(BL) Hunting The Field Guide - Chapter 282

Chapter 282: You will not take this city Chapter 282: You will not take this city Sakura was all smiles as she approached the podium that Lieutenant Fisher said they had set up for her.

It was a few steps further then the one for Kellen, and she basically acted as a shield for Kellen from that side.  Kellen stared at the thick, wooden podium and had no doubt that the material it was made out of came from a gate.

His suspicions were only confirmed when he placed his hands on the wood and the texture was familiar.

It reminded Kellen of the door to his apartment.  Sakura adjusted the mic poking out of the podium to her height and smiled as she glanced around at the crowd below them.

The chattering from the crowd hadn’t dimmed as they had gotten into position, and Kellen had no idea if that was a good or bad thing.

Glancing back at Pamela, who remained at the base of the stairs while Esper Blake had followed Kellen up onto the platform, he noticed she was frowning heavily.  “Good morning everyone.

No doubt, you are anxious to see what we have to say.

Originally, this was a press conference for just the Saturn Guild, but they have been kind enough to allow the other Guilds and the D.E.C.

to join them during this time.” Sakura was a lot better at this than he thought.

Kellen guessed he just hadn’t paid attention to when she had been having press and the like.  That was shitty of him.

He’d do better from now on.  “As for questions, our love Esper Weston will be in charge of managing those.

Of course, we also have official statements that we need to speak first, despite the new information that everyone is privy to.” Her tone was light, her expression bright, and she glanced at Kellen.

Kellen swallowed.  “Of course.

We planned to have this conversation before the takeover of the news just a few days ago, and no doubt everyone has questions they would like to ask in that regard, but there is a more pressing issue that we need to address, that unfortunately, has to deal with part of the same topic.” Kellen said, scanning the area.  Any one of them could be the man who attacked him and his Dad.

Any one of them could have a weapon on them.

Of course, they had screened everyone, but that didn’t mean shit in such an open space.

Kellen really was just painting a giant target on his back.  His grip tightened on the podium where he was holding onto it and he let out a shaky sigh.  “I am sure that it escaped no one’s notice that I, and my Father, Guide Woods, were shot at in this very area.” Kellen couldn’t help but look towards where he’d truly been.

They had obviously cleared the blood away, but some things didn’t fade as easily.

“The people who did this call themselves the E.A.G.

Espers against Guides.

I’m sure that he didn’t mention that when he took over the news.

That his true motive has very little to do with making it an even playing field for everyone, people who haven’t awoken, and those who have.

No.

They spread seeds of discord across the whole world just to forward their dream.

Which is, the complete and total servitude of Guides, like the days of old.” Kellen could feel his expression hardening, and he swallowed thickly.  “Of course, as a Guide, I am going to be biased about this.

I won’t deny that.

That does not excuse their actions.

They have done this plenty of times before.

Tearing apart families and pairs because of their hatred for others.

While claiming it’s for the greater good.

What greater good could that be?

When the Esper’s and Guide’s mission is to fight against the monsters that pour out of gates, and not fight each other?

I cannot agree with a group that hates who I am fundamentally, all because they believe that they are superior to …”’s of the population of humanity, if not more.” Kellen didn’t look at anyone, staring out over the crowd and towards the cement buildings around him.  “The reason I originally wanted to have this press conference is to prove that they failed.

They didn’t succeed.

My family, my Father, are fine.

They didn’t do the most atrocious thing that they could do to someone.

Anyone who believes that murder is the answer to all of their problems will never be in the right.

They will never be on the right side of history, and we should all keep this in mind.

We have been lucky, until this point, that we have avoided them reaching their talons into our city, but no longer.

They are here.

They could be your neighbour, your friend.

The man you pass on the street.

This isn’t to instill fear, this is to tell you that you do not know what a person like this could look like.” Kellen shook his head.  “At the core, I understand.

Most Espers who join this group aren’t doing it because they feel like they have somewhere they belong.

They either face severe pain when they receive guiding, they are mocked or made fun of by a society that values Class levels above all else, or some other reason that makes them feel like an outsider.

It’s a cultural issue, and we are all to blame for it, but that does not excuse their actions.

Anyone who thinks that they can try to kill another person in broad daylight and get away with it, is a coward.

If you want me dead, come and meet me in person.

None of this in the shadows shit.” Kellen shook his head, his anger probably making his eyes glow brightly.  “So, to the fucker who then claimed that he wasn’t going to rest until my Dad was dead, or until we were both dead, fucking try me.

You’ve already failed once, and you won’t succeed again.

We know you’re out there, we will find you.

We aren’t like other cities.

We are a strong knit community here.

Even with our biases, our conflicting morals, this city is much stronger than you think it is, and I will not let you ruin and harm the people I have fought so hard to protect.” Kellen felt his nostrils flare, and the wood under his hand snapped.  Sakura gasped, and Kellen blinked, before his cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

This didn’t belong to him.

