The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 456: Back Home

Chapter 456: Back Home
Everything, good or bad, eventually comes to an end, and so did the raid. After days upon days of wandering around the dark tunnels, the team finally finished hunting down all of the spiders, and resurfaced. It was night in the dungeon when they climbed out of the underground caves, but the team didn’t stop to camp. They were so close to going home, and the lizard monsters were gone anyway, so carrying their lanterns and torches, they made their way through the rocky labyrinth, heading straight for the exit...
Of course, the dungeon was still far from cleared. Despite all the hard work they had put into it, what they had achieved was mainly getting rid of the apex predators. There were other monsters, lower in the food chain, that still remained, as well as Mana plants, Mana stones, and other resources that had to be harvested for the Gate to be considered ’inactive’...
But that was a job for other teams. The elite team members didn’t have to concern themselves with any of it. They had finished their task, and now they deserved some rest.
They stepped out of the dungeon, their footsteps changing from the crunchy sound that their boots made on the sand to dull thuds on the gymnasium’s vinyl flooring...
And the first thing every one of them did was to wince, squinting their eyes. It might have been night in the dungeon, but outside, it was the middle of the day. The gymnasium was filled with the light falling through the windows near the ceiling. It wasn’t necessarily bright, but after days in the darkness, it stung.
Still, it couldn’t lessen the joy of being back, not even a little bit. Even Lane was happy about leaving the dungeon. While he was nowhere as tired as the rest of the team, and he had been enjoying himself hunting the monsters, there was something he missed...
That was his fill of Damien, of course. Although Damien allowed Lane to climb into his sleeping bag every night, they hadn’t had any sex over the past weeks. Not even any solid make-out sessions. Only a few sneaky kisses in the dark, when no one was looking. All of that left Lane starved for his boyfriend, even more than for tasty food...
Now that they were finally out, his eyes instantly wandered towards Damien.
But Damien was too busy to even look at him. As the leader of their team, he still had a lot of things to do.
"Everyone, great job," he said to the team after finishing exchanging a few words with the Association’s member guiding the Gate. "We’re going to return to the Headquarters now. If anyone has any equipment borrowed from the Association, make sure to return it to avoid any extra fees. Anyone with injuries, please to the hospital for treatment. Other than that, you can all return home and have the next two days off. I will inform you about our upcoming tasks through the system, so make sure you check your inboxes. That’s all."
His speech was met with a lukewarm reception. Not because the team members weren’t happy about being able to go home or having two days off (although, to be honest, two days was almost nothing after all the time they had spent in the dungeon...), but simply because, other than a few most dedicated members, they weren’t listening to what Damien was saying. Even Clara only glanced at her brother, with a look so blank that it was hard to tell whether she registered anything.
The treatment, days off, or their upcoming schedule, who cared. They could all worry about it after they scrubbed themselves clean and had a good night’s sleep. None of them had any injuries serious enough to require immediate attention, or at least that’s how they felt. As for the equipment... Other than the medium-quality spatial bags and some of the camping equipment, which were in the Team Leaders’ hands, they didn’t really have anything. They rarely did. The fees were simply too high, so all the Association members avoided borrowing whenever possible, even when that meant having to purchase everything themselves. It was more economical long-term.
With no equipment to return, and no energy left to care about... anything, really, all that the team members paid attention to was that Damien was still in the gymnasium. And the moment Damien started walking towards the exit to drive back to the Headquarters, they forced their sore legs to move, following him.
Getting home. That was all that mattered.
Soon enough, their minibuses departed from the school’s parking next to the gym, and headed to the Association. They were lucky enough to have made it out of the dungeon after the morning rush had already passed, which made their drive relatively quick and smooth. Not quick enough to ensure that no one fell asleep in their seats, but still. They climbed out of the minibuses in the Association’s cold parking garage, and after barely nodding at each other as a goodbye, they all headed their separate ways...
Well, most of them.
"So... You’re going to hand the equipment, and then we’re going home, right? Right?" Lane trailed after Damien, as the man headed to the office. Although he was also covered in blood and dirt, just like everyone else, he seemed to still have a lot of energy left. More than enough to drag Damien to bed... After a long, good shower, of course.
That was the difference between an SS-ranker and the rest.
Damien glanced back at him. He was also doing much better than the rest of the team, however, unlike Lane, he had hints of shadows underneath his eyes, visible even under the layer of dirt. Whether he was tired or not wasn’t the main problem, though, because...
"I still have work to do," he said. "I need to make the from the raid."
"Ugh." Lane’s shoulders dropped. "Do you need to do it now?" he whined.
To which, Damien only calmly nodded his head. "Yes. The sooner, the better."
"Then I..."
"You should go home first. It’s going to take a while."
"But..."
"Please." Damien gave Lane a long, serious look. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Lane to behave...
Actually, no. He KNEW that Lane wouldn’t behave, which was why he had to send him home. With Lane around, there was no way that he would get any work done!
"Tsk." Lane clicked his tongue, before looking to the side with a sulky look on his face. He briefly considered whining for a little bit longer, until Damien agreed...
In the end, though, he decided to concede this time.
"Fine... See you at home, then," he sighed.
It wasn’t as if he hadn’t expected this situation... And besides, he had his own ’duties’ to handle...