A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation

“Hey now, if you’re an adventurer, eat with more gusto.”

“Grandfather!”

“I actually have gotten a lot more vigorous about eating…”

“Compared to at the start, sure.”

The four of them sat around a wide dining table, savoring dish after dish as the servants brought them out.

If you’re the head of a major trading company, of course you can afford servants. Growing up in this environment, how Judge ended up able to cook at that level was a genuine mystery.

Insai was nitpicking at Lizel’s refined table manners, and Judge was frantically trying to calm him down.

The reason Insai was pestering Lizel so much was payback: while Judge had been staying here, he’d apparently talked about Lizel nonstop. Lizel, having no way of knowing this, simply found it odd and decided people just had days like that.

“Gill’s sword was something you recommended, right, Insai? How about me?”

“With that body that can’t even swing a sword properly, what nonsense are you spoutin’. If you’re gonna fight, there’s no better way for you than usin’ that gun the way you do now.”

“So it really is like that?”

“You go and do things harder than swingin’ a sword like it’s nothin’… your head’s a damn mess.”

Lizel met the curious, almost fascinated gaze with a mild smile and put some salad into his mouth.

Judge tilted his head at Insai’s words. Unlike Insai, who knew a lot about adventurers, fighting styles were outside Judge’s area of expertise.

“My head?”

“Oh? That catch your interest! Judge, you said that boy controls his gun with mana manipulation, right? Only a handful of mages can do mana manipulation at all.”

“Th-then, Lizel, you’re actually really amazing…!”

“Mmgh… mmm… well, that’s correct. But as for that mana manipulation, it’s like readin’ and understandin’ four books at the same time while buildin’ a model. Not one after the other—completely simultaneous.”

Lizel, bathed in Judge’s shining eyes, gave a wry smile.

Insai claimed it was harder than swinging a sword, but when you got to Gill’s level, that side actually seemed harder.

What Lizel did was largely a matter of practice and familiarity, whereas swordsmanship had no room for deceit: it was nothing but the strength you’d forged into yourself.

Lizel could never hope to defeat a subterranean dragon alone, yet Gill had taken it down easily (it had been a good fight, but he’d been almost unscathed), so the difference in ability wasn’t even worth comparing.

When Lizel added that, Judge’s sparkling gaze turned on Gill, who was silently working through his meat. Gill made a fed-up face and twitched, shoulders jumping.

“Don’t glare at my grandchild!”

“Your true colors are showin’, old man.”

For an instant, the personality Gill claimed had “softened with age” snapped back to the old days.

Insai coughed to cover it and continued his explanation.

“Anyway, what he’s doin’ is fixin’ the gun in place, controllin’ its position, suppressin’ the recoil, and on top of that, he’s even usin’ mana manipulation to pull the trigger. It’s no different from readin’ four novels at once.”

“?”

“I don’t mean just lettin’ your eyes pass over four different pages. I mean his head can process the information of four whole novels simultaneously. That’s why I’m sayin’ he’s ridiculous.”

Judge didn’t really understand how amazing that was, but he did at least grasp that it was amazing.

As for Lizel, he wasn’t sure whether “your head’s a mess” was praise or an insult, and he didn’t know which way to take it.

After that sort of idle chatter, they finished the lavish lunch, and tea and small cakes were brought out.

“Ah, I’ll go get ready for departure. Please, take your time.”

“You’re not gonna eat dessert with your grandpa, on your last day?!”

“You’re the one who said we should at least eat lunch together…!”

Judge drew his usually droopy brows together as if steeling himself, then stood from his seat.