Published: February 1, 2026
Horses are fast.
In some country somewhere, there are apparently soldiers who tame monsters and ride on demonic birds, so it would naturally be slower than that—but still more than fast enough.
Horses pulling a carriage are much faster than walking and have better stamina, but if you’re in a hurry, nothing beats riding alone. You reach your destination several times faster than when you go by carriage—where you have to worry about overturning and cargo and end up only going at a fast walk at best.
So, after explaining this calmly, Lizel smiled in a soothing way.
“I’m thinking of going to the Demon Ore Nation (Kavana) on horseback.”
“What are you going to do if it rains…?!”
Judge, more desperate than Lizel himself, almost in tears as he protested, was quite the opponent.
“We can just get wet. It’s not a big deal…”
“Is this what you call overprotective? Or just wanting to dote too much?”
Thanks to the casual check Lizel slipped in during their emotional reunion a few days ago, they’d confirmed that he didn’t actually need to stay here in the Capital City (Parteda) in order to return to his original world.
So Lizel, who had been staying put because he’d judged that leaving the Capital City for too long might be bad, immediately decided to head for the Demon Ore Nation, a place he’d always wanted to visit.
However, five days one way by carriage was a bit long. And those five days assumed they would travel non‑stop like last time over a distance that would normally take about a week.
They had already experienced carriage travel last time, so this time, on something of a whim, he’d decided to try going by horse.
“I’ll provide a carriage…! I don’t really get it, but if there’s no longer any problem with going slowly, then…”
“Precisely because there’s no problem now, I thought we might as well experience a mounted journey at least once. Even if something unforeseen happens, we can just take it easy.”
“You’ve got a shop to run, don’t you.”
“I‑I’ll… manage… somehow.”
No, you won’t.
Maybe he himself realized how unreasonable that sounded, because he was groaning “uu, uu” as he desperately tried to think of a way.
As much as Lizel appreciated service industry spirit, he couldn’t help a wry smile at how excessively overflowing with it Judge was. He had no idea that this overflowing devotion was, so far, only ever being directed at Lizel.
Judge didn’t just happily hand over rare dungeon item weapons whenever anyone asked, nor did he run around serving people outside of business matters.
“Um, horses…”
“Eleven seems to have some, so we’ll borrow them.”
“Their legs are top‑class, y’know.”
Of course, they were horses he’d seized from somewhere back in his thief days, but that shouldn’t be a problem.
They had nerve, as one would expect from horses who’d lived alongside bandits. They would attack a moving carriage, gallop alongside it, fight while still mounted without flinching, and then bolt at full speed once they’d taken what they wanted.
Since the most important requirement was the ability to escape cleanly, they were fast and had good stamina—first‑rate horses, really. Buying horses like that would cost quite a fortune.
It seemed Eleven had recovered several of the horses he’d previously owned, and the elite members were still taking care of them as before.
Realizing that preparations were already complete, Judge gave a strangled “ugh” and swallowed hard.
If he kept opposing this now, he’d just be throwing a tantrum. It wasn’t that he wanted to trouble Lizel.
By the way, Stud—who had filed his report before coming to visit this shop—had, knowing full well that he was being selfish and that it would trouble Lizel, thrown the most magnificently flat, emotionless tantrum. He was very honest with himself.
Judge, who looked about to cry at any moment, finally nodded reluctantly. Lizel smiled helplessly and gently wiped away his tears.
Their only business here was to report their plans, and Lizel’s group were about to leave after having indulged Judge enough, when he sniffled and called out to them.