There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 397 - 389. Legacy

Chapter 397: Chapter 389. Legacy

As expected, the voice of dissent toward the ’harsh’ punishment that House Horin received after the trial against House Ishetra died down after the citizens watched the trial for Operation Kronos.

Now, they thought that the punishment wasn’t harsh enough.

The extent of the atrocities mentioned in the prosecutor’s opening speech put Zein’s case in a new light. Previously, it was only seen as a conflict between two Old Houses. With the new trial, it became so much more.

Now, House Ishtera has become one of the many victims that people can relate to. It shone a light on the previous story about Zein’s struggle, and people were once again reminded that the guide did not come from a privileged place.

Not that Zein cared if their view of him improved or not.

That being said, he did not expect to be greeted by another bout of crying from the kids in Trinity.

"Captain!"

Zein tilted his head when Dheera was greeting him while crying again. He let the girl cling to him, but also looked around the guide lounge with confusion. Why did they look so down? A glance at his commlink told him today wasn’t the day for the simulation training, so why all the crying?

He shifted his gaze to the sound of reason in the room; Nadine and Alice. His assistant, as usual, swiftly provided him with an answer by lifting her tablet where an article was displayed. It connected his past of living in the red zone with the attack on House Ishtera twenty-nine years ago.

"Ah..." he looked down and flicked the weeping girl’s forehead. "Why? Do you think my life is sad? Are you pitying me?"

Dheera--and the other guides--immediately shook their head. "N-no," she said in the middle of her sob. She knew how strong her Captain was, and Zein had never shown any sign that he felt bad about what he had been through in his life. "It’s just...I’m ashamed because I’ve been too complacent with my lif--ouch!"

Again, Zein flicked the girl. "There’s nothing wrong with enjoying living your life as long as you bring no harm to others while doing it," Zein patted the groaning girl’s head before letting out a sigh. "Striving to be better is a separate thing."

"Ung..."

Zein chuckled and swept his gaze to the other guides. How interesting; their train of thought was quite naive, but they were all good people. It was hard to come across a group of people with no sound of dissent and toxicity. It almost made him feel bad about taking them to the Deathzone.

"More importantly, have you talked with your psychiatrist?"

"Yes, Captain..."

"Have you made your decision?" Zein looked around, observing their eyes. At that point, their gaze shifted--from a display of sadness to conviction.

Dheera looked up after stroking her twice-struck forehead, the tears in her eyes had turned into a blazing fire. "Captain, if we’re not taking care of the Deathzone, will it spread to the other region?"

The question brought Zein back to the memories of the marching forces and the white-eyed titan. "Perhaps," he said.

"Okay," the girl nodded then, and walked toward Alice while taking out her consultation result.

Zein held back his chuckle, but he couldn’t help the smile on his lips. He was proud--he didn’t mind to admit that. He still stood by his ideal; that above a guide’s ability, mental fortitude should be prioritized. Skill could be taught, but the willingness to bulldoze through fear could only come from within.

"But, Captain...is it true that the one who did the--ahem--execution was...Golden Viper?" Brisk scooted closer and asked carefully.

The question immediately turned the guides’ attention to Zein again. "So I heard."

Dheera gasped. "Was..." she lowered her voice, but with how quiet the others were, everyone could still hear her clearly. "Was Sir Vaski destroying his clan because of this? For you?"

Zein chuckled. "No; none of us knew about it at that time."

Moreover, Zein didn’t even know Bassena Vaski existed at that time. At the time Bassena made his revenge, Zein already pushed the man with the amber eyes he met in a cave out of his mind.

But that didn’t seem to deter these kids’ fantasies. Dheera clapped her hands, no trace of lament was left in her face. "Then it means you are fated, isn’t it? To think that he unknowingly avenged your family!"

"Mm," this time, not even Nadine was immune to the atmosphere. "Even if he hadn’t, I’m sure Sir Vaski would do it immediately after knowing, don’t you think?"

"Yes, yes! Absolutely!"

"Oh--Oh! Have you read this article? They talked about this exact thing! Like how it would go if Sir Vaski did not destroy the Golden Viper--what do they call it--star-crossed lover?"

