There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 480 - 473. Drafting

"Around here?" Bassena looked down at the rock mountains with dense formations that didn’t give any path for travelers.

"Yeah, down there somewhere," Zein nodded. As usual, the shard gave signals in a range, so he couldn’t pinpoint the exact location unless he got really close.

From up here, however, there didn’t seem to be any way to get closer to it. But then again, he didn’t have esper’s vision, and being held by Bassena while flying prevented him from looking better.

"Do you think it’s possible to look for a way?" he asked the espers.

[I can’t see anything] Ron said from one of Bassena’s children of darkness that circled them. [There might be a path across the mountain, but I have no idea about the path into the mountain...or even down there]

"Maybe if we bring an earth magician...someone from Rina’s squad," Bassena muttered. "But even if we find a way..."

"It’ll be difficult for the rest of the team," Zein nodded. Even he himself had no confidence in traversing these tricky rock formations. According to Ron, there were numerous pits of acids, poisonous gas pockets, and thorny plants that could give all kinds of bad effects including paralysis and petrification. "We need a special team for this."

"Let’s get back for now and think more about it," Bassena nodded and tightened his hold on Zein’s waist. "Hold on tight."

Once again, Bassena teleported them across the ravine, and then teleported a few more times toward their base. They saw Julian and Naoya, who were on watch duty, stop to greet them as they made their patrol.

"That’s fast," Naoya said. "I had thought you’d take a whole day at least."

"It’s easier than we thought," Bassena said, letting Zein go and releasing Ron from his children of darkness. "I don’t think we’d need to go far next time."

"Oh, nice!" the archer nodded and pointed at the stadium with his thumb. "Anyway, you have guests, Zein."

"Me?" Zein raised his brow, before guessing it by himself. "Ah..."

* * *

The member of the advance troop, in the middle of their rest and queue for guiding, stared at the group circling one of the firepits in amusement. Not because they were newcomer they hadn’t seen before, but because they came in a depressed state--particularly the leader.

"How...I can’t...I can’t believe Young Master lived near this kind of place for years," the man lamented with his face buried in his palm. "I’m such a failure."

The much younger man beside him patted his back. "Yes, yes you are, Uncle. It’s alright--no one is perfect."

"What’s the point of lamenting about it now? We should just protect him from now on."

"Hear, hear."

"You guys are so ridiculous," the girl who came with them and sat rather further away shook her head.

"Says someone who kept thinking a ghost would come out during the entire journey,"

"S-shut up!"

"How lively. I don’t know you’ve become so close," Zein smirked as he looked at the members of Iron Brigade and Senia, who just arrived at the stadium.

Senia choked on her saliva and coughed as she turned around. "Z-Zein..." freēwēbnovel.com

The members of the Iron Brigade immediately stood up in attention, bowing slightly toward the patriarch they hadn’t seen in a long time. "Young Master," they greeted simultaneously.

It was fascinating for the guild members, who had never Zein around his household member--except for Arlo. Seeing the reverence in the Iron Brigade’s way of addressing him, it finally down to them that Zein was a patriarch for an Old House.

"Young Master," the old man who was busy lamenting earlier came forward and held Zein’s shoulder, scanning the guide from head to toe. "Are you alright? Have you been well? You’re not hurt anywhere, aren’t you?"

Zein would usually dismiss the concern quickly, but it had been a while since he saw his household members, and Senan looked like he was about to cry--or had been crying already--so he shrugged and said gently. "See for yourself."

And the old man truly checked his condition thoroughly, raising his arms and circling him, looking for any sign of injury. "You do know we have a five-star healer here, right?"

"I know--but who knows where their priorities lie--"

"I am the highest priority here, Senan. So calm down," Zein chuckled and patted the old man’s shoulder. He looked at the rest of the brigade members; eight in total--nine with Senan--and most of them were veteran espers. "How’s the journey?"

The members looked at each other, and Cohen decided to take charge before Senan could speak and started to burst again. "It’s as you tell us, Young Master, so it wasn’t very surprising. Just that...hearing your story and experiencing it is totally different."

"It’s more stifling than I thought," the youngest member, who was about Han Shin and Bassena’s age, added. "But there weren’t many beasts--I think we only came across less than twenty."

"We cleared the way twice, so that was expected," Zein nodded. "Seems like they aren’t spawning out of nowhere after all. Sounds like a good time to start cleaning."

