Published: February 1, 2026
After arriving at the inn, Lizel went straight to Gill’s room without even taking a break. He figured if he explained things in advance, it would make it easier for the other party to do their job.
When he knocked and was invited in, what greeted him was a room far cleaner than he’d imagined. It seemed this had already been Gill’s base of operations for about a month, but perhaps because he was an adventurer and didn’t carry much luggage, there was very little sense of someone living there.
“It’s very tidy.”
“Coming back tired and being greeted by a filthy room would be the worst.”
Apparently Gill made a point of cleaning up. Lizel, given his status, had never done any real cleaning himself, and he was honestly impressed.
Once he sat in the chair Gill had indicated, Gill took the seat across from him.
“So, you’re gonna explain now, yeah?”
“There’s no need to rush. …Before that, one thing.”
Gill glanced between the index finger Lizel had raised and Lizel’s face, frowning.
Don’t tell me he’s planning to tease me, he thought, his expression the sort that would definitely make a child cry. Lizel laughed, amused.
“I won’t tell a single lie about what I’m going to say now.”
“Yeah, I know that much. It’s not like you’d gain anything from lying at this point.”
“Around midday today, I was transported from a different world into this one.”
He spoke just enough to overlap Gill’s words. As expected, for a moment Gill shot him a look that said, Don’t screw with me. But he immediately fell into thought, staring at Lizel as if replaying everything that had happened since they met today.
Lizel tilted his head slightly, watching that whole process at his leisure while quietly urging him to decide.
“I’ll be speaking on the assumption that this is true. If you can’t believe it, we can end the conversation here. If I feel anything might hinder the request during the period, I’ll speak up each time.”
“…No, keep going.”
There’s no way I can believe a line like, I’m from another world. Granted, there’s something off about his behavior, and it does seem true he doesn’t officially exist in this country’s records, but it would still be far more believable to say he was some disowned, sheltered noble from somewhere.
Even so, Gill decided to believe him because he was convinced Lizel wasn’t stupid enough to tell lies that only put him at a disadvantage. They’d only just met, but he could tell at least that much.
What would Lizel gain by falsely claiming to be from another world? If he had even a sliver of intention to pique Gill’s interest and acquire an excellent bodyguard, Gill wouldn’t have listened to the story in the first place.
What Gill sensed from Lizel was only one thing: a sort of cool, detached thought that it would simply be more efficient to explain.
“Since you’re telling me this, I guess your world isn’t all that different in terms of level of development?”
“I’ve only seen the inside of the city, but they’re almost the same. If anything, the magic—ah, over here you call it magic, not sorcery, don’t you?—the magic that’s rooted in daily life is more advanced here. At the very least, there’s no spatial magic over there.”
If Lizel possessed advanced technology or knowledge, he certainly wouldn’t be talking about it to Gill. If that information reached anyone who wanted it, he’d definitely be used.
The fact Gill understood that without being told made Lizel quietly satisfied.
“You’re awfully calm about this. I’m guessing you were a noble ‘over there,’ right?”
“Yes. You can tell?”
“Why the hell wouldn’t I be able to tell?”
He did give off a laid-back impression for a noble, but from any angle he could only look like a noble, or something with an equal level of status. It wasn’t because his clothes were well tailored; even if Lizel wore commoners’ clothes, his noble birth would be exposed.
The man himself seemed to be acting as usual, which meant it was all unconscious, Gill thought, sighing in exasperation.