There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 249 - 242. Retracing Steps

Chapter 249: Chapter 242. Retracing Steps

"Are you alright?" Zein asked Naomi, who got paler and paler the further they stepped into the red-zone.

What she saw from the gate were the ’robust’ ones; espers and workers. But going further, they started to see the weaker civilians. And children. Scrawny children walked around in a heartbreaking condition; thin clothing, some barefooted and dirty, a lot had faces that did not belong to children.

They did not look at the three strangers with caution, but fear. They immediately scurried off to hide inside or behind a building, between the alley, or clutching to the nearest adult.

"Sometimes higher-zone people came down to take children away," Zein explained this reaction to the real high-zone dwellers.

He too, always hide immediately whenever those strangers came--it was something that Alma and the grandma next door adamantly ordered him to do. Fortunately or unfortunately, because Marshal Tadros had promised him to Umbra, no one ever looked for him.

Naomi pressed her lips and asked carefully. "Take them...where?"

"The slum, the brothel, the slave trader--"

"The what?!"

Zein glanced at the shocked woman and shrugged. He continued to look around and, to Naomi’s further horror, made a bright comment while kicking his heel on the surprisingly sturdy road. "This place has actually gotten a bit better."

"Right?" Laz looked back to show his wide grin. He had given the gate duty to someone else so he could guide Zein around. "We try our best to improve things now that Umbra isn’t around to mess things up,"

Things had gotten better? So it was worse before?! Naomi almost couldn’t keep her lips closed as she listened to the lighthearted exchange.

"Did you get new suppliers?" Zein asked inquisitively as they passed in front of a ’general’ store. Logistics was one of the things he needed to think about once the orphanage was up and running after all.

"No, we used the one supplying Umbra before," Laz shrugged. "Now that they’re not here, no one monopolizing goods distribution anymore."

"What a nice Landlord," Zein smirked, and Laz laughed in response. It was clear that he was proud of his mercenary group. "Ah..."

To end Naomi’s suffering, they fortunately arrived at the site of the construction. Coincidentally, old man Dan’s daughter was there. Aida greeted him cheerfully, along with the construction leader who knew Naomi from some Mortix project before.

"You made it, Sir," Aida smiled amiably, although Zein could see she had lost a bit of her initial loveliness.

Staying for a long time in this place did have that kind of effect. "Did you meet your father in New Year?"

"Yes, he visited us in Neyta briefly before going back," she replied with a little laugh. "He said he had to water the plants in your room."

"Well, sorry about that," Zein chuckled, which actually surprised Laz, who always remembered the guide to be cold and reserved. He only ever saw Zein this at ease when the guide was talking with Alma. "Is everything going smoothly?"

"Yes, Sir--the Scarlet Moon helped a lot in guarding and escorting the materials," she nodded, and Laz smiled proudly once again. "It’s just..."

Aida and the construction manager looked at each other and smiled wryly. This time, it was the manager who explained the situation. "It’s just rather hard for the workers who came from other zones to...adjust."

"Anything to alleviate that?"

"We decided to make bimonthly shift; letting a group works for two weeks, and sent them back home for another two while another group took the next shift," the manager told him. "At least, until they get more accustomed to the environment here."

Zein nodded in agreement. "Keep the food and water supply coming," he told Aida, who was in charge of the project’s expenses. "Distribute enough to the resident too, just once a month is okay."

"Oh? But--"

"I’ll take care of the Landlord’s permit," Zein glanced at Laz, who just smirked and raised his thumb.

They talked about the construction and the project for a bit After Zein checked on the building plan and looked around the site’s condition, he decided to get into his ’real’ schedule; talking to the Scarlet Moon.

"You should stay here for now," Zein told Naomi, who fortunately already had a better complexion. Ironically, the construction place had better accommodation than other buildings in this town. And more importantly; better logistics. "Give her a warm tea or something."

"Yes, Sir," Aida smiled understandingly at Naomi. She too, had more or less the same reaction with her when she first arrived here.

Fortunately, through her charity management work, she often came across sad and depressing scenery--just not as bad as this place. While her root was in a red-zone too, she was still a baby back then, before her father smuggled their family into the higher-zone. Looking at the condition of the red-zone for the first time in her life, she could feel the desperation of her father to get her out of this place. It filled her heart with immense respect and gratitude toward her father.

As she watched Zein walking away toward the Landlord’s building in the middle of the town, Aida couldn’t help but see an image of a scrawny child with a beautiful face and a sharp pair of blue eyes, trying to survive in this harsh place without parents to shield him--no father to smuggle him out so he could live a ’normal’ life. She tried to put herself in that position, and before she knew it, she already clutching her chest tightly, fighting the sting of tears in her eyes.

