The sudden thunderstorm over Dubai left both residents and foreign visitors deeply uneasy. It was not until the sun rose the next morning that people finally started to relax.
Xingyun Liuge, meanwhile, got up at the crack of dawn, as though jet lag simply did not exist for her.
Chihaya Yui dragged herself out of bed as well. She wanted to do better this time. She wanted Xingyun Liuge to be able to rely on her.
Already accustomed to European time, Sirius Symbol adjusted her schedule a little and then asked outright,
"So you came out here on purpose and fed them false data because you knew they'd study you closely, huh? That's pretty nasty. I like it. Want me to help?"
Horse racing looked like a sport on the surface, but in truth, it was a little like a war simulation.
And the single most important thing in war was intelligence.
If you knew a seeded contender's or dark horse's main stats—track aptitude, preferred running style, finishing burst, and so on—you could establish an advantage smoothly, perhaps even win before the race ever began.
Unless, of course, the gap in raw ability was simply too large.
But the British and American horse girls knew exactly how terrifying Eclipse and Secretariat had been, and in order to make up for that overwhelming gap in strength, they had developed a "trade-piece tactic": three to five horse girls would enter the same race, but only one might truly be aiming for the win. The others were there purely as interference, purely as obstacles.
Under those circumstances, if false information could be used to mislead the opposition, then victory was half in hand already.
That was why Sirius Symbol was so enthusiastic. She had voluntarily done something Rudolf Symbol had never asked her to do. She wanted to see the shock on the other horse girls' faces when they finally witnessed Xingyun Liuge's real running style.
Xingyun Liuge naturally had no objection.
She was perfectly willing to let her opponents observe her daily training in broad daylight, perfectly willing to let them study her to their hearts' content—then turn around and crush them completely anyway.
The UAE Derby was scheduled for 6:30 in the evening. And under the influence of the tropical desert climate, even the exact same course could present different conditions in the morning, at noon, and at dusk.
The best time to train was naturally the evening, when the track most closely resembled race conditions. But in order to preserve fairness, the organizers strictly controlled when the entrants were allowed onto the course, making sure every horse girl had roughly the same degree of familiarity with it.
Of course, that "roughly the same" only applied to visiting horse girls. The local ones could probably run the course blindfolded.
After all, the local entrants were all members of the royal families. If they were not familiar with the track, that would mean they had no real interest in racing themselves, and in that case they would not have entered in the first place. The idea was nonsense from the start.
Xingyun Liuge had already reserved an evening practice slot. Taking into account the fact that visiting horse girls needed time to adjust to the time difference, the organizers had scheduled her for that slot five days later, with two consecutive training days. Aside from that, she was also free to familiarize herself with Meydan during the track's public hours.
After running two laps, Xingyun Liuge glanced down at the horseshoes beneath her shoes.
"Even though it's a synthetic track, and the organizers are doing everything they can to keep conditions as similar as possible throughout the day… they still can't quite pull it off, huh?"
"Little Song, what are you talking about?" Chihaya Yui, holding an umbrella awkwardly with her neck, had a sports drink in one hand and a towel in the other as she tried to make the two of them rest a bit.
Even though it was still early, the temperature was already climbing fast. If they were not careful, they could get heatstroke. That was absolutely not allowed.
"Nothing much," Xingyun Liuge said, taking the drink from her hand. "Just marveling at how absurdly rich the Dubai royals are."
She reached for the towel too, only for Chihaya Yui to start wiping her face herself.
"Oho" Sirius Symbol deliberately dragged out the sound as she watched. "You two really are close, huh? Positively enviable, in fact"
She even emphasized the key words one by one, as if afraid no one would catch her meaning.
"Well, that's…" A cute pink blush spread over Chihaya Yui's cheeks. She had really only wanted to take care of Xingyun Liuge properly and shoulder the responsibilities of a competent trainer. She genuinely had not been thinking about anything else.
"That's right, Yui and I are very close. Is Aunt Sirius jealous? Is it because Aunt Sirius doesn't have a trainer traveling with her?" Xingyun Liuge tilted her head on purpose, putting on an innocent look.
"A-Aunt?" Sirius Symbol was furious.
She was in the prime of her youth. How could anyone call her an aunt?
She felt an almost irresistible urge to pounce and thoroughly bully Xingyun Liuge's tender little face. Only then, she felt, could she vent her grievance.
And honestly, given that Sirius Symbol was nearly one meter seventy tall, Xingyun Liuge really was almost tiny by comparison—the perfect size to scoop up and torment in her arms.
But the instant Sirius made her move, a light wind wrapped itself around Xingyun Liuge's body, allowing her to grab Chihaya Yui and slip away effortlessly from Sirius's lunge, leaving Sirius with a mouth full of dirt.
Sirius Symbol had to spit furiously, trying to get all the sand off her lips and out of her mouth.
Xingyun Liuge laughed without the slightest shame, and Chihaya Yui ended up laughing too.
For a moment, the track was filled with cheerful air.
At the same time, however, Latifa was watching the group from the shadows, hand at her chin, deep in thought.
"I don't have any direct proof," she murmured, "but… the wind around her feels different somehow."
Latifa knew from childhood that she herself was an unusual horse girl. Compared to others, she could feel the presence of the wind far more clearly—and bend it to her use.
Whether it was borrowing the wind to accelerate, or baring the fangs of an otherwise gentle breeze to hinder someone else's acceleration, she could do both.
Though admittedly, it did not work every single time.
Still, that inborn power had allowed her to stand out among her sisters and become the strongest horse girl among them. In fact, throughout the whole of the UAE, she was unquestionably the number one favorite.
She had wanted to use that power to defeat the British horse girls and turn the UAE Derby back into a celebration for the people of the Emirates, instead of another event where they could do nothing but cheer for foreign winners.
But Xingyun Liuge's victory in the Hong Kong Gold Cup, combined with her bold declaration that she was now aiming straight for the UAE Derby, had made Latifa realize one thing:
Her dream might already be hanging by a thread.
Latifa regarded Xingyun Liuge as a formidable rival.
At the same time, she was convinced Xingyun Liuge would inevitably attract an entire British "army" of horse girls.
The European and American horse girls were all outstanding—arguably the unquestioned first tier in the world.
Precisely because of that, they were even less able to stomach defeat. If one of their own lost to a foreign horse girl, they would move at once to target that girl, defeat her, and reclaim the collective honor she had taken from them.
In that sense, the Western horse girls were fiercely protective of their own. Which meant the UAE Derby was bound to become the foremost battlefield where the British horse girls and Xingyun Liuge would collide.
The UAE, however, was only a federation made up of seven emirates, and the entrants from the Emirates were all members of their respective royal families. They simply were not capable of the kind of cooperation the British horse girls excelled at.
How could a loose rabble ever beat a disciplined army?
So Latifa had every reason to feel a splitting headache coming on.
And then something even worse happened.
She began to suspect—just maybe, possibly, perhaps—that Xingyun Liuge could also draw upon the power of the wind.
It was not that Latifa believed such power should belong to her alone.
It was that she knew exactly how frightening that power could be, and yet had no idea how one was supposed to counter it.
That was the truly maddening part. It felt like it would cost her an absurd number of brain cells to figure out.
Latifa's eyes darkened slightly as she let out a quiet sigh.
"So in the end, the simplest path to victory really is to place one's hopes in the land and climate of one's homeland…"
If all went well, then their homeland itself would defeat every foreign horse girl and turn the UAE Derby into a golden stage for local horse girls alone.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter108)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 26
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