I, Nice Nature, Am an Umamusume and a Shrine Maiden! [3]

Honestly, the moment she realized a supernatural incident had broken out on the racecourse—one whose form of existence was most likely a “rules-based urban legend”—Neicha, whose current identity was merely that of a rookie Central Tracen Umamusume participating in a Debut Race that, from her perspective, she was destined to lose, did not actually want to meddle.

After all, as a government-affiliated exorcist with civil servant status, whose work was similar in nature to that of the police, her enforcement jurisdiction was limited to Hokkaido. Chukyo Racecourse, where she currently was, was located in Aichi Prefecture, in central Honshu.

The two places were a thousand kilometers apart. If she really took action, there was no way she could shake off the suspicion of violating regulations by enforcing the law across jurisdictions without prior approval.

What was more, when she left to enroll at Central Tracen Academy, she had entrusted all of her shrine maiden work to that troublesome mother of hers. Before coming to Tokyo, she had even made a special trip to the local government’s Supernatural Countermeasures Department in Hokkaido, where she worked, to apply for a long vacation.

So no matter how you looked at it, this supernatural incident occurring right before her eyes at Chukyo Racecourse in Aichi Prefecture had nothing to do with her.

But then again!

As an exorcist who had been fighting on the front lines of exorcism work since childhood, to the point that the concept of “slay every demon you encounter” could be said to have been carved into her DNA, seeing a monster and not exorcising it would make her feel as awful as a severe germaphobe spotting a cockroach in their kitchen and doing nothing about it.

On top of that, this was a world where gods really existed, and she herself was an exorcist shrine maiden serving under the gods, relying on her status as an exorcist to make a living from a government-registered position. If she truly ignored a supernatural incident unfolding right in front of her—one that might threaten public safety, and specifically public safety concerning Umamusume…

Would the Three Goddesses worshiped by all Umamusume in this world visit her superior at the government’s Supernatural Countermeasures Department in a dream, say she was incompetent, and demand that this deadweight who held a government post and drew a high salary while doing nothing be stripped of her civil servant status!?

One had to know, in her previous life, she had been a pure beast of burden who worked the 996 grind so her boss could replace his Ferrari sooner.

Neicha knew perfectly well that “if you exceed your work targets, your boss may not remember you, but if you slack off at work all the time, your boss will probably remember you when layoffs come around.”

In other words…

“Don’t underestimate the bond between me and my government post, asshole!”

The race could be lost. The demon had to die!

And so, in an instant, Neicha switched from her identity as a second-rate Umamusume who had come to Central Tracen Academy to race and earn prize money into exorcist shrine maiden mode. She felt as though Van Helsing, John Constantine, and the Doom Slayer had all possessed her at once!

At the same time, an aura like fresh blood, a deep crimson so ominous that merely looking at it inspired extreme dread, spread outward with her at its center the instant her words fell, expanding at a speed too fast to catch, like Conqueror’s Haki.

Immediately after, every Umamusume running within three lengths ahead of her, the instant that spherical, spreading, congealed-blood-like crimson aura of ill omen brushed their backs, shuddered in unison as if they had suddenly gone from a blazing summer day into the cold winter wind with their shirts off.

Then came the sensation of heart-pounding dread, as though someone had seized their hearts.

That caused the formation of the midpack group to instantly open a gap wide enough for one person to break through, even though their positions had originally been so tight they had almost sealed off every route forward along the inside.

And at the very instant that one-person gap appeared, Neicha—who had already made up her mind that she would absolutely kill the ghostly Umamusume whose essence was a “rules-based urban legend,” who had dared appear on the course of this Debut Race, and who, as a “criminal,” had even dared brazenly show up before her, a “police officer,” and pass her from the side—kicked her right foot hard into the turf beneath her.

After leaving a footprint almost ten centimeters deep where she stood, accompanied by a thunderous BANG! like a hand grenade exploding.

The Umamusume named Nice Nature transformed in an instant into a crimson phantom.

With a terrifying acceleration so absurd that even Misato Akasaka—this race’s announcer, a veteran in the field of Twinkle Series commentary for Umamusume races, highly experienced and rarely prone to mistakes at work—could not react in time!

She overtook the midpack group blocking her path in a single breath.

Like an arrow loosed from the string, she shot toward the back of the nonhuman thing that had now blended into the Pace Chaser group ahead.

Time rewound to more than ten seconds earlier…

…

“THE 1000-METER MARKER HAS BEEN PASSED!”

“CURRENTLY RUNNING FIRST AND LEADING THE FIELD IS STILL TODAY’S 1ST FAVORITE, TOKAI TEIO!”

“AT THIS MOMENT, SHE IS MAINTAINING AN ADVANTAGE OF MORE THAN THREE LENGTHS OVER SECOND PLACE AND SETTING THE PACE FOR THIS RACE!”

