There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 157

Chapter 157: Chapter 152. Weight of A Name

Zein thought they were done talking about the incident or the spiteful clan, but as the car climbed through the winding road to the peak of the hill, Bassena suddenly muttered with narrowed eyes.

"I think...there’s someone...or some force behind the Vaski and the Golden Viper," the esper said, biting his cheek to suppress his anxiety.

"What...like a sponsor?" Zein responded with a raised brow. "Like with Trinity and Mortix?"

"Yeah..."

Zein glanced at the esper, trying to figure out the reason behind Bassena’s concern. Did the esper think that even with the Golden Viper gone and the remnant of the Vaskis driven away from the Eastern Federation, the sponsor might still try to find the vessel?

If they somehow still obsessed with that, they might investigate enough to find Todres one day, or the remnant of the Templars, or figured out that the seed’s characteristic was the brilliant, jewel-like blue eyes. In that case, with Zein’s striking blue eyes circulating in the media...

"Do you have a guess?"

Bassena tapped on the steering wheel while racking his brain. In hindsight, people would think the Golden Viper’s sponsor was the Vaski clan. But Bassena, through two decades of growing up there, could sense that the clan was, essentially, just a subordinate of someone--something. It could be a person, it could be an organization, it could be another family...

He recalled seeing VIP ’guests’ came to the main mansion from time to time, and the Golden Viper would have a mission immediately after that. Of course, they could be clients, but sometimes Bassena felt like there were divisions that never did profitable activities, as if they were only made to fulfill some duties.

Like a hound.

Bassena wouldn’t know, because his job was to raid dungeons and become their ’face’. He never really thought about it more, and that sponsor seemed to back off when Bassena raised hell, because the Mallarcs and Mortix were involved. Seemed like cutting a snake’s tail was better than facing the head of a phoenix.

Bassena and Radia did wait to see whether that sponsor would retaliate, but nothing came up aside from community backlash, so he cease to think about it.

Until now, when he realized Zein might get implicated. The matter about the sponsor was simply a conjecture, but it still gave him anxiety.

Anything that had the potential to put Zein in danger always gave him anxiety.

"Hmm...the Golden Viper did have a good relationship with Celestia..."

"But?"

"But it’s kind of too simple, thinking that Celestia is the one behind the clan and the guild. And although it’s the number one guild in the Federation, I don’t think they have enough power or influence to sponsor another guild, much less a clan," Bassena shrugged.

No matter how strong a guild was, they were built upon money, and that money came from investors. Big guilds were basically just another corporation, with shareholders as the real owners. Those kinds of profit-driven people didn’t usually bother with establishing subsidiary guilds with different names, because it essentially meant funding a different brand. Also, Celestia had a branch in Althrea, so sponsoring another guild in the same region seemed to be a waste of resources.

In this sense, Trinity was special because both the sponsor and the guildmaster were the same person. This meant that the interest of the guild and the sponsor would always align.

"Or...it could be someone who sponsors both the Golden Viper and the Celestia?" Zein tilted his head.

"Hmm..." Bassena tilted his head in contemplation too. But he had to park the car, so he just shrugged and stopped thinking about it for now. "Well, there’s only one thing to do in this kind of situation..."

He turned to look at Zein, who was already looking at him with a smirk, and finished the rest of the sentence together; "Dearest Guildmaster."

They grinned at their shameless attempt to burden their already too-busy guildmaster, before alighting from the car.

If he didn’t know beforehand, Zein would think he was there to have a picnic at a park or have a leisurely walk in a conservatoire.

"True," Bassena made a sound of exclaim, as if he just gain an epiphany. He turned his face to look at Zein, and muttered. "It’s amazing..."

"What is?"

"Rather than making it seems like you are lacking something," Bassena smiled and stared at the brilliant pair of sapphires, "You make it sounds like a liberation."

Zein returned the stare with a gaze on his own, deep and contemplative. But the guide shook his head and scoffed. "It’s not that great of a thing," he pushed the esper’s cheek so Bassena faced upfront again. "It’s not like I have fame and reputation attached to that name, so it never mattered to me whether I carry that name or not."

Bassena, on the other hand, used that name from the beginning of his career. He became the youngest Saint-class as Bassena Vaski; it was his brand. Changing it wouldn’t be an easy matter, since everyone already knew and called him that; Bassena Vaski.

Glancing at the esper, Zein just shook his head slightly. This man was probably like this because he had been on a spiraling case of hatred toward the Golden Viper and the Vaskis.

"Reputation..." Bassena pursed his lips. "It wasn’t as if the reputation attached to this name is a good one too," he let out a long, heavy sigh, before looking to the autumn sky and muttering. "Should I just throw it away?"

Again, Zein just shrugged. "That’s up to you," he said. The one who knew the value of that name the best was Bassena after all.

"Hmm...I should have just thrown it away," Bassena nodded, and it sounded so firm and serious that Zein thought the esper would really do it once they got back to Althrea.

But then, as they passed a grave lot that was filled with roses, Bassena leaned closer to the guide and whispered. "I should throw it away, and then we can choose a name to be used together,"

Zein gave the esper a side eye, squinting unamusedly, prompting Bassena to straighten his back again and chuckled. "Just kidding," he smirked, and then looked at Zein again and added, "Unless--okay, okay, just kidding..."

Flicking the grinning esper on the forehead, Zein rolled his eyes and shook his head. If his heart clenched for a second earlier, he didn’t show it.