Ch.346[Episode 346] Event: Gambling… No, Cheering.

The Story Mode continued with a predictable feeling afterward.

Candidate Muscleman was elected as mayor and officially established the steam locomotive race.

Red Arrow and Iron Shark were taken into police custody on smuggling charges, but through a plea deal with the mayor, they were reborn as legitimate racing crews and later became celebrities in Sanhof.

The second chapter involved participating in the steam locomotive race that had officially become a sport in Sanhof, and in the epilogue, Red Arrow, Sir Dominic’s team, won the championship.

Sir Dominic was able to enhance his understanding of steam locomotive racing through the Story Mode.

“That was quite an interesting story.”

Sir Dominic smiled as he exited the event story lobby.

Although the story itself was cliché, experiencing it firsthand significantly increased the immersion.

Sir Dominic thought it was a story worth trying once, though not twice.

That’s when it happened.

Sir Dominic suddenly realized that people were gathering in a corner of the street.

“…What’s going on?”

Sir Dominic moved toward the crowd, curious about the commotion.

It was the transportation hub of GachaLand, which was both the starting and finishing point of this race.

“I’m supporting Vector Function! Give me all the ‘support’ for Vector Function!”

“Hey, don’t do that! Let others buy some too! Aren’t you ashamed of hoarding everything?”

As Sir Dominic approached, he could hear people shouting such things.

At first, it was just a murmur he could barely understand, but as he got closer to the train station, people’s words became clearer and louder.

“It seems they’re… gambling here.”

Sir Dominic stroked his chin as he observed the people in front of the train station.

Although the official races hadn’t started yet, unofficial races organized by amateurs were already underway.

It seemed that today featured quite a big match among them.

“Gambling? Watch your words.”

Just then, an eerie voice came from behind Sir Dominic.

When Sir Dominic turned around to see who was speaking, there stood a man with hollow eyes and unkempt facial hair.

“If you call it gambling, it gets an adult rating due to its speculative nature. So, let’s sanitize it as ‘support.’ Understand?”

Otherwise, our revenue will be cut in half, the man added.

Sir Dominic was so surprised by the man’s inexplicable pressure that he found himself nodding.

Satisfied with this response, the man disappeared back into the crowd.

With his hands full of paper scraps.

“…Support, huh.”

Sir Dominic stroked his chin and repeated the word the man had just uttered.

Sir Dominic was aware that this event included support.

However, the support Sir Dominic knew about involved purchasing tokens to give to teams, not this gambling-like… no, this madness-filled activity.

The people gathered in the square in front of the train station were exchanging paper scraps under the pretext of “support,” generally trading at a price of 100 Gacha Stones per piece.

The papers had the name of the supported team along with a multiplier, displayed as decimal numbers like 1.07 or 1.33.

Sir Dominic felt dizzy in the midst of this frenzy.

Just then, Sir Dominic noticed a particular scene.

“Oh? What’s this? Is it like a betting ticket?”

“Huh? You look new around here. Well, whatever. Want to buy one?”

“Huh? Can I buy it?”

Captain Elang was wandering through the crowd with a curious expression when he was caught by a man, and his gaze was fixed on the paper scraps the man was waving.

“Of course. It’s 100 Gacha Stones per ticket. If the team you support wins, you get back Gacha Stones multiplied by this number. Try your luck at striking it rich!”

The man was about to hand a piece of paper to Captain Elang.

Until someone else nearby stopped him.

“H-hey! What are you doing?!”

“Huh? What?”

“That person is a commander! Selling this to a commander is illegal!”

“…!”

The man who had been trying to sell the paper scrap to Captain Elang froze with a shocked expression.

However, realizing he needed to remedy the situation, he quickly retrieved the papers and said urgently:

“Not selling. No, can’t sell!”

“Huh? But you just said 100 Gacha Stones…”

“Not selling!”

Captain Elang was actually trying to buy the paper scrap, holding a pouch containing 100 Gacha Stones.

The man looked at the pouch in horror and fled into the crowd.

Sir Dominic observed this scene carefully, then tilted his head in confusion.

Why couldn’t they sell those paper scraps to commanders?

Interestingly, Sir Dominic’s question was answered almost immediately.

He could hear people whispering around him.

“Wow. We almost got an adult rating.”

“I’d rather strip naked than sell something with gambling elements.”

