Ch.382[Episode 382] Supply Base C: Aftermath

“I think it would be best to return home first.”

“…Alright.”

Sir Dominic asked Sir Dominica to take Lady Alice home.

Sir Dominic wanted to escort Lady Alice himself, but he needed to find out what Senator Bowman, who stood before him, wanted to ask.

“What exactly is your request?”

Sir Dominic asked bluntly.

“Oh, it’s nothing special. I was wondering if we could use today’s battle that Sir Dominic fought for promotional purposes…”

Senator Bowman deliberately trailed off.

“Since Sir Dominic seems busy, perhaps another time—”

“Go ahead and do so.”

“!”

Sir Dominic gave Senator Bowman an immediate answer on the spot.

From Sir Dominic’s perspective, Senator Bowman was practically a benefactor who had protected Lady Alice, even if only briefly.

As Senator Bowman had expected, Sir Dominic’s affection for Feralant was quite substantial.

“Thank you! Thanks to you, our Ranged Dealer Alliance will be able to advance a bit further!”

Senator Bowman expressed his gratitude to Sir Dominic.

In truth, the weak position of ranged dealers was partly due to the proliferation of various ranged dealer political parties.

The reality was that aside from the Melee Dealer Union, whose numbers had diminished due to Senator Trom’s past misdeeds, and the Tank Union, which had essentially risen to become Gachaland’s number one party, there weren’t many powerful parties.

Even then, the supporters had no interest in politics, making the ranged dealer parties effectively the weakest.

However, after today’s events, the Ranged Dealer Alliance that Senator Bowman belonged to had a higher chance of becoming the leading party among ranged dealer parties.

Having a connection with Sir Dominic, and having him appear in a promotional video.

Even that small thing could restructure the landscape of ranged dealer parties.

Senator Bowman rejoiced at this fact.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!”

“It’s nothing, so you needn’t be so formal.”

Sir Dominic stopped Senator Bowman, who kept bowing his head.

“Anyway, I should head home now. I’m concerned about my lord’s condition.”

“Ah, of course. Now that I have your answer, I shouldn’t trouble Sir Dominic any further.”

Senator Bowman stepped back from Sir Dominic with exaggerated movements.

It was a silent gesture indicating he wouldn’t block Sir Dominic’s path.

Sir Dominic expressed his gratitude to Senator Bowman, then suddenly paused and looked at him.

“Come to think of it, I’m curious about something.”

“What is it?”

Senator Bowman responded to Sir Dominic’s words.

“What happens if the mission fails?”

“Well…”

Senator Bowman’s expression became quite awkward.

To accommodate Sir Dominic’s question, the map would need to be reset.

Naturally, resetting costs money.

While government subsidies would be available for official match resets or those with System Industries’ approval, resets for personal curiosity like this would be entirely self-funded.

However, Senator Bowman seemed to value his connection with Sir Dominic more, and soon made a big decision.

“Alright. Let’s reset once and see what happens.”

Senator Bowman pressed the reset button and placed his character card on the card reader.

With a beep, the payment was completed, and the map returned to its original state.

[01:00]

The time was set to minimum, with just over a minute left on the timer.

“When this time runs out, we’ll see what happens when you lose.”

Senator Bowman explained.

Sir Dominic silently gazed at Supply Base C in response to Senator Bowman’s words.

[00:27]

The supply base showed no changes yet.

[00:19]

This was to be expected. There were neither attackers nor defenders there, only a bomb that had been planted.

[00:07]

Sir Dominic anticipated the imminent defeat scene.

And when the timer reached 0—

[00:00]

…Nothing happened.

“…Huh?”

Sir Dominic tilted his head, looking at the quiet supply base despite the time having run out.

“A dud?”

Sir Dominic muttered.

“T-this can’t be right.”

Senator Bowman was flustered that the bomb didn’t explode when it clearly should have.

Was it a bug? Had it just wasted money?

All sorts of thoughts raced through Senator Bowman’s mind.

