Demon King Ship took the victory in the Satsuki Sho without surprise.
And in this race, everyone realized that Demon King Ship's strength was truly from another dimension. Even without using her "bewitching" power, her physical strength far exceeded that of the other runners in her generation. Besides bewitching power and skills, Demon King Ship also mastered a mature domain.
The sheer power of her stats made many horse girls despair.
The reactions of the runners who lost varied.
Some completely lost the confidence to challenge the Demon King after this race, feeling that no matter how hard they tried, they could never catch up.
Others believed that this defeat was only temporary, and they would surely reach the same realm as the Demon King.
Mejiro Ryan and Narita Taishin were the latter.
They had both obtained new power. Although they lost this race, they saw a new direction. As long as they continued down this path, they would surely step into a higher realm.
"You really are strong. I'll come to challenge you again. By the way, thanks for that thing you and Tachyon released."
Mejiro Ryan said to Demon King Ship.
Demon King Ship replied arrogantly, "No need. This great one just wants to make races more interesting. Because a race without opponents is too boring for me."
"Haha, then I'll do my best to become an opponent who won't bore you," Mejiro Ryan said with a smile.
"Talk big once you've actually done it, third-rate," Demon King Ship said bluntly.
At this time, Narita Taishin walked over and said, "You just wait! I'll be back!"
"..."
Without giving Demon King Ship a chance to mock her, Narita Taishin dropped her words and slipped away.
Demon King Ship glared unhappily at Narita Taishin's retreating back. This shorty is really annoying.
So, during the Winning Concert, Demon King Ship immediately leaned into Narita Taishin's ear and whispered, "Make sure you entertain this great one properly, clown."
Hearing this, Narita Taishin almost disregarded her image to argue with Demon King Ship right there on stage. Thankfully, Mejiro Ryan noticed the bad atmosphere between them and, following the dance rhythm, moved in to separate them.
After the Winning Concert, Demon King Ship, Agnes Tachyon, and the others got into Trainer Okino's sedan to go to a buffet. Although Demon King Ship had earned a lot of prize money recently, Okino and Demon King Ship had given it all to Tachyon to run the company. The team's current financial situation was still average. As for the money the company earned? Tachyon didn't say, and the two careless idiots, Demon King Ship and Okino, didn't ask.
Narita Taishin found her trainer and said, "Trainer, I want to become stronger!"
She absolutely had to defeat that hateful Demon King. Calling her a clown... unforgivable!
Her trainer smiled gently. "Okay."
Mejiro Ryan was with the Mejiro family horse girls.
"McQueen, you were right. This Demon King is incredibly strong."
"Ryan, more importantly... was that thing you used at the end of the race also a skill?"
[Mejiro McQueen] and the other Mejiro girls looked at Ryan curiously.
"That... I guess it counts as a skill? But it felt a bit different. I don't know how to describe it."
Mejiro Ryan felt the power of "Tides" was somewhat different from skills.
But she couldn't say exactly how; it was just a purely physical feeling.
Seeing Mejiro Ryan unable to explain, [Mejiro McQueen] and the others gave up asking.
It wasn't until later, when they told Mejiro Takamine about this, that they learned about the existence of the "Zone."
Smart Falcon returned to Tracen Academy with her trainer, dejected.
Watching the sad Smart Falcon, her trainer was silent for a moment before apologizing.
"I'm sorry, Falco. Your loss... it's actually all my fault."
"Trainer?"
Smart Falcon looked up in surprise.
Then, her trainer explained the reason. It turned out she actually had no aptitude for turf tracks and wasn't suited for turf races. But her trainer had hidden this and tried to make her gain turf aptitude through daily training and turf races.
That was why she felt the recent races were so difficult.
"Falco, you are very strong. I knew this early on. I thought if it were you, maybe you could achieve feats like the Emperor did back in the day. It was my selfishness that prevented you from displaying your true strength. I'm truly sorry. I am a disqualified trainer." Smart Falcon's trainer confessed everything. Through the conversation of those two old fans, he had realized his mistake. He had been blinded by dazzling achievements and completely failed to look at Falco's races and feelings.
Smart Falcon asked carefully, "Trainer, is what you said true? Am I... really strong?"
