There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 415 - 407. Fake Paladins

Chapter 415: Chapter 407. Fake Paladins

The Temple sent two people who, from the uniform they wore, seemed to be high in rank within the Temple Management.

To prevent the meeting from being tied up to Trinity, they did it in another place; in the new house that Iron Shield purchased so they could have a base close to where Zein stayed at. It was basically an Ishtera townhouse, and the two representatives with their templar guards wouldn’t be able to do anything there.

And for that, Bassena held back from accompanying Zein. After all, they didn’t want the meeting to have a narration of intimidation.

The townhouse was just one of the flats in a calm neighborhood overlooking the river. Not too far from where the outbreaks happened last year, and coincidentally was one of Zein’s favorite spots. They sat in the living room, facing the paned glass window that showed them the serenity of the now-purified river.

Rather a fitting place for a talk between guides.

While Senan personally prepared the tea for them, Zein observed the templar guards. He knew of their existence; people who received the blessing from the Goddess to fight, not to guide. They weren’t counted as espers, because their power was gained through the Temple and not the Tower, which meant they could not ’level up’ in rank like espers would.

But they were pretty strong, supposedly. They should be strong enough to at least restrain a troublemaking esper who tried to coerce the Temple’s guides. Their ability, naturally, mostly lay in defense and movement restriction. It made them look sturdy, and the blessing of the Goddess made them look fairly good-looking.

For Zein, however, they just looked useless.

He stared at them with cold eyes, and they could sense it; a crawling sensation of dread, which reminded them of the time when the Goddess was enraged.

And if the guards could sense it, so did the High Priests.

’Truly a Saint candidate,’ one of them thought; a woman in her late thirties by the name of Agatha. She was one of the people in charge of the Saintess’s business and honestly...she didn’t know whether she wanted to lament or cheer the current situation.

It would be easier if this man was to be the Saint of their Temple instead--such was the thought of the Elders. Well...half of them at least.

Unfortunately, one who had been marked by a certain Goddess shall not be coveted by another Goddess.

Why were they persistently looking for Zein, then?

That was what Zein wanted to know. "I don’t like to waste time with glib, so feel free to go ahead and state your business."

It was Zein’s usual way to conduct a meeting, but for the people who had been living inside the Temple, it sounded rather harsh. They lowered their gaze unconsciously, and since they already did, Agatha went further and bowed in her seat.

"We would like to formally apologize, Sir Ishtera," she said, and the others followed her to bow their heads too.

After the recording of the Saintess’s action was circulated, the Temple’s communication officer issued an apology in front of the media. But whether it was Zein or Trinity, none of them responded in any way. After all, it was such a cowardly move to apologize on screen as if it was the public they were apologizing to, and not the victim himself.

"As the representative of the Temple, allow me to express our deep regret about what the Saintess had done to you," Agatha stood up and bent her waist to bow more properly. "As someone responsible for her education in her youth, I am at fault for letting her go astray."

The other representative, a younger male, stood up and bowed too--albeit rather reluctantly. "We would have the Saintess apologize herself, but unfortunately, she’s still in the isolation chamber."

Zein raised his brow slightly, and Agatha added quickly. "The Goddess did not let her out. She..."

She seemed to be hesitating, but not with the male representative. "The Goddess said that She wouldn’t let the Saintess out until you formally accepted our apology."

Zein looked at both High Priests and scoffed. He leaned back in his seat and replied coldly. "How cunning."

"Excuse me?!"

"Ruonan!" Agatha grabbed the male priest, before looking at Zein’s cold eyes. "I’m sorry, Sir Ishtera, but--"

"So you want to use me to restore your reputation by accepting your apology, while also blaming me for the Saintess’ absence," Zein said dryly, looking straight into the protesting priest’s eyes. "Isn’t that cunning?"

If anyone asked where the Saintess was, they could say the Saintess would stay in the isolation room until Zein forgave her. In the end, it would look like Zein prevented more people from getting guided just because he couldn’t let go of his anger.

Oh, no--it wasn’t the Temple’s fault, much more the Goddess’ fault. No. It would be Zein’s fault that the Temple Management was such a mess.

"Do you think I’d care if the Saintess couldn’t come out?" Zein smirked. "Most of the people who use her guiding are the rich who see getting cleansed in the Temple as a status, anyway," he crossed his arms and shifted his gaze to Agatha. "I couldn’t care less about those kind of people."

Rounan bit his lips in embarrassment, but Agatha calmly nodded. "Yes; you are right, Sir Ishtera."

