WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 173: There’s No Problem
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* * *
A white-haired girl holding chopsticks.
After some difficulty, Ainsha picked up a savory pancake and placed it in her rice bowl.
Then she asked Rimon, who sat across from her, in a blunt voice.
“Lee, I would like to know whether you have ever been to the Holy League.”
“Don’t you know the sword mark I left in the great canyon there and the ruins of the temple I brought down are still there?”
“I do. They are famous. A mandatory tourist course.”
“Then why ask?”
Perhaps recalling the distant past, when he had gone to capture the White Dragon Clan and returned only after needlessly destroying a religious order, Rimon looked unimpressed.
Ainsha answered his question expressionlessly.
“Because when I return home tomorrow, I intend to bring Lee to the Holy League with me and somehow make it a fait accompli.”
“...
Honesty is good, but do you really think I’ll come along if you lay your intentions bare like that?”
“Not according to my precognition. But it is all right. The future can be changed.”
“Changing the future and changing someone’s heart are entirely different matters, you foolish Princess...”
Rubbing his temples at her confident answer, Rimon turned his head.
He spoke to Li Qing-yu, who was neatly placing a tempting piece of meat in his rice bowl, with his eyes.
‘Princess, do something about her.’
‘Sorry, but that is beyond me.’
‘What am I supposed to do if even you cannot stop her?’
‘Well... perhaps Sword Duke will simply have to get used to it?’
Li Qing-yu answered with a smile.
Even with her smiling face, her discomfort came through clearly. Rimon clicked his tongue as he watched her.
He knew why she had no choice but to smile despite Ainsha’s blatant courtship.
The issue was the offer to return the White Dragon Clan’s 7% stake in Leviathan, part of the shares Li Qing-yu had sold off to support the World Peace Plan.
Leviathan shares were not mere stock. They were the Black Dragon Clan’s lifeline and the very authority needed to control the Seven Dragons Society.
And they were offering to return those shares as long as the Black Dragon Clan did not stop Ainsha from pursuing Rimon.
For the Black Dragon Clan, which had only 50.1% remaining, it was an offer so exceptional it seemed insane. Refusing it would be nearly impossible.
What was even more extraordinary was that Li Qing-yu had not accepted the offer yet.
Still dissatisfied, Rimon frowned and complained with his eyes.
‘See? I told you to refuse.’
‘If word got out, our Elders would certainly start a rebellion.’
‘I told you I’d beat them down for you.’
‘Even if the Elders were dealt with, the clan’s resentment would remain. More importantly, those controlling shares are a weapon Sword Duke needs in order to take control of the Seven Dragons Society.’
‘I’ll manage somehow.’
‘Perhaps, if Ainsha had not said she would consider herself scammed and declare war immediately if we refused.’
‘...
So it is a checkmate?’
‘It is a situation where it is difficult to find an answer, whether we consider justification or practical benefit.’
Hearing Li Qing-yu’s thoughts as she set down the kimchi, Rimon sighed.
He could ignore the practical gain, but if she pressed him over justification, he had nothing to say. After all, they had been the ones who first tried to pull a dating scam.
Of course, Ainsha had also tried to poison Rimon from the start, so he could have thrown that back at her.
The problem was that she had already promised to cooperate in capturing the Liberation Brigade as part of her apology.
That left him unable to argue about anything.
In the end, Li Qing-yu had no choice but to take the ambiguous position of putting the matter on hold.
‘Do you think she calculated all that when she promised to cooperate?’
‘If she did, that would be impressive... but probably not. Perhaps she simply charged in with her eyes shut, and this is where she ended up?’
‘Is it strange that I find that even more impressive?’
‘Sometimes fools are more frightening.’
This was all thanks to someone who had turned a fool who acted only on precognition into a super fool who ignored even precognition.
As Rimon scratched his cheek at Li Qing-yu’s smiling accusation, Ainsha struggled to pick up the jelly with her chopsticks, then dropped it onto the table for the third time with a slippery plop and muttered.
“Li Qing-yu, having a secret conversation through mental communication is unfair. It is against the rules.”
“We were not using mental communication.”
“It was just eye signals.”
“I have a question. Eyes are visual organs. I do not know how conversation is possible through them.”
“If you are betrothed, you can know what the other person is thinking just by looking into their eyes.”
“...
In any case, unfair is unfair.”
Smiling softly, Li Qing-yu calmly picked the bones out of a fish and placed the flesh in Rimon’s rice bowl.
Ainsha looked at her with an expressionless yet clearly sulky face. Still, she succeeded in moving the fourth piece of jelly.
Rimon frowned.
“Princesses, I can feed myself, so please eat your own food. What is this, a memorial offering table?”
Pancake, meat, kimchi, jelly, fish flesh, seasoned greens, and more.
Looking at his rice bowl, where every sort of side dish had piled up into a mountain on the verge of causing a landslide, Rimon spoke in disbelief.
But Li Qing-yu and Ainsha remained calm.
“Well, I am Sword Duke’s bride-to-be. Taking care of my groom’s meals is a bride’s privilege, is it not?”
“I understand. Then I will feed you myself. Say ahh.”
“Leaving aside the fact that brides do not have such a privilege, Ainsha, where did you learn that?”
