Chapter 290: The Flying Carriage
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 290: The Flying Carriage
A month had passed since the final race.
A long time, yet a short one.
The fervor of the racing tournament had yet to die down.
Though it had been a month, people spoke of it as vividly as if it were yesterday.
“If they raced again now, Iris would win.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Her condition suddenly took a turn for the worse, that’s all. If they had a rematch, Iris would win for sure.”
The most popular topic of debate was, ‘Who would win in a rematch?’
It was the kind of classic ‘what-if’ debate you’d find wherever there’s a competition.
“Iris was definitely a strong contender for the championship. Thinking about it now, it is strange. Why did her condition suddenly falter?”
She wasn’t just anyone; she was a member of the clergy.
She would know how to manage her own physical condition better than anyone.
For someone like her to suddenly stumble…
“There’s a rumor about that.”
“A rumor?”
“Lady Iris is a unicorn, right? And unicorns despise impure beings. The moment her condition worsened was…”
“Gaaaaaaah!” a man shouted.
He was decked out from head to toe in fan merchandise, from a headband with Kiss’s face on it to a matching shirt and fan.
“There you go again, trying to spread malicious rumors. You wicked cultists are no help to the world.”
“I haven’t even said anything yet.”
“I don’t need to hear it to know. You’re just trying to slander our dear Kiss, aren’t you?”
“Well…”
“Yeah, well, she can’t beat Miro anyway! Pegasus is way better than some unicorn! She’s a unicorn and still got her ass kicked by Scarlett!”
“But… the Kiss you’re cheering for came in sixth place…”
“Our Kiss doesn’t have to be a good racer. For an idol, being pretty is all that matters. Get lost, you haters!”
While there were some disputes among the fans, it was also a sign of their affection for the racers.
Occasionally, a troll posing as a fan would maliciously instigate conflict, but that too was a time-honored tradition.
“By the way, did you hear? Starting from the next tournament, the racers are going to sing and dance.”
“What? Really?”
“It’s true. The highest-ranking racers will dance on a stage in the center. It’s a participation requirement, so if they don’t practice, they can’t even enter the tournament.”
To think, the racer they cheered for would be singing and dancing on stage.
How moving would it be to see that with their own two eyes?
They couldn’t wait for the next tournament to begin.
In this way, beastkin racing had established itself as a primary form of entertainment for the people of the continent.
Naturally, the perception of beastkin underwent a dramatic shift.
For the better, of course.
While factions seeking to exploit beastkin to ride the wave of the trend also increased, they appeared and disappeared in a cycle, met with fierce public backlash.
The racing tournament had not been relegated to a simple, one-off amusement; it had become a catalyst for changing the treatment of beastkin.
And Miro was the very symbol of that change.
Though the tournament was over, her days had become even busier.
The star racer for the Merchants of Death.
The inaugural champion of the races.
And on top of that, a fantastical Pegasus.
It was no exaggeration to call her the most popular star on the continent right now.
People flocked from all corners of the land just to see her.
It got to the point where they had to set a designated day for fans who would show up unannounced.
It was a Miro fan meeting.
She’d show her face.
Hand out gifts.
Sign autographs.
Her life was truly no different from that of an idol.
After another day spent as a superstar, Miro flopped face-first onto the sofa.
“I’m so tired… I think I’m even busier than when I was just a racer.”
“I told you that you didn’t have to do it.”
“But how can I turn away people who came all this way to see me empty-handed?”
Miro knew very well what it was to be a fan.
Every single voice of encouragement from her fans was a great source of strength for her.
She couldn’t possibly neglect them.
“More gifts have arrived today.”
The servants were frantically moving items. They were all gifts and letters for Miro from her fans.
“Oh, right. There’s a letter for you, Trainer. Want to read it?”
“A letter for me? It seems raising a good racer has its rewards.”
I read the letter Miro handed me.
“What does it say?”
“It says, ‘Free Miro. The evil Slave Reaper should go and die.’”
“Eh?”
“Mirabelle.”
“Yes, Master.”
Mirabelle took the letter and cast a spell on it.
“It’s done.”
“Good. If they’re going to send such crude insults, they should be prepared to take responsibility.”
Cursed letters like this arrived from time to time. There were quite a few people who attacked Karami for enslaving Miro.
It wasn’t as if I could sue them in this world.
Instead, Mirabelle would trace the letter back to the sender and cast a spell on them.
A spell that would activate a curse.
I was originally going to let it slide with a generous heart, but the slaves were vehemently against it. They looked ready to hunt the person down and tear them to shreds, so we compromised with a curse.
“Haaah, it’s nice that they’re cheering for me, but it’s a little… burdensome.”
It felt like her daily life was slipping further away.
Like she was becoming less and less ordinary.
Then again, maybe it was shameless to expect a normal life with wings like these.
Miro sighed.
Karami handed her a neatly wrapped box.
“What’s this, Trainer?”
“A congratulatory gift for your victory. Go on, open it.”
A gift from her trainer.
