I'm The Only One With Cancer-Chapter 172: Disguise

"Was that really fine?"

The young girl spoke as she kept her gaze on the streets while walking in front of her grandfather.

"Mhm."

The elderly man grunted in response, his expression not changing in the slightest.

While they were conversing, they kept their expressions natural, like those of a real grandfather who was merely taking a stroll with his granddaughter.

However, their eyes stealthily wandered over the corners of the streets, checking whether anyone was following them.

After sensing that the parameters were clear, they took a turn toward an alleyway and disappeared from the bustling streets.

"Is no one really chasing us?"

The young girl’s appearance was still the same as it was earlier.

However, her expression became tranquil, while her tone became steady.

Furthermore, the look in her eyes turned wary as she whispered under her breath.

Like her, the elderly man already had subtle changes.

His wrinkly skin, thin body, and white hair were still unchanged, yet he was not standing upright, while his expression became calm and his eyes bright.

He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again with a hint of relief.

"Everything’s clear."

Hearing his words, the young girl sighed loudly, "Thank goodness. Let’s get out of here, please~."

"Alright."

The elderly man nodded as he placed his left hand on the young girl’s shoulder and waved his other hand.

Swoosh—

Just like that, their figures disappeared cleanly without any commotion whatsoever.

***

Deep inside a jungle...

"Ahhh!"

Plop— Thud!

A scream resounded as a figure suddenly appeared about more than one meter above ground and fell.

It was none other than the figure of the young girl whom Zen met earlier.

"Why didn’t you carry me?" She shouted with a wronged expression while looking at the elderly man who was standing calmly in front of her.

If Zen were here, he would have been shocked due to the fact that the voice of the young girl at this moment was extremely similar to someone he was very close to.

Wooong—

Light covered the young girl’s body as her figure changed.

By the time the light faded, her figure was no longer that of a young girl.

Instead, it was the Saintess of Fire, Adara.

"Owowow..."

Adara held her back and stretched it as her expression crumpled because of the pain.

Meanwhile, the same light covered the elderly man in front of her.

Woong—

In the next moment, the fading light revealed the person who was the closest to Zen in the Free World.

He was none other than Arthur.

Arthur cracked his neck and said, "I’m glad that everything went well..."

"You didn’t even answer my question earlier!"

Seeing Arthur ignore her, Adara harrumphed and took one of the chocolate bars that Zen had given them earlier.

’Hmph, so mean. I need a sweet treat to make myself feel better...’

Looking at the brown colored wrapper with words she could not understand, Adara remembered Zen’s words and tore open the chocolate bar’s wrapper, revealing the brown bar with a simple pattern on it.

"Hmm... I wonder what this is."

Arthur glanced at Adara and saw her sniffing the strange-looking chocolate bar.

"Is that what Zen gave us earlier?"

Unfortunately for him, Adara intentionally turned her head away in response, "Hmph!"

"Can I at least have mine now?" Arthur said with a helpless expression.

This time, Adara tossed another chocolate bar to him without even a glance.

’What am I gonna do with her...’

Shaking his head, Arthur looked at the chocolate bar in his hand and opened it as well.

A meter away from him, Adara had just taken a bite of the chocolate bar when her eyes suddenly widened, "So good...!"

Munch— Munch— Munch—

Seeing her eat the strange-looking rectangle ravenously, Arthur, who was still sniffing it, could not help but feel curious.

It took Adara under a minute before she finished the entire chocolate bar.

"I didn’t expect him to give us something like this... Besides, where did he even get this?"

Her mood had obviously improved drastically as she looked at Arthur, "Seeing him for one last time really paid off, huh?"

"Mhm..." Arthur, who was just about to take a bite, nodded in response.

However, he inwardly felt extremely relieved.

’I praise the God of Fire for improving her mood...’

Oblivious to his thoughts, Adara sighed out loud, "Is it ok that we didn’t reveal our true identity to him?"

