There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 651: Side Story 2. Dance of Flame and Shadow - 10

Chapter 651: Side Story 2. Dance of Flame and Shadow - 10

"I’m going to stay."

That single sentence drove away all kinds of thoughts from Agni’s head. The sadness and the guilt, anger, and annoyance, nothing existed in his head anymore because what the fuck?!

They talked for so long and consumed his whole weekly coffee rations, and what--he’s going to stay?! Agni looked at the young scout incredulously. Wasn’t this entire conversation enough to convince this kid that this place wasn’t a good place to stay?

Agni clenched his jaw and inhaled deeply to control his emotion. What an ordeal for a berserker. Thankfully, he was just pouring out his feelings earlier, so he calmed down quickly. "Hey, listen--"

"You said you’re sorry," Ron cut him off with a sharp gaze. "Then you should let me stay."

"That’s exactly why I’m not letting you sta--"

"I said it’s alright, not that I forgive you," Ron crossed his arms and scoffed.

Agni blinked, totally dumbfounded. This kid was so mature earlier, so what was this sudden shift into a brat? Look at that petulant tone! Did he...did he just purse his lips?

Ron was indeed pursing his lips and grumbled. "My father’s death is not your fault, but I can’t forgive you for the ban."

...fuck.

"I won’t forgive you if you don’t let me stay--hmph!"

Hmph? Hmph?! Agni was beyond dumbfounded. Licensed esper, my ass! He was just a kid. A brat!

"Why?!" Agni asked aggressively. "Why do you want to stay in this place?! You already know you can’t--"

"I know!" Ron snapped back, and they were locked in a glaring contest for three seconds before the scout retreated in his seat and spoke more calmly. "I’m not staying to search for my father’s remains..."

"Then?"

"I want to understand."

Agni blinked slowly--once, twice, and then tilted his head. "Huh?"

Ron lowered his gaze, fiddling with the manual and scratching his father’s writing. "I want to see his world. I want to understand why he did what he did."

What was there to see? What was there to understand? Agni could not comprehend what this kid wanted by staying in a place with no future like this. A twenty-year-old kid...wouldn’t people usually want to scour the world and make a name for themselves out there at that age?

At least, Agni knew he was.

"I know you don’t understand," Ron gripped the manual tightly. His spiky tone had softened considerably, but there was still uncompromised firmness there. "I don’t need you to--just sign the paperwork."

It was almost like a copy, the soft voice yet firm tone that Nolan usually used. Looking at how tightly Ron gripped the manual, which had become the only remains of his father in this place, Agni felt like his conscience was getting beaten left and right.

But what about his promise? Hadn’t he promised that he would protect this kid and prevent him from doing anything foolish?

Was there anything more foolish than staying in the Borderland?

Sensing that his pitiful display wasn’t enough, Ron pressed his lips and resorted to threat. "Or I’m going to escape to the Deathzone now."

And to amp his threat level, Ron even willed his eyes to moist, pursing his lips and hugged his father’s box tightly.

"Fuck!"

Under the barrage of guilt-tripping stabbing into his already wounded conscience, Agni couldn’t help but curse and relent.

"Fine," he gritted his teeth and pointed at the younger’s face, staring at the eyes that were no longer wet, easily so. "But once you become a member, you should follow the rules and do as I say."

"I’ll follow the rules."

"Do as I say!"

Ron pursed his lips and spoke from the corner of his mouth. "Only if it has something to do with the rules."

Agni pressed his trembling lips, before closing his eyes and fists. Damn it--he was too old to argue with a kid. "Haa..." he sighed heavily. "Come with me."

He stood up, and Ron followed almost too eagerly. For his sanity, Agni decided to ignore the grin stretched on the sneaky squirrel’s face.

* * *

At first, Agni just wanted to avoid Ron throwing another tantrum and flip his bedroom upside down. He thought that after spending some time in the Borderland and experiencing how shitty life here was, the kid would feel enough and leave.

But he forgot that this kid was Nolan Hertz’s son, and it seemed like tenacity and stubbornness was a genetically inherited trait in the Hertz household.

Agni felt like he was just closing his eyes for a nap and woke up with Ron already befriending most of the Unit personnel as if he had already been there for a year rather than a month. Agni went off guard for a second and the kid already laughed and was buddy-buddy with the veterans.

It was baffling.

The fact was, being the son of Nolan Hertz helped. People who felt thankful for the Captain treated Ron like their younger brother or nephew, and there were a lot of them. Once the kid befriended the veterans, it was practically an open door, because people easily approached him after that. And so, rather than seeing at a shitty hellhole, the kid was making it home.

