Ch.299[Chapter 299] Clan Wars

It wasn’t just the Tanker Union that realized Sir Dominic was a clanless freelancer.

“Since my clan collapsed, I need to apply to Gacha Land Souls since I have nowhere to go.”

“By the way, which clan is Sir Dominic in? I’d like to join wherever he is. How reassuring would it be to fight alongside a tanker like Sir Dominic?”

“That’s right. Which clan is Sir Dominic in?”

At first, it was just curiosity.

Curiosity about Sir Dominic.

“Hmm? Wait, now that I think about it, there’s no clan that employs Sir Dominic?”

“What? What are you talking about? He’s a tanker, so he must be in the Tanker Union.”

“Huh? I thought he belonged to Gacha Land Souls since he’s a knight.”

“I thought he was in the Gear Tree clan because he has so many steampunk skins.”

And then came the realization.

The realization that Sir Dominic wasn’t affiliated with any clan.

“Wait, does that mean Sir Dominic is currently a freelancer?”

“That means we have a chance too, right?”

“First come, first served!”

After that came greed.

Although Sir Dominic was only 3-star, he was the most promising tanker in Gacha Land, an overpowered character with simple yet powerful traits and special skills.

Such a valuable asset remained unclaimed, so naturally, all clans had their eyes on him.

“Sir Dominic is a medieval knight, so it’s only fitting that he join our clan, Gacha Land Souls, which is full of medieval knights!”

“Those undead bastards are trying to get their hands on Sir Dominic too! Sir Dominic should rightfully join our Arcadia clan!”

“The Arcadia clan lacks skin expandability! At best, they only have angel, holy knight, and fallen angel skins! Considering his numerous steampunk skins, he should join our Gear Tree—”

And that greed has now turned into madness.

Clans began building justifications for why Sir Dominic should join them.

Some might wonder here.

Given how long Sir Dominic had remained clanless, had no one noticed until now?

Why the sudden frenzy to recruit Sir Dominic?

Of course, it wasn’t that no one had noticed Sir Dominic hadn’t joined a clan.

And it wasn’t that no one had tried to invite him to join a clan.

However, there were several complicated circumstances regarding this matter, the biggest being that there simply wasn’t time to extend clan invitations to Sir Dominic.

Until now, as soon as one incident ended, another began, and when that one ended, yet another occurred.

Naturally, Sir Dominic had been too busy running around, and those who wanted to invite him to join their clans eventually gave up waiting.

Just when it seemed the issue of Sir Dominic’s clan membership was being forgotten, with the approaching beta test, the matter resurfaced.

Eight clans.

No one knows who started it, but at some point, a rumor began circulating in Gacha Land.

That in the beta test, only eight clans would survive.

That all other clans would disappear completely.

Although the truth of this rumor remained unverified, people believed it to be true.

And… as you know, a war between clans broke out.

If only eight would remain, a mid-sized clan decided to make one last gamble.

This mid-sized clan started by consuming other mid-sized clans to grow to the size of a major clan, and finally challenged the 8th-ranked clan.

However, their hastily assembled bulk was weak, and ultimately, the mid-sized clan was dismantled by the 8th-ranked clan’s counterattack.

But whether that mid-sized clan still existed or not wasn’t important.

What mattered was that this mid-sized clan had opened the floodgates for inter-clan warfare.

Fight other clans to grow bigger, then take down higher-ranked clans to survive.

This mentality began to spread throughout Gacha Land.

It was a gamble with very low odds, but as you know, the people of Gacha Land were the type to find thrill in such low-probability gambles.

Anyway, in such a situation, what about Sir Dominic’s existence?

Sir Dominic was a kind of ace card, a hidden card, a wild card.

His presence alone could provide over 11% damage reduction to the entire clan, serve as an obstacle to block enemy raids, or be saved for crucial moments to aim for a reversal as a trump card.

Moreover, Sir Dominic was one of the characters with the most narrative in Gacha Land.

This meant that his joining alone would enrich a clan’s story.

His traits and special abilities were excellent, his stats were impressive, and his achievements were dazzling.

