Published: August 10, 2026
Lizel was bad with children.
Rather than being bad with children, he was bad with people he found difficult to communicate with.
It was not a matter of whether or not a conversation could be established. Even if a proper conversation could not be had, as long as the other person's way of thinking had its own axis, Lizel could even enjoy the trial and error involved in making communication work.
But with children, things somehow never went well.
To others, it would probably look as though he handled them quite smoothly, but he did still have a slight sense of discomfort around them.
If someone said it was simply a lack of experience, that would be the end of it.
Ever since he was old enough to understand things, he had been expected to conduct himself with discipline. The children around him of the same age were in similar positions, and since the only time they met was in social settings, he had never had much chance to deal with free-spirited behavior. That was probably part of the reason.
In short, he simply did not know how to deal with them and got flustered.
—Just like right now, as he hesitated to intervene between two small children having a real fight.
"This, you—"
"...!"
"Jill, Nerv, let's call it a draw. A draw, okay?"
In front of Lizel, the child-sized Gill and Eleven were mercilessly punching each other with all the force children could muster.
Lizel learned for the first time that once a fistfight turned serious, the number of words used dropped drastically.
There was a labyrinth in Sars called "Water and Sewer."
Under the clear blue sky, the ruins of a once-fallen kingdom had become nothing but rubble, stretching all the way to the horizon as far as the eye could see.
And all of it lay beneath water. It was submerged in crystal-clear water where not even living creatures seemed to dwell.
That water must have come from the countless aqueducts. In this ruin where every building had collapsed, only the aqueducts still stood tall, not yet crumbling away.
And there were countless of them.
"It's like a three-dimensional maze."
"It's magnificent."
"Don't fall."
Lizel and the others stood atop one of the aqueducts, gazing at the vast network of aqueducts that seemed ready to blanket the entire country.
"Even if we did fall, we probably wouldn't die."
"Leader, can you swim?"
"Eleven always says things like that."
"'Cause I can't imagine you swimming."
"Like in the labyrinth of the Mermaid Princess."
"That place is kinda special, though."
Gill inwardly agreed with Eleven.
The labyrinth that had dropped them into an underwater environment the moment they entered had been nothing like actual underwater conditions.
After all, while they could swim through it, walking on the floor was far easier. It was not as though they could walk exactly as usual, and they certainly felt strange buoyancy and resistance, but it had still been a much more livable imitation of underwater life.
Rather than "it can't be helped because it's a labyrinth," it was more like "this is just the kind of labyrinth it is."
"Back when we went to the Underwater Bazaar, we jumped into the lake too."
"You just jumped in."
"But you did float properly."
"Leader still couldn't dive in the end."
"Diving is a different skill. There's even a specialized profession called a lake diver."
It had been a labyrinth with a door beneath the surface of the great lake that held Sars in its embrace.
A rope was tied to the end of the pier, but since it was only weighted down and sunk, you could not follow it down. That was because adventurers carried weapons and equipment, and they would sink on their own from the weight.
You either grabbed the rope to keep from sinking too far, or grabbed it when surfacing. Those were the only intended uses.
But Lizel did not carry any real weapons, and his belongings were all packed into a small bag with spatial magic. Furthermore, his adventurer's gear, tailored from the finest lightweight and durable materials, floated very well.
As a result, Gill had ended up dragging him down to several meters below the surface.