In a tavern in Orario:
"Did you hear?"
"What?"
"There was a huge explosion on Floor 16 today."
"Explosion?"
"Yeah. Fire magic stones detonated."
"Apparently some adventurers were carrying a lot of them and got attacked by Hellhounds."
"And the result?"
"What do you think? They were blown to pieces."
Cao Ye overheard the conversation while eating at The Hostess of Fertility.
Fire magic stones were basically dungeon explosives.
Even a small piece could cause massive destruction.
He didn't think much of it.
Suddenly—
Someone sat down across from him.
"Long time no see, adventurer~"
It was the beautiful waitress Syr.
Cao Ye almost slipped.
"Frey—"
"Syr… Miss Syr."
He quickly corrected himself.
The surrounding tables were empty.
Anya and Ryuu were busy elsewhere.
Clearly this was arranged.
"Adventurer, you haven't come here for a long time."
"Busy lately."
Cao Ye answered awkwardly.
From the bar counter, Mama Mia sighed helplessly.
What could she do?
Her goddess was acting mischievous again.
"Are you so busy you can't even come for dinner at night?"
Syr asked with a pitiful expression.
Cao Ye felt helpless.
In Babel Tower she was a queenly goddess.
Here she acted like a cute girl.
Syr suddenly leaned close to his ear.
Her breath brushed against him.
"Come see me tonight."
"I have something to tell you."
Then she smiled brightly and left.
Cao Ye's heart raced.
Being constantly teased by Freya was dangerous.
His desires were building up badly.
But he quickly forced himself to calm down.
She was still his goddess boss.
"Come tonight…?"
He lay on his bed later that day, thinking wildly.
His imagination ran into very questionable territory.
Finally he sat up.
"Nope. Need to distract myself."
He summoned his cursed puppet:
The small fire dragon cursed corpse.
Improving his cursed puppet technique was his hobby.
Daytime: testing in combat.
Nighttime: refining designs.
It felt like assembling Legos mixed with circuit engineering.
Creating something with his own hands was incredibly satisfying.
Meanwhile…
Lili sat alone in a dark room.
A bag of money lay beside her.
Her hands trembled.
"I killed someone…"
Today she detonated the fire magic stones.
Five adventurers died in the explosion.
She had deceived many people before.
But this was the first time she had killed someone.
And the shock of it was overwhelming.
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