There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 260

Chapter 260: Chapter 253. Cutting Poppies

"Why would I go to that kind of place? Are there any sane people willing to step into a sewer?" the Saintess answered without hiding her repugnance.

"Willing..." Zein repeated the phrase she used. "Do you know how many people live in the red-zone willing to do so? Voluntarily?"

"How would I know? Probably all of the--"

"None," Zein said bitterly. "No one wants to live in such an environment."

Zein almost wanted to sigh long and hard. He knew how little the Temple made an effort to save the trafficked, neglected guides in the end zones. But to think that the Saintess, the Temple’s symbol and representative, had so little compassion to understand what was going on with the more unfortunate guide...

What pillar? What umbrella?

How laughable it was, how ironic, that every guide who had even ended up in the red-zones, in the slum and those illegal brothels, had prayed to the Goddesses, had put their hope on the Temple. They had prayed, hoped, wished, begged to be saved by this institution that was supposed to protect them.

Zein...Zein didn’t even know something like the Temple existed until he heard it uttered in a prayer of someone kidnapped by Umbra. He was glad though; he didn’t have to sport any false hope about being rescued.

"You’re right about that; no sane people are willing to live in a sewer," he looked at the Saintess, the blue eyes gleaming sharply in the darkening light. "Not even those rogue guilds."

"Are you putting on a pity play right now?" the Saintess laughed again. She waved her sleeve to light the lanterns around the pavilions, making the space brighter. "Are you saying because you’re so pitiful you can just be excused for doing crime?"

Zein did not flinch at the display of authority. He found it interesting, however, that the Saintess could use mana. But he could think about that later. He smiled and shook his head slightly.

"No, those who committed crimes need to face judgment. Assholes are still assholes whatever their background is, whether they lived pitifully in the red-zone," the corner of his lips curled as the blue eyes stared deeply into the Saintess. "Or living nicely in the other zones."

He could see the Saintess grit her teeth, realizing that Zein included her in that ’asshole’ he mentioned. But reacting to it would mean she felt being called out, so she pressed her lips indignantly, giving leeway for Zein to continue.

"And like any other zone, there are a lot of decent people there, who try to live their best despite the harsh conditions," the guide still looked at her deeply, as if gauging her soul. "Are you trying to say the children born there, who had no say in their birth and lifestyle, are dirty too?"

"I--I don’t..." Vallaria stammered. That calm and serene gaze even while spewing harsh words started to unnerve her. "What are you trying to say?!"

At her reaction, Zein couldn’t help but let out a sigh. The Temple...was this truly what the magnificent Temple was like? He wondered if it was just naivety or pure blindness. He wondered if living a comfortable life would scrape someone of their compassion and conscience, rather than amplify it.

"Just open your eyes a little bit, Saintess. Not everything is black and white," Zein looked at her with a pitiful gaze. "Not even the way you act,"

"How impudent!" the Saintess lashed out. That deep gaze, that calm tone, the relaxed way of him sitting on the chair as if he was the one who owned the place, as if he was the Saint instead...

Vallaria gritted her teeth. No! He was nothing. This was her palace. "You trespass in my territory and...spew out this...this slander!"

Zein raised his brow at the way she slammed her foot into the ground, hands balled into fists. "You...don’t have any talent for doing bad things, huh?" he smiled wryly. "Or are you just too used to thinking whatever you’re doing is right that you can’t have even one person challenging you?"

"You--" the Saintess gritted her teeth and walked forward with hard steps, slamming her hands on the table in front of Zein. "Stop acting so high and mighty! You’re also an adult with a choice! You stayed in that guild knowing well what they did! You help bad people! You’re just as bad!"

Like a reflex, Bassena stepped into the pavilion again when he heard his guide was being accused again. "He did not choose to--"

"Yes, you’re right," Zein, once again, cut the esper, prompting Bassena to press his lips and stop, staying still in his place. "I have a choice."

At Zein’s response, the Saintess’s lips form a sneer, the hazel eyes staring down at Zein smugly.

"I have a choice," Zein repeated. "I chose to guide espers indiscriminately."

"What? That’s not what I--"

"That’s all I did, all I know how to do," Zein continued. "I guide espers so they don’t erupt, just like any other guides."

The Saintess crossed her arms again and scoffed. "Hah! So you don’t care even if they are criminals?"

"No," Zein replied without hesitation. "It’s not my role to judge people. If the espers I guide were to do something awful, it’s on them, not me,"

Of course, it wasn’t like Zein had never raised such a question to himself, even while he had no other choice but to guide those bastards that made his life miserable. But seventeen years of experience taught him a lot; that choosing your patient was a stupid thing to do.

He could guide a perfectly good esper, and that esper could kill someone in the next month. Should he stop guiding any esper, then, since their ability could potentially harm people? Even healer-type esper could easily harm civilians.