"Isn't this ridiculous…?"
Why were they here?
They'd been tailed…
Lili's face darkened; the timid act she usually wore was gone. Odds were the ones who shadowed her last night were these very men.
She'd just gone to see captain Zanis—
and immediately got followed into the Dungeon by Familia members, clearly after the money she'd saved.
She looked to her side at Keyaru, whose expression wasn't great either. If she didn't build trust now, their "deal" would fall apart.
With that in mind, she lifted her chin and glared at the lead adventurer.
"Were you the ones tailing me last night?"
"What do you mean tailing? We just didn't get a chance to talk," the burly man said with an easy shake of the head, eyes sliding to the boy at Lili's side.
What really interested him was Lili's stash of valis.
This unfamiliar, newbie-looking adventurer? Not worth caring about—in other words, nothing to squeeze out of him.
"Kid. This is internal Familia business. Leave anything valuable and get lost."
Plenty of info in that one line.
Put together with Lili's choices, Keyaru could see the whole picture: she'd tried "proper channels" with Zanis, got turned down, and now the plan was to have fellow Familia members rob her.
And because he'd teamed with Lili today, he'd been dragged in. He doubted it was pure coincidence.
He didn't answer right away. He glanced at Lili's clenched fists, then gave a small, easy smile and a wave.
"Ohhh—so it's a Familia matter."
"…"
Lili went white.
It was like the strength drained from her body; only willpower kept her standing. The look she gave Keyaru was full of mixed feelings.
If saving money couldn't free her from Soma Familia—
Then Keyaru's stance meant he was abandoning her. She could already picture what came next with her eyes closed:
endless, bottomless extortion in a life without hope…
She lifted her head, trembling, looking up at the straight-backed boy beside her.
"I'll do anything. Mr. Keyaru—no matter the price… please help me."
The Soma group showing up certainly pushed "seize the future" forward—but it also put him up against a long-entrenched Familia.
Was the risk worth the payoff?
Obviously not—
until their eyes slid to the weapon Hestia had given him. Then the answer sat plain as day.
Is the "Healer's" stance righteous?
Of course not.
If no one poked him, Keyaru just wanted to level quietly in Orario. But if someone stepped on his head and he pinched his nose and played dead?
Just thinking about it was suffocating.
His smile faded; his eyes went cold. "That said—this weapon is a special gift from my patron. You demand I hand it over? Isn't that a bit unreasonable?"
"You think you can bargain?"
The burly adventurer snorted, massive sword in hand, malice dripping for the young, unknown fighter. He threatened:
"Plenty of adventurers die in the Dungeon every day. Meaning—if you die here today, no one's pinning it on us."
Keyaru gave a slight shake of his head. Orario isn't peaceful—and least of all the Dungeon, where the Dark Forest rules.
The biggest danger isn't the monsters everywhere—
It's people like this, using the Dungeon to prey on their own kind.
He'd stalled long enough. Feeling his mental reserves returning, he quietly cast Transformation on himself.
"Intel check: all Level 1s."
Lili kept her head clear and understood at once. She lifted the hand crossbow and trained the sight on them; the magic sword hidden at her back was primed.
Same Level 1s—but Soma's men were winos, their bodies hollowed out by vice. Could they win this fight?
They would.
His first real fight to the death against adventurers. Instead of nerves, the adrenaline spike sharpened him. He scanned the field.
Good news: all of them were using melee weapons.
And he doubted a bunch of addicts who spent every coin on god-wine had a single spellcaster among them.
End it fast.
Don't get surrounded—drop the leader first.
Keyaru tightened both hands on the short sword, power coiling in his legs—his declaration of war—then burst forward.
"Those lines you just used? I can return them to you."
—
The leader hadn't expected it: a rookie with a "dead weight" supporter went on the offensive first.
He'd only meant to scare a greenhorn into handing over valuables and shoo him off. The real payday was the fellow Familia supporter—Lili—and the valis she'd somehow scraped together.
Once he realized it was a fight, the brute didn't flinch. Blood up, he swung his greatsword in a wide cut, banking on reach and mass.
But Keyaru moved like a lithe catman. As the blade swept across, he sprang high, shifted his grip midair, and drove the point hard into the brute's shoulder.
Armor or not, with power and momentum behind it the edge carved a brutal wound.
Pain flared; the man didn't back off. Knowing his left arm was out of commission and no time to guard, he dropped the weapon and slammed his right fist straight for Keyaru's head.
"Die!"
But they were both Level 1s—and buffed by Transformation, Keyaru's numbers were already way up.
He met the punch with a forearm block. The impact sent numbness through his arm; he let the short sword go. His free right hand hooked like a claw and clamped onto the brute's crown.
Staring into the man's growing horror, the boy smiled lightly. Mana surged—and he unleashed Corruption.
Resistances ignored.
Flesh targeted directly. Every organ in the burly adventurer's body failed.
"It's over."