There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 87 - 84. Suit Up

Chapter 87: Chapter 84. Suit Up

"It’s an orange-level dungeon of medium density," Radia flicked the screen containing the dungeon information over to Zein. "We schedule it for next week, and the briefing will be in five days."

Zein read the information sheet for a bit, before shoving the hovering interface aside. "I thought we’ll be having the trial run in one of the eternal dungeons?"

With the birth of the new division, Trinity had been withholding sending any guide inside the dungeon for a month. They were waiting for the new division to shape up before starting their official duty. Of course, since it would be their first time, the initial plan was to have them inside the more controlled environment of the eternal dungeon.

"But isn’t that too shabby for your public debut?" Radia tilted his head, making a disappointed face.

"I don’t need a public debut," Zein frowned. He started to think that Trinity was really an entertainment agency. Almost twenty percent of espers and guides affiliated with the guild had a side job as actors or models. There were even streamers, as far as Abel told him.

"Worry not, I won’t ask you to do any work you don’t want to," Radia waved his hand. It was a waste of a pretty face, but Zein would only make a deadpan face in front of a camera anyway. "But aren’t you actually like it more? This dungeon, I mean..."

The crimson eyes observed the guide keenly. He could see flashes of interest on Zein’s face as the man read the dungeon’s information. Zein also didn’t protest vehemently, unlike the time he pulled out a debate over his subordinate’s guiding schedule with the esper’s management.

"You actually prefer new dungeons to prepare them for Deathzone’s unpredictability, aren’t you?" Radia chuckled as the guide let out a smirk.

It was harsh, but they did try to speedrun the process. The annual sentinel association meeting was in five months, and the bid over the reclamation project would be held then. This new division and the development of the purification device were their weapons to win the rights.

"I was thinking of going with the eternal dungeon if nothing came up," Radia explained. "But something quite fitting popped out, so shouldn’t we just use it?"

It almost came like a divine intervention. A dungeon with quite a high difficulty, but not to the point of deadly. It was prestigious enough for a debut as Radia called it, because anything over the yellow level would have media coverage. But it wasn’t anything hard for them.

Well, at least, it wasn’t hard for Zein.

"Who will you take inside?" Radia asked after Zein finished digesting the information sheet.

"How many I can take?"

Dungeons had a limitation on how many people could come inside. Otherwise, they could just send as many espers as possible to guarantee success. The capacity was dependent on the dungeon’s size and density, which determine how much mana it contained inside. It was this mana that supported people inside the dungeon, and if the number of people that could be supported hit a limit, the gate would seal itself to keep the dungeon from collapsing.

But the guildmaster replied strangely. "As many as you like,"

When Zein frowned in confusion, he added casually. "The cap is about twenty people, so if you want to take all of them, you can."

"Is this a field trip or something?" Zein rolled his eyes. "Who will take care of the dungeon then?"

Radia smirked and pointed into the door. "That guy."

Zein looked back to see one of the summoned assistants open the door to let Bassena come in a timely manner. "What is this about an orange dungeon I need to go to?" the esper clicked his tongue, walking in a training shirt that showed off his solid upper body, still drenched in sweat.

To this day, Zein still questioned why a magician-type esper like him had a body like that. What was the purpose of all those muscles? Seduction?

Bassena paused when he saw Zein on the couch, blue eyes eyeing his pecs and abs. "Huh--Zein?"

"The dungeon our dear guide will participate in--is the answer to your whining," Radia leaned back and shrugged, as Bassena blinked and stared back at the guide.

"...oh," the man replied simply, dazedly, adorably. Radia watched amusedly as Bassena snapped his fingers and cleaned himself from sweat swiftly with the help of his fleeting darkness. "I’m not whining," Bassena defended himself while sitting beside the guide.

It was always amusing seeing someone suddenly change in front of their crush, and the saint-class wasn’t an exception. Radia and Han Joon had needed to beat Bassena so much during their teenage days to get the man behaved, but looked at him acting like a harmless puppy in front of Zein...

"But I thought the trial run is in one of our dungeons?" Bassena tilted his head.

"Well, this one just came up, so the timing’s good," Radia repeated what he explained to Zein earlier. "You don’t have any raid schedule next week anyway, might as well use it to train the others."

