There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 203 - 197. Relationship

Chapter 203: Chapter 197. Relationship

"Can...can we take a rest, Captain? I think I really am going to die..." Dheera wheezed on the floor, crouching down like she was about to throw a tantrum.

But it wasn’t just Dheera. Almost everyone was panting and groaning, some were on all four, just waiting for a signal so they could lay flat on the cold floor.

It was already entering winter, but they were drenched in sweat and hot.

Zein looked around, and some of the youngest guides made miserable expressions on purpose to incite pity on their overly energized Captain. It wasn’t like they were acting--they truly felt miserable!

"Alright, let’s rest for an hour and reviewed your progress," Zein finally said.

The words were greeted by relieved groans. They embraced the floor as if it was their long-lost lovers. Zein chuckled and asked the one who was still well enough to get water and distribute it to the others.

"Is there a reason we suddenly go for this hard-mode training again?" Dean asked after finished handling the water, propping himself against the wall to enjoy his well-earned rest.

"Because you’re getting lazy just because I’ve been busy these days," Zein answered with crossed arms, narrowing his eyes at the guides that were averting his gaze.

Because they did slack off. Zein had been preoccupied with the reclamation project, spending more time in Mortix’s lab and the twelfth floor rather than with his division. He used to always oversee their daily stamina training, but he rarely did so since last month.

But there was also a reason behind this behavior.

"That’s not fair, Captain! You’re grilling us too when you were in your bad-mood era!" Dheera, the brazen girl, pursed her lips in protest.

"H-Hey--"

"Oh!" the girl quickly clasped her mouth, and the guides glanced toward their Captain with nervousness.

A few weeks ago, Zein had been walking around looking like he might slip and murder someone. Some people, who were there the day Zein came to the seventh floor for the first time, remembered the sharp and deadly aura Zein had during that time. And during that time, Zein oversee their training with a ferocity of a military drill sergeant, with not a speck of smile could be seen on his face.

Looking at these guides nervous expressions, Zein felt rather guilty now. He did have a plan to put more pressure on their mentality to prepare them for the reclamation project, but what he did wasn’t that--he was just projecting his negativity onto those around him.

And these chicks seemed to get scared of him again because of that. "Haha, sorry about that," he laughed softly, leaning on the arena’s railing and letting out a sigh.

The guides raised their brows and glanced at each other in surprise. This was the first time Zein oversee their training again this month, and the first time they heard his laugh again after so long. It was enough to leave them stunned.

"Well...I thought you made us work hard because you were in a bad mood before, but I see now that you just like to work hard in any mode, because it’s clear that you are in a good mood these days," Nadine chuckled from one of the benches while wiping the sweat of her forehead.

"The only difference is that you’re no longer glaring and frowning if we made a mistake, hehe," Dheera chimed in with a giggle.

"Hmm..."

"But you’re truly radiant these days, Captain. You looked even brighter than the Chief who’s getting married in a few months," Brisk said cheekily.

"You fool!" someone who was laying on the ground snapped. "Preparing for marriage is stressful, you know. There’s no time to be happy."

Huh--Zein didn’t know that. But he knew Abel looked tired lately, especially on Monday, as if his weekend was filled with even more activities than his workday.

"Meanwhile, our Captain is in his honeymoon period," Nadine said with a smirk, winking when Zein cast a glance at her.

"Honeymoon, huh?" Zein scoffed, but Nadine immediately continued with curled eyes and a hand over her lips.

"Ho ho, I know you were going somewhere with Sir Vaski using the chopper last Sunday," she said as if it was something scandalous, prompting a united reaction from the other guides.

"What--really?! Just the two of you?"

Zein rolled his eyes at the way these people suddenly crawled closer to him despite saying they couldn’t move anymore just a minute ago. "What’s so special about that? I go out with him all the time."

"Not in a helicopter!"

"Is that so special?"

"It’s like everyone’s dream date!"

"I didn’t know that," Zein muttered before downing his water. Well...it did feel like a date, a very nice one, where they glimpse a bit into the past and the future.

And it ended with them defiling the inside of the helicopter before getting back, but no one need to know that.

"But seriously, Captain, why are we suddenly in spartan mode?" Dean asked again.

"It’s your end-of-the-year performance evaluation," Zein told them casually.

Dheera tilted her head. "We have that? Do we get a bonus if we perform well?"

"I don’t know about bonus, but..." Zein stared at the eyes of the guides that were focusing on him and announced; "The one who has the best progress will come with me to the annual gathering."

"!!"

* * *

"Is that true?" Abel asked when Zein came to his office for their weekly meeting.

"What?"

