Chapter 66: Liliruca Arde!
The day after the incident on the 24th floor.
Shiro was walking towards the Guild.
He was going to hand over the arm protector that Ais had found to the Guild so they could return it to Bell.
"Don't be ridiculous! I saw with my own eyes this dagger killing countless monsters, and it's not even chipped. How could it only be worth 30 valis?!"
As he passed by a store, Shiro's attention was caught by the voice coming from inside.
Out of curiosity, he looked through the store window.
The speaker was about 1.1 meters tall, wearing a brown cloak that enveloped her entire body.
However, from her voice, it could be discerned that she was a cute girl.
The shopkeeper looked a bit like the legendary Santa Claus.
He was currently examining a dagger.
After a while, he placed the dagger on the counter and said to the girl in front of him.
"I've tried everything I can, but this dagger can't cut anything. The blade is dead."
Following the shopkeeper's words, Shiro looked at the dagger.
It was about 40 centimeters long, completely black, and engraved with dense hieroglyphs that he couldn't understand.
Moreover, he was a bit familiar with this dagger.
As Shiro tried to recall, the cloaked girl, seeing that the shopkeeper wouldn't budge, gave up on selling it and carefully put the dagger from the counter into her sleeve before running outside.
As she went out the door, she saw Shiro standing at the window, lost in thought, and subconsciously pulled her hood down to cover her entire face.
"I'm interested in the dagger you have there. Are you still selling it?"
Just as she passed by Shiro, she heard him speak.
"Haha, what are you talking about, adventurer-sama? Lili isn't extravagant enough to sell her own weapon."
The Pallum girl, who called herself Lili, looked up at the white-haired boy, allowing him to see her appearance clearly.
Her short, brown, slightly curly hair rested on her shoulders.
And as she spoke, her eyes, the same color as her hair, subconsciously avoided his gaze.
"I saw you trying to sell the dagger to the shopkeeper just now. Since you're selling it anyway, why not sell it to me?"
The Pallum girl seemed to think his words made sense and subconsciously gripped the dagger hidden in her sleeve.
After struggling internally for a while, she still chose to take out the dagger.
"Since you're so sincere, adventurer-sama, Lili will sell it to you. But let me tell you upfront, Lili won't sell it for less than 5 million valis."
"No problem."
She was overjoyed when she heard his reply.
Although it didn't reach the expected price, the fact that he didn't choose to rob her by force was already beyond her expectations.
Just as she reached out to him for money, he poured cold water on her hopes.
"That is on the condition that this dagger is truly yours."
"Eh? I don't understand what you're saying, adventurer-sama. Lili bought this from the Hephaestus Familia. It cost Lili over 10 million valis. If you're trying to slander Lili, I'll call the guards."
As if to add credibility to her words, the Pallum girl turned the dagger over to show Shiro the signature on it.
After forging a weapon, the blacksmith usually leaves their signature on it to increase their fame.
The signature on this dagger was from goddess Hephaestus, meaning it was a weapon personally forged by a god.
"Bell Cranel, this is his weapon, right?"
Shiro finally remembered where he had seen this weapon.
When he had found Bell in the dungeon last time, this dagger was the weapon in his hand.
"I don't understand what you're saying. I get it, you're trying to make up a random name to steal Lili's weapon, right?"
After Shiro mentioned Bell's name, the Pallum girl became visibly panicked.
She hugged the dagger to her chest and slowly backed away.
"Anyway, I'm not selling it anymore!"
After throwing down these words, the Pallum girl immediately tried to run away.
But how could the speed of a Level 1 supporter escape from Shiro, who had just reached Level 4?
In less than a second, Shiro grabbed her cloak.
Feeling the immense force coming from behind, the girl named Liliruca Arde felt a wave of despair wash over her.
Based on her experience, these adventurers would first beat her up to show off their strength, and then take all of her possessions.
Although the person in front of her seemed to know the owner of this dagger, what did it matter?
It was just a way to justify his violence with the high-sounding reason of 'justice'.
In the end, she would still end up bruised and battered.
Thinking this, she threw the dagger in her hand and curled herself up in the air.
She had discovered during a previous beating that this could minimize her injuries, and the perpetrator would also get bored and stop beating her after a while.
Holding onto the hope that the person in front of her was a fool with a good heart, she made one last struggle.
"This dagger is yours! Please don't hurt Lili!"
The expected pain didn't come.
After a while, Liliruca cautiously opened her left eye a little.
Under the cover of her thick eyelashes, ordinary people wouldn't even notice that she had opened her eyes.
In the past, some adventurers enjoyed watching her expression change from hope to despair.
So, even if he wasn't beating her up at the moment, she couldn't let her guard down.
However, she found that Shiro wasn't looking at her but was staring at the dagger in his hand, lost in thought.
Liliruca had never imagined that a minute could feel so long.
Now she was like a criminal who had committed a great crime, waiting for the judge's hammer to fall onto the table, smashing her hopes into the abyss.
Finally, after a while, Shiro spoke.
"Which Familia are you from?"
"Lili... Lili is from the Soma Familia..."
Although she didn't understand why he was asking this strange question, since he hadn't attacked her yet, it meant there was still hope for negotiations.
"Th-that... Lili didn't know this dagger belonged to your friend, adventurer-sama. I found it in the dungeon. Recently, someone in my family is sick and urgently needs money to buy potions."
"So, for a moment, I was blinded by greed and wanted to sell the dagger... Please forgive Lili this time, adventurer-sama. Lili promises never to do such a thing ever again..."
Liliruca had her own unique method for dealing with kind-hearted adventurers.
As long as she pretended to be pitiful in front of them and made some random promises, they, lacking evidence, would eventually let her go even if they were suspicious.
However…
"Are you lying to me?"
Even though the Pallum girl's deception was very clever, and even if she was exposed, she had another set of excuses, Shiro had a cheat skill called [Intuition].
Unless her deception was so powerful that it could be classified as a skill, he could easily see through her lies.
So, looking around at his surroundings, Shiro said to the Pallum girl he was holding.
"Anyway, let's talk somewhere else."