There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 327

Chapter 327: Chapter 319. Threat

The laughter that filled the yacht sounded both aggravating and chilling for some reason, perhaps because the crimson eyes were glinting coldly during everything.

"Oh, Gods...you can’t be like this, former Guildmaster," Radia chuckled at the end of his laughing fit. He tilted his head as he looked toward the confused old man. "Satisfied?"

With a raised brow, the lips that were smiling widely a second earlier lost their curve in the blink of an eye. "My guild member was getting assaulted, my guild progress halted, and you think I’ll be satisfied by giving you a helping hand?" the voice dropped lower. "Have you become too dull from retiring?"

"Radia Mallarc!"

"Belthera," the lighthearted, nonchalant tone that Radia had been using all this time vanished like a lie. The coldness coming out between those lips was now matching the crimson gaze. "When someone is doing something, there should be consequences," Radia continued, before adding in a dry tone. "A punishment. An atonement."

It didn’t sound like a suggestion, not any attempt at negotiation. It sounded like a warning.

It sounded like an announcement.

"I don’t want you to just take Varion off the Guildmaster’s seat, I want you to bring him to me," the summoner paused, seemingly contemplating on something before correcting himself. "To us."

"For what? So you can kill him?" Darleon felt the rage bubbling up his chest, and despite his effort to hold back, he slammed his hand on the chair as he yelled. "Do you think I’ll just let you do that?!"

The younger man, however, didn’t even flinch at the displayed emotions. "Kill him? Of course not, we’re not savages," he chuckled, waving his hand lightly in dismissal.

The aloof nature of the other esper, eventually, cooled the old man a little bit. Darleon stared at the summoner with a clenched jaw. "Then what do you want? You just said punishme--"

"Answer," an unexpected reply came from the younger man. "What we want is an answer."

Darleon only grew even more confused with this reply. But this confusion also helped him to further cool down his emotions. It was also because the crimson eyes looked genuine, without the mockery displayed earlier.

"Varion is a bastard, but not even he would be so daring," Radia continued, ignoring the frown on the father’s head when he cursed the son. "Among the groups he sent to attack our guide, there are espers who are not a part of his people."

Darleon’s eyes widened, and his commlink beeped to signal an incoming message. It was another document containing the pictures of three people; a female, a male, and a cloaked figure he saw exiting the car in the previous CCTV recording.

"We believe these people were lent to him by someone else," Radia continued. "We would like to know the one behind him."

There was a mixture of emotions inside Darleon’s slightly shaking eyes. Relief, at the thought that it wasn’t purely Varion’s deed; anger, that someone dared to use his son to commit a crime; dread, at the probability of that person’s identity being someone he knew.

"Don’t worry, we’re not so cruel," Radia took out a portable astray and snuffed the golden needle as he continued. "As I said, we just want an answer, so we will only keep him until we get that answer."

In other words, they would still take him captive, beyond the eye of the law.

"Of course, the easier he opens his mouth, the easier it will be for him," Radia added, a simple smile playing on his lips. Perhaps because he knew how proud Varion was, and it was unlikely that the man would easily cave.

And Darleon knew that.

"Do you think...I can just trust you on that?" he gritted his teeth. How long would it take before Varion talked? How far would they go to make Varion talk?

"Of course, not," the summoner’s lips stretched wider. "But this is not a negotiation, Belthera. This is an offer. You can take it or leave it, your choice," he shrugged, propping his head against the armrest. "Didn’t I tell you that I’m giving you a chance?"

"You’re going too far, Radia Mallarc!"

The return of the mocking tone did not bode well with his emotional state. He stood up in outrage, knocking the fishing rod off the holder. The clattering sound echoed along with the sound of brief laughter. Darleon glared at the younger man, but his anger had to be suspended as his commlink beeped again. He wanted to ignore it, but there was no way he could, knowing it was Radia who sent it.

So he shifted his gaze to the screen, which was filled with rows and rows of documents. He opened them one by one, and each one blew his eyes wide. Details of embezzlements, reports of assault cases, tax evasion, illegal gambling, deadly practices, violation of human rights...

Every shady thing happened inside Celestia. Much more than abducting another guild’s member. Much more than Darleon knew.