Free Web NovelChapter 503: All Healed
Lane had been wrong. As Samantha activated her ability and started pouring her wavelengths into him, her expression gradually became more and more serious.
It wasn’t that his state was bad or anything. Quite the opposite, his wavelengths were fairly stable. But that only made it even more baffling - it would be understandable if she struggled to bring them under control when they were chaotic, but to be unable to complete the session when it seemed as if Lane’s wavelengths only needed a little smoothing out...
Even a relatively inexperienced Guide such as Samantha could tell that something was not right. She guided and guided, concentrating all of her attention, and yet it hardly had any effect. It wasn’t something that could be explained by their difference in rank, not when they were supposedly only one rank apart, especially not with their near-perfect compatibility.
Naturally, Lane also realized that. It hadn’t crossed his mind earlier, since he was distracted, taken by surprise, and felt fine, but he had used his ability quite a lot. Plundering a few S-rank monsters must have consumed a lot of Mana. It was just that with his superior rank, combined with the ability to suppress his wavelengths he had obtained since becoming a Guide, he didn’t really feel the discomfort Espers would usually experience after extensive use of their abilities.
What an embarrassing oversight on his part. To think that after all those years of hiding his abilities, he would make such a rookie mistake... It seemed that he had gotten too comfortable since getting together with Damien!
If it were just Samantha, it wouldn’t have been much of a problem. She would have at most mentioned it to Damien, who was already aware of Lane’s true rank, and with their session being off the record, it wouldn’t have mattered how long the guiding took. The issue was with a certain nuisance that was sitting right in front of him...
"...I thought you said it wasn’t much?"
As if on cue, Clara spoke up, raising her brows. Being an experienced Esper herself, she could more or less guess how long a guiding session should take, depending on the circumstances. Not to mention, she could see the change in her sister’s expression. It was natural that she would grow suspicious, even more than she already had been.
"This..." Lane hesitated. With his vast experience in concealing his identity and abilities, it wasn’t difficult for him to come up with some excuses...
But was that really necessary? Clara wasn’t going to buy any of them anyway. Even if Lane actually told her the truth and proved the truthfulness of his words, she would probably still doubt him. That’s just how things were between them. And regardless of it all, she would have to keep her mouth shut, for Damien’s sake...
So, did Lane really have to waste her breath on her? freeweɓnovel.cøm
"Yes?" Clara urged him, with an expression that looked more as if she were looking for a fight than an explanation. "’This’ what?"
"Well... Just mind your own-" ƒreewebɳovel.com
BEEP!
Just as Lane was about to dismiss the woman (and undoubtedly get into a heated argument), the sound of the door unlocking came from the entrance. Lane immediately perked up, smoothly shifting the topic.
"Damien’s back?"
He stood up, his hand slipping away from Samantha’s hold. Before he could take more than a few steps, Damien already showed up at the door. Knowing that Clara accompanied Samantha to the guiding session, he rushed back as soon as he was free, worried that she might clash with Lane again. His shoulders relaxed as he swept his eyes over the room, noticing that the atmosphere, although tense, was still rather peaceful...
Only for his brows to furrow a second later.
"You were drinking?"
The answer was obvious. The empty cans were still scattered around, and the faint scent of the alcohol hung in the air. Thus, Lane didn’t even try to conceal anything, and just nodded his head.
"Yeah, a bit. Wanted to unwind after last night."
"...You’re injured."
Lane rolled his eyes in response. "Nah, all healed. See?" He lifted his shirt, flashing his skin. It wasn’t perfectly clear - pink marks still remained, forming chaotic patterns over his chest and abdomen - but the wounds had long closed up, leaving behind only scars that would disappear in a day or two.
Naturally, that wasn’t enough to satisfy Damien. Even seeing such light traces of the injuries on Lane caused his frown to deepen. He stepped closer, examining all the lines carefully without a word, forgetting for a moment that his sisters were also there.
But they were. And although Clara usually wasn’t interested in seeing any parts of Lane’s body in the slightest, this time, for a change, she also focused her eyes on the exposed skin. Except that, her thoughts drifted in a different direction than her brother’s.
"How come he’s already healed?" she couldn’t help but ask. "Didn’t you say that he thought the monsters from Lapis Lake?"
Those were S-rank monsters they were talking about. Even if Lane had been able to kill them stealthily, he clearly had suffered countless injuries. Those kinds of extensive wounds should take a while to heal. Even with the best Recovery Pills, it was hard to believe that an A-ranker could recover so quickly...
Especially since he hadn’t received guiding. The less stable an Esper’s wavelengths were, the slower his recovery speed was. It was like that for everyone, no exceptions.
Lane and Damien exchanged glances, Lane remaining uncharacteristically silent. Now that Damien was there, he was going to just shamelessly leave dealing with Clara to him. She was Damien’s sister to begin with, and he had brought her there. And Lane was mentally drained from his discussion with Blanc, so he couldn’t be bothered to argue.
However, as it soon turned out, neither of them really had to say anything. Clara could connect the dots on her own.
"He’s not an A-ranker, is he?" Then, after a short pause, another realization hit her. "...What is even his ability?"
