The Dragon and the Mare
Just because they raise horses at a riding stable doesn't mean you should assume they refuse to eat horse meat.
The owner of this place ran the stables and a restaurant that served horse meat right alongside them.
Put it in extreme terms—someone who runs a pig farm still eats pork, right?
"But doesn't it bother you that that one keeps staring at us?"
"Just eat. It has no idea what we're putting in our mouths anyway."
Do Ji-yeon chewed on a perfectly cooked piece of horse meat while continually glancing out the window at the horses beyond the glass.
The deed, however, was already done. Ji-yeon was doing her best not to look that way while she kept eating.
Apparently the twinge of conscience wasn't hers alone.
Ha-yan held a piece of horse meat, stared out the window for a long moment, then finally let out a heavy sigh and set her chopsticks down.
"Ugh. I'll just eat something else later. I'm sorry to the owner, but this feels a little wrong."
"Yeah... same. A person still has to have a conscience."
Choi Hoon eventually put his chopsticks down as well.
Between the three of them, though, I boldly speared a perfectly cooked piece of horse meat with my chopsticks, popped it into my mouth, and spoke.
Even if we had money, we still had to respect the sincerity of an owner who had given us free horse meat.
Having money didn't mean I hated free things.
"Why keep fretting about conscience in front of delicious food? It's not like we slaughtered a friend that was standing right next to us and started eating it."
"I know, but... it keeps looking at us. Like it's asking why we're eating its friend."
Ha-yan made a miserable face as she said it.
But I knew better.
The thoughts running through that horse's head while it watched us weren't nearly so gloomy.
Heheh. Hurry up and finish eating so you can play with me some more. Heheh.
"Well... friend thoughts are friend thoughts, but I don't think those are its friend thoughts."
In the first place, that thing over there had zero interest in what we were eating, my friends.
In the end I had no choice but to set my chopsticks down with the others.
The meat the owner had prepared was truly delicious, but if I kept eating alone while everyone else was talking like this, the mood was going to get weird.
"Alright. Then let's fill our stomachs later and go play with them a little more. We've still got some time before the next schedule, right?"
"True. We've got about an hour left to mess around. Then this time, how about Ji-yeon and Hoon try riding too? You two just watched earlier."
"Then I'm in! I'm going first, Choi Hoon!!"
"Hey, you little—!! Let me go first this time!! Every single thing, you just shove your way to the front!!"
At Ha-yan's suggestion, Do Ji-yeon dropped her chopsticks and bolted out of the restaurant.
Choi Hoon vanished right on her heels.
Leaving those two to it, I gave Ha-yan a bright smile and said,
"Shall we go too? I'll talk to the owner about the leftover food."
"Mm-hmm! Okay!! I want to see the other horses some more!!"
"Okay. Got it."
Ha-yan and I cleaned up our seats and followed the other two back toward the paddock.
Clop-clop-clop-clop
"Ooooh!! This feels crazy weird!!"
Hee-hee-hee~~!!
As expected, Do Ji-yeon had claimed the first horseback-riding experience and was shrieking with every bouncing step.
"Damn it. I'm last again."
Choi Hoon watched the scene and once more let out a deep sigh.
Those two were going to be absorbed in the riding experience for a while, so as I started to sense her presence nearby, I casually said to Ha-yan,
"I've got a little work to take care of. Can you stay with the others?"
"Hm? Work? Aah. That kind of work?"
"Can't be helped. There are things I've already ordered, after all."
"No, it's fine. You'll finish quick and come back, right? We've still got boat time too."
I gave Ha-yan's head one more gentle ruffle, then slipped quietly out of the riding grounds and into a quiet alley with few people around.
Immediately Rhea popped out from the corner of a building, approached me, and said,
"It appears you have been enjoying yourself quite thoroughly. While I was working, that is."
"Why do you always twist it like that? I work just the same when I'm at school, don't I?"
I took the tablet PC she held out to me and answered in a grumpy voice.
Rhea merely shrugged.
"That is that, and this is this. And I have seen with my own eyes that Master is currently having a lively vacation, have I not? That is why my mood feels even worse."
"What am I, some evil corporate overlord? I give you plenty of money and rest. You do know what level of salary you're receiving, right?"
"A laborer always wishes to receive money and become unemployed. Save such talk for later and look at the report first."
Setting our usual banter aside, I powered on the tablet and opened one of the files on the main screen.
The title read "Personal Compilation," so I figured this had to be it.
I was an idiot for thinking that.
