There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 649: Side Story 2. Dance of Flame and Shadow - 8

Chapter 649: Side Story 2. Dance of Flame and Shadow - 8

It came out of the blue. Ron and his mother were all happy thinking about seeing Nolan after a long time. When a call came, and the ID shown was the military base, they even grinned before Ron’s mother took the call.

But all they heard was a notification that Nolan was arrested by the military police and awaiting trial.

"They said all kinds of things, but I know that’s not the father we know," Ron frowned. Stuff like neglecting people’s safety was the furthest away from the man, the father that he knew. "We tried to see him; going to the main base, the district base, to the administration office...we tried going everywhere we could to see him, but..."

Agni clenched his fist. "Military personnel on trial aren’t allowed to receive visitors."

"Yeah..." Ron lowered his head; the reddened eyes gazed at the box wistfully. "The next thing we knew, we received the verdict..."

Agni closed his eyes tightly as the kid’s story brought him back to his bitter experience. Unlike Nolan, who always tried to remain calm, and the other two, who didn’t really care, he was filled with anger--perhaps the same as what Ron had at this point.

The waiting time had been short, and the trial had been swift. It was clear that everything had been predetermined, and it wasn’t hard to guess why: the one who falsely reported the dungeon level was the son of a general, and the one who ordered a public bombardment was the major. In the first place, the only one with the call recording was the major, and a tampered one was easily made, incriminating them.

Funnily enough, the charge was reasonable. ’Running away’ from the dungeon was one of the premises of ’negligence’, especially if there was no report about false reading. It wouldn’t be seen as a mistake if they were all dead inside the dungeon, but since some managed to escape, it was counted as running away.

As for disobeying an order, that went without question. The questionable order was being covered and modified as a reasonable one. The prosecutor also argued that they could bring more harm from disobeying the order--after all, they had no guarantee that they would be able to take care of the dungeon break. If Agni hadn’t burned a bit of his life force at that time, they wouldn’t be able to kill the boss and...

In the worst case, the beasts would kill all the citizens and spread to another territory.

It was so reasonable that even Agni couldn’t refute it. In fact, the only reason his request to set off the death sentence by sharing the punishment was granted was because he managed to kill the boss. If not...

Well, they wouldn’t be alive to know about the ’what if’, so...

Still...he didn’t think they would hold information from the family member.

"I mean...borderland? Out of nowhere?" Ron had regained his fury and hit the table in anger. "Of course, we tried to ask what happened and a chance to meet him before he could go, but..."

He gritted his teeth as the memory from the many times they visited the administrative office came flooding back.

"Maybe they were too fed up because we were going there too much, and my mother kept begging while crying," Ron clenched his jaw; his face scrunched as anger and sorrow mixed into bitterness. "I could tell how annoyed the staff and the officers were."

"Fuck!" Agni grabbed his head to prevent his hands from destroying his sparse furniture. He gritted his teeth and inhaled deeply. "Sorry, it’s just--haa..." he wiped his face and looked at the startled scout apologetically. "I guessed, at that time, we did have the worst reputation."

While the situation itself was being manipulated, the charge was legally reasonable, and the witnesses were silenced. For those who didn’t know the real story, it was normal to see Nolan Hertz and his subordinates as criminals.

Naturally, they would see the family of those ’criminals’ unfavorably.

Agni took a deep breath and continued the paused conversation. "So, what happened after?"

"...the staff told us that Father was supposed to be sentenced to death."

"Son of a--"

The veins on Agni’s arms and neck bulged from fury. No matter how much they disliked Nolan, how could they disclose such a thing without any care to the grieving family?! Once again, he calmed himself enough to let Ron continue his story.

Agni asked in fear. "And...you mother?"

"After they told us about the verdict...I guess...maybe because she had been so exhausted, Mother only heard about the ’death sentence’ and not the ’supposed’ part..."

Agni’s blood froze at that moment. Could it be...

Ron lowered his gaze again; the clenching fist unraveled as his fingers unconsciously started to scratch his arm. "Mother was in such a daze that...she crossed the street when the light was still green, and..."

Agni widened his eyes. "Don’t tell me--"

"Well, not at that time," Ron shook his head, "but...a year later? She became an invalid for about a year. I asked the military to tell Father about it, but nothing came, so...I guess Mother became weaker and weaker because of that and..."

