CH 406

Long Time No See!

Oho ho, good one, Anne. You found the best way to do it. I knew I could count on you.

Mia smiled happily as she led Citrina to the stable.

The answer is hobbies. If Bel finds something to do, she might stop thinking about how short her time here might be. Once she has something fun to look forward to, she won’t care as much about getting ready for death. At least, let’s hope. I mean, if I were her, I’d do everything I could to stay alive.

Now that she pretty much knew why Bel spent so much money on useless things, she knew the answer wouldn’t be easy. Still, she had to try again and again. Bel didn’t have many choices, so the idea of giving her a hobby was a good one that she hadn’t thought of before.

Eventually, I’ll probably want her to take up some more sophisticated hobbies. Like mushroom hunting. I’m good in it myself, after all. But for now, horseback riding will do. Horses are cute, so she should have a lot of fun with them.

As she thought, her eyes went to the figure next to Bel who was smiling sweetly.

“Out of curiosity, Rina, do you know how to ride?”

Citrina tilted her head and looked confused. The act was sweet, and her face was so cute that it put well-made dolls to shame. Just by looking at her now, it was easy to forget that she had been part of the Chaos Serpents before. It was probably a lot easier to get involved in plots when people could ride horses. Mia thought that Citrina might already know how.

“No. This will be Rina’s first time.” Citrina smiled and said, “I’m looking forward to it. Oh, riding with Bel is going to be so much fun!”

“Hm…” Mia crossed her arms and thought for a moment.

If neither of them has done it before, it may be hard for me to teach them on my own. I may be a great horse rider, but…

She created the Flotsam method of horse riding, so in a way, that was true. Mia was a master rider, but she knew her boundaries. When they got to the stable, she saw someone she knew.

“My, you’re…”

“Hey, miss. Long time, no see.” Lin Malong, who was in the stable taking care of the horses, came out to her with a joyful laugh.

“Long time, Malong. You finished school at Saint-Noel in the spring, right?” She thought he had gone back to the Equestrian Kingdom already. “Don’t tell me you came back because you miss the horses,” she added with a smile.

“No, I’m sure the horses would be fine. But I’m not sure about you and Abel, so I came back to check on you.”

“Oh, really? Well, I’m glad you’re worried. We’re actually doing fine, so you can leave now.”

“Ha ha ha, that’s good to hear. But jokes aside, Rafina asked me to come back occasionally to take care of the horses. Gives me a chance to see how the riding club is doing, too.”

“Oh, I see. I’m glad to see you’re still a ball of horse-loving energy,” she said with a friendly laugh. After chatting with Malong some more, Mia took a look inside the stable.

“Hello, Kayou. How are things with you? I’m sorry I haven’t been around more often to see you.”

The last time she had seen the horse was in the winter. She hadn’t had enough free time to go horseback riding since then. She was worried for a moment that Kayou had forgotten about her, but the friendly nose-huff he gave her when he saw her put that worry to rest.

“Mmm hm hm, yes, I haven’t seen you in too long. And so are you!”

She looked at the young horse next to Kayou. Its tiny ears moved when it heard her voice. Its face showed signs of Kayou’s gentleness and respect.

“His name is ‘Gingetsu.’ Means “silver moon,” Malong said as he came up behind him.

“Silver moon! I like the way that sounds. Gingetsu is a great name, don’t you think?”

The more she looked at the foal, the more she thought she had found her soul horse. She promised she’d ride it when it got a little bigger.

“Wow, it grew so much!” Bel said as she ran up to her.

“Yes, it did,” agreed Citrina. “The last time we saw it, it was so small,” the two girls said to each other as they pointed at Gingetsu, who seemed to remember them. It moved slowly toward them and wiggled its nose.

It was a very nice scene, and Mia watched them lovingly until she had a thought that made her frown.

“Huh,” she said. “Kuolan is missing. Was he taken for a ride by someone?”

Something was missing from her usual time with horses: she couldn’t feel Kuolan’s smug look on the back of her neck. She had been very uncomfortable around the horse for a long time, but after they risked their lives to get away from certain death that night, she had grown to like it.

Its constant arrogance used to drive me crazy, but now I find it comforting. She trusted it as much as she would a longtime soldier friend.

“Oh, Abel’s riding him right now, and— Looks like he’s back.”

Mia turned just in time to see Abel walk in with Kuolan’s leads in his hand.

“Hey, Mia. Did you come to do some riding?”

He smiled at her with his usual ease.

“Yes, in fact. I thought I’d come because it’s a nice, sunny afternoon. So…”

She looked him over from head to toe. “You’re a real mess, aren’t you?”

There were bits of dirt on his face. When she looked more closely, she saw that his riding clothes were also dirty. He smiled in a strange way. “Let’s call it a baptism by mud. This horse is something!”

“Really? You could have picked a different horse if you just wanted to ride for a while.”

Kuolan’s personality was a bit wild. It wasn’t an easy horse to ride at all. There were better horses to stroll around with. Kayou comes to mind. She didn’t understand his choice.

“Anyway, don’t get too discouraged. Kuolan is hard to get used to,” she said.

“But you rode him like it was nothing. If I can’t, it will make me look bad,” he said, pouting his lips just a little bit. “I’ll figure out how to ride him. Just you watch. I haven’t quite figured him out yet, but I’ll keep trying until I do.”

Mia looked at him and knew right away what she was seeing. My! So this is what people mean when they say that boys can be stubborn. How cute!

She had to put her hand over her mouth to keep from grinning. Even though Abel was becoming an amazing young man quickly, his heart was growing much faster than his brain. His figurative tiptoeing to look more adult was so cute it made me want to swoon.

One of his cuter qualities is the way he sometimes gets so stuck on something and won’t admit defeat. Hm? She had a sudden feeling that something was wrong. How odd. Why do I have the feeling that I’m forgetting something important? Something that I should not forget.

At least, that’s what she thought. Something…was missing in this scene. Something that hadn’t happened yet.

She felt a puff of air on the back of her neck at that very moment. Instead of wind, it felt like…

“M-My… such a nostalgia. I wonder what it is…”

She turned around and saw Kuolan standing there. More specifically, Kuolan’s noses that were wide open.

“A-Ah. Kuolan. I don’t remember the last time I—Gyaaah!”

Kuolan’s nose cannon’s thunderous roar blotted out her shameful scream. For some reason—maybe because it had been so long since the last one—the sneeze was even stronger than normal.