Chapter 669

At this moment, Liliruca finally noticed the boy's attire beneath his cloak: silver-white light armor, fine arm guards, and leg wraps that looked lightweight yet shouldn't lack defensive capability, engraved with the Hephaestus Familia's forge mark...

This full set of gear on the other party probably wouldn't come to less than five hundred thousand valis; a supporter, yet wearing five hundred thousand valis worth of fine equipment?

Liliruca knew some things about the boy before her; just a week ago, he was still entangled with that guy Seth over a mere ten thousand valis or so.

"This equipment of yours is...?"

"I bought these work clothes on the gods' advice; they're light to wear, not hindering me in the slightest from moving quickly through the dungeon labyrinth as a supporter, and these shoes even have a speed-boosting effect."

Liliruca: "..."

I misjudged him; the other party actually has good goods on him.

"So, you went into debt to work?"

The Pallum girl thought for a moment and could only think of this possibility, so she couldn't help but ask.

"How could that be? I paid for this in full. Broly-san is a quite generous adventurer; following him for one day's earnings, I can earn many W's."

Bell's current personal capital is also in the millions; just the first day's profit share from Goliath gave him eight million valis.

Although updating his gear cost quite a bit, his current savings still far exceed those of an ordinary Level 2 adventurer.

People can lie, but luxurious equipment won't deceive; Liliruca no longer doubts the reason the boy admires his fellow familia member so much.

If someone also brought her along to earn enough money to buy the boy's equipment, she guarantees she'd call him big brother even more diligently than the boy before her, and with an even sweeter mouth.

What kind of big brother is this? This is clearly regenerative parents.

The Pallum girl hesitated no longer and followed the boy deeper into the dungeon.

Until they finished traversing the Fifth Floor and were about to delve into the Seventh?

Even with a magic sword hidden in her bosom, continuing deeper into the dungeon wasn't a wise move.

This meant that if this supporter boy had an accident, her own chance of returning alive would also carry considerable risk.

"Almost there; we agreed to meet on the Seventh Floor."

Bell replied, swish-swish a few sword strikes, and killed two more Killer Ants.

"Speaking of which, with your current ability, you could totally be an adventurer yourself, right? Why are you still a supporter?"

Seeing this, Liliruca proactively picked up the magic stones and drop items on the ground and asked; she felt she was more like the boy's supporter now.

"Adventurer? No, I'm still far from qualified; a true adventurer should be like Broly-san..."

When Bell answered this, the look of admiration on his face was plain for anyone to see.

Watching this scene, Liliruca subconsciously imagined in her heart the image of the good big brother from the white-haired boy's mouth; soon, the figure of a burly, heroic man leaped vividly into the girl's mind. (Please reference Huang Rihua's portrayal of Qiao Feng here)

【Probably, the Broly-san in the other party's mouth is someone like this...】

The Pallum girl thought, shook her head, and continued following the boy deeper into the dungeon.

Before long, Bell brought the Pallum girl to the Seventh Floor, the place where Broly farmed monsters yesterday.

Before they even neared the cave entrance, they could hear rustling sounds coming from within.

This sound wasn't unfamiliar to Liliruca, who had once followed adventurers down to the 11th Floor, because this is the most troublesome herd-type monster in the first 10 floors of the dungeon labyrinth — Killer Ants.

"Hey, what are you doing going that way? There's obviously a large number of Killer Ants in there."

Seeing the boy walk straight toward the cave where the sound came from, the Pallum girl hurriedly stopped him and said.

"I know, but Broly-san is inside; Killer Ants are the monsters he prefers to hunt. (Not that he likes them, just that they're numerous and easy to gather, convenient for hunting.)"

Bell replied.

"Alright, let's go in quickly too; it was already a bit late when we came down, who knows, the magic stones and drop items inside might already be piled up in heaps by now."

Finishing his words, Bell took large strides toward the rustling-sounding cave.

