A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation

The so‑called training—really a fight to the death—between Gill and Eleven happened often.

If you asked Gill, he’d say it wasn’t a death match or anything of the sort, but since Eleven always came at him with genuine intent to kill, it wasn’t entirely wrong to call it that.

Of course, Eleven only went all out on the premise that Gill wouldn’t die no matter what he did.

Even so, Eleven had never once managed to beat Gill. On the contrary, he was clearly being held back against. Every time, Eleven felt the joy of clashing with an absolute powerhouse, and every time he also openly complained about never being able to finish him off.

“Big Brother, don’t you have any weak points?”

“What the hell, digging for a man’s weaknesses right in front of him?”

Walking back to the guild after finishing a request, Lizel smiled at the question.

The two of them were so capable that their subjugation jobs were always wrapped up in no time. Since they were out in a wide open area anyway, they had just finished another sparring match at Eleven’s invitation.

Incidentally, ever since they snapped the clothesline pole clean in half the one time they sparred in the inn’s backyard, the landlady had forbidden any more matches at the inn.

Today’s sparring ended in yet another crushing victory for Gill.

Lizel had just been watching, and even then he couldn’t really tell what they were doing most of the time. He could only tell that Eleven had gone flying spectacularly, so that was probably all that needed saying.

It was all well and good to hone yourself in a direct clash, but Eleven had originally been the type to use traps and surprise attacks freely to crush those stronger than him. Apparently he’d gotten to the point where he wanted to win by any means necessary.

Unlike Gill, who sought out battles with the strong in order to become stronger, Eleven simply liked smashing those stronger than himself.

“Weak points, huh,” Lizel murmured, glancing sideways at Gill walking beside him.

“Thing is, you’ve pretty much got no openings. …Ah, he’s not good with sweet things.”

“And what am I supposed to do with that intel, exactly?”

Stuff something sweet into his mouth mid‑fight or something? Eleven stared at Lizel with a damp, accusing look.

It might stop Gill’s movements for a split second, and in that sense it could be effective.

But actually managing to shove something sweet into his mouth in the middle of a fight sounded far harder than it was worth.

Lizel laughed like he was enjoying himself, and Eleven’s lips jutted out in a sulk—until he suddenly seemed to think of something and grinned wickedly.

“Wouldn’t taking the leader as a hostage be the most effective?”

“You heard him.”

“A hostage you can’t lay a finger on is pointless.”

Gill spoke in exasperation, and Eleven laughed aloud as he shrugged. He’d only been joking to begin with.

Even if he did try to take Lizel hostage, there was nothing he could actually do to him. It would be counterproductive at best. Gill would simply get serious, lop his head off, and that would be that.

Of course, if Eleven jokingly tried to take Lizel hostage, Gill would only sigh in exasperation. Their mutual trust was strong enough that it would never escalate into a real incident.

“Sweet things, huh…” Eleven muttered to himself, clearly beginning to actually think it over. Gill’s face twisted in clear distaste as he pushed open the guild door.

“Please, I’m begging you, find him somehow!”

A loud shout rang out.

Gill’s frown deepened, partly from the voice and partly from the unusually large number of gazes turning their way.

When those gazes met Gill’s, the surrounding adventurers hastily looked away. But the attention from a moment prior had clearly not been directed at the three of them as usual. It had been aimed specifically at Lizel.

What on earth was going on? Lizel searched for the familiar, expressionless face.

Under normal circumstances, Stud would have already appeared to guide them to the completion counter with a flat, “Thank you for your hard work.”