Vol 6 Chapter 12

'But thinking about it the other way, it might mean that the magic is difficult or uncomfortable to use even if the casting scene is shown...'

Either way, being able to train new magic was an unparalleled joy for Kapros. Smiling and with a light step, he walked out of the cave and stood again between the lava cliffs that had put him in trouble earlier. Now, even this lava was no longer a match for him.

"Inferno, Blizzard."

As he chanted the spell, feeling the magical power that had swelled to overflowing after absorbing the dragon's blood, the two spells manifested as if they had been waiting. It was the moment when the second ice bridge was constructed between the lava cliffs.

After safely crossing the ice bridge and descending onto the opposite cliff, Kapros took a deep breath with a refreshing feeling when he suddenly sensed someone's presence.

'One, two, three... four? What's this? Did I sense that correctly?'

Although he was surprised to feel four presences that he hadn't sensed at all earlier, his first thought was that maybe some monsters had respawned at the exit after he had completed the quest.

In the maze cave he had gone to solve a quest with Lucrecian before, monsters had been overflowing on the way in but had completely disappeared after solving the quest, so it wouldn't be strange if the opposite happened this time.

To accurately determine the positions of the four invisible presences he sensed from the dark inner part of the cave, Kapros decided to throw a few Fireballs to light up the area and confirm the identity of the enemies.

"...Fireball!"

"Kyaaaak!"

"Uwaaaaak!"

'...People?'

Were they really people? If his ears weren't deceiving him, those were definitely human voices.

Puzzled, he peered inside and could see four people tangled and rolling under the light of the floating Fireballs. What was even more surprising was that they were all familiar faces, members of the party he had left not long ago.

"You guys..."

"Aaack!"

"Wait a moment! Wait! We were wrong! At least let us explain the situation..."

What? What did I do...?

With a feeling mixed half with bewilderment and half with displeasure, Kapros watched the sprawled people gingerly stand up. Why on earth were these people here?

"L-look at his expression... What should we do?"

The priest with a weak impression, who had been gauging Kapros's reaction, trembled and stepped back as he saw Kapros's frowning face. Then, the swordsman who was clearly terrified but trying to put on a brave face while gripping his sword hilt, forcefully pushed the man next to him.

"Rob, it's all your fault, so you take responsibility!"

"That's right! We said we were going hunting, but you insisted on this, so take responsibility!"

"W-what! You all followed along, and now you're blaming just me!"

As the sharp-looking woman chimed in and pushed the man's back, the man named Rob, whose face was the most familiar, stepped forward stiffly with a resolute expression as if facing death.

"W-well, you see. So, um..."

"Since when have you been following me?"

"Well... since you left the party first and went off..."

Kapros's current state of mind was truly dumbfounded and incredulous, but even greater was his self-doubt. How could he not have noticed even once that someone had been following him all along? Was his skill that inadequate? No, more than that, he couldn't understand why these people, who said they were going hunting, had followed him.

"...Why?"

"W-well... you see... We were just so curious about who you really were... We wanted to confirm it properly..."

With each twitch of Kapros's eyebrow, Rob's tone alternated between highly agitated and subdued.

"So we came into the cave with these friends... but it was so hot that this woman fainted from a status effect. We were all too exhausted to carry her, so we waited for her to wake up and were just about to leave when..."

"Hey, why are you making excuses with me?"

The woman who had been quiet suddenly shouted with glaring eyes.

'Was that woman's name Blue Lady or Pink Lady? I think it was one of those...'

The name didn't matter. It seemed he had heard most of what he could from Rob, so he began to assess the situation. If they had been following him since he left the party, they must have seen almost everything, including him using magic and using Superior's stick to solve the quest...

'This is extremely unpleasant.'

This displeasure was greatly contributed to by the inexplicable gazes of Rob and the other party members, who kept staring at him even as they continued their explanations while nervously gauging his reaction. Why on earth were these dark-skinned men looking at him so strangely?

Anyway, the conclusion could be said to be half due to his own carelessness, and half due to these people acting on unnecessary curiosity about others. Realizing that things he had been trying to hide had been discovered without his knowledge, he couldn't help but give them an unfriendly look.

"So what did you see?"

As he asked gruffly while glaring at them, a slight blush appeared on the faces of the group, which had turned pale with fear for a moment.

'...Huh, really.'

Feeling frustrated by their incomprehensible behavior, Kapros waited for an answer. After a long while of whispering among themselves, the woman with sharp eyes stepped forward and spoke.

"Before we answer, w-we know we were wrong to follow you without permission, but you also deceived us by saying you were a swordsman and used us to get here, right? So even if you're angry, please don't... suddenly PK us or publicize this outside."

"I'm glad you seem to know you were wrong."

As Kapros answered coldly, the woman closed her mouth with a gulp.

"I don't have a hobby of PKing innocent people. What exactly did you see, from where to where?"