In DanMachi, I Was Targeted by Freya from the Start!

Within the Familia, she had been ruthlessly exploited by its members. Outside, she was bullied by adventurers as well.

Amid despair and anger, Lili had briefly escaped from the Familia. But when its members discovered that a florist couple had taken her in, they destroyed the flower shop, indirectly causing Lili to be hated by others.

All of this made Lili despise adventurers. She had even willingly fallen into depravity, constantly honing her thieving skills to steal adventurers' belongings, then watching their anger and despair from the shadows to comfort her own heart that had already sunk into darkness.

Yet this time, she had nearly lost her life, only to experience kindness for the first time.

Even if she wanted to deceive herself into believing that the other party had ulterior motives, someone who lived in darkness could not deceive themselves about the longing for light deep within their heart.

However, while she was grateful to Cao Ye, she harbored nothing but hatred for those adventurers who had nearly gotten her killed.

"You abandoned me, so it's only fair that I give you a 'gift,' right?"

As she spoke, Lili took a small bundle from a hidden compartment in her backpack. When she opened it, there was a delicate shortsword inside—a magic sword.

In Orario, magic was an extremely powerful means of attack. Yet among all adventurers, only a very small number of talented people possessed magic.

And among those people, another portion had to be excluded because they did not possess offensive magic.

This showed just how rare mages were in Orario.

Magic swords, however, did not require their wielders to know magic. Anyone could use them, so they were sought after by countless people. Combined with their high production cost, magic swords naturally remained extremely expensive.

The magic sword in her hand was not particularly good, but it was still an expensive item.

She had scrimped and saved for a long time to buy it for self-defense. Yet when she had truly encountered danger, she had not even had time to take out the magic sword, much less use it.

Then, Lili tore apart her backpack and staged the scene to look as though it had been attacked by Hellhounds.

She also took out some of the weapons inside and scattered them around. But after rummaging through it for a while, she spotted a package at the very bottom.

That reminded her that the things inside had been specifically assigned to her by those people.

She did not know exactly what they were, but intimidated by their authority, she had not dared ask. Thinking about it now, there was definitely something wrong with this package.

With that thought, Lili took out the package and quickly untied the knot on it.

When she opened the cloth bundle and saw what was inside, Lili was instantly stunned. A chill rose from the soles of her feet.

Firestones were extremely unstable. Once struck, they could easily cause violent explosions.

There were so many Firestones in this package. If something happened and they exploded, she would definitely be blown to pieces.

At that thought, Lili felt a chill run down her spine. No wonder they had insisted that she carry it and repeatedly emphasized that she keep her distance from them. They had been afraid that the Firestones would explode.

But after the lingering fear came even more intense fury.

She had never imagined that from the very beginning, they had made her carry something so dangerous without even letting her know.

"You really wanted to kill me!!!"

Lili clenched one hand tightly into a fist. Her disgust and killing intent toward adventurers surged to its peak.

Looking at the Firestones, Lili tied the bundle back up and put it into her backpack.

Before, she had worried that a single magic sword might not be powerful enough. It might be able to kill one or two of them by surprise, but dealing with the rest would be difficult.

Now that she had these Firestones, there was no need to worry. As long as she detonated them, all those people would die here.

"Your mark belongs to me, and my mark still belongs to me!"

Along with the chant, Lili's magic activated. Her appearance gradually began to change, transforming from a human child into a beastfolk demi-human.

Then, carrying the magic sword, she carefully hid herself in a corner.

She would wait for those people to return. So many weapons, along with the Firestones, were worth a considerable sum. She did not believe they would simply abandon them.

As long as they came back, she would make them understand just how quickly revenge could come.

Meanwhile, Cao Ye had already found the two fleeing Minotaurs. His luck was fairly good—they had not hurt anyone. Otherwise, it would have been his fault.

"You two unlucky brats really made me search for you. Die already."

"Roar—"

"Pfft—"

Amid the Minotaurs' roars, Cao Ye directly ended their lives.

"Thud—"

However, where the Minotaurs had died, there was a horn. Cao Ye was quite surprised. A Minotaur had actually dropped a horn—this was the first time.

In the original story, Bell had received a horn after killing the Minotaur trained by Ottar, which was later forged into a weapon.

Come Over Tonight!

"Have you heard?"

"Heard what?"

"A massive explosion happened on the sixteenth floor today, causing the entire floor to crack apart."

"An explosion?"

"That's right. They say it was a Firestone explosion. Apparently, some suicidal idiots were carrying quite a few Firestones when they encountered Hellhounds on the sixteenth floor, and they were ultimately detonated."

"Then those people...?"

"Is there even a need to ask? They were definitely blown to pieces. Those were Firestones, not toys."

"How's the situation now?"

"Not sure. But I heard the impact was pretty serious, and the Guild has already sent people to deal with it."

At the Hostess of Fertility, Cao Ye was eating as he listened to the conversation between two people at the next table. Though somewhat surprised, he did not pay much attention to it.

