Chapter 202: Ch 202: Shifting the Blame - Part 1

The incident was not brought up again, and time passed as it was supposed to. But something had changed in the air, and it was not only the air around Daniel.

The other guide was still depressed, but his behaviour had changed significantly. He was easily irritated, and he snapped at Noah and Alan far too frequently. And frankly, it was starting to get scary.

He did control himself as soon as he realised what he was doing, and he apologised profusely for his behaviour as well. But he was not able to correct himself.

Daniel’s newfound pride reminded Noah a little bit of an esper, and the way he was clashing with Alan was similar to the way an esper clashed with another who was encroaching on their territory.

And frankly, it was starting to get scary with how things were going.

Noah wanted to talk to Daniel about his behaviour, but the other guide was hiding from him, likely still too afraid to face him after what happened.

So Noah decided to corner him and make him spill.

That had been his plan, at least, when Alan stopped him.

"Allow me to deal with Daniel for now. I am afraid he might hurt you or do worse. Just wait for me here."

Alan told Noah before he headed out in the direction Daniel had rushed towards. And Noah kept looking at his back with a sorry expression on his face.

He wanted to chase the pair as well, but ultimately decided that staying put would be for the best.

...

Daniel allowed his feet to lead him between the monsters, and he quickly took out his sword to clear them out. He blew a lot of them away, but it did not feel like it was enough.

He needed to clear out more, kill more monsters, and lighten the burden on his heart. Only then would he be able to rest with an easy mind.

There were a lot of monsters, but their weakness disgusted Daniel. His sword easily glided through them, giving him a sense of satisfaction. He could tell that his newfound power was working as intended, and he-

"I see. No wonder your presence was coming off as ’wrong’ for the past few days. When did you become an esper who could fight monsters?"

Alan’s voice caused him to turn around and look at the other esper.

Alan calmly walked towards him, and the monsters noticed his presence. They rushed towards him to crush him, but Alan raised his hand, and a strong wave of power crushed these monsters instantly.

Seeing this display of power, Daniel could not help but let out a growl of anger, warning Alan to stay back. But Alan ignored the warning signs and walked closer to Daniel. There was one last growl of warning before Alan grabbed his hand and forced it behind his back.

It happened so fast that Daniel could not help but look stunned. But he quickly got over his fear and irritation and started to struggle once more.

"Hey, let me go! Do you have any idea what you are doing? You better-"

"What are you going to do if I do not let go? Are you going to kill me? I am afraid that you still do not have enough power to be able to pull something like this."

Alan stated this like a matter of fact, causing Daniel to become frustrated.

"How dare you say that? You are just saying this because you have not seen my true power-"

"And you have not seen mine either. So we are fair in that regard. Besides, don’t we have much more important stuff to worry about? Like the origin of your powers. Where did you get them from?"

Alan did not beat around the bush and asked this question outright.

Daniel struggled for a moment more before he settled down and looked back at Alan with a disgusted look in his eyes. He looked hesitant for a moment before he sighed and decided to speak the truth.

"I... met up with a scientist who told me that he could grant me more power if I participated in their experiment, so I decided to take a chance. They just wanted some samples from me, and in return, I could test their new drug that could give esper powers to anyone."

Finally, Daniel confessed these words, and it was easy to see that he looked startled himself.

He let out a sigh and shook his head at what was happening.

"Darn it! Now that I say this out loud, this does sound like I made a mistake. No wonder you are looking at me like I have lost my mind."

Daniel whispered in a low voice as he pushed Alan off and stood up. He seemed to have realised that he had made a mistake.

Not that Alan cared what Daniel did with his life. The only thing he was worried about was...

"This explains why you sucked Noah dry. The part that has awakened as an esper must be really starved for guiding. Does Noah have any idea what you did? If not, then don’t tell him. He will really start to worry."

Alan did not want Noah’s mind and attention to be occupied by someone else. Even if that someone else was Daniel. So he disguised his selfishness as concern and spoke to Daniel.

And even if Daniel knew what his true nature was, he decided to play along and nod.

"I agree. I will not put any extra burden on Noah. But I am not sure how long I will be able to hide it from him. After all, Noah is another high-grade guide. Even if records do not show it, I can feel like an esper now."

Daniel confirmed what Alan had known long ago. And Alan just nodded to show that he understood.

"We should get going now. We both left our phones in the cabin, and I do not want Noah to get frustrated because those fools keep calling us to come back."