Chapter 12 - Rejected
After closing yet another book with a soft snap, Lizel looked up at the sky.
The moon had just passed overhead. Figuring it was about time to change shifts, he rose from his chair.
In the end, nothing had happened. All Lizel had done was occasionally add more firewood to keep the fire from going out.
And since the firewood was stacked right beside him, he hadn't even needed to take a single step away from his chair.
Approaching without making a sound, he peered through the half-open carriage door.
Inside, where a faint wash of moonlight filtered through, two men lay curled up beneath their blankets.
They really are tall, Lizel thought as he climbed aboard, wondering how a carriage that should have been reasonably spacious could feel so cramped.
He had been so careful that the only sound was a faint creak of wood, but one of the blanket-covered mounds shifted with a rustle.
"...Time to switch?"
Gil sat up and looked at Lizel, who was still on all fours because he hadn't taken off his shoes.
His voice was low and hoarse, the sort of voice Lizel had never heard from him before. It sounded like someone who had just woken up, but Lizel couldn't believe that such a faint noise had been enough to rouse him.
Careful not to step on him with his shoes, Lizel inched closer and peered at his face. There wasn't a trace of sleepiness in it.
"How are you awake so easily? Did you actually get any sleep?"
Lizel asked in a quiet voice, taking care not to wake Judge.
As if protesting Lizel's unwarranted suspicion, Gil dropped the blanket he had been using over his head.
The blanket briefly covered Lizel's vision. Pulling it away, he awkwardly shuffled backward.
Gil sat up as well, then settled on the edge of the carriage and swung his legs outside to put on his shoes.
"Of course I slept. I just woke up when I sensed you."
"Don't you think sleeping like that leaves you tired?"
"It's enough."
Lizel sat on the edge of the carriage as well, intending to take off his shoes. Then, without warning, he reached over and placed his hand over Gil's, which rested beside him.
Gil's hand was slightly colder than his own. Perhaps he really had been asleep, just as he claimed.
Leaving his hand in Lizel's grasp without protest, Gil put on his shoes. Then he gave his captured hand a little shake.
Once he confirmed that Lizel had let go, Gil stood up and let out a yawn. He was about to head for the chair when Lizel stopped him.
"Here you go."
"Mm."
Gil accepted the book Lizel held out and glanced at its cover.
He had helped himself to Lizel's books a few times before, and apparently, Lizel had figured out what he liked.
It wasn't as though he had any particular preferences when it came to books, but this was certainly the kind he wouldn't get bored of halfway through.
Gil raised one hand in a casual gesture of thanks, then finally headed for the chair.
Without waiting to watch him go all the way, Lizel slipped into the carriage.
The blanket Gil had given him was still faintly warm. Thinking that he should be able to sleep comfortably, Lizel leaned over to look at Judge, who was sleeping with his face turned toward the wall.
His already youthful face looked even younger in sleep, peaceful and serene as he breathed softly.
After confirming that Judge was sound asleep, Lizel lay down, deciding it was time for him to sleep too, and wrapped the blanket around himself.
He hadn't felt sleepy while keeping watch, but the moment he warmed up, drowsiness came creeping in. Apparently, he had managed to stay alert after all.
Lizel burrowed beneath the blanket to escape the moonlight filtering into the carriage and gently closed his eyes.
The next morning, Judge woke as the sky began to grow faintly bright.
Even though the sky had begun to brighten, the night sky was still visible if one looked in the opposite direction.
However, shops catering to adventurers all tended to open early. Judge’s was no exception, and since he always got up early to prepare his shop for opening, this was no different from his usual waking time.
He stirred and sat up, fighting to keep his sleepy eyelids open, when he happened to notice the mound of blankets beside him.
From Judge's lofty perspective, it was a small bundle beneath the blanket. Perhaps it seemed even smaller because the last person he had seen before going to sleep had been Gil.
Lizel would have objected to being called small, considering he was perfectly average in height for a man. But from Judge's perspective, most people were small, regardless of whether they were men or women, so perhaps it couldn't be helped.
He gazed at the blanket with his still-groggy mind, until a little curiosity suddenly took hold of him.
