Chapter 668: Your Capture Target Is Currently Being Invited By Your Squad Member

"Who are you? Are you an acquaintance of this guy?"

The rude adventurer blocked by Bell retreated two steps, then looked at the boy vigilantly.

"I'm just passing by, I don't know you, but I know bullying women is bad behavior."

Bell explained.

"Kid, I advise you not to meddle in other people's business."

Upon discovering the boy was also wearing supporter attire, the rude adventurer warned viciously.

"My grandfather taught me that extending a helping hand to women in need is what makes a gentleman."

Now a Familia member himself, the boy was not scared off by the rude adventurer's words.

Compared to the adventurer before him, the monsters in the Dungeon were far more terrifying.

Seeing the supporter-dressed boy persist, the rude adventurer wanted to flare up, but recalling how the other party had blocked his kick just now, his strength was clearly not weak.

Noticing passersby showing signs of gathering to watch the commotion, and not wanting to attract the Ganesha Familia, he coldly snorted and said to the person on the ground: "Arde, consider yourself lucky. If you dare pester me again, watch out, I'll beat you!"

The rude adventurer left his harsh words and departed. Bell waited for the other party to leave before turning back, extending a hand to the person fallen on the ground: "Miss, are you alright?"

"Many thanks."

But when the petite person on the ground grasped his hand and raised her head to thank him.

"Eh, it's you?!"

Bell cried out in surprise.

Equally surprised was Liliruca Arde; she also recognized the white-haired boy.

"Ah, thanks for warning me last time."

Bell reacted, hurriedly thanking her; although last time he still ended up unlucky, the other party had indeed warned him.

"It's nothing, didn't you help me too?"

Liliruca sized up the boy before her; compared to when she saw him a week ago, the boy now looked much better.

And the fact that he could confront that adventurer just now suggested this country boy had likely received Falna and already joined some Familia in Orario.

"May I ask..."

"My name is Liliruca Arde. You can call me Lili, or you can call me Arde."

"Then, Miss Arde, may I rudely ask, what dispute do you have with that adventurer just now?"

Bell asked curiously, but seeing the gloom surface on the girl's face, he immediately added: "Ah, of course, if you don't want to say, you don't have to."

"There's nothing to hide. It's an economic dispute. As you see, I'm a supporter. That man hired me to work in the Dungeon today, but after leaving the Dungeon, he claimed my work capability was insufficient and tried to deduct my pay. I was unconvinced, so we argued."

The Pallum girl explained the situation.

"Then you..."

"My work capability is not bad. That guy just thought I'm a Pallum and easy to bully, so he wanted to find an excuse to pay me less."

"Ah, how can that person be like this?"

After hearing this, Bell felt a surge of righteous indignation.

"Heh, adventurers are like that. Those scoundrels sometimes try to pick faults with supporters like me just to get a sip of good wine. After toiling in the Dungeon with those guys for a whole day, sometimes you still run into bastards who refuse to pay."

The Pallum girl's words were full of sarcasm and disgust toward adventurers.

"Adventurers... aren't all like that, right..."

Bell wanted to retort, but saw the Pallum girl before him looking at him with the gaze of a veteran eyeing a naive greenhorn just entering the field. That look seemed to say: This young person has too little experience, their thinking is still too naive!

"Forget it. Anyway, thanks for just now. Hmm, what's your name?"

"Bell Cranel."

"Thank you for your help, Mr. Cranel. I still have some business, so I'll be going first."

Liliruca thanked the boy once more and turned to leave.

Bell raised his hand, but didn't know what to say.

After the Pallum girl left, he continued walking back.

"Brother Bell, you're back?!"

When passing a flower shop, a cute Rabbit Person girl suddenly jumped out from inside the store, came before him, and greeted him.

"Irene, good evening."

Bell bowed and returned the greeting.

The Rabbit Person girl Irene was precisely the child from the Orario caravan he had stepped forward to help before.

When he rented a new room two days ago, he happened to meet her at this flower shop. Her family runs the flower shop, and he was even given a bouquet.

"Brother Bell, do you want flowers tonight?"

Irene's long ears on her head twitched as she held out the bouquet in her hands.

"Ah, no need. The flowers you gave me yesterday are still in the vase in my room."

Bell hurriedly waved his hand, wanting to refuse.

"Mr. Cranel, please accept it. This child Irene has been looking forward to giving you flowers."

From inside the flower shop, a human girl clerk walked out and spoke.

"Ah, An-Anna, go-good evening."

The human girl's appearance made the white-haired boy's tongue tie, not for any other reason than that the auburn-haired human girl was simply too beautiful.

She was the most beautiful girl Bell had ever seen besides the Goddess, and being spoken to by an excessively beautiful girl, he was quite nervous.

Seeing Bell's nervous look, the clerk covered her mouth and chuckled lightly, finding the boy very cute. After several persuasions, saying the flowers wouldn't be taken and would wither when their season came, Bell accepted once more the bouquet from the flower shop owner's daughter who worked there.

