Does Spring Come Even for a Dying Esper

“That means…”

“It’s essentially a death sentence.”

Winfried gave a bitter smile. After composing himself, he got to the point.

“So, I’d like you to be his guide for a while.”

“Me?”

Lucas asked with a look that said, ‘Are you serious?’ He had somewhat anticipated this when Winfried brought up Iberis, but it was still too sudden.

“Why me of all people?”

“Because you have the highest matching rate with Major Hyun. The compatibility is also good.”

“Wait a minute. Did you conduct a matching test without my consent?”

“The situation was urgent, so we had no choice. I apologize for that.”

“Ah, really… Alright, I understand. But what’s the matching rate?”

“62%.”

“…What? 62%?”

Lucas asked incredulously. For a moment, he thought he had misheard. 62% wasn’t a low figure, but it wasn’t high either. Above all, that rate wasn’t enough to form a pair.

“Just now, Lieutenant General, you told me to become his guide. I understood that to mean forming a pair with the Major…”

According to military regulations, to become a dedicated guide, the matching rate with an Esper had to be at least 80%, or a minimum of 75%. With 62%, permission for pairing wouldn’t be granted under normal circumstances. Winfried couldn’t have been unaware of this. Lucas demanded an explanation with his eyes.

“You don’t necessarily need to form a pair. If you feel it’s good while staying together, you can consider it seriously. For now, you’ll be assigned as the Major’s temporary guide and the unit’s medical officer.”

Winfried smiled, interlocking his fingers. If Lucas, an S-class guide, formed a pair with Iberis, there would surely be opposition within the military. Being an Esper’s dedicated guide meant guiding only that person, except in special cases.

“You just need to take care of the Major by his side. What he needs most right now is guiding.”

“So you want me to play babysitter?”

“More like a personal physician than a babysitter. The Major is an Esper patient who needs both guiding and treatment. I think you’re the best fit, being both a guide and an Esper specialist doctor.”

“That’s…”

“And for the Major, even 62% is a very high figure. The highest matching rate he’s had with a guide so far was 47%. And even that guide is gone now.”

“What do you mean by ‘gone’…”

“Dead. Three years ago.”

Winfried answered nonchalantly. Lucas’s eyes hardened as he inferred something from his words.

“Three years ago… Don’t tell me?”

“You’re probably right in what you’re thinking. That guide was apparently the operation team leader of the team the Major belonged to. He was also the first to recognize former General Logan’s corruption.”

“…Was he eliminated?”

“It was processed as death in the line of duty, but it’s likely that was the case. At that time, under former General Logan’s orders, they went to conquer a B-class dungeon, but the team leader and several team members lost their lives. It wasn’t a B-class dungeon, but an A+ class. The information was wrong.”

“It was a trap.”

“They say it was a hidden dungeon, but no one knows the truth. As you know, an A+ class dungeon can’t be conquered by a single team. Even with S-class and A-class members, there’s no match for sheer numbers…”

Winfried’s voice trailed off as he seemed to get thirsty, bringing his teacup to his lips. Usually, a dungeon’s rank is determined by the type and number of monsters. When a rift occurs or a dungeon is created, the observation team and intelligence department measure and determine the rank, and then form a team accordingly for conquest. As the rank increases, so does the difficulty of conquest, so if the intelligence department’s judgment is wrong, it often leads to conquest failure or team annihilation.

“Former General Logan seemed to aim for total annihilation… but the current Major and one cadet survived. A few weeks after that incident, the Major’s whistleblowing case broke out.”

“Was it revenge?”

“Maybe? The operation team leader might have asked for it before he died. There could be various reasons, but it wasn’t just out of a simple sense of justice. Whatever the case, the Major’s actions benefited both you and me.”

Winfried’s lips curved into a smooth arc. His words were true. The conservative faction, to which Livio Logan belonged, had led the World Defense Force for the past few decades. As stagnant water tends to rot, the conservative personnel occupying key military positions had caused various problems by using their power for personal gain.

The reformist faction, to which Winfried belonged, was created to address this. Composed mostly of young soldiers, the reformists argued that the Defense Force should protect the world and realize peace for the human community, following the original ideology of its creation. They also emphasized the need to focus on expanding cooperation with various countries and enhancing military capabilities to prevent rifts.

However, they had been unable to achieve significant results, being pushed back by the conservatives who had long held real power. It was in this situation that Iberis’s whistleblowing broke out.

Among those who lost their lives due to Livio Logan’s instigation of murder were important figures from various factions, including the reformists, centrists, field-centered faction, administration-centered faction, European faction, and Asian faction, which turned the Defense Force upside down.

The Defense Force maintains security and secures operating funds through economic activities in regions that were once countries that couldn’t handle dungeon breaks and collapsed, now stateless territories in anarchy. However, since they receive financial and human resource support from member countries in many aspects, they couldn’t help but be mindful of their opinions.

Member countries that consistently dispatch their Espers, guides, and other personnel to the Defense Force in accordance with the world treaty protested, demanding clear disclosure of whether their citizens were among those sacrificed in former General Logan’s crimes. Underlying this was also an intention to strengthen their influence within the United Nations and the Defense Force.

Regardless of each country’s intentions, it was a golden opportunity for the reformist faction to take down Livio Logan, a key figure in the conservative faction. Winfried succeeded in maximizing the incident and forcing Logan into dishonorable discharge.

It would have been better if they could eliminate him entirely, but the power held by the conservative faction, which had controlled the Defense Force for a long time, was formidable. In the end, the reformist faction failed to send former General Logan to prison. Still, they succeeded in driving him and his subordinates out of the Defense Force, which wasn’t a bad result.

Although this created a personnel vacuum over the past few years, they managed to seize several positions that had long been held by conservative faction members, which was a gain for the reformist faction. Perhaps because of this situation, Winfried felt a slight sense of debt and goodwill towards Iberis.

“At the time, when the trial turned in favor of former General Logan, the current Major became uncooperative with the investigation. His reason was that he couldn’t trust the military leadership. If you become close to him, you might be able to obtain additional information about the General.”

“Are you saying the Major didn’t hand over all the information during the whistleblowing?”

“That’s my guess. If he couldn’t finish it decisively, he’d have to save something for next time… He probably didn’t give up all his cards.”

“Guiding, treatment, and now information gathering… There’s a lot to do.”

“It’s all for achieving our goals, so do your best. It would be even better if we could fully recruit the current Major to our side.”

“It seems like you’re expecting more and more from me…”

“Haha. Am I that transparent? But if the current Major recovers and joins us, he’ll be a great asset. After all, he’s an S-class Esper.”

“Aren’t you S-class too, Lieutenant General?”

“If I’m just S-class, then the current Major is S+. We decided not to divide Esper ranks too finely, but if we were to break it down, the Major would be much stronger than me.”

Winfried recalled Iberis, whom he had met during a joint operation a few months ago. The man with a youthful face that belied his age showed an overwhelming performance, mercilessly slaughtering monsters. At that time, Winfried felt a thrill for the first time in a very long while.

“An S-class Esper is equivalent to the combat power of an entire unit. They can easily do the work of hundreds. It’s not for nothing that people say one S-class is better than a hundred A-class.”

“But sometimes an A-class can beat an S-class depending on compatibility, right?”

“While such exceptions exist, that’s generally the case. The example you mentioned might happen between an A+ and an S-, but for a natural-type Esper like the current Major, even other S-class would find it hard to handle him. Not to mention the lower ranks.”

Winfried spoke with conviction in his thoughts. Espers belonging to the natural type like Iberis, who could use surrounding mana in addition to their own internal mana, were far more valuable than other S-class Espers.