Vol 5 Chapter 41

This stick, Superior had said, was originally created and planted by him to serve as both a gravestone and a barrier to commemorate the deaths of the Electric Knight's siblings, which Kapros had seen in the memory. Later, Superior had returned and infused his avatar into it while reworking the exterior, which gave it various functions. Superior hadn't taught all the functions, only revealing one for now. That was the method to transform the stick into a sword.

"[ I'll teach you more slowly in the future, but for now, you'll need a sword the most. When the time comes that you need it, use the swordsmanship of mine that you've learned so far to infuse magic into this. That should do it. ]"

Indeed, as he had said, the magic sword Kapros had tried against the Woodroka was perfectly reborn and revealed itself before him. The sword with its astonishing cutting power seemed to draw out several times Kapros's original abilities. It was such an excellent item that Kapros, rarely, felt expectant about what other functions it might have besides being a sword.

"...We should reach the Puerican habitat soon if we go a bit further. Fortunately, we haven't encountered many monsters..."

At that moment, Evan, the priest with little presence, spoke to the group with a bright face while pointing ahead. However, the others didn't quite hear his words and were talking among themselves while looking elsewhere.

"If we go a little further that way, they say we'll reach the Puerican habitat."

"Thanks to Chow-nim, we've finally realized. That's fortunate."

"Oh, is that so? I didn't know."

Kapros watched with interest as Evan once again looked frustrated at having his words buried.

The party members seemed to have decided it was easier to treat Kapros as if he didn't exist since the Woodroka battle, and no one looked back at him.

Only Rob, who had been in a daze after the battle, had asked Kapros, "Hey, were you really a swordsman?" but after receiving incredulous looks from the other party members, he had fumbled, "Ah, r-right. I brought him," and occasionally glanced back nervously, but that was all.

Thanks to this, Kapros was able to comfortably use the party members as a front and succeed in coming this far without drawing attention, as he had intended.

"May I ask you something?"

After observing for a while, Kapros approached the priest who had the least presence and tapped him on the shoulder. The priest turned around, startled. He stumbled on a stone due to his surprise, and as Kapros caught him, the terrified priest stepped back, his voice trembling.

"Y-yes?"

"Which direction is De Gorka from here?"

"De... Gorka?"

The priest, who had repeated the question while being excessively timid as if Kapros were some kind of monster, looked around as if seeking help. At that moment, Rob swallowed hard and pointed in one direction while looking at Kapros.

"If you mean De Gorka, it's that way..."

That way... Looking in the direction Rob was pointing, Kapros saw it was the opposite of where they had said the Puerican habitat was earlier.

'If that's the case, it would be difficult to go together any further.'

Since the reason Kapros had come this far was to go to De Gorka, it seemed sufficient to follow them only up to this point.

"I see. Then, I'm sorry, but may I leave the party now? Something has come up."

If he had been answering only Rob, Kapros would have used informal speech, but since there were many people, he used polite speech for now.

Suddenly, even the other party members who had been ignoring him turned their heads to look at him. Various emotions could be read in their strange expressions that could be felt without words, but they didn't seem to want to open their mouths.

Although it was a bit unfair to them, in fact, Kapros hadn't just randomly chosen this party. He had followed them after impulsively picking them when he saw Rob, but if the party members hadn't been strong enough to go their own way regardless of whether he was there or not, he wouldn't have forced his way in. Moreover, he had tried to act as inconspicuously as possible, so if he left now, they would surely feel relief rather than discomfort, as if a troublesome tooth had been pulled.

"Are you leaving because we've been giving you the cold shoulder?!"

Although Kapros had thought they would readily agree, albeit a bit reluctantly, Rob unexpectedly grabbed his shoulder and shouted loudly. While Kapros blinked at the unexpected situation, Rob pounded his chest.

"No, no matter what, this isn't right. Even if your skills are great, once you've come this far, there's nowhere you can go alone. Sending someone off alone from here is no different from pushing them to their death."

Although Rob glanced at the other party members when he said "no matter what," he finally finished his words while pounding his chest. Kapros was momentarily dumbfounded and missed the timing to respond.

"No, I'll be fine. I have the ability to protect myself..."

Even though Kapros spoke belatedly, Rob widened his eyes and shouted, "Aha!"

"Does that make sense? You've come this far because we're a party! Don't say such nonsense and just come along."

While the other party members seemed rather pleased that Kapros was leaving, why was Rob acting like this alone? Looking at the rest of the party members, Kapros could read that they seemed to welcome his statement about leaving, even as they avoided eye contact. Watching Rob speak firmly despite receiving glares, Kapros shook his head and turned around.

"I appreciate your words, but... that's not why I'm leaving. The rest of you, please continue hunting. Then, I'll be going. [Leave Party]"

- You have left the 'Let's go to Puerican!' party.

After hearing the notification window's voice and pressing confirm, Kapros moved forward in the direction Rob had pointed earlier without looking back. He felt gazes watching him from behind until the end, but he ignored them.

As Kapros had felt while following behind the party members, there weren't as many monsters in this area as he had thought. However, the ones that did appear one by one were very strong and persistent, which was annoying.