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

Lord Sang Gwandaehan Leishun, reining lord of the Honoured House of Leishun, looked out through the window of his study and regarded his city.

He did this quite often, because he knew that people could see him through the window, and he liked making the people whom he ruled feel like their lord was attentively watching over them. The scuff marks before the window had become his favoured thinking spot.

Right now, his attention was focused on the wharf. Leicheng was a riverside town, one of the cities that had been connected five hundred years ago by the (very expensive) excavation of the Zenkai Canal. For generations, the canal had been a boon, but with the recent advent of Train Cores as the premier form of transportation it had become an obstacle to the expansion of the railroad. A bridge was under construction near the edge of the city, and shiploads of building materials were arriving every week.

And there was more than a little evidence that this flurry of activity was being used to conceal some unlicensed smuggling from his town garrison.

Approaching footsteps distracted him from his ruminations on how to handle that issue. "Mail for you, my lord," his head maid, a leopard beastkin named Jinsil, bowed as she offered an envelope.

"Thank you, darling," Jinsil had already opened the envelope for him with her claws, so he only had to extract the letter from within.

"The Noble House of Han extends its most sincere gratitude for the invitation and will be visiting without delay - what?!" His brow furrowed. "What invitation? Han, Han, I heard that name recently, they're minor nobility, part of that scheme in the City of Roses about resurrecting the Rosebush Huntress' bloodline,"

Sang didn't care much for the City of Roses. There was more so-called 'nobility' in that one city than the rest of Guili put together; the inevitable result of the entire Kaiju Coast's nobility fleeing and shacking up together in what as far as he could tell amounted to a big and unsightly cult around their deified saviour. Those fifty-odd self-proclaimed noble families could shout nonsense as much as they desired, they didn't have the money, holdings or heritage that

proper

nobility like the Leishun dynasty did.

"One of them is in the same cohort as Geum and Sekki," Jinsil demurely contributed.

"Yes, that's right, thank you. And I sent that invitation to the girl who saved Geum's life - but her name was Mikayla Aiadon and she's a human. That's correct, isn't it? I'm not going senile?"

"No, milord, you recall correctly. However, Sekki did inform us that Aiadon is the Han girl's roommate. If you'll permit me to speculate, it's possible that the Hans have taken her on as a retainer for their daughter," Jinsil mused.

"Of course you can speculate. I trust your judgement,"

"Oh, you flatter me too much, my lord,"

Sang chuckled minutely, then looked back at the letter. "I suppose we have no choice but to prepare to host an envoy,"

"How do you want to handle it?"

"Put our best foot forwards," he decided. "No reason to be needlessly antagonistic. Have the

nice

guest quarters prepared,"

Sang fingered his chin. "I do wonder what they're planning,"

<=====}—o

"You're sure about this?" Mikayla checked.

"This is not what Armour Cores were made for. We could kill a Tier 10 with this many Mana Potions," Keldryn grumbled, looking at his belt.

"All eyes will be on us. It is perfect," Nya assured her.

"Well, alright," Mikayla double-checked that the special Core Nya had given her was properly screwed into her Core Gauntlet, then looked around at the dozen retainers that had accompanied them on the privately chartered train from the City of Roses to Leishun. They were all dressed in finery embroidered with the Han family crest, and each wore a Core Controller bristling with Ambers and Rubies.

"If everyone is fully prepared, then let us move out!" In a wave of purple, Moonlight Rose wrapped around Nya's Body and swelled to full size as she strode out of the train station and into the main street of Leishun. Two of her retainers chased after her, following and flanking her as a matching pair of Armour Cores armed with train-sized trumpets.

Mikayla waited until there was enough space, and then she and Keldryn followed. The Black Knight formed up at size ten, as well as the extra piece of equipment Nya had given her; a giant flag emblazoned with the Han family crest.

". . What are we doing," Nocturnus did not phrase it as a question. He sounded more irritated than Mikayla had ever heard from him before.

