There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 346 - 338. Mundane Life

Chapter 346: Chapter 338. Mundane Life

"He’s making the investigation team," Radia told Zein during a guiding session. "There will be an emergency shareholder meeting in four days, so let’s move the funds in two."

"Senan should arrive here this afternoon, so we can proceed with it whenever you want," the guide nodded, staring at the hand he was holding with deep concern in his eyes.

The summoner was lying down on the couch, looking more and more like someone whose soul was being stretched thin. Even if his speech and demeanor looked as firm as ever, Zein saw the marsh in the man’s core getting murkier and murkier. At least though, Radia let go of his pretense during a guiding session, perhaps because Zein could see his mental state through the process anyway.

"I’ll call Logan then," Radia brought his commlink up, tapping on it lethargically.

Seeing him like that, Zein wondered if there was someone Radia could actually confide in. As their ’big brother’, it was Bassena and Han Shin who usually sought consul with him, and since he was the kind of person who had to look strong and fine on the outside, Zein couldn’t imagine the man being vulnerable and pouring out his emotions. Even the other day, Radia simply told him in a tired tone, as if trying to be dismissive about his own feelings.

"Hey,"

"What?"

"Your birthday," Zein said carefully, watching any kind of changes inside the man’s system, "would it be okay to celebrate it, or should we just leave you alone?"

Fortunately, there was no obvious fluctuation inside the mana core. But Radia did stare at the ceiling wordlessly for a while. "Depends on what kind of news I’ll receive before that day," Radia muttered. "But I do prefer to be left alone; thanks for asking."

"Won’t your parents come home that day?"

Radia turned his head to look at Zein for the first time since the guiding started; a subtle smile played on his lips. "Why?"

"...just curious," Zein shrugged. "I’ve met your grandmother, but not your parents."

"Kinda sounds like you want to ask for my hand," the summoner smirked, and Zein rolled his eyes in response. "But yes, I think so. They usually come when my birth date is finally on the calendar."

And then, looking at the guide’s intrigued eyes, Radia added. "Don’t get too excited; they’re just normal people," he chuckled.

Zein said nothing, but it was clear from his expression that the guide was skeptical. What kind of normal parents could raise someone like Radia Mallarc? Although...there was also a possibility that Radia was the product of the matriarch’s education.

"It’s true," the summoner chuckled. "People tend to think my parents left the house from infighting, or they’d like to speculate that my father hated being the Chairman and so he gave me the position first thing and bolted out of the house to chase his passion," he leaned back on the pillow with a small laugh. "But there’s nothing as dramatic as that happening in my household."

"Oh?"

"My parents are just the kind of people who like to live their life comfortably," Radia shrugged. "My father didn’t mind living a corporate job, being the Chairman or being the patriarch--if he had to do it, then he’d do it. But he also didn’t mind if he didn’t. How should I say this..." Radia rubbed his lips in contemplation. "He’s just a rich man going with the flow? Very mundane, right?"

A rich person doing whatever they feel like doing was actually what Zein imagined people living in the green zone were. If one already rolling around in wealth, why complicate oneself with trouble? So...yeah, that was pretty mundane.

"With that kind of mindset, they let me live however I like, whilst teaching me how to clean up the mess that might happen as consequences," Radia continued. "They let me become an active esper, and when I discarded that option, they told me to just take over the group, saying I was better at it than them. And just like that, they took off, saying they’d squander the money I earned for them and live a nice pampered life touring around the world."

Radia laughed softly, shaking his head while fondness contained in every word. It was easy to tell that the man loved them, and it was nice to know too. Perhaps that was what made him still have that compassion toward his people, even though his morale about everything else seemed questionable at best.

"I see," Zein nodded, feeling slightly at ease that at the very least, Radia had a good relationship with his parents. He hoped that they were also the kind of parents Radia could confide in, even as an adult.

Radia smiled subtly at the way Zein’s face relaxed. "So normal, right?"

"I think they are actually very special," Zein shrugged. Especially after seeing how Darleon acted and how Varion turned out.

Of course, it was unfair to compare them when their circumstances were also different. All in all, Zein thought it was also thanks to the matriarch, who seemed to be rather flexible and casual, even with that imposing gaze and gait. Bassena had told him that the House of Mallarc wasn’t so strict about the succession; it didn’t have to be a direct line, it didn’t have to be a man. It just needed to be someone capable.

Would things be different if the House of Horin was more like that? But then again, it could be a personality matter. With all the freedom on top of the money he got, Radia’s father could also end up like Varion; a spoiled manchild with a superiority complex.

Hell--Radia could end up like that too. The fact that both of them had control over their desires despite having every means to act on them, for Zein, was enough to think they were special.

