Chapter 711

"Ah—if I'd known, I should've refused to become the Soma Familia's team leader!"

Liliruca clutched her head in irritation, fingers digging into her hair, wanting nothing more than to tear it all into a mess.

"If I weren't team leader, I should be happily killing monsters in the Dungeon with Broly-san and the others right now!"

Instead, I'm stuck in this office like now, buried under a mountain of Familia affairs that never seem to get finished no matter how I handle them.

Of course, since she's already team leader, she could actually choose "govern by non-action"—just tell the members below "everything as usual" and still live carefree.

But that desire deep down to change this degenerate Familia drives her like a diligent little bee.

Since she has this chance and ability, if she doesn't do something, Liliruca feels she'll absolutely regret it.

*Knock knock knock—*

」

A crisp knocking sound rang out.

"Come in."

Liliruca hurriedly smoothed her messy hair, resuming the bearing a team leader should have.

The door was pushed open, and the burly human Chandra walked in.

He'd already shaved off his beard, and his attire was impeccably neat.

Compared to the recognizable old drunkard he was before the "Divine Wine Banquet," he now looks more like a competent high-level assistant.

In fact, he is indeed playing that role now; a massive amount of Familia affairs require his assistance as a Soma Familia veteran.

But Chandra doesn't actually want to do this troublesome stuff either; the guy who used to help the team leader manage Familia affairs was sold to the Ishtar Familia as a "duck" after former team leader Chanisi fell.

There's simply no one else usable in the Familia now.

The only ones left are those willing to obey—they get the antidote to cure their Divine Wine addiction, can taste alcohol again, and don't have to suffer forced sobriety like the others.

And if they don't obey, not only will their antidote supply be cut off, they might face even worse consequences.

Quitting alcohol for old drunkards is more painful than death, and since they can't beat the new team leader, the entire Soma Familia now obeys Liliruca's every command.

However, mere obedience isn't enough; to revive this mess of a Soma Familia, they also need enough alcohol orders to provide corresponding jobs.

"Show them in."

Liliruca thought they were merchants coming to discuss business, so she didn't refuse the meeting.

However, when the six visitors were shown in, the Pallum girl's eyes widened in surprise.

"? Miss Ais, Miss Lefiya, Tiona, Miss Tione, and Xier and Miss Liu, why are you all here?"

"Miss Lili, congratulations on becoming the Soma Familia's team leader."

Ais offered congratulations the moment they met, though her utterly expressionless exquisite face looked nothing like she was celebrating—more like she was just stating a fact.

"These past two days, Ais-san heard about your situation from Broly-san, and yesterday she specifically went to find Lord Loki, hoping to help you."

Lefiya added from the side.

"Our Familia consumes a lot of alcohol daily too; business is business no matter who we do it with." Tiona waved a signed order representing Familia credibility. "Thanks to Lord Loki's proposal and the team leader's decision, we've brought you a huge alcohol order today!"

The zeros flashing on that order numbered at least ten million Valis.

"Say, you wouldn't happen to like my team leader, would you?"

Tione suddenly leaned in close, staring at Liliruca with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Huh? I like Finn the team leader? How would I know that?"

Liliruca looked completely dazed; her interactions with Finn were limited to those few days exploring the Dungeon together before.

"Good, that's best." Tione nodded with satisfaction. "If the team leader ever proposes to you, you must absolutely reject him harshly."

"Big sister's just jealous because the team leader praised you publicly, saying your previous attire resembled the hero Fiana, captain of the legendary Fiana Knight Order, and even handed the Familia's alcohol business to you."

Tiona laughed as she explained for her sister, finally letting Liliruca understand this inexplicable warning.

"Don't misunderstand, Team Leader Finn just wants to return a favor.

Tiona's referring to Broly helping instruct the Sword Princess and Lefiya in swordsmanship.

As an important companion by the boy's side, even making him willing to privately scheme for the Soma Familia team leader position for her sake, Liliruca naturally gained Finn's attention.

Of course, the news that the Hestia Familia's team leader schemed for the Soma Familia team leader position to pave the way for the Pallum companion in her party was leaked by a certain Information Broker God of Amusement, who beautifully called it a pre-arranged matter—helping her good friend Hestia publicize her child's renown.

But since it's already done, secrecy doesn't matter anymore; someone will always know the inside story, just not this specifically.

"So that's how it is."

"Of course, it's also because of appreciation for you, Miss Lili."

Lefiya added another line; saying it was just "returning a favor" would seem too calculating.

"Mm, please thank Team Leader Finn and Lord Loki for me."

Liliruca accepted graciously and generously.

She's going to be Broly-san's wife in the future; as the future mistress, accepting benefits from the master's current connections, she feels she's fully qualified.

And the Loki Familia brought an order worth twenty million Valis; the reason it's less than Ishtar Familia's amount is because Ishtar Familia resells alcohol while Loki Familia uses it themselves.

"Right, Lord Loki also said if you can stably supply Divine Wine, she's willing to add an exclusive order worth another ten million Valis."

Divine Wine production is extremely limited.

