The earliest memories of Liliruca Arde were when she was three years old. She was begging for money in the streets at her parent's insistence. Dressed in rags and barefoot, Lili raised her hands to beg for spare coins from the people walking. That was all she did every day; standing around in the streets trying to draw people's sympathy. All of that effort, even using people's sympathy to gain money, was for a single purpose; getting more Soma wine. Not that Lili understood all that. All she knew was her parents told her to do that.
Soon enough, her parents never came back. Knowing nothing else, Lili continued begging for money.
After a fruitless day of begging, where she had gotten no money, Lili came back to the Soma Familia's home with a dejected expression. No money means no food. With a grumbling stomach, Lili wandered the home searching for a bite.
It was then that she met her God, Soma. The Falna inscribed on her back told her instinctively that this man in front of her was her God. She tried to go away, but her stomach chose that time to growl.
Being approached by someone taller than her, Lili took a step back, but she stopped when she realized the deity in front of her did not threaten her. Instead, Soma offered her one of the stuff inside his paper bag, a single Jagamarukun.
She had heard about the food, but this was her first time seeing it. Looking alternately between the food and her God, Lili eventually accepted the offered food with a rosy cheek. Slowly, she took a bit, savoring each chew of the Jagamarukun.
It was delicious, especially since it was her first proper food in a while and not just some scraps she found on the street. The taste of potato filled her mouth and then went down, filling her belly. Without even realizing it, Lili had nothing else to bite. The Jagamarukun was all eaten up.
"U-Um... Thank you very much."
She did not hear any reply. Soma just looked at her with a stare that Lili couldn't perceive.
When Soma began to walk away, Lili didn't know what to do. Ultimately, she followed Soma's step toward the home's innermost room. Although she hesitated, in the end, Soma did not chastise her. Inside the room, Soma put several more Jagamarukun on a plate and offered them to her, with him only taking one for himself.
Lili began to eat the Jagamarukun without any prompting. As she ate, Soma worked on various mixtures of plants inside the room. Was he perhaps making his wine? However, what caught her attention was the frequent sound of the pestle meeting mortar. It was...
Slowly, her eye drooped, and she yawned. The rhythmic sound of the mortar and pestle sounded like a familiar lullaby from her early days.
Lord Soma is...
And then the dreams claimed her.
When she was six years old, Liliruca Arde was summoned together with all the other Soma Familia members by Zanis Lustra.
"As of now, I am the new captain of Soma Familia. These wines are all gifted by Lord Soma to us," Zanis spoke as he handed everyone a cup of the Soma wine. Lili got one, and even just the smell was so divine she couldn't hold herself back.
"A toast to the new Soma Familia!"
Lili put the cup on her lips and sipped the wine.
In an instant, Lili's mind went into overdrive. It was as if something in her mind was unlocked because, all of sudden, memories that weren't hers rushed inside her brain. She was Liliruca Arde, but at the same time, she was also Fianna, the leader of the band of Pallum knights. She experienced the lost childhood of Fianna and the adulthood bound by the Geas to King Cormac. She also got to experience the end of Fianna, where she was betrayed by the people she bound herself to.
That was... Fianna died in ancient times. She felt her soul leaving her body in her memories. But after that? Suddenly the memories stopped, and new memories as Liliruca Arde began.
Reincarnation, her mind supplied.
When Lili's mind snapped back to reality, it was to see all the other members drunk, lost in their own minds after tasting the divine wine. She looked around and saw Zanis laughing at the other members' state. Realizing that even in this life, she was bound to a piece of shit, Lili feigned being drunk.
She would have to gain power fast for her own sake and the others in the Familia.
A/N: And now we're entering Lili's introduction arc!