The walk from the hallway to the conference room was short, yet Richard felt as though he had sprinted through half a lifetime.
With each echoing step down the corridor, the man named Richard fell into memory.
Like all who wished to enter the world of Uma Musume racing, Richard had been filled with longing for it since childhood.
Unable to go to the racetracks himself, he could only rely on dated newspapers and huddle around a friend's crackling old radio, using words and distant cheers to paint the stage in his mind.
Dreams, hope, victory—no child could resist the allure of those words.
To the young Richard, the racetrack was meant to be a glittering stage, where the Uma Musume, fighting for their dreams and hopes, would shine with a brilliance no one else could match.
Was there anything in this world more thrilling?
Carrying that longing, the young Richard stepped into a specialized academy to become a trainer.
And the very first lesson his teacher taught him was not to believe what he read in the newspapers.
Richard still remembered the old man's scornful expression. Pointing at the newspaper Richard treasured, he looked at him with disdain and said,
"Richard, the track is not such a gentle place. How can something as fleeting as dreams be enough to achieve victory there?"
"You need more advanced training equipment, a more rational training system—only that can hone an Uma Musume's power to its limits. And only the strongest who reach those limits have the right to win a race!"
After saying this, the old man calmly tore Richard's precious newspaper to shreds before his eyes.
"This place trains only professionals. If you want to be like those amateur spectators who don't even understand the races, who just cheer to vent their emotions and believe in this meaningless nonsense—"
"Then get out of here!"
The young Richard clenched his fists, gritting his teeth, straining to hold back the impulse to punch the old man right then and there.
The European racing association's system was harsh not only to the Uma Musume, but to trainers as well.
For an ordinary boy like Richard with no background, just getting into the school had taken everything he had.
So he couldn't fight back.
This was his one and only chance to change his fate and enter the racing world. Even if he had to grit his teeth until they shattered and swallow the pieces, he had to endure it.
The young Richard didn't even dare let the old man see the anger and hatred burning in his eyes. He just hung his head low, and in the days that followed, he followed every rule and became the model student in everyone's eyes.
At first, the hatred was still scorching. In countless late nights, Richard fantasized about climbing to a high position and changing everything.
But time wears away many things. In that environment, steeped in European ideals day after day, the fire in Richard's heart gradually began to fade.
Sometimes he even wondered if that anger from his youth had just been naive ignorance.
Later, having fully realized that he could never change anything in his lifetime, Richard bowed his head and bent his back. As the elite European agent in everyone's eyes, he bustled around the world.
In the end, that ordinary boy who seized his chance became the head of the European branch at Central Tracen Academy, the second-in-command only to Anthony.
His story was even held up as an example by his old school. Even that old man who once looked down on him now spoke of Richard with animated pride.
He had succeeded. He had become the elite in everyone's eyes.
Richard should have continued like this—staying in Japan to scout talent for Europe, perhaps returning to headquarters in a few decades as a laid-back executive, becoming another legendary figure from his small hometown.
But on that fateful day, on the training grounds of Central Tracen, he met the Uma Musume who would change his life.
That day, it wasn't just Symboli Rudolf and Mr. C.B. whose hearts were stirred. Among all those beating hearts, one also belonged to Richard.
Truth be told, Richard didn't have any special thoughts at first. By then, thoroughly molded by European ideals, his first thought was to persuade her.
She was a once-in-a-lifetime genius.
Her joining would surely push Europe forward, just like Shinzan had in the past.
So after being firmly refused, Richard wasn't just frustrated—he genuinely lost his temper, a rare display of emotion beyond his usual smile.
He didn't understand. A smooth, broad road was right before her.
Why did this Uma Musume insist on choosing a rugged, narrow path doomed to fail? Didn't she know how rare her talent was? Didn't she realize she was wasting this heaven-sent gift?!
In the days leading up to the Satsuki Sho, Richard, holding onto that stifled anger, desperately wanted to prove to the Uma Musume who had rejected him that he was the one who was right.
What 'defying Europe,' what 'breaking free from restraints'—did these teenagers even understand the meaning of their own words?
They'd probably read a few unrealistic comic books and were now foolishly acting them out!
Back then, Richard thought about these things every day, completely unaware that he was becoming more and more like the old man who had criticized him.
His disdain for Dream Weaver was like his disdain for his younger self—both believing that so-called dreams and hopes were nothing but impractical illusions.
Even after Dream Weaver won the Satsuki Sho, Richard couldn't accept her. Instead, he grew even more convinced she was squandering her talent, and the nameless anger in his heart swelled.
Driven by this anger, he threw himself into his work with even greater fervor. He even risked his own future, repeatedly pestering the upper echelons of the European racing association to invest more resources.
But one late night, before the Japanese Derby, he suddenly began to understand the source of this anger.
At its core, it was a kind of dread. He was afraid. Afraid of seeing Dream Weaver win another race.
If such a childish declaration could carry her this far, then what did that make him—the young Richard who had given up, who had stayed behind, head bowed, suppressing his anger?
The moment he saw Dream Weaver actually win the Japanese Derby, Richard's mind was in complete turmoil.
Not knowing how to face it, he gave up on himself and fled the venue, running away—literally.
It was a physical escape from the European racing association, and at the same time, an escape from himself in his heart.
And this journey in Japan came to an end with the arrival of a newspaper, passed to him just like the ones from his childhood.
Reading the news about the showdown between Shinzan and Dream Weaver, Richard still didn't fully understand why his heart was in such chaos.
He just had a vague sense that he absolutely had to witness that deciding Kikuka Sho with his own eyes.
There, everything would find its answer.
Finally, in that victory that changed the world, Richard found his answer. It also set the stage for everything that followed in the coming years.
Richard no longer expected to see Dream Weaver again.
In truth, he had only spoken to her once.
To her, he was probably just a passerby, a braggart of a villain—like the kind of petty antagonist in comic books who wears gold-rimmed glasses and shows up early in the story. She wouldn't remember him.
He didn't hope she would remember him either. If he could just watch her back in the new era she had created, Richard would be content.
But when he finally earned Shinzan's trust, became a high-ranking member of the new Japanese racing association, and was just a hair's breadth away from that figure who had long since vanished, that earth-shattering news instantly shattered Richard's heart.
The Uma Musume who had changed him, guided him, made him remember his past—had lost her mind.
Just like Rudolf and the others, in his despondency, Richard realized he absolutely could not let himself sink. He picked up those tattered gold-rimmed glasses once more, determined to contribute his strength to the future she had opened.
Phrases like 'changing the world' felt too grand, too abstract—they had a dreamlike, unreal quality. But Richard knew that at the very least, his own life had truly been changed by Dream Weaver.
Now that the enemy was gone, he couldn't—he simply couldn't stand by and watch her efforts go to waste.
By now, Richard no longer fantasized about Dream Weaver waking up. European ideals had long since molded him into a realist. Even having witnessed a miracle with his own eyes, he didn't expect to meet her again.
But today, on this utterly ordinary, unremarkable day without any warning, his miracle descended once more.
Pushing open the conference room door, facing Shinzan's astonished gaze, Richard choked out the words.
"The miracle… it really happened!"
--+--
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!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.