The gazes of everyone else in the hall had also converged on Lili.
The girls weren't foolish. They had all clearly arrived at the same critical question.
A Pallum supporter with zero combat ability who scraped by on other people's leftovers — she had to be carrying something on her, something valuable enough to justify a withdrawal fee that enormous.
Noticing the shift in the atmosphere around her, Lili bit down on her lower lip, hard enough to press a deep white line into the soft flesh.
She had nothing left now. Nothing at all.
These girls, who had rushed to save her in that alleyway without a moment's hesitation, had not looked at her with the disgust she was so used to seeing on adventurers' faces.
And so.
Lili raised her head. She looked at the Holy Emperor, who was watching her with an expression of such quiet, unhurried warmth. Then at Onigawara Rin and Inaba Tsukuyo, standing nearby — the two who had saved her life in that filthy back alley only minutes ago.
She finally released the grip of her teeth on her lip, and made her decision.
"Because... because Lili has a magic that Zanis has always desperately wanted."
Lili looked down, both hands clutching tight to the hem of the oversized white shirt she wore.
"Lili... can show you."
With that said.
Lili drew a slow, deep breath and stood up.
The hall fell quiet. No one spoke. The girls watched the slight, small figure in collective, unexpected stillness.
Lili closed her eyes. Her lips moved, and a brief chant slipped out from between them:
[Your brand belongs to me — my brand still belongs to me].
『Cinderella』
Following those quietly murmured words of incantation.
A mass of ashen-white light erupted from beneath Lili's feet in an instant, wrapping around her entire body and swallowing her whole.
The light dispersed.
The small Pallum girl with chestnut hair and a wiry frame was gone.
In her place stood a beast girl — short golden hair, two fluffy dog-ears perched atop her head.
It wasn't only her appearance that had changed. Even her height was slightly taller than before, and at the base of her spine, a tawny tail swayed back and forth with an anxious restlessness.
"This... this is Lili's transformation magic."
The beast girl spoke. Her voice had changed completely — gone was Lili's usual raspy, timid register, replaced by the bright, crisp voice of a young Canine girl.
"[Stroke of Midnight Revelation]."
The release incantation was spoken.
The light flashed again, and Lili returned to her original Pallum form.
Though.
The expenditure of magic power had cost her. Lili let out a faint, slightly breathless exhale and sank back into her chair.
A brief ripple of commotion passed through the hall.
"I can't believe it!"
Aihara Enju leapt straight out of her chair, those vivid crimson eyes going wide as she rushed over to Lili and circled around her, staring.
"She just completely changed her whole body and voice — that's incredible!"
Hiruko Kohina poked her head forward too, tilting it to one side, orange-red eyes bright with curiosity.
"A transformation magic that alters appearance, gender — even scent..."
Inaba Tsukuyo spoke quietly, naming the true value of what they had just witnessed.
"A power like this would certainly be useful for concealment or escape in the Dungeon."
"But if used in Orario's streets..."
"To disguise yourself and slip into places to steal information — or to commit robbery and then vanish without a trace — this is the perfect tool for the perfect crime."
Amou Kirukiru gave a cold, thin laugh from nearby and picked up the thread.
"No wonder that man called Zanis has been keeping such a stranglehold on you."
"With this magic, you're the most versatile instrument he could ever get his hands on."
At those words, Lili's slight shoulders drew in even tighter.
"This is the transformation magic, 『Cinderella』."
"It lets me take the form of anyone with a similar build. Voice and racial features can all be imitated."
"Zanis has always wanted to get his hands on this ability of mine."
"He wants to use magic that can perfectly impersonate members of other Familias — to run cons on shops and the Guild, or steal intelligence on other adventuring parties."
"But this magic can only be used by me."
"So the only thing he could do was lock me in place with an enormous withdrawal fee. Turn me into a card he could play whenever he liked."
"Well then, if you have magic that can perfectly change your appearance and race —"
"Orario is this dangerous for you, you get beaten and berated every day."
Kikakujou Mary looked at Lili with a puzzled frown.
"Why not just change into someone else's face and quietly slip out of Orario? Wouldn't that let you break free from the Soma Familia entirely?"
"Even some remote country village would be better than staying here, wouldn't it?"
At the question, Lili pressed both hands hard against her knees. She gave a small, quiet shake of her head, and forced out a thin, bitter smile.
"Leave Orario... if Lili left, Lili would die."
"Outside Orario's walls, monsters are everywhere."
"The wilderness, the forests, the trade roads — monsters could appear at any moment."
"Lili has no combat ability. Lili only knows a little support magic. Even if Lili changed into someone else, going out alone — she'd be eaten by monsters before half a day was up."
Lili twisted her hands together in her lap.
