Chapter 251
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 251
Chapter Title: Then That's Good.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"You arrogant...!"
Maya spat out her furious roar.
She glared at Rimon, exuding a thick aura of murderous intent.
"No matter how strong you are, do you really think you can take on our entire clan by yourself?"
"Yes."
Rimon continued lazily, watching Maya’s eyes widen at his crisp, sword-slash-like immediate reply.
"Before asking me, why don’t you answer yourself? Do you truly believe your master’s power can kill me?"
Grind.
As if questioning whether she had the confidence to kill him.
Rimon asked flatly.
Maya ground her teeth.
Her boiling grudge screamed that she could kill him a hundred times over.
She was the princess of the Green Dragon Clan, the only one in the world who could poison even a Sword Master.
But her cold reason admitted it was impossible.
Rimon, the Sword Master immune to all poisons, was the natural predator of the Green Dragon Clan itself.
"...Even if I can’t win, I can at least take you down with me."
"Well, if you’re willing to stake your life, that might be possible."
Rimon readily acknowledged it.
This was the Quetzalcoatl headquarters.
A fortress rivaling Hotel Leviathan, teeming with hundreds of Green Dragon Clan experts—it was a dragon’s lair.
If they all charged at him alongside Maya with everything they had, even he would have a tough time.
Knowing that full well, Rimon smiled faintly and asked,
"Shall we test it?"
"..."
Success meant avenging her grudge but dying alongside him.
Failure meant dying a dog’s death without revenge, for both her and her clan.
Staring sharply at Rimon, who asked with a beaming smile if she wanted to gamble with certain death either way, Maya closed her eyes for a long moment.
The Green Dragon Clan never forgot favors or grudges.
But she couldn’t blind herself to past hatred and lead her clan to ruin.
Especially not her, who hadn’t yet prepared the next generation.
"Get out. Now."
That was why she had no choice but to let Rimon, her clan’s enemy, go freely.
"I’ll settle this with Li Chingwei myself later. So don’t let me see your face again."
She was letting him go only because she lacked the power.
She hadn’t forgotten her grudge against Rimon, and she vowed to exact revenge someday, even centuries from now.
She glared at him with venom and declared it.
"That won’t do."
The problem was that Rimon had no intention of obeying her order to leave.
"...What do you mean?"
"The sculptor’s treatment isn’t finished yet."
"Are you telling me to finish treating him?"
"Something like that."
"That’s a funny joke."
Maya sneered mockingly.
But her cold eyes held not a trace of amusement.
"You think I’ll just treat the man you brought here?"
"You have to, per the contract."
"I made that contract without knowing your true identity. Now that I know it was all a scam, I have no obligation—or desire—to honor it."
Maya stated flatly.
Anyone else, maybe.
But Rimon Asfelder wielding psionics? Absurd.
That meant the intel from London was clearly Li Chingwei’s ploy to deceive the other Seven Dragon Society clans.
"Sometimes, you have to honor even the deals you hate."
"Planning to threaten me?"
"No."
Rimon wasn’t disappointed.
He just flashed a wicked grin and raised one hand.
"Instead, I’ll do this."
"...?"
Whoosh.
Maya furrowed her brow at the cryptic words, then stiffened.
The faint starlight flowing from Rimon’s hand swirled in the air, forming the shape of scales in an instant.
A bizarre pressure bore down on her.
Holding an antique balance scale—like those of the goddess Themis of law and justice, with two pans hanging from a long beam—Rimon asked leisurely,
"What do you think is the foundation of all laws in the world?"
"Are you trying to play riddles with me now?"
"Don’t be so prickly. Share your thoughts. Then I can either back off gracefully or explain this scale’s power."
After glaring at the sly Rimon for a moment, Maya scoffed derisively, as if deciding to see what trick he was pulling.
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. That’s the foundation—and essence—of all law."
"I like that logic too, but I mean something even more fundamental."
"What could be more important than that?"
As Maya’s face hardened at Rimon’s chuckling—truly befitting the Green Dragon Clan—
he said meaningfully,
"Laws must be promises enforced fairly."
"Empty nonsense."
"You think so?"
"Of course."
A blatant sneer curled Maya’s lips.
"Even those who make, uphold, and judge laws don’t care about fairness. Who could enforce it fairly?"
"I agree it’s nearly impossible for humans."
Rimon, who had lived a long life, knew how illusory the fairness and absoluteness of law truly were.
Even gods and spirits were no different.
Spirits prioritizing spirit mages who could communicate with them, or gods favoring their devotees—it was nothing new.
In that sense, Maya’s cynical view wasn’t wrong.
"But what about a tool without its own will?"