He knew about Firestones as well. They were something similar to gunpowder.

Even a small piece could cause a violent explosion. They were dangerous goods.

Just as Cao Ye's thoughts wandered, a lovely figure sat down in front of him.

"It really has been a long time, Mr. Adventurer~~"

Across from him sat a beautiful waitress, her bright eyes fixed on Cao Ye.

"Frey—Miss Syr~"

Looking at her, Cao Ye nearly let it slip, but he caught himself in time.

He subconsciously looked around. The customers at the neighboring table had somehow already left, while Anya, Ryu, and the others were serving guests elsewhere.

"Mr. Adventurer hasn't come by in a long time. Has something happened?"

Looking at the goddess in front of him, who had changed into a different disguise, Cao Ye did not know what to say.

"I've been a little busy lately~"

He could only brush her off. There was nothing else he could do.

At the counter, Mama Mia looked at Syr sitting across from Cao Ye and sighed helplessly.

What else could she do? This was her goddess. Even if she had supposedly retired, as long as the divine blessing branded upon her remained, she would forever belong to the Freya Familia.

What could she do about such a willful goddess? She could only turn a blind eye.

"Could Mr. Adventurer truly be so busy that he doesn't even have time to come for dinner at night?"

"I..."

Cao Ye was speechless as he looked at the pitifully adorable beauty before him.

Do you have to act like this? You know that I know your identity, yet you're still putting on this act. At Babel Tower, you were a queen standing above all others, but now you're acting like a little girl.

Seeing Cao Ye's conflicted expression, Syr immediately smiled.

"Come over tonight. I have something to tell you..."

After teasing him, Syr stood up, bent down beside Cao Ye's ear, and slowly whispered those words.

After saying that, Syr gave Cao Ye a dazzling smile, then turned and returned to her "work."

As the poster girl of the Hostess of Fertility, her work was indispensable. Who knew how many people came here specifically because of her reputation?

Yet the warm breath she had exhaled against his ear made Cao Ye's heart race.

Ever since joining the Freya Familia, Cao Ye had often endured the seductions of the Goddess of Beauty. The fire in him had grown stronger by the day, with nowhere to release it.

Being approached so intimately now naturally made his heart stir.

But in the next moment, Cao Ye calmed down, because the person before him was his superior.

"Come over tonight?"

Watching Syr return to the kitchen, Cao Ye was filled with confusion.

Could something have happened? Otherwise, she wouldn't have told me to go see her at night.

Wait. Come over tonight! She has something to tell me!

What couldn't she say during the day? Why did it have to be at night? Could it be that this goddess who's keeping me is finally calling on me?

Cao Ye did not know, but that did not stop his imagination from running wild.

However, she had already left, so he had no way to ask. After eating and drinking his fill, he could only head back.

After returning, Cao Ye lay on his bed. Because of Syr's words, his mind could not stop wandering, especially as he imagined countless explicit scenarios.

"No, I need to distract myself. If this keeps up, I'm going to explode."

In the end, Cao Ye sat up and could not help saying aloud.

When people had nothing to do, they tended to overthink. Cao Ye was a pervert to begin with, and the more he thought, the messier the thoughts in his head became. It would not be long before his mind was full of dirty thoughts.

"Right, the cursed corpse. Charmander's cursed corpse still needs work."

The door to Imaginary Space opened, and the orange Charmander appeared in the room.

Cao Ye cared deeply about this first creation that he had personally made. He also cared greatly about Cursed Corpse Manipulation.

Although he had not focused on it as much since obtaining the Ratio Technique, Cao Ye still valued it greatly.

Refining his work through careful craftsmanship and making it more perfect little by little was what Cao Ye most wanted to do right now.

Besides that, creating more cursed corpses was also one of Cao Ye's small goals.

Then, Cao Ye began refining Charmander. This had become his habit: test it in actual combat during the day, then resolve any problems discovered during the day when he returned at night.

Moreover, compared to before, Charmander was now considered a qualified cursed corpse.

Using the technique, Cao Ye could freely control Charmander in battle. Its previous stiffness had completely vanished.

The feeling was like a combination of building LEGO and assembling circuits.

The feeling of personally creating a large-scale figurine was simply incredibly appealing to a man.

"Huff, huff, huff—"

Rapid panting echoed continuously through the cramped space.

Lili curled up in a corner. On the table beside her was a money pouch filled with Valis.

"I killed someone!"

Today, she had personally used a magic sword to detonate the Firestones, sending five adventurers to their deaths in the explosion caused by the Firestones.

Although she had deceived countless people throughout her life, this was the first time she had actually killed someone. For Lili, it was an enormous shock that required time to process.

Thinking about something and putting it into action were two completely different things.

My First Visit to the Loki Familia!

It was late at night when Freya finally summoned Cao Ye amid his unease.

With "excitement" in his heart, Cao Ye arrived at the goddess's bedroom. However, the scene he had imagined did not happen.

"Lady Freya~"

The moment he entered, Cao Ye spoke to Freya.