I Became a 6★ Gacha Character

TL/Editor: raei

Status: 5/Week Mon-fri

Illustrations: Posted in discord.

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The black naga's lower body slithered through the tall grass of the prairie, as nimble and swift as a fish cutting through water. Manaashi, the black naga, charged faster than a person, even outpacing most horses.

I wondered why this creature, who should have been muscle training with the Temple Knights in the purified marsh, was racing across the prairie. As I pondered this, two more people chasing after Manaashi came into view.

One was 5★ 'Lucky One' Lukius, his curly long hair fluttering as he ran, mouthing "fuck, fuck" over and over. The other was 5★ 'Radiant' McDonagh Martin, a countryside boy who had joined the knights.

...What kind of combination was this?

An adventurer from the Empire, a knight from a rural fief, and a different species who had been bound to the tower but saved by the Goddess. Three people with absolutely nothing in common were sprinting towards us.

"Huh? When did Manaashi learn to speak so fluently?"

"Maybe he picked it up while mingling with the brothers at the temple?"

Manaashi opened his mouth clearly without the typical hissing sounds or choppy words of the naga species. It seemed he hadn't just done muscle training, but had also received social education.

Whether due to the muscle training's effectiveness or inherent racial differences, Manaashi approached calmly while the two 5★ warriors on either side were panting heavily.

To run from the edge of the prairie's horizon at a speed rivaling centaurs and still be fine - he must have trained his stamina quite thoroughly.

Was there no cliché about enemies-turned-allies becoming ridiculously weak?

As I was thinking this, McDonagh and Lukius arrived in the safe zone following Manaashi.

"Manaashi? We thought you'd be with the temple brothers. What brings you here?"

"Ah. How could I remain idle after hearing such a dreadful story, having been saved by the Goddess?"

"Dreadful story?"

Irene, who had more or less been incorporated into the temple faction, was the first to speak up. She asked why Manaashi, who should have been helping the Temple Knights deal with undead in the polluted marsh and scouting the pilgrimage path created in the marsh, was here.

In response, Manaashi let out a hissing breath - apparently his habits weren't fully corrected even if his language was - and began to explain. From the story, it seemed he was taking the fake safe zones very seriously.

"A space created by the Demon King's power, where evil seeds cannot set foot, is clearly a blessing from the Goddess. Therefore, this vile scheme to mock it and sow distrust must be crushed as soon as possible!"

"Ah, so that's how they're interpreting it."

-Manaashi's pissed off lmao

-What's he on about? The safe zone is the Goddess's what now?

-The tower's the Demon King's but monsters can't enter safe zones so it must be from the Goddess

-Oy oy, don't get too heated. You'll lose your gains

-So fake safe zones = Goddess impersonation cult = heresy lol No wonder he's flipping his shit

As one viewer pointed out, the temple seemed to view the safe zones as a divine gift from the Goddess.

The reason stemmed from the incident in the poisonous marsh where Manaashi was involved. As evident from the examples of the 35th floor, which I had blown away entirely with the sacred law of enhancement, and the 40th floor, where I had minced the boss wielding the holy sword, we'd learned that pouring divine energy created artificial safe zones.

In other words, the endless spawning of monsters was due to the Demon King's evil magic, and neutralizing it with divine energy created safe land.

Then what about the safe zones that already existed before heroes, holy sword wielders, or temple priests purified an area?

Just as the magic tower had researchers obsessed with research, the temple also had theologians obsessed with doctrines. For the theologians studying and analyzing information about the tower, safe zones were like small sanctuaries bestowed by the Goddess to her little lambs embarking on a pilgrimage through that evil space.

So when evil seeds appeared from the 51st floor prairie onwards, daring to imitate the Goddess's gift, the temple was bound to writhe like a dragon whose reverse scale had been touched.

"...So I get why Manaashi is here, but what about the other two?"

I could understand why Manaashi had rushed all the way to the 53rd floor, hissing and fuming. He might be called an advanced warrior, but he was a battle-hardened veteran who had fought to the end against the Demon King's army in a doomed world. Add to that the innate toughness of his species, and he probably didn't need party members.

But why were Lukius and McDonagh beside him?

One was a foreign worker tempted by gold to come from the Empire to the Kingdom for money, and the other was a country bumpkin dragged into the Kingdom's knighthood after his talent was recognized. I wasn't trying to criticize them, just saying they didn't seem like the type to risk their lives for the Goddess.

"Well, I'm not doing this for free, am I? When I reported discovering that fake safe zone first, a hefty additional request came in, hehe..."

"I volunteered to come, hero! It seems the Kingdom's knighthood is also interested in this matter."

