(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 87

Chapter 87: Guiding off the clock

"Hey, where’s Gunther?" Kellen asked the question that had been burning inside of him as soon as he realised that the man wasn’t here. Hill glanced up at Kellen, before glancing over at Casper. Casper answered.

"He’s away with the ’older’ recruits for about a week. There was some tension between the new recruits and the older ones since neither of them had gone to the front lines yet. He should come back right in the middle of everything." Casper, who had been organising some papers, wouldn’t look up at Kellen. Quietly, he muttered. "Hopefully, with an attitude change." Hill snorted, but held her tongue for once. Kellen, who had a sneaking feeling still that the two were involved somehow, said nothing either. There was no reason to antagonize Casper when it was clear to him that he was upset about how Gunther was behaving.

"Should I send Brent over to see if he can help you guys with any info about the front lines?" Kellen asked, glancing over at where Brent and his parents sat. His Dad noticed, and waved. Casper hummed.

"Sure, why not? I’m not going to be able to leave the area for a while, so I’ve put my assistant Caleb in charge down in the Guiding Division." Casper’s eyes widened and he looked up at Kellen. "Oh, we weren’t able to talk about what you wanted to when you came to my office earlier. Was it anything important?" Casper asked, and Kellen shook his head.

"No. I realised that my whole reason for being here might be put on hold because we didn’t get the rights to the gates, so don’t worry about it." Casper stared at Kellen like he had two heads. Hill stopped what she was doing so she could do the same.

"What on earth are you saying, Kellen? We will always need Field Guides, whether or not we get this gate. There will be more gates in the future. The reason we want a Field Guide department or division or whatever you want to call it, is because we want our own Field Guides. Ones you’ve trained, cause you’re one of the best." Hill said, her voice holding a hint of anger.

"Isn’t Kellen the best?" Casper asked, confused, and Kellen shook his head.

"There is no way I’m the best. It isn’t like there is a competition for Field Guides." Kellen said. Hill’s eyes lit up.

"We should do that! We should host something like the Esper games, but for Field Guides!" Kellen laughed at her enthusiasm.

"What the fuck would they test? How fast can you carry the dead weight of an unconscious Esper? How to tie knots? Identifying plants?" He shook his head, chuckling, while Casper slowly began to nod.

"That...actually might be a good idea. I mean, the Captain is already well known worldwide, so advertising wouldn’t be too hard to do. I’ll suggest it to Pamela once she’s had some rest and see if she thinks it might be a good idea." Kellen thought that they were being ridiculous even considering something like that.

"Whatever you guys say."

"What are they saying?" An arm wrapped around Kellen’s shoulder and he turned to look at Brent. He was grinning from ear to ear, but he could also tell that his cheeks were slightly flushed. "Your parents are going to smother me." He whispered to Kellen, who grinned. He patted Brent’s cheek in comfort.

"Is the bad boy who doesn’t have parents feeling overwhelmed by my parents looking out for you?" He teased, and Brent flushed.

"Oh ha ha, Kellen. Your Dad called me a good boy." Brent protested. Hill snorted, and even Casper had a small smile on his lips. Kellen laughed.

"What’s wrong with that?" He asked, and the three stared at him. Kellen didn’t understand what the problem was. Brent had been a good boy in his Dad’s eyes. Casper cleared his throat.

"Um, this might be a bit far but, has Captain Thatcher not uh, called you one?" Casper asked, and Brent and Hill stared with open mouths in shock at Casper. Kellen really had to think about it. It might have happened when he had his side effects, but he couldn’t remember. Kellen shook his head.

"No, why would he?" Kellen asked, and Casper sighed.

"Well, Taylor suggested that you two were into some kinky things, so I thought that might have been mentioned."

"Lieutenant Casper, what are you trying to teach my Guide?" The Captain’s voice over Kellen and Brent’s shoulder had them all freezing. Only Kellen turned and met his gaze with a smile.

"Ah, Captain. Casper was trying to teach me about what was wrong with my Dad calling Brent a good boy." The Captain smiled at Kellen, reaching out and ruffling his hair, much to his annoyance.

"Oh, I heard that part. But that’s supposed to be my job. I was saving it for a special occasion, and when you remembered." Kellen furrowed his brows, while Brent doubled over with laughter.

"Oooh boy. I am not going to touch that. Good luck Captain Thatcher. I will leave it to your capable hands." Brent snorted. "Kellen said you guys might need my help with any information I have?" Brent suggested, and Hill nodded. She led him over to the people who had time to pick his mind.

That was when Kellen noticed the giant pile of empty lollipop wrappers she had hidden with her body. He blinked. It was an absurd amount of wrappers. Casper noticed his stare, and chuckled.

"She goes through about a bag a day when the Guild isn’t busy, and when she’s busy like this, I don’t keep track." He told him with a small grin. Kellen nodded. Given how it seemed she was able to pull them out of thin air, that made sense. "Kellen, I doubt that your plans for training Field Guides are going to be halted. If you were worried about your orders, they’ve already arrived. But, I’ll save that conversation for later. It seems that Captain Thatcher has something he wants to speak with you about." Casper chuckled, while Kellen nodded. Kellen then glanced over at the Captain who hovered behind him slightly.

"Did you need something else, Captain?" Kellen asked, and the man smiled at him, his eyes yellow.

"Well, not me per se. Captain Sakura and Lieutenant Spencer wanted to speak with you now that the others are gone." Ah, of course. Kellen smiled up at the Captain before glancing over at where Brent and Hill were. Ideally, he would have wanted Brent with him, but thought against it. Only including one of them in this was probably for the better, even if they were both guilty.

"Let’s go talk to them then." Kellen said, and followed the Captain who led them back towards the screens. Kellen was greeted by two stone faced women who did not seem pleased to see him. Kellen smiled. "How did the meeting go?" He asked them and Sakura sighed.

"Kellen, I know you’ve known me since childhood. You’ve seen me through quite a few ups and down, and probably seen sides of me that you could easily blackmail me for. I do not appreciate you bringing that up without any prior warning." Kellen frowned at her serious tone and crossed his arms. He knew that she was going to be confrontational about it, but he hadn’t been lying. They were going to need the Peach Guild and everything they had to offer, especially the work that they were doing with poisons.