Free Web NovelChapter 494: Custody
The soft smile that was starting to form on Lane’s face instantly vanished.
Right. There was that thing.
Suddenly, Lane began to feel uneasy.
How would Damien feel about Lane’s actions? Ignoring Brian and leaving him to drown? Lane might not have cared about being scorned by others, but when it came to Damien...
Damien was a very righteous person. He would surely disapprove of it. Especially since he would know that Lane’s situation was nowhere as perilous as others who didn’t know Lane’s true rank might think... It was far from the worst thing that Damien knew Lane had done in his life, but still.
There was no way he was going to pat him on the back for that. Team Leader Patel knew it, and he had said it purposely. To drive a wedge between the two of them, even if just temporarily, and make Damien falter, so that he could escort Lane to the Allen Guild’s hospital without any further issues.
Surprisingly, Damien didn’t have much of a reaction. His brows might have twitched, his perpetual frown deepening, but that was about it.
"I see. Is he under investigation, then?" he asked calmly, although his voice seemed to slightly tremble. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
"...Currently not. I already have his statement," Team Leader Patel had no choice but to admit.
Not that it mattered all that much. Lane was a member of the Association, and the Association was a government agency. Although the Allen Guild temporarily had the authority to question him due to his current assignment, if a proper investigation were to be launched, the Association would be in charge of it. Maybe not Damien, since there was a separate department for that, but Damien would still be able to use this as an excuse to take Lane into his custody, even if he would be overstepping his role a bit.
And so he did.
Kind of.
"Great," he nodded his head, even though his frown didn’t ease at all. "In that case, I’m sure you won’t mind if I take him away. I need to get his incident report as well."
For a moment, Damien and Team Leader Patel stood in silence, just measuring each other up with their eyes, neither willing to step back. In the end, though, Damien was a public servant who was likely to hold a high government position in the future, so it wouldn’t do Patel much good to get on his bad side.
"Please let me call my Guild Master first. I need to get his approval," he eventually said, clearly holding back a sigh.
"I’m afraid that Guild Master Allen might be too busy to take any calls," Damien tried to warn him, but Team Leader Patel already stepped aside, dialing a number on his phone. As the person in charge of the Eldenveil, he had naturally received updates from outside and knew about the situation in the Capital, but it didn’t matter. If he were to go against his orders and release Lane, he had to at least make sure that Guild Master Allen knew that he tried his best to fulfill his mission.
It wasn’t his fault that he had failed anyway. Damien Lennox was supposed to be away from the Gate, too busy with other affairs to intervene... Whoever made it possible for him to be here was the one at fault.
Just as Damien had said, though, no matter how many times the phone rang, Miles Allen would not pick it up.
He must have been really busy to miss calls from Patel, who was in charge of the Eldenveil (and therefore also of the Lane’s extermination secret mission).
"Excuse me, are you done?" Damien rushed him up. "I would like to take my team member to the hospital soon."
"...Right." Team Leader Patel finally gave up on calling his Guild Leader and turned back to Damien. "Are you sure that you don’t want me to take him to our hospital? He would receive top-notch treatment there, as well as the antidote to the monsters’ toxins..."
Damien hesitated for a moment. He naturally wanted the best possible treatment for Lane, and it was true that the Allen Guild’s hospital was much better than the Association’s, so much so that they were not even worth comparing...
But he could tell that Lane was very much opposed to the idea, and not because he was scared of hospitals or anything. Besides, this whole situation was too suspicious. It was most likely an attack on Lane. In that case, could he really allow more people working for the Allens to treat the man?
"I appreciate the offer, but that won’t be necessary. If that’s all, we’ll be on our way then," he politely bowed his head and excused himself, throwing a short glance at Lane to signal him to follow him out of the building.
They left the reception hall in silence, neither of them wanting to speak when there were the Allen Guild members lurking around everywhere, in and out of the building. One of the Association’s white minibuses was waiting for them, parked near the entrance. It seemed that Damien had come in the work vehicle rather than his own car, possibly indicating that he had been out on a job somewhere...
Well, it was quite convenient, really. At least they wouldn’t have to worry about getting the blood out of the upholstery. Lane’s wounds might have already stopped bleeding, but his clothes were still wet with blood mixed with rainwater, so the seats were bound to stain.
Either way, they got into the minibus under the vigilant and curious gazes of the Allen Guild members, Damien behind the wheel, Lane on the passenger seat next to him. It was only after Damien started the car and they left the parking lot that Lane finally spoke up, breaking the silence.
"Damien, about this..."
Before he could say much, though, Damien also spoke up.
"Why did you do it?" he asked, his fingers tightening on the wheel. He must have been holding those words back for a while, the way that they suddenly got out, interrupting Lane.
"Ugh, well..." Lane pressed his lips. All of a sudden, he didn’t quite know what to say.
