A high-ranking guide of mysterious identity
Carlos's voice was cold. They had overlooked too many details before. If her strength had not been so difficult to gauge, and her determination to leave the empire so strangely firm, he really would not have realized it so soon.
Whether in the empire, the federation, or the black market territories, high-ranking guides were generally monopolized by the central regions. Every citizen was placed under the national system's supervision at birth and required to undergo differentiation testing. As soon as a new high-ranking guide emerged, she would immediately be taken to the capital for systematic education. Most of her future sentinel husband and sentinel guards would also come from powerful families in the capital.
A place like the border had no chance of being assigned a high-ranking guide, unless... she had been exiled, or she simply was not an imperial guide.
Carlos had served as an archon in the capital for almost ten years and knew these matters better than anyone. He was certain the empire had never exiled a high-ranking guide to the border regions, much less... a guide whose strength even he could not fathom.
"A... guide whose strength can't be gauged?!" Everyone was shocked. Carlos was one of the empire's few SSS-rank sentinels, possessing terrifying strength. For that very reason, his mental world was in extreme turmoil and filled with bloodshed. The high-ranking guides at the capital's tower could not even enter his Spiritual Sea, much less his Mindscape. That was also why Carlos had given up on himself and volunteered to come to the border to eliminate Spirit Entities.
"My lord, what do you mean?" Will was the first to shake off his disbelief. Now he was mostly excited at the prospect of meeting a rare, high-ranking guide.
"She didn't sleep with me." Carlos spoke bluntly, and the sentinels could even hear his undisguised regret.
Without any intimate contact, she had left such a conspicuous trace of guide pheromones on him. Her mental power had entered his Spiritual Sea effortlessly and smoothed out some of the tangled mental threads on its outer edges. Even his normally exclusionary Mindscape had humbly begged her to enter.
And even more... Carlos slowly lowered his gaze to his arm. Where old and new wounds had once overlapped, only smooth skin remained.
Just how terrifying would her strength have to be to heal external injuries in an instant through skin contact alone?
"Lord Archon, then why did you let that guide leave? Such a precious guide..." They should have tried everything they could to coax her back with them.
Rosent did not finish, but everyone else understood what he meant and agreed wholeheartedly.
"Forcing the guide to come back with us would only upset her. It would only have the opposite effect." Besides, they had no way of knowing the guide's identity, and acting rashly might accidentally hurt her. "...We still have a chance to bring her back."
"Captain, the airship's here!"
Ers looked into the distance, then carefully stood up with Yuqing in his arms. The girl was curled up against the tall sentinel, already fast asleep, though she was not sleeping peacefully. Her delicate brows remained faintly knitted.
A completely black, medium-sized airship was slowly descending, its hull gleaming with a cold metallic sheen. The currents stirred up by its landing swept dead grass and dust into little whirlwinds across the clearing. But the instant the hatch sprang open, a fierce wind blade slashed toward them without warning!
"Pfft!" Afraid of hurting Yuqing, Ers chose not to dodge. Instead, he turned his back and took the blow head-on.
The wind blade slammed into his back with a dull thud. Ers's shoulders visibly trembled, and a metallic sweetness rose in his throat. He pressed his lips tightly together and forced the blood back down, his arms instinctively tightening so that the person in his embrace did not sway in the slightest.
Even so, the force of the wind blade traveled through his body. Yuqing felt a numbing jolt, and her stomach churned at once. She could not help letting out a muffled groan, her face growing a shade paler.
Shang Yu's heart nearly stopped in fright, and he cursed aloud, "Fuck! What the hell are you doing?! There's a guide here!"
The dust kicked up by the wind blade settled, and everyone glared at the sentinels emerging from the airship...
"Ers, how did you end up looking like that after one trip out? If you ask me... what, where did that guide come from?!"
The disdainful sentinel suddenly caught sight of Yuqing in Ers's arms. The girl's face was buried against Ers's neck, the tip of her exposed ear tinged a light pink. Her pale cheeks made her lashes look even longer.
The sentinel's expression instantly went from disdain to stupefaction, and he unconsciously took half a step back. "Good heavens, where did they coax that guide back from?"
"Prepare the medical pod." A deep voice came from the shadows inside the airship. It was steady but brooked no argument, instantly silencing the sentinels' commotion.
Everyone looked toward the voice. A huge black panther lying in the shadows stirred, its golden-yellow eyes fixed on them. Behind it, a tall figure slowly emerged. It was Hothos Welch, the supreme commander of the Ninth Military District.
"Asmodeus, get going and take your punishment!" Any act that harmed a guide was a serious crime in the federation. Even if Asmodeus had not meant to do it, he still had to be punished.
"Yes, sir." The shock had yet to fade from Asmodeus's face, and his eyes remained fixed on the girl in Ers's arms even as he was escorted away.
"Commander, I didn't expect you to come in person." Shang Yu also put away his usual carefree expression. After all, this man was the head of their Ninth Military District.
Huosuosi did not respond. His gaze passed over the others and settled on Yuqing in Ers's arms. The girl's lashes trembled slightly, and she curled further into Ers's embrace like a frightened kitten. His gaze softened for an instant before turning hard again, and he ordered, "Take the guide to rest in the medical pod... As for you, come and report on this mission."
Ers did not object. The guide urgently needed treatment, and entrusting her to Han Xu was the best choice.
"Mm~" Yuqing gripped Ers's collar tightly and refused to let go no matter what.
The guide's instinctive dependence made the surrounding sentinels' eyes redden with jealousy.
"Good girl, I won't go far." He slowly released his sentinel pheromones, and a strong but not overpowering rum fragrance gradually spread, gently enveloping Yuqing. He did not stop until he had practically steeped her in the scent.
Sensing the familiar rum fragrance, the girl gradually relaxed, and her tightly furrowed brows slowly smoothed out.
Before Ers could withdraw his sentinel pheromones, the delicate jasmine guide pheromones on Yuqing's body were actually drawn out. At first, a faint wisp tentatively caught hold of the rum scent as it was about to leave. Indulged by the rich rum fragrance, it grew bolder when the other did not push it away.
The delicate fragrance wound around the strong scent of liquor, circling it again and again as if playing. Not only did it follow the liquor scent up toward Ers's wrist, but more and more jasmine-scented guide pheromones even began to slowly drift outward...
The young sentinels nearby unconsciously sniffed. When the jasmine fragrance entered his nose, his tense shoulders and back instantly relaxed a little. His Spiritual Sea, which had been eroded and contaminated for years, felt as comfortable as if a warm compress had been laid over it. Even the bloodshot red in his eyes faded somewhat, stirring the Spirit Entities in the sentinels' Spiritual Seas.
"Fuck, that smells so good..."