Chapter 13

AUTHOR WARNING:

This chapter is sadder and darker than usual because it contains Lili, Coco, Kaede, and Momiji's backstory in Soma Familia. If it becomes too much for you, you can skim until Shalltear's POV. No, I am not crying, you're crying!

o-O-o

SHALLTEAR POV, AFTERNOON:

As she and Lili walked through the Upper Floors of the Dungeon, Shalltear took the initiative to ask Lili about their plans for the day. Concerned about the previous incident, she wanted to make sure Lili was comfortable with their activities. She asked, "...Lili, what would you like to do today?"

Lili hesitated for a moment before responding, "Ummm...The same as yesterday." It seemed that Lili wanted to continue hunting Killer Ants, just as they had done before.

Shalltear wasn't convinced and asked, "...Are you sure?" She sensed that something was off and wanted to dig deeper.

Lili then made a request, sounding insecure, "Yes... Miss Shalltear, c-can Lili get the hundred percent of the money we get today?... L-like a loan or an advance payment." It was clear that Lili was in need of money, and she seemed hesitant about asking for it.

Is she trying to scam me?... Only one day has passed since we started working together... even for Lili, this is too fast.

However, she decided to grant Lili's request, saying, "Yes, it is fine." They continued their journey in the dungeon, encountering various monsters. Shalltear effortlessly dispatched the creatures while Lili collected the magic stones from their bodies. However, she couldn't help but notice Lili occasionally clutching her stomach and limping as if her leg was hurting.

Something is going on, I don't know what it is but I don't like it.... Lili will not tell me if something is wrong at this stage while she considers me a stranger… then I am gonna need to use that...

In a swift motion, Shalltear rotated and slightly lowered her head, making eye contact with Lili. Lili's eyes widened in surprise, but soon a thin red film seemed to cover her eyes, replacing their characteristic chestnut color. The initial surprise transformed into a friendly and calm expression.

Seizing the opportunity, she asked Lili, "Tell me, Lili, are you okay? Are you injured?" Her voice filled with genuine concern.

Lili, under the influence of the Mystic Eyes of Charms, responded, "Yes, Lili is injured. Lili's leg and stomach hurt after yesterday's thrashing."

Perplexed by Lili's mention of a "thrashing," Shalltear inquired further, "What 'thrashing'? What happened? Who did that?" Her tone turned serious.

o-O-o

After Lili explained the situation, Shalltear's thoughts turned introspective. She couldn't help but blame herself.

This may possibly be my fault...

A sigh escaped her lips as she realized the consequences of her actions, a mixture of anger and frustration was on her face.

That fucker, Canoe found Lili after she left the Guild, stole what I gave her, gave her a beating, and is now threatening her...

Her face twisted in a grimace as if she had tasted something bitter. Determined to help Lili, she retrieved a blue vial from her inventory, a healing potion, and presented it to Lili. "Lili, drink the potion so you can heal your injuries," she urged.

Lili, still under the influence of the Mystic Eyes of Charms, stared blankly at the potion before obediently drinking it. Shalltear kept a vigilant eye on Lili, ready to protect her. When a Kobold approached from behind, she swiftly decapitated it with a single fluid motion.

Turning her gaze back to Lili, Shalltear asked with concern and anger in her eyes, "Do you feel better now, Lili?"

Lili's expression relaxed slightly as she responded, "Lili's leg and stomach don't hurt anymore." The healing potion had worked its magic.

Shalltear's face softened, but beneath the calm exterior, a storm of vengeful thoughts brewed. She contemplated her next move.

Now… what to do?... I am going to give her what she asked for, that is a given..

Her face contorted with anger as she entertained dark thoughts of revenge. The sadistic side of her nature emerged.

But I want to kill Conoe–No, I want to see him suffer before I kill him. Maybe I should cut his raccoon ears off and make him eat them~~

After a moment of contemplation, Shalltear's expression shifted to one of pondering. She had a broader plan in mind.

But that will not be enough. He is not the only worm that is on Soma Familia that has taken advantage of Lili… And I could ask for their names from Lili–No, I can do better than that...

