"You are quite the interesting one, aren't you?"
---
"Get back here, you runt!" Ged Raish shouted, his voice echoing through the crowded streets as he pursued the little pallum who had dared to steal from him. His furious expression promised pain and retribution for her audacity.
Lili ignored his demands, her small figure darting through the crowd with practiced agility. She knew exactly what awaited her if she stopped—experience had taught her that mercy wasn't something adventurers often offered.
This outcome was normal for Liliruca Arde. Her life, after all, was little more than a game of deception she played on those disgusting adventurers to scrape together enough money to survive.
Lili despised adventurers. She despised their greed, their entitlement, and the way they sneered down at her as if her very existence were an inconvenience.
Her hatred burned like fire, and that fire often led her into situations like this one. Another disgusting adventurer had become her latest target, and while she'd succeeded in relieving him of his coins after their latest dive together, she hadn't been careful enough. Now, she was being chased—an undesirable outcome.
She veered into a tight alleyway, hoping to lose her pursuer among the narrow passages. But in her blind haste, she collided with someone, the impact sending her tumbling to the ground.
Lili landed hard on her back, the breath momentarily knocked out of her. She looked up, her body going stiff as her gaze locked onto a pair of cold, crimson eyes.
The human she'd bumped into stood tall from her point of view, his stark white hair catching the dim light filtering into the alley. His piercing eyes widened slightly as he studied her, the gesture subtle yet noticeable to someone like Lili who focused on his eyes.
It was the human adventurer she was eyeing for anything valuable for the past week.
"Are you alright?" he asked softly, his voice calm and tinged with concern. It was a tone that didn't match the predator-like intensity of his eyes.
Lili had been in the presence of intimidating adventurers before. She'd even accompanied some as their supporter. But she had never felt the oppressive aura of someone like this. Her instincts screamed at her to move away, to put as much distance as possible between herself and this man who radiated danger like an apex predator surveying its prey.
"There you are!" Ged's voice shattered the moment, making her snap out of her shock.
Turning her head, she saw her pursuer charging toward her, his outstretched hand reaching to grab her. Her eyes widened in alarm, and she froze, paralyzed by the inevitability of her capture.
Lili closed her eyes, bracing herself for the inevitable pain that came with a failed escape.
But it didn't come.
"Let go, or I'll cut your hand off!" Ged snarled, venom dripping from his words as his fingers were mere inches from Liliruca.
Hesitantly, she opened her eyes to see Ged's hand frozen in mid-air, firmly gripped by the white-haired human. His expression was calm, his hold unyielding.
Not wasting the moment, Lili scrambled to her feet and bolted, her heart pounding in her chest. She didn't care why the human had intervened or what he wanted—he had bought her enough time to escape, and that was all that mattered.
Ged, realizing his prey was escaping, tried to yank his hand free. "I said let go, you pu—!" He didn't finish the insult.
The white-haired adventurer's head snapped forward in a brutal headbutt, the force dislocating Ged's nose with a sickening crack.
Ged stumbled back, clutching his face as blood poured freely from his broken nose. "Fuck!" he cursed, his voice muffled by pain.
The Albino stared down at him with cold, unrelenting eyes, his gaze sharp and dissecting. "It would be unwise to chase after her," he said calmly, his tone carrying an air of menace.
Without waiting for a response, he turned and began walking toward the alley's exit, his steps measured and confident.
Ged glared after him, his face twisted in pain and rage. "You'll pay for this!" he shouted, blood still streaming from his nose. "Just wait, you fucking bastard!"
All For One ignored the pathetic outburst. The man was nothing more than a minor inconvenience, his attempts to harm his future pawn wouldn't have served his goals.
As he exited the alley, he wiped away a small drop of blood trickling from his own nose. "What a weak body," he muttered irritably, his tone laced with disdain for his current limitations.
The encounter with the pallum girl had been unexpected, but it was a fortuitous opportunity.
He had saved her, and that act would undoubtedly plant a seed of gratitude within her—a seed he would nurture with care and patience until it grew into something he could use.
A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. He just needed to be patient.
---
Two weeks and three days since joining hestia familia.
---
All For One arrived at the dungeon entrance, clad in his gear but notably without a weapon—Welf had assured him that he would provide a spare sword until he could forge a proper one.
