Chapter 20: The Horse That Stopped
To an outsider, it seemed as if the horse would not rest until it had sent Yier Meng flying with its hooves.
“Get out of the way! The horse isn’t listening to me!”
Seeing the three of them still standing there, the rapidly approaching knight-girl grew even more anxious. What she couldn’t understand was why these people, who would clearly be hit if they didn’t move, not only showed no signs of panic but seemed completely unfazed, even though she had shouted a warning much earlier.
As for the knight-girl on the warhorse, she was as frantic as an ant on a hot pan.
The knight-girl was filled with regret. If she had known this would happen, she never would have attempted this in a public area, just because it was Holy Radiance Day and the campus was empty.
“Run!”
The last thing she wanted was for her first attempt at riding to result in a classmate suffering severe bone fractures from the force of the horse’s charge.
However, it seemed no one was appreciating the knight-girl’s good intentions.
Yier Meng didn’t move because she was still being held, and since her body was immobilized, she naturally couldn’t dodge.
Elise didn’t move because she was holding Yier Meng, with her back to the knight-girl. With an elf’s keen perception, she was aware of the commotion, but it was clear that Elise was currently giving it her all. Compared to a disturbance of this level, she felt that competing with Eirya was far more important at the moment.
And Eirya didn’t move because, although she could see what was happening, she was a dragon. Would a girl whose true form was a dragon be afraid of a human knight and her horse, both of whom were far weaker than her in both size and power?
This led to a situation where the knight-girl over there was worrying for nothing. Even as she clamped her thighs fiercely against the horse’s belly and yanked hard on the reins, trying to stop the crazed animal, the three people she was worried about had absolutely no need for her concern.
“Stop.”
A single, soft word. This was the only thing Yier Meng said to the frenzied horse.
With what seemed like a casual glance, the rampaging horse froze abruptly.
With a huff, its powerful hoof practically grazed the back of Elise’s head as it swept past, landing on the other side.
The horse’s owner, seeing it get to within less than ten meters, had already squeezed her eyes shut.
Thud!
The hoof slammed heavily onto the ground.
Having her head nearly kicked by the beast, Elise seemed to finally recognize the gravity of the situation. For some reason, just a moment ago, as she was hesitating over whether to use a defensive spell, she had actually been looking forward to being kicked by the horse. That kind of pain must feel amazing, she had thought, which resulted in her not using a single shred of magical protection. In fact, she even felt a secret twinge of regret that the horse hadn’t kicked her in the end.
Fortunately, since Eirya was also present, even though an unnatural blush suddenly appeared on Elise’s face, Yier Meng just assumed she was embarrassed at having an outsider witness such an awkward scene. Besides, elves were rather thin-skinned. Wasn’t she also quite flustered when they first met?
And now, with a third person present, Elise and Eirya were too embarrassed to continue clinging to Yier Meng.
This made Yier Meng feel a little bad, because as the only normal person among the three of them, she could have stopped the horse’s rampage much earlier. She had only let it get close to force the two of them to let her go. So, even though she had been absolutely confident that the horse wouldn’t harm either of them, a trace of guilt still lingered in Yier Meng’s heart.
“I’m sorry, you must have been frightened.”
Evidently, it was a good thing Yier Meng didn’t know what had just been going through Elise’s mind. Otherwise, she would have started to doubt whether her treatment was actually effective, and whether there was any hope of saving Elise at all.
