“This is the new Trainer. His name is Higashiyama Akira. And the person before you is Tracen Academy’s Student Council President, Symboli Rudolf.”
With Secretary Hayakawa making the introductions, Akira finally learned the name of the vaguely familiar Umamusume student standing before him.
Tracen Academy’s Student Council President, Symboli Rudolf—the Umamusume known as the “Emperor.”
At first glance, her violet eyes seemed rather gentle as they met his. Yet the subtle details of her gaze and bearing gave Akira an unmistakable impression of confidence and authority.
“Hello. I’m Higashiyama Akira, the new Trainer. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“A pleasure. I am Symboli Rudolf, President of Tracen Academy’s Student Council. I look forward to working with you as well.”
Akira had to admit he was extremely glad Secretary Hayakawa had brought him to the Student Council herself.
He had good reason to suspect there was something about him that made these Umamusume students unusually interested in him.
It might look as though only the Student Council President was speaking to him now, but the moment he had entered the office, Akira had felt those increasingly unsettling gazes on him.
If he had come here alone, there was a good chance he might have ended up facing some unexpectedly terrifying consequences.
As for exactly what was causing this strange effect…
Great. His system hadn’t even unlocked an inventory for him to check!
This is what happens when you haven’t finished the main quest.jpg
Fortunately, the moment Secretary Hayakawa spoke, it seemed to signal something to all the Umamusume present.
In an instant, the steadily worsening sense that something was wrong vanished. The whole scene returned to a bright, sunny, wholesome picture where flowers might as well have been singing and swaying.
Before entering the room, while dealing with the Secretary, Akira’s state of mind had been in something like a quantum superposition between the loser he was before transmigrating and an overbearing CEO empowered by his system.
But after stepping inside and seeing how the mere professional smile on her face was enough to keep these big shots in check, Akira—whose standards regarding personal dignity were remarkably flexible—now wanted nothing more than to shout, Big sis, protect me!
It couldn’t be helped. Even if he was destined to become an invincible transmigrator in the world of Umamusume, right now he was still an unenhanced system Master. There was no reason to make life harder for himself when he could back down or latch onto someone powerful…
Once he had calmed down and Secretary Hayakawa had finished the introductions, the conversation quickly moved on to the reason for their visit.
“I see… I understand.”
“The Umamusume competitors listed in that roster are generally quite capable. Most of them simply hope to find a partner before next season begins—someone they can work with and enter races alongside. But that does not necessarily mean the Trainer who partners with them will have much opportunity to prove their own worth.”
Aha! He knew there was a catch!
He knew there was no way they’d just let him pick an Umamusume right at the start!
Put simply, the candidates in the roster were probably all the kind of Umamusume considered suitable for a rookie Trainer like him.
From a game-player’s perspective, it was basically the equivalent of being allowed to freely choose from a lineup of top-tier characters.
Realizing that he had narrowly avoided an outcome where guaranteed profits would leave his system struggling to pay out, Akira couldn’t help feeling grateful for his earlier caution.
Solid.
Absolutely solid.
“And to be more precise… Trainer Higashiyama, you do have other options.”
“So, Trainer Higashiyama, do you have any specific requirements for the Umamusume you would like as your first partner after arriving at Tracen Academy?”
“I can suggest candidates for your consideration based not only on the roster you just saw, but also others who are not listed there, provided they meet your criteria.”
“At least when it comes to understanding individual Umamusume students, we on the Student Council are somewhat more confident than the Academy itself.”
Unlike being handed a roster and told to choose from it, Symboli Rudolf was now allowing him to select according to his own criteria.
That meant all Akira needed was a suitable excuse, and he could go straight for an Umamusume who could lose him a fortune!
What an incredibly good person this President was!
“Mm, I understand, President Rudolf. Would you mind giving me a moment to think?”
“Of course. Take your time. Just let me know once you’ve decided.”
Though inwardly excited, Akira merely gave a restrained nod at Rudolf’s answer.
After thinking for a moment, he decided how to phrase his requirements.
“If possible, I’d like to know whether there are any promising Umamusume who have already debuted and have some race experience. It would be even better if their current results were fairly ordinary.”
A promising Umamusume with several races under her belt after debuting.
The high-EQ way of putting it was “her future looks promising.”
The low-EQ way was that she was a complete flop.
After all, if her talent had already translated into several victories, nobody would still be describing her in terms of “potential.”
“If those are your requirements, Trainer Higashiyama… there actually is one candidate who fits them rather well.”
“Tamamo Cross. She is an Umamusume student who has yet to achieve much in the way of results, but in my view, she has tremendous potential.”
“If she were to meet a suitable Trainer and receive the appropriate training, I personally could not guarantee that she would immediately start winning races.”
“However, I believe she should have little trouble placing respectably, perhaps even earning a spot on the Winning Live stage and qualifying for graded races.”
“Of course, that would demand a great deal of experience and effort from the Trainer. If this is your first time partnering with an Umamusume, I personally would not particularly recommend a competitor like her.”
“That sounds good. I’d like to meet her first, with signing a contract as my primary consideration.”
“I see. I understand your reasoning… Pardon?”
The moment the newly arrived Trainer gave that answer, surprise showed both on the President’s face and in her voice.
Symboli Rudolf had known beforehand that Tracen Academy would be receiving a newly appointed Trainer recruited through special channels today.
But even the Emperor had never expected that, immediately after hearing her explanation, he would so confidently decide to approach Tamamo Cross—with signing her as his partner already his primary consideration.