Thank god he had an Esper who could turn back time.  “Well said, Guide Woods.” Sakura said with a smile, before she turned her gaze towards the crowd.

“I, as the representative for all Guilds in the city, would just like to echo the words of Guide Woods.

We will weed you out.

As much as you have been spreading your roots, trying to poison our people, and warp them to your ideals, there have also been people who have actively been working against you.

You will not even have a stump to stand on here.

We will not let you.” Sakura’s eyes turned grey, scanning over the crowd as her hair began to whip around her shoulders.

“I speak for those who can’t be here because of the situation we are dealing with.

That they so rudely declared as if we were hiding it from the public intentionally.

You and your little Espers don’t stand a chance.

So come, attack us, try to ruin us.

We aren’t like the other cities that you have tried to take over.

We, the people here, will not allow it.” Sakura’s voice deepened, her smile dropping from her face before she coughed.

“A-Anyways, we should speak about that next issue, shouldn’t we?” Sakura glanced at Kellen, and Kellen nodded.  “As I am sure you are aware, we, the Saturn Guild, the Nemesis Guild and the D.E.C.

were in talks to buy a new gate that opened on the front lines.” Kellen started.

“Negotiations started as I was hired onto the Saturn Guild as a Guide, and right as I was finding out about my new Class and my compatibility with the Captain.” Kellen told the crowd, just to jog their memories.

“But, there was something wrong with the gate.

This isn’t something that we don’t tell the public, but following the lessons that we have learned from our history, there are some things we should be openly transparent about, and some things that we should try to keep to the front lines until stablised.” Kellen said.

He could feel his shoulders tensing.  “The new gate is dangerous.

More dangerous than we’ve ever had to deal with.

After the E.A.G.

decided that we were hiding something from you, we all agreed that if they wanted to play it that way, we would speak the truth.

There is a new gate type.” Kellen stated and the crowd wouldn’t let him continue.

Chattering and concerned whispers filled the air.  Kellen waited for them to calm down, and when they didn’t, he tapped on his mic.

The awful noise from the mic seemed to work to draw their attention to him.  “This new gate type is quite dangerous.

It’s only been noted, at least officially, once before.

And that gate exploded.” Kellen stared around at the crowd, noticing that the tone had shifted.

“We’ve already lost our scouting party that went inside.

I lost colleagues I had worked with on the front lines for years, and the only comfort I can take from this is that they died doing what they had sworn to do.

Protect the people of this city, and of this world.” Kellen sighed.

“As someone who has been at the bottom of the power structure until now, I can understand where your frustrations come from.

I know what it’s like to be kept in the dark ‘for your safety’, but I can honestly say, with my whole chest, that this isn’t something that you want to know.” Kellen told them.  “I mean it.

Often, we keep the condition of gates from the public while they are fluctuating because we know that they would stablise over time.

It is simply not needed to make you panic over something we normally have measured down to the decimal point.

However, with this gate, we are in unknown territory.

We have the help of all Guilds and governments who will help us, including the government and the Guild who were in charge of the previous gate that exploded.” Kellen told them.

“Does that mean that our gate won’t explode?

I won’t lie to you and say that it isn’t the case.

I also won’t lie and say that I didn’t feel a shiver of fear down my spine when I realised I recognised the gate colour from the reports I had read on gates for my Field Guide studies.” They were advanced studies, but they didn’t need to know that.  “What Guide Woods is trying to say,” Sakura stepped in “is that we understand why you would be upset that it feels like we are keeping things from you.

We absolutely understand, and when we say that it is for your safety, it probably feels like an excuse.

We, as a country and a city, have done our best not to hide anything from you.

But this?

This situation is different and unique.” She shifted slightly.

“We do have some good news to give despite the heaviness of this topic.

This might mean nothing to you, but this is a very important step of our conquest of this gate, especially with the clock ticking on us being able to defeat it without the gate exploding.

We have finally completed suits that are able to neutralize the toxic fumes that are coming out of the gate.

With our advanced technology, we have done it.

We need to test them more, but we are moving towards a future where this gate doesn’t explode.” Sakura said with a grin on her face.  “We didn’t want to just come to you and be all doom and gloom about this topic.

We wanted to give you some good news as well.

Now that we’ve said all we wished to say, I believe Esper Weston has picked out a few people for questions?” Sakura suggested and turned towards Pamela.  Pamela nodded, and with the help of an Esper from the D.E.C.

she went around and offered the mic to a few people around.

Some were journalists, while others were the common folk.

Kellen swallowed thickly, worried about what kind of questions they were going to come up with.

What things were they going to be worried about?

CREATORS’ THOUGHTS CalyB If it wasn’t such a tense situation, Rhys might have laughed at the thought that Kellen had.