The next day, Lili met with Ais Wallenstein again, and even though she tried to bury her resentment towards her God, it seemed that even the seven years old could sense her emotion because she looked at her in concern and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Fine. Just something in my Familia. Let's go."

Lili's attempt to alleviate her concern seemed to fail because Ais frowned. "I see. If it's something I can help with, please tell me."

She just nodded, appreciating her offer, even though she would never do it.

"Speaking of, I see that you're strong enough to lift your spear now," Ais commented as they traversed the first floor of the Dungeon.

"Yes. Hopefully, I won't be too much of a burden on you," Lili replied as they found two goblins blocking their way. The two raised their weapon and quickly took one each. Lili stepped in range and thrust her spear to the Goblin's head. They needed to collect the magic stones, a clear difference from the way the Pallums fought back in ancient times. She was too used to destroying the magic stones in one attack. In her opinion, it was one of the reasons she struggled fighting monsters now.

Blood splattered as the Goblin's skull was crushed from her attack. Blessings from the Gods were amazing. Her strength only raised around thirty, but she now could quickly destroy a Goblin's head while she struggled to even lift her spear before. Maybe, she thought, she was also helped by her False Strength skill. But that also appeared because of her effort.

Lili made quick work of the Goblin's corpse and collected the stone. When she looked around, Ais was already waiting for her. Just several months differences, but Ais was far ahead of her. As she thought, Falna was amazing. If only they had these things before in ancient times...

No, no. Remember that Falna was no different than Geas. It bound you to someone else's whim. This time, it was Gods and Goddesses instead of Kings. Not to mention, there were disappointing Gods and Goddesses, like her own God. Tch, just thinking about him again made her mad... She needed to vent.

"Let's go."

"Sure."

Four hours later, the two gathered enough courage and entered the fifth floor. It wasn't like they went in blind. From what Lili gathered, Ais had experiences helping her seniors in the Familia as a Supporter; she went to the tenth floor with them. As an Adventurer, Ais had gone down to the eighth floor under the supervision of her seniors. It was only when she was alone that she didn't dare go beyond fourth. That was enough in Lili's book to defer things to her.

After killing enough monsters, they found a secluded place and sat down. Lili was on the first watch schedule, so she still had her weapon with her in case of any sudden monster attack. Opening her boxed lunch, Ais started eating to replenish her energy.

"Here," Ais offered a piece of meat to her. Lili shook her head, rejecting her generosity.

"Thank you, but no need."

Ais frowned. "Riveria told me that girls our age are growing. To avoid malnutrition, you must eat a lot of good food."

And she would if she wasn't in the situation she found herself in. Really. But she guessed Ais was just a kid who wanted to become closer friends. She could, at least, accept her open arms.

"Thank you, Ais. How about dividing the portion so I can eat when you're done? I'm still on watch, after all," Lili answered with a soft smile. Ais reminded her of Dim, although Ais was better at masking her emotion. Dim was quite the fiery little Pallum. Always shouting here and there to everyone.

Her mind went back to the curse she left Dim with. It wasn't a real curse, per se. But it might as well be one. She was very sure that she was in the afterlife, but it seemed that getting reborn like this erased her memories in the afterlife. She remembered everything from the first time Fianna gained consciousness to the last breath she exhaled, but the following memories were of Liliruca Arde.

Another thing she regretted was her band of knights. All of them died because of a paranoid king who couldn't be arsed to accept his fate. Really, despite what everyone might think, she cared about all of them. Dim was even more so. She hoped they were okay in the afterlife. Although it had been thousands of years, so they were probably being happy above.

She did not know what happened afterward, and she had no intention of wasting her time looking at the past when she could do much more thinking of the future. Maybe after she drove Zanis off, but not before.

Without realizing it, Ais finished her lunch and let Lili know about it by standing up. "It's my turn now."

Lili nodded and let Ais watch the perimeter. She saw half portions of Ais' lunch on the box, so she took it and started eating. It was good. Tears began flowing down Lili's eyes at the taste. It had been a long time since she had a meal this delicious. Wasn't that a sad state of affairs?

"Liliruca?" She heard Ais inquire about her. Probably after looking at her tearful state. Damn it, eyes.

"Nothing," she tried to deflect and drop the matter.

From her body language, Ais clearly did not want her to drop this matter. But even so, Ais nodded at her, understanding her decision.

A kid like Ais did not need to know the internal problem of Soma Familia. It was a shitty situation that outsiders shouldn't know. Not because Lili didn't want the help, but because the girl in front of her was barely older than her. She would be condemning her to an unnecessary problem.

Lili quickly finished the food and stood up. They tore through the fifth floor together after that.

A/N: I think I understand why many authors loves misunderstandings. You can actually prolong a scene! I think this is the first time I write a misunderstanding that can easily be cleared by just talking and extending trust to someone else in my fic. Usually the characters I wrote would always solve troubles by talking rationally.