"..."
Dressed in a sharp, elegant suit, Rudolf Symbol strolled through the ballroom with a glass of whiskey in hand.
All around her, horse girls from every corner of America had turned up in full formal attire for this welcoming banquet, to the point that the true nature of the event had become highly suspect. She also caught sight of Sirius Symbol, hair slicked back with pomade and perfume on her collar, moving among the American horse girls with outrageous ease and not a trace of awkwardness.
Perhaps it was because the Symbol family tended to produce the cool, handsome type, but Sirius Symbol seemed unexpectedly popular.
Watching Sirius "linger among the flowers," Rudolf Symbol, whose features were far softer than Sirius's, smoothly inserted herself into the circle of American horse girls around her.
"Pardon me. I'll be borrowing this one for a moment. I hope you all have an unforgettable evening."
Rudolf Symbol was impeccably courteous, forming a striking contrast with Sirius Symbol. The latter came off like some flirtatious aristocratic rogue, but for some reason that style seemed to work remarkably well on the American horse girls.
Whenever Sirius tossed out a lazy little "honey," they would answer with a peal of silvery laughter, bashful expressions blooming on their faces and making one all the more tempted to draw closer.
"I'll be right back, so wait for me, all right~"
Sirius Symbol flicked back her bangs with all the flair of a seasoned heartbreaker, drawing another burst of laughter.
So Rudolf Symbol promptly jabbed her with an elbow, knocking the "honey" she was about to say right back down her throat. What came out instead was little more than an awkward "ha."
Sirius responded with exaggerated body language, teasing Rudolf before lowering her voice to murmur into her junior's ear.
"Aren't we following the plan we agreed on? Why the sudden change of heart? I'm carrying out your strategy here, Rudolf."
Did she really look that much like some idiot woman hopelessly lost in a garden of flowers? Sirius Symbol was more than a little unconvinced.
On the night Xingyun Liuge had accepted Lady's Secret's invitation, the girl had actually let Rudolf Symbol in on part of her thinking:
"You want to create a world where every horse girl can be happy. I want to get rid of a few useless old fossils squatting in positions they don't deserve. We're on the same side, aren't we?"
If that was the case, then they ought to use the eyes of that JRA executive as a conduit and pile the pressure on JRA until it hurt.
Some people, after all, thought in the manner of melodramatic aristocrats. They believed themselves to be exalted scions of noble houses, and therefore assumed everything should follow the rules they made, with no need whatsoever to adapt to the times.
If the Gray Cinderella had never appeared, JRA would probably have rotted to pieces while clutching their so-called "ancestral law."
Xingyun Liuge herself did not particularly care what those useless relics ultimately became. But she did believe horse girls should not be shackled by rules so obsolete they no longer fit the times. Since they had already come this far, of course they ought to do something earthshaking.
"These old men fear force but do not respect virtue," Xingyun Liuge had whispered deliberately into Rudolf Symbol's ear. "Lecture them all you like, it won't work. Broken bones are the best education."
Then she had drifted back again, wearing the sweetest, sunniest smile imaginable.
Looking at Xingyun Liuge like that, Rudolf Symbol felt no warmth whatsoever. Instead, she had been seized by an indescribable chill. Yet she had to admit the girl was right.
After all, hadn't she herself, in the beginning, also handled things strictly according to rules that were far too rigid?
If there were already prep races and earnings rankings, why cling so stubbornly to the rule of "classic registration"? With that in place, didn't the meaning of prep races and prize-money rankings get severely undermined? Was it really all for the sake of squeezing out a few extra registration fees?
Rudolf Symbol could not understand it. So in the end, she had agreed to Xingyun Liuge's proposal and dragged Sirius Symbol into it as well.
And that was how they had arrived at the present situation: Sirius Symbol was not actually loafing around among the ladies. She had been out gathering information. Naturally, she was baffled now.
This had all been part of the plan. So why was Rudolf suddenly backing out? Did she really think Sirius had been seduced by American beauty? Or was she worried Sirius was disgracing the Symbol family name?
"You're just too good at picking targets..." Rudolf Symbol sighed softly, at a loss for where to even begin.
The chestnut-haired horse girl nearest to Sirius, dressed in an opulent gown, was Sir Barton—the first Triple Crown winner in American history, with disciples and protégés everywhere.
The one standing nearby with a look of amused interest fixed on Sirius was War Admiral, another Triple Crown winner, and also a descendant of the famed Man o' War.
And who was Man o' War?
Her ranking stood just a little higher than even the world-class horse queen Secretariat.
Standing slightly outside the circle was a horse girl who looked younger and was dressed less extravagantly: Seattle Slew. Compared to the other two, her standing in American Tracen was certainly not as "ancient"—one could almost call her a "new face"—but she was another Triple Crown winner after Secretariat. Even Rudolf Symbol counted as a junior before her.
In other words...
Sirius Symbol's instincts were absurdly sharp. She had blundered headfirst into a gathering of Triple Crown champions far above their pay grade.
If Sirius had approached someone only a little younger—say Princess Rooney, who had once reigned supreme on the American East Coast, or Manila, who had defeated Jade Robbery head-on—Rudolf Symbol might at least have felt she'd made a valiant attempt.
But this?
Heh.
After hearing the explanation, Sirius Symbol's face went green.
These were basically living fossils among American horse girls. Why were they here?
"...Xingyun's incredible, sure, but enough to bring out these seniors?" Sirius Symbol simply could not make sense of it.
Rudolf Symbol thought it was a bit much too. But if the goal was to see another Triple Crown winner arise among their descendants, then of course they would want to befriend a powerful horse girl. Besides, Xingyun Liuge was the first horse girl to leave Asia and rampage through Europe and America alike. Who wouldn't covet that suspiciously multi-layered, possibly multi-domain power of hers?
Once Rudolf laid it out that way, Sirius Symbol finally understood everything.
No wonder every last one of them was dressed to kill.
This was not a welcome banquet at all.
It was a matchmaking event.
After a moment of silence, Sirius suddenly tensed.
"Wait, where's Xingyun? And I don't see Trainer Chihaya either. Don't tell me they've already been ambushed and dragged off for some horse-girl version of a one-night stand?"
It was hardly her fault for thinking that way. The atmosphere at Central Tracen had always been fierce, and American horse girls were even more uninhibited than Japanese ones. It was only natural that her imagination would head in that direction.
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 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 138)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter160)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter98)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter175)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 163
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 150
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 100
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 170
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 145
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 125
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 69
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 90
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 100
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 70
Uma Musume: I Want All 90
I Can Copy Unique Skills 65
Summoning an Evil God, but the 52
Supernatural Multiverse 65
My Harem Is Indescribable 55
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 55
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 55
Still playing traditional Honk 35
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 35
What Should I Do After Switchi 24
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 35
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 27
Transmigrated as Sukuna 27
Checking In in Demon Slayer 32
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