There seems to be too many conflicting premises for the conclusion the story tries to draw. We've seen he's not s*upid, but he has no backup money in case his mercenary unit gets wiped out. We see he's stronger than most mid-rank adventurers (literally so strong he has a title), but he's got a piece of junk sword and needs a party in order to do quests. Then they get into how the low-rank adventurers are all in debt or dying... Why would anyone ever become one? It seems completely unsustainable.

Honestly, Loren doesn't even feel like the MC... He makes almost no meaningful decisions and gets swept up in the pace of other people. It's more like following the background character that the hero blackmails into joining his party. I'm not really enjoying the "Get stepped on like a doormat" attitude. I'm not asking for some revenge obsessed super killer like Summoned Slaughterer or something, but you have to have some kind of personality. Currently he's just the s*upidly strong thug (on a leash) that doesn't want to be a mercenary. Oh but being an adventurer is sooooo different.

All of this is just speculation though so let's just shove a concrete example in here to solidify the point. Chapter 30 (29 maybe) he tosses some guys into a wall on accident, realizes it was too strong, and ends up racking up more debt. Chapter 31 he immediately DOES IT AGAIN. I can't believe that a seasoned mercenary that made the escape plan in the ruins is so s*upid that he didn't learn anything. It all just feels like a blatant setup for a guard dog and his princess.

After reading further, I must say that this is pretty damn great. I can't recall the last time I've felt so immersed in a scene of life and death where I keep rooting for the characters in my head to succeed. In short, if you like the fantasy isekai genre but without the wimpy and generic JP MC then you ought to give this a go.

To explain further, the novel has a dark fantasy feel to it. Characters who make poor decisions tend to end up miserable and those who aren't won't always get what they want. It has a realistic approach to things that things doesn't always go well but at the same time there is a certain feeling of relief in seeing the two main characters safe and sound at the end of the day.

The two characters are quite likable, Loren being this supposed badass wielding a greatsword whose body is about as beefy as Guts, and Lapis who is this mischievous priestess that works kind of like a library on foot with her level of knowledge. But being people, they have their flaws but these flaws just add up more to their character as being realistic individuals with the way the two interact is interesting and fun to read.

As for world building, it's pretty good despite it only being a volume in. It gives one enough information to get a grasp on how the world works around them and the mechanics in play. Its quite fascinating for me to read as often do we read about JP novels that are like this who don't even tackle the rulings on how the Adventurers Guild work in the first place.

All in all, it's a great novel and you should give it a go. Below are my original thoughts after reading the first 4 chapters.

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Dood, Ive been waiting for this damn novel to be translated ever since I saw the cover. Even before it was in Novel updates, I've already seen its cover. The only reason I haven't read it so soon was because I didn't even know its title, I just saw the cover and knew I had to read it.

With just 4 chapters I am hooked, heck I'm hooked with just the MC's personality alone. For starters, no reincarnation, transmigration or summoned to another world shenannigans, although the MC's past makes him kind of a black slate in terms of world knowledge, he's no amatuer at living and shows it through his interactions with other people, he feels so... real... and not like most JP MCs... that's more than enough of a reason to give this novel a go.

In terms of atmosphere and setting, its the typical "Another World" world in the isekai genre, adventurer's guild, monsters, countries, etc. However, what makes it different is the MC. The whole feel of the atmosphere feels more grim and realistic, people die, being unprepared will bring trouble, going around and letting your d*ck choose your life decisions won't bode well for you and the reality of being broke, is cruel one. Overall, atmosphere is great, setting is alright.

Characters, so far only two noteworthy ones, the ones on the cover, the big picture on this page, whom are Loren the broke MC, and Lapis the priest. Both are surpisingly likable at first glance and are obviously gonna be the main duo based on the following volume covers. (P.S. If you want to see the covers, just google images its alternative japanese name and you'll see a few along with some character concept art. This is also how I knew of this novel in the first place)

Overall, I have a lot of hopes for this novel, please do support the translator for picking this up as it is a daunting task to translate JP novels as most translators tend to stop after translating a dozen chapters or so. Don't let a gem like this lose its brilliance!

“It looks like an ordinary coat. But this is in fact a magic item. The cloth was woven with many layers using silk from black widows. This is a great find. Plus, it only costs five gold coins.”

“That’s quite an incredible on you’ve found.”

“A coat that is enchanted with << Protection >> and << Auto Recovery >> would usually cost ten times this price. Your defense will increase just by wearing this on top of leather armor. We must definitely buy this one.”

“Ten times... Why don’t you tell the owner?”

If what Lapis said was true, the store would be at quite a loss.