Becoming the Guide of the Mysophobic Villain? Absolutely Not! - Chapter 134

Actually, in terms of looks, he’s my type among the men at the center.

Claude’s beauty is be~yond my preferences, but personally, I actually like cute younger men with puppy-like faces.

How can someone with such looks make you feel cold just by looking at them? How can he be such a floundering pigeon?

“…Azalea? Here I am, offering my greetings in person to you?”

“…Ah, long time no see.”

“What’s with this unenthusiastic attitude?”

“Um.”

“Heyy, but surely not to me, Oscar, over just an Azalea?”

Why Azalea of all things?

My name’s as simple as ‘Rose’, but was that too hard for him to remember?

But even now, unable to shake off my commoner habits despite my upgraded status as a Guide, I placated Oscar.

“…Ah, no way. It’s so touching and humbling to meet Lord Oscar after so long.”

“Right?”

Oscar, confident in his charm, laughed as if he had expected as much.

“…But what brings you here, Lord Oscar? Usually, mentors for outdoor mock training volunteer from the Espers, right?”

“Ah, Azalea, you know so little. Why should only Espers mentor? Our Guides also need the opportunity to grow by observing outstanding senior Guides, don’t they?”

“…”

“And I can also check out what cute new Espers have joined. Honestly, I’ve already met almost all the female Espers in the center.”

Sure enough, the latter was the main reason. How many female Espers were there in the Center for him to have met almost all of them? And now he’s even eyeing the new Espers.

I was so astonished I didn’t even respond, but Oscar kept blabbering regardless of my reaction.

“I heard you took the Guide test. When Claude was following some random non-ability around, I thought he finally lost it due to a lack of guiding. But turns out, you had a matching rate of 97.83%? And generally high compatibility with other Espers too. No wonder Claude was over the moon. He nearly lost you to someone else.”

To mention a matching rate I barely remember down to the second decimal point… It seems the situation between me and Claude was quite famous.

I awkwardly scratched my cheek and gave a vague response.

“Yes, well…”

“Even so, to swoop you up in his arms in a princess carry and leave straight to get imprinted? And when told to pay a fine of 200 billion Berks, he voluntarily offered to pay double, 400 billion Berks? Seriously, Claude can be so childish at times. It’s like he wants to shout to the whole world, ‘We’re imprinted.’ It’s so out of character.”

It wasn’t a princess carry—he slung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I even got smacked on the bottom while struggling.

Of course, regardless of the specifics, most people at the Center, like Oscar, probably see Claude and me as an excessively doting and dramatic couple.

My face heated up in embarrassment.

“Ah, it’s all in good fun. This is your first mock training, right? Since Claude is an old friend of mine and since you’re his woman, I ought to look after you as a senior Guide, shouldn’t I?”

Don’t worry about a thing, just follow my lead!

Oscar said, patting my shoulder emphatically.

Looking at our team members, who were glancing back and forth between Oscar and me with puzzled faces, I thought…

…Please, just keep your mouth shut.

***

Oscar, a senior Guide, had proudly and loudly declared he would take care of me, a first-timer at mock training.

The other Espers and Guides in our team probably had zero expectations of me.

Given I’d caused trouble all the way to getting imprinted, and since I hadn’t brought along the Esper I was imprinted with, I couldn’t guide any Esper here and hence wouldn’t be of any help to the team’s strength.

But there was one fact they overlooked: the number of times I’ve participated in mock training far exceeded theirs.

The most typical and bothersome task dumped on new staff members was indeed the heart of mock training. Although not directly involved in the tasks, new staff members follow around Espers and Guides, monitoring and documenting their mission execution.

And as such an experienced observer, what did I think of this team?

…They were, truly, nothing but a ragtag bunch.