The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 167: Do You Not Want Your Job Anymore?

Chapter 167: Do You Not Want Your Job Anymore?

"Oscar Morales! Where the hell were you?! Didn’t you see my calls?!"

The awful yelling was so loud, it made Lane’s whole body twist in repulsion, his face scrunching. And that annoying voice, and even more annoying face! Especially right after his (way too short) make-out session with Damien, that made the woman’s presence feel even more jarring by comparison!

But, oh well. He only had himself to blame. No one forced him to possess Oscar’s body, after all.

"Why aren’t you saying anything?! Do you not want your job anymore?!"

Lane almost responded that yes, he didn’t want it, but he bit his tongue just in time. He needed to remain a member of the Allen Guild until they got back! So, he took a deep breath, and calmly said, "Commander, please, let me explain."

"Then explain! Go on, I’m waiting!"

"First of all, about the phone," Lane started. "I apologize, I didn’t mean to ignore your calls. It’s just that my battery died."

"What?! Then why didn’t you charge it?!"

"I... didn’t notice."

Gracie inhaled sharply, furious to the point of being rendered momentarily speechless. Was she really supposed to believe such a flimsy excuse?

Lane, on the other hand, was rather amused. Such an uncontrollable temper... No wonder she was just a Commander, even though her rank was higher than Catherine Allen’s, who was the Vice Leader.

"Then what about your radio?" Gracie snapped, once she finally recovered her voice.

"Ah, it got splashed by that red substance from the pte... uh, the flying monsters."

"Then why...Uh." Although she wanted to complain some more, this time, Lane’s excuse was actually plausible. So, she asked instead, "Then explain what happened back in the dungeon. Where did you fall off, and why couldn’t we find you anywhere?"

"Oh, I didn’t fall at all! When the cliff started crumbling, I made a run for it, and managed to get to the solid ground!" Lane explained.

"What? You... didn’t fall?" Gracie paused, glancing at her niece, who was standing at the back. So it wasn’t that Nyla failed to catch him in time? "But I didn’t see you run up the cliff."

Lane shrugged his shoulders. "Then Commander, did you see me fall?"

Naturally, she didn’t. But would Gracie admit to her mistakes? Of course not!

"Then didn’t you realize the rest of the team wasn’t with you? Why didn’t you turn back?"

"Well." Lane unfolded his arms helplessly. "We were being chased by the monsters, weren’t we? So when I reached the solid ground, I instantly bumped into them... At that point, I was too busy trying to survive to think about anything else. By the time I finally realized I was alone... I couldn’t find you anywhere."

"Then couldn’t you have figured out we went down the cliff? We spent HOURS looking for you there!"

"Of course I thought Miss Nyla must have helped you descend... And it’s not that I didn’t want to reunite with you! It’s just that... As I was on my way... I stumbled upon a wounded Esper, lying unconscious all alone. I couldn’t just leave him there, could I?" Lane sighed, shaking his head. "So I took him out of the Gate... And at that point, so much time had passed already, that I knew I wouldn’t be able to find you, not with my radio broken. So I thought I might as well just return to the hotel..."

Gracie tapped her foot on the floor, staring daggers at Lane. She was pissed, and wanted nothing but to yell at the man... But his story did make sense, and it added up with what she had heard from the guards at the Gate - that the member of her team left the dungeon carrying an unconscious Esper. And Oscar Morales was an employee, not a family member, so she couldn’t exactly yell at him to her heart’s content...

"Once we’re back, write a detailed report and submit it to your supervisor," she finally said, turning away. "They will decide how to handle the case."

"And you!" she snapped at Nyla. "You might have gotten lucky this time... But that doesn’t erase the rest of your mistakes! You will have to explain yourself later, for your awful performance, and then even losing your sword! Don’t you know how long it took to have it forged?!"

’Ugh,’ Lane rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to cover his eyes. As usual, Gracie was insufferable... While her words were hardly as hurtful as their parents’, her screeching alone made it hard to bear...

Not paying much attention to what new insults the woman was spewing Nyla’s way - they were hardly worth listening to, after all! - it took a moment before Lane noticed something was off.

’Wait... The sword?’ he glanced back at Nyla, furrowing his brows. Gracie meant Nyla’s new sword, the one recently commissioned from the ManaTech, no? But if it was that sword... Then shouldn’t it be safe? Nyla gave it to Lane to hold on to, and since she returned the daggers already, she should have been able to get her sword back from Damien as well, no? Or did she lose it again later? When Lane went to find them in the dungeon, he was too preoccupied planning his possession, so he didn’t pay attention to the weapon Nyla was using...

It bothered him so much, that on the first opportunity he found, he sneaked away to the toilet, to check his - that is, ’Xavier’s’ - spatial bag.

And sure enough, the sword was there.

...Didn’t she ask for it? But why? She met with Damien to return the daggers, didn’t she? Was it because... she felt bad, asking a man who had just ’lost’ his lover to give her back her property? But that was just...

Ugh.

Lane tapped his fingers on his thigh, thinking for a moment. Eventually, he pulled out his phone, texting Damien.

Whatever Nyla’s reason was, it was still better to return it, no? The sword didn’t suit her, and she would have been better off without it, but even if one sword was gone, it wouldn’t solve the problem. The Allens would just get her another. So, there was no reason for her to get screamed at for a mistake she didn’t make.

He knew very well himself how unpleasant the Allens could get...