"We're part of a parade," she answered.

"Why,"

"Nya's doing politics,"

Nocturnus scoffed. "The vaunted Black Knight, one of the Five Heroes who slew the Monster King, reduced to a mere standard bearer for someone else . ."

Mikayla tuned out his grumbling, paying attention to their surroundings.

The rest of the attendants had formed up as a ceremonial honour guard behind them. The Yevgenia-centric culture of the City of Roses had influenced even the structure of a parade; the original Yevgenia's reputation for leading from the front had made it customary for Nya, as the person in whose honour the procession was being held, to take the lead.

The fact that the entire parade consisted of fifty-foot-tall Armour Cores walking two abreast, four of which were wielding flags three times their height, made it into a spectacle that could be seen all over the city. Even the largest and widest road in Leicheng was only barely wide enough for the Black Knight and Skyward Grasscutter to walk side by side, and Mikayla guessed that the city was older than the concept of Armour Cores if it so obviously hadn't been built with them in mind. It was a mercy that there even was a just-barely-wide enough route to take from the train station at the northern edge of the city to the Leishun mansion at the top of a hill near the centre.

The streets rapidly emptied before them, yet hundreds of curious and scared faces peered out at the parade. Mikayla resisted the urge to raise an arm and wave at them - if the Black Knight did that, it would probably knock over a building or two.

For all that the parade was a huge and garish display, it went remarkably uneventfully. Guards clad in Leishun colours fell in around their feet, but if there were any words exchanged Mikayla couldn't hear them.

As they reached the gate that separated the Leishun estate from the rest of the city, Mikayla's eyes were drawn to the woman who waited outside to greet them. She was dressed in plain robes coloured the same shade of crimson as Geum's aura - which, if the banners adorning the gatehouse were anything to go by, was the family colour. Her hair, though, was a brilliant, metallic silver that parted around massive, pointed ears. This was her first time seeing an elf in person.

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"Welcome to Leishun Manor," the elf curtsied, sounding more amused than anything by the Han family's performance.

Nya shrank down, and the rest of their party followed suit. "I am Yevgenia Han, heir to the Noble House of Han. With me are my teammates, Mikayla Aiadon of Melbourne, and Keldryn Thorntail of Farmshadow, as well as our escort. We have come in response to the invitation sent to us by Lord Sang Gwandaehan Leishun, and request admission and sanctuary in advance of a meeting with his lordship,"

"Your request is granted," the elf nodded ritualistically. A knowing smile tinged at her lips as she regarded the three of them. "The Black Knight and a Moonlight Rose, hm?" Her eyes seemed to pierce right into Mikayla's soul. "Trying to do the Five Heroes all over again, are we?"

Mikayla tilted her head. "You're the first person I've met in this country who acknowledges the Black Knight as a hero,"

The elderly elf chuckled. "Take it from someone who was there, youngster. The Black Knight was just as much a hero as anyone else who fought for sapienity in those days. Even if he made mistakes . . well, who doesn't?" She shrugged and wandered away before Mikayla could inquire further.

She frowned, watching her go. Nya and Keldryn had already started making their way towards the main building in the distance, but Mikayla hesitated. "Do you know her or something, Nocty?"

"I'm afraid I haven't the slightest clue who she is,"

Mikayla hummed. "Interesting," She made to go after her friends, but made it only two steps before stopping dead. "Wait! She - she was there? She's an elf? More than two hundred years old?"

"Yes, that isn't all that remarkable a lifespan for an elf. What is your point?"

Mikayla was already casting around, trying to see where the woman had vanished off to while whisper-shouting, "She's a

primary source!

She could tell us what Yevgenia got up to after you died!"

Based on the strangled noise Nocturnus made, that hadn't occurred to him either.

After a long moment of fruitless searching, Mikayla cursed. "Nothing. Where did she go?"