For just a moment, the Emperor was a little flustered.
Admittedly, she had only brought Tamamo up because the girl fit his stated criteria. Still, she had undeniably allowed a little personal bias to creep in by helping a struggling student whose potential she believed in.
Of course, believing in her potential was one thing.
Tamamo Cross’s actual results so far were, frankly, poor.
Aside from making things harder for her Trainer, she did not seem to have much else that would attract someone to take her on.
And so, even after hearing Akira’s answer with her own ears, the Student Council President could not bring herself to simply accept it without another word. Instead, she explained further.
“To be entirely candid, while I personally think highly of Tamamo Cross, I would not want my opinion to directly influence your decision, Trainer Higashiyama.”
“Objectively speaking, Tamamo Cross currently has far more losses than successes. She barely managed to make her debut, then suffered a string of consecutive defeats that ultimately led to the early termination of her contract with her previous Trainer.”
Having quickly regained her composure, Rudolf once again gave the unusual rookie Trainer before her a careful, earnest explanation.
But after she finished, Symboli Rudolf noticed something.
Far from looking discouraged, the man before her only seemed even more interested.
There was even… a faint gleam in his eyes?
“It’s fine. This really has nothing to do with you, President Rudolf. What I mean is that she genuinely is my first choice.”
“After all, what I love most is losing mon—I mean, what I love most is trying to turn other people’s tragedies around.”
Her racing career had gone so badly from the moment of her debut that her Trainer had terminated their contract early?
She had lost most of her races, yet the Student Council President herself still believed in her potential?
Hey!
Wasn’t that exactly the kind of candidate he needed?!
System, speaking of which, how am I supposed to tell how much potential an Umamusume has? Do you have some kind of appraisal function?
[MASTER DOES NOT CURRENTLY POSSESS THE ABILITY TO APPRAISE POTENTIAL. PLEASE WORK HARD TO COMPLETE MISSIONS AND INCREASE THE SYSTEM’S LEVEL!]
Tsk, tsk…
Just as he thought.
So the system wasn’t going to help him with that. At least during the early stages after transmigrating, he would have to make full use of outside information to form his judgments…
Hearing the sincerity in his tone, the Emperor decided not to continue trying to dissuade him.
She did not know how capable this unusual rookie Trainer really was, but after he had gone this far, the final decision should probably be left to him and Tamamo Cross.
Still, she had to admit that what he had just said had made her somewhat curious about this specially recruited Trainer.
And for some reason, from the very first moment she saw Trainer Higashiyama, she had felt a strange urge to keep an eye on him…
Realizing her thoughts had begun to wander, Symboli Rudolf immediately cut them off and nodded, respecting his decision.
“Mm. Since you insist, Trainer Higashiyama, it would be somewhat unfair of me to continue trying to persuade you otherwise.”
“However, if you wish to contact her and confirm her intentions… Maruzensky, if I remember correctly, Tamamo informed you about her situation, didn’t she?”
Partway through, Rudolf realized she did not actually know Tamamo’s current whereabouts herself, so she turned toward the long-haired brunette Umamusume standing nearby.
Maruzensky, the President’s Secretary, thought for a moment after hearing Rudolf’s question before slowly answering.
“Let me think… Wasn’t she working at a fast-food place the last time I heard? Though I think she switched to another part-time job after only a few days.”
“Oh dear, sorry, you two. I may need to check again before I can say for sure.”
…Huh?
Instead of focusing on training, she was spending her time working part-time?
And more importantly, she hadn’t even stuck with that job for long before switching to another one?
Good lord!
Wasn’t this exactly the ideal Umamusume talent he had been dreaming of?!
System?
[MASTER, I AM HERE.]
Uh, can we bind her first? Once she’s bound, I won’t have to worry about somebody else signing her before I do, right?
[CORRECT. THE SYSTEM’S BINDING FUNCTION CAN ENSURE THAT, DURING THE BINDING PERIOD, MASTER NEED NOT WORRY ABOUT THE TARGET UMAMUSUME SIGNING A CONTRACT WITH ANOTHER PARTY.]
[PLEASE NOTE: ONCE MASTER USES THE BINDING FUNCTION TO DESIGNATE THE INITIAL TEAM MEMBER, YOU MUST COMPLETE THE CONTRACT SIGNING WITHIN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. OTHERWISE, THE BINDING EFFECT WILL AUTOMATICALLY EXPIRE. THIS FUNCTION IS EFFECTIVE ONLY ON ITS FIRST USE.]
The system confirmed his guess, explained the function, and warned him of its restriction.
Still, as far as Akira was concerned, all he needed to know was that the binding worked!
Yeah, that’s fine. If we can bind her, hurry up and bind her first!
Better safe than sorry.
He had finally found an Umamusume perfectly suited to losing him money. If somebody swooped in midway and snatched her away, Akira would regret it to death.
The moment he made his decision as Master, the system immediately sounded another notification in his mind.
[DING! INITIAL TEAM MEMBER BOUND: UMAMUSUME TAMAMO CROSS!]
[PLEASE NOTE: THIS UMAMUSUME WILL NOT OFFICIALLY BE ADDED TO MASTER’S TEAM UNTIL THE CONTRACT BETWEEN BOTH PARTIES TAKES EFFECT!]
Yes!
Now he was set!
This is a fan translation of 亏钱养马娘，但呼吸法是什么鬼？by 恰米的鼠鼠 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!
Reader discussion
0 Comments
Be the first reader to share a thought about this chapter.