Vol 7 Chapter 50

Though Kapros felt somewhat sorry seeing Kion-hyung's face that seemed to scream 'No, how could you think of going with that guy!', it was a decision he had made because neither of them seemed to truly dislike each other from his perspective.

'They actually seem to get along unexpectedly well. They'll probably be fine once they travel together.'

"Do you dislike traveling with me?"

"Are you seriously asking that?"

At Kion-hyung's response clearly showing his disbelief, Lucrecian stroked below his lip with a "Hmm..."

"Then there's no choice."

"..."

As if enjoying hyung's interested look that seemed to say 'Surely not?', Lucrecian drew out the moment before continuing with a grin.

"Since I'm going to keep following hyung anyway, you'll have to stay here. That solves it cleanly, right?"

"What?! Have you ever seen such an impudent bastard."

Hyung grabbed the back of his neck in exasperation and took rough deep breaths while quickly clenching and unclenching his fists repeatedly.

"That will absolutely never happen! You bastard, if you thought I'd back down even seeing those impure eyes of yours, you're mistaken. I'll cut off my surname if I don't teach you respect for your elders and make you call me hyung!"

"Respect has to be worthy of respect. I don't just call anyone hyung."

Not calling just anyone hyung. Did he remember that he was the one who had used the term hyung first despite Kapros saying he didn't like it? While Kapros let out a hollow laugh, Kion-hyung seemed to be building new fighting spirit for a somewhat different reason.

"Kar. We must go with this bastard. I won't be satisfied until I fix his manners while traveling together!"

Making a grinding sound with his teeth, hyung grabbed Kapros's shoulder tightly and whispered with a growl. Lucrecian was picking his ears with an expression as if wondering where a dog was barking.

"You, know you're dead if you say you're coming but don't!"

'Hmm... I wonder if it really will be okay to go together.'

Though he felt somewhat worried belatedly, it seemed far too late to reverse the decision now. And so, along with Kion-hyung's anger, Lucrecian newly joined their party.

Superior's mental world, which always boasted clear and fresh weather whenever visited, was leisurely as ever today. But what was different from usual was that Superior was nowhere to be seen.

'Where did he go? Really.'

Kapros had entered Superior's mental world during the break he had planned to take the night before leaving Bala. Though Superior would normally have appeared on his own, today he was nowhere to be found. Surprisingly, this world seemed to maintain itself well even without Superior, but with the very person he needed to meet missing...

After searching for Superior for quite a while looking around the area, he couldn't find even a hair of him, as if he had shot up into the sky or sunk into the ground. Finally giving up the search, Kapros decided to pass the time until he appeared with sword training.

'I was planning to do sword training anyway, and he'll probably show up while I'm at it.'

Though he wasn't planning to do anything serious yet, should he check his skill training points first?

"Skill window check."

As soon as he muttered the command, a translucent skill window appeared with a swoosh sound.

The skill percentages that had grown rapidly after learning how to infuse magic into swords from Ilumine were showing numbers close to 100 percent.

'Though I haven't drawn my sword much lately, at this rate I'll probably master it soon.'

While thinking about what to do, Kapros drew the Superior staff from his waist and tried infusing it with magical power.

Woong!

Instantly, blue light burst forth from the tip of the staff and became a transparent blade. Along with this, he felt strength entering his whole body and his mind becoming clearer.

'Well, I've drawn it but...'

What should he do with this sword to turn 96 percent into 100 percent? If this were outside, he would have just raided a nearby dungeon and swept through it, but there wasn't even a single monster to fight in the mental world.

"Hmm..."

Kapros looked around at the surroundings while swinging the sword a few times with one hand. Just cutting trees with this sword and his skill would be more like playing than training. But looking for other methods, there wasn't really anything else to cut either...

'When is Superior planning to show up?'

"...What are you doing?"

"..."

Startled by the voice that came from behind without any presence, Kapros instinctively gripped the sword and almost swung it before finally relaxing his strength upon discovering who the voice belonged to. Superior was standing before him as if by magic after searching for him so long.

'This guy...'

"Say something if you're here."

When Kapros muttered while frowning, Superior blinked his red eyes before bursting into laughter.

"Haha. Were you surprised? Going to practice swordsmanship?"

Looking at Superior's composed face, it was unclear whether he properly knew or didn't know that he could have been attacked if things had gone slightly wrong. His serious appearance from before leaving the elf village felt like a lie.

"Hmm. Swordsmanship... Want me to help?"

Never mind help - now that his goal of meeting Superior first to talk as soon as he had personal time after arriving in Bala Monyak had been achieved, there was no need for sword training anymore.

"No. Not now."

"Huh? You're not doing it?"

Toward Superior who asked with wide eyes as if nothing had happened, Kapros shook his head while withdrawing the magical power he had infused into the sword.

"You must know too. What I was planning wasn't training but talking with you."

"..."

Superior's gentle atmosphere instantly froze as if time had stopped.

"You could have pretended not to know."

He grumbled with a big sigh while completely erasing his grinning expression.

"I thought you'd naturally leave if I didn't come out, but such shallow tricks don't work on you after all."

He's not a child - did he really not come out because he didn't want to talk? While Kapros was dumbfounded, Superior flopped down and opened his mouth with an expression full of annoyance.

"Well, fine. I've thought about it somewhat anyway. Sit there."

When Kapros roughly sat down on the grass, Superior spoke first.

"You came to talk about Lumi, right?"