Ekaterina was enjoying her time with the horses, feeding them carrots brought by the stable manager, when she suddenly noticed a small building visible from the stable window. It looked like a stand-alone stable, but it seemed too well-built and did not look like something suitable for human habitation.
“Big Brother, what is that?”
“That’s…”
When Alexei saw what Ekaterina showed him, he clammed up unusually, and Ekaterina quickly explained that she had only casually asked about it.
“It’s just something that caught my eye. If it’s something you don’t feel comfortable talking about, I won’t ask.”
“No, I’ll take this opportunity to talk about it. Come.”
Alexei escorted us to the small building we had seen earlier, which turned out to be a stable. It seemed to be designed to house only one animal, as there were no partitions inside, but it was spacious, magnificent, and looked quite sturdy. However, it looked like it had not been used for a long time and was deserted and dusty.
As if to make up for the absence of a horse, there was a painting on the wall.
It depicted a horse and its rider. The rider was Grandfather Sergei.
The horse was gray or ash-colored, and it was so large that Grandfather, who was tall, appeared to be dwarfed by it. On its forehead was a silver horn. In addition, there were fangs peeking out of its mouth.
Kruimov’s magical beast horse!
“This is Grandfather and his beloved horse Zephyros. This stable was built for Zephyros. There used to be a similar stable in the ducal residence in the imperial capital.”
“Oh my! So, Grandfather’s beloved horse was a magical beast horse from Kruimov!”
As expected, of Grandfather!
If the Duke’s horses were Ferraris, owning a Magic Beast Horse would be like owning a private jet, wouldn’t it? Private jets, as I recall, could cost millions of dollars.
“The Kruimovs were the imperial horsemen of the Emperor. All the magic beast horses are originally presented to the imperial family. No matter how much they are worth, they could never be bought with money. However, the head of Kruimov received a privilege. They were given authority to give away their magical horses to whomever they saw fit. Grandfather was given Zephyros by the previous head of Kruimov.”
“Oh, that is wonderful…”
Sorry, my mind went into calculation mode, so I was unable to focus.
If I had to choose an entity that money couldn’t buy, I would say F1. There was no market price for it, but it was a mass of advanced technology, and I think it was worth a lot of money. I would venture to say that the development cost was several tens of billions of yen…oh, I’ve converted it again to monetary terms.
F1 aside, come to think of it, horses were not only a means of transportation in this world, but also a weapon in the form of military horses. Considering that the magical beast horse was a military secret, it was not something that could be sold or bought. However, if it was given to a person who is beneficial to the country…it would be better protection than having bad escorts. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.
Well, if that was the case even now, then great for the Kruimovs! In some ways, they hold more trust with the royal family than the three major dukes! Nikolai and Marina, who always entertained us with their brother-sister comedy, were actually the children of an incredible family!
Regina sniffs the floor. The floor, once covered with straw, was now bare planks. As if she had found the scent she was looking for, Regina sprawled out on the floor.
