The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 348: Best Option

Chapter 348: Best Option

"Lane, can I talk to you for a minute?" Damien sighed, taking Lane to the side to discuss it in private.

Although Lane still had his face twisted with displeasure, he followed Damien obediently. He wanted to hear what made Damien come up with such a ridiculous idea.

He and Clara going on a mission together, just the two of them? That was a recipe for disaster! Even going with Ethan would be better! Well, perhaps not... But if Ethan went with him, then at least Lane would know that the Guide wasn’t using this opportunity to bother Damien!

Now that he thought about it, perhaps it was indeed a good idea to allow Ethan to join him, much better than going alone. He would be greatly inconvenienced by the man’s presence, but...

"Lane," Damien spoke up, lowering his voice to a hushed whisper. "I know that you two don’t get along, but I can’t send you on your own. It’s against the protocol... And isn’t going with Clara at least better than going with Wagner?"

"No, it’s not," Lane shook his head. Clara might have been Damien’s younger sister, but that didn’t change that she was a complete menace of a woman! If it was Eloise or Samantha, then that would be fine, but Clara?

His stubborn response made Damien sigh, but he didn’t give up. "Can’t you put your differences aside for now? Just for the sake of the mission?"

A groan escaped Lane’s mouth. It’s not that he couldn’t, but... "Why?"

He really didn’t understand! Even if Damien trusted Clara’s capabilities, that still didn’t make any sense!

"Clara is an A-rank Esper, her senses are well enhanced. She’s an agility type, and while she specializes in offense, she has some stealth training. On top of that, while her ability doesn’t complement yours, it’s not clashing either. If you two are forced to fight monsters, you wouldn’t be getting in each other’s way. And most importantly..." Damien paused, taking a look around. They had walked a bit to the side, away from the camp, but they weren’t too far away either... With all those high-rankers gathered, if he were to say anything at this distance, even in a hushed whisper, there was a risk someone might overhear...

Confused by the sudden pause, Lane lifted his brows. "Most importantly?"

Instead of answering, Damien pulled out his phone, and started typing. A moment later, he showed Lane the message on the screen.

[If she sees you using any unregistered abilities, we can convince her to keep it a secret for my sake.]

Lane stared blankly at the text for a while.

That... was indeed correct. Out of everyone on the team, Clara was the safest bet when it came to Lane using his abilities. Of course, it was still better not to let her know, but if there was an emergency and Lane had no choice... Then all they needed to tell her was that if it got out, Damien would also end up in trouble, and that should be enough to make her keep her mouth shut. As for everyone else... Lane could only try using his hypnosis ability. But with everyone on the team being high-rankers, there was just so much that could go wrong.

So, Damien’s decision to pair Lane with Clara for the mission indeed made sense.

Lane tousled his hair, his face twisted with unwillingness and helplessness. "I can cooperate with her... But the question is, can she stop talking trash and provoking me for more than two minutes?"

"I’ll talk to her in a moment. But can you promise me to behave?"

"Sure thing." Lane shrugged his shoulders. "As long as she will."

Clara’s attitude toward him was the sole reason behind their conflict. Otherwise, while they probably wouldn’t be friends, they would have been able to maintain peaceful relations. They had already met two or three years ago or so, when Lane was working for the Association in a body he possessed at the time. They ended on the same Field Team for a while, when Clara was working full-time over the summer holidays, and there weren’t any conflicts between them. Lane behaved more or less the same as he did now back then, the only difference was that he wasn’t dating Clara’s brother. He didn’t even know him yet! So, the woman had no reason to hate him so much...

Damien wasn’t exactly reassured by Lane’s lukewarm agreement, but they didn’t have time to waste on discussing it any further. At least Lane was no longer opposing Damien’s decision, which was a good sign...

Probably.

Either way, after observing Lane for a minute or two longer, as if trying to take a look into his head and see his thoughts and intentions, he finally nodded his head, and turned around, grabbing Clara, and pulling her to the side next. He discussed the team-up with her for a moment, reminding her that ’they were at work, so she should act professional and set personal differences aside,’ until Clara’s protests finally ceased.

Ironically, her final response wasn’t much different from Lane’s: "I can cooperate, as long as he will!"

It made Damien’s brows lift a bit. Seems that the two were at least a little bit similar in a way... Too bad that similarity came from their mutual disdain for each other!

With Clara and Lane both agreeing to go on the mission together, Ethan had no more excuse to try to tag along as well. While it wouldn’t be against the protocol, it wasn’t required either, thus Damien could force him to stay, justifying it by saying that he needed as many people as possible to defend the Gate in case the monsters appeared, as well as having an extra person who could go outside to check the situation or ask for reinforcements.

After all, because of the monsters in the lake, currently only Damien and Ethan could leave the Gate... If something were to happen to Damien, the team would be stranded, with no safe way to contact the Association...