By the time Lillian and Kizmel returned to the camp, it was already night. They went to report to the commander and turn in their quest. Compared to Kizmel, the commander seemed far less intelligent—almost like a simple program. Kizmel, on the other hand, felt far more human.
After completing the quest [Exterminate the Poisonous Spiders], the next stage was [The Spider Queen's Venom Fang]. Since Lillian had already obtained the item, he turned it in immediately. This made him grateful that he had discovered the hidden passage—he had no desire to ever go back to that place again.
The large amount of experience from the two quests filled his EXP bar to nearly two-thirds. The quest chain wasn't finished yet, but the next step required reaching the next floor. It was clearly a large-scale quest spanning multiple floors, and the final reward would undoubtedly be substantial.
Next came dungeon exploration. Kizmel would remain at the camp, though players could invite her to join a party. However, Lillian usually farmed the labyrinth day and night without rest, and he didn't want to trouble her. After saying goodbye, he asked her to use magic to send him back to town.
Pale moonlight bathed the forest-surrounded city—and also fell upon Lillian, adding an even stronger aura of fear to his presence. Many players who saw him instinctively kept their distance, staring at him with undisguised disgust and hatred.
Lillian was baffled.
He knew he wasn't popular, but this felt excessive. Watching players deliberately avoid him, he didn't understand why. He didn't ask—he had no intention of wasting time on such things.
After a full day of fighting, he had used up quite a bit of potion supplies. He replenished them at the item shop, and as he stepped out, two messages came in.
Terusuke: {Why did you do that?!}
Argo: {Was it you?}
Even without seeing their faces, he could sense how intense their emotions were. Something related to him had clearly happened—something he knew nothing about.
He replied to both with a single character:
{?}
The follow-up messages quickly explained everything. Several players had been killed—PK'd maliciously in the wilderness. Only two survived, and they claimed that Lillian was the one who did it.
If it had been anyone else making the accusation, he might not have cared. But one of the survivors was Kibaou, which left him deeply confused.
According to the time Argo provided, the attack had occurred after Kibaou's group left the spider cave. What did that have to do with him? Framing? Unlikely. Kibaou had poor character, sure, but murdering his own companions just to frame someone else seemed too extreme.
Then perhaps another player with a grudge had done it, and Kibaou blamed him out of hatred? That was possible.
Staring at their doubts, Lillian suddenly felt exhausted.
He replied with, {It wasn't me.}
Then he closed the communication window and ignored any further messages.
This kind of entanglement was starting to irritate him. Since coming to this world, he hadn't interfered with anyone, yet people kept provoking him again and again. He wasn't good-tempered to begin with, and he was also someone who hated explaining himself.
In truth, many people were like that. Even when falsely accused, they wouldn't argue desperately in self-defense. They would think: Those who can judge right from wrong won't condemn me without solid proof. As for those who don't believe me, I won't beg for their trust. And if someone he believed would trust him chose not to—then the relationship ended there.
Lillian was exactly the same.
He had no desire to argue, nor to drag Kibaou into a face-to-face confrontation. It felt meaningless and time-consuming. What he needed to do was clear the dungeon.
Of course, people like him often ended badly. History had proven it countless times: even if you're right, once you underestimate the masses, they'll teach you what "collective power" really means. Many innocent people with integrity were forced to bow their heads, while those who committed crimes but showed humility were forgiven—to some extent. Because what people often cared about was "attitude," not "truth."
"…Forget it. I'll go to the labyrinth."
The way passing players avoided him only made him more irritable. After finishing his preparations, he left the city and headed for the dungeon.
At the same time, numerous guilds were already gathering to discuss how to handle the situation.
"He has companions now. That's a serious threat."
"We can't let this continue."
"Even if it means turning orange-named, we must bring him to justice."
"Let's work together."
Amid the heated discussion, someone asked Kibaou, "Are you sure it was him? Wasn't he a solo player without companions?"
"Y-Yeah… it was him," Kibaou replied.
His gaze wavered, and his voice lacked confidence.
After returning, he had thought about it endlessly. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't convince himself that the attacker was truly Lillian. But he didn't know who the three attackers were either. Since that was the case… he might as well go through with it. After all, that man was a PK player too—wasn't he?
Even so, his weak tone betrayed his uncertainty. The others, however, assumed his behavior was due to grief over losing his companions and didn't think too deeply about it.
"Then we'll need the two of you to assist in this operation."
All eyes turned to Kirito and Asuna, the widely acknowledged top-tier players.
"That man is extremely strong. We'll need you two to hold him down when the time comes. Is that acceptable?"
Kirito and Asuna exchanged a look, both deeply hesitant. They had commissioned weapons from Lillian before. Though their interactions had been brief, they couldn't reconcile him with the image of a bloodthirsty PKer.
But now, the evidence seemed overwhelming. Kibaou and the other survivor's tears didn't appear fake. Their companions' names had appeared on the Life Monument in the Black Iron Palace beneath the Starting Town, with the cause of death listed as "killed by another player."
Given that, the conclusion seemed unavoidable.
Even though both of them sensed something was wrong, under everyone's gaze, they could only nod for now.
"Good. First, we locate him. That shouldn't be difficult. We'll mobilize hundreds of players—station them in the wilderness, in towns, and at dungeon entrances. The moment he's spotted, send a message and converge immediately."
The speaker's expression hardened.
"Treat him as a regional boss. And be wary of his companions—don't let your guard down. That's all. Meeting adjourned."
The crowd dispersed. Outside, in a quiet corner, Kirito and Asuna stopped and looked at each other in silence.
"Do you think it was him?" Kirito asked.
Asuna shook her head slightly. "I don't know." She had only met Lillian once, spoken fewer than ten sentences with him. There was no way to understand his personality, let alone make a definitive judgment.
"No matter what, we'll have to find him and ask," Kirito said. "If it wasn't him, he should be able to provide evidence. But if it was him… then we may have no choice but to fight."
"Mhm." Asuna agreed, her expression tinged with anger. "Randomly killing players is absolutely unacceptable. This game is already difficult enough as it is."
"Yeah. If something like a 'murder guild' appears, clearing the game will become even harder," Kirito said with a sigh. "Player-versus-player conflict can be far more terrifying than monsters."