Chapter 261
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 261
Chapter Title: The Future is in Big Trouble
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Gula wore an utterly incredulous expression.
"Slave? Ha, how dare a mere slave of the Green Dragon Clan...!"
"That's what I should be saying."
"What?"
"If you want to touch my master, you need my permission first. How dare some lord pull this crap?"
"......"
It must have been exactly this kind of speechless absurdity.
Under Rimon's gaze, which looked down on the lord himself like a bug, Gula felt a humiliation he'd never even sensed from Maia. His face twisted in rage.
'...What the hell is this guy?'
But he couldn't vent his fury.
His survival instincts, the sharpest among the nine lords, were ringing alarm bells.
One wrong move, and you're dead.
He trusted no one but himself implicitly, so he couldn't ignore such a primal warning.
Gula tensed up, warily eyeing Rimon.
Taking his place, Maia—who had been coughing relentlessly in Rimon's arms—spoke up.
"Cough! I told you to just watch, so who gave you permission to butt in?"
"You're the one who called me insurance. And right now, it looks like insurance is very much needed."
Usually, they take your premiums happily but deny the claim when you need it—that's what shady insurers do.
A good insurer steps up before you even file the claim.
Rimon smirked and replied.
"You put those restrictions on me in the first place for times like this."
Maia couldn't deny it.
Placing the constraint on Rimon not to use his sword had indeed been preparation for making him fight Gula.
So she could kill him using Gula's own hand whenever the opportunity arose.
One problem, though.
Gula's preparations were far more thorough than expected.
Because of that, she and her clan—who should have fished in troubled waters—were now cornered.
On the flip side, it meant Rimon's risk in facing Gula had grown even greater.
"So..., cough. You're saying you've come here to die on your own?"
"What, you think I'd actually die?"
He couldn't possibly be unaware of the situation.
Was it confidence as a Sword Master?
Or familiarity with crises from a lifetime of battle-hardened experience?
Rimon just shrugged, accepting it all.
And he said,
"Come on, give me your orders. No matter how many scale weights you use, I'll serve faithfully as your slave."
Whether forbidding him from using his arms.
Or banning all attacks outright.
No matter how unreasonable the command, he'd buy time until Maia rallied her clan and retreated.
Rimon's natural attitude was so unexpected.
And the feel and warmth of the arms embracing her, even knowing her intentions fully, reminded her of the hands that had lifted her in the artificial garden.
Maia fell silent.
Until Rimon looked at her curiously in the prolonged quiet.
Her lips pressed tight, glaring at him, Maia finally parted her pale blue-white lips and spat out,
"......I hate you."
"I know."
"If you know..., cough. Then that's that."
Ignoring Rimon's gaze that said what kind of obvious statement is that, Maia closed her eyes.
Rimon was the clan's archenemy.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to corner him—maybe not even in several lifetimes of death and rebirth.
A chance to end it all by killing him.
"By the power of the Scales, I command you."
A faint light began to emanate from the tattoo of the Scales.
Staring at Rimon's face, which smirked mischievously as if anticipating the command.
Maia issued it.
"While I stay here buying time, cough! You..., protect our clan and escape from the Amazon."
"......What?"
Fwaaah!
It happened in an instant.
The four scale weights vanished.
Rimon, who had been so composed moments ago, hardened his face.
For the first time, the man who never lost his cool showed agitation. Was it amusing just because of the pent-up grudge?
Or some other reason?
Maia didn't dwell on it.
She merely twisted her lips slightly and freed herself from Rimon's arms.
"You...! Are you insane?"
"Of course not, my lord."
He was so flustered he forgot his honorifics and demanded an answer.
Maia replied immediately.
After coughing up blood several times, she spoke with her usual cold sneer.
"Cough! I merely made the best judgment to save as many of my clan as possible."
Even for Rimon, facing Gula without a sword would be tough.
