Chapter 41: Unusual Circumstances

In the first race, the horse in the fourth slot finishes first, just as I predicted. The crowd cheered loudly. It seems he has guessed it right, judging from His Majesty the King’s delight.

The horse race had been held many times since that day, but there was still only a single winner. There were two reasons. One is that the calculations are tedious, and the other is that it is difficult to determine the ranking when the race is close.

It would have been nice if we could have used photo judging, but we don’t have that yet. Depending on the decision, it could cause a big problem. Therefore, at the present time, when a horse’s first place could not be determined by any means, the race was declared invalid.

“I can’t buy a ticket even though my prediction was right. Too bad.”

Chloe sighed deeply. Did she really want to gamble that badly? It seems that Chloe has inherited His Majesty the King’s love of gambling. His Majesty, who won the race just now, seems to be buying a betting ticket for the next race as well.

The horses for the next race pass in front of my eyes one after another. This time, the second horse seems to be the better choice.

“Julius, which horse do you think will come first in the next race?”

Chloe asked with a smile. Both Rosalia and Caro are looking at me. Are they curious about my prediction?　I don’t think I’m going to buy a ticket, so there’s no problem if I answer.

“I would have to say, The horse in the second slot seems to be in good shape. If it were me, I would buy a ticket for the second horse.”

“Oh, what a coincidence. I think the horse in the second slot will be the best.”

Coincidence, huh? Maybe Chloe has the『Appraisal』skill. Or maybe she can see the future?

“Then it looks like the horse in the second frame is definitely the one.”

I answered with a smile, but this doesn’t sound very good, if at all, does it?　Because people with skills will definitely have an advantage. It is not impossible to win first place in every race.

Maybe we should adopt some kind of countermeasure for this. I don’t think we should show the horses before the race. Let’s show them after the betting ticket purchase is over.

While I was thinking about this, the second race started. As Chloe and I had predicted, the horse with the second slot came in first. His Majesty the King seemed to have guessed again.

Huh?　Could it be that His Majesty the King can see something too?

“That’s great, brother!　You’ve guessed it.”

“Thank you. That horse had a good coat. I had a feeling he was in good shape.”

“Oh, really?　I thought I was ……”

Everyone’s eyes focused on Chloe. She looked uncomfortable.

“Oh, nothing!”

Chloe looked away with a “pout”. This is definitely a sign that she is seeing something.

The race went on despite Chloe’s suspicious behavior. It seemed that every time a horse passed in front of his eyes, father introduced the horse to His Majesty the King. Hearing this, His Majesty the King nodded his head repeatedly. Marquis Mullan, who was nearby, was nodding his head in the same way.

It seemed that they were doing a good job of selling the horses. If the horses produced by Margrave Heine  are of a quality that His Majesty the King would approve of, they will sell even more. The day may soon come when the Margrave Heine territory will become the birthplace of the best horses in the Kingdom of Spencer.

Just as the sun was reaching its peak and I was thinking that it was time for lunch, something went wrong. We were not particularly panicking, as this happens often at the racetracks. When father gave the order, the security guards saluted and left.

“What is it?”

Caro asked me with an anxious look on her face. She was pinching my sleeve. She had lost much of her frightened look, but she seemed to revert to her timid nature as soon as she encounters some kind of trouble. This is the kind of person who needs to be reassured.

“It’s no big deal. It happens often when we hold horse races. It’s probably just a bunch of people who missed their tickets.”

“Is that all right?”

“Yes, it’s all right. That’s what the guards are for, you know. We train them on a regular basis.”

“Oh, so it’s okay if I go watch then?”

I don’t know if Chloe has the guts to be an onlooker, but she has a twinkle in her eye. I am sure she has never seen a rougher scene before. Perhaps she is thrilled at the prospect of seeing something she has only read about in books.

“I don’t want anything to happen to you. It would be better not to.”

“Yes, that’s right. It’s dangerous.”

Caro seems to be against it. Rosalia was also against it. She was sticking to my arm like an octopus, perhaps remembering the time she was attacked by a wyvern.

But the commotion, which I had thought would be resolved quickly, was growing louder and louder.

“Lionel, what happened?”

It seems that father indeed thought something was wrong. While evacuating His Majesty the King and others, he is ordering a reconfirmation of the situation. I was also curious and looked toward the direction of the commotion.

Apparently, it was not just one man, but multiple men are acting violently.

If it was just one man, it would be easy to catch him. But when there are several, it becomes more difficult. Moreover, they seemed to be nobles. The guards were cautious to touch him.

The pressure on both my arms became stronger. I looked at the younger sisters, Rosalia and Caro, and saw that they looked pale. On the other hand, Chloe, on the other hand, was staring at him with wide eyes. She looked as if she wanted to see them more closely. I need to do something soon.

In this case, let’s use “hold” magic to subdue that nobleman. If I use it without chanting, I should be undetected. If I could contain the movement of that nobleman, the rest should be fine.

I watched the movements of the guards and  timed my move. Now!

“!? Julius…?”

The magic of the hold held the nobleman without missing a beat. Taking advantage of this, the guards restrained the men who were making noise one after another. But apparently, Caro noticed that I secretly used magic.

Could it be that Caro can see the flow of magic? As I recall, there was a “magic power sensing” skill in the scout’s skill set. In the game, you would have been able to follow the traces of it to find out where the area boss was.

This could have been exposed. I need to keep Caro’s mouth shut to avoid making a big deal out of it.

I put my index finger to my lips and looked at Caro. Caro nodded her head silently. This should probably be fine ……, right?

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