There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 436 - 429. Bucket List (2)

The next place was technically still in the scope of their date, since it was a dinner.

But the dinner wasn’t attended just by the two of them. In a private dining room overlooking the artificial lake of Rexon, Zein greeted the envoys from the Temple of Mago who had been waiting for him. Not coincidentally, a cheerful Xue Ren welcomed him with a warm hug.

"We really can’t call each other for the next five years?" the guide who had become brighter and brighter each day asked sullenly, reminding Zein of little Elena back then.

"There’s no link connection in the Deathzone," Zein patted the younger guide’s head and greeted the twin espers.

Finnia, Senan’s daughter, who was already there ahead of everyone to facilitate the talk, pulled out a seat for her young master to use.

"It’s supposed to be a vacation," Bassena chuckled as he took a seat beside Zein. And yet here they were, about to have something resembling a business meeting and working on a contract.

"Can’t help it; I don’t really have time," Zein shrugged.

Ironically, the only time he had was, well...during his vacation when all of his guild work had already been completed. Fortunately, this final session wasn’t anything hard; just fostered the joint operation between the Temple of Mago and Azure Sky, as well as giving his stamp of blood.

Otherwise, the Temple would be Saintess-less until he came back from the Deathzone, unless the priests met him there.

Although...it probably would be good to make the Temple chase him to the Deathzone, so they would finally see the terrible condition outside the confine of their safe-zone.

Oh, well...

"I never thought you’d come to us one day to propose cooperation with the Temple," Mizar said amusedly.

"I just think you’d be the best people for this kind of thing," Zein replied simply, shifting his gaze toward Ren.

"Glasswing said they’d want to join in this."

"How do they know about it?"

"I told them," Mizar replied with a smirk.

Zein chuckled and waved his hand. "You deal with it on your own. I can’t get involved any more than this."

"I know," the older twin laughed softly. "Just write back when Ren sends some letters while you’re inside."

"I can do that," Zein nodded in agreement, eliciting a bright smile on the younger guide’s face.

"Ah-ah...it’s so cordial," Alcor shook his head in disappointment. "So peaceful..."

"Al, Zein is about to go to the Deathzone--he needs peace!" Ren scolded the younger twin, and Alcor pressed his lips, obediently shutting his mouth while fiddling with the dessert.

Finnia had to stifle her laugh at the sight. "The espers here are all weak to their guides," she answered to Zein’s inquisitive stare.

"As we should be," Bassena remarked nonchalantly.

"No one should be weak toward the other--we should be equal," Zein replied. "Anyway, here’s for not-so-peaceful stuff..."

Zein raised his fingers and cut it slightly with a wisp of mana, just enough to draw blood. Xue Ren winced as the older guide smeared the blood all over the fingers and pressed it into the enchanted paper containing the Temple’s pact of integrity and Zein’s agreement to forgive the Temple and the Saintess.

The high priests let out a breath of relief, now that they could finally have a new Saintess. And with that, Zein and Bassena’s second date came to an end.

* * *

They stayed at the nearby hotel—the same one they used when Zein came to the Capital for the first time—and visited the former Horin clan’s residence, which now had the nameplate "Ishtera" installed near the gate. This time, there were no longer any protesters.

Last week, Torodeo Horin finally faced his sentence. As one of the victims, Zein had the right to attend his execution, but the guide chose not to. He said he was too busy to attend such a trivial thing, and he made sure the media caught that.

No. He does not care about a man named Torodeo Horin anymore. He had many more important things to do, such as planning for the Federation’s better future by getting rid of the Deathzone.

The death of the patriarch seemed to be the last nail sealing their effort, so the remaining members of the clan disappeared completely from Rexon and its surrounding area.

Good. Now Zein didn’t have to be concerned too much about outside interference. The team in charge of establishing the school already cooperated with other guide academies and educational bureaus: it was an easy process, since the market would be different. After all, the school was strictly for combat guides. For a start, they even secured contracts with Azure Sky, Celestia, and Glasswing to send some of their guides as students later after the school was officially established.

"Looks good," Zein nodded at the holographic blueprint hovering in front of him. Bassena had helped the team convert the clan compound into a boarding school--his contributor as a co-founder. "I’ll leave it to your hand."

