CHAPTER 404: BERRY BUSHES

The rest of the dungeon remained relatively unchanged. At least compared to the buildings, the contrast between how the Eldenveil’s scenery had looked while it was still open to tourists and how it was now wasn’t as jarring. There were a few scorched patches of forestation (most likely the results of Miles’ or Gracie’s abilities) that had yet to recover... But overall, the scale of destruction didn’t seem that bad.

Perhaps the Trailblazer Guild had requested it. To limit the damage as much as possible, in case they would be able to salvage the business later...

Well, perhaps they could still do it in the future, as long as they didn’t go completely bankrupt first. Once the whole world was turned into one big Forbidden Zone, people should stop fearing the dungeons so much, especially inactive ones...

But that remained in the unforeseeable future. When would it happen, it was unclear, since the Boss of the organization working towards this goal in their country was currently on ’holiday’, putting all the projects on hold...

While he strolled around this abandoned resort, looking around with mild interest.

That’s what the change in the scenery ultimately was to Lane - something mildly interesting. Although he had been inside this dungeon when all the chaos had ensued... Back then, he hadn’t particularly cared about anyone present. Even Damien had been just a hot Esper he was attracted to, nothing more. As for everyone else present? They were just random people. He had long grown accustomed to chaos and death. If he hadn’t, he would have already gone insane...

Thus, detached as he was, he remained unaffected by the event. It would perhaps be a bit different if it were to happen again, especially with Damien present...

But his emotions didn’t work backwards. What had already passed, had passed, and since he hadn’t felt any emotional turmoil back then, he didn’t now either. There was no point dwelling over it, as far as he was concerned...

Or maybe he simply didn’t want to, since he knew that he held at least a part of responsibility for what had happened.

The rest of the team didn’t have much reaction to their surroundings either. They were all aware of what had taken place there, which is why they were not in the mood to enjoy the beautiful scenery, but other than that... A lot of dungeons had seen some deaths. Perhaps not of civilians, but of the Awakened raiding them, but still, a loss of life was a loss of life. They looked around a bit, of course, since they had to pay attention to their surroundings... However, since the Mana fluctuation levels so far had all been well within norm, they gradually lowered their guards.

It was early in the afternoon. After taking a lunch break by one of the lakes, they were making their way through the forest, heading to the next point on their map where they had to take measurements in. The path was narrow... Or rather, there was no path. Although the Trailblazer Guild had built roads and paths all around the dungeon, they were all tourist-oriented, without taking the inspections that the Association had to conduct into consideration.... Because of that, despite how well developed the Eldenveil had been, sometimes the team had to venture into the wild.

As they were doing now, for example, trampling through tall bushes.

Not that Lane complained. Although the bushes scratched all over his body, something so minor could never bother him. The weather was pleasant, not too warm, not too cool, and the air was fresh... The Eldenveil used to be popular for a reason.

And on top of that, there were also free snacks available! On the bushes there grew a variety of wild berries. Perfectly edible, very sweet, and with no Mana, which spared them from being harvested and the bushes exterminated! It was a specialty of this dungeon, not available anywhere else! Since he had the opportunity, naturally, Lane was going to get his fill.

He was picking them as he strolled around, squeezing between the thin branches and paying no mind that the other teammates were slowly passing him by, and he was about to lag behind. It was no big deal - it wouldn’t be the first time he had detached himself from the group, after all, so Damien wouldn’t be alarmed. He hadn’t done that in a long time now, but...

He wanted to pick more berries, for later. Perhaps he could ask Damien to try making some desserts with it?

He was still in the middle of picking, when in the corner of his eye, he noticed that one more person was lagging behind, and suspiciously inching closer and closer towards him...

An exasperated sigh escaped his mouth, but he still asked, without even sparing the person a glance, "What do you want?"

The awkward and fidgety Clara was even more annoying than the normal, obnoxious Clara in how unsettling she was, and this made her pretty much impossible to ignore.

