In the narrow passageway, Lili frantically tugged at her hood. As they brushed past each other, Bell grabbed her shoulder.
"Lili, let's talk."
"..."
Lili forced down the panic twisting in her chest, lifted her hood, and spoke slowly.
"Sorry, but you must have mistaken me for someone else. I'm not the Lili you're talking about."
The girl before him no longer had the Chienthrope's signature beast ears.]
In their place was the small, delicate face of a Pallum.
"The dagger is still on you. Even if you want to deny it, it won't help."
Bell cut off her last escape route.
Instinctively, Lili tried to run—but she couldn't move at all.
How could a new adventurer have stats like this? And in the dungeon earlier, he hadn't shown anything like this…
"C-Could it be…" Lili stared, speechless.
"You guessed right. I concealed my stats. You can give up on running."
Bell held her firmly. "Anyway, return the dagger first. That's fine, right?"
Lili's face turned completely pale.
Exposed…
When did it happen?
What did this person want?
Hands trembling, Lili raised her right hand and returned the stolen dagger.
Bell accepted it easily, and the sacred script engraved on the blade flashed with sudden light.
"My goddess wouldn't tell me the dagger's price, so I had someone appraise it. They valued it as scrap metal. Hard to believe, isn't it?"
Bell slid the dagger back into its sheath with a small smile.
Lili's complexion grew even whiter.
He knew. The boy knew the dagger would sell for nothing in her hands—and he had let her go through with it deliberately.
From what point had he predicted all this?
Was showing off the dagger from the beginning… bait to draw someone in?!
"Sorry if it hurt. I'm letting go now. If you understood what I said, don't run. Before you can cast magic, my dagger will always be faster."
Even while threatening her, Bell's tone remained gentle and calm.
Lili nodded.
Running wasn't even an option anymore. He even knew about her magic—she was already checkmated.
At this point, it could only be divine retribution for deceiving kind people.
Even if it were just an act, the gentleness coming from the boy in front of her… there was no way it was fake.
Lili braced herself for punishment.
Bell saw through her thoughts and released her shoulder.
"First, let me make this clear: I don't plan on exposing your crimes."
"...?"
Seeing her confusion, Bell continued.
"After all, the ones you stole from were worthless, despicable adventurers. The things they've done are far worse than anything you've done."
Adventurers lived side by side with death. In the unseen depths of the dungeon, the vile acts committed by those who were robbed were far worse than simple theft.
Even if Lili's deeds were made public, it would only draw insults and beatings. As for the Guild, they'd simply hand Lili back to the Soma Familia, demand repayment for the loss, and let them take care of it.
Theft and brawling were practically daily occurrences. Such was the brutal nature of an adventurer's life.
"But I… I stole your dagger." Lili lowered her head in shame.
"You're right. That's exactly why I won't forgive what you did. A weapon is an adventurer's lifeline. You can tell just how important this dagger is to me, can't you?"
Bell's voice was calm and rational. "Even so, I could've stopped you long ago. I only waited so I could catch you with the evidence on you."
From the start, Bell had deliberately played the weakling.
Using the intel Finn had given him, he'd concluded that the thieving Pallum was the breakthrough point into the Soma Familia.
Lili's thefts had become increasingly skilled, and paired with the intel, she most likely possessed some kind of transformation ability.
To secure her capture, Bell had stepped into the trap himself.
Lili furrowed her brows. "If you didn't do all this to punish me… then why, Bell-sama?"
"Because through everything that's happened, I felt your conscience wasn't gone."
The chaos caused by the Soma Familia targeted anyone and everyone, driven solely by the obsession with Divine Wine.
But Lili's victims were all disgraceful adventurers with prior offenses.
If she really had the means to transform, targeting clueless rookie adventurers would've been far safer.
Thinking from that angle, she had actually chosen her targets carefully.
Unlike the other members of the Soma Familia, she was someone worth approaching.
"I just wanted to test things. Seems a Hephaestus weapon is tempting enough after all," Bell said with a small sigh.
One successful theft could match all her previous earnings combined. Faced with that huge temptation, Lili had fallen straight into the trap.
"So then, why did you steal? For the Divine Wine as well?" Bell finally asked.
"That disgusting stuff? Lili would never want it!" Lili bit her lip hard, remembering its taste.
"Lili wanted to save enough money… to escape the Soma Familia…"
"I see."
Bell murmured thoughtfully. "Lili, how about working with me?"
"…Work together?"
Lili couldn't comprehend it.
If someone knew how horrible the Soma Familia was, knew she survived by stealing, the normal reaction would be avoiding her entirely.
