Ch.14[Chapter 14] Event Stage!

Pitter patter pitter patter.

Sir Dominic began walking around, fascinated by his lowered field of vision.

The cute pitter-patter sound of his footsteps made him feel happy.

“Ah, seriously. I hate this event… my attack range is so reduced…”

“At least you’re a ranged dealer. I use dual daggers and can’t even reach anything.”

Sighs and complaints erupted from people around him.

While Sir Dominic was simply happy with this fascinating phenomenon, others seemed to feel differently.

“Since the event has started anyway, should we aim for the rankings? Last time we wiped at stage 7 because we didn’t have a tank. If we just had a tank, we could probably place within the top 10,000 and get the diamond trophy.”

“At least your party has a healer. Mine had 4 dealers and we only made it to stage 6. Isn’t this too much? I became a dealer for the damage rush, but now tanks do more damage in this event?”

An archer with a bow as tall as himself strapped to his back and a thief wearing a red mask sat at the cafe terrace, drinking coffee and passionately debating.

Sir Dominic wondered what was so special about tanks that made everyone talk about them so much.

After all, he himself had tank characteristics.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Sir Dominic approached the two who had begun discussing the unfair discrimination against dealers.

“So at stage 6, you should find a mage with shield skills… Huh? What’s this? What’s going on?”

The thief in the red mask was startled by the sudden shadow and looked to the side.

A one-eyed figure with three-colored feathers in his hair stood there.

“I was curious about tanks.”

It was Sir Dominic.

“Ah, tanks. They’re truly a love-hate existence.”

The archer glared at Sir Dominic from across the table.

“Those tank union guys don’t know their limits. Seriously.”

Tank union? Sir Dominic was intrigued by this newly emerged knowledge.

“Tank union?”

“Yeah. Those guys who collude while claiming that GachaLand’s banner is value.”

The archer gulped down his iced coffee, seemingly parched from his burning frustration.

“You know what? According to last year’s statistics bureau, only 2.3% of all classes in GachaLand can perform tanking.”

The thief on the opposite side, idly rattling ice with his straw, continued.

“Pure tanks are only 0.4%, and the year before that it was 0.26%.”

“Exactly! If they put time limits on stages, people become dealers to kill quickly. Who would want to be a slow tank?”

“A slow tank.”

Sir Dominic suddenly became conscious of the shield strapped to his back.

Certainly, armor with good defense tends to be heavy.

“Remember when the new GachaLand Executive branch took office? They announced they would buff tanks to increase their numbers because there were too few.”

“I know that. Nobody opposed it because they weren’t nerfing dealers.”

“Right. But then they released the submarine patch that increased the health and defense of enemies in event stages and special missions, and gave tanks a damage multiplier against mobs!”

“They do clear better than AOE dealers now.”

“Still, dealers have the advantage in boss fights, but what raid would add more mediocre dealers? They’d spend big money to hire another tank.”

The archer, with veins popping on his forehead and a grotesque expression, suddenly turned to Sir Dominic.

“But then tanks got a taste of money and started colluding. That’s the tank union. They claim people are undervaluing them, but it looks like they’re just greedy for money.”

The thief nodded vigorously.

He nodded so strongly and quickly that his mask almost slipped down.

After venting his frustration, the archer suddenly seemed to notice something and stared intently at Sir Dominic.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Sir Dominic met the archer’s murderous gaze.

It wasn’t as creepy as demons or undead, but in terms of killing intent, it ranked among the top people he had met so far.

“You. Is that a shield on your back—”

[Event Story has begun!]

The archer suspected Sir Dominic was a tank, which was true, but there was no way to confirm it.

The system announcement heralding the start of the event boomed loudly, drowning out the archer’s words.

[Event Story! Catch Super Deluxe!]

[Super Deluxe has appeared in GachaLand!]

[The faster you find Super Deluxe, the greater the reward!]

[That’s not all! Additional rewards for the top 10,000 players!]

[Find Super Deluxe right now!]

[Note: It begins after the opening. Super Deluxe seen during the opening does not count as discovered.]

Is this part of the event?

