[BL]The Hero and his Party Won't Let Me Go

There was a tense silence that followed Kaiden’s declaration. The guides on standby were prideful and ready to argue, but one look at Kaiden’s face told them that they wouldn’t be needed.

So they stepped back with heavy looks on their faces, and everyone else understood this gesture as Kaiden having won the small war.

One of the guides was brave and decided to argue back.

"Sir, I know that you will be fine. But Caelis is too young to go in with you. He will need a guide-"

"I don’t want any."

Caelis declared all of a sudden before he entered the dungeon first. Kaiden gave everyone an amused glance, and it took everyone aback.

"Well, you heard my son. He said that he does not want a guide right now. So you can save yourself the trouble and head back home now."

Kaiden disappeared inside the dungeon as well, and everyone left behind cursed at this fickleness.

"Darn it-! Has that man gone mad? There is no telling what an esper would do once he loses control. Even a B-class esper causes city-wide damage, and that man is an S-class. Does he want to kill all of us?"

A guide questioned, and noisy protests broke out everywhere. Unfortunately, the person they were aimed at had already left the scene of the crime.

__________

"Did you hear? A gate opened in the city as well?"

"I did. I also heard that the new esper has been dispatched to take care of it. But he refused any guiding."

"What a disaster waiting to happen. Does he not know what this can do to his sanity? Who is going to save us if he loses control and decides to attack the city next?"

"Ugh, just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. Perhaps I should take an extended leave and go to live with my parents or something. Being here no longer feels safe."

"Don’t joke around. We have Sir Yuri. He will protect us in times of danger. We just need to trust him and give him our support."

"But I heard that the new Esper is above S-class in classification. Would Sir Yuri even be able to help us?"

"Tsk, that’s just the association talking smack. Honestly, I think it’s all a publicity stunt to keep Sir Yuri in check. The government must be desperate to see him rising so high so quickly."

Shuu heard people talking about him, but no one addressed him or spoke to him. He might be in the same room, but he definitely was not in the same space as the other guides of the Survivor’s Guild.

The news about him and that Sir Yuri had personally recruited him as a secretary had already spread. Everyone also knew that Shuu was not a guide (a lie), but he was still made to come to this exclusive meeting.

It made the guides feel resentful toward him, and they formed their own groups to exclude him.

Honestly, Shuu did not mind it. It felt like a cute form of bullying that tried to hurt him emotionally. But Shuu was not invested in these people enough to feel hurt.

Secretary Ann, on the other hand, looked ready to kill these people with his bare hands.

"Hey, this is enough gossip. How many times do I have to tell you that the guild room is not the place to be gossiping about such things? Do you all want to be fired or something?"

He asked in a tense voice, but the guides just shook their heads.

"You can’t fire us, Secretary Ann. You might be an A-class guide, but even you cannot guide the whole guild. Hey, but you might as well give us your thoughts about this topic. What do you think about that new S-class esper? Do you think he’s as powerful as the media is making him out to be?"

Another young and cheekier guide laughed at Secretary Ann’s words and counter-questioned him.

Secretary Ann was boiling on the inside, but his outer expression remained calm and sincere. Even his voice came out even when he spoke.

"This is a guild meeting for the guides, not a gossip center. If you don’t calm down now, then I will have no choice but to report you to the guild master for causing trouble for me."

Secretary Ann pointed out, and the guide finally calmed down and pouted.

"You truly are no fun. Alright, so what were we here for? And why is there a non-guide here?"

Everyone knew who Shuu was and why he was here. But they asked this question to try and humiliate him.

Honestly, it felt like a cute gesture and not even worth getting annoyed over. Shuu smiled at the guides, which made them shuffle around a bit.

Secretary Ann just sighed as he rubbed his forehead and decided to answer the question he was being asked.

"He’s Sir Yuri’s new secretary, Shuu. You are not allowed to question him about anything, and you will follow this rule unless you consider your life as precious. Now, since that is out of the way, we should get back to work."

And things did go back to work for everyone but Shuu. He pretended he understood what was being said with a smile, but in reality, he was stumped.

’Guiding frequency? Match rates? What are they talking about? Thank god I did not let it be known that I am a guide as well. I don’t think I would be able to handle all these headache-inducing terms.’

The meeting ended without Shuu’s input, and he watched everyone else leaving. Once he was alone with Secretary Ann, he dared to question the secretary.

"What am I supposed to do next? No one told me what my job would entail and what I need to know to do my job well."

Shuu reminded Secretary Ann, and the secretary nodded with an impassive face.

"You don’t need to do anything unless I tell you what you need to do. You can just follow me around and stand behind me for now."