Go Big To Go Home: A Kaiju-Fighting Isekai LitRPG (Book 1 Complete!)

1 minute ago

New

Add bookmark

#179

Mikayla hadn't expected anything interesting to happen during the two weeks that she spent waiting for Geng to brew the Neidan potion. More than anything, she was going back and forth over whether or not she would actually drink it.

"Of course you should," Shao insisted.

It was Sunday, and Mikayla had decided it would be wise to have Shao sit in on Nya's latest session of catching Mikayla up on common knowledge, as they had a lot of similar gaps in their understanding of the world. Shao, unfortunately, had been bored to tears by Nya's brief lecture on the quarries that supported the economy of Caishi, a city in the southwestern region of Guili that was the nation's main exporter of building materials.

"Then you'd have awesome powers like I do," the little girl continued. "Lightning's not as good as fire but that's just because fire is obviously the best,"

"Yeah, but you've

always

had your fire. You've never known life without it," Mikayla reasoned. "It would be a big change for me. Make me less human," She winced. "I want my family to

recognise

me when they see me again,"

Shao looked down, a mulish frown crossing her face. "If they don't want you no matter what you look like, then you should just find a better family. One who likes you no matter what,"

Mikayla chuckled. "Yeah, well, it's not quite that easy," She missed the way Shao's lip curled into a momentary pout.

"I think you should do it as well. Someone in your situation needs all the quick powerups that you can acquire before your situation becomes common knowledge," Nya reminded her.

"What situation?" Shao innocently asked.

"Adult stuff, you'll understand when you're older," Nya brushed her off. Shao sulked.

She didn't realise the significance of Mikayla's Blessing of Teamwork, but neither of the students trusted Shao to keep her mouth shut if they directly told her 'Mikayla is a demigod'. They'd decided to just gloss over the significance of what they'd done in the Moonlight Knight, let her think all Armour Cores could do that - after all, she'd be old enough to keep the secret before anyone actually let her use one.

"You know, I heard that most high-ranking Guardsmen have a Neidan, but I haven't seen any of the faculty using one. Why's . ." Mikayla trailed off because Nya was throwing her the 'you're-an-idiot' look.

"Dean Wujing has a Neidan about controlling sand. You've seen him use it. It's well known that the Huntsman has a Neidan that lets him manipulate and pass through shadows. Doctor Fresco has been

banned

from using her flesh-manipulating Neidan. Musashibo's never confirmed but he's widely believed to have a mind-enhancing Neidan. And I don't know about Coach Yoro, but I'd be very surprised if he didn't have one,"

"Huh . . how did I not know any of that?" Mikayla had thought that Wujing just specialised in sand-themed Techniques. The rest was all news to her.

"Because they're all retired and we've never seen a single one of them fight seriously," Nya reminded her. "Trust me. Just because you haven't seen them use their Neidans doesn't mean they don't have them,"

"And I never even noticed," Mikayla hummed, then looked at Shao again. She certainly didn't

look

like the walking flamethrower that they all knew she was. Granted, her skin was a rather inflammatory shade of orange, but that was a normal colour for yaoguai. She'd checked.

Well, that made her feel better about her chances of turning into some kind of Mikayla-shaped lightning elemental or something.

"What about you? Have you considered getting a Neidan?"

Nya huffed. "Yevgenia has no need of any such thing,"

". . uh-huh,"

Mikayla raised an eyebrow. "But if there's no Neidan in the Template, then doesn't that mean you can add any Neidan you want and benefit from it? You'd be stronger that way too,"

"You misunderstand. I, and all others who would be the Reborn Rose, do not pursue strength indiscriminately as most Guardsmen do. For you, strength is a means to the end of finding your way back to your world, is it not?"

"That's right,"

"For me, strength is the means to the end of more perfectly emulating the Rosebush Huntress. Any form of power that does not conform to that ideal is worthless,"

"I see," Mikayla swallowed a sigh. Clearly she needed to be more creative in her efforts to buck Nya's brainwashing.

A knock on the door interrupted them, and all three glanced at the door. They didn't usually have unexpected visitors.

"Come in," Nya called.

The door swung open, and Sekki's yellow face and feline eyes peered in. "Ah, wonderful, I was worried that I'd gotten the wrong door,"

"Oh, hey Sekki," Mikayla waved as he let himself in.

"Good day to you, Lady Han, Miss Aiadon," He bowed with a smile, and Nya wasn't sure how seriously to take that. "And who's this lovely little girl?"

"This is Shao. We're friends, so she came to visit," Mikayla summarised.

Shao regarded Sekki critically. "You look like a leopard,"

He chuckled, flexing his tail to show off the spots running down it. "Why thank you,"

Shao snorted. "You're not mean. That's good," She looked at Nya. "Are you going to marry him?"

Nya choked. Mikayla spluttered incoherently.

"Ahahaaa, no, I am nowhere near impressive enough to win the affections of such a dashing woman as our dear Yevgenia," Sekki took it much more smoothly than Mikayla or Nya did.

"Oh. That's a shame," Shao mulled that over, then added, "You can't marry Mikayla. Keldryn has dibs,"

"He - he most certainly does not!" Mikayla gasped. "Where did you even get that idea?!"

Shao shrugged. "Seemed obvious,"

"Well I don't know what you're talking about," Mikayla insisted. "And you," she rounded on Nya, who was doubled over laughing, "Cut it out!"

"I do hate to interrupt something as amusing as this, but I did come here for a reason," Sekki intervened with a smile, fishing around in his robes. He produced an envelope, then moved towards Mikayla and launched into a sweeping bow with a hand outstretched to offer it to her.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

". . what are you doing?"