Once awakened, that curiosity quickly grew, and unable to resist any longer, he slowly edged toward the blanket beside him.
"Just a little..."
He offered the excuse to no one in particular, then gently lifted the blanket.
Lizel's face was revealed as he happened to be sleeping turned toward Judge. A quiet, inexplicable sense of wonder welled up inside Judge.
Normally, he was too embarrassed to look at Lizel's face properly, but now he had the chance to see it head-on. Judge began studying his sleeping face, thinking that he'd brag to Studd about it once they got back—even if Studd would probably smack him for it.
Lizel wasn't strikingly handsome in a flashy way, but his well-proportioned features gave him an air of purity.
Only now, with his eyes hidden, did Judge realize that even beneath Lizel's usual gentleness, his gaze had always carried a sense of nobility.
With that nobility concealed for the moment, Lizel seemed far more approachable than usual. That was probably why Judge could study him without feeling intimidated.
And his skin is so smooth, too... Judge silently offered this somewhat questionable compliment to another man as he slowly reached out a finger.
Just before his finger could touch Lizel's cheek, the cargo door creaked softly and opened a crack.
"...What the hell are you doing?"
"Whoa!"
"I was wondering why you weren't coming out even though you were awake..."
"I-it's not what it looks like...!"
At the sound of that voice, Judge was so startled that he fell flat on his rear, then began desperately making excuses without even knowing what to say.
Gil watched him with a grin that promised plenty of teasing, and in the meantime, Lizel woke up as well. It was certainly a lively morning.
After two more days of lively mornings and evenings like that, Lizel and the others finally arrived in the Merchant Nation.
Although it had felt like a long journey, they had arrived just over three days after leaving the royal capital. For a merchant's carriage, that was an impressive pace by any measure. The journey would normally take a full five days.
They were currently waiting their turn to enter Marcade.
As one would expect of a Merchant Nation, goods and people flowed in from all sorts of nations, leaving the area around the gate bustling with carriages and travelers.
Entering the nation required nothing more than a simple identity check, but with so many people, the process inevitably took time.
"Anyone for Saino fruit juice? Just one copper coin a bottle!"
"If you need somewhere to leave your carriage, head to Clayton's Depot, just to the right after entering the gate! That's right, just inside the gate on your right!"
Street vendors and promoters passed alongside the waiting carriages, hawking their wares and advertising their services.
The sun had not yet reached its zenith. The area wasn't as crowded as it had been early in the morning, but the vendors and promoters still made their pitches to each carriage in the long line.
They haven't even entered the nation yet, and already everyone's out to make a sale, Lizel thought with a smile as he listened to the surrounding bustle.
"Lizel-san, Gil-san, we're almost at the gate."
"Hmm, adventurers can use their guild cards as identification, right? They're pretty lax about entry requirements."
"A Merchant Nation has no chance of thriving if it can't attract people. That's why the entry requirements are generally pretty lax."
The lax entry requirements made it easy for spies from other nations to slip in, but they also drew in people, goods, and information in equal measure.
For merchants, this place must be nothing short of sacred ground. Indeed, most of the carriages waiting in line belonged to merchants.
A nation like this needed a leader with a keen sense of political balance, someone who could earn the trust of countless merchants.
Naturally, the Lord of Marcade was no exception. However, there was something a little unusual about this particular nation.
"He's the only one who rose up from humble origins, isn't he?"
"You got a problem with that sort of thing?"
"Not at all. If they're capable, they're more than welcome. I might even go out of my way to recruit them myself."
Gil had asked Lizel, a nobleman born and bred, and found himself thoroughly convinced by the answer.
After all, both Studd and Judge were exceptionally talented individuals whom Lizel had personally chosen to approach.
Studd was said to be a future guild executive, while Judge's discerning eye needed no explanation.
Lizel's justification was that he simply found talented younger people endearing. Gil suspected that the king who had once been Lizel's student in his original world must have been such a "talented younger person."
Lizel rarely spoke about his former student, but judging from the few times he had, Gil doubted his guess was far off the mark.
"The current Lord's grandfather became a noble and took over as Lord back when Marcade was still known as the Merchant District, right?"
"You sure know your stuff."
"I read it in a book."
