Vol 7 Chapter 23

Nothing was more enjoyable to him than testing that. Kapros cleared all stray thoughts from his mind while gauging the amount of magical power remaining in his body.

Now was the true beginning.

When he opened his eyes emerging from the mental world, it had already become midday.

'Has Kion-hyung not returned yet?'

"Kar. Ah, so you were here after all."

At that moment, as if he had been waiting for Kapros to return, Kion-hyung entered through the door with a bright smile.

"Have you been training here all this time?"

"Hmm... well."

Though he could say that, strictly speaking he hadn't done it here... He let his words trail off, but hyung didn't mind at all.

"Come to think of it, I haven't properly heard how much your skills have improved lately. Have you made much progress?"

Progress. He wasn't sure how he would have responded before, but now he could answer that question without the slightest embarrassment.

"Yeah."

When he answered with a slight smile, hyung's eyes sparkled with interest.

"Oh ho. From your answer, seems you've improved quite a bit. Want to go out together and demonstrate our skills to each other? How about it?"

"I don't mind but... what about the flowers?"

When Kapros asked about the silver-blue bell flowers he was supposed to deliver today, hyung furrowed his brow as if just remembering.

"Ah right. That's why I came in to ask you to go together. We can do it while delivering them. Is that okay?"

"I can't go."

"Huuh? Why?"

"I agreed not to go to Ilumine until I handle something separately."

Though that something was Superior's decision whether to view the memories again or not, so it wasn't exactly something he would do, he explained it that way anyway.

"What? Did that elf give you grinding work too? What is it? I'll help if it's something I can help with."

"It's nothing. It's fine since I just need to wait about a week."

Hyung, who seemed even more dumbfounded than Kapros, appeared to have received a very bad impression of Ilumine. Well, with that thoughtless and sudden quest, the shock must have been quite big.

"Ugh... to think I have to face that elf alone without you... It's a bit burdensome. Surely she won't give another grinding quest, right?"

Kapros couldn't help but smile at hyung's grimacing expression mixed with jest.

"No way. And even if she does, we can do it together."

At those words, hyung seemed to receive greater surprise and emotion than expected, unable to continue speaking for a moment before looking at Kapros with excessively wavering eyes.

"You kid.... Alright, I got it. Hyung will be back quick, so just wait here a bit!"

Then hyung ran vigorously toward Ilumine's cave, holding the bouquet he had taken out from his item window. Left behind, Kapros had to scratch the back of his head with a strange feeling while recalling Kion-hyung's expression that he had never seen before.

'Was I really that unappreciative before....'

When he went out through the open door where hyung had left, the fresh air and beautifully thick trees stood in a different appearance from the night. The scenery of the massive green forest that seemed impossible to believe was built on a desert never got tiresome no matter how many times he looked at it.

As he was taking deep breaths while looking around, a playful voice sounded in his head.

[ Don't breathe carelessly. The forest might dissolve from the poison. ]

"Poison? What poison?"

[ What else? The poison coming from the breath of a stubborn one. ]

Ah... so that's what it was, trying to tease him. When Kapros started stretching without paying any attention, Superior's chattering increased.

[ To think you'd actually complete all that. Did you know you didn't even sleep for about three days straight in there? Haha. Good heavens. You really are literally stubborn. Poison. Must have poison flowing in your blood too. ]

"Please be quiet, I can't concentrate."

[ Good, that spirit. That's what my successor should be like. ]

"..."

When Kapros silently gripped the Superior staff as a threat, the chattering voice cut off abruptly.

[ Ugh... to think you'd ignore me like this and still expect me to teach you properly next time.... ]

Though he grumbled a bit, unable to give up until the end, when Kapros ignored him and continued stretching while pressing his legs, he became deathly quiet after a while.

'I wonder if he's actually thinking about what will happen in a week...'

Though he surely was, by this point Kapros was even starting to have unnecessary worries about whether his avoidance wasn't too extreme. What he should be concerned about now wasn't Kapros but his own matter. Kapros glanced at the staff while stretching. For now, it seemed all he could do was watch while roughly playing along as he had been doing.

"Kar, hyung's back."

Kion-hyung returned only after quite a long time had passed than expected. Seeing his somewhat glum expression, Kapros wondered if Ilumine had given him another ridiculous quest.

"Did Ilumine give you another quest...?"

"No, no. That's not it... That elf, seems she didn't give that grinding work without any thought after all."

When Kapros looked at him wondering what that meant, hyung continued while rubbing the tip of his nose.

"Well, when I took those flowers, she started saying something about them being Skaga goddess's sacred flower or whatever? Even though I have the High Priest title, this was the first time I heard those flowers were sacred."

"Sacred flower?"

Come to think of it, when he had traveled with Kran before, there had been a quest related to Lugh god's sacred flower called Luigina or something. Kapros recalled that memory and understood easily.

"Yeah. She was saying something about doing this and that with it... but she said she'll tell me the answer about my purpose after handling your matter first, so I probably don't need to go back until then."

I see.... After summarizing his conversation with Ilumine, hyung quickly brightened his expression and patted Kapros's back heavily.

"Then shall we show off how much we've developed as we talked about earlier? I was so looking forward to this that I could barely concentrate during the whole conversation earlier. Actually, this should be done against monsters properly...."

In truth, Kapros was quite curious too, as he couldn't easily predict how much stronger hyung had become. Hyung, who had loosened his muscles by rotating his neck and shoulders in various directions, turned around with a grin.

"Who should go first? Is it okay if hyung goes first?"

When Kapros nodded to indicate it was fine, hyung looked around and his eyes lit up upon seeing a boulder larger than a person attached to the slope near the house.