Chapter 252
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 252
Chapter Title: I Command with the Power of the Scales.
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Quetzalcoatl Headquarters.
The lobby of the world's top pharmaceutical company was always bustling with visitors, but today it was deathly silent, like a tomb.
It wasn't that there were no visitors.
They were just holding their breath out of caution, which made the atmosphere feel especially eerie.
The cause lay in the bizarre mood permeating Quetzalcoatl Headquarters.
Security personnel had doubled from the usual, of course.
Even the doctors and researchers in white coats, and the receptionists who should have been smiling as standard procedure.
All of the Green Dragon Clan were radiating a murderous aura.
'...What the hell is going on?'
Most visitors were bewildered by the strange atmosphere but didn't dare ask the reason.
They knew full well what happened if you incurred the wrath of the Green Dragon Clan.
The inhabitants of the South American continent had learned that lesson etched in blood over centuries, making it their ultimate taboo to upset them.
Aware of the surrounding mood, not a single member of the Green Dragon Clan softened their expression.
There was one reason.
An incident in the laboratory.
The mere fact that an assassin had infiltrated Quetzalcoatl Headquarters was shocking enough, but their princess had been attacked too.
The Green Dragon Clan had no choice but to sharpen their blades.
But among them, one exuded the most lethal vibe.
"Comatose, you say."
"Yes. The princess intervened personally and got her past the crisis, but it seems her body entered a comatose state on its own when she was on the brink of death."
"So when will she wake up?"
"Hard to say. She might recover in a few days... "
"...Or she might never wake up at all."
"The chances of that are low, so don't worry too much. You know what martial art Arbelra has mastered, don't you?"
Barbara didn't respond.
She merely stared silently through the glass wall at Arbelra, lying unconscious in the center of the ICU.
Then she spoke softly.
"This is my fault."
"What nonsense is that?"
"I should have become the princess's chief retainer sooner."
If she had earned merits faster and been recognized as Maya's retainer.
Then, during this incident, if she had been by Maya's side instead, Arbelra wouldn't have done something so foolish as throwing herself in harm's way.
The old woman in a white coat, Elder Giselle, furrowed her brow at Barbara's bitterly chewed words.
"Watch your tongue. Do you not realize that even being selected as the princess's retainer—you and Arbelra—is an extraordinary privilege?"
"......"
Barbara fell silent.
Typically, the retainers of a Seven Dragon Society princess, especially the Green Dragon Princess, were at least attendant-level masters.
Even for a prestigious clan, it was unprecedented for her and Arbelra—still only grandmaster-level—to be chosen as Maya's retainers.
"...Of course, with what happened to Karra, I understand why you're saying that."
Why Maya had taken such a bold step.
Giselle didn't blame Barbara because she knew the reason.
The fact that these two sisters were fiercely competing for the chief retainer position was proof they couldn't forget their mother, Karra.
"But don't delude yourself."
That said, Giselle wasn't letting Barbara's slip entirely slide.
"Becoming the princess's retainer is an honor, and sacrificing your life for her is the clan's duty."
Laying down one's life for the princess was only natural.
In that sense, Arbelra's act of shielding Maya was foolish but praiseworthy.
If personal sentiments made them forget that basic truth, she would convene the elders and strip their retainer qualifications.
After a moment of silence, facing her stern mentor—who was first and foremost a clan elder—Barbara bowed her head slightly and spoke.
"Please take good care of Arbelra."
"Tch, as if I wouldn't."
Giselle clicked her tongue as she watched Barbara turn and leave after those words.
Then she turned back, gazing intently at Arbelra, covered in life-support devices, and murmured softly.
"This is an inescapable fate... yet you seem so foolish."
Karra, their mother, too.
And those who served the previous princess.
The retainers of every Green Dragon Princess had always accepted their fate with pride.
Sighing over her inept disciples who lacked even that fundamental mindset, Giselle's eyes grew cold.
"Don't grieve too much, Arbelra. Even if you die, your path won't be lonely."
After leaving the ICU.
Barbara headed straight to the artificial garden, where Maya hardened her expression upon hearing Arbelra's condition.
But it was only for a moment.
Soon, she sneered coldly.
"Hmph, comatose over something like that. It shows how much Arbelra has neglected her training."
It was a harsh statement from a princess whose retainer had thrown herself in harm's way to protect her—especially in front of the sisters.
But Barbara didn't get upset.
Instead, she bowed her head and begged forgiveness.
"I apologize on Arbelra's behalf for causing you needless worry."
"I refuse."
Maya cut her off sharply.
She glared and added one more thing.
"I have no interest in apologies through others' mouths. Tell that fool to beg my forgiveness herself once she wakes."
"...I'll relay that."
After a snort at Barbara, who could barely respond and kept her head bowed.
Maya asked in a cold voice.
"What about the follow-up measures?"
