Surviving a Shounen Manga

Horse Market

The market at the port city of Nanma.

The narrow street was packed to the full, half with horses and half with people.

Whinny–!

Whinny–!

"Hey, not bad."

As soon as I entered the horse market, I thought that coming here had been a good idea, regardless of whether a divine beast could be found here or not.

Somehow, just looking at the lively scene made me feel refreshed.

The street was so filthy that I had to give up avoiding stepping on poop as I walked, and I got my face repeatedly slobbered on by the horses’ lolled out tongues as I passed by, but it felt good nonetheless.

To be honest, the life on the ship had been a bit tiring. Of course, there hadn’t been any lack of comfort once we got the VIP room, but it was just a tad boring.

The never-ending whinnies, the shouts from the traders, as well as the panicked screams of the startled onlookers. All these noises merged into a vivid sense of liveliness.

Although –

"Ugh, it smells… Big Brother, I’m sorry, but I think this is too much for me…"

"Eew… I must’ve taken the wrong path. I’ll go, too."

Some of us found it a bit excessive.

Chinuavi cried before even going through the market entrance, and Cocoa also shook her head so urgently she looked like she might cry if I asked her to come.

This was honestly unexpected.

They were basically young children, so I’d thought they’d love it. Like kids in a zoo.

‘I used to love going to the zoo when I was young… although there were other animals there, too, not just horses.’

There was only the wild princess who was loving it as much as me, or even more than me.

She had a real spring in her step.

"Can I walk around by myself!? There’s so much to see!"

She looked like she’d completely forgotten everything about the first prince and the Warrior’s Path.

"Are you joking? Who knows what might happen."

I’d actually been staying vigilant these last two days.

Everyone at the banquet must’ve thought that the princess had finally decided to get married.

Besides, she’d said it herself that she’d go to the imperial capital immediately, so there was a definite time limit for those aiming to assassinate her in order to wage war.

In other words, who knew when more enemies would come rushing in?

The fourth prince was a headache too, but even that bastard Tamar, the minister of the ‘warhawk faction’, might come forward this time, or a new assassination squad might be deployed by some other force that wanted to hinder friendly relations between the empire and the kingdom.

And lastly –

That fat and skinny pair of assassins.

When we’d been disembarking from the ship, they’d deliberately revealed themselves to stare at us. Indicating that their pursuit of us wasn’t over.

Of course, I didn’t know if they were being honest. It could’ve just been a pressuring tactic.

But still, I was truly somewhat concerned. The fact that the guys who’d once run away, had now reappeared, had to mean that they’d been busy preparing to face us.

"Alright, you stand here for now. And you too, Cocoa."

After restraining the princess from running wild, I glanced at her and Cocoa alternately.

In fact, it wasn’t easy to decide which one of them to prioritize.

What if the treasure mentioned by Cocoa was really a divine beast? Or what if I could really find some other treasure here and strike it rich? It was right to ask her to guide my path in that case. But if not, the princess who was an expert on horses would be more beneficial.

The answer came quickly.

"Let’s go over there for now. I think there are some other stuff there too."

"Anywhere is fine! Let’s go let’s go let’s go!"

"…"

I turned to the direction Cocoa was pointing.

It was just as she’d said.

That place was also full of traders selling horses, but they were also selling small animals. Puppies, piglets, monkeys, parrots, hawks…

"Are you here to play around? We’re here to pick horses."

"True enough. But you can ask the princess to pick those."

It made some sense.

"… What else is there?"

"Who knows. Let’s just go look at small and cute things instead of big, hairy ones."

"…"

Or she might’ve just been saying whatever came to mind.

Anyway, we started walking with Cocoa in the lead.

That was then.

"Ah, ugh! Hey, you fucking bastard!"

A swear word came from somewhere.

When I looked, I could see a commotion a little distance away.

"S-, someone help!"

"Danger!"

We headed there right away.

By this man screaming in surprise, stood a huge black horse that didn’t look like it was throwing much of a tantrum.

It was weird.

Obviously, the horse wasn’t going so wild as to make the merchant scream in surprise. It was just standing still and shaking its head, with rumbling snorts.

And yet, the reactions of the owner and the surroundings were strange. As if trying to get close and calm it down would be futile.

This probably pointed to the horse’s past history, and that it’d soon show the appearance of an uncontrollable tyrant.

And this –

‘… Is it that kind of a cliché?’

This had a different significance for me.

There could be no doubt. This was a great horse that even its owner couldn’t control. The setting had to be that it had tremendous power compared to other horses, but it also had a temper ferocious enough to match, one that nobody could tame.

I could feel it. This guy, wasn’t simple.

"Huhu… Then shall I try once?"

I took a step forward.

"Uh, will you be alright?"

The princess tried to follow with words of caution, but I stopped her with a raised hand.

