(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 199

Chapter 199: I’ll make sure you are punished

"Guide Woods, why are you intimidating my staff?" The voice that spoke up from behind them had the security team relaxing, while Kellen grew furious. Now the manager was showing up? After Kellen had ’caused a scene’?

This was about as bad as Guiding Center A.

"Intimidating your staff?" Kellen started, turning on his heel to meet the foxlike gaze of the woman speaking. She wore glasses, and if Kellen was a man interested in that kind of thing, her body was the shape that would tempt men and women alike. Kellen cared not for such things, and sniffed as she came to stand in front of him. "I’m sorry, but if you are going to take general information as a threat, you might be in the wrong business." Her mouth twitched.

"Guide Woods, saying you are going to get the D.E.C. involved in the workings of a Guiding Center is a threat." Kellen snorted at her holier than thou behaviour and tone.

"Maybe if I didn’t find that your practises and behaviours broke several of the Guiding codes set into place to manage Guiding Centers, you wouldn’t view it as a threat. It is not my fault that I’ve noticed problems, and I plan to get the higher ups involved to fix them." Kellen leaned towards the shorter woman and narrowed his eyes. "I might not have even noticed if you hadn’t so obviously disgraced me, locked me in a room out of sight and out of mind, and then tried to get angry at me when I so graciously cleaned up your mess." That seemed to crack her.

Her arms shook as she clenched her hands and met his gaze. Her blonde hair was pulled up into an intricate bun, held in place with a hairpin. The eyes that stared back at him were familiar, and Kellen realised he had been wrong. The security member who had been harassing him hadn’t been because she was a partner or pair to anyone working here. It was because her sister was the manager here.

"That is rude of you to say when my team was on the way to handle the situation." She glared at him, and Kellen scoffed.

"Handle the situation? You allowed a Guide who was already stick thin to work! You should have sent them home!" Kellen’s voice grew louder, his anger filling him.

"What a Guide does or does not-"

"Don’t you dare even try to start that shit. You know that he could have died if I hadn’t interfered. And you know damn well that there is a procedure in place for when a Guide does get to that level. Your security team is not dressed in the way that I would expect them to be, and your receptionist also allowed a Guide in that state to be in charge of a nearly surging Esper. I know that compatibility is important here, but that Guide wasn’t even that compatible with the Esper he was given." Her face was turning red as Kellen lectured her.

"Guide Woods, this is not your workplace, so how dare you speak to me this way?" Kellen was upset. He was upset that she wasn’t even apologisng and was getting upset at Kellen when he was pointing out everything that she had done wrong. From a humanity standpoint, they had fucked up at every step. They could have had a surged Esper on their hands, and a dead Guide. How come they weren’t realising how serious this situation was?

"How dare I? I’m sorry, I didn’t realise that when pointing out where someone else had fucked up, it was important to pay attention to where one was from? I’ve been a Guide for 12 years, Manager, I’m not some noob to the scene that you can manipulate with sweet words. What you’ve done, and what I’ve witnessed, could cost you your job. I had no idea that Guiding Center C was so poorly managed." Kellen stepped back, crossing his arms. "Fuck. Even Guiding Center A is better managed." Her eyes glowed blue, proving that she at least had that credential to run the Guiding Center, but it also proved that her emotions were getting the best of her.

Esper Blake decided then was a good time to come back out into the hallway.

"Guide Woods, the Guide inside is now in a stable state. I’ve left them with all of the shakes in their preferred flavour. What would you like me to do with the rest of the shakes?" She asked with a smile. Kellen felt his shoulders relax. Maybe it was a good thing that they had sent someone to him.

It meant there was someone to make sure he didn’t explode.

The Manager’s sister was doing the same thing that Esper Blake was.

"There is no need to thank me. I wanted to give you this." Kellen reached into his pocket and pulled out the cards that Pamela had made for him as soon as he signed the contract. It had Kellen’s new title as the Field Guide teacher, as well as his position in the Guild and how to contact him. "Call me if you need anything. You’re new to this, aren’t you? I’ve been doing this for a long time, and left for the front lines as soon as it was legal to do so. Any questions, or if someone is bothering you, don’t be afraid to reach out. I mean it." Kellen insisted, shoving the small piece of paper into his hands. The Guide stared down at the paper in shock.

"A-Are you sure?" He asked, and Kellen nodded.

"You did well managing in your state. Any Guild or Guiding Center should be glad to have you. If you want to switch, let me know. I have contacts in both Guiding Center B and A, or, if you wanted to join the Saturn Guild, we would be more than happy to have you there." His cheeks flushed and he opened his mouth. He closed it, dropping his gaze.

"But...all I have for myself is my compatibility." He muttered and Kellen furrowed his brows.

"And? I didn’t even have that and I did just fine on the front lines for seven years." The kid’s head jerked up and Kellen grinned. "The highest I scored before my pair was 35%. I believe it only happened once, too, so don’t sell yourself short. Class doesn’t matter, as long as you can do your job, and do it well." Kellen nodded, before he looked him over. "Good. You’re filling out again. Don’t drink too many at once. Your body needs time to process them, but drink them all. If anyone tries to take them from you, mention my pair’s name. It seems to strike fear into the people here." Kellen winked before leaving the young Guide alone once more.

Esper Blake was shaking her head when she looked at him, a smile on her lips.

"Ready to go?" She asked, and Kellen sighed.

"You aren’t going to cause any problems at the Peach Guild, are you?" Kellen asked her and she laughed as the people he had breezed past overheard their conversation. It was clear that now the Manager realised exactly where she had fucked up, and who she had fucked with. Too bad it was too late for her.