This was the same Karami who had previously gifted her mithril horseshoes and a beautiful racing uniform.
She couldn’t help but feel excited about what it could be this time.
Miro slowly lifted the lid of the box.
Inside was a neatly folded piece of clothing.
She knew what it was at a glance.
“A school uniform…?”
It was the uniform of the Beastialis Academy, the school Miro used to attend.
“What is this, Trainer?”
“It’s the uniform you used to wear. Surely you haven’t forgotten?”
“No way! I’m asking why it’s here.”
As if it were nothing, Karami spoke matter-of-factly.
“I spoke with the academy and requested Miro’s re-enrollment.”
“Re-enrollment? But I dropped out.”
“What are academy regulations in the grand scheme of things?”
“Wow, that’s something a total villain would say.”
“As if there’s anyone in the world as virtuous as me. And I didn’t bribe them or anything. Well, I was thinking about it, but they eagerly accepted the offer themselves.”
Miro’s popularity was currently beyond imagination.
While she was beautiful and the champion of the tournament, those weren’t the only reasons.
There were always exceptional people in the world. However, due to the nature of this era with its undeveloped media, they were typically only known to people in their immediate vicinity.
But this race had been broadcast to various cities using magic, drastically increasing its accessibility.
Thanks to that unique circumstance, Miro had become a superstar.
“If Miro attends the academy, the promotional effect for the school will be immense.”
Miro, a current student of Beastialis Academy.
After she graduates, Miro, an alumna of Beastialis Academy.
Every time her name was mentioned, the academy would benefit.
Dropping out means you can’t re-enroll?
In the face of the enormous profits Miro would bring, a trivial rule like that could be changed at any time.
“Of course, if Miro doesn’t want to go, she doesn’t have to. Given the circumstances, academy life will be different from before.”
“…”
“What do you want to do? The choice is Miro’s.”
Miro stared endlessly at the uniform.
Tears began to fall, drop by drop.
The white uniform was stained with gray patches.
“Hm, do you hate the idea of going that much? Do you hate studying that much?”
Quite the opposite. To Miro, the academy was a place that held special meaning.
In the days when she was busy just trying to survive from one day to the next, when even dreaming of a future was a luxury, it was the one place that helped the young girl dream and realize those dreams.
There was no way Miro wouldn’t understand the meaning behind being gifted her school uniform.
It meant he was giving her back her everyday life.
“Th-thank… you.”
Miro, who had been struggling to swallow her sobs, managed to force her voice out.
“Thank you. Thank you, Trainer. Really… thank you so, so much.”
“Why are all my slaves such crybabies?” Karami said playfully, a wry smile on his face.
After crying for a long while, the lingering emotion not easily fading, Miro wiped her tears. Sniffling, she spoke in a voice thick and heavy with moisture.
“This won’t do. Follow me, Trainer.”
“Eh?”
“Why so surprised?”
“Because every time one of my slaves tells me to follow them, something scary happens.”
“What in the world happens to you…?”
Miro was about to ask what he meant, but she closed her mouth.
She had a feeling she already knew.
If he had done for his other slaves what he had just done for her, then he was just reaping what he sowed.
“Anyway, it’s not like that, so just follow me.”
“Yes…”
Miro led Karami to the stables within the merchant group’s compound.
There, instead of beastkin, were real horses and a carriage.
It was Karami’s exclusive, high-class carriage, built by Beltrack and enchanted by Mirabelle with vibration reduction and motion sickness relief.
“Get in, Trainer.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’ll give you a ride.”
“You don’t have to do things like this anymore.”
“It’s what I want to do, so hurry up and get in.”
After pushing Karami into the carriage, Miro fitted the harness over her body.
The sensation wasn’t unfamiliar.
She had done it before.
But psychologically, it was on a completely different level from back then. The harness that had once felt as heavy as a thousand pounds now gave her a sense of stability.
“Alright, here we go~”
Clatter, clatter.
Miro began to move forward, pulling the carriage.
Once she had picked up enough speed on the road, Miro powerfully kicked off the ground and moved her wings.
The wheels rattled and then lifted off the ground. The carriage began to slowly ascend into the sky.
“Miro, you can fly?”
“Yep! This is all I’ve been practicing.”
With nothing much to do after the tournament, Miro had enlisted the help of the winged vampire, Elize, and focused on flight practice instead of running drills.
Her wings had long been able to move as she wished, but for a land animal used to having its feet on the ground, flight was inevitably frightening.
Thanks to consistent practice over the month with various forms of assistance, she could now fly freely.
“How is it, Trainer? A carriage pulled by me?”
Karami rested his arm on the window frame and admired the scenery outside.
“It’s nice.”
“Right? From now on, if you need to go anywhere, I’ll give you a ride.”
“Is it really okay for the great champion to be doing such menial work?”
“Of course. It’s the trainer’s carriage, after all.”
“I won’t get stabbed for making you do this, will I?”
“Umm…”
Miro couldn’t give a definite answer. For some reason, it felt like that might actually happen at least once.
It seemed she would need to bring a bodyguard along.