There was a reason unique to a Merchant Nation for why the man who had been a mere merchant at the time was made the Lord's successor.
It was because the previous lord's predecessor had been such a powerful merchant that he conducted business on the scale of entire nations.
He commanded the respect of other merchants, was well versed in every kind of trade, and managed the entire district. He even invested his own personal fortune in developing the roads.
The remarkable transformation of Marcade from a mere "district" into a "nation" was due almost entirely to his efforts.
There had been a lord even back then, but merchants had flocked to the future lord's predecessor for guidance until his influence surpassed that of the actual lord.
Even so, he continued to show respect to the lord of the time, who in turn appreciated how the merchant upheld his position. That mutual goodwill was perhaps the greatest stroke of luck of all.
That was why the lord took him in as his adopted son and officially appointed him as his successor.
The lord, who had no children of his own at the time, never regretted his decision. And the merchant, who had initially refused the offer out of a sense of unworthiness, eventually accepted after much deliberation. Once he became the official heir, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to repaying the lord's kindness.
The Marcade of today was the result of the tireless efforts that began with that merchant and continued through the generations.
Its development was truly astonishing. Needless to say, it must have taken an extraordinary amount of hard work to achieve.
"The fact that merchants still place their trust in him to this day proves how capable he is, both as a Lord and as a merchant."
"Apparently, he personally oversees everything from granting permits to small shops to deciding where they can set up. He also keeps an eye on promising new businesses and sometimes invests in them himself."
"What's impressive is that no one else complains about his investments. He must have earned an enormous amount of trust as a merchant."
Lizel was impressed by Judge's explanation.
The investments were certainly noteworthy, but what impressed him most was that the lord personally oversaw what must have been an enormous number of shop permits.
As one would expect of a Merchant Nation, opening a shop in Marcade and making it a success was probably every merchant's dream.
Handling all of that personally meant his workload must keep growing and growing. As a nobleman himself, Lizel couldn't help admiring a lord who managed to deal with it all day after day.
"I'm almost afraid of what'll be waiting for me when I get back."
"All the work that's piled up?"
Lizel smiled at Gil for understanding exactly what he meant.
For now, he decided not to think about it.
"Oh, I see. So it’s because he's so busy..."
"Who is?"
"Apparently, the current lord hardly ever appears in public. They say nobody even knows what he looks like..."
At the words hardly ‘ever appears in public,’ Lizel tilted his head inwardly.
Nobles attracted attention, for better or worse. Was it really possible for one to remain completely unrecognized?
As Lizel fell into thought with a quiet hum, Gil gave him an exasperated look and glanced outside the carriage.
"Hey, we're next."
"Oh, right."
Apparently, their turn had already come.
Judge, seated in the driver's seat, presented his merchant's travel pass, while Lizel and Gil showed their adventurers' guild cards.
The gate guard looked startled when he saw Gil's card. It seemed Gil's reputation carried weight here, too.
Then he was startled all over again when Lizel handed over his guild card. Upon realizing that Lizel was an adventurer, the guard froze for a moment.
"How many times do I gotta tell you to stop making people freeze up?"
"I keep telling you, it's not my fault."
Trading quips, they passed safely by the guard, who had finally recovered.
Once they were through the gate, Lizel and Gil immediately climbed down from the carriage.
Judge was apparently heading straight to his grandfather's house. He had invited them to stay there as well, but Lizel had declined, not wanting to intrude on their private family time.
Judge made no effort to hide his disappointment, so Gil couldn't help feeling a little sorry for the grandfather in question.
Imagine finally seeing your grandson again after so long, only to discover that he was more excited about spending time with someone else than with you.
"Um, in that case, Lizel-san, where are you going to stay...?"
"We haven't decided yet. It looks crowded, but there should still be rooms available at cheap inns, don't you think?"
"Yeah. There are plenty of inns here to begin with."
"N-no, you can't!"
After spending four days together, Judge seemed to have grown a little more comfortable around Lizel and Gil.
Now able to speak up for himself a little more, Judge actually argued back against them.
The unusual sight left both Lizel and Gil momentarily speechless.
"The thought of you staying in some cheap inn... I-I just can't bear it!"
"What sort of image does he have of me, exactly?"