"Special, huh?" Radia’s lips stretched a bit wider, and the crimson eyes twinkled with an amused gaze. "People who know them call them boring."

"Nothing wrong with being boring together," Zein replied nonchalantly. No, he could even say he was envious of that.

Not everything should be a drama; and a smooth, peaceful, easy life didn’t make it less meaningful than the one with a ton of hardship.

"That’s true," Radia chuckled darkly, voice dripping in self-mockery. "I do think our lives need to be more boring."

"No objection here."

As much as he believed everything in his life happened for a reason, he would never say no to the life that Radia’s parents had; going around the world and having their adventures in their own way and at their own pace. Perfectly boring, perfectly fulfilling.

That kind of life, together with Bassena, sounded like perfection.

"Oh, you’re both here," the sound of the door opening could be heard together with Han Shin’s voice. The healer came inside the office bringing a folder with him.

Eyes on the folder, Radia got up and signaled Zein to stop the guiding. With the slight tension between them these days, there would be only one reason why the healer came to the Guildmaster’s office without being called.

"Any result?" Radia asked before Han Shin even reached the couch, failing to hide the slight agitation in his voice.

"Nothing conclusive, but..." Han Shin stopped beside the armchair Zein sat in, opening the folder in his hand. "For the last six that he gave me without any request, all of them had minimal tampering and exposure to Earth’s atmospheric pressure, so there’s a high possibility that each material was harvested no long before it was given to me--I’ve put the date of their delivery in order."

Han Shin handed over the folder to Radia, who raised his brow as he read the information that Han Shin uttered next. "But based on the amount of human mana mixed in the surface of those materials, I concluded all of them were coming from eternal dungeons."

This time, it was Zein who got surprised--but for a different reason than Radia. "You can differentiate that?"

"Yeah," Han Shin nodded, taking a seat on Zein’s armrest while explaining. "Eternal dungeons have people coming in and out a lot for a long period of time, so the mana coming out of espers would attach to the material inside. It wouldn’t happen in a normal dungeon that only opened for three weeks at most, especially since only one or two squads would come inside a normal dungeon."

And three weeks wouldn’t be enough to make an esper’s mana infused to the surface of the material--only a dungeon that had been in use in at least twenty-eight weeks would have mana footprints inside it.

This piece of information, rather than relieving, was making Radia look even more stressed out. He wiped his frowning face and groaned.

"Why? What’s wrong with them being from eternal dungeons?"

Radia let out a long sigh before replying. "When Shin said they were all coming from dungeons the other day, I had thought Joon was telling us he moved from dungeon to dungeon to avoid someone--or something--chasing his whereabouts,"

While dungeon appearance should always be registered to the government and association by law, there would be times when they came out in the places where the eyes of the authority did not reach; the red-zone, the slums, or the wilderness. During such cases, often times the dungeons would already be raided by the one who found them without reporting it to the authorities.

Radia had thought about Joon staying in such a dungeon, or disguising himself and raiding dungeons with some mercenary groups.

"But eternal dungeons..." Radia massaged his temple. "All eternal dungeons had an owner. The fact that none of those six eternal dungeon management reported his appearance meant Joon was entering the place stealthily,"

Which, for him, wasn’t such an impossible feat. But why? The question was crossing their mind. Why would he enter places that would be monitored regularly if he was in hiding?

"But if he came inside registered eternal dungeons, at least it’ll be easier to track him, right?" Zein said, prompting Radia to get calmer and take a deep breath.

"Did you manage to find out which dungeons?" Radia asked the healer.

"Not yet," Han Shin shook his head and looked at his commlink. "The data is still processing, but I should have it by--oh, it came."

Both Zein and Radia leaned their body forward, looking at the healer intently. Han Shin opened the encrypted file on his commlink and relayed the report. "There are a total of fifteen eternal dungeons in the Federation containing one of those six materials."

"Fifteen..." Zein frowned. Supposing Han Joon took one different material from each dungeon, they would need to eliminate more than half of that list.

"Well, some of the materials--like number two and number four--are quite common; they could be mined from at least four different eternal dungeons, so that’s to be expected, but--ah!" Han Shin paused and exclaimed. "Material number six, the white crystal Taoque, only came from one dungeon."

"Go on,"

Han Shin scrolled the report and read with narrowed eyes. "The dungeon is under the management and security of a mercenary group; Eastern Wind. But...the owner isn’t that group. It’s owned by a...university?" the healer tilted his head. "Otherworld Anthropology Research Center? Huh..."

While Zein was confused at the confusion, Radia frowned and asked in a low voice. "Who owned the University?" he asked. "Who sponsored the research center?"

Han Shin clicked on the greyed-out block to read the hidden text beneath, and pressed his lips in response. "It’s...the House of Horin."

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