Bell returned home carrying a fragrant breeze (floral scent). After replacing the bouquet in the vase, he lay on the bed with a foolishly happy expression.

"Grandpa, coming to Orario really lets you meet all kinds of people. Not only heroic figures like Broly-san, but also beautiful people like Miss Anna..."

Bell muttered to himself, then hugged the blanket beside him; the day's fatigue quickly overtook him, and not long after the boy fell into a deep sleep.

Only in his sleep did he speak some dream talk, things like "I need to be even faster" and "Miss Anna, please go on a date with me" and other sleep-talking.

A night of good dreams; when dawn broke the next day, Bell finally woke up.

"Ah, I overslept!?"

Upon realizing this, the boy hurriedly dressed and washed up, not even having time to eat breakfast, and ran toward the Guild's location.

When he arrived at the Guild, Broly and Eina had already met and were standing at the Guild's front door waiting for him.

"S-sorry, I overslept, I'm late."

Bell came over here, braced his knees, somewhat out of breath; clearly he really had run here with all his might, yet before his breathing had even steadied he apologized to the two of them.

"It's fine, it's only a minute or two late; for people who go into the Dungeon to adventure, once they relax, oversleeping is a very normal thing."

Eina expressed understanding; as long as the boy was willing to come listen to the class, that was enough, even though the other party wasn't an adventurer she was responsible for, but the supporter of the adventurer she was responsible for.

"Let's go up."

With the last person arrived, Eina led the two into the Guild Headquarters, up to the library above, and brought out the Dungeon knowledge books compiled by the Guild.

"These books record some of the Dungeon's unique geographical environments and floor monster information; once you understand them, you will be able to greatly avoid dangers you might encounter in the Dungeon."

"Ah, Miss Eina, are all these books what we have to learn?"

Bell swallowed his saliva, and it was no wonder he asked; because after the books the half-elf miss brought out were stacked up, they were almost as tall as half his body.

"Yes, this portion of books are all what you need to understand."

"Wait, what do you mean by 'this portion of books'?"

"The books here only record the Middle-Upper Floors' content, while the books recording the Lower Floors' content are even more numerous than these; if you might step foot into the Lower Floors in the future, those also need to be learned."

Eina pushed up the glasses on her nose bridge; the lenses reflected a cold light that struck awe into (academic underachievers).

"Wouldn't this be too much?"

Even Broly, at this moment, felt it — a pressure named 【Book Study】.

"Please rest assured, I will help you memorize these Dungeon knowledge points faster by explaining and memorizing the key points for you."

Eina made a confident statement befitting an outstanding graduate from the 【School District】.

"Broly-san, don't you feel that Miss Eina's current aura is astonishing?"

"Mm, I've already felt it."

"Alright, you two don't get distracted, raise your attention; now, the Dungeon Knowledge Lecture is starting class!"

For an entire morning, Eina lectured the two, until the time reached noon, when this half-elf miss finally stopped, still wanting more.

"Today's lecture ends here; the rest we'll continue next time when we have time. Hmm, after you two go back, you must consolidate today's class knowledge, understand?"

"Ah, I-I understand."

"Good, now, class dismissed."

Eina was very satisfied, tidied the desk, then left satisfied.

"Bell, are you okay?"

Broly asked the boy beside him, who looked completely burned out.

"I'm fine, just didn't eat this morning, now my stomach is super hungry; how about you, Broly-san?"

Bell replied, then counter-asked the boy.

"Head hurts a bit, feels like my brain was lifted up and severely whipped."

Broly rubbed his temples and answered.

Knowledge forced its way into his brain in a hard, forceful manner.

Every single bit was dried goods.

From the Dungeon's floor geographical environments on the large scale, down to a certain monster type's usual attack habits — it was simply like an instruction manual of precautions for the Dungeon Labyrinth's middle-upper areas.

Although for him, aside from the Floor Boss information, the rest might not have much use, for ordinary adventurers this absolutely greatly increases their survival probability in the middle-upper floor areas.

"Bell, this afternoon I plan to go to the Dungeon to change my mind; are you going?"

At noon, when they found a restaurant near the Guild to eat, Broly asked the boy wolfing down food across from him.

"Ah, then I'll go get the supporter backpack."

Bell hurriedly said, meaning he would go.

"Then I'll go down first; wait for me at yesterday's Seventh Floor one-way passage cave."

Lunch finished, Broly entered the Dungeon first.

Bell ran back home to get the large supporter backpack.

However, when the boy was preparing to enter the Dungeon, he spotted a familiar figure.

"Miss Lili, what are you doing here?"

"Eh, it's the countryside boy..."

Liliruca was suddenly spoken to; seeing who it was, she subconsciously blurted out her inner thoughts.

"Ugh, although what you said is fact, why do I feel like I'm being looked down on by a city person?"

Bell retorted.

"Ah, sorry."

Liliruca hurriedly apologized; after all, the boy before her was someone who had helped her once yesterday.

