chapter 58: The Upper Body is Human, the Lower Body is Horse (03)

  We decided to follow the taur girl to her vilge and help out.

  "Yes, as knights, we must help a vilge uhreat!"

  Dane said this with knightly nobility, and I was realistically thinking about getting horses for this poor fellow by raiding the taur bandits, obtaining information about the bandits and support by visiting the vilge.

  'Normally, it would be safer to raid bandits with additional knights for support...'

  But then we wouldn't be able to carry out our pn to absd with the horses that the taur bandits have secured, so we didn't call for other knights or soldiers. We would defeat the bandits on our own and take the horses from the ranch they were holding to ride back.

  If other knights got involved in the meantime, we'd probably end up returning the horses to the rand maybe get a small reward. But as everyone knows, the reward given to a knight is so minimal, it's hardly enough to buy a drink, so legally acquiring horses was out of the question.

  "You put the luggage on my back."

  "No, how we burden such a delicate body?"

  "Then take this."

  "This little one?"

  Dane gred at me, but holy, wasn't it stupid to walk beside a horse and carry the luggage ourselves?

  We handed over the food as we were carrying to the taur girl, who then strapped them to her horse lower body and followed us slowly.

  'Something bothers me...'

  Why cover up front and back?

  The e between the human body and horse's neck was covered with cloth, and the rear was naturally covered by a tail.

  Even trying not to focus, the swaying tail iably drew the eye, and fortunately, she wore a sort of skirt over the horse's tail part, preventing any exposure.

  'Uhat skirt... probably no underwear, right?'

  Given the plex structure of a taur's lower body, it's uhey wear underwear like humans; perhaps the skirt serves that purpose...

  As the skirt fluttered with each swish of the tail, it was hard not to be distracted.

  "There are lots of beautiful sisters in our vilge, so you look forward to it!"

  "Oh?!"

  Hearing this, Dane and I instinctively excimed in amazement.

  A beautiful taur...? Not bad, right?

  If you think about it, they are literally a fusion of horse and human, akin to the ultimate goal of a knight.

  In fact, there's even a hypothesis that the birth of human cavalry was inspired by taurs, suggesting that humans tamed horses and developed saddles and stirrups to improve mobility, makiaurs an ideal species for knights.

  "We're currently on the move, but the pce we agreed to meet today is..."

  As we observed the stars rising in the sky to find our bearings, she navigated by the steltions, typical of a pins-dwelling species, guiding us to the vilge...

  "Wow! It's huge!"

  I excimed without realizing he it was.

  The tents used by taurs were signifitly rger thahose used by knights.

  And the taurs wandering among them were naturally about the size of mounted knights, so we had to look up to them as four taur women ran up to greet us.

  'Wow... those are huge?'

  Their breasts were se they could be seen through the long embroidered cloths they used to cover themselves, almost as big as Dane's head.

  The taur maidens, adorned with fshy jewelry and covered in embroidered cloths, stood by our side like escorts and started to watch us, and Dane and I were just as surprised.

  'This taur girl who is about the height of a human really is small...'

  The backside of one of the taur maidens swayed right in front of my eyes, her horse's vulva fluttering into view at eye level...

  "Ahem!"

  The taur girl had her private area covered with her tail at a height, but the maidens were funting their rears at us, swishing their tails not just naturally but as if teasing, seemingly trying to allure us.

  'I'm not sure if this is sedu, but... it just looks like a part of a horse, so it's not really arousing...'

  "Uh... ugh..."

  ...It seemed to be quite the sight for Dane.

  With Dane awkwardly moving ag him pathetically, we were led by the taur maidens to the house of the vilge leader.

  "Wele. You must be tired from the journey."

  Fortunately, uhe previous elder, this vilge leader was an elderly taur with a human upper body.

  "Are you knights?"

  "Yes. For now..."

  "Tsk, tsk, to e here directly even though the fee wouldn't even cover a snack. You knights are truly overflowing with justice."

  We hadn't received a penny, but let's not mention that.

  Revealing they have been scammed would ruiire humaation.

  'You know?'

  I gestured to Dane, who then shut his mouth and stood quietly behind me.

  It was better not to speak up and cause further issues, so I decided to speak on our behalf, and if necessary, we would unicate with coded sign nguage.

  "In other vilges, they may have fotteraditions, but we still hold on to ours. We will treat you thhly as guests, so feel free to stay."

  "Thank you. I'd like to hear about the bandits."

  "They haven't attacked our vilge for a while. They must be fog all their efforts on raiding human ranches and stealing horses."

  "Hmm?"

  That struck me as odd.

  "Why is that?"

  "It's obvious, isn't it? It's profitable. At this time, humans are buying horses in rge numbers for riding or knight training, driving the prices sky-high. Naturally, the bck market price for horses also increases."

  "Ah..."

  I hought that the knights' cavalry training would have an impact all the way out here.

  "But this time, it's a bit odd. It seems they're not just attag this local horse ranch, but raiding horse rahroughout the kingdom on a rge scale and stealing the horses..."

