There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 467 - 460. Rally

"Whoaa...life is such a privilege, isn’t it?" Dheera muttered the moment she woke up in the morning.

The alarm she set following Zein’s advance also woke up Leehan, so he could respond to her random morning thought. "We really take it for granted before, huh?"

Whether it was because they finally woke up to a bright light instead of darkness, or because Zein’s lullaby kept playing in their head--they became rather sentimental when they woke up.

"Captain sounds so good, though..." Dheera said with a dazed giggle. "He should sing some more."

"Agreed," Leehan nodded and squirmed to get up. "But now I’m hungry since we skipped dinner."

Thanks to immediately playing in the water right after a big battle, they got so exhausted that hearing Zein’s lullaby sent them straight to dreamland. Getting reminded about food, Dheera instantly got up and sniffed the air. The fresh nature had been graced with the scent of warm spice, and they turned toward the makeshift kitchen where the fresh-looking Commander was preparing breakfast while humming.

A weird scenery for them, but a welcomed one nonetheless.

"Food!"

The hungry guides stood up and scrambled toward the kitchen. There were folded chairs and tables propped up already, and as expected, Zein had already sitting there while watching Bassena cooking--as if they were in their own home.

As usual, Dheera started the morning with an energetic hug. "Captain! Good morning!"

"You seemed to be sleeping well," Zein patted the arms hugging him. "You didn’t even move once in your sleep."

"Hehe..." Dheera let go of the older guide and scratched her cheek. "I guess I played too hard yesterday."

Zein chuckled and patted the table to tell the guides to sit down. "No, it’s because yesterday’s journey was hard," he said. Be it the terrain or the horde of beasts they needed to face, everything was harder than anything they ever faced before. "I was more surprised that you even have the energy to play in the water."

Leehan, who brought it upon himself to prepare the morning coffee, laughed. "I can’t help it when I see clear water again, reminding me of the time I used to play in the river when I was a child--"

Immediately after saying that, Leehan stiffened. He recalled the lullaby that Zein was singing and turned to look at Zein apologetically. "Umm..."

"Why?" the older guide raised his brow, the corner of his lips curled. "It’s not your fault that you lived where you lived and I ended up where I lived."

"Hehe..." Dheera leaned her head on Zein’s shoulder and hugged the older guide again.

"I’m here working hard to give you food and you’re stealing my boyfriend in return?" Bassena put a basket of lightly toasted bread and a big plate of fresh vegetable salad on the table, narrowing his eyes at the giggling guide who immediately ran away toward the unoccupied kitchen followed by Leehan.

"Food!"

"These brats..."

"I’ll bring some for you too, Captain!"

Bassena shook his head as if exasperated, but Zein could see the slight smile on the esper’s face. "Leehan, bring me that bowl of fruit."

"Yes, Sir!"

As Dheera came back with two big servings of Bassena’s special stew--Zein’s favorite--Leehan carried a bowl of tropical fruit Bassena bought in the Southern Kingdom before they boarded the cruise back then.

"You’re having them now?" Zein raised his brow as Dheera put a plate of stew in front of him. He recalled the esper calling it a victory stash, so he thought Bassena would have it after they established the first Deathzone headquarters in the city ruin.

"It’s supposed to be a nice, relaxing day so I thought it’s appropriate," Bassena shrugged, and then his lips curled. "If I throw the seed to that field on the riverbank, do you think it’ll grow?"

"Pfft--that’s your real intention?"

"One could hope," Bassena took a mango and started to peel it. "Wouldn’t you like it if you came here again and you could eat mango all you like?"

Zein blinked. Oh...that would seem like the paradise those books mentioned.

"But Captain," Dheera looked around while scooping the warm stew; she just realized that aside from the snoring Zhan stuffed and rolled inside a cocoon of blanket, she couldn’t see anyone else. "Where are the others--whoaa...this is so good! Why are you so good at cooking, Commander?"

"To seduce Zein, of course."

Bassena replied nonchalantly, eliciting a loud laughter that startled the sleeping Spearman. Zhan gasped and for a while blearily tried to find out why he suddenly became a human burrito. While the Spearman tried to free himself from the blanket roll, Zein pointed toward the woods.

"Shin is taking a look at the purple stones, the scouts and tanks are outside cleaning the valley, the rest are below--I think Naoya is meditating or something," Zein said, turning toward the direction of the natural stairs leading to the lower lake.

"Oh...so active..." Dheera muttered while savoring the delicious stew in front of her, feeling a bit embarrassed for sleeping in.

