Chapter 35 – A Stroll Around Gold Farm
“…Huh?”
After hearing my translation, Kanemochi froze completely.
He stood there with his mouth hanging open.
The staff who had come over looked equally bewildered, their eyes darting around uncertainly.
As for the horse in question—Custard himself—
he stood there proudly with his chest puffed out.
“What’s with that reaction? This is an important issue.”
…Yeah. I probably didn’t need to translate that.
“J-Just…can you take a walk around the place for a bit!”
Leaving those words behind, Kanemochi disappeared with the staff.
Well…I understood how he felt, but I was in an awkward position too.
“…Take a walk?”
On someone else’s ranch?
Just because they told me to?
Still, I did as I was asked and wandered around.
â—‡
It was huge.
The roads were immaculate.
The fences were solidly built.
But…
“Eh? Who’s that?”
“He smells like another ranch.”
“Someone from a small ranch?”
“One of the young master’s guests?”
“Hey, got any apples?”
“Doesn’t look like it.”
“Then I don’t care.”
…Yep. That was reassuring.
The horses at Kanemochi’s ranch said pretty much the same kinds of things ours did.
As I walked along thinking that…
“Heeey, mister.”
A slow, absent-minded voice drifted over.
“Hm?”
I turned toward it.
A familiar horse was lazily making his way over from the other side of the fence.
“Oh—Golden Wing.”
“Yep, that’s me.”
As always…
He had the relaxed atmosphere of someone lounging on a veranda on a warm afternoon.
Which was funny, because he was an incredible racehorse.
An absolutely phenomenal one.
Yet his entire vibe was always,
“What a nice breeze today.”
His achievements and personality simply refused to match.
“Sooo… have you been doing well?”
“Yeah. More importantly, you’ve won the Satsuki Sho, the Kikuka Sho, and the Tenno Sho (Spring). Three Grade 1 races—that’s amazing.”
Golden Wing gave a proud little snort.
“Hehe.”
He honestly reacted like he was blushing.
“I worked hard.”
He said it so casually.
That wasn’t something you said casually.
“I’m going to work hard in this year’s Tenno Sho (Spring) too.”
“Oh? I’ll be rooting for you.”
“Okay.”
…Maybe I should bet on him. He sounded like he’d actually win.
Golden Wing continued staring at me with those gentle eyes.
“Hey, mister.”
“Hm?”
“How’s Crown doing?”
Hearing another ranch’s horse ask about one of ours somehow made me happy.
“He retired at the end of last year. Starting this spring, he’ll be working at a riding center in town.”
Golden Wing blinked.
“Wow… that sounds nice and relaxing.”
“Yeah.”
Though whether Crown would actually relax was another question.
I could easily imagine him shouting, “Am I amazing at carrying kids or what?!” and becoming the riding center’s most popular horse.
“When I retire from racing…”
“Hm?”
“Tell Tenzan Sakura that the three of us should all hang out together someday.”
He said it so naturally that I couldn’t help smiling.
“All of you?”
“Yep.”
“You’re one of the greatest racehorses around, and that’s your dream?”
“Wouldn’t it be more fun that way?”
“Well… I guess so.”
“Sakura-kun is a bit too serious, and Crown is really noisy, but they both look like they’d be fun to play with.”
“So you’re not denying he’s noisy?”
“Nope. That’s part of his charm.”
I’d heard Tenzan Sakura was already enjoying his second career after retirement at Tenzan-san’s farm.
…Yeah.
That was kind of nice.
“All right. I’ll tell him.”
“Thanks.”
Golden Wing flicked his ears happily.
“You work hard too, mister.”
“At what?”
“Oh… lots of stuff.”
…Pretty vague.
But maybe that easygoing attitude was part of what made him so strong.
“…Thanks.”
“Mm-hmm.”
At that very moment—
“So this is where you were!”
A loud voice came from behind.
I turned around.
Kanemochi was walking toward me.
He looked slightly exhausted.
In his hands was a thick stack of documents.
Beside him stood an elderly man who carried himself with the unmistakable air of someone who had seen absolutely everything.
Just by looking at him, you could tell: This man had probably been taking care of the young master for years.
“Sorry. So… what happened?”
Kanemochi gave a short snort.
“Hm. We thoroughly reviewed Custard’s breeding records from the past two years.”
“I see.”
Thoroughly reviewed.
They’d managed to investigate all that in such a short time. Impressive.
He flipped through the documents in his hands.
“It turned out that whenever there had been a long stretch without breeding any gray mares…”
“…”
“…”
“…Yes?”
“…those were indeed the times he failed.”
“…”
I slowly nodded.
Because…
What else could I do?
At this point…
There wasn’t really anything left to say.
Kanemochi probably felt the same way.
“HOW WAS ANYONE SUPPOSED TO FIGURE THAT OUT?!”
SMACK!!
THUNK.
“Oww!”
…
For anyone wondering what just happened—
The instant Kanemochi slammed the stack of papers onto the ground…
The elderly gentleman beside him delivered a perfectly executed fist to the top of Kanemochi’s head.
Without a single wasted movement.
…That was incredible.
“Young Master. How many times have I told you not to take your frustration out on objects?”
His tone remained perfectly polite.
His pressure, however, was lethal.
Kanemochi clutched his head, eyes watering.
“S-Sorry…”
He really was obedient.
Once the old man confirmed the apology, he gave me a small bow.
“My apologies for that unsightly display.”
“Whenever horses are involved, the young master sometimes reverts to being more of a child than one might expect.”
“No, it’s all right.”
Wow.
He looked just like a real butler—and an exceptionally cool one at that.
The old man turned back to Kanemochi.
“Young Master. Please don’t keep your friend waiting. Tell him our conclusion.”
“R-Right! Um!”
Amazing.
He’d recovered from that punch remarkably quickly.
“Go on. You can do it.”
“Shut up!”
Well…From where I was standing, it was hard not to cheer him on.
Kanemochi cleared his throat and put on a face that said, “Everything has been settled.”
“So, here’s our conclusion! A thirty-percent gray-mare ratio is frankly impossible…
BUT! We’ll do our best to increase it as much as we reasonably can!”
“…Do our best…”
Somehow…those words felt painfully real.
The horse breeding industry had a very different definition of “making an effort.”
Still…
“Got it.”
I nodded.
“Then I guess the first thing is explaining that to Custard.”
“Exactly!”
Kanemochi nodded with the slightly desperate enthusiasm of someone who’d already given up arguing with reality.
Meanwhile…Golden Wing had been watching the whole exchange with obvious amusement.
“Good luck, mister! Good luck, young master!”
…I wondered whether he would make unreasonable demands too when he became a stallion someday.