Chimaera's Conquest: The Legend Of The Devourer-Chapter 235: Back To The Mystery Forest (1)

In a massive yet cluttered room, a woman with jet-black hair stood alongside chaos. Her eyes glowed with fury as she tore through the room, hurling objects in every direction like a hurricane.

Shards of broken glass were littered on the floor, mingling with the wreckage of overturned furniture and scattered belongings. While the woman was destroying everything in the room, two guards were stationed outside, letting her do her thing.

"...you didn’t try to stop her?" a well-dressed elderly man walked in, asking the guards, who shook their heads, prompting the man to sigh. "Leave. I’ll deal with this mess."

The guards bowed and left without any objection. They seemed glad as they wouldn’t need to look after an overgrown child throwing a tantrum.

"Pathetic fools..." the man mumbled, bracing himself for what would come next. He opened the doors leading to the makeshift rage room.

Without warning, a table hurtled past him, narrowly missing his head as it crashed against the wall with a deafening thud.

"I said I DON’T WANT TO BE DISTURBED!" the woman yelled, her chest heaving with exertion as she glared daggers in his direction.

"Lady Maria... this is unbecoming of your character," the butler replied. "Think of your family’s name before you start acting like this in front of strangers-"

"I DON’T CARE! YOU HEAR ME? I DON’T FUCKING CARE!" Maria yelled, throwing another table at the butler, who sliced the table in half with a finger. "That bastard ruined everything and got away with it! How could I not be angry!?"

Having found a new target, Maria kept throwing things at the butler who had raised her since she was two. Charles Winston, the butler, had gotten used to her tantrums and was the only one who could calm her down without getting hurt.

As Maria threw things at him, he sliced through the items or saved them, depending on their worth, without getting injured. But that didn’t seem to quell Maria’s rage.

Her tantrums were the reason why no one in her family cared about her, not even her parents. Belonging to the high society, they only cared about their reputation.

Since Maria was prone to causing chaos wherever she went, she wasn’t good enough to protect their honour, and it became Charles’s job to keep her sane and ensure that Maria’s particular side never saw the light of day.

"Get out!" she screamed once she ran out of things to throw. "Leave me alone!"

"My lady, I know things have been tough," Charles said gently, raising his arm in a gesture of peace. "But destroying everything won’t solve anything. What happened in Miami was... unbecoming of our soldiers. But that doesn’t mean you have to lose hope."

"I just... I don’t know what else to do," Maria whispered as she collapsed to the floor, her voice barely audible over the sound of her sobs.

The old man gestured for her to put her head on his lap, which she did after curling up like a baby.

"You don’t need to do anything, my lady," Charles mumbled, caressing her head. "I will deal with your problems. I always have, and I always will... till my last breath."

Maria nodded before drifting to sleep. As she slept, the old man’s expression darkened. If there was one thing he hated more than handling Maria’s tantrums, it was the things that caused her to behave like that.

He frowned upon thinking of the one responsible for reducing her to such a state.

"Count your days, Mr Fenrir. For they’ll be a commodity you won’t be able to afford for much longer," Charles snarled, gently lifting Maria in his arms and carrying her to her room.

Then, with a final glance at her sleeping form, he left the room. After all, killing someone like Adrian would require a lot of preparation.

***

The next day...

"...another location, but the same tale," James sighed.

As Adrian had predicted, none of the higher-ups could rebuke him for his actions in the face of the evidence. They had threatened him with demotion, yet he ended up getting a double promotion, and he had no doubt Adrian had played a part in influencing the decision in his favour.

However, that didn’t mean his life was sailing smoothly. James and his new team had been scouring any place remotely connected to Maria’s guild in search of clues and more evidence.

Yet everywhere they went, it was the same scene. A ransacked or destroyed place, leaving nothing behind. Not even a speck of dust.

The inspections squad was surprised. They learned about these locations after rigorously interrogating the guards they arrested, and only a handful of people knew about it.

’I’m confident there have been no leaks either.’ James thought.

However, if there had been no leaks, then it could mean only one thing. While they were busy with interrogations, Maria ordered everything to be demolished and cleared out.

James had hoped that wouldn’t be the case, but it didn’t seem like his prayers were heard.

"...let’s see what we can find here," he asked the team, who immediately got to work, hoping to get their hands on something worthwhile.

***

At Fenrir Villa, a few minutes later...

"So nothing this time either, huh," Adrian spoke into the earpiece while training with Seraphina and Vesper to increase his skills with Hydra’s Fang.

"Nope," James replied. "I’m afraid they had already cleared everything. Just like I suspected."

"So what now?"

"We can try filing some charges, but I doubt they’ll stick," James sighed. "As for the pen drive you gave me, I’m afraid those won’t be admissible evidence, thanks to stupid privacy laws."

Watching Adrian be distracted, Vesper came up with a plan: launching a swift kick towards Adrian’s side. But to her surprise, he dodged without much effort.

Before Vesper could react, her foot connected with Seraphina instead, sending her stumbling backwards with a yelp of surprise.

"Ouch! Watch where you’re aiming, Vesper!" Seraphina exclaimed, rubbing her side where Vesper’s kick had landed.

"Oh, come, don’t be such a baby," Vesper rolled her eyes, but once Seraphina got back to her feet, she began running.

Adrian looked at them, wondering who the trainer and trainee were between them, before returning to the call.

"I’ll tell George to look into it. Maybe he can come up with something," he said.

"Sure, I’d appreciate it... also, keep me in the loop if you find something."

"Will do," Adrian replied, disconnecting the call and heading back to his room. "I don’t think I’ll be able to help you much... till I’m done with this trial."