Becoming the Guide of the Mysophobic Villain? Absolutely Not! - Chapter 269
“…Do you think we’ll be able to go home?”
Someone suddenly asked that question.
Oscar didn’t respond. The reason was simple: the person who said it wasn’t a female Esper.
But the other team members didn’t react either. In fact, there was no need to. These days, all the members of the unit repeated the same words dozens of times a day.
This mission had been strange from the start.
Before even entering the border area, it was already hard to find signs of life in the nearby villages. The houses were almost empty, and where people still lived, windows and doors were boarded up tightly. Naturally, there was no one on the streets.
“I heard that in a neighboring village, a whole family of three generations disappeared overnight… The capable Espers who can catch mutants are all in the capital, so what can the people in the border villages do? Unless the mutants are caught, where do they think they will go? They will wander around the nearby villages looking for their next prey, so the only option to survive is to flee.”
When the team members finally found a barely functioning inn, the innkeeper sighed with a troubled face.
“I can’t leave this inn that I inherited from my father… No matter how many planks I board up the doors with, it’s still unsettling. I heard they have intelligence, so what’s stopping them from pretending to be human? Every night, people are disappearing without a trace, so wouldn’t they be careful? The mutants are now playing on top of human heads.”
The situation in the border area was even more horrific. So much so that they encountered mutant clusters several times during their travels, leading to sudden battles.
“…It’s not an unidentified species this time either. They are all the mutants commonly found in the border areas.”
Wilhelm hinted, breaking the silence.
Claude had been exuding a menacing atmosphere lately. He realized that the reality was even worse than the stories he had heard.
“It’s not a new species appearing, but it’s strange that these familiar mutants have shown such different behavior in the past few months. They form groups, and they launch ambushes.”
“…”
“Has their intelligence really increased, or have they started to learn?”
Claude’s cold red eyes turned to Wilhelm.
Wilhelm, without realizing it, shrank back and tensed up.
“…It’s too early to jump to conclusions.”
Claude dismissed it. There were already too many points that were unclear to draw any conclusions.
But Claude’s attempt to remain rational soon shattered.
One deep, early morning, a sudden swarm of mutants attacked the unit’s encampment.
Not the same type, but even different mutant species seemed to attack together as if they had coordinated. Fortunately, there were no noticeable casualties, but this incident caused Claude to turn thoroughly dark.
“Let’s find their base first.”
The next morning, Claude bluntly declared this.
“…Excuse me?”
The Espers, still reeling from the effects of the battle that had raged throughout the night, looked at Claude in disbelief.
Among the high-ranking Espers were many who had countless experiences on the battlefield with Claude. To them, Claude’s decision was indeed unusual.
If he were his usual self, he would have exercised extreme caution. Moreover, he was the type to resolve issues alone rather than requiring something from his unit. No matter how renowned the Espers from the Center were, they rarely met his standards.
But this time was different. Although no clear clues had been uncovered, Claude had a reason to return to the Center as soon as possible.
So, rather than waiting for clues to emerge, he made the bold decision to find and eliminate the mutants’ base. In doing so, he pushed all the unit members to their limits.
Of course, the unit members tried their best to meet Claude’s expectations. But because Claude had such exceptional abilities, he didn’t acknowledge their efforts at all.
