Chapter 378
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 378
Chapter Title: Never Thought It'd Turn Out Like This
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Rose let out a sigh.
If the stolen item had been some mere treasure, no matter how rare, she wouldn't have cared a bit.
But when she thought about how Rimon would take the news, her heart grew heavy.
As if reading her mind,
Lucas said gravely,
"Wouldn't it be fine to inform the Sword Duke after we've caught the culprit?"
"Even if we catch the culprit, that doesn't erase our clan's failure to protect it properly."
"In that case, allow me to tell the Sword Duke."
"No, I'll do it."
"There's no need for you to—"
"I'll do it."
"......Understood."
Lucas finally fell silent.
It wasn't just because it was his revered princess's wish.
Her calm yet weighty gaze left no room for argument.
Our perfect princess has grown even more dignified lately, Lucas thought to himself with a mix of admiration and unease.
Rose glanced around.
I can't step away right now.
She roughly estimated how many more days it would take to plow through the mountain of documents.
Rose gave a wry smile.
In truth, she could have sent word through Hotel Leviathan before.
But after forging a deep 'friendship' with Li Chingwei, she wasn't so shameless.
......No, that was just an excuse.
Going there in person was plenty shameless too.
Still, the real reason she wanted to deliver the news herself was simple.
It gave her a perfect excuse to boldly seek out Rimon without worrying about the other princesses' eyes.
I'm hopeless.
It wasn't even good news.
Yet just the thought of seeing him again made her heart race.
More than that, she wore a faint smile at how naturally she'd come to accept it—her own moral decay.
With that, Rose dove back into her work with renewed vigor.
The lowest floor of Hotel Leviathan.
In a sealed chamber centered around a massive cauldron, etched with a magic circle, three corpse-like figures lay scattered.
A blood-soaked beauty with dark-red curly hair, collapsed.
A bluebird toppled over like a charred lump of coal.
And a translucent girl floating aimlessly in the air.
"Hmm......"
Rimon stroked his chin as he eyed the unmistakably lifeless forms.
Then he politely clasped his hands together.
"May you all be reborn in paradise. Except the old hag."
[Paradise? I'm not dead yet?!]
In that instant,
the bluebird that had looked dead sprang up like a jack-in-the-box.
"Not dead? You were dead to begin with. So why not head to a nice place this time?"
[That was a past life! Telling a young bird with years ahead to go to paradise is a curse—a curse!]
Yuna Kyung hopped about frantically, shaking off the thick layer of ash coating her body like a lump of charcoal.
Next to speak, brushing back her hair with bloodied hands, was Syr.
"......Baby. Never mind life or death—why am I excluded from paradise?"
"Because the old hag's headed straight to hell when she croaks."
"Isn't that a bit harsh? All I've done is try world conquest and fail."
"Exactly. Hell's perfect for a demon lord gig."
The ghostly girl floating in the air didn't even bother responding.
Like an office worker collapsing into bed after overtime, she simply got sucked back into the Heartblack Violin Rimon held.
Chucking at the sight, Rimon turned to the side.
"Foolish princess, you holding up okay?"
"......Of course. I'm the world's top singer. This is nothing compared to a concert."
Her plucky reply clashed with her unusually curt tone, betraying her exhaustion.
But Rimon didn't point it out.
Ainsha was clearly in better shape than the others, after all.
"Man, what a mess just to make one cauldron."
"This is all your fault, baby."
Perhaps stunned by his brazenness,
Syr—for once dropping her usual composure—glared daggers and snapped.
"If you're stepping up to supply it, do it moderately. Not try to wipe this country off the map!"
"Don't exaggerate, old hag. One exploding cauldron wouldn't blow away a whole nation, right?"
"If we hadn't stopped it, half the country would've been gone."
"Well......"
Rimon scratched his cheek.
If Syr hadn't stabilized the magic circle while spilling her own blood, and Sera's ghost and Yuna Kyung hadn't assisted her with all they had.
If the power in the cauldron had detonated.
It really could've been a catastrophe.
Sure, he'd have sliced the cauldron apart before it blew, preventing disaster.
But all the precious materials prepared for the ritual—like the seven-colored feathers—would've gone up in smoke.
In that sense, as the culprit behind this mess, Rimon had nothing to say, even with ten mouths.
"I didn't expect it'd turn out like this."
[Has your conscience died?!]
"If you didn't know, you shouldn't have done it......"
But the older you get, the thicker the skin.
Rimon just shrugged, sending Yuna Kyung into a fit and drawing a sigh from Syr despite herself.
It wasn't supposed to be this bad.
He hadn't planned for this either.
It should've ended right at the target threshold, nice and tight.
The problem was the 'supplement' had worked way better than expected.
Even a legendary archwitch like Syr needed to borrow the baby bird's power to rein in the overflowing, rampaging energy.
