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Chapter 271
“Hmmm.” Malong brought Mia a horse. She looked at it carefully.
“So this is a moonhare… What is it called?”
“His name’s Kuolan. It means ‘wild storm.’”
“Wild storm… What a scary name!” she said as she looked at it.
Kuolan looked back at her, snorted, and then pulled its big horsey lips back into a smile.
“…Did you laugh? Did that horse just make fun of me?”
Malong shrugged and said, “Ha ha ha, I’ve been around a lot of horses, but I’ve never heard one of them laugh.”
“I-I see. I guess that’s right. But I feel like he’s making fun of me for some reason… Maybe it’s just me,” she said to herself as she kept looking at it.
At first glance, it looked like any other horse. It was about the size of a normal horse and didn’t have any horns or wings. Everything about it was very…horsey in a boring way.
“Hmm… I guess you can’t tell just by looking what a horse is made of. You have to ride on them.”
She stopped because she had an idea.
“That reminds me, I don’t believe I’ve ever ridden this horse…”
She cocked her head in a confused way, which made Malong grin in a sneaky way.
“I imagine you haven’t. After all, this horse can really move. If an inexperienced student is allowed to ride him, an accident is sure to happen.”
“Huh! You don’t say!”
Mia looked at Kuolan, the moonhare, in a new way.
I get it… So, Malong seems to be saying that he thinks I am now able to ride this horse.
Malong said, “I think you look strong enough to take a fall or two without much trouble.” This made her smile even wider.
“…Hm? How odd. I think that was a compliment, so why don’t I feel very good about it?
“Ha ha ha, anyway. Jokes aside, how about it? Want to give this good boy a ride?”
“Yes, I should probably. It would probably be best to get used to riding him…”
Even though Malong’s compliment was a double-edged sword, Mia was pretty sure of herself. She had been working on her skills more than ever.
Oho ho, Moonhare, do your worst. Then be amazed as I treat you with the most grace I can.
With an arrogant huff, she jumped on the horse. As the two of them galloped away, her hair blew in the wind in a regal way.
At least, that’s how she thought it would happen. The truth wasn’t nearly as nice.
How weird… This is not at all what I had in mind. How did I get into this mess?
She sat on Kuolan’s back, wedged herself between the animal’s neck and…
“Don’t let go, miss. Don’t let go or you might fall,” said Malong, who held her from behind.
H- He treats me like I’m a kid!
She wanted to protest this bad turn of events, so she said, “Um, Malong? I don’t mind riding in tandem, but the last time I did it with Abel, I sat in the back and held on to him in the front.”
“Yeah, this is how my clan rides, in fact. Most of the time, it’s easier to stay balanced if the rider with less experience is in the front.
“Oh? Is that true? Huh? I didn’t know that.”
She had thought that the tandem style she had used with Abel was the norm, so she cocked her head when she heard this new information.
Malong smiled when she did that.
“Everyone in our clan rides. There were old people, young people, men, and women. We do it as naturally as we walk.”
“Oh, then you could have told Abel properly before he took me riding, you meanie.”
She said, “Hmph…” with a pout.
I was right! I’ve always found it strange that I fell off. It was because of the way he rode.
…And it wasn’t because she had been too busy staring to notice. Right. Of course. Let’s just say that’s the case.
Malong really doesn’t know what to do sometimes. Even after all this time, he forgot to mention something so important. Then again, Ruby was so easy to fool back then, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.
Mia’s lips stuck out even more. Malong lost about one point in her eyes.
“Ha ha ha, sorry. I thought, though, that you’d rather be in the back. It looked like a good place for you. I mean, he must really like you, right?”
He gave me a sly grin.
“Hm? What are you saying?”
“That way of riding in tandem is what we used to call ‘couple’s style.’ This is how warriors ride into battle to protect their loved ones. The name comes from a story about a great hero who was one of our ancestors. It says that he sat in front of his wife and kept an eye on her while he fought hundreds of enemies. Since then, it’s kind of become the norm to think that a woman riding behind a man is his special someone.”
He gave her a very clear wink.
“Isn’t it perfect for you and Abel?”
Malong really can be very thoughtful at times! In fact, because of the way I rode, I got to spend some good time with Abel. It’s awesome! I love it! Long live the couple style! I mean, he might like Ruby a little too much, but the fact that she showed up made him show me this moonhare horse, so it was good in the end. I knew you wouldn’t let me down, Malong.
Her opinion of Malong went up by 120 points.
Mia’s mind was like an acrobat, or rather, it was an acrobat that could flip and spin in any way it wanted.
“But I have to say, I didn’t really think you’d fall. That scared the hell out of me. I guess I haven’t apologised enough either, so let me do that now. Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it, oh no. I’ve stopped letting it bother me, and you should do the same. Besides, it’s not like you to dwell. There’s no need to apologise, so just flip that thought out of your head,” she said, doing mental somersaults like a pro.
Her old problems had already flown past the edge of her mind and landed on a thick mattress of forgotten memories. They didn’t have to put in much effort.
Again, one of Mia’s few good points was that the horizon of her memories was just a stone’s throw away.
“Oh yeah? Ha ha, good to hear that, miss. I can see that your heart is still as big as ever.”
Malong’s nice compliment to Mia didn’t get to her because she had already stopped listening to him.
My, what a beautiful phrase! Couple’s style. Like, Abel and I are a married couple… Oho ho… When we got on that horse together, it’s like our lives became linked. What a sweet idea…
She was stuck in a romantic daydream, and her head was so full of thoughts like “Abel is such a gentleman” and “the way he held me to break my fall was so dreamy” that she couldn’t hear anything.
So, she didn’t understand what Malong said next, which made her feel uneasy.
“This time, though, there’s no couple’s style. If I let you sit in the back, you might just fly out, which won’t be fun for anyone. If that happened, Abel would have my head,” he said. Mia didn’t catch the hidden warning.
“Okay, hold on tight, all right? Make sure you don’t lose your balance.”
“Eh? Uh-huh, sure. This won’t be hard at all. I’m sure I can take care of this horse without you. It’s time for me to show what I’ve been working on all this time.”
After making that confident statement, they left. She had no idea that she would soon turn into wind.
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