The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 133: Maze Mansion

Chapter 133: Maze Mansion

"This is the last call for the flight LD5023. Passengers please head to the gate..."

"Fuuuuuck!"

Lane scrambled around - as Xavier - in the toilet cubicle he shut himself in after passing the luggage checks. Damien’s flight got delayed even further, so that they were leaving around the same time...

And this resulted in the current situation.

Sweeping his eyes around the floor, Lane quickly slapped his pockets, just to make sure he hadn’t dropped anything while unconscious, and barged out of the toilet, charging at full speed toward his gate. Damien was already on the plane - Lane confirmed it with his own eyes - so there was no risk of him - Xavier - being spotted...

But Lane Allen had also boarded the plane already! Which meant, that if he didn’t make it to the gate in time... His real body would fly away, the distance quickly widening...

Until Xavier’s body was left on the airport floor, unconscious, connection broken.

He saw his gate in front of him, the attendants already about to leave.

"Wait, wait, wait wait WAIT!" He quickened his pace. Good thing that Xavier was a B-rank Esper, at least his body was fast!

"Me, me to! I’m sorry I’m late," he gasped, his shoes squeaking as he suddenly halted. He scooped his passport, together with his Association ID, out of his pocket, and handed it to the flight attendants. He didn’t have to show his ID, of course, the passport would suffice... He just wanted to show that he was with the government, in case the attendants wanted to give him so trouble.

Whether it was because of the ID or because they simply were nice, but the attendant in charge smiled at him politely. "Please, this way."

"Thank you." Lane nodded, stuffing the documents back in his pocket, and headed down the bridge.

"You’ve made it," Ava lifted her eyes from her tablet, from where she sat in their first class cabin, as Lane plopped down opposite her.

"Yeah. BARELY." Lane brushed back his tousled hair, and took out some pills, swallowing them with some water. Sleeping pills, of course. Although he could get through the flight by switching the bodies a few times, it was far more unpleasant - switching so often made him dizzy, as he didn’t have to adjust to the differences between the bodies. Thus, it was better to switch as little as possible.

"Damn, I swear, that man is gonna be the death of me..." he muttered a moment later, this time as Lane Allen.

Ava wasn’t even trying to hide the amusement, as the corners of her mouth lifted in a smile. "And yet you’re not trying to do anything about that."

"What could I even do?"

"Well..."

Things were indeed complicated, with Damien being an S-ranker. Complicated didn’t mean impossible to solve though, and right off the bat, Ava could come up with a few solutions of how Lane might be able to deal with it... But there was no way Lane would go through with any of them, with how whipped he was - even if he refused to admit it. So there was only the option called ’honesty’ left...

But they had already discussed that, and it wasn’t really an option either.

And so the topic was dropped.

The rest of the way went smoothly. They landed in the country B, and Lane boarded off the plane first, while Ava stayed back, ’trying to wake up’ Xavier. Once Lane locked himself in the airport toilet, he switched and got off the plane with Ava... And after a few more switches, finally left the airport in a rented car.

Lane dropped Ava at a hotel where she would stay for two nights before boarding a flight to country K - she and Xavier were to arrive separately, so as not to raise any more suspicions - while Lane himself headed straight to country H, where the dungeon he planned to visit was.

It was already dark again outside by the time he arrived. The tall, massive walls surrounding the isolated mansion on the hill were looming over him, not even a trace of light visible from the outside. Not even a faintest sound either. Everything was dark, menacing, and deathly quiet. Lane parked his car in front of the gate, got out. And waited.

The gates finally opened ten or so minutes later, growling like thunder, the sound echoing in the empty walls. Lane got back in the car, and drove forward, into the dark hole of the entrance, as if entering some massive monster’s mouth.

He didn’t get to drive far, only passing through one layer of walls, before he was stopped again. This time, with electronic doors with a scanner blocking his way. He parked the car on the side, this time leaving it behind for good, and approached the door, scanning both his hand prints, and then the eyes. Only once he completed it all, successfully passing the tests, he was admitted to the entrance...

To yet another checkpoint. This time, in front of him was a screen with a short questionnaire - the security question. He already confirmed his identity physically, and now it was the time to confirm that his mind was also that of Lane Allen.

And after that, the final checkpoint - a device that scanned his Mana, to ensure that he wasn’t influenced by any abilities. While it wasn’t precise, it could detect various types of mind control up to B-rank.

Not that Lane could ever be controlled by a mere B-rank ability. The people of the mansion, however, didn’t know that. In their eyes, he was just a weak F-ranker.

The security at the mansion was much stricter than the Forbidden Zone No. 74. It had to be, considering what, or rather who, was inside. Therefore, even Lane, despite giving the keepers heads-up, had to go through all of those procedures...

He didn’t complain though. In fact, he took part in designing the entrance process, pressing for as strict procedures as possible. It’s not like he could visit the place nowhere often enough to find it inconvenient... And it was better than letting a wrong person in on accident.

The inside of the mansion was like a maze. Following one of the maids, Lane went left, right, down, up, left, up, down... It was hard to keep track of all the turns, not to mention the hidden doors. And the walls were all fortified with Mana, so they weren’t easy to break through with just pure force! They wandered around for a while, until they finally arrived at the Gate. From there on, Lane went alone.

The dungeon was B-ranked, and therefore quite large. And inside...

Was another mansion. A normal one, not a fortress this time. Well, mostly normal - since the dungeon wasn’t fully cleared, there was a big fence surrounding it, to protect it from the monsters.

It’s been ten years since Lane had last visited the place, but nothing much had changed. Almost as if the time stood still here. The front door was the same, and so were the hallways Lane passed through as he turned his steps straight toward the patio. There, on a familiar rocking chair, sat an elderly woman, sun dancing in her wild, long, white hair. She held a book in her fake hands, a knitted blanket resting on her fake lap.

Lane’s mouth curved up in a smile. "Hi, Diana."