"At least our hard work paid off."
As if her earlier glare at Rimon had been a lie,
Syr gazed at the cauldron in the magic circle's center, emanating a chillingly vivid aura, and curved her lips in a sly smile.
"Thanks to that, I've completed a masterpiece I'll never replicate in my lifetime."
"So the cauldron's properly made?"
"Properly? In some ways, it's eclipsed even the London Countermeasure."
"......Isn't that a bit of an overstatement?"
"No exaggeration."
Not as its creator,
but as the legendary Magic Queen.
The archwitch, who had lived since the Silver Age, declared without hesitation.
"The Dagda Cauldron we made has already surpassed the original."
The cauldron forged by the ancient god Dagda himself was the Silver Age's greatest treasure, rivaling the London Countermeasure.
Surpassing that meant they'd achieved a miracle even a god couldn't.
Rimon gave a wry smile at Syr, grinning in satisfaction despite her bloodied state.
It was just sword vs. magic.
As an absolute at the pinnacle of his field, he could somewhat understand her feelings.
"If you're so confident, mind if we test it right now?"
"Go ahead."
What mattered was the result.
To test the tool they'd labored over, Rimon strode up to the cauldron.
Then he glanced back at Ainsha.
"Foolish princess, anything you wanna eat?"
"Tata's handmade crembo."
"......Your tastes sure are consistent."
Hummm.
Remembering how he'd gone to Tartarus to fetch Ainsha and ended up delivering lunch too, Rimon chuckled and placed his hand on the cauldron's surface.
The change began.
The engraved surface shimmered faintly, then the interior lit up.
The swirling light inside the massive cauldron swelled explosively.
Bwooom!
Black waves surged from the empty cauldron.
No—not waves.
Chocolate.
More precisely, countless chocolate-coated marshmallow lumps poured out.
Filling the huge cauldron and overflowing, piling high enough to spill over the rim.
Just then, Rimon pulled his hand away.
He snatched a crembo tumbling down from the mountain's peak.
And offered it to Ainsha.
"Here, have a taste."
The white-haired girl didn't take it readily.
She just said flatly,
"I'm good."
"Why?"
"I'm picky despite appearances. Subpar crembo won't satisfy me."
What she wanted was Tata's handmade crembo—not some magic sugar lump.
Ainsha stated it like a proper princess.
With Tata beaming proudly in the background, she continued curtly,
"So leave the tasting to someone else—"
Nom.
Ainsha blinked.
Before she could finish, Rimon had popped the crembo between her cute lips.
Whether out of politeness she couldn't spit it out,
or because she couldn't push away Rimon's fingers still holding it,
After stiffening, she finally nibbled at the crembo in her mouth after a long moment.
Munch.
Her eyes wavered.
Her neat teeth met.
Slurp.
Her tongue slowly wrapped around it.
Her throat squirmed.
Gulp.
Only after the crembo vanished completely did Rimon pull his fingers from her lips, grinning as he asked,
"How's it taste?"
"......"
"If that's not enough of a taste test, I can feed you another?"
I'll keep feeding you till you answer, he implied.
Facing Rimon's massive threat, Ainsha finally spoke softly.
"......Perfect. It tastes exactly like Tata's handmade crembo."
"Figured."
Tata's shocked expression behind them.
But Rimon just nodded like it was obvious.
And Syr smiled faintly too.
"No surprise there. Dagda's Cauldron perfectly replicates any food the user has tasted—flavor, ingredients, nutrients, everything. It's a divine artifact."
[Oh, so it can't make stuff you haven't tried?]
"Even then, it has preset basics."
[Presets?]
"Normally just bread, meat, and wine. I tweaked it so it can produce anything the creator has tasted."
[Ah, the creator's experiences...]
Yuna Kyung started to nod, then blinked.
[Just to check—does that include the witch sis and team leader?]
"Obviously."
[......]
Syr, who had lived since the Silver Age, emperor of Rome and archwitch, tasting every delicacy East and West.
Rimon, barely a thousand yet wandered the world, trying everything.
Yuna Kyung gaped at the two ancient monsters, blurting,
[This is straight-up broken OP item?!?!]
"Told you—it surpassed the original."
[Whoa, amazing! I want one for home! This beats thousands of chefs!]
"Quit yapping. Think we made this 'cause we lack cooks?"
Rimon flicked Yuna Kyung's forehead to shut her up, then crossed his arms.
"Anyway, performance checks out. Now just confirm if that function works properly?"
"You'll see when you use it."
"What if there's a glitch?"
"Test it on this country first, then."
"Can't afford to slack, but......"
Rimon seriously discussed testing and implementation with Syr.
But lost in debate, he failed to notice.
Ainsha, whom he'd fed the crembo to, was touching her own lips, head slightly bowed...