"Exactly what you'd expect."
Perhaps he was imagining Lizel staying at a cheap inn, because Judge was trembling, his face turning pale.
Lizel could hear him muttering about hard beds and incompetent staff, among other things. Judge seemed genuinely horrified by the prospect.
As a merchant, there was nothing wrong with insisting that customers receive service suited to their needs. Still, Lizel was a little afraid to find out exactly what Judge thought of him.
He would probably only look satisfied once Lizel was lying in a bed with a canopy.
Having such a lofty image of me can be a problem, too, Lizel thought with a wry smile, once again confronted with the gap between how others saw him and who he actually was.
Lizel tried to convince Judge that they wouldn't choose an especially bad inn, but when Judge eventually resorted to tearfully begging him not to, Lizel finally gave in. Gil, meanwhile, was thoroughly put off by the whole display.
Judge recommended several inns and even gave them a letter of introduction bearing his name, just in case they were turned away.
The card bore the name of the trading company founded by Judge's grandfather, which Judge himself belonged to. Apparently, it carried considerable weight in this nation.
He told them that if they showed the card, most inns would find them a room somehow, even if they had to make space for them.
"You really don't have to go to all this trouble for us—"
"I insist...!"
Judge started crying again, so Lizel gave up.
"Why are you such a pushover when it comes to that guy?"
"What am I supposed to do when he looks at me with those pleading eyes and starts crying? He looks like he'd lose all hope the moment I said no."
Lizel turned his gaze to the letter of introduction he'd received.
It bore the names of Judge's grandfather, the trading company, and Judge himself, along with the company's address.
That was presumably the location of Judge's grandfather's house, his destination for this trip.
Lizel didn't know much about it, but the company was probably a major trading house of considerable size.
"Then we'll come pick you up at this address in three days."
"Y-you mustn’t accept a job guarding another carriage...! You're coming back with me!"
Knowing that requests for escort work would come pouring in as long as Gil was around, Judge climbed into his carriage and departed, issuing his warning as he went.
Many merchants came to Marcade to purchase goods, and on the way home, they sometimes fell prey to bandits targeting their cargo.
That was why merchants sought out capable guards. However, while Gil's name was well known, it was hard to say the same about his face.
I'm sure it'll be fine, Lizel thought as he waved goodbye to the worrywart Judge.
Then he took another look around, slowly surveying his surroundings.
"It's quite a jumble, isn't it?"
"Told you. It's hard to relax here."
Despite being right outside the gate, the area was crowded with food stalls and street vendors. The relatively spacious grounds had been thoroughly taken over by merchants.
Shops lined every street, stalls had squeezed into even the narrowest alleys, and countless advertising flags and posters hung overhead.
It was truly a city built for merchants. With so many tourists and residents alike, the streets were hopelessly congested.
"Let's find an inn first. Judge recommended a few places, after all."
They set off side by side, as they usually did.
Once they started walking down the main street, the crowd seemed even denser, giving Lizel the impression that there was always a wall of people directly in front of him.
Wondering how anyone managed to walk through such a crowd, Lizel followed Gil, who strode into it without the slightest hesitation.
"Oh, excuse me."
"Oops, sorry about that."
"W-wait, Gil, hold—"
"...Just walk behind me from now on."
Grabbing Lizel by the arm as he was buffeted mercilessly by the human tide, Gil guided him to walk behind him.
Lizel had never really experienced crowds like this before. It was only natural that things would turn out this way.
After bumping into people and being bumped in return, Lizel nearly got swept away by the crowd. With a wry smile, he obediently fell in behind Gil.
Gil didn't bump into anyone at all. It wasn't just that his rough appearance made people move out of his way; he also seemed to know exactly how to navigate a crowd.
After walking in silence for several minutes, Gil suddenly reached his left hand backward without turning around.
His hand pressed against Lizel's waist from the side, shifting him one step to the right even as they continued walking.
Before Lizel could look up at the back of Gil's head to ask what was wrong, he heard someone click their tongue as they slipped past them without a sound.
Glancing to the side, Lizel saw a young man striding away at a brisk pace.
"...I was being targeted, wasn't I?"
"Looks that way."
