After hearing Dream Weaver's account, Symboli Rudolf picked up the newspaper featuring the news of Shinzan's comeback, her brows unconsciously furrowing together in deep thought.
Only after reading the article one more time did she finally set the newspaper down, rubbing her temples wearily as she spoke.
"This is quite troublesome..."
Across from her on the sofa, Symboli Rudolf watched the exasperated expression on Mr. C.B.'s face—who was rolling her eyes—then propped her elbow on her knee, resting her cheek in her hand with a long sigh.
"According to our earlier predictions, because Shinzan was too close, the European Racing Association would find it difficult to send many powerful Uma Musume to attack."
"And based on what Dream said, if it were just the Triple Crown Uma Musume from the Japanese Derby, she was confident she could defend the championship alone."
"But with Shinzan..."
Rudolf lifted her eyes and continued, picking up where Mr. C.B. left off.
"...such a change has emerged."
Symboli Rudolf paced restlessly. Shinzan's comeback and her declaration of war were undoubtedly a difficult problem for them.
From her training days, that woman who had always been shrouded in ice had unsurprisingly seized the triple crown, then defended her title twice in a row against countless challengers, achieving an unprecedented triple triple crown.
This Uma Musume, who had almost snatched half the authority from the European Racing Association, after a year of silence, made her comeback and turned those world-renowned top-tier Uma Musume into mere stepping stones.
Shinzan was the strongest enemy they had faced so far.
But because she had been silent for a year, Rudolf, like many others, had completely dismissed her as a threat.
Now, hearing Dream Weaver's account, besides the silence forced by facing a powerful enemy, Rudolf couldn't help but feel she should have gathered intelligence earlier.
If she had realized Shinzan's danger sooner, and collected information earlier to prepare for battle, she wouldn't now be left with nothing but an awareness of the opponent's strength and no concrete intelligence.
Dream Weaver watched Symboli Rudolf's troubled expression, her gaze softening as she patted Rudolf's shoulder in comfort.
"It's not your fault. No one could have predicted Shinzan would return."
What was even more shocking was that her strength remained just as formidable after all this time.
An Uma Musume's strength had always been maintained through continuous, relentless training.
In fact, any athletic competition required athletes to keep training to maintain competitive form.
But Shinzan—true to her mysterious name—seemed not to need training to maintain her competitive edge.
Even after being away from the track for a full year, the moment she returned, the track would open its arms to her as it always had.
Just then, Shiragawa, who had been silent for a long time due to the news from Dream Weaver and the future, spoke up.
"I still can't believe Shinzan would do something like this."
"She fought for so many rights and benefits for Japan's Uma Musume, how could she possibly..."
She hung her head, making it impossible to see the expression on her face, but the tremor in her voice revealed Shiragawa's inner turmoil.
Given the European Racing Association's attitude toward various training centers, Uma Musume like those from the Kasamatsu training center originally had no chance of even entering the Central Special Selection.
Uma Musume like her, even if they survived the hellish training camps, had no way to become what Europe called 'Central Standards.'
For Uma Musume from training centers like Kasamatsu, the European Racing Association's attitude had always been one of neglect—an arrogance so profound it was as if they were completely unaware of their existence.
No opportunities, no lifelines—they had no chance to change their fate at all.
Even if time was still on their side, no matter how much they longed to set foot on the track, those destined not to become Europe's greatest animals couldn't even obtain special qualifications.
Their best outcome might be to choose some locally established special honors.
But Shinzan had used her considerable power within the European association to open up possibilities for Uma Musume from training centers like Kasamatsu, giving them a chance to enter the Central Special Selection, and even allowing them the possibility of advancing through selection races.
Shiragawa knew very well that without Shinzan, an outsider Uma Musume like herself might have remained stuck in the local training center, watching her dreams wither in silent obscurity.
Though she hadn't become stronger herself, if Shinzan hadn't given Uma Musume like her a chance to enter the Central Special Selection, how could she have met Dream Weaver?
How could she have come this far?
If Shinzan didn't exist in this world, then Dream Weaver and Symboli Rudolf could still voice their resistance against the European racing world.
But Shiragawa wouldn't have met so many companions like she had now, encouraging and striving together for a shared dream in the dead of night.
Nor would she have felt the scorching energy of the spectators at the Japanese Derby.
In another world without Shinzan, Shiragawa would have remained in some local training center, watching on television as moments unfolded that had nothing to do with her.
It was precisely because she knew this possibility that Shiragawa didn't want to imagine Shinzan as so terrible.
"People change, just as she herself believed."
Symboli Rudolf suddenly spoke.
"After realizing that all her previous struggles were merely adding honors to the European training system, it's only normal for her to change like this."
"Besides, she's been away from the track for over a year now. She must have thought about many things during that time... Perhaps she found her own answer during that period."
Symboli Rudolf frowned.
Although she had always been seen as Shinzan's successor, she held no reverence for Shinzan whatsoever.
On the contrary, precisely because she had always been overshadowed by Shinzan, Symboli Rudolf wanted nothing more than to break away—to fight alongside her friends and stand against the European racing world.
Only then would people think of her first, and not something else, when they saw her.
Moreover, unlike Shiragawa, Rudolf had actually spoken face-to-face with Shinzan for a brief moment, and she had sensed the other's hostility toward her.
Now, her enemy's comeback was unexpected, but Rudolf's first thought was to blame herself for not gathering intelligence earlier, for ignoring the threat she posed.
Even though she knew their ideals differed, and they had already clashed, she had still neglected to gather any information on her opponent.
If not for the information Shiragawa and Dream Weaver brought, it might have taken her even longer to realize this.
Symboli Rudolf considered this her own failure.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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If you guys wanna check it out.