Chapter 373
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 373
Chapter Title: Prepare Yourself
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"That's right."
"Thanks for the gift, but... why so out of the blue?"
"Rose told me. That you were looking for a Seven-Colored Bird."
Rimon turned his head.
He glanced back and forth between Rose, who wore a faint smile, and Hasneti, who calmly held out the birdcage. Then he scratched his cheek.
"So, this is payback for saving you from the Predator's belly?"
"Not exactly."
"Lady Hasneti and I have caused you no end of trouble this time, Sword Duke. Please think of this as our way of apologizing and showing our sincerity."
"Is that so?"
Rimon chuckled.
He hadn't expected these two, who had been locked in a tense standoff just moments ago, to have secretly prepared such a surprise gift for him.
Still, it wasn't a bad thing.
Thanks to them, he could finally achieve the goal that had brought him to Africa in the first place.
[Wait, hold on!]
Unlike Rimon, who accepted it readily, Yuna Kyung couldn't hide her bewilderment.
[Team Leader? You're saying this old bird is the Seven-Colored Bird?!]
"Not 'supposedly'—that's exactly what it is."
[That can't be right!]
Yuna Kyung spread one wing wide.
She pointed accusingly at the pathetic gray bird sprawled in the cage, wheezing away.
[How is that old thing a Seven-Colored Bird? It looks more like a vulture or a diseased pigeon!]
"I'd love to say we shouldn't judge by appearances, but... yeah, this form is honestly unexpected."
Rimon nodded along with Yuna Kyung's blunt words.
The gift had been such a shock that he hadn't paid much attention to its looks, but even he had never seen a Seven-Colored Bird in such a ragged state before.
"Unless you deliberately let it waste away to death, it's hard for one to end up like this..."
"That's exactly what we did."
"Huh?"
"Just as you said."
"...You left it like this on purpose? Why?"
"Because this Seven-Colored Bird was a gift from the Summon Lord."
She'd burned all the other gifts,
but she couldn't burn this one, so she'd just stuck it in a cage and forgotten about it—until now.
Rimon made a strange face as he looked at Hasneti, who spoke with a cold expression.
Standing up for him, Yuna Kyung bristled.
[What kind of talk is that?!]
"Is there a problem?"
[Of course there is! If you hate the giver, burn the person—not the bird! What did it ever do to you?!]
"If you hate the military, you hate combat rations too."
[That's because you're sick of eating nothing but combat rations every day... That's not the point! This is animal abuse!]
Hasneti tilted her head at Yuna Kyung hopping mad for a moment.
Then she looked at Rimon,
as if eager to know his thoughts.
Rimon scratched his cheek under her steady gaze, which asked no questions but simply watched him.
"Ultimately, it's up to the receiver what to do with a gift."
[That's not something you'd... Mmph! Mmph!]
"So, no need to mistreat the Seven-Colored Bird from now on, right? I don't have any particular grudge against it."
"...I see."
Unlike Yuna Kyung, who kept protesting until her beak was clamped shut, Hasneti nodded.
Once they'd decided to give the Seven-Colored Bird to Rimon, its treatment was his call—and she accepted that.
And so, right after that,
she tossed the birdcage away.
Right into the flames of the campfire where Rimon had been roasting skewers, still blazing away.
Whoosh!
[?!?!?!]
It happened so fast.
Yuna Kyung blinked for a long while at the birdcage swallowed by flames in an instant, along with the gray old bird inside.
Only belatedly realizing what had just occurred, she gaped wide.
[Soldier lady? What the...!]
"Quiet."
[Team Leader?!]
"Watch in silence. It's a rare sight you won't see twice in a lifetime."
He showed no surprise,
no panic,
no anger
at the Seven-Colored Bird he'd sought so desperately turning to ash in a moment.
Yuna Kyung blinked at Rimon, who simply stared intently into the flames, and Rose, who kept silent beside him.
Then the flames began to flicker.
Roar!
"Bluey, do you know why the Seven-Colored Bird is called that?"
[Because its feathers have seven colors, right?]
"Unfortunately, wrong."
The Seven-Colored Bird was so rare and obscure that many people misunderstood it that way, Rimon said softly.
"What the Seven-Colored Bird has isn't seven colors—it's seven forms."
[What does that... mean?]
Yuna Kyung froze.
The flames engulfing the birdcage were growing stronger by the second.
"Depending on the region, people have called it by different names like Phoenix, Vermilion Bird, or Garuda, based on those seven forms."
But she was the only one surprised.
As if they'd expected this all along,
Rimon, Hasneti, and Rose calmly watched the flames gather in the air.
"And people especially liked calling it this."
A bird with seven lives.
One reborn from the flames.
Not truly immortal, but close.
The noblest bird in the world, which had endured countless tyrants coveting its secret to eternal life since ancient times.
The moment Rimon uttered the title by which the Seven-Colored Bird had become even more famous than its original name,
"The Phoenix."
Boom!
The flames hovering in the air burst outward like an explosion, and from within emerged a single bird.
Blazing inferno.
Feathers more radiant than the fire itself, shimmering gold.
An elegant poise like a sculpture.
Yuna Kyung gaped at the bird, so breathtakingly beautiful and vibrant that it was impossible to believe it was the same wretched creature from moments ago.
Rimon spoke casually.
"Hey, Seven-Colored Bird."
The Phoenix, curled up in the flames as if savoring its rebirth,
opened its eyes.
Slowly lifting its head, it met the gaze of the blond, tanned youth.
"Sorry to hit you with this right after your makeover, but I need something from you. Mind if I take a few feathers?"
