The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 115: Into the Dungeon

Chapter 115: Into the Dungeon

Clara was still glaring at Lane with the same, if not bigger, intensity, when they gathered in front of the Gate the next day. Not that Lane expected anything different - their ’conversation’, if you can call it that, the day before didn’t resolve anything at all, after all. It did give Lane a new clue...

But he didn’t do anything with it. It wasn’t the right time, with the scouting mission and all, moreover... He still didn’t know whether it was a good idea to dig any deeper into Damien’s personal life. Even though he had to admit he was a bit curious... Maybe even more than ’a bit’.

"Stick close to me," Damien approached Lane, his tall, muscular frame blocking him from Clara’s frosty glare.

On purpose? Most likely. Damien was incredibly perceptive, as Lane already had plenty of opportunities to find out.

"Yeah, yeah, of course!" The corners of Lane’s mouth lifted up, and he leaned closer, as he whispered, "Boyfriend."

That was more than enough to make Damien’s ears turn red. Although the man managed to maintain his perpetual serious frown, he was still distracted a bit, and Lane took this opportunity to peek his head from behind him, meet Clara’s eyes once again, and stick out his tongue.

Such a childish behavior left the woman completely speechless, staring at Lane with her mouth agape. Or rather at Damien’s back, behind which the man quickly disappeared, pretending to be well-behaved. She glanced right and left, ’Have any of you seen this?’ written all over her face...

But why would anyone else care? They had more important things on their minds than someone else’s family drama. Such as the dungeon they were about to enter.

Even Damien didn’t seem to have noticed. Or at least he acted as if he hadn’t - he would no longer bother scolding Lane anyway, not for something so innocent. Instead, he swept his eyes over the people around them, and pulled something out of his spatial bag.

"Wear this," he said, handing the item to Lane. "It’s not much... But it might protect you a bit."

Lane glanced at the vest in his hands. It was a light armor, made from monster scales. A mid-grade at best, something far inferior to what he’d usually go for...

But still very expensive. For Damien, who was almost irrationally frugal, to spend so much money to get an armor for Lane...

For Lane, who wouldn’t even die when killed, not really!

Damien must have misunderstood Lane’s complicated expression, because he apologized, "I’m sorry, I should have bought something better. It’s just that right now-"

"No, wait," Lane interrupted, unable to listen to it. "Something better? Na-ah, don’t worry about it. Have you ever spent even half as much on yourself?"

"...I’m an S-ranker, so I don’t need an armor that much..."

"That’s not the point." Lane let out a heavy sigh. "I appreciate the thought, but next time, I’d rather have some of homemade pastries or something, okay?"

Things that could simply be bought with money made no impression on Lane. He could easily get them himself if he felt like it, so it was just whatever. Damien wasting his hard-earn money to buy something mediocre for Lane was quite endearing... But rather than that, Lane would prefer to splurge on the man instead. It would be hard to do without revealing his real identity - Xavier, while not poor, couldn’t exactly be considered ’rich’ either, but perhaps going on a shopping spree...

Lane’s face suddenly brightened, his eyes shining with excitement.

Right! That was a good idea!

"I’ll use it this time, since you already went through the trouble to get it," he said, and put the vest on, "But in return, I want to take you somewhere later on. It’ll be my treat then."

Seeing Lane put the armor on, Damien softly exhaled, his frown easing a bit. "Alright," he agreed. "As long as you stay safe throughout the mission."

"When have I..." Lane started, but then he bit his tongue. There were too many times - two or three, depending whether he were to count ’Aidan’, since in Damien’s understanding, Lane had to somehow die that time as well - when he did not ’stay safe’ to complain about Damien’s reminders.

And saying that he was still ’alive’ regardless of it all probably wasn’t the best idea.

"I’ll stick right by you, I can even become your arm or neck pendant!" he quickly turned it into a joke instead.

Earning himself a reproachful look from Damien. ’How can you think about flirting even in a dungeon!’, his face seemed to say. And, ’That would be inconvenient during a fight.’

Well. Not that Lane actually intended to stick THAT close to Damien. He might have liked flirting, but so did he fighting. And honestly, he’d be hard-pressed to choose between the two.

So, while he pouted his lips, pretending to sulk, he still took a step back. "Okay, okay, I understand. I’ll be serious now."

With that reassurance, as meager as it might have been, Damien swept his gaze over the rest of the team, and once he confirmed that everyone was all set and ready, he locked his eyes with Team Leader Anthony White. They exchanged nods, and Damien spoke up, raising his voice so that everyone could hear him loud and clear,

"We’re moving on! Everyone, stay in the formation, and ready to fight!"

The mission plan was already discussed plenty of times before, so there was no need for any more words. Damien turned to the Gate, and walked forward with steady, decisive steps, closely followed by Lane, Hallie, Arlo, Tina, and then the rest of the group. As soon as they crossed the Gate, they found themselves right in the middle of an old forest, not much different from the forests they knew...

Except that it stank. The smell that hit them in the nose was so bad, that plenty of people - especially Espers, since their senses were much sharper - couldn’t help but gag. The explosive mix of rotten fish, blue cheese, sewage, spoiled milk, feces, unwashed, sweaty feet, and whatever else anyone could think of, was so bad, that the group stopped dead in their tracks, forgetting they had to move on to make space by the Gate. Unaware of the blockade, the other groups entered one after the other, just as they were supposed to, resulting in them bumping hard into the people in front of them...

Lane snickered, watching the scene from the side. He had already experienced this situation, after hunting the monsters which escaped from this Gate, and came prepared, a remodeled version of Blanc’s mask tightly covering his face. As for the others, who previously said that ’surely it couldn’t be that bad?’, they were now left to struggle, their eyes tearing up, as they scrambled to put on regular, mediocre masks they had in their spatial bags, ones that blocked only part of the smell.

Even Damien was struggling, having difficulty keeping a straight face... Looking at the man now, Lane couldn’t help but feel a tinge of guilt. He didn’t want to show off his mask up close to anyone, since it came from the Forbidden Zone and not from the market, but... Perhaps he should have made an exception for Damien? Damien wouldn’t ask any question, if Lane didn’t want to say...

Well, he still could change his mind, since there he had one spare...

Before he could make up his mind though, the group more or less recovered from the initial shock, and Damien commanded everyone to move on. So, Lane waved at Clara - as a part-timer, she was assigned to Hannah Jones’ team, and therefore wouldn’t stick with them - and trailed obediently behind Damien, slowly walking deeper into the forest.