Ch.26[Chapter 26] The True Nature of Gacha Land

“Here. A copy. Use it for the evaluation.”

Don Castello handed over a USB containing a promotional video and intro to Sir Dominic.

“I don’t know where those Executive branch bastards spend their budget, but every year-end they change the evaluation regulations.”

They should fix the sky roads instead. It’s too much that air transport is always delayed.

Don Castello grumbled, but Sir Dominic was only thinking about finally being able to pass the 2-tier evaluation.

Sir Dominic continued to fiddle with this metallic piece with a silvery glow.

“By the way, this might be rude to say…”

Don Castello carefully expressed the thought he’d been having.

“You smell. When was the last time you changed clothes?”

One might forget, but Don Castello was a villain.

That means he had no qualms about hurting people.

Sir Dominic was shocked by those words.

It was an even bigger shock because no one had ever commented on his smell before.

“Do I really smell that bad?”

Mr. Donatello never said anything. Sir Dominic brought his sleeve to his nose and sniffed.

“That’s because Donatello is a dwarf.”

Dwarves are manly men who don’t care about smells or whatever. Don Castello grumbled.

Sir Dominic pondered when he had last changed clothes or bathed.

Yes, he actually had to think about it.

That’s how long it had been since Sir Dominic paid attention to hygiene.

When Sir Dominic couldn’t remember changing clothes even going back a month, he decided to just ignore it.

“For a month, it’s actually not that bad.”

Don Castello said with a shrug.

“But if you’ve worn them for a month, your clothes must be rotting. Now that you’re becoming a 2-tier, you should maintain a certain standard. Don’t you agree?”

Don Castello smiled kindly and introduced a street where clothing specialty shops were gathered.

“Just go into any place you like and they’ll take care of you. Oh, right. Do you have enough Gacha Stone? You’ll need at least 500 Gacha Stone.”

Fortunately, Sir Dominic had some inspection rewards and bonuses from preventing bugs.

“That’s good. Since I’m giving recommendations, let me give you some advice: once you choose a shop, it’s best to remain a regular customer. People get confused when your image changes.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Sir Dominic didn’t understand what Don Castello meant, but he knew it was always good to take advice from GachaLand to heart.

“Good. I hope we meet again under better circumstances.”

As long as it’s not to borrow money or ask for a guarantee, feel free to visit anytime. After saying this, Don Castello went into the club room.

Sir Dominic stood there, fiddling with the silver metal piece containing his video.

“Is it really that bad?”

Sir Dominic began to worry about the unexpected fact that he smelled.

…

“Now I should buy some clothes…”

Sir Dominic muttered as he left the bathhouse.

The bathhouse in GachaLand had too many types of water and buttons.

In Feralant, all you needed was a bucket and a river to bathe.

Having somehow finished bathing, Sir Dominic took out clothes labeled “temporary outfit” from a corner of his inventory instead of his old clothes.

The crisp, fluffy white t-shirt had the phrase “This is a t-shirt” written on it, so Sir Dominic decided to call it a t-shirt.

With a clean body, mind, and clothing, it was clear that Don Castello was right.

His clothes had smelled of fishy mud from the swamps.

“If it weren’t for Mr. Don Castello, I would have lived on unaware of my rudeness.”

Sir Dominic was secretly grateful to Don Castello.

After putting his old clothes in his inventory, Sir Dominic equipped his sword and shield and moved forward.

Now that his body was clean, it was time for new clothes.

“This should be the place…”

Sir Dominic entered the entrance of GachaLand’s largest Market Area.

A place where everything in the world is bought and sold!

A place dedicated to the essence of trade!

But sometimes boasting terrible value for money!

Upon entering the Market Area, Sir Dominic was greeted by an array of products too numerous to take in at once.

“Come on, it’s cheap, cheap! Apple roulette for just 20 Credit per spin! Fresh apples have a whole 1.3% probability!”

“Selling herbs! Buy ten spins and get one free! See the probability chart here on the side!”

Goodness. They sell products through gacha?

Sir Dominic couldn’t understand this situation.

If they only sold through gacha, he would have thought it was just a feature of GachaLand, but…

“How much is this apple?”

“Oh, if you buy it directly, it’s 25 Credit! But if you buy it through gacha, you save 5 Credit!”

