Vol 6 Chapter 13

There shouldn't be any unnecessary leaks about Kapros's job, abilities being known online, or quest information. He needed to hear how much they had seen and understood to figure out how to silence them.

"W-we didn't see much. It took a long time to get to the cave... We only saw a big explosion with white light and an earthquake before you opened a strange space door, and you crossing an ice bridge..."

"What do you think that was?"

"M-magic, what else could it be?"

Hmm... Of course, they wouldn't be oblivious to that.

"Then what did it look like I came here for?"

"That's... not really..."

Fortunately, they said they were so focused on following him and watching his magic that they didn't have the presence of mind to speculate about such things. Although it was unpleasant, after hearing their story, it didn't seem like they had any particular malicious intent.

As Kapros looked around, people flinched every time his eyes met theirs.

'What should I do...'

It was an absurd situation, but their claim that they didn't intend to interfere with him seemed genuine, and having just obtained 7th circle magic, he wasn't in the mood to get angry. After pondering for a while, Kapros slowly opened his mouth.

"If I thought you intended to interfere with me or had malicious intent, I would have had..."

Along with the creation of a chilling atmosphere, gulping sounds erupted from here and there.

"...quite a long conversation with you all, but I'm in a hurry now, so I'll just make one request and move on."

"W-what is it?"

"Never speak about what you saw here anywhere else. This applies both in-game and on places like VT-net. If I see anything about today's events anywhere, I'll assume the culprit is one of you and come find you personally. No matter where you are..."

To intimidate them a bit more, Kapros raised one corner of his mouth in an eerie smile, causing everyone to tremble and step back. Hmm. It's a problem when threats work too well.

He thought about saying more, but now they were starting to look like four squirrels to him, and feeling that continuing would just make him the bad guy, he decided to restrain himself and walked past them. After going a few meters, he looked back and saw they were still standing there frozen.

"What are you doing? If you want to stay here, I won't stop you, but..."

"Um, that..."

Without answering the question, Rob, who had his mouth open dumbly, stammered as he spoke.

"Is that really all? I shouldn't be saying this, but honestly, I thought we were half dead when caught following you... Aren't you angry?"

"..."

He had thought it over and decided to let it go in exchange for their silence, but were they unsatisfied with that? Were these people perhaps those with strange tastes who enjoyed painful or extreme situations they'd only heard about? Various thoughts like these crossed Kapros's mind, but outwardly he remained expressionless, blinked a few times, and quietly asked back.

"Would you like me to be angry?"

"Ah, no! That's not what I meant!"

"Then that's settled. Stay there if you want. Goodbye."

As Kapros immediately turned around and started walking again, startled voices followed.

"Wait a moment!"

"Don't leave us behind!"

With these hesitant people trailing behind him like fish droppings, Kapros retraced his steps and arrived at the outer cave through the still-open space door. It was the place where he had corrected the wrong text with Superior's stick.

Once everyone had exited, the door closed automatically. After a while, Kapros could see the blue sky again.

"Phew..."

Although in real time, only a few hours had probably passed since entering and leaving this cave, it felt like he was seeing the sky for the first time in ages, and he took several deep breaths.

'So now all that's left is to go down the mountain?'

After looking around a few times and roughly determining the direction, he was about to set off when...

"Um, excuse me! Wait a moment!"

As Kapros turned his head, Rob continued speaking hesitantly, rolling his eyes with a complicated expression.

"Well, you see... We've been watching you all this time, but we still can't figure out who you really are."

'...Who I really am?'

What was there to figure out... He had just used magic and a sword, which they said they had already seen. While Kapros was thinking this blankly, Rob was continuing to speak, his hands clasped together nervously.

"A swordsman who can use aura while also using incredible magic... It would be rude to ask your name, but... well... we'd like to know what your real job is, as a last request..."

His face, etched with the agony of his deliberations, showed that he knew his question clearly violated game manners, but he couldn't resist asking. As Kapros looked at Rob, wondering how to answer, the man blushed uncharacteristically and scratched the back of his head vigorously.

"I know it's rude. But I've never seen anyone like you before... When you made that bridge over the lava cliff... watching that, I really... I mean, damn it. How do I say this? Just think of me as a f-fan who's curious and answer, please!"

Rob's sudden shout startled the birds, which flew up noisily chirping. The companions around him were surprised and looked at Rob, but contrary to Kapros's expectation that they would ask what crazy thing he was saying, they took a completely unexpected attitude.

"Rob... you bastard..."

"Chow, I'm sorry. But I just couldn't bear it any longer..."

"You're just trying to get close to him! You sly dog!"

"What? Gack!"

While the swordsman approached with an angry expression and mercilessly choked Rob, the woman and the priest also hesitantly approached Kapros.

"Um... Honestly, we know we behaved much worse and wouldn't have any right to complain if you publicized this, but we insisted anyway... Thank you for ending it with just asking each other questions. So... The tailing was half because of Rob-nim, but I didn't do anything right either, so I apologize. But, I didn't see much because I fainted! Please make sure you know that!"