Bloodline is Everything - Chapter 124

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————

【Bloodline is a Thug Chapter 124】

124. The Blaga Family (4)

“Ah…”
Inside the Grand Hall with Glass Cases.
A long sigh tinged with regret escaped her lips.
“I was rejected.”
Catalina Blaga’s expression was one of utter bewilderment.
Just moments ago, there had been two people in this place—Catalina Blaga and one other.
But now she was alone.
“I thought he would surrender immediately once I brought him here.”
Catalina Blaga’s face fell with disappointment as she traced her finger along the glass case beside her.
The relics housed here were artifacts she had collected throughout her entire lifetime. Among them existed even phantom relics that had appeared only once in the world before vanishing.
Acritch’s Life Vessel, the Myriad Voice Fan, Amrita, Storm Linker, and more.
To exaggerate only slightly, if even one of these relics leaked to the outside world, half the globe might be drenched in blood.
“Surely he recognized their value.”
Kwon Han-ul was an exceptional hunter. There was no way such a person could fail to sense the power these relics contained.
“This is difficult.”
Catalina Blaga’s expression grew heavy with frustration.
Among all the retainers she had subjugated thus far, this was the first time she had encountered such resistance.
“What other methods are there?”
Should I just ambush him in the dead of night? She was genuinely contemplating this when—
Suddenly, a question surfaced in her mind.
“…I don’t think I’ve felt this way with the others.”
Where had she felt this sensation before?
Not in recent times. Not within the past few years. Not even decades ago.
But she had definitely felt it once, a very long time ago.
“Ah…”
Catalina Blaga suddenly rose from her seat.
She drew back the burgundy curtain covering one wall. A hidden door appeared.
Before entering, Catalina Blaga smoothed her hair and adjusted her clothes. Only then did she open the door.
The interior was not particularly spacious.
Yet with only a single object placed within, it did not feel cramped.
A blood-red cloak hung upon the wall.
Catalina Blaga buried her face in the cloak with trembling hands and spoke.
“Ancestor, I’ve come to visit.”

* * *

After declining Catalina Blaga’s proposal, I followed Troy toward the residence I would be using going forward.
Throughout the journey to the residence, not a single word passed between Troy and me.
After traveling for some time, Troy came to a halt before a mansion.
“You’ll be staying here from now on.”
The mansion was considerably larger than the one the Kwon Family had used.
“Even as a retainer of Catalina Blaga, it’s rare for such accommodations to be provided from the start. Consider yourself fortunate.”
“How very fortunate indeed.”
I spoke with a mocking edge to my voice. To thank a kidnapper? Such absurdity had no place in this world.
“Watch your tongue. In the Blaga Family, anyone who speaks carelessly of Catalina Blaga will be found as a corpse the next day.”
Troy glared at me, clearly displeased with my tone.
“If you’re so concerned, then remove this first.”
I extended my wrist, showing the shackles bound there. Troy frowned in response.
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Don’t be so petty. Even without shackles, how would I possibly escape from here?”
“Catalina told me not to judge you by common sense. She said something terrible would happen if I did.”
“So you won’t remove them?”
“Of course not.”
Troy spoke with a cold expression.
The mansion door swung open, and someone stepped out.
“Troy! Why aren’t you coming inside!”
A young woman stood there, her face bright with a radiant smile.
Troy’s expression, however, hardened visibly at the sight of her.
“Rabbit? What are you doing here?”
“What do you mean? Catalina said she needed retainers to monitor the mansion, so I gathered some friendly retainers and volunteered.”
I observed the people standing behind the woman called Rabbit. Their expressions were uniformly harsh, suggesting they held no particular affection for me.
“Catalina did issue such orders, but… of all people… so soon…”
Rabbit gave Troy a peculiar look. His voice gradually trailed off.
“…Do as you wish.”
“Thank you. From now on, I’ll be the one showing Little Dragon around.”
Rabbit stepped aside slightly and gestured toward the mansion’s entrance.
“So then, Little Dragon. Shall we head inside?”

