Gacha Harem System

A/N: Apologies for the lack of recent Chapters. I fell deathly ill, so I’ve been stuck on a hospital bed for the past few days. I’m back up on my feet now. Thanks for your understanding.

***

The shouts spread across the courtyard, one voice picking up from another.

"Crystal Wolves sighted ahead!"

"Wolves on the route!"

Lukas straightened in his seat, one hand already drifting towards his spatial ring. Would he really have a chance to use his weapon this early?

Beside him, Melody had lowered her fork, and in the front seat, Akira had turned to the source of the shouting, ready for anything.

Then they noticed something strange.

Nobody else moved.

The merchants kept haggling, and the food sellers kept turning their skewers as if it was just another day.

Even the other passengers in the cart train kept eating, talking, or dozing exactly as they’d been a moment ago.

Their driver leaned back in his seat, pulled what looked like a bottle from under the dashboard, and took a long swig of whatever was inside.

Lukas looked at Karrakas.

"Should we be doing something?"

Karrakas chuckled, leaning back even further in his own seat. "There’s no need for that. Just relax."

"But there are wolves ahead."

"There are wolves somewhere on the route between here and the Forts," Karrakas said. "It happens all the time. The route is patrolled and maintained, so when beasts wander close, someone spots them, the shout goes out, and the response teams handle it."

He gestured lazily to the gate behind them. "It just means a small delay for us. Five minutes, give or take. Then we move."

"That’s it?" Melody asked.

"That’s it. If it were anything serious, you’d see people running. Look around." He spread a hand at the courtyard. "Does anyone look worried to you?"

They looked as the driver took another swig.

"No," Akira admitted.

"Then eat your steak before it gets cold."

They settled back, though Lukas kept part of his attention on the tunnel mouth ahead.

Several minutes passed, then new shouts rolled across the courtyard, carrying the opposite message.

"Route’s clear!"

"The road ahead is clear!"

The driver capped his bottle, tucked it back under the dashboard, and pushed his mana into the cart.

The train shuddered gently, then began to roll forward, pulling out of the courtyard and leaving the noise of the market behind.

They drove into a large tunnel.

The crystal walls near the entrance still carried light from the courtyard, glowing faintly blue as they passed. But the farther they moved from Azure Town, the dimmer everything became.

The shifting colors in the walls faded to dark surfaces, and the glow behind them shrank to a point.

The driver reached forward and activated the lamps, one mounted on each cart down the length of the train.

Warm light spread out around them, pushing back the dark and catching on the crystal in scattered reflections.

Eventually the tunnel narrowed, the ceiling lowering and the walls drawing in, and the last traces of outside light disappeared entirely.

Darkness pressed in on all sides, complete except for the string of lamps running along the train.

Conversation across the carts fell away to almost nothing.

The passengers who had been talking dropped their voices, then stopped altogether.

The only sounds were the low hum of the carts and the occasional shift of cargo.

Lukas kept his eyes on their surroundings as the train moved through the dark.

The lamplight only reached so far. Beyond its edge, the tunnel walls faded into black, and the crystal caught the light in unpredictable flashes.

’That was the problem,’ he thought.

If beasts really did roam these tunnels, and they were made of the same crystal as everything around them, spotting one before it moved would be nearly impossible.

Every surface already glittered, and every angle already threw back light. A Crystal Wolf standing still against a crystal wall wouldn’t look like a beast. It would look like more wall.

The shouts back at the courtyard made more sense now. The route needed dedicated spotters because ordinary eyes weren’t enough down here.

He filed that away. When they left the maintained routes for the unmapped branches, that problem would become theirs.

The journey stretched on, longer than he’d expected. The tunnel curved, widened, and narrowed again.

Twice they passed lit waystations carved into the rock, each manned by a pair of bored looking guards who waved the train through without stopping it.

Then the walls began to brighten.

Faint light grew ahead, and the tunnel opened up around them all at once. The train rolled out into a wide courtyard, and sound crashed over them like a wave.

The place was packed.

People moved in every direction, shouting over each other, hauling crates, and dragging packed crystals on sledges towards long counters where clerks weighed and tallied.

Merchants bellowed prices, and somewhere, a hammer kept ringing against metal.

Groups of armed Climbers stood in clusters, arguing over maps or dividing loot straight out of their spatial rings.

