The group leader stared at the hooded girl in front of him. She was support; a clear example of that was the enormous brown bag equipped on her back.

"Oi, oi, who would have guessed that our own <Support> would rob us, wouldn't you agree?".

"Adventurer-sama, what do you plan to do? Lili is waiting for you to think again."

Lili, who looked like a small girl due to her short stature, looked down at the ground as she slowly backed up until her back made contact with the wall. Her expression was hidden, but her body trembled slightly. She was afraid; however, she was already used to this treatment.

The adventurers, who were the subordinates of the group leader, laughed loudly, cornering the girl.

"It's funny that whoever accompanies her inside the dungeon always loses one or another valuable item."

"Well, I don't know what else we expected from her. There are a lot of rumors surrounding this little leech."

"And more importantly, what do you think we should do with her?"

Lili's body shuddered, she wanted to run away quickly, but this time she was completely surrounded.

"Adventurers are always the same, despicable." She muttered in a low voice; even adventurers with sharp senses couldn't hear the content of the words.

"Huh? Did you say something?" With a smile that was no such thing, the leader grabbed the girl's head, squeezing it; "Well, actually, it doesn't matter." 

—Bam!—

The girl was pushed to the ground, a sharp pain transmitted from her face as she felt the weight lifted off her back.

"Ohoho, but what do we have here? This is a fortune!".

"Ohh, there's enough money to satisfy our stomachs with our favorite wine."

The team leader opened the brown bag, being fascinated by the contents. He tossed it aside and, with a strong kick, kicked the girl's stomach.

—Ugh—

"It's even got a magic weapon inside. How many adventurers have you scammed so far? Nah, it's something I honestly don't care about, it's just false morals on my part, but I enjoy stealing too."

—Bam—

Lili quickly curled up in a ball to shield her face with her arm and her stomach with her knee. Having been through many similar torments, she came to the conclusion that this position helped to cushion the blow significantly, and thus the pain she would suffer would be less.

Followed by a few mocking words, the leader offered a space for his friends to kick the girl as if she were a ball.

At that moment, while the girl had a depressed mind, the hurried footsteps of someone running approached.

—Boom!—

With a grunt of pain, an adventurer was thrown toward them, crashing into the wall.

Up to that point, he tried to lunge at a novice adventurer; however, he was hit and sent flying magnificently.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

As soon as the adventurers turned around, they saw an adventurer. He was probably a rookie; in any case, his equipment was garbage compared to theirs.

Lili, who was barely breathing at the sound of the voice, raised her arm slightly, managing to visualize the person interrupting them.

He was a handsome-looking young man with dark hair and blue eyes. His thin eyebrows furrowed in annoyance as he looked at her assailants.

The girl's brown eyes glinted slightly. Was he the person she had bumped into a moment ago? She looked around, searching for a way to escape.

"Huh, a rookie? I don't know whether to consider you foolish or brave."

The leader sneered as he kicked the girl again to keep her in place. With a —Crack!—, Lili's bone snapped, and she couldn't help but let out a pitiful scream.

"You bastard, you really did it."

The man who was lifted up by his companion spat blood and pulled out his magic staff, preparing for battle.

Meanwhile, Tooru, who could no longer see the battering, also readied his spear. His whole pose screamed that he was a novice. The ridicule on the faces of the adventurers in front of him did not escape sight.

"Hold on, guys." Surprisingly, the chief interrupted his companions, who were readying their weapons; "We can get out of this without a fight; after all, we are friendly adventurers."

The adventurers looked at each other; they seemed to understand each other.

"Alright, as if to put you in context."  The leader held out his arm, trying to explain to Tooru; "This girl, who is also part of our <Soma Familia>, stole from us. Can you believe it?! That someone from your own <Familia> would steal you...

That's pitiful; I bet you'd feel betrayed too."

The leader sighed in disappointment.

Tooru's eyebrows curved slightly upwards, and with an amused look, he said:

"Do you really think I'm going to fall for your pitiful performances? I wasn't born yesterday for fools to try to buy me with such words to stab me in the back."

Tooru, someone who went through unfortunate situations in the past, knew very well how the world and one's mentality worked.

The dungeon was known as a cruel place. Adventurers did their best to dodge each other, as they didn't trust each other enough to have each other's backs.

Many times word would spread of <accidents> occurring inside; however, many were aware that those accidents were the work of other adventurers.

Regardless of whether that meant saving their own butts or whether it was intentional, those two points were enough to bring up a caution in their hearts.

But Tooru was also aware that if a battle were fought, he would not necessarily emerge victorious. The group in front of him was no weaker than he was; however, as he had always done so far, he decided to trust his instincts.

"Hey, boss, I don't understand why you're stopping us from smashing that annoying mouth."

"That's right, boss."

The leader looked at them briefly, and his eyes lit up as he turned to Tooru.

"It's a pity; I could have let you go if you had played along with our game." Clicking his tongue, his voice became stern again: "In any case, you're just a rookie, so we don't need such a cheap trick to deal with you. Since you chose to fall here, along with this thieving rat. After all, I can't let the Guild blocklist me by dropping an accomplice, correct? So, guys, you have my approval on this."

"You're the best, boss!"

As he finished his words, he removed his sword from his back, as did the adventurers, who cheered loudly.

"Very well, so be it."

Tooru muttered and began his first battle against other humans.