Zein smiled and patted the girl’s head. "You’re going to be active too after this," he smirked, turning to look at Leehan too. "We’re going to move tomorrow, so make sure everyone in your charge is sufficiently cleansed."

"Yessir!"

"Do it before Hagalaz arrives, since you might need to lend a hand later if Dean, Brisk, and Silva get too overwhelmed."

"Okay..."

"That’s fine and all, but my stew is best eaten warm," Bassena patted the side of Zein’s plate. "I’m not going to give you the fruit before you finish that."

Hah--look at this man, being so energetic after sleeping. Zein chuckled and started to dig in. It was as delicious as he remembered; dreadfully, Zein realized he might not be able to live without Bassena’s cooking anymore. Was this what Radia’s father had been teaching him? Was this what it meant to seduce someone with food?

Eh, who cares? Zein knew they were already stuck with each other till the end anyway. No--they chose to get stuck with each other.

For some reason, thinking about that made the stew taste even better, and the fruit afterward tasted even sweeter than he remembered. He finished his meal right when the cleaning team came back, and the commotion pulled the people below to climb up and have their peaceful breakfast too. Zein told Bassena to call Han Shin for breakfast, while he traveled to the root island and checked on the two shards.

"Hey, so...there’s something I need to talk to you..." he said as he placed his hands on the core. "It’s more of a request, but...hear me out."

Rather than conveying it with words, Zein told the shards what he wanted to do through memories of his conversation with Bassena. He pressed his forehead to the shards, but he didn’t get ’sucked’ or anything this time. They were just simply...conversing. Sometimes, the other shard would come and touch the core too, connecting all of their thought.

Zein didn’t feel like it was a long process, but when he came back to the shore, everyone had already finished their meal, and even the dishes had been washed. The guides had already started to do their cleansing, and Bassena was in the middle of a discussion with the scouts and Han Shin.

"How is it?" Bassena asked immediately when Zein approached them. "Did you succeed?"

Ron and Han Shin looked at Bassena curiously, but Kei widened her eyes slightly and turned to Zein while blinking in expectation.

"We’re in luck," Zein smirked. Bassena and Kei perked up and straightened their back, looking at him keenly. "Letting the other shard out seemed to be a good decision. It had been sharing interesting stuff about ’humans’ from the interaction at the lab, so the core is rather keen to see more humans here."

Bassena slapped the table in triumph and Kei parted her lips in amazement. She couldn’t believe that they could really pull it off.

"What is this? What are you talking about?" Han Shin asked confusedly, so Bassena told him about the ’emergency point’ plan. Kei swiftly added that part in her report after asking a confirmation from Zein again.

"That’s...whoa..." Ron stroked his twitching lips. "We would be able to do so much if we knew about this place and the possibility of using it from a long time ago..."

Then, most of those casualties could be...

Ah well, there was no point in contemplating a ’what-if’ scenario of the past.

"Tell Radia to send some seeds and boosters--farming stuff, the whole thing," Bassena told Kei. "More construction would be needed; waste system and aid station. We don’t have to make residential units, but we could leave compressed tents and supplies here, and then..."

Zein strokes the eager esper. Well, any Commander would be excited about making an operation even slightly safer for the troops. While Bassena was busy arranging things with Kei to be included in the report, Zein turned toward Han Shin.

"Anything from the purple stones?"

"Just that they definitely had a similarity with the Specter’s core," Han Shin said, and while looking at the two shards hovering above the lake, he added. "You know, kind of feel like a Specter’s core that got smashed into pieces--only that the pieces are rather smooth."

"Like they are dividing themselves into a lot of parts?"

"Yes," the healer snapped his fingers. "You know how Specter’s core is kind of like a condensed source of miasma? I think we can treat the purple stone as a miasma stone--you know...as opposed to mana stones?"

Zein nodded; since it seemed like the stones were used for the purpose of powering up. He turned to Ron then. "Was there anything like that in the Deathzone before?"

"No," Ron shook his head. "I mean--not that I know of. But our knowledge about the Deathzone is also...thin. It might be just that we never ventured far enough, or we had no chance to spot something like that."

"It could also be a new item that surfaced after the Fallen Star awakened," Bassena said. "Let’s just keep collecting information for now."

Han Shin nodded firmly. "Yep! We only just begin after all. Also, I still need better equipment that the main troop should bring next week."

"For now, let’s just proceed and--" Bassena stopped as Zein suddenly turned toward the wall of trees. "What’s wrong?"

Their face turned serious at Bassena’s tensed tone, and the espers who were lounging by the side even stood up in alert. But Zein just smiled and walked toward the wall of trees.

"They’re here," he said. "Hagalaz."