Apparently, he'd been targeted by a pickpocket—a classic hazard of crowded streets.
A bag enchanted with spatial magic allowed items to be put in and taken out even by someone other than its owner.
Judge had given Lizel a device to prevent that sort of tampering, of course, but there was no way to tell just by looking at the bag.
Besides, a skilled pickpocket could make off with the entire pouch before the victim even noticed. Lizel could only be grateful to Gil for intervening.
With his fine clothes and leisurely demeanor, Lizel must have looked like the perfect target.
"How could you tell he was a pickpocket?"
"It's obvious if you look."
"Sometimes, Gil, you really do seem to live entirely by instinct. I'm impressed."
They continued chatting as they left the main street and turned into an alley.
The main street stayed lively even at night. Since most people preferred a quiet place to sleep, inns were often tucked away in alleys where the noise couldn't reach them.
Some people preferred the bustle, of course, so there were inns along the main street as well. But naturally, neither of them was that kind of person.
They passed a suspicious-looking street stall and climbed the stairs at the corner of the alley. That was their destination.
Fortunately, the inn Judge had recommended had a double room available.
They usually booked separate rooms because sharing a room for an extended period made it difficult to relax. However, inns with single rooms were generally geared toward adventurers, and this particular inn catered entirely to tourists, so naturally, it had no single rooms.
Since they would only be staying for a few days, neither Lizel nor Gil objected.
They didn't want to make the inn arrange a room specially just because they had Judge's introduction, so they were lucky that one happened to be available.
"We're going to Judge's place in three days, so that's three nights. Not too bad."
"Anything you want to do while we're here, Gil?"
"Nope."
"You've been to the Merchant Nation before, haven't you? The gate guard seemed surprised to see you."
"That's just my reputation getting around on its own. I haven't stayed here for very long."
They discussed their plans while taking a short break at the inn they'd been shown to.
Gil had visited Marcade several times for work, but as he said, he'd never stayed long enough to make it his base of operations.
There was a guild here, so he had no trouble finding adventurer work. Still, the city's bustle simply didn't suit him.
He'd conquered all the nearby dungeons in just a few days before returning to Parteda. That was probably why he was so well known even in this nation.
Conquering four dungeons in less than a week was no ordinary feat.
Gil had no intention of going out of his way to tell Lizel about it, though. How many dungeons Gil had conquered probably wasn't particularly important to Lizel anyway.
"What about you?"
"Let's see... I'd like to look around and do some sightseeing, at least."
"Then let's go."
Gil immediately got to his feet, as if to say there was no point sitting around staring at each other in the inn. Lizel smiled wryly and stood up as well.
***
"Damn you! I'm going to kill you! I swear I'll kill you!"
A man was shouting at them. He held a sword in one hand, pointing himself straight toward them.
How had things come to this? Standing in a space that had opened up in the middle of the overflowing crowd, Lizel gave a wry smile.
The onlookers had kept a reasonable distance, watching Lizel and the others with undisguised curiosity.
They were right in the middle of Marcade's famous "Street Stall Plaza."
Lizel had been genuinely impressed by the sight before him.
The spacious plaza in front of the Lord's residence was packed with stalls, each squeezed in beside the next.
There were street stalls and food carts selling everything from food to weapons, armor, and miscellaneous goods. The place practically seemed to boast that there was nothing you couldn't find here.
The only open space was the center, where a fountain stood. Everywhere else, the tightly packed stalls formed a veritable maze.
At the far end of the plaza stood a broad flight of stairs leading to the Lord's residence. People sat wherever they pleased on the steps, biting into what appeared to be snacks they had purchased.
People were constantly coming and going from the Lord's residence.
There were people who looked like officials, along with merchants and others. Apparently, the administrative offices were housed there as well.
With so many different people passing through, the fact that no one knew what the Lord looked like suggested that he was deliberately concealing his identity.
But why would someone who worked so energetically go to such inefficient lengths to hide himself...? Perhaps it was his mistake to have been pondering that very question.
Gil suddenly pivoted, knocking aside a sword strike aimed at them with his own blade.
People fled with screams. The man roared in fury, while Gil stepped in front of Lizel to face him.
