The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 335: Team Rearrangement

Chapter 335: Team Rearrangement

"...What?" Lane lifted his head, puzzled for a moment. Field Team rearrangement? He hadn’t heard there were such plans from any of his spies... Well, the Team Leaders had only discussed it today, so perhaps that was understandable. But...

His eyes narrowed, his expression darkening. "What does that mean?"

Damien cleared his throat, avoiding Lane’s gaze. "That means that the team assignments and leaders will change. Not permanently, it’s just a test solution for now, but..."

"How will the teams change?" Lane interrupted, without waiting for Damien to finish what he had to say. "Does that mean I won’t be working with you anymore?"

As he asked that, his voice dangerously lowered, enough to send shivers down anyone’s spine. The question sounded almost threatening. Of course, Damien wasn’t scared...

At least not for himself. But, he would fear for anyone else Lane’s anger might be directed at.

Luckily, things weren’t THAT bad.

"That’s not it, you’re still on my team," he rushed to explain. "It’s just that... The other people might not be."

"...Oh?" Lane quirked his brows. "Like who won’t?"

"Most of them..."

"What about Ethan?"

To that question, Damien didn’t say anything. Which was clear enough of an answer.

Ethan would still be with them, but Hallie, Arlo, and the rest of the teammates might not.

The fork clinked, as Lane tapped it on the plate, lost in thought. That... wasn’t so bad. Although he rather liked Damien’s team - after spending some time with them in his previous possessions, he got used to their presence - he wasn’t all that close to them, all things considered. Apart from Damien, who was the reason why he had agreed to join the Association, he didn’t care all that much for anyone else.

But Damien should have already been aware of it. So, why did he think that Lane wouldn’t take the news well? Because he clearly did, Lane could tell this by the concerned frown on his face.

Perhaps... Was there more to it?

"Since the rest of our team is out," he asked casually, "Who will replace them?"

Damien let out a sigh, and put the fork down. Although the food was slowly getting cold, he couldn’t really continue this conversation while eating. And since they had already started talking about it, he didn’t want to push it for later either. So, he calmly explained, "There are currently two Restricted Zones where most Awakened cannot enter because of the tricky high-ranking monsters. The newest one with the parasite monsters, and the one in the Lapis Lake..." His voice shook slightly when he mentioned the lake, but he still continued, "However, the Association still needs to assist in fighting the monsters and inspecting the Gates... And as things currently stand, no Field Team can enter those Restricted Zones, especially that on the Lapis Lake."

"That’s true," Lane nodded in agreement. When it came to the Lapis Lake, the monsters residing there were S-rank with hypnotic ability. Some of the high-ranking Guilds occasionally went there on the ’fishing’ trips, hunting the monsters in the lake... But the underwater Gate still remained uncleared. As such, new monsters occasionally crossed over. If any low-ranking person were to enter the area, they would soon be hypnotized... Even A-rankers weren’t safe. Thus, even if Damien’s team, which was the strongest, were to go on inspections there, Damien, Lane, and Ethan would have to knock out everyone else... The only option would be...

"We would need the team made only out of high-rankers," Lane said.

Seeing that Lane had reached the same conclusion as the Association members, Damien nodded, slightly relieved. If he understood that, then it might be easier for Lane to bear with the decision they had made.

"That’s what we decided to do. We will temporarily gather all Field Agents ranked A and above into one team."

Well, that meant that the team would be mainly made up of A-rankers. The only people above the A-rank were Damien and Ethan. And Lane, but he was registered as an A-rank, so it didn’t really count.

Lane nodded his head slowly, muttering, "Is that so?"

That wasn’t so bad... Sure, there were some A-rankers in the Association that Lane disliked, such as Team Leader Easton Cruz... But compared to Ethan, they were all harmless. Although it wouldn’t be pleasant, with Damien by his side, he would be able to endure it...

"Who will be the leader of the team, then?" he asked.

"I will, since I’m an S-ranker. Team Leader Hannah Jones will be the Vice Team Leader."

Once again, Lane nodded his head. Not the most pleasing choice, but understandable. Aside from how strict and harsh she was, Lane didn’t have any other complaints...

Damien stared at him in silence for a while. It seemed that Lane still hadn’t realized... So, he quietly added, "Clara will also be a part of the team."

Lane’s eyes immediately widened, and he almost dropped his fork.

That’s right, how could he have forgotten?! Clara was supposed to join the Association as a full-time member right after her graduation. And as a Field Agent! They had discussed it a long time ago, when she wanted to switch team assignments with Lane. Lane hasn’t been paying much attention to what was going on with Damien’s sisters, and they didn’t hang out much because of the hostility that Clara displayed toward him, so it slipped his mind completely... But it was summer now, Clara must have already graduated. Actually, now that he thought about it, he was vaguely able to recall that she had mentioned going on the inspections with Hannah Jones’ team the last time they had a family dinner...

Now he could finally understand why Damien was so careful when passing him the news. It was indeed something Lane wouldn’t be happy about. It was enough to have one nuisance (Ethan) on his team, and now he had to deal with yet another one?

It was what it was, though. He could only help but sigh.

"Well, it’s fine," he said, forcing a smile. "It’s just temporary, right?"

Either way, he had more important things to worry about... Compared to his trouble with Blanc, dealing with Clara and Ethan shouldn’t be all that hard!