Becoming the Guide of the Mysophobic Villain? Absolutely Not! - Chapter 14

I wished I didn’t know. I really didn’t want to know.

But the gruesome stories about Claude continued to seep into my ears day by day.

During that time, I had recurring dreams in the early morning hours.

In these dreams, the same scene played out repeatedly.

Claude stood in front of me, and another Esper held my hand. That Esper held my hand and said, “I sense guidance. This person appears to be a Guide who deceived us by pretending to be a non-ability.”

Then, Claude would smile brightly and say, “Found you.”

After that, the scene ended abruptly.

My field of vision turned pitch black, and red blood spattered.

It was the exact scene I had witnessed when Irene, attempting to guide him, had her neck snapped by Claude and died.

[The End]

It was the end.

For days upon days, I had these dreams, and I woke up shivering, drenched in cold sweat.

I still didn’t know how to control my guiding energy.

If the Esper, commanded by Claude, had received my guiding when he held my hand… It was hard to shake off the imagination.

However, those were all delusions born from my anxiety.

In reality, I never saw Claude’s face again. I continued with my daily life.

Rumors about Claude harming someone today or destroying a part of the Center were heard, but that was it.

My daily life seemed to be gradually returning to normal.

Yes, it seemed to be returning to normal, but…

“Training will take approximately one and a half hours.”

A piercing gaze felt like it pricked me. I pretended not to notice.

I mentally repeated my mantra. There’s no way he’s looking at me. There’s no way he’s looking at me. It’s just my overactive imagination.

“Rose, Claude is glaring at you intensely.”

Irene whispered from beside me.

Darn it!

“Why is Claude doing that to you? Does he still think you’re his Guide?”

I want to know that too, my friend…

At the Center, outdoor simulated training is conducted to improve the combat capabilities of Espers and Guides.

In outdoor simulations, artificial terrain features are placed on the outdoor simulation map, and real mutants with low aggressiveness are released. The Espers and Guides work in teams to deal with these mutants and exit the map.

Only Espers and Guides with little practical combat experience directly participate in the training.

…But Claude, the max-level master, was joining the noobs.

Claude doesn’t need to participate in this mock training.

He commands the elite forces that handle the most dangerous operations in the country, after all. What’s the point of this type of training for him?

If I were to draw a comparison…

It would feel like when a professor intervenes in a group project for students…?

But the professor had been staring at me with burning eyes for a while now. It was a million times scarier than when actual professors glared at me during group projects in my past life.

During the training, I felt his gaze and absentmindedly turned my head. Locking eyes with Claude, this feeling…

“There will be a total of nine people in a team. Six Espers, two Guides, and one non-ability office worker.”

“Right… Claude is looking for Guides, but the way he’s looking at you…”

“…”

“…Someone might think he’s searching for a nemesis with those eyes, huh?”

Irene jokingly said, laughing as if making a thoughtless comment.

But Irene, do you know…?

That nemesis…

It’s actually me……

“For emergency situations, we have scrolls and the like, so if something urgent happens, please inform our office workers. That concludes the safety training. Please assemble according to your assigned teams as previously announced.”

Finally, the training was over.

People scattered as they found their respective teams.

Claude, who hadn’t taken his eyes off me the entire time during the training, also left suddenly. Only then was I able to escape from his intense gaze.

Once this simulated training was over, I decided to avoid external duties as much as possible. Even though I was a new office worker, I had to be cautious until Claude stopped suspecting me.

I just wanted to hurry to the team I was assigned to and avoid Claude.

However, as I was about to head to my assigned team, a senior office worker stopped me.

Puzzled, I went over, and next to the senior were two coy-looking female Guides.

“These are the additional Guides assigned to your team. Take them with you.”

“Huh? Our team already has two Guides, though.”

“Oh, it seems you might need the extra help. Lord Claude is joining your team. He’s an S-class esper, after all. We’ve also assigned two extra guides, one from the C-class and one from the B-class.”

…F-ck.

Why is this happening to me.