There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 347 - 339. New Player

Chapter 347: Chapter 339. New Player

"Them again?" Bassena parted his lips when Zein told him about the result of Han Shin’s research. "With everything that happened between us and House Horin...somehow it doesn’t feel like a coincidence."

Zein nodded while tapping on his mug absentmindedly. Laying down on the armrest of the couch in the living room, he stared blankly at the ceiling. "Do you think it is them who chase after Han Joon?"

"I’d like to think that, so we could have even more reasons to crush them," Bassena shrugged, stroking Zein’s legs draped across his lap. "But I couldn’t think of why..."

"Hmm...is there something we missed? Something that Var--whatever his name is--said?"

Bassena smiled at Zein’s blatant disregard to remember Varion’s name. Not that he needed to. While Varion was the one who ordered his abduction, Zein cared more about the one who ordered Varion. As for the man, he was only someone to be beaten--that was the extent of Celestia’s current Guildmaster’s importance for Zein.

"Should we question that man again?" Bassena wondered.

"He didn’t seem like he knows anything, though--rather useless that one."

Bassena smirked and kissed the knee in front of him in delight. "Maybe I should start to see if I can crack that man--you know, the Vaski’s leftover."

"You’re a Vaski too, you know," Zein scoffed, nudging the esper’s thigh with the heel of his foot.

Bassena smirked and shifted, crawling over and hovering above the guide. "I’m the main course," he lowered his head and dove for a quick taste of the hot chocolate on Zein’s lips. "Not the crumbs."

"Mm..."

Bassena chuckled at the lukewarm reaction and took the mug away from Zein’s hand, moving it to the table so those callous hands had better things to hold on to--like his face. "You’re being clingy," the guide said dryly, but still stroking the esper’s face with gentle fondness.

"I feel like you haven’t spoiled me for a long time," Bassena pursed his lips.

They had been busy chasing the truth behind Zein’s abduction, which became even bigger and bigger with each lead. Not to mention Han Joon’s disappearance that dampened their spirit greatly. They were low in energy, and there was hardly any mood for indulgence.

Bassena let out a groan and snuggled his head between Zein’s neck and shoulder, inhaling the soothing, refreshing scent of the guide. "Couldn’t even have a decent date," he grumbled.

"Kind of feel improper doing something like that when Han Joon is missing," Zein muttered while stroking the platinum hair. "Let’s watch over Radia carefully."

Bassena sighed--not because he was disappointed by the probability of lesser dates in the future, but because he too, knew how delicate the atmosphere around Radia had become. He became even more annoyed at the House of Horin even though it might only be a random coincidence.

Nah...that House might have something to do with it too. According to Zein’s account of what Joon told him, there was a possibility that the soldier entered the military because of the ’danger’ threatening Radia. In that case, the danger might be inside the military, or perhaps the government.

"What did that bastard say again?" Bassena mumbled on top of Zein’s chest. "That the patriarch used to be able to control the government...?"

"What about it?" Zein tilted his head.

Now that he thought about it, they kind of glossed over this matter the other day. They were so focused on finding out if House Horin was the ’cult’ and whether or not they had a specter’s core. Bassena raised his head, brows furrowed slightly.

"Hey...he said used to...right? Because he couldn’t do it now?"

"...yeah?" Zein narrowed his eyes. "You think...Joon had something to do about it?"

They went silent for a while, just looking at each other with intrigue. "I mean...the timeline is..." Bassena bit his lips, eyes squinting from an effort to work his brain out before he gave up and burrowed his face into Zein’s neck again. "Ugh, whatever--thinking is Radia’s job anyway."

* * *

"There’s an emergency shareholder meeting?" inside one of Celestia’s secluded pantry in the corner of the fifth floor, Carra Marji opened the door and asked the people inside quietly.

"Yeah, you know..." Mari, the staff working for the Internal Affairs Department of Celestia, leaned closer to the esper and whispered. "Since the guildmaster is still missing."

Not everyone knew about this fact, except those closely related to this event. Carra was there in the hall outside the Guildmaster’s office when Darleon Belthera screamed furiously, and Mari had been busy taking care of the aftermath with a small team from PR.

