Chapter 246 - Now You Understand, Don't You?

* * *

While Maia was in the laboratory, Limon was entertaining a distinguished guest—the princess of the Black Dragon Clan.

“What a lovely fragrance.”

“Is it?”

“Yes. I've had plenty of Longjing tea, but I've never smelled anything this fragrant.”

“Must be the quality of the leaves.”

“I suppose that must be it.”

Li Qingyu nodded in agreement. Seed production and biotechnology were among the Green Dragon Clan's major business interests, so it made sense that the tea served at Quetzalcoatl headquarters was in a league of its own.

Though, considering that, the tea at the last reception had seemed rather ordinary.

The tea wasn't particularly important anyway. Setting down her cup, Li Qingyu calmly asked, “Has anything happened since we last spoke?”

“Nothing much. As I told you yesterday, I've started learning sculpture, and my mistress looked particularly unwell today. That's about it.”

“The latter is common enough, but I'm surprised Maia actually allowed the former.”

“We're not exactly your ordinary mistress and servant, are we?”

Limon shrugged. Both he and Maia knew their relationship was nothing but a facade. Their interests happened to align, so they tacitly overlooked that fact and maintained their precarious sham of a mistress-servant relationship.

“... That sounds rather ominous.”

Limon chuckled at the peculiar expression on Li Qingyu's face.

“Don't worry over nothing. There isn't much time left anyway. How would she discover who I am before then?”

“That's true.”

After a moment's consideration, Li Qingyu nodded. Her concern was somewhat different from Limon's, but it was indisputable that he would be free in a few days.

'Even for the Sword Lord, just a few days of learning sculpture shouldn't have much of an effect.'

She had custody of the most dangerous item, the Violin of Deepest Black. Besides, considering how long it had taken Limon to learn the violin, even if he began learning sculpture now, it would take at least a month to awaken a Seven Arc.

As that rational assessment settled her unease, Limon casually asked a question.

“I'm more interested in the results of your ambrosia investigation. Find anything?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Why is finding something unfortunate?”

“I managed to obtain some of that ambrosia.”

“...?”

Limon looked dubious. The more she explained, the better it sounded, with no reason for it to be unfortunate.

But the moment Li Qingyu produced a vial of golden liquid, his expression hardened.

“This is ambrosia?”

“Yes.”

“... Are you sure that's its name?”

“Actually, I wanted to ask you the same thing.”

After a soft sigh, Li Qingyu looked at the vial on the table and continued.

“The only ones who could confirm whether this really is ambrosia or a ‘different drug’ would be the Green Dragon Clan—or you, Sword Lord.”

Frowning, Limon picked up the vial. He spent a while examining the golden liquid in various ways, shaking the vial, opening the cap to smell it, and dripping a few drops onto the back of his hand.

Only after finally licking the drug from his hand did he set the vial down again. He spat out the ambrosia and spoke coldly.

“It's not nectar (Néktar).”

“It isn't?”

Li Qingyu looked slightly relieved. But Limon's next words immediately darkened her expression.

“But it's extremely similar.”

“How similar?”

“Enough to call it a replica of nectar.”

“... That's serious trouble.”

“We'll be lucky if serious trouble is all it amounts to.”

Limon's face twisted into a deep scowl, while Li Qingyu could not conceal her dismay. Watching them, Yu Na-gyeong tilted her head.

[“Um, I'm a zero-year-old baby bird, so there's a lot I don't know. What exactly is nectar, and why is it such a big deal?”]

“It's only natural that you don't know. Nectar is forbidden knowledge for most people.”

[“Forbidden knowledge?”]

Yu Na-gyeong cocked her head. After gazing at her for a moment, Li Qingyu turned to Limon. Only once she saw him nod did she begin to speak calmly.

“You know this country's nickname, don't you?”

[“Of course I do.”]

“Then do you know when that nickname originated?”

[“Uh... I don't really know that much. I've only heard that it's been called that for a very long time.”]

