Dragon Ball: Saiyan's Gourmet Journey

Chapter 671 What you say makes sense, but who's been reasoning with you?
Broly had already noticed something was wrong with the little girl through the Crystal Palace panel, but he didn't want to ask her directly. He was planning to investigate her properly during dinner, but Lily Luca spoke up first, and he directly expressed his willingness to help her.

"Here's the thing, Brother Broly, I want to leave your supporter team."

That's what the little girl said.

Upon hearing this, Bell, who was ordering food, was somewhat stunned.

Broly also frowned.

"May I ask why this is?"

"Yes, because I'm too tired. The workload of being your support is too heavy, so heavy that I can't keep up."

Lily Luca answered.

"If that's the only reason, you can do it at your own pace. I'll pay you whatever you can carry upstairs, and I don't necessarily expect you to be exhausted."

"That's true, but there's another important reason: during the few days I worked for you, I actually earned enough money for myself."

As the little girl spoke, an embarrassed smile appeared on her face as she explained, "It's not a problem with the job, but a problem with myself. I've never really liked dangerous dungeons."

My parents died in the underground city, leaving me an orphan. So, I once swore that if I could earn money for other jobs, I would no longer do this job as a supporter.

"Brother Broly, I'm very grateful to you for hiring me, which has allowed me to earn a lot of money recently that I could never have imagined before. But now I've earned enough, and I feel it's time for me to pursue the life I want."

"So that's how it is..."

The innocent white-haired boy had no suspicions, but Bell, who had already regarded the little girl as a companion, was somewhat saddened by the departure of his familiar workplace partner from the underground city.

"Miss Erd, now that you're quitting as a supporter, what do you plan to do next?"

He asked.

"Well, I'm planning to open a flower shop and do a small business selling flowers."

Lily Luca thought for a moment and then answered.

She also remembered the florist couple who had taken her in when she fled her family in the past.

If it weren't for those bastards from the Soma Familia who wanted to exploit her for free labor and vandalized her flower shop, her life would probably be completely different now. Instead of being some kind of supporter in a dangerous dungeon, she would be a little girl selling flowers in a flower shop.

"Then we'll still be able to see each other after that, right?"

The boy's sadness began to fade. After all, it wasn't a matter of life and death. Miss Erd went to open a flower shop, and everyone could still see each other in the future. Perhaps, he and Brother Broly could even patronize each other's businesses.

"No, I'm going to leave Orario."

However, Lily Luca shook her head in response.

"what?"

Bell gaped, not understanding why opening a flower shop required leaving Orario.

"The world is big, and I want to see places that aren't in Orario."

Lily Luca said with a smile, as if that was exactly what she had always thought.

"Lily..."

Broly then spoke up.

"Um, Brother Broly, what's wrong?"

The little girl looked at him.

"When we first met, you said at the dinner table that you wanted to make money so you could live a good life, right?"

Broly asked.

"Yep."

The girl nodded.

"Okay, now let me ask you a question: do you really think that you've earned enough money to live a good life?"

"Isn't this a matter of course? Otherwise, I would never have given up such a lucrative support job with you, Brother Broly!"

Lily Luca answered with a smile, as if he had asked a strange question.

"Is that so? Then let's consider tonight's meal a farewell banquet for you."

Broly paused for a moment, then raised the juice in his hand and smiled at the little girl.

"Lily, I sincerely wish you a happy and fulfilling life ahead."

"Thank you for your kind words, Brother Broly."

Lily Luca also raised her juice and smiled in response.

"Miss Erd, I will miss you."

The white-haired boy, feeling sad about parting, raised his juice with a hint of tears in his voice.

Ah, how could I possibly turn such precious companions into slaves to the divine liquor, into rabid drunkards driven mad by it?!

“I will miss you too, Belle.”

Lily Luca smiled in response to the boy, but felt a little regretful inside.

From now on, I'll probably have to keep circling around these two in Orario.