If she escaped with the clan in the meantime, Gula would chase them relentlessly, prioritizing nothing else, and the clan's casualties would skyrocket.
In the end, she had to stay behind.
And excluding Maia, the only one who could rescue the clan ambushed by Forest Guild was Rimon.
Thus, this was the best option.
Not as a grudge-bearing Green Dragon Clanswoman.
But as their princess, duty-bound to protect and lead them. Seeing her speak so coldly, Rimon furrowed his brow.
"You call this reasonable?"
"I won't hear objections."
Was it even sane for a princess not yet ready for the bloodline succession to make such a decision?
Maia didn't entertain Rimon's probing questions.
She simply pushed him away.
"Go."
Thud.
Where had the strength gone that once hurled giants like pebbles?
The feeble push from her chest was so weak even a child could resist it.
"......Damn it all."
But the Scales' compulsion was ironclad.
Her gaze demanded obedience from the slave, unwavering and merciless.
Rimon finally took a step back.
He glared sharply at Maia, then spat a short curse.
"Remember this. You owe me one now."
"You remember this. If you fail to get our clan out safely, you'll pay back those scale weights tenfold."
"Tch, if you can't keep your word...!"
He clicked his tongue at Maia's unyielding attitude, refusing to yield even now.
But then, as if struck by a thought.
Rimon narrowed his eyes.
And without further hesitation, he kicked off the ground and left the fortress.
Maia silently watched his retreating figure.
As if committing it to memory one last time.
Without even blinking.
A peal of laughter shattered the deep, heavy silence enveloping her more profoundly than ever.
"Hahaha! Dying to protect the clan? What heroic self-sacrifice!"
Torn between vengeance against Maia and wariness of Rimon.
With Rimon gone of his own accord, Gula no longer needed to agonize—he burst into roaring laughter.
"Don't misunderstand."
Maia sneered at him.
Coldly and sharply, as always.
And with the gloomiest eyes imaginable, she continued.
"I said I'd buy time, cough. I never said I wouldn't kill you."
Poison? Traps?
She wouldn't die from cheap tricks like that.
No, none of the Seven Dragon Society's princesses would.
Over nearly a millennium, why had only the Sword Master managed to kill them?
Sneering at Gula, oblivious and smug about it.
Maia drew upon her psionics.
Ambrosia kept triggering coughs, disrupting her psionic flow, but she ignored it.
She simply drove eighteen golden needles into her acupoints.
Stab.
The golden needles pierced her body via the Hundred Needles Flower Rain Style, amplifying psionics according to the Striking Acupoint Style principles.
She channeled that immense psionic into her meridians with the Heavenly King's Tower Support Style, adding weight via the Thousand Catties Light Body Style.
Excess energy was absorbed and dispersed with the Star Absorption Capture Style, while twisted blood flow was reinforced and endured with the Vajra Indestructible Style.
Rrrrrumble!
2x, 4x, 8x, 16x, 32x.
Each added martial style doubled it, swelling her psionics horrifically—the mere shockwave shook the air and cratered the ground beneath her.
"K-Kill that wench!"
Finally sensing danger.
As Gula's frantic shout rang out and giants charged, Maia paid no mind.
Even as she vomited bloody clumps, she unleashed two more styles with a cold sneer.
Her overflowing psionics converted to Venom Dragon Blood Formation Style and Immortal Qi Art Style, clashing within her body the moment they activated.
Seventy-Two Martial Styles, Eight Ultimate Techniques
Reverse Blood Great Law
『칠십이종무류 팔절기
七十二種武流 八絶技
역혈대법
逆血大法』
"......!"
Gula's face turned purple.
"Lady Li Chingwei, that's too much. Ungrateful. I'll hold a grudge."
The white-haired girl slumped over her desk.
To Ainsha's blunt words, the woman in flowing attire standing beside her declared confidently.
"I told you over and over to seize the opportunity. What good is showing off your talents if you let her snatch all the bait?"
