The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 460: Yet Another Raid

Chapter 460: Yet Another Raid
It wasn’t until the next morning that Lane and Damien actually got to discussing... anything, really, but the main thing that they needed to talk about was what the upcoming days were going to be like.
Work schedule, that is.
In other words, boring stuff. At least as far as Lane was concerned.
"Have you checked the updates in the system yet?" Damien asked, as they were sitting in the dining room, eating breakfast. Homemade this time, since Damien had been able to find oats and long-life milk in the cupboard.
"Hmm... Nope?" Lane glanced at Damien with a playful smile, like a kid caught doing mischief, which they didn’t regret at all.
Of course he hadn’t checked. After finishing (kind of) with his secret organization’s stuff (with the most pressing issues, at the very least), he hadn’t really felt like doing anything even remotely productive. Besides, why would he bother, when he had a walking reminder for a boyfriend?
Damien had already expected this answer, and was used to it, so he didn’t even sigh or shake his head. He just calmly explained, "You have today and tomorrow off. Then, on Friday, we’re going to commence the raid of Gate A32-1, which is planned to last two weeks."
"...Two weeks?" Lane repeated, furrowing his brows.
That didn’t seem like enough time. Although the dungeon wasn’t difficult enough to count as an S-rank, it was very large, with its top monsters, horned hedgehog tigers, having a massive population, and breeding like crazy. On top of that, the weather conditions weren’t the most optimal, raining almost every day, which led to the ground turning all muddy, making everyone sink in deep. It wasn’t a problem for Lane, who could use his Sky Step, but for everyone else, it was something that slowed them down when moving around.
Taking all this into consideration, there was no way that they would get it done in this time frame, not with just the elite team.
Naturally, Damien was aware of it as well. They had already entered the Gate before for the initial population reduction, so he had been able to personally experience the conditions. He had even brought it up with Section Leader White the day before, but...
"We don’t necessarily have to eliminate all of the monsters. The Association wants us to reduce the population as much as possible, to ensure that a dungeon break won’t happen. Because of that, we will be hunting all the monsters, not only the predatory ones."
It was one thing to let them be when all the dangerous monsters were eliminated, since right after the raid, another team usually entered to finish the clear-up, but with any predators left, that wouldn’t be possible... That’s why all monsters had to be hunted on this raid.
After all, if they reduced the population of the dungeon’s predators too much without hunting the lesser monsters, a dungeon break could still happen, with the latter leaving the Gate in search of food. It wouldn’t be as serious as a regular dungeon break, since herbivore monsters didn’t usually attack humans unless they felt they were in danger, but still. Their spreading around in the City could still trigger Manaforming, just like with any other monsters.
"Oh..." Lane nodded his head, his face blank.
It made sense. Going on shorter, partial raids, just to hunt some monsters without eliminating them all, was a common strategy used by top Guilds to milk their dungeons for all that they were worth. It was surprising that the Association would use it, though, because of their limited personnel, as well as their protocols... Not that it was a bad move, but...
It was unexpected.
However, Lane’s surprise didn’t last long, as Damien soon continued, "After that, you’re going to have two days off, then go on a week-long raid in Gate B28-11. Then, after one day break, a week-long raid in Gate B30-6. This way, even if we have any delays, we should be done temporarily bringing the Gates under control before the end of the year."
"The end of the year? And why does that... Ah." Lane’s eyes widened, as something suddenly clicked in his head. "It’s because of the summit, isn’t it?"
"Yes," Damien confirmed.
So that was it. Well, that made even more sense than Lane’s previous assumption. It wasn’t that the Association was applying the top Guilds’ strategy, they simply needed to have their elite team back and well-rested before the summit! After all, they were the best that the Association had, so they had to be in top condition, in order not to embarrass their country and government (mainly the latter, since the country had a lot of powerful Guilds, so it wouldn’t have to suffer any shame)!
But also...
Lane sucked on his spoon, staring blankly at his half-eaten porridge.
He would spend the next month in the dungeons again, only emerging twice, and just for a day... Another month with no Wi-Fi connection.
And, by the time he would be back, there would be less than three weeks left till the summit. Whatever preparation had to be done, should be more or less finished by then...
That applied both to the Association, as well as his secret organization.
Of course, the secret organization had nothing to prepare. Or, at least, shouldn’t have. But how much Lane could actually trust Blanc? They might have reached an agreement, with Blanc seemingly understanding why it was a bad time to make a move...
That didn’t mean that the man wasn’t going to try anything, though. In fact, even if Lane rejected all of his plans so far, he was confident that Blanc would come up with something that would allow them to further their agenda, without going all out, or even exposing themselves. Perhaps some kind of publicity stunt, perhaps exposing the Association’s incompetence or corruption of some of their high-ranking members, or maybe something else entirely...
It wasn’t all necessarily unacceptable, as some things might be done. The problem was that Lane wouldn’t be around to respond to any proposals that Blanc might send.
And by the time he was going to be truly back, it would already be too late.