My name is Brownie.
I was born in the city of Audrit, grew up healthy, and was sold for a high price—a sturdy horse.
From birth I was told that if you meet a good master you can live nobly all your life, but if not, you’ll spend every day hauling heavy loads or being dragged from battlefield to battlefield, living a hard life.
What kind of person will my master be?
With half excitement and half fear, I followed my new master.
But what the—?
As soon as the person who bought me arrived in some backwater village, they dumped me on the street and left.
I was so dumbfounded I didn’t even think to follow.
In the end, the next morning, an old man passing by picked me up and took me to a forest at the edge of the village.
There was a beautiful lake there, and an old, shabby stable, and a few other horses.
For someone as magnificent as me to be living in such a worn-out stable—unbelievable.
I was mad, but the feed was tasty, so I decided to let it slide.
I was living a peaceful life doing absolutely nothing when I heard a rumor that two humans had come to the lake.
Excited, I galloped to the lake and lingered there.
But I didn’t see any humans.
Too bad, but what can you do.
Just as I was about to head back, that so-called owner—the one who’d dumped me in this village—showed up.
I was debating whether to go closer when the human wiped out the entire lake.
It wasn’t that there was an explosion, or that the water went whoosh and drained away.
It just went pop and vanished in an instant.
How on earth did they do that?
It was astonishing.
Scary, too, so I decided I would not go near that human, at least.
I met the other human some time after that.
He came looking for the place where I was.
He was, truly, the most beautiful living creature in the world.
Hiiiiiing—!
Overwhelmed by his beauty, I let out a mighty whinny.
Maybe thanks to that, I caught the human’s eye and was chosen.
He gave me the name Brownie.
Until then I’d just been “horse,” but now I had a cool name.
We were different species, but if this human could sire foals that looked just like me, that would be wonderful. (T/N: Lmao whut)
Maybe that’s not possible because we’re different species?
Before that, pretty sure it’s impossible because we’re both male.
Anyway, I set off on the road with the human.
He was heading to my hometown, the city of Audrit.
Hiiiiiing!
I know the road! Leave it to me!
That’s what I neighed, but I don’t know if he understood.
Whenever I showed signs of getting tired, he stroked me with his white, pretty hand.
I was thrilled.
But I had a lurking fear that once we reached our destination, I might be abandoned. Just like that rotten human who had left me in the sticks!
What do I do?
I didn’t want to part from the human.
So I came up with a way to stay with him as long as possible.
Get lost on purpose!
The kind human had left everything about the journey up to me.
I boldly headed for roads I’d never seen in my life.
If there was a winding or complicated path, I chose it without hesitation.
The human cheered me on, not even knowing we were lost.
I was happy.
No matter how much you circle around, every road has an end.
We eventually arrived in Audrit.
It was a shame, but nothing to be done.
I tried to convey my feelings so the human wouldn’t abandon me.
Target: his snout! Here I go!
Failed!
I managed to bump my head against him, but all I did was rub at him a bit.
What a pity.
A human’s snout is short, so it’s hard to aim.
Too bad, I’ll try again next time.
But unfortunately, there was no next time.
The human sold me to some other bum.
Hiiiiiing…
Human.
How could a human do this to me.
We were so happy together.
Hiiiing…
My new owner jerk gave me feed, but I had no appetite.
I was lonely.
Then someone came to see that jerk.
My former owner jerk.
The one who had dumped me in the sticks! The very human who destroyed the lake!
The former owner jerk gave my current owner jerk a hard time.
From the conversation, it sounded like my current owner jerk had realized the beautiful human didn’t understand the value of money and had swindled him big-time.
Current owner jerk, how dare you cheat the human who spent a night with me? (We did spend the whole night getting lost together, so it’s not exactly a lie.)
He deserved a scolding.
Gasp. I made eye contact with the former owner jerk.
He came toward me.
No way… no way, is he going to take me back?
Back to the beautiful human’s side?
With my eyes shining, I stared at the former owner jerk.
“To think you hugged something as worthless as this nag.”
For the first time in my life, I felt killing intent.
