The Cinder Girl

Lilliluka Erde was brought into this world fifteen years earlier.

She had heard that it was the most tumultuous time in all of Orario's long history.

This was caused by the failure of the Three Great Quests.

Two familias reigned at the top of Orario, and their adventurers were the strongest in

all the world. They took up the legendary task of slaying three ancient and powerful

monsters, but the final one, a dragon king, defeated and utterly destroyed them. This

irreparable loss of strength was nothing short of a death knell for the two great

familias.

The sudden weakening of the two most feared factions in the city invited the rise of

evil.

In those times, the forces of darkness openly roamed Orario, as though in mockery of

the despair mortals felt as they watched their hopes and dreams crumble away, or

perhaps simply reveling at the sudden opportunity.

Led by an extremist group known as the Evils, lawless brigands and marauders raised

the curtain on a new era of chaos in Orario.

New factions replaced the old. Now considered failures, the previous rulers were

driven out, and two rising familias, each led by a different goddess, feuded over which

would stand as Orario's new hope. One after another, various deities and their familias

took up the cause of justice, hoping to settle this latest conflict.

It was a time of terrible upheaval in Orario, when good struggled against evil, order

against chaos.

In those days, crime was commonplace and committed with impunity to the sound of

outlaws cackling.

Such was the era into which Lilliluka Erde was born.

"Spare some coin, please…"

Lilly's memories of the world began when she was three years old.

The first thing she learned was how to beg. She would stand in the street, barefoot and

clad in rags, holding both hands out to any and every person who came near. If it hadn't

been for the Status inscribed on her back, she would probably have died in a ditch

somewhere by then. As it was, she was doing as her parents told her, standing in place

until darkness fell and the moon rose, waiting for sympathy or coin to fall into her

hands.

"Go bring us some money" was nearly all either of her parents ever said to her. Her

prum mother and father said little else to the young Lilly, and Lilly never had any

memories of them ever acting parental in any way.

Lilly and her parents belonged to Soma Familia.

The warped clan had been formed by the god Soma for the sole purpose of making the

perfect liquor. In service of their god's costly predilections, the familia was organized

by giving the member who brought in the most money the greatest prize—which was

a taste of Soma's divine liquor.

Despite his arcanum being sealed away, most of those involved in the production of

Soma's exquisite spirits were hopelessly captive to its allure, and competed fiercely to

earn money for it. They would give anything to have the chance to taste his literally

heavenly liquor just one more time.

Lilly's parents were no exception. They had no qualms about using Lilly to earn money,

even when she was but a toddler.

Before long, they were dead.

Apparently, they had ventured into the Dungeon in search of money—or more

precisely, in search of anything that would get them Soma's liquor—and had been

immediately slaughtered by monsters. Lilly only learned of their demise from the

derisive laughter of the other familia members, and although she barely understood

the emotion of sadness, she knew that she was now entirely alone.

There was no one who cared what happened to her. No one who even thought about

her.

Life continued, but her days were only full of misery; she continued to beg for money,

occasionally rummaging through garbage like a stray.

"…I'm… hungry…"

As she looked down at her emaciated arms after days of going back and forth from the

familia's home to the streets where she begged, a certain question came to her more

often: Who had taken care of her before?

Who had looked after her before she had become aware of herself? Before she could

walk? She couldn't imagine that her derelict parents had done anything. Despite her

young age, Lilly was full of doubt.

Then one day, Lilly had found herself wandering the rooms of the familia's home in

search of food, urged on by the growling of her stomach, when she suddenly encountered

her god—Soma.

"Ah… God…"

"…"

He was an enigmatic deity. His long hair obscured his eyes, and he said nothing,

making it impossible to know what he was thinking. Despite the familia's odd

arrangement of focusing the adoration of its members on the divine liquor itself rather

than their resident deity, Lilly was well aware that the other followers were terrified

of their unearthly leader.

Soma stood right in front of Lilly, looking down past his forelocks at her with those

inky black eyes of his. She felt a phantom throb in the Status on her back and

scampered around a corner of the hall to hide.

When she dared to peek back around… her eyes immediately fixed upon a paper bag

that Soma held. From within the bag wafted a faint smell of oil and salt; it was filled

with morsels of potato, fried to golden perfection.

Lilly's stomach growled audibly. As she looked down and rubbed her empty belly,

Soma wordlessly approached her.

