Chapter 17
The Gacha God spun the gacha.
The game was now advancing to a new level.
Even the gods couldn’t predict what awaited ahead or what would come out of the spinning gacha.
The Lord merely enjoyed.
What might come out…
Who the next playmate would be…
Who the proxy moving on the board would become…
With anticipation and excitement, the Lord watched as the gacha kept spinning.
—
During the journey, there was a minor incident where I was attacked by assassins from the Holy Kingdom, but otherwise, I arrived at the empire without much trouble.
“Hmm… Nothing’s changed at all.”
“Considering there was only about a year gap between my disappearance and resurrection, that’s expected. But a year without Adam was truly excruciating every moment.”
I quietly pet Iris’ sad face.
The bond I tried to sever after being summoned again has honestly turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
And it’s all thanks to Lucy, needless to say.
Whether Lucy knows this or not, she placed my hand on her head like asking for a pat and looked around the capital with sparkling eyes.
“Wow, this place is huge and vast, Adam! It can’t even compare to Babylus!”
“That’s because this is the capital of the empire.”
Though Babylus wasn’t a bad place, as a small kingdom, it naturally had many shortcomings compared to the empire.
For that reason, the first place we headed to with the overly excited Lucy was the Erlig household.
The guards who recognized my face rushed inside the mansion, and within less than a minute, two people came rushing out.
“My goodness, Adam!”
“You’ve really been summoned back!”
As the old friends who hurriedly came to greet me, I smiled back at them.
“It hasn’t been long from my perspective, but it’s good to see you again, Johan. And you too, Susan. And this person over here…”
“Could this be the new master of the wandering hero everyone’s talking about? Miss Lucy, right?”
“A-ah, hello…”
Lucy, perhaps shy, peeked behind me while greeting them, causing Johan and Susan to look apologetic.
“I’m sorry, Miss Lucy. We didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Let’s go inside and talk. It’s not polite to keep you standing outside, is it?”
At Susan’s suggestion, Johan nodded and started to guide us in, when Iris, who had been silently neglected, grumbled.
“Excuse me. Did Father and Mother not notice me at all?”
“Apparently, a daughter who leaves without a word to find a man doesn’t exist.”
“…I apologize.”
Inside the mansion, we filled our stomachs with luxurious meals prepared by the viscount family’s chef and chatted.
After briefly explaining the events that happened in Babylus, Johan mentioned that it had already caused quite a stir.
“Well, it sounded like a fairy tale, you know. By the way, did Miss Lucy ultimately give up her royal status?”
“Yeah. Lucy herself wasn’t interested in her status anyway, and even if she were reinstated as royalty, it’d just bring unnecessary complications.”
Besides, if things got troublesome, there’s a high chance I’d end up wanting to wipe everything out. So leaving was the right choice in any sense.
“I see. Anyway, you must have worked hard coming here. From now on, take it easy and relax like before.”
“Huh? Here?”
“Hmm? Where else?”
“Um? Shouldn’t we live outside? Why would we do that?”
This couple assumed I’d naturally live here.
“No, isn’t Iris no longer one of your gacha characters? Isn’t living here kind of weird?”
“The guy who took my daughter’s virginity saying that?”
You’re crazy, dude. What are you talking about in front of your daughter?
More importantly, how did they find out?
“Surely, Adam, you’re not suggesting Iris was merely some plaything, are you?”
“There’s no way. Don’t pull out your axe, Susan.”
Always wondered where that axe keeps popping out from anyway.
“Anyway, since Iris will also live here like in Babylus, let’s just stay here. If we bother you, we can use the annex of the mansion.”
Now he’s speaking as if it’s already decided.
Actually, since this was originally where I lived, it doesn’t bother me much, but how does Lucy feel about it?
“What do you think, Lucy?”
“I… As long as I can be with Adam, anywhere is fine…”
Thinking back to when we first met, she used to say she didn’t want to be apart from me even for a second. After living with Iris, Lucy seems to have changed a little.
Then it should be fine, huh.
“Alright. We’ll impose upon you.”
“Don’t say such pitiful things. Who says living in their own house counts as imposing?”
Thus, Lucy, Iris, and I began living in the Erlig household.
Since I was the one who returned, I guess you could say I came back.
After finishing the meal and parting ways with the Erlig couple, we moved to the annex, which was surprisingly clean and tidy as if prepared beforehand.
“Are we really allowed to live here?”
“Of course.”
If we had said we’d live separately, they probably would have gotten violent.
After unpacking and bathing together, we laid down side by side on the bed and decided to discuss future plans.
“First, let’s take a few days to adjust, then I’ll look for a magic teacher for Lucy. Since she barely managed two days of classes in Babylus.”
She said she didn’t want to attend a magic school, so it’d be better to hire a private tutor.
