Garumon Value and Price

When an explanation ran too long, when there was a small aside, or when the content was something you could take or leave, I tacked it on as a sub-numbered chapter like this one.

While we were talking about Garumon sale prices, a question suddenly popped into my head.

I hesitated for a moment, worried that asking it might give Leone and Lyuka the wrong impression.

Still, since it was bothering me, I went ahead and asked.

"Excuse me. First off, I don't want this to be misunderstood. I haven't known Adelia for very long, but I already think of her as a comrade. I would never let go of a comrade, no matter how many hundreds of millions someone offered me. Unless Adelia herself said she didn't want to stay by my side, that is."

After laying that groundwork, I went ahead with my question.

"… The person who originally sold Adelia received a few hundred thousand, right? What was that about? The amount you pay when you lose a Garumon Battle should match her Value of 5500, shouldn't it?"

"Aah… it's true, that's the sort of question that could easily be misread as you wanting to sell Adelia. I appreciate the preface. Please feel free to ask anything you're curious about. We NPCs exist in part to support all of you PCs."

Lyuka picked up on what I was getting at and started to explain.

"Selling a Garumon you currently own through the Shop is a completely different matter from selling a Garumon you didn't take after a Garumon Battle. The amount exchanged in a Garumon Battle is the bare minimum, but selling through the Shop nets you something close to the Garumon's true worth. The Value displayed on the status screen does reflect a Garumon's worth, yes, but it isn't literal face value. If you asked whether anyone would trade a Value-5000 Garumon for fifty Value-100 Garumon, I can say with absolute certainty that no one would. There's a cap on how many Garumon you can hold, so you couldn't even keep all fifty of those Value-100 Garumon. And even if you could, a single Value-5000 Garumon would be overwhelmingly stronger and more beautiful than the lot of them. So a Value-5000 Garumon will sell for at least 500 times that, somewhere over 2,500,000 G. From that, I estimated that the G-Class Master would have received about 10%, around 250,000 G. By the way, the buy price is several to roughly ten times the sale price. Mr. Reichhardt's father most likely paid at least 10,000,000 G to acquire Adelia."

"… I-I see…"

10,000,000… wait, that was 100 billion yen? Wasn't that more than a fighter jet? That was island money.

I wouldn't part with Adelia no matter how many hundreds of millions were offered, but if we were talking 100 billion, I had to admit the price was more than reasonable.

It would be more than enough to poach a top star from the sports world.

Well, in this world where Garumon Battles are everything, an outstanding Garumon really was worth that much.

I now understood just how devastated Reichhardt must have been when he lost. I wasn't giving her back, though.

"I see… so choosing to release a Garumon rather than have one taken means letting her go for the absolute minimum, which is generally a bad move."

"That said, there's a limit on how many Garumon you can hold. For G-Class, that limit is 3. If your slots are full, then to take an opponent's Garumon for resale, you'd have to release one of your own. Once released, she'd go either to the Shop or back to the gacha. That's left up to the system, so the odds of getting her back are low. For a Master with their slots full, taking a Garumon as a money-making strategy isn't really viable. In that case, you have no choice but to sell through the system."

"Aah, I see… that makes sense too."

If you'd put together a perfect three-Garumon lineup, then unless a target was valuable enough to justify breaking it up, taking her wouldn't be worth the cost.

"Of course, when it comes to someone like Kanan-san or Adelia-san, for a Master at this rank they'd be worth taking no matter what you had to give up."

That tracked. Thinking "even if I lose, as long as I have 5000 G or 5500 G on hand, I won't lose anything" was a huge mistake.

Not that I even had that 5000 G.

For reference, I asked her to go into more detail about Garumon Value.

"Garumon Value is classified by rarity as follows."

"A Garumon's Value rises every time she levels up or advances to a higher-tier Class. So Initial Value, in the table, refers to her Value at LV1."

Leone chimed in with a supplementary explanation.

"… Then a Garumon with Value 5000 from the start, like Kanan, is…"

"Yes. In terms of innate qualities, the very pinnacle of Garumon: Ultra Rare."

"Adelia is a Nekomata, which is a Beastkin advanced job, so she gets a +500 bonus from her Class. You can think of her Initial Value as 5000."

Both of the Garumon I had were at the absolute peak in terms of innate qualities. That was incredible.

This might just be a ridiculously blessed start…

"If you're curious, why not check the Shop?"

At her prompting, I tried navigating the system. It was a bit hard to follow at first, but the Shop also handled buying and selling through the system.

The system is government-run and the Shop is private, but the system works like Amaz○n, handling both storefronts in parallel.

• Buy a Garumon

• Sell a Garumon

Those were the menu options.

I selected "Buy a Garumon."

And… boom, a list of Garumon was displayed.

And so on. I tried selecting Sheba.

A simple loadout. There were no descriptions for the skills, but they were pretty self-explanatory.

I could also see a portrait. Hmm, well… yeah. Kind of a tough-looking face.

Plain, I guess you'd call it. The kind of face where, if she really put effort into her makeup, she'd be passable…

Sorry for being snooty, but still.

I mean, with Kanan, Adelia, Leone, and Lyuka surrounding me, the bar's been set by absurd beauties. A plain woman is going to look unimpressive by comparison no matter how you slice it.

