"Hello, passengers. We have arrived at our destination. Please remember to take all your belongings with you and watch your step as you disembark. Thank you for traveling with us~"
Throughout the journey, Dyna had felt like she was sitting on pins and needles. Setting aside how poorly she adapted to unfamiliar environments, the bigger problem was that Nakayama Festa, dozing noisily in the seat beside her, had kept restlessly pawing in Dyna's direction the whole time.
And not just anywhere, either. Those hands kept drifting toward her face. Normal people groped to the side when they slept, didn't they? So why did Nakayama Festa keep reaching upward?
Dyna was utterly speechless about it, but since the other girl was technically her employer, she decided to let such a small matter slide.
"Phone, documents..."
Only after confirming she had not forgotten any of her personal belongings did Dyna leave the cabin. Even then, Nakayama Festa was still traveling empty-handed, just as she had when boarding, except now she had put up her hood, which Dyna found baffling.
"The weather's so nice. Why are you still wearing a hood?"
"The weather in France isn't something you can really predict. It might start pouring at any moment and soak the track through."
Nakayama Festa hummed some tune Dyna did not understand, then waved for her to follow. Acting as part cook, part nanny, Dyna retrieved the luggage and dragged the huge suitcase all the way out of the airport on foot, then watched in confusion as Nakayama Festa exchanged a stream of rapid French with the driver before finally getting into the car.
On the way to France's Tracen Academy, the one who passed out dead asleep this time was Dyna.
Unlike Festa, though, she slept much more quietly, her head tilted toward the window, chestnut hair covering half her face. The glasses on her nose had been secured so carefully that they were unlikely to slip off. What worried Nakayama Festa most, however, was the travel bag resting on Dyna's lap. Thinking about the possibility of sudden braking, Festa eventually leaned over and tugged it away with a bit of force.
Nakayama Festa had rarely seen horse girls who wore glasses. Aside from her own older sister Dream Journey, the only other one she could vaguely remember was Biwa Hayahide. But the feeling Dyna gave her was completely different from either of them.
Her hidden strength was far too restrained.
"That brat Orfevre really is a menace. Even a three-month suspension from the URA is too light a sentence for her."
She set the travel bag between them like a barrier. She had never thought much of Orfevre's behavior. The girl was even younger than she was, yet strutted around the family like she ruled the world. It was enough to make anyone grit their teeth.
This time, however, Japan's expedition team was not enjoying especially high popularity in France. Nakayama Festa herself had come to challenge the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe as the Takarazuka Kinen champion, naturally carrying the support of fans from all across Japan. Pisa no Kachidoki, meanwhile, had won the Satsuki Sho and finished fourth in the Derby, then chosen to take on the Arc during her classic year, so her domestic support was also considerable.
But Nakayama Festa did not like her much, so she had simply done things her own way—brought her own support cook to France and planned to follow the local Tracen arrangements from there.
Once they reached their destination, Nakayama Festa paid the driver, then showed both her own credentials and Dyna's to the gatekeepers of French Tracen, successfully entering the historic academy grounds. But neither of them had any mind left to appreciate the scenery. After being guided by a receptionist, they were shown to their rooms. Dyna finished organizing Nakayama Festa's things, then returned to her own room and collapsed onto the bed without even taking off her coat.
She landed flat in the shape of a wooden character.
"So this is France... It still feels like a dream. I really wonder what kind of mess Gold Ship and Oguri Cap are turning the shop into without me... Though Gold Ship's management skills really are top-class, aren't they?"
Breathing in the warm scent of the bedding beneath her, Dyna gradually drifted off again.
Late at night was Zhuofu's favorite time to go looking for food.
Recently, she had been driven half mad by some relatives who had suddenly surfaced from the Middle East. She was a native-born French horse girl through and through—she had never even heard of her family having relatives who emigrated there. Because of that, she hardly dared move around during the day at all. Only after night fell could she take the special permission slip her mentor had given her, sneak out through the side gate, and go wander the nearby shopping district for a breath of freedom.
