The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary

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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. So, as he was contemplating about what he should do next, another adventurer called out to him.

Associated Names
One entry per line
Kuitsume Youhei no Gensou Kitan
走投無路傭兵的幻想奇譚
食い詰め傭兵の幻想奇譚
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Goblin Slayer (2)
The Second Coming of Gluttony (2)
Rakuin no Monshou (2)
Shini Yasui Kōshaku Reijō to Shichi-nin no Kikōshi (2)
Grimgal of Ashes and Illusion (1)
Wortenia Senki (WN) (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Action - Cultivation - Adventure (On going)
  2. Japanese Light Novels or Web Novels
  3. stories that caught my eye
  4. Novel I Read
  5. Novel List

Latest Release

Date Group Release
03/24/24 Divine Dao Library c320
03/17/24 Divine Dao Library c319
03/10/24 Divine Dao Library c318
03/03/24 Divine Dao Library c317
02/25/24 Divine Dao Library c316
02/18/24 Divine Dao Library c315
02/11/24 Divine Dao Library c314
02/04/24 Divine Dao Library c313
01/28/24 Divine Dao Library c312
01/21/24 Divine Dao Library c311
01/14/24 Divine Dao Library c310
01/07/24 Divine Dao Library c309
12/31/23 Divine Dao Library c308
12/24/23 Divine Dao Library c307
12/17/23 Divine Dao Library c306
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69 Reviews sorted by


DizzyMiko
DizzyMiko rated it
April 10, 2019
Status: c25
Dropped at ch25. I had really high hopes for this series, as the beginning premise was really, really intriguing, along with all of the events that ended up happening along the way through the first half of Arc 1. Loren's background was quite good, and the depiction of his sadness about what happened was great as well, but that only lasted for a few chapters. It's like the writer suddenly decided that having an emotional connection to Loren was too much of a bother and then shifted focus onto Lapis... more>> and essentially turned this story into a woman manipulating a man, both financially and emotionally, to be with her for as long as possible, for HER own benefit, without even taking into consideration on what Loren thinks about all of this.

But then at the very end, when Lapis shows her true colors, and Loren, who just goes along with this shit, completely lost me. Not to mention, even though the beginning started nice, after thinking about things for a bit, Loren and Lapis, along with every character that was introduced in Arc 1, are all literally one-dimensional characters that are only defined by the tropes that are assigned to them.

Spoiler

Loren, the broke and super strong mercenary that literally gets walked all over by Lapis.

Lapis, the manipulative and deceiving woman who wants to tie Loren to her through financial domination because he's nice to her. Also is very strong and intelligent, and honestly has no need for Loren at all, based on inferences from what's been given thus far, but wants to keep him to herself because "reasons" that I don't buy for a second.

Sarfe's party who were all literal token trope characters that had no redeeming qualities to them.

Ritz's groupe who were all literal token trope characters that were plagiarized straight from Goblin Slayer, and written very badly in the process.

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If the first Arc turned me off this much already, I shudder to think how it's going to turn out after that. If you like manipulative women and doormat men, then this story is for you.

Now to continue my quest for trying to find a story where a male MC doesn't take sh*t from anyone and actually feels like an individual (not an easy quest through the slog of shitty JP wn and ln, don't even touch CH wn and ln anymore). <<less
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SnoopyGM
SnoopyGM rated it
August 7, 2018
Status: v1c1
I rate this 4 star for the story and the world building. But I stop reading this bcause even though thr author want to make story with 2 main character, it develop into 1 s*upid and gulible but strong main and 1 weak but smart and kind of b*tch. The strong but s*upid is of course the male, and as some people already review its really not very good character.

He is a very high status mercenary but s*upid. In many story this already become the side character, its not exiting... more>> and interesting enough. I think the only people who would really enjoy this is either a woman or a beta male, because goddamn this is really a story of side character people with people on the sidelines not caring about the male protagonist. Remember he is a very known mercenary! The female protagonist is intereting and devious by keeping the male and using him as a lackey, its not really shown but yeah the male is her s*ave.

Maybe what I said is a little overkill but that all true, look at the title, the male is poor, but he is very good, how can he still become poor? Ask the female protagonists. That is how the author want to make this story going.

I rate this 4 because its a good and interesting novel for some people and I rate this objectively, but personally I hate this story waste 3 hour of my time. <<less
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Meowgumin
Meowgumin rated it
March 13, 2021
Status: --
He's not dense he just have a reason to be dense.

