RAVEN Ch 5

Renault, who had been silently watching the scene, finally stood up. Jesus must have been just as flustered. As he jumped up to follow Renault, his chair scraped backward and fell to the floor with a loud crash.

Even though the S-rank guide had a better build than most espers, he was still a guide. That was why Renault had underestimated him, if only a little. But the guy was crushing the esper’s face far too easily. Then, without hesitation, he lifted the esper by the collar.

“Don’t kill him!”

Renault shouted urgently. The young man’s bright blue eyes flicked toward him while he held the esper up with one hand. The blue eyes that captured Renault narrowed slightly. A chill of unknown origin spread through Renault’s whole body under that gaze.

“……!”

The next moment, the esper whose collar had been grabbed dropped straight down. With a thud, the back of his neck hit the floor. The sound of breaking bones scattered brutally through the air.

The esper’s face was already unrecognizable. His eyes had rolled back, showing only the whites, they no longer looked like those of a living person. Blood foam bubbled at his mouth. It wouldn’t have been strange to call it a corpse.

The surroundings fell silent. Renault stopped abruptly, frozen mid-step as he was rushing toward them. The young man, still gripping the esper’s collar and pressing him into the floor, glanced up at Renault.

“He’s not dead.”

He uttered the short phrase and then gave a faint smile. Red flecks of blood were splattered across his pale face, which only made him look even more deranged.

The esper driven into the floor was not dead, but several of his cervical vertebrae were completely shattered. It was clearly deliberate. The young man had smashed them just enough to keep the esper alive, and only because of Renault’s shout.

“Get medics and a healing-type esper here, now!”

Jesus, inspecting the esper’s wrecked body, shouted out. He must have known, too. With fractures that severe, even a specialist doctor and a healing esper working together wouldn’t make him move like before. His life as a military esper was as good as over.

Renault rubbed his mouth in exasperation. At that moment, the young man slowly stood up. Dressed all in black like a grim reaper, he stared directly at Renault with a blood-splattered face. Maybe it was the blood, but just looking at him made Renault’s spine twitch.

It wasn’t fear, he had no reason to be afraid. Still, some inexplicable tension made his mouth go dry. The chaos around him barely registered. All he could see were the young man’s blue eyes, like burning flames, drawing closer and closer.

Renault was captivated by those beautiful yet chilling eyes. He couldn’t tear his gaze away as he faced him. When the young man finally came close, he smiled faintly. A strange sense of déjà vu struck Renault at that moment.

What is this? Renault frowned, glaring at the young man who had come too close.

“Aren’t you going to praise me?”

The question that suddenly came out of his mouth snapped Renault out of his daze, so much that he wondered if he’d heard wrong.

“Praise you? For what?”

“I didn’t kill him.”

Renault was speechless. The sheer audacity of the boy, proudly declaring that he would’ve killed the esper if not stopped, was unbelievable.

“You think that’s something to be praised for? Seriously?”

“Isn’t it?”

The young man scratched at his bloodstained chin with his fingertips. He genuinely didn’t seem to understand why it wasn’t. That crazy bastard. Grinding down the curse slipping between his teeth, Renault pressed a hand to his forehead. The fact that this lunatic was going to be his personal guide made the world go dark before his eyes.

“A military esper almost died. You tried to kill him, intentionally. And that too inside the center. Do you even realize how serious that is?”

When Renault ground out the words through clenched teeth, the young man tilted his head slightly. His expression showed no sign of understanding.

“He’s the one who came at me first, saying he’d kill me.”

“Even so, what you did went too far!”

“If I’d let him be, he would’ve thrown the first punch. I hate getting hit by anyone.”

“Well, who the hell likes getting hit, ? Ha… From now on, don’t go around hitting people. And killing is out of the question. Especially, don’t cause trouble inside the center. Got it?”

“I’ll think about it.”

“What the hell is wrong with you? You little brat!”

Watching the boy answer so indifferently made Renault’s blood boil. But he sighed deeply and waved a hand.