It stared intently at Rimon for a moment as he grinned.
Then it glanced at Yuna Kyung, who was staring wide-eyed from his shoulder.
The Phoenix dipped its head slightly.
And plucked a few of its own feathers, letting them drop.
Swoosh.
"Thanks."
Rimon smiled as the golden feathers, carried by the heat currents, floated right to him. He cupped them gently.
The Phoenix spread its wings wide.
Its golden divine form soared into the sky amid a whirlwind of flames.
"You okay with that?"
"Yeah, let it go."
Rimon nodded to Hasneti, who asked in her husky voice if he was fine letting the Seven-Colored Bird leave.
Watching its receding figure scatter flames as it reveled in its reclaimed youth and freedom, he murmured,
"A bird looks best when it's flying free."
"What about you?"
"Hm?"
"Caged or free—which would you prefer?"
Rimon gave her a puzzled look at the sudden question.
He met Hasneti's blood-red eyes, brimming with utter seriousness, and eventually chuckled, shrugging.
"Dunno. I've never been locked in a cage like that."
"...Then that's good enough."
Not quite affirmation, not quite denial—an ambiguous reply.
Yet Hasneti, who had watched him silently, nodded.
And added softly,
"I'll keep my private palace open for you from now on."
"Appreciate the thought, but I can't exactly return to being Pharaoh's consort anymore, even nominally."
"Doesn't matter. Next time I welcome you, it'll be as my prince consort, not a side wife."
Hasneti stated it flatly.
Her confidence was so bold that
even Rose, watching from the side, couldn't help but interject.
"Have you forgotten you haven't proven your worth yet, Hasneti?"
"Don't you forget the match isn't over yet, Rose."
She admitted defeat in the duel.
But defeat was merely a temporary setback.
One battle lost didn't end the war, and when the time came, Rose would regret not crushing her completely.
After saying this softly,
Hasneti flashed a cold smile.
"Of course, us settling the score again depends on you surviving that long."
"......"
"Steel yourself."
Hasneti added, eyeing Rose's stiffened face as she grasped the meaning.
"Li Chingwei won't be as straightforward as me."
Any other princess might be different,
but Li Chingwei, who knew Rimon's exploits, had likely already figured out what Rose had done.
So, just as she'd won her own bout, now they'd see if Rose could survive Li Chingwei's grasp.
Rose fell silent, unable to respond to Hasneti's words laced with genuine curiosity.
"Gah, urk, ugh."
In the Kilimanjaro Autonomous Government, amid the festivities,
far removed from the celebrations, he was vomiting blood.
'Wha... t? Cut?']
He couldn't comprehend it.
The Gate of Life had definitely activated.
That he had escaped from inside the Predator into this hideout, where he'd stashed his evacuation summon, was proof enough.
The problem was the wound.
Normally, all damage should have transferred to the summon the moment Gate of Life triggered.
Yet Rimon's blade had pierced through space, pursuing him even after he'd fled, leaving a massive puncture wound in his body.
A fatal injury at a glance.
Worse, it wouldn't heal.
Whether he chugged elixirs like water
or summoned beasts to heal him,
the wound refused to close, bleeding endlessly.
As if it had pierced not just flesh, but something more essential—permanently altering his very being.
He felt like a game character with his max HP slashed permanently.
There were other horrors too.
The overwhelming presence of the great constellation he'd felt inside him since renewing the contract had vanished like mist.
Not only the power gained then, but his innate abilities as a Lord were steadily eroding.
"Urgh, hack."
If he'd been an ordinary human, he'd have died long ago.
Thanks to his Lord's tenacious vitality, he was dying in even greater agony.
'I... can't die like this.']
Yet he refused to surrender his life.
His pride as a Lord.
And his hatred for Rimon, who did this to him.
These drove him to struggle on, commanding his summons to retrieve the item hidden in the hideout.
A business card with a black background embedded with twelve stars.
'With this...!']
It might not only save his life,
but enable revenge too.
As hope lit his face upon seeing this trump card—known to him through the renewed constellation contract—
Bang!
A flash streaked through,
shattering the summon holding the card.
Not just the level-90 summon he'd kept in reserve,
but dozens more turned to minced meat in a blink.
He bulged his eyes.
"You...?"
Only then did he realize.
While he'd writhed in pain,
an intruder had slipped into the hideout.
And its identity.
"You... why...!"
Slash.
Unfortunately, he couldn't finish his words.
As if no conversation was needed, the swung sword severed his neck.
Thud, roll.
With all summons annihilated,
or perhaps due to the cursed wound,
the Gate of Life failed to trigger this time.
His head hit the floor, meeting death at last,
when a voice echoed.
"Sorry, but we don't need any idiots who act on their own like you—and drag a tail behind them to boot..."
Step.
"Being only rank 2 as a newbie was shaky enough. I don't want a rival who could push me out, no matter how dumb..."
Step.
"Still, thanks to you, the field test went great. Fun to watch too..."
Approaching slowly,
the figure pocketed the bloodied business card,
then drew a red gem from their pocket, sucking in the summon remains and his corpse alike.
"Sword Master... Impressive as expected..."
He'd swept through southern Africa recently,
earning fame rivaling the eastern outlaws.
Yet he'd skipped the Continental Alliance, hiding away and sitting out the war.
"...Still, yeah."
The so-called Southern Wanderer.
New rank 2 of the Liberation Brigade...
"I can kill him."
One of the seven Lords left in the world vanished into the darkness with heavy yet light footsteps.