"Let me see! Let me see!"

Zein narrowed his eyes. He knew some people were strangely obsessed with his relationship with Bassena--which he chucked up to the fact that Bassena was more or less a celebrity. He just didn’t think his subordinates were part of this group.

With a simple shake of his head, he told Alice to make sure the reflex training this afternoon was extra hard, before going to the executive lounge to guide Rina.

But he forgot that Rina was just as bad as his kids, and he had to hear the esper talking about all the gossip running around the celebrity circles these days. The tanker would have held him there for more stories had Zein’s commlink not rang on time to tell him that his lawyer and financier had finally arrived.

Ah, finally. The day of him receiving the key to Horin’s residence was nearing.

* * *

The last time Zein was there, he was in a hurry and could only focus on Bassena who dragged him through the compound straight to the archive hall. Obviously, on the way back, he only focused on his father.

Now that he had a good look, the residence was big. It was a whole estate surrounded by a brick wall, with a large gate made of expensive timber and an enforced slanted roof, located just outside the capital.

Ever since the raid, the place had been guarded by the combined force of the Inquisition’s espers and government agents. Right after the verdict came out, the residents were given two days to vacate the premises with their belongings; the main family, the indirect lines, the vassals--the whole thing.

And while they did leave the compound, they didn’t leave the area.

Zein stared at the group of people--mostly non-esper--congregating not far from the gate. They shouted to the guards to let them back in, hurling curses at the court, at the government, at the other Houses...

And now that they saw Zein was there, they started to hurl curses at them.

"How shameless!" Han Shin frowned deeply at the group of protesters. "I think that one is the wife of the clan’s heir."

"Just ignore them," Zein grabbed Bassena’s twitching fingers, and the shadow crept towards the group stopped, coming back inside the esper. "There’s nothing they could do about it anyway...right?"

Logan nodded and walked to the guards, ignoring the protesting yells. He produced the letter of acquisition so the guards could open the gate for them so they could just come inside with their cars.

"Do you feel bad about them?" Bassena asked coldly when he saw Zein glancing at the group when passed them to enter the gate.

"My pity had been exhausted when I decided to spare their life," Zein replied dryly. "Although, I do wonder if some of them would serve as...nuisance, in the future."

"You mean if they come to get revenge?"

"Mm..."

They wouldn’t be able to enact any revenge when he was in the Deathzone, but they might do something to this place--and what he wanted to turn it into.

"You might not need to worry too much," Bassena said. "Their initial power this past century laid on the threat of Operation Kronos. But what do they have now? Their assets and wealth were seized. They have no authority, so the household would just break apart. No one would support them anymore, especially after the trial concluded in the future."

"That’s right," Han Shin chimed in from the back seat. "They are not like House Ishtera and the Iron Shield, Zein. If there’s any good members in that House, they were already left--you know, like that old man Darleon."

Ah, right. Zein almost forgot that Darleon Belthera used to be a member of House Horin.

"Well, if they are ’good people’, they wouldn’t have the audacity to yell about unfairness when their patriarch clearly had been killing people without a care in this world," Bassena scoffed.

Oh, that was true. Zein nodded in agreement and pushed his worry out of his mind. Well, Iron Shield wasn’t such a weak force nowadays anyway, and they could always move Celestia if they wanted to.

"Anyway," Bassena stopped the car in the parking lot and stared at the outer courtyard. "What do you want to do with this place?"

"Eh? You don’t know too?" Han Shin raised his brows. "He didn’t tell you yet?"

"No," Bassena shrugged. Zein had been keeping his mouth shut all this time. The only people who knew about his plan were Logan and the financier who was coming out of another car.

So they looked at Zein curiously, as the guide swept his gaze around the outer yard of the compound. The financier who walked toward them nodded at Zein. "I think it’s feasible, Sir," she said. "I don’t even think we need to do too many reconstruction projects. All you need to worry about is the licensing."

"That’s good."

They got even more curious now, but patiently waited for Zein to explain. Looking at the compound again, Zein replied with clear blue eyes. "An academy," he said, a subtle smile playing on his lips. "An academy for combat guides."