"Magical beast…"
When Porucus uttered those words, Arthur's expression remained unchanged, but a ripple stirred within him.
Magical beasts were a general term for creatures far stronger than normal wild animals. These beings often possessed extraordinary abilities not found in ordinary beasts—making them incredibly troublesome.
In the Age of Gods within the Type-Moon universe, magical beasts were very common.
Many of the heroic epics and legends handed down through history feature these creatures. And in nearly all of them, the most brilliant deeds of the Heroic Spirits involve the slaying of powerful magical beasts.
Killing a well-known and named magical beast often meant getting recorded by Alaya —and ascending to the Throne of Heroes after death, there is another way but let's not talk about it a certain archer would not recommend going that route. (Red A : ...)
In the Age of Gods, slaying magical beasts was practically the fastest path to becoming a hero.
This fact also indirectly reveals how dangerous and powerful magical beasts truly are.
In the game Fate/Grand Order Hegemony, a certain number of magical beasts typically appear on the map. Defeating them successfully rewards the player with a lot of resources . However, these are usually challenges for the mid-to-late stages of the game.
In the early game, especially without having summoned a Servant, attempting to hunt magical beasts is extremely difficult.
Returning to the present—after a long silence, Arthur asked Porucus:
"What is that magical beast like? What are its characteristics? And if I were to slay it… what advice would you give me, Porucus?"
Even magical beasts vary in strength. The ones that appear in heroic epics and legends are typically the elites of their kind. As for weaker magical beasts, large mortal armies can sometimes subdue them.
"Thebeast is enormous, almost ten meters long. It has thick, powerful limbs, massive claws. A long, muscular tail with barbs. A triangular head. Its entire body is covered in gray, spiked scales… Kind of like a wingless, bloated dragon species."
Dragons are one of the most innately powerful categories among magical beasts.
In Europe , dragon-type magical beasts are quite numerous and closely tied to mythologies. In Roman mythology, Jupiter, the chief god, once defeated an evil dragon named Tantalus. Because of this, he was revered by Roman citizens as the "God of Dragons."
"If my lord wishes to slay that beast…"
Porucus gritted his teeth.
"Before arriving here, I never personally fought a magical beast, but I've heard tales from a centurion who has."
In the Type-Moon timeline, the United Roman Empire existed during the early AD era—just as the Age of Gods was fading. Magical beasts still roamed the lands of Rome at that time.
"Generally speaking, it was always the general who led the hunts."
The generals of the United Roman Empire are of Servant-level strength—easily capable of defeating moderately powerful magical beasts on their own.
"Give me a cohort of soldiers, and I am confident I can defeat that beast," Porucus declared.
A standard Roman legion consists of ten cohorts, and one cohort typically has 400 to 600 men.
While the camp may currently have enough people, turning them all into professional soldiers was clearly unrealistic.
Moreover, judging from Porucus's strained expression, even if they were victorious, the cost in casualties would likely be severe.
"But that's not possible…"
Arthur rejected the idea decisively.
"Spring planting has already begun. We need every able-bodied person working the fields. Training them into soldiers is out of the question."
Creating even one cohort of soldiers would require a system like Sparta's—all citizens becoming warriors.
But Sparta succeeded because it had vast resources and vassals to support its way of life.
Here, in unfamiliar territory, the camp could only be self-sufficient.
Arthur asked again:
"Is the area where the magical beast appears far from the camp?"
Porucus nodded.
Both magical and ordinary beasts are typically territorial. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn't leave their own domain.
The camp was established outside of that beast's territory.
"So as long as we don't provoke it, it likely won't come here."
Of course, that's assuming the camp stays within its current size. If they expanded significantly, an encounter with the beast would be unavoidable.
The Human Order System's goal was to spread the light of humanity, so the expansion of the camp and civilization was inevitable.
Porucus nodded again.
"I see," Arthur said, taking a deep breath.
A magical beast near the camp was bad news. But the good news? It wasn't an immediate problem.
Once the Human Order's forces took root in this world, Arthur would naturally have ways to handle the beast.
"For now, there's no need for the military to explore the ruins in depth. Just send out small patrols around the camp daily."
"Change the direction of exploration for now… try the forest outside the city."
A small squad of soldiers was already stationed near the forest, mainly to protect the lumberyard there.
"Your will is our command,"
Porucus said, rising from his chair to salute arthur.
"Thank you, Porucus. I'll be counting on you again. Go take a good rest for now," Arthur replied.
After Porucus left, Arthur intertwined his fingers, elbows resting on the polished desk, deep in thought.
It was clear that the city ruins weren't simple.
Ding…!
New system feature unlocked..!
Quests
"A goal you need to achieve set by the human order to get recources, relics or other rewards"
New quest generated…!
(Side quest) Danger in the ruins!
A magical beast has made its territory in the ruins of this once glorious city obstructing our development we ask of our lord what course of action should we take:
"huh…oh so the events from the game are quests here… maybe random events can happen too. I hope a good one happens in the future"
1- Attack the magical beast it stands in our way ( rewards (if successful) two random servant summoning relics, resources, 1 random skill (will not go past D rank) )
"the rewards are pretty good … but I don't think we are powerful enough to do that yet so.. not choosing this one"
2- Wait it out maybe it won't attack us ? ( rewards: your defeat cg)
He could feel his eye twitching
"system…why the hell would I need that ! wait is it a female magical beast does this system think I am that donkey from Shrek I am not brave enough for that ! and if it's male…
3- wait for the right time, summon a servant then attack. (one relic for a servant before completion if secret goals in the quest are met you may get extra rewards)
" well…this one is probably the best for the current situation and a relic for a caster would be great for now."
since summoning those big guys like artoria would be a problem for his magical energy because of his locked circuits and the food problem for artoria . so a caster who can sustain themselves with earth veins would be the best option and he already has one in mind and they would help with the settlement's growth because…
The area where the magical beast was spotted wasn't even near the center of the ruins—implying that something more mysterious might be hidden deeper inside. Secrets about this otherworld, and about the civilization that once stood here, might lie there.
