The clash between the healer and Secretary Ann did not last long. The dungeon was quickly cleared, and a team came to extract them.

Shuu breathed a sigh of relief as he was finally extracted from the tense atmosphere, and he immediately went to Kaiden’s side, who was leading this charge.

Kaiden immediately opened his arms to let Shuu burrow himself inside those arms, and he also noticed the downcast look Shuu had on his face.

"Are you alright?"

Kaiden asked, and Shuu shook his head, not sure what to convey to Kaiden. In the end, he decided to tell Kaiden what had happened.

Kaiden’s expression changed as soon as he heard what Shuu had to say, and his eyes turned to look at the man standing behind Shuu who had dared say those useless words.

"Should I take care of him for you? I don’t think a man who made you uncomfortable deserves to live a normal life."

Shuu’s heart skipped a beat at that threat, and he almost took Kaiden up on that offer before he stopped himself.

"Kaiden, stop! This is not it. I don’t want you to go and cause trouble on my behalf. Just...make sure he does not come near me. I don’t have a bad feeling about this."

Shuu complained, and Kaiden nodded. They both noticed the healer looking at Shuu once in a while with a sinister look on his face. But he did not act as long as Kaiden was there.

Kaiden still did not like the look Shuu was getting, so after wrapping his arms around the guide, he decided to offer even more security.

"Shuu, you should come with me today. I don’t feel comfortable leaving you to the survivor’s guild-"

"This is not a fair assessment of what is going on, Esper Kaiden. This was a momentary lapse that could happen anywhere. It is not right for you to take our employee away from us, especially at such an important time."

Secretary Ann, who had been listening in on their conversation, quickly interjected his own opinion. His eyes were looking at Shuu, asking him to agree with the secretary.

But Shuu had no intentions of coming back himself. He was happy being by Kaiden’s side like this since it was less stressful.

Kaiden did not like to be challenged, and his temper immediately flared. Shuu decided to grab Kaiden’s hand to try to calm him down, and that helped.

But his eyes were still scary when he turned to look at the secretary standing in front of him.

"Mr. Secretary, I don’t think you realize just how much I have to hold back in order to greet you properly at the moment. Because if you have any idea, you won’t be standing in front of me like this and would actually be making yourself useful by giving me space."

Shuu noticed the secretary flinching at Kaiden’s words, and his eyes also looked Kaiden up and noticed his tension.

It made Shuu want to warn the secretary to run away as soon as possible, but his mouth felt like it was glued shut, and he was not able to get any words out.

The secretary also looked flustered at what was happening, and he tried to open and close his mouth, but to no avail. Finally, Secretary Ann got himself under control and decided to speak up and clear the air.

"I did not mean to hurt your ego. But do realize that we have an ego of our own, and we will get angry if you treat us insincerely-"

"Shuu, I want to go back now. I am tired."

Secretary Ann’s speech was cut short by Caelis. The kid was rubbing his eyes and yawning, and his body was also sagging.

To Kaiden’s trained eye, it looked like a well-elaborated prank Caelis was pulling in order to be able to get away from him.

And before Secretary Ann could recover from this interruption, Kaiden decided to pick Caelis up and also gesture for Rin to come closer and grab Shuu’s hand. Then, he wrapped his arm around Shuu and started to tug him away.

"It looks like the kids are tired and need some sleep. We will come back to clear the air tomorrow, Secretary. But if you have so much problem with me taking Shuu away like this, then you better terminate his contract and file a complaint for compensation. I promise I will match- no, exceed any price you put forward for me."

Kaiden promised before he left. Shuu left with him as well, but he kept looking back once in a while to see Secretary Ann’s expression.

The secretary looked ready to boil over, and Shuu felt bad for him.

"Are you sure we should not help him out?"

He asked Kaiden, but the man just shrugged as he dragged Shuu along with him.

"Helping him won’t achieve anything for us. If anything, that man needs to change his attitude if he wants to survive in the future. Being an A-class guide won’t always be helpful to him."

Kaiden’s words made sense. A guide’s power was only useful if the opponent was an esper. But Secretary Ann was also a famous figure, so Shuu doubted that he would be in danger anytime soon.

Still, something about this world bothered him. And the encounter with that white entity he had in that dungeon bothered him even more.

Somehow, that entity did not feel like a monster, but more like a power beyond Shuu’s imagination. That was what he expected a god to feel like.

But if that entity was a god, then Shuu also felt helpless as he recalled what he had been told by it.

’I will lose everything? I don’t think those were words I want to come true.’

Logically, he knew he should tell Kaiden about what happened, but he did not want to do that. He wanted to keep this peaceful lie going for as long as he could.

’Is that...selfish of me to hope that nothing would change?’

This was a question Shuu asked himself, but he did not have an answer for it.