There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 437

Chapter 437: Chapter 430. The Final Date

Zein barely left the end-zone for the first twenty-seven of his life, but he had visited two foreign countries in this past year.

What an abrupt development; just like everything else in his life.

From having a boyfriend to having a family; from being penniless to getting headaches from processing taxes and making a will; from not knowing who his parents were to burry them in the same urn...

Zein unconsciously smiled as he reminisced about the things that had happened in the past year. At around this time last year...ah, yes--he was preparing to leave the borderland unit; to go to Althrea at the end of the month. Yath was sulking, and the other guides were groaning because they wouldn’t have someone to cover for their outpost shift anymore. Ron was giving him a long instruction about how he could reach Althrea and what he must do and remember so he wouldn’t attract too much attention. Agni...well, the Captain was just enjoying the chaos as usual.

Soon, a year after he left, he’d return there with a whole troop. He could already imagine the Captain’s laugh and Ron’s rolling his eyes. Something about he came back too soon or whatever--even though Zein knew Ron wanted the project to be completed as soon as possible so the Captain could be freed from his punishment.

Hmm...it wasn’t too bad, going back.

Especially because instead of misery and sorrow, he came with hope and determination.

"You looked pleased," Bassena stroked the guide’s chin. "Are you excited because you’re going to the sea?"

Zein leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "No," he said. "I mean, that too--but for now, I’m just feeling pleased with the journey I made since I left the borderland."

"I’m included in that, right?"

Zein chuckled and shifted his head to lean on the esper’s shoulder. "How could you not?" he exhaled slowly. "You’re half the reason I left the borderland in the first place."

It was Bassena who told him to try leaving the end-zone so he could find out what he wanted to do with his life. To find out what it meant to live his life. To find out the reason for holding on to his life. Ron and Agni nudged him out of the gate, but it was Bassena’s words that brought him into the gate itself.

So yeah...it could be said that it was thanks to Bassena’s persistent sales pitch that he finally left his murky, stagnant pool of water. It didn’t matter even if the esper said what he said and did what he did just to have Zein going up and becoming his guide. In the end, it was Zein who decided to grasp the hand reaching out to him, pulling him from the brink of the abyss.

"Only half?"

"Be grateful you even reached half," Zein scoffed and shifted further, laying on the esper’s lap. "I’m going to sleep for a bit."

Bassena laughed and patted the guide’s thigh. "Alright, I’ll wake you up before we land."

"No; wake me up when the landscape is visible," Zein muttered drowsily. "I want to see it from up here."

"Yessir!"

Zein lightly smacked the esper’s side before crossing his arms and falling asleep. The youngsters of the clan were busy talking and hanging out until dawn, and Zein stayed listening to them so he could find out what the future of his clan was thinking about. They were quite fascinating, and Zein ended up dreaming about the silly little things those kids imagined--like going to space or invading other dimensions through the dungeons.

Silly kids. They could barely stave off invasions on their own planet...

But it was children’s privilege to dream, so no matter how silly it was, everything sounds beautiful and plausible. In his dream, Zein saw a kid with bright hair sitting on what he presumed to be a plane, although when he looked outside the window, everything was dark, except for a hovering ball that looked blue and green and black and weird all over.

But it wasn’t as weird as the moment the kid turned around with a bright smile and a pair of blue eyes that sucked him inside, and propelled him to a swirling gate, not unlike the dungeon gate he was familiar with. There was another kid there, stretching a hand inside the swirling portal; dark hair swayed in the wind created by the mana pressure, and a pair of fiery golden eyes glinted sharply.

Zein woke with a start, blinking at the plane’s ceiling. His mind was both in a daze and alarmed--however weird that was. Perhaps he was still in a dream?

But then he realized his commlink was vibrating--what actually woke him up from the strange dream. He realized he was no longer sleeping in Bassena’s lap, but a pillow. Faintly, he could hear voices from the plane’s kitchen, which he reckoned coming from whatever Bassena was doing over there.

Slowly, he sat up and opened his commlink. There was a message from Senan, who was on the way back to Althrea. As he read the rather long report, Bassena was coming back to the lounge with a tray full of food.

"Oh, you’re awake. I reckoned you’d be hungry when you do, so--what’s that?" Bassena tilted his head as he watched Zein read the text keenly.

"Hmm? Ah, nothing--" Zein cracked his slightly stiff neck. "Senan just send me an interesting report."

"About?"

"It seems like that girl is using her vacation well," the guide chuckled. "Celestia Guildmaster told Senan that she came to the guild again to apologize in person. Seems like some of her past victims are finally willing to hear her out."