(BL) Taming the Field Guide

Chapter 199: Three S Classes fly into a forest....

Kellen laughed to himself.

They had had a grand send off, tears had been in everyone’s eyes, Rhys and Sergei had promised everyone that they would keep Kellen safe. They had said that, but look at where they were now?

They weren’t lost, per se, but things weren’t looking good either.

It wasn’t either Rhys nor Sergei’s fault. It was the rain. Sergei might be telekinetic, but the rain had acid. They could have continued moving through it, but they had been traveling for an hour in the rain and it still hadn’t ended. It was a bit early, but they decided as a group to stop, set up camp, and rest.

Rhys also appeared frustrated with this outcome, while Kellen was living his best dream.

Not only was he finally moving his body after being forced to be a pampered city Guide, he was out with two S Class Espers, in acid rain, in the middle of a dangerous forest.

Kellen couldn’t stop grinning even if he wanted to.

"Being this happy at our misfortune is going to make me think you planned this, Guide Kellen." Sergei warned, but he was smiling too. He was using his powers to cast a shield over the area they had selected, and Rhys had turned back the time on the place far enough that the ground wasn’t wet from the rain. Kellen was the one who was setting up the two tents with some help from Rhys to tighten things.

He was allowed to use his other hand now thanks to the glove, but he found putting too much strength behind his hand caused significant pain. Kellen found out that what he considered too much strength was about the same amount of strength a C Class Esper or Guide would normally have. Should that mean he should be able to go about his tasks? Yes.

But...he kind of liked how happy Rhys looked when Kellen asked him for help. He behaved like a little kid being able to help out the adults. He was a Captain, he shouldn’t be that cute, yet Kellen couldn’t help feeling that way.

Sergei watched on, doing more of the contacting with the others and keeping them in the loop where they were resting. That seemed fine with Rhys, so it was fine with Kellen.

"I would never. Besides, I’m just a Guide, Captain Sergei." Kellen said, giving him a smile. Sergei chuckled. They hadn’t told Sergei outwardly that there was something special about Kellen outside of his confirmation as an S Class. This wasn’t because they didn’t trust Sergei, this was because no one knew about it outside of the Guild.

No one knew Jules had two Classes outside of the upper management of the Saturn Guild, and they planned to keep it that way. If Sergei came to his own conclusions? Well, that wasn’t for Kellen to decide. He left that completely in Rhys’ hands because he trusted him, and he didn’t really need to brag about being an Esper as well. He was more than happy enough with his S Class designation as a Guide. Especially when Kellen’s Esper status still caused Rhys some emotional concern.

"Yeah, sure." Sergei said, rolling his eyes. "I’ve made contact with the others. It’s a good thing we only had to stop a few hours before we planned to. We covered enough distance so as long as we wake up a little earlier tomorrow, we’ll be able to make up for lost time." Sergei said. Kellen was glad to hear it.

Kellen glanced around them, taking in the deep, strange forest that they were in. It looked ancient, old, and like whatever lived in the forest had no fear of humans ever interfering with them.

With that said, Kellen could see the remnants of human life here. The spot where they were setting up camp was a good example.

There was dirt under his feet, but the area was flat. No big plants or trees had broken the ground underneath his feet and the spikes that Kellen was digging into the ground only went so far. Bits of unnatural looking rock dotted the area in an oblong shape. Like a rectangle, but not quite.

Kellen could only assume then that long, long ago, this area housed a building before. It had to have been a long time ago since Kellen couldn’t even make out the shape of the area around them. There also weren’t any obvious other buildings around them, and if there were other signs they probably were swallowed up by the forest long ago.

The only thing left was this shallow dirt spot and a few pieces of what was probably old world concrete. Kellen tried not to think about that too hard.

"I’ll have dinner ready soon then, and then we can turn in for the night. Do you think it’ll still be raining when we wake up?" Kellen asked.

"Some areas had fixed weather so maybe not." Rhys suggested. Kellen wasn’t shocked to hear that, but he was surprised that he’d forgotten that.

He was right. Some exploded gates left their mark not just in releasing monsters from their gates if they were closed even after they exploded but also in strange weather phenomena afterwards. It was made worse that there were so many gates out in the wild that couldn’t be dealt with because some were deep underground.

Gates didn’t just form on the surface of the world, which was why the front lines were so important as a study and also as a place to police gates. Why did gates form consistently in several spots all over the world, and who controlled that? The S Classes of the world knew that they weren’t in charge of it, so it begged several questions.

Questions that were not Kellen’s concern, if he was honest. His job was simple. Keep the people he loved alive as long as possible until they died of natural causes. Preferably, in their sleep if he could be even more selfish.

