Published: August 10, 2026
The day after the excitement over the appearance of the pirate ship had finally begun to fade, in the early afternoon.
Lizel was visiting the adventurers' guild all by himself, at a leisurely pace.
"Thank you for providing that information so quicklyyy."
"They asked me very earnestly."
The guild staff member's perfectly polished customer-service smile froze for an instant at Lizel's amused smile.
The other day, it was the guild staff Sisters who had given a wholehearted welcome to Lizel and the others upon their triumphant return after successfully accomplishing the pirates' long-cherished wish. At that point, they still could not have known which adventurer had caused the pirate ship to disappear, and yet they had rushed over to Lizel's group first of all, their excitement rivaling that of a tavern in the middle of the night.
More specifically, they had been surrounded and showered with praise without end. Some of it was praise that probably should not have been directed at adventurers, but while Gill openly looked disgusted, Lizel and Eleven had accepted it all in stride.
Incidentally, a few researchers had also come running up. They had seemed extremely excited about something they wanted to ask, but Lizel had secretly witnessed them being completely swept away by the Sisters' momentum. Since they had been wearing unfamiliar white coats, he was considering looking for them next time he went to borrow books from the professor.
"I never expected everyone to be that happy."
"I'm terribly sorry for disturbing you while you were tiredrrr."
"No, I was glad. Is clearing the pirate ship something especially important to the guild?"
"Well, 'special' might be a bit..."
The staff member's gaze drifted away.
It was the guild at midday, with few adventurers coming by. The staff had plenty of time on their hands, and the other employees were all secretly listening in on Lizel's conversation. After checking the reaction of her sisters and judging that the topic was not off-limits, the staff member continued.
"A while ago, another branch's staff member kept boasting at me endlessly about how they had cleared one."
"Guild staff boast about adventurers?"
"No, um... more like, 'I raised them myself,' that sort of thing."
"Ah."
Lizel nodded, understanding.
If the staff member was hesitating that much, then the person in question must have been bragging in all seriousness, not as a joke. The guild staff here could probably laugh something like that off, so maybe the other person had gone further and delivered some off-base sermon, or perhaps they had belittled their own people while mistakenly calling it praise.
He must have used a very obnoxious tone, or was still doing so from time to time.
"Of course, I'm sorry to say this to everyone, but now I can hear anything and just laugh it off inside and move on..."
"You can just move on?"
"Pardon?"
The staff member, who had looked up with a puzzled expression while still smiling, was told by Lizel in a matter-of-fact tone:
"You can say, 'We raised IttΕ's party,' and I'll nod along for you."
"...We'll gratefully accept your feelings alone!"
She refused him with a dazzling smile.
He thought that since they had helped him out, they could at least use it as a topic in an inter-branch rivalry, but on reflection, repeating the same thing back only would be unimaginative and unsightly. Besides, they would probably handle it well anyway. Lizel thought of Stud, who had come to mind just the other day.
Stud was also the type of staff member who knew how to let things slide. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say he showed absolutely no interest in petty jabs unrelated to his duties. Even while the other person was still talking, he would simply walk away.
"So, for today's information, I'd like to ask about monsters and the map inside the labyrinth."
"Yes."
"Of course, only as much as you can tell us."
Rather than merely attaching the usual line, the staff member said it in a way that seemed to emphasize it.
Lizel wondered if something had happened during previous information exchanges about the pirate ship, and asked about it.