Marengo straight-up shoved his massive head against my shoulder, rubbing his cheek against mine in a good mood and putting on an act cuter than a Golden Retriever.
“*Snort~*”
“……”
At that surreal spectacle, the Emperor and Count Gross, standing behind me, looked back and forth between each other’s faces with blank expressions, as if they had made a promise.
“……Count. Did you not just say that beast was a savage creature that tramples people to death?”
“Y-yes, Your Majesty! That is exactly right! That crazy beast has so far charged and broken the bones of five attendants, and kicked three poor horses to death with his hind legs! He is a mad beast who threw off dozens of the Empire’s most renowned riders who dared try to mount him!”
Count Gross shouted as if he had been wronged.
“But seeing him fawn over someone so affectionately like that…… even I, who have handled horses my entire life, am witnessing such a sight for the first time ever!”
I too, who had been frozen stiff at first thinking I was under attack, slowly relaxed at the sight of Marengo blinking his gentle eyes at me and snorting.
‘What the hell. They said he was a man-killing beast, but he’s totally a giant Golden Retriever.’
I cautiously reached out and gently stroked Marengo’s neck and mane, which gleamed with a golden luster.
“Wow…… you’re really handsome. You truly are a magnificent horse.”
“*Whicker~!*”
As if my compliment had put him in a wonderful mood, Marengo lightly pawed his front hoof and let out a cheerful cry.
The way he tilted his head this way and that to match my petting hand was nothing short of a puppy.
“……Count. Does this fellow understand human speech as well?”
At my question, Count Gross answered with a hollow cough, his face still blank.
“Ahem! ……He is the finest of fine horses, so he probably understands almost all of a rider’s emotions and words. Haah, it is truly absurd but…… since the beast follows Your Highness so, would it not be right to try mounting him once, Your Majesty?”
“*Kahaha!* Indeed. A truly amusing spectacle. You there! Bring the tack at once and put it on him!”
At the Emperor’s order, one of the stable grooms waiting in the rear cautiously approached Marengo with a saddle and bridle.
“Whoa, whoa. Good boy, Marengo…….”
But the moment the trembling groom approached to put on the tack, the gentle lamb-like Marengo’s eyes instantly transformed into those of a savage predator.
“*Grrr~!!*”
“Eek!”
As Marengo bared his teeth and ferociously threatened as if he would bite at any moment, the terrified groom screamed, threw the saddle and tack he was holding onto the ground, and fell backward.
Marengo lifted his front hoof for a moment as if contemplating whether to step on the groom, then swept his gaze over me and the Emperor before lowering his hoof and walking over to the groom.
Then, he picked up the fallen bridle and reins with his own mouth, plodded over to me, and dropped them into my hand with a clunk.
Looking at the horse docilely lowering his head, I let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity.
‘……Does he want me to put it on him myself?’
“Count, I think I have to put this on…… but I’ve never done it before.”
“……Good heavens. Tighten the straps as I call them out, Your Highness.”
Following Count Gross’s instructions from a safe distance, I began awkwardly putting the tack on Marengo, grunting as I went.
Even when I buckled the straps wrong, pinching his jaw, or put the saddle on crooked, Marengo never got angry once and waited patiently.
After barely getting the saddle on, I caught my breath and tried to hook my foot into the stirrup.
But there was a problem.
“……It’s too high.”
Marengo was a famous steed with a frame far larger and heavier than ordinary horses.
To me, whose only riding experience was sitting on a gentle pony-level horse back home, Marengo’s saddle height was as distant as a wall.
Once, twice.
I tried jumping too, and repeatedly slipped while grunting and straining to lift my leg up high.
Seeing that spectacle, Count Gross shouted with cold sweat dripping down his face.
“Y-Your Highness! That beast has sky-high pride! If a rider acts clumsy, he will immediately get angry and throw them to the ground……!”
Before the Count’s warning could even finish.
