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

If Rudolf had any complaints about this trip, it would probably be that the "Empress" who came along had a very low tolerance for his lame jokes!

'Hehe, although I know my jokes are pretty good, the gas tank's reaction was definitely too intense,'

'While I'm going up the mountain to pay my respects, I'll also draw a fortune stick and ask the three goddesses if I should send her a book of corny jokes!'

Humming a little tune he had made up, Rudolf strolled to the mountain path and began to prepare for his ascent.

The mountain path was somewhat damp, and the worn stone steps made her hesitant to climb them too quickly.

After all, while horse girls are generally stronger than humans, they haven't reached the point of having bodies of steel. Rolling down a hillside of this height would mean equality for all living beings.

"Huh? There are actually people climbing mountains at this time?"

Rudolf looked up at the figure crouching about a hundred steps away, and couldn't help but feel curious.

Look at the bag behind that figure... doesn't that look like a bag from the Longquan Temple Hot Spring Hotel? Could this person also be a tourist? How strange, someone would actually come up the mountain at this time of day?

The figure seemed to have tied its shoelaces, then suddenly stood up and ran quickly up the mountain.

"!"

"Wait...wait a minute! The ground is slippery, be careful!"

Rudolph was startled by the speed at which the man launched himself off, and she quickly chased after him, intending to warn him about the slippery surface of the track.

But after starting, she was surprised to find that the other party's speed was almost the same as hers!

Even more so because Rudolph was wearing shoes that were not suitable for sports, her opponent was even faster than her!

"Is that a horse girl? That explosive power...it's truly astonishing!"

Watching that receding figure, Rudolf felt a surge of competitive desire, an inescapable genetic instinct ingrained deep within every horse girl.

After all, aside from that lawn in France, she, as the "Emperor," has never failed to catch up with her opponent!

Because of the age of the stone steps, Rudolf dared not push off the ground too hard, and could only carefully control his strength as he stepped between the steps.

The other person's figure grew farther and farther away during the chase, until it finally disappeared from her sight.

When she arrived at the summit platform, the man had already disappeared.

Rudolf felt no anger or resentment at her perceived defeat in this duel; on the contrary, she was even more eager to see the horse girl's true colors.

'At the moment of eruption, the power was immense, even reaching the level of G3... no, G2!'

'Moreover, she controlled this power very well; the steps barely shook at all, proving that she had reached a near-limit level of control over her leg muscles!'

'She also has plenty of energy; judging from her continuous running, she's controlling her breathing very well...'

Is it someone I know?

Rudolph reviewed the list of powerful opponents he had faced in his memory, then shook his head, thinking, 'No, she shouldn't already be someone quite famous in the horse racing world.'

'Although she has great explosive power and body control, her running form is quite unorthodox. If she were on the track, she would be running sideways everywhere...'

Thinking of this, Rudolf shuddered, because within the vast Teresen region, there happened to be a female horse that would behave similarly during training matches, or even actual competitions.

Her family is a powerful force in Central Tresen, a place teeming with experts. No one dares to provoke them. Every horse girl under her family's command possesses unique skills and a distinct personality. Their secret weapons are also a pleasant surprise for trainers!

Her name is known to everyone, from the Japan Cup in Tokyo to the Arima Kinen in Nakayama! At Central Treisen, she left behind countless legends! She has left a significant mark on history!

Notoriety, of course.

And her signature move... is the super high kick before leaving the gate!

'No, I absolutely cannot allow another golden ship to appear on the field!'

'This isn't just a simple diagonal movement; we have to deliver a powerful blow!'

With the intention of reforming the other party, Rudolf began searching throughout the Zen temple.

She walked onto a stone bridge and saw Orn tapping the ground in a strange manner, then telling a lame joke with a serious expression.

Orn nervously scrambled to his feet, reaching for the hammer tucked into his waistband. He looked warily at the chestnut-haired man before him and asked, "Who?! You...you're a nun from the nearby temple?!"

Rudolf was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and shook her head, saying, "No, of course I'm not."

"Judging from your attire, you seem to be a tourist here as well?"

Orn breathed a sigh of relief. Since the other party was a normal person, he didn't need to use his Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique and escalate the situation into a scene from a martial arts novel.