Lilly cowered in fear as his shadow fell over her—and then he held out one of the Jyaga

Maru Kun snacks.

Wide-eyed, Lilly looked back and forth between the offered food and the unchanging

face of the god who offered it. Finally, she tentatively accepted it.

She opened her little mouth wide and bit down. First came the crunch sound of the

warm, fried coating, then the creamy, savory potato flavor filled her mouth.

Her whole body quivered with pleasure at the experience of eating the first proper

food she'd had in a long time.

After finishing and licking her fingers clean, she tried thanking the god with her stillawkward words. "Uh, um… Thank you… very much."

"…"

As expected, Soma did not reply.

Some moments later, Soma resumed his walk, heading away from Lilly, who followed

behind him uncertainly.

Her little feet pattering against the floor, she trailed Soma into the familia's inner

sanctum. She hesitated at the room's threshold, but while Soma did not say anything,

he also didn't send her away.

He placed several more helpings of the potato treats on a plate, which he set on a chair.

It took Lilly some time to realize that they were meant for her.

As Lilly began to eat with gusto, Soma—who had found a single mouthful to be

sufficient for his dinner—began work on a mixture of various plants in the corner of

the room, which seemed to be the ingredients for his liquor. The grinding sound of his

mortar and pestle echoed.

This sound, it's…

Once her hunger had been banished, Lilly's eyes began to droop, and she had the

feeling that she had heard that sound before. It was almost like a lullaby from her past,

a sound that slipped between the spaces of her dreams rather than lingering in living

memory.

The hypnotic rhythm of the sound put Lilly to sleep in no time at all. As she lay curled

up on the floor, a teardrop fell from her eye like a shard of crystal.

Finally, strong hands that belonged neither to her mother nor to her father picked Lilly

up. As she was laid in a bed and covered with a soft blanket, the tears never stopped

falling from her closed eyes, though she had most likely fallen asleep.

There, beside a god who would not speak, Lilly experienced the love of another person

for the very first time.

That was the first and last time she ever felt warmth from her god.

The great turning point in Lilly's life came just after her sixth birthday.

After finishing her day of begging or scavenging, it had become her habit to go to the

silent Soma's chambers, and so time had passed, until the day a familia-wide meeting

was called.

All the members of the familia, except Soma himself, were ordered to assemble.

"Thank you all for coming. As of today, I will be acting as the head of this familia,

directing our activities in place of Lord Soma."

The man standing on a hastily constructed platform there in the familia's dingy meeting

hall was named Zanis. In the constant struggle for divine liquor among elite members

of Soma Familia, his considerable ability had seen him rise to Level 2. Lilly had heard

whispers that he had gotten his position by eliminating the previous captain, who he'd

seen as an obstacle.

Her feeling of unease persisted as the man—a human who looked to be in his early

twenties—snapped his fingers, whereupon cups were distributed to all present.

"Starting now, Soma Familia will be working toward even greater expansion. The

times in Orario being what they are, we will recruit more members to better ride out

the waves of history. These spirits have been bestowed upon us by Lord Soma in

anticipation of our great work."

A loud murmur arose in the hall.

The new recruits, lower-ranking members like Lilly whose lips had never touched the

divine liquor, fixed their gazes on the spirits they had received, just like everyone else

in the room. Despite knowing perfectly well that Soma would never simply hand out

the divine liquor—which Zanis had clearly stolen from the cellar—its sweet, cool

aroma beckoned, and they brought their cups to their lips.

The young Lilly did the same. Unable to resist the spell of the divine liquor, she slowly

lifted her cup.

Zanis narrowed his eyes behind the spectacles he wore as he raised his own cup. "A

toast—to the advancement of our familia."

His lips curled in a malicious smile.

A moment later, once the divine liquor wet her tongue—

" "

—Lilly became nothing more than an animal.

After that, Lilly never went to Soma's chambers again.

Instead, she began descending into the Dungeon where her parents had died—a place

she ought to have feared and shunned.

She needed money—no, she needed the divine liquor.

—I want it!

—I want to taste it again!

—No matter what it takes!

Her eyes glossy, she became desperate to fulfill the quotas Zanis set. Following exactly

in her parents' footsteps, she became another adventurer seeking the glow of magic

stones.

Her transformation into a wine-thirsty ghoul complete, she never once noticed Soma's

hopeless, despondent gaze following her from the upper floor of their home.

