Is it wrong to try to meet someone in a dungeon?

Lily's face darkened. But she immediately snapped back to reality and shook her head violently.

Why think about this now? She kicked her guilt away. Developing feelings for an adventurer? That's laughable.

Adventurers are all the same.

Bell definitely looked down on Lily in his heart. He mocked her for being just a porter (supporter) who could betray Lily at any time.

Lily forced herself to raise her eyebrows.

(What adventurer? What adventurer...!)

Lily is the child of a couple who are members of the Soma Familia. In other words, from the moment she was born, she had the obligation to become a low-level member of the Soma Familia.

So, perhaps the gears were already malfunctioning from the moment Lily was born.

The world is not kind to Lily at all.

Palum's parents only ever demanded money from young Lily, never fulfilling their parental responsibilities, and died without anyone noticing. In pursuit of money—"divine wine"—they reportedly ventured into dungeon levels beyond their capabilities, only to be killed by monsters in no time.

In the fiercely competitive Soma Familia, Lily is naturally isolated and left all alone. Her fellow members completely ignore the frail Lily. Every day is a nightmare for her.

Later, when Lily was expanding her faction, she unfortunately drank the divine wine that was given to her, and from then on she became a captive of the wine's magic.

With no companions to rely on, she desperately tried to earn money through independent study. However, all her efforts were in vain. Lily lacked the talent of an adventurer and was forced to become a support worker.

So Lily was exploited.

Whenever they act as supporters for an adventurer's party, they always say in unison:

You took the magic stone. You stole the money. This is punishment. We won't give you a share of the profits.

Falsely accused, Lily pleaded desperately, saying it was a misunderstanding, but they just laughed lewdly and chased her away. Even when Lily was nearly killed by a monster, they were indifferent and refused to treat her. They only kicked her and warned her not to lose her luggage.

The people of the Soma Familia are even more unreliable. After exploring the dungeon, what awaits is an ugly struggle for rewards.

(Lily hates adventurers the most. Yes, she absolutely despises them!)

After the magic of the divine wine disappeared, she fled the Familia in tears.

She relinquished her title as a member of the Familia, pretended to be an ordinary person, and finally found a job, achieving a stable life. But her good fortune didn't last. The worst happened: Lily's happiness was destroyed by her fellow members of the Soma Familia.

Having heard about it from somewhere, the obsessed adventurers broke into Lily's residence, stole her money, and completely destroyed her residence.

The once gentle and kind elderly couple who owned the flower shop immediately kicked Lily out. Lily still vividly remembers the look in their eyes, as if they were looking at something dirty.

[Soma Familia] Even in a place like this, they torment themselves.

Lily harbored resentment towards the supreme god Soma. She hated him for creating this kind of "familia".

Soma meant no harm. He had no intention of hurting anyone. He had absolutely no interest in Lily or anyone else. He didn't care.

Soma does nothing and won't do anything for anyone. He might not even know the current state of the [Familia].

Perhaps it's wrong to resent him. From the perspective of the great Heavenly Father (God), the children may simply be pathetically foolish. But Lily still can't help but resent her God.

As a result, Lily's only remaining option was to survive as a supporter of the Soma Familia. Making the wrong choice—not playing the role of a subservient servant to the faction, hiding within its confines—would cause trouble and harm to others. Even so, she would be treated as a cash cow by some members of the Familia, forced to work for free by other adventurers.

Yes, all adventurers are the same.

He bullies Lily, who is weaker than him.

That boy too, definitely, definitely...

(Lord Bell is the same... Lord Bell is the same!)

That gentle boy will definitely turn his back on you one day. Absolutely.

What's wrong with betraying someone before you're betrayed yourself?

She remembered the elderly couple who had treated her like a granddaughter, and the look in their eyes at the end. Yes, in the end, she would be abandoned anyway. Completely discarded.

Lily ran with all her might, trying to erase the pain in her chest that went against her will.

◇

"The guild is coming to inspect today. Don't try anything funny, newbie."

"yes--"

After being reminded and warned by the half-dwarf shopkeeper, Hestia returned to her post.

She had long since come to terms with the shop assistants' disrespectful attitude towards her, and continued to do her work while swaying her pigtails.

Hestia, who was mainly responsible for dealing with guests, soon received a visiting investigator, a half-elf girl who seemed familiar.

"Ah, you are...?"

"I am Eina Zul from the guild. I have come to inspect your shop today as scheduled."

Seeing Eina's businesslike attitude, Hestia thought it was only natural and led her into the store.

Dedicated to her duty, she greeted the store manager, confirmed the information, and then, with parchment and pen in hand, inspected the various parts of the store.

"The goddess Hestia."

"what?"

"I have something I'd like to discuss with you. Would it be convenient for you to take a moment?"

While inspecting the weapon cabinet and the heating and cooling magic stone device, Eina approached Hestia, avoiding her gaze and speaking to her in a low voice. Hestia was initially surprised, then glanced around before casually leading Eina to a corner of the shop, pretending to give an introduction.

"You suddenly called out to me, which startled me. I didn't expect you to be so shrewd, Ms. Consultant."

"I don't deserve it."

The two avoided eye contact and continued their conversation, pretending to be doing homework.

Upon hearing Eina's confirmation, "Is it okay?", Hestia rummaged through the cabinet, making a clattering sound, and nodded.

