Episode 31
I examined the photo once more.
If that really is a core, it means we can only receive it if we win first place, doesn’t it?
Me doing horsemanship? Of course lightly is possible, but I possessed zero ability to enter a contest and do so in earnest. To begin with, I had only learned the horsemanship posture for ladies.
The horsemanship class held at the academy was ‘a liberal arts subject’ to the very end. Naturally, female students learned it only to the extent of taking an elegant stroll on a horse, not riding a horse and sprinting.
Yet an equestrian contest all of a sudden?
Riding a horse and sprinting? Even while jumping right over obstacles at that?
I felt my expression stiffen naturally. There was no way I could do it.
“What are you worrying about?”
“Young Lord?”
Not knowing from when he had been listening, Aidan opened his broad chest wide and spoke.
“This time, I shall enter the contest.”
“Young Lord?”
“What is with that expression? I may look like this, but I have done horsemanship since I was very young.”
Did it show on my face this time as well?
Even though I said I practiced looking in the mirror lately, my emotions still seemed to reveal themselves as they were.
“Will you really be fine? You have to ride a horse and sprint.”
“Naturally. Have you forgotten that our goals are the same?”
Then again, Aidan would still be better than me.
“W-Wait a moment! If you are going out in that, I want to go out as a team too.”
At that moment, Melliot raised her hand and shouted.
“A team?”
“Yes. As you can see, this equestrian contest enters as a team of three in total.”
“Was it not entering alone?”
I examined the poster once again.
[How to Participate: A total of 3 people form one team, consisting of 1 horse caretaker, 1 rider, and 1 assistant.
Teams wishing to participate must apply to the Turtlely Equestrian Association by 2 weeks before the contest]
It really is? A team of three. Why on earth do as many as three people need to participate in an equestrian contest?
“I understand the rider and horse caretaker, but what on earth does the assistant do?”
“To put it simply, a person in charge of odd jobs. Checking equipment, or treating if someone gets hurt.”
Then it would indeed work if Aidan acts as the rider, I act as the assistant, and Melliot takes charge of the horse.
I stole a glance at Melliot. Seeing her earlier, her personality seemed good, and she had a pitiful circumstance in her own right.
Above all, because she knows best about horses among us, she will be of help.
“I am sorry, but there are people in my family to care for horses as well. For my horse, too, someone who cared for it usually would be comfortable.”
However, Aidan quickly drew the line.
By all means, it seemed because he hadn’t heard what circumstance Melliot had. Should I explain it to him even now?
“B-But the horse is decided by drawing lots upon contest registration!”
“…What?”
“That is to say, if that is a charm of this equestrian contest, it is a charm. When registering for the contest, a horse is drawn by lot. One gets close to that horse while preparing for the contest.”
“Then it means the drawn horse could be no good as well.”
“The horses entering the contest are all thoroughbreds!”
Assuring that there was no horse that was no good in this village, Melliot continued speaking.
“Because I am from Turtlely village, I also know the disadvantages of rivals well! Ah, I also know what kind of course the equestrian contest is! And above all, I can commune with any horse, and, also!”
Melliot’s words dragged out gradually.
“I absolutely need the thoroughbred breeding right…”
It was true that I wanted to help, but would I be able to persuade Aidan?
Wouldn’t having the horse cared for by a person of the family who has been together with Aidan until now rather have the possibility of winning?
“Thoroughbred breeding right?”
Dry green pupils slowly scanned the poster next to him.
“Ha, perhaps because it is an equestrian contest held in a small village, the winner’s prize is nothing much.”
“The contest scale is quite large!”
Whether Melliot took offense, she raised her voice more than earlier.
“As you know, because our village is famous as a thoroughbred region, people in the vicinity who need horses participate in the contest on purpose. Even if prize money is small, a single thoroughbred breeding right alone has the value of thousands of gold.”
“So you want the most valuable thoroughbred breeding right?”
At Aidan’s sharp question, Melliot shut her mouth.