It seemed that events also had stories.

“No, so are you a tank—”

“Aha! You must be the famous Super Deluxe! You may fool others, but not my eyes!”

The archer kept trying to speak to Sir Dominic, but the story opening had already begun.

A mustachioed man wearing a long police hat pointed in shock at a suspicious figure fluttering a cape at the top of a tall skyscraper.

The policeman was bellowing angrily, but the caped figure ignored him and surveyed the landscape of GachaLand.

An elegant top hat. A cape made of black silk on the outside and red silk on the inside.

A golden mask with a question mark covered his eyes and nose, making it impossible to identify him.

“Super Deluxe will steal this city! Catch me if you can, Mister Javert!”

“You scoundrel! Super Deluuuuuxe!”

Super Deluxe moved his arms to dramatically flutter his cape.

Only then could Super Deluxe’s outfit be seen—he was wearing a black bodysuit with “S.D” emblazoned in white.

“You there! Yes, you!”

Inspector Javert, as the policeman was called, pointed beyond the screen while fuming.

“I need your cooperation! Go around the city right now and locate Super Deluxe! I’m heading to the central police station to call for reinforcements!”

The screen slowly panned up to the sky.

As the brightly lit GachaLand contrasted sharply with the dark night sky, Super Deluxe’s laughter echoed in the background.

“Huh.”

Sir Dominic belatedly realized he had been in a daze, distracted by the scene unfolding before his eyes.

So this is what an event is like.

Sir Dominic felt happy in the daily life of GachaLand, always full of new things.

“Um, so are you a tank—”

“This isn’t the time. It was a pleasant conversation, everyone.”

Sir Dominic began running down the street.

The event had just started, and Sir Dominic’s mind was completely focused on it.

The archer who had been talking with Sir Dominic until just now awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

“I was going to ask him to form a party if he was a tank.”

“Let it go. Guess it wasn’t meant to be.”

They too were among those who enjoyed events while complaining.

Sir Dominic ran and ran.

But suddenly he realized that running aimlessly wouldn’t help him find Super Deluxe.

GachaLand was too vast, and there were many areas he didn’t know.

“I should calm down a bit. At this rate, I’ll just waste energy without properly enjoying this.”

As his body cooled down, Sir Dominic noticed he was thirsty.

Water. He needed something to drink.

Sir Dominic quickly looked around.

Fortunately, there was a store labeled “convenience store,” and through the clean glass, he could see numerous beverages in strange boxes.

Sir Dominic slowly walked into the convenience store.

A small bell rang, and a melody alerted the cashier of a customer’s arrival.

“Welcome! This is DX25!”

Ignoring the clerk’s bright smile and energetic greeting, Sir Dominic hurriedly grabbed something to drink.

Cider. A word meaning apple wine, but the liquid in this bottle was clear with something bubbling up.

As he looked around at the beverages, Sir Dominic’s gaze fixed on this strange combination drink.

Since there was much he didn’t know about GachaLand, experimenting with different things wouldn’t be bad.

Sir Dominic picked up one cider and headed to the counter.

Beep. This is a two-plus-one product.

“Ah, this is on promotion right now. If you buy two, you get one free. Should I just ring this up as is?”

Ah. My goodness. So that’s what it meant.

Sir Dominic had seen the “2+1” written on the label when taking out the cider but didn’t know what it meant, so he had just taken one.

“I’ll go get two more now.”

Sir Dominic walked back to the refrigerator with the drinks.

Bump.

“Ah, I apologize.”

“It’s fine.”

Sir Dominic bumped into someone eating ramen at the serving counter while passing through the narrow aisle.

As he turned his head to apologize, Sir Dominic suddenly had a strange thought.

An elegant top hat.

A silk cape.

A golden mask.

Sir Dominic began to feel concerned about the person who looked familiar.

Finally, Sir Dominic tapped the person’s shoulder and asked.

“What?”

“Are you perhaps Super Deluxe?”

“I-I don’t know such a person. Super Deluxe? How tacky.”

From the awkward response, Sir Dominic was certain.

This person was Super Deluxe.