The X Guide

By the next few days, Ayen had returned to accompanying the two espers in dungeon hopping. They first cleared the A-class dungeons that spawned in the days of their absence.

Forbidden zones were such chaotic spaces that continued to nurture dungeons if one was not paying attention.

He realized then that being assigned to the red zone was not much different from here; after all, they were pretty much isolated from the rest of the world.

When he expressed this to Devion and Khal, the two did not have much of a reaction.

Devion rested his shoulder around Ayen and remarked.

"Staying here for a long period of time isn’t good for you."

Ayen was not like them. While there were some similarities to their indifference to being alone, Ayen still stayed around people and was not completely isolated.

Devion and Khal had become accustomed to seclusion, but it was only due to circumstances. There was no need for Ayen to adapt to a similar situation just because he decided to be with them.

"Human interactions are still necessary," he seriously said.

Mentality aside, it reminded them they were still humans amidst this chaotic world. For Ayen, that was something they had to preserve. After all, there was a thin line separating espers and guides from monsters; at some point, they were similar in the eyes of ordinary humans.

Ayen pondered that and nodded. Of course, if he could stay in this forbidden zone without worries with them, he could.

Still, he did not say it out loud. He realized his feelings were not that shallow.

Ayen leaned on Devion’s chest and looked up at Khal.

"I’ll guide you tonight," he said, tone ordinary and not sounding suggestive at all.

However, the two exchanged glances and smiled.

Khal even went to their side and patted Ayen on the head.

"I’m looking forward to it.

Devion chuckled. "Me too."

Ayen’s ears heated up, but he controlled his expression.

The two espers became energetic after that, and they increased their pace between dungeons. Their efficiency was so high that even Ayen was astonished.

His words truly hyped them up.

When they returned to the red zone, the night lights were already brightly lit. Compared to the city outside, the red zone 67 seemed a bit gloomy in comparison.

As planned, the three decided to stay in this zone on weekdays before returning to the forbidden zone on weekends.

"You’re back?" Keeran waved to Ayen, who was entering the association building. At her side was Georgina, arm wrapped in gauze. She then looked behind Ayen before approaching slowly. "Where are your espers?"

"They settled Liz in her place," Ayen answered, passing by Keeran, and the two followed him. "Where are the other two?" he then asked.

Recently, the four have been hanging around; of course, Ayen was with them if the two espers were not around. But these days, he had been accompanying Khal and Devion more.

"Uh, they are a bit..." Keeran did not know how to say it. "...distracted?" She was not sure if that was the right word.

She glanced at Georgina, hoping for support, and the esper nodded.

"They are worried, actually," Georgina explained to Ayen in her stead.

Unlike Keeran, she was privy to some information inside the government. Well, more like, she met Lucian before and was aware of his identity. When she met Lucian here, the other was also surprised.

After all, she had been guided by Lucian before. Then she heard the rumors flying around that Lucian was the commander general’s guide.

She was not sure why the commander general let Lucian still accept guiding session requests. But that was their affair, and she was not really interested.

"The Commander General arrived in the green zone front lines." Georgina did not need to add anything more than that, as she knew Ayen also knew Lucian’s identity.

Oh, Clynne was there too, but Georgina was simply not fond of him. She was also unaware that Nolan was Clynne’s guide, so she did not focus on that information.

Ayen paused. He was not updated about the war there and did not deliberately ask after he found out that another elite clan had taken over and was no longer under the Nevaris clan’s jurisdiction.

After sounding out Khal and Devion’s intentions and confirming that they were only displeased with the Nevaris clan, the clan forces did not retreat from the city and instead sent another elite clan and even an S-class esper as reinforcements.

The allure of this city to the forces was great. Neither of the sides was willing to give it up without a fight.

Once they stopped at the floor housing the four, they exited the elevator and went to the living room. This floor was also reserved with them, and the individual rooms were enough.

Ayen was first greeted by Lucian, looking at his phone and scrolling through the news. By this point, after the government released that statement about that incident last time, everyone who could access news portals became aware of this war.

The government could not control most of the media either, as some of them were also on the clan forces’ side. The media were covering the war almost every day.

The two women just slumped to the sofa across from them while Ayen sat just beside Lucian, who did not even notice his arrival. As for Nolan, he must be somewhere around here.

Ayen looked up and closed his eyes for a bit. He might not be able to rest earlier if those two espers decided to do an intense guiding session...

However, Ayen did not know that his intuition was right, that he might not be able to rest smoothly this night. But not in the way he expected.

At the same time that he was closing his eyes and only listening to Keeran’s usual chatter, which was like a lullaby to him by now, Khal and Devion welcomed a visitor.

These were the people Ayen had met before. Farrah and Calson.

When Khal saw them, he already figured out the reason for their arrival.

"You got it?" he directly asked.

Calson nodded his head. "Yes, leader. We found a few."