Yet this boy had used his own dagger as bait and walked straight into her mess himself.
She had betrayed him—yet now he was saying they should work together?
"If you agree, I'll tell you the details." Bell offered her his right hand.
"..."
Lili couldn't bring herself to take that warm hand.
"Lili hates adventurers… hates the Soma Familia… hates the Divine Wine…"
From the moment she was born, it felt like her life had been cursed by the gods.
Everything she encountered, she came to despise.
"But in the end, Lili is just like them!"
The gears of fate had already turned, dragging her life deeper and deeper into the abyss.
When adventurers slandered her.
When others beat her.
When Soma Familia members stole her money.
When the flower shop couple kicked her out…
No one had ever reached out to help Lili.
Even Soma, her Familia God—supposed to be as close as a parent—had only turned coldly away, fixing his gaze on Divine Wine instead.
"Lili… can't be Bell-sama's helper…"
More than anyone, Lili hated herself.
Why was she born a Pallum, without talent for battle?
Why had she allowed herself to be tempted by Divine Wine, forced into being a supporter for money?
If she had died before birth—if she had rotted away sooner—she wouldn't have met those despicable adventurers, wouldn't have fostered such deep hatred.
Lili could never walk toward the light.
Her hands were already stained with pettiness and sin.
How could she dare hope for warmth or salvation?
"I'm sorry… Bell-sama…"
Lili broke down, crying helplessly.
Helplessness, pain, disgust, hatred—Her tragic life poured out with her tears.
The boy had known everything she'd done from the beginning.
But he had never scolded her.
Every word he spoke, every gesture he made, was filled with equal respect.
That warmth was too blinding for someone trapped in darkness like her.
If only he would yell at me.
If only he would beat me senseless.
Maybe then this crushing guilt would disappear.
"I'm sorry…"
Lili kept apologizing, tears falling like a stream.
Then, through her sobs, Bell spoke softly:
"Lili, listen. My goal is to become a hero. If even after drinking Divine Wine you won't betray my resolve, then take my hand. I swear to the gods—I'll save you."
Betrayal.
That word had followed Lili all her life.
Hearing it now, it stung more than ever.
This boy wouldn't become a tragic hero. He would never allow betrayal.
His words—free from her past, free from her birth—affirmed Lili's worth.
She could walk forward with him, without any way back.
Or she could turn away, continuing to betray the adventurers who hired her.
But deep down, Lili had known her answer long before this moment.
"Mm…"
Still crying, she reached out her right hand, timidly accepting the warmth she had waited for her entire life.
…
After a long stretch of sobbing, Lili finally asked:
"Bell-sama… what are the details of this partnership?"
A greenhorn adventurer and a supporter who couldn't even lift a weapon—even if they worked together, what could they possibly accomplish? Lili truly didn't believe the boy would go to such lengths just for Dungeon exploration.
Under her puzzled stare, Bell answered.
"I don't like the current Soma Familia. It's like a prison."
Adventurers who didn't make their living by exploring the Dungeon. They preyed on others, extorted the weak, even targeted members of their own familia. And the Soma Familia's sins didn't stop there.
Under the seduction of the Divine Wine, many rookie adventurer deaths were tied to them. But without hard evidence, the Guild could only offer verbal warnings. According to Finn, the true ruler of the Soma Familia was someone else entirely. Under Soma's indulgence and the iron-fisted control of the one behind the scenes, the familia had rotted into its current wretched state.
Bell simply couldn't stand them.
Finn had warned him that the Soma Familia were people enslaved by Divine Wine and that he should avoid getting involved with them. Yet Bell chose to involve himself anyway. Rather than worry about them being used by someone else and stay away, he thought it better to cut these festering wounds open with a blade before they spread.
That was his rational thinking.
Emotionally, Bell Cranel was furious.
A familia should be warm like a home—not something so revolting. And the same went for new adventurers. If someone in the Soma Familia truly used them as bait, or even set up traps for money that led to their deaths, Bell would scour the earth to eradicate every last one of those wretches.
This wasn't justice. It was pure, visceral disgust.
Just imagining these people walking freely around the city—Syr might serve them in the tavern. Airmid might have to deal with the injuries or tragedies they caused. Bell's anger only grew. The Guild only stepped in once the damage was irreversible. To Bell, this hidden threat was far more dangerous.
By the time girls like Lili were left crying in despair, it would already be too late.
So Bell decided to uproot the cause entirely. He lifted his gaze toward the sky and smiled softly.
"For now… let's destroy them."