The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 363: Bribe? What Bribe?

Chapter 363: Bribe? What Bribe?

"Why did you ask me to make the report? Are you trying to bribe me by passing the credit to me? I might have gone along with it at the time, because it wasn’t the right time to argue... But just so you know, I don’t care for achievements I didn’t earn myself! And I won’t be coaxed into taking your side, no matter what! So, whatever it is that you’re planning, I’ll have you know that-"

"Wait, hold on," Lane raised his hand, stopping Clara’s barrage of words. His brows furrowed, as he felt an incoming headache... He was in equal measures perplexed and annoyed by the nonsense that the woman was spouting.

Bribe? What bribe? How had she even reached such a conclusion? Yes, Lane might have asked her to report their findings to Damien... But wouldn’t a more reasonable assumption be that he did it out of laziness? He couldn’t have been bothered to even try to bribe or coax her in any way before, so why would he start now? He had nothing to benefit from it. Damien was already his anyway, with or without her approval. On top of that, Eloise and Samantha had already accepted him, so he had the majority on his side, at least as far as Damien’s siblings living in the Capital were concerned.

Besides...

Lane let out a sigh, brushing his hair back. Or at least trying to. Because after the time they had spent in the dungeon, his usually soft hair was all stuck together in dirty, bloody strands, and his fingers, instead of passing through it smoothly, got tangled up. He wasn’t deterred by it, though, and gave Clara a long, exasperated look.

"Is this your oh-so-important issue that couldn’t wait any longer?" he asked, not hiding the mockery in his voice. "You followed me here just because of your overactive imagination and your excessive feeling of self-importance?"

Clara faltered briefly at his words. Indeed, it wasn’t that much of a pressing issue... She had already presented the report to Damien in front of the whole team, and they wouldn’t magically find out the truth just because she had confronted Lane about it in private. Nothing would happen if she waited a bit longer before discussing it with the man. Damien probably knew the truth anyway - he must have been aware of Lane’s capabilities, which is why he had sent him on that scouting mission in the first place - and ’her’ contributions weren’t enough to warrant any sort of promotion or a rise. And even if she did receive any sort of award, it’s not like it would be too late to reveal the truth about Lane’s role in their mission then...

Now that she thought about it, it wasn’t that important. It was just that she had waited so long to confront the man... She couldn’t do that back in the dungeon, since she didn’t want others to overhear - it was just too shameful to admit out loud that Lane had even TRIED to bribe her... Which is why she had to resolve it privately first, before informing the rest of the team about Lane’s contributions, with whatever excuse for what had happened earlier that she could come up with. So, she couldn’t do this in the camp, and she couldn’t do it when they had gone to fetch water, because with all the monsters running around, they had had to be as quiet as possible...

Only now did she get a chance. And once she did, her impatience got the better of her, and she chased after Lane without thinking it through.

There was no way she would admit it, though.

"Ahem!" she cleared her throat, turning her head away to try to hide the blush, still visible despite the dirt covering her face. "What do you mean by my ’overactive imagination’? What ’excessive feeling of self-importance’? You clearly had done it on purpose! When we came back to the camp, you asked me to make the report, as if I was the one who had a better grasp of the situation. Even though YOU were the one who had scouted the dungeon from above, drew the map, and took all those notes on the monsters! Are you trying to tell me that you didn’t know how that would look in the eyes of the others? That they wouldn’t think that I was the one who had gathered all that information?"

"Quiet down, will you?" Lane clicked his tongue, rubbing his furrowed forehead. The last thing he needed was Clara rambling in her loud, annoying voice. He didn’t feel like explaining himself, so he just said, "Well, maybe I didn’t realize it? You’ve always thought I’m dumb, no? I have failed the Esper license written exam so many times..."

However, Clara only muttered, "Those are two separate things. Just because you’re not book smart and studious, doesn’t mean you’re a complete idiot... Clearly, even you... have things you’re not terribly bad at."

She said that last part unwillingly, as if she was struggling to get those words past her throat... But it was still a compliment. A very veiled one, disguised as an almost-insult, but a compliment nevertheless.

Lane couldn’t help but lift his brows in surprise. Did Clara lose her mind after spending so much time in the dark dungeon? It wasn’t unheard of for people to go insane after suffering some sort of trauma, like being stuck somewhere... There were also plenty of the Awakened who had experienced severe mental issues after difficult dungeon raids, or other incidents. After all, having power didn’t mean that they also had a strong enough mentality to endure the challenges of facing monsters... And while it wasn’t Clara’s first time in the dungeon, that time when they had walked through the night, just the two of them, must have been hard on her.

Of course, regardless of what Lane thought, Clara hadn’t actually gone insane. She was just... reevaluating her views a bit. And hadn’t had a chance to sort her thoughts in peace, so she still didn’t know quite how to face Lane.

But her... non-hostile attitude didn’t last long. A moment later, she shook her head, and raised her voice again. "Anyway! Don’t try to fool me! I want fall for it! Even if you don’t admit it, I know the truth!"

Lane let out a sigh, rolling his eyes. "Fine, fine, you’ve got me. I was aware of how it would look."

"I knew it!" Clara flared up. But, before she could continue, Lane said,

"But what made you think I did it for you? I was simply too lazy to make the report."

That... didn’t seem unbelievable. Clara, however, was still not convinced.

"Oh? So lazy that you would give up all this credit? You have clearly put a lot of work into gathering information. I don’t believe you would just allow me to claim it without any ulterior motives! That was just a perfect opportunity to impress the team..."

"And why would I care about the team?" Lane snorted. "The only person who’s opinion’s matters to me is Damien. And he already knows that I drew the map anyway."

Clara couldn’t help but pause. With all that she knew about Lane, she shouldn’t be surprised, but...

His words now just sounded so arrogant! There were clearly a lot of high-ranking Espers with a lot of experience on the team, including all of the other A-rank Team Leaders stationed at the Association’s Headquarters. Powerful people with a lot of influence. Even if Lane had Damien backing him up, how could he not care about them? To say that their opinion didn’t matter?

"To begin with, I have joined the Association just because of Damien. I’m here just for fun, I don’t have any ambitions for my career," Lane added.

"I... don’t believe it..." Clara muttered.

"Not my problem," Lane shrugged his shoulders. What he had just said might have ruined the good impression he had made on Clara during their scouting mission... But that didn’t matter. In the first place, nothing he had ever done had been to earn her approval.

He was about to close the door, when Clara suddenly said,

"I will tell them the truth."

"...What?" Lane couldn’t help but pause. "Tell whom what?"

"The team. About everything you’ve done during the mission."

Now that was problematic...

"But why would you do that?" Lane furrowed his brows, displeased.

Clara didn’t fail to notice it. Her lips curved in a wicked smile, as she announced, "So that whatever it is that you were hoping to achieve with this, it will fail."

Then, she turned around on her heel, and walked toward the lift.

Lane hesitated for a moment. Was she really going to do it? Knowing her... Most likely yes. After all, she was Damien’s sister. She shared his values. It was only natural she wouldn’t care about the credit she didn’t earn herself...

And it normally wouldn’t be a big deal. But if she went out of her way to explain it to the team, that would be bringing more attention to their report, including how suspiciously detailed it was. It shouldn’t have been something they could do with their abilities. And with Ethan on the team...

"Wait!" Lane chased after Clara, just as the elevator door was about to close.