There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 535

Chapter 535: Chapter 528. Ownership

Radia had been busy since he returned from the Deathzone; from taking care of compensation to reorganizing supply. What took up most of his time was, however, the Star Call Initiative.

For weeks, he had been going around meeting a lot of people and using a lot of connections to meet the Saint classes. Rankers were Rankers, but most of them had egos bigger than their power. Bassena was one of the only three Rankers who still actively doing raids rather than lounging in a luxurious mansion while waiting for a job with an astronomical amount of pay.

Saint classes were a bit different in that regard. Most of them gained their title during their peak, after they became veterans with decades of experience. It became some sort of finish line, and once they achieved it, they thought it was enough and retreated from the frontline to rest. Such a same, but Radia could understand that they gained that prowess through scars on the battlefield, so he couldn’t blame them. Some of them even rejected being put on the Ranker list because they were no longer active.

It was truly hard to find a Saint class still willing to go to the front line, but at last, Radia could make a connection with one.

The Eastern Sun was one of the active ones, but she had been away in the Tower of Scatach for the past few years. When she came back, the operation had already started and Radia had stopped taking the initiative since the kids were doing fine.

But having her respond to them did not mean it was easy to make an agreement.

"We have found the item that the Eastern Sun wants, Master," one of Radia’s secretaries reported, finally, after more than a month of scouring the whole continent. "As expected, it’s in the Western Republic’s black market."

"Have you sent someone?"

"Harvey is over there."

"Good," Radia nodded. "How much is the expected bid?"

The secretary pulled out a piece of paper and showed it to Radia instead of spelling it. The red eyes narrowed at the exorbitant amount, but that was merely the nature of things coming out of the black market, especially for an artifact.

Haa...if it was only a ’payment’, Radia wouldn’t bother and would rather lobby the government to have Azure and Celestia join the operation. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just a payment. Without that item, the Eastern Sun wouldn’t be able to make any move, so it was more of an obligation.

Radia stopped walking and closed his eyes to calculate how much money left he could use without jeopardizing the supply fund, and how many personal assets he could liquidate swiftly.

He exhaled slowly and thought of the future profit to calm his mind, before writing a number on the same piece of paper. "They can go this high."

"Very well, Master."

"Go through the preliminaries and get rid of all the trolls and hagglers," Radia said as he continued his walk to the office. "I’ll allow some level of force and illegal activity."

"How far could they go?"

"Level 2."

"Understood," the secretary typed quickly on their tablet before shifting to the next report. "The Kanua Warlock and Stormbringer contacted us again."

Radia scoffed. They laughed at him before and now what?

"Hah...it’s fine if they’re doing it out of conscience, but..." Radia chuckled.

He could put down his ago and forget about the bitterness if those Rankers moved because they finally realized the severity of the situation. But in that case, they would contact him not long after the clip circulated, like the Eastern Sun. Those two, however, only moved a few weeks later because of public opinion, which questioned the act--or rather, the lack of it--of the Rankers regarding the threat in the Deathsone.

"Should we continue using the keyboard troops?" the secretary asked.

"Yes," Radia nodded. "Tone it down a little bit, but keep it afloat. We might still need their power in the future, but let’s keep it as cheap as possib--"

Radia was opening his office door when he abruptly froze, causing his secretaries to halt. The smirk on his face vanished immediately and he stared at the floor-to-ceiling glass window in his office.

Or rather, what was in front of it.

Who was in front of it.

"You seem busy--"

A tall, firm stature in perfect posture. A broad shoulder and sharp jaws. Deep black eyes with a small twinkle of stars. A low, unforgettable voice that had Radia shuddered.

Everything he hadn’t seen for eight months.

"--darling."