Nor did she notice Zanis's scheme—that using the divine liquor, he'd disrupted the

familia's management, completely separating the followers from their god.

"Bring in money so that our familia might prosper! Our lord commands this!"

The demands for coin became increasingly onerous. The familia's administration had

never been so harsh before, and it was not an exaggeration to say that it worked mostly

in the personal interests of its new chief. But bewitched by the spell of the divine

liquor, its members took no notice, and they numbly fell in line, desperately hoping to

hear the magic words: "You may have some divine liquor."

The Guild had not managed to curtail the constant acts of villainy perpetrated by the

Evils and other outlaw groups, which only increased its leader's reputation for

cunning.

Soma Familia 's corruption spread quietly—and far.

"Huff, huff, huff…"

Meanwhile, Lilly, a mere impoverished prum, continued to flounder, far from the

machinations of her organization.

Wielding a knife in her bloodied hand, she slaughtered low-level monsters like goblins

and kobolds in the Dungeon. She clearly couldn't attack them head-on, so she hid in

the shadows, holding her breath for fear of being caught and eaten herself, and would

only ambush a lone monster after careful calculation.

Nonetheless, she soon found her limits—the meagerness of her money could not

properly pay for equipment and repairs for important items, and her battered body

threatened to give out. It was the cruel reality of her high-risk, low-reward life. Every

trip into the Dungeon took her further into the red.

Even begging her god to update her Status did no good. She had reached the end of

where her own practice and effort could take her, and in the end, to her deep misery,

she simply lacked much talent as an adventurer.

So it was then Lilly was forced to become a supporter.

Thus began her days of exploitation.

"Wait! P-please, wait! This isn't what we agreed!"

"Your sniveling cost us serious profit! You should be glad you're getting anything at

all!"

Lilly avoided Dungeon trips with members of her own familia, since they constantly

stole what little pay she might earn, but working as a porter for other parties, the tiny

Lilly was constantly on the receiving end of cruelty.

Adventurers skimmed her share of loot as a matter of course. She was often scolded

for infractions she had no memory of committing and forced to work for free, while

other times, her personal weapons and potions would be stolen outright.

Once, some adventurers she had been working with were spending their Dungeon

earnings in a rowdy tavern while Lilly clung to their boots in hope of a chance at scraps.

She asked for her share, but what she got was a kick that sent her flying. As she crumpled

and winced in pain, something else fell to the ground—a paltry chunk of bird meat.

A laugh rose in the tavern, as if to say There, beg for your dinner! and Lilly would never

forget the adventurers jeering for as long as she lived.

Humiliation and despair swirled in her heart. There wasn't a single day when her

cheeks weren't dampened with tears.

A full-time supporter. An object of disdain.

She had never felt such bitterness toward the hand the gods had dealt her and the

cruelty of the world as she did in this moment.

Why… why do I have to…?

It was also in this moment that the spell of the divine liquor began to weaken.

The return of sobriety always brought on a dismaying feeling, a terrible desolation

that assaulted Lilly. She even felt rage at Soma and his divine liquor for driving her into

a corner.

But there was no going back. Lilly was already gaining a reputation among lower-level

adventurers as a good way to boost profits.

There was no one in her own hopelessly twisted familia who would come to her aid

or give her protection. She would only ever be a tool in their eyes—a thing to be used.

There's no one left who's ever helped me…

Lilly couldn't remember the face of the one person who'd once offered her a meal.

What should have been a warm memory had been scattered like so much sand in the

wind—either washed away by the unnatural craving the divine liquor inspired or

crushed under the endless days of suffering.

Having lost even her memory, Lilly now only slogged through her days in order to

remain alive.

I want to die… but…

Everything was so painful, so lonely, and such a struggle. She hated it. She constantly

thought about throwing her life away.

But Lilly knew. She knew the burning pain that came with the rake of a monster's

claws. The strangling sobs that followed the impact of an adventurer's boot.

She couldn't bring herself to risk death, for fear of experiencing still worse pain.

"—!"

Then one day, unable to bear another day of exploitation, Lilly ran away—from the

adventurers and from her familia, with great tears falling from her eyes.

She wanted to renounce her connection to her god, to disguise herself as a commoner

and find some small measure of happiness.

But the adventurers would not allow even that.

