Ch.168[Chapter 168] Gacha World

Don Castello was diligently painting a sign.

However, the painting wasn’t going as he wished.

[Random recovery completed.]

[Audio interface is now functioning normally.]

“Ah, come on!”

Don Castello of Greed was about to throw the brush in his hand but stopped.

Then he sighed and started painting again.

“What are you doing, Don Castello?”

A voice came from below.

Don Castello turned his head… no, his entire body to look down.

His neck was too thick to just turn his head.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica were standing there.

“Ah, my friend Sir Dominic! And… Sir Dominica!”

Don Castello waved at them.

“I’m in the middle of executing recovery for this area!”

After shouting that, Don Castello picked up his brush again and continued painting the sign.

“You asked for help, but why are you restoring this place?”

“It’s my last hope for my brother.”

“…?”

“Ah, right. I suppose I can tell you everything now.”

Don Castello continued with his explanation.

“My brother and I are about to fight against each other.”

“He’s become so greedy that he’s started eyeing my possessions too.”

“Seeing how he’s even bringing in outside personnel, this must be a planned move.”

“But… family bonds can’t be broken so easily.”

“So I’m placing my last hope on this.”

Don Castello finished painting the sign.

[Random recovery completed.]

[Gacha World entrance has been restored.]

[Welcome to Gacha World.]

“With this old data.”

“Of all things, why did this have to be fixed last? Such bad luck,” said Don Castello as he looked up at Gacha World.

From the newly fixed audio interface, circus-like music played with a “boom-chick-chick” rhythm.

Streetlights began to turn on between the somewhat dilapidated buildings and tents.

Finally, as the lights on the machines turned on as well, Gacha World announced its revival in splendor.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica stared blankly at the music and lights beyond the entrance that seemed to be calling to them.

“Welcome to Gacha World.”

Don Castello grinned as he delivered his welcome.

…

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica were walking through Gacha World, guided by Don Castello.

Brilliant lights, cheerful music, and eye-catching decorations and machines everywhere.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica couldn’t take their eyes off this dazzling place.

“What exactly was this place used for?”

“It’s an old legacy of Gacha Land.”

Don Castello smiled.

“As you know, Gacha Land often has various experimental attempts. But its purpose is always clear. To be fun.”

“And this is…”

Don Castello opened the door to the most shabby and messy building in this splendid place.

Inside was an office full of dust and cobwebs.

“This is Gacha World, once the place most filled with joy in Gacha Land.”

A place full of dreams and hope♬ Gacha World♪

Don Castello suddenly started singing.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica found themselves swaying despite the terrible rhythm.

That’s how addictive the song was.

“I don’t understand though,” said Sir Dominica.

“Why did such a place become ruins like this?”

“Good question, friend.”

Don Castello roughly dusted off an office chair before sitting down.

“It’s because of Gacha Land’s ecosystem? Atmosphere? Something like that.”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica silently looked at Don Castello.

Don Castello pulled out wet wipes from somewhere, roughly wiped the desk, and continued.

“From the beginning, Gacha Land is a place full of entertainment. The joy from rides? Can’t compare to the joy of rolling gacha. Thrills? Raids, wars, duels, even life-risking character deletions… ah, that’s illegal now. Anyway, with all those things available, why ride amusement park rides?”

“Of course, this only applies to Gacha Land citizens. I don’t know about other dimensions,” he added as an afterthought.

“Fine. I understand about this place. But why here specifically?”

Don Castello’s body flinched for a moment.

“…To understand that, you need to know a few things first.”

Don Castello rubbed his face once with a serious expression.

After contemplating whether it was okay to speak, Don Castello seemed to make up his mind and began.

“Before I explain why I chose this place, I should tell you about my brother.”

“My brother is incompetent and greedy, but he wasn’t always like that.”

“Bright… not a genius, but certainly talented.”

“The reason he became greedy was… because of this Gacha World.”