Exhaling slowly, she sat down again, taking a cup of tea and drinking it to clear her mind. It gave time for the male priest to calm himself and for the guards to ease their tension too.

After taking a few sips and savoring the calming scent of the fragrant tea, Agatha looked at the pair of piercing blue eyes that seemed ready to scrutinize them for all kinds of bullshit. As she thought, it would be no use to play tricks on him. She said that already, but there were still people in the management who were upset about what Zein uttered during the guide conference.

But unlike those people, Agatha wanted a change.

"As you said, the Saintess is at fault, and so do we, as the institution that raised her," she said. "It is not our place to expect your forgiveness, but you must agree that we could still at least try."

"Hmm,"

Agatha smiled at the dry reply. "If you would be so kind as to tell us what we need to do for you to forgive us and the Saintess, I would be most grateful."

"Sister Agatha--"

"You agreed to leave this talk to me, Ruonan."

The male priest pressed his lips and lowered his head. So now, it was between Zein and Agatha--and Zein preferred that actually, for the woman seemed to be more rational than the other people from the Temple.

At least he wouldn’t be so pissed off during their talk.

But finally, they reached the point that Zein had wanted from the start; where he could reap some benefit from the Temple. Well, calling it ’benefit’ as if he would be the one to enjoy it was a bit misleading though.

"What you can do to receive my forgiveness," Zein tilted his head slightly. "Shouldn’t you think about it before you come here? I gave you plenty of time, after all," he said, before dropping his voice. "During which you do nothing."

Nothing; nothing but to allocate the guiding of high-rank espers to more High Priests. Nothing he could read on the news, and nothing he could find out from Radia’s information network.

Agatha wanted to sigh and--even though she rarely did so--cursed the Elders who still looked at the situation with animosity toward Zein. It was them that prevented the others from making some changes--always had been. They were always hiding behind the fact that the Temple was a safe zone and couldn’t be influenced by outside forces, including the public’s opinion; ignoring the fact that they were slowly losing the Goddess’ grace. Instead of looking at Zein’s statement as a valid critique, they treated it like a hate speech of the ignorant.

Even though they were the ones who were being ignorant.

"Again, I’m sorry," Agatha said. But when she returned Zein’s gaze, there was a determination there. "I understand that what infuriates you is not the Saintess’s action of defaming and attacking you," she shook her head. "No, what infuriates you is the fact that even after the critiques and discussion about guides’ condition following your statement last year, we’ve done nothing to improve that condition."

Zein curled his lips slightly. Oh, so they weren’t a complete imbecile.

Seeing that Zein seemed to be quite satisfied with her answer, she continued. "I would like to make that change and improvement that you wanted, Sir Ishtera--no, that we should have been doing from the start," she corrected herself and smiled wryly. "But with the current condition, it would be much better and efficient if you give us your demand regarding that."

She said everything with a sweet smile, and yet a forlorn gaze that did not match the conviction in her voice. Hidden behind her firm voice was helplessness; the same helplessness that the decent people in Celestia felt under the pressure of corrupted people.

Fortunately, Zein could see that. With the guards behind her and the other priest there, she wouldn’t be able to blatantly say that unless it was a demand coming from Zein, the Temple Management and the Elders wouldn’t make any move.

Well, fine. He would make the demand then.

"You should know what my biggest concern is," Zein said sharply.

"Do you mean...the discrimination between the guides residing in the temple and the one outside, Sir?"

"No--well, yes, that too. But we’ll talk about that later," Zein shook his head, holding himself back from rolling his eyes at how little the temple knew about the guides’ condition in the world outside their safe zone--even for someone who seemed to be decent. "What plagued most guides in this world is safety."

Agatha recalled the points that Zein had blurted out to the whole room before. "Ah..."

"Among all children awakened as guides, less than seventy percent was able to be registered in the Temple--or even the guide center," Zein said while staring sharply at the two priests. "The rest of them are being sold, trafficked, and auctioned even as we sit here and speak about it."

The sharpness of that statement, and the hardness of his tone, should they be turned into a weapon, would cleave every single guard standing there. As the blue eyes were pointing at them, they felt their nape turned cold.

"You have the power and the means to rescue those guides and prevent these things from happening, so do it."

Zein leaned back and crossed his arms as he looked at Agatha with uncompromising eyes.

"Create a force with that mountain of money that you get and those bulky dolls behind you to eliminate the exploitation and crimes against guides," Zein said with a smile he learned from Radia. "That is my first demand."

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