"Lili, can you tell me about all the times others have hurt or taken advantage of you? Actually, why don't you tell me about your life?" she proposed, her voice filled with genuine interest.

In this way, Shalltear aimed to gather information not only about those who had wronged Lili but also to understand her better, in order to convince her to join the familia that she intended to create. Moreover, it would help her define the foundational epitaph of excelia after the familia conversion. She, unlike the gods, couldn't perceive the invisible chronicle of the children, their life history, in Excelia like the gods. Therefore, delving deeper into Lili's past was necessary.

o-O-o

LILI POV:

"Spare some coin, please...", Lili's memories of the world began when she was three years old. The first thing she learned was to beg. She would stand in the street, barefoot and dressed in rags, extending both hands to each and every person who approached.

Had it not been for the status inscribed on her back, she would probably have died in a ditch somewhere by then. She was doing what her parents told her, staying in her place until night fell and the moon came up, waiting for sympathy or coins to fall into her hands.

"Go bring us some money" was almost all his parents told Lili. Her mother and her pallum father said little else to young Lili, and she never remembered them acting like parents in any way.

They were part of Soma Familia. The warped clan had been formed by the god Soma for the sole purpose of making the perfect liquor. Serving the expensive predilections of their god, the family organized themselves by giving the member who brought in the most money the biggest prize, which was a sample of Soma's divine liquor.

Though his Arcanum was sealed, most of the people involved in the brewing of Soma's liquor were fascinated by its charm, and a fierce battle to earn money unfolded. They would do anything for another chance to taste his literally heavenly liquor.

Lili's parents were no exception. They had no qualms about using Lili to make money, even when she was just a toddler.

Before long, they were dead. Apparently, they had ventured into the dungeon in search of money, or more accurately, looking for anything that would get them Soma's liquor, and were immediately slaughtered by monsters. Lili only learned their demise due to the mocking laughter of the other familia members, and though she barely understood the emotion of sadness, she knew she was now entirely alone.

There was no one who cared what happened to her. No one even thought of her. Life went on, but her days were filled with nothing but misery; she continued to beg for money, sometimes rummaging through the garbage like a stray dog.

"...I'm...hungry...", as she gazed down at her emaciated arms after days of going back and forth between the family home and the streets where she begged, a toddler with green hair appeared.

"..You.. want?..." said a soft voice coming from a pallum toddler one year younger than Lili, with blue eyes and short hair that curls inward, with two petal-like hairs at the top, it was Coco Collins. The toddler offered a bone with a small piece of meat left, that she surely had picked from the trash.

Thus their relationship started, Lili quickly realized that if they begged in different places they could reach different people and had a higher possibility of coins reaching them, the days were one of the girls couldn't get anything, perhaps the other was lucky and could share a little. Lili was surprised that Coco, being one year younger, had more strength than her and could move the towering garbage cans better to reach food deeper in them. Together they survived.

o-O-o

The big turning point in Lili's life came just after her sixth birthday. All members of the familia, with the exception of 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 in the dingy familia meeting room was named Zanis. In the constant struggle for divine liquor among the elite members of Soma Familia, his considerable ability had seen him rise to level 2. Lili had heard whispers that he had secured his position by eliminating the former captain, whom he considered an obstacle.

Her feeling of unease continued as the man, a human who appeared to be in his early twenties, snapped his fingers, after which cups were handed out to everyone 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" declared Zanis.

A great murmur rose in the room. The new recruits, low-ranking members like Lili whose lips had never touched the divine liquor, fixed their gazes on the spirits they had received, like everyone else in the room. Although they knew very well that Soma would never just dispense the divine liquor, Zanis surely had stolen it from the cellar, its sweet, fresh aroma called to them, and they lifted their cups to their lips.

The young Lili did the same. Unable to resist the spell of the divine liquor, she slowly lifted her cup. Zanis squinted behind the glasses he wore as he raised his own mug, "A toast, to the advancement of our familia." His lips curled into a mischievous smile. A moment later, once the divine liquor wets her tongue, Lili becomes nothing more than an animal.

o-O-o

After that, she and Coco began descending into the Dungeon where their parents had died, a place they ought to have feared and shunned. They needed money–no, they needed the divine liquor.

I want it! I want to taste it again! No matter what it takes!