Her trainer hadn't expected Falco to focus on that. He paused for a moment before asking seriously again, "Wait, Falco... don't you blame me for causing you to lose races because of my selfishness?"
"Uh, even if you say that, Trainer, I don't really feel it."
Smart Falcon seemingly really didn't think she was strong.
"No, no, no! The year you debuted, didn't we win three times?!"
"...But Trainer, those were just small races. I'm a Central runner, after all. Winning races of that level should be normal, right? That doesn't prove Falco is strong. And Falco hasn't won a single G1 race yet."
"That's not true, Falco. You are strong. As your trainer, I guarantee it."
"Aren't you just comforting me, Trainer?"
"..."
The trainer didn't know what to say. He felt like he was utter scum right now.
Falco losing confidence must be his fault as a disqualified trainer.
"Trainer?"
"Falco... are you still willing to be my assigned horse girl?"
The trainer could only manage this sentence. He didn't even dare to look Smart Falcon in the eye.
Smart Falcon said, "Geez. Since it's come to this... if everything you said is true, Trainer, then please take responsibility! Didn't you promise Falco that you'd make Falco the world's number one idol horse girl?"
Falco's smile brought salvation to the trainer.
"...Yes. I will make Falco the most dazzling horse girl." The trainer gave a firm answer.
"Falco has always believed in you."
Smart Falcon was a dead-last student at school. Because she was obsessed with idol activities, her not-so-smart brain couldn't study well to get good grades. She clearly remembered that back then, she was a dead-last horse girl no trainer had high hopes for, and no one wanted to take her in.
Just when she herself felt she definitely couldn't become a qualified horse girl or a qualified idol, her trainer suddenly appeared before her, affirmed her strength as a horse girl, and became the first fan of her idol activities.
Although the trainer was saying this was all his fault now, Falco felt it was probably because of that initial promise.
Her trainer had promised her back then to make her the world's number one idol horse girl. Perhaps precisely because of this goal, her trainer had gotten trapped in it, losing sight of what was in front of him. Smart Falcon thought of her trainer, who was always the first to show up to support her idol activities, and who secretly worked part-time during his breaks to buy training equipment. She didn't think her trainer was disqualified. In fact, she felt that meeting such a responsible trainer was the luck of a lifetime.
"By the way, Falco, this..."
The trainer took out the deluxe edition of the Skill Manual.
"Trainer, you wasted money on unnecessary things again."
"No, I heard from colleagues that this thing is real. And many trainers have already started buying it."
"But there's no need to buy the deluxe edition, right?"
"I heard the deluxe edition makes training more efficient."
The trainer actually knew it was definitely overpriced.
But if it really worked well, what did it matter if it was overpriced?
The price of the Skill Manual was about the same as a set of horseshoes. As training equipment, it could even be considered cheap. After all, a horse girl's daily training equipment wasn't cheap; the biggest consumption was horseshoes and running shoes.
And horseshoes and running shoes came in various versions, plus separate ones for training and racing. Honestly, if not for the subsidies on training equipment, the prices would be unaffordable. In comparison, the Skill Manual was genuinely cheap.
After all, the most valuable part of the Skill Manual was the intellectual property; the cost of the pills wasn't actually high.
And since neither Demon King Ship nor Agnes Tachyon were businessmen, the price of the Skill Manual was just equivalent to a set of training horseshoes. Plus, the pills could be sold separately at an even cheaper price. The deluxe edition's price was equivalent to a set of racing horseshoes, but it was purely just nicer packaging. It was Agnes Tachyon's way of scamming money, since the profit margin on the regular edition was just too low.
But the deluxe edition sold out frequently. One could only say this money was indeed easy to scam.
Smart Falcon accepted the deluxe Skill Manual.
And in the following year, the Ruler of Dirt Races was born on this night.
Although it seemed like she had wasted over a year, in reality, the results of Smart Falcon's training hadn't gone to waste. As soon as she returned to a suitable track, she could unleash that formidable strength. (Smart Falcon: 3 wins in year 1, no wins in year 2, 1 GII win in year 3, defeat in Satsuki Sho. Real horse girls don't have the game's year limit, but usually retire after five years.)
...
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