"The lab cleanup is complete. There are many damaged medical devices, but we should have it restored in a few days."
"I don't care about that. What I want to know is about the one who sent them."
Among the lab's equipment were devices worth tens or hundreds of billions.
Yet Maya dismissed them all so casually.
Barbara replied to her with a stiff face.
"Tracing the source of the test subjects, we found the police chief had been bribed by Ambrosia and deliberately leaked them to us."
"And the measures?"
"We kidnapped him, tortured him for the mastermind, and imprisoned him."
Kidnapping, torturing, and detaining a police chief.
It was the kind of atrocity possible only in Brazil's chaotic law enforcement landscape—and because they were the Green Dragon Clan.
But Maya didn't bat an eye and pressed on.
"Who was the mastermind?"
"As you suspected, a gang connected to the Forest Guild."
"Hmph, so obvious it's boring."
Maya scoffed.
From the moment they used a gang as assassins, she had been certain the culprits were the Forest Guild—specifically, Monster Lord Gula.
In South America, only the Green Dragon Clan or the Forest Guild could manipulate gangs like limbs.
One problem.
Knowing that didn't mean they could retaliate right away.
"Still no leads on the Forest Guild's headquarters?"
"...I'm sorry."
It was an absurd answer.
Not knowing where one of the top ten guilds' base was located was as ridiculous as not knowing a nation's capital.
But Maya wasn't disappointed.
A few years ago, maybe.
But now, it was natural not to know where the Forest Guild's headquarters was.
Because...
"Apology accepted. It's not your fault that he fled to the Amazon."
...The one who had demolished their opulent former headquarters—grander than most palaces—was Maya herself.
So Maya furrowed her brow.
In the end, this entire mess stemmed from her failure to finish the job back then.
But regretting it now was pointless.
She issued a cold command.
"Send the bribed police chief to Lab 13."
"Lab 13... the drug research lab?"
"Since he loves drugs so much, he'll be the first to experience the honor of our new drug."
Maya smiled chillingly.
No matter how advanced the Green Dragon Clan's pharmaceutical arts, developing drugs with minimal side effects wasn't easy.
Experiencing just a few of their most severe ones would turn even high-level players—not ordinary people—into vegetables in days.
"Everyone needs to know what happens to those who betray us, right?"
"...I'll instruct them to release him after the experiments."
Even in the mildest state, anyone passing through Lab 13 would go mad from withdrawal in months, thrash about, and tear out their own throat.
That should suffice to remind everyone what the Green Dragon Clan was capable of.
"What about tracking the Forest Guild?"
"No need for tracking."
"No need...?"
Barbara looked perplexed.
She had expected an order to find them at any cost.
She had even prepared to scour the entire South American continent.
She never imagined Maya would say this.
Maya twisted her lips at her.
"Not giving up. Just entrusting the tracking to someone more suitable."
"...?"
"To that end, Barbara, you have a task right now."
A short while later.
Summoned by Barbara, Rimon eyed Maya with reluctance.
"...Find the Forest Guild's headquarters?"
"Yes."
"By myself?"
It was an outrageous order.
There was a limit to finding a needle in a haystack.
Asking one person to scour the Amazon—which covered over half the world's rainforests—for a single guild.
Even a Sword Master couldn't handle that alone.
But Maya's response was clear-cut.
"You assign hunting dogs to find prey, don't you?"
"I'm a slave, not a hunting dog."
"But a slave's duty is to obey their master's every command, isn't it?"
"Well, yeah."
He scratched his cheek for a moment.
Then Rimon asked bluntly.
"But are you sure about this?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"If I actually find the Forest Guild's base, that scale will tip pretty heavily."
Rimon glanced meaningfully between his and Maya's wrists.
Despite the elbow-length gloves, he could clearly see the white scales tattoo on her wrist.
Their scales were balanced now.
Five weights each.
But if he earned merit as a slave, black weights would increase on her side, allowing him to exert coercive force on Maya.
Could she really risk that? Rimon asked mischievously.
"Is that how you see it?"
"...?"
"It's about time."
She couldn't possibly not know that simple truth.
As Rimon narrowed his eyes at Maya's cold sneer.
A change occurred.
Clack, roll.
The moment he heard something rolling.
Two black beads from the scales on Rimon and Maya's wrists rolled to the opposite side, causing the balance to tip sharply.
As Rimon blinked at the shift from 5:5 to 7:3.
Maya twisted her lips.
"Since you swore on your sword, it's a given that these weights hold coercive power over the other party. Right?"
"...Why confirm it now?"
"I command with the power of the scales."
Rimon wore a look of disbelief.
Sneering coldly at him, Maya issued the order in a voice sharp as a blade.
"Harm yourself."
Flash!
And in that instant.
Maya's scales glowed.
One weight from the tattoo vanished like mist, and Rimon's hand—suddenly gripping a scalpel—thrust straight into his own throat.