Chapter 90
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It wasn’t even funny. If Joseph had just read the patrol roster, he would’ve seen everyone’s family backgrounds, yet here he was, waiting for Ricola to confirm the obvious, just to try to put her down.
“Alvard family.”
“Al… Alvard?”
Joseph’s voice jumped an octave, his eyes going wide. One of the others looked just as shocked; the last just gave Joseph a look of exasperation, which meant at least someone had bothered to read the roster.
Ricola Alvard quickly summed up the three men and kept walking without a word.
“Wow, I had no idea you were from such a good family! I guess that explains it—you do have that noble air about you.”
Joseph said, breaking away from the others to sidle up next to Ricola.
“Having any trouble with army life? If you ever need help, just come to me. I’ll look out for you.”
“Thank you.”
“But seriously… you must have it tough.”
Joseph’s tone was one of forced sympathy, part pity, part commiseration. Ricola looked back at Joseph—someone she’d been trying not to give the time of day.
“No, think about it. Seriously, being a bronze in the Alvard family? Bet you get no end of grief for that, right?”
“Yes, it happens a lot.”
“I get it. I know how it feels to be stuck at a lower rank. Let’s face it, there are silvers everywhere—and some of them are basically gold-level when you look at their stats.”
By now, Ricola was getting irritated. Joseph was so loud it was impossible to focus on the patrol. Ricola’s brow furrowed slightly, but Joseph didn’t notice, chattering on.
“That’s why I’m planning to get out of this life soon.”
“Congratulations.”
“Aren’t you going to ask how?”
“Is that something I need to know?”
“Of course! It’s something that could really help you too. You’ll want to hear this.”
“Hey, Joseph, enough.”
One of the other lieutenants, Martin Clodid, who hadn’t known Ricola’s family background, called.
“If you keep running your mouth, there won’t be enough left for the rest of us.”
“Oh, please. You know how crazy those guys are for money. Like they’d ever run out of stock and lose business over something that stupid.”
“Don’t listen to them, Ensign Alvard. You don’t want to get caught up in their nonsense.”
Another lieutenant, who seemed to know about RIcola’s family, chimed in. Joseph wasn’t fazed. He slung an arm around Ricola’s shoulder and grinned, as if they were old friends.
“Why not get caught up? It could change your life.”
“…What are you even talking about?”.
“Ensign Ricola, let’s say, hypothetically, there was a way to raise your level. What would you think about that?”
“What are you talking about?”
Ricola frowned. It was pure nonsense.
In the world of espers and guides, your level was absolute—unchangeable. If anything, overuse could make your level drop, but moving up was almost unheard of. That unyielding hierarchy was why levels carried so much weight in their society.
The idea that someone like Joseph—a streetwise, loud-mouthed esper—could somehow change that was beyond ridiculous.
“Don’t you think guides are way too arrogant these days? They act like royalty just because they’re a bit scarce…”
“……”
“You don’t have a dedicated guide yet because of your level, do you? Well, there’s a way to avoid all that hassle.”
The mention of a dedicated guide made Ricola freeze for a split second. She couldn’t help but think of a certain man’s face.
Joseph’s tone became more conspiratorial, his words barely above a whisper. Ricola finally met his gaze, their red eyes locking.
“What’s this method, then?”
* * *
Maybe it was because her ‘unmeasurable’ rank was just that rare, but no matter how hard they searched other units, they still couldn’t find a guide compatible with Adrien. And now, with the outbreak of esper-monster cases, Alex was so busy that bringing in a new dedicated guide seemed more unlikely than ever.
Adrien massaged the back of her stiff neck. Thanks to swallowing three guiding replacement pills after lunch, the pain was gone, but her mind felt foggy.
In this condition, she had no choice but to head down to the communal guiding room.
“M-Major?”
“Shh. Don’t make a fuss. Is there a free bed?”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Adrien raised a hand to quiet the wide-eyed intake officer, who scrambled to find her an open bed.
Clearly, he’d seen this before. Adrien just kept her usual composure as she sat down.
“I’ll assign you the highest-ranked available guide right away!”
“Thanks for your help.”
The intake officer dashed off, all military discipline. Adrien swung her legs idly from the bed, noticing that, surprisingly, most of the people in the room weren’t even looking at her. Instead, both espers and guides seemed to be staring in the same direction.
She turned her head, following their gaze.
…This.
A wave of familiar, blissful radiation guiding washed over the entire communal guiding room.
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