Vol 3 Chapter 43

It was a laughable story. When Kapros had been living listlessly in reality, trying to suppress memories of the accident and, by extension, memories related to Jeong Seung-jo, he had suffered so much from memories that wouldn't fade no matter what. Now, because of that single thought, he even wanted to talk with Jeong Seung-jo. Moreover, he had ended up walking here of his own accord.

If he had only wanted to run away, there was nothing stopping him, but that one thought in his mind had essentially tied his feet. Looking at the unsightly current situation, it seemed he had done something foolish, but he still had to try.

Although he was caught, this situation where the other side seemed to have the upper hand might actually be better for initiating a conversation. Besides, if he was lucky enough to make conversation possible, he could ask about many other things as well. Of course, that was assuming his trembling mental state could endure it.

Kapros exhaled softly and opened his mouth, keeping his voice as low as possible.

"Why are you here? How did you recognize me?"

He was curious about this too, for starters. After parting ways like that in the underground cave in Zagreb, Kapros hadn't thought he would see the guy again so soon. Moreover, although it might have been a coincidence, the fact that he seemed to have recognized Kapros, whose face was unknown to anyone, even before they met...

"How did I recognize you? I don't need to make any special effort to recognize you lot. You were there, so it must have been you. And the reason I'm here? Do I have to answer that too?"

As if he hadn't expected much even though Kapros hadn't answered, Caesar continued speaking.

"Fine. I didn't need to come this far. I had already roughly achieved my goal there, and I just needed to leave for the next step."

'The next step...?'

Whether Kapros was racking his brains or not, Caesar fell silent for a moment after finishing his words, then soon opened his mouth again.

"But."

An indescribable chill could be felt in that voice.

"It kept bothering me."

At that moment, Kapros felt something strange. The grip on his twisted arm and the back of his neck slowly loosened. It seemed like the guy was trying to turn Kapros around to see his face, so Kapros twisted his body as quickly as possible and shouted towards the far end of the alley that came into view.

"...Blink!"

In an instant, with a change in vision as if blinking rapidly a few times, Kapros's body broke free from Caesar and regained its freedom. He had hoped to proceed quietly with a conversation as he wanted, but just now it had seemed truly dangerous, so he had no choice. Caesar stared blankly at Kapros for a moment before smiling dangerously.

"So you had that kind of magic too. I'll have to keep that in mind next time."

While it didn't matter if he was humiliatingly caught when not facing each other, the story changed if they were to face each other at such a close distance. The guy might be able to recognize who Kapros was.

In fact, the situation up until now had been quite dangerous if you looked at it that way, but nothing was worse than confronting each other at close range. Kapros had already felt a strange sensation even before Caesar took off his helmet. There was no reason the guy wouldn't feel the same.

Still, just as Kapros had never dreamed of seeing him here, the guy must surely feel the same. He had to. Even if 99 percent of his intuition screamed certainty, that 1 percent of uncertainty would protect him from this suffocating coincidence.

An undisguisable tension flowed between the guy and Kapros, who were now facing each other at a distance, just like when they had met in the market earlier.

"Who on earth are you?"

At those words suddenly uttered by Caesar, Kapros, who had been trying to think in the best possible direction anyway, felt as if all the blood in his body had turned cold.

Had the guy felt it too? That subtle, inexplicably familiar yet strange feeling of a person. If so, how much had he felt, and what was he thinking?

The shell of the mask visible before his eyes suddenly felt so fragile. Kran's voice saying, "This isn't like a robe, it can't be taken off easily!" echoed in his mind again. The mask, which had the advantage of not only covering half of the face but also hiding the eyes, which play the biggest part in identifying a person. This was the only thing Kapros could rely on now.

"You asked why I came this far, right?"

As Kapros was trying to slowly back away, Caesar's words made him stop in his tracks.

"..."

"From the moment I first saw you... strangely..."

As Caesar continued speaking slowly yet persistently, as if trying to recall something, Kapros finally decided he couldn't stand it anymore and needed to shut him up to make him lose the leisure to think.

"So are you saying you want to fight now, or not?"

When Kapros spoke with a flat voice filled with killing intent, the guy remained silent for a moment, then looked at him with dark eyes.

"Even though you don't look alike..."

Before those words could finish, Kapros decided to just ask cleanly without wasting any more time.

"I know your name is Caesar."

Although he was extremely tense, his voice was relatively calm.

"I want to ask just one thing. You remember the swordsman who fought you at the end in Zagreb, right?"

The moment the question ended, Caesar, who had been wearing a gloomy expression, suddenly made a strange face and burst into a short laugh.

'...Laughing?'

It was so unexpected that Kapros felt the imaging of the magic spells he was about to unleash dissipate like fog in his mind. Despite the atmosphere being very different from the smiling face in his memories, Kapros couldn't say anything due to the strange feeling that washed over him. Then the guy spoke.

"So that's why you led me here so obediently. Mage."

As Kapros's eyebrows twitched at the guy's words that hit the mark, Caesar smirked.

"Well. Fine. I didn't come here intending to fight today either. If you're talking about that guy who made a fool of me and luckily escaped... Of course I remember him."

Kapros was dumbfounded, wondering what it was about him being slammed against the wall earlier if Caesar hadn't come intending to fight, but seeing the guy unexpectedly answering so readily, he decided he couldn't give up this opportunity and continued with his questions.