On the day of the Divine Wine Banquet, the outer members consumed over ten million Valis worth of Divine Wine; though the intimidation effect was excellent, turning the bitter Divine Wine into a nightmare for many drunkards, Liliruca still ached for a good while after learning the exact cost.

Fortunately, a portion was still left in reserve.

Liliruca quickly calculated in her mind, then nodded: "No problem, I can provide a ten million Valis share of Divine Wine."

From hating Divine Wine to selling it, only a change of stance is needed.

In former team leader Chanisi's hands, Divine Wine was bait dangled before members, forcing them to cross lines again and again for money;

In Liliruca's hands, it's an important export commodity—selling Divine Wine yields far higher profits than ordinary alcohol.

"That totals thirty million Valis then. This is our Familia's signed order, Team Leader Lili, please verify."

Tiona placed the voucher on the table.

Liliruca verified the numbers on it, and after confirming there were no errors, signed two liquor supply contracts with the Loki Familia.

The contracts bore the Soma Familia's Captain's official seal, were protected by the Guild, but the Guild would also levy a 5% transaction tax.

Precisely because of this tax, some people would choose not to sign contracts to evade taxes, and this was also the reason many merchants were anxious after Liliruca's promotion.

Those merchants who hadn't signed contracts worried the new Captain would swallow their deposits and not deliver the goods.

Of course, this actually only required one sentence — "Everything executed at the agreed price" — to resolve.

But capital seeks profit; some merchants wanted to take advantage of the Soma Familia's internal turmoil to push the wholesale price even lower.

Originally the 5% tax fee was a 2% discount the Soma Familia gave merchants to avoid taxes, in exchange for off-the-books transactions without contracts.

But now, some merchants wanted to push the discount to 4% or even more.

Due to the lack of formal written contracts, only the former Captain's private ledger, some merchants even twisted the facts, claiming this differed from the agreed preferential price.

Liliruca knew Chanisi's character well; she would never swallow this kind of loss, and didn't believe a single word of the merchants' lies.

But she still needed these people's liquor orders, so she could only temporarily wrangle with this group.

However, now with these two orders totaling sixty million Valis, regarding the merchants' united price-pressure threats, Liliruca could finally ignore a portion of them.

She had even rehearsed in her heart: next time if anyone brought up price cuts, she would directly reply, "If you want to do it, do it; if not, scram. You don't do this business, plenty of people want to do this business."

Of course, this was just thinking; the Soma Familia brews wine, completely offending liquor merchants is no good thing.

Sixty million Valis isn't enough to get arrogant; to bully customers with store size, you'd need at least a stable six hundred million Valis in orders.

Calculating in her heart, the Pallum girl's gaze turned to the two Hostess of Fertility waitresses beside her.

"Miss Xier, Miss Liu, are you here to deliver orders to me today as well?"

"Yes, but our orders can't compare to a large Familia's; to Captain Elder, they might be optional."

Xier spoke with slightly sarcastic undertones, as if saying they came to make fools of themselves.

"Ah, no such thing! I'm also very grateful you two came to help me. Hmm———— this is for Broly-san, right?"

Liliruca asked tentatively.

"What does your business have to do with Mr. Broly? I thought we were already friends, but now it seems Miss Lili doesn't consider me a friend at all!"

Xier put on a hurt expression, making Liliruca suddenly feel she had misspoken.

"S-sorry————"

Liliruca hurriedly apologized.

", I was just joking with you, you didn't take it seriously, did you?"

After she finished apologizing, she heard Miss Xier say this.

She raised her head to look — the Quest Board girl had no tears at all, completely wearing a smiling expression; only then did Liliruca realize she had been played.

In terms of manipulating others' emotions, Freya disguised as Xier was a master, after all she could see directly through souls.

And the reason she manipulated the Pallum girl's emotions was because she saw this Pallum girl's soul had become slightly more beautiful after becoming Familia Captain.

Although the Pallum girl's soul still couldn't compare to the soul level of the children she favored, the gradual excellence and brilliance were real.

The Pallum girl's growth was because of that Saiyan boy; that Saiyan boy's soul was also undergoing subtle changes because of the Pallum girl.

If she hadn't been paying constant attention, she probably wouldn't have detected this situation, which made Freya curious.

Hence the situation of teasing the Pallum girl with words; she would only do this to people she found interesting; clearly, the changes on Liliruca had aroused some interest in her.

Liliruca: "???"

"Sorry, Miss Lili, Xier occasionally likes to tease people, please don't be angry with her.

1

Liu apologized for her friend on the side.

"So, Miss Lili, do you consider me a friend or not?"

Liliruca wanted to say no in her heart, but as she raised her head, she saw the gray-haired girl pull out a Guild voucher from her pocket and wave it.

A startled glance at the length of zeros on it — appeared to be another substantial order business.

"Miss Xier jokes; we are of course friends."

Liliruca took a deep breath, plastered a business smile on her face, and said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

【After all, I'm the big friend, you're the little friend; both are objects Broly-san wants to encounter; if you enter the door later, you'll have to call me Big Sister Liliruca-sama!】

Xier widened her eyes looking at her; as a god disguised as a girl, she instantly saw through the Pallum girl's insincerity, but this was quite normal — many children she teased had this reaction.

