Chapter 15: Disappeared Parents, Adventurer's Bullying, and the Broken... Her? (Patreon)

Once he'd chosen to walk the Adventurer's path, he needed to steel himself for what came with it.

At least, that was how Rozz saw it.

He looked out ahead. Even this early in the morning, Central Park was already packed with Adventurers — this line of work, it turned out, was far more cutthroat than he'd imagined.

Good news: The Dungeon was like a petri dish for monsters, endlessly spawning fresh numbers of them.

More importantly, as a rookie Adventurer, he faced zero competition for "jobs" compared to the veterans.

Because the floor he was exploring was about as basic as it got.

"I hope today's Dungeon run goes smoothly."

Rozz silently hoped.

As for Lili, the Supporter girl trailing not far behind him, he paid her little mind — he simply figured she happened to be heading toward the Dungeon the same way he was.

Helping her out had just been a small favor in passing.

If he actually got involved in that thoroughly nasty bit of bullying, he'd only be inviting trouble for himself and Hestia.

"A wise man does not stand beneath a crumbling wall."

Not that he could really call himself a wise man anyway.

But regardless, he'd repaid — as best he could — the goodwill she'd shown him in the Dungeon.

And there, everything clicked into place!

Rozz felt the heavy emotion weighing on his chest — the dog-eat-dog nature of this "extraordinary world" — begin to fade away.

Still, as he gradually merged into the long line of Adventurers, it became clear things weren't going to end as easily as he'd imagined.

"Um..."

"What's your name?"

Her voice was muffled, but compared to their earlier encounter, she was clearly nowhere near as prickly and cold as a hedgehog with its hackles up.

Rozz glanced over beside him.

Noticing the boy's gaze, Lili kept her head down, tugging at the hood of her gray cloak, trying to hide the scrape on her cheek.

"Rozz."

"Liliruca Arde."

"..."

The air went a little quiet.

Honestly, Lili thought that was normal enough — after all, in a place like Orario, they were essentially strangers with nothing connecting them.

Why had she wanted to approach him in the first place?

She couldn't quite put it into words herself, but most likely it was because she'd sensed something in Rozz... some quality that set him apart from the other Adventurers of Orario.

Maybe he really was different from everyone else?

With that thought, Lili lifted her head and asked softly, "Do you need a Supporter today?"

"..."

Honestly, he didn't.

Rozz thought it over for a moment, then answered truthfully, "This is only my second time in the Dungeon. Hiring a Supporter would just be extra weight to carry."

"Actually, if you want my advice — if you're looking to make money, you'd be better off finding yourself a steady party instead."

"..."

"The price is negotiable."

This time the girl meant it — after all, this guy was, at the very least, an Adventurer she could actually talk to, and she wanted to keep the conversation going.

But as a Supporter, she couldn't exactly work for free, could she?

"It's mainly that I really don't need one right now. My take from the Dungeon isn't great either, so even if the price is negotiable... you'd probably end up disappointed."

"Free."

"But someone once told me — the free stuff is always the most expensive."

"..."

Lili's eye twitched. Suddenly, this guy seemed a lot less agreeable than he had a moment ago.

She took a deep breath.

"Consider it... thanks for the fried potato balls you bought me earlier. A rookie Adventurer picks things up a lot faster with a guide who knows the ropes."

"You don't need me to treat you to meals for that."

"I'll treat you anyway!!"

"Deal~"

The girl looked up, and at the sight of the smile spreading across the black-haired boy's face, she finally lost her composure entirely — a strange, inexplicable twinge shot through her chest.

—

Free help really is expensive.

But since Lili had said as much — that she genuinely wanted to thank him for what he'd done — Rozz had no reason left to refuse.

No matter how accurate Miss Eina's information was, it still couldn't beat guidance from a seasoned veteran!

The line of Adventurers stretched on and on.

Rozz thought back to what Lili had just gone through and felt he ought to ask — if only to keep this "Will of the Tyrant" from another world from eventually catching up with him too.

He glanced beside him at the girl taking deep breaths with her Supporter's pack on her back, and asked, curious, "So... what was that about earlier?"

"..."

Had it been any other Adventurer, Lili would probably have assumed he was rubbing salt in her wound out of spite — but with Rozz, who'd only just become an Adventurer, she really couldn't bring herself to think that...

After all, this guy still actually had illusions about what being an Adventurer meant?

Time for the veteran Supporter's motherly lecture~

"It's exactly what you're probably already thinking — that's just how the Adventurer world is. Even within the same Familia, where everyone's supposed to be comrades..."

"...they don't hold back one bit when it comes to squeezing each other."

As she explained, her tone dripped with self-mockery over her own situation: "They squeeze the bottom-tier Supporters dry, treat us like blood bags to keep themselves fed."

"So..."

"That's why I think you're... pretty rare."

"..."

It was meant as praise, but being called "rare" felt like a heavier word than a modern guy like him really deserved.

Rozz didn't think of himself as an idealist, either.

Managing to land in Orario... without stumbling into whatever Familia Lili was stuck in, and instead meeting Hestia — that was probably thanks to all the good deeds he'd done before he transmigrated.

Stacking up virtue, hidden and open alike.

He suddenly felt curious. "Why not consider... switching to a different Familia?"

"Those guys would never allow it."

Every waking moment, Lili thought about escaping the swamp that was the Soma Familia — but reality was cruel. Even if she ran, she'd just be dragged back.

It might even drag in the flower-shop couple who'd taken her in and helped her.

She paid no mind to Rozz's reaction, simply continuing on her own: "My parents... they were Adventurers of the Soma Familia too."

"Not long after I was born,"

"they went down into the Dungeon craving the divine wine... and never came back. For as long as I can remember, all I've ever thought about is leaving."

"..."

Once she'd said this much, Rozz knew there was no point digging any further — but what Lili had been through kept giving him a strange, oddly familiar feeling.

Vanished parents, bullying Adventurers, and... a girl left broken by it all?!

Just thinking about it was suffocating.

He thought for a moment. He understood she hadn't told him all this looking for sympathy, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything sentimental either.

"Well..."

"You're allowed to leave your original Familia, you know."

—

Even after being driven off by a member of the Ganesha Familia's guard corps, that didn't mean Enwan Kovo would give up on Lili, his blood bag, so easily.

The deadline for turning in his share of the divine wine was closing in.

Honestly, the fastest way he could think of to make money was to just take it from Lili — after all, what could possibly beat grinding through the Dungeon than simply taking the cash directly?

Just then, in the line of Adventurers at Central Park, Enwan Kovo spotted Lili's familiar back again — along with the person walking beside her.

That Adventurer who'd apparently hired her.

"..."

Of course, what really caught his attention was the weapon that unfamiliar Adventurer carried — one bearing the crest of Hephaestus, head of her own Familia.

"Hm..."

"Why does it feel like the money for this round's wine payment is finally about to work itself out?"