De Bello Phantastico 1 (Patreon)

De Bello Phantastico (Isekai Apocalypse Mynoghra/Sid Meier's Civilization SI)

Where the hell am I?

One moment I was dying as the world was lit up in nuclear devastation after one idiot got too spicy with the other, the next I was… sitting on a smooth stone throne in the middle of what looked to be an open-roofed temple. A temple that reminded me of some old ones back home of Greek and Roman origins.

I saw a few people already there, kneeling and seemingly worshiping me and I was tempted to just stop them from doing that as… It was embarrassing. And I was confused- like, what the hell is going on? How I got here?!

…Is this an Isekai situation? I tried to rationalize it as such since it was the simplest way to address such an odd matter. Thoughtfully so, I looked around for clues, starting from my current self.

I noticed my body was different- younger. I was roughly a young adult, barely into legality and donning a purple and red outfit that stemmed from some Roman robes and… a golden laurel wreath atop my head.

That’s a fancy way to pretty much confirm how, regardless of where I was, this place had some sort of tradition that connected to the Roman Empire or, if we have to be quite specific, any society that worshiped Roman Hellenism as its culture.

And, just like that, a window appeared in front of me. Blue in color with white letters appearing and forming words and sentences, mixed with a large map of the prime borders of the Roman Empire before its decline and fall.

[System Alert]

Player: John Bukharin
Civilization: Roman Empire
Alignment: True Neutral
Difficulty: ???

Welcome to Rome, o’ Caesar. Imperator of the Latin tribes, heir to Troy, descendant to Aphrodite and Divine Being to the eyes of many. Your story begins here, in the Roman Empire reborn within the safe walls of the first city. You will receive further info by inquiring over the ‘Civilization Description’ and the ‘Game Rules’.

Wait! This is now a…

“Game!”

The chirpy voice that shouted that word seemed to come right beside me, making me jump on the opposite way of that and let out a shocked yelp while I turned my full attention to the source of this ‘greeting’. And my eyes were blessed with quite the lovely grace… and dreadful realization.

Standing beside my throne with a proud look on her face, a certain blonde-haired young woman with a red dress that was styled to not only allow its user to fight in it comfortably but also… show her legs and clothed underbody.

“Umu, you were ignoring me there, Caesar! If I didn’t know you any better, I would have thought you were trying to purposely ignore me.”

…Ah? Why is Nero from Fate here?

One of the most famous members of the Claudian Dynasty of the Romans, Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (better known as Nero), was considered a strange individual within the Empire. The regency preceding his rule was quite stable and allowed for progress to go forth, but political intrigues and a general lack of education for the future Emperor led to some bad developments for the Empire during that era.

Rome burned and, while Nero blamed the Jews for it, many suspected he was the one behind this move as it allowed him to create his Domus Aurea. Plus, he was known for his bouts of insanity, such as the castration of a young slave to turn him into his ‘woman’ since he resembled Nero’s deceased wife.

This Nero was, however, a dilemma. Some elements were clearly inspiring of her design within the story of Fate/Extra and Fate/Grand Order, but the ‘insanity’ was tuned down. Nero was, in most of her versions within that series, known to be eccentric, but never to the point of becoming too much because of it.

Then again, this didn’t feel like either version despite her appearance suggesting she was the Nasuverse’s Nero. The reason why I was sure of it was the following window coming up between me and her, reminding me that this situation was plain ridiculous but entrenched in something familiar- a Game System.

[Heroic Units - Combatants]

All Civilizations start with Great Leaders. Yet, Heroic Units are above that connotations. Born to be great but not to truly lead civilizations, Heroic Units have three specific types: (Combatant) - (Builder) - (Researcher).

At this very moment, you start with a Heroic Combatant, Nero of Rome. She will be your main piece for the duration of the campaign and your victory card if you are able to expand her powers through EXP by battling enemy foes of equal or lower strength.

“Oh.”

“You are doing that again, Caesar. That is not nice! I am going to… pinch your cheek if you don’t stop it, Umu!”

“I am… sorry. Nero, right?”

“Yes. And you are Caesar John!” The blonde beamed, her brief irritation melting into a pretty smile. “My former Master and bringer of victory to Chaldea.”

…Hold up. What?

“Nero, what are you-” There is no way that she knows the full truth… right?