Sir Dominic could somewhat guess what had just happened from the surrounding conversations.

It seemed that selling gambling or speculative items to commanders was illegal.

“…What about card packs then?”

Sir Dominic wondered if card packs weren’t considered gambling, but his thoughts wandered without reaching a conclusion.

While Sir Dominic was lost in thought, Captain Elang happened to spot him.

Captain Elang was so happy to see Sir Dominic again that he waved and approached him.

It was an opportunity to increase his favorability.

“Sir Dominic! Fancy meeting you here!”

“Ah, Captain Elang.”

Sir Dominic greeted Captain Elang warmly as he approached to say hello.

He had already cast aside the complicated thoughts he’d been having until just now.

“What brings you here?”

“Nothing special. I just finished watching the event story and noticed how crowded it was out here.”

“Event story?”

Captain Elang tilted his head at Sir Dominic’s words.

Could people in GachaLand also watch event stories?

Captain Elang thought about this question and figured it made sense since this was GachaLand.

The people here were citizens living in GachaLand according to the setting, and events were incidents occurring within GachaLand.

If the citizens of GachaLand knew what Captain Elang was thinking, they would have risen up immediately, but fortunately, no one here could read Captain Elang’s thoughts.

“Hmm… event story. I thought it was quite entertaining too.”

“Did you?”

“Yes. Which team were you on, Sir Dominic? I was on Iron Shark.”

“Red Arrow.”

“Ah. That’s so like you.”

Captain Elang thought the favorability was building nicely as he continued the conversation with Sir Dominic.

That’s when it happened.

Someone on the train station steps began shouting with a megaphone.

“The race between Vector Function, Aristotle Triangle, and Last Fermat teams will begin now! Those who want to support them, please come to the train station immediately!”

The person with the megaphone announced that an unofficial race was about to begin.

Hearing this, Captain Elang suddenly wondered if Sir Dominic would also participate in the race.

“By the way, are you participating in the race, Sir Dominic?”

“I am.”

“What’s your team name?”

“Ninja Toltoises. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, nothing special. I was just thinking of supporting you a bit.”

Captain Elang said this while taking out a token and rolling it on the back of his hand.

Captain Elang manipulated the now-familiar UI, and soon the token on the back of his hand disappeared.

“Done! Support complete!”

“Oh, um… thank you.”

Sir Dominic didn’t understand Captain Elang’s action, but realizing that he had supported Sir Dominic’s team, he expressed his gratitude.

“…Is that all?”

Captain Elang became a bit sulky when Sir Dominic showed an unexpectedly lukewarm reaction.

“Well, I still don’t know what tokens are used for.”

“Ah.”

Captain Elang finally understood and nodded at Sir Dominic’s words.

Sir Dominic’s subtle reaction was because he didn’t yet know the effect of tokens.

Realizing this, Captain Elang began explaining what was known about token effects.

“You can do many things with tokens. You can change parts or improve the basic specs of your locomotive. Of course, they can be used in various other ways too. You can buy starting boosters, or get bananas that make others slip when stepped on, or throwable turtle shells, or if nothing else, just buy decorative items…”

Sir Dominic stroked his chin as he listened to Captain Elang.

I see. So that’s how tokens are used.

Sir Dominic nodded as he learned how to use tokens from Captain Elang’s explanation.

“Thank you very much. I’ll make good use of the tokens.”

And he thanked Captain Elang once more.

“By the way, how many tokens did you send?”

“Huh? Can’t you check directly?”

Captain Elang tilted his head at Sir Dominic’s question, wondering if he couldn’t check himself.

“Ah, our team leader is not me but Unryu Hime.”

“Unryu Hime?”

Captain Elang tilted his head at Sir Dominic’s words.

It was a name he’d never heard before.

“Well, then I suppose you might not know.”

Captain Elang said this and spread all ten fingers.

“10 tokens?”

Sir Dominic gave a reasonable answer.

“No.”

However, it was far too low compared to the number Captain Elang revealed.

“100,000 tokens.”

100,000 tokens.

Sir Dominic didn’t know the exact value of tokens, but that was equivalent to about 24,000 Gacha Stones.

Sir Dominic somehow felt like he had come to understand some of the world’s truths.

Why card pack exchanges weren’t classified as speculative.

And why commanders shouldn’t be given things with gambling and speculative elements.