Chapter 246
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 246
Chapter Title: Now You Get It, Right?
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While Maya was in the lab, Rimon was entertaining a guest.
A very special guest at that—the princess of the Black Dragon Clan.
"This tea has such a wonderful aroma."
"Does it?"
"Yes. I've had plenty of dragon well tea before, but I've never smelled one with such a fine fragrance."
"Must be the quality of the leaves."
"Yeah, that has to be it."
Li Chingwei nodded in agreement.
The Green Dragon Clan's main affiliates included seed and bio industries, so it made sense that the tea at Quetzalcoatl HQ was on another level.
Though the tea at the last banquet had felt pretty ordinary by comparison.
Tea wasn't the point anyway, so Li Chingwei set down her cup and calmly posed a question.
"Has everything been all right lately?"
"Nothing major. Just started learning sculpture like I mentioned yesterday, and the master seemed unusually out of sorts today."
"The latter's common enough, but the former... Maya actually allowed that?"
"Ours isn't your typical master-servant relationship."
Rimon shrugged.
They both knew it was all for show anyway.
They turned a blind eye because their interests aligned, delicately maintaining the facade of a master-servant bond.
"...That's an ominous thing to say."
Rimon chuckled at Li Chingwei's subtly unsettled expression.
"Don't worry about it. The deadline's almost up anyway. You think my cover's gonna blow in the next few days?"
"True enough."
After a moment's thought, Li Chingwei nodded.
Her concerns differed from Rimon's, but either way, he'd be free in a matter of days.
'Even the Sword Duke couldn't make much progress with sculpture in just a few days.'
The most dangerous item, the Heart Ink Violin, was safely in her possession.
Considering how long it had taken Rimon to master the violin, it'd take him at least a month from now to awaken the Seven Axes.
With that rational assessment easing her anxiety, Rimon tossed out a casual question.
"More curious about what you dug up on Ambrosia. Find anything?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
"Why 'unfortunately' if you found something?"
"We acquired some of that Ambrosia."
"...?"
The explanation made no sense for something that should only bring good news, so Rimon eyed her suspiciously.
But when Li Chingwei produced a vial filled with golden liquid, his face hardened.
"This is Ambrosia?"
"Yes."
"...You sure about the name?"
"That's what I wanted to ask you."
She let out a soft sigh.
Li Chingwei gazed at the vial on the table as she continued.
"Only the Green Dragon Clan or the Sword Duke could verify if this is real Ambrosia... or just some other drug."
Rimon frowned and picked up the vial.
He shook it, uncapped it to sniff, dabbed a few drops on his hand.
After inspecting the golden liquid every which way,
he finally licked a drop off his hand, set the vial down, spat out the Ambrosia, and spoke coldly.
"It's not Nectar."
"It's not?"
Li Chingwei looked relieved.
But Rimon's next words darkened her face instantly.
"It's very close, though."
"How close?"
"Close enough to call it a Nectar knockoff."
"...That's bad."
"Bad would be lucky."
Rimon scowled deeply.
Li Chingwei couldn't hide her distress.
Yuna Kyung tilted her head at the pair.
[Um, I'm just a baby bird at level 0, so I don't know much, but... what's Nectar that's got you all worked up?]
"Of course you wouldn't know. Nectar's forbidden knowledge for most people."
[Forbidden knowledge?]
Yuna Kyung cocked her head.
Li Chingwei stared at her for a moment, glanced at Rimon—who nodded—then spoke calmly.
"You know this country's nickname, right?"
[Sure do.]
"Do you know when it started?"
[Uh... not really. Just heard it's been called that forever.]
"Right. This goes way back."
And with that, Li Chingwei began her tale.
Long, long ago.
In the early days of the Heroes' Age, after the Sword Emperor felled the seven dragons and drew his last breath.
The world was in chaos.
With the Seven Dragon Society's global rule crumbling, rebels and liberation armies sprang up everywhere daily.
The Seven Dragons didn't go down easy, of course.
They had legions of masters.
Bottomless funds.
Fanatical loyalty and organization.
Even then, they were the world's strongest force.
But that was only possible right after the Bronze Age ended.
The Blue Dragon Clan lost control of the British Empire and Europe to Sword King Richard I.
The White Dragon Clan, stripped of Middle Eastern hegemony by the Sword Hidden Rashid ad-Din Sinan, hid in Jerusalem.
As Sword Masters increased one by one over time, the Seven Dragons gradually weakened, retreating into the shadows.
"The Green Dragon Clan hid in the shadows too."
Unable to handle Sword Masters, they abandoned rule and fled to the jungle.
Luckily, the Amazon awaited in South America—a primordial forest blessed by ancient spirits, beyond even Sword Masters' gaze.
"And that's when things flipped."
[...So the Green Dragons, once chased by rebels, became the rebels themselves?]
