There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 306

Chapter 306: Chapter 298. A Quiet Storm

Inside his small, new apartment, Nora frantically pranced back and forth in his bedroom after closing all of his windows and curtains. He listened to the static sound of his call, staring hard at his link’s screen, and bit his nails in anxiety.

"Come on, Zein..." he mumbled nervously. "Pick up, please...pick up!"

But the call did not go through, and it only made him more anxious. He pressed another number, and after waiting for half a minute, the other person finally picked up.

[Hello?]

"Nadine! Where’s Captain?" Nora whispered as loud as he could, because he dared not to talk normally even in the confine of his own bedroom.

[Nora? Why do you want to know?]

"I tried calling him, but he’s not picking up. It’s urgent--I think...I think they are trying to do something to him!"

There was no response from the other side for a while, but the call was still connected. Nora had expected Nadine to berate him about speaking nonsense, but as expected of Zein’s deputy, she calmly contemplated Nora’s words.

[Who are they? Where are you?] Nadine finally asked, and he could hear her footsteps.

"...Captain put me in Celestia,"

[What?!] She paused for a bit, and, before Nora had to explain it himself, already came to a conclusion herself. [To be...a spy?]

"Yeah,"

From the moment Zein gave him that piece of paper for an address and a name, he knew it didn’t come for free. After all, who was in their right man would put a ’traitor’ in a bigger guild, even if it was just a branch. Nora had no idea what he should be spying on exactly, or whether he could gain any information.

But he had a feeling it was for today.

It was something he chance upon, all by accident. The espers of Celestia had always been treating their guides like air, something Nora had been familiar with all his life--except when he was in Trinity. Perhaps that was why they didn’t care about saying something while he was guiding one of them.

One of the esper, someone from the main strike squad, told the esper he was guiding that some people from the main headquarters would come in a while, so the esper had to get ready for the plan. Nora had no idea what this plan was, but he reckoned any plan around this time had a high possibility of being connected with Trinity, because he knew the Guildmaster of Celesta had been furious about the project’s result.

So he spied on the meeting happening between the people who came from Rexon--what seemed like a scout and one mysterious person who didn’t look to be a part of Celestia. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he managed to see the screen on one of esper’s commlink; it contained a familiar picture of Zein and an address.

He told Nadine all of this, who, by the time he finished, had stopped walking. [The address, do you remember it?]

"Yeah, I think it’s Sir Vaski’s apartment,"

[Alright, don’t hang up. Where are you now?]

"I’m back home already, I...I think it’s okay, they don’t care about guides," Nora said, still whispering.

He had immediately come to the management asking for a sick leave so he could come home without them getting suspicious. Perhaps because his face was extremely pale and sweating at the same time, his acting was really convincing.

On the other side, he could hear Nadine opening a door. [Alice, I need to call Guildmaster] he heard the guide say to Zein’s assistant, and Nora was filled with both anxiety and relief. If it was the Guildmaster, things should have been resolved quickly.

Or so he hoped.

* * *

It was like a storm; something that Radia did not even expect. Just like how he did not expect the Saintess to make a move at that time, or how Freyja went as far as claiming Zein.

He knew Celestia might do something to hinder them, because if Trinity decided to withdraw, it would be them who got the project. But he believed that a group like Celestia, who hang upon their public image, wouldn’t do something so blatantly obvious like kidnapping.

It was clear that he underestimated their recklessness. Or stupidity.

"Are you there?" he glanced at one of the screens, of the many he had in front of him right now.

[Yes] Jock replied from the other side of the screen. [The management said there’s nothing weird happening, at least as far as they know. Can I just go in?]

"We’re in an emergency," Radia said, eyes glancing at the black screen that stated Zein still hadn’t answered his commlink. He had hoped it was because the guide had fallen asleep, but he also remembered Bassena said his nanny should be there to take care of Zein while he was gone.