"If we encounter danger later, I'm turning around and running."

Liliruca said in advance; she didn't want to be targeted by a swarm of Killer Ants.

"Rest assured."

Bell responded with a sentence, then shouted inside: "Broly-san, I'm here."

"You're a bit late; did something happen on the way?"

Broly asked.

Since Bell was walking in front and the cave entrance wasn't very wide, a large backpack blocked the view, and Liliruca following behind also couldn't see the situation inside the cave.

Only that someone responded from within, proving the boy ahead hadn't lied; the adventurer big brother in his mouth was indeed inside, letting the Pallum girl relax somewhat.

"Mm, on the way down, I encountered a girl I helped before; she's in a bit of trouble now, so I chatted with her for a bit."

"Eh, Bell, have you also started encountering girls you like in this city of Orario?"

While dealing with the Killer Ants continuously surging from the front few cave tunnels, Broly teased the boy with a rhythmic tone.

"Ah, it's not like that; the girl I like is someone else; this one is just someone who helped me, someone I want to repay."

Bell hurriedly explained, then asked somewhat reluctantly: "Broly-san, can I discuss something with you?"

"What is it?"

"The girl who helped me is also a supporter, only she's a Pallum, and no adventurer is willing to hire her to work."

"So, you want to ask me to hire her?"

"Broly-san, you don't need to pay extra wages; just deduct her wages from my wages."

Bell hurriedly said; the girl helped him, but has nothing to do with Broly-san; if he asked Broly-san, who is unrelated to this matter, to pay an extra share of supporter wages just to repay the girl's warning, that would also be unreasonable.

"Is that okay?"

"You're asking me like this; how could I refuse you?"

"Then Broly-san, you mean you agreed?!"

"Of course, but there's no need to deduct your wages; here with me, you do as much work as you can, and get paid accordingly; I'll give her the same treatment I give you.

However much of my loot she can transport up from the dungeon, I'll pay her ten percent of the value of the loot she transported."

Liliruca couldn't see the situation inside the cave, but she could hear the dialogue between the youth and the person inside; upon hearing it was only a tenth of the reward, the Pallum girl couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

This is the normal market price for a Supporter, no mistake, but for a veteran Supporter like her, the quoted price was a bit low.

"Great, Miss Arde, Broly-san has agreed to give you work."

Bell turned back, only to discover he had blocked the cave entrance, causing the Pallum girl behind him to be unable to enter; he hurriedly walked a few steps into the cave, then turned around and delivered this good news to the girl behind him.

Liliruca originally wanted to say the price was too low, but after the youth made way, she saw the Magic Stones and drop items already piled up inside the cave.

A normal Lv. 1 Adventurer's daily earnings are roughly between ten to twenty thousand Valis; a tenth of ten to twenty thousand Valis earnings is one to two thousand; the remuneration is indeed not much.

But the Magic Stones and drop items inside the cave, Liliruca roughly estimated, were no less than two hundred thousand Valis.

For a Supporter, a tenth is a reward of twenty thousand Valis; this is comparable to the daily earnings of some skilled Lv. 1 Adventurers in the Dungeon.

So, the words she originally wanted to complain about were directly swallowed back into her stomach; Liliruca revealed a bright smile (a service-oriented ingratiating smile), preparing to express gratitude to the white-haired youth's Adventurer big brother who was willing to give her this generous job.

However, the words of thanks had only just been spoken a small bit when they stalled because she saw the Adventurer big brother's image inside the cave, which had a huge discrepancy from the heroic big brother image she had imagined.

【A boy who looks even smaller than myself is actually the youth's big brother?

Even more absurd, the opponent's method of solving Killer Ants was actually chopping off Killer Ant heads barehanded.

And the originally hard carapace of the Killer Ants seemed to become like paper in front of the opponent.

It shattered upon a single touch of the opponent's hand knife.

