Chapter 311
“Espers don’t cherish us. They see us as tools or means to receive guiding… At most, they consider us in that way. Every Esper I’ve met was like that.”
It wasn’t surprising that Helga couldn’t imagine an Esper treating her as a person. From the moment she manifested as a Guide, she lived in fear of being kidnapped, and after being imprisoned, she would have endured a miserable life, resenting Espers every day.
She had no idea that in the world beyond these concrete walls, it was common sense that Guides should be respected.
“You may find it hard to believe, but… there are decent Espers in the world.”
After a moment of hesitation, I spoke cautiously.
“Some Espers are careful not to hurt others because of their power. They hesitate to even hug someone out of fear of causing harm.”
“……”
“And there’s a place called the Center. Espers and Guides live together there, but Espers never treat Guides recklessly like they do here.”
If the Center had found them, they would be living happily, treated with the utmost respect by now.
“On the contrary, they do their best to win the Guides’ hearts. There are Espers who try to threaten Guides with their power, but they are quickly stopped by stronger Espers. Because… that’s the norm in that world. Guides are indispensable to Espers, so they regard Guides as precious as their own lives.”
Not all Espers at the Center have an absolute sense of duty to protect the weak like Daniel. But at the very least, from the beginning of their time at the Center, they are constantly reminded to respect Guides.
So, even if their ultimate goal was the same—to receive guiding—there was a significant gap between the Espers here and those at the Center.
“So, if we ever get rescued from here… and go to the Center together, then…”
Just as I needed hope, I wanted to give them hope as well.
Without seeing, I knew how harsh their lives must have been, endured solely because they were Guides. So I wanted to offer them comforting words, at the very least.
But…
“…Stop talking nonsense, Rose.”
A firm voice cut off my words. It was Helga. Her previously kind expression was gone, replaced with a stern face, as if warning me.
“Ah…”
“…You must be exhausted and confused, so rest now. Everyone else, we’ll continue our conversation later.”
The conversation with the Guides on the first day we met ended abruptly like that.
***
Every life needs a goal.
Two days after being kidnapped, I set a new goal for my life.
Here, I would live as if I didn’t exist.
Whether it took days, months, or years, Claude would eventually find me. There was no concrete basis for this belief.
But as the strongest in this world, I had a vague expectation that even if the true mastermind hiding behind the scenes had played tricks, Claude wouldn’t be defeated forever.
If Claude eventually succeeded in finding me, the best I could do until then was to stay safe.
To do that, I had to become a transparent person, behaving as if I were invisible so that the Espers wouldn’t take any interest in me.
But the very next day… my grand plan fell apart.
Once again, I was dragged somewhere by Espers holding my arms.
How long did we walk down the long corridor past rooms that all looked the same?
Finally, we reached the end of the corridor, in front of a room with a significantly larger door than the others.
By that time, my heartbeat was already racing as fast as it could.
I had an instinctive feeling that this room was where the ‘VIP’ the Espers had mentioned so many times would be.
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