They had agreed to meet here three days after sealing their contract. The blacksmith had been visibly excited for their first dive together, his enthusiasm almost infectious in its sincerity.
"Excuse me, Mr. Adventurer!"
The sudden voice snapped All For One out of his thoughts. He turned toward the speaker, though his quirk had already alerted him to her presence. The faint hum of abilities within her confirmed her identity before she even spoke.
Ah, so the pawn had decided to make her move. About time. He had begun to consider approaching her himself.
As he faced her, his sharp eyes quickly took in her appearance. It was unmistakably the pall—
...is that a tail?
Interesting. Wasn't she a pallum?
Transformation, no doubt—a useful ability.
"Yes? How may I help you?" he asked, his voice polite and his demeanor affable. The mask of civility slipped on with ease.
"Lili was wondering if Mr. Adventurer would like a supporter! She noticed your bag and thought you might need help collecting monster stones," she said cheerfully, her tone bright and disarming.
So, this was her game.
He studied her carefully, keeping his expression neutral. What had prompted this sudden decision to seek him out? Surely, it wasn't solely because of his intervention during her earlier predicament. Unless...
Someone else might be pulling the strings.
Yes, that was plausible. But who? And to what end?
His mind raced with possibilities, though his face betrayed none of his thoughts.
"I'll need to check with my companion first, if that's alright with you," he said smoothly. Appearing unassuming would keep her off balance, make her clumsy.
Her smile widened, brimming with practiced sweetness. "Of course! Lili doesn't mind waiting!"
At that moment, Welf's voice called out, breaking the exchange.
"Yo! Bell!"
All For One turned to see the blacksmith striding toward them, his easy grin firmly in place. When Welf reached them, his gaze shifted to Lili.
"Who's this?" he asked, his tone curious but not unkind.
"A supporter seeking a contract," All For One replied, cutting straight to the point. "Would it be a problem for you if we hire her?" He kept his tone casual, adding, "She could help us go deeper; we wouldn't have to worry about gathering stones, either."
Welf's brow furrowed briefly as he considered it. After a moment, he nodded. "It's fine. The deeper we go, the better. I'm aiming to get past the eleventh floor," he said with a confident smirk. He turned to Lili and added, "I hope you can keep up with us until then!"
Lili's expression shifted, her determination visibly hardening. "Lili won't let Mr. Adventurer down!"
All For One allowed himself a faint smile, though not for the reasons anyone else might assume.
Perhaps today they would skip straight to the ninth floor. He was eager to test the limits of his new Status.
---
Three days ago
---
Lili ran. It was the only thing she could do in the hope of losing her pursuer. After all, running was her only means of survival.
Her thoughts momentarily drifted back to the white-haired adventurer. He had saved her… but why?
She had planned to approach him eventually, to pull the same trick she had on Ged. It was how she survived—find a mark, manipulate them, and take what she could.
But seeing him up close…
His cold, crimson eyes flashed in her mind. Those eyes didn't belong to someone with innocent features like his. Something was undeniably off about him.
Though now that he had saved her, she'd leave him alone.
Not because she was scared of him or anything…
Her foot caught on something as she passed a tight alley, sending her tumbling painfully to the ground. The impact knocked the air out of her lungs. Before she could scramble to her feet, a mocking voice echoed behind her.
"Well, well, what do we have here?"
She froze. That voice—Canoe Belway, a fat raccoon person from her own Familia. Her eyes went wide as his shadow loomed over her.
"Arde!" Canoe began, his tone dripping with mock sweetness. "I was looking all over for you. I need some money. Can you lend me some?"
Lili resisted the urge to scowl, biting back the words she wanted to spit at him. She knew how this would play out if she wasn't careful. "I-I don't have any Valis…" she stammered, putting on her best act. Her voice trembled just enough to seem convincing, but she doubted it would work.
Canoe's smile vanished, replaced by an ugly scowl. He stepped closer, his eyes narrowing as he leaned toward her. "Well," he sneered, his voice dropping to a more menacing tone, "it's fortunate that we're in an isolated alleyway."
The message was crystal clear.
Lili scrambled back, panic flooding her senses. "I have some Valis!" she blurted, her voice rushed and desperate. Her hands fumbled as she grabbed the pouch holding whatever she stole from Ged. She thrust it forward. "It's everything I have!" Her voice wavered, a touch of genuine fear slipping through her façade.