Agni was stressed out because of it. How could he send the kid away if the others were welcoming him? He should have told them not to treat the kid too well, but Agni had no heart to do that after hearing how lonely the kid’s life was.

Haa...fuck his conscience.

But only staying in the Borderland wasn’t enough for the young, fiery heart of the scout. He couldn’t get his answer in the Borderland Unit, although he did get a lot of stories about his father from the other personnel. Agni did not let him go on any mission, even the patrol ones. The most that uncle ordered him to do was organize files and other administrative work.

At this point, it felt more like a vacation than work. Not to mention, Agni kept on telling him to go back. Around once every three days, the berserker would come and ask if Ron was satisfied enough and when he would leave the Borderland.

With a matching tenacity, Ron kept on demanding the opposite.

"Send me to the Deathzone!" Ron would ask while following the berserker around.

And Agni would reply while fully armed himself with an unwillingness to fall for the kid’s pitiful eyes. "No."

"Why?!"

"We don’t send rookies to dangerous missions."

"Liar! You sent those 1-star espers from the fifth squad on the last mission!"

"They are useless," Agni scoffed.

Well, the real answer was because they were psychopaths and inmates sent to the Borderland to gamble their lives and pardon, but if he answered with that, he was afraid the kid might do something that made him qualified as psycho or criminal.

But he underestimated the youngster’s wit.

"So you’re saying I’m not useless?" Ron smirked. "That means you can’t say I’m a rookie anymore!"

Agni rolled his eyes and reminded himself that his opponent was fifteen years younger than him. "Only if you’ve already been here for more than a year."

Ro stomped his feet. "I would have already if you weren’t banning my name from the application, you dick!"

"Whatever."

"Jerk!"

Ron would flip the berserker off and stomp away in annoyance, but he would come back a few days later--and whenever a mission notification was posted--to do the same thing. It became a spectacle inside the Unit; an amusement, even. To see Ron, who was usually calm and soft-spoken, become spiky, or Agni, who usually did not pay attention to other’s provocations, engaged in a heated argument...it was entertaining, to say the least.

And the one who enjoyed it the most was Esther, who had grown tired of seeing the unruly Agni Khan force himself to fill Nolan Hertz’s shoe with rigidness that made his feelings numb.

What a joke. What kind of berserker tried to numb their feelings?

Ever since the young scout came, however, she could see the old spark inside the berserker’s eyes returned. She was glad about that, but also...

It was fun to tease the man. To tease them both, actually.

As usual, Ron would sulk and come to her. Esther was a scout, after all, and she had been giving all kinds of pointers to the young esper. The boy would come stomping in while grumbling about the ’shitty uncle’ who kept treating him like a kid, without realizing that the way he was whining was indeed like a kid.

Esther laughed and patted the Captain’s feisty squirrel. "It’s good that you’re only here now, Ron."

The brown eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"If you came here last year, you would have to be the Captain," she winked.

"...what?"

To Ron’s confused face, Esther let out a slightly rueful smile and lowered her voice. "You know that your father came here as a punishment, right? So, you can treat it like a debt," she explained. "When the debtor died, what about the debt?"

"...it will be inherited by next of kin," Ron muttered the law he had to learn in the academy, and his eyes gradually widened. "You mean...I was supposed to replace my father? Then why--" he paused. Even without a decent brain, the answer was already there, wasn’t it? After all, someone else had become the Captain. "Khan?!"

Esther snapped her fingers and winked. "You know it."

"W-why?!

"What do you mean why? You were just a kid," she laughed and patted the young scout’s messy brown hair.

No matter how much Ron denied it, he was just a rookie, a kid who just got his license. And, truthfully, Ron also knew that. He was the youngest there, and everyone had been treating him like a little brother.

It was just...when Agni did it, he got annoyed for no reason.

Esther flicked the sulking boy’s forehead. "Do you think people here would kindly accept a kid like you? Besides..."

"Besides?"

Esther smiled. "Khan promised your father to protect you."

Ron gripped his slightly trembling hands. Surprisingly enough, he wasn’t very surprised about that. He thought it must be why Agni banned him from enlisting before. But banning him from enlisting and replacing him as the punishment bearer was vastly different, and it prompted something to somersault in his stomach.

"That nosy uncle always doing unnecessary shit!"

Ron stood up and stomped away again, causing Esther to laugh mirthfully behind him. "Then why are you turning into a boiled crab, boy?" she smirked and whistled for yet another entertaining spectacle.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.