The moment she understood that she could never run from Soma Familia…

The moment she realized that she would continue to suffer at the hands of other

adventurers…

…was the moment she saw the wreckage of a flower shop owned by an elderly couple

she'd been living with.

"Nana, Nono?!"

The incident occurred at the hands of adventurers who were a part of Soma Familia.

Under the magical thrall of the divine liquor, they stole anything worth selling and

utterly destroyed the home Lilly had found for herself, as though to send the message

that this had happened because she was there. Thanks to the constant strife in the city

at the time, neither the Guild nor any other faction had any capacity to deter such

crime, so no investigation of any kind would ever be made.

Like their flower shop, the old human couple who ran it had also been punished. Lilly

had been a sort of live-in errand girl, and she was out when the attack came. When she

returned and saw the damage, she began to run toward the old man and woman with

her arms outstretched.

And the couple—who'd given her a place to stay and treated her like a granddaughter

—brushed her hands away and rejected her.

"—"

Their usually kind eyes were filled with accusation and hatred.

The old man had been badly beaten and sat weakly on the ground, blood trickling from

his lip. Behind him, his sobbing wife tried to support him. They had only just

welcomed Lilly into their home, and this had been their thanks. They looked at her as

if she were filth.

Lilly's heart broke under their accusing gazes.

Wait—

The old man's lips moved.

Wait, please, don't say it, Lilly cried out with all her strength—but not a single word

left her mouth.

—Call after me.

Call my name.

Call me Lilly with the same kindness you always used and pat my head the same way.

Tell me it's okay if I don't do a perfect job sometimes, like you did once.

Tell me you need me.

Help me.

Don't throw me away.

If even you two abandon me, then I…

"—I wish we'd never met you."

Something broke inside Lilly.

The old man's words carved themselves into her soul, and from the wound, something

precious began to flow.

After being cast out by the old couple, Lilly wandered the city like a walking corpse,

and at some point, she realized night had fallen, and it was raining.

"Ha… ha-ha-ha…"

Lilly stood in the middle of an empty alleyway and laughed as the downpour slid off

her. Raindrops met her small cheeks and formed streams as they rolled down.

The lovely clothing the old couple had given her as a gift was soaked in the increasingly

severe weather, turning it into a heavy burden.

No one will ever call for me. No one will ever rely on me. No one will ever need me. No

one will ever help me.

She was alone.

There was no helping hand to be found.

Any time this unkind world allowed her some sweet dream, she would always come

crashing back down to cruel reality as soon as she woke.

Lilly understood that now.

She understood all too well that so long as her cursed familia's brand remained on her

back, freedom and safety would always be out of reach.

She continued to laugh.

Buried beneath her laughter were sobs trying to get out.

After that day, her eyes became wild and desperate.

Lilly continued working as a supporter.

Whether she was directly supporting Soma Familia or other adventurers, she was

always careful to pretend to be a faithful, groveling servant. No matter how she was

abused, no matter how hard she was worked, she kept a doll's smile on her lips and

ice in her eyes, biding her time until the moment she could be freed from her familia's

bonds. She would no longer run nor try to rely on another. She could not bear the

thought of causing anyone else harm—nor the thought of being betrayed by kindness

yet again. Her every waking hour was focused on acquiring enough money to pay her

familia's severance fee.

It was around this time that Lilly started to dabble in pickpocketing. Having endured

so much hardship, she no longer had the luxury of being idealistic. Day by day, her skill

at thievery improved.

Of course, her reputation as a good moneymaker ensured that Lilly was still constantly

exploited, as she always had been.

"Tch, this is all ya got?" An animal person named Kanu clicked his tongue in irritation

at Lilly—who had fallen to the ground after the thrashing he'd given her—as he

examined the coin pouch he'd taken. He was one of the members of Soma Familia who

continued to take advantage of the defenseless girl.

As Kanu and his gang looked down on the exhausted Lilly, a slender-faced human

watched from a step away, his hands clasped behind his back. "You're working rather

diligently for someone who doesn't drink Lord Soma's divine liquor, Erde. Is there

something you're after, perhaps?"

Lilly didn't answer Zanis's question and simply continued to stare at the floor.

"…"

She hadn't had a single drop of the liquor since that first taste. Unlike the other familia

members who regularly exploited her at Zanis's discretion, she abhorred the liquor

and feared its effects.

