The Tsundere Little Hedgehog Baring Her Teeth Through Tears

Tap, tap, tap!

In the cramped, gloomy alley, Lily clutched a bulging money pouch as she fled deeper into the darkness, her footsteps heavy and frantic.

She could not even explain why she was running. She simply instinctively did not want to stay by Kashu's side any longer.

Lily, who normally survived through swindling and deceit, had long decided that she was a vile person—filthy and worthless.

In the past, as long as she tricked those foolish adventurers as usual and put on a sweet fake smile, everything would fall neatly into place.

But that man...

He knew nothing. He understood nothing. So why did he look at her as if he saw right through her?

And why did he want to help someone as hopeless as her?

A dull crash rang out through the alley. Lily, who had only been charging ahead with her head down, was knocked to the ground by the recoil.

Her eyes red, she looked up in anger and fear. In an instant, her pupils shrank sharply.

Three tall adventurers in mismatched armor blocked the narrow mouth of the alley completely.

They blotted out the sunlight, and their heavy shadows mercilessly enveloped the small Lily.

The scar-faced man in the lead bent down, picked up the money pouch, and weighed it in his hand. A savage grin spread across his face.

"You're pretty capable after all, Lily-chan."

As he spoke, Scarface slowly crouched down. His gaze was like that of a hyena watching a pitiful prey, brimming with greed and cruelty.

"Come on, tell your big brothers. Where were you planning to run off to?"

His tone was unusually gentle, but it contrasted sharply with the forced vicious grin on his face. Lily instinctively curled up, trembling uncontrollably.

Scarface casually grabbed Lily by the hood and yanked her up from the ground. So furious he laughed, he snarled.

"You useless piece of trash! You finally found some rich idiot, so why the hell are you running?"

"Get back there right now! Use that cute little face of yours to beg him to take you in, then squeeze every last drop out of that sucker!"

Enduring the searing pain of her scalp being pulled, Lily's frail body shook violently as a weak sob squeezed out of her throat.

"I... don't want to..."

"Huh?"

Scarface's expression twisted instantly. The hideous scar across his face became even more terrifying with his fury, exposing his true viciousness.

Just as he raised his foot to teach the disobedient Lily a harsh lesson, a cool male voice drifted over from behind the three men.

"Excuse me, but is that rich idiot you were talking about me?"

"Wha—"

Before he could finish, a fierce gust howled through the narrow alley.

Moving like a phantom, Kashu spun and lashed out with a kick, smashing his feet into the chests of the two lackeys. They were flung into the wall like rag dolls.

Before Scarface could react, a palm suddenly clamped over his face and drove him viciously into the wall, producing a crisp cracking sound.

Lily felt the brute force tugging at her head vanish in an instant, and her body suddenly lost support.

The next moment, she fell into a warm embrace.

Kashu looked down at the bewildered Lily, gently bent over to set her down, and raised a hand to softly ruffle her short hair.

"I watched for a bit. It seemed faster to just ask you directly."

"Were they threatening you? Or do you have some other difficulties?"

Lily glanced at the three men sprawled on the ground like dead dogs, then shook her head bitterly. Her voice was full of self-loathing and mockery.

"What? You'll help me if I tell you? Even though you already know I'm with them?"

Kashu raised an eyebrow slightly. "I originally thought you were being coerced. Even now, you still consider yourself one of them?"

Lily roughly wiped her face and lifted her head. She made no effort to conceal the stubbornness and despair in her eyes as she spoke coldly.

"That's right. I'm with them. My job was to lure you into a trap and steal all your savings!"

Kashu pointed at the three minor thugs lying on the ground and could not help laughing.

"With them?"

"...We miscalculated this time. Do whatever you want with me."

Lily closed her eyes calmly, without the slightest intention of defending herself. She looked entirely like someone stubbornly unrepentant.

Kashu gazed at the faintly trembling girl before him, bent down to pick up the money pouch that had rolled aside, and lightly tossed it into her arms.

"Take your share of the money, find an inn, and get some proper sleep. Wait for me in front of Babel Tower tomorrow morning."

Lily: Σ(っﾟДﾟ)っ

"W-Wait! You wait right there!"

Lily looked up at Kashu's back as he turned to leave, stomping her feet in frustration as she shouted.

"Do you even understand what's going on here?!"

"I told you, I'm with them! Yet not only are you not angry, you still want to team up with me! This makes no sense at all!"

Without looking back, Kashu waved his hand. His calm voice drifted into the alley on the breeze, leaving Lily frozen in place.

"Doesn't it get tiring, baring your teeth like a little hedgehog all day? Be careful, or you might miss your chance and never see hope again."

Twilight Manor.

After everyone finished dinner together, Kashu gave them a brief greeting, then picked up Loki, who was trying to drunkenly cause trouble, with one hand and headed straight back to the living room.

He tossed the unreliable, perverted goddess onto the soft sofa and got straight to the point.

"Tell me everything about the Soma Familia."

"Huh?"

Instantly sobering up, Loki sat cross-legged on the sofa with a puzzled expression.

"The Soma Familia messed with you?"

Kashu sat sideways in a nearby chair and curled his lip dismissively.

"If pinning three of them into a wall counts as them messing with me."

Hearing that, Loki rubbed her chin and grinned.

"Be clean about it. Don't let them get anything on you."

Kashu snorted. "Do I look that careless? They tried to rob my party member, and I stepped in to stop them. Perfectly reasonable."

As for Kashu's explanation, Loki would not believe even a single punctuation mark of it!

The crafty goddess's eyes darted about as she immediately pressed him further.

"So this has something to do with that new party member of yours? She got tangled up with people from the Soma Familia?"

Kashu shook his head. "It's worse than that. My party member is also from the Soma Familia."

The moment he said that, Loki became interested. She immediately sat upright and began explaining with enthusiasm.

"As for the Soma Familia, you might know more than I do. But when it comes to that guy Soma..."

A trace of helplessness flashed through Kashu's eyes. Sure enough, the gods of this world are very different from the information I knew. Who knows what Soma will pull?

Loki tapped the empty wine bottle with a finger and continued recounting the divine secrets she knew.

"Soma's especially reclusive. He never attends the gods' meetings, and he puts all his heart into his hobby. He never even concerns himself with his Familia."

"A hobby?" Kashu frowned slightly, looking at the wine bottle in Loki's hand. "Brewing?"

Loki casually tossed away the empty bottle, her tone rising several notches.

"That's right—brewing!"

"Soma's only hobby is brewing. Even though none of us can use our divine power in the lower world, he can still brew that divine wine that makes people fall into depravity!"

As she spoke, Loki seemed to recall the wonderful taste of the divine wine. She unconsciously licked her lips before adding,

"You could even say he created his Familia just to have the children earn money for his brewing."

Kashu's gaze instantly turned cold. "God Soma deliberately lets his Familia members amass wealth?"

Loki hurriedly waved her hands. "No, no, no. How could that be? Didn't I say it? That idiot never asks about Familia matters."

"He just let the children taste the divine wine. Kid, think about it. After mortals have tasted divine wine, what would they do to experience that drunken, dreamlike bliss again?"

After hearing Loki's explanation, Kashu finally understood completely why the Soma Familia had become so twisted.

A group of vile adventurers willing to do anything for another taste of divine wine.

A god immersed in his own world, utterly neglecting his children.

Screech—!

Kashu abruptly rose to his feet, the legs of his chair scraping against the floor with a piercing noise as he strode toward the living room exit.

Loki smacked her lips, a hint of regret on her face as she raised a hand and called after him.

"Be clean about it, and come back early."

"Okay."