So while the others hummed and hawed over the deeper mysteries of the world, Kellen worked on what he could work on. Right now it was setting up the camp and making dinner. What use was there worrying about people who were long dead? He had his own important people to keep alive.

"Not many places naturally have acidic rain, so my guess is it is entirely gate related, but I’m not worried. There isn’t anything nearby in this forest either." Sergei replied. Kellen paused.

Right. The forest was strangely quiet.

Kellen looked around, keeping an ear out for something, anything, but Kellen wasn’t even hearing birdsong. It was strange. Even in gates you could hear smaller animals. This was beyond weird.

"Isn’t the forest...too quiet?" Kellen asked and was a little surprised when both Sergei and Rhys chuckled.

"Sugar, you’ve never gone in a gate with an S Class before, have you?" Rhys asked, touching Kellen causally. Not hindering him in his actions, but making it clear that he had the right to touch Kellen as freely as he wanted. Kellen frowned.

"No. Why would I go into a gate with an S Class?" Kellen asked. Rhys frowned in response to Kellen’s tone, while Sergei laughed.

"He’s speaking about the time he was a C Class, Rhys. Calm down." Sergei teased, he then turned his silvery gaze towards Kellen, proof that he was using his powers even now. "What he’s trying to say is that S Classes are a completely different beast when compared to other Classes. Especially A Class Espers. Inside gates, monsters are cautious of anyone who is A Class, but they consider it a 50/50 situation. They would potentially win against A Class Espers. That is not the case when they come against S Class Espers."

"They run." Rhys clarified. "Anything that can’t handle us flees. That includes even the smallest animals. That’s why we are fine traveling this way because the only things foolish enough to attack us will be other S Class monsters." Kellen wasn’t exactly sure if that would put him at ease.

"What about hunting?" Kellen asked and both men paused.

"Did you want to hunt?" Rhys asked and Kellen shrugged.

"I don’t know. It’s something that I’m used to doing to supplement our food sources when I can. With you two around I can’t do that, can I?" Kellen asked. "I noticed how you said S Class Espers. That probably means that monsters and other beasts aren’t going to see me as a threat as a S Class Guide, right?" Rhys flinched while Sergei grinned. He crossed his arms, glancing between the tense Rhys who didn’t like the idea of Kellen thinking he could wander off on his own, and Kellen who was meeting everything head on.

"It’s inconclusive. You know how rare S Class Guides are supposed to be. What idiot would let something that precious go into a gate willingly?" Sergei asked with a shrug. Kellen’s jaw tightened before Sergei laughed. "Of course, that was before you even existed. It sounds like when all of this nonsense settles down we’ll have to figure that out, won’t we?" Sergei smiled and Kellen gave a quick nod.

"Yes, we should." He agreed. "Anyway, it wouldn’t make sense to hunt here. Any monsters or beasts that live here probably survive off of acidic water and will harm us. We’ll eat the rations I brought." Kellen told them.

The two other S Classes didn’t argue with him, and so Kellen, Rhys and Sergei set up a little campfire for light and warmth and spent the first night of their travels peacefully.

It was in complete contrast to the chaos that had been them leaving.

There had only been so much preparation that Kellen, Rhys and Sergei could have done before they left. That was just the truth of the situation and Kellen understood it, even if he didn’t like it. Brent had also been waiting for them long enough.

He had put his plans to a halt because they asked him to, and if Kellen was healed enough that Taylor had given him the go ahead, he saw no reason to keep delaying it. Kellen was the one who forced Rhys to move. Sergei followed along easily.

The only thing that Kellen was bitter and annoyed about was that the rings hadn’t arrived in time. His parents were going to have to pick them up before they left and that meant that even now, Rhys was unmarked as his own.

Kellen wasn’t about to get up to anything while they were traveling with Sergei either. One, Sergei was a marked man himself, or a man waiting to be marked. That and they were outside, under the night sky with a thin plastic layer protecting them from the elements. Kellen had shame, even if Rhys didn’t. There were also some things that you just didn’t do to your lonely traveling companions.

Kellen cared enough about Sergei to not rub his relationship in his face.

So, while it was a bitter pill to swallow, Kellen would have to go with his plan b. He was going to have to find a place in the city that Brent grew up in to show Rhys that he belonged to Kellen. He was sure Brent was delighted. He was actually pretty sure that he had already selected several spots and was just waiting for Kellen to tell him he hadn’t gotten the ring yet.

Kellen sighed, pushing those thoughts away and turned his attention towards making sure he even got to Brent in one piece.