Ch.383[Episode 383] Rest

Sir Dominic finally arrived home.

He removed the earphones from his ears and opened the front door to find a party scene.

“Ah, oppa! Welcome back.”

Doremi, who was closest to the entrance, greeted Sir Dominic.

“What on earth is going on here?”

Sir Dominic looked at the living room with a bewildered expression.

The living room was strewn with several delivered meals, various drinks, and some side dishes that had been in Sir Dominic’s refrigerator.

In the kitchen, Sir Dominica wearing an apron was bringing out a pot of stew, while Dr. Banshee was sipping a drink with fluorescent green claw marks on a black background.

“It’s nothing special.”

Doremi glanced subtly at Lady Alice.

“She said she kept wanting to eat because she was so stressed, so I got permission from Sir Dominica and bought some food.”

Sir Dominic put his hand to his forehead at Doremi’s words.

The logic was that since Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica were theoretically one being, getting permission from Sir Dominica was the same as getting permission from Sir Dominic.

“Oh? Sir Dominic.”

While Sir Dominic was holding his throbbing head in this maddening situation, Unryu Hime approached.

For some reason, Unryu Hime was holding what appeared to be a rather large bottle of drink, with a label that read “This is not alcohol. Contains 17% alcohol.”

Sir Dominic looked at Unryu Hime’s face.

“Siiiir Doooominiiic~”

Unryu Hime wagged her tail at Sir Dominic’s gaze and rushed into his arms.

Fortunately, Sir Dominic instinctively subdued her with his martial arts technique; otherwise, Unryu Hime might have added another embarrassing memory to her collection.

Sir Dominic carried the nearly collapsing Unryu Hime to the sofa.

After placing the unconscious Unryu Hime on the sofa, he walked through the messy living room and approached Sir Dominica.

For some reason, Sir Dominica was ladling chicken stew into the bowl in front of Lady Alice, who was crying profusely.

“What exactly is going on here, Sir Dominica?”

“Ah, Sir Dominic.”

Sir Dominica sighed at Sir Dominic’s question.

“It seems Lady Alice is someone who relieves stress by eating.”

Ah.

Sir Dominic looked at Lady Alice upon hearing those words.

Lady Alice was crying her eyes out for some unknown reason while frantically consuming alcohol and food.

It seemed she was doing so to relieve stress.

“At first it was one portion, then two, but suddenly she said it wasn’t enough and gave me money. She told me to buy everything I could with it. So I ordered some deliveries.”

Sir Dominic glanced at the food piled up around them.

He couldn’t quite grasp how much had been spent, but it looked like enough for several dozen people.

“Well. I can understand, but…”

Sir Dominic vaguely knew why Lady Alice was stressed.

Probably the sudden events of today had made her sensitive.

Lady Alice had always been the type to get irritated when things didn’t go according to her predictions.

That aspect of her personality hadn’t changed at all, it seemed.

Sir Dominic sighed and said to Sir Dominica:

“Well, I don’t mind the eating and drinking. But now that I’m back, I need to wash up and get some sleep…”

“Ah, sorry.”

“?”

Sir Dominica apologized abruptly at Sir Dominic’s words.

Sir Dominica silently led Sir Dominic to the bathroom.

When Sir Dominica opened the bathroom door, Sir Dominic could only look dumbfounded.

The bathtub and sink were already occupied by flatfish, rockfish, and flounder.

“I heard sashimi is best when drinking…”

Sir Dominica said, “These were caught from that 3-pixel-wide stream in front of the house.”

Sir Dominic made what could be described as the most bewildered expression in the world at Sir Dominica’s words.

It was such a peculiar expression that it couldn’t possibly be captured in words or pictures.

“Then, my room too?”

“That’s right.”

Sir Dominica nodded at Sir Dominic’s question.

“It’s already filled with chicken, pizza, pasta, and complimentary cheese balls.”

Oh, for heaven’s sake.

Sir Dominic rubbed his face dryly at this absurd situation.

If he couldn’t wash up or sleep, what was the point of having a home?

Thinking this, Sir Dominic walked past Doremi and Dr. Banshee, who had started singing loudly in their drunken state.

“Where are you gooooing~?”

Unryu Hime, who had slightly awakened on the sofa, flapped her ears and looked at Sir Dominic.

Her relaxed eyes, still under the influence of alcohol, were charming, but Sir Dominic glanced at her briefly and then said:

“Going out for some fresh air.”

With those words, Sir Dominic went out the front door again.

