I'm Ornn, and I'm about to be beaten to my knees by the Man-eating Horse Girl!

"Shocking! Our benefactor has been missing for four days! That's well past the planned two days!"

"The only possibility is that our benefactor failed his exam! He's too ashamed to come back and see us! He's probably working as a male escort in some red-light district bar in Tokyo right now!!"

As he spoke, Chestnut Fur shook his hand and muttered a complaint, "Ouch, that hurts a little..."

Teng Zheng blinked; her blood-red eyes looked particularly fierce in the dim light.

She gritted her teeth and said, "Hmph, to be precise, that guy has been out of contact for four days, three hours, and twenty-seven minutes!"

"We can't get in touch with him at all! We don't even know his phone number or Line number! When we asked Kasamatsu's trainers, they didn't know either!"

The blue-haired horse girl clenched her teeth, her fierce expression suggesting she wanted to bite a piece of flesh off the unfaithful man!

"Guanghui's guess is very likely correct! He must have finished his exam, found out he didn't do well, and then wandered into the red-light district in a daze, only to be swindled out of all his money by those experienced and promiscuous prostitutes! He was then forced to sell his skills to buy his freedom!"

"It's possible he's even chosen a stage name, something like 'Forged Soul,' whose style is like a passionate, fiery furnace, searing a woman's heart and comforting her wounded soul."

"Maybe... he's still performing for customers on that pole right now!"

Upon hearing this, the newly radiant person was taken aback. This Tengzheng March looked as aloof as an iceberg, but it turned out that he knew so much.

That darn blue-haired guy! What's the point of having such a vivid imagination?

But this conclusion was still too far-fetched. Recalling Ornn's rugged style, which showed no regard for her as a woman, Shining Radiance hesitated for a moment before deciding to steer the conversation back on track.

So she spoke up, "March, what you said, I think it's a bit too...

"Snapped--!!"

Just then, Little Chestnut Hat interrupted her. Big Chestnut King slammed his hand on the table and said with a firm look in his eyes, "What you said makes a lot of sense! Although I don't quite know what the red-light district is, Mr. Orn must have been tricked, so he's waiting for us to rescue him!"

"We...we want to go to Hero's Wine Shop together!"

(Glorious: It's like a hero saving a damsel in distress!)

Teng Zheng slammed her hand on the table, stood up, and said loudly, "Great minds think alike! Let's beat them in the race and take back Ornn!"

(Radiant: Why are we racing against those drunken horse girls!?)

Little Chestnut Hat nodded vigorously, and she also stood up and said, "Yes! Get Mr. Orn back!"

"Fight for Mr. Ornn's freedom! Fight to reclaim Mr. Ornn!"

"For this Kasamatsu Tresen, fight them whether they understand or not!"

Tengzheng March also got excited (New Radiance: Everyone calm down... Hey! Don't stand on the table!), she stepped onto the coffee table and shouted, "Fight! Fight! Fight! Oguri! Radiance! Let's fight together to take back Ornn!"

"oh------!!!!"

Suddenly, the tightly closed door was opened from the outside.

The dawn sunlight streamed into the still-dark room, illuminating the three people posing in strange positions.

A young man wearing a floral shirt, carrying a backpack, and holding Nagoya's specialty sweets (wagashi) stood outside the door.

He squinted and saw that Little Chestnut Hat was raising her right hand at a 45-degree angle, seemingly shouting something.

Fujimasa, with one foot on the coffee table, exuded a somewhat thuggish air.

She made a scratching motion with both hands, as if she were grabbing the collar of someone she deeply hated.

As for the new glory?

She was struggling to hold onto the wobbly coffee table, her expression contorted and grotesque.

Upon seeing the young man outside the door, Chestnut Hair's expression collapsed like a slime; her features drooped casually on her face, and her tense spirit relaxed in that instant.

The newly radiant woman chuckled awkwardly a few times, then tossed her ponytail and forced a smile that looked more like a grimace, stammering, "Haha... Hi? My benefactor, you're back?"

Chapter 37 Debut Battle Registration

"Excuse me, I've come to the wrong door."

Orn calmly closed the door, but just as the door was about to close, the new radiance burst forth with unprecedented speed, surpassing the sprint limits of Oguri Hat and Fujimasa March, and stretched out his leg, wedging it between the cracks in the door!

