Vol 2 Chapter 10

"...Say it's invalid because you didn't answer, Kap!"

Kran shouted, glaring in the direction where Lucrecian had disappeared. Yu-wan also nodded at those words. Kapros found their overreaction amusing, as he had no intention of paying attention to Lucrecian's words anyway.

After the two quieted down, Kapros changed his posture and sat down. Now that Lucrecian had left, it seemed like a good time to review their schedule without worrying about others' eyes.

"Open map window."

A translucent map window spread out below. The first thing visible was a black dot indicating Kapros's position, blinking in Tolang in the south of the vast continental map. Now that he had completed the second memory quest in Tolang, the next quest location should appear... but where?

"..."

Unlike last time when he had quickly found the location, it took a long time of carefully examining the map before he could find the next area. The new red dot indicating the location of the third quest was situated in the western corner. After seeing where it was, Kapros was quite surprised.

'The western desert?'

The area around the red dot was a vast desert region. The only city nearby was one large city in the west. Despite the presence of portals allowing spatial movement between the five major cities in the east, west, north, south, and center, this Mist continent was too vast for easy travel, and now a desert larger than a city? He couldn't imagine how wide it would actually be. Moreover, the name written on the map was ominously called the 'Desert of Death'.

Yu-wan and Kran looked puzzled at Kapros's serious expression.

"Kap, what's wrong?"

"I've confirmed the next target location."

"Really? Where is it?"

"The western desert."

"...Desert?!"

Kran opened his mouth wide and turned on his own map window. Kapros told him it was at the westernmost part.

"It seems they won't let us finish easily this time."

Yu-wan also spoke softly, apparently having checked his map window. Agreeing with those words, Kapros felt the need to share the information he had learned through his conversation with Lucrecian.

"But this is just my goal alone."

"...What do you mean, your goal alone?"

"There was a round gem embedded in the back of the dagger handle that Lucrecian said he obtained during his quest. He said it was a gem that guides his path, like my brooch."

The two would quickly understand what this meant.

"That means..."

Kran's face changed color in an instant.

"Yes."

Kapros nodded and then continued speaking.

"You two don't have anything like that. That's why you haven't been able to solve anything since receiving the initial quest. There's probably a time limit for this quest too, so if time keeps passing like this, it might be canceled."

This seemed to come as an even greater shock to Kran in particular. He should have already known that there were no quests with unlimited resolution time, but it seemed he hadn't been thinking about that aspect very seriously until now. Yu-wan, standing beside Kran who had his mouth open, remained silent before agreeing.

"That could be the case."

"But... how can we find it when there are no hints at all?"

Kapros had also found the quest location by chance. But based on what he had felt so far, no matter how hopeless it seemed, the key to the solution was often not far away. After organizing his thoughts for a moment, Kapros continued.

"This quest seems to have many interconnected parts with other quest performers due to its large scale. Meeting Lucrecian while progressing through my quest is one example... So if you look closely around others' quests, hints related to your next quest might be hidden somewhere."

As Kapros shared even the speculations he had made while meeting Lucrecian, the other two also fell into deep thought.

Probably, the destinations of the 7 quest performers wouldn't all overlap at the same time. Even this time, if Lucrecian had left this place first, Kapros would have proceeded with his quest without meeting him. But they should certainly be able to find hints.

What would happen to them when Yu-wan and Kran eventually found their hints?

While thinking that they were friends sticking together now but would eventually scatter, Kapros remembered Kion-hyung.

In such a case, how likely would it be for them to meet again?

"..."

Just as he was feeling strangely numb, suddenly Lucrecian appeared from the window direction as if unveiling himself. Kapros and Yu-wan, already accustomed to this, remained still, but Kran jumped in surprise.

"Wah!"

"Why are you surprised again when you've seen this several times already?"

Lucrecian burst into laughter. This time, he didn't appear alone. Sio, his subordinate, also revealed himself following behind.

"I'm back, hyung."

Lucrecian waved his hand casually.

"Hello. It's good to see you again. We are truly grateful to all of you."

Sio greeted them with a smile.

"I told them that since the underground dungeon has disappeared, their guild members will soon come out. And I've decided to leave this side to Sio while I'm gone..."

"You're leaving? Where to?"

Kran interrupted, his eyes flashing sharply. The conversation they had earlier seemed to have had a big impact. Despite being cut off mid-sentence, Lucrecian smiled and answered as if nothing was wrong.

"To the west."

"What?"

"I'm joking."

Lucrecian retorted playfully, his eyes crinkling with laughter.

"My destination is in the east. But why are you surprised? Is there something in the west?"

"..."

Kran's face reddened with anger at the meaningful smile. However, he wasn't about to stay quiet after being teased.

"You bastard... You were hiding and listening to our conversation, weren't you?!"

Kapros firmly grabbed Kran's shoulder.

"Endure it."

In fact, from Kapros's perspective, Kran was a guy who liked helping others and had good manners, but that also made him easy to tease. Overreacting would only give more pleasure to someone like Lucrecian.

As Kran sat down grinding his teeth, a look of disappointment flashed across Lucrecian's face.

'That guy...'