The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 149: Tournament Starts

Chapter 149: Tournament Starts

Loud cheers erupted, filling the Monster Arena, as the tournament participants stepped onto the field. The exhibition fights were over, and it was finally time for the preliminary round to start.

Lane narrowed his eyes, observing the Espers flooding in. From their Awakened Association, there was Hannah Jones - a Team Leader like Damien, but only an A-ranker. Damien didn’t want to participate, and he didn’t want Lane to participate, but it would be a shame not to have a representation, so Hannah volunteered.

As for the rest... There were quite a few S-rankers, many of them Lane recognized, a whole bunch of A-rankers, and even a few brave - or foolish, or overconfident - B-rankers.

And Nyla. Dressed in a tight suit with the Allen Guild logo, her long blond hair flowing in the wind - she didn’t tie it up on their mother’s request, because she looked better that way. And that they would get in the way? Who cares! - armed with a heavy longsword. Even though she was the agility type, just like Lane, and would have been better with a lighter weapon. The sword was new, possibly the one Ava told him about, the one that the Guild commissioned to celebrate Nyla’s advancement to rank S...

Even though she had yet to advance.

Lane averted his eyes.

Either way, it had nothing to do with him. If Nyla wanted to torture herself, following their parents every word, whether she liked or not, that was her problem now. She chose to follow this path. So why should Lane care? He didn’t, not at all, even if his twitching brows might suggest otherwise.

The participants spread around the field. There was a moment of silence - if you could consider it silence with the constant murmur of the crowd - and then, the gong rang.

And the monsters were released, flooding the Arena.

There were all sorts of them, flying, crawling, water, fire, electricity, earth, toxic types. Mixed up, so that no one could complain that anyone had an unfair advantage. For everyone, there were monsters they were good against, as well as those that were terribly matched. The point was to avoid those that were challenging, and hunt the easier game. The scores for each monster were based on their rank, not on how difficult it was for a specific Esper to hunt them down, after all, so it would do them no good to try to show off by choosing a challenging route.

Lane was observing the fights, not looking at anyone in particular. He just happened to see, from the corner of his eye, that Nyla was doing quite well. She was jumping around, practically flying through the air, slashing the monsters, and snatching the prey from underneath others’ noses with her telekinesis ability. She most certainly improved a lot. Back when they first awakened, she struggled to even lift a person for a minute...

Well, it was understandable. Unlike what everyone believed, she wasn’t a natural-born A-ranker, after all.

Ten minutes has passed. The numbers on the scoreboard were changing quickly, the gap between the top rankers and the bottom growing wider and wider with each second. At least twenty or so Espers were already disqualified, pulled out of the field due to their injuries, and were receiving treatment from country K’s healers. Hannah was currently on the 33... no, 31st place now, while Nyla on 24th...

Lane rubbed his chin, the corners of his lips lifting in a smile without him even realizing.

Not bad, not bad at all.

Then, all of a sudden, just as Nyla finished slaying a fire-type B-rank monster, Lane’s eyes picked up on some movement by the exits on the other side. Which wasn’t really anything unusual - even though they were in the middle of the tournament, some people were moving around every now and then, going to the toilet or whatever.

But something, a gut feeling he couldn’t quite explain, propelled him to look up.

And he saw Molzen, sneaking out. Well, maybe not sneaking, and just walking out normally, but it sparked Lane’s suspicion nonetheless. The man’s presence slipped out of his mind the past few days, as he enjoyed his blissful first ’couple’ trip, but now that he saw him again, the unease started gnawing on his insides again.

Of course, Molzen was also human. Maybe he just needed to use the restroom. Or take a... No, they were in a dungeon, so he couldn’t possibly be taking a call. So toilet then?

Maybe. Maybe it was just a normal, human thing. But, since it was Molzen, Lane found even the most ordinary thing sus.

He pressed his lips, hesitating for a moment as he glanced at Damien. Should he or shouldn’t he go?

In the end though, his curiosity won.

"I need to step out for a sec," he whispered, leaning closer to Damien. "Bathroom."

"...Alright. Should I go with you?"

"Nah, no need!" Lane laughed. Of course he couldn’t bring Damien with him, because how was he going to explain spying on a strange man? "Just wait for me here, so that you can tell me everything that happened later. I’ll be right back."

"Okay." Damien seemed a bit nervous - was it because they were in a high-ranking dungeon (although inactive) and there were monsters around? - but he didn’t insist. It was all supposed to be safe, and Lane was only stepping out for a few minutes...

Well, he’d be gone for more than just a few minutes, considering he had to spy on Molzen, but Damien didn’t know that. If he did, he’d be far more reluctant to let his boyfriend go...

Lane tossed one more of the snacks they had bought into his mouth, and got up, passing between the seats and soon disappearing in the exit. Once he was out of Damien’s sight, he quickly ran down the stairs. There was no time to waste. Molzen was on the opposite side of the Arena, so Lane had to go all the way around. If he wanted to catch up with his target, he needed to rush...