He nodded and said, "Yes, I happened to have some free time recently, so I brought them here to have some fun."

"they?"

Rudolf looked at Orn's face, suddenly remembered something, and asked with a smile, "Oh~~ I remember now, aren't you the one who was performing comedy in the hall with three horse girls?"

Having his identity exposed, Orn nodded somewhat awkwardly and said, "Ahem, it's me. I'm just a kid and I was just joking. I hope it didn't disturb the order in the hall."

"Hehe, I actually find it quite interesting. After all, I only know one person who can make such sharp and witty comments when it comes to stand-up comedy."

At this point, Rudolf asked curiously, "So, you might be a trainer from the local Teresan region?"

"Judging from your appearance, are you a trainer who passed the certification exam last year?"

Orn waved his hand modestly and said, "I am not very talented; I only recently passed the exam."

As he spoke, he began to scrutinize the chestnut-haired horsewoman's legs.

Even without getting a hands-on experience to confirm, he was certain that the horse girl in front of him was an absolute powerhouse in the arena, perhaps even stronger than any horse girl he had ever seen!

The other party seems to be easy to communicate with; perhaps I can find out some information about the central government's training methods?

So he asked, "It seems you are a senior member of the Central Military Academy? May I ask you for some training techniques for female horses there?"

Rudolph narrowed her eyes slightly and nodded, saying, "Of course, but... what would be the price?"

Orn paused for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Dao Le?"

Rudolf shook his head.

"A day trip to Teresa?"

Rudolf shook his head again.

"The complete set of decisive armor forged by that unknown craftsman? Plus a seven-day free trial with no-questions-asked returns?"

Rudolf hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.

Orn asked, puzzled, "Then... Miss Chestnut, what kind of payment do you want?"

Rudolph gave a sly smile, pointed at Orn, and said with a laugh, "I want...you to tell me a corny joke that will make me laugh."

"How about a corny joke to change the subject of your question? Fair enough?"

Chapter 48 Caw! Emperor! My performance was so brilliant! Why.....

"A horse girl from Central Tressen got her hands stuck in glue while playing with her companions, and couldn't get them off no matter what she did,"

"She visited many famous doctors, but none of them could separate her hands because [Horse hands are sticky].

Rudolph was stunned, then she burst into laughter, even laughing until tears streamed down her face.

"Hahahaha! Very good, very good! Haha... Oh dear, I'll rest for a bit first, hahaha, go ahead and ask!"

Watching the chestnut-haired mare laughing so hard she was doubled over, Orn wiped the sweat from his brow and, after careful consideration, asked, "I'd like to know about the training process the central trainers go through for [Gate Break]."

Rudolph chuckled and rubbed her eyes. "Heh," she replied, "training for the gate opening? That's definitely something many new trainers struggle with."

"Generally speaking, new trainers tend to focus on training the horse's reflexes, which is actually a big misconception. As trainers, we should pay more attention to the horse's center of gravity and gait before the gate is opened,"

"These details will help the horse girl shorten the gap with the horses ahead when she has a slow start, and will also increase the margin for error. Specifically, the horse girl should be trained to..."

The two were no longer in front of the deserted Niou Gate, but inside a warm room.

The abbot was sitting cross-legged on a prayer mat to the side. If Orn hadn't already known that he concealed advanced modern electronic equipment under his monk's robes, he probably would have been completely fooled by his devout appearance.

However, Ornn himself is now in a bit of a bind, because he has both good and bad news.

The good news is that the chestnut-haired horse in front of him is indeed quite capable; she can give him a perfect answer to most of his questions.

As expected of a current horse girl from the Central Government, although Orn couldn't recognize who the person in front of her was, her knowledge base was quite extensive.

Orn even felt that the horse girl in front of him might be training herself. Did she really need a trainer?

If conditions permit, he even wants to ask all the questions in his heart and accumulate all the knowledge he has learned through training until he reaches his current peak.

The bad news is that he has to pay a price for every question he asks; he must tell a reasonably funny lame joke in order to get an answer from the mysterious chestnut-haired genie in front of him.

The price seemed trivial at first glance, and he accepted it with pride.