“That's right. This story goes back a very long way.”

With that, Li Qingyu began her tale.

* * *

Long, long ago, in the early Age of Heroes, which began when the Sword Emperor slew the seven dragons and breathed his last, the world was in chaos.

The governing structure of the Seven Dragons Society, which had ruled the entire world, had collapsed. Rebel armies and liberation forces sprang up across the lands practically every day.

Of course, the Seven Dragons Society did not fall so easily. With its dazzling array of formidable fighters, bottomless funds, fanatical loyalty, and organizational strength, it remained the most powerful force in the world even then.

But that was possible only because the Bronze Age had ended so recently.

The Blue Dragon Clan lost its dominion over Europe, including the British Empire, to the Sword King, Richard I. The White Dragon Clan, stripped of its supremacy in the Middle East by the Hidden Sword, Rashid ad-Din Sinan, hid in Jerusalem.

As time passed and more Sword Masters emerged, one or two at a time, the Seven Dragons Society inevitably lost its power and was reduced to a force operating in the shadows.

“The Green Dragon Clan also went into hiding in the same way.”

Unable to stand against a Sword Master, the Green Dragon Clan eventually abandoned its position as ruler and fled into the jungle.

Fortunately, South America had the Amazon. In that primeval jungle, blessed by ancient spirits, they could escape even a Sword Master's notice.

“And from then on, the situation was reversed.”

[“... So the Green Dragon Clan, driven out by rebels, became the rebels themselves?”]

“Yes. At the time, no group was better at jungle guerrilla warfare than the Green Dragon Clan.”

Not only were they versed in every sort of drug, but as the former rulers of the South American continent, they knew the jungle and the situation in every region inside out. They were truly difficult opponents.

Even a Sword Master had only one body and could not protect an entire continent. Thanks to that, the Green Dragon Clan was able to persist in its resistance for decades.

“But in the end, they fell. Why do you think that was?”

[“Uh... I'm not sure.”]

“Because they were betrayed.”

[“There was a traitor in the Seven Dragons Society?”]

“No. There were no traitors in the Green Dragon Clan at the time.”

Li Qingyu shook her head at the wide-eyed Yu Na-gyeong.

The Seven Dragons Society was an exceptionally solid organization. Its religious character had been particularly strong in the past, so betrayal within a clan was rare, no matter what threats or inducements were offered.

There was just one problem: the Green Dragon Clan had not been fighting alone.

“There were, however, traitors among the locals whose lives they had saved.”

[“... What?”]

“In every age, there have been people who would rather sell out the person who saved their life for a few silver coins than go to the trouble of repaying their debt.”

Since the Bronze Age, the Green Dragon Clan had been the finest physicians and healers. They had saved countless sick people, and the cooperation of those people had allowed the clan to wage guerrilla warfare for decades.

But that also made their collaborators' betrayal all the more devastating.

“A collaborator's betrayal exposed their hidden jungle stronghold. More than half of the Green Dragon Clan were massacred, regardless of age or sex.”

“Even the Green Dragon Princess of that era died fighting to allow her clan to escape.”

“Clutching only the egg their princess had left behind, the surviving clan members fled into the jungle, weeping tears of blood.”

Yu Na-gyeong caught her breath. She had some vague understanding of what a princess meant to the Seven Dragons Society.

That was why she could not even begin to imagine how the Green Dragon Clan had felt, forced to sacrifice the princess they should have protected with their lives in order to flee.

“Only afterward did the Green Dragon Clan learn who had sold them out.”

“And they watched the people who had praised them as their saviors steal gold, silver, and jewels from their burned-out stronghold.”

“What do you think they did after that?”

[“... Did they track down the people who betrayed the Seven Dragons Society and take revenge?”]

“No. They created a drug.”

Hidden in the jungle, chewing raw animal flesh and tearing up grass roots to eat, they worked to create a new drug.

