Chapter 247 - It Is Not a Narcotic

Yu Na-gyeong remained frozen only briefly. Slowly, she turned her head and addressed Limon, who had been listening silently with his arms crossed on the other side of the table.

["... Team Leader, is all of this true?"]

"Yes."

["Then why did you just stand by and let this country end up like this?"]

Why hadn't Limon, the Seven Dragons Society's sworn enemy, stopped narcotics from spreading across South America? As Yu Na-gyeong asked, plainly unable to understand, he replied indifferently with a question of his own.

"And what if I hadn't stood by?"

["What?"]

"Are you saying I should have killed all the addicts?"

["That's not what I mean. You didn't have to kill them. If you'd just stopped them from taking any more drugs..."]

"How, exactly?"

["Well..."]

If she knew a way to make the junkies quit—millions of them even back when the population was smaller, and hundreds of millions now—she should tell him. If she had a good solution, he was willing to try it even now. Hearing his languid inquiry, Yu Na-gyeong finally realized her mistake.

["... It wasn't that you wouldn't stop it. You couldn't."]

"Strictly speaking, I chose not to. I could have stopped it if I'd cut down every human being in South America."

Had a million enemies charged him, he would have merely snorted and fought them. But saving a million addicts? Killing them was all he could do.

In the end, he was a swordsman. He solved problems by wielding a sword, not by working miracles like a god or a legendary pharmacist.

Besides, apart from their addictiveness, the drugs improved by the Green Dragon Clan had negligible side effects. Killing people simply because they were addicts would have been no different from killing them for enjoying alcohol or cigarettes. Limon had no choice but to leave them alone.

"Even you could hardly have done anything, Sword Lord. Nectar is a narcotic that corrupted even a god."

["A god became a junkie?"]

"It even led to an otherwise respectable religious order being expelled from the Holy Alliance."

Yu Na-gyeong was speechless. The potency of a narcotic that had corrupted even a god. Her fear of the Green Dragon Clan, which had created it. And the realization of just how tremendous Limon's achievements were, after centuries of deadly battles against the Seven Dragons Society, including that very clan. All of it mingled together, leaving her unable to say another word.

As if sensing how she felt, Limon changed the subject.

"Anyway, what matters now isn't what sort of people the Green Dragon Clan are."

"What matters is that a replica of nectar has appeared."

"Yes."

Li Qingyu let out a soft sigh as she watched Limon frown, seemingly displeased by that fact.

"I never imagined anything like this would happen."

"Just to confirm, are you certain the Seven Dragons Society doesn't have the formula for nectar?"

"Not as far as I know, at least."

When the Green Dragon Clan stopped producing nectar, they had destroyed its formula as well. Given how dangerous it was, they feared that even members of the Seven Dragons Society might become addicted.

Thus, even the records of nectar had been erased wholesale from history. The Green Dragon Clan themselves would need more than a decade of research to recreate it. The sudden appearance of a replica was therefore nothing short of bewildering.

"If even the Seven Dragons Society has no clues, it's no wonder my mistress is personally investigating this ambrosia."

"Indeed. Replica or not, leaving a narcotic based on nectar unchecked would make the aftermath impossible to contain."

"Especially for the Green Dragon Clan."

Limon frowned. The Green Dragon Clan could exert absolute influence over South America because they controlled the cartels supplying narcotics, which had all but become daily necessities.

But what if a terrifying competitor called ambrosia entered the market? Even Quetzalcoatl, the world's foremost pharmaceutical company, would lose its present influence.

"In the worst case, it could trigger an outright civil war."

"You think a drug war will break out?"

"Drugs can drive even sane people mad. And if it's a replica of nectar, that goes without saying."

"There will be tremendous bloodshed."

"Yes."

Limon could be certain of that: he had seen South America when nectar spread there long ago. Back then, hundreds of thousands of residents had actually charged at him with farm tools and kitchen knives to obtain it.

What, then, if people armed with firearms became the puppets of drug dealers? A catastrophe rivaling the world wars or the Demon God War was entirely possible.

"What's even more disturbing is the strange unease this drug gives me."

["Isn't it natural to find drugs disturbing?"]

"Would you call it natural if I said this replica feels more ominous than the original nectar?"

["What? Is that even possible?"]

Yu Na-gyeong's eyes widened. Li Qingyu answered her question with a troubled expression.

"Cheap drugs mixed with impurities are often more harmful than pure ones, so it's not impossible, but..."

"If that were all, I wouldn't call it ominous."

Limon frowned. Nectar, the narcotic that had addicted even a god, was already almost unparalleled in its ominousness. The mere existence of a drug that gave off an even more unpleasant feeling was absurd.

There was something else that bothered him.

'Besides, I feel like I've sensed this uneasiness before.'

Too recognizable to be unfamiliar. Too strange to be familiar. It was like meeting a child again past sixty, having last seen them at three, and failing to recognize who they were. That elusive sense of almost remembering only made Limon more uncomfortable.

So much so that he began seriously considering setting aside the slave contract and everything else to track down the bastard who had made this drug and beat the hell out of him.

Watching him with a complicated expression, Li Qingyu sighed softly.

"... Could this be another variable?"

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing. I was just wondering who could have done something so outrageous."

Li Qingyu was half sincere. Replicating the nectar the Green Dragon Clan had destroyed and creating an even more ominous drug was extraordinary enough. Selling it here in South America, however, was an outrage that could only be explained as an insane death wish. She really did want to see the face of whoever was responsible for this madness.

"Though I have a fair idea who it is."

"Yes. So do I."

["What?"]

