15 Chapter 14. Observation

"Pick me up?" Zein tilted his head in confusion.

Bassena just nodded casually, but his piercing eyes were trained on the hands holding tight to Zein's arm. "We're having dinner in the guest lounge, so come with me," he said, and then added as he felt Zein would refuse. "You need to familiarize yourself with the team to ease our coordination."

His eyes kept staring at Zein's arm, so much so that the petite guide that had been holding into it flinched. The round green eyes glanced at Bassena, and met his sharp, disapproving gaze, which prompted the young man to let go of Zein's arm as if he just touched a hot pan.

The petite guide seemed to be quick-witted, since he immediately retreated behind a desk, grinning sheepishly beneath the mask. An understanding light flashed in his eyes as he looked back and forth between Bassena and Zein. From the look of it, there was a high probability that some kind of rumor would circulate within the Unit after this.

Good, Bassena smiled deeply. Spread it far.

Meanwhile, he could see further confusion inside the pretty blue eyes, the guide's mind churning. It was to be expected, since guides did not usually need to familiarize themselves with a strike team. The espers needed coordination, but the guides' job inside a field was simple; staying back as far as possible from the battlefield, staying alive, and guiding the espers when the time came.

So Zein never thought that there was a need for him to get close to a team that he would only accompany for two weeks, and then never encountered again. He'd met them during the briefing before the expedition anyway.

If it was other guides, like Yath for example, they would spring to their feet immediately. It was an invitation from the Serpent Lord himself after all. The man could just ask someone, even their Captain, to convey the invitation, but he came himself.

Yes, if it was other people, they would take it as an honor to merely be included in the Mortix Group and Trinity Guild dinner meeting, much more being invited directly by the one with the highest rank there. But now, Bassena wanted to laugh, because he could see the blatant reluctance inside the blue eyes.

Well, as expected of someone who rejected him without batting an eye. Rather than making him upset, it felt like a challenge instead.

'What kind of things I must do for my existence to be planted inside his mind?' was what Bassena thinking as he looked at the pondering guide.

"Do I have to? Can't I refuse?"

How many times did the man intend to reject him? Bassena narrowed his eyes in amusement. "No," he smiled. He wasn't upset, but that didn't mean Bassena would just let the guide keep shoving him off. Just the fact that he tolerated this much was actually a miracle. If Han Shin was here, he would give Bassena a strange look all afternoon.

"Why not?"

"Because you sign the contract," Bassena smiled. Patient. A feisty prey shouldn't be attacked before it lowered its guard.

Surprisingly, that reasoning seemed to work. Just like the Captain told him, Guide Zen was an introvert who kept to himself, but he was impeccably professional, even if his license was a fake one. He never refused to guide espers, even if he had a personal conflict with them. Conversely, if it had nothing to do with his job, he would give zero interest.

After Bassena mentioned the contract, he could hear the man sighing in resignation. It was quite rude, honestly, but Bassena was in a good mood since he found the glowing mirage he'd been seeking for years, so he let it slide.

"Can I finish my session first?" he asked, looking straight at Bassena. There were still two espers left, who had been standing awkwardly near the wall, while also staring at Bassena in amazement.

"Sure.

"I'll head to the lounge after this, so you can leave...first?" Zein raised his brow when Bassena, instead of leaving, was heading to the bed and sat there, facing the guiding chair. "What are you doing?"

"I'll just wait," Bassena shrugged, and then added with a smile. "I'll observe. It's part of my assessment duty as the team leader."

He did not lie. As a vice guildmaster, it was part of his duty to assess potential guild members, and he absolutely must bring the man to Trinity. He might be here for the expedition, but his second mission was scouting. And no, it wasn't just his selfish desire to hog the guide for himself—well, only about 80%. But if Zein's ability was still as miraculous as when he guided Bassena four years ago, their guildmaster had ordered immediate recruitment.

And Bassena was sure that Zein was still as good.

Since borderland was a place with high miasmic activity, it was easy for espers to accumulate corrosion, and the one scheduled for guiding was generally the one who reached orange-level already, including the last two espers. That was why the guide's rotation here was high to avoid guide's burn-out, since each guide had to exert themselves that much more.

But Zein, as usual, did the guiding calmly, almost with no effort. He just grabbed the esper's hand and had a fast, precise, effective guiding. Granted, they were just 2-star espers, but the speed was still astounding, even in Bassena's highly selective eyes. He couldn't help the curling of his lips as he observed the barely changed expression inside the blue eyes. He also noted that Zein's eye color would turn lighter in the process, glowing slightly.

It was exactly like how Bassena remembered; the glowing mirage inside the dim cave. He had spent a lot of money tracking the guide, and only managed to find the man after four years. Even then, he needed to see Zein with his own eyes to make sure, which, due to impatient, prompted him to immediately dash for the man's location.

He remembered everything; the smell of petrichor and sorrow, the sense of pure magic energy that weirdly emanated from the guide's neck...they helped his heightened sense to pinpoint Zein's location, and when Bassena found him...

