Why was a horse racing track necessary for the protection of wild horses?
Lord Leo laughed as he answered my question.
"Because city folks don't really know what a horse is. You can't ask people to protect a creature they’ve never even seen, right? So, it's about public relations. Besides, we’ll be using the revenue from the track to fund the conservation activities."
I see.
It was certainly true that the public wouldn't take an interest in the extinction of a creature they knew nothing about. If that was the case, the first step was making them recognize that these wild animals even existed.
Furthermore, it was difficult to gain public support through academic materials alone. This was an initiative to bridge that gap using entertainment, like racing. Lord Leo was clearly skilled at building these kinds of systems.
As I was admiring his foresight, Lady Riko leaned in to whisper in my ear.
"You shouldn't let him fool you. Leo-kun isn't actually thinking about anything."
"Eh?"
"He just instinctively grasps the right answer through his ESP, so we basically just leave him to his own devices."
I tilted my head, not quite understanding. It was true that many among the Galactic Empire People possessed ESP. I had been briefed beforehand that Lord Leo was a powerful esper even by their standards, but...
Surely that couldn’t be it. I assumed it was some sort of joke.
"You’ll get used to it eventually," Lady Riko said before moving to another seat.
I had failed. While I was busy overthinking, I had missed my chance to offer a proper reaction.
We Latarnians lacked a sense of humor. Our history—from the liberation of slaves and the construction of our nation to the wars against the Ogre, Zork—had always been stained with blood. We simply never had the luxury to develop a culture of levity.
Our children were gradually beginning to understand humor thanks to the influx of culture from the Galactic Empire, but it was still difficult for my generation. At most, I could just barely understand the folktales and anime depicting the childhood of a religious figure from the Empire that had recently arrived on our world.
About a month passed.
A message arrived from the Latarnian home world. At the time, I was busy preparing an incident report regarding the types of culture likely to migrate into Latarnia.
There was a high volume of sports and video content for children. Latarnians had a strong tendency to seek out educational material; the cultural belief that entertainment was a waste of time still ran deep. Therefore, sports were framed as training to discipline the body, and anime was preferred only if it deepened character education or multicultural understanding. Even looking at a drawing was felt to be a sin unless it fell under the pretext of "art."
In that sense, perhaps we Latarnians were still culturally immature. I was gradually coming to realize that.
Even so, the Galactic Empire was a civilization overflowing with entertainment. To provide the citizenry with such diversions in order to rule a vast empire... things like horse racing would likely cross our borders soon as well. Even in Latarnia, there was a need to protect animals with low economic value, including our own wild horses.
The Galactic Empire was a terrifying nation indeed.
I compiled my report and sent it off to Latarnia. It was a document devoid of state secrets, so I doubted it would be caught in censorship—not that I had heard of any censorship existing here.
Immediately after, an inquiry came from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was the Vice Minister for Chronos Affairs.
"First Lieutenant, what is this horse racing track mentioned here?"
In the workplace, I had requested to be treated as a First Lieutenant rather than the daughter of the King of Latarnia. It was rare for such a request to be honored, but this Vice Minister was one of the few who properly respected my rank.
"Sir, it is part of a measure aimed at wildlife conservation. I am told the objective is to promote awareness of wild animals to the general public through domesticated horses and to fund their protection."
"Hmm... I cannot grasp the concept from this alone. Is it gambling?"
"The stakes do not seem to be particularly high, but yes, it is gambling."
"I see... it may be dangerous to introduce such a thing to our country. I expect you to continue monitoring the King of Chronos's movements with focus."
"Yes, sir!"
I saluted, and the transmission cut out.
To tell the truth, there was one matter I hadn't been able to put into a report yet. Upon seeing the racetrack in Chronos, the Lepsitolians had come to a conclusion: they thought it looked like a highly profitable business venture.
A Lepsitolian semi-conglomerate had immediately submitted a business plan and constructed a stadium with extraordinary speed.
I went to the office to ask Lord Leo about it.
"Is horse racing truly that profitable of a business?"
"Not at all. That’s why we run it as a public enterprise," he replied.
"Is that so...?"
That seemed like a careless oversight for a Lepsitolian.
"However, when you look at the big picture—hosting local produce events, building a sightseeing ranch nearby for children's environmental education, and holding regional festivals—the overall benefits are massive."
"Are they truly used for so many different purposes?"
"Yeah. It’s a device to attract people. Ultimately, we balance the books across the entire region's economy. It’s the same principle as the railroads."
"I... I see."
"Claire is the expert on this sort of thing. I think it’d be easier to write your report if you just asked her," Lord Leo said with a smile.
"Lord Leo, do you not feel any sense of crisis regarding the fact that I am sending information back to Latarnia?"
"Not really. It’s all public information. Besides, we’re doing the same thing—estimating populations based on the volume of traded goods and calculating economic scales. It's mutual, isn't it?"
I swallowed hard, my throat tight with tension. As I thought, the King of Chronos was not a man to be underestimated.
"What do you intend to do about Lepsitol?"
"Nothing, really. I’ll basically leave them be. I just hope they involve Parcion or someone else. Regardless, for both of those countries, food safety is a much higher priority right now."
Currently, investigations into a large-scale food poisoning incident were being conducted in both Lepsitol and Parcion. The parasites involved were Ghoul-types, and the situation was being officially recognized as Zen God Race terrorism.
"I understand..."
I had heard that Lord Leo was reluctant to take the two nations under his wing, but it seemed he had no intention of abandoning them to their fate.
"What do you believe the Zen God Race's next move will be?"
"Total war, probably? They’ll be showing themselves soon."
"Eh?" A strange, startled sound escaped my throat.
"Report that to Latarnia for me."
"Eh? W-Wait a moment! How did you reach such a conclusion?"
"A hunch, I guess?"
"A... A hunch!?"
I froze for a moment. This was a catastrophe. Why had I been dispatched to Lord Leo’s side at a time like this? In this state of affairs, seducing him was absolutely impossible.
I had to report this to Latarnia immediately!
I gave a hasty bow, hurried out of the office, and ran toward my own workspace.