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Chapter 116: Horseback Riding
Wake up in the morning then take Riche on a stroll.
Prepare breakfast.
Play with Riche.
Do some fieldwork, and take care of the livestock.
Play with Riche.
Gather all sorts of materials and ingredients until noon — Go to the training grounds in the forest and practice magic by destroying stone pillars and gathering silica.
It’s way too troublesome gathering soda ash, limestone, tin, all sorts of iron minerals, lumber, etc etc. one by one, so I just order them locally. It might take some time to gather the amount I wanted, but that’s totally fine since I’m not in a hurry.
Then, name the forest spirits from time to time.
I meet up with Retze, Ash and the others come noon. Retze volunteered to teach me, but Ash and Butler also decided to be my instructors. They met at the adventurer’s guild in the morning, apparently.
「Let’s check for compatibility first. What kind of horse do you want? 」
「Er… 」
And so, here we are now at the rental stable.
There are all sorts of horses, like those who draw carriages, those who specialize in carrying luggage, and those who run fast. Since there are a lot of adventurers in Canum, there are also a few warhorses that aren’t sensitive to noise.
Even I, the guy who can count on one hand how many times he saw a horse in real life, can easily distinguish the difference in body types. Not sure if Ash loves horses, but she explained a lot of things like, ‘this horse was tamed from a wild breed for somewhere’, or ‘this one has a splendid coat’ and so on.
The rental stable’s uncle said that she knew more than him and decided to just walk behind us.
「A warhorse might be the better choice considering our destination, but they can be quite ill-tempered, so I recommend that you choose a docile and submissive horse for this time. 」
Just as Butler said, it’ll all be useless if I can’t ride it.
Besides, warhorses don’t come cheap.
Blue coat, chestnut coat, white coat… a horse that looked big from afar, a horse that stared at us inquisitively, another horse that ignored us. I listened to the rental stable’s uncle and Ash’s advices and was about to choose one when —
「Free-range!? 」
The horse trotted towards me, though.
「Whoa, sorry. This guy is a wild one with a bad habit of escaping, and he had been turned over to me, since they can’t take care of him anymore. 」
Uncle tried to soothe the horse, and two other staff approached us when they noticed how he escaped.
The horse looked like he was about to kick someone, with his ears flattened to the back of his head and the snout pointed forward with the teeth bared.
「He looked cheerful when he was headed here. 」
Retze pulled me.
「What? 」
I didn’t get why Retze did that, so I stared at him.
「It’s looking. 」
「Yeah, it’s looking. 」
「Indeed, it is looking. 」
The trio didn’t answer me; they just stared right ahead. I turned my gaze to where they were looking at — the horse’s eyes met mine. He then shook off the staff that had been trying to soothe him and approached me.
「Just as I thought. 」
「I wonder why? 」
「Jean is loved by different things. 」
Please stop agreeing with each other’s nonsense.
「Can’t do it with a runaway horse. 」
Even if you nuzzle me, it’s still no.
「Please stop, I’ll become bald. 」
He’s munching on my hair now.
Ash and the rest chose their own horses, and we went out to the horse-riding ground. The wild horse kept tailing me so I couldn’t choose.
「How about riding him once? 」
Retze handed me a towel, so I gratefully wiped my hair with it.
「This horse has never been saddled… 」
「It’ll be impossible if I don’t have anything to hold on to. 」
The staff nervously put the harness on it. I also help a bit as they teach me.
「What about the stirrup? 」
「I’ll need it. 」
Stirrups are meant as a foothold for when climbing up the horse. I thought they come as a set with the harness, but some people think it’ll be shameful to have them on, apparently. Urk, it’s treated like a bicycle’s training wheels….!
「 Stirrups are useful. They help stabilize you when you swing your sword and draw your bow while on horseback. Besides, sticking to conventions won’t save your life. 」
Ash, who returned from a lap, commented from on top of her horse. Well, if it’s not a long-distance ride and not in war, not putting the stirrups is the clique, it seems.
「Hey, Wild Horse. 」
「It’s Ruta. 」
The staff told me its name when I called the horse.
「Ruta, I don’t ride a horse, nor can I control it. Please read my mind and just decide for yourself. Ah, please make the ride as smooth as possible so I won’t sway. 」
「Stop spouting nonsense. 」
Retze jabbed at me when I tried asking Ruta nicely.
「I’ll hold on to the reins, so please ride him. 」
Butler said with a smile after a brief explanation on how to handle horses.
I’m capable of riding, physical ability-wise. Aren’t you going to teach me while riding together?
「Now, please walk slowly. 」
「Ruta, please. 」
Ruta walked at a snail pace.
「…Gallop. 」
「Ruta, please. 」
Ruta galloped nimbly. The view up here is so nice with nothing blocking me.
「Halt. You won’t be able to ride other horses at this rate. Please remember it properly. 」
「Ugh… 」
I memorize Grinning Butler’s pressure on the reins, and we start all over.
「Lightly squeeze the horse’s stomach with your legs, loosen the reins according to the horse’s movements. 」
I did my best. They made me ride another horse at the end as a test.
Ruta went berserk.
「It seems like your memory is good. 」
「Isn’t it because the horse is docile? 」
「… 」
Everyone trained their gazes at Ruta’s stall.
「Maybe you stink of something that horses like… 」
Retze muttered, looking like he couldn’t believe it.
「Jean, let’s have a long ride tomorrow. 」
「Yeah. 」
Ash invited me, so it’s decided that we’ll go out. I have to prepare a bento box, then.
「Ugh, my thighs hurt more than my butt. 」
Dean told me that we also have a dominant butt cheek much like how we have a dominant hand, and that cheek’s skin will be peeled off.
「Put this. 」
I caught the salve-like thing that Retze threw at me. I have【Heal】so I’ll be fine. This pain is more like muscle pain, if you ask me.
【Heal】 can also be used on muscle pain, but it will hurt for an hour or so until I ‘think’ about healing it. When I asked Van about this, he explained that it’s because it’s about growth, and not just healing in a sense that I’m returning my body to its original state. Well, true enough, no pain, no gain, it’ll be worrying if you don’t gain muscle after exercising.
Anyway, Retze and Butler brought a bunch of things, huh. Yeah, especially Butler, even though he looked like he didn’t seem to bring a lot of luggage when he’s out and about.