Chapter 6
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Keep Getting Mistaken for a Gangster (2)
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‘...The outside is getting noisy.’
Elysia narrowed her eyes while resting in her room.
She had just finished wrapping fresh bandages around her wounds.
Her body wasn’t in good shape, so waves of fatigue were crashing over her.
‘If possible, I’d rather not get dragged into the commotion...’
Still, it would be wise to at least get a read on the situation.
Elysia slipped quietly out of her room, muffling her footsteps.
Eight mercenaries boldly claimed a table, strutting around like they owned the place.
Their armor amounted to little more than shabby cloth outfits, and their weapons were nothing special.
Yet it was more than enough to make the villagers tremble in fear.
Haven was that small of a village, after all.
“What would you like for meals...”
“Ah, just bring us something tasty!”
Bang!
The mercenary slammed his fist on the table in a fit of temper.
The innkeeper’s shoulders jerked at the deafening crash.
‘Damn bastards...’
Last time they’d visited, they’d at least toed the line.
But now that they’d sized up the village, the mercenaries were acting without restraint.
“We remember every daughter in this place. Don’t try hiding them—put ‘em to work.”
“Come to think of it, there was a daughter here, right?”
“Pretty little thing, as I recall.”
The mercenaries snickered as they traded words.
Lilliana’s father concealed his ashen expression and shuffled toward the kitchen.
In the meantime, the mercenaries toyed with the weapons propped against the table beside them, asserting their dominance.
Each time, everyone inside the inn flinched.
A moment later, Lilliana began weaving between the tables, beer mugs clutched in both hands.
“Whew! Gotten even prettier since last time?”
“Still not married, huh?”
Their behavior was starting to cross every line.
These mercenaries had recently pulled off a massive heist in a nearby city, which had inflated their egos sky-high.
But the villagers knew none of that.
They were just seething at the over-the-top antics.
In the end, the man who’d shown up hoping to catch a glimpse of the elf visiting the village but left empty-handed—the village chief’s son John—bolted to his feet.
“You lot! Don’t you think you’re going too far?!”
Emboldened by his outburst, the other young villagers at his table rose alongside him.
They glared daggers at the thugs with John.
“Get lost before we round up the vigilantes!”
And the mercenaries weren’t the type to let hot-blooded kids like that slide.
“Look at these little shits?”
With that, a fist came flying.
John tried to dodge at the last second, but he was too slow. The brutal punch smashed right into his face. With a thwack!, he tumbled to the floor.
“Vigilantes? In a shithole like this?”
Ptooey. He spat on the ground.
“At best you’ve got a handful of farmers waving pitchforks, and you’re acting tough like you don’t know your place.”
Open mockery.
The insulted villagers began rising from their seats, one after another.
But...
“What! Got a problem? Come on, then!”
No one dared step up first.
Villagers who’d barely swung a stick in their lives stood no chance against career brawlers.
They’d just end up like John.
No one could muster the courage.
- Should we call everyone in the village?
- If knives come out, we’re screwed!
The folks huddled in the corner whispered back and forth.
They’d kept their voices down, but the room wasn’t that big—the mercenaries heard every word.
“You get it? Then quit yapping.”
He flashed a sleazy grin and slowly scanned the inn.
Then, nodding in satisfaction, he sauntered toward Lilliana. The look in his eyes was pure filth.
“Ah...”
Frozen stiff with terror, Lilliana felt her throat close up.
An awful premonition squeezed her entire body.
She stumbled back a step without thinking, but the mercenary casually closed the gap, planting himself right in front of her.
His gaze slid up and down her like he was sizing up merchandise.
‘W-what do I do...’
She was too terrified to even make a sound.
Her heart hammered faster and faster; her face drained white.
Lilliana desperately scanned the room, pleading for someone—anyone—to save her.
That was the moment.
“...!”
Someone slipped quietly through the inn’s entrance.
It was Asha, back from her stroll.
She quickly took in the scene inside, then snatched up the quarterstaff leaning by the door.
Asha looked up, and her eyes met Lilliana’s.
A brief silence hung between them. Incredibly brief.
Asha strode forward without a word, heading straight for Lilliana.
‘No! It’s dangerous!’
You can’t take them alone! Run before they spot you!
Lilliana shook her head frantically.
But Asha didn’t stop.
Meanwhile, the mercenary hadn’t noticed her approach. He leered at Lilliana, grinning like a pig.
Thinking her struggling was just adorable.
The instant that mercenary reached out his grubby hand toward her!
Crack—!
The staff whistled down in a clean arc, smashing straight into the mercenary’s nape.
“Guhk...”
One hit was all it took.
The mercenary crumpled unconscious, pitching forward.
Lilliana, startled, clasped her hands and darted aside. He slammed face-first into the floor.
Thud!
“W-what the hell!”
“This bitch!”
Two mercenaries finally clocked what was happening and lunged at Asha.
Two hulking brutes charging a fragile young girl!
It screamed one-sided peril. Her turn to get pummeled, clearly.
But Asha’s face remained perfectly serene.
She flowed her arm smoothly. The motion was light, but the staff whipped like a storm.
It cracked into one mercenary’s ribs with a thud!, sending him sprawling across the floor.
Asha didn’t pause. She fluidly drew the staff back, then jabbed the opposite end upward in a flash.
The other mercenary rushing her took it square in the gut. He spewed froth and dropped to his knees.
It had all unfolded in a heartbeat.
“Whoa, that’s nuts...”
“T-the rumors... they’re real?”
The stunned onlookers muttered.
Frankly, it was unbelievable even after seeing it.
