The Mist Vol 1 Chapter 62

Vol 1 Chapter 62

And he lowered his shoulder and ostentatiously kissed Kapros on the cheek. This time, even though Kapros was tense with the intention of absolutely not allowing any approach, the man's movement was too fast and smooth to block.

"W-w-w-what are you doing!"

Kran screamed. Even Yu-wan seemed surprised, as the sound of his sword dropping was heard.

And Kapros...

"Hehehe, this is what happens when you pick fights anywhere without considering the situation. Well then, I'll be off."

As the man turned around with a refreshed face, Kapros cast a spell towards his head.

"Lightning Bolt."

The magic faithfully responded to Kapros's anger.

Crackle, Boom!

"What's going on!"

"Kyaa!"

As the Lightning Bolt that fell towards the man's head exploded with a bang, screams were heard from all over the street at the unexpected lightning strike. However, the man who was actually hit by the lightning turned back to look at Kapros with an unscathed face, showing no signs of injury.

"Oh, you were a mage? That's quite painful. It's a bit harsh for the price of a little prank."

How could he be so unaffected? As Kapros stared blankly in disbelief, the man grinned and this time truly disappeared into the crowd as if nothing had happened.

"..."

It was only after a long while that they finally looked at each other's faces. It felt as if they had been enchanted by something.

"...My attack was blocked."

Yu-wan muttered as he picked up his sword. At those words, Kran also gritted his teeth while looking down at his own sword.

"I couldn't even draw my sword... Damn it! Kap, are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Aside from his considerably hurt pride, he was perfectly fine. As he rubbed his cheek to wipe it, Kapros freshly realized how many hidden experts there were in Mist.

'I guess... I might need to start training again quickly.'

If they wanted to get stronger as soon as possible, they couldn't stay here idle.

"...Let's forget about everything else for now and focus on heading to our destination."

"But..."

Kran started to say something but then turned his head away. Yu-wan had a dark look in his eyes the whole time. It seemed he was greatly shocked by having his sword caught.

Feeling that they both wouldn't regain their spirits unless he said something, Kapros called them over and spoke.

"...Pull yourselves together. Someone of that skill level will probably catch our eye again someday. We can pay him back for today's incident when we meet him next time. Think of it as a good thing, we now have a goal to train hard for. Do you understand what I mean?"

At this, Yu-wan finally gripped his sword hilt again.

"...Right."

He looked at Kapros firmly with his blue eyes and muttered, emphasizing each word.

"You mean we should make sure this never happens again. I understand."

"Don't act so smug. I'll become stronger than you."

As Kran immediately retorted, Yu-wan glared at him sharply. It seemed they had finally regained some spirit. Kapros smiled and gave them both one last encouraging word.

"Still, now we three really feel like friends. Thanks for standing up for me earlier."

But was his expectation wrong?

Strangely, they both had subtle expressions while seeming pleased.

Afterwards, they stopped passersby and asked if there were any dungeons to the south of the city. However, unexpectedly, the only answer they received was that there was nothing there.

"Then, is there nothing like a building or a small village either?"

When Kapros asked in disbelief, the person answering frowned and nodded.

"That's what I'm saying. Why don't you just go and see for yourself?"

After he disappeared, they had a deflated conversation.

"So you're saying it's in the middle of an empty field? That's impossible."

"I think... something's strange too."

Kapros agreed with Kran's words as he scratched his head.

"I guess we should go and check for ourselves to be sure."

Kapros nodded at Yu-wan's suggestion.

"Yeah, if we go there, we might discover something hidden."

They crossed the river and headed towards what they estimated to be the area where the red dot was blinking on the map. The journey itself wasn't too difficult. The problem was...

"...It's empty."

Kran muttered blankly as he looked at the wide-open field.

"There's really nothing here."

"...I'm sorry."

Even Yu-wan admitted the failure of his suggestion.

"..."

Kapros silently looked around. This place was truly just a peaceful field with only sparsely placed trees, grass, and herbivores roaming in the distance. There was nothing suspicious to be seen no matter how hard they looked.

"But the quest clearly pointed to this place. The quest can't be wrong."

Though he said that, Kapros was actually wondering if something had gone wrong.

Still, they couldn't easily turn back, so they circled around the area for a while, but to no avail. In the end, they returned to Tolang, feeling dejected.

"I guess we'll have to stay here and try to solve the mystery of the quest."

As Kapros said this while getting a room at a nearby inn, Yu-wan and Kran nodded.

"We can't keep doing just that. What should we do with our spare time?"

To Kran's question, Kapros said what naturally came to mind.

"Magic training."

"...Me too."

Yu-wan gave the same answer a little later. At this, Kran's expression changed oddly.

"You guys are real Mist addicts. I can't do that."

"Then?"

"I'll go out and look for something to do."

After that, Kran left, and Yu-wan also said he would go outside to train without disturbance.

Left alone in the room, Kapros took out his magic book, but he couldn't stop thinking about the red dot on the map and that empty field.

'It's rather suspicious that there's nothing in such a wide area. It feels like there should be something...'

But he couldn't get answers just by thinking. Kapros opened the magic book at his feet again and began repetitive image training to increase the speed of using magic. This wasn't as difficult as learning new magic. The goal was to be able to recall the image of the relevant magic like lightning whenever and wherever needed.

As he started to concentrate, distracting thoughts soon disappeared, and beautiful images of magic began to fill his mind.