“I learned it from Tata. It is how to become a beloved bride. A perfect strategy guide.”
Li Qing-yu was shamelessly bold.
Ainsha rattled off foolish things without changing her expression.
Looking at the two of them, neither showing the slightest sign of backing down, Rimon nursed a headache for a moment before speaking frankly.
“Ainsha. You know this already, but I am betrothed to Li Qing-yu. I cannot marry you.”
“It is fine. Sword Duke is marrying Li Qing-yu. I will marry Lee.”
“...
Even if I generously accepted your absurd insistence that I and Lee are different people, the fact remains that I have no intention of marrying you.”
“If you have no feelings for me, I will make you have them.”
“It is troublesome that you talk about my feelings as though they are a new product that will arrive in stock someday.”
“Love arrives suddenly. It did for me. It will for Lee too. Therefore, let us make an effort.”
“...”
Whether it was that she did not understand what he said, or had no intention of listening.
For a moment, Rimon was left speechless by the direct strike of courtship from a love fool with no brakes, something he had never experienced even across centuries of life.
Then, truly dumbfounded, he asked.
“I understand your passion is burning hot, but what will you do if people find out you married a man who was already married?”
“If they find out, they find out.”
“Did it not occur to you that might be a problem?”
“It is fine. Even if I become the second wife, my clan will understand. If they do not, I will beat them until they do.”
“What kind of...?”
Rimon stared in disbelief at Ainsha, who clenched her fist and answered confidently, then suddenly closed his mouth.
He had realized an important fact.
‘Come to think of it, she is from the Holy League.’
The Holy League.
A crucible of religion centered around Jerusalem, the world’s last holy land, where every sort of temple and religious order tangled together.
In this theocratic state, a form of nation long extinct since the Silver Age, different laws applied even to citizens of the same country depending on their faith and religious order.
Marriage was one of the most representative examples.
Polygyny, polyandry, group marriage, shared marriage, cousin marriage, same-sex marriage, levirate marriage, marriage by abduction, and more.
In the Holy League, any kind of marriage was permitted depending on the religion. The only important matter was whether one could receive a god’s blessing when marrying.
Even the marriage system of the Amazons, who kidnapped husbands and killed them after bearing children, was recognized.
That was why disputes broke out constantly, not only among believers but even among priests and gods.
And each time, it was the priest who stepped in.
In other words, this expressionless girl was the very person who had witnessed and mediated all those bizarre marriage systems.
Naturally, pointing out polygyny or shared husbands to her would only earn the response, ‘Is there a problem?’
‘...
I do not know anymore.’
Rimon gave up thinking any further.
If he kept ignoring her, she would keep pursuing him alone until her passion cooled on its own.
It was the decision of a cynical old man, thoroughly worn down by life, who knew there was no such thing as eternal love.
That was why he suddenly asked her a question.
“Anyway, Ainsha. That thing we discussed before, can you do it now?”
“Of course. Any time is fine.”
“Really? Then I will ask you a little later.”
“Leave it to me.”
It was an utterly transparent change of subject.
But perhaps she did not notice.
Or perhaps she noticed and ignored it.
Ainsha boasted confidently with an expressionless face and placed another bite of seasoned greens in Rimon’s rice bowl.
Watching the mountain of side dishes finally collapse, Rimon could not help wondering once more whether his decision to leave this fool alone had truly been the right one.
* * *
A little while later.
After a meal filled with mishaps, the table had been cleared clean. Rimon placed the box he had brought on it.
The moment he opened it, Ainsha let out a brief gasp, her expression unchanged.
“...
As expected, it is incredible.”
“Can you tell what it is?”
“Of course. I am a high priest of the Holy League. Looking at magic artifacts is part of my daily life.”
Even a dog that spends three years at a village school learns to recite poetry.
Much less Ainsha, who had spent her entire life going in and out of temples. There was no way she would fail to recognize a magical aura.
Especially not from a magic artifact that radiated such overwhelming energy as the Pitch-Black Violin.
“But magic artifacts of this level are rare even in the Holy League. It is more remarkable than most sacred relics.”
“I thought it was rather impressive, but you think it is comparable to sacred relics?”
“Of course. Just one magic artifact of this level can change a religious order’s standing.”
“Well, I know that much.”
Rimon nodded.
Even after the end of the Silver Age, magic artifacts made by priests and witches remained extremely valuable.
They could allow one to speak with someone far away.
Create water in the desert.
Or preserve youth for a long time.
They held powers that distorted every kind of providence.
Among them, magic artifacts on the level of sacred relics were each regarded almost as strategic weapons.
Dungeon items had poured out and lowered the value of magic artifacts, but their power had not disappeared.
“But I do not understand why it is cursed.”
“That is a rather complicated story...”
...
Of course, no matter how remarkable a magic artifact was, a cursed item was still a cursed item, now as ever.
But Rimon did not bother explaining the Pitch-Black Violin’s story in detail.
He merely asked with a serious expression.
“More importantly, what do you think? Can you use your precognition to learn this violin’s identity, or read where the other Seven Arcs are?”
“I will look first.”
Ainsha took out a rosary that warded off curses and wrapped it around herself several times. Then she drew up her Psionics and reached out.
The moment she grasped the violin, a white glow rose in her eyes.
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