Rather, the princess was more of a danger than anybody else. If not me, the princess would’ve run into this guy first. She was my most dangerous competitor in this match.

I slowly approached the horse.

The owner, the onlookers, and even the horses all around were looking at me.

"Y-, you…? It’s dangerous, so please back away…"

"It’s fine. Let me try him once."

Then, I looked straight into its eyes. It didn’t really look like a divine beast or anything. But it didn’t look like an ordinary horse either.

No ordinary horse could have such a hostile gaze.

Hmmm.

Now what?

In point of fact, I didn’t know much about horses. Forget about calming it down, I couldn’t even guarantee that I wouldn’t make it worse.

However, there was one point that I was confident in.

The hidden characteristic that came with my background as a [Southland National Park Zookeeper], ‘friendly with animals’.

It was probably this characteristic that made me able to understand how this guy was feeling.

I cautiously reached out towards it.

Maybe I should start with gently stroking the forehead, and then work my way down towards the mane?

That was then.

"D-, danger!"

"Huh?"

Whinny–!

Bang–.

"…"

After a moment of silence, I turned and looked at the horse trader standing next to me.

"A-, are you still alive?"

"…"

"I’m sorry, but I won’t pay your medical fees. Didn’t I tell you to step back!"

It was only then that I was able to accurately recognize the situation.

That damned horse hit the crown of my head with a hoof.

"…"

A drop of blood started trickling down my forehead.

"Sq-, Squatjaw! Blood! Blood!"

"Bi-, Big Brother, you’re bleeding…!"

"…"

There was absolutely no pain. It was just a very slight gash on the skin.

My body wasn’t weak enough to break just because I got hit once by a horse’s hoof. Hell, even this small wound wouldn’t have been possible if not for the immense power this horse boasted.

But nevertheless,

"This bastard son of a gun…"

I couldn’t let it go scot-free now, could I? I had to kick its ass at least a little.

But oddly enough, there was no more hostility in its eyes?

But what I saw in them instead was –

Whinny, whinny–!

Braying laughter.

It was openly laughing. After hitting me on the head, it still dared to laugh.

My anger was really boiling over.

"Yeah, let’s see how long you can laugh."

That was then.

"Good, aren’t you a good boy?"

"…?"

All of a sudden, the princess was holding it by the side and stroking its mane.

And the bastard just started purring with contentment.

And not just that,

"Wait, that woman is…"

"She’s taming that black demon!"

"Damn, she’s great!"

The reactions around them were unusual, too.

All of a sudden, the princess was taking up all the attention rather than me, who’d been beaten and thrown aside.

The reception she was getting was the very one I’d originally been aiming for.

…

Then,

"Come on, Squatjaw. Don’t cry, cheer up."

"Big Brother, I don’t think this is a good place for us. Let’s just finish up and get out of here, okay?"

Cocoa and Chinuavi came over to comfort and support me.

"… Alright, you guys pick one horse each. It looks like the princess has already chosen hers."

Well, I couldn’t do it in the end.

Actually, it wasn’t that unexpected.

There were some hidden traits that could never be strengthened unless certain conditions were met. Perhaps ‘friendly with animals’ was also the same. Anyway, just because my character’s ‘class’ had been raised, didn’t really ensure that my friendliness with animals would also go up, did it? Not when I hadn’t even interacted with any animals so far.

"Hoo…"

For some reason, I was craving Karl Zayed’s unique ability again. That could’ve strengthened all my various talents, including this one.

‘… There’ll come a time…’

After a while,

"Come see, I brought you some good guys."

The princess had picked out mounts for all of us, including her own (that guy).

They looked majestic even to us non-experts.

Of course, that cheeky bastard clinging to the princess looked the most arrogant.

And after that,

"Hehe… then how much do you think it all comes to?"

The horse trader who’d been following the princess rubbed his hands and asked.

At this, the princess glanced at me silently.

"What, money?"

"I’ll give it to you later when I go to the kingdom. Right now…"

Well, I knew that already. In the first place, it’d be stranger for a princess herself to carry hard cash.

So I talked to the merchant.

"You know that black horse hit my head, right? Shave it a little."

Then,

"Oh, you don’t need to pay for that guy. In fact, he was a troublemaker for us as well. I’m more than happy for you to just take him."

The merchant smiled and accepted gracefully.

"…"

Seriously, how cliché could this get?

"So how much will it all cost?"

"Eight million gold in total. It’s cheap."

Yes?

I didn’t know what the price a horse was originally, but it did indeed sound cheap.

Besides, looking at the princess’ wide eyes, it seemed that this really was a cheap price.

"Thank you. Come on, Cocoa, fork it over."

That was then.

"I don’t have the money."

"What?"

"No money. Not enough."

How could we lack money?

"How about you start making sense?"

"We have no money. My bag’s empty. That’s it."

"What’re you talking about? How much was in there… are you trying to rip me off again?!”