"… Huh, the Garumon with the lower Value has a higher Price?"

For a moment I thought I was misreading. Holka, with Value 60, was pricier than Sheba. Maybe Earth element commands a premium?

It was a bit puzzling.

"Yes. Garumon with low Value are actually more valuable in G-Class."

"???"

I had no idea what she meant.

"For Masters who can win, this doesn't apply.

"For Masters who can win, G-Class is just a waypoint. They can rack up 10 wins, sweep through, and get promoted to F-Class right away.

"But please consider G-Class Masters who can't win.

"Most Masters in this world will spend their entire lives trading wins and losses in G-Class.

"Masters are obligated to spend at least 8 hours on the battleground and to fight at least one battle per week, with no way out.

"In G-Class Garumon Battles, when Value 100 fights Value 100, winning earns 10 G and losing costs 100 G.

"If your wins and losses are split fifty-fifty, on average you lose 45 G per battle.

"Masters in this situation tend to agree not to take Garumon from each other and to fix matches to alternate wins, so this loss becomes a near-certainty.

"But what if one of your Garumon were Value 50?

"Winning still earns 10 G, but losing only costs 50 G. The average loss per battle drops to 20 G.

"So a Value-50 Garumon is, in fact, a better Garumon than a Value-100 Garumon, because she minimizes losses."

"Aah, I see…!"

That made sense. It was honestly eye-opening.

"In terms of combat ability, the difference between Value 200 and Value 50 is within the margin of error. Differences in Value mostly reflect differences in physical attractiveness. Generally, a Value-100 Garumon is considered to have average looks. Below 100, they get uglier; above 100, they get more beautiful."

"I, I see…"

Looks… putting a numerical score on something like that.

That said, the Sheba I just looked at really did feel about average.

… And in terms of looks, I thought Kanan and Adelia were unrivaled, peerless beauties.

Value 5000 made total sense.

… So the Values assigned by the system, at least for now, didn't contradict my own impressions in the slightest.

I browsed the Shop a bit more.

The only standout was a single SR-rarity Garumon featured as a flagship item. Nothing above SR was even on sale.

I checked out the SR Garumon.

Wearing a helmet, she carried herself with the dignified air of a female knight.

… Her looks really were polished. A serious beauty, easily celebrity-level.

But the price, 5,000,000 G, was insanely expensive.

I suddenly glanced at Lyuka's face. The same Lyuka who'd told me she'd join up if I gathered 250,000.

… Even comparing pretty girls, the difference in caliber was obvious. Lyuka was far, far more beautiful.

I wasn't supposed to be a lolicon, and yet whenever I looked at Lyuka's face, I found myself spacing out, captivated.

Lyuka and Leone might also be UR-Class Garumon with Initial Value 5000.

Well, asking someone their Value seemed rude, so I didn't.

But the two of them were no less beautiful than Adelia or Kanan. Their Value was probably right around there.

… Wait, Lyuka becoming my comrade for just 250,000 G might be an absolute steal…

"…?"

Lyuka noticed my gaze and looked up.

"Ahaha…"

I laughed it off vaguely.

Hmm. Out of all Garumon, the Ultra Rare class only makes up 0.01% of them, and I was in some degree of contact with four of them…

I might be ridiculously, unbelievably lucky.

The thought just sort of drifted into my head.

This luck… I don't want to let it slip away.

I now knew that selling Adelia would immediately get me the amount I needed to pay for Lyuka.

But that was an option I wouldn't take even if it killed me.

Looking back, by this point I was probably already finding more appeal in fighting in this world than in returning to my original one right away.

"A… ahem. Come to think of it, you mentioned something in passing earlier, but what exactly is a Class?"

I changed the subject.

"Aah… it's the Race field on the status screen. For someone like Adelia, it shows 'Nekomata,' which is literally her Race, but going forward you'll see things like Warrior or Mage, jobs, Classes, displayed there instead. Race and job aren't kept separate, so it's a bit confusing. I'm a Mage of the Fairy race, but my entry just shows Mage. If they have no job, the Race is shown; if they've taken on a Class, the Class is shown."

Class

★ None: Jobless. Villagers, Fairies, otherworld Garumon, etc.

★1: General Job. Common jobs like Warrior or Thief. Value +10% or so.

★2: Advanced Job. Special jobs like Samurai or Archmage. Nekomata is also here. Value +500.

★3: Top-Tier Job. Holy Knight, Sage, etc., generally considered the apex. Value +1000.

★4: Ultimate Job. Many include "god" in the name, like Wind God or Thunder God. The strongest Class, the pinnacle of humankind. Value +1500.

★5: Legendary Job. Their existence has been confirmed. Value +2000.

"Hmm… how do you take on one of those Classes? Is there a class-change office?"

"You take them on naturally when you level up or grow. Class-changing through ordinary means isn't possible. Innate qualities matter most for it, so a Garumon's Race can also affect her Value and Price. Even within N-class, a Knight is more expensive than a Warrior. Knights are excellent thanks to their high defense, and that's reflected in the market price."

That was the gist of our conversation.

Well, I had no intention of trying to turn a profit buying and selling Garumon, so most of what I'd just heard was probably useless to me, though.