Overall the novel is good I love it and dont listen to other negative review they just probably read like 10 chapter of novel and wrote a review about how bad the MC is but he's not the usual protag u see hes not edgy he wont ask someone strong to duel him he wont save someone just because they are female and he doesn't have harem and flirt this and flirt that.
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Kain Phalanx
Kain Phalanx rated it
November 25, 2019
Status: c76
4/5. It's Guts from Berserk in the world of Goblin Slayer, but with more interesting characters, particularly the priestess. If that sounds remotely appealing to you, then definitely give it a shot because this one stands out from other similar light novels. It almost reads more like a western pulp with each volume being a self-contained incident at a relatively snappy pace and many of their problems have to be solved with a bit of wit and elbow grease rather than special powers.

Why not 5/5? The first volume is too... more>> derivative. I'm not generous enough to call it a homage to Goblin Slayer. Even if you don't mind that, it's my belief that this has caused a major problem with this work. It took me 3 volumes to figure this out, but I think the author thinks he's writing a comedy. It would make sense to do this so you can handwave charges of plagiarism, but it's causing a real problem with the tone.
Spoiler

In one scene there's a life and death struggle with a slime using the corpse of a girl adventure that it has eaten the insides out of, which is genuinely horrifying. In a slightly later scene a girl adventurer has been caught by slimes and is slowly being eaten alive, but is rescued. However her clothes come off in the process and the main character gets stuff thrown at him by the female lead as if this were a cliche ecchi harem, despite the refreshing fact that they aren't really romantically involved. *Confused John Travolta*

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The humor can just be really off-putting and it's often right in the middle of the action. It's hard to take seriously and I guess we're not supposed to???

To be fair, this is why it's called The STRANGE Adventure of a Broke Mercenary, it's just that it'd be better as The Adventure of a Broke Mercenary. <<less
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dtfyg
dtfyg rated it
April 23, 2019
Status: c30
So bad. This is the first slice of life I've read to cause me so much pyschological pain. Normally, when reading slice of life novels, I get the urge to roll around on my bed due to all the fluff. Now this one.... my god, author really wants me to hate FL huh. ... more>>
Spoiler

FL had so many approaches to get Mc's affection yet she chooses to dump a truck load of guilt over him despite him having saved her life many times. If she had just confessed or asked seriously, Im sure MC would have accepted given how much of a niceball he is.

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write
write rated it
January 17, 2023
Status: --
This novel is rather amazing. Like there is more interesting things than not, so I kept asking myself why is this so god damn boring.

So many interesting points that the story introduces. All of that is thrown in the tr*sh. Mainly by characters themselves. I honestly can't stand Japanese novels. So few and so hard to find good ones when all the highest rated ones are so cringy they make me believe it that Naruto is made for adults and power of friendship is real.

Doesn't matter how interesting characteristics or... more>> history of a character if they're so boring. Worse is defining limits and power levels so author could proceed to once again throw it in the tr*sh.

In the little I read any redeeming feature of this dumpster fire is what is keeping this fire going. What would be the point of keep going just to see anything interesting shortly after introduction thrown into the tr*sh. As if the purpose of this novel was to feed the dumpster fire. <<less
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JokerEND
JokerEND
April 7, 2022
Status: c217
it's a perfect adventure story. And every quest they take turns into a very difficult quest. There is some comedy here and there. But it's ok. The romance is not that much, probably didn't begin yet.

well sorry, I don't know much to write a review without revealing spoilers, so this much is all I say.
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Gsichtselfmeter
Gsichtselfmeter rated it
March 3, 2022
Status: c207
Amazing! Fantastic characters, vivid world and a fresh plot. 5* will continue to read. Especially Lapis is a breath of fresh air. She might be one of my all-time fav characters.

Things I don't like:

Spoiler
  • Gula is not needed for the party
  • Neither is the undead loli
  • The power-level in the story and the "Evil Gods" in particular are weird
  • The double-standards that Loren has. Why does he criticize the Vampire/Elder for feasting on one human a year and then is totally fine with Gula, who literally eats humans by the thousands.
  • The mature and bloody style of the first adventure (sex, r*pe, cannibalism) disappears in the later adventures and is replaced by "japanese humor" (breast-fondling, girls despising the lecher, disgust of super gay musuclar characters, loli + pedophilia...). Luckily the amount of "japanese humor" is below average and doesn't detract from the reading experience
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Kiritsuna
Kiritsuna rated it
December 17, 2021
Status: c201
I'll start with the good part. It's not a harem (The MC and MH will end up as a couple), the MC isn't completely dense when it comes to romance, and the cast of characters is charming (Gula is the bestest. The story is a bit lacking, but it's still better than many others. At the moment the plot is "Recover the waifu missing body parts (*coff* Dororo *coff*) while fighting gods based on the 7-deadly sins".