* * *

Rabbit led Kwon Han-ul through every corner of the mansion.
To be honest, I couldn’t absorb a single word of Rabbit’s explanation. My attention was fixed on Rabbit and the retainers who had come with her.
‘They’re all formidable.’
Even with their magical power restricted by shackles, their senses remained sharp.
‘At least three of them have reached S-rank in their abilities.’
Three individuals who had met the minimum threshold of world-class rankers.
‘And that woman… it seems all her abilities have reached S-rank.’
The woman called Rabbit was the strongest among them. Even I couldn’t fathom the depths of her power.
“Are you assessing us? What do you intend to do about it?”
Suddenly, Rabbit spoke. I replied without any sign of embarrassment.
“I’m curious. I’ve heard much about Catalina Blaga’s retainers, but I wanted to see what they were actually like.”
“Is that so? Now that you’ve seen them firsthand, what do you think?”
“You’re all remarkable.”
I spoke with genuine sincerity.
At that, Rabbit laughed heartily.
“Now that you know, behave yourself. Don’t even dream of doing anything foolish.”
Suddenly, Rabbit’s footsteps halted. We had reached the top floor of the mansion.
“This is the room you’ll be using. Rest well today.”
With those words, Rabbit and her retainers vanished.
I sat on the bed and gathered my thoughts.
“As expected, my Retainer’s Blood doesn’t work on higher-ranking retainers.”
Even without activating the power of Retainer’s Blood, I could sense it instinctively.
My current Retainer’s Blood couldn’t dominate them.
To control them, I would need a special method.
“This won’t do.”
Currently, powerful auras enveloped the surroundings of the mansion.
Rabbit and her retainers were monitoring the mansion.
“Catalina Blaga. Is she truly serious about keeping me confined?”
To escape, I first needed to take control of this mansion. Only with some degree of freedom could I prepare for an escape.
“Y-yes, we shall… enter now.”
Then, a servant’s voice came from outside.
The door opened, and five or six servants entered.
The servants who entered immediately prostrated themselves on the floor.
“B-bath water and… m-meal have been… p-prepared.”
The servants trembled excessively with fear.
“Hello.”
I greeted them first. But the servants only pressed themselves flatter against the floor.
I was somewhat bewildered.
I had never seen such behavior at the Hukcheon Estate. The servants there operated under an employment relationship, not a master-servant one. But these people were behaving like slaves.
“Please, rise.”
Even as Kwon Han-ul spoke, not a single servant lifted their head.
“It’s alright. Please, stand up.”
“I-I-I’m terribly sorry!”
At that moment, one of the servants trembled as he spoke.
“I-In the Blaga Family, w-we are n-not permitted to g-gaze upon our m-master’s face directly. D-doing so would r-result in severe p-punishment.”
Kwon Han-ul examined the servant. Faint scars from a whip’s lash were visible between his neck and shoulders.
It wasn’t just this one servant. They all bore wounds across their bodies, though they tried to conceal them beneath their clothing.
“So this is what it’s like here.”
Kwon Han-ul muttered absently.
The Blaga Family possessed the Servant Bloodline—a lineage capable of dominating people.
Because of this, the hierarchy based on status was extraordinarily severe.
But this situation wouldn’t do. To escape this mansion, I first needed to seize control of it.
“From now on, I am the master of this mansion. So you will all follow my orders.”
Kwon Han-ul activated the dominion of the True Bloodline. He deliberately narrowed the range to avoid detection by Catalina Blaga’s servants outside.
It was sufficient. The servants immediately began to obey Kwon Han-ul.
【You have dominated multiple ordinary humans.】
【The dominion power of the Servant Bloodline is strengthened.】
【Manifestation conditions partially satisfied.】
【Pure Bloodline Dominion: 2/10】
【Superior Servant Dominion: 3/20】
【Ordinary Human Dominion: 7/30】
Messages floated in the air.
To manifest the origin of the Servant Bloodline, I needed to create a collective.
An ordinary group wouldn’t suffice. I had to dominate the people the Servant Bloodline demanded.
“Please… give us your orders.”
Unlike bloodkin, the ordinary humans seemed to have lost their sense of self entirely, not merely enslaved. The dominion power of the True Bloodline was that overwhelming.
“For now, gather information about the Blaga Family’s organizational structure and hierarchy by tomorrow and bring it to me.”
Kwon Han-ul issued his first command.