Forget it. Whatever happens, happens. If trouble comes, he’ll end up demoted or locked in solitary, none of Renault’s business. Why bother? He’d be better off going to bed. Arguing with a lunatic like this would only drain his sanity.

“Haha, that’s right. A brat indeed.”

Suddenly, the lunatic laughed. His boisterous laughter was so absurd that Renault stopped in his tracks. He really is insane. Glancing back, Renault frowned instinctively.

“I am a brat. So why don’t you just spoil me a little?”

His bright smile looked cheerful, almost beautiful, but again, a shiver ran down Renault’s spine. It was because of those blue eyes, gleaming sharply. Just like before, eyes that looked as if they could devour him whole.

He should’ve said something, but it felt like a heavy stone was lodged in his throat. Maybe it was because his eyes weren’t smiling even though his lips were tilted up. Somehow, it was impossible to break away from that gaze that had locked onto his.

Renault finally came to his senses when the atmosphere around them began to stir. The medics and healing-type espers had arrived and were surrounding the fallen esper. While they tended to the esper’s mangled body, the military police who arrived afterward began to take control of the chaotic scene.

The Esper–Guide Center was technically a military facility. That was why military police were stationed there, to assess and manage incidents whenever internal problems arose.

One of the MPs approached the young man who had beaten the esper nearly to death. Since he was the one responsible, there would’ve been no excuse if they’d taken him away immediately. Yet, oddly, the MPs’ manner was polite. Their tone was subtly different from how they addressed other espers or guides.

Because he’s that precious S-rank guide, huh? Renault thought bitterly. But weren’t they the same people who so casually assigned that precious S-rank guide to someone like him, an A-rank esper?

It was ridiculous. But Renault turned away, pretending not to see. However they treated the boy wasn’t his concern. He just wanted to go and rest, this day had already been far too long.

After giving brief answers to a few routine questions from the MPs, Renault left the pub. Before exiting, he glanced back, almost unconsciously.

At that very moment, the young man, still speaking with the MPs, turned his head and looked directly at Renault, as if he’d known Renault would look back.

See you later, darling.

Before Renault could avert his eyes, the young man mouthed the words.

Is he out of his mind?

Renault rubbed his arm roughly, goosebumps crawling up his skin, and hurried out of the pub. He just wanted to collapse into bed as soon as possible.

***

Raven.

That was his name, one that Renault found peculiar. Seeing nothing but the single word Raven written in the name field, with no surname, would make anyone wonder.

He’d lost his parents when he was young, so perhaps it made sense that he didn’t have a proper name. Many children had lost their parents to sudden monster attacks, and those too young to remember their own names were often given random ones by the people around them.

Even so, Renault couldn’t help but wonder who had named a child after a crow, and what they had meant by it.

Reading over the information on Raven, his newly assigned personal guide, once more, Renault closed his laptop with a dissatisfied expression. He didn’t want to think about it anymore, so he flopped down on the bed, but the thoughts lingered, swirling endlessly in his mind.

The world had been abuzz only a few weeks ago with the news of the appearance of a precious S-rank guide. Since S-rank guides were even rarer than S-rank espers, the excitement was immense.

Of course, as an A-rank esper stationed in the remote District 13, far from the central districts, Renault hadn’t thought it would concern him at all, at least, not back then.

Naturally, those who coveted the new S-rank guide were all S-rank espers. Being matched with an S-rank guide meant not only faster recovery but also a significant increase in power levels. There wasn’t an S-rank esper alive who wouldn’t want that.

It was no exaggeration to say that every S-rank esper across all districts had scrambled to be matched with the new guide. Yet, unbelievably, none had achieved a match rate above 10%. The result was beyond extreme, it was absurd.

A matching rate below 10% meant that even an S-rank guide was effectively useless. Worse than a B-rank guide, in fact. If the resonance between the two didn’t align, guiding would be painful and ineffective rather than helpful.

In particular, the stronger a guide’s power, like that of an S-rank, the more painful the process was for the esper. In other words, a match rate below 10% meant that, no matter how rare or powerful the S-rank guide was, they were nothing more than a pie in the sky.