said, scratching her cheek before turning serious. "Now you're something like the Fairy King too, so you have the right to know. Besides… we need your help."
Kaito put on a serious expression. Undyne quickly waved her hands.
"No, no! It's nothing that serious. And besides… there are benefits for you."
Seeing Kaito relax his expression, Undyne continued:
"When the god of the earth created the spirit world, he made it so outsiders couldn't change anything inside it, to prevent anyone from trying to conquer it."
"And where's the problem?" Kaito asked.
"Well… it turns out Lords can do it. And that's a problem."
"So other Lords have tried to conquer the spirit world?"
"Yes… though nothing serious has happened so far: the ones who entered were weak and we defeated them easily. But we know it won't always be like that."
"Right… Lords grow much faster than this world's inhabitants," Kaito murmured.
"And we want you to help us with that."
"Me? Why?"
"Well, we already asked the Fairy Queen for help… and since you're the Fairy King, you should know too. I just thought it was quicker to explain it to you directly."
Kaito smiled.
"Looks like you already know Mashiro well. And what do I get?"
"Since you're one of the rulers of the fairies, technically it's your territory too, so you can use it."
Kaito thought. The benefits were huge, and the only downside was having to face other Lords… which he already did. Plus, he had Shiina looking at him with big eyes and an expression full of hope.
"Alright," he finally said. "I don't see any reason to refuse."
Undyne lit up with joy and smiled, but then turned serious.
"And… well, this is a bit selfish… but I'd like the spirit realm not to be at war all the time, defending itself from other Lords."
Kaito chuckled softly, as he returned to his territory.
"Don't worry. Not a single Lord will get past my territory's perimeter."
______________________________________
+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
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(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)