Describing the effort and relentless determination the Green Dragon Clan had poured into that task for more than a decade, Li Qingyu quietly concluded:

“A narcotic easier to mass-produce than any other in the world, more effective than any other drug, and with no side effects—only heightened addictiveness.”

[“...!”]

“Then they released it in unlimited quantities.”

The result was catastrophic. Offered in unlimited quantities at dirt-cheap prices, with no side effects, the narcotic spread throughout South America in an instant.

Like alcohol or tobacco...no, it became even more commonplace.

There were no more traitors after that. Anyone who had tasted the narcotic even once prostrated themselves before the Green Dragon Clan and licked their feet, if only to keep getting more of it.

“The Green Dragon Clan even stopped producing it the moment everyone in South America became addicted.”

The people of South America tried to obtain the drug even if it meant selling their spouses and children. But the Green Dragon Clan never made it again. At most, they distributed modified versions of existing narcotics with their side effects reduced to a bare minimum.

To people who already knew the taste of heaven, those felt worse than scraps of rotten bread. Yet, already addicted, they had no choice but to keep begging for those cheap narcotics to quench their thirst.

Though physically unharmed, they writhed under withdrawal symptoms more horrific than those of any other drug.

“Do you understand now?”

The drug they had created back then was called nectar—the world's most perfect narcotic, which had made the Green Dragon Clan the rulers of every drug organization.

Yu Na-gyeong stared blankly at Li Qingyu as she explained in a calm voice, as though reading a fairy tale aloud. Only after a long while did the bird open her beak and stammer out a question.

[“That...that was the Green Dragon Clan's revenge? Turning everyone on the South American continent into drug addicts and enslaving them?”]

“Essentially, yes.”

[“... My God.”]

Yu Na-gyeong groaned. It wasn't merely because of that unimaginable method of revenge, possible only for the Green Dragon Clan with its mastery of drugs.

She had realized something hidden within Li Qingyu's explanation.

[“If Brazil is still called the ‘Land of Drugs,’ that means their revenge is still going on!”]

A country where every narcotic was legal. Where narcotics were cheaper than anywhere else in the world. Where more than 95% of the population used them like alcohol or tobacco.

Surely such an absurd country existed because the Green Dragon Clan continued to supply narcotics. Wasn't that proof that its revenge had never ended?

Having cried out almost in a scream, Yu Na-gyeong found herself demanding an answer.

[“Does that...does that make any sense? The people responsible for what happened died hundreds of years ago, but they're still taking revenge on people who had nothing to do with it, even their descendants!”]

“It does.”

The immediate, unequivocal answer left Yu Na-gyeong speechless. Looking at her, Li Qingyu calmly continued.

“Because they are the Green Dragon Clan.”

Repayment for kindness. Revenge for a grudge. A life for a life.

A clan so narrow-minded, so ruthless, and so ferocious that it still upheld those antiquated laws. Embodiments of relentless determination who knew nothing of giving up and, once they began anything, would never stop until they saw it through to the end.

That was the Green Dragon Clan—the most extreme and two-faced clan in the Seven Dragons Society, which would not forget a grudge even after thousands of years.

Having explained all this dispassionately, Li Qingyu smiled and added one more thing.

“And don't forget one important fact.”

[“... What?”]

“We are the Seven Dragons Society.”

At that moment, Yu Na-gyeong caught her breath. At last, she understood.

The greatest criminal organization in human history, which had once ruled the shadows and repeatedly sought to overturn the world.

Toppling countries through prophecy. Bankrupting nations through smuggling alone. Manipulating even a country's king like a puppet, or assassinating him.

Each clan used different methods, but all had unhesitatingly committed atrocities no less horrific than soaking an entire continent in narcotics. That was the Seven Dragons Society.

She had only imagined she knew about it. In truth, she had known nothing at all.

And...

“Now you understand why the Seven Dragons Society was called the Demonic Cult, don't you?”

The black-haired girl smiling so sweetly before her was the most cunning and dangerous princess even within that Seven Dragons Society.

As that realization struck her anew, the baby bird could only swallow hard.