There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 686: Side Story 3. Stellar Blossom - 21

Taking the relic home, as it happened, wasn’t so easy.

The location was a big problem. While the Mallarc and Mortix had considerable influence in the Eastern Federation, it wasn’t the case with the other states. The Southern Kingdom was easier since Mortix had a lot of business agreements in their land. Western Republic, on the other hand...

People said those who live opposite of each other inevitably end up as enemies. That seemed to be so between the East and the West of the continent. They had too many differences within their principle that they could hardly see each other in a good light.

The devoted Westerners, who revered and worshiped the patron deities as their Gods, could not take the Easterners’ view of seeing those deities as mere providers who gave back as a consequence of their actions.

If it wasn’t bad enough, the Eastern Federation and Western Republic excelled in their research of dungeon materials and technology. There was a saying that a global conference could not be called a global conference before researchers from East and West bickering over who found what first.

Of course, it wasn’t like they would start attacking each other when they met on the street, and there were a lot of people from both sides who bonded friendship or became family. Nevertheless, judgment and narrow perceptions still existed between the two states.

And just like how researchers always had beef with each other, the companies who were profiting from dungeon technology were in a ceaseless war over exclusive rights, logistic farming, and product sales. Sometimes, it got so heated that the government was involved in imposing trade restrictions or import taxes.

It was a battlefield. It was a battlefield for Radia.

No matter how good his information gathering was, it couldn’t be better than the local. The artifact was a high-ranking one, and was immediately sought after. Western Republic was known to produce a lot of magician-type espers, so elemental artifacts were always on their radar. From the government to guilds and companies, everyone tried to get their hand on this artifact.

A fire artifact that housed a sentient flame. An appraisal stated that it was able to strengthen a natural fire mana, or, if used by an elementalist with neutral alignment, could turn them into a fire elementalist. If they were too scared to use it in their body, high-level artisans could turn the artifact into a soul weapon using the sentient nature of the flame.

Naturally, since it came from the fifth floor, the power would be tremendous. A strengthening artifact was already rare, much more a sentient one. The hunting of it was brutal--so brutal that the warrior who was granted the artifact swiftly bid his goodbye by throwing the artifact to the black market. He’d rather sell it cheaper rather than potentially piss off some people because he sold it to someone specific.

It became even harder for Jock to locate it. For weeks and months, they tried to trace the black market, competing with the rest of the Western Republic. Unfortunately, the one who successfully got the artifact was someone named Ramsay Hammer--a third-generation conglomerate.

He wasn’t a magician; he wasn’t a high-rank esper too. While he was awakened as an esper, he had no interest in doing all those fighting shit. Why would he, when he could live comfortably with his family’s money and inherited the company?

His family, as it happened, was working in the field of dungeon materials refining. The company under him specialized in hunting artifacts to research them, because artifacts were also considered a cosmic power byproduct. Three years ago, however, he established a new company that worked on purchasing artifacts from the black market and selling them again at a higher price after processing its legality.

Which wasn’t too bad. People still question the morality of it, but a lot of espers liked that they could look for good artifacts without thinking much about hiding them from the public. They just considered the company as a big laundry machine.

In that case, wouldn’t it be easy for Radia to get it? The Mallarc had a lot of liquid assets, and Radia was willing to sell his personal assets if it was needed.

Yeah, it should be easy. It would have been easy had Ramsey not hated Radia so much.

The man did not hide it either. He despised Radia; it was very apparent from his social media activity. Radia did not have a social media presence, and he never cared--at least never before. It took him a long time to figure out why this man loathed him so much.

He had to travel back to his academy days, where he beat the man in a debate during a global conference he did out of boredom in his last academy years because Han Joon had already graduated. And it seemed like Mortix’s researchers kept beating his family’s company in placing patents and stuff.

It was...mundane and silly in Radia’s mind. But it was probably more than that for this Ramsay guy. Especially since Radia recalled he said he did the debate lightheartedly as an excuse so he could go to the Tower of Scatach in Northern Alliance.

Radia honestly didn’t remember much since his mind was on his long-distance boyfriend all the time, but he knew he could come off as obnoxious and totally arrogant when he was young.

But to think someone still held a grudge for more than a decade because of that...

[Sir, I don’t think it’s wise for you to get it yourself] Jock said warily from the screen.

Before Radia could argue, Laurel had already interjected. "He’s right, Dia. I don’t mean to say you can’t, but...I don’t think you’re in the right shape to negotiate," she held her son’s hand, grasping it tightly. "Especially with someone bearing such dislike toward you."