After all, he was a skilled internet user in his previous life, and with five thousand years of accumulated knowledge in Chinese history, he could easily ask her a dozen or twenty questions.

But as the questions deepened, Ornn was surprised to find that he seemed to have fallen into a trap.

The horse woman before him had hidden a small part of the core message in the answers to the first few dozen questions, forcing him to pay the price repeatedly to fully resolve his problem.

It feels like you've bought a game, and to get the final answer you need to keep buying DLC.

Orn was like the unjust king who rewarded Theta, paying out from a single grain of rice until the entire treasury was depleted, yet still unable to fill the 64 squares of the chessboard.

He couldn't be like Emperor Jing of Han, who would resort to a chessboard to subdue his opponent if he couldn't win a fight, nor could he be like Sextant, shouting "Silly children, run!" because he genuinely wanted to know the answers to those questions.

The situation is now starting to develop in a direction that is unfavorable to him!

After forty rounds of fighting, Ornn realized that the more he knew, the less he actually knew, and his repertoire of lame jokes... had reached its limit!

"...So for myself, I would train my feet to improve my tolerance for errors when exiting the gate."

The chestnut-haired horse girl in front of him looked at Orn, who was already drenched in sweat, with expectant eyes and said, "Well? If you have any more jokes to tell, I'd love for you to keep asking!"

Orn thought for a moment, then said, "A trainer lost his key and was frantically searching for it. His mentor asked curiously, 'Torena, what are you looking for?'"

The trainer replied, "I'm looking for my house keys. Have you seen them?"

The horsewoman smiled slyly, pulled out a key, and said, "If you want to retrieve your key, you'd better catch up with me as fast as you can!"

A brief silence fell over the hall, followed by a series of cackling laughs.

Unexpectedly, the first of the three to stay in Bengbu was the abbot who seemed to have entered a meditative state!

"Hehehe, you two are quite interesting. This humble monk... pfft, I've really reached my limit of patience."

"No, I need to rest in the side hall first. Please continue, esteemed guests... Pfft, hehehe..."

After being bombarded with forty jokes, the abbot ultimately failed to enter a meditative state.

It turns out that when the number of lame jokes accumulates to a certain limit, the person listening to them will be like someone about to freeze to death on the Arctic ice sheet.

At that time, they felt not the biting cold, but the intense warmth.

After the host left, Rudolf finally grasped the essence of the matter and couldn't help but burst into laughter.

As she laughed, she patted the coffee table in front of her with a rather imposing air, her majestic demeanor resembling that of a royal general.

"Hehe, I've... ha, I haven't been this happy in a long time."

Rudolf wiped her eyes. Perhaps because the person in front of her didn't seem to recognize her, she no longer needed to maintain the demeanor of an "emperor."

After all, that's quite tiring. Maintaining a suitable facial expression and paying attention to one's gait and posture are all important, and one must conform to the demeanor of an "aristocrat."

Perhaps such moments only occur occasionally when one is in the student council?

"Hoo hoo, what do you want to ask? Go ahead and ask."

Orn thought for a moment, then asked, "Do you know... what exactly is a [domain]?"

The moment Rudolf heard the word "domain," the languid expression on his face vanished instantly.

For someone who's just entered the horse racing industry to have such expertise, they're probably not some uneducated country bumpkin.

Either he has the backing of a family, or... he is truly exceptionally talented and has benefactors helping him!

Rudolf calmly retorted, "Domain? Heh, how do you know that word?"

"It was a senior trainer I happened to know who mentioned this to me when he was chatting."

"After researching the relevant information, I became very interested in this, so I asked you, senior."

Of course, Orn wouldn't reveal anything about Satomi Kawatsuru and those handwritten copies, but what he said wasn't wrong, since those handwritten copies were the notes of the trainers from various families!

I just don't understand why those notes are written in such neat and beautiful handwriting, some even with the standards of calligraphy. Do trainers need to practice calligraphy?

Upon hearing Orn's reply, Rudolf's nose twitched slightly.

Judging from the question the person in front of him just asked and the way he took out his phone to record it, he is indeed a newbie.

Could it be that I ran into a Central Trainer near Nagoya? I remember... wasn't Yae no Invincible's master in this area recently?