Could this be some High-Level Adventurer with nothing better to do, running to the Dungeon Upper Levels to experience the life of barehanded monster fighting?!】

Liliruca slandered in her heart; she quickly adjusted her surprised mindset and continued the stalled words (thanks Broly-san): "Willing to give this Pallum Supporter a precious job opportunity, I am Liliruca Arde, I will definitely work hard to serve you."

"Bang—"

Broly kicked a Killer Ant flying with one foot, looking back at the Pallum girl behind him with some bewilderment; the Crystal Palace, silent for many days, also gave a new prompt message after the girl made a sound: 【Discovered new Capture Target, Liliruca Arde, current Happiness Value 1】

Broly was somewhat unexpected; the second Capture Target he encountered in this world would actually be at this time when he was farming monsters in the Dungeon.

"Excuse me, is there something on Lili's face? Why are you looking at me like this?"

The Saiyan's gaze was a bit direct; Liliruca, being looked at like this, couldn't understand what was going on, so she carefully asked.

"No, it's nothing, it's my own problem. You're Miss Liliruca Arde, right? I'm Broly. Welcome to my party."

Broly welcomed her with a sentence, then withdrew his gaze; he didn't say much. The difficulty of a Capture Target is discovery; since she's discovered, there will be no lack of opportunities to intersect with her in the future.

Compared to hurriedly launching Capture behavior, Broly prepared to understand the other party before acting; and right now, the Killer Ants continuing to swarm over still needed to be cleaned up.

Only to see his hand knife swing a few degrees lighter and faster than before; his mood had obviously become somewhat cheerful due to the sudden appearance of the new Capture Target girl.

"Alright, Miss Arde, let's start working."

Bell didn't notice the boy's abnormal reaction just now; he said a sentence to the Pallum girl beside him, then stepped ahead and squatted down to pick up the Magic Stones and drop items on the ground.

"Mhm, okay."

Liliruca agreed with a sound and also squatted down; unlike Bell who stuffed all Magic Stones and drop items together into the big backpack, the girl's utilization of the Supporter backpack's internal space was much more skillful.

She first paved a layer of Magic Stones at the bottom, then laid the Killer Ant Mandibles (drop items) flat, then used Magic Stones to fill the gaps of the Mandibles, then repeated this process until finally placing the irregularly shaped Killer Ant Carapaces (drop items) on the very top.

With the same standard-spec Supporter Big Bag, Liliruca actually packed in a lot more things than Bell.

"Heave-ho—"

When the big backpack was hoisted up by the Pallum girl, one could feel it sagging backward, looking heavily laden.

"Is your load a bit too excessive?"

Bell hurriedly asked; he was a bit worried the heavy big backpack might crush this Pallum girl.

"Not much, not much. Don't look at my small stature, but my load-bearing capability is still very strong (after all, I'm also a person blessed with Falna), I've carried things heavier than this."

For survival, Liliruca started working as a Supporter from a very young age; what her petite shoulders bore was not just the weight of so-called Magic Stones and drop items, but the survival burden of life falling prematurely on this orphan after irresponsible parents easily lost their lives in the Dungeon.

【This is all money, money belonging to me!】

Of course, the Pallum girl's current mindset wasn't tragic; on the contrary, it had a kind of little money-grubber falling into money-eyes feeling.

"Mr. Kronos, Broly-san, what are you two still waiting for? I've already prepared to depart!"

Liliruca said; after hoisting the backpack, she was somewhat impatient to return.

"Miss Arde, Broly-san won't be going back with us; he still has to stay here and continue fighting monsters."

Bell said.

"Ah, the Adventurer big brother isn't walking back with us?"

Liliruca froze.

"Then who will protect us carrying fully loaded big backpacks?"

She subconsciously asked.

"That would be ourselves, of course. Naturally, I'll do my best to cover your share too."

Bell likewise hoisted the big bag, hand resting on the Short Sword hilt at his waist.