He didn't even need to see the man's face.

Zein's height, figure, and smell were still the same. And when Bassena looked into the deep blue eyes, the slight rumbling inside his chest told him that there was no mistake; he had found 'his' guide.

Because Zein would be his guide. Bassena would make it happen.

While he was thinking about this, renewing his determination, Zein had finished guiding the last esper and gotten up, saying goodbye to the other, younger guide, before walking to the bed.

"Are you done assessing?" he asked, with a low voice that still sounded soothing despite being quite annoyed. Guess it was true that the man didn't like socializing.

With him sitting on the bed, Bassena was tempted to pull the guide there. He had deliberately sat on the bed because he didn't like the idea of Zein using it for guiding. But he realized that the man never used the bed when he sat there, on a perfectly clean, pristine sheet, and it made him happy, somewhat. Made him filled with silly, provoking thoughts.

But Zein stopped outside his reach, just standing there and looking straight at him. Bassena realized that he really liked that—the way Zein looked at him straight, with no pretense. It was the same four years ago.

"I made the assessment long ago," Bassena said with a smile. He had made his decision since four years ago, after all.

He got up, wondering how the pre-cleansing would go tomorrow, feeling excitedly impatient like a child on the night before they go to an amusement park.

Perhaps that was why, he was all smiling and being kind when people greeted him. The last time his mood was this good was during his family's fall—the time Mortix Group absorbed the Vaski's core business into their own—which completed his revenge.

And Bassena could feel the observing stare from the blue eyes every time someone approached him, which delayed their supposedly short journey to the guest quarters. He liked that observing stare, he wanted Zein to be more conscious of him.

Bassena had been considering telling the clueless guide about their first encounter, but he thought it would be more interesting to wait until the man realized it himself. Besides, wasn't it ridiculous that he had to reveal it deliberately? He's the Bassena Vaski, godsdamnit!

"You should've just sent someone to relay a message to me, rather than coming down yourself," Zein said, after another esper went away with Bassena's autograph.

It was the first time Zein uttered something first, and the longest sentence Zein ever said to him, and Bassena almost stopped in his track to stare at the guide. Soon, he flashed his most charming smile and answered quietly, as if he wanted Zein to be the only one hearing it. "But I want to do it myself."

When Zein just stared at him, unaffected, Bassena tilted his head. "If I just sent someone, would you agree to come?" there was an "ah" expression in the blue eyes. Of course, there was high probability that Zein would refused and made some excuses to avoid congregating with elite members of society.

"You're unexpectedly diligent," the guide commented, which prompted Bassena to chuckle.

"We just like it more if all members of the expedition knew each other before we depart," by we it meant Bassena and he only wanted to know more about Zein, not the others. "There will be in-depth talk about the expedition itself, so it won't be a waste."

Zein just hummed at that. The guide didn't realize it, but Bassena was being very accommodating to him—in his standard. Zein was right, if it was other people, Bassena would have sent someone to invite the guide, or perhaps not invited them at all. Explaining things, coaxing—he had never done something like this before.

"So it's going to be the same people in the meeting room, right?" Zein asked as they entered the watchtower.

Bassena's smile didn't seem to want to go away every time Zein saying something. "There will be two researchers too."

"Researcher..." Zein muttered, before turning his head toward Bassena. "Civilians?" he asked with surprise.

"Yes."

"Isn't that...risky?" there was a frown on Zein's face and a rare, agitated tone beneath his voice.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about that," Bassena shrugged, and then halted.

They had just stopped climbing the tower, turning in the direction of the guest's quarter, and stopped in the hallway. Zein was grabbing Bassena's arm, tightly, and the agitation had morphed into anxiousness.

"Civilians shouldn't go into the Deathzone."

With his enhanced vision, Bassena could see the slight shaking of the blue orbs. The calm, nonchalant gaze that Zein always carried was crumbling in a mere second he realized that there would be civilians in the expedition.

"The expedition itself is to carry their research, so they need to be in the field," Bassena explained slowly, surprised by Zein's reaction. The hand grabbing his arm was hard and strong, reminding him of the time Zein had slammed him into the cave wall.

But the strength wasn't derived from anger this time, it was from worry.

"They had been training their body for this expedition," Bassena spoke calmly, "And they will wear specialized clothes for protection."

The strength in Zein's grip loosened, and Bassena added. "And I'm here. Do you think I will let people under my protection to get hurt?" the furrowed brow raised as the blue eyes become clearer, looking straight at the amber orbs. "They won't be harmed."

It was only then that the hand retreated from Bassena's arm. But the esper took the retreating hand into his own, husky voice spoke in a low, determined tone. "You too. I'm here to protect you too."

Zein pressed his lips, and his expression turned back into the usual, nonchalant gaze. He pulled his hand away from the esper's grasp, but still trained his eyes on Bassena's amber.

"Bassena Vaski," his low, soothing voice trickled down Bassena's spine in one, shiver-inducing sensation as the esper's name came out of his mouth for the first time. "You know nothing of the Deathzone."