Things were progressing quite smoothly. Lili hadn't misjudged it—the scabbard at the white-haired youth's waist clearly bore the emblem of Hephaestus. Leaving such an important weapon out in the open like that was practically begging to be scammed.
"Lili belongs to the Soma Familia. I just ended my contract with the party I was working with. When I was at my wits' end, I saw big brother standing alone under the Tower of Babel… so you must be looking for a Supporter, right?"
Lili delivered the lines she had prepared in advance.
The white-haired boy smiled, introduced himself, and asked for more details.
"Lili is small and weak, and everyone in my familia looks down on me. I can't find anyone willing to team up, so I can only work as a Supporter."
The boy hesitated for a moment, as though weighing something in his mind.
Lili seized the moment, pleading, "Please! Lili has nowhere else to go. I'm staying in a cheap inn, but if this keeps up, I'll end up sleeping on the streets."
"Please! Hire Lili!"
Her eyes shimmered with tears as she looked up at him.
Under such a pitiful assault, Bell stopped asking questions and quietly agreed.
"Thank you! Lili will work really hard!"
She pushed back her hood, revealing a pair of fluffy, adorable beast ears.
A spark lit up in Bell's eyes.
"Big brother… want to touch them…?"
Lili put on her most fragile, pitiful expression.
Bell accepted the invitation and reached out to stroke the small, twitching ears.
Lili couldn't read his expression at all.
She simply categorized him as someone with a fondness for Beast People and stopped thinking about it.
"Lili's precious ears… letting a man touch them like that. You'd better take responsibility, okay?"
A warmth spread through her chest.
She had intended to use acting to bind him emotionally, yet her cheeks flushed red without her permission.
"L-let's hurry to the Dungeon!"
As if running from that warmth, she rushed into the main topic.
She explained that she only wanted thirty percent of the Dungeon's profits. To her shock, Bell agreed instantly.
Lili truly couldn't tell whether this boy was simply too kind for his own good… or completely ignorant of market rates. Either way, as a target to be stolen from, he was definitely a pushover.
On their way to the Dungeon, the boy addressed her with notable politeness.
"Bell-sama, please address me with '-san'…"
Deep down, Lili felt she didn't deserve such a respectful title.
"Honestly, Supporters are just porters. While adventurers risk their lives fighting, they hide in the back like cowards. To put it bluntly… we're just parasites."
That one honorific stirred up the self-loathing that tormented her day and night.
"Lili knows Bell-sama is a kind person, but if others hear Supporters being spoken of like equals, they'll definitely shun Lili. I'll never find work again."
Faced with this explanation, the white-haired boy had no response except to call the Chienthrope girl simply "Lili."
It was far too easy to understand.
Lili began feeling a faint twist of guilt. She had stolen from many, but almost always from adventurers with dirty records—because only such people would hire Supporters from other familia, people whose origins were suspicious.
Of course, she had also swindled members of the Soma Familia a few times.
They all hated her. And Lili hated adventurers in return.
Born into the Soma Familia, she'd heard her parents had rushed into a floor far beyond their limits for the sake of Divine Wine… and died together. She didn't know the truth, but as an orphan, there was no place for her within the Soma Familia.
Her already harsh world had plunged even faster into hell after the first Divine Wine distribution.
During the time when she was enslaved by the wine's effects, Lili had desperately worked to earn money. But without the talent of an adventurer, she could only be a Supporter—left to exploitation.
Again and again, anyone who hired her did so with ugly intentions. They accused her of stealing Magic Stones, refused to pay her, or even used her as bait, caring nothing for whether she lived or died.
After finally escaping, Lili still found herself under the Soma Familia's exploitation. She despised adventurers. She began stealing and deceiving. Since adventurers had wronged her first, Lili felt no reason to show mercy.
Once the magic influence of the Divine Wine faded, all that remained inside her was endless hatred and self-loathing.
Lili had managed to escape the familia once before. Disguised as an ordinary girl, she worked at a flower shop. But eventually, adventurers from the Soma Familia somehow learned of her whereabouts. They not only stole her savings but destroyed her home and wrecked the flower shop beyond recognition.
Lili could never forget the look in the old couple's eyes. Even though it had turned icy after everything, she still longed for that gentle gaze.
Just like the boy in front of her now.
An adventurer as truly kind as Bell was someone Lili had never met. He would gently share food with her, treat her as an equal. He would protect the rear in the Dungeon, understanding a Supporter's hardships.
Guilt and self-reproach shackled her hands and feet. But she had already fallen to the deepest part of the abyss—with no way out.
The dagger in the boy's hand could cut through a Killer Ant's shell with ease. There was no doubt it was an expensive Hephaestus Familia product. If she stole it and sold it, she would surely be able to gather enough money.
She had no fondness for the Divine Wine—only deep revulsion. What Lili intended was to offer a large sum of money to her Familia God, Soma, in exchange for freedom. True freedom. To not be bound by anyone, not be entangled by anyone, to live freely beneath the sunlight. Since the day she was born, Lili had yearned for such a life.
Driven by that obsession, Lili chose to act.
The white-haired boy's abilities weren't bad. Alone, he could barely manage the monsters on the sixth floor. It took Lili a great deal of effort to catch a moment when he was dealing with the Killer Ant corpses and steal the dagger.
After that, she suggested they stop exploring for the day. Everything went remarkably smoothly. Unaware that the dagger was missing, the boy accompanied Lili out of the Dungeon.
After securing the theft, Lili handed all the Dungeon earnings to Bell under the guise of a trial period. Her conscience throbbed. Her self-loathing swelled. She knew the loot wasn't enough compensation. But in the face of a freedom she had chased for her entire life, Lili still chose to run.
The result, however, left her completely stunned.
"Thirty Valis?!"
In a remote goblin shop, the owner offered her only the price of a single fried potato ball. Lili refused to accept such an outcome. This shopkeeper's sharp eye had always been reliable—she had sold all her stolen goods here in the past. A dagger capable of slicing through a Killer Ant's exoskeleton couldn't possibly be garbage.
Something had to be wrong.
Clutching the dagger, Lili stormed toward the exit.
What she hadn't expected was this:
In the narrow alleyway—
The white-haired boy had already been waiting for quite some time.