"So Lili, who has no real skills to speak of..."
"Staying in Orario — even if it means sleeping in a rotting shack that reeks every night — at least means Lili can go into the Dungeon to carry someone's things each day, or dig through the rubbish heap for scraps worth a few coins. Enough to trade for a stale black bread roll to survive on."
"If Lili left Orario, there would truly be nothing left."
"Even with the beatings, even with the insults — at least here, Lili... can still breathe."
Those words confirmed, with quiet certainty, the pull Orario held over the Lower World's most desperate residents.
Yes, there were villains here who preyed on people and ground them into nothing. But the Dungeon was real, and its Magic Stones were real. As long as you were in Orario, as long as you were willing to haunt the Dungeon's edges, there was always some morsel to be had.
It was precisely this that had driven the Takemikazuchi Familia all the way here from the Far East.
Because in Orario, you could genuinely make a living.
"What about your parents? Were they Soma Familia members too? Didn't they do anything to protect you?"
"Even for someone of low standing, parents don't usually just stand by and watch their own child get treated like this, do they?"
Onigawara Rin pressed the question, brow furrowed.
At the mention of her parents, Lili's shoulders flinched inward and her head dropped lower, revealing a deep and settled numbness.
"They've been dead for a long time."
"Since Lili was born, Lili's parents never took care of Lili. Not once."
"They were consumed by Soma-sama's divine brew. Addicted past the point of reason."
"Their only thought, every single day, was how to get money to trade for more wine to drink."
"When Lili was three years old, they started forcing Lili to go out into the streets and beg. Whatever few copper coins Lili managed to collect, they would snatch away to buy more wine."
Lili kept her head down, recounting her past in a flat, even voice.
"But then one day, they were desperately short on money. They went half-mad and ran deep into the Dungeon. And they never came back."
"As for why Lili managed to survive at just a few years old without starving to death..."
"It was all because of Soma-sama."
At that, a tremor finally entered Lili's voice.
"Back then, Soma-sama hadn't yet completely given up on everyone."
"When Lili had collapsed from hunger in the courtyard of the base, it was Soma-sama who gave Lili a few fried potato balls, and let Lili sleep in the corner of his room."
"But then, when Lili was six years old, Zanis rose to become captain. After that, everything changed."
"Zanis used the divine brew to control everyone. The entire Familia grew more and more deranged."
"Soma-sama lost all hope in that Familia and shut himself inside the brewing chamber. He stopped coming out altogether."
"And it was on that very same day that Zanis forced Lili to drink a mouthful of a failed, reject batch of the brew. That foul taste took hold of Lili, and turned her into the same kind of wretch as her parents — cheating and stealing for the sake of more wine."
"After that, Soma-sama abandoned Lili completely. He never looked at Lili again. Not once."
Lili's voice had begun to tremble.
"And from that point on, Lili was left entirely alone."
"Lili didn't want to become one of those creatures who would throw away every shred of dignity for a drink. So Lili stopped going to Soma-sama's room altogether."
"Without anywhere to live, Lili had no choice but to sleep in abandoned sheds every night."
"When it rained, she had to fight for a spot beneath a bridge."
A long silence fell over the hall.
A moment later.
In a vacant guest room on the second floor.
The door was shut tight.
Onigawara Rin, Kikakujou Mary, Inaba Tsukuyo, Hanasaka Warabi, and Amou Kirukiru had gathered here to discuss the question of what to do with Lili.
"So — what does everyone think? About whether this Pallum girl stays or goes."
Onigawara Rin looked around at the others.
"I say let her sleep here tonight, give her some coin in the morning, and send her on her way."
Amou Kirukiru dropped onto the wide single bed without ceremony, crossing her long legs and draping them lazily over the edge, her whole posture radiating arrogant ease.
"No matter how tragic her past is, weak is weak."
"Even if she has that transformation magic — her stats are Lv.1, and all she can do is run errands and carry luggage."
"What use do we have for a deadweight with no combat ability?"
Amou Kirukiru's narrow eyes swept the room with undisguised judgement.
"If we're going to spend the effort on someone, we'd be better off figuring out how to poach that blacksmith with the eye patch."
Amou Kirukiru quirked the corner of her mouth into a cold smile.
"Didn't someone say that Tsubaki just reached Lv.5?"
"The muscle definition on those arms, the thick calluses on those hands — she's clearly an expert brawler on top of everything else."
"Get her over to our side. Whether it's fighting or forging weapons, she'd be worth more than ten Pallums put together."
Hearing Amou Kirukiru say something so completely off-topic.
Onigawara Rin knew she was only saying it to get a rise out of them. She rolled her eyes without the slightest restraint and fired back without hesitation.
"Amou."
