"Yes?" Now that everything had gone her way, Lapis' intimidating aura had vanished.
Loren forced out the words he least wanted to say. "Lend me some money."
The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary (Kuitsume Youhei no Gensou Kitan) is a series of Light Novels written by Mine and illustrated by Peroshi, which began publication in 2017. It also has a manga adaptation illustrated by Araea Ikemiya, which began serialization in Comic Fire in 2018. Both the novels and the manga are licensed in English by Seven Seas Entertainment.
After the soldiers’ mercenary group where he used to work had been utterly destroyed, Loren, who survived the disaster, decided to walk the adventurer’s path as a way to make a living. However, for Loren who had no acquaintances and nothing but an empty pocket on him, receiving a single quest seemed like a faraway aim. However, things would soon change as another adventurer called out to him while contemplating on what to do next.
Tropes:
- BFS: One of Loren’s weapons is a two-handed sword, but he has trained enough so that he only needs to use one to swing it.
- Experienced Protagonist: Loren already has a lot of experience in adventuring, combat, and wilderness survival thanks to his time in the mercenary group.
- Expy:
- Loren is essentially one of Guts with a hint of Goblin Slayer.
- The trio of Sarfe, Naron, and Oxy are this to the Greenhorn Team, although they’re far more obnoxious and egotistical. They also end up suffering the exact same fate too.
- Ignored Expert: Loren knew how to tackle a job before even becoming an adventurer. Too bad Sarfe, Naron, and Oxy refuse to listen to his advice.
- Our Demons Are Different: The demon kin are a race known for having superior physical and magical ability, but possess a poor reputation, little interest in developing relations with others, and are said to use anything and everything for their own benefit. They’re usually distinguishable by having deep violet eyes. Lapis is one of them, but she’s been given several restrictions in the form of a mostly artificial body that can only move through use of mana.
- Perpetual Poverty: It's in the title, unfortunately for Loren.
- Shockingly Expensive Bill: Lapis adds to the insane debt Loren owes her by ordering for him the fanciest alcohol possible.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Sarfe. The guy has a rather overinflated opinion of himself and seeks to become a great hero, but his common sense and combat skills are very lackluster. Naron almost always kissing his butt doesn’t help either.
- Sole Survivor:
- Downplayed, Loren mentions that there were other members of the mercenary group who survived too, it’s just that he got separated from all of them.
- Loren and Lapis end up becoming the last two remaining members of their party after getting ambushed by goblins. Although they end up faring a lot better by themselves without the other three.
- Too Dumb to Live: Sarfe, Naron, and Oxy. They pretty much do whatever they think is the most ideal despite Loren, an experienced mercenary, telling them otherwise, and just charge into battle without any plans, making them susceptible to traps. It ends up getting them killed.