  "Hmm... Is that so?"

  "Yes, I'm not sure what those thieves are pnning, but it seemed different than usual."

  Could they be pnning a big score?

  With only a limited number of horses suitable for military use, not only the Mage Knight Brigade but also the Royal Guard, the Padin Corps, and various private knight orders have to retire their horses as they age and buy new ones. If someoo monopolize all the usable warhorses, the kingdom would have to buy horses at any cost.

  Of course, we could mobilize all the knights to wipe out the taur thieves, but sihe taurs, who are united with their horses, are fleeing with the horses, it would be nearly impossible for the heavily armored knights to pursue them, so they always hold out with sheer audacity.

  'After all, if we just steal the two horses we hat's enough for us.'

  "Our vilge has also suffered greatly at their hands. They've taken all our warriors, g they would sell them into svery, leaving everyone else here without any bat ability."

  'I wondered why I only saw female taurs... So that was the situation?'

  Thinking of the taur warrior I saw at the bck market st time, I figured the taurs in this vilge had probably been sold into svery too.

  "I'll let you know once our scout pinpoints their location. Stay here and owe a debt to these maidens for now."

  "Uood."

  I didn't think we'd find them right away.

  Besides, we have a deadlio return, so we 't just wahe pins looking for the band of thieves indefinitely. It's best and safest to gather information from a vilge that uses taur scouts.

  Of course, once we find their location, we pn to raid the band of thieves and take some horses as pensation.

  'We'll just slip away with two horses after telling them we're sending the rest back to the farm.'

  That's just how things go in the middle of such situations.

  If it weren't for us, they wouldn't get a single horse back; settling for two would be good for both parties.

  "Chief! I've brought urgent news!"

  While talking with the chief, a youaur maiden hurried into the tent.

  Her face resembled the taur girl who had guided Dane and me here, but this maiden had her thick, dark brown hair flowing down to the back of her horse part, ae being ed in a leather chest guard, her chest protruded as much as her head.

  If her lower half weren't that of a horse, she would be a robustly beautiful taur maiden to re with. She seemed unfortable as she noticed Dane and my presend furrowed her brow.

  She was stomping her feet in disfort as the vilge chief taur tried to calm her down first.

  "Have you figured it out? Where?"

  "I'll report back ter when there's time. They might mht away, so I'll go check it out alone."

  "That's good. Go with these knights."

  "I don't need help from outsiders."

  "You alone? You saw how the other warriors were overpowered and couldn't do anything."

  "If I rescue the captured warriors first, there shouldn't be any problem. You know my speed."

  Appearing to be the leader of the scouting party, she was determio hahings among themselves, while the chief seemed ined to send Dane and me along.

  "These are knights, Eileen. Plus, your sister Angelica mentiohat they took dow taur marauders just by themselves."

  "If I'm ready, I take on more thahese trash who wander around robbing are no mate."

  "That's something I don't know."

  "And these guys are too slow t along."

  "'t you just carry one?"

  A taur handle a simir weight to a horse, so it's possible for her to carry one knight.

  "On my back? You of all people?"

  Eileen, the taur maiden called by name, gred at me as if appalled, probably because my remark had struck a nerve.

  "Really, if it's a crisis in the vilge, what's the problem with carrying someone?"

  "Ha, you clearly don't uaaurs. If you had even a little uanding, I would have smashed your head with my hooves."

  With that, I grabbed my mana saber and took off my exoskeleton as I stood up.

  "I'll go alone, Dahe vilge might be attacked again, so keep watch."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Yeah. If it's urgent, we'll just leave."

  It seemed my first ride would be on a sassy female taur instead of an ordinary horse.

  "You're asking to ride me now?"

  "Yeah."

  Before she could leave the tent, I accelerated my body with mana circuits.

  Eilee uneasy and started to back away, but I had already grabbed her lower horse part and was about to mount her.

  "Where do you think yoing!"

  With a loud 'whoosh,' she shook her body violently to shake off my hand, possibly intending to smash my head for real with a back kick. However, she hadn't anticipated that I would use her kick as a lever to climb on her.

  Thud.

  "Ah!"

  "Oh, the scream is cute... Onward!"

  I grabbed her long hair like a bridle and climbed onto her back. Eileen bucked wildly trying to throw me off, but I infused my lower body with mana to cmp arouorso, and her movements began to slow.

  "That's enough for now. Isn't it urgent to pinpoint the thieves' location?"

  "But, Chief...!"

  "Outsider. Don't worry too mud just go."

  Eileen bit her lip, but she couldn't shake me off with her strength alone.

  "I'll see about that when I get back...!"

  "Alright, let's go. St."

  "Eugh...!"

  Eileen, trembling with frustration and even tearing up, finally set off towards the location she had discovered to rescue the captured vilgers.

  AnnouA Special Thank You!:

  I want to extend my deepest gratitude to [Jose Daniel Garcia Aguir], for supp me on Patreon!

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