Chapter 349
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 349
Chapter Title: So That's It.
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"...Big Sis, the way you're putting it makes it sound like I have some hidden agenda beyond the Seven-Colored Bird."
"Don't you?"
"Of course not."
Perhaps because the claim was so absurd.
Rimon couldn't hide his incredulity.
He had come to Africa solely to find the Seven-Colored Bird, so suggesting that was merely a surface-level goal was an equally ridiculous point.
"Then, could you swear on your sword that it's the truth?"
But Rimon's response to Rose's second question...
—Silence.
If there was nothing to hesitate over, he could simply swear it and affirm that the Seven-Colored Bird was his only objective.
Where had that firm denial from moments ago gone?
Watching Rimon clamp his mouth shut and remain utterly silent,
Rose smiled.
Gently, like flowing water.
Softly, like an embrace.
As if she'd known it all along.
"My apologies. On second thought, calling it your 'objective' might have felt too rude."
His silence itself was the answer, meaning she'd already seized the chance to press him.
Yet Rose didn't force a verbal reply.
Instead, she glossed over his silence as if regretting her demand for an oath just to get that answer.
That small, gentle consideration was proof she was the Azure Dragon Princess.
"So, let me ask again."
But her concessions ended there.
She pressed on, intent on hearing his answer.
"When you came to this African continent, was finding the Seven-Colored Bird truly your only desire?"
Compared to Hasneti's usual intensity and intimidation, it was a question so mild and polite.
Yet that very gentleness created a heavier pressure than her fiery gaze, and after staring at her serene, water-like smile,
Rimon scratched his cheek.
"Why do you think I have some other motive?"
A question that could be seen as dodging the issue.
But Rose didn't lose her smile.
She sensed from his earlier sigh that this was a genuine question from him, and that he would ultimately give her an answer.
So, with an even deeper smile, she replied.
"I've had my suspicions for a while now."
"Suspicions?"
"About why you asked me to accompany you."
"...Well, yeah, you've asked something similar before. If there was no other reason to bring you along."
"If it was just in case you needed me to mediate with Hasneti, you wouldn't have let me get so involved."
If Rimon's goal was truly just the Seven-Colored Bird,
he should have stopped her from conquering the Lukuma tribe.
At the very least, he should have prevented her from caring for their welfare or establishing her own military regime after defeating the others one by one.
But he hadn't.
He'd simply watched as she escalated things with her misplaced mercy and trivial sense of responsibility.
That's how she realized it.
That Rimon bringing her along had another purpose.
"At first, I thought you were testing me."
"Yeah?"
"You had reason to."
At this Seven Dragon Conference, Rimon had demanded that every princess gather over half the shares to prove her worth.
All so he could choose a bride to hold the world's hegemony with him.
In that sense, Rose's suspicion was justified.
The other princesses gathering shares on their own were one thing.
But for her, who had stepped back into neutrality, this was the perfect chance to test her qualifications.
In fact, Rimon's act of idly observing as she accidentally founded and ruled a nation looked like that of an examiner to anyone watching.
"But recently, I realized that was just my misunderstanding."
The problem was one thing.
That guess was completely wrong.
"If you really wanted to test me, you wouldn't have stopped Hasneti when she invaded Utopia Guild."
If he wanted to test Rose,
Rimon shouldn't have intervened then.
Whether she stood against Hasneti to protect the nation she'd built,
or fled to avoid internal Seven Dragon strife,
the test's meaning only held if Rose made the decision herself.
"Well, I just chose the best way to find the Seven-Colored Bird."
"That's a lie."
"...Why are you so sure?"
"Because the Sword Duke promised to follow my orders on this continent."
The Rimon Asfelder she knew.
The swordsman loftier than anyone wouldn't break a promise lightly.
With her usual soft yet firm voice, she declared,
"And yet, you acted on your own then. No matter how I think about it, there's only one reason."
To find the Seven-Colored Bird?
To get close to Hasneti?
If that was all, it would have been safer to wait for another chance instead of blocking her dragonfied form.
Rose quietly revealed why Rimon, who surely knew that, had taken such a risky gamble, even enduring the humiliation of becoming a side room.
"To grant my wish of not abandoning Kilimanjaro's autonomous government without clashing with Hasneti."
She wanted to help them.
She was merciful, after all.
But she couldn't confront Hasneti.
That would violate the Seven Dragons' creed.
Whichever she chose led to contradiction, but that made the outcome inevitable.
Rose was first a righteous Azure Dragon clanswoman, and their highest justice was protecting the Seven Dragons.
But thanks to Rimon's intervention,
she didn't have to choose.