Lizel calmly observed the scene unfolding around him, but he couldn't think of a single reason why the man would suddenly attack him.
Once everyone nearby had fled, Lizel looked at the man from behind Gil. As he'd expected, he didn't recognize him.
"I'm confident I never forget a face once I've seen it. This is the first time we've met, isn't it?"
"Of course someone like you wouldn't need to spare a glance for someone like me!"
Gil shot Lizel a brief glance. His eyes asked whether he could cut the man down, and Lizel gave a small shake of his head.
Given the circumstances, Lizel wanted to resolve the situation as quickly as possible, but he would at least like to find out why this was happening.
"Then let me ask you something. What did I indirectly do to you?"
"What did you...?!"
The man's face was twisted into a terrifying expression of naked hatred as he glared at them.
Screams rose from the surrounding crowd, but Lizel merely tilted his head slightly, still smiling as he silently urged the man to answer.
Perhaps convinced that Lizel was thoroughly mocking him, the man took a step forward.
But Gil stopped him with a single sweep of his sword. His blade snapped a flagpole at a nearby stall, right between the man and the pair of them, knocking it down to form a boundary between them.
"Cross that line, and I'll kill you."
The man had lost control of himself, but he could at least tell that Gil meant every word.
Pinned in place by Gil's low, emotionless voice, the man seemed to be realizing only now just how outmatched he was.
He clenched his teeth so hard they seemed ready to crack, glaring at them with seething fury.
"You! You ruined my shop! Because of you, my wife and children are gone!"
"Because of me?"
"Damn right, it's your fault! You upstart!"
"Ah," Lizel said with a nod. The man had obviously mistaken him for someone else.
Apparently, Lizel looked like a noble here, too. Wandering around town with a bodyguard in tow, he might even have looked like a Lord strolling through his own domain.
A murmur rippled through the crowd. People were buzzing about how the Lord, whom no one had ever seen, had finally appeared.
"...You really are a pain in the ass."
"I keep telling you, it's not my fault."
Lizel gave a wry smile at this now-familiar exchange, which they had repeated countless times.
He'd been told not to act like a noble, but he was simply going about his life as usual, and even his clothes were local.
At this point, all he could do was let the people around him get used to him.
As far as Lizel was concerned, he'd already changed the way he spoke and corrected the habits Gil had pointed out. He was trying plenty hard enough already.
"Just so you know, you've got the wrong person."
"Like hell I believe you! No noble other than the Lord would be wandering around this city! I'll fucking kill you!"
As expected, the man refused to believe him.
The man had completely lost his temper and probably wasn't capable of thinking rationally anymore.
Lizel disliked dealing with people who wouldn't listen, but simply ignoring the man and walking away would cause problems, too.
Keeping a discreet eye on his surroundings, Lizel decided to prolong the conversation.
"I'll continue to insist you have the wrong person, but do you happen to have any idea why your shop was closed down?"
"You shut it down!"
"Then do you know why it was shut down?"
Lizel asked with a smile, looking nothing like someone whose life was in immediate danger.
He was standing a step behind Gil, not because he feared the man in front of him, but probably because he wanted to make it easier for Gil to protect him.
Gil had long since given up trying to tell him that this very attitude was what kept getting him misunderstood.
"You! Just because I opened my shop in a spot I hadn't applied for! You shut me down without even hearing me out!"
"Oh, so it was your own fault."
"Wha—?!"
"Everyone else around you applied properly before setting up their shops, didn't they? It's a rule, so why did you think you were the only one who didn't have to follow it?"
"F-for something that trivial...!"
"Aren't you the one who couldn't even follow such a trivial rule? Come now, look around you. See what everyone thinks of someone who stole a prime spot without even submitting an application."
At Lizel's casual gesture, the man awkwardly turned his bloodshot eyes toward the people around him.
This was a city of merchants, a city overflowing with them.
And this was the Street Stall Plaza in particular. Countless merchants who had set up shop here were watching the man from a distance.
The merchants, who placed their trust in the Lord, naturally never complained about the results of their applications. Even if they were assigned an unfavorable location, they simply accepted it as bad luck. They understood that even those less desirable spots had been assigned to them because the available alternatives were worse.