Kanu, ever the faithful underling, gave Lilly's head a kick at her failure to answer their

leader's question. "Boss, we oughtta just sell this trash to a brothel. Even a runty prum

like her could bring in some coin there."

"—What are you doing?"

Just as Kanu turned to Zanis with a raucous, vulgar laugh, someone walked by the

familia's courtyard where they were gathered. Her head still muddled, Lilly heard a

low, rough voice and managed to turn her eyes in its direction.

"Ah, Chandra. Well, the thing is…"

Lilly's blurry vision noticed the outline of a stocky, thickly muscled dwarf. As the dwarf

listened to Kanu, his brow furrowed. "No brothels. Stop this."

"…And why not? Are you actually gonna cover for this kid?"

"If an outside familia tried working one of their own in the Pleasure Quarter, they'd be

taken for a spy. You really want to attract Ishtar Familia 's attention?"

"Uhh…" Kanu and his lackeys openly winced at the dwarf's point.

Lilly remembered him—the dwarf named Chandra had recently joined the familia, and

being Level 2, he was making quite a name for himself. She summoned the last of her

strength to look up, picturing the face of this dwarf who was somehow not trying to

harm or oppress her.

As usual, Zanis alone looked down at the beaten Lilly. "Hmph. Well…" he began,

narrowing his eyes as though considering Kanu's objection. Lilly glared vacantly into

those eyes of his, as they glinted behind their spectacles with the posturing of a

someone who wanted to be seen as a man of reason.

Eventually, his mouth curled into an unpleasant crescent. "Chandra's right. There's no

need to invite pointless suspicion. We'll let Erde keep working for the familia like

always. Heh… That'll be more fun, too."

Zanis laughed, as though Lilly's frigid, utterly resentful gaze was amusing to him.

Lilly had been silent during the entire exchange. She balled her hands into fists. The

pain and rage she felt banking a dark fire deep within her.

This was not the only incident. Everything she'd been through fueled her vengeful

heart.

As she stared at the hateful adventurer looking down on her with that smirk, Lilly

distinctly felt the whispers of her grudge begin to overflow.

As more days and months passed, Lilly approached the age of thirteen.

She began to make good on her wish for vengeance.

In the pouring rain, a wild, angry shout rang out through the back alley.

The confused footfalls and yells of dismay of several adventurers were clearly audible

to the beautiful young elf girl over her own ragged breaths.

Her feet splashed in puddles as she ran, and when she had finally evaded her pursuers,

she stopped and leaned against a wall.

As her golden hair became soaked in the rain, she forced herself to control her

breathing, then quietly spoke.

"Stroke of midnight's bell."

The instant she murmured the chant, her body was wreathed in a veil of ashen light.

The next moment, the form of the elf girl who'd stood there moments before had

vanished, replaced by Lilly, her chestnut-brown hair plastered to her cheek.

Her breath and body both shaking, she opened the bundle she was carrying.

Inside were adventurers' accessories—rings and bracelets that sparkled gold and

silver—as well as drop items from rare monsters and even a magic knife.

Lilly's eyes welled up, and a smile reached her lips. "I did it… I did it! Serves you all

right!"

This was the fruit of her magic, Cinder Ella. The spell had appeared during a Status

update half a year earlier, and she'd used it to slip away from the adventurers.

She'd disguised herself as a harmless, charming elf supporter and approached some

adventurers—and then while accompanying them into the Dungeon, made off with

their valuables.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Lilly raised her voice in a genuine laugh for

the first time in years. She was filled with a dark pleasure.

She could still hear the bellows of the adventurers she'd robbed. She did her best to

control her impulse to gloat, but the urge to laugh was too strong.

Now that she'd dispelled the magic, she was no longer the elven thief they were looking

for, and thus she was beyond their grasp. All she needed to do now was transform

again and sell off her loot to make some serious, untraceable money.

Lilly looked up at the sky in triumph.

Every adventurer who ever made me suffer is gonna get what they deserve…!

There were undoubtedly other ways that Cinder Ella could help her earn money. She

could have certainly found a different way to make her living.

But after enduring so much suffering, Lilly's bitter grudge would not allow that. Those

stores of rage and grief compelled the little girl to swear revenge against adventurers.

In her old life she'd stayed alive by drinking muddy water, but today would be a clean

break from that. She would take back everything that adventurers had stolen from her

and win her freedom by her own hand.

