There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 416 - 409. The Second Demand

Chapter 416: Chapter 409. The Second Demand

There was a lot to unpack within that statement;

That Zein called them money-grubber, that he thought the templars were useless, and that it was only the first demand.

How many would there be, exactly?

"Excuse me, Sir; did you just call our guards...dolls?" Rounan asked as politely as he could while clenching his fists beneath his wide sleeves.

"Aren’t they?" the blue eyes swept over the guards in scrutinizing gaze; at the people who were clad in expensive and sturdy armor and kept high-quality weapons by their side. "What’s the use of guards in a place called the safe-zone? Rather laughable, isn’t it?"

The word safe was uttered in such mockery and hatred that rather than angry, they felt embarrassed instead.

"Guarding a place protected by the Goddess’s barrier while most of the guides still lived in danger," Zein chuckled. "And you don’t wish to be called useless? If you’re not a coward, you should at least have self-awareness."

It was harsh words upon harsh words that stung like nothing before. As a part of Temple Management, they were elites within the elites, and no criticism had managed to reach their ears. After all, the only voices they would hear were those coming from the Temple, whereas members of the Temple would never dare speak against the Temple Management’s policy.

Zein looked at the templars whose eyes were hardening. "Do you not feel guilty, hearing about the awakened kids being trafficked to be sold in auction houses and brothels?" Zein asked sharply, with cold anger that he did not bother to cover. "Or perhaps...you’re going to tell me that you have never heard of those cases?"

Ruonan flinched. Honestly, before he read the articles mentioning Zein’s words in the guide conference, he never knew about it. He came from an affluent family in the green-zone, and once awakened, had spent all his life in the Temple. If his vessel was slightly bigger, he might even become a Saint candidate.

That was why he didn’t believe Zein’s statement at first, thinking it was merely a hoax concocted by those who wanted to have equal authority with the Temple. Fortunately, he was quite rational and tried to seek information about it first before condemning the speaker. What he found out was...disturbing.

Not because there was a lot of news about it--no, it was because there wasn’t much about it in mainstream media. Only when he looked at investigative journalism and journal articles written by scholars, did he find that the things Zein spoke about were not mere accusations.

They were real, and actively being hidden from the public’s eyes. Only those who were once a victim or those who weren’t ignorant about such an issue cared to talk about it.

The reason why he volunteered to accompany Agatha in today’s meeting was so he could observe the person who finally brought this issue to the surface, big enough that the Temple couldn’t even try to cover it; Luzein Ishtera.

Indeed; the man was as harsh as he read.

Because Zein’s criticism did not come from someone else’s experience. He was one of the victims; he was one of the survivors. All of his angers were justified.

"If you are still confused as to what you need to do," Zein sighed and spoke in an exhausted tone as if their slow response were exasperating. "Then you can ask Azure Sky--they had joined operation with the government to crack down guide brothels before."

The way Zein said it was like he was tired of explaining how to protect someone to a bodyguard. It was full of justified disappointment that made the target of that contempt embarrassed.

Clearly, they weren’t the ones who kidnapped those guides and trafficked them, but it felt like they did.

Agatha cleared her throat to finally respond before Zein poured down more and more buckets of icicles made of words above their head. "Very well, Sir Ishtera. We would convey your demand to the upper management."

"Just so you know, as long as you don’t do that one, I will not accept the apology," Zein said.

"B-but, Sir..." Rounan bit his lips slightly before continuing. "Isn’t it...isn’t it unfair if we’re the only ones to--"

"What? You’re the one who wronged me in the first place and told me I can make demand," Zein cut the man spitefully. "Ah--I’m going to ask the same to Frejya, if you’re interested."

Rounan flinched and lowered his head again. How could he even counter the words of someone who said they could speak to a Goddess that easily?

"I’ll make sure to convey that statement too," Agatha nodded firmly. Strangely, there was a smile on her face, as if she was actually happy with the demand. "In that case, shall we hear your other demands?"

This time, Zein took his time to wet his throat with the tea first. Before speaking, he leaned back and looked up slightly with a contemplative gaze.