Children...a lot of children experienced this even now. Those who were old enough to know what an orphanage was would look at the construction site with glittering eyes. The foundation’s workers, including Aida, would sometimes share some snacks with these children, and the looks of wonder in their eyes were...heartbreaking, for lack of better words.

She promised herself and the guide that she would do her absolute best for this project.

* * *

"I started to think you’ll spend a whole day admiring your building," Alma greeted with a laugh as Zein walked through the Scarlet Moon’s base--still the old base, but renewed to look more sturdy and worthy of a Landlord’s status.

Still bringing out nostalgic memory--Zein thought with a smirk. That chair in the corner he usually used years ago was still there too.

"It’s barely a building," he scoffed and took a seat on the couch--this one was comparably new.

"But it’s admirable still," the berserker smirked from her seat across Zein. "Zach is still in the dungeon."

"I was told he is on his way back," Zein said, glancing at Laz.

"Santa told me," the gatekeeper shrugged, and as if confirming this statement, the front door opened to the Scarlet Moon leader walking in, reeking of miasma and blood.

"Ah, you’re here," the man paused briefly when he saw Zein and Jock--who was standing behind the guide’s seat. "Let me change a bit,"

Zein scoffed at that. "Why do you act like you’re talking to a high dweller?"

"You are," the man raised his brow, taking off the spear slung to his back and giving it to Laz, who put it somewhere else to get cleaned.

"For half a year," Zein shrugged.

"Yeah--stop acting all formal, lil bro," Alma sneered at her brother, laughing at the pretentious act.

Zach, who was trying to act civilized in front of official representatives of a green-zone guild, could only sigh and took a seat on the couch after shedding his bloody combat jacket. His eyes then caught sight of several bottles of water and other drinks coming out of the guide’s storage ring.

Which was funny, because usually, the one who provided refreshments was the host. "What is this?"

"Bribes," Zein replied nonchalantly, prompting Alma to laugh heartily.

"I’ll take the bribe if it’s that storage ring," she chuckled.

"Can’t do, it’s a gift."

"Hah!" the berserker scoffed. "You’re telling me you landed yourself a rich boyfriend, now?"

"Jealous?"

"Yes, goddamn it! Give me a rich boyfriend too!"

Haa...Zach let out a long sigh and just decided to open a bottle of water to quench his thirst and slight frustration. Zein was one thing, but his sister truly loved to rub it in his face that he had been utterly rejected. And while he already said he’d given up for real and moved on, he couldn’t just do that in two weeks.

"Shouldn’t this meeting happen during the conference?" he asked after savoring the freshness that he had only tasted at the conference before.

"It should be," Zein nodded, opening his mask to take a water for himself. "But a lot of unexpected things kept happening."

"So I heard," Zach leaned back and tried to hold back from staring at the guide’s face. This did not help with his effort of moving on with his feeling. "Too bad--if we had the meeting then, you wouldn’t have to come down to this awful place just to have a disappointing result."

Alma averted her eyes and decided to get busy choosing her drink. While it was something they had been decided from the first time Trinity came forth with the proposal, she didn’t think her brother would deliver it with spite in his voice.

Perhaps he was just tired from the dungeon raid, who knows? She doubted that was the reason though, knowing their history. Maybe she should have held herself back from that ’boyfriend’ comment.

Zein stared at both siblings who simultaneously avoided his gaze for completely different reasons. Time passed in silence, until Zach was getting attacked by his conscience and cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Sorry,"

Zein responded with a chuckle, leaning back and staring at the red sky from the window. "I know," he said. "I already told my the Guildmaster you might reject it."

Jock raised his brow--he didn’t know about this. But Zein provided an explanation for him through his next words. "You’ll have to relinquish the Landlord position if you go to the Deathzone, and who knows what kind of Landlord will come up next," the guide sighed. "I personally thought you are the best option for this place,"

Of course, it wasn’t like there was no one who could replace Scarlet Moon here. But no one had more strength and older history than Scarlet Moon--who had been established for three generations here. People who lived in the red-zone were already miserable enough, so the least they could hope was for the Landlord to at least not add to their misery. After decades of living under vicious rogue guilds like Umbra, having Scarlet Moon leading them was like seeing a bright light after threading a long black tunnel.

Zein could not take that light away from the people here.

"Besides," he smirked as the siblings finally stopped avoiding his eyes. "I need a trustworthy Landlord to take care of my orphanage."

It might be a form of concession, or just a selfish wish on his part, but Zein believed Radia wouldn’t meet a setback just because one mercenary group rejected the cooperation.

Alma laughed again at the guide’s cheeky smile. Rather than the way it all ended peacefully, she was glad that Zein seemed more relaxed and smiled more often. Even after coming back to this place, which contained painful things for him.

But then, she almost choked on her drink when Zein spoke again.

"Anyway, I heard you made a memorial for the outbreak?"

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.