"What the hell is this? 'Collection of Master's Weaknesses to Inform the Young Lady....'"
"Oh dear. You opened the wrong file."
Confirming I had read the filename, Rhea instantly snatched the tablet from my hands and completely deleted the file.
For a split second I considered rewinding time with temporal magic so I could properly examine that file, but I decided against it.
I fixed Rhea with a meaningful stare until she opened the correct file and handed the tablet back.
"...You don't feel even a little guilty?"
"Whatever do you mean?"
"Playing dumb?"
"I merely followed orders."
"You little..."
"Ahem. Kindly look quickly. The boat departure time is drawing near, is it not?"
"...Tsk."
There were countless things I wanted to call her out on, but I let them slide for now.
It wasn't as if I hadn't already considered the possibility, and once again, she was a being I had created—so she would never harm me or the people around me.
Of course, she also displayed an exceptional talent for teasing me, so I would have to properly scold her later.
Naturally I also needed to check whether she had made that file on her own or whether Ha-yan had asked her for it. I was a hundred percent certain it was the former.
Anyway.
I turned my eyes back to the tablet and began examining the neatly organized report.
Scroll... scroll-scroll... scrrrroll.
For a while I read without saying a word.
And the conclusion I reached was this:
"Dragon and... yong? Don't they look completely different from the start? Rhea, you've seen my true form before."
"I did say as much myself, but it is not as if the word 'dragon' was translated into 'yong' for no reason, is it?"
"You're not wrong. Heh. I've never once thought about that angle before. Is this material the information-gathering team put together ahead of time?"
"They had been thinking along those lines, but even they felt there were inconsistencies. So they simply kept the notes until now. But if one approaches it from that perspective, the phenomena you have been experiencing are not entirely inexplicable, are they?"
"True enough. When we get back, tell them they did good work and give them generous vacation and bonuses."
"Understood."
"Then... I guess I'll have to move forward assuming that connection exists."
I returned the tablet to Rhea and muttered to myself.
Until now I had only moved between home, school, and the company, so I hadn't paid much attention, but if animals in the vicinity reacted to me like this, there was a chance things could get complicated later.
I wasn't going to spend my entire life only around Ha-yan's house. There were all sorts of matters and pieces of information I still needed to uncover.
Apparently my reaction had been lukewarm, because Rhea looked at me with an ambiguous expression and asked,
"Your reaction seems rather half-hearted?"
"Reaction? It's not that big a problem. Wild animals around me just like me a little, right? I can handle that much with simple magic. It's not like animals can't understand mana-infused speech."
"Well, if that is how you feel, I have nothing further to add. Ah. Is the next destination Udo?"
"Hm? Yeah. Just take us to the harbor, then wait somewhere reasonable. Looks like time's about up anyway, so get the car ready. I'll bring the others."
"Understood. Then I shall take my leave..."
With that, Rhea vanished via teleport once more.
I sorted through the newly learned information in my head and headed back into the riding grounds.
"You're back?"
"Yeah. Where are the others?"
"Choi Hoon's riding right now. But..."
"But?"
As I approached the fence again, Ha-yan gave me an awkward smile and pointed a finger toward the inside of the paddock.
And there—
"Gyaah! Uwaah! Ghk! Ugh! S-somebody help meeeeeee!!!!"
—the same horse from earlier was galloping like a mad thing with Choi Hoon somehow stuck on its back.
That looked a little dangerous.
I glanced at Ha-yan; she gave me a bitter smile and said,
"Mm. I already cast a defensive spell on him, so he shouldn't get seriously hurt... which is why I've been leaving him alone, but..."
"But?"
Ha-yan tightly took my hand and answered my question mark.
"That one... is a female, so..."
"Oh. Uh...? Then when it was licking me earlier—"
Because it was a girl, it had been even more into a male human, huh.
"Eee... j-just lower your head for a second."
"Suddenly?"
At those words Ha-yan's face flushed lightly as she made me bend at the waist a little.
And the moment I did—
Peck.
"Hm?"
I felt Ha-yan's soft lips brush lightly against my cheek and then pull away.
It felt ridiculously good, but when I looked at her flushed face with a somewhat dazed expression, Ha-yan stammered,
"I-I didn't know even female animals would like you. Siu is mine... eee!!!"
And with that she dashed straight out of the riding grounds and vanished from my sight.
As for me—
"Oh. Jackpot."
—I was dying of happiness.
"Uwaaaaaaah!!! J-jackpooooooot!!!"
And Choi Hoon was just plain dying.