"Unfortunately, I am here in an official capacity. Please just take this so that I can go back to slacking off,"

Snorting a bit, Mikayla took the envelope. As Sekki straightened and cracked his back with a noise that sounded suspiciously like a purr, she tore it open and scanned the letter inside.

"We are cordially invited to the household of Leishun so that His Highness Lord Sang Gwandaehan Leishun can personally express his gratitude to us for saving the life of his son during the exercise last week,"

Nya choked. "That's what it says?!"

"In about ten times as many words, yep,"

"As the author of that particular piece, I am offended by your inability to appreciate my literacy," Sekki sighed dramatically.

"Oh, er, sorry?"

"Spare me. It's all drivel, I don't disagree. But I must yet live up to certain expectations. Such is the life of a manservant,"

Mikayla nodded, glancing at Nya, who looked like she'd bitten into a lemon. "What:a up, Nya?"

"This is going to be trouble," she responded, burying her face in her hands and massaging the bases of her horns.

"Are they meanies?" Shao asked.

"Yes. Yes, they are,"

"Then just say no. Don't go,"

"We can't," Nya groaned.

"Why not? No, really. You're the Reborn Rose. You always talk about how important you are," Mikayla questioned.

"That is not an official title, and it holds no weight outside the City of Roses. You recall my explanation about the stratification of nobility, correct?"

"Geum's family is more important than yours, I remember," Mikayla confirmed. Shao just shrugged a bit.

"Is the invitation just for you, or for our party?" Nya asked instead of elaborating.

"I would highly recommend that you both attend, and bring our foxy friend too, for what it's worth," Sekki put forward.

"Ah, I see. He's testing to see if you're available to be recruited," Nya assessed.

Mikayla mulled that over. "So if I wasn't already associated with you, Geum's dad would be asking me to join him?" She made a face. "Yeah, no way in hell,"

"Precisely. Which means we have to hope he does not attempt to force the issue, and prepare countermeasures in the event that he does," Nya's brow furrowed.

"Like setting him on fire?" Shao piped up.

"That would more likely than not be regrettable,"

Shao shrugged. "Fire solves problems,"

"Not

this

problem," Nya shook her head.

"This is happening because I saved Geum's ass last week," Mikayla groaned. "Is it completely out of the question that he genuinely just wants to thank me and that's all?"

The fact that Nya was stifling a laugh at the thought was enough of an answer.

Mikayla just groaned. "Ugh, why did it have to be politics? I am a historian. A researcher. And apparently a warrior. Politics is something I read about after the fact, not something I get involved in,"

Nya was unsympathetic. "Well, I'm sorry to say that it's too late. Politics are part of life in Cloudscraper. If you wanted to let your sword do all the talking, you should have stayed up in the Kaiju Coast,"

Mikayla sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I get you,"

"You keep reminding us all that you are a historian. What would the historical heroes whom you most respect do?"

"Storytime?" Shao jumped into Mikayla's lap, looking up at her pleadingly.

"Hmm, let me think. Alexander the Great would lead an army to conquer Leishun and rename it Alexandria," Mikayla sarcastically suggested.

"Awesome! Let's do it!"

"Unfortunately we are not in possession of an army. Also, the city is named Leicheng," Nya corrected her.

"Yep, right, gotcha. Plato would engage in philosophical debate with him, and wrestle him into the ground if that didn't work,"

"Yeah! Beat him up!"

"Neither of those are tenable options, Lord Leishun has the wherewithal to ignore our every word and he's much too high-level for us to fight,"

"Uh-huh. Well, Ramesses the Second would graffiti his name on every building he saw and find some pirates to fight,"

"He sounds awesome!"

"I would be immensely surprised if we encountered any pirates," Nya frowned. "Surely there's some legend you can think of about someone who entered a hostile city outnumbered and ill-equipped, yet somehow came out on top?"

Mikayla thought for a second, then snapped her fingers. "Pisistratus. He invaded and took over Athens with a

parade

. He got someone to dress up as the city's patron goddess, Athena, and declared that Athena herself had come to restore him to his rightful place on the throne,"

Nya looked incredulous. "And this Athena simply allowed that?"

For a moment, Mikayla had forgotten that gods actually existed in Raibalie. "No idea," she said rather than try to explain that. "Maybe it actually was the real Athena using the girl as a vessel," She'd read about that in Raibalie's histories; it was much more common than she'd expected for a god to possess one of their followers in an act of desperation.

. . come to think of it, that was probably what the Rainbow Ouroboros had wanted to do to

her

. She stifled a shiver, trying not to imagine how that would have gone. Would he have simply taken her over? Shared her brain? It felt wrong to be happy that the god had died, especially after making her his Inheritor, but if that was the alternative . .

"Whatever actually happened, it worked. Pisistratus took over Athens by putting on a performance so convincing that the people rose up and declared him king," Mikayla finished. "Don't think

we

could pull that off, though,"

"No, no, the idea has merit," Nya held up a hand, humming. "Taking refuge in audacity might well be our safest option. Perhaps . ." She moved over to her desk and picked up a pen. "I have to write a couple of letters. Hopefully my parents will be amenable,"

"Yikes. Need a hand?" Mikayla offered, shuddering a bit at the thought of Nya's awful home life.

"I suspect we would be better off limiting your interaction with them as much as possible. I will handle it," Nya assured her, and Mikayla couldn't disagree.

"Tell me more stories about heroes from your world?" Shao pleaded, and Mikayla melted before her puppy dog eyes.

"Aw, sure thing. Hm," What was a good story about fire?

"How about the legend of Prometheus?" Shao would probably appreciate the story of the man who gave fire to the people. Just so long as she left out the bit about being chained up for an eagle to eat his liver. She could make up a better ending to the story.