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I currently have more than 8 advance chapters backlogged, I will up the required power stone for the week from 5 to 20 power stones per user for an advance chapter, and for every 20 power stones accumulated for the week, I will also post an advance chapter corresponding to the complete amount in the week's end.
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Following Gold Ship's hasty retreat, silence briefly settled over the path near the recruitment board. Diamente exhaled, shoulders loosening as the tension finally left her body.
"Um… thank you very much," she said, bowing her head slightly toward the towering umamusume beside her.
Gentildonna waved it off with an almost dismissive ease.
"It's nothing," she replied. "Just happened to run into that goofball at the wrong moment."
There was no real malice in her tone but more weary familiarity than anything else. After a pause, she added, "Everyone just calls me Gentil-san or Gentil-senpai. Either's fine."
"I understand," Diamente said quickly. "Thank you, Gentil-senpai."
Gentildonna turned as if to leave, her footsteps already angling back toward the track. Yet just before she could take her second step, Diamente spoke again.
"May I ask you something, Gentil-senpai?"
Gentildonna stopped.
Diamente hesitated for only a moment before continuing, her voice quiet but sincere. "With your retirement coming up… what are you feeling right now?"
The question hung in the air.
Gentildonna turned slowly, surprise flickering across her face. She hadn't expected such a question, not from someone so young, someone still standing at the very beginning of her own path.
Then, her lips curved upward.
She stepped closer and, to Diamente's shock, gently rested a hand atop her head. The pat was light, almost affectionate, and it made Diamente stiffen before she could stop herself.
Gentildonna spoke calmly.
"For an umamusume to run freely across those tracks," she said, "her abilities must stand above all else. Otherwise, she is forgotten."
Her hand lifted as she straightened, her presence seeming to fill the space around them.
"If I am to leave my mark," she continued, "then I must prove, one last time, that my losses in the Twinkle Series were not my ending. They were acknowledgements. A proof that the younger generation can surpass their seniors."
Her eyes sharpened. "But that does not mean my story should conclude there."
A quiet fire settled behind her gaze as she squared her shoulders.
"To me, the word 'loss' is not humiliation," Gentildonna said. "It is evidence that the era is changing, and that I still stand at its very center. Yes, the youngsters surpassed me many times before. But only because I allowed the future to brush past my shadow."
Her voice grew firmer.
"This final curtain call… the first-place seat at the Arima Kinen will not be taken from me so easily. I will run not to reclaim praise, nor to deny the next generation their rise."
She paused, her eyes lifting toward the track beyond the buildings. "I will run to carve my name deeper into the tracks themselves."
The air seemed to still.
"So that when the horseshoes on my feet had finally gone quiet," she finished, "they will remember that before the dawn of a new age, there stood a noble queen who refused to fade quietly into history."
For a moment, Diamente could only stare.
Then Gentildonna's gaze softened, the intensity easing as she looked back down at her.
"I appreciate your support, Diamente-chan," she said gently. "And I'm glad there are young umamusume like you who wish to watch this Noble Lady prepare her final waltz at the Arima Kinen."
Without another word, she turned and walked away, her stride steady and unhesitating.
No farewell was exchanged.
Diamente remained where she stood, watching Gentildonna's back grow smaller against the fading light. Somewhere deep within her, something stirred—it was quiet, unresolved, but undeniably awakened.
==== 🐎Legend Changer🐎 ====
I ate my dinner alone at one of the quieter corners of the cafeteria, my spoon idly stirring the soup as my thoughts drifted far from the noise around me.
Gentildonna's words wouldn't leave my head. As someone who had transmigrated into the body of an umamusume, and someone who had read more than enough stories about this exact kind of situation, I could tell there was something… off about me.
The system, and by extension the Three Goddesses themselves, had done an impressive job binding my soul to this body. Physically, I was an umamusume through and through.
Mentally, however, it wasn't that simple.
No matter how compatible the vessel was, a mind that had once lived as a human didn't just overwrite itself overnight. There was a subtle dissonance, a constant sense of misalignment between instinct and reason, between what my body wanted to do and how my thoughts processed it.
From a medical standpoint, it was obvious. This discombobulation was something I had to resolve before I could even consider serious self-training. Otherwise, I'd only be forcing progress on an unstable foundation.
I lowered my gaze to my tray and muttered quietly to myself, "I really do want to live a carefree life here…"
That much was true. This world had given me another chance—warmth, freedom, people who welcomed me without hesitation. There was gratitude in that.
Gratitude toward everyone who had accepted me, protected me… even toward Rudolf-nee and Grandma Speed, who had taken me in after my parents—the rare fully-human members of a small offshoot of the Symboli family—had died in an accident just a few months ago.
And yet…
What am I supposed to do with this life?
That uncertainty was exactly why I'd asked Gentildonna that question. I knew there was no single correct answer. Everyone carried their own reason for running, their own meaning carved into the tracks.
Still, I felt that if I gathered enough of those answers, I could piece together something that belonged only to me.
Something I could call my own purpose.
I let out a slow sigh and resumed eating.
That was when I noticed movement in my peripheral vision.
I looked up just in time to see a familiar black-haired umamusume approaching, still dressed in her training clothes, her expression bright with unrestrained cheer. Beside her walked another umamusume—brown-haired, elegant, and wearing the Tracen Academy high school uniform. What caught my eye immediately was the diamond-shaped marking on her bangs.
It was lighter than mine, but unmistakable and similarly-shaped.
"Diamente-chan!"
I smiled before I even realized it and raised a hand in greeting. "Good evening, Kitasan-senpai. Are you back from training already?"
She nodded energetically. "Yep! Just finished up!"