"It's fine, I don't really mind either; anyway, Miss Lili, you still haven't answered my question?"

Bell asked again.

"As you see, Pallums don't have much competitiveness in the supporter market; even though my hire price is relatively cheap, situations like being left unpicked like this also occasionally happen."

Liliruca shrugged her shoulders, explaining her situation; she pretended not to care, but in reality, having no work for an orphan like her meant eating into her savings, which made her feel uneasy.

And another reason she still crouched on this side of Central Square despite having no work was to stake out that bastard adventurer employer from yesterday.

She intended to wait for him to come out of the Dungeon today, then use her own method (Transformation Theft) to take back the compensation that rightfully belonged to her.

"Miss Eina, since you don't have work right now, would you like to work for my employer?"

Bell thought for a moment, then asked.

"You mean, you want to introduce me to a Supporter job?"

Liliruca froze for a beat, then asked.

"Yes, that's right."

Bell nodded.

"And you don't need to worry about my employer stiffing you; he's a good big brother from the same Familia as me, with a quite gentle and righteous character.

Back when I hadn't joined a Familia yet, he was already willing to help me for free, give me a Supporter job, and on our first Dungeon dive together, he was willing to split the Dungeon earnings with me as my compensation.

Even when I said it wasn't necessary, he still gave it anyway; he's a person who keeps his word very faithfully."

Bell puffed out his chest and explained his situation, and after finishing he added: "You said last night that adventurers are just like that (scoundrels), but I think that's wrong; not all adventurers are bad people, there are also adventurers like my big brother."

Liliruca fell silent for a while, then retorted: "Your luck is really good, but knowing the face doesn't mean knowing the heart; who knows what your so-called same-Familia big brother is really thinking — perhaps his extra care for you is just an ulterior motive."

"Hah, definitely not; Broly-san is a true hero, he's saved me more than once, like last time you warned me but I still stepped in a trap, it was thanks to his help that I survived."

"Huh?!"

Liliruca was a bit surprised; no wonder during this recent period she hadn't seen Seth and those guys in that stinking tavern full of drunks — turns out they got done in.

"And compared to the things he's helped me with, what I can give back is actually very little, but even so he's still willing to help me."

Bell said.

To this, Liliruca offered no evaluation, but if she could get a job that didn't skimp on pay, that would count as a good thing.

The only question that needed confirming was: "Are you sure your big brother would be willing to hire a strange Pallum Supporter like me?"

"Uh, actually it's because I'm a bit too busy being his Supporter alone; if you're willing to help share my workload, I can split part of my compensation from my pay to give you."

Bell thought it over, and without presuming to decide for the boy, said he was willing to share part of his own compensation.

Liliruca pursed her lips, seemingly feeling a touch of contempt that the youth couldn't give a definite answer.

But after thinking it over, she still replied: "I can accept this job."

Liliruca didn't trust adventurers, but she was willing to trust a fellow Supporter — and a youth who had helped her just yesterday.

Of course, if even this turned out to be a scam and she worked for nothing, she'd just count it as repaying the favor of him helping her avoid a beating yesterday.

The Pallum girl had prepared herself for the possibility of her own loss before agreeing.

"Alright then, Miss Eina, come with me."

Bell called out, then walked toward the Dungeon entrance.

Liliruca hurriedly followed, but after walking down the stairs to the Dungeon's First Floor Labyrinth, still not seeing the so-called big brother adventurer, she couldn't help asking: "Where's your adventurer big brother? He wouldn't happen to be waiting for you in a deeper floor of the Labyrinth, would he?"

"Eh, Miss Eina, how did you know that?"

Bell looked back in surprise; Liliruca nearly choked on her own saliva — she'd just said it randomly, never expecting it to actually be true.

"Are you crazy? Why are we Supporters Supporters? Because we don't have enough capability to fight monsters head-on.

Without partying with an adventurer, a Supporter going into the Dungeon alone is life-threatening; your Broly-san, he wouldn't be bullying you, or even wanting your life, would he?"

"Ah, there's that way of putting it too?"

Bell was a bit dumbfounded, but immediately shook his head in denial.

"I don't know about others, but Broly-san takes very good care of me; he only chose to wait for me on the corresponding floor after confirming I had the ability to go down to the floor he's on and handle all monsters encountered on the way."

As Bell spoke, a Ground Spirit happened to spawn right ahead; just as the Pallum girl vigilantly raised her hand crossbow aiming at the Ground Spirit, the youth stepped forward, drew his sword, and cut down the Ground Spirit, looking just like a real adventurer.

"Miss Eina, please don't worry about any danger we might encounter on the way down to meet up, because I'll protect you properly on the road."

The youth promised; he looked quite reliable, and even more reliable was the short sword gripped in his hand.

【That is absolutely a weapon with no small price tag.】

Liliruca would swear on the adventurer equipment she'd stolen; it's worth at least 100,000 Valis.

(Chapter End)