(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 130

Chapter 130: Alone and Attacked

Pamela opened the door for them, and Kellen gave one last glance behind him to look at the Captain and Hill. Hill gave him a thumbs up, and the Captain did as well. Their actions didn’t hide the fact that they were worried about the Guide. It was only his second press conference, and he’d stubbornly insisted on doing it alone. Anyone would worry.

Nodding, he turned around and he shared a look with Pamela before she opened one door for them. The blinding lights of the camera washed over the two of them, and Kellen took a deep breath in. Looking past Pamela, he could see the stage. It had the same background with the Guild’s logo all over it, but there was only one small table, and a chair.

A chair sat at the base of the steps, where Kellen assumed Pamela would be since Kellen had said he wanted to be alone. Pamela motioned for him to move forward, and swallowing, he did. Kellen felt his body shake as he took the first step, and when he glanced over at the group of blinding lights and cameras, a hush fell over the room.

Making his way up the three steps, Kellen grabbed the chair before sitting down. He couldn’t smile, he was too tense, and he was trying not to panic. You’ve got this. Just be honest, but like an Esper.

"Guide Woods will be willing to take any of your questions, but he also has the right to reject anything he doesn’t want to answer. I am only here to facilitate this conversation, since he was the one who wanted to have this press conference." Murmuring started up again in the room at Pamela’s words, and Kellen was actually quite impressed with how her voice carried.

He clenched his hands against his thighs, and Kellen was already regretting that he’d told the Captain he was going to be fine on his own. He wanted to hold his hand. The regret didn’t last long though, since he didn’t want the Captain to face the hostility he could feel in this room. "Now, we’ll move down the line. First question."

"Why did you do what you did in the video?" Right to the point, huh? Kellen sighed.

"I did it because I was the best person in the room to do it." He answered, and that only stirred them more.

"What do you mean by that?" It was the same person, but when Pamela went to open her mouth to chastise them, Kellen shook his head.

"Well, I’m not sure if the video gave you a good look, but I wasn’t the only one in the room who was angry."

"Are you aware of the rumours that the victims will be suing you?" Kellen scoffed. He couldn’t help it. Victims?

"Victims? Is that what those fucking idiots are calling themselves now? They are not the victims, in fact, they should be worried that they will be sued. And not by me, to clarify. They did something much worse than having a few bruises."

"You speak as if you did nothing wrong here. Are you not remorseful for hurting others? Or are you only doing a press conference because you got caught?" Kellen clenched his hand under the table, trying to keep his cool. He knew they were going to be stubborn. He needed to keep his emotions in check.

"I am sad to see that you have already been poisoned by their honeyed words." Kellen glanced at the cameras around them, licking his lips. "Let me make something very clear. Before this situation came to pass, I had actually heard a rumour from an Esper that some Guides were threatening to not guide Espers if they weren’t at the same Class level as the Guide. It was potentially implied that they could also not be guided if they said or did something that the Guide’s didn’t like.

At the time, I didn’t think things would come to a head so quickly, so I didn’t rush getting the word out. I did speak to Lieutenant Casper about it, but with the new gate, and the Guilds working with the D.E.C. to manage it, it unfortunately took us all by surprise. We didn’t think it would escalate so quickly, and we were wrong with how deep this truly went. When we heard the news, my fellow Field Guide and I rushed off to help prevent the Espers from surging."