This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

In the end, Sweet Pomelo still climbed aboard the ship. From the fluff under its feathers, it pulled out 50gBlocks and handed them to Rita. "Let's start with six minutes."

The moment Rita took the Blocks, both she and the ship vanished without a trace.

Sweet Pomelo and B8017913, suddenly left without support beneath them, dropped flat onto the ground.

Sweet Pomelo sat there cross-legged, stunned: ???

B8017913 calmly stood, patted the dust off its backside, and said, "No refunds on the Blocks." Then it quickly jogged away, clearly proud of its clever escape.

Sweet Pomelo: "…"

Why was it that the moment it remembered this was BS-Rita's pet, it stopped feeling surprised?

Just then, another Fat Duck passed by, paused, turned, and walked over. Speaking in a language no nearby player could understand, it asked, "Heard you sold your gacha machine to BS-Rita?"

It was the Drummer. Sweet Pomelo stood and corrected, "She came asking to buy it. I hadn't planned on selling."

There was a big difference between those two narratives.

The Drummer replied, "Oh."

Sweet Pomelo asked, "You didn't want me to sell it to her?"

Drummer: "You sold it too cheap."

Sweet Pomelo: "…If I'd asked for any more, she and her pet would've been kicked back to the start. How is that cheap?"

The Drummer didn't argue. Like Deceitful Bloom, it wasn't focused on the number of Blocks. After all, no amount of Blocks compared to a gacha machine crafted jointly by two divine beings.

What they truly cared about was BS-Rita's attitude toward the machine—the speed with which she assessed, decided, and made her move—and how she intended to use it.

If the player who bought the gacha machine had done so merely for collection, or to curry favor with the gods, then both creators would've worked to reclaim it.

Sweet Pomelo asked, "So what rules did you settle on?"

The Drummer lazily strolled ahead, answering as it walked. "Every player only gets one shot at buying a gacha machine. Once they ask the price but decline to purchase, they get marked. No future Event Bundle will sell a gacha machine to someone with that mark."

"To buy one, a player has to give up either 80% of their current game item Blocks, or the total attribute Blocks earned across their last six games. Even if they've spent them, that's fine—they can sign a contract to deduct future earnings."

Sweet Pomelo clutched its head in despair. "...I did sell it too cheap!!"

Drummer: "Mhm."

Sweet Pomelo sobered slightly. "Isn't that a little unfair to the other players?"

"No," the Drummer replied. "That's precisely what makes it fair. BS-Rita paid upfront, based on her own analysis, long before she knew what the machine could really do. But if other players wait until they've seen her results, no price is truly 'fair'—they're just buying a proven success."

That eased Sweet Pomelo's mind. It wasn't that it disliked BS-Rita—quite the opposite. It just wanted to make sure this wouldn't come back to bite her later.

"So," it asked curiously, "if I'd given her these new conditions, would she still have bought it?"

The Drummer answered without hesitation. "Yes."

Ever since it had helped Deceitful Bloom gang up on BS-Rita, the Drummer had kept an eye on her. Initially, it thought she was too cautious, overly fearful of risk. One glance should've been enough—but strangely, it kept watching.

Back then, it thought BS-Rita's caution was just timid cowardice. But now?

No—now it saw her differently.

She wasn't timid. She was calculated. Greedy, perhaps, but never reckless.

She wouldn't bet on unknown odds. She wouldn't gamble on a "die and be reborn" kind of strategy. She wanted low risk and high return. But when the return was big enough? She didn't hesitate to go all in.

Like when she chased after Cat's Ideal.

Like when she bought the gacha machine.

She had the Captain's restraint and Deceitful Bloom's cunning. The worst possible combination.

Sweet Pomelo asked, "Where are you off to?"

Drummer: "To play."

"Which game?"

"The new one where we go head-to-head with players. The Captain got the idea from BS—based on Plants vs. Zombies. Verdant Whisper · Windrush just queued for it."

"Need another Event Bundle?!"

"We do. Players are full, just waiting on bundles."

Sweet Pomelo shot past the Drummer instantly, duck butt wobbling so fast it left afterimages.

——

Rita stood on a barren sheet of ice. Just three meters in front of her was a large grassy field divided like a chessboard—ten rows by ten columns—each square about three meters wide, enough space for players of various sizes.

There was no path forward except across the grid. Thick thorns lined either side of the board, clearly impassable. The surrounding ice was spacious, but also unhelpful.

Across the board stood a crowd of Event Bundles, each carrying gacha machines. Behind them were ten massive gacha units.

Rita's side was filled with players—100 in total—all familiar faces from the maze game.

Maple Syrup, Pine Bloom, Peach Crown, Mistblade, Little Seahorse, Verdant Whisper · Windrush, Chue Cheng Boman...

And now, all of them had formed a circle, looking down at the very center—at BS-Rita.

Though Rita had earned quite a few Blocks from the capsules afterward, it wasn't nearly enough. She'd also used many of them to rebuild her owl and console. Now, she was barely 30 centimeters tall.

Verdant Whisper · Windrush stared at the pint-sized BS-Rita. "Don't tell me you spent all your Blocks on capsules?"

"Yup," Rita replied, shifting slightly. "That Event Bundle was great. I bought so many capsules, it just gave me the gacha machine for free."

From the other side, the Event Bundles collectively: "…"

Verdant Whisper · Windrush narrowed their eyes. "And your items?"

Rita scratched at her Blocky head and feigned ignorance.

Maple Syrup, now over 1.5 meters tall, crouched down beside her and gently tapped Rita's left shoulder. Then, with a smooth motion, pressed down.

"Don't be afraid. Mother's here. No one's going to bully you."

[Player Lania Kaia Maple Syrup has used item 'Account Switch' to change the beneficiary of 'Asset Transfer' to Lania Kaia Maple Syrup.]

[Player Lania Kaia Maple Syrup has used item 'Permanent Bind'. All current abnormal statuses cannot be removed, and all binding relationships cannot be altered.]

Rita, just about to activate Moment Reversal: "…"

Verdant Whisper · Windrush, also receiving the prompt: "…"