"My savior! Don't go!! We were just... uh, we were just having a meeting!!"

As he spoke, as if to lend credibility to his words, Shining Radiance repeated, "Yes! We're having a meeting! We're discussing who will go first in the upcoming debut battle!"

Orn suddenly laughed and said, "Oh, it's a meeting. I thought it was going to be a speech about 'My Struggle'."

"Yeah, yeah! Now that the trainer is finally back, let's arrange our debut battle!"

Shining Radiance wiped the cold sweat from his brow, then quickly grabbed Orn's floral shirt with a smile and dragged him inside.

Dragged and shoved into the activity room by the chestnut-haired horse girl, Orn was greeted by a completely different scene from before.

The room was very bright, clean, and tidy.

Books were neatly stacked on a corner of the coffee table, and Oguri Hat was wolfing down... a cake with the packaging still intact? Fujimasa March seemed to be checking the list of debut competitions open for entry in recent weeks.

But this debut battle schedule... did she pick it up backwards?

Was what I just experienced a hallucination? Or did I soak in the hot spring for too long and lose my senses?

Orn shook his head. Perhaps he had only glimpsed the possibility of another world. After all, even his own time travel had happened, hadn't it?

He looked at the newly formed brilliance and asked, "Now that you've decided on the time for the debut battle, do you have any ideas?"

The chestnut-haired horse stammered, "Uh... this..."

Ah! I didn't have any ideas at all!

What should I do? What should I do? What topic can I use to distract him?

Seemingly noticing Xin Xinguang's embarrassment, Fujimasa stepped forward and interrupted him, saying, "Don't rush that, Orn, did you pass your exam?"

"And why are you so late this time? You didn't even leave your contact information! We thought you were really staying in Tokyo!"

Good job!

Shining Brilliance inwardly clenched his fist. As expected of the top student specially invited by Kasamatsu Tresen! That move of the villain accusing first was too well done!

What a brilliant opening move! By blurring the focus of the issue, reversing our positions in the dialogue, and then delivering a beautiful combo!

March... You're so powerful!

Orn was also taken aback by the question. He explained, "Oh, I had a little accident on my way to the exam. I was in a hurry to get my identification documents, so I came back a few days late."

"The exam location was changed to Nagoya, so after the exam I bought a computer and a phone, and also some local snacks,"

As he spoke, he gestured with his lip toward the bag on the coffee table: "Look, it's all in there, Koguri. Take it if you want to eat it."

⑤②⑥⑥⑤②②⑤①

Lu Mao's ears twitched. Without changing her expression, she put down the cake in her hand, the packaging of which was still unopened, then picked up the pastry and said softly, "Thank you, Mr. Orn."

Orn flipped the form on the coffee table, then said to Fujimasa, whose face had suddenly turned red, "Well, it's April 17th now. Although you can run tomorrow if you want to sign up, I'd like to see how your training has gone these past few days."

"If there are no problems, Oguri will go on April 23, Kōki on the 24th, and Mōjō on the 25th."

"Ah, that's mainly because I'm not entirely clear about your physical condition yet. It would be safest to wait until I've confirmed it before you participate in the competition."

Fujimasa hummed the march softly, then nodded to indicate that he understood.

Orn rolled up the registration form and said to the three of them, "Alright, after Xiaoli finishes eating, we'll go to the playground to check on your physical condition."

“Okay~~~”

The newly radiant woman was currently sprawled on the sofa beside the coffee table. She looked up and saw what appeared to be a small card roll peeking out of Orn's pocket.

The card's colors were very vibrant, and the material didn't seem to be ordinary either.

'What's this? My benefactor probably doesn't go to bars, right?'

Out of curiosity, she reached out and grabbed a corner of the card scroll, then gently pulled it out, and the entire card was pulled out.

A gleam of light swept across the title on the card, its pupils suddenly widening in surprise. "A...hot spring travel voucher!! And it's already been used!!"

"And it's a five-star luxury private self-service travel voucher featuring mixed-gender bathing?! And it's even for the hot springs at Ryusenji Temple in Nagoya!!"

Accompanied by a scream of newfound brilliance, four ears suddenly perked up.

A blue ear first nodded in the direction of Ornn, then began to rotate like a radar.

The two white ears didn't react much, only twitching slightly when the brand-new brilliance mentioned words like "self-service" and "five-star".

