Chapter 157
* * *
“I’ve kept sending the wind like this for a while, so the effects must be showing by now. Did you notice anything suspicious?”
Calix asked Derek, who had come to him separately. Derek had been skirting the boundaries, eavesdropping on the enemy’s thoughts.
“Yes. I’m not sure about the officers, but the soldiers just think it’s an ordinary snowstorm.”
“They’d never imagine there’s an Esper manipulating the weather. Let alone suspect that someone’s using wind powers to maximize the cold.”
“But among them, I did find someone harboring slightly suspicious thoughts.”
“What kind?”
“…I can’t say for sure.”
Derek couldn’t answer Calix’s question right away. That’s how faint and ambiguous his suspicion was. Still, he had to give his superior an answer.
“It felt as if there was an enemy mixed in with the Leonis army.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think there’s a spy within their ranks.”
“Interesting. Find out who it is.”
“Yes, understood.”
“It’s not really a problem, but for some reason, I find that rabbit werebeast suspicious.”
“Is this some kind of in-group hatred?”
Calix asked with a smirk. Derek was someone who always seemed to have his own schemes, so hearing him say this was oddly amusing. Derek instinctively stiffened at his words but quickly collected his expression.
He didn’t really want to deal with Calix, but he couldn’t ignore rank. And Calix far outmatched him in ability as well.
“That could be it.”
For now, he agreed. The rabbit werebeast, whose intentions he couldn’t read with either his powers or her expression, seemed sly and rubbed him the wrong way.
“That’s enough for today. Let’s head back.”
Calix dismissed the barrier so the nearby soldiers could hear, then disappeared first using his wind ability.
Watching his superior vanish so quickly, Derek unconsciously clenched his fist. No matter how much of a psychic Esper he was, Calix disappeared before he could even sense a presence, leaving him feeling powerless.
Letting out a sigh, Derek hurried off as well.
* * *
Quite used to guiding while taking notes, Lea finished rounds before the other Guides. She quietly observed how the others performed their guiding.
No matter how differently the Guides were treated compared to regular enemy soldiers, they must have thought of themselves as prisoners.
And not all Espers were kind to Guides. Lea knew this better than anyone from her past experiences.
Espers of the Cantabria Empire achieved some guiding effect through the temple’s holy water. Perhaps because of that, even when they wanted guiding, they often displayed the contradiction of not respecting the Guide’s dignity.
Just like there were still people who whispered about her being a commoner. It was an old, harmful custom of Cantabrian society, which had been class-based for a long time.
“Why is this taking so long?”
While Lea was watching, an Esper spoke in a low voice to one of the captive Guides. He seemed unwilling to even hold the werebeast Guide’s hand, showing a poor attitude while being guided.
“S-Sorry…”
The Guide, trembling, was guiding with all her might through just one finger she managed to hold.
“Ugh, what a joke.”
The Esper spat out an open insult. At that, the shoulders of all the nearby Guides slumped inward at once.
Werebeasts, being more instinctive than humans, were sensitive to hostility. Because of just one Esper, the whole mood soured.
Lea, who had been watching from her seat, got up without realizing it. Maybe it was because she didn’t want to ruin Calix’s plan.
No, that was a lie. It was because she was disgusted to see her past self in that scene.
“Excuse me.”
Lea, who was always gentle, called out in a cold voice, drawing everyone’s attention. The Esper who’d been shouting at the Guide showed an annoyed expression and replied in a displeased voice.
“Oh, here comes our Guide. Good timing. This werebeast’s guiding was terrible. May I ask for your guiding instead, Lady Haisely?”
He yanked his finger out of the Guide’s grasp, then wiped it off with a handkerchief he’d had ready.
“I know she’s a Guide, but still, why do we have to get guiding from an enemy Guide? Lady Haisely, you can just do it all yourself. If a Guide refuses to guide, isn’t that dereliction of duty?”
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