There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 98 - 95. A Sudden Warning

Chapter 98: Chapter 95. A Sudden Warning

"Askan?" Zein raised his brow in surprise. He never thought about the 3-star when he followed the mystery man. He thought it was Trinity’s member, since this neighborhood was around Trinity’s compound.

Not to mention that Celestia’s sub headquarter was located in the western part of Althrea, roughly 100 km from Trinity.

Not a distance once would be ended up in coincidentally.

"What are you doing here?" Zein looked at Askan inquisitively. He wasn’t dull enough to think that the esper was just coincidentally in a place that he visited randomly, and pulled him to the side.

The gratitude that he felt from being rescued now shifted to suspicion, and it seemed the esper knew that. His friendly smile turned bitter for a little bit, but he nonchalantly pointed toward a rest area for pedestrians, with a few vending machines there.

"Shall we go and get the water you couldn’t have earlier?" he let out that good-natured smile he was known for, walking forward without waiting for the guide.

Zein narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. It was honestly intriguing how the esper didn’t even try to hide the fact that he was following Zein earlier. How long had the esper been watching him? Had he been waiting for a moment when he could approach Zein alone?

Zein knew it was suspicious, but he was also curious since Askan seemed to be open about it. So he followed the esper despite the clear warning.

Besides, his instinct told him that Askan didn’t mean any harm. If the man was still the esper who went to help the red-zone on government request four years ago, then Zein didn’t think he need to be worried.

At any rate, his two daggers were waiting snuggly inside the ring on his thumb.

"I’m glad you still remember me, Zein," the esper said as Zein moved to follow him across the street.

"We just met two months ago," Zein replied nonchalantly.

Well, to be fair, he did forget people he rarely met easily. But there was no way he would forget an esper that helped him retrieve his brothers from the rubble.

"Right," the esper chuckled, and his voice dipped a bit lower. "It’s still kind of hurt how Bassena Vaski took you just like that when we’re in the middle of a talk."

Ah...Bassena did come to take him away without any regard to anyone, or even the Guide Center. Just dragged him away like a kid in a tantrum.

"It’s kind of unfair, isn’t it? I’m the one who found you first, but you were taken before I could even propose anything," Askan said with a hard smile on his face, swiping his commlink to one of the vending machines. "And just like that, you’re suddenly a part of Trinity--well, although I should have known the moment that person came to get you."

Zein listened quietly, keeping a distance of two meters between them. The esper seemed to insinuate that he had the first dib for Zein, but there was something weird about the tone and expression he used.

For someone who seemed to want to poach him, Askan looked uncomfortable while doing it. His eyes darted anywhere but Zein, and despite what he said, he didn’t sound salty.

It didn’t sound like anything, really, as if he was memorizing a script.

Or perhaps because he wasn’t acting like himself.

"If you were listening to me first that time, you don’t have ended up in a mid guild like Trinity," the esper continued, "You can be a part of Celestia, the number one guild. The management will even place you in the Capital’s headquarter instead of here."

Askan crouched down to pick up the bottled water from the machine, and walked toward Zein, who, although looking relaxed and nonchalant, was already covered in magic energy.

Stopping two steps before the guide, Askan handed the bottle with stretched arm, keeping his distance with a smile on his face. This time, it was a friendly and gentle smile that Zein was familiar with. "At least, that’s what my guild wanted me to tell you."

With a subtle smile, Zein took the water. But he didn’t refract the defensive layer of magic. "Thank you,"

Askan stepped back with his palms up and smiled sheepishly, as if wanted to show that he meant no harm. "Well, now I can say that I tried."

"You didn’t sound like trying at all," Zein commented light-heartedly while unscrewing the bottled water. To think that he could get water on the side of the road, the green-zone was truly fascinating.

"It’s because, unlike my guild, I know you. And I know you’re not someone who will jump ship just by being talked to," the esper shrugged, before his tone turned serious. "Or being intimidated."

Zein paused for a bit after gulping the water, staring at the esper. "Was that on the plan too? Intimidating me?"

"No," the esper chuckled, but his eyes didn’t spark joy. "Not tonight, at any rate. And not by me."