Then she turned slightly and gestured beside her. "Ah, right! I wanted you to meet someone. This is my childhood friend who's a year younger than me—Satono Diamond."
The brown-haired umamusume stepped forward smoothly and inclined her head with refined grace. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Satono Diamond."
Her posture, her tone, even the way she smiled—everything about her carried the air of high society.
I stood slightly and returned the greeting. "Nice to meet you. I'm Symboli Diamente."
Satono Diamond's finely-lined eyebrows lifted slightly in surprise as she asked, "If I may ask, are you, by any chance, related to President Rudolf?"
"Yes, Rudolf-neesama adopted me into her family due to personal circumstances and adopted her surname by association." I replied in a graceful tone.
"That's quite wonderful, Symboli-san." Satono Diamond smiled.
After a beat, I turned my head to Kitasan and said lightly, "Kitasan-senpai really is part of a rare group, you know. Knowing two people named after diamonds."
I tilted my head playfully. "Diamond-senpai, you can call me Diamente-san… or Mente-san, if you like."
"Fufu~ Mente-chan can call me Dia-senpai or Dia-chan like how Kita-chan calls me." Satono Diamond let out a soft, amused chuckle, while Kitasan gave an awkward laugh, scratching the back of her head.
"I'm just jesting," I said quickly, smiling. "So—what brings the two of you here?"
Kitasan glanced at my tray, then back at me. "You looked like you were eating alone, so we thought we'd keep you company."
I blinked once, then felt warmth spread through my chest.
"I'd like that," I replied. "Please, sit."
As they took their seats across from me, the weight in my thoughts eased—just a little. For now, that was enough.
==== 🐎Legend Changer🐎 ====
Dinner continued more quietly after that.
Kitasan-senpai was in high spirits, talking animatedly about how today's training went, while Diamond-chan listened with an elegant smile, occasionally adding a short comment or question.
I responded when spoken to, nodding and smiling where appropriate, but my thoughts were still drifting—until Kitasan suddenly leaned forward, eyes sparkling.
"Oh! By the way, Diamente-chan," she said, lowering her voice slightly, "I heard something pretty wild earlier."
I blinked. "Wild…?"
"About what Gold Ship-senpai just said," she added quickly. "When she arrived back at the training room, she immediately talked about how she 'found a promising junior' today and pulled both Scarlet-senpai and Vodka-senpai to try and recruit the said junior."
Satono Diamond paused mid-bite, her eyes shifting toward me with mild curiosity.
"…Ah," I said, the memory resurfacing all too vividly. "That explains a lot… It seems that it has already reached there."
Kitasan tilted her head. "So it was you, wasn't it?"
I gave a small, resigned smile. "She tried to recruit me. On her own… very creative way, I dare say."
Satono Diamond's lips twitched. "I can imagine."
I briefly explained what happened near the recruitment board while carefully omitting the more embarrassing details, and how Gentildonna had intervened before things could go a lot more ridiculous.
At the mention of her name, both of them straightened.
"Gentildonna-senpai…" Kitasan murmured, awe creeping into her voice. "She really showed up?"
"Yes," I nodded. "She was in the middle of her jogging when she saw me and stopped them. After that, we then talked for a bit before she left."
Their expressions shifted, the lighthearted mood giving way to something more reverent.
"Was it about the Arima Kinen?" Satono Diamond asked softly.
"Un…" I nodded again.
Kitasan clasped her hands together. "I can't believe she moved her retirement race there. Ending it all at Arima… It must be quite lively on the day itself…"
Satono Diamond's gaze lowered thoughtfully. "Un… It's also this race when Teio-senpai won in her retirement race."
I remembered Gentildonna's eyes when she spoke about it—her steady, burning, and unyielding personalities were stronger.
"She said she would win," I said quietly. "Not to deny the next generation, but so she wouldn't fade quietly into history."
For a moment, none of us spoke.
Then Kitasan smiled—bright, earnest, almost reverent. "I really want to see it. I really want to see how the race would happen."
"I agree," Satono Diamond said. "It's something worth witnessing."
Their words settled deep inside me.
After that, the conversation eased again, drifting into lighter topics—training schedules, dorm rumors, idle chatter—but the weight of what we'd discussed remained with me.
As they talked, I found myself growing quieter.
Gentildonna knew exactly why she was running.
From my memories, Kitasan Black, who's currently in front of me, ran to make people smile like they were.
Satono Diamond, on the other hand, carried expectations from her family and wanted to break their curse of not winning a G1 race at the time.
And me?
I looked down at my hands, small and steady, resting on the cafeteria table.
I had been given a second life—one bound carefully to this body, this world, this destiny. The system had synchronized my soul flawlessly, yet my mind still lagged behind, caught between what I was and what I was becoming. As someone who once studied medicine, I knew this dissonance well: when the body moves faster than the heart can follow.
I wanted to live freely.
I wanted to repay the kindness I had been shown.
I wanted to honor the life that existed before me.
But above all…
I wanted a purpose that was truly my own.
Something that wouldn't vanish even if I stopped running.
Satono Diamond was the first to notice my silence.
"Mente-chan," she said gently, "you seem deep in thought."
I hesitated, then let out murmured small breath. "…I was just thinking about what it means to run. And what it means to choose why you run."
Neither of them laughed. Neither brushed it aside.
Instead, they listened.
And in that quiet moment—between a queen's final waltz and my own uncertain beginning—I realized that perhaps purpose wasn't something you found all at once.
Perhaps it was something you built, step by step, stride by stride.
"…One step at a time," I told myself.
And for now, that was enough.
Then, weeks had passed by and it was already time for Arima Kinen.
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