novelraw Chapter 140
Chapter 140
Chapter 140
A horse was leisurely grazing.
Just by its build alone, its size was far from ordinary.
It was at least a head taller than a typical wild horse.
‘And it’s red, too. What is this, some kind of Red Hare?’
It had exactly the same vibe as the Red Hare from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which I used to enjoy back in my past life.
No wonder Irene was so obsessed with its looks.
—Human females really do love red things.
You could tell how much she loved the color just by looking at the Crimson Comet’s armor.
Just as the knights of the territory dyed their armor black, she and her people wore red ones.
‘Anyway, I hope this goes well. It’d be a problem if the Horse Tribe got held up by something like this.’
At that moment—
Riding her mountain goat, Irene stealthily approached the Flame Horse.
The horse, which had been quietly grazing, grew wary of Irene’s approach but showed no particularly aggressive reaction.
It was a rather carefree creature.
‘Seems like even monsters don’t bother picking a fight with that thing.’
Honestly, even if I were a monster, I wouldn’t mess with something like that either.
A horse that spewed fire when excited?
Monsters weren’t completely without intelligence—they probably knew from experience that provoking something like that only brought headaches.
They said it would sometimes breathe fire for fun and run wild across the fields.
“Hyah!!”
But that moment of carelessness proved fatal.
Irene, who had been approaching cautiously, suddenly leaped straight onto its back.
No, calling it carelessness didn’t even begin to cover it.
Who in their right mind would jump onto a horse that was literally covered in flames?
From the Flame Horse’s perspective, it was an attack it could never have anticipated.
—Hiiiiiing!!
The Flame Horse’s response to having its back suddenly mounted was to bolt.
It began to race across the field, flames bursting from its entire body.
But, well—fire attacks didn’t work on Irene.
In fact, the Phoenix absorbed the heat greedily, aiding in her growth.
“Run!!!”
“Throw dirt on it, now!”
“Scatter sand and inject aura! If the fire spreads, it’ll be dangerous!”
As the Flame Horse charged across the plains, the Horse Tribe members grew frantic.
Transforming into centaur form, they galloped after the horse, extinguishing the embers it scattered behind.
It wasn’t ordinary fire—it refused to go out easily, and only after smothering it with soil and sand, then infusing aura, did the flames finally die.
“That thing’s ridiculously fast.”
“Even if we tried, we couldn’t catch up if it decided to run. We can’t just eliminate such a magnificent creature for being a nuisance.”
“Well, you’ve got a point.”
—Indeed, it’s a horse that proves the truth that red ones are three times faster.
I wasn’t sure about three times, but its speed was certainly overwhelming.
Watching the Flame Horse tear across the plains, I could almost understand the Horse Tribe’s strange obsession.
If they truly cherished horses, it was only natural they’d feel both love and frustration toward a beast like that.
‘But Irene’s riding skills are world-class.’
In the world of horseback combat, the Swordmaster was none other than Irene herself.
No one could dispute that.
No matter how fast the wild horse was, it couldn’t possibly compete with Irene.
The moment it allowed her on its back, its defeat was already sealed.
The runner, the endurer, and the ones chasing to put out the fire—
Two hours later, the field had turned into utter chaos.
The commotion slowly began to die down.
The Flame Horse, which had been galloping like mad, was gradually slowing down.
“It really is a magical beast. That’s far beyond an ordinary horse.”
Even the well-trained warhorses that the Horse Tribe carefully raised couldn’t sprint at full speed for hours.
The very reason the Three-Horned Mountain Goats of the territory were more useful than horses was because they didn’t tire easily.
Of course, the goats’ ability to move freely even in the mountains was another advantage, but there weren’t many occasions where one needed to ride through mountains anyway.
“With stamina like that, nothing could match it on the open plains.”
A cheer erupted in the distance.
Riding the Flame Horse, Irene was returning like a victorious general.
It seemed the struggle between the two had ended with Irene’s triumph.
The Flame Horse, which had never allowed anyone on its back before, looked somewhat uncomfortable but didn’t resist her command.
A well-earned achievement after that wild rampage.
“Good! All that’s left now is to put out the remaining sparks!”
“This is really the end now!!”
Of course, the Horse Tribe members who’d tirelessly chased after the Flame Horse and put out its fires also deserved their share of credit.
“Lord Iron! How is it?”
“Splendid. A perfect match for you, Sir Irene.”
“Yes, that’s right! Our Kreungie is an amazing boy!”
Irene named the Flame Horse Kreungie.
That name was awfully familiar to me.
Whenever Irene played Gate Master as a dragon rider, if she drew a special warhorse, she always named it Kreungie.
Dragons were Porongie, and warhorses were Kreungie. Irene was always consistent about things like that.
‘Well, the name doesn’t matter anyway.’
What mattered most was that the shackle preventing her from fully displaying her strength in mounted combat had now been completely removed thanks to the Flame Horse.
After absorbing the Flame Blood of the Variant Crocodile, Irene’s aura quality had ascended to the level of a Master—
and now she had a mount perfectly suited for mounted warfare.
Her combat power had taken another leap forward.
‘Even a Master of the Empire wouldn’t be able to face Irene in a cavalry duel now.’
And if the Flame Horse began spewing fire across the battlefield, ordinary warhorses would descend into chaos.
Perhaps she had gained an even more formidable weapon than I had imagined.
Meal time.
The Horse Tribe members, exhausted from extinguishing the scattered fires across the plains, tore into their meat ravenously.
They were eating the leftover horned rabbit we’d brought along, together with wild animals they had stored up.
These nomadic people, who gave off the scent of wanderers, usually ate stew made from vegetables and dried meat, along with freshly grilled game from the day’s hunt.
True to their nomadic nature, moving entire villages from place to place, they had no frozen storage.
