Is it wrong to try to build a criminal Empire?

chapter 9

Liliruca Arde had never known warmth.

Her life was a series of miseries, strung together by the cruelty of adventurers.

Lili despised adventurers. She despised their greed, their entitlement, the way they sneered down at her as if her very existence was an inconvenience.

That was all Lili could think about as she lay crumpled on the ground in an alleyway, after yet another beating at the hands of Canoe Belway—a fat raccoon person from her own familia.

"Arde! You really were a big help! With all this money you've so kindly given me, I'll finally be able to taste Soma again!" Canoe-sama sneered, his mocking gratitude only stinging more as his companions laughed.

He had taken everything she’d saved—her ticket to freedom.

It was over. tricking new suckers, abandoning her position of support to let monster corner her contractors then take what's left—those awful things she committed were all for nothing. Every insult she endured from cocky adventurers, every act of physical abuse—all of it, for nothing.

As she watched Canoe-sama and his companions head back toward the familia headquarters, probably to request Soma from Zanis-sama, she managed to drag herself to a nearby wall, collapsing against it. The cold stone offered no comfort. Silent tears streamed down her cheeks as she cursed her fate. Why? Why had she been born like this? What god had created her only to make her suffer?

Her sobs continued, but no one came. No one ever did.

Then, footsteps.

She glanced up, her eyes red and swollen, and saw a dwarf with a thick Beard, with brown hair untouched by white, wearing a set of armor with a axe on his left back, eyeing her.

On his left shoulder protector, she managed to see his Familia emblem.

A spider with eight legs—she didn't recognize it.

"Are you Liliruca Arde?" he asked, his voice rough.

---

That encounter, for Lili, was the reason she approached the white-haired rookie she was already watching for anything valuable on him—Bell Cranel, as he introduced himself.

"Lili! A little help here!" Welf-sama called out to her, snapping her attention his way. Four frog shooters had managed to surround him, blocking his path.

She took aim with her Pallum-sized Repeating crossbow, but it wasn’t necessary.

Bell-sama dashed forward with the speed of a speeding wagon, taking down all the Frog Shooters with such precision that she found herself doubting her intel about him being a fresh Level One. That speed and precision was unusual.

Bell-sama was really good.

"Whoa! Slow down there, Bell! We’re sharing the loot equally, but that doesn’t mean you should do all the work," Welf-sama said with a light chuckle, lowering his great sword, no doubt a bit tired from all the swinging.

Bell-sama smiled at him. "Thanks to your sword’s impressive sharpness, I don’t have to dwell Much on these things," he replied in his overly polite tone, as if he were never anything but courteous.

"Miss Arde! Start collecting stones before more spawn here. We’ll head to the seventh floor once you’re done," Bell-sama called out to her. She moved closer from her safe distance and began collecting them.

"Bell-sama is really amazing! He was so fast and strong!" she said while cutting up a Frog Shooter that hadn’t fully turned to dust to retrieve its core.