But what about this man?
Unable to understand that, he had opened a shop wherever he pleased. When his violation was discovered and his shop shut down, he had flown into a rage—but no one sympathized with his anger.
Instead, the man finally realized that the people around him were directing all manner of negative emotions toward him: anger, contempt, hatred.
His pride, sustained entirely by his belief that the Lord was to blame, had been shattered at its very foundation. It would only be a matter of time before he was tormented by the guilt he refused to acknowledge.
But a man who had shifted all the blame onto the Lord and ran away from his own responsibility was hardly likely to face his wrongdoing honestly.
"Don't look at me! Stop looking at me! Stop looking at meee! This is all his fault!"
It wasn't hard to imagine that, if things continued this way, the man would lose control completely and start harming the people around him.
As the man raised his sword, preparing to swing it wildly, Lizel simply smiled at him without the slightest sign of panic.
"Following the rules is synonymous with earning people's trust. You're simply not cut out to be a merchant."
He forcibly redirected the man's hostility, which had been turning toward the surrounding crowd, back toward himself.
Screaming like a madman, the man charged at him. He probably couldn't even see Gil anymore.
Gil readied his sword, making no effort to hide how utterly unimpressed he was.
"I'd like to leave here as soon as possible, so please make sure he comes out of this uninjured."
"What a pain in the ass."
Clicking his tongue at Lizel's request, Gil glanced down at him, only to find that Lizel was no longer looking at the man at all. His attention was fixed somewhere else. Before Gil could check what had caught his eye, the man came charging toward them.
Gil knocked away only the man's wildly swinging sword. The deflected blade flew sideways and embedded itself dead center in the target painted on a sign at a nearby archery game stall.
With his sword knocked away, the man lost his balance. Gil kicked him to the ground and planted a foot on his shoulder.
The fight was over in an instant. The surrounding crowd broke into enthusiastic applause, excitedly chattering about what they had just witnessed.
After noticing the military police emerging through the crowd, Lizel finally shifted his gaze from a particular section of the onlookers to the man on the ground.
Though he was still smiling, his eyes no longer held the slightest interest in the man.
"Let me say it again."
Lizel rummaged through his pouch and took out a card.
He waved it lightly at the man, who was still pinned beneath Gil's foot and unable to move.
"You've got the wrong person."
Perhaps the man had finally understood what the guild card signified. Leaving him staring in stunned disbelief, Lizel started walking away.
When the military police called out to stop him, Lizel merely replied, "Another time," without slowing down, heading straight for a single destination.
Lizel pressed forward as though the unfamiliar crowds were no obstacle at all. Gil followed, making no attempt to hide his puzzled expression. Naturally, he ignored the military police as well.
"Hey, what's gotten into you?"
"Looks like it was worth dragging out the commotion. Seems I've managed to catch my fish."
Why had Lizel bothered entertaining the man who had picked a fight with him?
Why had he continued talking to someone he disliked dealing with?
Even though Gil could have subdued the man in an instant without causing any harm to the people around them.
It was because Lizel had been waiting for a certain person to appear, acting on a strong hunch.
With Gil subtly shielding him as they made their way through the crowd, Lizel spotted the figure he had been looking for.
The man had been quietly watching the commotion until just moments ago, but the moment it ended, he had turned on his heel and walked away.
His long legs carried him forward in quick, measured strides. Lizel finally caught up with him on the main street beyond the Street Stall Plaza.
Lizel drew alongside the still-walking man and fell into step with him as casually as if they were old friends.
"Do you have a moment?"
"Rejected. I'm busy."
"I have a letter for you, actually."
"Rejected. I have no idea what you're talking about."
Lizel gave a wry smile at the man, who continued walking without so much as glancing his way.
Gil grimaced, as though his worst suspicions had just been confirmed.
"In that case... how about buying me dinner to make up for nearly getting me killed because someone mistook me for you?"
The man stopped dead in his tracks.
Then, for the first time, he turned to look at Lizel and clicked his tongue sharply.
His expression made it abundantly clear how displeased he was. With an irritated stomp, he resumed walking.
"Follow me."
At the man's growled command, Lizel smiled brightly.
Comments
Post a Comment