"Yes. Exposing ourselves, even to him, only would have put all of us in danger. After all, we know how desperate ’they’ are, particularly the Temple of Light in searching for us..."

Arthur responded with a hint of emotion in his eyes, "Of course, it’s still a pity..."

"You’re right."

Adara nodded, "But time was tight as well, wasn’t it? In our original plan, we should have left the Kingdom of Light around three days ago after you killed him... I didn’t expect that we would wait for him..."

That was right.

According to their original plan and the note given to Zen, Arthur and Adara should have departed from the Kingdom of Light quite a while ago.

However, Arthur seemed to feel a change of heart, so they decided to disguise themselves and wait for Zen to return.

"Well, all is good now, since we’re now quite far away from ’their’ territory," Arthur said with a sigh.

Adara smiled in response, " Right. I hope he can live well by himself..."

"I agree," Arthur replied as a smile crept up to his face as well.

"By the way..."

Adara looked at the leftover wrapper weirdly, ’What am I supposed to do with this? I guess I should just burn it."

Snap— wuv!

With a snap of her fingers, a small flame ignited on the wrapper and gradually began to increase in size as it consumed it as fuel.

Just as Arthur was about to take a bite of his chocolate bar, he suddenly heard Adara’s gasp.

"Huh!?"

The Saintess of Fire’s eyes froze and soon widened like saucers as she hurriedly grabbed the wrapper and waved it frantically until the fire burned out.

"What’s the matter? Are you really not going to let me eat in peace?" Arthur complained with a hint of annoyance.

However, despite his behavior, Adara’s eyes remained on the wrapper— specifically in the white part inside it.

"Adara? What happened?" The hint of annoyance on Arthur’s face turned to curiosity and wariness as he observed the changes in her expression.

However, Adara merely shook her head with a smile, "Just look for it yourself."

"Why are you acting mysterious all of a sudden?" Arthur frowned slightly as he tore open the packaging and grabbed the chocolate bar before looking inside the packaging in the next moment.

"Is there something here—"

Before Arthur could even finish his words, his eyes froze due to what greeted them.

To his surprise, he even lost grip of his chocolate bar as it fell out of his hand.

"No—!"

As if she were in an action movie, Adara leaped with both of her hands outstretched and was able to barely catch the chocolate bar in time.

"My precious baby..." Adara whispered at the chocolate bar as she glanced at Arthur’s expression.

In the next second, she smiled and said, ’What do you think?"

"He never ceases to surprise me..." Arthur shook his head with a smile.

This was because the thing that Adara noticed earlier was a string of words.

That was right.

The reason for her surprise and the sudden action of grabbing the wrapper was that she noticed that something seemed to be written inside the packaging.

Inside the packaging of Adara’s chocolate bars, the following was written: Take care, Aunt Ada.

Meanwhile, Arthur’s was the same: Take care, Teacher.

***

On a certain plaza in the Kingdom of Light’s capital, Lumina...

Zen was sitting on a bench and observing the place around him.

In his hands were some bread and a glass of milk that he had found in his storage artifact.

Nom— Nom— Nom—

He relished the taste of the soft bread and milk, reminiscing about his time in the game.

"To think that all of the time I spent in the game was in that training ground... Other players would have been impatient from the get-go."

Zen was fully aware that, compared to exploring the world, staying in a single place seemed too boring.

However, he was never the type of person who was impatient with these kinds of things.

’Well, taking it slow and steady isn’t too bad, after all. Besides, because I went to that training ground, I was able to meet with Teacher and gain all sorts of skills...’

Zen felt deep gratitude in his heart as he thought about it, ’Besides, I can still start exploring now. Even if it’s a little late, I still have advantages over other players.’

He was aware that his advantages were, in fact, so massive that other players were no longer a match for him.

’For starters...’

Zen looked at his left hand, which was holding the glass of milk.

More specifically, on his left index finger.

As he focused his gaze on it, a system window appeared in front of his eyes, presenting the details of the item before him.

Seeing his storage artifact’s true identity, Zen could not help but feel surprised.

"This..."