*Huff.*
Marengo, who had let out a light snort, rather than getting annoyed, instead bent his left front leg up toward his belly.
He had made a perfect stepping stool with his own leg for me to climb up!
As if that weren’t enough, he even bent his knee joint and lowered his heavy body down toward the ground.
“……!!”
“……Did the beast bend his body down on his own for the rider?”
Everyone, including me, the Emperor, and the Count, was shocked as if their jaws would drop.
I stepped on the front-leg stool Marengo had made, and thanks to his consideration, I was able to settle smoothly into the saddle.
“Whoa, whoa. Let’s go, Marengo.”
When I took the reins, Marengo slowly began walking toward the outside of the stable.
At the tremendous height and sway of horseback riding, which I was feeling for the first time in a long while, I froze up in panic, and from behind me, the Emperor’s hearty laughter rang out.
“*Kahahaha!* Ride around the plains for a bit and come back on your own!”
“Marengo!! Ride around for exactly one hour and come back! Got it!!”
Count Gross shouted at Marengo as if disciplining a soldier.
At that, Marengo, who had been walking, whipped his head around and let out a sound that anyone could tell was mocking.
“*Snort!*”
“Y-you impudent horse! How dare you ignore me?!”
After snorting at the Count, whose face had turned bright red, Marengo turned his head back toward me and let out an affectionate cry.
Then, taking into consideration the pace of a novice rider like me, who was stiff as a board, he made his way out of the stable with a very slow, smooth gait without a hint of shaking.
“……Could that fellow have been a born nomad?”
The Emperor’s laughter-filled voice flowed in from behind me.
#
The vast imperial private plains directly connected to the stable.
As we stepped out onto the wide-open grassland beneath the blue sky, Marengo pricked his ears and let out a happy cry.
“Alright, shall we go a little faster?”
Marengo very slowly and smoothly increased his speed from a walk to a trot, and then to a canter, in a way that was easy for me to adapt to.
While ordinary beginners usually fail to overcome the recoil and fall on their bottoms, Marengo’s back absorbed all the shock like the suspension of a top-class sedan.
*Clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop!*
The refreshing wind hitting my face, the explosive movement of the huge beast’s muscles transmitted through my thighs.
As the speed gradually increased while crossing the plains, I felt a sense of liberation at the very moment I had grown tired of being confined for so long.
“Wahahaha!! Awesome! You’re really the best, Marengo!!”
I threw all dignity to the wind and screamed like a madman on the saddle.
‘So this is why people in the old days desperately tried to ride horses!!’
Riding on Marengo’s back, I mindlessly galloped across the plains and enjoyed perfect freedom.
After running pleasantly for about an hour, Marengo and I, drenched in sweat, slowly turned direction toward the stable.
It was on the way back to the stable.
“*Huff~!*”
Suddenly, Marengo shook his head up and down and began running in a completely different, bizarre gait from usual, as if to show me a trick.
Instead of his front and back diagonal legs crossing and clip-clopping as usual, his front and back legs on the same side moved simultaneously.
“Huh? Hey, the way you’re walking right now…….”
The vertical recoil almost disappeared, and an incredibly comfortable riding sensation came over me, as if I were gliding on skates.
At that moment, a YouTube Short I had blankly watched while lying in bed in my previous life flashed through my mind like lightning.
“This is that gait of Mongolian horses! You were a genius horse that could even do a lateral amble?!”
When I shouted in a surprised, excited voice, Marengo raised his head arrogantly as if to say ‘of course,’ and let out a long whinny.
“*Whinny~!!*”
And so, having joyfully galloped across the plains with Marengo, I re-entered the stable.
The Emperor, who had been waiting for us all this time, watched our return, stroked his beard as if dumbfounded, and burst into hearty laughter.
“*Kahahahaha!!* This incredible beast has finally chosen its own master!”
The Emperor declared in a loud voice, spreading his arms wide.
“Indeed! That horse is yours from now on, Ian Sterling! You have come to possess the Empire’s finest steed!”