Published: February 1, 2026
Confirming that Gill’s cold was completely gone, Lizel and the others resumed their adventuring and, as usual, were headed for the guild. Just like the other adventurers around them, the first thing they checked was the blackboard beside the quest board, and they stared at it, now that the warning about a monster stampede had completely disappeared.
Those with the strength to insist that stampedes were the best time to make money would probably look at that with regret, but for the majority it was something to be relieved about. If monsters came attacking one after another, it slowed the completion of quests and became a hassle, so if Lizel and the others had to be forced into one camp or the other, they would be counted among the relieved ones.
“The spot isn’t doing anything either.”
“These things move reaaal slow. It wasn’t that big a scale, and somewhere about the size of my place would be outta the range in a week.”
“I see,” Lizel nodded, and they moved over to stand in front of the quest board.
As always, Lizel calmly read from F-rank upwards, and as always, eyes gathered on him in a “but why?” kind of way, which he ignored. The other day when he’d taken an E‑rank quest simply because he’d become interested after coming to Astarnia, the receptionist had desperately confirmed over and over if it was really okay, but he ignored that too.
“Leader, what’s that?”
“Mm… more than that one, I think that one over there—”
“Hey, you’re being called.”
There wasn’t a single quest that made him think “this is it” at a glance today. As they discussed this and that while searching, Gill suddenly turned only his head, looked back, and pointed at the reception counter.
The one there was the guild staffer who’d been chewed out by the captain the other day. A shaved head, a short beard on his chin, and a brawny, muscular body with which he reined in Astarnia’s rowdy adventurers—like Leila, he was a straight‑up melee‑type staffer.
If there was an adventurer causing trouble outside, this was the man who went out. The way his huge body came thundering towards you with a speed you’d never imagine from that frame was apparently quite terrifying, by all accounts.
“What is it?”
“Yeah, there’s a designated request for you guys.”
Maybe because of that, he had a bit of a complex about Lizel—found him a little difficult to deal with.
They were a race he wasn’t used to seeing in more ways than one. He was used to getting yelled back at in some colorful way like, “Spit it out already, old man!” when he called someone over, but he had never once in his life been approached in such a leisurely, well‑mannered way by someone smiling so politely.
On top of that, they had a master swordsman and a beastman in tow—that alone was mysterious, and even for a man who’d watched countless adventurers come and go, their strength was unfathomable. He was fairly sure Lizel was a mage, but that was about all he could guess.
Still, he understood they weren’t bad people, so that mild unease would probably fade with time.
“A designated request? The only one who’d come to mind is the captain, but this isn’t from him, is it?”
“The theater troupe guy? No. It’s not. Not gonna lie, I don’t really get this one either.”
Lizel had noticed that the man clearly had some nerves around him, and, thinking he still wasn’t used to them, accepted the offered request form.
Unlike in the Capital City, Lizel and the others hadn’t yet made a name for themselves as adventurers to the point they’d get designated by name. In terms of name recognition alone they were already at the level where “that noble‑looking fellow” was enough to identify him in this area, but he shouldn’t have the sort of evaluation that would have people lodging named requests.
Saying they didn’t understand, the three of them leaned over the paper.
[Life‑On‑The‑Line Consultations, or for short, Life Consults]
Rank: None
Client: A certain Innkeeper