There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 658

Chapter 658: Side Story 2. Dance of Flame and Shadow - 17

Safely, New Year had come to the Borderland.

Most importantly, the provisions came safely too. That means real meat and vegetables. That means new grounded coffee beans. And that means alcohol. Lots of it.

Agni loved alcohol as much as the next person, but he couldn’t bring himself to have them when he was the Captain. With alcohol around, it was a certainty that some fights would break out, and he had to be sober enough to resolve them.

Above everything else...

"Have you seen the kid?" Agni asked the people who got Ron drunk during the founding day while looking around.

He couldn’t see that messy brown hair that was still fluffy because he hadn’t been in the Borderland for a long time. He had circled the mess hall and visited places where people might gather, but he couldn’t find the kid at all after dinnertime.

"What--Ron? He’s not here?"

"No," Agni squinted his eyes at the people who already got tipsy. "I’m worried someone got him drunk again."

"So what if someone did?" they laughed. "You’re such a worrywart, Captain. Are you his babysitter or what?"

"Shut up and drink."

"Aye!"

Agni rolled his eyes and left the hall. Maybe the kid didn’t want to drink--which was good--so Agni walked out to check the group that only wanted to celebrate New Year’s Eve without getting drunk. They were gathering around the mess hall to have easy access to the special food, but still...there was no Ron.

Did he fall asleep after dinner? Agni considered going to the Esper dorm when a random guide passed his contemplating figure. "Captain, are you looking for Ron?"

Agni paused and turned toward the guide quickly. "Did you see him?"

"I saw someone going to the gate an hour ago, I think it was him."

Agni’s blood turned cold. "The gate?"

Immediately, he dashed toward the tall wall. His heart drummed in his chest as he looked for the personnel tasked with manning the gate that night. His head was a mess the whole time--why the gate?

Was the kid trying to go to the Deathzone again and chose the time when people were busy with celebration? Was him being calm and given up on understandong his father only a ruse to lower Agni’s guard?

No. Let’s not go there, Agni Khan. The berserker shook his head. If the kid wanted to leave during celebration, he would have done that during the Founding Day. A part of him scolded him for his constant rejection, which might drive the kid to the edge again, and Agni groaned.

Perhaps because his stress was so palpable in his face, the espers on gatekeepings duty chuckled and wordlessly pointed up to the top of the wall. There were several turrets along the wall, an emergency measure if they got overrun by beasts--which thankfully had only ever happened once about two centuries ago.

Agni did not waste time and climbed the wall to check the turrets one by one, and when he arrived at the third one--the one facing the closest line to the dark jungle--he finally let out a breath of relief.

"Haa..." he panted while gripping the wall for balance, staring at the startled Ron, who had been blankly staring at the Deathzone before he arrived. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh..." Ron pulled back from the railing and slid down to the floor, taking a seat with his back against the wall. "Just...wanna be alone."

Agni stared at the kid, who somehow looked a bit down. He wanted to go there and asked what happened, but the kid said he was there because he wanted to be alone, so Agni was confused and in a dilemma. "...should I go?"

"No!" Ron almost gasped and replied quickly, almost aggressively, before retreating back and gave a quick follow-up. "It’s just...we usually have family time during New Year..."

"Ah..."

Agni remembered then, how Nolan usually takes a day off during New Year. There was only one time he couldn’t, and that was when a dungeon break unfortunately occurred under another squad, and their team was being sent a support. Still, he would rush home once the job was over.

New Year, as it happened, was the only day off a man with a family could take without being disputed by the higher up except for an emergency--so even that shitty Major couldn’t do anything but let the man have his vacation during New Year.

But the last New Year’s Eve Ron had with his family was the year before that dungeon incident happened.

Fiddling with the edge of his coat, Ron asked quietly. "Can you...stay?"

"...sure."

Agni came over quietly and took a seat beside the scout. Ron had folded his legs and pulled his knees up, using them to prop his arms and laid his head. Agni felt weird seeing the kid become all sad and depressed after seeing the feisty and cheeky side all the time.

He was curious. He wanted to ask what the kid was thinking and feeling, but he sat there quietly, letting Ron decided for himself whether he would talk or not.

"I missed him," Ron said after a few minutes of silence between them. "I wished I could at least see him once more."

"I’m sorry..." was the only thing Agni could say.

"It’s fine," Agni reached out to pat the brown hair, frowning at the stinging sensation in his heart--but it wasn’t the time to worry about him. "No one tells you not to cry."