The dust of the deep floors had barely been washed from the cobblestones of Orario before the city's restless energy swallowed the returning heroes. For Liliruca Arde, the recent expedition had been a gauntlet of near-death encounters and strategic nightmares, but it had yielded a prize that made every bruise worthwhile: she had finally reached Level 2. The air felt lighter, her senses sharper, and for the first time in years, the weight of her supporter's pack didn't feel like a physical manifestation of her past burdens.
However, that newfound sense of serenity was about to be obliterated by a ghost from her former life.
"Gah! Y-You're Liliruca Arde!?"
"My, if it isn't... Master Luan?"
Luan Espel, a former member of the Apollo Familia and a fellow Pallum, recoiled as if he had stumbled upon a high-level monster in a safe zone. His eyes darted around the busy street, and with a panicked, jerked motion, he shoved something behind his back.
Normally, Lili made it a professional rule to ignore the petty dealings of former Apollo members. She preferred to leave the memories of that era in the dark corners of the city where they belonged. But today, the hum of power from her recent Rank Up was still thrumming in her veins—a quiet, intoxicating sense of omnipotence.
What is he so terrified of? she wondered, her eyes narrowing into slits. That's not the face of a man hiding a few stolen valis. That's the face of a man holding a thermal stone with a short fuse.
"Just what are you hiding, Master Luan?" Lili asked, her voice dropping into a low, dangerous purr as she closed the distance.
"Hey, wait... Stop it! This is private property!" Luan stammered, backing away, but his movements were sluggish compared to her enhanced agility.
With a blur of motion that surprised even her, Lili lunged. She bypassed his clumsy guard and wrenched the object from his grasp. She expected a forbidden scroll or perhaps a counterfeit guild permit. What she found instead made her heart stop.
It was a booklet—painfully thin, yet heavier with scandal than anything she had ever held. The cover featured a strikingly accurate illustration of Lili herself, her expression twisted into a mischievous, 'little devil' pout as she teased a teary-eyed, half-dressed Bell Cranel.
"Wh-Wh-What on earth is this!?" she shrieked, the sound echoing off the narrow walls of the alley.
"Well, uh... it's a... niche publication?" Luan muttered, already looking for an escape route.
Lili didn't give him the chance. Her Level 2 reflexes took over, and before he could blink, she had him pinned against a damp stone wall in a deserted back alley.
"Talk," she hissed, her shadow looming over him. "Now."
"Okay, okay! Just don't hit me!" Luan squealed. "There's a rumor... well, a market. In the Entertainment District. Someone is selling books—high-quality ones—depicting the 'Rabbit Foot' in various... intense situations with the women of Orario".
"And Master Luan actually bought a book of Lili and Bell-sama doing... those things?" Lili's face was rapidly approaching the color of a ripe tomato.
"It was the only one left!" Luan cried out in defense. "I didn't specifically go looking for you! I just wanted to see what the fuss was about, and you were the only volume the vendor had left!".
"Silence! No excuses!" Lili delivered a sharp, righteous blow to his stomach, leaving him wheezing on the ground. "The moment you traded currency for such unauthorized filth, you forfeited your right to dignity!".
Leaving the groaning Pallum behind, Lili clutched the book to her chest and sprinted toward the Hearth Mansion. Her mind was a chaotic storm of fury and a very small, traitorous spark of curiosity.
—————
Once safely inside the sanctuary of her room, Lili bolted the door and sat on the edge of her bed. She stared at the booklet. The artwork is terrifyingly precise, she thought, her fingers tracing the ink. It's as if someone was watching us from the shadows of the mansion itself.
"Bell-sama, you must be exhausted from the Dungeon. Allow Lili, your faithful Supporter, to properly reward your hard work...♡"
Lili's breath hitched. In the story, the 'Lili' on the page began to perform acts that were far beyond the realm of simple 'support'. The character radiated the aura of a succubus, leading the innocent Bell into a spiral of physical temptation. As she turned the pages, her eyes grew wider, taking in depictions that seemed to manifest the most hidden, feverish daydreams of the household.
"Hehe... if Bell-sama puts something so big inside me, Lili might just break...♡"
"A-A-Ah...!?"
She slammed the book shut, her face steaming. Then, slowly, she opened it again. I must know the full extent of this... for Bell-sama's protection, she lied to herself.
"Don't worry. I may look small, but Lili is still older than you, Bell-sama...♡"
"I've said those words before!" she cried out to the empty room. "But Lili never said them while doing... that!".
The book continued, featuring a dialogue that hit uncomfortably close to home, comparing her to Hestia and making references to her role as a protector. But the finale was what truly broke her.
"If Bell-sama gets me pregnant, you'll have to take full responsibility. Papa...♡"
"Just what is the 'me' in this book saying!? I'm the one initiating everything, so why am I talking about responsibility!?"
Lili shrieked and threw the book across the room, watching it flutter onto the rug like a wounded bird. She buried her face in her pillow, her heart hammering a frantic rhythm against her ribs.
It's horrific. It's scandalous. It's... it wasn't entirely inaccurate about how Bell-sama looks when he's flustered, she admitted to the silence.
But the playful embarrassment soon turned into cold, calculated dread. If these books were being sold in the Entertainment District, it meant Bell was being branded as the city's favorite romantic fantasy. If the Sword Princess saw this... or if Hestia-sama found a volume featuring herself... Orario would burn.
"This cannot stand!" Lili stood up, her eyes burning with a new, professional fire. "Before any more of these are distributed, Lili must capture the architect of this chaos!".
A dark, greedy thought flickered in her mind. And once I catch them, I'll seize their profits as a 'fine.' And then... I'll force them to work exclusively for me. I'll have a private library of stories where Bell-sama only has eyes for Lili. Yes, strictly for my own private, investigative research..
With a determined nod, she shoved the 'evidence' deep under her bed. She adjusted her cap, checked her hidden blade, and bolted out of the Hearth Mansion, her feet flying toward the neon-soaked streets of the Entertainment District.
──────────────────────────
Support this fanfic by leaving reviews, comments, and Power Stones!
For advance chapters, visit:
› Patreon.com/NegativeTranslations