Who would be suitable? Just as I was thinking about that, Iris worriedly spoke up.
“Surely you’re not planning to ask Saskia, are you?”
“No, she’s someone I wouldn’t even consider.”
Her magic skills are impeccable, but as her nickname “Mad Witch” suggests, she has serious personality issues.
Especially that incident where she stripped someone of their royal status… What exactly happened there?
“Actually, I was considering ‘Professor.’ Wouldn’t she be fine?”
“Is she even alive?”
That, I couldn’t confirm either since she was always conducting experiments that could kill her anytime.
“We’ll find out once we visit her lab. If she’s not available, we can ask one of the suitable professors from the magic academy to tutor privately.”
“Hmm… Not very appealing, but I guess there’s no helping it… Wait, what is Lucy doing?!”
Seeing Lucy suddenly climb onto me made Iris angry, but Lucy pouted in response.
“…You said we’d think together, yet you two keep having conversations I don’t understand.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to leave you out. Still, Lucy, it’s still daytime.”
“I know.”
“Then could you please remove your hands from under my robe?”
“Nope.”
While I won’t specify the location, her soft hands exploring there definitely provide stimulation.
“I wanna join too!”
Thanks to Iris jumping in next, that day ended without much progress.
The next day, feeling bored staying in the mansion, we went for a walk and visited the adventurer’s guild.
“Wow, this place is completely different from Babylus in terms of scale…”
“Naturally, given the size difference of the countries, there are more quests here.”
Quest acceptance follows the gacha system, which is universal across nations.
“Then, is it possible for lower-ranked adventurers to draw higher-level quests? And vice versa? Seems inefficient…”
“Good question.”
To answer simply, that doesn’t happen.
All gachas in this world require a cost to spin, according to the rules set by the Gacha God.
Or rather, the world’s rules.
Typically, money is used as the cost when purchasing something, but the adventurer’s guild uses something different.
“What?”
“Blood.”
Just a single drop is enough, the amount that comes out from a small prick.
“The quest gacha at the adventurer’s guild uses the user’s blood as payment and randomly selects quests suitable for that person’s level. Therefore, adventurers won’t receive quests above their rank.”
“Then what if someone wants to do a lower-level job?”
In that case, hope for a lower-level quest to appear.
Or pay a fee, cancel the drawn quest, and try again.
“Since you’re here, why don’t you try it? Lucy is already registered in the guild, so she can spin the quest gacha.”
If Iris spins, she’ll likely get an SR-level quest, so it’s better to hold off today.
Referencing my experience, whenever I spin, I always end up with extremely difficult and exhausting quests that pay poorly, so I shouldn’t touch it either.
A light task for a change of pace might not be bad, so when I suggested, Lucy hesitantly inserted her finger into the gacha slot.
“Eh? I don’t feel anything…”
“That’s how it works. Look, the gacha is spinning, right?”
“Ah, really.”
On the metal plate, colorless light danced around in circles.
Then it turned blue.
“Oh, an R-ranked quest is about to appear…”
The next moment, smiles disappeared from my, Lucy’s, and Iris’ faces.
Something’s off.
The color kept changing.
Realizing something was wrong, the guild gradually fell silent.
“Gold? SR-rank?”
“But the light’s not stopping…”
Someone’s muttering echoed as the light continued to spin endlessly.
When the metal plate finally exploded with a rainbow-colored light, all sounds, even breathing, ceased.
What remained on the metal plate was a single piece of paper.
An SSR-ranked quest request.
Looking bewildered, Lucy couldn’t speak, so I picked up the quest request instead and couldn’t help but laugh after reading it.
Is this what they call divine intervention?
Gacha sure is unpredictable.
“Eh? What’s the content…?”
“The content doesn’t matter! We’re canceling it anyway! …Right, Adam?”
“Hmm. Considering this appeared in front of me at this timing, I feel like we shouldn’t cancel it.”
“What do you mean?”
I may lack luck, but I have intuition.
And countless experiences that rival anyone’s.
Among those experiences, one nightmare-like event came flooding back upon seeing the quest request Lucy drew.
“If we ignore this now, we’ll all die in the near future.”
“What is it…?”
I handed the quest request to the two of them.
The content itself is simple.
It’s deceptively simple until you realize how terribly grave the underlying issue is.
Here’s what it says:
[A report has surfaced of beings with blue skin and red horns sighted near the northern border of the empire. Verify the authenticity of the report and investigate their existence.]
Buried memories stirred awake, and the intense smell of blood tickled my nose.
But what troubles me most is the pain of the one and only defeat I’ve ever experienced.
“Adam…?”
At the sound of my name, the stabbing pain in my heart from that time resurfaced, making it impossible to respond.
