There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 236

Chapter 236: Chapter 229. A New Direction

"Huh, your birthday is actually in spring, Captain?" Dheera asked in surprise as they were going back to Althrea.

"Presumably," Zein nodded, still feeling bloated from the cakes and meals. The delightful liquor also doing something for his nerves, because he felt so contended and relaxed--or was it because he actually felt happy?

"Oh--then we should do another one--"

"No, thank you."

Zein immediately raised his palm to stop Han Shin from making any wild suggestions. Yes, he felt it was nice having this surprise birthday party that he never thought he would ever experience, but he wasn’t really fond of repeating the process of becoming the center of attention in an event.

Or blowing twenty-eight candles. Once was enough.

The healer pursed his lips at the immediate rejection, crossing his arms and leaning back on his seat while making a sulking face. Well, at least Zein did not reject the birthday presents he received today. The guide looked like he would, but Bassena convinced him it would hurt the feeling of the gifters more if their heartfelt gesture were to go unappreciated.

Or course, Bassena had a clear agenda of making Zein used to receive presents so he could continue gifting his lover something. But the esper also wanted Zein to be able to accept something without thinking there were strings attached to it. Some people might come with that kind of intention, but there were also a lot of people in Zein’s life who did it genuinely.

He wanted Zein to know people care about him, so Zein would never forget that his existence was something precious. And not because he was the vessel of Setnath--because certainly, those people had no idea about this fact.

In the end, Zein came back with his dimensional storage ring full of gifts--including the one Azure Sky sent before they were out of the hotel. Bassena was sure there would be more waiting for the guide in the dorm room back in Althrea, but he refrained from telling Zein that because the man already looked uncomfortable.

Step by step; Bassena reminded himself as he looked at the guide with a smile. Step by step.

"Anyway, are we going to announce the Reclamation Project immediately once we arrived?" Zein asked the others to divert the topic so they would stop talking about his birthday which wasn’t really his birth-day.

"The invitation had been sent to all members of Trinity to gather on the third day," Radia answered from the seat diagonal to Zein, while reading another report as usual. "You should have one too."

Oh? Zein looked at his neglected commlink. It was dead last night--or this morning--as he was busy making a mess of Bassena, and he hadn’t turned it back on after being charged. Once it did, there were a series of notifications filling the screen.

A lot of congratulatory messages came, most of them from Trinity members--probably because his birthday as listed in the company profile was January 1st. He had some from the researchers in Mortix, as well as the people who took care of his orphanage.

Zein stared at all the messages with a dumbfounded expression. He knew most of these messages were formal congratulatory that people sent to their colleagues, but even then, he never thought people would stop and spend one or two seconds of their life to send him those. Most importantly, however, was that people who personally knew him would type a lengthy message wishing his good health and happiness.

There were Abel and the twin receptionist; the growing chicks from his division; Eugene, Anise, and Reina’s older sister. There was no need to mention the long essay that old man Senan and the Elder sent him, but he was rather surprised by the curt ’congratulation of staying alive’ sent by old man Dan from the dormitory--who had been taking care of his plants and fish while he was away.

Zein spent a while just staring at the screen, before turning it off silently. He looked out the window, at the cloud and the blue sky as the guild’s private jet brought them to Althrea. To those people who sent him those messages.

Home. Could he really start to think of the place as such? _{frёewebηovel.cѳm}

Of course, as he looked at the reflection of the esper beside him, he already considered Bassena as his ’home’. With him, he could go anywhere with Bassena; they didn’t have to stay here or there, they could be staying anywhere and he would have his home.

But it was different from having a place; a community where he belonged. Where he felt belonged.

"Why?" Bassena whispered beside him, tilting his head so he could look at the guide better. "What’s wrong?"

Zein look at their reflection in the window and smiled, reaching up to scratch the esper’s jaw. Ah...he just felt really happy today. And he didn’t want to smear it by filling his head with complicated things. Just for today.

"Do you think they’ll take it well?" he asked.

"The espers? Well, they knew their job always contain dangers, so I shouldn’t think it’ll be any problem," Bassena shrugged, leaning closer so Zein could stroke him better. Tsk--he should request a couch seating or something for this plane. "I think you’ll have a more difficult time with your kids."

"Hmm..."

He did have that thought. The guides were still getting used to diving into dungeons, so telling them they would be sent to the Deathzone might be a challenge. Dheera told him that the group chat--the one Zein wasn’t a part of--was pretty chaotic. So, while Radia would make an announcement to the whole guild the day after tomorrow, he would still need to give them some explanation before then. Just so they weren’t panicking too much.