So almost every clan couldn’t help but keep an eye on Sir Dominic, who had yet to join any clan.

Of course, not all clans were targeting Sir Dominic.

Some clans had clearly given up due to concept or situational incompatibility.

…

“Hai. Wakarimashita.”

“…Don’t use that poor Japanese. Even if it’s for concept, some people will definitely dislike it.”

“…Yes.”

The Eastern Union was a clan that found itself in a situation where Sir Dominic didn’t fit their concept or circumstances.

Currently, the Eastern Union was fighting a clan called Qingyuan, with the justification being to determine which was more suitable as an Eastern-style clan.

The massive wuxia-style clan Qingyuan, which had absorbed all the orthodox sects, demonic cults, and heretical sects, versus the Eastern Union, which had integrated the rest.

“If only we had Sir Dominic right now, this battle would have ended quickly.”

A ninja from the Eastern Union sighed.

They were ninjas from the Unryu family, responsible for the communication and information core of the Eastern Union.

“Well, it can’t be helped. The concept doesn’t match. It could even break our existing synergy.”

Next to the ninja was someone wearing light armor and holding a bow, with a belt around their waist that had a ring-pommel sword attached to its end.

“Ugh. I wonder if we could trick the system with just one Eastern-style skin?”

The ninja grumbled regretfully.

But soon, the ninja let out a deep sigh.

They knew too.

It was impossible because Sir Dominic was too much of a foreigner with brown hair and green eyes.

“Let’s just be content with what we have now.”

The person in light armor said, shooting down a bandit with their bow.

…

Conversely, there were those who tried to force recruitment regardless of synergy.

The clan called Qingyuan was such a case.

“Sir Dominic is a knight, which itself represents ‘Wu’ (martial), and written in Chinese characters, Dominic would be 道民翊, meaning ‘benefiting the people through the way,’ which can be considered ‘Xia’ (chivalry).”

“Originally, even the demonic cult came from outside as a group of Islam, so there should be no problem in expanding the martial arts world’s territory a bit further west.”

Qingyuan’s Western and Northern Project!

Qingyuan was making far-fetched justifications to acquire Sir Dominic.

“We will definitely bring Sir Dominic to our side!”

This was their claim.

Why on earth was the Qingyuan clan trying to recruit Sir Dominic, who didn’t even match their concept?

…

“Other clans have now noticed that Sir Dominic hasn’t joined any clan.”

Pandemonium urgently exclaimed to Senator Muscleman.

“Well, that was expected, Pandemonium.”

Senator Muscleman remained calm despite the situation.

Even though they should be rushing to secure Sir Dominic immediately, he was maintaining his composure, which infuriated Pandemonium.

“This is no time to be calm! We need to go get Sir Dominic right now… Wait.”

Pandemonium had started ranting about the need to rush immediately.

While jumping around and raising his voice, Pandemonium suddenly had a thought.

Could all of this be part of Senator Muscleman’s plan?

It might seem random, but Pandemonium, who knew Senator Muscleman best, judged it was possible.

“You didn’t plan all this, did you, Uncle?”

“…”

Senator Muscleman stopped signing documents and looked at Pandemonium.

As if asking him to continue.

Pandemonium looked straight at Senator Muscleman and continued.

“Until now, Uncle, you’ve worked for the rights of tankers. That includes not just tankers who joined the Tanker Union, but also those who didn’t.”

That’s right. Senator Muscleman’s goal was to improve tankers’ rights, and the Tanker Union was just a means to that end.

Having forgotten this fact, Pandemonium had been mistaken, but Senator Muscleman was someone who wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice himself for the sake of improving tankers’ rights.

“And Sir Dominic is a tanker. If a tanker like Sir Dominic receives love calls from everywhere, naturally, tankers’ rights will improve… right?”

Pandemonium wrinkled his face as if begging for denial.

However, Senator Muscleman showed no reaction.

He just looked at Pandemonium with a grin.

Realizing the meaning behind that smile, Pandemonium covered his face and sighed.

“Uncle, you’re really crazy. You’re out of your mind.”

And with that, he finally voiced what he had only been thinking until now.