The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 357: Passing the Credit

Chapter 357: Passing the Credit

Before Lane and Clara even stepped into the pool of faint brightness coming from the camp lights, one of the people sitting around on the ground jumped up to their feet, and rushed forward to meet with them. That person was, of course, Damien, who had been anxiously awaiting their return from the very moment they had stepped out of the camp, disappearing into the darkness the night before...

"You’re back? Are you alright?" he asked, not hiding his concern, as he looked the two up and down. Although they were still far from the source of any light, and he couldn’t see any details... It seemed that the two weren’t hurt, at least not badly, even though their faces were all dark and frowny.

Well, that was to be expected. Damien wasn’t so foolishly optimistic as to hope the two might have a good time on their mission and enjoy each other’s company. He was only hoping that they wouldn’t tear each other apart... And it seemed that they had at least managed to restrain themselves from doing that.

Which could probably count as progress. Their collaboration must have gone smoothly enough, considering that they were back so fast, sooner than he had expected.

"Come, let’s sit down. Are you tired? Hungry? Thirsty?" he asked, taking them back to the rest of the team. "We don’t have many supplies left, but we’ve saved some for you..."

"Ah, don’t worry about that," Lane put on a smile, fixing his expression. Whatever concerns he had regarding the reasons behind this dungeon’s reactivation, it wasn’t the time to ponder over it. "We’ve brought food and water."

Damien furrowed his brows. "Food? What food? Are you sure... it’s edible?"

"Well, we’ve eaten it, and we’re still alive, so I guess so?" Lane shrugged his shoulders with a light chuckle. Then, after seeing the worry in Damien’s eyes, he explained, "It’s monster meat. We roasted it over a Smokeless Campfire. It’s not the tastiest thing I’ve eaten... But it’s not harmful or anything, I guarantee it."

Hearing Lane’s explanation, Damien’s expression eased... Only for his brows to furrow once again. "You’ve fought monsters?"

"A few times, yeah. It was impossible to avoid completely. But don’t worry, we’re all fine. Those were just some monsters from a C-rank dungeon. With my air manipulation and Clara’s thread ability, they hardly posed any challenge!"

He emphasized the ’air manipulation’, to discreetly let Damien know that he didn’t show any of his unregistered abilities in front of Clara. And Damien seemed to have understood, because he nodded his head, visibly relieved.

"How’s the situation, then? Did the dungeon expand?"

"Yes, by quite a bit. I’ve made an updated map..."

By then, they had already arrived back at the campsite by the Gate. Some people were sleeping, but among all that were awake, there was not a single person who hadn’t turned their eyes toward Damien, Clara, and Lane.

Lane cleared his throat, and pushed his tablet into Clara’s hands. "I believe it will be better if Clara explains you all the details... Since I’d probably end up making a lot of mistakes."

Clara’s eyes widened, as she stared at Lane, speechless and dumbfounded. Why was Lane pushing this onto her? As much as she hated to admit it, between the two of them, Lane had a much better grasp on the situation. Not only was he the one to draw the map - which exceeded what Clara would have been capable of, at least when it came to the accuracy and amount of information included - but he probably knew more about the monsters as well. While he hadn’t said anything, and he had always asked Clara to analyze the monsters after they were killed, judging by how effectively he hunted them down, he had far more superior understanding of them than Clara had. Without a doubt, he was the true ’scout’ behind the mission, she was just a ’plus one’ who had tagged along so as not to breach the protocol.

There was no way Lane wasn’t aware of it. So, why was he pushing the credit onto Clara? He couldn’t possibly be hoping to bribe her so that she would no longer oppose him dating Damien? As if she’d ever go for something like that! She opened up her mouth, about to voice her protests...

But then she met Damien’s eyes. Her brother was looking at her expectantly, clearly waiting for her to make a report. As for Lane, he had already plopped down on the mat, relaxing, as if whatever was going on had nothing to do with him.

Ugh! Fine, whatever! She’d relay the information for now, but she would make sure to talk with that menace of the man later, to make sure that he understood that she WOULD NOT be bribed! She had no intention of accepting the credit either, she would explain everything to Damien later! Although her brother probably already knew the truth...

She harrumphed inwardly, turning her eyes from the pink-haired man stretched on the ground, and put on a serious expression, as she started explaining their discoveries to everyone, from the dungeon expansion, to all the information they had gathered on the monsters, and ending with giving an estimate as to how far into the previously cleared area the monsters had traveled so far. The last part was the least accurate, since they (read: Lane) had only observed it from one side, on their way back, and the situation might have already changed since then. They didn’t know the monsters’ traveling patterns, after all, so anything was possible...

Well, either way, it’s not like they could do much to prepare anyway. They just had to remain cautious and watch their surroundings, so that they would be ready to fight once the monsters appeared... It was already good enough that Lane and Clara had been able to obtain more information about the monsters inhabiting this dungeon that had been registered in the Association’s database, which would be helpful when defending against them.