It was louder than Azure Town. More crowded, too, and rougher around every edge.

Beyond the courtyard rose walls, but not smooth city walls.

These were palisades, great shafts of crystal driven into the ground side by side like enormous stakes, their tips angled out. Light from the courtyard caught in them and scattered.

The train slowed, then stopped.

The driver killed the lamps.

Karrakas stood, stretching his arms over his head, and turned to the three of them with a grin.

"Welcome to Fort One."

Lukas, Akira, and Melody stepped out of the cart, boots hitting the crystal ground.

Up close, the courtyard was even busier than it had looked from the train, and they had to step aside as two men hauled a sledge past them, a stack of crystals strapped across it.

"So this is where everyone actually works," Akira said, watching the sledge go.

"Exactly," Karrakas said. "Azure Town is where money gets spent. The Fort towns are where it gets made."

He swept a hand across the courtyard. "Climbers pass through here constantly. They’re usually heading out, coming back, selling what they’ve killed, or resupplying."

"The courtyards in Fort One and Fort Two see more activity in a day than Azure Town’s courtyards sees in a week. It’s not as pretty, but it’s honest."

"It’s loud," Melody said.

"That too."

A merchant nearby bellowed something about discounted rope, close enough that Melody flinched.

"First order of business," Karrakas said, raising his voice slightly over the din. "Same as anywhere. We secure a place to stay before we do anything else. Never leave lodging for last. Rooms disappear fast in towns like this when hunting parties come back before nightfall."

Lukas nodded and reached into his spatial ring, pulling out the information packet.

He flipped through the pages until he found the map of Fort One, then held it out so the others could see.

The map was simple, holding the main streets, key buildings, and a handful of marked establishments. Several bore the small symbol indicating inns.

They gathered around it.

"There." Karrakas tapped one of the marked inns, a few streets in from the courtyard. "It’s close enough to the gate that we won’t be walking across the whole town every morning, but far enough that the courtyard noise won’t keep you up at night."

"The price range?" Lukas asked.

"Middle of the road for a Fort town. Which means reasonable." Karrakas smirked. "You’ll appreciate that after seeing Azure Town’s rates."

Lukas looked at Melody and Akira. "Any objections?"

"None," Akira said.

"As long as it has beds," Melody said.

"It has beds," Karrakas said. "Probably."

"Karrakas."

"It has beds." He laughed and turned towards the gate in the palisade wall. "Come on. Follow me."

Lukas folded the map away, and the three of them fell in behind him, weaving through the crowd towards the entrance to Fort One.

***

Sol was lounging in his room, sprawled across a long chair with one leg hooked over its arm, tossing a small knife into the air and catching it without looking.

The door suddenly burst open, and one of his servants rushed in, slightly out of breath.

"Young master Sol. There’s news."

Sol caught the knife and turned his head lazily. "It had better be good news."

"Lukas Valentine has entered the Second Floor."

Sol surged to his feet, the chair rocking back behind him.

"Finally!"

He threw his arms wide, the knife still gripped in one hand.

"Finally! Days of watching that man shop and drive and eat, and he’s finally done something worth my time!"

He was already moving, walking to his wardrobe, energy pouring off him.

"Get the strike team ready. Full preparation, everything we discussed. We move today." He pulled the wardrobe open and began sorting through it. "We’re going to the Red Desert."

"Young master."

"Tell them I want everyone assembled within the hour. I want no stragglers, and no excuses."

"Young master, it’s not the Red Desert."

Sol stopped, one hand still in the wardrobe.

He turned his head slowly. "What?"

"Valentine didn’t go to the Red Desert," the servant said. "He entered through a different gate. He’s gone to the Crystal Caves."

For a moment, Sol simply stood there, blinking.

"The Crystal Caves," he repeated.

"Yes, sir. We just confirmed it. He entered with his wives and their guide."

Sol stared at the wall for a second longer, then a grin spread slowly across his face.

"Well," he said, pulling a coat from the wardrobe and swinging it over his shoulders. "It makes no difference. Desert, caves, the bottom of the sea. Terrain is terrain."

He slid the knife into his belt and turned back to the servant, eyes gleaming. "Wherever he is, that’s where I’m going."

He clapped his hands together once.

"Assemble the team. We’re heading to the Second Floor. It’s time I was properly introduced to Lukas Valentine."

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