* * *

That night, Kwon Han-ul retired to bed early.
As the night deepened, a full moon rose over the horizon.
The door to the room where Kwon Han-ul slept slowly creaked open.
Several figures slipped through the doorway and surrounded the bed where he lay.
Strangely, not a single sound accompanied their movements—as if sound itself had been erased from existence.
One of them withdrew a needle thin as a hair strand. In one fluid motion, they drove it down into Kwon Han-ul’s forehead as he lay sleeping.
The moment the needle pierced his skin, poison seeped in, transforming the metal into venom.
The intruders exchanged glances and began to retreat toward the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Kwon Han-ul’s voice stopped them in their tracks.
He had already risen from the bed.
“If you wake someone from their sleep, the least you can do is apologize before you leave.”
Kwon Han-ul sat up from the bed. One of the intruders muttered in disbelief at the sight.
“…How are you still alive?”
“Ah, that poison needle?”
Kwon Han-ul wiped his brow with his hand. The skin that had turned black from the poison moments before had already returned to normal.
“My body is just rather resilient.”
The intruders spread out in all directions, encircling Kwon Han-ul.
“Foolish. If you’d just kept your mouth shut, you could have lived until tomorrow.”
“You’re far too confident. You don’t even know what we’re capable of.”
The intruders burst into mocking laughter.
“How does a man bound in shackles expect to face us….”
Clang.
With a sharp metallic sound, the shackles binding Kwon Han-ul’s wrists fell to the ground.
They all stared in stunned silence, their eyes darting between the fallen restraints and Kwon Han-ul.
“…How did you do that?”
“I happen to be rather clever.”
Kwon Han-ul glanced downward and read the message that appeared.
【Genius Blood discerns the structure of the artifact.】
【The artifact’s lock is disengaged.】
He had been bound in these shackles for so long that freeing his wrists felt like a weight lifting from his shoulders.
“…It won’t matter.”
The intruders glared at Kwon Han-ul as they spoke.
“Your strength isn’t enough to take down even one of us.”
“So die quietly.”
“At least we’ll make it painless.”
The intruders each spoke their piece. Now it was Kwon Han-ul’s turn to laugh.
“Can’t take down even one? Haven’t you heard anything about me?”
“We have.”
The intruder closest to him spoke.
“You killed Jose Dil Pablo and held your ground against Maria Sanchez. It’s quite an achievement, but the exaggeration is far too severe to believe it all.”
“Exaggeration?”
A look of confusion crossed Kwon Han-ul’s face.
“You were supposed to participate in the Heavenly Arena. That means three of your stats should be S-rank. There’s no way you could face Jose Dil Pablo and Maria Sanchez at that level.”
Not everything true is believed by everyone.
Rather, even if it were true, something too absurd would never be accepted.
They were convinced that the rumors about Kwon Han-ul were exaggerated.
“Die quietly.”
The retainers drew their weapons one by one. Kwon Han-ul clicked his tongue in disbelief.
“I guess I’ll have to raise my stats just to settle this grievance.”
Then, a faint smirk crossed his lips.
At that moment, a retainer standing behind Kwon Han-ul lunged forward. He drew a dagger from his breast.
A crimson aura tore through the air. It severed Kwon Han-ul’s neck in one swift motion.
Just before his neck was cut, Kwon Han-ul’s hand moved. In an instant, he seized the retainer’s wrist.
Mysterious Dragon Ascension Technique – Basic Form
Willow Strike Form – Stumbling Kick
Gripping the retainer’s arm, he slammed him to the ground. The retainer’s back crashed against the earth.
“Gack!”
Kwon Han-ul immediately stomped on the retainer’s neck. The retainer’s eyes bulged wide before rolling back.
“You’re making this convenient for me by stepping up like this.”
I had been troubled with how to deal with the retainers watching the mansion.
“Shall we make a promise?”
The key to domination through bloodline servitude is making the other party willing.
Persuasion through words works fine, bribery through wealth works fine. Or violence works just as well.
“From now on, whoever loses submits to me.”

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————