As time went on, more and more participants kept pouring into the field. Shortly after Iron Will was called away, one of the guild’s officials came over to speak to me.
“All right. It’s time to bring out the leviathan, if you would,” the guildmaster of the capital branch, Bram, said to me.
I hesitated. I’d already exposed my Item Box’s capacity to a fair number of people, but letting that secret slip in front of a crowd this huge still felt like a step too far.
《What are you waiting for? Bring it out.》
《Go on, my liege!》
《We’ll never get this done if you don’t get it out already!》
《Masteeer, what’s wrong?》
My familiars all chimed in telepathically to rush me, and I replied telepathically as well. 《See, the thing is, if I bring it out here, then all these people will know about my Item Box,》 I said. Just the fact that I had one was bad enough. If I revealed that mine was big enough to fit a monster of that size, it was all but certain that the rumor mill would spread that information far and wide in no time.
《Surely it is far too late to concern yourself with such matters?》 Fel said.
《I mean, maybe, but so far I’ve always told people that mine is just a little on the big side of things. If I pull a literal leviathan out of it, they’re gonna know that I have something hero-adjacent going on for sure,》 I replied.
《But why would that be an issue?》 Gon asked. 《You have me and Fel in your service, my liege. It seems less than likely that anyone would be so reckless or foolish as to lay a hand on you.》
《I mean, you’re not wrong, but still...》
Fel clicked his tongue with irritation. 《You have wasted more than enough time. Bring the beast out at once,》 he impatiently urged.
The guild higher-ups, meanwhile—who couldn’t hear any of my conversation with my familiars, of course—looked very confused. I could hear them muttering to one another. I caught a “What’s wrong with him?” and a “How long is this going to take?” among other comments.
《Agggh, fine! I’ll do it!》
It was time to throw caution to the wind. I pulled the leviathan out of my Item Box, and it landed on the ground before me with an enormous thud. The guild higher-ups had already seen its head, so they’d had some idea of its scale, but witnessing the corpse in full for the first time still made their jaws drop.
“I can’t believe it’s that enormous...”
“It’s even larger than I’d imagined.”
“Same here.”
“To think even this field would barely be big enough for it.”
“We can count ourselves lucky there was a large enough space at all...”
I guess it’d be hard not to be surprised when you saw that thing, yeah. I really got where they were coming from—and, for that matter, how the adventurers who’d been holding their meeting a short distance away felt as well. They were stunned, for the most part, though one of them was reacting in a slightly more outrageous sort of way.
“Woo-hooooo!”
I heard a downright bizarre wail of joy as one of the adventurers split off from the pack, sprinting full tilt over to the leviathan and clinging to its side.
“It’s a leviathan! An actual, genuine, leviathaaan!”
I didn’t even need to take a closer look to figure out who that was. There was only one person here who’d behave so ridiculously. Elrand, what are you doing?!
“Never make that horrid noise again!” Moira shouted, loudly enough that I could hear her clearly even from across the field.
You’ve got a tough job, Moira, but someone definitely has to do it.
Before long, the higher-ups started making their way over toward Elrand. We reluctantly followed along, though by that point, “we” meant me, Fel, and Sui. Gon and Dora-chan had been so disturbed by Elrand’s shout that they’d excused themselves on the spot.
In Gon’s words, 《I-I have raised my barrier. Fel will have to handle the rest. In the meantime, I shall patrol the skies.》
《Y-Yeah, me too!》 Dora-chan had chimed in.
The next thing I knew, the two of them had evacuated into the air above us. Fel had seemed content with the idea of a midair guard, and had readily agreed to the plan before raising a barrier of his own.
Nobody’s suffered more from Elrand’s eccentricity than Gon and Dora-chan, I guess. I could understand why his unhinged wail had driven them away in a heartbeat. If I’d had my way, I would’ve kept my distance from him too. However, the guild’s highest-ranking officer, Bram, had other ideas.
“Ugh... He’s a problem, I’ll grant you that, but we really do need him to direct the leviathan’s butchering,” he’d groaned.
The other bigwigs all chimed in with their own opinions as well.
“It’s shocking how competent he is, considering.”
“In his field, and only his field.”
“You’ve met him before, haven’t you, Mukohda? I’m sure you understand.”
“Bringing him here was a necessary evil.”
Yeah, again, I can relate. You all have my sympathies.
I reluctantly plodded over to where Elrand was still adhered to the side of the leviathan, seemingly in a trance.
Bram rolled his eyes and stepped up to him. “All right, Elrand, that’s enough of that,” he said.
“Oooh, Bram!” Elrand excitedly exclaimed. “Look! It’s a leviathan! It’s a real leviathan!”
If there’s one thing I’ll give this elf, it’s that he’s consistent to a fault. Not even the highest-ranking member of the guild in the country can sway him.
Bram sighed. “I’m well aware, thank you. That’s the only reason you’re here, though I’m starting to wonder if that was a mistake after all.”
I nodded in reflexive agreement. Right? Hard not to start questioning these things when you see him like that.
“Huh?” Elrand blinked. “What are you saying?! Do you really think there’s anyone else out there who could butcher a leviathan?! A leviathan?! No one could possibly be more suited for this job than me, and that’s a fact!” he vehemently insisted.
“Then hurry up and prove it! You’ve got a job to do, and you’d better do it well!” Bram demanded. The other guild leaders chimed in to agree.
“Your concern is not needed!” Elrand huffed. “I’ll do my job, and I’ll do it perfectly! I just need a moment to enjoy the leviathan to its fullest before I get started!”
A very loud slap resounded across the field.
“Ow!”
“You are in no position to make demands! Do your work, and do it now!” Moira fumed, a furious scowl once again plastered across her face. Elrand’s chaperone had saved the day yet again.
“Come ooon! Why are you all so insistent on rushing me? You could at least spare me a moment to bask in the blissful joy of meeting my very first leviathan,” Elrand grumbled...but between Moira’s expression—which had grown even more threatening and was now downright demonic—and the glares of the higher-ups—which were so frigid they felt like they’d hit absolute zero—he seemed to finally take the hint. “I-I’ll do it, though! Have it your way,” he squeaked before shifting into work mode. For the first time that day, a very serious look came across Elrand’s face as he started inspecting the leviathan.