My body trembled; my knees went weak.
P–please spare me.
I wanted to speak, but no voice came out.
I’m a horse, and I couldn’t talk!
The former owner jerk didn’t harm me and left.
I–I think he was frightened by my… my magnificent physique and ran away… I think. Whew.
I decided to give up on the beautiful human.
❖ ❖ ❖
Late at night, Reinhild was fast asleep, unaware the inn door had opened.
The one who opened the door and entered was Xion.
Xion cautiously approached and checked Reinhild’s condition.
His body was in a bad way from the sudden use of mana.
It wasn’t critical, but to help his recovery, Xion took his hand and poured mana into him.
“Mm, ngh… Xiooon.”
Perhaps sensing Xion’s presence even in sleep, Reinhild rolled toward him.
Xion held back the urge to pull him close and kiss him all over.
Poor Reinhild.
So soon after being separated from Xion, he’d had to endure the pain of parting with a precious horse.
Unavoidable as it was, it must have hurt so much.
That fact was deeply displeasing to Xion.
‘Rein is heartsick for something that isn’t me.’
That he left Xion and hurt—that was fine.
But Xion didn’t want to see Reinhild sorrowing over being parted from some horse.
If Reinhild missed someone, it had to be Xion alone.
He must not, could not, long for anyone or anything else.
Xion had the ability to return Brownie to Reinhild’s side, but he didn’t. He could not allow something Reinhild might come to treasure to be brought into Root.
‘What’s this?’
Reinhild was clutching something.
A book.
Xion carefully pried it from his arms and checked it.
[Author: Neria]
“…Pointless nonsense.”
Xion tightened his grip, and the book crumbled into dust.
Reinhild’s body, whose mana had been flickering unstably, soon calmed.
Xion gently kissed Reinhild’s forehead in greeting.
“Sleep well, Rein.”
Leaving behind a private promise to meet again tomorrow, Xion quietly left the inn.
❖ ❖ ❖
“Great sleep—!”
Last night, Reinhild had a very happy dream.
It was a dream in which he and Xion went to teach a lesson to the wicked hero who’d tormented him 500 years ago.
‘Even in a dream, it feels so good to see the hero flustered!’
But what did the hero look like again?
He’d just seen him in his dream and still couldn’t remember.
Whatever.
Right now, getting back to Xion was far more important than the face of some hero.
‘First, I should check whether I can even get out of the city…’
Reinhild stood up, mentally listing the things he had to do one by one.
From here to Root was a 24-hour journey even on horseback. Walking without a horse would clearly be a long trek, so he needed to prepare well.
First, pack up…
Pack…
“…Huh?”
Reinhild patted around on the bedding.
“Where’s my book?”
The book he’d brought from Root was gone.
He lifted the covers, searched the gap in the bedframe and under the pillow—everywhere—but there was no sign of the book.
‘Don’t tell me I lost it?’
No way.
He was sure he’d fallen asleep hugging the book while thinking of Xion.
Even if his memories from 500 years ago had gotten patchy, he wasn’t some absentminded Demon King who’d forget what happened just the day before.
‘Did someone sneak in at night and take it?’
That made more sense than the book opening the inn door at midnight and walking off on its own.
Reinhild rushed straight downstairs and confronted the innkeeper.
“Did anyone happen to go into my room in the middle of the night?”
“There was no such incident.”
“How can you know that without even asking which room I’m in?”
“Which room are you in?”
“204.”
“There was no such incident. However, checkout time has passed.”
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, the sun was already high overhead.
He thought living in Root had gotten him used to getting up early, but this wasn’t the kind of thing that could be brushed off as being tired from a grueling 24-plus hours.
Without Xion, it felt like he’d go right back to the very regimented life he’d led 500 years ago.
‘I really do have to go back to Xion.’
Forcing the conclusion together, Reinhild said to the innkeeper,
“I heard breakfast is included with the room.”
“Breakfast is not provided if you miss the meal time.”
“You can’t be serious!”
“And since checkout time has passed, there’s a one–silver additional charge.”
“…”
In half a day, Reinhild was back to being penniless.
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