Chapter 143: Guides

Words : 1234 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

Chapter 143: Guides Xavier was catatonic. None of it was easy to digest and sounded like a bunch of conspiracy theories thrown together. But he was sitting inside Luca’s space and experiencing said conspiracy. His brain felt frozen as he listened to Luca’s explanation. He was really trying his best to listen, ignoring his conscience, which kept screaming, ’Criminal!’ at him. When Luca started by prefacing his story with how he really was "Luca Soren Kyros," Xavier already figured that this was going to turn into something bigger. But then he mentioned how he didn’t think so when he initially got here. "I’ve been here for over a month and a half." "Here? You mean at school?" Xavier asked. "That too, but here as in, in this body." Luca pointed to himself as if that was a given fact. Oh. Not the place or planet, but an actual body! Obviously, Xavier, a normal human being, was having difficulty understanding how a person could be in his body for just a month and a half. "I don’t understand it either, and my parents are still in the process of figuring it out. But after dying back there, I just suddenly woke up inside the medical pod back in the assessment room." "!" "Did you just say, ’dying’?" Xavier caught on, although Luca tried brushing through it. And the little chipmunk just nodded, clearly uncomfortable with the question. But who would be comfortable talking about how they died? "It wasn’t really a long story. I didn’t get to do many things back then since I was too different to be allowed amongst the people." "Too different?" Luca wasn’t exactly sure how he would explain being a defective Guide, but he figured he’d try. It wasn’t like he could give that much information when he himself had limited knowledge. "The people of Tesseris were divided into the non-awakened and the awakened. And in that category were what we called Esper and Guides." "Apparently, that wasn’t the original case, but when Dungeon Gates suddenly started appearing, some people evolved into entities that could fight in those Dungeons." Then, the chipmunk tried explaining the existence of the awakened and his rather unique ’issue.’ "Back then, I was told I was an awakened Guide, but personally, I hadn’t guided anyone until I got here. All I really knew was how to make the Pills." "I can’t really say much about Guiding because I didn’t get to learn much as someone who was locked up. But I figured you should know about it because that’s how I dealt with the corruption." Locked up. The little chipmunk was locked up. That’s why he was always so concerned about being incarcerated. Xavier felt like he was going to be sick from what he was hearing. "Luca, how long... How long were you locked up?" The little money grubber fiddled with his fingers before chuckling awkwardly. "Uhm, not so sure since they don’t really tell us the date, and I was just in an induced coma back in the medical tank, but it was after my stint at the Guiding Center..." "I’d say, a few years, maybe?" Luca scratched his neck as his eyes darted everywhere but Xavier’s face. He was made into a lab rat and practically died one. "But I guess it was safer in the tank, somehow. Outside of the lab was a little...yeah." He tried thinking of words to describe his short stint in ’society’ but realized that maybe it’d be better not to mention everything. So, the little chipmunk just thought he’d say a few things about the outside, the usual dangers he faced as a defective Guide, while leaving out the more brutal ones that had him hiding in his space for days on end. Luca was actually nervous and concerned about this. While his father mentioned that his defect may likely be the cause of being in the wrong body, that was merely just a hypothesis. What if it just took longer for him to drive people crazy? Would he get locked up, then? But Xavier said he wouldn’t. Xavier said he’d be safe. So, Luca held on to the promise like a lifeline as he tried getting through his awkward life story. "I—I had my Dungeon space, so I managed to survive. At least there’s that, right?" He laughed, even when it wasn’t funny. Because he didn’t really know what else to say about his life back then. He really didn’t get to live, so what experiences could he share save for the differences in the environment? Meanwhile, Xavier was being hit with artillery from everywhere, and his conscience had no place to hide. By the looks of it, everything and everyone from back then had it out for the little chipmunk. And he really wanted to ask how he died, but the cabin floor was already littered with icicles from his inability to control his emotions. Next time, he’ll touch on it. Next time. Somewhere with an open space where he wouldn’t damage the small cabin likely built by the little chipmunk with his own hands. He didn’t even need to ask if his life was at least passable there. Luca was like a small animal because he’d likely always felt like he was being hunted. No wonder he looked like he was ready to bolt at any time. If Xavier’s physical constitution wasn’t superior, he would’ve likely grounded his teeth with how vicious he was in clenching his jaw. But then he saw how Luca panicked when he saw his expression and decided to breathe through it. It’s fine. He was the Crown Prince. There’s a likely possibility of being able to find that damned planet for a little visit. Every now and then, it’s good to purge humans who were worse than beasts. But before that, he probably had to purge himself first. He was likely the biggest offender in Luca’s current life. Xavier rarely prayed, but right now, he was praying that he’d be wrong somehow. But what would he do if he was right? How much does he know about this world if he’s only been here for a month and a half? If Xavier ever had reservations about going to hell, well, he pretty much guaranteed his spot with this. "Luca, back then, when we made that contract, what kind of contract did you think we were making?" Eh? Luca didn’t expect that question; in fact, he thought that Xavier would want to know more about the Dungeon or Guiding, but now he’s asking about the contract. Did he want to terminate it after hearing his life story? Luca panicked as he thought about it and clutched at his ring like a lifeline. "Xavier, why? Are you thinking about terminating our contract?" The little chipmunk’s eyes trembled. And if Xavier felt guilty based on his assumptions, he was now full-on feeling like a scumbag. He could only try to regulate his breathing before comforting him. "No, and I realized you need to understand this contract that you entered into." "No? So, you’re not terminating it?" Luca wanted to verify. He didn’t want to get fired. "Yeah, there’s no terminating this, Luca." Xavier looked at the hopeful chipmunk while preparing himself for the worst. "We’re married until one of us dies." "In which case, we’d both likely die." "..."

Chapter 143: Guides

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