Yu Na-gyeong's eyes went round. They had only just learned that ambrosia was a replica of nectar. How could they already know its source? As she blinked like a pigeon struck by a pebble, Limon and Li Qingyu took turns explaining.

"I told you before. The gang boss my mistress questioned about ambrosia's source killed himself."

"I thought something was odd from that moment."

"Why would he take that risk when he must have known he'd suffer a fate worse than death if his suicide failed?"

"Because someone every bit as frightening as Maia was backing him."

"Exactly. And there aren't many people a fairly reckless gang boss would fear as much as my mistress."

"Here in South America, there would be only one."

Were they worried someone might doubt they were a couple about to be married? Yu Na-gyeong's eyes darted about as she sorted through their ceaseless, alternating explanations. Finally, realization struck, and her eyes nearly popped out in shock.

["Uh, wait a minute. Then don't tell me the people making and distributing ambrosia are...?"]

"Yes."

Limon nodded. Then, in a cold voice, he named the only force in South America capable of rivaling the Green Dragon Clan—a particularly distinctive member of the ten great guilds that dominated the present age.

"It would be the Master of the Forest Guild."

["A Monarch made this drug?!"]

* * *

CRUNCH, CRUNCH.

"Nature truly is magnificent."

Gula, an enormously corpulent man strolling through the jungle, suddenly murmured those words. He tossed aside the hind leg of a cow, stripped down to the bone, and grinned.

"Just a little tending, and it provides such a splendid source of income."

Over a swamp of sticky mud, hollow-eyed people in scant clothing traveled in small boats, gathering golden lotus flowers. Watching them, Gula chuckled.

To him, every lotus they gathered was a treasure. Not merely a source of money, but the ultimate weapon that would grant him supremacy over South America.

THUD!

"Aargh!"

Just then, a small boat caught on a tree root and lurched, throwing someone into the swamp.

"Aah! H-help me!"

Perhaps because the mud was sucking him down, the more the man struggled, the faster he sank. Gula's expression hardened as he watched, and he extended an arm.

The man was far beyond his normal reach, but Gula's arm stretched like elastic and snatched him out of the swamp.

"Hah, haaah. Thank you! Thank you so much, my Monarch!"

Perhaps because he had escaped death, the man's hollow eyes shone with emotion as he thanked Gula over and over. Gula spoke.

"Fuck your thanks."

CRACK!

The man's eyes bulged halfway out as his neck snapped, as though he had never understood what was happening to him. Gula threw his corpse into the swamp and growled.

"If you fall in the swamp, just fucking die quietly! Why thrash around and ruin an innocent flower? Bastard doesn't even know how precious nature is!"

For a moment, he gazed regretfully at a golden lotus where the man had fallen, one of its petals slightly damaged. Then Gula turned to the others, frozen in their boats, and roared.

"Damage even one of my flowers, and you won't just lose your drugs—you'll lose your lives that very day! Do you all understand?"

"Y-yes, sir!"

"Then get moving, you bastards! Stop fucking loafing around!"

"Yes, sir!"

They answered and immediately set to work, apparently terrified of drawing his attention and becoming his next victim. Only then did Gula's vicious scowl relax.

He habitually rubbed the left side of his face, then abruptly asked, "Old man Diego, what happened to the gift?"

"It arrived safely..."

"You're certain?"

"Yes. I personally confirmed that it was taken into Quetzalcoatl headquarters... And thanks to that, I saw something interesting."

"Something interesting?"

"Someone who could be a great help to your plan, my Monarch..."

"Heh heh heh. Is that so?"

Gula nodded in satisfaction. He picked up an apple from the tray held by the maid beside him, chewed it up whole, and swallowed before murmuring quietly.

"I can't wait to see that bitch's face when she receives the gift."

The Master of the Forest Guild. The one with the most bizarre skill among the nine Monarchs. The man suspected of secretly controlling every gang in South America until he had abruptly gone into seclusion several years ago. Gula, the Monster Monarch, smiled sinisterly as he imagined what would soon unfold.

* * *

In the laboratory at Quetzalcoatl headquarters, Maia picked up a golden needle. Then she inserted some twenty golden needles, one after another, into the restrained subject's Qimen, Youmen, Qihai, and other acupuncture points.

'... No pain sensation, just as I thought.'

Several of those points should have caused pain intense enough to make someone faint at even the slightest prick. Yet the subject continued struggling as though unaware the needles were there at all. Maia frowned.

'No. The entire nervous system has already begun to break down.'

There was no need for X-rays or an MRI. As the pinnacle of the Green Dragon Clan, which wielded the psionic power of biological manipulation, she could see the subject's condition with perfect clarity.

The brain, damaged as though eaten away by insects. The spinal cord, undergoing grotesque mutations. The half-dissolved peripheral nerves.

The damage went beyond a complete wreck; it was a wonder the subject was alive at all. Watching him continue to writhe vigorously despite it, Maia spoke quietly.

"How much ambrosia has this man taken?"

"Forgive me, but we were unable to obtain his testimony. However, his blood test detected more than five times the amount found in the previous addicts."

"For how long?"

"We estimate that he began taking ambrosia less than ten days ago."

"Ten days..."

Maia's eyes darkened grimly. Ambrosia had not appeared long ago, and only small amounts had circulated until now, so the subjects' symptoms had been relatively mild.

That was why she had thought ambrosia was merely a replica of nectar. She had assumed its minor side effects came from a crude attempt at reproducing the drug without the complete formula.

'This is not a narcotic.'

But at this moment, the condition of this gang member, who had consumed large quantities of ambrosia, convinced Maia of one thing.

'It was made for a different purpose from the very beginning.'