Ch.111[Chapter 111] Dominic AND Hime

“Who is it?”

Sir Dominic asked as he stepped out to the front door.

“Feed… I mean, delivery.”

Sir Dominic opened the door at those words.

He furrowed his remaining eye questioningly.

Usually, deliveries were handled by Heaven Delivery.

But the delivery person who came now looked far from an angel.

Large horns and red skin.

Wings like bat membranes.

Even the logo was unusual, with a package inside a red pentagram.

“Hell Delivery. The fastest delivery in the world!”

But safety is thrown to the dogs. The red-skinned demon with a goat beard grinned wickedly.

“Anyway, there was a temporary server maintenance today due to instability. This is compensation for that.”

“Temporary maintenance?”

Sir Dominic thought hard about whether anything else had happened today besides the visit from the secret society Y.O.Y.A.N.G.W.O.N, but he couldn’t think of anything.

“Was there such a thing?”

“Ah, right. You’re tier 2. You probably didn’t notice.”

The demon grinned, tearing his mouth up to his cheekbones.

“Time stops briefly during temporary maintenance. Anyway, just sign here and receive it.”

The demon handed over a dented folder of documents.

Sir Dominic was about to sign unconsciously, but then realized this courier was a demon and decided to read the documents carefully.

Surprisingly, it was a completely normal document with no unfair clauses.

“Everyone checks like that at least once. Wondering if it’s a demon contract.”

The demon laughed horribly.

“We’ve already received payment, so don’t worry. We’re now in the position of fulfilling contracts, not making them.”

The demon sent an urging glance at Sir Dominic.

Sir Dominic felt somewhat uneasy but signed the document anyway.

The document disappeared as if burning.

“Now, this is yours. Just as the coders’ souls are mine.”

Why bother with contracts when there are plenty of coders willing to sell their souls for a little rest? The demon muttered quietly, then grabbed the edge of his hat and bowed.

“I hope Hell Delivery won’t come next time.”

The ground burned with a pentagram and the demon disappeared instantly.

After the flames vanished, the exit was so clean that not even soot remained.

Only the black bundle in Sir Dominic’s hand was evidence that a demon had come and gone.

“…Strange things happen.”

Sir Dominic slightly opened the sack.

Inside were all sorts of strange odds and ends.

“What is this?”

Sir Dominic took out one of them and held it up to his remaining eye.

It seemed to be some kind of snail fossil…

“Tier3 material? What does this mean?”

Sir Dominic exclaimed in wonder as something else incomprehensible appeared, his curiosity rising.

He praised Gachaland as a place with mountains of things to learn the more you discover.

Sir Dominic brought the mysterious black bundle inside the house.

Hime, who had been crouching on the sofa muttering something, raised her head sensing Sir Dominic’s presence.

“Oh. These are equipment growth materials.”

Hime was a Gachaland native.

As such, she knew a lot of information about Gachaland that Sir Dominic didn’t.

“Equipment growth materials?”

Sir Dominic asked, taking out the snail fossil he had examined earlier.

“You mean this?”

Not equipment forging but growth? What did that mean?

And even if it was for forging equipment, it was still a problem.

A fossil like this is used as material?

“You make equipment with this?”

“…? That’s what they’ve always been made with, right?”

Hime questioned back, confused by Sir Dominic’s question.

From Hime’s perspective, this had been the way since she was born, so her confusion was justified.

“If not with these, what do you make and grow equipment with?”

Gachaland’s equipment manufacturing method involved collecting specific materials.

And specific materials were also needed for growth.

And to get those materials, one needed to progress through Story Mode.

Sir Dominic, who had thought Story Mode was just for fun until now, was freshly shocked.

And Hime was also shocked for a different reason.

“Don’t tell me… you haven’t done any equipment growth at all?”

That’s right.

Sir Dominic was a person who had lived his entire life in a world without system assistance.

Though he had learned various things since arriving in Gachaland, there was still much to learn.

There were numerous elements Sir Dominic had yet to experience.

Sir Dominic just silently nodded.

Hime was momentarily speechless.

Really? Fought without equipment?