This fat bastard would take everything, and there was nothing she could do about it.
All that work. All that effort—gone.
Canoe's mocking smile returned, a grotesque twist of satisfaction on his face. "What a big help you are, Arde!" He snatched the pouch greedily, his fingers trembling with excitement as he opened it. "With all this money you've so kindly decided to give me, I'll be able to taste Soma again!" he sneered, his mocking gratitude stinging her deeply.
He turned as if to leave, his fat form shifting with self-satisfaction. But then he paused.
"If you were more compliant from the start," he said, looking back at her with a cruel grin, "I might've spared you this."
Before she could react, he raised his foot and brought it down hard on her stomach.
"AGH!" Lili cried out in pain, her small body folding as the air was forced from her lungs. She clutched her midsection as the sharp pain coursed through her.
"That'll teach ya!" Canoe laughed cruelly, turning away and lumbering out of the alley, satisfied with his dominance.
Lili stayed on the ground, tears spilling freely from her eyes. But they weren't just tears of physical pain. They were tears of frustration, hopelessness, and anger—fifteen years of hellish living distilled into this single, agonizing moment.
She couldn't do this anymore.
Tricking new suckers, abandoning her position as support to let monsters corner her contractors, then taking whatever was left—those awful things she had done to survive.
She couldn't do it anymore.
Every insult, every sneer from cocky adventurers, every kick and blow—it all weighed her down, crushing her under the weight of her own hatred and hopelessness.
Dragging herself to a nearby wall, she collapsed against the cold, unyielding stone. It offered no comfort, but at least it gave her something to lean on. Silent tears streamed down her cheeks as she cursed her fate.
Why? Why had she been born like this? What god had created her only to make her suffer?
Her sobs continued, echoing faintly in the empty alley.
No one came. No one ever did.
But this time, footsteps.
Her breath caught.
She glanced up, her swollen eyes locking onto the figure approaching her. A dwarf with a thick beard, his brown hair untouched by white. He was clad in a sturdy set of armor, a massive axe strapped to his back. He looked down at her with a mix of curiosity and seriousness.
On his left shoulder protector, she noticed an emblem—a spider with eight legs. She didn't recognize it.
"Are you interested in a job?" he simply asked, his voice rough yet steady.
---
Present
---
That encounter, for Lili, was the reason she approached the white-haired adventurer who had saved her from Ged—Bell Cranel, as he had introduced himself earlier.
"Lili! A little help here!"
Welf-sama's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She turned to see him surrounded by four Frog Shooters, their bulbous eyes fixed on the blacksmith as they blocked his path.
She raised her Pallum-sized repeating crossbow, ready to assist, but her help proved unnecessary.
Bell-sama dashed forward with the speed of a racing wagon. His technique wasn't the best she had seen, but the quick and efficient way he cut through the monsters impressed her. Her intel had described him as a fresh Level One, but this level of speed was anything but ordinary.
Bell-sama was really good.
"Whoa! Slow down there, Bell!" Welf-sama called, lowering his great sword after the last Frog Shooter fell. His tone was light, though he was clearly winded from his earlier swings. "We're sharing the loot equally, but that doesn't mean you should do all the work."
Bell-sama offered him a polite smile. "Thanks to your sword's impressive sharpness, I don't have to dwell much on these things," he replied in that overly courteous tone of his, as though it were second nature.
"Lili! Could you start collecting stones before more spawn here? We'll head to the eighth floor once you're done," Bell-sama called out to her, his voice soft and undemanding.
It was such a stark contrast to the predatory gaze he had held when she first met him.
She nodded and moved from her safe position to start collecting the stones, her small hands quickly and efficiently slicing through a Frog Shooter to retrieve its core.
"Bell-sama is really amazing! He was so fast and strong!" she remarked aloud, trying to make him overconfident.
Though he wasn't bad, at least she was being honest.
"And what about me?! Wasn't I strong too?" Welf-sama interjected, his voice tinged with mock indignation as he leaned on his great sword.
"Welf-sama was… alright," she replied flatly, her tone as uninterested as her expression.
"W-what?!" Welf-sama's face twisted into mock betrayal, as though she had personally stabbed him in the back.
'Serves him right,' she thought with a smirk.