And could keep her conscience intact.
"That's all I could be certain of."
"As for what you wanted from me in exchange for that consideration, I could only vaguely guess."
"So I want to hear the answer from you. To know if my guess is right."
She already knew the answer.
But a guess was just a guess.
She wanted a clear answer from his lips, not some half-baked speculation.
After gazing at the earnestly pleading Rose for a moment,
Rimon turned his head.
And looked out at the vast continental landscape unfolding below Kilimanjaro.
'As expected, things in this world never go as planned.'
Hasneti's proposal.
Rose's current interrogation.
All of it was beyond his expectations.
If he'd foreseen this from the start, he might have seriously reconsidered coming to Africa.
In that sense, Rose's question was so awkward that he wanted to invoke his right to silence instead.
But Rimon didn't.
Instead, with his eyes fixed on the scenery below, he casually spoke.
"Han."
"...?"
"Han, Han... what was it again."
After fumbling for words the moment he opened his mouth,
Rimon finally turned to the puzzled Rose.
"You've met him, right? That President Han-something-or-other."
"...You mean President Han Jeongguk?"
"Yeah, him. What'd you think?"
"What I thought?"
"I wanted to hear what the Countess thought when she saw him."
It was out of left field.
Even for a question whose intent was impossible to guess, Rose didn't panic, only looked puzzled.
She met Rimon's gaze steadily before calmly replying.
"To be honest, he didn't seem like someone fit to rule a country."
"To the point where you think the nation might fall if he keeps being president?"
"Not quite that bad, but I won't deny similar thoughts crossed my mind."
"See, even you think so?"
It was a harsh judgment on a national president, but Rose didn't hesitate in her answer.
Whether as a corporate chairwoman,
an Azure Dragon princess,
or a countess of the Great British Empire,
Han Jeongguk struck her as a man obsessed only with securing his own power and prestige, unfit for governance.
Rimon didn't deny it either.
As if he'd expected as much.
He just chuckled and took a step forward.
"But get this: that Han Jeongguk or whatever is actually one of the better presidents in his country's history... even including the kings."
"...Him?"
"Yeah. At least he tried to keep his campaign promises."
"Isn't that just basic?"
"That's the point—so many others couldn't even manage that."
Thud.
Rimon plopped down on a rock piled high with snow.
It would have given an ordinary person chills and a sneeze, but the Sword Master paid it no mind.
He simply scooped up a handful of snow and continued languidly.
"But no matter how insane or full of crap that country's kings or presidents were, I beat them down but never killed them."
He was the Sword Master.
He could storm the Blue House alone, as he once had.
King or president, he could replace them anytime.
Especially in the Heroic Age when he was revered as an absolute being—a few words would have sufficed.
But he hadn't.
Always detached from power.
Never meddling in politics.
Dedicating himself solely to protecting the world and teaching his disciples as a lone swordsman.
"Doesn't that make you think?"
"Think what?"
"That if I'd personally selected that country's kings and presidents, things might be better now."
"That's..."
Rose paused.
Then, after serious contemplation, she answered.
"...I'm not sure."
"Hm, really?"
As if it was an unexpected reply,
Rimon tilted his head slightly, then scooped up more snow from where he sat and asked again.
"Then, what if I hadn't taught Ken In?"
"..."
"Or if I'd cut him down before the war he started escalated, maybe I could've prevented World War?"
Rose couldn't answer easily.
Ken In Gandhi.
The worst Sword Master in history after the Sword Demon, always ranked second as the instigator of World War.
Many pointed out that if Rimon hadn't taken him as a disciple or killed him early, the war might not have happened.
"Can I take that silence as agreement?"
"Hypotheticals are just hypotheticals."
"But it's true I had plenty of chances to steer the world in a better direction. I just didn't take them."
Swoosh.
After loosening his grip on the snow,
Rimon watched it scatter and rise into the air on the wind, then murmured lowly.
"So that's it, Countess."
It wasn't an explanation.
Nor a solution.
But Rimon closed his mouth as if he'd said all he had to.
And Rose didn't press for more clarification or excuses.
She simply nodded quietly.
"As I thought..."
Having guessed the truth,
she understood that story was the best answer and explanation Rimon could give, finally confirming her suspicions.
"You never intended to test us from the start."
Rimon, who had declared at the Seven Dragon Conference that he'd test the princesses' qualifications.
That declaration was ultimately false.
A deception, in fact.
Because...
"You were the one seeking answers from us."
...you can't call it a test when even the questioner doesn't know the answer, demanding solutions to a problem with no set right response.