Vol 3 Chapter 41

As light flashed and swords clashed a few more times, a growling voice resonated between the forcefully pushed swords, accompanied by the sound of grinding metal.

"...What do you plan to do once you find him?"

"I have no obligation to answer."

Bang!

As soon as the words ended, a strong explosion occurred, naturally widening the distance between the two. When the man who had been pushed back raised his head with a grunt, Caesar had already disappeared from sight.

"Damn it!"

For a moment, his eyes became urgent and narrowed, then he immediately turned around and started running in the opposite direction.

***

"Well, now I think I need to... go out for a bit."

"Um, I think I need to go out for a while. I have some business to attend to."

Kran and Un-o spoke as if on cue as soon as they had finally managed to get an inn room after the commotion. Before Kapros could answer, they were surprised by each other's words, looked at each other, and immediately raised their voices.

"What? Didn't you see that chaos in the market just now?"

As Kran pointed at Un-o and shouted as if it made no sense, Un-o's eyes narrowed coldly.

"That has nothing to do with me. Besides, going out now is a matter as important as life itself to me. Couldn't you go out a little later, hyung?"

Kran flinched at Un-o's retort, glanced at Kapros's face once, and scratched his head with a troubled expression.

"I was planning to visit the temple for the next quest... I saw online that it's only open during the day."

"..."

Kapros glanced out the window, which was dyed crimson with the sunset. He didn't respond to Kran's words, but seeing Un-o's slightly troubled gaze, he slowly opened his mouth.

"Just go, both of you."

"Huh?"

Kran blinked blankly and Un-o looked puzzled, their faces showing expressions that seemed to ask what Kapros meant, but Kapros just shrugged his shoulders once.

"I was planning to go out too."

"..."

After a moment of silence, Kran noisily asked if Kapros had actually heard what he said. In the end, only after Kapros explained, uncharacteristically repeatedly, that they had already disguised themselves, that he was planning to look for magic books in the market, and that while there might be people who knew Kran's face, there was no one who knew his face, did Kran finally calm down.

"Okay. If you're going to look around the market... Kap, I asked you to go with me to the market before. Can't you just come with me and then go?"

To Kran, who asked with sparkling eyes, Kapros firmly shook his head. In fact, not only did things tend to get noisy wherever that guy was, but they would also attract people's attention whether they liked it or not. Even if he had dyed his hair a common color, Kran's striking appearance wasn't going anywhere. If they were together, all their efforts at disguise might be in vain and troublesome things might happen again.

"I think we can return faster if we each go separately."

"Hmm... Is that so? Okay. So we'll go out quickly now and just take care of our business and come back?"

Kran seriously agreed with Kapros's words, which were uttered as an excuse, and soon returned to his original self, raising his hand.

"Yeah."

"Understood."

With Un-o's brief answer, Kapros also nodded, and only then could they depart on their separate ways. Until the last moment of parting at the inn, Kran kept looking back at Kapros with a worried expression, but eventually left with slumped shoulders.

However, it might have been better to go to the temple first with Kran as he suggested, even if it was a bit noisy. Kapros realized this fact when he arrived at the center of the market crowded with street vendors not long after.

It had been a really long time since he had walked around alone without his robe, and he felt a strange sensation as if he were walking around naked. Being like this almost felt like he had returned to when he first started THE MIST.

But more than anything else, what felt newly unfamiliar was his right leg, standing firmly on the ground as he was swept along by and pushed through the surrounding crowd.

The people all around him wouldn't even think that he, walking so normally now, couldn't use one of his legs in reality. It was amusing in a way, but it also gave him a sense of being disconnected from the world.

'By the way, they sure sell some strange things.'

He had passed by this area before, but at that time he had only seen the outskirts where the market was just beginning, so he hadn't seen many of the street stalls lined up. Unlike then, now that he had come deep into the market, both sides of the street were full of people setting up shop, shouting loudly selling various things, bargaining, and even holding impromptu auctions. It seemed like one could never be bored even if they spent all day here.

"Lamp item only available in Bala! Selling 1st circle lamp with 1st circle magic! Make an offer!"

"Selling sealed scrolls! Obtained from the 2nd floor of the underground labyrinth dungeon! If you open it well, you'll hit the jackpot too!"

"Extremely popular accessory item! Charm up by 50! Purple Moon necklace and earring SET! You know sets are never common, right? Auction for just 10 minutes!"

"I'm buying it for my lover, sell it to me!"

"This potion is the best among HP potions! Perfect P made by the potion master Renana-nim! 200G per 100! Ah, it's cheap, cheap!"

"Selling all types of potions! Many regulars, even interviewed by the MIST Bay community!"

"All kinds of skill books here! Fresh skill books brought in from Zagreb and Tolang!"

The attire was as diverse as the many people, giving a strong sense of a world that doesn't exist in reality.

There were users wearing strange clothes with incomprehensible structures, users wearing robes pulled over their heads like Kapros had been earlier, and users with unique weapons or unusual hair colors.

The cityscape overflowing with individuality was full of vitality. Among them, there were many users wearing masks, and Kapros could finally somewhat relate to Kran's words about them being common.

As he wandered around for a long time, what Kapros mainly looked at were the street vendors selling skill books.