A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation

Evening snack time, when the lunch that had been packed into their stomachs had settled and they were starting to get a little hungry again.

Lizel and the others had safely finished their request, received their reward, and were just leaving the guild. Since they had gone to a nearby labyrinth, they had managed to make it back into Sars relatively early.

"Hey, hand that over. Mermaid eyeball."

"Here you go."

"What was that again? An element?"

"Yes, it's the core of an element."

"You getting something new, Big Brother?"

"Gloves."

They exchanged small talk as they passed through the doorway.

Lizel placed the element core that Judge had once appraised into Gill's outstretched palm. It was a boss material from the labyrinth named "Mermaid Princess's Cave."

The way the three handled materials was simple: whoever wanted them got them. All three used whatever they liked without asking anyone else's permission, but if not, Lizel would usually take them for the time being. Later, if one of them needed something, they would pass things back and forth like this.

As for why Lizel was the one managing them, it was not so much because he was the leader as because he was the one who "remembered what everyone was carrying." Spatial magic depended on memory.

"Gill does change gloves pretty often."

"The seams loosen."

"Hm."

Without stopping, Lizel took the hand Gill held out.

He looked at it from the front, turned it over, checked between each finger, and then the side near the little finger was turned toward him. Looking closely, the tightly stitched seam had spread open a little, and the thread was faintly visible.

No matter how skilled the craftsman, and no matter how fine the materials, if they were repeatedly forced to withstand power beyond human comprehension, flaws would eventually show. Lizel did not know where Gill had been told to bring an element core, but it was a relief that he had found a craftsman in Sars worthy of making equipment for him.

Lizel let go of the hand he had been holding and nodded, glad that Gill seemed to be enjoying Sars in his own way.

"Which workshop is it?"

"On the northern edge."

"How do you even find stuff like that?"

"Gut feeling."

Gill was plainly too annoyed to answer properly, and Eleven twisted his mouth in clear dissatisfaction before looking up at the sky.

That expression was obviously deliberate and full of complaint, and Lizel lowered his eyebrows with a resigned smile. Gill himself often said that he talked much more after forming a party, but when something became bothersome he would let it slide pretty quickly, so his level of talkativeness back in his solo days was easy to imagine.

"Then Gill is going that way."

"Hm."

"I'm going that way."

"Out shopping?"

"Want shoes."

"Then, see you back at the inn."

Before the bridge over the waterway, the three of them split off in three directions along the crossroads.

Lizel walked while calling to mind the waterways map he had once seen.

His destination was a nearby water gate. Near the water gates that separated each district, unique stores had sprung up, perhaps because the waterways were especially wide there. According to the old woman at the inn, the place they were heading to now was also home to a famous Sars sight.

He turned right, then left, down narrow alleys, crossed a small bridge over a slender canal, and passed through yet another maze-like lane before suddenly emerging in front of a row of brightly colored shops. Glancing at the water visible in little flashes through the gaps between them, he quickened his pace slightly and headed for the bridge connecting the West District and the South District.

When he stepped onto the bridge, wide enough for carriages to pass each other, he placed a hand on the railing and looked out toward the water gate.

"Hm. Very Sars-like."

Filling both sides of his view were waterfront terraces.

Built out over the water, they held round and square tables, and people were relaxing above the gentle flow of the canals however they liked. Some enjoyed tea and sweets, some chatted animatedly, all while watching the peddler boats drifting by on the waterways. The peddler boats themselves would draw near the terraces with smiling faces whenever someone called out to them.