"Dislike..."

Radia was used to people disliking him since he was a child simply because of his status. Perhaps because of that, he had never really cared about how people perceived him as long as Mortix and Trinity were doing well. His world had been those two, and he was the one keeping himself in the shadow for the most part. Sometimes, people even forgot he was the Chairman of Mortix and Guildmaster of Trinity.

But this time, it was a personal need, and he felt like his karma was catching up to him.

He thought perhaps all of his wrong deeds had been repaid with the misery he had to endure during his separation from Han Joon and the whole murder attempt by Operation Kronos. Seemed like he was wrong. Or...perhaps he had accumulated new ones.

Who knows. He could barely function with logic nowadays. He kept on wishing for miracles instead of looking for logical solutions.

"But something this important..." he muttered unconsciously.

"I know, sweetie," she caressed the cheek that had gotten paler and thinner from stress. "Why don’t I go, mm?"

The crimson eyes widened. "You?"

"Your father has to take care of the Holdings, but I can go in your stead," she smiled reassuringly.

"That’s..."

"Do you not trust me?"

Radia bit his cheek. "I do, but..."

Would that man be willing to? Radia didn’t mind getting mocked or berated, but he didn’t want his mother to receive such treatment in his place.

[We should try first, Sir] Jock uttered his agreement. [If Madam Laurel couldn’t do it, then...]

Silent filled the room for a while as Radia fell deep in thought. It took him five minutes before sighing. "Alright," he looked at his mother with a heavy heart. "I’m counting on you, Mother."

* * *

Laurel departed for the Western Republic the next day, and after eleven days, Radia finally got some news.

Just not the one he hoped for. Especially not with more machines attached to Joon’s body. Four days ago, the man’s lungs could barely function, and it seemed like his heart would be next. Because of that, he didn’t even have the energy to make any reaction.

"That son of a bitch!"

So Bassena did it for him.

"What happened?" Zein asked with a frown, feeling relieved about leaving the twins with their nannies instead of bringing them to the hospital--even though they kept crying about not seeing Uncle Joon.

Bassena glared at the message in Radia’s commlink, as well as several news articles attached to it. "He wants to turn it into a public auction!"

"...what’s that?"

The Innocent question quelled Bassena’s anger, and he explained briefly about this public auction. Basically, it was an auction held in front of the general public instead of a closed-off space in which only certain people could participate. Usually, it was held in a yellow zone, so even people who weren’t very well off had a hope of acquiring the item.

"We can’t argue against it because the public favored this kind of auction where anyone can participate," Bassena groaned. "Look--this bastard even wrapped it as a company charity event to boost their image while at it!" ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

"I see...it’s quite clever," Zein nodded. They might lose a lot of profit, but who dared object when the only person who would be disadvantaged was the guy and his company? If anyone made a protest, their public image would plummet for sure. "Not to mention, you don’t have to use money. You can bring your family treasure or something."

The general public would definitely love it.

"Yes. The value of each staff is subjective; only the owner may evaluate them."

Zein liked this concept very much, but for now, he could only look at Radia bitterly. "This is like..."

Radia let out a hollow-sounding chuckle. "This is like saying I can’t have it."

He could bring money, he could bring an old family’s heirloom, he could bring an even more precious artifact--but that guy could just say he didn’t feel like it and refused everything.

Bassena looked at the summoner, who was quietly stroking his sleeping husband’s face. "Hey, let’s--"

"I’m going," Radia said briefly.

"No, wait--if he just doesn’t like you, we can send someone else."

"Yeah. I can ask Grandpa Yu for help, or even Elena. I heard Ron and Agni are there too, so--"

"No," Radia pulled away from the bed, turning toward Zein and Bassena. There was an undeniable firmness there, the stubbornness they knew they wouldn’t be able to shake. "My mother already met him, remember? He knew I was the one who needed it."

Why else would that guy make this ’charity event’? They had enough information to know that Ramsay Hammer wasn’t the kind who would do something out of kindness. He was someone who pettily held a grudge for almost two decades, for fuck’s sake.

No. That guy did it to corner someone he despised.

"I’ll go myself; I should have gone myself from the start," Radia exhaled slowly, glancing at his peaceful-looking husband. "This is something I must do, not someone else."

"Radia..."

"Min," the crimson eyes shifted toward the Chief Secretary near the door. "Let’s prepare."

"Yes, Sir."