A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation

“Even though you said something like ‘I’ll go check the other fronts,’ it’s really okay for me to tag along?”

“It was just an excuse to get away from that place in the first place. This is more important.”

Following behind the man who was leading them to the lord, Eleven nodded with a noncommittal “hmm,” even as questions flickered in his mind.

He didn’t know why they had needed to leave that place so quickly, but if Lizel said so, then that was how it was.

Having accepted it without understanding, Eleven flicked the hilt of his sword with a finger in boredom.

It was a rare great invasion, and all he’d done was pick off a few monsters with a bow. He shot a sidelong glare at Gill, who had just cut down an uncountable number of monsters right before his eyes, practically radiating jealousy, and Gill met his gaze as if to say “What?”

“Nothing,” Eleven muttered, and stole a glance at Lizel.

“Eleven, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s not like I’m thinking it’s boring that you keep using those guys and working Big Brother hard while I’m just standing around.”

“So you are thinking that.”

Lizel gave a wry smile as he looked at Eleven, whose red hair swayed in a sulky way.

Did he want to rampage, or did he want to kill? Did he want to be used, or did he want to be useful?

With the same calm expression, Lizel murmured, as if it were nothing, “That’s troubling.”

“Because Eleven is by my side, I can ask things of them, and of Gill as well… In that case, I’ll ask you next time, Eleven.”

“!”

Lizel fundamentally did not have a spirit of self-sacrifice.

Self-sacrifice was rebellion against the master who needed him, and an act of abandoning those who obeyed him.

To devalue his own worth was the same as devaluing theirs, so Lizel neither overestimated nor underestimated himself.

Even after coming here, Lizel had tried all sorts of things, but needless to say, every one of them had been premised on his own safety. This time as well, he simply wanted to avoid being alone in a place where anything might happen.

Correctly sensing that intention, Eleven turned his face toward a deserted shop, as if to hide an expression that might be either shy or pleased—he wasn’t sure himself.

“I mean, it’s not like I said I didn’t wanna do it. It’s fine.”

“Since you got the new sword, the only big shot you’ve cut down is the element master. I suppose it might have felt lacking for you.”

“I said it’s fine.”

“You can do whatever you like, you know, Eleven.”

“I said it’s fine! …So, in that case, you do whatever you like even more.”

Groaning incoherently as if begging for mercy, Eleven clutched his head, hiding his reddened face.

When it came down to it, he was the one who hadn’t noticed Lizel’s true intention and had just sulked on his own, thinking he was the only one not being useful. It was obviously his own fault.

Gill didn’t even bother to hide the exasperation in his gaze, and Lizel watched the scene with an indulgent smile. That only put more pressure on Eleven, but whether the two noticed or not—

Their pace didn’t slow, so there was no problem. Lizel decided to leave him be for a while.

“Still, that guy said he had nothing to say to adventurers before. What does he want with you now?”

“That probably wasn’t Lord Shadow’s true feelings. He looks that way, but his thinking seems flexible.”

“That scowling face is flexible?”

“Otherwise, he wouldn’t treat a group of adventurers to dinner as an apology. Especially when he wasn’t even the direct cause.”

When he put it that way, it did sound reasonable, and Gill nodded.

When Lizel called out to him, Shadow could have easily ignored him or said “wrong person.” But he hadn’t, because he wanted information on Lizel, who had seen through his identity.

Even today, he could have thrown them out the moment they entered the room, yet although he’d clearly stated he wouldn’t hand over information, he had still listened to what Lizel’s group had to say.