Becoming the Guide of the Mysophobic Villain? Absolutely Not! - Chapter 13
Wh, what the heck.
As it became increasingly clear that he was coming my way, I quickly took a step back.
But I was hemmed in by the crowd, and there was little room to maneuver.
In the end, all I could do was…
“Ugh, what! What the hell are you doing now?!”
“Haha, Irene, my lovely friend.”
Standing behind the much taller Irene, I had taken refuge in her shadow, trying to keep my short stature hidden from Claude.
However, a long shadow suddenly cast over me from above. It was Claude’s shadow.
He had approached and was now standing in front of Irene.
Um. Okay. Maybe he came this way because he saw Irene, not me.
He didn’t know her personality yet, and there wasn’t a man who wouldn’t be captivated by someone as angelic-looking as Irene.
“Name.”
“I’m Irene Magnolia, a Grade 7 Center officer. What is this abou—”
“Not you. The one behind you. Name.”
Damn it!
Trembling, I raised my head, feeling exposed. Claude’s red eyes bore into me.
I froze, unable to move or speak. My name, my real name was Rose Valentine. I tried to stammer it out.
“Must I repeat myself three times?”
“R… Ro… R…”
“…”
His eyes remained locked on me.
“My friend’s name is Rose Valentine. She’s also a Grade 7 Center officer. What is this about?”
Irene, quick-witted as always, spoke for me as I stammered on the single syllable of ‘Ro’.
However, Claude completely ignored Irene’s response. He seemed even more imposing and unyielding than I had imagined, a true villainous individual.
Without breaking eye contact with me, Claude gestured to the burly men behind him.
“You. Let me check.”
Check what? Was he suggesting to check if I could be easily subdued or if my neck could be effortlessly snapped?
I was still trembling, but Irene firmly spoke on behalf of me as a roommate.
“Lord Claude, Rose is not a Guide. She’s just a regular, non-ability person. Everyone working at the Center must undergo a mandatory trait verification before admission. Her being a non-ability has been officially confirmed.”
Cough— Irene, you might not have much of a personality, but you’ve got humanity in you!
Claude, who had been unmoved, wasn’t phased at all by Irene’s valiant support of me.
“It seems I have to repeat myself multiple times today.”
Claude, as heartless as ever, showed no signs of wavering.
The man who stood behind Claude stepped forward.
“Excuse me.”
I tightly closed my eyes, preparing myself for the unbearable pain that any type of torture would inflict.
However, the man beside Claude simply grabbed my hand, and nothing happened.
“…Lord Claude, I don’t sense any guidance at all when touching her.”
The man, who had held my hand for a while, carefully spoke up.
“Every Guide should feel automatically emit guiding energy just by direct touch with an Esper. However, there is no guidance at all when touching this person.”
“…”
Claude’s red eyes pierced through me.
I trembled and averted my gaze to avoid his intense stare.
He was a true monster! He had lost his hearing and vision due to a rampage, but he could still identify me, an ordinary person, among all these guides.
Claude continued to scrutinize me for a while.
Time passed in an atmosphere of unbearable tension.
“…Proceed.”
“Yes, sir!”
Claude swiftly turned around and returned to his original position, and the procession, which had momentarily frozen, began moving again.
“Why are there all sorts of people like that?”
Irene muttered irritably, as if she couldn’t believe what had just happened.
“You said he was looking for a Guide, so why did he pick on you, a non-ability?”
“…”
“We’re getting late. Let’s go.”
“Oh my god.”
Tremble, tremble.
Whether Irene pulled my arm or not, I had lost all strength in my legs and slumped to the ground.
Claude truly was a madman…!
***
For several days following that incident, Claude continued to cause disturbances in the Guide Department. He would line up the supposedly rare Guides in the corridor, glaring at their faces, and scold them to extinguish their flames.
Perhaps there were no guides he was certain of, as his strange behavior repeated several times.
On the other hand, there were rumors circulating about Mr. Patrolman and the Guide who had dreamed of being Cinderella suffering gruesome fates.
However, the truth remained unknown to anyone, as no one had seen them at the Center since that incident.
Rumors of “Claude going berserk” spread even among the Center’s employees, who were used to strange occurrences.
