Chapter 197: The Chief Master Of The Association’s Anger (1)

The sound of Lloyd’s palm striking the table cracked through the chamber so abruptly that several of the leaders flinched in their seats.

The heavy black stone slab shuddered beneath the force, sending the glasses of water placed before each leader rattling against their saucers. For a brief second, that was the only sound inside the chamber.

Then—

Crack!

Within seconds, several glasses had burst beneath the pressure of the ice spreading from Lloyd’s hand, scattering shards and water across the polished surface as thin veins of frost crawled outward from beneath his fingers.

Lloyd didn’t spare the mess a glance.

His shoulders rose and fell as he forced air through his clenched jaw, but the temperature around him continued to drop despite his efforts to keep his power under control. When he finally spoke, his voice was low, roughened by the anger he had been holding back for far too long.

"Do you hear what we’re being asked to do?"

His gaze moved away from the screens where the handwritten requests were still displayed, and it settled on the leaders who didn’t dare to look at him.

"Even the Guides in Gaia have started treating the Association as a joke, and now the Imperial Army’s Guides dare to put their names forward and ask for my son as if he were some item that could be bought at a market with a price!"

The words left a bitter taste in his mouth.

They were all doing the same thing.

The Federation wanted something in exchange for sending their Guides, eyeing the things that the people of the Association Tower had created with their blood, sweat, and tears.

Meanwhile, the Imperial Family wanted something in return for allowing theirs to help. Although it was the Guides from the Imperial Army who had demanded a match with Zeke, their request wasn’t unreasonable. Even Lloyd might consider it if it meant his son would finally settle down and find a suitable bride and Guide partner. But did the Emperor really think that Lloyd couldn’t see what they would really gain if he allowed it this time?

What was even more ridiculous was that after hearing Zeke’s condition, even the other Guides unaffiliated with any faction had decided that his weakened state gave them an opportunity to make their own demands.

They were using his son’s life as a bargaining chip.

Lloyd’s fingers slowly curled against the table.

Had they forgotten who had protected them all these years?

The Sentinels and Guides of Gaia would have had no way to defend themselves from the abuse and mistreatment waiting for them at the hands of the Imperial Family and the Federation if the Association had not stood in front of them. Whenever a contaminated zone swallowed their people or their Sentinels were pushed to their limits, it was the Association that stepped forward, and whenever their Guides were endangered, the Association was the one that protected them.

Yet now that the Association was the one in need, those same people had conveniently forgotten everything.

They believed they were in complete control of their own lives, never realizing that they had been used the entire time.

Lloyd’s jaw tightened.

And the worst part was that his son was lying unconscious while all of them sat here discussing what could be gained from his predicament.

The thought alone made the frost beneath his hand spread another inch.

The Elder with the flaming red hair half-rose from his seat, lifting both palms as though trying to calm him before the situation became worse. "Chief Master, please control your anger. We understand the emotions you’re going through, but we need you to think clearly right now."

Another leader quickly pushed a stack of documents away from the spreading water before adding, "We will agree to whatever your decision is. There’s no need to turn the meeting room into a battlefield."

Lloyd’s eyes shifted toward him.

The man immediately straightened.

"We’re not saying we should accept either side’s conditions," he hurriedly continued. "The Association can still search for another Guide, someone unaffiliated with the Federation or the Imperial Family. If we find one with a sufficiently high purification value, we won’t have to owe either side anything."

The Elder with the red hair nodded in agreement. "That’s right. The situation isn’t hopeless yet. There are still Guides outside those two factions. We can search among the independent organizations and private sectors instead."

Lloyd’s expression remained cold.

He wanted to believe them.

He truly did.

But there was a reason the Association had reached out to the Federation and Imperial Family in the first place.

A high-ranking Guide capable of handling Zeke’s current condition wasn’t someone they could simply find anywhere.

A scoff came from the far end of the table.

A grey-bearded man leaned back in his chair, folding his arms as he watched the frost creeping toward his sleeve. "And how long do you expect that search to take?"

Lloyd turned his attention to him, narrowing his eyes as the man continued to speak.

"In Gaia, we only have fewer than twenty S-rank Guides. Where would you find a high-ranking Guide with a high purification value willing to step forward? We’ll be lucky if we can get three Guides to work together to guide and purify him at once... But that’s not the only problem, is it?"

His eyes moved toward the medical report still hovering above the table.

An amused glint appeared in his eyes as he added, "I heard our Admiral has stayed celibate since taking his position. Will he accept this kind of arrangement?"

"Ah... I guess this doesn’t matter since he might not even have a few days to live."

No one answered.

There was nothing they could say to refute his words.

Every person in that room had already seen the latest report on Zeke’s condition. They had watched the numbers continue climbing in the wrong direction since morning, and they all knew that every hour without proper purification was bringing him closer to a point where even the Association might no longer be able to keep him alive.

A few leaders lowered their eyes.

The Elder with the red hair slowly returned to his chair, his mouth tightening into a thin line.

Time was not on their side, and everyone in the room knew it.