Bell-sama chuckled at Welf's dejected reaction. "We should focus on our strategy for the eighth floor. I'm still not very knowledgeable, so I'll need your guidance, Welf," he said, his voice calm, though his eyes held a glint of curiosity.
Welf straightened, his confidence returning. "Of course! Let's start with the foes. First, there are the Killer Ants. They're not very tough on their own, but—"
He launched into an enthusiastic explanation, clearly eager to teach his junior adventurer.
Lili continued her work, extracting monster cores while catching bits and pieces of their conversation.
For the first time… this almost felt like being part of a real party.
'If only…' she thought wistfully, biting her lip as though the act could dispel the thought.
No. She had already made her deal with that dwarf. There was no turning back now.
---
deeper in the dungeon
---
"So, what's the job again?" asked a black-haired human wielding a katana. His choice of fashion, accent and stance all hinted at origins in the Far East.
His companion, a dwarf with weathered features and unruly brown hair, let out a tired sigh. "Trap them with the monsters," he replied curtly, his tone heavy with irritation.
"But why?" Haruto pressed, clearly wanting more details about the job he'd taken.
The dwarf rubbed his temples, exhaling sharply as if the question itself were exhausting. "Your job is only to take care of them if the ants don't. So shut it, Haruto."
He gestured toward the sack slung at Haruto's side. "And make sure the ant's alive. We don't need complications," he ordered, his voice hard with authority.
Haruto glanced down, opening the sack to reveal a barely alive killer ant. Its segmented body twitched weakly, and its compound eyes blinked sluggishly up at him.
"What about the supporter, Doran?" Haruto asked, his tone now more curious than indifferent. His gaze flicked back to the dwarf.
Doran scoffed, shaking his head. "She's done her job. If she dies, she dies. If not, we'll make sure she keeps her mouth shut about us."
"Damn, that's cold!" Haruto snickered, a faint smirk tugging at his lips.
Doran didn't rise to the comment. He remained silent, arms crossed, his gaze fixed on the ground as if deep in thought—or simply waiting for the next message to come through.
The dwarf's rough features tightened further as he let out a weary breath.
He felt far too old for these games.
---
All For One came to a sudden halt.
"Hm? What's wrong, Bell?" Welf asked, confused by his party member's abrupt stop.
All For One had sensed a new skill nearby, while two more familiar ones had suddenly vanished.
"Where's the supporter?" he asked, his voice carrying a dangerous edge.
"What do you mean? She's right…" Welf began, turning to point behind him, only to find empty space. "There?" he finished, his eyes widening in alarm.
"Is she okay? We didn't move too fast for her to keep up, did we?" Welf asked, his concern genuine but clueless about the real situation.
All For One realized that their little supporter had likely planned her betrayal from the beginning—a miscalculation on his part.
"Calm down," he instructed Welf, his tone measured yet tense.
"But Lili might be in dange—" Welf's words were cut short by the sound of something heavy falling, the dull thud echoing from an opening in the wall nearby.
'A hollow space? No… probably another path to the Ninth floor,' All For One assessed quickly. It reeked of a trap.
The unusually high number of monsters they had encountered was almost certainly the result of adventurers baiting the ants to swarm.
The attackers had likely used the ant's gas to attract monsters and then slipped away, leaving their group to deal with the chaos. And Lili… Lili had likely been in contact with them from the start. But how? Communication here wasn't as advanced as his old world…
That was a question for later.
Welf, finally piecing things together as the injured killer ant spilled out from the sack, shouted, "We've been set up!"
'Took you long enough.'
Their little supporter was either attempting to escape the dungeon or regroup with her benefactors. But she wouldn't be safe—whether from him or from them. No one hired a disposable spy and then trusted them with the knowledge of an attempted murder.
The distant screeching of ants echoed through the corridor, snapping him back to the present. He readied himself for the inevitable battle ahead.
Welf, growing increasingly uneasy, called out, "B-Bell! We should retreat! There's only two of us, they'll overrun us!" Desperation tinged his voice as he glanced at the swarming darkness ahead.
Poor Welf. There's no way to retreat now.
Before All For One could respond, a swarm of killer ants poured from small openings in the walls and the passage leading to the eighth floor.
His lips curled into a cold, sinister smile. 'Oh, little Miss Supporter, I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart.'
---
The End
---
Updated version: what changed? Lili and AFO introduction to each others is changed.