As the announcer for this race, Misato Akasaka was diligently explaining the live race situation. Her tone was high and animated, but her expression was extremely calm.

After all, anyone who was not blind could tell that Tokai Teio, today’s 1st favorite and, from the paddock stage onward, the undisputed center of attention in this Debut Race, stood in an entirely different tier from the other participating Umamusume.

And Tokai Teio, who was regarded by everyone, Misato Akasaka included, as the absolute protagonist of this race, and whose name had been mentioned repeatedly over the broadcast throughout the first thousand meters, seemed to respond to Misato Akasaka’s calm commentary from the racecourse broadcast room. The corners of her mouth curved into a smile so confident it was almost arrogant.

“Heheh. The invincible Teio is going to become an undefeated Triple Crown Umamusume like Prez!”

“Handling a Debut Race like this, where there isn’t a single strong opponent who can threaten the invincible Teio, is easy!”

Because she had not found a single opponent worth fighting in this Debut Race, she had even committed the grave taboo of speaking aloud—something that, in theory, should absolutely never be done in a fiercely contested race, as it could disrupt her breathing rhythm.

“THE 800-METER MARKER HAS BEEN PASSED!”

“Good. I’ll keep this rhythm, then when there are two hundred meters left, I’ll launch my final spurt all at once and end the race completely!”

However, not long after Misato Akasaka announced that the 800-meter marker had been passed, Tokai Teio—who had not felt the slightest competitive pressure from any of the other Umamusume in the race so far—was confidently and easily planning the timing of her final spurt.

And at that very moment, a sudden sensation of dread struck her from behind, as if someone had reached into her chest and seized her heart. Tokai Teio’s confident expression abruptly stiffened for no reason, and her legs, which had been running at high speed, staggered.

What is going on?

Confusion flashed through Tokai Teio’s eyes. She instinctively stabilized her balance after that sudden stumble, barely avoiding a sudden stall on the track.

Then she felt her heart beating faster and faster.

In a daze, images flashed before her eyes from time to time: a blood-red moon, bloody words written on a wall, a woman’s corpse in red hanging in an abandoned building…

“NUMBER 3! NUMBER 3, NICE NATURE, IS CHARGING UP!”

“What!?”

Misato Akasaka’s voice—the race announcer’s previously calm commentary suddenly turning into a startled cry—rang out in her ears.

It shocked Tokai Teio awake from the sudden illusion. At that moment, not only had terrifying images been flashing before her eyes one after another, even her mind seemed to have been affected by some unknown factor, leaving her whole body in a dazed state as though she had been hypnotized.

In the next second, after being jolted awake by Misato Akasaka’s cry over the racecourse broadcast, she had no time to carefully recall the terrifying images that had flashed before her eyes. Her Uma ears, which remained upright even while she was running at high speed at no less than sixty kilometers per hour, clearly caught the sound coming from the outside lane diagonally behind her on the left: footsteps that grew clearer with each passing moment, continuous and powerful, like a construction-site pile driver hammering into the ground.

The footsteps grew louder and louder. Along with them came wave after wave of crimson aura, faintly carrying the scent of rust, thick as blood plasma and layered like surf as it beat against her.

The pressure brought by that aura, accumulating and stacking layer after layer, made her feel as though she were in a gravity training room for Saiyans, with some bastard outside the room constantly raising the gravity multiplier from the control panel.

Add to that the initial heart-pounding dread—the sensation of someone thrusting a hand into her chest and squeezing her heart, making her clearly feel her breathing become difficult—which had still not vanished even after Misato Akasaka’s cry had awakened her from her muddled state and made the hallucinations before her eyes fade away.

Slowly, Tokai Teio’s originally light steps grew heavier and heavier under the stacking of those multiple debuffs.

Number 3!? Who’s number 3!?

Perhaps out of curiosity, or perhaps because she truly had no impression at all of this “Number 3, Nice Nature” that Misato Akasaka had mentioned.

Even under the stacking layers of debuffs, even though her expression had grown increasingly fierce from the effort of maintaining her current speed, Tokai Teio still could not help turning her head to look toward the owner of those footsteps steadily approaching from diagonally behind her on the left.

However, the instant she turned her head and looked diagonally behind her to the left, her fierce expression transformed entirely into shock, and that shock carried unmistakable fear.

Because what entered her eyes in that moment did not look like an Umamusume. It did not even look human.

It was a mass, writhing, twisting, spasming, crawling darkly forward at a speed of no less than seventy kilometers per hour—a terrifying thing as impossible to look at directly as a Great Old One from the Cthulhu Mythos.

AAAAAAH!

“What the hell are you—!?”

T/N: NICE NATURE DESU!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a fan translation of 我，优秀素质，是赛马娘也是巫女 by 百景绘 Rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!