Feeling he needed to resolve the situation, Senator Bowman changed the subject by addressing Sir Dominic.

“Ah, it seems there’s a bug because no one’s inside. This is common in Gachaland. You know how it is, right?”

Sir Dominic nodded at Senator Bowman’s words.

“Indeed. No place is as abundant with bugs as Gachaland.”

Sir Dominic thought of the numerous bugs he had experienced so far.

In truth, only those from Gachaland’s early days had experienced as many bugs as Sir Dominic, and even then, Sir Dominic’s experiences might surpass theirs. But humans prioritize their own experiences.

So from Sir Dominic’s perspective, Gachaland could only be seen as something made of bugs.

“Well, it’s disappointing that there’s a bug. I wanted to see the defeat scene once.”

Sir Dominic said, smacking his lips.

Seeing this, Senator Bowman secretly texted his aide behind Sir Dominic’s back.

He was calling for a coder to fix the bug immediately.

“Well, it’s unfortunate but can’t be helped. I don’t have much time, so I should head home now.”

“Ah, take care on your way.”

Sir Dominic looked at the supply base once more with disappointment, then turned and began walking away.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, Sir Dominic stopped and looked back at Senator Bowman.

“Ah, right. You said you adjusted the difficulty?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Senator Bowman nodded in response to Sir Dominic’s question.

“Actually, since I planned and created the concept for Supply Base C, I can adjust the difficulty as well.”

Senator Bowman answered Sir Dominic with a proud expression.

He had reason to be proud, as Sir Dominic had played a game in a place he had designed.

Sir Dominic nodded at Senator Bowman’s words, then smiled and offered a compliment.

“The final gimmick was quite innovative.”

“…?”

Senator Bowman had rushed over without bringing his equipment, so he didn’t know what final gimmick Sir Dominic was referring to, but he could ask his aide who would arrive soon.

As Senator Bowman waited for his aide, watching Sir Dominic’s retreating figure, he suddenly remembered the bomb that had failed to detonate.

“This is frustrating, wasting money and getting a bug on top of it…”

Senator Bowman stomped his foot once in irritation.

…

Sir Dominic was walking home after registering Senator Bowman’s business card on his character card.

From the opposite direction, someone carrying a toolbox was rushing over, apparently heading to Supply Base C.

Suddenly, Sir Dominic thought about the bug he had just witnessed.

The bug where the bomb didn’t explode.

“Sometimes I wonder if coders deliberately introduce bugs under the guise of patches.”

Thud. The sound of something dropping.

Startled by the sudden noise, Sir Dominic turned around.

There stood someone who had dropped their toolbox, looking at Sir Dominic with a shocked expression.

As if asking “how did you know?” with eyes wide in surprise.

Sir Dominic didn’t understand why this person was so shocked, but he rationalized that there must be a reason as the person with the toolbox hurriedly disappeared.

That’s when it happened.

BOOM! A sound erupted from the direction of Supply Base C.

Sir Dominic turned around again in surprise, but the supply base was intact, with only smoke rising from it.

It seemed the previously failed bomb had finally detonated.

“…I guess there won’t be any more surprises.”

Sir Dominic sighed, calming his startled heart that had been surprised twice.

Then he took out a phone packaging box from his pocket and removed earphones from it.

He didn’t use them often, but he felt he needed these earphones to calm his mind.

Sir Dominic connected the earphones to his phone from his pocket and put them in his ears.

After adjusting the volume appropriately, he started listening to music on GachaTube.

Normally, music should stop when a phone turns off, but Sir Dominic was a frequent GachaTube user and had subscribed to GachaTube Pro, allowing him to watch GachaTube videos in the background, even when his phone was off.

With earphones in his ears, Sir Dominic resumed walking while listening to music.

The music was so loud that Sir Dominic could focus entirely on his inner self.

All while Supply Base C exploded in a chain reaction behind him.

Perhaps it’s true that a real man doesn’t look back at explosions.