"I seized it perfectly. Found the sculptor too. Even raised Li's favorability."
"What's the point of just favorability? You couldn't even follow to Brazil."
"Not my fault. It's conscienceless Li Chingwei's fault."
She'd mobilized the White Dragon Clan's full power tirelessly, even securing a skilled sculptor named Hermann.
Yet Li Chingwei refused to let her accompany them, citing it would only heighten Maia's suspicions. The shock was immense.
Ainsha defended herself expressionlessly.
Tata's response was clear-cut.
"No, it's the princess's fault for expecting conscience from the Black Dragon Clan."
"Truth is cowardly."
Ainsha muttered listlessly.
Even if she was an implicit accomplice in keeping Rimon's secret, that was it.
Expecting cooperation from her love rival—the very woman she was desperately pursuing—was undeniably foolish.
Especially if that rival was Li Chingwei.
So Ainsha redirected her resentment.
"Rimon is heartless too. No contact despite being busy. Bad man."
"Rest assured. Bad men are always gentle with their women."
"......I want to know if that's true."
"Of course it is."
To Ainsha blinking blankly as if unaware, Tata stated proudly.
"So lay an egg soon. When rivals abound, the first to act wins."
Whether by bodily assault.
Or feeding Green Dragon Clan aphrodisiacs.
Seal the deal somehow.
Tata advised gravely, like a strategist plotting world conquest.
Ainsha was impressed.
"Tata is so smart. Amazing she's unmarried."
"Princess, as I've said many times, Tata isn't unmarried—she chose not to."
Ainsha nodded at Tata's emphatic stress, then suddenly tilted her head.
"But Tata, Li Chingwei is traveling alone with Rimon right now."
"Yes."
"Doesn't that mean Li Chingwei has a higher chance of sealing the deal first?"
"......"
Li Chingwei surely wouldn't miss such a ploy.
So wouldn't she use it first? Tata fell silent at Ainsha's blank question.
As if the thought hadn't crossed her mind.
After blinking once.
Tata slyly averted her eyes.
"Then you should've followed somehow."
"......I'm the fool for trusting Tata."
Ainsha slumped back over the desk.
Tata lightly comforted the girl who seemed to have lost all zest for life.
"Don't worry too much. If that happened, you'd have foreseen the Black Dragon Princess laying an egg."
"Not comforting at all."
"If you have time to fret, handle the backlog. That way, you can pounce when the Sword Duke returns."
"Don't make me work when I'm heartbroken. Tata doesn't know kindness. Just like the Silver Dragon Clan......"
Scribbling signatures on documents listlessly, murmuring blankly.
Ainsha suddenly stopped.
As if gazing at a mirage.
Or lost in a daydream.
She stared into empty space, then finally spoke after a long silence.
"Tata, contact Li Chingwei."
Her face remained impassive, voice curt.
But sensing the tension as her aide, Tata asked hesitantly.
"......Did you really foresee the Black Dragon Princess laying an egg?"
"No. But I saw something just as disastrous."
Ainsha said gravely.
She'd foreseen via precognition that the Green Dragon Clan would war with Forest Guild.
She hadn't worried much because she'd seen them win, with Rimon and Li Chingwei returning unscathed.
But now.
Her foresight had changed.
Not just because of Rimon.
Two other factors had intervened, altering the future.
Many parts were obscured, so she couldn't pinpoint them exactly.
But one thing was clear.
"Maia and the Green Dragon Clan are in danger. Someone needs to help them."
The war hadn't ended.
No, it had only just begun.
But due to unforeseen factors, the Green Dragon Clan was already at a disadvantage, facing irreparable devastation if things continued.
And one more thing.
"Above all, we must catch the traitor."
"......Traitor?"
"Yes. There's a traitor in this war. We have to find and capture them."
Ainsha paused briefly.
Turning to Tata, her doll-like impassive face revealed the vision she'd seen.
"Otherwise, Brazil will fall."