“What’s the probability?”

“Fresh apple 1.3%! Regular apple 22.7%! Ugly apple 59% and the rest are rotten apples. We don’t dig up gacha spins from the ground, you know.”

Sir Dominic was weak at mathematics, but he could do simple addition and subtraction.

Even with his limited knowledge, he could tell how absurd this sales tactic was.

Whether aware of this fact or not, the person trying to buy apples pondered the probabilities for a while, then said with a bright face:

“That’s a good deal!”

Sir Dominic covered his mouth in shock.

Why on earth would that person buy apples in a way that would obviously result in a loss?

Finally, the person who bought the apples spun the gacha ten times and received ten apples.

None of them were fresh apples, but instead of getting angry at the merchant or going elsewhere, the person said:

“Ah, that’s too bad. How much is the pity system?”

“Buy 100 and I’ll guarantee you a fresh apple.”

“Wow, the fruit shop next door requires 200 spins. This place really is the best deal.”

The man handed money to the fruit seller while chewing on one of the somewhat decent apples he had drawn.

And until he hit the so-called ceiling, no fresh apple appeared.

“Just bad luck. Next time I’ll definitely get one within 10 spins and be able to brag to others!”

“Thanks. Damn. Looks like I’ll be eating nothing but apples this month.”

Sir Dominic couldn’t understand this chaotic situation, but with knightly composure, he nodded as he made his own inference.

It seems the people of GachaLand have a somewhat different way of trading.

Sir Dominic lost his desire to stay in this confusing marketplace any longer.

Instead, he headed deeper to find the clothing specialty street Don Castello had mentioned.

Fortunately, Sir Dominic was able to find the street he wanted right away.

The map app installed on his smartphone was quite accurate.

“He said to find a place I like here.”

Sir Dominic began examining each store from the outside.

[Happy New Year – New Year’s Skin Specialty Shop]

[Bunny Girl Master Maximus Magazinus’s Rabbit Hole]

[Isekaiya – Other Race Casual Wear Specialist]

These shops, responsible for people’s appearances, looked distinctive from the outside.

Some shops had only their names written in flashing neon signs, while others had fairy tale-style paintings on ordinary wood with paint.

Sir Dominic could now understand Don Castello’s advice to find a shop he liked.

“With such strong characteristics, it makes sense that there would be shops I’d like.”

Sir Dominic walked down the street, examining the displayed clothing through transparent glass.

Occasionally he saw clothes he liked, but upon closer inspection, they boasted prices too expensive for the Gacha Stone he had.

Epic, Epic, Legendary, Epic.

Was Sir Dominic’s taste unexpectedly high?

For each piece of clothing he liked, Sir Dominic saw such grades along with prices starting from at least 2000 Gacha Stone.

Sometimes there were clothes for 1888 Gacha Stone, but they were still expensive.

“Well, should I lower my standards?”

Sir Dominic grew tired quickly and turned his eyes to other clothes, but no matter how he looked, nothing appealed to him.

From fluffy clothes that looked like bundles of wool to pink silk pajamas, and clothes that were just different colors of the cheapest outfits.

Amid the parade of poor quality clothes whose purpose for sale was incomprehensible, Sir Dominic resolved to keep looking.

How much further did he walk?

Sir Dominic was exhausted as if he had fought demons for three hours.

He had come with a light heart just to buy clothes, but now he thought it might have been faster to just do laundry.

When both Sir Dominic’s body and mind were tired—

[Baron & Baroness – Medieval Style Specialist]

“Baron and Baroness?”

Despite his fatigue, Sir Dominic recalled an old memory.

‘Just call me Baroness. My husband’s name is Baron, so together we’d be Baron Baron-ess.’

Right. The Baroness he met in Region 2, Stage 3 had the surname Baron.

Sir Dominic couldn’t take his eyes off that sign.

Between the mention of medieval style and remembering the Baroness’s surname was Baron, his mind was already made up.

Sir Dominic opened the door of the shop and entered as if entranced.

With the tinkling of a bell, two people drinking tea by the fireplace looked at Sir Dominic.

“Welcome to Baron & Baroness… Oh my goodness. Sir Dominic, is that you?”

“Welcome.”

The Baroness he had seen before, and an old man with a fierce expression and an impressive strong jaw.