Chapter 2
The world is made of gacha.
Everything people eat, wear, or use is determined by gacha.
“Sure, you can make things manually, but that’s rarely done. Handmade items are basically luxuries for the rich.”
Having returned to the royal road of the Barfulus Kingdom, I explained various common knowledge Lucy didn’t know as I walked with her in my arms.
Lucy, who had lived her whole life as a slum resident, lacked basic common knowledge.
She only vaguely knew things like when she summoned me through gacha, but not the details.
For some reason, she also didn’t seem to know how valuable an SSR rank like mine was.
“All gacha ranks are divided into N, R, SR, and SSR. A person’s rank as a gacha character is determined by their great achievements in life.”
“But why do you call them characters? If they’re summoned through gacha, they’re still people, right?”
“Well, since they’re technically dead people, we call them characters to differentiate.”
While explaining, we headed toward the Adventurer’s Guild.
I sold the red orc king’s magic stone we caught in the Forest of Magic there. Some people recognized me along the way and almost caused a commotion, but they backed off when I showed a little killing intent.
“What’s a magic stone?”
“To put it simply, it’s a monster’s dead heart. Unlike when they’re alive, monsters’ hearts turn into magic stones when they die.”
While selling the red orc king’s magic stone, I registered Lucy and myself as adventurers first.
It’s a bit annoying to renew every set period, but once registered, you can work as an adventurer anywhere on the continent, which is convenient.
“Wow…”
Lucy looked at the gold coins we got from selling the magic stone with shining eyes like they were amazing.
Still, I took care of the storage since having the coins seemed to make her uneasy.
“Now that we’ve secured spending money, shall we go one by one?”
“Where to?”
“Just places we need to go.”
The first place we visited was the Asclepius Temple where the healers were.
I barely managed to convince Lucy, who was scared to death, to get examined. Fortunately, it seemed she wasn’t suffering from any serious illness.
“It’s just that she hasn’t been eating properly, so she’s lacking nutrients. Feed her well and her condition should improve gradually. Also, pay attention to hygiene.”
She definitely smelled bad.
Following the healer’s advice, our next destination was the public bathhouse.
The manager refused entry when he saw Lucy’s appearance, but brought us some light clothes to change into after I threw a few gold coins his way.
“Uh…is there somewhere I can’t go? Do I really have to wait here?”
“I’m not going anywhere, so just come back clean.”
After making Lucy promise several times, I sent her into the bathhouse and waited outside while looking up at the sky.
I wonder what Iris is doing right now.
If the empire won the war against the dragons, she would have undoubtedly become a hero and must be living a great life.
Though I feel sorry for the others, I’m most curious about how Iris is doing.
That’s because last time, I was summoned when she was still a little girl and watched her grow up being always by her side.
Even though it’s presumptuous, I’ve been thinking of her like a daughter.
“Well, that’s all in the past now.”
If our fates cross again, we might meet someday. For now, it’s important to help this new master live a proper life.
About thirty minutes later, Lucy hurriedly came out of the bathhouse.
“Huh, isn’t that too fast? Did you really wash properly?”
“I, I did!”
Hmm. It seems all the black grime covering her body is gone.
Thanks to that, I finally got to see Lucy’s original face, and she was surprisingly pretty.
If she gains some weight from eating properly, she might truly become a beauty. Even now, she gives off the impression of a delicate beauty, reminding me of someone.
Maybe the unhygienic dirt was helping. With this kind of appearance, there’s no way she could have wandered around the slums safely.
“Next, let’s go shopping for clothes.”
“C, clothes?! B-but what I’m wearing now is enough!”
“I think it’s not.”
What a waste for such a beauty. And considering our future lives, not just Lucy’s but mine as well, we need new clothes.
When I entered the clothing shop, I looked at the gachas lined up by price and type on the wall, then decided to roll one based on the clerk’s recommendation.
Honestly, I don’t really know much about clothes anyway.
“This is for her, do you have anything that would suit?”
“How about this one? If you look at the catalog, you’ll see there are many styles that are neat yet easy to move in.”
Oh, this one would definitely be fine no matter what comes out.
“Roll it.”
“S, should I…?”
“Of course. You’ll see from the stats, but my luck is F.”
“…Ah, it’s really true. Only faith and luck are F.”
Having understood by checking the stats, Lucy inserted the gold coin I handed her and turned the lever.
Then, a light shone from the metal plate connected to the gacha. Though it wasn’t gold, fortunately it wasn’t colorless either.
When the blue light rising from the metal plate disappeared, a neatly folded piece of clothing appeared.
“An R rank, huh? It’s quite nice?”
“Waah…”
Lucy opened her mouth wide in amazement at the white dress she drew and carefully reached out to pick it up.
“Is it really okay to wear such a nice dress?”
“It’s fine.”
Because she’s never had anything decent, Lucy hesitantly touched the dress while clearly liking it. I forced her into the dressing room to change.
When Lucy came out in the dress, she shyly twisted her body but had a happy expression on her face.