With no leads, they had little recourse but to catch up with the rest of the group, making their way through the gardens of the Leishun Estate.

While the Han Estate's hedgerows had been tidy and plain, almost militaristic in their pruning, this place was overflowing with blossoms and blooms of every colour. Giant cherry blossom trees in more colours than could possibly be natural sheltered the main road from the sun, side roads were framed with arches that themselves hosted flowering vines. Mikayla caught glimpses of gardens so intricate that there had to be a full staff of gardeners on hand to maintain them.

Nothing dared to interrupt them until they had arrived at the front doors of the main building, which was a towering square citadel built in tiers around a central spire. It was the second-tallest building Mikayla had seen in this world, dwarfed only by Astralia's Spear. The roofs were stained the same shade of crimson, which contrasted nicely with the sand-coloured stone of the keep.

Mikayla was only mildly surprised to find that Sekki was outside the doors and waiting for them, his features schooled professionally. He and two young women were flanking an older woman, a leopardkin, and the family resemblance was immediately obvious.

"Greetings to the envoys of the Noble House of Han. I am Jinsil, the head maid of the Leishun Estate. Please, allow me to escort you to the suite that has been set aside for you,"

"It would be our pleasure, please do," Nya formally responded. Jinsil bowed, and without another word they set off.

Keldryn stayed silent as they entered the building, eyes and ears twitching in every direction as he scanned for threats.

"We're not going to meet Lord Leishun?" Mikayla questioned.

"His Lordship is very busy. The earliest time that we can schedule an audience with him is tomorrow morning," Jinsil responded.

"What? Why? We sent the letter saying we were coming

last week

, we could have just come -" Mikayla was cut off with a wince as Nya none-too-subtly stepped on her foot.

Before she could protest, Nya was already hissing at her; "It's a power play. He's reminding us of our station by making us wait on him. If we'd have come tomorrow, he'd not be available until Sunday. Etcetera. This is entirely expected, stop making a fuss or we might not even get back in time for class on Monday,"

Mikayla winced. "Right. Sorry," she whispered.

"There's a reason I scheduled our arrival for so late in the day," Nya assured her.

The group was admitted to a large and lavish suite, with separate bedrooms for each of the students to use and an attached barrack for the attendants. Mikayla wasn't thrilled about that, but no one else complained so she decided not to raise a fuss.

The entire evening passed uneventfully, and when Sekki came in at the head of a train of attendants to serve dinner, Mikayla insisted that he join her, Nya and Keldryn for a study session.

She'd claimed it was because he was better at Politics than anyone else in their class, but the truth was that she wasn't comfortable with the confines of the stratified society that were all around her. Sekki was her friend, not 'the help'.

Asking where Geum was had told her that he was still at Cloudscraper. Apparently Nya's audience with his father didn't merit his presence. Meanwhile, he had confirmed her suspicion that Jinsil was his mother, despite the fact that she was a beastkin and Sekki a mixed-blood yaoguai. Which had led to Nya realising that she'd been negligent in her duty of filling in Mikayla's common knowledge and delivering an impromptu lecture that told her much more than she'd ever wanted to know about interracial crossbreeding.

Mikayla also tried to get to know Nya's attendants, but struggled to strike up conversation; they'd all categorised her as 'Nya's retainer' and therefore too far above them for anything they said to be worth her time. After multiple polite rebuffs and excuses, she'd given up and gone to bed.

Her dreams of being a social butterfly just weren't getting off the ground.

It was with more than a little disappointment that she settled in for bed in an unreasonably lavish queen-size mattress and drifted off to sleep.

<=====}—o

"Mikayla,"

Mikayla stirred. Someone was shaking her awake.

"Mikayla, wake up," She blinked blearily, and focused on Keldryn's face.

"Keldie? Wha, whassup?"

"You need to wake up, right now. We've got a situation,"

She rubbed her eyes and forced herself to sit up. "What's happened?"

"Someone killed Sekki's mother,"