Agni caught the scratching and grabbed the scout’s hand, preventing the fingers from moving. "I’m sorry..."

Ron paused, his eyes trembled for a few seconds. In the end, however, he shook his head. He looked at Agni in curiosity instead. "But--you said you never heard the news?"

"No," Agni let go of the scout’s hand, although he kept watching it just in case. "All that time, he was under the impression that you were fine--I mean, obviously not fine, but at least...well enough? He thought..." his jaw stiffened at the memory of all those conversations he had with Nolan about his family. "He thought you guys were angry, and that’s why no letter came for him."

But to think the letter never reached them in the first place. He could easily figure out who was behind that. Unfortunately, since they were the military’s ’property’, all of their personal stuff came through the military. Then, it must be that shitty Major.

"Oh, fuck those bastards!" Agni slammed his fist against the table; finally made a dent on the furniture. "Right--what about the money? Did you at least receive his savings?"

"Oh, yeah," Ron nodded. Thankfully, Nolan had been sending his mission bonus to another account under his son’s name. "The bank gave us the account right on time so I could use it to pay for her treatment."

Such an account was usually only given in case of death, but with Nolan in punishment and his wife in hospital, Ron had been deemed to be the family head and could access the account before reaching adulthood.

"...was everything...used for that?" Agni asked with a heavy heart. It should be used for their needs comfortably until Ron could provide for them both, but...

Wasn’t this whole thing too cruel?

"Yeah, although...I guess we were lucky that the car owner didn’t ask for compensation," Ron smiled wryly. "The school was good to me, so they gave me a scholarship. I was awakened while Mother was in the hospital, so they set me up for a scholarship to an academy too--that helped a lot."

"What about...your daily needs?"

"I worked part-time as a dungeon porter and such after Mother died. I..." Ron pressed his lips and looked at his father’s name on the box. "I resolved myself to get the license on the first try and go to the Borderland to confront Father."

Agni smiled bitterly. "And you got it."

"Yeah, but...I knew I couldn’t go without any preparation, so I focused on climbing the towers while doing some work for the Sentinel Association, but..." he bit his lips, which had started to tremble again. "Before I could go..."

The reddened eyes, which had dried, started to moisten again.

"It had been five years since I heard anything and suddenly...a death certificate."

The call he had been waiting for years was not of his father’s voice but of his father’s death. The anger, the resentment, and the longing had nowhere else to go. It was swirling inside his heart without any outlet. All he could think after that was going to the Deathzone.

He didn’t even know what he wanted to do. Did he want to hear an explanation? Did he want to see his father’s grave? Did he just want to know what kind of place his father had been living during the past few years?

Ron had no idea. He had been alone since his mother’s death, and after his father had also gone...what else was there for him in the world? With that thought, he came to the Deathzone.

But he didn’t expect to be denied at the gate. It was...it was the military all over again. He tried and tried persistently, getting angrier and angrier as he couldn’t get into the Unit.

But as much as he was angry at whoever it was banning him from the borderland, he was more angry at himself. "If...if I just came over as soon as I got my license, then..."

Even after holding back so much, the tears were still dripping down his cheeks. Agni, who had limited consoling methods in his repertoire, pulled the young scout’s shoulder and hugged him. Perhaps...he too, wanted to console himself. The regret of doing something too late...it was all too familiar that he couldn’t even say anything in consolation.

Ron stiffened at the unexpected gesture, but strangely enough, he didn’t want to get away from the warmth he never felt since his mother’s accident. He clutched Agni’s shirt and buried his face in the berserker’s arm. "Ugh--sorry..."

Agni swallowed his sigh and patted the scout’s back. A kid. This ’licensed esper’ was just a kid. Yeah...he did the right thing by taking the Captain’s position. Otherwise...this kid would have to be the one to do it in place of his father.

Ron sniffed once, before pulling away in embarrassment. He wiped the tears with his sleeve again, averting his eyes from the stains on the berserker’s arm. "Can you...can you tell me what happened?" he asked after taking a deep breath. "How...how he..."

"You might get angry...or at least frustrated," Agni warned.

"It’s fine," Ron nodded and straightened his back to show his resolution. "I’ve come this far."

"...yeah, I guess you do," Agni smiled wryly and patted the scout’s head, prompting the squirrel to smack his hand away and back to his spiky state. "Well...how should I start this..."