Their eyes glossy, became desperate to fulfill the quotas Zanis set. Following exactly in their parents' footsteps, they became another pair of adventurers seeking the glow of magic stones.

Lili's transformation into a wine-thirsty ghoul complete, she never once noticed 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 money 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 leader.

Lili and Coco continued adventuring into the dungeon, but problems started to arise because of the disparity in strength and dividing the money earned. While Coco had strength, Lili had intelligence, but in her current state, she was too inebriated by the allure of Soma to use it properly.

And so the day they separated came, "Lili is not Coco's friend anymore". They parted ways, and Lili started adventuring alone.

Soma Familia's corruption spread quietly and far. The Guild had not managed to curtail the constant acts of villainy perpetrated by the Evilus and other outlaw groups, which only increased its leader's reputation for cunning.

"Huff, huff, huff…" Meanwhile, Lili, a mere impoverished pallum, continued to flounder, far

from the evil schemes of her Familia.

Brandishing a knife in her bloodied hand, she killed low 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 a meticulous calculation.

Nevertheless, she quickly found her limits, the little money she earned could not adequately pay for equipment and repairs to important items, and her battered body threatened to collapse. It was the cruel reality of her high-risk, low-reward life. Each trip to the dungeon took her deeper 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.

It was then that Lili was forced to become a supporter. Thus began her days of exploitation.

"Wait! P-please, wait! This isn't what we agreed!" a tiny Lili pleaded.

"Your sniveling cost us serious profit! You should be glad you're getting anything at all!" a member of her familia screamed at her.

Lili avoided trips to the dungeons with members of her own familia, as they constantly stole what little money she could earn, but working as a supporter for other parties, little Lili was constantly subjected to cruelty.

The adventurers skimmed her share of the loot. She was often reprimanded for offenses she had no recollection of committing and forced to work for free, while other times her personal weapons and potions were outright stolen.

Once, some adventurers she worked with were spending their dungeon earnings at a rowdy tavern while Lili clung to her boots hoping for a chance at scraps.

She demanded her share, but all she received was a kick that sent her flying. As she collapsed and winced in pain, something else fell to the ground, a thin piece of bird meat.

Laughter rose in the tavern, as if to say There, beg your dinner! and Lili would never forget the mocking adventurers as long as she lived.

Humiliation and despair swirled in her heart. There wasn't a single day when her cheeks weren't wet 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 at this moment.

Why...why do I have to...?

It was also at this time that the charm of the divine liquor began to weaken. The return of sobriety always brought with it a dismaying feeling, a terrible desolation that assailed Lili. She realized that she had lost her one and only friend in her life, because of the liquor. She even felt rage at Soma and his divine liquor for pushing her into a corner.

But there was no turning back, it was too late to turn back the clock hands, the spell was over. Lili was already gaining a reputation among lower-level adventurers as a good way to increase profits. There was no one in her own hopelessly twisted familia who would come to her aid or give her protection. She would never be more than a tool to them - a thing to be used.

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

Coco's friendship, 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. Lili now only slogged through her days in order to remain alive.

I want to die...but...

It was all so painful, so lonely, and such a struggle. She hated it. She was constantly thinking about throwing her life away. But Lily knew. She knew the searing pain that accompanied the raking of a monster's claws. The strangled sobs that followed the impact of an adventurer's boot. She couldn't bring herself to risk death for fear of experiencing even worse pain.

o-O-o

Her reputation as a good moneymaker ensured that Lili was still constantly exploited, as she always had been.

"Tch, this is all ya got?", a raccoon demi-human named Canoe clicked his tongue in irritation at Lili, 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 Canoe and his gang looked down on the exhausted Lili, 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, Arde. Is there something you're after, perhaps?"

Lili 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.

Canoe, ever the faithful underling, gave Lili'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 pallum like her could bring in some coin there."

"What are you doing?", just as Canoe turned to Zanis with a raucous, vulgar laugh, someone walked by the familia's courtyard where they were gathered. Her head still muddled, Lili heard a low, rough voice and managed to turn her eyes in its direction.

