Chapter 17 - 16. Aren’t You Glad?
"Hmm?" Han Shin tilted his head, ignoring the coughing sound from Sierra. "Ah, she didn't mean how long it's been since you were awakened as a guide, but when you started working," he explained to the guide, since it was a common mistake.
A lot of people awakened their ability from a young age, including all three founders of Trinity guild. And once awakened, they would be sent to schools that specialized in espers, to better nurture their talent and prepare them for the trial. Of course, there was an option of not going, and not all espers wanted to work in the dungeon or security-related matters. But even those that were willing, wouldn't be able to officially work until they were eighteen.
For guides, those that awakened before adulthood would be sent to the Temples, where they would receive further knowledge and guidance from the Saint or the Saintess. But unlike espers, guides weren't allowed to start guiding until they were twenty-one, due to many exploitation incidents that happened in the past, where espers and other organizations manipulated young guides to do unsavory services.
So, Zein's answer only made sense if it referred to the age of his awakening.
Or so they thought.
"Ah, no. I awakened a year before that," was Zein's nonchalant remarks.
"Huh?"
"I awakened eighteen years ago, and started working about a year after that," Zein clarified his answer, which didn't help the shock rippling the dining table. "So, seventeen years."
Seventeen years.
That was more than the two 5-star and Sierra's careers combined. It was longer than even Ron's, who was already nearing forty. All of them, including the driver, stared at Zein without blinking. It was like the time when the guide's face was revealed earlier.
Only, this time, Bassena looked stunned too, just like the rest. It seemed that whatever information he'd been digging up about the guide didn't include this piece of little fact.