Lily Luca believes that it was because she was hired that Broly was targeted by those bastards from her own clan, just like the florist couple who had taken pity on her and taken her in in the past.

The little girl took another bite of the delicious meat chop. Although she knew she might be scolded and made to vomit by the raccoon-man bastard when he found out she had failed, at least for this moment, the meat chop in her mouth was delicious.

"By the way, Broly, Bell, before I leave, I have something to say to you."

"What?"

"Alcohol is not a good thing. It's best to avoid it if possible. If you become addicted to it, it can bring you bad things."

After a farewell banquet, as they parted ways at the Tower of Babel, Lilyluka said these words to the two of them.

"Uh, neither Broly nor I drink alcohol."

Bell quickly replied.

"That's good. Remember, from now on, no matter who tries to persuade you to drink, you should refuse, especially those from the Soma clan."

She had to distance herself from the two of them, but that bastard Kanu might not give up. Lilyluka couldn't directly tell them that someone had threatened her and fed them the divine wine.

If Broly and Bell find out, they might come to help me, but what can they do if they are only Level 1 as well?

Kanu may be a bastard, but he is also a genuine Lv.2 adventurer. Although it is said that Seth, who is also a Lv.2, was taken care of by Broly.

The problem is that those were done secretly in private, but this time, if Broly and the Soma Familia clash because of him...

That was definitely not a good thing for Broly and his brothers, who were just newly formed members of the Familia.

I can't let them cause me unimaginable trouble just because they're willing to help me...

With this in mind, all Lily Luca could do was offer subtle reminders.

"Yes, Bell and I will remember your advice."

Broly didn't ask anything, but simply nodded and said...

Seeing this, the little girl seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, looked relaxed, and waved goodbye.

"Brother Broly, let's go back together."

After watching Lily Luca walk away, Bell said to the boy beside him.

"Why go back? Let's follow them."

However, Broly said...

"Eh?"

“Lily is clearly in trouble. I want to see what it is that made her choose to leave my team.”

The Crystal Palace panel displays Lily Luca's happiness level, allowing Broly to intuitively understand the little girl's feelings.

He was just casually agreeing without knowing the specifics; he wasn't really willing to sit idly by and watch the little girl he was trying to woo fall into an unfortunate situation.

"Ah, Brother Broly, you mean Miss Erd left our team not because she wanted to, but because she was forced to?"

Bell asked, his eyes wide.

"Otherwise, she was all smiles yesterday, but today she looks preoccupied. She even said she's made enough money and wants to leave our team. Before leaving, she reminded us of the dangers of alcohol and told us to be careful of others urging us to drink, especially those from the Soma clan. If there's no problem with that, then it would be truly unbelievable."

Broly rolled his eyes at Bell beside him, then took the lead in following the little girl who was about to walk away and out of sight.

"Ah, wait for me, Broly."

Bell quickly followed.

. . . .

"Erdene, are you saying that when you were planning to secretly give your employer the holy wine, you were discovered by them first?"

Today, not at the Soma Familia's residence, but in an old tavern, Lily Luca found the tanuki-man who delivered goods to the tavern.

“I’m very sorry, Mr. Kanu, I messed up the task you assigned me, but I really tried my best. I originally planned to put the magic wine in the juice for my employer to drink, but when I was stealing the magic wine, the other party caught me doing it. They thought I was putting something bad in it, so I was severely punished and fired.”

Lily Luca took off her hood, revealing her face with some bruises and scars underneath, but she had done these herself on the way to make her lies more convincing.

"Mr. Kanu, please forgive me."

Seeing the raccoon man's face darken, Lily Luca began to plead.

"Hey, Kanu, go handle your own family affairs, don't let them affect my business."

The tavern owner was somewhat displeased with the disturbance that had occurred, and he spoke to the raccoon man.

"Let's go, take her to the back alley and talk about it there."

Envankov Kanu glanced at his henchmen, and the humans and werewolves came over and started to impregnate the little girl who was begging for forgiveness.

