(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 86

Chapter 86: Something in the air

"Shameless flirting aside, Guide Kellen has finally shown up, and we can now begin the meeting in earnest." Kellen blinked, confused by Captain Sergei’s warm words. Why had they been waiting for me?

"Why have you been waiting for me? I’m a nobody here." Four sets of S Class eyes turned to him, and Kellen did his best not to wince.

"You are not a nobody, Kellen! You are our leading expert!" Sakura said, her eyes wide. Kellen thought that was rich, coming from the Guild who had quietly taken over the poison making and poison nullifying field without most people paying attention. Especially when she played so hard to make it seem like she was all sweet and innocent, but Kellen, of all people, knew better.

"As much as I would hate to agree with her, but Captain Sakura is right." Uncle Tom spoke up, and Kellen felt the Captain tense. "If it wasn’t for your knowledge, we wouldn’t have known about how dangerous the gate was. It shows you the kind of character C Classes must have." He laughed, and Kellen chuckled too. The Captain, however, tightened his grip on Kellen’s waist.

"Yes, Mr. Woods. Do not sell yourself short. You are very valuable to me." The Captain’s tone held a hardness to it that made a few of the others in the room glance over at them. When Kellen looked over at Casper and Hill, hoping for an assist, he found that the two of them had rather hard gazes. And they were directed at Uncle Tom. Uh oh.

"Thanks for that vote of confidence, everyone, but lets see what I actually know before you go blowing smoke up my ass." Kellen laughed nervously, putting on his best Guide smile. The Captain frowned.

"But I don’t want to blow smoke up your ass, Mr. Woods. I would rather-" Kellen slapped his hands over the Captain’s mouth, silencing him. He turned towards the Captains on the screen.

"A-Anyway, how much information have you gathered about poison gates while I wasn’t here?" He asked, and watched as they glanced amongst each other.

"Well, not much beyond the obvious. They’re poisonous." Sakura offered, and Kellen nodded.

"Yes. Have you had the teams around the gates put on hazard protection suits yet?" He received blank looks across the screens and Kellen realised he’d jumped a few steps. Brent would have got it. Kellen lowered his hands from the Captain’s mouth, and unknowingly settled into the hold the Captain had on his waist.

"So, with what is known about poison gates, we are right to assume the gate is poisonous. That also means that the area that is transforming around the gate, which always happens, is also poisonous. The water, the wood, the flora, the fauna, the monsters, and the air. Which is why we need to be monitoring the air around the gate, and have everyone within a certain radius in hazard suits until we can somewhat pinpoint the poison leaking out." Kellen sighed. "A fair warning, they still can’t identify what kind of poison is coming out of the gate that exploded, and therefore, can’t protect against it. And that’s a D Class gate." Kellen didn’t mean to scare them, but at the same time, he thinks he did. The tone in this room was frantic, but it wasn’t desperate.

Until now.

"W-What do you mean they haven’t figured out what kind of poison is coming out of the gate? How long ago did it explode?" Sakura asked, her face white, and her expression severe. Captain Sergei wasn’t much better. Uncle Tom was keeping it together way better than the other two, but then again, he’d been doing this a lot longer.

"Almost a decade ago." Sakura gasped, her eyes popping to the colour of her powers in shock.

"What the fuck do you mean it’s been a decade and they have no idea what kind of poison it is?" Kellen chuckled.

"Well, not every Guild is like yours, now is it, Sakura?" She went white for a completely different reason, as the other Captains glanced at her with interest.

"What do you mean by that, Kellen?" The Captain asked, and Kellen shook his head.

"Captain Sakura here has a secret weapon up her sleeve. Honestly, we should probably hand this gate over to the Peach Guild since they have most of the people who could handle it. If any Guild in the area was likely to be able to close it, it would be them." The temperature in the room frosted over as the grip on Kellen’s waist tightened until it was painful. "Captain? You’re hurting me." Kellen protested, and the Captain loosened his grip immediately.

"What do you mean by that, Mr. Woods? Are you saying my people aren’t competent? Our people?" Kellen couldn’t believe that some lighthearted banter and teasing had gotten him this worked up, before he remembered that most S Classes hated having others complimented in front of them. Kellen reached out, patting the Captain’s chest comfortingly.

"No, no. I would never suggest something as ridiculous as that. You know that I worked with the Saturn and Nemesis Guild’s the most on the front lines, so I am more than aware of how competent our people are. I was making a jab at Captain Sakura because she’s hiding what her Guild is proficient in under all of your noses." Three sets of S Class gazes then turned to Sakura and she raised her hands in a placating gesture.

"When you say it like that Kellen, you make me sound like a bad guy." Sakura’s voice had taken on a nervous tone, and Kellen noticed that her right hand woman, Lieutenant Spencer, had taken over the screen. Sakura was clearly protesting in the background, but as soon as the woman sat in Sakura’s lap, she went quiet, her face going red.

"I wasn’t meaning to. I think you have actually done some incredible work. I just wanted to highlight it." Lieutenant Spencer narrowed her eyes at Kellen.

"Guide Woods, you sound like you know more than that." She accused, and Kellen felt a smile split his face.

"Oh, I only know as much as the next freelance Field Guide. Especially from incidents from about, oh, I don’t know, 4 years ago?" Lieutenant Spencer’s jaw hardened, while the rest of the Captain’s grew uncertain.

"No. Nothing. We aren’t even getting any readings. I can’t believe we almost thrust this gate into your hands without any knowledge about it. The government isn’t planning to give it up now, especially after they looked over the files." Kellen sensed something in his tone, and glanced up at the Captain. It wasn’t lost on him that he was the one who told the Captain to give up the gate, and he didn’t want the Captain to come out of this looking bad. _{free𝑤ebnovel.com}