The Mist Vol 5 Chapter 25

Vol 5 Chapter 25

"Magic is the power of images materialized by borrowing the power of mana, right? But if the thoughts of many more people who want to change it gather and accumulate beside it, even the most powerful magic will eventually change. The magic I cast then was done without thinking people would target the stones of this castle, but seeing how it turned out..."

He explained that because of this, people who should have been repelled when approaching were instead drawn into Superior's trace, which should have only drawn in his successor, resulting in unfortunate accidents.

"But now that you, the true successor, have come, such things will never happen again."

Superior seemed quite relieved and happy when he said this. After bowing his head in front of the pile of stones as if in silent prayer for a moment, Kapros turned around and passed through the area where the shield had still been in place, feeling even more relieved than Superior had been then.

'Has something changed now? Where should I go?'

"Gasp! You!"

Turning his head at the welcoming voice, Kapros saw Rex and the other men standing not far away, looking at him with disbelieving eyes. As he approached them, they hurriedly asked questions, looking him up and down as if seeing someone who had returned alive from hell.

"What on earth did you do?"

"We thought you were dead after a day had passed since you disappeared, but suddenly a strange light shone throughout the forest, and the sun and moon appeared in the sky! And now the paths don't change no matter where we walk!"

"Everything really happened as you said! It's back to normal!"

Hearing their voices filled with emotion, Kapros smiled slightly. It seemed that after completing Superior's quest, the strange occurrences had indeed returned to normal. If they could just leave this forest now, they would be able to meet the families they had longed for so much.

"Thank you, truly, thank you so much."

Rex grasped Kapros's hand tightly and wouldn't let go. After being overwhelmed with ten years' worth of emotion for quite some time, he finally released Kapros's hand at his companions' urging and smiled with burning eyes, his eyelids reddening.

"If it weren't for you, I would never have found the courage. I still can't believe it. You really are... a hero."

"No, not at all."

A hero? What a cringeworthy title for simply completing a quest. However, the men, seemingly amused by Rex's words, continued to call Kapros a hero and even became more polite in their speech until they left the forest together.

Finally, as the rows of houses in the town came into view, the men all looked as if they might burst into tears, not knowing what to do. Kapros thought it was time for him to slip away.

"Thank you for everything until now. I think I should leave first."

"Where are you going!"

"At least have a meal before you go!"

The men protested in surprise, but Kapros immediately shook his head.

"No, I have somewhere else to go from here. I appreciate your offer, but I'll be on my way now. I hope you all live well with the families you've reunited with."

He said the last words looking at Rex. Rex nodded, smiling through his full beard. The men let Kapros go with regretful expressions and ran towards the houses they each remembered, their faces a mix of worry and anticipation. Kapros watched their retreating figures before starting towards the path leading out of Rezul.

Ding!

- You have completed the unofficial quest, 'The Old Woman's Wish'!

- You have completed the unofficial quest, 'The Girl's Wish'!

At that moment, surprised by the notification windows that suddenly appeared before his eyes, Kapros stopped, and then a flurry of messages about gaining experience points and skill proficiency levels popped up in front of him.

'Unofficial quests...'

He had heard of them before. They weren't quests that properly showed notification windows, but occasionally there were impromptu quests that one completed without realizing it, which were called unofficial quests. Usually, because people completed them without knowing they were quests, more people failed them than successfully completed them, so completing an unofficial quest itself was considered a great experience for users.

To have completed two at once... Kapros was dazed, but feeling rewarded for his hard work, he thought about what to do next as he left Rezul.

'Now that I've finished this quest, the next destination should have appeared on the map, right? I should check.'

"Open map window."

Pop!

Following his command, the continent map immediately spread out semi-transparently, and he had to stare at it for a while to find the red dot that had disappeared from Rezul. And finally, the place he found was...

'Between the center and the east... but closer to the east...'

It wasn't the northern destination that it had been before changing to Rezul. He was a bit perplexed, but he roughly planned the route in his head. Taking a warp from Kizalkirstum to Torelit and then going from there seemed to be the fastest way.

'Alright...'

Although he felt tired as if he had accomplished a great task, this level of fatigue was something that could be resolved by logging out and resting. Kapros smiled happily as he set off towards the next quest location.

***

Strange buzzing sounds were heard from the surroundings. The sensation in his entire body, which had been dead, slowly awakened as if rising from being submerged in water. At the same time, a groan involuntarily escaped due to the intense pain felt evenly throughout his body, which couldn't be pinpointed to any specific area.

"Ugh..."

Feeling as if the already noisy surrounding sounds suddenly increased several times, Kapros opened his eyes with difficulty. At first, it was hard to make out what was in front of his blurry, distorted vision, but as he repeatedly closed and opened his eyes, his sight slowly recovered.

"Ah..."

The first thing he saw was the taxi driver he had seen before losing consciousness. Seeing that Kapros had opened his eyes, the driver smiled with relief, his expression showing he had finally been able to breathe easy.

"Are you coming to? Thank goodness, really!"

Kapros was about to nod unconsciously at those words, but the moment he saw the person standing next to the taxi driver, he couldn't help but open his eyes wide in surprise.

"Yu..."