“Uh, excuse me, Young Lord.”
At any rate, since what we need is only the saddle, wouldn’t giving something like the breeding right be better—right at the moment I was about to persuade him.
“Fine.”
“Pardon?”
“Instead, you take strictly only the thoroughbred breeding right. Because we will take all the remaining prizes.”
“Really? Great, just trust me!”
Seeing a rejoicing Melliot made even me feel proud, but with Aidan’s personality, there was no way he would entrust something this easily.
At that moment, his slightly rising lip corners came into view. What, was it planned?
“What is it?”
“What.”
After Melliot went out, I quickly asked Aidan.
“Why did you hesitate like that when you were going to permit it easily?”
“One never knows. Since she is a child with much interest in horses, she might ask for the saddle later.”
“Then, did you plan to entrust it to that child from the beginning?”
At my question, he lightly nodded his head.
“I saw her examining the horse in the stable earlier.”
Though it was said the horse Aidan brought today was a thoroughbred with truly fast speed, it was a horse that particularly disliked being handled by human hands.
“It was my first time seeing our family’s horses that gentle. They are fellows that try to bite even when the stable hand who takes care of them every time lays a hand on them, after all.”
However, Melliot was skillful. Her skill in calming down a fiercely behaving horse in an instant seemed grand.
“Naturally, if we were to say let’s find a person with good skill, we could find as many as we want, but finding someone who knows the contest well would be difficult. Since her father has entered the contest several times as well, we might be able to obtain good information.”
“Oh, you calculated all those things and did that on purpose?”
“Because the basics of a transaction are push and pull. Hesitating makes the other party more anxious, after all.”
He was a person far more meticulous than I had thought.
At any rate, it is finally the clue to the second core found.
We had to get our hands on it by any means necessary.
After that, fierce practice began. Aidan rode a horse far better than my expectation. His posture lightly jumping over obstacles on horseback was neat.
“How is it?”
“You’re doing well, though?”
“Mm.”
Unlike me praising diligently, Melliot was cold-headed.
“Your waist floats too much.”
No, would saying professional be right?
“If your body rises first when jumping over obstacles like right now, the horse’s center of gravity shakes.”
Aidan held the reins and lowered his body.
“Is it about this much?”
“A little more. Yes, like that.”
When jumping over obstacles in the posture Melliot mentioned, this time it was certainly more stable than earlier.
“Then, shall we try running the whole course as it is?”
“Already?”
This equestrian contest is divided into a total of three courses. First, sprinting 2 miles across the grassland, there are log obstacles in various places. Because they aren’t that high log obstacles, if one lightly jumps over and runs, the obstacle section in earnest comes out. Fences whose heights are each different are precisely the obstacles, and the highest becomes 4 feet.
After jumping over ten fences like that, the agility section as the final stage.
Sprinting up the hill coming out after a sharp turn, one arrives at the finish line.
“Is it alright to run the full course already?”
“However, the time remaining until the contest is a mere 2 weeks, isn’t it?”
At Melliot’s words, Aidan looked at the obstacles for a moment, then eventually nodded his head and readjusted his grip on the reins.
“Fine, let’s try it once.”
Matching Aidan’s command, the horse began running vigorously.
“3 minutes 5 seconds to here.”
Having measured the record before entering the obstacle course, Melliot marveled.
“Because the horse that won last year took 3 minutes for 2 miles, if you just practice sufficiently, there will be a possibility!”
By all means, it seemed to be a remarkable record. The more it jumped over obstacles, momentum attached to the speed.
“Good!”
Right at the moment the horse—running at a speed far more stable than earlier—leaped up with all its strength toward the last obstacle and landed. Simultaneously with treading its hooves, the horse’s front legs slipped on a pile of dirt.
“Eek!”
“Young Lord!”
The horse twisted its body and quickly regained its balance, but the recoil was far too huge. Aidan’s body shook hugely to the side.
Thud.
Falling shoulder-first, he rolled roughly onto the ground.