"Ah, Chandra. Well, the thing is…" Canoe was saying. Lili's blurry vision noticed the outline of a stocky, thickly muscled dwarf. As the dwarf listened to Canoe, his brow furrowed. "No brothels. Stop this."

"...And why not? Are you actually gonna cover for this kid?" retorted Canoe.

"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?" explained Chandra.

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

Lili remembered him, the dwarf named Chandra had recently joined the familia, and being at level 2, he was making a name for himself. She gathered her last strength to look up, seeing the face of this dwarf who somehow wasn't trying to harm her or oppress her.

As usual, Zanis alone looked down at the battered Lili. "Hmph. Well…" he began, squinting as if considering Canoe's objection. Lili stared vaguely at his eyes, as they shone behind their glasses with the posture of 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 Arde keep working for the familia like always. Heh... That'll be more fun, too. "

Zanis laughed, as though Lili's frigid, utterly resentful gaze was amusing to him. Lili had been silent during the entire exchange bawling her hands into fists.

o-O-o

After that experience with Chandra, Lili decides to take a chance with a new pair of adventurers that joined the familia, Tsukinokami Kaede and Shinonome Momiji, the two girls were 2 years younger than Lili, and therefore more inexperienced. From what she gathered, Kaede saw that Soma Familia also made sake, she liked the flavor and joined the familia because of that, Momiji following after her.

Imagine Lili's surprise when she found that they had paired with Coco, who had decided to be a permanent adventurer after the effects of the addiction had worn off, "...Being strong is the only thing Coco is good at..." were her words.

The four-woman party went into the dungeon many times, with Kaede as their hyperactive and happy-go-lucky leader. Things were actually working well for once for Lili.

In a cheap tavern clad mostly in wood with minimum decorations and dim light, the party was celebrating after a successful week prowling the dungeon.

"Cheers!" said Kaede with a big smile, the mugs clinked against each other, and then she drank it down in one go, while the others looked at her in amazement, "Aaahh! That hit the spot".

While Kaede and Momiji did have alcohol, Lili and Coco were drinking fruit juice, they had learned to fear the effects of alcohol.

"You know what we need? Nicknames like the gods give as aliases! That's what we need!" said Kaede to the group.

"...Kaede, are you drunk already?" asked Momiji in concern, while Kaede served herself more alcohol in her mug.

"He he he he, no-no" Kaede said while a faint blush showed in her face, "It is gonna take forever to get to level 2 right? What'cha say about having our own nicknames as level 1?" she continued.

"C-Coco will like that..." chimed Coco timidly.

Lili just stared at Kaede, worried that she had a problem with alcohol. If what Momiji said was true, then Kaede in her hometown had snuck into the Spirit Shrine to drink the sake reserved for rituals, that is how Momiji and Kaede had met.

"See! Momiji you think of some!" said Kaede with a big grin.

Momiji sighted, then pondered, "How about… Night, Day, Sun, and Moon?" said the sorcerer shrine maiden while pointing to herself, Lili, Coco, and Kaede respectively.

"Ohhh! I loooove that! It's very romantic and cool!" said Kaede, launching herself all over Momiji and throwing alcohol all over the table.

But this didn't last, everything changed the fateful day Kaede and Momiji were given Soma. Kaede drank first and Momiji was reluctant, upon seeing the effects on Kaede, decided to not drink and Kaede ended drank her share.

Everything went downhill from there, Kaede, the leader of the party, was like a ravenous beast trying to go deeper and deeper into the dungeon, being reckless, pushing the team harder and harder all the time in the dungeon, and even trying to steal money from the rest many times, Lili lost the count of the numerous times that she was stopped by Momiji crying, "Kaede…sob... please...sob... just stop".

Even the nights were miserable, she could hear Momiji's faint voice chanting purification rituals over and over on Kaede while sobbing to herself, she was trying to help her friend with her addiction. Day after day things were getting worse, Momiji's characteristic red markings at the edges of her eyes, part of her shrine maiden makeup, were just replaced with a dark outline and saggy bags under her eyes because of how little sleep she was getting, and how much she was crying. Soma, the liquor, was destroying Lili's friendships, again.

Lili was tired, and eventually, unable to bear another day of misery, and fear of the liquor effects ran away, from her party, from the adventurers, and from her familia, with great tears falling from her eyes.