"It's about the supporters hired by Mr. Bell Craney."

Hestia's shoulders twitched, she stopped what she was doing, and turned to look at Eina.

"What I'm about to discuss concerns the Soma Familia to which she belongs. Please listen carefully."

Hestia's expression grew increasingly somber as she listened to the entire story that unfolded at the Loki Familia the previous night.

Lily, who was trying to curry favor with Bell, is unlikely to be addicted to the Divine Wine, but she probably had other motives—most likely to try to rob him of everything—that led her to approach him.

"We should stop him from contacting Lily as soon as possible, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable," Eina stated her opinion.

"Goddess Hestia, could you please try to persuade him as well?"

Eina gazed at him with emerald-green eyes.

Hestia remained silent, looking up at her.

●

The chamber where Lily parted ways with Bell was very close to the connecting staircase leading to the upper levels. Lily easily left the 10th floor and climbed up to the 9th and 8th floors in succession.

Lily had already thoroughly mastered the dungeon terrain up to the 11th floor.

Her methods of framing adventurers are the same as what she did to Bell this time: she deliberately creates a situation, steals all the money from the adventurers while they are in chaos, and then makes a quick getaway (or strikes before they realize what's happening).

If they catch up while she's trying to escape, she'll end up losing more than she gains. To be able to adapt to any situation, Lily memorized the maps posted by the guild on each floor to ensure the perfect escape route.

Even when encountering monsters, Lily is adept at passing the buck to other adventurers. In fact, one could say she's been honing this skill all along.

After that, as long as she disposes of the stolen goods and returns to Lily's identity, no one can catch her anymore.

This was the most ingenious method that Lily, who was both vicious and despicable, could come up with, and who was capable of nothing else.

Lily started attacking adventurers in this way purely out of revenge and to get back at them.

She decided to take back everything that had been taken from her by those who had constantly bullied her. She also turned her attention to several of her own members of the Soma Familia.

Lily firmly believes that this behavior is her legitimate right.

Adventurers are adventurers, and she will stick to that belief now and in the future.

...She could only despicably ignore the face of a certain boy whose circumstances were different from those of today.

(But this way, we'll be saving up to our target amount very soon...)

She had lost all interest in the holy wine. On the contrary, she loathed it. In addition, she also harbored some fear of it.

She feared that if she came into contact with even a little bit of the fragrance, she would go mad like a wild beast again, controlled by the magic of the wine.

Therefore, the stolen money was used to help himself.

One day, she will use a large sum of money as a condition to leave the [family].

To put it extremely, Lily could be considered the property of the god Soma. The guild isn't a charity, and asking them for help wouldn't bring liberation. Therefore, she had to willingly hand over a large sum of money to make Soma willingly abandon Lily in exchange for his freedom.

She decided to liberate herself with her own hands.

"Uh-huh!"

Stepping onto the tall weeds, Lily stopped running.

As Lily stepped into the cave, directly in front of her, at the edge of a narrow passage leading to the exit, lay a level 8 goblin. No other adventurers were present. It occupied the very front of the passage, making it impossible to avoid.

Going back to another route would waste a lot of time. Bell, who was surrounded by monsters one after another, probably wouldn't be able to escape for another hour, but considering various issues including unexpected situations, Lily decided to break through.

"Lily's body isn't suited for doing barbaric things, is it?"

As she spoke, she pulled up the right sleeve of her cream-colored coat.

What was visible was a small hand crossbow mounted on his arm.

Using the "Demon Sword" against goblins is such a waste!

She stepped forward with her right foot and raised her crossbow.

The Palum tribe has exceptionally good eyesight on average. Her large, chestnut-colored eyes sharpened, fixing a straight line on the goblin. The goblin, too, noticed Lily's presence.

"emission--!"

Metal arrows were fired from the crossbows at terrifying speeds.

The high-speed arrow that pierced through the air was sucked into the goblin's right eye.

"Gigglea ...

Excuse me!

Lily left the cave after passing the goblin that was yelling and pressing its eyeballs.

Lily can fight with some effort, but that largely depends on weapon performance and items. The cost of dealing with a single monster is simply too high.

Lily only fights when she needs to defend herself.

"Lily is so envious of Lord Belle; he can do everything by himself!"

Including her magic, the "Cookhouse Ash Woman," Lily's powers are unsuitable for combat. Lily is utterly powerless.

After she vowed revenge against the adventurers and obtained magic, she was full of expectations that she could use it to change her weak self, but she was extremely disappointed after learning about the effects.

However, Lily gradually mastered what she was capable of and explored ways to make the most of her abilities.

The best evidence is that she used this thieving method to achieve success step by step.

Lily has become strong now, and can even make fun of her former weak self.

(7th floor!)

They rushed up the stairs that seemed to be embedded in the wall and broke through another floor.

The walls of the dungeon turned a light green, but Lily didn't slow down and kept running forward.

(Once you get past this floor, things will be much easier.)

Given the nature of monsters, this 7th floor is the one we must be most careful about.

Once we get through this, we'll be able to escape no matter what. Lily's lips softened as she stepped into the entrance to the next cave that appeared before her.

"I'm so happy, I've won the lottery!"

"what?"

The next moment after leaping into the cave through the narrow passage.

The foot that reached out from the side struck Lily's knee, who was short in stature.

Lily lost her balance and fell forward, landing face-first on the ground.

(W-What happened...?)