A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation

The Box Cave—commonly called the Box—was a labyrinth whose interior looked like a series of perfectly square chambers strung together. True to its name, the box-like spaces somehow stayed bright despite having no visible light sources anywhere, like any other labyrinth.

The walls, smooth and glossy with a surface that might be stone or might be something else entirely, didn’t have a single chip or crack. The spaces were also relatively wide, making it easy to walk, and so the place had a good reputation as a labyrinth.

“White golems appear from the twentieth floor onward, right? Gill, have you been to this labyrinth before?”

“Yeah. I’ve gone all the way to the bottom.”

“Then let’s use the magic circle to—oh, but…”

“I’m fine too.”

This labyrinth climbed upward, with a total of sixty floors. The area from the twentieth floor upward, which Lizel had mentioned, was considered suitable for rank B.

Of course, that suitability assumed a standard party of six, but Gill was soloing it, and apparently Eleven did the same.

For a rank C adventurer to dive alone into an area above his appropriate rank was nothing short of suicide, but it seemed that didn’t apply to those two.

If you wanted to say it, it didn’t really apply to Lizel either—but Lizel, at least, never dove alone. He figured that, personally, soloing in the higher‑rank zones was probably impossible.

Eleven’s true skill was completely unknown, but if he said he’d be okay, he probably would be, and so Lizel and Gill stepped onto the magic circle.

Since they weren’t in the same party, they couldn’t move at the exact same time, but Eleven immediately followed and activated it as well.

Without any trouble at all they arrived on the twentieth floor and, as always, stared at an unchanging square corridor.

These broad corridors were wide enough for golems to rampage freely, and the field of view was very good.

“It really is a neat, orderly space. Not even a single pillar. I like places like this.”

“Figured you would.”

“Exactly like I imagined.”

It was far too organized to really call a “cave,” but the branching corridors, like a maze with no doors or anything of the sort, were unmistakably cave‑like.

As the other two briskly set off walking, Eleven…just sort of stared at them.

With a featureless passage, it was hard even to judge distance, and you could easily lose track of where you were.

Normally you bought a map and kept notes on your route as you went, but these two didn’t seem inclined to do anything of the kind. Eleven himself at least took notes; he didn’t want to end up unable to find his way back.

“You’re not gonna write anything down or what? I really don’t wanna get lost on the way back.”

“Eh?”

“Huh?”

Had he said something that strange? He actually thought it was a very reasonable point.

Eleven’s face twitched.

For all his extensive knowledge, Lizel’s grasp of basic common sense occasionally had gaping holes—especially when it came to adventurers.

The fault lay with Gill, who was standing beside him acting like none of this concerned him.

After all, nearly all of Lizel’s knowledge regarding adventurers had come from Gill.

“Ah, there’s a trap there.”

“This one?”

“Hey, why’re you step—… the hell!?”

Lizel stepped right where Eleven had pointed, without even bothering to alter his course.

An instant later, the floor almost gave way beneath them, and Eleven narrowly avoided it. Lizel watched him with mild admiration.

“Wait, I did say it, right!? I said it, didn’t I!? Why’d you step on it!?”

“It’s the first time I’ve ever known about a trap beforehand, so I just…sort of…”

“‘Just sort of’ my ass! Don’t tell me you’ve never hit a trap before!”

“Well, you can’t tell where a trap is just by looking. And Gill never tells me when there is one, and even if it activates, we somehow manage.”

“If you want me to tell you, say so.”

That was exactly why this was bad: it always somehow worked out. If Gill was around, Lizel was never really in danger.