…

Sir Dominic wandered aimlessly through downtown Gacha Land.

It had been a while since he’d been downtown at night.

In the past, when he didn’t have a home yet, he used to walk through the alleys at night without sleeping.

Sir Dominic smiled slightly at the memory.

Come to think of it, that was less than two years ago.

Gacha Land at night was truly a beautiful place.

Lights from different time periods each showed off their unique charm, jumbled signboards flickered to assert their presence, and the outlines of buildings glowed faintly with those lights.

Beyond those buildings, Sir Dominic could see three structures.

The headquarters of System Industries, a jumbled architectural mess that appeared bright despite being shrouded in darkness.

The Executive branch, somewhat lower in height compared to the other two structures, but occupying the largest area among the three.

And the headquarters of Black Company, the most capitalistic yet efficient collection of buildings.

Sir Dominic walked while gazing at them.

As if they were Gacha Land’s lighthouses, its landmarks.

Just then, Sir Dominic suddenly noticed a mysterious stall beside him.

The stall looked like a small circus tent, with purple and blue cloth decorated with the sun, moon, and stars—ridiculous yet mysterious.

Sir Dominic entered as if entranced.

There was no reason.

It was simply that Sir Dominic’s curiosity had led him there.

“Welcome…”

When Sir Dominic entered the tent, there was an old woman with a hooked nose and a broad face.

The old woman was either shuffling cards, looking into a crystal ball, shaking a container filled with counting sticks, doing all of these things, or none of them.

“Please take a seat…”

To be precise, Sir Dominic wasn’t sure.

In his perception, she was simultaneously doing all these things and sitting still.

Sir Dominic thought this was very fitting for Gacha Land and sat down in the chair as the old woman directed.

The old woman silently mixed something.

Whether it was wheat grains, counting sticks, or tarot cards, he couldn’t tell.

She neatly threw them onto the table, and suddenly said:

“You are at risk of burnout. It means you might collapse from exhaustion because you’ve been looking only forward. So it’s good to take a break sometimes.”

After saying this, the old woman waved Sir Dominic away.

“Now go…”

Sir Dominic rose from his seat as if entranced and stepped outside the tent.

Once outside, Sir Dominic found himself emerging from an alley onto a main street.

Sir Dominic thought there had been a tent here until just now, but to his eyes, it was just an empty space.

Was it really an alley?

Sir Dominic continued walking with a puzzled expression.

Just then, three men passed by Sir Dominic.

“No, really! I was passing by here before, and an old woman appeared and gave me a fortune reading that was spot on!”

“So where is this old woman? I’ve been walking around the same place for four days now and there’s nobody here.”

“Maybe it’s some kind of urban legend?”

The three men passed by Sir Dominic, chuckling.

Due to the darkness of the alley, the three didn’t seem to notice Sir Dominic.

Sir Dominic realized he had become entangled in an urban legend.

‘I thought those were things you only read about on wikis.’

Sir Dominic looked back at the dark alley with a surprised expression.

The old woman he had met was certainly some kind of Easter egg.

Sir Dominic thought about what the old woman had just said.

‘You are at risk of burnout. It means you might collapse from exhaustion because you’ve been looking only forward. So it’s good to take a break sometimes.’

After pondering these words, Sir Dominic came to this conclusion:

‘Come to think of it, haven’t I been pushing myself too hard?’

This thought crossed Sir Dominic’s mind briefly, not requiring much attention, but Sir Dominic began to think quite deeply about this issue.

Sir Dominic was a man who found the concept of rest time awkward.

Of course, he was finding some leisure in his daily life, but had he ever properly rested?

During his serf days, Sir Dominic only worried about working for a year to survive for a year.

During his soldier days, Sir Dominic’s only concern was survival; anything else was a luxury.

During his knight days, Sir Dominic was only interested in revenge. Nothing else mattered.

And even after coming to Gacha Land, Sir Dominic had only looked forward and rushed ahead.

Setting goals was good, and enjoying various things was good, but Sir Dominic thought that now was the time to make rest his goal.

Isn’t training more efficient with proper rest?

Since he had been strict with himself until now, wouldn’t it be okay to loosen up a bit?

With these thoughts, Sir Dominic turned his head again.

There were still the brightly lit streets of Gacha Land and the three buildings visible in the distance.

However, this same scenery looked somewhat different to Sir Dominic’s eyes.

It was a moment when Sir Dominic’s perspective shifted slightly.