Published: August 10, 2026
The grassland as far as the eye could see was not green, but a blue that shimmered with phosphorescence.
The sky above was far away, high overhead, and though it was blanketed in clouds from end to end, it was dazzlingly bright.
Across that grassland, beasts walked with serene grace.
Whatever walked on four legs looked as though pale white light had been gathered together and shaped into a beast, slowly moving through a sea of blue.
The only color came from a pair of branches and leaves stretching from where its eye sockets should have been.
Twisted though they were, the branches extended outward, their tips heavy with blue leaves, making them look almost like horns.
There was nothing in the grassland but the sound of those creatures walking and the faint whisper of the wind.
――――It was a labyrinth named the "Land of the Sacred Behemoths."
A place where humans were allowed only to hide quietly beneath their feet.
Early in the morning, before the quest board at the adventurers' guild, Gill was asked by Lizel,
"Gill, what kind of monsters do you want to fight?"
So he's stopped even pretending not to be flattering me, Gill thought with a furrowed brow.
He wouldn't say he hated it, but when someone tried to butter him up to his face, it made him wonder how he was supposed to react. Even though he was the one causing it.
Conversations like this were perfectly ordinary. When there wasn't any particular quest he wanted to take, they would sometimes choose based on the kind of monsters they wanted to fight, or the labyrinth they wanted to go to, or on Gill's and Eleven's preferences.
But today's question was clearly an attempt to flatter him.
After all, Lizel himself wasn't even trying to hide it. If anything, he was looking at Gill in an easy-to-read way that seemed almost to announce his intentions.
"Pick one for once."
"I really wouldn't know. Like, what kind of monsters are you in the mood to fight today?"
"You choosing monsters based on your Big Brother mood?"
"That's kind of how it feels."
"That's hilarious."
"Shut up."
It was just one of those days.
"So, boss, you're looking at rank a for once."
"Well, if it's a high rank to start with, I can't go wrong."
"At rank a, it's almost all monster-related stuff anyway."
"I'm also interested in rank a quests that don't involve combat at all."
"What kind of quest is that?"
Gill gave Lizel, who was chatting leisurely, a sidelong glance full of exasperation.
Lizel's attempts at flattery were generally subtle. That was because Gill disliked being treated as if he were in a lower position.
He had no interest in the bad taste of ruthlessly criticizing someone for their mistake, but at the same time he couldn't just leave things as they were. Usually he would go vent by exploring a labyrinth, but even so he needed to make his position clear to Lizel.
The man from the other world had been burdened by status his whole life, and had always dealt with others on that basis. So when it came to dealing with people on equal footing with none of that attached, he had a strange admiration for it.
When the spatial magic thing came up, he had deliberately chosen not to say anything and not to hide anything from Eleven, which had earned him a scolding. So this time, he must have tried to keep it completely hidden. Though Eleven had ended up letting it slip.
"(I don't doubt that he was in a hurry.)"
Even so, Lizel had still had the option of not rushing straight to the ruler.
He could have brought Quattro and prioritized letting Gill know that possibility.
Even if Gill had been controlled then, and in the worst case had turned his sword toward Lizel, the man with a blade for a body would protect him. If Quattro abandoned offense and focused entirely on defense, he would probably be able to block a sword swung under mental control with no problem.
Lizel hadn't done that because he didn't want to.
The possibility of Gill being controlled for even a moment wasn't something Lizel disliked out of concern or consideration.
He simply hated it.