I Became a 6★ Gacha Character-Chapter 516: Super Compressed Event 1

It was an isolated village where outsiders were limited to merchant groups briefly passing through every couple months. So small and shabby that its population didn't even reach 100, the village didn't even have a proper name yet. Merchant groups passing through simply called it things like "the village before the hills" or "the village at the foot of the hills."

That's why the elderly chief immediately knew the screams weren't from any villagers.

Curious children were being tightly held back by their mothers, who watched with stern eyes to prevent any rudeness toward the noble visitors. The shepherds had hurriedly returned to the village after spotting the luxurious carriage in the distance and given up their homes.

If all the children, farmers, and shepherds were inside the village, who was screaming outside the fence?

"Roland! They look like bandits!"

"N-no, we're mercenaries! We got separated from our merchant group and- ack!"

They were clearly suspicious characters.

Jacob leaped over the fence as if unconcerned about the silver and iron wire traps. I followed, jumping lightly over the shabby fence since I wasn't worried about getting hurt even without armor.

Though the sun had long set, the bright moon and cloudless sky provided decent visibility across the plains. Even so, Mills' traps that were invisible in daylight would be impossible to spot without superhuman aura control abilities.

So the two men rolling on the ground and three restrained by Jacob must have carelessly walked right into them. Since they'd approached slowly rather than charging in, one had his leg deeply sliced and was bleeding heavily, while another was curled up in terror with his ankle caught in a snare.

As I glanced around wondering what kind of guys these were, a sphere of light that Han Se-ah created floated over from behind me. As expected, our flashlight's performance was reliable.

"Please, please heal us. At least stop the bleeding...!"

This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.

"Thieves sure talk a lot."

The light sphere let us clearly see the five men. They wore similar leather armor probably bought from the same blacksmith and carried moderately maintained swords and maces at their waists.

On the surface they barely looked like mid-rank adventurers, which explained why Jacob called them bandits. Anyone trying to climb a village fence at night while armed could only be murderous thieves.

There was a large road for carriages to begin with - their intentions were transparent from choosing to push through grass to reach the fence rather than use the main gate at this hour.

"What's going on?"

"Looks like some mercenaries finished a job and thought they'd rob the village on their way back?"

"N-no, please..."

"Is this all of them? Just five?"

-Look at that big guy lol, casually holding three of them

-Pretty sure I saw this on that name tag removal variety show lol

-His reach is ridiculous ㅋㅋㅋ just wrapping both arms around three guys' forearms like it's nothing

-But how do we know they're bandits? Couldn't they really be lost adventurers or mercenaries?

-Why would lost guys climb over walls instead of using the road to enter the village?

Han Se-ah circled around examining the three men in Jacob's grip as if disappointed they were just common mercenary-bandits. Seeing her disappointment, she must have expected something more dramatic and interesting given the sudden nighttime screams.

Jacob ignored their screams and pleas, I lost interest after looking around, and Han Se-ah clicked her tongue in disappointment after coming over with her staff ready to cast magic. Seeing us act like mad mages, their pleading voices turned to sobbing wails.

Well, we had set up deadly traps that cleanly sliced people's legs off, then expressed disappointment at their small numbers. To mercenary-bandits, Han Se-ah's reaction probably seemed no different from a witch who treated humans as experimental subjects and toys.

"Hey, are you all there is? Are you scouts with more people coming?"

"No! Nothing like that! Really!"

"Hanna, we can't keep talking outside the fence. Let's take them into the village. Make some stairs in the fence with Earth Control."

"Stairs? Ah right, don't want them getting cut up while moving."

"Hee, heek! My, my leg!"

As Jacob carelessly tossed the three uninjured men into the grass and snapped the wire snare with his bare hands, Mills silently appeared to collect the nearby traps and bind the deeply cut mercenary's leg to stop the bleeding.

Familiar with such wounds given his weapons, Mills quickly subdued and treated the mercenary by sprinkling what looked like hemostatic powder from his clothes. Meanwhile Han Se-ah used Earth Control to naturally form stairs over the fence, prompting gasps from inside.

Had everyone gathered at the screams?

"Grace? What's happening inside?"

"The villagers are waiting inside the fence, scared of the traps~"

Seems they'd huddled up in fear after hearing about the traps - at least the villagers were good at following instructions.

※

When we brought the five men into the village using Han Se-ah's dirt stairs, the torch-bearing villagers' eyes went wide.

Between the screams from outside the fence, glowing orbs floating in the air, people jumping high enough to clear house roofs and the fence, and dirt moving like a living thing to form stairs, they couldn't help but be amazed.

"Wow, is that magic?"

"The light and dirt are moving around - of course it's magic, dummy!"

"You kids! I told you to stay hidden inside!"

The five suspicious mercenaries were presented before the villagers who'd gathered at the screams and magic. Seeing Han Se-ah's magic, they lost any thought of escape or resistance, meekly curling up.

Setting aside the guy with his leg half-cut off, the one caught in the snare had assessed the situation well enough not to struggle. Thanks to that he only had red marks rather than wire cuts, but he seemed to have noticed that Jacob and I were superhumans who could control aura.

As the villagers whispered among themselves before the docile mercenaries, Jacob approached the chief who'd come running out.

"Do you know any of them?"

"Hmm, hmm... never seen their faces before."

"Figured as much. Get ready to dispose of some bodies."

He seemed to be checking one last possibility that they might be villagers, acquaintances of villagers, or truly lost mercenaries from a passing merchant group.

But this was a tiny village of less than 100 people, a rural backwater rarely visited by merchant groups. If the chief, who always checked any visitors to the village, didn't recognize them, killing them wouldn't be an issue. Especially night visitors trying to climb the fence.

Jacob slowly turned his head left to right as if making a final check. As the villagers who met his gaze from his exaggerated frame shook their heads knowingly, his boulder-like fist clenched with ominous mana.

"W-wait, just a moment! This is unfair, we weren't trying to do anything- ack!!!"

"Fuck! Don't say any-ahhh!"

"Jacob, stop!"

The villagers ducked their heads and children who'd run out mid-sleep wet their pants at the menacing energy. Just as his beast-like hand, more fitting for an animal's paw than a human fist as his title suggested, was about to smash down on the mercenaries' heads, something strange happened.

One of the three uninjured men suddenly started rolling on the ground as if trying to say something.

Startled, Elize pushed through the crowd and rushed over to gently cradle the rolling mercenary's head. She sat on the ground unconcerned about dirtying her clothes, using her lap as a pillow.

...It would have been a compassionate and beautiful scene if not for her complete disregard for his limbs twisted by the convulsions.

"What's wrong, Elize?"

"This person has a witch's curse on his head!"

"Huh? Should we remove it?"

"No, the curse will break if he dies!"

"W-why is my body doing this?!"

The mercenary looked down at his body anxiously from Elize's lap during her brief exchange with Jacob.

Though his head seemed fine, perhaps protected by Elize's sorcery where it rested on her skirt, his body below the neck thrashed like a fish on a hook. What was happening with his body moving wildly while his head couldn't move?

"I'm not sure of the details, but is it some kind of curse that kills you if you try to reveal secrets?"

"Probably! Promises and secrets are the most commonly used elements in sorcery!"

"Ah shit, explanations later - what's happening? What else, it's a quest!"

While those of us suited for physical work - me, Katie, Mills and Jacob - stood around awkwardly, Han Se-ah and Elize sprang into action. Given how she couldn't show this to viewers, some kind of time attack quest must have suddenly triggered.

Enjoy the chappy!