“Who says I’m worried about you? I’m worried about myself. You have the important mission of seeing me off today, you know.”
More accurately, it was correct to say that they were traveling together to the location where his Guide, Lus, was waiting.
Elgran, having determined he had no further business at Eternita after his Guide was attacked by Roilnia, had insisted on returning to [Integra] for a stabilization period, using the excuse of imprinting.
Of course, although he called it an insistence, Elgran’s one-sided ‘stubbornness’ was somehow accepted by [Integra].
For this, today was the day he was departing for the airport, heading to Main Central.
His Guide, Lus, was supposed to drive out to meet them after packing the luggage he had brought to Central, and Ben was walking with Elgran, accompanying him to the meeting spot.
Since Elgran had coolly decided to leave Eternita without regrets, Ben, as one of the people left behind, naturally asked the question that came to mind.
“Are you not going to be involved in the Roilnia matter anymore?”
In response, Elgran, who was huddled and burying his face in his coat collar to shield himself from the biting winter wind, shot him a glance.
It was impossible for an Esper whose beloved Guide had been attacked to wish to leave the attacker completely unharmed.
What flashed in Elgran’s eyes towards Ben was a deep hostility.
The flame ignited by the hatred and anger he had felt at the time was not easily forgotten.
At the same time, along with his cold breath dissipating, what remained was fear.
“It’s not my business now.”
Even with immense power that could freeze everything, scars on the heart last a long time.
For Elgran, the fear of almost losing his Guide and the unbearable sense of loss remained greater than the residual fragments of hatred and anger.
“She’s a terrible woman. A woman who is so self-absorbed she can only see the one thing right in front of her. But I’m not like that.”
Revenge?
Of course, Elgran also desired it.
The only difference between him and the woman was that Elgran had someone he had to protect.
This was a realm that Roilnia’s mindset could never comprehend, and perhaps something she would sneer at as running away.
But absolutely not.
Elgran could tolerate the disgrace of ‘running away’ anytime, as long as it was for his beloved Guide.
Elgran knew he was strong, but he also recognized Roilnia Lanilgraph as a powerful Esper.
His sophisticated pride would die before he admitted it out loud, but he chose to take a step back, prioritizing his Guide’s safety.
Unlike someone who only has themselves to protect if they fight, he, as a person with someone more precious than his own life to guard, decided not to pursue the petty greed of ‘revenge.’
“Anyway, it’s out of my hands now.”
Elgran stroked his wind-blown hair, steeling his resolve.
“I also don’t want to be involved. The atmosphere at Central is somehow bad, and there’s been no particular plan regarding Roilnia that’s come out since.”
A little over two months had passed since the Roilnia incident was contained.
The major issues had mostly been sorted out, and the news that had been constantly airing returned to its usual trajectory.
In contrast, Central was treading on unprecedented thin ice, showing no signs of stabilization.
Although things appeared the same on the surface, the departments closely connected with the Director had not been seen for quite a while.
Furthermore, Deputy Director Enten had been acting as the Interim Director due to Hoapilen’s sudden absence for the past few weeks.
As Director Hoapilen’s absence, which was publicly announced as a business trip, dragged on with no clear end date, ominous rumors of unknown origin began to circulate.
The rumors suggested that she was preparing to quit her Director position and that before she did, she would do something big to turn Central upside down.
Crucially, the discreet hint Enten had given Ben a few days ago made Ben’s heart even more uneasy.
“Why would the Director extract my biometric information?”
If he were still just an ordinary low-level employee like in the past, Ben might have consistently believed the news of the Director’s business trip.
But now, as someone closely related to [Integra], he had harbored doubts about Hoapilen’s absence from the beginning.
It was because she was not the type to suddenly leave, even if it was urgent, when she should have been postponing the trip if anything, given that the time was not enough for her to pour all her attention into Roilnia.
But now that Deputy Director Enten’s testimony was added to this, he couldn’t fail to realize that both Roilnia and he himself were somehow intertwined in her absence.
And if he was involved, it went without saying that Haimar was included as well.
Of course, Enten had told him that all possible measures had been taken, and that the Central system prevented the use of Ben’s information, but the uneasy feeling remained.