"Do you know what created this situation in the first place?" Zein asked with an unfocused gaze, looking at nothing but a past that couldn’t be erased; that he didn’t want to erase. "Aside from how little an effort to prevent crimes against guides, of course."

"It’s...the discrimination between guides of different classes," Agatha answered with a heavy chest.

Zein lowered his gaze to look at the priest. "And what caused that discrimination?"

It started to feel like a trial, and Agatha couldn’t help but feel her chest tightened as she had to spell the fallacy of her side with her own mouth. "Because the Temple only groomed high-ranking guides."

Zein shifted his gaze to Rounan. "What about you? What else do you think caused it?"

The male priest chewed the inside of his mouth as he tried to think hard. Well, he didn’t have to look that hard for the answer, since he had been reading about what the guides outside the Temple experienced. "Because...we don’t provide support to guide’s schools," he said after thinking about it for a few seconds.

He found out that for a lot of guides, the only time they visited the Temple was during their first measurement after awakening. A few of them were lucky enough to have attended a more prestigious guide school that would bring the student to the Temple as a school excursion.

But most of the guides? If they were of low rank, they wouldn’t even be able to visit the green-zone, let alone the Temple. In fact, Zein’s first visit to the Temple was to nearly die at the hands of the Saintess.

"So at least you’re not stupid," Zein commented dryly.

"But, Sir--" Rounan pressed his lips as he realized his voice was getting higher. He cleared his throat and continued more calmly. "The Temple wouldn’t be able to accommodate all guides."

"No? You have a lot of land," Zein scoffed. "Are you telling me you can’t even put new buildings for some dorms?"

"That’s..."

That’s right--why couldn’t they? Rounan had never questioned this established custom. Yes, the safe-zone banned any outsiders from building buildings there, but...there was no rule about the Temple Management building things there. Wasn’t there a villa on the northern side of the safe-zone that the Saintess visited during her holiday? Or the mansions that the Elders lived at...

Rounan pressed his lips hard. The more he used his brain to think about the Temple’s practice and policy, the more embarrassed he became.

"But fine, let’s say that it’s too late and there are already a lot of schools for guides out there--then accepting all guides in the Temple would be harmful to these schools," Zein swatted the air with his hand. "In this case, what do you think you should do?"

"To give more support?" Agatha replied hesitatingly. "But what kind of support--"

"Haa...that comes later," Zein sighed again. "First, you have to stop segregating guides by their rank."

He clicked his tongue; the slight approval he had given them earlier seemed to be evaporating.

"It’s not like there’s much difference between high-rank and lower-rank guides--except for the Saint and Saintess," Zein truly sounded exhausted. These people supposedly knew about guides more than him, weren’t they?

"Not much...?"

"Not much," Zein shrugged. "The only difference between them is the size of their vessels. Does it influence their control? Their skill? Their endurance against the mental burden?"

Gods--why did he have to give a lecture on guides to these people from the elite educational institute?

"It...doesn’t," Agatha replied dazedly.

"Yes, it doesn’t? So what’s the deal with only taking high-ranking guides? Simply because they can absorb more," Zein exhaled harshly. "Absorbing more doesn’t mean they became faster or more efficient. But of course, you don’t care about things like that--you just want the elitism from the letter attached to their class and raked on money from that."

"Sir--"

"Do you know who should be living in that Temple of yours?!" Zein slammed his hand on the table, shutting down the priests. "It’s the children who have no protectors around them and have to face the risk of being sold and exploited!"

They were all stiffened--even the Iron Shield people behind Zein. People rarely had any recording of Zein, but even within those rare few snaps, only one of them showed Zein using this kind of tone; and it was familiar even for Agatha and Rounan.

It was the voice Zein used during the guide conference. And the blue eyes...they were no longer cold. They were blazing with a fury that was eager to consume them.

But as fast as it came, it vanished just as swift. Zein took a deep breath and leaned back on his chair again. "This is my second demand," he said, in a voice that made it seem like a commandment. "Change your entire guide’s education system--including that bullshit system about only taking the high-rank guides."

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