How could those dainty arms—barely strong enough to lift anything heavy—unleash that kind of power?
And those moves! No hesitation, like someone who’d lived for battle. Not a single opening.
So this is what an elf is!
“You psycho bitch!”
“Die!”
But the fight wasn’t over yet.
Two more mercenaries barreled toward Asha.
They’d come one at a time before, but not now.
These weren’t chivalrous knights.
Cowardly as ever, they rushed her from both flanks at once.
Asha didn’t flinch in the slightest.
Just as calmly, she pierced their movements with her gaze and shifted her body.
The staff whirled in an uncanny arc, trailing afterimages through the air.
One fluid motion. Both mercenaries dropped simultaneously.
“Keuk!”
One went out cold from a nape strike.
“Hup...!”
The other froze mid-stride, hit with a pressure-point strike.
A technique to disable foes by targeting vital acupoints. Something she’d learned from her foster father Min Hyeong in her previous life.
A marvel from an entirely different world—no one here grasped the principle.
They just knew the charging mercenary had locked up stiff.
“What was that just now...?”
“Am I hallucinating?”
A few villagers murmured in bewilderment, faces twisted in confusion.
Soon the murmurs swelled into roaring cheers.
“I-I don’t get what happened, but... incredible!”
“The elf girl took down all those mercenaries by herself!”
“That wasn’t random swinging—that was skill!”
The crowd couldn’t contain their shock and thrill.
Some gawked speechless, eyes bulging. Others grabbed neighbors, reliving the moment.
She was clearly just a delicate girl.
A fragile flower who looked like she needed protecting.
And yet she’d flipped the whole scene single-handedly!
The villagers whooped like a legend-made-flesh superhuman had descended.
Right then.
Mingled in the clamor came a sharp whistle slicing the air.
The last remaining mercenary had fired his crossbow.
The bolt streaked toward Asha without mercy or pause.
‘W-what the hell is...’
Mercenary Crow stood there, jaw unhinged, staring at the scene.
This waif of a girl, who looked like she’d snap under a stiff breeze, was effortlessly dismantling his comrades with nothing but a staff.
In this world, raw power and solid gear decided who won fights.
Unless you were some mana-wielding powerhouse, the playbook was trusting your armor, blocking with a shield—or patching with your body, rolling in the dirt to survive.
But this girl? Totally different.
Plain clothes like any villager, armed with nothing but a dime-a-dozen staff.
With that alone, she’d flattened five able-bodied mercenaries without taking a scratch.
And that wasn’t all.
She hadn’t budged an inch from her spot.
Right where she’d first cracked that first guy’s skull, she’d lorded over the chaos with her staff.
She looked endlessly at ease—like they weren’t fit to lick the dirt off her boots.
His pride took a brutal hit.
‘Damn elf slut! Think you’re hot shit just ‘cause you’re an elf?!’
That’s why Crow didn’t hesitate. He leveled his crossbow at her.
He hadn’t planned on using it, but if they didn’t neutralize this elf now, they were toast.
The enraged villagers would tear them apart...!
Pew—!
The bolt cut the air with a razor shriek.
Luckily, the girl wasn’t even facing him.
Crow was dead certain it’d hit.
A scream of agony any second now!
In that window, rouse the fainted comrades. Perfect plan.
But.
“...!”
Dead quiet.
No thunk of the bolt embedding. No girl’s scream.
So... what happened to it?
He hadn’t missed. It flew dead-on at the girl.
She’d just snatched it out of the air. Casually. With her hand.
Without so much as turning her head. Just a flick of her eyes.
“This pisses me off a bit.”
Asha turned her head languidly.
Her gaze locked with Crow’s staring eyes.
In that instant, Crow felt his whole body seize up.
Those deep blue eyes, sunk cold as ice.
Locking eyes crushed him with invisible pressure.
Like she’d rip his throat out right then.
Ice-cold terror choked his breath.
As Asha glided toward him gracefully, Crow staggered back without thinking.
His mind raged—Scared of some slip of a girl?!—but his instincts screamed: Flee! Flee or die!
“Hieee!”
He finally let out a pathetic shriek and bolted.
He flung the crossbow aside and sprinted for the exit at full tilt.
Even so, he barely managed a few steps.
Asha had closed the gap in a flash, cracking his nape.
Asha booted the collapsing Crow with all her might, muttering under her breath.
“I’ve caught bullets before. Arrows are a joke.”
The first one’s always tricky. Get the trick, and countermeasures are easy.
Just then, a few mercenaries returning from outside errands finally caught on and bellowed.
“What the hell’s going on!”
“What happened?!”
They too fell to Asha in short order.
It was over in the blink of an eye.
The dust settled.
No more troublemaking mercenaries left in the tavern.
And through it all, Asha hadn’t broken a sweat. Not even her breathing hitched.
‘Nice and clean.’
Unlike her previous life, where she always had to watch her stamina, this body felt utterly unburdened.
If anything, she had stamina to spare.
Asha turned back with a pleased smile, surveying the inn’s interior.
Gazes brimming with shock and awe met hers. Flecks of fear too. A sight both long-missed and achingly familiar.
She glanced toward the stairs. Elysia leaned against the wall, watching her.
She’d come down at the noise and observed the whole thing.
“Elfff siiis—!”
Lilliana came barreling over, face a tear-soaked mess, and threw her arms around Asha.
Warm. Soft.
A faint, springlike smile warmed Asha’s formerly icy expression.
‘...Anyway, what to do with these mercenaries.’
Asha stroked Lilliana’s back, pondering their next move.