"As Broly-san's Supporters, what we do is carry the spoils up, then return empty-handed to carry again."

Bell said as a matter of course.

【How is the Supporter you speak of completely different from the Supporter I know? If they can all carry fully loaded spoils backpacks and fight their way out of the Dungeon, why be a Supporter? Wouldn't being a solo Adventurer be better?】

Fine, Liliruca had to admit, Adventurers aren't just any random one; not all can hit this many Magic Stones and drop items.

"I think I need to lighten the backpack's load a bit..."

Earning more money is good, but if danger is encountered on the way back and excessive load causes her to lose her little life instead, that would be a loss outweighing the gain; Liliruca was still very rational, but just as she prepared to say this, she heard Broly over there speak.

"Miss Liliruca Arde is a new member of our party; she may not yet have adapted to our party's support method. How about this: this time I'll just accompany you back first."

Bell understood; this was Broly-san worrying about the safety situation after bringing an extra person, just like two days prior, when he confirmed Bell could go up and down the Dungeon alone under load before letting him go alone.

The white-haired youth was somewhat moved; Liliruca, seeing his moved expression, found it a bit baffling, because bringing a Supporter along is an Adventurer's normal operation.

"Miss Arde, on the way back later, we'll have to brace ourselves."

"Huh?"

"Broly-san is only accompanying us this time to provide cover; the purpose is to see if we can safely make a round trip between the Seventh Floor and the surface while carrying a load. If you can do that, you'll be able to serve as Broly-san's support long-term."

Pallum girl: "..."

This support job actually has an internship period; I have to pass a capability test before I can be confirmed.

"Then I'll lighten the backpack's weight."

Liliruca put down the Support Backpack and started taking drop items out of the backpack.

"A wise choice, Miss Liliruca."

Broly, who was still solving Killer Ants bare-handed, praised her with a sentence.

"Then these things, are they just going to be left here?"

The Pallum girl took out a quarter of the load, looking at the things thrown back onto the ground, and not seeing the boy prepare to pack them up, she couldn't help but ask.

"Yes, we'll just leave them here for now. After we handle the things in the backpacks behind you, we'll come back down to get them."

"What if a passing Adventurer takes them?"

【These are all money!】

"Don't worry. After we leave, these Killer Ants will be here guarding them for us."

Broly grabbed a Killer Ant by the lower jaw, lifted it up, and showed it to the Pallum girl behind him.

【These drop items and Magic Stones come from Killer Ants, yet the Killer Ants are being used to guard these things...】

Liliruca suddenly discovered that the boy's words over there had somewhat the meaning of a hell joke.

"But this still can't avoid the Magic Stones being eaten by living Killer Ants, and if the Killer Ant swarm scatters, other drop items will be taken by passing Adventurers. Even some Adventurers with enough strength could take all the drop items left here before the Killer Ants have scattered, right?"

"Hmm, that is indeed possible, but it's also not a problem.

Killer Ants that eat Magic Stones might become Enhanced Species; Enhanced Species drop items can theoretically sell for a higher price (this counts as knowledge learned this morning).

And if someone passes by here after the Killer Ants scatter, we can only blame our speed for not coming back fast enough.

As for someone with the strength to break in and take things before the Killer Ants scatter, that is what a person with strength deserves."

Liliruca still wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Broly.

"Alright, Miss Liliruca. If you don't want the rewards here to pile up more and more, what needs to be done now is to quickly carry the things up, and then come back down here."

Hearing this, Bell walked out first, followed by the Pallum girl, and finally Broly who followed out. He stuffed several Killer Ants with broken limbs into the cave entrance, blocking the pursuit of the other Killer Ants behind.

Killer Ants are a special kind of monster; they care for injured companions and do not kill injured companions — from Miss Eina's popular science lecture on Dungeon knowledge, one of the pieces of intelligence regarding Upper Floors monster Killer Ants.

(Chapter End)