Thankfully, her mentor was understanding. Otherwise, if she had to stay cooped up in her room day and night, she might have developed some truly unimaginable habits.
After greeting the old gatekeeper she already knew well, Zhuofu clasped her hands behind her back and bounced happily down the familiar road toward the bakery where she had long ago placed an order. At first, she used to arrive right at the edge of closing time, but over time the owners had gradually delayed closing by another half hour. Since it was a family-run business and they had nothing much to do at night anyway, it was no great burden.
And that little change had ended up benefiting a certain horse girl who had only just arrived in France, hadn't it~?
After waking up around dusk, Dyna took her phone, a portable charger, and the overstuffed wallet of euros Nakayama Festa had prepared for her, then set out alone to explore the area around Tracen. At the moment, she was inside a local bakery, struggling through a conversation with the owner using a translation app on her phone.
The owner looked on cheerfully as Dyna nervously tapped away at her screen, left with no choice but to rely on machine translation. He had entertained plenty of foreign tourists before, but such a stiff and cautious one was a first. The mangled French on her screen was so funny he had to draw on a lifetime of self-control not to laugh out loud.
"Bonsoir Boss, is my order ready?"
A pink-haired horse girl skipped lightly over the step. At first she barely noticed the flustered chestnut-haired girl beside her, but the moment she realized she had almost cut in line, she immediately stepped back.
"Désolée. I slipped into line so naturally I didn't even notice!"
As Zhuofu apologized and waited behind Dyna for her shopping to finish, she noticed Dyna's lost expression and the glowing translation app on her phone screen. A look of sudden understanding appeared in her eyes.
So Zhuofu turned to the owner and asked, "Boss, is she from abroad?"
"Looks that way~ She doesn't seem to have a guide or translator with her either. Pretty bold, really, coming all alone to a strange place like this."
Listening to the two of them babble away, Dyna was already starting to imagine they were gossiping about her...
When Zhuofu stepped closer, Dyna instinctively took a step backward.
That reaction only made Zhuofu more interested. Switching to the most universal international language, she asked in English, "Hello. Where are you from?"
"Huh? I... um... I'm from Japan."
"Oh~ A Japanese horse girl, huh? Let me guess—you're here to run in the Arc?"
Pressing a finger to her cheek, Zhuofu came to what she thought was the obvious conclusion.
This was not tourist season. At a time like this, almost every foreign horse girl coming here was here to prepare for the Arc preliminaries or the main race itself. But no matter how she looked at her, the timid, bespectacled chestnut-haired girl in front of her did not look like the kind of sharp, powerful racer who could blaze across a track.
If anything, she looked like the sort who would be easy to bully.
Dyna hurriedly shook her head. "No, no! I'm... um... a cook woman for a horse girl who's running in the Arc?"
Tongue-tied as she was, Dyna herself had no idea what sort of noun she had just invented. All she could say was that literal translation really did carry a terrible kind of authority.
A huge question mark practically floated out of Zhuofu's head.
She knew what cook meant. She knew what woman meant too. But put together like that, the phrase somehow became incomprehensible. Was Dyna trying to say she was a female chef... or that she intended to cook the horse girl running in the Arc?
The two of them stared at each other in mutual embarrassment until Dyna finally murmured in a small voice, "Actually... you can just think of me as a maid who looks after a horse girl's daily life..."
Zhuofu was stunned.
Coming to run in the Arc and bringing a maid along too?!
What kind of family background, what kind of level of wealth, did it take to be this relaxed about things?
[Zhuofu is surprised by your identity. Attribute points +10!]
[Your inspiration toward Zhuofu has increased! Bond +5!]
[Skill inspiration acquired: "Immovable Heart · Chaser"!]
Dyna froze.
How was she getting so much stuff just from chatting with a pink-haired girl? Had she accidentally triggered some kind of hidden base code?
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 175)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 126)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter134)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 87
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 79
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 73
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 49
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 45
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 45
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 31
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 27
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 26
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