Although Alice had no need for Lili's wealth, when she heard that Alice had accepted and promised to protect her, Lili still handed over the key to the vault she had rented.
Lili's goal in saving money had always been to meet her god, leave her familia, and finally live a peaceful life free from bullying.
Now, under Alice's protection, that future was assured.
Since her goal was already achieved, there was no longer any need for Lili to keep hoarding money.
If it hadn't been for the exorbitant fee required to get an audience with her god, Lili would never have resorted to such desperate measures—cheating and swindling her way through life.
After handing the key to Alice, Lili led her to the rented vault, retrieved all the gems stored inside, and gave them to Alice.
Staring at the pile of magic gems worth over a million valis, Alice's eyes went wide...
She had previously said that Lili didn't need to hand over all her savings, but now, faced with a small mountain of high-purity magic gems, Alice felt a faint twinge of regret.
The most crucial component of Alice's dolls was their core—made from non-attribute magic crystals.
Lili had a good eye for quality, so the gems she had acquired were all of exceptionally high grade.
Compared to rare and expensive attribute-aligned magic crystals, non-attribute crystals were far more stable in value.
The market price of magic crystals wasn't fixed; crystals with attributes could fluctuate—sometimes dropping sharply when a major familia returned from an expedition with a large haul.
But non-attribute magic crystals, due to their universal usefulness, never decreased in value. In fact, when no expeditions were underway, their price often rose.
And now, spread out before Alice, was a large quantity of non-attribute magic crystals—exactly what she needed most.
In an instant, all of Lili's magic crystals were safely stored away inside Alice's Gap.
Of course, not all of Lili's stash consisted of magic crystals.
She also had some high-quality ordinary gems, which she planned to exchange for cash.
Alice had allowed Lili to live with her, so Lili needed to buy herself a bed and other daily necessities.
This was something they had already discussed.
Now, Lili was guiding Alice through the shops in Babel.
Why wasn't Alice leading the way?
Simply because Alice wasn't familiar with the stores—she made all her own clothes by hand.
She knew fabric shops and material suppliers far better than ready-made clothing stores.
The gems, worth one and a half million valis, along with the ordinary gems Lili exchanged, ended up fetching a much higher price than Lili had anticipated.
With no major expeditions these past two months, and rumors of the Loki Familia preparing for one and stockpiling supplies, the value of Lili's gems had risen significantly.
After the exchange, the gems alone sold for about a fifth more than Lili had estimated. Combined with the earlier stolen goods she'd managed to keep, Lili now had close to 700,000 valis.
Buying a bed and other items wouldn't cost much, so as they walked through the streets, Lili turned to Alice with a smile. "Miss Alice, I've bought everything I need, and I still have plenty of money left. Is there anything you'd like?"
Hearing this, Alice smiled softly and gently patted Lili's head.
As a Pallum, Lili stood only about 1.1 meters tall, while Alice had a more standard height of around 1.6 meters—a full fifty-centimeter difference.
Alice could easily rest her hand on Lili's head with barely any effort.
As she gently stroked Lili's hair, Alice replied, "Don't worry about me. Your money is yours. If I weren't in such need of magic crystals, I wouldn't have taken anything from you at all."
Compared to Lili, Alice was practically poor.
With the current market rise in gem and magic crystal prices, if she had sold the magic gems too, along with the stolen goods Lili still had, the total would have reached two million valis.
Meanwhile, at her wealthiest—right after returning from the Dungeon—Alice had only ever had a little over 300,000 valis to her name.
It was a pitifully small amount.
However, in Lili's eyes, Alice was different.
Powerful adventurers were never short on money. The Sword Princess of the Loki Familia wielded a blade that cost hundreds of millions of valis to make, and each repair after an expedition was rumored to cost tens of millions.
So, to Lili, Alice must have looked down on her "meager" two million valis.
That's why she didn't take Alice's refusal seriously.
"It's alright," Lili insisted earnestly. "You've taken me in, Miss Alice, and you'll shield me from many troubles in the future. I may not have much, but I can still afford to buy you a little gift."
"Besides, I'm entirely dependent on you now. You saved me, and I must repay your kindness no matter what. So please, allow me this small gesture."
Lili spoke with sincere determination.
Being under the protection of a powerful adventurer was something Lili had never dared dream of. However things unfolded, she knew she had to hold tightly to Alice's coattails.
Even though Lili was certain Alice was a truly good person, she still felt she had to prove her own worth—she couldn't just accept protection without giving anything in return.
So, no matter how small the gesture, if it could help Alice even a little, it mattered greatly to Lili.
The problem was, right now, Lili didn't know how else to be useful. So for the time being, all she could do was try to please Alice with what money she had.
Seeing the stubborn resolve in Lili's eyes, Alice let out a soft sigh.
Once she had decided to protect this child, she had no intention of casting her aside. Besides, there were indeed ways Lili could be of help.
Since Lili had put it that way, Alice decided to assign her a task.
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