All this time.
Within the walls of Tracen Academy, Agnes Tachyon has always been something of a campus legend.
It's not just because of her extraordinary talent—enough to secure her a place among the top racehorses in Japanese history—but also because of her… uniquely intense and eccentric personality.
It's the kind of strong-willed character that even President Symboli Rudolf, the head of the student council, found headaches over. When it comes to anything outside her sphere of interest, Agnes Tachyon barely shows a flicker of emotion.
But right now, all it took was one short, simple text message to make her hands tremble slightly and her heart race like crazy.
[Dr. Lin: Tachyon, I'll treat you tomorrow.]
Even though her expression remained calm on the surface, the white-knuckled grip she had on her phone—so tight it nearly cracked the screen—didn't escape the notice of Manhattan Cafe, who had just been relieved that the Kikuka-shō probably wouldn't have any top contenders.
"Tachyon?"
The dark-maned girl turned to look.
But instead of answering her close friend, Agnes Tachyon chose to reply to Dr. Lin's message first.
[Agnes Tachyon: Understood.]
[AgnesTachyon: It's the standard treatment, right?]
After sending it, she couldn't help but feel a nervous tension she hadn't experienced in a long time.
But… this is tendonitis we're talking about?
So what did Dr. Lin mean by "treatment"? The standard kind, where she retires as a regular Uma Musume and lives a normal life? Or… a perfect cure, one that would allow her to return to the racetrack?
Even in Europe and the U.S.—where treatment is top-tier—there were barely any rumors of a perfect recovery from tendonitis among horse girls.
Standard treatment? Yeah, there were successful cases from time to time. Enough to help injured horse girls regain some function in their legs, but… only some.
For an Uma Musume, "some recovery" meant a permanent, significant drop in performance—which basically meant forced retirement.
After all, in most G1 races, the difference between first and second place was often just a length or two, sometimes even a half-length or a neck.
Only a perfect treatment could allow a horse girl to fully restore her original strength and showcase her talent again. That was what every injured horse girl truly wanted!
So you could say, while tendonitis wasn't a death sentence for regular horse girls, for those who pursued ultimate speed, it was nothing less than a terminal diagnosis.
Agnes Tachyon wondered—if Dr. Lin could heal Tokai Teio's near-fatal fracture, was it possible he could perfectly cure her as well?
Even though, from the very beginning, she knew it should be theoretically impossible…
But ever since that young doctor declared with such warm, firm conviction that he would achieve a perfect cure within a few months…
For the first time, a flicker of hope ignited within Agnes Tachyon.
A few seconds later, the white-coated horse girl blinked as she saw Lin Anran's follow-up message.
[Dr. Lin: Get ready, but don't get so excited you can't sleep.]
[Dr. Lin: It's… the perfect treatment. You'll be able to return to the track, just like Teio!]
The moment she read that latest line—
Agnes Tachyon's breathing hitched, growing noticeably quicker.
Her hand, still clenched around the phone, tightened unconsciously—crack—the screen faintly splintering under the pressure.
"Dr. Lin…"
"If this is true… you've just given me the greatest gift imaginable."
It's only polite to return a favor! But if all she offered was prize money… would that even come close to matching the value of his treatment?
She had a feeling Dr. Lin wasn't the type to care about money. He didn't seem shallow like that.
"Even I… am not quite sure how to return the favor…"
A faint, eager smile touched the lips of this mad scientist girl.
Manhattan Cafe, standing beside her, noticed all of this—and her pupils shrank in shock.
Huh??
Dr. Lin… he's that incredible?
Tendonitis was widely considered a death sentence for Uma Musume worldwide, ending the careers of countless famous champions. And Dr. Lin was confident he could achieve a perfect cure??
Once again, a scene from what felt like a dream flashed through Manhattan Cafe's mind—an underestimated dark-haired girl, unexpectedly injured, being carried into a Western-style clinic by a young male doctor.
"If it's you, I know you can win a G1."
"Believe in yourself… and please believe in me."
That young doctor firmly held the hand of the dark-maned girl from her dream, becoming the one single light in her gloomy, even pitch-black life.
But then one day… he left behind these words: 'When you become the strongest, I will return to fulfill any promise you wish!'
From then on, the dark-maned girl from Manhattan Cafe's dreams grew almost obsessively devoted to that doctor, training relentlessly just to earn his recognition one day.
Even now, Manhattan Cafe still didn't know who that girl who looked almost exactly like her was. She could only dismiss it all as a fleeting fantasy.
But now… was that dream-scene—of a doctor saving an injured horse girl—about to play out right before her eyes?
Except… the one being saved this time was her best friend, Agnes Tachyon?
Her expression growing subtly complex, Manhattan Cafe shook her head and forced herself to calm down.
'It's a good thing Tachyon can recover. And Dr. Lin… he's a good man. I shouldn't overthink it.'
'What's important now is to focus on preparing for the Kikuka-shō!'
'With Tachyon, Kurofune, Jungle Pocket, and Platinum all out, I have to win this!!'
She knew perfectly well that even if Agnes Tachyon made a full recovery, it would take a long time for her to readjust to high-intensity training.
And after retraining, she'd need even more time, starting with practice races, before she could return to G1-level competition.
Just look at Tokai Teio—it had been over a month since her fracture was healed, and she still hadn't returned to racing. Recovery takes time.
Compared to Teio, who was younger and still had a shorter recovery period, Agnes Tachyon was much older. That meant her recovery and readjustment would likely be even more challenging.
On top of that, Agnes Tachyon hadn't trained much for long distances before her injury. She hadn't built up her stamina, which would take significant time to develop…
All things considered, there was no way Agnes Tachyon would make it to the Kikuka-shō. She'd likely aim for the Japan Cup or the Arima Kinen instead.