"Since that's the case, then the Hostess of Fertility Tavern's monthly twenty-two million Valis liquor business is entrusted to Miss Lili; remember to give us some discounts, send a few extra bottles of good wine."

", sending a few extra bottles of good wine is no problem, but can the Hostess of Fertility consume twenty-two million Valis of liquor per month?"

Liliruca was somewhat surprised; she often went there for dinner, knew the Hostess of Fertility Tavern's business was good, customers' spending power wasn't low, but to say they stocked this much liquor monthly was still somewhat unreliable — seven or eight million would be more like it.

"Hehe, Miss Lili mustn't underestimate our tavern; the Hostess of Fertility's monthly turnover exceeds forty million Valis."

Xier proudly lifted her chin, "Of course, twenty-two million Valis of liquor is indeed a bit much, but our Boss Miya-mama also has some private channels to absorb this liquor; I begged her for a long time, asked her to help, and only then was she willing to stock some liquor from you."

"Uh, okay, Miss Xier, I thank you again, but that channel you mentioned — is it stable?"

Liliruca this time thanked from the heart, but still hesitated; long-term stable orders are what the Soma Familia truly needs.

"Rest assured, it's as stable as the Loki Familia's order; as long as your Soma Familia's liquor quality passes, this business will never end."

After all, this was her Goddess personally ordering, designating Soma Familia's liquor for the Logistics Department to indirectly order through the Hostess of Fertility; whether it's stable or not is still up to her.

"Right, is Mr. Broly not here? I didn't seem to see him."

After similarly signing a liquor purchase contract, Xier asked curiously.

That boy, to help Liliruca, these past few days when coming to the tavern, came and went in a rush, barely spoke to her; Xier only felt the Saiyan energy was somewhat insufficient.

Okay, that's a joke; she just wanted to properly observe the subtle changes in the Saiyan boy's soul.

"As for Broly-san, he went to the Dungeon with Bell."

Among the other six present, four were people Broly-san wanted to meet, and Liliruca didn't hide that.

"Mr. Broly went to the Dungeon, why didn't he invite me along?"

Ais blurted it out without thinking.

"Huh?!"

Lefiya widened her eyes at her and subconsciously asked, "Miss Ais, are you unhappy being with me lately?"

Hearing this, the Sword Princess girl looked blankly at the Elf girl, seeming not to understand why she asked that.

"Otherwise, why are you so eager to go to the Dungeon with Mr. Broly?"

Lefiya pressed further.

"Ah, Lefiya, I don't think Miss Ais means that."

"Hmm, Miss Ais probably has 'strength anxiety' again; after a few days without Broly's special training, her strength growth slows, and she gets anxious."

The Amazoness Sisters spoke one sentence at a time, explaining it to the Sword Princess.

"That's right, training with Mr. Broly, my strength always leaps forward; if I practice alone, progress is too slow."

Ais nodded seriously beside her; she wanted to improve too much.

"Uuu————"

Lefiya stopped speaking, only a gloomy look appeared on her small face; she clearly knew Miss Ais might not mean that, but still felt like she could become a defeated dog at any moment.

Well, recently being taught swordsmanship by Ais made Lefiya feel that her relationship with the girl was leaping forward, as if she had reached above friends but not yet lovers.

But now it seems this was just her illusion, and this illusion made her somewhat traumatized when the Sword Princess showed excessive enthusiasm toward others.

Simply put, Lefiya is an Elf who is somewhat prone to inexplicable jealousy.

Liliruca listened to the conversation of the Loki Familia members beside her, watching their subtle expressions, always feeling that Broly-san intending to meet both the Sword Princess and the Elf girl at the same time would be quite difficult, because Miss Lefiya seems to harbor some overly intimate feelings toward Miss Ais.

"Broly-san took Bell to wait for the Floor Boss Goliath's refresh on the 17th Floor."

Liliruca only explained one sentence, and Ais and the others, being Adventurers, understood instantly.

This is a matter of profit distribution; the other party waiting for the Floor Boss's refresh naturally wants to enjoy the profits alone.

If you go along, should you get a share of the profits?

Are you embarrassed to take it?

Is he embarrassed not to give it?

Rather than inviting him, it's better not to invite him.

"Is Mr. Broly going to subjugate Goliath alone?"

The Sword Princess girl asked curiously.

Floor Bosses with huge bodies usually possess strength surpassing those of the same level.

Don't look at Giant Goliath being just an Lv. 4 Floor Boss of the Middle Floors; in terms of Combat Strength, he is probably stronger than some higher-ranked monsters in the Deep Floors.

"Wait, I should have told Bell, isn't he human?"

"Uh, Mr. Kronos, who can barely deal with Lv. 2 monsters, probably can't help in subjugating Floor Boss Goliath?"

Well, regarding subjugating the Floor Boss, the Sword Princess girl indeed didn't regard Bell as effective combat power or the Saiyan boy's teammate.

【Uh, I think Bell can still help, for example his luck can serve as a Lucky Charm to increase drop rates————】

Liliruca thought to herself, but said on the surface: "Indeed he can't help, but Broly-san alone is enough————"