Chestnut Hair looked up, suddenly grabbed Orn's pants, and said excitedly, "My benefactor! Next time, please take me... but not us!"

Orn quickly tightened his belt to prevent her from pulling his pants down.

Hey! Are young students this open-minded these days? They're grabbing the teacher's pants without warning?

"Alright, alright, I'll find a chance to take you guys after you win all your debut battles, okay?"

Ornn slapped away the newly gleaming, groping hand, thus protecting his pants.

But Fujimasa was clearly not satisfied with this answer, and she asked, "Auen, did you go to the hot springs with your friends? When?"

"I'd say they're friends. They're two middle-aged men. They helped me out this time, so we went to the hot springs together."

At this point, Orn scratched his head somewhat awkwardly and said, "Sorry, I came back a day late. I just went to the hot springs with them to rest for the night."

"Once you win your debut battle and I receive my qualification certificate, let's go and get some rest!"

Little Chestnut Hat's ears twitched incessantly, and her eyes shone as she asked, "Mr. Orn... how's the food there? Is it good?"

Orn stroked his chin and pondered, "Hmm... if I had to give an analogy, if the food at Kasamatsu Diner is as tall as a two-story building, then the food at Ryusenji Onsen would be about as tall as a six-story building!"

Lu Mao nodded resolutely: "Oh! Then we will definitely win the debut battle as soon as possible!"

"Alright, let's go. Let me check how well your training is going!"

Ornn clapped his hands and led the three of them toward the playground.

Chapter 38 I hit Oguri Hat? Really?!

Looking at the lively scene that had appeared on the playground over the past month, Kitahara leaned on the railing and sighed, "It's so good to be young! Old people like us can't keep up!"

Shibasaki slammed the training board on his head in annoyance and snorted, "Hmph, what? You don't want to try being in charge of training those horse girls?"

Kitahara straightened his baseball cap, which had been knocked askew, then leaned back and said nonchalantly, "Right now... I don't want to."

"If you don't want to think about it now, then you can think about it later, right?"

Shibasaki smiled and shook his head: "You can't exactly say that your future self is so strong that you're just going to slack off now, can you?"

"Old Chai, that's not what I meant,"

Kitahara raised his hand and shook his finger, then lay back on the recliner, watching the young man not far away who was loudly mocking the blue-haired horse girl while holding a string of homemade wagashi (Japanese sweets).

"I want to see if that young man can actually pass the trainer qualification exam."

"Shibasaki, I'm already thirty-six years old,"

Kitahara lowered his gaze, staring at the sandy ground not far from the stands, and continued, "After I became a local trainer through connections, it's not like I didn't think about proving myself."

"I took the exam six times and failed each time. I don't know if I still have the ability to obtain the Central Trainer Qualification Certificate."

Shibasaki remained silent, simply listening quietly to his friend's complaints.

He knew how difficult it was to obtain the Central Trainer Qualification Certificate; after all, he was one of the countless people who failed the exam.

For an ordinary person, becoming a local trainer is actually a pretty good outcome.

"When I was thirty-two, I gave up. I never picked up a book to study or memorize anything again, and I never stepped onto that battlefield again."

"Hey, Shibasaki, what kind of match do you think the 'Tokai Derby' is in the eyes of those people in the central government?"

Upon hearing Kitahara's words, Shibasaki gave a wry smile.

"Heh, you...aren't you the one who knows their attitude best? Why are you asking me, an ordinary person with no background or connections?"

"So how do you want me to answer? Lie or tell the truth? Either way, don't we already know the answer?"

He coughed, unable to hide the bitterness in his voice.

Neither of them spoke. Apart from the zombie-like screams of the chestnut-haired horse not far away and the mocking voices of the young people, the entire playground was very quiet.

Kitahara looked at the group of people training not far away and suddenly said, "Actually, at first, I wanted to become Oguri Hat's trainer."

"But I gave up later. After all, I know my own strength. Rather than letting her be ruined in my hands, I'd rather let that kid lead them to the center."

"That's what you thought too, which is why you didn't choose Fujimasa March but instead chose Norren Ace, right?"

Shibasaki didn't speak, but his tacit agreement sometimes already conveyed an attitude.

"Those three... well, even with the addition of New Glory, the future of all four of them certainly won't be limited to Kasamatsu,"