Free Web NovelChapter 496: An Incident
Actually, it wasn’t that Lane was unaware. Or rather, he had a good guess as to what had happened in the Capital when he had been in the Eldenveil, even though he had been cut off from the outside world.
How? Because he had read through Blanc’s plans and authorized them, of course!
But he still played dumb. Firstly, because plans were just plans, and no matter how good they were, there was always a chance they might not work out right. What he thought had happened and what Damien was talking about might have been two different things. Secondly (and most importantly)...
Damien didn’t know anything about the secret organization or Lane’s involvement in it, and it had to stay that way, at least for now. Thus, Lane couldn’t betray that he knew anything, not in the slightest, so as not to raise any suspicion.
Luckily for him, he already had plenty of experience in lying and pretending, and Damien didn’t sense anything odd about his question or behavior. Without taking his eyes off the road, he just briefly explained,
"There was an incident involving the monsters from Gate A30-4. They had stormed out into the city..."
"Huh? The monsters left the Gate?" Lane interrupted, acting shocked. "You mean there was a dungeon break?"
"...Not exactly," Damien corrected, before adding, "A30-4 is the dungeon with the sentient monsters we scouted a year ago. The monsters that have left are those... teddy bear monsters, as you call them, and since they are intelligent beings, it’s not a typical dungeon break. They didn’t attack anyone, they’ve just left to... protest."
"Hmm?" Lane tilted his head, pretending to be even more confused by the explanation. "Protest? Against what? Our guards watching over them?"
"...Not quite. We don’t fully understand the situation yet, but..."
Letting out a heavy sigh, Damien pulled over to the hospital parking. It was the middle of the night and there wasn’t much traffic, so even though the Eldenveil and the Association’s hospital were located in different parts of the city, the drive didn’t take long. Damien parked the minibus, and turned to Lane.
"Let’s go."
"Huh? Wait, but about the monsters..." Lane wanted to protest, dissatisfied with their conversation being cut off in the middle, but Damien insisted.
"Treatment first. We can talk later."
Lane pouted his lips, still unhappy, but he unfastened his seatbelt and obediently climbed down from the minibus. "Fine, fine, whatever you say..." he sighed.
Although he was curious how the plan had unfolded, at least he had the confirmation that the first stage had been successful: the monsters had left the dungeon to hold a protest in the city, causing a lot of disturbance (and headache to all high-ranking members of the Association). As for what had happened after that... it all depended on the Association and the Guilds’ actions, so Lane didn’t know, but surely Blanc would have handled it appropriately. He wasn’t so impatient that he had to learn about it right this moment, especially when his boyfriend was concerned about his condition.
Just as they were about to head in, though, Damien’s phone suddenly rang. The man paused, looking between his phone and Lane, clearly hesitating...
"...Are you going to be fine on your own?" he finally asked. "I’ll join you in a moment, I just need to take it first..."
"Yeah, sure, go on. I’ve told you that I’m fine."
"But you have to get admitted."
"Yes, yes, I know." Lane couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he turned around and walked toward the entrance, dragging his feet. Although he wasn’t excited about his upcoming hospital visit, since he saw it as nothing but a waste of time, he wasn’t going to skip it just because his boyfriend was no longer keeping an eye on him. The treatment wasn’t for his wounds, after all, but simply for the sake of having it on his medical records.
The automatic door opened in front of him with a faint hum, letting him into the brightly lit interior. The reception was rather quiet and peaceful, with only the light chatter of some nurses disturbing the silence, not at all what one would expect from a hospital after a dungeon break. It seemed that the ’incident’ with the teddy bear monsters had been progressing peacefully so far, as planned.
The nurses’ peace was now ruined though, the moment one of them lifted their eyes from behind the desk to glance at the person who had just walked in. The moment her gaze fell on Lane, she jumped to her feet.
"Are you alright, sir?" she asked with concern, immediately approaching Lane. "Do you need any assistance? Let me take you to a room, a doctor will be with you in a minute!" freewebnσvel.cѳm
They had gotten a call that a patient would be coming in, but the situation seemed to be more serious than they had anticipated! There was blood seeping in through Lane’s clothes, dripping on the stone floor... Had the patient not even received first aid, or were his injuries so extensive that he had already bled through the bandages? Either way, he needed immediate attention!
Before Lane could say anything, another nurse already appeared, pushing a wheelchair to transport him in. Lane might have been able to walk on his own, but that didn’t mean he should. Espers tended to have high pain tolerance and were often able to ignore their injuries, walking, or even running, with broken bones, but just like with civilians, such actions could worsen their injuries!
...Naturally, it wasn’t the case for Lane, at least not at the moment. Still, he played along, and with the nurses’ assistance (and a lot of fake difficulty), he plopped down on the chair. If he wanted to fake his injuries well, he had to act to the best of his ability. It could all be later included in the nurses’ or doctors’ reports, not to mention, his beloved parents might want to check the security cameras from the hospital!
Thus, as a ’badly injured patient’, he let the nurses push him down the hallway to a treatment room.