With no other top-tier next-gen racehorse girls as opponents, Manhattan Cafe absolutely could not accept defeat.
No matter what, she had to win the long-distance Kikuka-shō!
--+--
Two or three days later, the black-hearted young doctor returned to Japan.
In the infirmary at Tracen Academy, the handsome, dark-haired young doctor was leaning over, reading a newspaper.
A small stack of papers lay on the desk, all brought back from Europe.
Now that he was back in Japan and his overtime work was over, he finally had time to relax a little.
Lin Anran skimmed through a British newspaper dated two days before the Epsom Derby.
The front-page headline read—[Daughter of Arc de Triomphe Winner, Elite Family's Lady Galileo Aims for Victory!]
The subheading below followed with—[Japanese Superhorse Lands in UK, Reaching for the Oldest and Greatest Derby That Isn't Hers.]
Then, Lin Anran found the same newspaper's post-race coverage.
The post-derby headline now proclaimed—[Her Supreme Highness, the Superhorse Platinum, Ascends to Her Rightful Place Over Her Loyal England!]
After reading the dramatic shift in tone, Lin Anran's lip twitched slightly…
His interest piqued, he continued flipping through other horse girl-related newspapers.
Most of them reported on the Japanese superhorse, Platinum's overwhelming victory, breaking the Epsom Derby record and soundly defeating Lady Galileo!
Surprisingly, one newspaper took a completely different angle, diving deep into Platinum's past performances!
[SHOCKING! Was Lady Galileo Not Even Superhorse Platinum's Strongest Opponent? The Uma Musume Who Pushed Platinum the Hardest Was Actually…!]
Just reading that headline made even Lin Anran pause.
Hah?!
Lady Galileo wasn't Platinum's toughest challenge?
Lin Anran remembered perfectly clearly—from Platinum's debut until now, Lady Galileo was the first opponent to wield a Zone, unquestionably powerful.
If the renowned European genius Lady Galileo didn't count, then who did? What kind of research led to this?
What exactly did this British paper dig up? Platinum struggled?
Even the black-hearted young doctor was caught off guard. Drawn in by the clickbait-like title, he lowered his head and read on carefully.
[After thorough investigation, our team obtained data on all of Platinum's winning margins during her time in Japan! The results are astounding!]
[Japan Derby: Won by 14 lengths over Jungle Pocket.]
[Oaks: Won by 10 lengths over Mejiro Dober.]
[G3 Race: Won by 15 lengths over an unknown second place.]
[Debut Race: Won by 5 lengths over Daiwa Scarlet!!!]
[Clearly, 5 lengths > 11 lengths.]
[So far, we've been unable to find further information on the mysterious, powerful Japanese racehorse girl Daiwa Scarlet. Only that she is a highly regarded junior by the legendary Triple Crown winner Agnes Tachyon, and she gave Platinum the earliest—and so far, greatest—challenge of her career!]
[Losing by only 5 lengths to Platinum demonstrates her terrifying potential. Reports indicate she is preparing for next year's Japanese classic races, clearly aiming to challenge Platinum's records this year. She is destined to soar!]
[European racehorse girls should learn from Lady Galileo's crushing defeat and not underestimate Japanese competitors. We propose that top European racehorse girls consider training in Japan during the off-season, arranging practice matches against talents like Platinum and Daiwa Scarlet.]
[Keep your eyes on the future Phantom Champion, Platinum's first great rival—Daiwa Scarlet!]
After finishing the article, Lin Anran leaned so far forward he nearly knocked his head on the desk, his mind flooded with question marks.
"Hah?"
"Bro, you can't be serious…"
In other words, Daiwa Scarlet—whose record was still a very modest 2 races, 1 win and had only just officially debuted—was now getting attention even outside Japan?
Was this incredibly lucky…
Or just terribly unfortunate?
How… how did they power-scale their way to this conclusion? Get a grip, powerscaling fanatics!
Although, if they kept stacking it like this, the ultimate winner would always be his transformed self, Platinum, anyway…
If Daiwa Scarlet retired now, and as Platinum's achievements grew more legendary, reverberating across the world, wouldn't Scarlet—with just two races and one win—become some kind of tragic "Phantom Uma Musume"?
Then she and Agnes Tachyon would really form some "Phantom Duo"…
And this idea of coming to Japan during the off-season to have practice matches with Platinum and Scarlet…
Please, no… Overtime work with zero prize money?
"Enough reading. Time to prepare for Tachyon's arrival."
"The second big spender is finally ready for treatment."
In the eyes of this black-hearted young doctor, an Uma Musume who could generate gold was a good Uma Musume!
Who cared about personality, as long as she could generate gold, she was a good horse girl!
And the highly promising Agnes Tachyon perfectly met this criteria, much to Lin Anran's delight.
"Besides, Teio should be almost fully recovered soon too. She'll be back to racing and generating gold for me!"
Just as Lin Anran's thoughts drifted from Agnes Tachyon to the long-healed Tokai Teio—
Knock, knock.
The infirmary door sounded from outside.
Instantly, the black-hearted young doctor's train of thought was cut off. He quickly realized—based on the timing, it was probably Agnes Tachyon.
As Lin Anran walked over, he casually opened the system's race reward panel.
Since the Epsom Derby was over, it was time to check the rewards.
After opening it, several lines of text quickly appeared.
[Race Won: Epsom Derby]
[Rewards: King of Horse Mint (Constitution · Unlocks Pre-Transformation), Młynar Nearl's Modest Stamina, Knight's Vow (Platinum Collectible)]
[Maturation +15%!]
King of Horse Mint? Stamina? Is this… useful?
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.