Vol 6 Chapter 47

"Shut up."

With a voice filled with killing intent, Caesar broke the wooden skewer he was holding with one hand and abruptly stood up. As Kapros quietly stood up as well, Caesar looked at him with eyes whose meaning was difficult to understand. Though it wasn't the murderous look from before, it was a complex gaze that wasn't completely softened either. Seeing that expression, Kapros too found himself unable to speak, unsure what to say as the brief recent events flashed through his mind.

Caesar hesitated as if about to say something, but finally seemed to decide it wasn't necessary and started walking away without a word.

'Is he leaving?'

Though they weren't close enough to exchange farewells, seeing him try to disappear so suddenly without a word felt wrong to just let happen. But how, what should he say? Though worries once again cluttered his mind, before Caesar completely disappeared from his sight, he could reach only one conclusion.

From the moment he had decided to speak to Caesar who had been leaning against the wall, he had chosen to deal with Caesar as Kapros, not as Kang Mu-heon. While Kang Mu-heon couldn't even easily visit to talk with Jeong Seung-jo, Kapros was different. Given this opportunity, he had wanted to have a more uncharacteristically bright conversation with him.

'Then that's what I should do.'

Though he couldn't help feeling uneasy even thinking this way, Kapros called out toward Caesar in the brightest voice he could manage.

"Today was fun. Next time... when we meet again, let's not be like before. You... turned out not to be such a strange guy after all."

Caesar's footsteps stopped as if he had heard Kapros's words. Yogurt, who had been following behind Caesar while alternately looking between them with a strange gaze though still smiling, turned to look at Kapros with interest.

"...Take care."

After finishing his last words and letting out a long breath, when Kapros raised his eyes, Caesar, who had been standing still without looking back, slowly turned to face him. Kapros thought he saw the gray eyes, which had been tired and filled only with hostility, waver slightly for the first time, but it was only for a moment. Caesar disappeared back into the crowd without responding.

Kapros couldn't take his eyes away from where they had disappeared until Caesar's figure was completely out of sight, and for a long while after. Thoughts of Caesar, who had suddenly appeared and suddenly vanished, wouldn't easily leave his mind.

At this moment, Kapros keenly felt that for him, Caesar carried an inescapable weight, like fate itself.

'Jeong Seung-jo...'

Just as he let out a long sigh and turned around feeling as if waking from a dream.

"Kar!"

"...Hyung?"

The unexpected voice belonged to Kion-hyung, whom he had parted with at the temple earlier. Hyung approached him with an unusually stiff expression and grabbed his shoulders. As Kapros watched Hyung trying to catch his breath roughly while alternately looking between him and the direction Caesar had disappeared with an incredulous expression, as if about to say something, Kapros sensed that Hyung had seen him together with Caesar.

"Did you see?"

"Yes! I saw! What exactly did you do out here? Was that guy just now really... the one I'm thinking of? Huh? It wasn't, right?"

To Hyung, who was confused with an expression of disbelief, Kapros shook his head, feeling somehow apologetic.

"No, it was Caesar."

"It was!"

Kion-hyung, roaring like a lion, anxiously paced back and forth in front of Kapros while clutching his head.

"Just what is this... I thought it couldn't be but... why is that guy here? What happened that he left without fighting? Say something."

Though Kapros considered how to explain to Hyung, who was giving him a look demanding answers, since he hadn't done anything wrong, he decided to just briefly tell it as it had happened.

"I was walking and Caesar was there. When I spoke to him, he followed along, so we just walked together until we came here. Then someone from his guild came and Caesar left, and I was about to go somewhere else."

"..."

At Kapros's answer, Hyung's expression suddenly turned incredulous, and after saying nothing for a while, he dropped his hands that had been clutching his head, completely drained.

"Why does such an incredible event have less impact than talking about seeing a bug when you tell it? Makes me feel stupid for freaking out."

Though Kapros hadn't meant for it to come across that way, seeing Hyung's reaction made him feel sorry.

"Sorry."

"No, why are you apologizing? It's not like I don't know that's just how your personality is. Kid, I was just surprised because I thought you might have been threatened or something. Haha. If not then... But that guy's really weird too. You talked to him and instead of trying to kill you, he actually followed you? Does that bastard have preferences when dealing with people?"

Though Kapros had also initially thought Caesar would try to kill him but was surprised when he didn't, he decided not to mention that. After muttering a few more words and pondering, Hyung suddenly raised his head and grabbed both of Kapros's shoulders.

"Kar, no matter how docile he seems, that guy's crazy. You know that too, right? So next time, don't even talk to him, and if you see him, stay a hundred meters away. Okay?"

"..."

Though Kapros understood he was saying this out of concern, looking at his fierce expression, Hyung seemed more like someone who should be avoided.

"You understand, right, Kar? Hey, where are you going?"

Kapros chose to walk ahead without answering. Hyung quickly followed, continuing to nag.

"Just listen. What I'm saying is you shouldn't be too relieved just because he spared you once on a whim. You know? That bastard Caesar swung his sword at me and Palton without reason from the first time he saw us. That's when I realized he was a psycho."

"Hyung, ...what happened with what you were going to hear at the temple?"

When Kapros cut him off with this question, Hyung's attention, which had been rambling on, suddenly shifted to answering.

"Temple? Ah! Come to think of it, I forgot because I ran here right after hearing it to tell you this. You know where the temple told me to go this time? Would you believe it's beyond that Desert of Death you said you were going to! I couldn't believe such a coincidence."

At these unexpected words, Kapros blinked his eyes quickly a couple of times before asking.

"They told you to go... beyond the Desert of Death?"

"Yeah. Specifically, there's some forest there, and they said to go meet the leader of a different race there. Haha, really. Do you understand what that means?"

It was truly jaw-dropping news. Even though Hyung hadn't explained exactly, Kapros could immediately tell who it was. No, more than just knowing. It was the very person who had added a new title to his information window.

"...Yes. I know."

"Huh, then don't tell me your destination is exactly there too?"

Kapros let out a hollow laugh and nodded.

"It is."

"Haha, that's great! We'll keep traveling together!"

All of Hyung's attention was drawn to this surprising topic. Watching how he had already buried the subject of Caesar that he had been enthusiastically discussing just moments ago, Kapros was grateful for his simple cheerfulness.

"Are we going there right away then? Didn't you say earlier you had something to do when you left? Did you finish that?"

"I..."

About to answer reflexively, Kapros was somewhat taken aback as he realized he had forgotten until now about the goal he had when he first parted with Kion-hyung and left Skaga's temple. Right. He had originally planned to go to Edenia's house to buy potions before meeting up with Hyung, but had forgotten about it since meeting Caesar as he couldn't think of anything else.

"I need to buy something first at a place around here."

"Huh? What do you need to buy?"

"You might need it too. It's a potion that blocks the sunlight that drains stamina when crossing the Desert of Death..."

"Ehhh? We need something like that too? Do we have to pay for it? I don't have any money."

Looking at Hyung's alarmed expression, Kapros recalled the single-use Holy Protection skill that Kran had known how to use, which had allowed him to pass through the desert comfortably.

"Hyung, do you know... Holy Protection skill?"

At Kapros's question, Hyung looked puzzled for a moment before nodding.

"Holy Protection skill? Ah... well, it's useless but I learned it since it's a basic skill. Why?"

"..."

It was the first time the mage class felt completely useless.