“Stop! Ahh!”

[Dash] Thump!

Latifa Glaesia, running quickly even with her injured leg, finally tripped and rolled forward.

Seeing Latifa suddenly appear, Hades Caleb Ignite put down the sword he had raised high and quickly caught her rolling body.

“Ouch….”

“Latifa?”

At Hades’s bewildered words, Latifa, regaining her senses, hurriedly approached the horse lying prostrate. The horse seemed to have no energy left to scream, panting with rough breaths.

Latifa hurriedly put her hand on the horse’s head and gently stroked it. And in her mind, she reassured and asked the horse.

‘Now it’s okay. Who do you want to see? Can you tell me?’

Looking at the gray horse wriggling and flashing white eyes, Hades grabbed Latifa’s shoulder.

“That’s a mad horse. Step aside.”

“It’s not mad. It’s just excited!”

“Do you think I can’t tell the difference between a horse being excited and being mad?”

Hades spat out the words as if a little pride had been hurt, but Latifa did not hear it. She was concentrating on the horse, trying to summon a silver spirit.

‘Ah…., please. If you don’t show up, you’ll die.’

Whether the desperate prayer worked, a spirit soon sprouted thinly from the head of the gray horse.

[I miss my sibling. They took my sibling away. Please find them.]

Tears were gathering in the horse’s eyes.

‘Okay, I’ll find them for you! Who is your sibling? What do they look like?’

[They are black and white. There’s a white spot on their face. They have black fur. I miss them.]

“Black and white? A white spot……? Black fur?”

Latifa murmured the words passed on by the gray horse.

‘I’ll find them for you. So, can you stay calm? The people are upset because you’ve been destroying things everywhere.’

[The humans, they took, my sibling first.]

‘I’m sorry. They must have done it without knowing it was your sibling. I’ll make sure to find them.’

[Will you bring them back?]

‘Yes. I’ll bring your sibling back.’

Latifa gently stroked the horse’s head. The gray horse seemed to respond to her touch by purring. To others, it would appear as if Latifa simply stroked the horse once and it calmed down.

“Who is that Imperial woman?”

“That’s the woman that General Hades keeps around.”

“The mad horse is calming down.”

Soldiers muttered around.

[Dash] Neigh.

The gray horse, which had been frantically running around just moments before, began to make a very gentle crying sound. Its rough breath seemed to have calmed down significantly.

“There, you’re good.”

Only after the horse calmed down did Latifa slowly get up and speak to Hades.

“You were wrong. It’s not mad. It’s just excited.”

“…….”

“Please release it.”

Hades looked at her silently and then gestured to the soldiers. It was a gesture to release the rope.

“Um, is it really okay to release it?”

“Release it. It doesn’t seem to have the energy to run anymore.”

With Hades’s words, the rope restraining the horse was released. The horse snorted a little as if it was annoyed, then slowly got up, staggering. Then it began to push Latifa’s back as if urging her.

“If it’s not mad, what’s it excited about?”

When Hades asked Latifa, she shrugged her shoulders and answered.

“I don’t know.”

That was a secret only she had to keep.

[Star Icon][Star Icon]

“Black fur with white fur. There’s a spot on the face.”

After finally calming the horse, Latifa went to find the soldier who had taken care of the gray horse.

“Was there a horse that was moved from the same stable as the horse that was running wild earlier?”

The soldier seemed briefly surprised that Latifa could speak the desert language. But then he shook his head firmly and drove her away.
“It’s a kind of military secret. I can’t tell you.”

It was an unexpected predicament.

“Go back!”

The soldier almost roughly gestured, then returned to the horse pen.

“Ah. I guess I’ll have to go around all the barracks…….”

Despairingly, he alternately looked at his injured leg and the scroll that Hades had handed over.

There’s a mountain of work to do. But as someone said, you reap what you sow.

‘I shouldn’t have volunteered.’

He took a deep breath and was about to turn back when someone tapped on Latifa’s shoulder.

“Hmm?”

Turning around, it was the soldier from earlier. Seeing that Latifa was still there, it seemed like he had come to say something more.

But where had his intimidating demeanor from earlier gone? He now seemed a bit scared. Upon closer inspection, there was even cold sweat on his forehead.

“I thought you were about to go.”

“No, I mean, um, I’ll tell you.”

“What?”

He wasn’t looking at her but kept glancing sideways and stuttering. Seeing him tremble as if he had committed a crime, she reached out to him, and the soldier retreated in surprise.

“I’ll, um, tell. I’ll tell!”

“Really?!”

“Yes! No, um, yes……yes? I mean, here’s the list.”

‘He’s not crazy, is he?’

“I, no, I’m kind in my own way? Isn’t that right?! I often get misunderstood because I look fierce!”

Latifa, taking the list from the scared soldier, nodded and stepped far away.

‘You should stay away from crazy people.’