“What can she do, no matter how clever she is? It’s just one of her ploys to try everything she can.”
“The question is, how is she going to do that?”
“I’m not a fortune-teller; how should I know that? There’s no need to make a fuss. The important thing is this: the ‘Hunter’ of [Integra] is not interested in the matter right now.”
Elgran, who was walking alongside him, stepped ahead and answered nonchalantly.
‘So, it’s none of his concern now.’
His words were perfunctory, but the indifference was somehow reassuring.
Haimar was the easiest key to smoothly resolving the massive problem that was Roilnia.
However, Haimar was not someone who would readily comply with orders, and a person who moved strictly based on his own interests would not rush to action just because the matter was urgent.
Aside from all that, Ben didn’t want to in any way push Haimar to volunteer as the ‘Hunter.’
He couldn’t solely burden Haimar with the Roilnia matter.
More fundamentally, his concern as a Guide for his Esper and lover outweighed Haimar’s strength.
Of course, he knew he should clearly distinguish between public and private affairs, but he couldn’t help his feelings taking precedence.
“Interested or not, this is not a matter to just rely on Haimar for.”
“Seriously, is he your lover now?”
“…Even putting that aside, it’s the same.”
Ben, who didn’t exactly deny the fact Elgran pointed out, followed Elgran.
When they reached the spot where Lus was supposed to arrive, Ben pressed against the wall where the wind would affect them least.
Elgran, who followed suit and leaned his back against the wall, fixed his gaze on the direction Lus was expected to come from and added,
“Right. I hear he’s suffering from the release adaptation lately? Now he shows some human side at last.”
One more reason Ben didn’t want to leave the Roilnia matter solely to Haimar was the ‘release adaptation problem’ of the control devices.
Immediately after releasing two at once, he had been careless because there had been no noticeable issues despite the sharp warnings from Moria and Liran, but the release adaptation problem had belatedly begun to appear in Haimar lately.
The fortunate thing was that it hadn’t manifested as an inability to control his powers or becoming excessively sensitive.
Instead, he became significantly sleepier than usual.
It wasn’t to the level of falling asleep abruptly everywhere like narcolepsy, but the depth and duration of his sleep had become much longer than that of a normal person.
When he was awake and active, he was the same as usual, but he easily felt sleepy and instantly fell asleep.
It was also difficult to wake him until he opened his eyes on his own.
That was why, although he had promised to see Elgran off together today, Ben had left Haimar, who was sleeping, alone at the officetel because he felt bad about waking him forcefully.
“Is it very severe?”
“It is a bit severe. It’s almost like hibernation. But it’s kind of…”
“Kind of?”
‘Cute.’
Too embarrassed to say it all the way out, Ben covered his mouth, avoiding eye contact.
At the nuance, which was clear even without saying it, Elgran’s face instantly crumpled as if he had bitten into something foul.
Soon, the harsh rebuke, which had briefly died down, flew at him.
“You’re pathetic. The end of the world is coming, the end of the world.”
The end of the world or not.
To Ben, Haimar, consumed by sleep, was truly, truly, truly, truly, truly, truly cute.
He would never say the word ‘cute’ out loud in front of Haimar, but he couldn’t even count how many times he had repeated it inwardly.
They say when you find them cute, it’s over.
Lately, it had been a big challenge to suppress the urge to secretly take a picture of him sleeping.
The sight of him, who was usually the first to wake up and would often wake up quickly even after he started sleeping thanks to Ben, being unable to resist sleep was an extremely rare sight that money couldn’t buy in the future.
It was only natural that Ben couldn’t resist.
Since Ben knew it was a temporary phenomenon, his desire to cherish it for a long, long time was intense.
He wanted to go further and record a video, but Haimar would definitely hate it.
‘Is this what they call being a doting fool? Should I just secretly take one picture?’
Contrary to Ben’s excited mood, Elgran’s expression deteriorated by the moment.
Ben calmed himself down, cleared his throat a few times, and collected his thoughts.
If he followed his heart, he wanted to say that Haimar’s charm was incomparable to Lus, whom Elgran constantly sang praises about as if to ask Ben to feel the same level of devotion, but he decided not to start an unnecessary argument.