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, the only reason I started reading this is that... more>> I got tired of the Japanese way of thought reincarnated MC's usually have.
The only redeeming fact is that he at least DOES kill people if he needs to, and he doesn't get embarrassed because a girl talks to him. Other than that, he is a copy-paste of any other Isekai protagonist.
The first thing you think when you hear "Mercenary" is someone that has a working brain, someone who is confident and is aware of what he can and can not do, who knows how to use the tools he has in hand to complete his mission. Well... this MC has none of that. The main heroine is wasted on someone like him.

Maybe I'm hating too much on him. It's not that he is a sh*t character. His denseness when it comes to his power, his inability to make quick decisions, and how he always has to get remembered what abilities he can use are annoying. I still read it because I find the WN entertaining <<less
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xg2x
xg2x rated it
November 19, 2021
Status: c122
There wasn't anything special or mind-blowing, Okay enough to read when you have nothing to do.

Though I have a bit of problems with this Guts guy...I mean the MC character, he seems pretty fussy and inconsistence a lot of times, and from mild annoyance it piled up along the way until I have doubt if author actually have plans for his character development. Well, I at least wont complain how slow and dense he is because I utterly despise those trope and would make this very biased comment.

He doubts and... more>> lied too easily to his sole companion, who so far have been nothing but help to him and have been saving each others' neck countless times and for seemingly no reason at all, like "because she doesn't need to know" or "she’ll treat me like a guinea pig if she knew" and such nonsense assumption, while some lies could pass as an inconsequential, some could actually be fatal. Feels like he was made as someone who have massive trust issue like typical MC from 'tragedy' genre where he got betrayed by Griffith the former leader of his mercenary band who he trust so much or something, but I have so far not find a reason why he would, so I can't scratch off the feeling that his character was build as Compulsive liar of sort.

And his "Rule", tsk, former mercenary, and now adventurer being so inflexible that he have some useless iron clad rule like he is a priest or knight or something,
Spoiler

"There’s no way I could sleep while my client is still awake." he said, but his client is a freaking vampire who haven't sleep ever since she was born. Even so, he put up not to sleep for 3 day & night while having endless battles against undead. I don't know what to say. And while he put up with the sleep, he easily ask his client to help him in battle, which is also one of his rules (Not in dire circumstances mind you) and with no shame whatsoever with just 'Although Loren did feel opposed to making his client work, but he had a good reason to ignore it'. What? Wasn't your rules important? Did you just throw it away? Would you sleep then? No? That totally make sense.

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And the story and events that unfold is pretty cliché with repetitive formula, it's fine though, nothing bad about being cliché but the repetitive part might get me stop reading soon. <<less
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Not Red Yet
Not Red Yet rated it
May 13, 2021
Status: v1
59 pages in and all I can think about is how s*upid the author is, made our MC a Merc yet made him one of the s*upidest ones to exist.

Joins a party that does a goblin quest and over the course of the quest he refuses to either confront them for their lack of prep or caution, He also realizes the goblins set a trap but proceeds to let them go in the cave and with all his experiences he doesn't seem to think that the goblins could get behind... more>> them.

MC says goblins are not to be underestimated and compares them to being smarter than monkeys, priest says monkeys are smart as humans and stuff. So after that bit do you know what conclusion our MC came to? Goblins aren't to be underestimated, literally had me face palm at how s*upid and shite the writing quality is. <<less
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zadumu
zadumu rated it
August 18, 2020
Status: c80
Honestly, I enjoy the story and will likely keep reading it. I personally like the MC quite a lot. While some reviews call him “beta” or “a doormat” but I think it’s part of his personality to go with the flow and after the first arc the MC plays an active role in most major decisions. The “broke” part doesn’t really impact the story at all especially as it becomes clear that the MC becomes fond of the fl. Despite there being several heavy scenes the story is pretty light... more>> hearted and comedic where each arc is neatly wrapped up.

the only reason I didn’t rate the series higher is because of the arcs. Each arc (so far) has been 25 chapters and they all follow the same pattern. Luckily, there has been some character growth and the overarching plot has begun to take shape but the format has become stale. It’s hard to keep reading knowing the next arch is going to be exact pattern as the arcs before it. <<less
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DeathFrown
DeathFrown rated it
June 12, 2018
Status: c29
It's really good and worth a read, the story progresses in a timely manner and lays out it's groundwork for reveals if you're attentive and think a bit. I would recommend going in with a view to enjoy the premise for what it is.
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Lordos
Lordos rated it
May 14, 2018
Status: v1c14
I like this story. It not like other Fantasy story where the hero is OP and his only goal is Harem. It just a dude who had bad luck and try to survive.