So the horned rabbits we’d brought were grilled right away and devoured by the tribe.
The Horse Tribe also prioritized supplying jerky above all else.
“So, yes—Kreungie turned out to be such a good boy.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, he seems really lonely. The reason he was chasing after other running horses was probably because of that.”
“Right.”
“But now Kreungie has me. I’ll be his friend.”
After taming the Flame Horse, Irene didn’t stop talking about her beloved steed, Kreungie, all throughout dinner.
She kept saying things like how good of a boy he was, and how she would take care of him.
From my point of view, it was all meaningless talk—but she was so excited that I couldn’t help but just listen.
—So she was that kind of noisy female.
Basically, something like this.
A fanatic who got overly passionate whenever her area of expertise came up.
Taming the Flame Horse was an incredible achievement that no one could deny.
It was Irene who saved us when the Horse Tribe’s southern advance was on the verge of failing.
So lending her an ear wasn’t much of a favor to give.
“Then the Horse Tribe will proceed with the plan…?”
“Yes. We’ll head south as planned. Once we pack our supplies, we can leave right away.”
“Is that so?”
“If war breaks out with those Empire bastards, contact us immediately. We’ll ride to join the battle.”
“Good.”
The Horse Tribe’s southern advance would proceed as planned.
They promised to send a large number of warriors to support us if war erupted.
And I made one request of them.
“Ah, you mean the sugar beets. Don’t worry. Horses love them too. Warhorses that eat sugar beets as snacks grow up far healthier than others.”
I asked them to cultivate sugar beets in their territory.
Fortunately, the Horse Tribe also valued sugar beets as an important resource.
When I offered to trade them for other goods, they even agreed to increase their production.
That meant we could more or less secure our sugar supply.
The situation in the territory was improving in a way I could actually feel.
“I guess that means things are going pretty well now?”
Unlike the chaotic ordeal with the Cow Tribe, the Horse Tribe joined us quite naturally.
The sudden appearance of the Flame Horse had been a surprise, but once Irene tamed it, our military power had grown considerably.
A very satisfying outcome.
However, Yuria seemed to take a rather negative view of the situation.
“I’m not sure if having the Horse Tribe join us is really a good thing.”
“Why?”
“It just feels like things are getting too big.”
“Too big?”
She wasn’t wrong.
It wasn’t like I had planned to go toe-to-toe with the Empire in the first place.
Judging by the Cow Tribe’s temperament, I figured that if we left them alone, we’d end up suffering later—so this was supposed to be a preventive war.
If things escalated too much or became overly drawn out, resulting in heavy losses, it would become worse than useless.
That wouldn’t be a preventive war anymore.
“Well, I doubt it’ll go that far. Even if the Horse Tribe marches south, it’s only up to the central plains at best. There may be no orcs, but the region’s still crawling with monsters. And since they have to manage their horses, they can’t send too many warriors anyway.”
“Hmm~ I wonder.”
That didn’t sound reassuring.
Was this woman hiding something?
“What is it? Why not just tell me straight?”
“Hmph~”
“If you keep that up, I’ll lock you in the wagon with Leisha.”
“Wow, you really are a thug.”
“Yeah, a thug. So if you don’t want to see what a real thug does, just talk.”
“Ugh.”
Muttering that my threats were pathetic, Yuria finally began to talk.
She said she had just learned this morning and began sharing news from the south—
but honestly, I couldn’t see what it had to do with us.
Besides, it wasn’t even something we were completely unaware of.
“Vines has been selling supplies to the Empire bastards? They’ve done that before.”
“True. But the problem is that it keeps happening.”
“Even so, it’s not like they’re selling large quantities. Barely enough to call it a ration.”
“Well, that’s true.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Hehe, maybe you’re not as smart as I thought.”
“…What’s with that smug tone?”
Was she missing those cozy dates with Leisha or something?
Why did she keep picking fights with me?
Just as I was about to retaliate, she spoke up again—
and pointed out a problem I hadn’t even considered.
“You passed information to the Dog Tribe, didn’t you?”
“Well, yeah. When those Empire bastards go to war, they asked to be notified so they could join in. I mean, I doubt they’d really march all the way here from Vines, but it’s not like there was any reason to hide it.”
The Dog Tribe was a great trading partner.
Although they had failed to procure grain, they had been steadily trading spices and fabrics with us.
The pepper they supplied was especially popular throughout the territory.
So, as Elline requested, I had informed them that we might soon clash with the Empire.
But what was the problem with that?
“I think something’s off with the Dog Tribe.”
“Off? You mean they’re planning to send troops here?”
“I’m not sure exactly. But something’s definitely moving.”
“Wait, even if they’re beastmen, you think they’d come all the way here from Vines?”
“More like…”
“More like what?”
“I think there might be a division of opinion within Vines itself.”
“Ah, so that’s why you brought up Vines selling supplies to the Empire bastards earlier…”
“That’s part of it, yes. But there might be something else we don’t know yet. One thing’s for sure though…”
Right as Yuria said that—
One of my communication orbs began to glow brightly.
It was the one directly linked to the territory.
Something must’ve happened back home.
“Hold on. Yes, Butler Harold, what’s going on?”
—My Lord, we’ve received a message from the Dog Tribe’s shamanic parchment.
“The Dog Tribe? What did they say?”
—Well…
“Yes, go ahead.”
—It’s a picture.
“A picture?”
Apparently, a drawing had appeared on the shamanic parchment used to communicate with the Dog Tribe.
I had no idea what that was supposed to mean.
—It’s a picture of a puppy…
“A puppy?”
—Yes, a puppy running toward us, with a massive pack of dogs following behind it.
“Ah, a pack of dogs.”
A puppy and a pack of dogs?
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
I had no idea what Elline was trying to tell me.