“I know who you are, John,” She said, pretty much cracking that expectation. “From the very first day you ‘rolled’ for me in my Bride Form, through the various Singularities were brawled for order and… all those times where our bond grew stronger.”

…I did have a Nero (Bride) in my game but-

“How? How is it possible that you- I mean, all of this is even happening? What is going on?!”

She giggled. “It’s alright, Caesar. This is, after all, a very confusing mess. Trust me when I say that my head hurt a little bit when I first ‘appeared’ here and got dumped with so many things all at once inside my mind~.”

I slowly nodded at this. “Then, can you please explain to me what is going on, Nero?”

“Sure thing~! Right now, we are in a fantasy world we have close to no clue about- a new world you may say and… we are the leading force of Rome within the continent. For some reasons, we have taken much inspiration from the game known as… Sid Meier’s Civilization.”

“Wait, Civilization? Which one?”

Sid Meier’s Civilization was a series made by strategy games. Rather than being historically-faithful to the bone like many other titles of the genre, Civilization was one of those rare cases where players could take various civilizations from different eras and advance them from the very beginning of human civilization to semi-futuristic methods. The games had various ways to achieve victory and… It’s been ages since I played it. The most recent ones being the VI and, even then, I forgot much of what I could with that sort of ‘power’ over people.

“I don’t know. Only that it takes into account that series and… this odd ‘starting point’.”

“And the Heroic Units thingy that wasn’t a real thing in any of the Civs games…” I remarked, yet wasn’t done asking for explanations. “Still, does this mean we are currently within a… ‘small Rome’?”

“That’s correct. Colonists were able to create a small settlement with wooden walls to keep away any hostile animal or troublesome infiltrator. Rome is currently a ‘Level 1 City’.”

So, we didn’t have much of a defense going for us. Still, it wasn’t the end of the world as we had a seemingly good starting point.

“Any other civs around our city?”

“None within our general proximity, but you could order our only Scout Unit to Explore around for any provinces or units around.”

Before I could ask how to do that, I gave it an effort by ‘thinking’ of doing that.

Selecting - Scouts

Action - Exploration (Scouts-only ability that allows them to move autonomously to explore territory within the fog of war. The action will be interrupted within the chance of finding new provinces or units owned by other civilizations.)

I ‘clicked’ it and I felt the unit ‘moving’. It was a rather odd feeling but I could tell for sure that I had made such a distant ‘psychic’ command so easily. And I was really weirded out by this.

“And that’s… strange.”

Nero, surprisingly enough, nodded in agreement. “Yep, but… John?”

I glanced at her and she offered a smile.

“I know this may not sound much but I know we'll make it. After all, we are the best team!” The blonde proclaimed… before adding something that made me amused to an extent. “Well, after you and Scathach, and you and Kuro.”

As she admitted to this, I saw her deflate a bit and… I sighed.

“Nero, sit here.”

I patted the empty space within the stone throne, the girl looked a bit stunned by this move but ended up complying to it. Then, a bit tensely due to the suddenness of what I did next, she allowed me to lower her upper body down so that her head rested on my lap and… I gave her a bit of lap pillow treatment plus some headpats.

“You are my number one right now, Nero. I trust in you.”

She squealed and blushed, her ‘Umu’ mood picking up and… I hope I am not going to be killed by her Padoru cringe during Christmas time…

Still, right as I thought these first few ‘turns’ were going to be tame, I was surprised when one guard rushed up to the temple.

“Caesar! I bear important news!”

The man wearing some pre-Legionnaire outfit took to kneel on one knee before me before speaking up.

“We have spotted a large contingent of Dark Elves within the approaches. Most of them are starving civilians!”

…I am quite sure there are no Dark Elves in any Civilization games, so what is going on here?!

—-----------d-d-d-d—-----

AN

UMU! Nero replaces ‘Atou’ from Isekai Apocalypse Mynoghra as John’s first and main Heroic Unit.

More game logic coming up soon and, much to John’s chagrin, this ‘Civ game’ got patched up to fit properly in a world that can be quite expansive, extremely distrusting with strangers and has a big-tiddy ‘Max Rank Gandhi’ Nun that wants to Nuclear Deus Vult infidels’ asses left and right. Yes, that last statement is lore-compliant.