That uncomfortable smile was back on Askan’s face, and he took a step closer while scratching his ear. Zein tilted his head in contemplation before nodding, and the esper took another step closer, lowering his face to speak quietly.

"The guildmaster has his eyes on you, so please be careful. He’s someone who can do anything to get what he wants,"

"Even with Bassena Vaski around?"

"Does he around right now?" the esper smiled warily. "Zein, if I can get to you like this, then the guildmaster’s people could too."

"You get to me because I knew you," Zein glanced at the esper. There was no way he would let a stranger come this close to him.

"You didn’t know it was me when I pulled you from the store,"

Zein stepped back in reflex. That was right. Although he did follow him because he thought it was a guild member, Zein still let his guard down that much just because he was in a pinch.

Was this peaceful environment got his danger alarm so low that he would just follow a probable stranger for five minutes through some labyrinth-like alleys?

He used to be so wary of anything, never letting anyone so much of touching his clothes. But observing the peaceful life of the civilians invested a sense of security in him. And Zein had been living inside the fortress of the Trinity compound, with the youngest saint-class esper always hovering around him like a guardian knight.

Bassena did say there would be people after him, and that the people’s eyes would become some kind of security. But the man probably did not account for Zein wandering the neighborhood alone at night, or that someone would be daring enough to make a move on Trinity’s turf.

But if it was Celestia...

"I got it," Zein said finally, and Askan gave him an apologetic smile. "But why are you warning me like this? Aren’t you from there too?"

The esper chuckled, and Zein could taste bitterness there. "It’s not like Celestia is a crooked or bad guild. There are a lot of good people, and we have good management. At least, we do strive to do our best for the people’s security. It’s just..."

"Just some people at the top?"

The esper shrugged in a defeated gesture. Well, there wasn’t a place that was completely good or bad either, so Zein understood it. The bigger the organization was, the more complex it would be; more factions, more personalities, more private decision-making...

"I just don’t think it’s right, stealing talent from another guild. Unless you’re being treated unfairly, of course, but..." the esper looked at Zein, who looked even better than when they met two months ago. "It doesn’t seem so."

Zein finished off the water, before crushing the bottle and throwing it into the bin. He glanced at the esper then, and something crossed his mind. "Will you be arlright? Warning me like this..."

"What are you talking about?" Askan stepped back and shrugged nonchalantly. "I’m just trying to poach you, Mister. I’m doing what they told me to do."

Zein chuckled, finally restracting the layer of magic energy he put on himself. The esper smiled with him, and put his hand out. "Nice to see you again, Zein."

The guide raised his brow at the gesture, but he reached out his hand to take it. He stopped before he touched the hand though, narrowing his eyes at the esper. "You’re not going to hug me again, are you?"

Askan laughed and shook his head. "Don’t worry, I won’t."

Zein took the handshake then, and they decided to part. But before the guide managed to turn back, Askan asked him something.

"If I really ask you, and Celestia give you a better offer than Trinity, would you accept it?"

"No," Zein answered in a heartbeat, without an ounce of hesitation in his voice. "You don’t have what I’m looking for."

With a slight gleam in his blue eyes, Zein turned around and activated the map to run back toward the Trinity compound. After the surprising event, he just wanted to get back to his room, watching the fish until he fell asleep.

In his hurry, he didn’t sense eyes watching him from afar.

* * *

"Captain, are you going to leave us?!" Dheera came to his table when Zein was having his breakfast in the dorm’s cafeteria. There was a tablet in her hand that she clutched tightly against her chest.

"What are you on about?"

"This!" she shoved the screen in front of Zein’s face, with a browser open to show a news article. "This is not true, right? Tell me it’s not true!"

Zein blinked as he process what he saw on the screen. There were pictures of him with someone else taken from afar, which obviously turned out to be Askan Bellum, with an article in bold, capital letters.

[WILL TRINITY LOSE ITS PRIZED GUIDE TO CELESTIA?]

Haa...With a sigh, Zein stood up and left his unfinished breakfast while activating his commlink.

Quelling a fire wasn’t on his schedule today.

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