"Tsubaki-senpai is the captain of the Hephaestus Familia! And Hephaestus-sama is one of Kami-sama's closest friends!"
Onigawara Rin planted both hands on her hips after making her point.
"And besides."
"Who said Lili is useless?"
"Our group right now is all front-line attackers. Every single one of us."
"Once we start going deeper, the loot and supplies are going to pile up fast. We can't keep making Kyoubou carry everything while she's trying to kill monsters, can we?"
"And I also think she should stay in the Familia."
Kikakujou Mary offered her opinion.
"Lili is Pallum."
"The Holy Emperor's 『Utopia』 magic provides group buff effects based on the racial diversity within our Familia."
"Every additional race that joins gives all of us an extra layer of enhancement and blessing."
"And setting aside her tragic circumstances entirely —"
"That magic of hers, 『Cinderella』, could prove invaluable in the right situation."
"But no matter how much we argue about it, a decision like this ultimately comes down to Kami-sama."
Inaba Tsukuyo, cradling [White Heron] in her arms, had her back resting against the wall beside the door. She delivered the final word on the matter.
"What to do with her, and whether to formally claim her from the Soma Familia — those are decisions that only Kami-sama has the authority to make."
"We should wait for Kami-sama to return this evening, report everything, and let Kami-sama decide."
Hearing those words from Inaba Tsukuyo.
Amou Kirukiru pressed her lips together with a slight purse, but offered no further objection.
The others nodded their agreement as well.
As for the hall downstairs.
Lili had already been pulled by Aihara Enju and Hiruko Kohina onto the rug, and the three of them were huddled together in a little cluster.
At the same time.
In Orario's Dungeon.
This was the first time Haimer had ever truly entered this immense labyrinth — famous throughout the Lower World — in his own true form.
Not through the crowded official entrance on Babel Tower's first floor.
Instead, guided by Fels, he had taken a concealed passage — one the Guild kept hidden — that led directly into the Dungeon's interior.
The light around them grew dim.
The air was thick with the heavy, raw smell of earth.
Haimer walked ahead, his footsteps falling unevenly on the rough and uneven ground.
Fels walked slightly behind and to the side of him, entire body wrapped in a pitch-black robe, leading the way in complete silence.
Haimer stopped.
He raised his hand and pressed his fingertips lightly against the wall beside him.
"Fascinating."
"I've completely concealed the Divine Might and presence that belong to a god."
"What the Dungeon should be sensing from me right now is nothing more than an ordinary mortal from the Lower World."
"And yet this hostility — pervasive, savage, as though every inch of this place wants to tear any intruder apart — it remains this vivid."
"Tell me."
Haimer turned his head and looked toward Fels, who had been silent the entire walk.
"If I were to drop the disguise right now and release my Divine Power here —"
"When this Dungeon, which holds such profound hatred for the gods, discovered that a god had dared to trespass inside it — what do you think its reaction would be?"
"Would it immediately give birth to that legendary black creature — the one said to hunt gods specifically?"
Those words, delivered in the most casual, unhurried tone, detonated like a thunderclap in the hollow, lightless corridor.
The skeletal fingers hidden inside Fels's black gloves clenched instantly, producing a faint, dry crack.
The surrounding air seemed to freeze solid in that single instant.
Fels turned around to face Haimer, and when they spoke, their voice carried a sharp edge of stern warning.
"Haimer-sama."
"Please do not entertain such dangerous hypotheticals."
"Should you release your Divine Power here, it would not only summon the black creature of despair — it would also trigger the Forced Return Law and send you back to the Heavens."
"That would serve no good purpose — neither for Orario nor for yourself."
Watching Fels assume the posture of someone bracing for imminent catastrophe.
Haimer simply shrugged.
The corner of his mouth curved into an easy smile.
"Relax."
"You've been walking ahead of me in silence this whole time — the atmosphere was getting unbearably dull. I was just making a little joke."
"Lead on."
With that said.
Haimer stepped forward, walked right past Fels, and strolled on ahead into the depths without a care in the world.
Fels stood where they were, staring at Haimer's back — unguarded, almost leisurely.
Just a little joke.
What kind of god makes jokes about destroying an entire Dungeon and getting themselves exiled back to the Heavens?!
And moreover — in that moment, Fels had not heard a single trace of humor in Haimer's voice.
He had genuinely been curious. Genuinely wondering what would actually happen if he released his Divine Might inside the Dungeon.
The thought settled in Fels's chest, and they could not help but let out a long, weary sigh deep within.
Ouranos-sama — do you truly believe that transferring all authority over Orario into the hands of a god like this was the right choice?
Fels was more certain of it now than they had ever been before.
This black-haired god walking ahead of them.
Was, through and through, an evil god — and nothing else.
____
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