The team, which was part of the newly established Ishtera Foundation, promised him their dedication with fiery eyes, and Zein left the Capital with ease, boarding the helicopter that would bring him to the site of their third date;

The Lakeside House.

Technically, the place was the Ishtera’s real clan house, since it had been there since Zein’s predecessors. The one in Mimera that Alteroan built was more like an emergency base that turned into an industrial complex. Rather than Ishtera’s, it belonged more to the Iron Shield. But since Zein re-absorbed the Iron Shield, everything was just technical. In the end, it was the property of the clan.

And so, their third date became a clan banquet.

Just like the say of Roan and Lucia’s reunion, everybody attends, including the ladies of Eiyuta. Zein had finally convinced them to stay in the lakehouse, even if they weren’t a member of the clan. Well, not like they couldn’t be. He told them he would need someone to take care of Lucia’s grave and watch the house while he was away, and the two guides finally agreed. The daughter, meanwhile, could be the estate manager.

Now, Zein didn’t need to worry too much about his mother’s soul sisters or his parent’s grave.

Of course, he was sure that his clan members would be able to take care of the grave, and if Zein asked, they would send someone to check on Sherri and Ria. But with the company, the foundation, and the eternal dungeon, their small clan couldn’t afford to spare too many personnel.

Especially because some of them would come to the Deathzone as Zein’s personal brigade under an alliance contract--nine of them. Perhaps not too many, but they were also the clan’s best fighters, including Cohen; the bulk of their battle forces.

But they weren’t worried, since the clan had more allies now than before. If anything, they were more concerned about their patriarch who would dive headlong into the most dangerous place in the world. If they could move all members of their clan to keep him safe, they would. But it was hard enough convincing Zein that they wanted to follow him there, so they felt thankful for just being able to send a brigade.

Thus, it became a family dinner as well as a send-off. Of course, they had to make it big.

Once again, they had a garden party and an even bigger barbeque feast. The beginning of summer brought out even more colors to the garden, and called out for the similarly colorful fireworks. As the sky darkened, it was furnished with colorful sparks that got the youngsters and the elders excited.

Amidst the festivities, however, Zein found out that Bassena had vanished. A simple search through the esper’s mana pattern brought him to the graves, however. He saw the esper crouched in front of the two graves; his big build completely covered them from behind.

"...next time we come here again, we’ll announce something bigger, so just give us your blessing," he heard Bassena say.

Zein smiled and stepped into the blue hyacinth field. "Announce what?"

Bassena glanced back and smirked. "What do you think?"

"How cheeky," Zein chuckled and took a seat beside Bassena. "You should have told me, then we can go together."

"No way. I want to speak to them alone," the esper stuck out his tongue.

"What the hell? You never let me speak to your mother alone."

"I worried that you’d tattle on my behavior."

"Then you shouldn’t do things that could be tattled on in the first place."

Bassena laughed and put his butt down to the ground, leaning sideways to put his head on the guide’s shoulder. They had visited Svadiva’s grave before they started their many dates, and this other grave visit would be the last they did in the Federation.

They just sat together in silence like that for a while, talking with their own mind. The clan members left them alone, and by the time they came back, the garden had already been tidied up. They bid their farewell on the next day, as Zein and Bassena continued their vacation somewhere else.

"We’ve been using the helicopter so much," Zein commented as he boarded the aircraft again. "Aren’t we abusing the executive privilege too much?"

"What are you talking about?" Bassena tilted his head before putting on the headphones on Zein. "This is mine."

"...huh?"

"Like you said, we’ve been using this so much," Bassena shrugged. "So I just decided to purchase one."

Zein raised his brow and Bassena smirked. "You’ve never bothered to check the tail, huh?"

It was only then that Zein realized the helicopter’s tail was no longer decorated in Trinity’s triangle icon or the Mortix logo, but of a snake coiling a piece of sapphire.

"How cheeky," he muttered. But there was a smirk on his lips that made Bassena laugh as he took off, bringing the aircraft to the nearest airport.

It was time for their final date;

The Southern Kingdom’s cerulean sea.