In fact, the weapons provided in Gachaland were a kind of skin.

The actual additional stats were handled by equipment growth.

That meant Sir Dominic had been fighting without any growth until now.

Hime understood why Sir Dominic had been nerfed twice, once even before release.

“Could you perhaps tell me about equipment growth?”

Sir Dominic asked Hime.

“Sure.”

Hime thought for a moment before giving her answer.

In fact, this was a sophisticated scheme devised by Hime.

Just now, when Sir Dominic went out to receive the delivery, Hime had been gripped by extreme emptiness.

She had forcibly built up tension for a confession, but when it failed, that tension collapsed.

Why am I such a mess?

As she was blaming herself, Hime recalled her father’s words.

‘You must become a fox.’

And she remembered Zero’s words.

‘It means to become bewitching like a fox.’

That’s right.

This was rather an opportunity for Hime.

Now that she knew Sir Dominic was alone, it meant she could postpone her confession.

Then instead of rushing to confess, she should slowly enchant Sir Dominic with fox-like charm.

That was the way to increase the success rate of confession, and that was the teaching of her father and Zero.

Hime began to brainwash herself that it was good that the confession failed.

Isn’t a low-risk high-return better than a high-risk high-return with a very high probability of failure?

Hime’s tail swayed gently.

“First, to grow equipment, you need to know which parts are needed, and what materials are required…”

However, Hime’s scheme hit an obstacle from the start.

Since Hime didn’t have any traits related to blacksmithing or analysis, she couldn’t examine Sir Dominic’s equipment.

This was something Sir Dominic could do on his own.

There was nothing Hime could help with.

“…I’m sorry. It seems you can do that part on your own. Can I explain something else instead?”

Hime asked Sir Dominic with a forced bright smile.

In fact, Hime could have deceived Sir Dominic and moved together, but she didn’t want to lie to him.

She had decided to act like a fox, but Hime’s heart was still too tender to become one.

But Sir Dominic was not unaware of Hime’s feelings.

In fact, he had somewhat noticed.

The fact that Hime, for whatever reason, wanted to be with him.

It wasn’t because Sir Dominic was particularly perceptive.

It was because the fox ears and tail attached to Hime were drooping dejectedly.

And Sir Dominic was not one to be unkind to a lady.

“…It’s late today, so tomorrow.”

“What?”

Hime asked in response to Sir Dominic’s sudden statement.

The fox ears that had been drooping perked up.

“Tell me about equipment tomorrow. I’m the type who doesn’t understand well just from explanations.”

Sir Dominic smiled brightly.

Hime’s heart beat rapidly.

Her heart always beat fast when looking at Sir Dominic, but this time was different.

Somehow it was beating more pleasantly than usual.

“That… um… well…”

“Then I should go home now and we’ll meet again tomorrow. When is convenient for you? Morning? Afternoon?”

Ah, morning would be difficult because I have training with Alice. Sir Dominic stroked his chin.

“Let’s meet at the entrance to the Market Area at 3 PM tomorrow. That should work if I prepare and leave right away.”

Hime couldn’t collect her thoughts.

What on earth was Sir Dominic saying?

The sound of her rapidly beating heart echoed in her ears.

Sir Dominic’s words sounded blurry, but somehow her head understood and kept repeating them.

3 PM, Market Area entrance. 3 PM, Market Area entrance.

When she came to her senses, Hime realized she was already lying on the bed in her room.

‘Hey, did it go well?’

Her imaginary friend, the rabbit doll Usagi-san, asked Hime.

Hime nodded.

‘Did you make an appointment for tomorrow? You seem a bit feverish.’

Hime nodded again.

‘An appointment with Sir Dominic?’

The rabbit asked.

Hime just kept nodding and smiling.

‘Oh my. It’s a date?’

“Oh my. It’s a date?”

The voices of Usagi-san in her mind and Hime overlapped.

Hime, who had been lying on the bed grinning, suddenly sat up with a flustered expression.

“A date?”

That’s right.

Hime finally realized that Sir Dominic’s proposal was what people commonly call a “date.”