But with Arthur's current strength, deep exploration wasn't an option.
"This really is a good place…" he sighed.
Even in the game, choosing the starting location for a base was no trivial matter. And in real life, it was even more critical. With expansion in mind, the site had to be chosen with great care.
From a geographic perspective, this was an ideal spot for city-building—a plain with nearby forests and water. Mineral resources hadn't yet been surveyed, but considering the Human Order System had brought him here, city-building resources were likely abundant.
"Just give me a bit more time to develop in peace…at least grow a bit taller "
The Human Order System was full of potential. Once the basic objectives were met, further development was all but assured—such as building powerful units and weapons, advanced structures, and most importantly: Servant Summoning.
For now, the hidden threat wasn't affecting the camp directly. Arthur's priority remained development—gathering strength.
Spring planting was underway. The camp's construction was essentially complete. Arthur redirected some of the labor force from construction to farming.
Other than armed forces and a few artisans, most of the population were still farmers. That suited Arthur's strategy just fine—building up gradually through agriculture.
.........................................................…
In the farmland beyond the ruins, Arthur stood on a path between fields, listening to cheers in the distance.
Alongside the cheering, the system's voice rang in his ears:
"New building: [Irrigation Canal] completed."
A river ran through the plains outside the ruins, passing through forests and into the city. Building simple canals was relatively easy.
Arthur looked again at the farmland before him.
Clearing nearly 200 acres in just one month was no small feat. Fortunately, the system's starter pack had included plenty of oxen and farming tools. Plus, given the Type-Moon setting, ordinary Roman civilians had extraordinary physical strength. Labor that would kill a normal person wasn't even tiring for them.
With farmland, canals, and dedicated caretakers in place, as long as the weather held up, the camp's food supply was secured.
Arthur consulted with his agriculture officer, Quintus. Under normal conditions, one acre of land could feed 8–10 people. So by the summer harvest in three months, food would no longer be an issue.
.........................................................…
Time passed quickly—another month had gone by.
It had been a peaceful month, with nothing particularly memorable happening for Arthur.
That was a good thing. No complications. A smooth transition was the best situation the camp could hope for.
The camp was now fully built. The area surrounding the ruins had been cleared. Gone were the crumbling walls—replaced by orderly buildings and a road connecting the camp to the nearby farmland.
Expansion had been limited—partly due to the small population, and partly because large-scale expansion might disturb the magical beasts deeper in the ruins.
Crops planted earlier had already sprouted. According to Quintus, the wheat was growing very well. He predicted a great harvest in the summer.
Arthur trusted this experienced officer. His assessment gave Arthur peace of mind.
Besides building and farming, the next task was exploration.
This world clearly held intelligent life. The clues found in the ruins, along with the Earth-like environment, suggested that the intelligent species here were probably humanoid—not tentacled or insect-like aliens.
Arthur wasn't planning to explore the ruins deeply until the camp leveled up. For now, exploration was redirected to the vast forest outside the city.
Once again, the experienced centurion Porucus led the exploration. Many of the Roman soldiers provided by the Human Order System had worked as scouts before—so this task suited them.
Even so, Arthur's attitude toward external exploration remained cautious and conservative.
His current strength was still too low. Premature contact with this world's native civilizations could be dangerous.
Of course, Arthur remained optimistic about the future.
The Type-Moon Human Order System was backed by the full weight of Type-Moon's advanced human civilization even the lostbelt factions. In the game Fate/Grand Order Hegemony, players could choose factions such as:
Unified Human Intelligence Empire (Immortal Qin civilization)
Valhöll: Eternal Icy Fire civilization (Scandinavian civilization)
Interstellar Mechanical Cities (Mecha-descended Greek civilization)
All had incredibly high ceilings for development.
Arthur did feel a bit of regret right after arriving—wondering why he hadn't chosen one of those more powerful factions in the game.
But that regret lasted only a second. Those factions were strong, but extremely difficult to develop. They had high potential, but their long development cycles made them vulnerable early on.
If he had picked one of those, and then faced an early crisis he couldn't handle, that would have been a disaster.
By contrast, the Eternal Madness Empire: Rome offered smooth, gradual upgrades—perfect for his current situation.
In short, before fully developing, Arthur had only one strategy: survive and bide time.
Though he ordered Pollock to explore, deep down Arthur hoped they wouldn't encounter this world's native civilizations too soon.
Still, exploration was necessary. There's a big difference between initiating contact and being caught off guard. The former at least gives you some control.
As the sun dipped toward the horizon, Porucus returned to camp.
Without resting, he came directly to Arthur.
Arthur's residence had been remodeled this month into a standalone building:
................................................................
"Building: Lord's Manor"
"The Lord's Manor is the administrative center where the lord and officials conduct their affairs. It symbolizes the lord's authority."
................................................................
Constructed primarily of stone, the manor was elegant and sturdy, with two guards posted outside.
Arthur had been informed of Porucus's return, but was surprised the centurion had come straight to him.
Receiving him inside the room, Arthur examined the determined face of the centurion and said:
"Looks like something's happened."
Porucus nodded.
"Yes, Lord… it's hard to explain in a few words. Please come with me."
The two men walked out of the room and came to the courtyard outside the lord's palace, where two allied Roman soldiers were standing with what seemed to be a broken sculpture …