"Where's the divine wine?"

Once outside in the alley, Kanu asked the little girl, "Here, I didn't let the divine wine you gave me be stolen."

Lily Luca quickly answered, pulling a glass bottle containing the divine wine from her pocket.

Envankov Kanu glanced at the bottle and then smiled: "Erd, you said you got caught stealing the divine wine, right?"

"Ah, yes."

Lily Luca nodded quickly.

"Then how do you explain that the bottle hasn't even been opened? Could it be that you managed to steal the divine wine and give it to someone else to drink without opening the bottle?"

Upon hearing this, Lily Luca's heart tightened. She was so focused on making up a story to fool Kanu that she forgot to check if there was anything fishy about the glass bottle containing the divine wine. She never expected that this thing would have a method to detect whether it had been opened.

"Ah, I was caught when I was taking out the magic wine, and I was caught before I even opened the bottle."

Lily Luca quickly explained.

"Erdene, do you think I should believe you?"

“Mr. Kanu, please believe me, I know the consequences of deceiving you, how could I dare to deceive you?”

The little girl's face showed fear and dread, appearing completely genuine.

"Ok, I trust you."

The raccoon-man didn't see through the little girl's disguise and nodded.

"However, since you did a poor job, you will still be punished in some way."

Nwankowo Kanu stepped forward, clenching his fists.

"Ah, Mr. Kanu, please have mercy."

Lily Luca said, but she was already prepared to get beaten up.

Compared to betraying one's companions without getting beaten up, getting beaten up is not a big deal.

The little girl covered her head with her hands, pretending to be scared and closing her eyes, while her abdomen beneath her robes tightened.

"Uh-huh~"

A painful cry echoed through the alley, but the expected abdominal pain did not occur, and the voice was not hers.

Lilyluka Erd cautiously opened her eyes and saw the tanuki-man Envankov Kanu clutching his stomach, curled up like a shrimp in front of her.

"Miss Erd, are you alright?"

Bell's voice rang out from the side.

"Bell, Broly, what are you doing here?"

Lily Luca looked at the two people who appeared in front of her with some surprise.

"Brother Broly noticed something was wrong with you a long time ago, so he secretly followed us with me. I didn't expect that Miss Erd would leave the team because you were really threatened by someone else."

At this point, Bell realized what he was talking about and scratched his head.

"No, that's not right. They probably don't want to be a threat to us, so they want to stay away from us, right?"

"Ah, Erd, you bastard, did you lie to us?"

Beside him, the werewolf Nova stared wide-eyed. The fact that Lilyluka's employer was here, and that the boy who was also a supporter said those words, proved that the matter of Lilyluka's so-called divine wine being discovered was just a lie fabricated by the other party to deceive them.

"Aren't you deceiving us because you want to use Miss Erd to your advantage?"

Bell said somewhat angrily.

"Lily, it seems like you don't consider us important partners."

Ignoring Bell's standoff with the other two, Broly walked up to the little girl and spoke to her with a stern face.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't want to cause trouble for you and Bell, Brother Broly..."

Lily Luca lowered her head and said softly.

"The injuries on your face, were they inflicted by them?"

Broly reached out and touched the bruised and swollen face of the little girl, then asked.

"I made this myself..."

Lily Luca felt a little embarrassed. She didn't know if Broly knew about the lie she had made up and told to Kanu and the others.

"Hmph, if you hurt yourself, then that's their fault too."

Broly snorted and began chanting a spell.

"Divine power is like a delicious sustenance, granting strength to those who have lost their strength to rise again—[Healing]!"

Learned from the Six-Sided World and materialized by his ability value, the rudimentary healing magic light enveloped Broly's palm. As he stroked the little girl's injured face, it gradually smoothed away the bruises.

"Ah, Brother Broly, you also know healing magic?"

The little girl used questions to cover up her shyness at being touched on the face and having her wounds healed by the boy, but the color of her face could not be concealed; it had already turned slightly red.

