Becoming the Guide of the Mysophobic Villain? Absolutely Not! - Chapter 340

After the establishment of the Center, the Espers “outside the line”, who the government had essentially given up on capturing, had formed their own power structure over the years. They had imprisoned and exploited nearly a hundred unidentified Guides in their isolated base, completely cut off from outsiders. Some of them had even established covert relationships with the Espers within the Center.

The reason this was possible was because a powerful figure supported the Espers outside the line. That figure was none other than the current Prime Minister, Hermann Caulo.

He provided the Espers outside the line with a pharmaceutical facility, where he held significant approval authority, as their base of operations. He also ensured that they could evade government surveillance.

But that wasn’t the end of the story. The frequent deaths in the capital and border regions were also their doing. They kidnapped and killed people, spreading rumors that these were the acts of intelligent mutants.

The authorities, while drawing a line between the Prime Minister’s illegal activities and the government, assumed that his goal was to overthrow the regime and are investigating accordingly. With the current president’s third term almost certain, it’s suspected that Hermann was trying to stir up negative public opinion against the Center.

The establishment of the Center was the greatest achievement of the current regime and a thorn in the side of the far-right Espers, making this a very plausible suspicion.

Fortunately, their activities were uncovered after nearly fourteen years. This was thanks to the national hero everyone knows, Claude Denhardt, who successfully raided their base.

This was the content of the article completed based on the press conference held last night.

As Anton stood there with his mouth agape, Jimil openly sneered at him.

“What, do you think I made it all up?”

“No, it’s just… it’s hard to believe…”

“Well, strictly speaking, ‘Claude Denhardt and the Espers he commands’ would be more accurate. They say the Center’s Espers were almost fully mobilized for this operation. But still, since he was the overall commander and the one who identified the base, it’s not entirely wrong.”

And of course, the public would be more interested in a hero story than in the detailed facts.

Jimil acknowledged this straightforwardly.

Anton quickly tried to shift the conversation.

“Still, it’s no wonder he’s called a hero. How did he manage to uncover something hidden for fourteen years and even pinpoint the location of the base?”

“That’s the kicker. It was like catching a rat by accident.”

“…What?”

“You know, right? The imprinted Guide of that great national hero.”

“Oh, yes.”

Claude was a figure who, despite his fame, avoided media exposure. Especially regarding his imprinted Guide, very few people outside the Center knew anything. Of course, as a journalist, Anton knew a bit more than the general public.

A woman who was once a non-ability administrative staff member at the Center. Rumor had it that the esteemed national hero cherished her so much that he paid a massive fine of 400 billion Berks to keep her by his side.

“…But what about her?”

“It seems the Espers outside the line kidnapped her. In fact, this whole thing was uncovered while they were looking for her.”

“…What?”

Anton blurted out, dumbfounded. It was hard to wrap his head around.

“Why on earth would they do something so foolish? Unless they were desperate to turn Arteon’s greatest hero into an enemy…”

“They probably would have left her alone if they could have persuaded him to join them. But if not, wasn’t this something they had to face eventually? Even if they gathered all the ragtag Espers outside the line, could they handle that man? And kidnapping and dealing with his Guide was probably much more realistic than confronting him directly.”

…In the end, it turned out to be the worst move they could have made.

Jimil shrugged as she summed it up like that.