Guilt threatened to well up within her, but she brushed it away, sealing it deep in her

heart. Lilly forced herself to keep smiling.

After a few more moments of amusement, it was time to go.

The rain was little different from the rain on the day she'd been cast out by the only

people who ever openly showed her any kindness. As it soaked her, Lilly dragged her

bleeding, battered body out into the hazy city and disappeared.

After that day, Lilly played at thievery constantly.

She would lay traps for adventurers in the Dungeon, snatch anything valuable they

had, then beat a quick retreat out of the labyrinth. Occasionally the adventurers,

enraged at being betrayed by a mere supporter, would escape the trap and pursue her,

but her transformation magic was perfect, and no one could catch her. The few times

she lifted valuables from members of her own familia helped sate her grudge ever so

slightly.

She did her very best to ignore the emptiness she felt underneath her dark pleasure.

In fact, she used the strength of her rekindled anger to wrestle such pathetic feelings

to the ground, asking herself if she'd forgotten everything that had been done to her.

As she continued to avenge herself upon adventurers, two years quickly passed.

Lilly looked into a barrel filled with water, and realized it was her own eyes that had

become stagnant.

She was in a cheap inn she was using for a hideout. That day she had again lured some

adventurers into a trap, spilled crimson blood, left monster corpses—and she was so

dirtied with cinders that she had to laugh.

As she stared into the barrel, a children's story came suddenly to her mind.

Perhaps it was the old flower shop couple who'd read it to her. She couldn't precisely

remember where she'd seen it, but it was a very common story.

The story was about a shabby girl always covered in ash and cinders. Thanks to a spell

cast by a mischievous fairy, she was transformed into a girl of extraordinary beauty.

Seizing her chance to enjoy this brief dream, the girl went to the palace, where the

prince fell in love with her at first sight. As the spell began to break, she fled the palace,

but the prince searched for her the next day. He came for her, and although the spell

had been broken, they still lived happily ever after.

Lilly looked at her bloodied, cinder-caked face in the water barrel and found herself

harried by doubt.

When the deception of the transformation magic faded—did anyone who would reach

their hand out to her true self exist?

"…This is ridiculous." Lilly sneered at both her thoughts and at her reflection in the

mirror.

Alone in the room, she curled up in the bed's dusty sheets as she blotted out her

desolate feelings with her hatred of adventurers. Her cold hands had forgotten what

the warmth of another person felt like. Outside the window, the moonlit sky above

looked on.

It didn't exist.

There was no such thing as a prince who would come save her. Those were only for

children's fairy tales.

In fact—there was no such thing as a hero at all. Nobody was coming for her.

Which was why today, too, she would put her mask on, pretend to be an innocent little

girl, and swindle another foolish adventurer.

Her next prey was an easy choice—an obviously greenhorn human who'd actually

tried to defend her from another enraged adventurer. Just as she was wondering what

this boy could possibly have been thinking when he came to the aid of a grimy-looking

prum he'd never even met before, he'd said something ridiculous like "I couldn't

ignore a girl in trouble" or something. It was so stupid, so absurd, so utterly unheardof, that all Lilly could do was laugh.

He had hair as white as his words were innocent, and his rubellite eyes were just like

a rabbit's. The unmistakable traces of the countryside were still all over him. He had

to be a recent arrival to the city.

She could smell it on him—that bottomless, good-natured naï vete .

The environment he'd lived in had blessed him, unlike a certain miserable prum. He

had obviously never experienced any real suffering.

So Lilly would educate him. She would teach him of this city's dirtiness, its harshness,

its cruel indifference. She would teach him that without divine favor, reality would

mercilessly grind him to dust.

The price for this lesson would be the jet-black knife he carried that so ill-suited him.

She would dirty his pristine heart as her own had been and cloud his eyes until they

looked like hers.

She would stain him as she had been stained.

Betrayed, he would cry out, and not a single soul would believe him. And he'd never

say anything as utterly inane as "I couldn't ignore a girl in trouble" to anyone ever

again.

He was such an obvious rube; it wouldn't even take long.

Besides, if she could lay her hands on that masterwork knife of his, she might finally

have enough money. She might finally be able to free herself from her familia.

Now, to dirty herself with cinders and begin the con.

So yet again, Lilly called out to an adventurer, believing that her only hope was to keep

deceiving both herself and those around her.

"—Hey! You there! You with the white hair!"