It was summer.
I was out delivering watermelons to the horses in the ranch area. Personally, I preferred my watermelon chilled, but the horses seemed to like theirs at room temperature. Because of that, I placed the melons I’d brought straight from the fields right in front of them. Since horses eat them rind and all, there was no need to slice them up.
A few other horses gathered around. I had only carried two melons myself, but since Zabuton's children were helping me, there were plenty to go around. I told them not to fight over the food.
"Zabuton's children, thank you for the help."
Kuro and Yuki had their hands full just trying to roll the melons along, but I appreciated the sentiment.
"Thank you, both of you."
I took a moment to count the horses as they ate. There were fifteen in all. Two of them were unicorns. A few foals were born every year, but the reason the herd never seemed to grow much was that I had been moving some of them to the ranch in Village Five. I had thought it would be fine to keep them all in the ranch area forever, but apparently, keeping the same group in one place for too long leads to inbreeding, which isn't good. Therefore, while some left, new horses arrived to take their place.
That said, the stallion who first arrived at the village and his partner, the mare, never moved from the ranch area. They were the masters of this place, and that status was respected. The beastman girls managed the horses, and it looked like quite a lot of work.
...Wait.
I had been told there were fifteen horses and unicorns in total, but something felt off. I did another head count.
There were sixteen.
Had I miscounted? Or had another wild unicorn wandered in?
I was wrong on both counts. There was one that was clearly different from the rest. It looked like a horse, but it had fairly large wings growing from its back. It was a Pegasus.
The Pegasus didn't seem to care that I was staring; it was far too absorbed in its watermelon. I didn't mind it eating, but I hoped it wouldn't start ravaging the fields. I was told that the other horses had already taught it the rules, so it should be fine. I see. Maybe that was why its body and wings looked so dusty. It wasn't injured, though, so that was good.
All that was left was to report this to the beastman girls managing the ranch area.
A Pegasus—a horse that flies through the sky. They flapped their wings when they took off, but apparently, they didn't actually fly using them. Their flight speed was roughly the same as a horse galloping on the ground. The altitude they could reach varied by individual, but it was generally around twenty meters. They could run normally, but the wings on their backs got in the way, making them slower than a regular horse. Unlike the Angel race, they couldn't retract their wings.
Since they were mainly bred in human kingdoms, they were a rare sight in the Demon Kingdom. Consequently, a crowd of spectators soon arrived.
"So that is a Pegasus," the Civil Official Girls remarked.
They started chatting excitedly about where they had seen one before or how they had been used by the enemy. It was fine for them to be interested, but I had to tell them not to wander around in their swimsuits and sent them back to the pool.
The elves arrived next.
"I wonder what it tastes like?" one mused.
It was a frank observation, but I asked them to stop saying such things where the Pegasus could hear. The poor thing was terrified. I also told the elves that they shouldn't be wandering around in swimsuits, either.
After them came the High Ogre maids.
"I wonder if it can be ridden?" they asked.
That was a good question. Lu was the one who provided the answer.
"In human kingdoms, there are units called Pegasus Knights," she explained. "However, pegasuses aren't particularly strong and they lack stamina, so they're mostly used for show during ceremonies. Seeing one here in the Demon Kingdom territory is rare. I wonder if it was captured from a human kingdom?"
Now that she mentioned it, I wondered where it had come from. Had it flown over the Forest of Death to get here?
No, that wasn't it. As it turned out, it had come here mixed in with a shipment of horses from Village Five. In the records kept by Futa, who managed the teleportation gate, there was an entry for "one Pegasus."
When I asked for details from Village Five, a letter of apology arrived from the ranch manager there. To summarize the letter: "Since such a rare horse must surely belong to the Village Head, I sent it over."
So that was how it happened. I understood the reasoning, but I just wished ninety percent of the letter wasn't a groveling apology. It made it hard to read. Am I really that intimidating? I wouldn't get angry over something like that.
I knew the route the Pegasus had taken, but I still didn't know who the original owner was. If a wild Pegasus had simply wandered into the herd at Village Five, there wouldn't be any issues, but it would be a hassle if it belonged to some merchant or noble. I asked Yoko to look into it.
A report arrived about three days later. It seemed one of the pegasuses imported to Shashato City had escaped and gone missing. Based on the color and markings, the one in our village was the escapee.
The Pegasus had been imported by the Goroun Company, so I was about to contact them when Michael-san arrived at Village Five with the rest of the pegasuses in tow. There were six in total. They were intended to be sold to the nobility of the Demon Kingdom, but since the buyers hadn't been finalized yet, I purchased the whole lot, including the one that had arrived first.
The children had taken a huge liking to them and were already fighting over who got to ride. They loved the idea of flying. Since it was dangerous to let the children ride alone, the beastman girls rode with them. However, just as Lu had said, pegasuses tired easily and couldn't fly for long, so the kids weren't getting their turns as quickly as they wanted. Voices calling for more pegasuses were growing louder, so the timing of the purchase was perfect.
Naturally, I wanted to take a turn riding one as well. But every time I tried, the horses, the centaurs, and the angels all got sulky. The angels in particular were quite possessive, feeling that carrying me through the sky was their unique duty. Because of that, I still hadn't managed to take a flight.