The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 342: Not Alright

Chapter 342: Not Alright

...Right. The monsters in the Lapis Lake were S-rank, while Lane was currently only an A-rank. Somewhere in the middle of the A-rank scale, to be precise. And his reported ability was ’air manipulation’, which was an elemental type, not a psychic, so it wouldn’t grant him any extra defense against hypnosis as some of the mind abilities might. With the monsters’ hypnotic ability filling the air, he should have long been hypnotized. Every other A-ranker had been, and there were some Espers on the team who were more powerful than Lane allegedly was. Not by much, but still.

It made no sense that Lane was still alright.

It was such a stupid mistake on his part. It was just that he wanted to help Damien, so he acted without thinking, forgetting about Ethan and his ’rank’...

And now it was too late. Their eyes had met, and Ethan could tell that Lane’s head was still clear...

But then, all of a sudden, Damien picked Lane up, carrying him like a princess.

"What do you mean by that?" he turned to Ethan, furrowing his brows. "Why wouldn’t I be fine? I’m an S-ranker, naturally, this hypnotic ability doesn’t affect me."

"Ah?" Ethan blinked, confused for a moment. "No, I didn’t mean Team Leader... I was asking Lane..."

"As you can see, Lane is not alright. He had almost walked into the lake," Damien quickly explained. His voice was slightly shaky, and his arms holding Lane too tense, but he furrowed his brows even harder to maintain his act. Besides, it was fine if Ethan noticed that he was anxious. His nervousness could be attributed to the fact that Lane had almost fallen into the lake, not that he was caught acting above his rank.

"...Oh. Right," Ethan didn’t sound convinced at all. He was staring at Lane intently, trying to pick up on any move that might be wrong...

But Lane was already in character. He stared blankly ahead, and stirred in Damien’s arms, as if he wanted to climb down and get back to the lake. Even under Ethan’s vigilant gaze, he didn’t break his act. He was already so experienced in pretending, now that he was paying attention to his behavior, how could he possibly get stage fright and fail?

Of course, no matter how well he did now, that wouldn’t be enough to make up for his earlier mistake. Even if Lane had eventually been taken over by the monsters’ hypnosis ability, it was still undeniable that he had lasted far longer than he should have... Which meant that he was stronger than his last test had shown, at least somewhere between peak A-rank and low S-rank. It normally wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but...

It proved that he had faked his rank assessment results. After all, there was no way he could make this much of a progress within just two months, especially since he had spent most of that time at home, without a license.

And if he had faked his rank... Then what else was he lying about? The Association might let it slide...

But the Allens would most certainly strengthen the surveillance once they received Ethan’s report.

Lane swore inwardly, cursing his own recklessness. He had KNOWN that there was a spy by his side, and what did he do? He had exposed himself in just two weeks or so! Back when people started walking toward the lake, he should have reflected on himself, and done the same. It would have caused Damien more work, but at least his secret would have still been safe! And instead, what did he do? He slashed the door open, and dragged his teammates inside, showing that he was still sober...

Meanwhile, Damien trudged through the swampy terrain, passing Ethan and walking toward the Gate. "You were supposed to watch over the people inside," he reminded Ethan coldly, trying to avert his attention. "Why did you come out?"

"Team Leader and Lane were gone for so long, so I got worried..." Ethan tried to explain himself, but Lane had almost laughed out loud at his pathetic excuse.

Gone so long? It was only a few minutes! And Damien had told Ethan before that he would make the call, so it’s not like Ethan had no idea what was going on. Not to mention, among all of them (excluding Lane), Damien was the most powerful, on the higher end of the S-rank scale. Ethan, on the other side, had been an A-ranker originally, and had only advanced two or three years ago. So, he was not in a position to worry about Damien...

But Lane couldn’t voice any of those complaints out loud, as he was still pretending to be hypnotized. He could only grumble inwardly.

As for Damien, he only gave Ethan a long, calm look. "I had to discuss what to do next with Section Leader White," he explained. "And, as you have just seen, Lane ended up being hypnotized, which is why I was delayed... I’m sorry if I made you worried, but you still shouldn’t have disobeyed the orders."

"Ah, I’m sorry..." Ethan bowed his head. Possibly to hide his face twitching with annoyance. "It’s just that there were no signs of monsters of Mana fluctuation inside, so I thought it would be fine..."

Damien didn’t answer. It wasn’t the time for scolding... Besides, considering Ethan’s sensitive identity, he had to be careful with any punishment he might pass on the man.

"Let’s just go inside," he said, holding back a sigh.

"Yes, Team Leader!" Ethan nodded his head, and after throwing one last glance at Lane - who was still struggling weakly in Damien’s arms - he crossed to the other side. Damien followed right after him...

Once the scenery around changed from the tiny metal shed to the vast grasslands, with a cool wind blowing on his skin and the grey, clouded skies above, Lane could finally stop his act. Or, well, at least the struggling part - looking at the teammates gathered around, the hypnosis didn’t wear off so fast...

He sighed quietly, and dropped limply in Damien’s arms. Perhaps it was good that he still had to remain ’dazed’ - at least he had some time to think about how to explain how he could resist the hypnosis for so long...