She wanted to renounce her connection to her god, disguise herself as a commoner, and find some small measure of happiness that lasted. But the adventurers would not allow even that.

The moment she realized she could never run away from Soma Familia. The moment she realized she would continue to suffer at the hands of other adventurers and the effects of Soma, was when she saw the wreckage of a flower shop owned by an elderly couple with whom she lived.

"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 Lili had found for herself, as though to send the message that this had happened because she was there.

Thanks to the constant conflicts in the city at the time, neither the Guild nor any other faction had the ability to deter such crimes, so no investigation of any kind would ever be made.

Like their flower shop, the old human couple who ran it had also been attacked. Lili had been kind of a live-in errand girl, and she was out when the incident happened. When she came back and saw the damage, she started running towards the old man and old woman with her arms outstretched.

And the couple, who had given her a home and treated her like a granddaughter, threw her hands away and rejected her.

Their usually benevolent eyes were filled with accusation and hatred. The old man had been badly beaten and was sitting weakly on the ground, blood dripping from his lip. Behind him, his sobbing wife tried to support him. They had just welcomed Lili into their home, and that had been their thank you. They looked at her as if she were filth.

Lili's heart broke under their accusing gazes.

Wait

The old man's lips moved.

Wait, please, don't say it, Lili cried out with all her strength, but not a single word left her mouth.

Call after me.

Call my name.

Call me Lili 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" declared the old man.

Something broke inside Lili. The old man's words carved themselves into her soul, and from the wound, something precious began to flow.

After being chased away by the old couple, Lili wandered the town like a walking corpse and realized at some point that it was dark and raining.

"Ha...ha-ha-ha...", Lili stood in the middle of an empty alleyway and laughed as the downpour slid over her. The raindrops met her little cheeks and formed streams as they rolled.

The beautiful clothes the old couple had given her as a gift were soaked by the increasingly harsh weather, making them 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. Whenever this wicked world allowed her to have some sweet dream, she would always come crashing back down to cruel reality as soon as she woke.

Lili 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.

o-O-o

Lili continued working as a supporter. Whether she directly supported Soma Familia or other adventurers, she was always careful to pose as a loyal and creeping servant. No matter how abused she was, no matter how hard she 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 the bonds with her family. She would no longer run or try to rely on another. She couldn't bear the thought of hurting someone else or the thought of being betrayed by kindness yet again. Every waking hour was focused on earning enough money to pay for her family's severance fee.

She would not rely on her previous friends, who she heard that Kaede on one day of intense urges decided to steal Soma from the heavily protected Wine Cellar by sneaking inside.

It ended as you would expect, her almost dying because not only the guards and Zanis gave her a beating making an example out of her, but also the other members of the familia thirsty for Soma, after all, the fewer people trying to drink Soma the more they will have for themselves, or so they thought.

Lili heard that Momiji and Coco tried to defend her but also were injured, then with hardly any strength left they carried Kaede's limping body to Miach Familia to beg for them to save Kaede from dying. Since then the trio have started to visit the Blue Pharmacy regularly.

It was around this time that Lili 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.

Everything she'd been through fueled her vengeful heart. Lili distinctly felt the whispers of her grudge begin to overflow. Her wounds won't seem to heal, her pain was just too real. There was just too much that time couldn't erase. The pain and rage she felt fueled a dark fire deep within her.

o-O-o

As more days and months passed, Lili approached the age of thirteen. She began to make good on her wish for vengeance.

In the pouring rain, a wild, furious scream echoed through the alley. The confused footsteps and cries of dismay from several adventurers were clearly audible to the beautiful elf maiden over her own irregular breathing. Her feet waded through puddles as she ran, and when she finally escaped her pursuers, she stopped and leaned against a wall. As her golden hair was soaked with rain, she forced herself to control her breathing, then spoke softly, "Stroke of midnight's bell".

The moment she whispered the chant, her body was enveloped in a veil of ashen light. The next moment, the form of the elf girl who had been standing there moments before was gone, replaced by Lili, her chestnut hair plastered to her cheek. Her breathing and her body shaking, she opened the package she was carrying. Inside were adventurer accessories, rings, and bracelets that shimmered with gold and silver, as well as rare monster items and even a magic knife. Lili's eyes widened and a smile touched her lips, "I did it...I did it! Serves you all right!".

