The One and Only Guide - Chapter 7
After hesitating for a while, Axion chose not to respond. Jian, noticing his lack of response, assumed he was still perplexed and shifted the conversation with another question.
“Axion, how many times have you been deployed into a Gate?”
She thought this question was appropriate given the circumstances, but once again, there was no response. Jian also subtly inquired about his affiliation and Esper rank, but received the same silent treatment.
It seemed that no matter what she asked, Axion remained tight-lipped. By this point, it was clear that he didn’t want to engage in a conversation.
Jian made an effort to suppress her awkwardness and displeasure. She tried to be friendly, since she was in the position of being protected… But what’s this! She braved the cold and even guided him! Did he think that it was an easy choice for her to remove her thick jacket in this harsh winter?
Finding an Esper with the right matching rate was a relief, but it seemed futile now. The gravity of their situation, coupled with the awkwardness, had dampened Jian’s spirits.
What frustrated her the most was realizing that she was just baggage. Just as she was sinking into this gloomy thought, Axion hesitated for a moment and spoke.
“I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“No, it’s my fault for asking so many questions. Even if you found it annoying, I understand. I’m not upset.”
Jian said this, but Axion didn’t fully believe her. From the grip of Jian’s arms around his neck, to the progress of their guiding as it gradually continued from there, her emotions flowed in along with her energy.
Saying that she wasn’t upset was a lie. She was clearly anxious. In the interplay between anxiety and relief, Axion keenly sensed the faint discomfort. Regardless, he was relieved that she didn’t ask any more difficult questions.
Above all, he was grateful that he finally had a Guide. As long as she was here, he wouldn’t have to endure the agony of going on rampage alone. If possible, he would carry her like this for the rest of his life. He absolutely didn’t want to part ways with her.
These emotions were entirely new to him. It was like being born a fish, living a painful life outside of the water, and then finally being embraced by the sea just before death. Meeting a guide made him truly understand the former Duke’s sentiments.
Axion thought back to his father, who had lost his mind after losing his Guide. If Axion hadn’t met his Guide, he wouldn’t know, but now that he had, he never wanted to lose her. The former Duke’s words about not wanting to live without a Guide were not an exaggeration.
As he stepped out of the temple, Axion offered a brief prayer to the Goddess of the North, thanking her for sending him a Guide.
***
Amid the heavy snowfall and the howling blizzard, Jian was both terrified and in awe. Struggling through the snow-covered mountain without any special equipment was truly remarkable.
Jian didn’t know much, but the man who introduced himself as Axion was undoubtedly an Esper of A-Class or close to S-Class.
The fact that it took so long for her guidance to have even a slight stabilizing effect confirmed his rank. Even after guiding for so long, she had barely stabilized him to a tenth of what it should have been.
If he were a C or B-Class Esper, it wouldn’t have taken this long. Most Espers would have stabilized over half their condition with this amount of time. However, Axion still had a long way to go to reach that level.
The high matching rate, which made her doubt her own judgment, and the fact that she, an S-Class Guide, had been guiding for so long without a significant improvement indicated severe guiding deficiencies.
It was suspicious. After all, who was this man? He hadn’t disclosed his affiliation or his Esper grade. It didn’t seem like a matter of personal information being sensitive.
What puzzled her the most was that someone as handsome as him should have created a stir in the Awakened community. Yet, she had never heard of an Esper with silver hair and violet eyes.
While Jian entertained such futile thoughts, Axion quickly descended from the summit of the snowy mountain. Along the way, they encountered a few monsters, which he dispatched with a single strike. His astonishing ability to defeat monsters with a single stroke caught her attention.
Axion hurriedly made his way back to the duchy. He did it to follow the instructions passed down through generations in his family regarding Guides.
As soon as a Guide was discovered, they should immediately leave the temple.
These instructions, known only to the direct descendants of the Odergen Duchy, outlined various aspects of Guides.
According to these guidelines, Guides were beings who appeared through the Northern temple about once every hundred years. What was crucial was the possibility of a Guide disappearing back into their original world. The portal for this was the temple, and the first Guide to appear in the North had vanished through the temple.
And Jian was the fourth Guide to have appeared in the North.