"No."

"Then how come? Where did you spend it all?"

"No, I’m sorry. Actually…"

Cocoa’s following explanation was really strange.

It happened at Firmino’s Neo Archive. When she took out the bazooka and fired it, her pouch took the price of the bazooka in return. No matter how much she searched afterwards, there was nothing left.

"But the Viking’s still in there. It was left behind."

"…"

What the hell was this nonsensical setting?

Her unique ability, her pocket, calculated the value of what was ‘to be given’ versus what it ‘already had inside’, and pocketed everything other than the difference?

"…"

It was an ability I’d had never seen in the original, so I couldn’t easily understand it. In fact, it was already strange that it could bring out ‘things that didn’t exist’.

Anyway, that didn’t matter right now.

"Er… um, so don’t you have any money?"

The merchant had stopped smiling.

"Oh, it’s not that. I just don’t have cash on hand right now. Wait a bit. I’ll go get your money right away."

Telling Cocoa and the princess to wait there for a while, I called for Chinuavi.

"Let’s go."

"Yes? Where…"

"Where would we go if wanted to make some money?"

"… Money? Where?"

"Where do you think?"

There were so many horses here, so wouldn’t they have a racetrack?

"It’s been a while since you last made a bet, hasn’t it?"

Chinuavi started burning with excitement before I could even finish my sentence.

"Nice!"

"Got it? Let’s see which of us wins more money."

"What’s the deadline?"

"Since we don’t have much time… let’s say, thirty minutes. Earn as much as you can in that time. Let’s not bet on the same races, though."

"Great. I won’t lose this time!"

"Oh? Let’s play for keeps, then. The winner gets one wish."

"Sure!"

Chinuavi ran, and I mimicked an unique ability.

[Probability Adjuster Who Hates Fairness].

"Hey there. It’s been a while."

The little squat-jawed fairy whom I hadn’t seen in a while, still had a gloomy expression on her face.

"You again? I’m sorry, but that ugly face of yours does nothing for me."

"Can’t you take a look inside me? As you know, I’m actually a handsome boy."

"Heh, that’s not even funny."

She still sedately flew towards me while spewing vitriol. Maybe because we’d already met before, there was a sense of familiarity.

Then, with a relaxed mind, I checked the race schedule.

There was a race starting in five minutes. The next one was fifteen minutes from now, and the next, ten minutes after that.

"Alright."

Of course, I didn’t intend to participate in all three. Just one would be enough. To sweep away all the money from the racetrack.

"Will you do me just one favour?"

"You aren’t too greedy, huh, ugly fellow? What is it?"

I smiled at her.

"It’s not something big…"

I could mimic the abilities from everybody in the current hero party, but I didn’t have the same level of proficiency as them. Even if my skill was ranked higher.

However, Siana’s ability was different. I was confident that I could use this ability better than her, at least in some ways.

The reason was simple. I already knew about the ‘essence’ of this ability, unlike the current Siana.

The ability called the [Probability Adjuster Who Hates Fairness] isn’t just about adjusting the odds to win in a game.

The most cheaty part of this ability lies in how it can control the overall situation – the gameboard itself.

I pointed towards the billboard in the distance.

"Can you see that last race on there?"

"Yeah."

"What’s the probability that one of the horses suddenly gets replaced twenty minutes before the race starts?"

"Huh? Are you saying you want to change it?"

Then, I pointed to a horse that was passing the finish line on the track around that time.

"And what’re the odds that the horse coming in as a replacement is such an old, sick, and weak horse?"

"Well, the odds won’t be that high. Right now."

"Then what’s the chance that such a horse will compete and win in the end?"

It was then that the fairy seemed to understand everything I was saying.

"You’re asking too much, you ugly fellow! You’re being greedy!"

"Can you do it?"

"Of course!"

Fortunately, she didn’t say that she didn’t like it or that she couldn’t.

The most important part in ‘situation adjustment’ was whether or not it was actually feasible to adjust the situation in a certain way.

Of course, I didn’t know exactly how this feasibility was calculated.

However, what I understood from reading the original was that as long as the adjustment wasn’t beyond my ability, I could make it happen.

Now all that remained was to wait.

"There’re twenty minutes left, what to do?"

I considered just sitting down and leisurely watching the races, but then decided to look around a bit more. As long as I covered my nose to block out the smell, it was a spectacular place to visit.

And maybe… I could even discover the ‘treasure’ that Cocoa had spoken of.

After about five minutes of looking around…

Suddenly, a bright light shone to the right, at the corner of my field of vision.

‘What is it?’

I naturally turned my head, and found ‘it’ there.

A pure white bird.

Imprisoned in a small cage, head drooped down, but the sense of pathos that emanated from it only seemed to accentuate that dazzling and splendid form.

I could feel it the moment I saw it.

Divinity.

Editor’s Notes:

None for this chapter.