"Umm..." Clara hesitated, playing with her sleeve, and almost making Lane gag with her behavior. "Nothing much... I just wanted to ask... I’m just curious, does... Miss Nyla often stop by your place?"

If Lane were to say ’yes’, she was probably going to start visiting Damien much more often, with whatever excuse she could think of, or even if she didn’t have one. However, that wasn’t what concerned Lane the most at the moment. In fact, he didn’t even have enough time to think about what Clara’s intentions were.

Because the moment she had finished asking her question, he was already jumping on her, clasping his hand over her mouth.

"Mmph!?" Clara tried to yell in protest. But she couldn’t, because her mouth was blocked, of course. Lane held his hand tightly, even as Clara lost her balance, and fell on the forest floor, pulling him along.

"Shut up," he muttered through clenched teeth. His hand and cheek were bleeding, as he had scratched against the thorns on the bushes in the rush... But that didn’t matter, he was an SS-rank Esper, such superficial scratches would heal in no time. The bleeding was already stopping, as the wounds were beginning to close.

Lane didn’t even notice it, actually. Because his whole attention was on his surroundings, scanning the forest. He had lagged behind, and the rest of the teammates had passed, but...

What if someone had heard?

Or, to be precise: What if Ethan had heard? The rest of the teammates were probably fine (even though it would be better if no one had heard at all), but Ethan...

If Ethan were to hear it, things would get complicated...

He could still see the silhouette of the damned Guide between the bushes and trees. He was at the tail of the group, but not lagging behind as much as Lane and Clara... Considering the distance, he might have heard, but he also might not have. Clara hadn’t been speaking loudly, some people on the team were chatting, creating a disturbance, and Ethan was just a Guide at the end of the day... He was facing forward, still treading ahead, so perhaps they were still safe?

"Mmph, mmph!"

Underneath Lane, Clara recovered from her shock, and started struggling. Staying in this position for too long wouldn’t be good, as someone could turn back and notice them, and then, Lane would have a lot of difficult explaining to do... Perhaps not to Damien, but to the group. Ethan would surely be curious. So, still holding his hand over her mouth, he whispered, his voice almost inaudible,

"Be quiet. Understand?"

Clara stared at him defiantly, but eventually, nodded her head. Only then did Lane finally let go of her.

"I’m telling this to Damien," was the first thing she said.

To which Lane scoffed, shrugging his shoulders. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

It didn’t matter if she told on him to Damien or not. Damien knew about his and Nyla’s circumstances, so Lane could easily explain to him why he had done what he had done. And even if he couldn’t... Damien would surely understand that Lane had a valid reason.

As for Clara...

"Don’t mention Nyla in public," he just said.

"...Why?" Clara furrowed her brows. "Are you jealous of her or something?"

"What?" Lane lifted his brows, confused. Where did that even come from? He couldn’t be bothered to try to understand Clara’s train of thought, though, nor did he have enough time to do so, so he just explained, "Our connection needs to remain a secret. No one can know that we keep in touch."

Honestly, he should have already warned Clara two days prior, it was a mistake on his part. It was just that he had been so disturbed by the woman’s unusual behavior that he had completely forgotten...

But at least now Clara was back to his normal safe. To the point that she even made a snarky remark, "Oh, I get it. If I were her, I would also be ashamed to have a brother like you."

Lane rolled his eyes in response. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

Not necessarily from Nyla... But most of his so-called family members were indeed ashamed to be related to him. Because he was useless, not adequate, not worthy of the Allen name, and so on...

It didn’t really bother him, not anymore. He had stopped caring ages ago. And he hated his family as well, with the exceptions of Nyla and Diana (who could hardly be considered a member of the Allen family at this point).

But there must have been something about his tone of voice as he had said it. Or maybe because it came out too smoothly, too honestly, as if Lane had truly been used to those kinds of comments. Because the mocking expression slowly vanished from Clara’s face. Lane didn’t notice it, since he had already gotten up from the ground and was now rushing to catch up with the rest of the team, but there was even a hint of guilt in the woman’s eyes...