Don Castello hesitated but soon began to tell his story naturally and calmly.

“Gacha World is a meaningful place for us brothers.”

Don Castello got up and pulled back the dusty curtains.

Through the stained windows, brilliant lights could be seen.

Looking closely at those splendid rides, one could see they were old and rusty, but through the blurry, stained windows, that fact wasn’t apparent.

“Both my brother and I used to come here at least once a week when we were young.”

“My brother loved the Ferris wheel. I loved the carousel.”

Like the eternally spinning Ferris wheel and carousel, I thought Gacha World would last forever.

Don Castello swallowed those words.

Returning to his seat, he continued.

“Then one day, we heard that Gacha World had gone bankrupt. Suddenly.”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica looked at Don Castello with serious expressions as he gave a hollow laugh.

His sadness was evident in his face.

“There was no special reason. It just… lost its value. As you know, value is everything in Gacha Land. People could have enough fun with other content, so there was no need to come to Gacha World anymore.”

“It was terrible news for us brothers. Very, very bad news.”

“My brother begged our father to buy the Gacha World site to revive it. He hired professional managers and tried to bring Gacha World back to life.”

“…That attempt failed twenty-five times.”

Don Castello sighed regretfully.

“After that, my brother… thought he was incompetent, and became incompetent. Maybe he went crazy. But the habit of desperately saving money to revive Gacha World remained, making him greedy.”

“So,” Sir Dominica interrupted.

“What’s the connection between you coming here and your brother attacking you?”

“I was just about to explain that.”

Don Castello put a cigar in his mouth.

He lit it and inhaled the smoke along with the air.

“From now on, we’re going to revive that Ferris wheel, friends.”

Don Castello growled.

“My brother loved the Ferris wheel. If he sees Gacha World operating normally, with the Ferris wheel running, he might return to his original self.”

“Why now?” asked Sir Dominic.

“If you haven’t tried until now, why try now?”

“Well…”

Don Castello said somewhat sheepishly.

“Because it cost too much money. Of course, now my brother is more important than money, so I’m trying this.”

In fact, Don Castello’s brother, Don Cartello, had poured enough money to buy perhaps a quarter of a quarter of Gacha Land into restoring this amusement park, like pouring water into a bottomless jar.

And as we know… all attempts ended in failure.

The money issue Don Castello mentioned was a sufficient reason.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica nodded at Don Castello’s words.

“But we’ve never done anything like this before.”

“That’s right. You asked for help, but shouldn’t you call architects or engineers for this kind of thing?”

“Ah, don’t worry about that, friends.”

Don Castello dismissed their concerns.

“Your job isn’t to rebuild Gacha World.”

Documents had somehow appeared on Don Castello’s desk.

Examining each document carefully, Don Castello said,

“You two have something else to do.”

…

“That’s…”

Boss and Z looked at the wasteland ruins where Don Castello had fled.

No, they looked at what had been ruins.

Flashing colorful lights synchronized with 3/4 tempo music that excited people’s hearts despite its slow pace.

Tents and balloons filled with red, yellow, and blue colors that sparked interest just by looking at them.

In contrast to the darkening wasteland sky, this splendid amusement park was growing brighter.

“…Gacha World.”

Don Cartello, who had moved along with Boss and Z, stared intently at the brilliant lights and listened to the music.

After being dazed for a while, Don Cartello gritted his teeth.

He thought, “How dare he use memories as a shield?”

Whether aware of Don Cartello’s state or not, Boss and Z were discussing the amusement park.

“…Can’t we just attack with the people we have now?”

“That’s impossible. If it were just ruins, maybe, but now it’s been restored as Gacha World. The original settings must still be in place.”

“So we can’t attack now? …He’s using his head, I see.”

Boss growled while looking at Gacha World.

But Z calmly replied as if it were nothing.

“Well, that doesn’t mean we can’t attack.”

Boss looked at Z.

Z smiled brightly as he looked at Gacha World.

It was a smile full of confidence.