"This is Kentucky-style fried chicken, Bluegrass cake, and pecan chocolate cookies. And then…" The girl with the brilliant red hair lowered her eyes, a smile playing at the corners of her brows. "Cute little miss, would you like a glass of our local specialty—smooth, sweet bourbon?"
"Trust me. Its clear amber glow and botanical essence will open up an entirely new world for you."
How to put it…
Though Louisville was a city of the American West, the red-haired beauty before them had none of the rough, wild energy one might expect from the West. If anything, she was a little too effortlessly handsome.
After spending any amount of time with her at close range, it was hard not to feel a powerful sense of confusion:
Was she really not a leading man from the Takarazuka Revue?
She had exactly that princely stage-actor aura.
If she ever became an idol, she would be an instant smash hit—maybe even go down in history. Was there really any horse girl alive who could resist her charm?
That perfectly balanced heroic face, that nearly flawless figure, that deep, magnetic voice—she was a pure stats monster.
With looks and presence like hers, she had probably charmed half of American Central Tracen already. After all, she was the legendary Secretariat herself. Who wouldn't want to fall for her?
With that thought in mind, Chihaya Yui slapped the table and declared in righteous indignation, "Thank you for the offer, Miss Secretariat, but our Koge doesn't need that. Carrot juice will do."
Though the world of horse girls did have this concept of "full bloom," once a girl entered her Classic year, she was no longer treated as a child. She had officially stepped into the world of adults. So long as it did not disturb others, things like flirting and fooling around were perfectly allowed.
Which meant that a legendary horse girl like Secretariat simply offering someone a glass of fermented plant extract was, by all standards, completely acceptable.
Being easy to get drunk was not an excuse, after all. There was an old saying in the world:
Wine does not intoxicate people—people intoxicate themselves.
Who could say it was not Secretariat's looks and bearing that were intoxicating instead?
Small and quiet, Cuihe sat off to one side, drinking her carrot juice through a straw with soft little slurping sounds. Neither her ears nor her tail moved in the slightest, as if she were silently declaring: I'm just here for the food. You all talk among yourselves.
"My, what an adorable trainer your little miss has," Secretariat said with a faint smile, her eyes shifting toward Chihaya Yui.
Chihaya Yui was already beginning to feel crushed under the pressure.
Really, she felt she should have talked Xingyun Liuge out of coming to America in the first place. This legendary horse girl was simply outrageous.
Back in Nagoya, Chihaya Yui had worried they would run into some affected pseudo-aristocratic horse girls in Britain who would cling shamelessly to Xingyun Liuge. Instead, nothing of the sort had happened there—and yet here in freewheeling, every-day-is-freedom America, they had run into exactly that kind of trouble. The sheer absurdity of it was hard to overstate.
"Miss Secretariat is a senior. There's no need to dance around the point," Xingyun Liuge said without even looking up, deftly cutting the Bluegrass cake into five equal pieces with practiced ease and passing them out.
First Chihaya Yui, then Cuihe, then Latifa, then Secretariat—leaving herself for last.
Yes, that very same princess from Dubai had come all the way over from the UAE as well. The two groups had met at the airport, then traveled together to Louisville, only to be "arrested" by the student council president of American Central Tracen—Secretariat herself.
No matter how one looked at it, she had come prepared.
Did she want Xingyun Liuge to lose the Kentucky Derby?
No—that was impossible. No horse girl could willingly give up the pursuit of glory, and a legend like Secretariat understood that better than anyone.
Then was she here to poach her before the race even began and invite Xingyun Liuge to join American Tracen?
Considering that America was a nation of immigrants to begin with, perhaps this even counted as "observing proper rites and restoring old virtue" in its own strange way.
Secretariat did have that idea.
But that was not her only purpose in coming.
Xingyun Liuge's spectacular run of success these past days had already made her one of the hottest favorites—far ahead of the rest, the kind of favorite who towered over the field.
To the point that among American racing fans, a certain rumor had begun to spread:
The sudden torrential rain over Kentucky, which forced the Kentucky Derby to be postponed by a week, might very well have been a revelation from the goddess herself.
Under the original schedule, the Two Thousand Guineas and the Kentucky Derby had overlapped perfectly. If the Kentucky Derby had not been delayed by that one week, Xingyun Liuge could never have attempted both the British and American Triple Crowns at once. She would have had to choose one or the other.
She had boldly declared in her post-UAE Derby interview that she intended to run both, and then, just like that, something happened that looked suspiciously like heaven itself had stepped in to smooth the path.
It was hard not to draw a connection.
Of course, that line of thought had truly taken off because of the breathtaking great chase she displayed in the Two Thousand Guineas. That was what made the rumor spread like wildfire.
In a way, the fans' fantasies had struck surprisingly close to the mark.
Xingyun Liuge really had used the power of Janna, the Storm's Fury, to control the weather and create the possibility of racing both sides.
And Janna was a goddess who protected a land.
So yes—one could absolutely call it the will of the goddess.
The problem was, that was how ordinary people thought.
The horse girls themselves did not think that way at all.
Instead, they were annoyed.
Yes, sure, that Xingyun Liuge girl was strong. But that was on UAE dirt and British turf. By what logic did that mean she could come to the dirt tracks of the United States and run roughshod over everyone here?
That had practically become the consensus among American horse girls.
"In other words, little Xingyun," Secretariat said, lowering her gaze as her magnetic voice gradually took on the stern weight of authority, "the opponents you face next will be a united front of horse girls determined to keep the glory of the Triple Crown in America."
"Young lady, this will be a bitter, grueling war. Have you prepared yourself for the resolve required to challenge all of American Tracen?"
As her words fell, Secretariat slowly let her pressure seep outward.
It was like a calm current—mild and harmless at first, deceptively gentle. But by the time the other person realized something was wrong, it might already have robbed them of their body heat, wrapped hidden undertows around their legs, and left them unable to move, right up until the moment they drowned.
And yet, aside from Secretariat herself, no one in the room felt any of that pressure.
Every last bit of it had been stopped by Xingyun Liuge.
The small silver-haired girl simply bared her teeth in a grin and said:
"Challenge all of American Tracen? Miss Secretariat, you've got it backwards. They're the challengers."
Secretariat froze.
Then, before she even realized it herself, the corner of her mouth curved upward.
In Xingyun Liuge, she thought she saw a reflection of her own younger self:
Strong. Confident. Sweeping forward with the force of an unstoppable tide.
But just as that thought crossed her mind, Xingyun Liuge added:
"No. I debuted successfully on the first try. I didn't need three attempts."
Secretariat blinked.
Then she laughed out loud.
"What a naughty little thing you are."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter116)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 118
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 111
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 80
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 112
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 95
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 89
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 53
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 61
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 65
Uma Musume: From Beginner 61
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 37
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