"You’ll take someone along to the gathering,"

Zein raised his brow as he took a seat. He didn’t expect the news to spread already, or that they would be that excited about it. But it seemed like usually, only prominent guides could come to the gathering--the elite kind like Abel Hertz, or the Temple’s top disciples.

As a rogue, Zein had never been involved in the Sentinel business before, so he didn’t know much about it. And when he asked Radia if he could bring one or two guides along to the gathering, the guildmaster agreed casually, so he thought it was just like a business trip.

"Yeah, but it’s not about bringing them, though," Zein said, and added when Abrl tilted his head in confusion. "My reward is for them to know about the reclamation project earlier than anyone."

"I see..." Abel nodded. They would only tell the rest of the guild after the annual gathering, so it was like giving them an early warning and mental preparation.

"Are you going there too?" Zein asked, eyeing the thick booklet with many page makers jutted out from the side, laid in front of the Chief Guide. The cover of the booklet showed a photograph of a table covered in white linen and a beautiful flower centerpiece.

Abel shook his head and let out a long sigh. "No, I need to hold the fort, and...there’s a lot to prepare."

"For your wedding? Isn’t it still in a few months? Why does it feel like it’s in a few weeks?" Zein asked in confusion.

Wasn’t it supposed to be in the third month of next year? So there was still a while three months to prepare.

At Zein’s words, however, Abel was slumped on his desk, cheek pressed on the wooden surface. "Haa...if it’s up to me, I would just have it in the registry office and only hold a small party with family and friends."

"But?"

"But it’s not that easy if you have a big family, and everyone wants to get involved, and everything becomes such a big event," Abel groaned. "It’s even messier if two sides of the family are both like that."

Zein arched his brow. A big wedding, huh...

"Is your partner a civilian?"

Abel raised his head and gave Zein a wry smile. "Yeah."

"Make sense..." the tall guide muttered.

Guide’s relationship, be it sexual or romantic, had always been complicated. Due to the nature of their work, guides often had to put themselves in intimate interactions with espers.

There was only a handful of guides capable of restricting themselves to hand-to-hand guiding. Most often than not, guiding would involve touching intimate places, kissing, and intercourse--especially in the old days when the system hadn’t been established well, and espers only started getting cleansed after they were on the verge of eruption. This was why a lot of guides ended up being treated like sex slaves for espers, and they started to flee to the Temple for protection. The unlucky one that couldn’t get away would end up in guide brothels, which, in some very dark parts of the world, continue to operate in the shadow to this day.

It took a long time until the current system where espers needed to have cleansing regularly was put into practice. With the new system, guides didn’t have to do thorough guiding every time, so even guiding by holding hands was still manageable. Guides slowly alleviate their status from merely a convenient cure to a necessary partner, and their rights were protected by the law.

But the practice of intimate guiding was still normative, although not as extreme as in the past--at the very least, they didn’t have to have sex every time they were guiding. Thus, guides were subjected to this image of being an alluring, mystical courtesan.

Not many people could live with their partner engaged in intimate acts daily for work. Even Zein, who only did hand-to-hand guiding, always found Bassena getting jealous.

Unless their partner was very understanding, guides generally had difficulties having relationships with people. Most guides who were in a relationship with espers ended up being exclusive guides for those espers. With civilians, they had to find a partner that understood it was all for work. Relationships between guides, meanwhile, were frowned upon, because guides were only birthed by guides, and having two guides together meant halving the chance of having more guides, even though the world was already lacking guides as it was.

"Your partner must be an understanding person," Zein tapped on the armrest, and Abel finally looked genuinely happy instead of worn out.

"Working in Trinity helped, because it was known that we never force our guides to do intimate stuff," the Chief guide said. "Working for the Central give that reassurance too, but the salary is just...not enough to build a family with."

Building a family...Zein paused, leaning back as his mind recalled his trip to the lakeside house. It was a good place suitable to build a family too, and that was probably why his parents decided to stay there.

Family. Zein felt his fingers itch with an urge to stroke his stomach. But for what--he no longer had it; the means to build a family.

"This is why guides married late, isn’t it?" he distracted himself by talking again.

"I heard there’s a discourse about having guides freeze their seed and egg, and using surrogates to birth more guides," Abel shrugged. "You know, in case our number declines in the future."

"Hah!" Zein scoffed. "If guides are such a precious commodity, they shouldn’t treat guides like tools and slaves in the first place."

"Nah," Abel sneered, face visibly darkened. "It’s because we’re precious that they want to have complete control of us. If it’s not for the Temple, they would have treated us like cattle; using us only for guiding and breeding."

"Speaking like an activist," Zein smirked.

"Ah, Speaking about activists, you’ll probably receive their invitation during the annual gathering," Abel snapped his fingers suddenly.

Zein tilted his head. "Who?"

"The guide’s right movement."

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