Chapter 289 Whimpering Mia
Skyred Hare got his revenge with a body slam early in the second half. It had the same effect on Kuolan: it was caught off guard and fell into a mud puddle. It flew up and hit Mia in the face.
“Gah!”
She shrieked, and the shock made her lose her balance. Kuolan looked back at her, which seemed like a sign of care. Then it smiled at her again like a horse.
Wait a minute… That’s not a face of worry! That’s a “Are you still on?” Because I’m just beginning” face!
As soon as she realised what was going on, she tightened her grip on the reins. A moment later, she felt all of Kuolan’s back muscles tighten.
Skyred Hare tried to hit him again, but Kuolan met him head-on, making it into a push-off. Skyred Hare broke engagement because he wasn’t ready to fight. It kept coming back for another hit.
Kuolan met it again. And again. And again.
Three times, the two horses ran into each other, sending shockwaves through their riders.
“Ugh!”
Ruby winced and fought to keep control of her horse as the wind blew sweat drops off her forehead.
Mia, on the other hand, did the opposite. Once she knew how to do the Way of the Seamoon, she got into Jellyfish Stance and used the first of its ultimate moves: pass-through. As the head of the student council, she had to deal with a wide range of issues. Every time someone did, she passed it on to someone else in a way that seemed as natural as breathing. It was almost as if the papers had never gotten to her desk. They just went right through her.
Rafina would hear about what Chloe did right away. Documents from Sapphias found their way to Sion. Then, when the person she sent it to replied with a solution, all she had to do was hit the “approve” button on their answer and send it back.
Things kept going through her from left to right and east to west because she was so good at using pass-through. She bent and swayed with the flow, like clothes on a line or a flower petal in the wind. Her thin body didn’t cause any friction or resistance.
When two animals hit each other hard, she did the same thing. Her limp body twisted and turned like a ragdoll as the force of the collisions went through her. This (situationally, depending on your point of view) graceful way of riding made the crowd gasp in amazement.
“Go, Princess Mia! Go, Princess Mia!”
She heard people cheering at the same time. She looked over her shoulder and saw her group of makeshift cheerleaders yelling at her. Many people in the crowd joined in because of what they were doing.
She took one hand off the reins and waved as she went by them. This cocky show of calmness made the crowd cheer even louder.
Mia was not really being arrogant, though. After all, she couldn’t brag about being calm when she didn’t have any left.
In fact, the hand in the air was waving on its own! It had gotten loose from the reins and was flapping in the wind, but the fingers were too weak to make a fist, so she was trying very hard to pull it back down.
Eeeeek! Help! Help! I’m about to fall down! I’m going to faaaaall!
She looked at the back of Kuolan’s head with teary eyes, trying to get his attention by putting all of her remaining concentration on one spot.
At that very moment, she had become the princess with the powerful look. Kuolan looked back at her all of a sudden.
Oh, thank you very much! I was able to do it!
A momentary break from worry.
Then he smiled again like a horse. It looked like it was saying, “Yeah, I know. We should win by any means we can, right? Just let me handle it. I’ll show you what true speed looks like.”
Which was basically the opposite of what she was trying to say.
Nope, I didn’t! I could not reach it at all. Eeeeeeeek!
As more tears made it hard for her to see, she heard Ruby’s voice next to her.
“So, are you done? If you don’t have any more tricks, I’ll just win this race,” Ruby said with a lot of confidence.
I have to give it to you. You made a good effort. But that’s all.
Ruby looked at the other runner and thought…
The race is mine, Your Highness.
Both horses were almost in the same place. It was set up so that she could come from behind and win. They had just gone around the last turn, so they could go straight to the finish line.
In a race of speed alone, she had no competition. She had always planned to win in this last part of the race. Even though she had fallen behind before, she knew that this was where she could catch up.
She caught up to the other runner just as they got to the last leg of the race. At first, she was sure she would win, but then she had a rush of doubt.
This was her opportunity. Her golden opportunity. It was too golden, though. Could the last part of a race like this really turn out so well?
Ruby had learned about military tactics, so she knew that once in a very long time, a special kind of genius would appear who could make their opponents believe in their victory every step of the way—until they died.
The pages of history are full of examples of how smart and clever these strategists were. Each brilliant plan was its own work of art. Ruby knew that a real genius would use a sneaky plan.
She also knew that the girl next to her was Mia Luna Tearmoon, who was known as the “Great Wisdom of the Empire” by a number of powerful people. She finally noticed that Mia was looking intently at her own horse.
Those eyes showed no sign of defeat.
So that was her plan!
She found out way too late that she had failed. She had been taken in by Mia’s bluff. Skyred Hare could win the race based on speed alone. So, her opponent didn’t challenge her to a fair fight. Instead, she tried to win through trickery and chaos by launching surprise attacks, which is why there was mud-slinging and tackling.
But what if that basic assumption turned out to be wrong?
What if her horse is only a little slower than mine at its fastest? Or…same?
Then her horse would have run exactly how she wanted it to, and we would have spent the whole race dealing with disruptions. Who would be more tired when it was all over?
In that case, what has happened so far in the race hasn’t been an attempt to close the gap between their horses’ chances of winning, which are slim, but a planned way to make sure they win.
Ruby swallowed as the race was coming to an end….
For the record, from Ruby’s reasoning then it would be Mia should be the most tired of the four of them because she has had to deal with constant disruptions in the environment since the race began. All that “pass-throughing” was taking a heavy toll.
“I… I can’t… No more… Can’t get a grip… Going to fall…”
Her sobs were drowned out by the loud cheers of the crowd.