Fwaaah!
The moment the scales in Rimon’s hand shook.
They split into white and black light, seeping into Rimon and Maya’s wrists.
Her efforts to block it with psionics were futile; staring at the white scale tattoo etched on her wrist, Maya’s eyes widened.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing much. Just tried out a fun trick I picked up recently."
"A trick that tattoos people without permission?"
"That’d be fun, but this is even better. It enforces contracts and promises."
Rimon chuckled.
Bellos, the rank 5 specter of the Liberation Brigade.
This power from slaying his constellation, ‘The Impartial Judge of Law,’ was a mere parlor trick to Rimon.
But a very useful one.
Without it, he’d have needed to scrutinize terms more closely when helping Ainsha or dealing with Sir.
They’d honored their promises willingly, so he hadn’t needed it until now.
"...A Sword Master using such sorcery. The Sword Emperor must be laughing from the afterlife."
Maya glared at Rimon with eyes full of hatred.
She realized this tattoo was the method he’d mentioned to force even hated contracts.
"Don’t mislead people. This is a fairly balanced sorcery."
"Forcing this on me without consent—where’s the fairness?"
"What if both the caster and the recipient pay the price for breaking the contract?"
Showing the black scale tattoo on his own wrist, Rimon grinned.
The tattoo’s effect was simple.
When two parties made a promise or contract,
weights would accumulate on these black-and-white scales based on faithful fulfillment.
The more weights one had, the more coercive power it exerted on the other party.
From urging promise-keeping to, depending on the weights, anything at all.
"...You can force anything?"
"Yes. For example, punishing a disobedient slave..."
Maya’s eyebrow twitched.
Watching her, Rimon smiled meaningfully.
"Or taking their life outright."
"...!"
She had half-expected it, yet it stunned her; Maya clenched her fist unconsciously.
But only for a moment.
Realizing her obvious agitation, she steadied herself and sneered coldly.
"Hmph. Don’t play word games. That means you could do anything to me too."
"Just keep your promises, and there’s no issue."
"How can I trust that?"
Maya showed open suspicion.
If there was any lie in his explanation, she could end up exploited or worse.
But right after,
she couldn’t help but waver.
"What if I swear on my sword that everything I said is true?"
"...!"
Her green eyes shook.
If anyone else said it, she’d scoff and dismiss the oath.
But not now. Not from her.
A Sword Master who staked his life on his sword.
Especially the Sword Duke—his oath carried that much weight.
"So, what’ll it be?"
That was why.
She fell silent at Rimon’s follow-up question.
"Trust me and seize the chance? Or become an automated healing machine?"
With the tattoo already in place,
violating the contract was off the table.
Her choices: wait passively for the scales’ coercion to force treatment, or treat actively and earn a shot at revenge.
And the choice was hers alone, he said.
Like a loyal slave asking his master if dinner should be steak or spider soup.
Narrowing her eyes at Rimon, who beamed with utmost politeness,
Maya thought,
‘What an outrageous power.’
She could see it.
He claimed it was fair, but it was blatantly unfair.
Forcing the tattoo without consent was proof enough.
By ignoring it when disadvantaged and using it when favored, Rimon could reap massive gains.
Just as those who make and judge laws always monopolize benefits through them.
‘Truly shameless fraud.’
Moreover, he’d sworn his explanation had no lies—but not that it was complete.
If he hid other risks or ways to nullify the contract, she’d be the only one suffering.
‘But...’
It might let her kill the Sword Duke, undefeatable for centuries.
That possibility was too alluring.
Tempting as the devil’s fruit.
After closing her eyes in deep thought, Maya opened them and spoke.
"If that’s true, then to avoid death, you’d have no choice but to serve as a thorough slave."
"If you don’t abandon treating the sculptor, yes."
"Then that’s good."
Maya slowly raised her hand.
Gazing at the five white and black weights on the white scale tattoo on her wrist, she curled her lips in a cold sneer.
Deception?
Devil’s temptation?
Risks if it went wrong?
None of it mattered.
Those were concerns only if she failed to treat Hermann.
She had no reason to refuse this deal.
And the most important reason was one.
"Let’s see how many more weights it takes to kill you."
The enemy who destroyed her clan.
And nearly killed her too.
If she could avenge herself on Rimon, what was partnering with a devil?
True to the Green Dragon Clan princess who never forgot grudges, she glared sharply at him.
Rimon replied with a meaningful smile.
"If you’re confident in granting treatment greater than the service I provide, then by all means."
One wagered her medical arts.
The other his enslavement technique.
A historic duel, staking clan grudges and a Sword Master’s life on their respective skills, began just like that.