MC has battle exp fight human not monsters, but does exp help him a lot in his new life fighting monster.

... more>>
Spoiler

I know from chapter 3 that the thief, mage and the other male char would die lol.

[collapse]

In short its a mix Goblin slayer + Berserk. Not much blood and r*pe stuff. I happens but not so graphic

Reads pretty good even for no English mother tongus.

Chapter are decent length. To bad there only 14c :X would have liked more.. <<less
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DonQujiko
DonQujiko rated it
December 25, 2022
Status: v5c1
It's originally should be 3-star but I messed up clicking. This is relatively good compared to other of its kind.

The only problem is sometimes, I think for the sake of word count, the MC's convos are deviating from his personality. Also, many times he thought of something but didn't bother to tell it, letting the FMC or even side characters messed up, then grumbled at the result. It didn't really fit as a former mercenary including his failure to recognize basic things.

The most irritating part is how the other characters... more>> are either somehow bad or too kind. There is no complexity or in-between. There is no depth.

Well, you can read it by shutting down your brain a bit. <<less
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Kaylee
Kaylee rated it
April 22, 2022
Status: --
It's a bit similar with Goblin Slayer in the romance field, the relationship between MC and other characters, and the adventuring part or rather the reality of killing monster and how hard it is to struggle benig an adventurer. But Goblin Slayer won the savagery and how much it can traumatize you.
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
randomslacker
randomslacker rated it
January 21, 2022
Status: ln 3
Super derivative, guy that looks like Guts (looks not personality) in Goblin Slayer world. The guy does not come across as anything close to a veteran mercenary, honestly with his attitudes the only place he could have come from is some religious knight order where they all had to swear an oath of chastity.

The banter is amusing, although the dialogue often feels like dialogue between two modern high schoolers and not fantasy medieval adventurers.

Fight scenes are OK.

Overall I would rate is that it is better than tr*sh tier isekai but... more>> ahem not by that much.

I must say, thought, that even though I can list many things that are wrong with this book, I still find it entertaining, not sure why, so I will most likely read Volume 4 when it comes out.

I'll probably read Volume 4. <<less
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atomsphere
atomsphere rated it
September 15, 2021
Status: --
The seven seas translations are pretty good.

The world building is hot garbage though. There's mercenaries and adventurers. Mercenaries are paramilitary forces that only fight humans but will do anything for some coin. So he's never fought anything except for other humans in a world of goblins and dragons because it's more important that hes both super experienced and not at the same time than for the world to make a bit of sense. W/e maybe some would disagree.

I disagree with the complaints about him keeping stuff to himself. That's only... more>> the first half of the first volume. Idk maybe more later, but I'm only into v 2.

It's readable junk food. <<less
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zetsuen_dark
zetsuen_dark rated it
May 9, 2021
Status: --
If you've only read JP webnovels/light novels this will probably feel like a breath of fresh air. There's still the usual JP setting and cast of characters while having a main character with 3/4 of his brain working instead of the usual 1/4 present for generic protagonists.

We also don't have to deal with the unique to JP light novels beta MC, however we still get hints of it from some of his thought processes and reaction to situations. It's not that bad though, as you can easily distinguish him from... more>> the beta MC trope but not enough to get an actual charming main character.

There's really not much to say about the plot and world building. It's full of plot holes and there will be places that will break your immersion to think, "this [event/action] will never work" and coupled with some generic plot points, it loses its charm very quickly.

The selling point of this novel for me is the interactions between the characters, although it's not perfect but it's really better than most. I like their dynamics and I also like the romance. It does get old though and with no other shining points to back it up, it then falls into mediocrity.

A solid 3-star. <<less
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dwaram31
dwaram31 rated it
November 13, 2020
Status: c42
The story is fine and all right. The MC is dense but no Harem so far so I think he will figure it out later. The worst part is that the MC never get reward for everything that he has done and act like it's nothing even though be literally sacrifice his life. He knows that he is being used but he didn't retaliate at all. It's pretty frustrating for me since the MC didn't get ang stronger or wealth for every amazing thing that he done. 3 star, definitely... more>> can be better and wholesome. <<less
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