On the day of Orfevre's debut race, Fujiwara Chiya brought his uma musume to the racecourse.
A sixteen-hundred-metre maiden race.
And as expected, Orfevre was the overwhelming favourite.
From the moment she first entered the academy, Orfevre had already shown frightening potential. Under Fujiwara Chiya's training, her strength had only grown faster and faster. Sure, her mouth was always sharp enough to draw blood, but when he told her to do something, she would obediently do it in the end.
And whenever Orfevre started acting up, Fujiwara Chiya only had to say one thing.
"At this rate, you won't even be able to beat me."
The moment she heard those words, Orfevre would throw herself into training with two hundred percent intensity.
Of course, that only worked because it was Fujiwara Chiya.
He had the physical ability of an uma musume, and on top of that, he had already beaten Orfevre once. If it had been any other trainer, they would have had no idea how to handle her.
And Fujiwara Chiya had not betrayed Orfevre's expectations either.
The training plan he arranged for her was something he had learned from Europe. For Japanese uma musume, it might have been difficult to adapt to, but Orfevre fit into it perfectly. Not only that, she even demanded that he increase the training load.
She was still only in the early stages of her true growth period, yet Orfevre had already reached the same training intensity Shirayuki had gone through during her Classic year.
Her body was like a sponge, greedily absorbing every drop of nourishment.
While Fujiwara Chiya was astonished by her strength, he was also a little worried. Would such a heavy training load place too much burden on Orfevre's body?
Too much of anything could backfire. With her body developing this quickly, there was always the risk of a backlash.
When he had time, Fujiwara Chiya planned to help Orfevre ease that pressure.
But for now…
He should focus on watching her race.
"Popularity rank number one, Orfevre!"
Following the announcer's voice, Orfevre stepped onto the stage.
She held her head high and raised one arm.
"Sing praises to my greatness! Your conqueror now descends upon this land!"
From afar, Orfevre glanced toward Fujiwara Chiya. Her face was full of arrogance.
Fujiwara Chiya gave her a thumbs-up.
The girl's lips curled upward.
Looks like Orfevre's in good condition.
Before the race, Fujiwara Chiya had done some light research into Orfevre's opponents.
Among them, the one with talent comparable to hers was an uma musume named Whale Capture. She had also shown excellent results during the entrance ceremony.
Her trainer was also an acquaintance of Fujiwara Chiya's.
They were not exactly friends, but the other trainer had attended the meeting Fujiwara Chiya held before and had decided to help him further improve the training plan.
Because of that, Whale Capture posed the greatest threat.
Fujiwara Chiya had told Orfevre to keep an eye on her during the race.
Whether Orfevre had actually listened was another matter entirely.
Probably not.
Before the race, Orfevre had said about ten thousand times, "I am about to race. Trainer, watch my glorious figure carefully."
That alone was enough to show how excited she was. No way had she properly taken in his instructions.
Most likely, the moment the gate opened, Orfevre would go full throttle.
As if proving Fujiwara Chiya's prediction correct, once preparations were complete and the uma musume entered the gates, Orfevre bent low and took a full sprinting stance.
Clang!
The gates opened.
A golden figure shot forward like a blade breaking through the wind. In the blink of an eye, she had already pulled a full length ahead of the others.
"What an incredible start! It's Orfevre! Orfevre takes the lead!"
"Pathetic!"
Originally, Orfevre had been planning to push even harder.
Trainer had told her that fifty percent of her strength would be enough.
She had used seventy percent.
If she wanted, she could have opened a two-length gap over everyone else right from the start.
These people can't compare to Trainer at all!
Because Orfevre did not want to train with the Empress, Fujiwara Chiya often demonstrated personally during training. He taught her how to accelerate, how to sprint, and the two of them would frequently race each other.
Orfevre was often left behind by Fujiwara Chiya.
Again and again. More than a hundred times.
And Orfevre had not won even once.
That had been a tremendous blow to her pride.
She was the conqueror who would reign over the turf, yet she could not even defeat her own trainer.
Because of that, Orfevre trained even more desperately.
But when she finally looked back, she realised that the people who had once been capable of putting up a fight against her had already been left far, far behind.
Looking at those uma musume whose sprints lacked power, Orfevre's lips curved upward.
Is this all?
Then I suppose I'll accelerate!
Thud!
At that very moment, a blue figure charged up from behind.
She carried enough momentum to stand toe-to-toe with Orfevre.
Heh! Interesting!
Now this is a race!
If you all just obediently waited to be crushed by me, that would be far too boring!
Come then! Struggle with everything you have!
Only then will I have the motivation to trample you beneath my feet!
"I told her to run as a Pace Chaser. Why is she running with the Front Runners?" Fujiwara Chiya muttered as he watched Orfevre.
Well, whatever.
If she wanted to run up front, then so be it.
Front Runners were the major trend right now anyway. They might not be as dominant overseas, but domestically, they were absolutely the current meta.
For that reason, Fujiwara Chiya had also arranged plenty of stamina training for Orfevre.
"The race has reached the third corner! Orfevre is still in the lead, with Whale Capture close behind!"
"Uwah, Orfevre still looks like she's got plenty left in the tank."
Gold Ship twisted a Rubik's Cube in her hands. After glancing at the track, she made that casual comment.
"You can tell?"
"Isn't it obvious? Her stride's getting steadier, and she can still push faster."
"...I've been suspicious for a while now, Gold Ship. Have you been pretending to be a fool while hiding your real strength? You mess around all day like you don't have a serious bone in your body, but you're actually strong, aren't you?"
"Uwah, Trainer actually saw through me."
Gold Ship instantly solved the Rubik's Cube in her hand.
Then she stepped onto the railing and pointed at herself with her thumb.
"That's right! I, the great Gold Ship-sama, am the true overlord of the world! I merely love peace too much to unleash my charm and drive everyone completely insane! That's why people call me the Ambassador of Peace!"
There she goes again.
Gold Ship's no-filter mode.
"If you're really that amazing, why don't you challenge the Arc with me?"
"Sure."
Her answer made Fujiwara Chiya freeze.
"If Trainer wants me to prove myself, then I, the great Gold Ship-sama, can put in a tiny bit of effort and win the Arc. Not impossible, y'know?"
"Are you serious...?"
Fujiwara Chiya had been worrying about not being able to find the last runner for the Arc.
"Don't you dare lie to me. If I register you and you refuse to go, I swear I'll make you regret it."
"I, the great Gold Ship-sama, never go back on my word!"
Fujiwara Chiya remained half-convinced and half-doubtful.
But since she had said that much, he decided he might as well try.
Maybe Gold Ship really was some hidden final boss.
"Across the finish line!"
In the end, Whale Capture lost the head-to-head battle against Orfevre.
With physical ability no one else could match, Orfevre crossed the finish line with a massive three-length lead.
She waved arrogantly at the crowd, then looked toward Fujiwara Chiya.
The smug expression on her face seemed to say, I was amazing, wasn't I?
Looks like I've raised another ridiculous uma musume.
And another rival too.
Fujiwara Chiya applauded while thinking exactly that.