If other guilds heard this, they might cry. Using an orange-level dungeon for ’training’ could only come from a guild with Trinity’s might, a guild with numerous high-class guides and a saint-class esper. Just a few weeks ago, a guild almost got annihilated because the dungeon suddenly turned into an orange-level. And here they were, talking about such dungeon like it was a morning exercise.

"So? How many will you bring?" Radia asked again. Just as he said, taking fifteen guides inside was possible if the one spearheading the raid was Bassena Vaski. The man could easily solo something at that level anyway.

But Zein didn’t want to treat a dungeon raid like a field trip. "There’s no point in doing it if we don’t simulate a real situation. Just use one of the strike squads and I’ll bring one from each class."

What was the point of diving into a dungeon with just Bassena? The other guides couldn’t guide the man, whereas the point of this trial was to create guides that could still guide steadily inside a dungeon.

"Four guides, then?" Radia nodded, snapping his fingers to one of the summoned assistants. "Which squad, Bas?"

"Do you want me to be directly involved or just oversee things?" Bassena leaned back, taking the water brought by an assistant.

"Wouldn’t it be overkill if you take part?" Zein responded from the side while staring at the list of guides and their performance point so far, including the one in the simulation chamber this morning.

Radia hold back a sigh as he watched the esper smile proudly at that simple statement, the amber eyes gazed intently at the guide. Watching another’s love story unfold sometime brought a foul taste upon one’s failed self. He tapped on the armrest with a bitter smile before making his judgment.

"Ideally, both of you will just come as trainers," the crimson eyes closed for a bit, probably to get rid of the envy. "Let’s go with Laguz. Magicians always got corroded easily."

Zein tapped on three names and sent them to Radia’s interface. "This three for now. I’ll finalize the formation after I participate in all squads’ raids,"

"My squad only moves like...once every two months though..." Bassena muttered.

"Isn’t that nice? Means it’s peaceful," Radia spread his arms.

Trinity had six strike squads, and the [Anzus] strike team only moved to the hardest dungeons, most of it at the periphery. The members of the squad mostly did other things in between, like special missions, exchange studies, or having personal training.

In Bassena’s case, since he oversaw all the espers as divisions commander, he kept busy nonetheless, including his side PR jobs as Trinity’s face.

"Alright, off with you. Tell Florance about it, Bas," Radia shooed the men out of his office then, so he didn’t have to see Bassena making heart eyes any further.

* * *

"Are you training a lot these days?" Zein looked at the messy platinum strands as they walked out of Radia’s office. "I haven’t heard from you since the weekend."

Bassena raised his brow and met the blue eyes, lips stretched into a smile. "Why? Did you miss me?"

Rather than a verbal answer, Bassena received a deadpan stare. He chuckled for a bit before answering. "I need to calm my mind."

Zein felt like he had heard that answer before. "Is something bothering you?"

Without losing his smile, Bassena answered easily. "You,"

Zein pressed his lips at that. So his conjecture was right? Bassena was acting weird--as Han Shin said it--because of that goodbye kiss?

He had to admit though, that he made that kiss without thinking about it thoroughly. It was almost like a reflex, spurred by the warmth he felt in his heart. A rare moment where his mind felt at ease, at peace with himself. It wouldn’t last long, but for that night, he felt like indulging his heart.

Not his body. His heart.

That one chaste kiss on the cheek was the embodiment of his warming heart.

For Bassena, who’d been waiting for Zein’s heart to move, it had a greater value than any of their lustful kiss.

"A raid, huh?" Bassena broke the silence, tapping on his chin while naturally leading Zein toward his own office. "Are you going to wear your uniform?"

"Isn’t that the whole reason?"

They were going to show off the new division, so raiding with their pristine black uniform was a must.

"What about your equipment?"

"I’ll have the shield bracer and the Black Pearl,"

"That’s it?"

Zein tilted his head as Bassena stopped walking. That’s it? What kind of question was that? The uniform and the bracer were already an upgrade of what he had before. Actually, even the Black Pearl was something that belonged to Bassena. So he already had three upgrades compared to his entire career.

He stared at the esper, who was in deep thought, with intrigue. The amber eyes narrowed for a bit, before Bassena took his wrist and turned around, bringing them back toward the direction of the elevator instead of his office.

"Come with me."

"Where to?"

Bassena looked back slightly, amber eyes curled in excited light. "To get you suited up."