Chapter 59 - 58. Grim Reaper
Zein didn’t recognize the man right away, but as he looked at Arden’s clique, it reminded him of the group of guides who used to antagonize him in Umbra. He observed the members one by one, and as his eyes fell into the green uniformed man in the back—lo and behold; the leader of Umbra’s clique was right there.
Nora was a guide who came to the red-zone just after Zein’s initial ten years slave contract ended. Unlike Zein, his C-class license was a legitimate one that he acquired before ended up in Umbra. Zein had no idea whether the man was kidnapped or came willingly, but he remembered that Nora became the Guildmaster’s pet soon enough, leading the group of guides with like-minded coquettishness like a queen—or rather, mistress?
He remembered the man as the one who actively tried to demean him and spread words that Zein was no longer able to guide well, though it helped him end his contract anyway, so Zein didn’t really care about that.
But he also remembered that Nora was supposed to enter the dungeon with the Guildmaster that day. A dungeon break only happened when the whole raiding members were annihilated, so Zein was wondering why Nora, who was supposed to be dead, was here in Trinity, perfectly fine and totally alive.
So he blurted the question swirling in his head right away;
"You’re not dead?"
For Zein, it was just a casual question, born of genuine curiosity. Was the man ended up not doing the raid and so not part of the casualty? Or was he managed to escape the dungeon before an outbreak happened?
Yes, Zein didn’t ask it out of malicious thought.
But unfortunately, perhaps because the counterpart was someone from the area, Zein asked it in a tone he used in the red-zone; deep, sharp, harsh. It could be called local tone for the end-dwellers, but for these people who lived their whole life in the safer zones?
It sounded bone-chillingly sinister.
The reaction was immediate; after a collective flinch, the clique was standing defensively close to each other, and even the C-class guides which had shed their defense around Zein earlier stood up and scooted back, stiffened in fright.