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

The Minister of Defence looked down at the two people he had subdued using his power. It had been hard, and he had only succeeded due to the mixture of drugs he had mixed into the coffee he had given the pair.

They had only taken a small sip of it, but even that much was enough to make his powers start working.

"You... are a criminal..."

Secretary Ann whispered as he tried to stand up. His words should have made the minister mad, but he only felt sorry for the secretary guide.

"I am not a criminal, Secretary Ann. I am the defence minister who is responsible for protecting you all. Surely you are not accusing me of anything."

The defence minister questioned, and it caused Secretary Ann to curse at him.

"Y-You criminal-"

The intensity of abilities around the pair increased as the defence minister’s mood soured.

"Don’t be like that. Now, I am sure you both are in pain. But don’t worry. I will take you back and cure you. And then, you both will reward me, right? Now, let’s go-"

"Secretary Ann, Shuu-! Ah, I finally found you both. Sir Yuri... Hello, minister. Is there something wrong with the people from our guild?"

Shuu opened his eyes at Kris’s familiar voice. He watched as the A-class esper reached them before he stopped and analysed the situation.

His sudden appearance caused the defence minister to let go of the guides immediately and take a step back.

"There is nothing wrong here. These two were suddenly feeling sick, so I wanted to take them back and help them. But since you are here now, I can leave them in your presence and head back to work."

Shuu had to give credit where it was due. The defence minister’s words sounded genuine, and his mask was well-practiced. There was no way anyone would be able to tell his true nature.

But as another esper, Kris could feel the underlying obsession the defence minister was showing in his body language. It made Kris stay on guard, but he showed a smile and laughed at the minister’s words.

"I see. That’s terrible. But don’t worry, minister. I will take care of the people from my guild now, so you don’t have to stay here any longer."

Kris made sure to position himself in front of the two weaker guild members and watched as the defence minister gave up in real time.

Shuu finally took a relieved breath once the man was gone, and Secretary Ann also straightened his back.

"That man is so troublesome, but I never thought he would actually attack me so openly like this. Tsk, this is just another burdensome task I will have to ask Sir Yuri to look into."

Secretary Ann looked genuinely upset at what happened, and Shuu felt worried as well for him and the guild.

He did not know much about how the system worked, but from what he had gathered, the defence minister was a huge post that could become a helper or a hindrance, depending on how you handled the situation.

Right now, it was not looking good. The minister had stormed off in anger, and Shuu was not sure what he should do about the situation.

"Are you sure it will be alright? What if the defence minister tries to make things difficult for us?"

Shuu asked, and for the first time, Secretary Ann’s face turned dark.

"If that man becomes any more of a burden, then I will personally make sure he is removed. The only reason he’s even alive is because of his connections and nothing else. He could at least make his death useful for us."

Shuu took a step back from Secretary Ann’s angry form. He had a feeling that the secretary was not joking either.

Kris looked uncomfortable as well, but he also recalled what he came here to do.

"Ah, that reminds me... Sir Yuri asked me to bring you both back. The next dungeon raid has been decided, and it is a big one. He said that we all need to be there to discuss some things with each other. Even Shuu is invited to join if he wants to."

Kris’s face told Shuu that the esper wanted him to join, but Shuu had his own priorities that day, so he could not join.

"I am sorry, but it is Rin’s first day soon, and I want to escort him to his class. I won’t be able to make it to the meeting this time."

Shuu tried to make a sad face as he spoke these words, but he was not actually sad about it.

Kris’s face looked sad, but he quickly recovered and beamed at Shuu.

"I see. I will miss you during the meeting. I will come and meet you as soon as it’s over, and we can go celebrate Rin’s achievement. How about dinner sounds? It’s on me-"

"I am sorry, but I would like to enjoy this moment alone with Rin. He’s shy and not used to people. But once he is, I will invite you to eat with us."

Kris’s face shifted again before it settled on a resigned expression.

"I see. That’s alright. I will wait for you and Rin to get more comfortable with me before we head out. A-Anyway, should we head back now?"

Shuu nodded, and Secretary Ann followed after them at a calmer pace.

"You don’t have to be too polite to him if you don’t want to, kid. That esper likes you and seems to be the dense type. He won’t get the meaning behind your words if you are not direct with him."

Shuu knew that Secretary Ann was right, but he did not want to see Kris downhearted. But perhaps it would be better to curb all his expectations before Kris could build them.

That way, the rejection would be far less painful whenever it came Kris’s way.

"You are right. I should not toy around with him and his feelings like this."