@rrolo1 i know it just a joke but if you cut out 1 person when the fight begin you better do that there was like 3 merc on their side and she even get their boss first (she must do. its basically 2v3+5)
better safe than sorry mate

I too enjoy creating insurgents everywhere I go because gunning down the enemy is a PERFECTLY viable solution.

@Yanagi
Those were former farmers, conscripted into or joined the invading army. They were soldiers. They are foreigners. They don't own land in a foreign country.

It was already mentioned that some of the soldiers who fled couldn't go back to their own country. They could have taken refuge anywhere else but they decided to take up banditry. The problem was that the kingdom let the enemy go instead of killing them because otherwise, bandits were rare.

For bandits, killing is really only the humane solution. These are criminals who usually have had a hand in stealing, killing, pillaging, raping, kidnapping, and selling people into slavery; the former mercenary made sure to tell the readers that they're no Robin Hood. The fact that they were already given a chance to escape or even take refuge but decided to take up banditry shows that they are irredeemable. The alternative really is to capture them and sell them to slavers, which is probably something that Mitsuha would be less receptive to.

@CountryMage
> Without specifying any direction, or anything.
I suppose you're right. I'd add that they maybe they were already anxious from the start (due to inexperience, being in unfamiliar land, having to fight for survival because hungry, etc), and perhaps in their panic, they moved forward instead of backward.

> In this case people are just dying, left and right
Then again, they already experienced this as part of a defeated army. Perhaps they have fallen so low and were desperate enough that it nothing really matters anymore and they're better off trying their luck?

> clarity
While farfetched, let's consider the case where they were actually capable of rational thought and foresight, and fear didn't take over, that they somehow knew well enough and were thinking clearly enough: they are bandits - there's literally no way out. And if they can die near-instantaneously as their brethren did in the battle not long ago - against weapons that can even kill dragons - why even try to run?

Considering these and including what I've mentioned in the previous comment, I think there's plenty of reasons that these 5 former farmers didn't run.

Killing is not the solution.

There is a reason why farmers turn into bandits, and as long as it remains unsolved, more farmers will turn to illegal means of feeding themselves...

@jonsmth fear definitely set in, but the clarity of hindsight, only comes if you live through the terrifying situation. In this case people are just dying, left and right, and all your brain tell you is move, move, MOVE! Without specifying any direction, or anything.

@Psychronia @Qelix
I don't think the former farmers would have survived if Mitsuha could help it. She knows her duties as a vassal, and I bet she wouldn't let any of those bandits get away. If she did, those bandits would just join another group, and continue to be a menace to the king's subjects.

As to whether the bandits should have tried to fight or flee, I suppose it all happened too fast for them for even fear to set in. Furthermore, they don't have the experience to be smart enough to know when to run.

@sjmcc13
Spoiler

Ty for the ch

@Psychronia : If I recall Spoiler

What a waste of bullets... she could had left Mr. Merc to deal with them all aparently...

i was really hoping she'd pull out an uzi one of these days

Woow~ They were all gunned down. Who...could've seen that coming?
I'm guessing this encounter was primarily designed to introduce Mr. Mercenary, which is fine. He seems to have enough of a sense of morality to not claim his bystander's right, which is a decent good start as far as interviews with the boss (Mitsuha) go.

Yeah, the 5 farmers probably would have and should have run away if the mercenaries were insta-killed. That would be the sane thing to do.
Though I'm not convinced Mitsuha wouldn't have shot their backs as they fled for some reason or another.

@DrDuckling

It's true that her power is teleport (and also fast healing) but to do it she needs to concentrate on her mind the local to where she will teleport which is only instantly on places she's used with. In this chapter she is in the middle of an unknown forest so the power may not be precise for her to teleport exactly behind the bandits.

Those bandits never stood a chance.

@Doomer Either way you die, and the current option (despite the "magical" insta-deaths) is your best chance for not starving to death. Rush B.

@hdmi1
you are a weak starving medieval peasant
you join in with a bunch of bandits to steal some food
seems easy right? it's just a simple caravan
out jumps a single girl
girl then magically kills the 3 best fights we have within seconds without even touching them

if you were this guy would you attack the girl or would you run for your fucking life?

@DrDuckling Problem is that it was personal, so the ability wouldn't activate.

Spoiler

@Doomer 8 vs 1 means that for every one that she killed it would buy the others 1-2 seconds to get closer to her. She's not fast enough to take out all 8 (who are focused on her) at the same time.

i'm just comment here because how dumb i am...

while i read this, i thought that "isn't this already happen before???"

then i remember, oh yeah i read the WN.... every so often, i alway thinking like this....😶

lol that vulgar guy got the insta death treatment