Sure enough, their responses clearly reflected their character traits, unrelated to the Goddess.

'Lucky One' Lukius had belatedly realized the information he thoughtlessly shared was more valuable than expected. He'd gone around promoting himself as the first discoverer to the magic tower, temple, guild, knighthood, and whatnot, and received additional requests in recognition of his contribution.

And 'Radiant' McDonagh Martin, after having his skills recognized in the recent harpy city offensive, had joined the bottom ranks of the Kingdom's Second Knight Order... and seemed to have been saddled with a troublesome request. Though he thought he was just doing his duty due to his diligence and loyalty, it was clear he'd been made to do the dirty work.

---Raei Translations---

Manaashi, knowing nothing but filled with rage, had rushed... no, crawled all the way to the safe zone on the 52nd floor. McDonagh, acting on his loyalty to the royal family and chivalric spirit, had sprung into action as soon as he received orders, ready to tackle the problem head-on.

These two had been discovered by Lukius, who was looking for potential temporary party members, hoping to rake in more gold from additional requests.

Two capable and honest individuals who didn't seem likely to backstab their comrades. Charitably speaking, they were reliable companions. Less charitably, they were the type of straightforward personalities easily taken advantage of by someone weathered and experienced. So it had been quite easy for Lukius to recruit the two.

"Sss-hiss! Most adventurers are scared or wary of my appearance, but these fellows weren't! Aside from their slightly lacking muscles, they're really decent humans!"

"To be honest, being from the countryside, I had a prejudice that mercenaries were untrustworthy folk who wouldn't keep their word even for money... But it seems people really need to be experienced to be understood."

For Manaashi, who ended up praising muscles no matter what, and McDonagh, who felt he needed to work hard to repay their trust, it had been impossible to refuse when the first discoverer of the fake safe zones said he wanted to conduct an additional investigation.

Add to that Lukius, an experienced mercenary from the Empire, deliberately greasing up his silver tongue and sweet-talking them, and the two simpletons were bound to fall for it.

In terms of combat power, the mercenary Lukius was far inferior to Manaashi, the veteran different-species warrior, and McDonagh, the born 5★ tank. But with his three-inch tongue and characteristic luck, he seemed to have won over the two and become the leader of the fake safe zone investigation party.

"So, I understand how the three of you ended up together... but why did you come to us?"

"Ah, about that."

Katie asked the important question as she listened intently to Lukius, who had been smoothly narrating the journey from when we parted ways to how he ended up with the other two.

We understood that the three had gathered and received a request to investigate the safe zones. But why had they hastily followed us? The fact that they came this far accurately meant they must have asked around about which direction the hero's party went, right?

Lukius scratched the back of his head sheepishly in response.

"Well, this might sound a bit strange, but... it was my intuition."

"Intuition?"

"Yes. I just had this overwhelming feeling that we should join up with you, hero."

At his words, the expressions of our group changed subtly.

Tailing us and abruptly joining up after receiving a request was practically the same as violating the unwritten rules of adventurers.

We had no connection besides exchanging a few words when he sold us information. Yet to follow us in the tower and join us while we were resting in a safe zone - honestly, if his companions weren't Manaashi and McDonagh but other mercenaries, we might have thought they were bandits and smashed their heads in.

...Should we consider it lucky that his life is saved thanks to his companions?

"Hey, we should accept this, right? I mean, he's the Lucky One. Isn't that saying he's the LUCK god-tier character recognized by BB Games? If we take him along, we might find some clues about the ogres or something."

-lol Is putting a luck totem in the baggage slot for real?

-It's the golden rule to always grab LUK in RPGs if it's there lol

-Forget the rest, but how can we ditch Manaashiafter he came all this way lololol

-Seeing McDonagh suddenly makes me crave a hamburger. How is a person's name hamburger-like lolololol

-A muscle freak naga, a hamburger knight, and a luck totem? This party composition is fucked up for real lololol

Of course, there was one person who showed a uniquely different reaction - Han Se-ah.

While the others were suspicious of the mercenary they'd only met twice, Han Se-ah knew well that Lukius's title was 'Lucky One'.

It wasn't like we were accepting him as a regular party member. Using an NPC with god-tier luck as a temporary companion - wasn't this quite familiar to any gamer playing an RPG? Plus, it seemed her resolve had weakened a bit since we hadn't encountered a single ogre on our way to the 53rd floor.

"I think it's fine."

"If Hanna says so..."

"...And if Lukius discovers something, it counts as our party finding it, right? Fuck yeah, bring on the mission."

And so, due to someone's trivial desire, we gained three temporary companions.

---

5/5 Enjoy the chappy!

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