“E, ehehe…t, thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
After drawing a few more outfits for Lucy and then some for myself, we left the shop as the sun had already set. We decided to stop here for today and find lodging.
Saying that anywhere but the streets would do, even a stable would be fine, I led Lucy to a decent inn and rolled the room gacha.
Since there’s not much difference between N and R ranks unless it’s a high-class inn, it wouldn’t matter if I rolled it.
“Is this a bed…!”
Taking the key from the N-rank room drawn from the gacha, we went up to the second floor and opened the door. Lucy excitedly looked around the room.
Though normal to me, it seems different to Lucy as she sits on the not-so-fluffy bed and keeps exclaiming in amazement.
“Soft! And warm! Adam, come sit here too!”
“Alright.”
This is definitely better than staying depressed all the time.
After confirming the room, we went back downstairs and rolled the food gacha for dinner together.
—
“It feels like a dream.”
As Lucy hastily brought the hot stew filled with vegetables and meat and non-hard bread to her mouth, she glanced sideways at Adam sitting across from her.
All the wishes she had longed for during her life were fulfilled in just one day.
Lucy hoped this wasn’t a dream. If it was a dream, she wished to never wake up and keep dreaming until she died.
“Then what does SSR mean exactly?”
Though Lucy knew nothing about combat, seeing Adam kill the red orc king with a single punch told her his strength was beyond ordinary.
Out of sudden curiosity, Lucy unconsciously summoned Adam’s status screen again to check.
Name: Adam Idinga
Rank: SSR
Stats:
Strength: S
Agility: S
Skill: S
Faith: F(UCK)
Luck: F
Magic Power: E
“Um…I’m not sure.”
“What?”
“Whaaa?!”
Startled by Adam’s question reacting to her muttering, Lucy tried to say it was nothing but remembered she actually had something she was curious about.
Terrified, Lucy still decided to gather her courage.
“Adam…why are you being so nice to me?”
“Well, you’re my master, aren’t you?”
“But I don’t have any power to force you to do anything…”
Strictly speaking, it’s not completely absent. As long as she has the master’s mark, even someone without any power or magic like Lucy can prevent a character from harming herself.
But conversely, that’s all she can do. As she said, Lucy can’t forcibly order Adam to do anything.
So why is he acting for her sake? At Adam’s question, Lucy tilted her chin and nodded after thinking.
“A reasonable question. There’s nothing more suspicious than goodwill without reciprocation.”
“N, no! It’s not that I don’t like what Adam does for me…!”
“You understand what I mean, so don’t worry. But, the reason for my actions, huh.”
Adam smirked and shrugged.
“To put it bluntly, it’s probably nostalgia.”
“Nostalgia…?”
“In life, I traveled all over the continent, earning the title of Wandering Hero. However, I was directly involved with only a handful of people.”
Back then, it was fine. There was no inconvenience, and I wasn’t particularly lonely. But strangely, just before I died, I thought, ‘Could there have been another path?’
At the time, it wasn’t regret strong enough to call it such, just a small doubt.
However, meeting various masters through repeated summonings under the guidance of the Gacha God changed Adam.
“The decisive moment was my last summoning. Serving someone sincerely wasn’t all that bad.”
“Who was that master?”
“That story is too long, so I’ll tell you next time. We’ve finished eating, so let’s go back to the room and sleep. We’ve been running around doing various things, so it’s probably tiring. Get a good night’s rest.”
While trying not to show it, Adam consoled Lucy, who couldn’t completely hide her dissatisfaction, and led her back upstairs.
“Can we share the bed?”
“It’s too narrow for two people. I can sleep anywhere, so don’t worry about me.”
Afraid that Adam might disappear when she wakes up, Lucy wanted to sleep together.
On the other hand, Adam said he would sleep on the floor to ensure Lucy sleeps comfortably.
After arguing for ten minutes or so, Adam could finally lie down on the floor after swearing he wouldn’t leave absolutely.
However, he couldn’t fall asleep because Lucy’s head peeking out from the bed was quietly staring at him.
“Aren’t you going to sleep?”
“I, I will!”
The next morning.
Adam chuckled as he pulled the blanket down to the floor and saw his master clinging to him sound asleep.
—
Somewhere in the Empire’s territory, in a noble’s mansion.
A young girl was rolling the gacha.
“Please, please, please, please, please!”
The rainbow light floating in the summoning stone indicated that an SSR character was guaranteed to appear.
The girl clasped her hands and prayed to the Gacha God, the main deity of this world.
And also to the pickup god she worshipped during the ongoing festival.
Please, let me meet him again.
However.
“Following the guidance of fate, I have arrived. You are my—”
“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Seizing the master’s mark that suddenly appeared on her wrist, the girl crushed it with one hand.
As a result, the summoned character, confused and unaware of what happened, had to return to the borderlands.
The girl despaired.
The numerous remains of top-tier summoning stones scattered throughout the room vividly conveyed her despair.
Lifting her head, she shouted.
“Why, why doesn’t he appear…Adam!”
