The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 173: Drinks After the Raid

They spent the next four days in the wet and warm underground corridors, hunting monsters. At the end of their raid, everyone was... not so much tired, but simply feeling disgusted! Covered in sweat, blood, dirt, mucus, and remnants of silky threads, they were all in desperate need of a shower. While they were a few small underground ponds they stumbled upon on their way... The water in them was less than inviting, to put it nicely.

But finally, in the afternoon of the fourth day (going by the time outside, since there was no day and night underground!), Commander Holt announced return. The dungeon wasn’t cleared yet, of course - they had only defeated the monsters in the main corridors, without exploring all the narrow holes.

And it would remain that way for an indefinite future. Top Guilds these days rarely fully cleared their dungeons... Because why would they? If the monsters and the materials found inside were valuable, rather than going in once and gathering everything, it was much better to treat them like a ’farm’! Go on the raids periodically to lower the monster population, then send the gathering and mining teams in, and then leave the dungeon be for a while, so that the environment inside could flourish again!

Such was also the raid Lane went on this time, already the third one in this dungeon. The Allen Guild had more than enough staff to keep multiple ’farming’ dungeons, and as long as there was no risk of a dungeon break, the Association wouldn’t interfere.

...Not that they could do much in the first place.

Either way, thanks to that, they got to return much earlier than they otherwise could have - their team might have been strong, but not strong enough to safely clear the whole A-rank dungeon in four days! - and everyone was glad about it.

Including Lane. While he loved fighting, and he was used to being covered in blood, grime, and other substances, he still preferred to be a little bit... cleaner. Not to mention, he didn’t particularly enjoy fighting alongside the members of the Allen Guild... And that ice was bothering him. That ice ability Austin had no business having. That ice was supposed to be Damien’s, and Damien’s alone!

So, he breathed with relief as he finally stepped out of the Gate, sharply taking in the fresh, cold air outside, and lifting his arms to stretch his back. Now, it was time to go home and jump in the shower...

"Hey! Anyone up for some drinks?!" someone called.

A familiar voice, but with a highly unsuitable tinge to it.

Lane tried to ignore it, but...

"Oscar, are you coming?" one of the teammates, the dark-haired one who had a crush on Nyla - Jack was his name, if Lane remembered correctly - tapped him on the shoulder.

"Uh, I don’t know..." Lane rubbed his neck, hesitating. Normally, he would be happy to go... But they were all members of the Allen Guild, which made their presence somewhat unpleasant by default. And on top of that, Lane didn’t really know them, not on a personal level, while at least some of them were familiar with Oscar to some degree... So going was a recipe for disaster.

But then his eyes fell on Austin Moore, who was loudly encouraging other people - especially women - to come.

...And so, just over an hour later, Lane found himself in the club, after a quick trip home to wash up and get changed.

The club they met up in was one of the clubs Lane himself attended sometimes, during his ’breaks’ which he used to spend in his real body. In other words, an overly expensive and fancy place. Something the majority of the population couldn’t afford, at least not too often... But the members of the Allen Guilds could. Whatever they would spend that night was nothing compared to what they had earned in the past four days!

And they were all so lax with their spendings, that before Lane even arrived (fashionably late, as always), their table was filled with a full assortment of drinks. Free for anyone from their group to take!

Well, it was convenient for Lane. While under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t mind funding the drinks for the whole table himself... He was supposed to be ’saving’ money for his severance fees! Which no one knew about yet, but still.

So, he took one of his favorite drinks from the table, and picked a seat from where he could easily watch Austin.

The man was, once again, in brand clothes, dressed in a way that made him look much younger than he was. Really, if it wasn’t for the hints of wrinkles in the corners of his eyes and mouth, Lane would almost believe that Damien and Austin were not far in age! Especially that Damien tended to be perceived as older, with his seriousness and perpetual frown.

Not that Lane complained. His boyfriend was sexy. Perfect just the way he were.

Austin, on the other hand... He was sleazy, with the way he leaned toward the woman on his left. The woman who was most certainly not Damien’s mother. She was too young, that’s one, and bore absolutely no resemblance to Damien or any of his sisters... Lane squinted his eyes, as he tried to focus on their conversation, fishing out their voices from all the noise...

"Hey! I’m glad you made it!" the guy from earlier, Jack, sat right next to Lane, greeting him with a smile. "How are you?"

Tsk.

Lane almost clicked his tongue out loud. He had nothing against the guy... Except that he was interrupting his mission of spying on Damien’s father! He tapped his fingers on the glass, quickly trying to come up with some ideas of how to get rid of the nuisance without making a scene...

And he let out a heavy sigh. "I’m sorry, I’m not really in the mood for a chat... I’d rather just drink."

"Ah, still sad about Miss Nyla, huh?" Jack looked at him with pity. "Don’t worry, I understand! If you want to talk about it though, I can lend you an ear!"

Lane took a sip of his drink, trying to stop his eyebrows from raising. "I appreciate the offer... But I really just want to be alone."

"Well, if you say so..." Jack shook his head, but still moved away.

Allowing Lane to return to his investigation.

He spent the next two or three hours that way. A few people said something to him every now and then, but most of the time, Lane was just gulping down the drinks, and feeling sick to his stomach from listening to Austin flirting with the woman. Yes, flirting. It was really disgusting, watching the man flirt with some woman in such a crude way, all while wearing Damien’s face...

And then, just after midnight, the two slowly stood up, and disappeared from the club. There was no question as to where they went. It was all too obvious, judging by how they were embracing each other, and Austin’s hand that was squeezing the woman’s round ass.

The woman who, once again, most certainly wasn’t Damien’s mother.