"Yes. No group was better at jungle guerrilla warfare back then."
Experts in every poison, of course.
As former overlords of South America, they knew the jungle and regional politics inside out—truly formidable foes.
Even Sword Masters had one body; they couldn't guard a whole continent.
Thanks to that, the Green Dragons resisted stubbornly for decades.
"But they fell in the end. Guess why?"
[Uh... no idea.]
"Betrayal."
[A traitor in the Seven Dragons?]
"No, none in the Green Dragon Clan then."
Li Chingwei shook her head at wide-eyed Yuna Kyung.
The Seven Dragons were rock-solid.
Especially back then, with their religious zeal—betrayals were rare, threats or bribes be damned.
The problem?
The Green Dragons weren't fighting alone.
"But among the locals they'd saved, there were traitors."
[...What?]
"Humans who sell out their benefactors for a few silver coins over repaying favors? They've always existed."
Green Dragons had been the finest physicians and healers since the Bronze Age.
Countless patients they'd saved, and those allies enabled decades of guerrilla war.
Which made the betrayal all the more devastating.
"Their jungle base exposed by allies, over half the Green Dragons—men, women, children—were massacred."
"Even the Green Dragon Princess died fighting to evacuate her clan."
"The survivors fled into the jungle clutching her egg, weeping blood tears."
Yuna Kyung swallowed hard.
She vaguely knew what a princess meant to the Seven Dragons.
She couldn't imagine the Green Dragons' anguish at sacrificing their princess to escape.
"They learned too late who sold them out."
"And watched those who'd praised them as saviors loot gold from their burning base."
"What do you think they did next?"
[...Hunt down the traitors for revenge?]
"No. They made a drug."
Hiding in the jungle.
Chewing raw beast flesh.
Uprooting grasses.
To create a new drug.
Li Chingwei wrapped up softly, noting the Green Dragons' decade-plus of effort and obsession.
"The world's easiest-to-mass-produce drug. More effective than any other. No side effects, just pure addictiveness."
[...!]
"And they flooded the world with it."
The result was catastrophic.
A side-effect-free, dirt-cheap, unlimited-supply drug spread across South America overnight.
Like alcohol or smokes... no, even more mainstream.
No more traitors after that.
Anyone who'd tasted it would grovel and lick boots for another hit.
"Once all South Americans were hooked, the Green Dragons stopped production."
Locals sold family for it.
But the Green Dragons never made more. At best, tweaked versions with minimized side effects.
To those who'd tasted heaven, it was worse than moldy bread crumbs.
Yet the addicted writhed in unimaginable withdrawal worse than any drug, begging for the cheap stuff to quench their thirst.
"Get it now?"
That drug was Nectar.
The perfect narcotic that made the Green Dragons rulers of all drug cartels.
Yuna Kyung stared blankly at Li Chingwei's calm, storybook tone, then finally stammered.
[So... that was the Green Dragons' revenge? Turn every South American into a drug slave?]
"Pretty much."
[...My God.]
Yuna Kyung groaned.
Not just because only the drug-savvy Green Dragons could pull off such unimaginable vengeance.
She realized a hidden truth in the tale.
[Brazil's still called the 'Land of Drugs'—that means the revenge never ended!]
A nation where all drugs are legal.
The cheapest drugs on earth.
95%+ of the population using them like booze or cigs.
Such absurdity persisted because the Green Dragons kept supplying—and that proved the grudge endured.
Screaming like a banshee, Yuna Kyung demanded.
[How does that even make sense? The original grudge-holders died centuries ago—extending revenge to innocents and descendants?!]
"It does."
Li Chingwei continued evenly as Yuna Kyung fell silent at the crisp reply.
"They're Green Dragons."
Repay favors with gratitude.
Grudges with vengeance.
Lives with lives.
Stubborn, vicious, savage inheritors of that ancient code.
They never quit, never stop till the end.
Embodiments of obsession.
That was the Green Dragon Clan.
The most extreme, dual-natured of the Seven Dragons—even after millennia, they never forgot a grudge.
Li Chingwei smiled faintly, adding,
"And one key thing you shouldn't forget."
[...What?]
"We're the Seven Dragons."
That moment,
Yuna Kyung swallowed.
Finally understanding.
History's greatest crime syndicate, once ruling the underworld, plotting world overthrows repeatedly.
Toppling nations via prophecy.
Bankrupting countries through smuggling.
Puppeteering or assassinating kings.
Means differed per clan, but horrors rivaling drugging a continent—all without hesitation.
That was the Seven Dragons.
She'd thought she knew them, but knew nothing.
And...
"Now you get why they're called the Demonic Cult, right?"
This smiling black-haired girl before her was the craftiest, most dangerous princess even among them.
The baby bird could only gulp dryly at the realization.