It was the fruit of his magic, Cinder Ella. The spell had appeared in a status update six months earlier, and she had used it to run away from adventurers. She had disguised herself as a harmless and charming elf supporter and had approached some adventurers, then, while accompanying them into the dungeon, had fled with their valuables.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!", Lili 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 had dispelled the spell, she was no longer the elven thief they were looking for, and so she was beyond their reach. All she had to do now was transform again and sell her spoils to earn some serious, untraceable money.

Lili 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 Cinder Ella could help her make money. Surely she could have found another way to make a living. But after enduring so much pain, Lili's bitter grudge wouldn't allow it. These stores of rage and grief compel the little girl to swear revenge on the adventurers.

In her old life, she had stayed alive by drinking muddy water, but today would be a clean break from that. She would take back everything the adventurers had stolen from her and gain her freedom with her own hand. Guilt threatened to well up inside her, but she swept it away, sealing it deep in her heart. Lili forced herself to keep smiling.

After a few moments of fun, it was time to leave. The rain was a little different from the rain on the day she had been chased away by the old couple who had shown her kindness. As she dunked her, Lili dragged her bloodied and bruised body into the foggy city and disappeared.

o-O-o

After that day, Lili engaged in thievery constantly. She set traps for adventurers in the dungeon, snatched anything precious they had, then quickly withdrew from the maze. Sometimes the adventurers, furious at having been betrayed by a simple supporter, escaped the trap and pursued her, but her transformation magic was perfect and no one could catch her. The few times she took valuables from members of her own family helped ease her grudge slightly.

She did her best to ignore the emptiness she felt beneath her dark pleasure. In fact, she used the strength of her rekindled anger to fight those pathetic feelings, wondering if she had forgotten all that had been done to her.

As she continued to exact revenge on the adventurers, two years passed quickly. Lili looked into a barrel full of water and realized it was her own eyes that had become stagnant. She was in a cheap inn which she used as a hiding place. That day, she had lured adventurers into a trap again, shed crimson blood, and left corpses of monsters, and she was so stained with ash that she had to laugh.

Alone in the room, curled up in the dusty sheets of the bed, she erased her feelings of desolation with her hatred of adventurers. His cold hands had forgotten what another person's warmth felt like. Outside the window, the moonlit sky above watched.

o-O-o

Another day, another prey. Her next prey was an easy choice, a silky silver-haired girl with perfect skin that looked like a doll, an obviously noble girl that had to be a recent arrival to the city. The environment she'd lived in had blessed her, unlike a certain miserable pallum. She had obviously never experienced any real suffering. So Lili would educate her. She would teach the girl of this city's dirtiness, its harshness, its cruel indifference. She would teach her that without divine favor, reality would mercilessly grind one to dust. She would dirty her pristine heart as her own had been and cloud her eyes until they looked like hers. She would stain the silver doll as she had been stained.

So yet again, Lili called out to an adventurer, believing that her only hope was to keep deceiving both herself and those around her, "Miss, miss. Miss with the silver hair".

o-O-o

SHALLTEAR POV:

As Lili poured out the details of her miserable life, Shalltear's rage intensified. The stories of exploitation and mistreatment ignited a fiery wrath within her. Her red eyes shimmered with a crimson light, a glimpse of the monster that resided within her. Her hands clenched into fists as she struggled to contain the surge of anger and the overwhelming desire for retribution.

Unable to hold back any longer, Shalltear asked Lili with an intensity in her voice, "Lili, if you could do anything... anything you wish... to those who caused you harm... what would you like to do?" It was as if she was silently offering her own brand of vengeance, the meaning was clear: 'What do you want me to do to them?'.

Lili's brows slightly furrowed with a hint of anger as she responded, "Lili would give them hell." The determination in her voice was unmistakable.

A wicked grin formed on Shalltear's face, her sadistic tendencies now fully unleashed. She could feel the monster within her stirring, eager to wreak havoc upon those who had caused Lili's suffering.