Chapter 22
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“I’m Samuel Norah.”
“I know! Thanks to you, I became the second most famous rookie.”
Samuel responded only with a handshake, declining to continue the joke.
He had heard guides chatting about an attractive rookie esper—turns out that was Brenda.
Regardless, Samuel didn’t want to continue that topic. His fame was entirely because of Adrien.
‘I don’t want that name to become mere gossip.’
He knew Adrien was famous enough that anything about her would be news—but he had no desire to fan the flames himself.
“Are all the rookies gathered?”
Linton entered the training ground with a cheerful voice.
Even after graduation, training remained part of the routine. Today was guiding training.
“Oh? Captain Linton is here. I thought someone else was coming.”
Brenda tucked her hair behind her ear, trying not to show it, but her expression brightened the moment she saw Linton.
Just as the capital’s guides admired Adrien, the espers paid close attention to the newly arrived Linton Vionne.
A rare gold-level guide, Linton had a prestigious Vionne family background, good looks, and solid field skills. Not quite on Adrien’s level, but among guides, he was one of the most famous.
“Today we’ll learn how to control radiant guiding.”
The rookies, from ensign to lieutenant, paired off with espers and guides. Linton smiled as he scanned them, his gaze briefly passing over Samuel.
“Radiant guiding is definitely less efficient than contact guiding. But there can be situations in the field where contact isn’t possible. Everyone knows that, right?”
“Yes!”
“When you need to guide several espers at once, radiant guiding is essential. So today I’ll teach you how to control it.”
Linton gestured towards Brenda with his palm. His fingers seemed to glow white, and rays of light began to stream toward Brenda.
“Wow!”
Gold-level guiding is visible to the eye. Usually, the stronger the light, the stronger the guiding ability.
Linton’s guiding light was very clear as it flowed directly into Brenda’s heart.
“Directly sending guiding into the heart is most efficient. This is how you train to shoot radiant guiding.”
Linton performed the same radiant guiding on several other espers.
“Now you know how it feels to have guiding energy enter your heart.”
“Yes, a comforting energy flows from the heart, stabilizing the whole body.”
“Right. Remember that feeling. Silver-level and below can’t see guiding, so espers have to confirm it.”
“Understood!”
“Now, let’s try it ourselves.”
* * *
“This is harder than I thought.”
Brenda smiled awkwardly, looking around.
The guides were sweating nervously. Their paired espers showed no reaction, just staring blankly.
Samuel, with his palm open, was in a similar state.
“Now?”
“I don’t know.”
“This?”
“Huh? I just felt it…! Ah, it cut off.”
Making Brenda’s heart even briefly feel it was at least some progress.
“Phew, this is tough.”
Samuel exhaled deeply. Raising his hand to signal a break, Brenda nodded and stepped back.
Samuel squeezed his eyes shut in frustration. He kept recalling Linton’s shining blonde hair and vivid guiding light, feeling pathetic for not being able to control even this one radiant guiding.
The field could throw all kinds of situations at you. In the particularly rough Makas mountain unit, trainees often had to be deployed in real combat.
Thanks to that experience, Samuel knew just how useful Linton’s radiant guiding control technique was.
He wanted to do better, but guiding energy was unruly. Both his guiding level and control skills were clearly inferior to Linton’s.
‘….I was arrogant.’
Only then did Samuel realize he had unconsciously underestimated Linton Vionne.
Until recently, it was Samuel—not Linton—who breathed guiding energy into Adrien’s hands. That fact alone was enough to inspire him.
But the reality was different. In critical situations, the real help came not from Samuel but from Linton Vionne. That thought sent a chill down his spine.
“You ready?”
A cheerful voice interrupted. It was Linton. Samuel looked up briefly and shook his head.
“Not sure.”
“Try again in front of me.”
Linton grabbed Samuel’s shoulders from behind.
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