Slacking Off on Orders

"What's this?"

Early the next morning, Koichi received an email from Megumi Mitsumori.

"This is the information I collected especially for you. The eighteen horses entering the Spring Championship are pretty much confirmed now."

Sitting in her office, Megumi Mitsumori took a sip of coffee.

Although Koichi and Golden Masterpiece had won last time, neither of them was particularly popular for this race.

The favorite was still Deep Impact's offspring.

The second favorite, King Babylon, was a very strong front-runner.

The third favorite, Grand Boss, had already won three races.

"Thanks, but you really need to make sure you get enough rest."

Naturally, Koichi had heard about yesterday afternoon from Miku Kuchiki.

No matter what, health came first.

Ship might have been a little mischievous, but fortunately, there had been no major problems.

This time, he had left Miku two carrots he had drawn from the system.

Those were his ultimate weapons against Ship.

If Megumi Mitsumori collapsed, he really would have no way to find another trainer. Besides, trainers weren't people you could easily replace.

He was still very grateful for the information she had spent the night gathering about his opponents.

"Don't worry. I'm still young. Staying up a little late won't hurt me."

Megumi Mitsumori waved dismissively.

She had stayed up plenty of nights while preparing for her exams, and she was still perfectly healthy, wasn't she?

"Shouldn't you be heading to work?"

"There's no rush today. Golden Masterpiece is more or less taking the day off, too."

Koichi spread his hands.

Golden Masterpiece's main tasks today were getting his coat clipped, having new horseshoes fitted, and then doing a swimming session.

Naturally, all of that was preparation for the upcoming race.

So Koichi's job today was simply to accompany him and stop him from suddenly throwing a tantrum.

"So you get to openly slack off for another whole day?"

"It's called slacking off on orders."

Koichi huffed.

These were orders from above. How could she call it openly slacking off?

Aoe Ranch.

Koichi and Hitachi Yosuke stood on either side of Golden Masterpiece, each holding a lead rope.

Neigh-

Golden Masterpiece was in quite a good mood since he didn't have to work today.

He knew his daily route to work like the back of his hoof, and this definitely wasn't it.

But what exactly are we going out to do today?

"Koichi, sorry for the trouble today."

Hitachi Yosuke sounded a little embarrassed.

They were probably the first place to have a jockey bring a racehorse along to take care of these routine chores.

"It's fine. This is to keep Golden Masterpiece safe, after all. If anything happened, it wouldn't be good for any of us."

Koichi replied.

The closer they got to the race, the more careful they had to be.

Quite a few racehorses had been forced to withdraw because of injuries.

Besides the tasks he had mentioned, a veterinarian would also come today to check Golden Masterpiece's physical condition.

"We're here."

"They really are armored from head to toe..."

Koichi genuinely got a fright when he walked in.

Anyone who didn't know better might have thought they had entered a place for heavily armored warriors. All that protective gear really stood out.

"Heh, better safe than sorry."

Hitachi Yosuke was already quite used to the sight.

Racehorses wouldn't go easy on you with their hooves just because you were human.

"Fair enough. Let's get started, then."

The facilities here were similar to the bathing area, with concrete walls separating each stall.

All they needed to do was attach the two lead ropes in their hands to the wall.

A racehorse's coat might look short, but it was actually thick and dense, and exercise made them sweat heavily.

That was why they needed a bath after every workout.

Still, Koichi had to admit that Golden Masterpiece's muscles looked fantastic, brimming with explosive power.

Under the sunlight, he could even be said to gleam with gold.

No wonder Asho had so many female fans.

Although those female fans had also cursed him plenty, Koichi felt there was no need to pay them any mind.

He had barely visited that racing statistics website.

Neigh-

After a while, Golden Masterpiece tossed his head and neighed.

Can't these guys hurry up?

"Almost done, almost done. Don't move around, Asho."

Unlike Koichi, who sat off to one side watching, Hitachi Yosuke had to stay beside him the whole time.

After all, he was the person directly responsible for Golden Masterpiece.

Neigh-

Once his coat had been clipped, Golden Masterpiece shook himself.

The haircut really did leave him feeling much fresher.

So what's next?

After looking around, Hitachi Yosuke took out a comb and tidied up Asho's mane and tail.

He looked much better now.

"Koichi, let's go. On to the next stop."

Once he was finished, Hitachi Yosuke waved over at him.

Compared with before, Asho really had behaved much better this time. Bringing Koichi along had clearly helped.

After watching the tyrant leave, the two workers who had clipped his coat couldn't help breathing sighs of relief.

He actually hadn't thrown a tantrum this time.

It seemed the rumor around the ranch really was true. This Sasaki fellow truly was Golden Masterpiece's nemesis.

Next came changing Golden Masterpiece's horseshoes.

Naturally, the farrier this time was the same man who had changed Ship's shoes.

"You again, kid?"

"Long time no see, sir."

The sight of Golden Masterpiece gave the farrier a headache.

Every horse this Sasaki brought over was a handful.

Shoeing racehorses was much harder than clipping their coats. After all, their legs had to be lifted to change the shoes.

But now, he could only grit his teeth and get on with it.

Neigh-

Seeing the farrier approach, Golden Masterpiece immediately grew wary.

Is this two-legged creature up to no good?

Calming!

Koichi activated his skill, then patted Golden Masterpiece's foreleg.

Then he ran his hand all the way down it.

It really did feel nice to the touch.

Seeing Koichi take the initiative to help, the farrier breathed a sigh of relief.

What a good kid. He even knew to help an old man out.

"Good. Just keep it at that height."

Without hesitating, the farrier got to work as quickly as he could.

Golden Masterpiece was a regular here, too, so he already knew by heart which size of horseshoe to use.

Now it was a race against time.

Neigh-

Golden Masterpiece looked at Koichi, then at Hitachi Yosuke beside him.

Although the horseshoe was so hot that it was smoking, he really couldn't feel anything.

"Next one."

The farrier wiped away his sweat and spoke in a low voice.

"Okay."

Koichi moved to the other side.

His task was pretty simple. All he had to do was hold up Asho's hoof.

Of course, there was equipment underneath to help, so he didn't need to use much strength.

(End of chapter)