There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 64

Chapter 64: Chapter 63. A Short Rest

"Hey," the one that greeted him in the lobby was nonother than the Chief Guide himself. "You went out for a bit and something happened?"

"Life is adventurous," Zein shrugged, walking nonchalantly toward the smaller guide.

On Saturday afternoon, the guild building was pretty deserted. Two strike squad was still raiding high-class dungeons in another area along with the two 5-stars Zein still hadn’t met till now, and the rest of the espers were enjoying their weekend. Even most of the civilian workers were free on the weekend, so there were only a handful of people in the guild.

"You did as I told you, right?" Abel stopped the taller guide, putting his palm against the other’s chest.

"Of course,"

The smaller guide nodded, and then, after a few seconds of silence, asked cautiously. "How is it?"

"Two dead, two almost erupt, and the rest is injured quite badly," Zein replied dryly, in a tone of a regular report. Casualties and death during missions were something he was already familiar with. In fact, he thought the small guild was lucky—a red gate and only two death. The Mobius being there quickly was such luck, preventing the outbreak just in time.

But for someone like Abel, who lived in the green zone where casualties were minimum, it was a tragedy. "That’s rough..." he looked at the pensive Zein with concern. "You’re okay?"

It felt kind of ridiculous, getting someone worried about him when he didn’t even come inside the dungeon. But the concern came from a good place, so Zein replied kindly. "I’m fine," he added lightheartedly, "Met someone hot too, so it’s not too bad,"

"Hey!" Abel slapped his upper arm lightly, with a grin plastered on his face. "Who—"

"Zein!"

Abel’s question was cut suddenly by a loud voice coming from the entrance. Zein turned his head and muttered in startle, "Bas?"

Bassena Vaski, who was supposed to have a commercial shoot at the Capital, was there, with bloodshot eyes filled with fury.

The quiet space seemed to echo the loud yell and hurried footsteps even more as Bassena walked across the marble lobby in haste and with fierce amber eyes.

Zein blinked, surprised that his name coming out with such urgency from the esper. "Wha—"

Before he could even utter a single word, Bassena had already in front of him, fast even without the teleportation skill. The esper grasped Zein’s upper arms, staring at him from head to toe with fervent eyes.

"You’re okay? You’re not hurt?"

Again, Zein just stared at the esper in confusion. And a little bit of fascination. He hadn’t seen Bassena this frantic before, even during the expedition. The esper always calm—or rather, always ’acted’ calm.

But there was nothing to be frantic about, wasn’t it?

"I’m fine, why are you like this?" Zein tilted his head. In the middle of the lobby, no less. It was fortunate that not many people were here at the moment.

Bassena let out a breath of relief, arms perching on Zein’s shoulder as he tried to calm his breathing. "I thought there was an outbreak..."

"Huh? Didn’t I tell you—" Zein paused and check on his commlink. He was meant to send a text explaining the situation to Bassena, since the call ended abruptly. But it seemed like he only typed it up without ever sending it. "Oh...my bad."

He looked up then, observing Bassena keenly. Now that he looked at it, the esper came in a formal, three-piece suit and a coat, even though it was a summer afternoon. His hair looked like it had been combed neatly before but got messed up recently through rigorous movement—like running or teleporting...

"Did you come back in the middle of your work?" Zein asked, tapping the arms still on his shoulder.

"...yeah, why?"

Trying to lift the arms off his shoulder, Zein stared at the esper with frowned brows. "Why would you do that?"

"...why?" Bassena lifted his bowed face, eyes widened in bewilderment.

"It’s not even a dungeon break," Zein said. He wasn’t even inside the dungeon itself. Deathzone had a dungeon break daily like clockwork, and he had survived everything it threw at him. Even if an outbreak happened, Bassena should know that Zein had enough capability to survive on his own. "It’s not like I’ll die in a simple outbreak—"

"Don’t say that!"

Again, Zein blinked in surprise, as his body was pulled into a tight hold. "Don’t...say that..."

Both the voice and the arms around him were trembling. The head pressed on his shoulder felt heavy and...sorrowful. It was weird, and nothing like the Bassena Vaski he knew. This wasn’t worry...it was fear. There was something more to this than about Zein being near a dangerous place.

"Alright," Zein reached up and patted the blond strands. "Let’s get somewhere else first,"

There weren’t many people in the guild at this time, but it wasn’t as if there was no one. From Abel and the receptionists, to guild members and workers that walked through the ground floor—all of them had been stopping and watching ever since Bassena first stepped into the marbled lobby.

When Zein felt the esper’s hold on him loosen, he patted the man once more. "Let’s go to your office."

* * *

"What was that?" Zein didn’t waste time and asked straight after removing his mask the moment they entered the wide office on the thirteenth floor.

Although, rather than an office, it almost looked like a living space. Zein seated himself on the large couch that looked like it would be nice to sleep on, facing a wide screen that reminded him of a billboard. He would like to look around some more, but his eyes were drawn to the esper beside him, who had been leaning back with a forearm over his closed eyes.

The coat and the suit had been shed, leaving Bassena in a shirt and vest, looking even more miserable than before, although he was no longer trembling. Zein waited patiently, until the arm went down and the esper finally spoke.

"My mother...died in a dungeon break," Zein stiffened then, as Bassena added. "Ah, but she wasn’t a civilian. She was an esper, a magician type."

Right then, Bassena turned his head, and the amber eyes gazed at the guide. "She was strong, a 5-star, at least when she was still active."

The esper took Zein’s hand, and the guide notice how it was quite weak, as if the man was being careful. Zein understood then, why Bassena was being frantic. It wasn’t like the esper didn’t know he was strong enough to protect himself, but because he knew being strong wasn’t enough to twist the thread of fate.

"She wasn’t in the location for the raid either. She was on vacation to recuperate, and then the dungeon near the villa broke," there was a bitter smile on the esper’s face. "It’s quite ironic, isn’t it?"

"...what is?"