I Became a 6★ Gacha Character

Mercenaries and adventurers were separated by a fine line, and the same went for their guilds. After all, wasn't this a world where plenty of people worked as both?

You'd be a mercenary while escorting merchant caravans on long trips, briefly switch to adventurer when hunting monsters in remote areas along the way, become a mercenary again for small territory wars or bandit subjugation requests, and maybe do some highway robbery on the side if you found easy targets - that was the average in this world.

So naturally the Mercenary's Guild was bigger than the Adventurer's Guild in the Imperial capital. They needed mercenaries to escort merchant caravans departing from the archipelago and attend to bored noble lords.

"Please come this way and have a seat!"

Even people who were adventurers elsewhere became mercenaries upon entering the archipelago. Where people gathered, money followed, and with money came bigger buildings. Dealing with nobles had made the guild itself more upscale.

Instead of a cheap building where drunks rolled around in their own vomit, the guild members worked systematically in a clean building that could be called modern-style wooden mansion.

The receptionist, whose size exceeded even Grace and Irene's and had viewers screaming "THICC," led us to the counter. With partitions between desks, it felt more like a government office than a guild.

"You said you wanted information? What kind are you looking for? While we can't investigate individuals like the Information Guild, we can compile local rumors for you."

"Strange incidents related to monster waves. Especially cases where monster corpses vanish leaving only mana stones."

"You can request cooperation from local temples and Magic Towers in the hero party's name."

"Ah, the hero party... Oh?"

The receptionist who'd been eagerly filling out forms behind the counter suddenly looked up at my last words.

A handsome blonde man with blue eyes, armor, and warhammer

An exotic dark-haired, dark-eyed beauty in robes

Two people matching the hero and holy sword owner's descriptions stood side by side, backed by a nun, archer and lady knight perfectly matching the hero party's lineup. At the receptionist's startled voice, waiting mercenaries turned to look.

Being the Imperial capital's Mercenary's Guild, there weren't any low-rank thugs like Hans Kim stumbling in claiming they wanted to be mercenaries. Even as Imperials, they apparently had the discernment to recognize the Kingdom's hero.

After all, how could fellow professionals not know about all the gold the Imperial trainee commanders had scattered in the tower while working with the hero?

"Hey, is that really the hero?"

"Looks like it..."

"Who'd be crazy enough to impersonate them here?"

"True, if you're gonna scam, pretend to be a fallen noble or something..."

The guild erupted in chaos as mercenaries who'd been chatting among themselves or absorbed in the receptionist's measurements suddenly focused their attention. 𝖗𝘢ΝȫΒÊś

"Is the hero party name really that powerful? Even the Imperial people are making such a fuss."

"Of course it is."

Han Se-ah poked my side questioningly at the mercenaries' excitement. While her camera kept emphasizing the massive Imperial valleys resting on the counter to train viewers, she naturally leaned against me and whispered in my ear.

The distance between us seemed to be shrinking for some reason, but I didn't mind.

"The Empire, like the Kingdom, is ruled by bloodlines chosen by the Goddess. Yet the hero, despite being just an individual, was also chosen. To put it a bit dramatically, our Hanna is third in rank after the Imperial and Royal families."@@novelbin@@

"Huh? What? It works like that?"

Han Se-ah was startled by my explanation that she was world rank #3 in purely religious terms, not political or power-based. Having avoided social life while collecting gold and changing equipment, just silently grinding the tower like a tower-climbing NEET, this kind of treatment seemed awkward for her.

Always hunting monsters in the tower and hanging out with non-humans more than humans, she didn't seem to grasp her own position...

Let's say in modern 21st century society, 'God' actually descended and pointed at someone saying "You're Jesus 2.0" while granting miracle powers. Could any global CEO or national president dare treat the Second Coming of Jesus casually?

Though Han Se-ah wasn't the only one with a divine mission, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Imperial and Royal families wasn't something to be ignored in a fantasy feudal system. Disrespecting the hero could be seen as disrespecting the Imperial family, Royal family and temple.

"They have to be careful even criticizing nobles, so how could they badmouth the hero? Unless they're just gossiping among themselves when we're not around."

"So they do talk..."

"If everyone was that smart with their tongues, temple inquisitors and the Information Guild would be out of jobs."

Enjoy a historical basement tour with a friendly temple priest, and crying that you doubted the hero's abilities rather than the Goddess won't save you. And even if you miraculously escaped the basement tour, how would you handle both Empire and Kingdom?

She must have forgotten since it was brief, but John Smith, the 5★ 'Silent Whisper' Information Guild master, was among those summoned to the Adventurer's Guild last time.

His main job was rooting out dissidents - surely the Empire had similar departments and people.

※

Report any anomalies related to monster waves to the guild.

Priority on sudden ecosystem-disrupting species or unusual types whose corpses turn to mana stones.

The temple, Magic Tower, guild and Imperial family will reward based on information accuracy, by hero party request.

As the freckled busty receptionist's document went up on the first floor bulletin board and magical devices sent official notices to regional branches, mercenaries leapt to their feet.

Being capable Imperial mercenaries, they seemed fired up for various reasons - curry favor with the temple, get something from the Magic Tower, make their names known to the Imperial family and nobles.

We left the guild watching them hurriedly prepare to scatter east, west and north toward their connections, like small companies chasing big corporate contracts.

"What now?"

"Get lodging and rest for a month."

"...A-a month?!"

"Huh, why? Is something wrong?"

I was thinking we'd rent long-term lodging and explore for side quests in the archipelago, maybe find something connected to my past - but Han Se-ah was shocked.

When I turned questioningly, Grace, Katie and Irene who'd been discussing lodging and markets also looked worriedly at Han Se-ah. Wasn't it common sense that before Magic Tower gates, you'd spend weeks traveling by carriage just for one request?

A month would be tight just to receive and verify reports from across the vast Empire. Even that timeline required temple and Magic Tower cooperation.

"Uh, um. No wait. Did I say I'd just sit here doing nothing for a month? We'll find Imperial side quests or story content or something. Just filling in this black map while chatting will take two weeks easy."

-Even with the gate blocked, a whole month? Hmm lol do we have to wait that long

-Can't we just get Teacher and some mercs to break the gate?

-But damn the archipelago is huge, walked 40 minutes from Magic Tower to guild and look at the minimap lol

-Could do a month of We Got Married just riding circuit carriages on dates with Teacher Roland

-What We Got Married month are you on about, go watch something else if that's what you want

But that common sense didn't fly with viewers demanding quick, simple entertainment. The game scenario had locked progress but they didn't care, just jumped to criticizing Han Se-ah. Maybe they were acting up more now that the violent valleys of that ginger girl at the Mercenary Guild were out of sight.

Not that even Goddess-mocking genius clown Han Se-ah would bat an eye.

With her my-pace attitude ignoring viewer counts whether thousands or millions, she smoothly dismissed all the hate and whining by moving her camera drone. As it soared up to capture the archipelago streets in one view, it focused on a small cafe.

All the nonsense vanished as the camera ghostly found light-dressed young ladies, replaced by rising flame emojis.

Like they were chimps in the chat getting pacified by cleavage whenever they acted up, seriously...

Though I understood.

Enjoy the chappy!