Bassena nodded and typed on his commlink. "The team from the emergency point will arrive later today--the road being safe doesn’t make traversing the marsh any easier, it seems."

"Right," Zein turned toward the brigade members. "Have you eaten? How long does it take for you to reach this place?"

It seemed that Senan was busy lamenting the moment he arrived that they hadn’t had the time to eat or even drink, even though they had been trekking the route Kei had submitted for the whole day and night without resting or stopping to sleep. The guild members, meanwhile, were too confused about what to do with the combination of this depressing group and Senia Azra.

"Ah," Zein shifted his gaze toward the esper girl as they moved toward one of the dining tables. "How about this girl? Did she give you any problem?"

"Hey!" Senia puffed her cheeks.

"Except for the occasional whining, I’d say she’s pretty quiet," Cohen shrugged.

Zein glanced at the esper girl, who was crossing her arms and pursed her lips in annoyance--her default mode, honestly. He and Radia were churning their brain thinking about how to actually bring this girl over to the Deathzone--or rather, which squad should she put in. She might be tamed enough now, but they never knew what would happen in the future.

Taking her on an advance troop was a no, since they wanted a reliable team that totally trusted each other. Putting her on the general troop or the mercenary was a bit difficult with her personality--especially when Zein wasn’t there. In the end, they decided to entrust the girl to the Iron Brigade. It was a squad consisting of Zein’s people, so Senia wouldn’t do anything to them to make sure she wasn’t incurring Zein’s wrath. On the other hand, the Iron Brigade was very protective of Zein and they despised everyone who had treated Zein badly even once in the past.

Well, Senia didn’t exactly treat Zein badly--there was no harm done, at the very least. But she was still a part of the group that was targetting Zein in the past, so they wouldn’t go meek in front of Senia, even if her rank was above them.

And that was how Senia ended up being babysit by Zein’s protection squad. And it seemed like it was a good decision, if nothing really happened along the way.

"How’s your vacation?" Zein asked the girl as he sat down around the dinner table.

It might sound like a simple question of courtesy, but that wasn’t the case, because Zein knew what Senia was doing during that ’vacation’; mainly, the continuation of his ’homework’.

"I think...they finally accept it?" the girl bit her lips and replied with a quiet voice, so Zein added just to make himself clear.

"Don’t hide things from me, or just don’t tell me at all."

The girl flinched and sighed. "So...I came to the guildmaster again, and asked her if the others were finally willing to see me. I...uhh...I said I’m going to give them money as compensation for everything but..."

"They rejected it," Zein said dryly. "Of course they do. That’s what all the richer, more powerful people always do, as if forgiveness is something that could be bought."

"...well, I know now."

Zein scoffed at the girl who momentarily turned pale earlier. She must have meant to hide it at first, before he called her out. "So?"

"Well, the guildmaster told me that won’t change anything, and they might even hate me even more, so...I came back and spent days looking at the list of names and remembered what I had done to them," the girl explained. "I tried, really. I can’t remember everything, but...I tried..."

Zein didn’t say anything and just listened quietly. If the others were astonished at the formerly haughty princess having her head down while squeezing her knees, they made a good show of not showing it--or pretended to not care.

"I wrote them a letter--for each one of them--and for those I didn’t remember, I said honestly that I didn’t remember, and that I still want to apologize, and asked if they would tell me what I had done to them so I could do it properly, and..." Senia paused for a bit before taking a deep breath. "Well...I did it until the last day, and some told the guildmaster they could finally forgive me, while...umm... some said they’ll see if I really change before doing so."

"That’s reasonable, isn’t it?"

"Yeah," Senia nodded and glanced at Zein like a schoolgirl who was waiting for the headmaster’s judgment.

Zein leaned back in his seat and looked up in contemplation. He only told Senia to eat her food and said nothing else for the remainder of the meal. When he finally spoke again, it wasn’t something that Senia had ever expected.

"You’re an elemental magician, right?"

"Uhh...yeah?"

"Including earth and metal?"

"Well, duh," the girl scoffed, finding a way to brag even though she was still walking on eggshells. "I can do everything except light and--ugh--dark..."

Bassena smirked for a second but stared back at Zein as he caught on to what the guide might be thinking. "Hey, are you thinking about--"

"Yeah," Zein nodded and turned his sight in the direction of the mountain range beyond the darkness. "I think we should start making that team."