The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 347: Volunteer to Scout

Chapter 347: Volunteer to Scout

Damien was staring at the screen with his brows deeply furrowed. He had been observing Lane taking measurements from the moment the man had snatched his Mana fluctuation measuring device, so he didn’t need any explanations as to what Lane meant. He thought about the odd results - which were already way above the approved level that an inactive dungeon should have - for a moment, before turning his eyes to the grasslands stretching in front of them.

Everything was still as peaceful as before. There wasn’t a sign of life anywhere, the only movement came from the grass, gently swaying in the wind.

But that didn’t mean anything. The dungeon was spacious, they couldn’t see the end of it from where they were. There could be a lot happening in the distance, and they wouldn’t be able to tell...

There was only one thing that was clear: with the current rising Mana fluctuations, there was no way that the dungeon was still inactive.

"Do you think the Wall expanded again?" he asked, his voice serious, but still calm. Over the past months, multiple dungeons had reactivated, so it was no longer an unfamiliar situation. And based on the observations, while it required the Association’s attention, it wasn’t seen as an emergency, or even a high-priority event.

It was treated the same way as an appearance of a new Gate - it had to be re-assessed by the scouts within a few days, and then cleared within a few months, depending on the breeding rate of the monsters inhabiting it. There were already proper protocols in place. Under normal circumstances, when discovering that a Gate had reactivated during inspections, they should withdraw from the dungeon, and report the incident.

Except that those weren’t the ’normal circumstances’. They were all stuck in the Gate. Damien could go out and report, but the team couldn’t withdraw...

"I don’t know," Lane shrugged his shoulders in response. "Perhaps? I think it would be best to go to the Wall and check..."

Damien nodded his head. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to send some people to investigate...

But there was one serious problem: whom should he send?

His current team was made up of high-rankers. Because it was created with the two tricky Restricted Zones in mind, the main requirement was that all the members had to be ranked A or above... And, since the number of high-rankers in the Association was low, they had no choice but to toss them all into one team, without taking anything else into consideration. Because of that, the team, while powerful, was also unbalanced... Some of their abilities were ill-matched, and might collide with each other during a fight... Which was already bad enough, but could still be dealt with by arranging their formation well by making sure Espers with incompatible abilities were far away from each other, so that they wouldn’t be getting in each other’s way. But there was one problem that couldn’t be solved so easily.

There was no one with abilities suitable for a scout on the team.

Being a competent scout wasn’t so easy. What was expected of a scout was to be able to explore a dungeon while staying hidden. They had to scout the environment while avoiding confrontations with the monsters as much as possible. After all, fighting one monster might result in attracting more monsters, which would then lead to the situation escalating... If they had no choice but to fight, it should be quick, quiet, and deadly, with assassin-like skills. So, the desired abilities for scouts were primarily those related to stealth or observation.

Such as Lane’s Mana Scan, enhanced hearing, or cloaking... But his scouting abilities were not the ones that he had registered, so he was considered to be an offensive-type Esper.

At least for everyone else.

But Damien already knew the truth, so Lane leaned closer, and suggested, "How about I go?"

Damien took a look at him, hesitating. From the logical point of view, that would indeed be the best option... However, the problem was,

"With whom?"

"Hmm?" Lane lifted his brows, surprised. "Alone, of course!"

Who else he could possibly go with? Only Damien! But that was impossible, since Damien was the Team Leader, he should stay with the rest of the team to lead them. It’s not like he had any scouting abilities either - aside from his wavelength sensitivity, perhaps, but that wasn’t technically an ability, thus most of the people weren’t aware of it. Explaining it now would be too complicated - so there was no way to justify Damien leaving the team to go with Lane. It’s not like he could just pull out the boyfriend card all of a sudden...

And Damien understood that as well. But he still didn’t want to send Lane off alone. Yes, it was only a C-rank dungeon, while Lane was an SS-ranker... But still.

"Come on..." Lane whined, leaning even closer, and nudging Damien. "You know that if anyone else comes with me, they will only be an inconvenience..."

That... was indeed true. If anyone else came with him, Lane wouldn’t be able to use his unregistered abilities. Even if they got in trouble, he would be restricted to his ’A-rank air manipulating Esper’ self.

However, Lane’s insistence caused Damien’s brows to furrow even deeper. Was Lane going to just scout the dungeon for the team, or did he have any ulterior motives? Or was he just bored?

The answer was... all three of them, actually. Lane was curious about what was going on, wanted to try to figure out whether he had planted the Fertilizer here, and was bored of sitting in place. Especially since with the change in the Mana fluctuations, the team probably wouldn’t be able to carry on with the inspections even when the morning came... They would have to guard the Gate, in case the monsters appeared. After all, while the Gate was located in the Restricted Zone and there were no civilians around, the situation was still problematic. Because of the monsters in the Lapis Lake, the Manaforming progressed quite a lot in the Zone, and there was a risk that the monsters from other dungeons might cross over as well, even without a dungeon break... And the more monsters appeared, the worse the Restricted Zone would get.

Damien was still uncertain. The more he thought about it, though, the more he came to the conclusion that sending Lane to scout was indeed the best option. He was about to agree...

When all of a sudden, Ethan joined the discussion. "That would be against the protocol. Scouts should conduct their missions in teams of two or three."

’Ugh,’ Lane groaned inwardly, his face instantly souring. Was there really a rule like that? Judging by Damien’s expression, there probably was...

And Ethan didn’t stop there. "How about I come with Lane?" he suggested.

"You?" Lane laughed out loud. "You’re just a Guide. If you come on the scouting mission with me, you’d be nothing more than a hindrance!"

Ethan’s face twitched. Lane was right - if anything had to come, then surely any Esper would be more suitable than a Guide. At least their speed was faster, and their senses better developed. However, he still tried to argue, "I’ve received scouting training at the Allen Guild. I’m qualified to join the mission, especially in a mid-ranking dungeon!"

Had he really? Perhaps. There was no way for them to check it, not now, and not later. After all, if he wanted to fake his credentials so that he could spy on Lane better, the Allens would surely cooperate and hand him the certificate! But if Ethan were to come with Lane...

Lane and Damien exchanged glances. There was no need to say anything. They both knew all too well that it was a terrible idea.

But if there was someone who could join Lane on the scouting mission, then Damien had no excuse to ignore the protocol. Either he had to send Ethan together with Lane...

Or find someone else.

Damien only hesitated for a moment, before getting up from the mat, and walking up to the person sleeping a few feet away from them.

"Hey, wake up," he said, gently shaking the person’s shoulder. The woman stirred under the coat that she used as a blanket, and let out a groan, before slowly opening her eyes.

"What is it?" she muttered, her voice still groggy with sleepiness.

"We’ve picked up on rising Mana fluctuations, and we’re suspecting that the dungeon might have reactivated," Damien briefly explained. "We need to send some people on a scouting mission... Do you think you can do this?"

"A scouting mission? I..."

"No way!" Before the woman was able to give her answer, Lane jumped up to his feet, raising his voice in protest. "Damien, what are you doing? Do you want this mission to fail?"

Clara’s eyes narrowed, focusing on Lane. "Why are you so agitated? Wait..." She turned her gaze back to Damien. "Surely, you’re not planning to send me together with him?"

Damien sighed heavily. As expected, it wouldn’t go so well...