The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 450: What Do You Think?

Chapter 450: What Do You Think?
Damien’s brows drew together, deepening his frown.
"What?" he asked, struggling to process it. "According to the myths, we should allow the monsters to invade our world?"
"Sounds like it," Lane nodded his head, trying to hide his excitement and anticipation.
"And people are believing in it?"
"Mn, they do."
Not all of them, but that was not the point.
"And those conspiracy theories... They think that the Association is trying to hide this information?"
"Mn, that’s right. Actually... It’s almost certain that it does... All the signs are pointing to it. The way that those experts deleted so many of their videos and are trying to cover it up, no other explanation makes sense."
Although Lane technically didn’t know it for sure, he was fairly certain about it. It couldn’t have been the Guilds, not only because they didn’t have much to gain from it, if anything... But also, if it were them, they wouldn’t have done such a sloppy job. Only the Association could possibly be so useless.
Damien remained silent for a while, before letting out a heavy sigh.
"So that’s it."
"Mn. Well? What do you think?" Lane urged Damien, staring at him intently.
"About the myths or the conspiracy?"
"Both."
Damien thought for a moment, before responding, "I don’t know whether the Association has anything to do with it. However, if they are indeed trying to cover it up... Then that’s not necessarily a bad thing."
"Oh?" Lane’s eyes narrowed. "And why’s that?"
"To avoid mass panic, naturally. I understand why some people might be concerned about us hiding the truth, but the thing is, we don’t even know if those myths are accurate. We shouldn’t allow misinformation to spread..."
"Oh, come on. You can’t possibly believe in the mistranslation explanation?" Lane clicked his tongue, interrupting Damien. "The experts have clearly shown that they can understand the monsters’ language, at least to a reasonable degree. Anyone who claims otherwise is simply foolishly refusing to accept the truth..."
Damien, however, shook his head in response. "That’s not what I meant. It’s not necessarily that the translation is incorrect, but rather... Can we really trust the monsters’ words?"
"...Ah."
So that was what Damien had meant.
Well, of course. Damien wasn’t so stupid as to believe in those foolish explanations, even if he hadn’t seen any of the videos yet. But his reasoning...
"Those... teddy bear monsters might be sentient, intelligent beings, but they are still monsters from another world, after all," Damien continued. "We don’t know whether they are friends and foes."
"So, you’re basically saying that they are lying to us."
"Not... necessarily," Damien reluctantly admitted. "I just believe that it’s a possibility. We should keep it in mind, and until we are able to establish whether their information is reliable, it would be best to keep it confidential."
"Hmm." Lane only hummed in response. Damien’s explanations made a lot of sense. Lane still didn’t like it, of course, but he couldn’t think of a way to refute it.
There was one more thing that he was curious about, though.
"Alright, but let’s say that their myths are true. Then what?"
Damien paused, unable to give Lane an immediate response.
"If the only way forward is to allow our world to be Manaformed... What then?" Lane repeated his question.
They sat in silence for a good few minutes, surrounded by the chatter and rustling of all their teammates, who were eating their meals, scouting the perimeters of the camp, or preparing to rest, all in the yellowish glow of their large, camping lanterns. It was an oddly peaceful atmosphere, considering that they were in an active, high-ranking dungeon, but there was a lot of tension hidden underneath. Especially between Damien and Lane, even though the latter usually treated dungeons with inappropriate nonchalance...
"I still believe that we should resist it as much as he can," Damien finally answered.
Lane’s shoulders dropped almost imperceptibly.
Ah, of course. Of course Damien would think so...
Lane didn’t even know what he had been expecting. He had already known what kind of person Damien was. And he hadn’t even tried bringing the topic up before, because he had known what Damien’s response would have been.
And yet, he couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed. If Damien was at least a bit more open to the idea, perhaps Lane might have been able to drag him over to his side...
"But we already know it’s pointless," he still pointed out. "Manaforming is unavoidable."
Even if Damien couldn’t be converted, he at least had to give it a try, no?
But Damien’s frown deepened even more in response. "Even if it’s unavoidable, we can’t just let the monsters roam in our world. The Awakened might be able to live in that kind of environment, but the civilians..."
"But if the whole world were to be Manaformed, there would be no more civilians," Lane argued back. "According to the scientist, everyone has potential to awaken. It’s just that there’s still too little Mana in our environment to trigger the awakening in most of the people. If we were to start taking civilians to the dungeons, or even the Forbidden Zones, then we should be able to solve the problem before things got out of control..."
"Would we, though? And even then, it’s too risky... Too many people could get hurt in the process."
"Well, that’s just..." Lane started, but then, he bit his tongue. He was about to say that it was just the ’collateral damage’...
But that would probably be too much for Damien to accept. He would likely reproach Lane for thinking that way, and Lane didn’t want to be reproached. Especially not now.
He had to put a ring on Damien’s finger first. Then, they could have their marital arguments.
Damien observed Lane for a while, before letting out a sigh.
"Say, Lane... I’ve been meaning to ask you about it for a while. Why have you even joined the Association in the first place?"