"I think they can’t cover it up anymore since the investigation team would need to question our members," she shook her head while stirring her tea. "Want some?"

"Sure," Carra closed the door and leaned against the counter, sighing. "Well...it can’t be helped. People already getting suspicious anyway."

"Mm," Mari nodded. Outsiders might believe it, but the guild members knew the Guildmaster didn’t like going to the Tower--so what secluded training?

"Do you know who’s on the investigation team?" Carra asked.

Mari took out her personal tea caddy and chose a packet, glancing at the esper with a subtle smile on her face. "It’s the former Guildmaster who formed them, so I heard it’s filled with his disciples who had been staying in other branches after Guildmaster took office."

Carra’s brow arched in surprise, eyes brightened like Mari’s smile. "He pulled them here?"

"Yeah," Mari winked. She was a part of the team that had to prepare an office for this investigation team, so she got a glimpse of who was on the list. "I guess Sir Darleon doesn’t trust the main headquarters much--I understand though, since his son did vanish beneath our nose."

Their nose, more like. A non-active esper employee like her never had any say in the management anyway. She poured the freshly boiled water and for a while, both of them just stared at the slowly steeping tea in silent contemplation.

"Haa...do you think we’ll have another faction war?" Carra propped her elbow against the counter and groaned.

"Most likely," Mari shrugged nonchalantly. The good thing about being a regular employee was no matter who became the ruler, boring staff like her got to keep her position.

The espers, though...

"It’s like we had nothing better to do," Carra grumbled. Espers had to take sides, because it influenced their dungeon raiding. Staying in a winning faction meant a smooth raiding license, priority in training room booking, better equipment, and so on.

It was hard staying neutral in this kind of place, unless you were the former Guildmaster’s disciple, since Darleon Belthera still had influences on the older players. Even if they were just ’pretending’ to join, they still had to do it. That is, unless they want to be seated on the bench forever, without having a chance to be sent to the dungeon and receive money.

And that was why both of them felt glad that those disciples would come. Even if they were only here to ’investigate’, they might be able to act as a buffer, a balancer between the factions--especially the crumbling Guildmaster’s faction and the rising vice-Guildmaster’s faction.

Mari took out the tea leaves and handed the cup to Carra while pondering over their initial topic; the shareholder meeting. "The shareholders who used to back the Guildmaster might be changing ship, right?"

"Obviously," Carra nodded. Those shareholders only wanted profit, so once they found out Varion Belthera was missing, they would most likely move to support the one who might take his place as the next Guildmaster.

"Oh--did you hear? It seemed like a new major shareholder was coming in," Mari clapped her hand, remembering the reason why she called Carra in the first place.

"Oh?"

"You know Iron Shield? We used to buy equipment from them when we were rookies, right?" Mari explained, recalling the day when she was still an aspiring esper--until she got injured and ended up as a regular employee.

"Ah--them? Yeah, I remember," Carra nodded, sipping on the fragrant tea to soothe her mind which had been stressing out about the tension inside the guild. "Well, that’s actually good. I’d rather it’s a company involved in the dungeon business rather than a random conglomerate that knows nothing about our work."

"Hear, hear!" Mari chuckled while raising her own cup, drinking the now lukewarm tea. "But it means they’ll need to choose a faction right away, huh?"

Just like the espers, shareholders were also prone to this faction war. After all, they invested their money to receive profit in return, and if they didn’t choose a side that would further their interest, they would only receive crumbs.

"...I kind of hope they will change something ’round here, but..." Carra mumbled with pursed lips. But in the end, she just sighed and drank the fragrant tea.

Mari chuckled and patted her friend’s back. "Don’t get your hopes up."

"I know..."

"Still," Mari leaned against the wall on the opposite side and smirked at the esper. "The war of nerves on that day might be worth watching."

"True,"

With a streak of mischievousness she had since her active days, Mari smiled deeply behind her cup and whispered. "We should ask someone to record it secretly."

Carra snorted and for the first time in four years, they let themselves laugh freely.

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