DanMachi Vol.15

CHAPTER 3 : THE CINDER GIRL

Lilliluka Erde was brought into this world fifteen years earlier.

She had heard that it was the most tumultuous time in all of Orario's long history.

This was caused by the failure of the Three Great Quests.

Two familias reigned at the top of Orario, and their adventurers were the strongest in all the world. They took up the legendary task of slaying three ancient and powerful monsters, but the final one, a dragon king, defeated and utterly destroyed them. This irreparable loss of strength was nothing short of a death knell for the two great familias.

The sudden weakening of the two most feared factions in the city invited the rise of evil.

In those times, the forces of darkness openly roamed Orario, as though in mockery of the despair mortals felt as they watched their hopes and dreams crumble away, orperhaps simply reveling at the sudden opportunity.

Led by an extremist group known as the Evils, lawless brigands and marauders raised the curtain on a new era of chaos in Orario.

New factions replaced the old. Now considered failures, the previous rulers were driven out, and two rising familias, each led by a different goddess, feuded over which would stand as Orario's new hope. One after another, various deities and their familias took up the cause of justice, hoping to settle this latest conflict.

It was a time of terrible upheaval in Orario, when good struggled against evil, order against chaos.

In those days, crime was commonplace and committed with impunity to the sound of outlaws cackling.

Such was the era into which Lilliluka Erde was born.

"Spare some coin, please..."

Lilly's memories of the world began when she was three years old.

The first thing she learned was how to beg. She would stand in the street, barefoot and clad in rags, holding both hands out to any and every person who came near. If it hadn't been for the Status inscribed on her back, she would probably have died in a ditch somewhere by then. As it was, she was doing as her parents told her, standing in place until darkness fell and the moon rose, waiting for sympathy or coin to fall into her hands.

"Go bring us some money" was nearly all either of her parents ever said to her. Her prum mother and father said little else to the young Lilly, and Lilly never had any memories of them ever acting parental in any way.

Lilly and her parents belonged to Soma Familia .

The warped clan had been formed by the god Soma for the sole purpose of making the perfect liquor. In service of their god's costly predilections, the familia was organized by giving the member who brought in the most money the greatest prize—which was a taste of Soma's divine liquor.

Despite his arcanum being sealed away, most of those involved in the production of Soma's exquisite spirits were hopelessly captive to its allure, and competed fiercely to earn money for it. They would give anything to have the chance to taste his literally heavenly liquor just one more time.

Lilly's parents were no exception. They had no qualms about using Lilly to earn money, even when she was but a toddler.

Before long, they were dead.

Apparently, they had ventured into the Dungeon in search of money—or more precisely, in search of anything that would get them Soma's liquor—and had been immediately slaughtered by monsters. Lilly only learned of their demise from the derisive laughter of the other familia members, and although she barely understood the emotion of sadness, she knew that she was now entirely alone.