"That's not important. What's important is, Lily, can you tell me the specifics of what's going on here?"

Broly cupped the little girl's face in his hands and looked straight at her as he asked.

"The thing is like this..."

Now that things had come to this, Lily Luca naturally wouldn't hide it any longer and honestly told Kanu, the tanuki-man from the same clan, what he wanted her to do.

"So, because we can make money, these guys want to use you to get us to drink this special liquor, so they can control us and squeeze money out of us?"

"Yes, this is a common tactic used by our Soma clan."

Lily Luca nodded.

"Misunderstanding, misunderstanding! Don't listen to this liar's nonsense. I only asked her to recommend our clan's fine wines to you. I never intended to control you."

Broly's sudden appearance beside him and the punch he delivered to the abdomen made Kanu realize that the boy's strength was definitely not simple. As a bully who preyed on the weak and feared the strong, he dared not provoke someone much stronger than himself, so he quickly began to defend himself.

"Forcing Lily to secretly give us this stuff, is this what you mean by not wanting to control us?"

Broly picked up the divine wine from the ground and looked at the tanuki-man, who had recovered, with a somewhat dangerous gaze.

"Ah, this is just a fine wine brewed by Lord Soma. It's not a contraband, and it's not addictive. If you don't believe me, I can drink it for you right now."

"Envankovo ​​Kanu said quickly."

"Ok?"

Broly frowned, turned to look at the dwarf girl, and asked, "Lily, is what this guy is saying true?"

"Uh……"

Lily Luca hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Lord Soma's wine is indeed not a prohibited item, but because its taste is so exquisite, once you've tasted it, you can't forget it and you'll always want to drink it again."

Although not an addictive contraband, it is a product restricted from sale by the Ganesha Familia and guilds.

Because people who lack self-control will inevitably become reckless in their desire to drink it again after drinking it once.

This is especially true for those who are addicted to alcohol.

The entire Soma clan was in a similar situation. After drinking the divine wine bestowed by the gods once, the clan members began to resort to any means necessary in order to drink better, more, and more delicious divine wine, all in order to get more money to brew more wine.

“Listen, we meant no harm, did we?”

The raccoon-man gave a fawning smile.

"Alright, even if there's nothing wrong with this thing, we should still settle accounts with you guys for trying to take action against my lovely supporters."

"Oh, does that even count? It was Erd who hurt herself. We hadn't even laid a hand on her yet when you guys stopped us."

“That’s right. Besides, she’s a member of our Soma Familia. Even if we teach her a lesson, that’s a matter for our Soma Familia elders to teach a younger one. What does it have to do with you guys from other families?”

"Yes, trying to intervene using an employment relationship, don't you think you're meddling a bit too much?"

The werewolf and the human henchman each said something, roughly accusing Broly of standing up for the little girl and settling scores with them, who were from the same clan as the girl.

"Ah, this..."

Bell was somewhat at a loss, because according to the rules of the clan, Lilyluka and these guys were the family, while he and Broly were just outsiders.

"Yes, what you said makes a lot of sense, but..."

Broly rushed forward and started punching and kicking the three of them.

After beating everyone to the ground, he stepped on the face of the tanuki-man Kanu.

"I don't recall saying I was trying to reason with you, was I?"

The sole of the shoe ground against the raccoon man's face with such force that it seemed as if it wanted to crush his head.

Envankov Kanu let out a painful howl, but fights in the back alley of the tavern were all too common.

Even if passersby heard the noise, no one had the idea to meddle.

“That’s right, when did Brother Broly ever say he was trying to reason with you?”

Seeing this, Bear Grylls, who had initially lacked confidence, immediately straightened his back and said.

Broly was a hero in his eyes, so there must have been a reason for what he did.

Even if they say something unreasonable, it still has a reason.

Therefore, Bell was in the wrong, yet he was full of arrogance.

Lily Luca: "..."

Why do I suddenly feel like I'm the villain who's tormenting others? This must be just my imagination.

(End of this chapter)