The foods the trainer had picked were not the tastiest, but they were definitely the most nutritionally balanced—and they would also help Dyna put on weight.
Some of the ingredients were things she had never even heard of before, and she had gone to a great deal of trouble to track them down. She had even bought seafood—her least favorite thing in the world—and tossed it into the kitchen fridge. That very night, after finishing work, she made herself a pan-fried fish dish.
Even though she drowned it in sauce, Dyna still ended up pinching her nose shut and forcing it down.
The "freshness" that most people praised in seafood was a flavor Dyna had never once tasted. All she could ever sense was an unbearable fishy smell.
After washing up and getting back into bed, Dyna rubbed her slightly overfilled stomach, not happy in the slightest.
The taste had been pure hell.
"Sigh... if I follow the plan step by step, can I really reach the target level before the Shortwave Cup?"
Lying on her back and staring at the ceiling, Dyna had already taken off her glasses and set them on the bedside table. Her nearsightedness was fairly bad. Looking at the light bulb now, all she saw was a blurry orb of light, like the glowing effects in Ultraman specials.
It had been a long time since Dyna last slept face-down. The weight on her chest made that impossible now, so at most she could sleep on her side. Still, her sleep quality remained excellent.
The next morning, Dyna opened her eyes and instinctively reached for her glasses. After hesitating a moment, though, she pulled open the bedside drawer instead. Inside was a pair of contact lenses soaking in solution.
Since she had chosen the path of effort, then she had to cast aside whatever external obstacles would hinder her progress!
The glasses perched on her nose would be too easy to damage during intense training. Ever since her debut race, Dyna had kept a pair of contacts in reserve.
Their purpose was for today.
There was still a small vanity table in the cramped bedroom. Sitting on the bed and facing the mirror, Dyna pried open her eyelids and, with great difficulty, put in the lenses.
"I'm still so bad at dealing with these... I really am an old fossil after all."
She pulled out a tissue and wiped away the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. After sniffling a couple of times on instinct, she gradually adjusted to the foreign-body sensation in her eyes.
That was the price of having eyes that were far too sensitive.
Dyna was already considering setting aside some time to specifically train herself to be less sensitive about eye contact and eye irritation. Otherwise, if she someday ended up spending half an hour in the preparation room on race day just trying to put in lenses, nobody would be able to keep a straight face.
Following the equipment checklist, Dyna changed into the newly bought training clothes. She pressed both hands against the sides and gave them an experimental squeeze.
"They look tight, but they feel surprisingly loose. All right, let's go!"
Jog five kilometers.
Meet Trainer Wada at the appointed spot.
Use the limited time in the morning to practice the most important items.
Then, during free time, work on the drills she could do alone.
With that, every day would hold more than just the bakery.
Dyna felt like her life had suddenly become fuller.
"Pull in your abdomen, lift your hips, lower your center of gravity."
Smack! Smack! Smack!
Wada's notepad tapped three different parts of Dyna's body in succession, correcting her posture. At the same time, he stared at her in bafflement.
If Dyna were not a horse girl, then this preparatory starting stance would actually be fairly standard—for a human.
Every correction only lasted a few minutes before Dyna's body bounced right back into bad habits, which earned her another three taps from Wada.
The entire morning had been nothing but this.
If there had been starting gates here, Wada would honestly have preferred to test Dyna's gate break directly.
Reviewing the footage of her debut race, the heavy rain had ensured that not a single novice horse girl on the field got out of the gate perfectly. Even Orfevre, the strongest runner on the field, could be clearly seen wobbling slightly on her very first step out.
Standing off to one side with his notepad under his chin, Wada sighed in confusion.
"Opera O, Shining Dyna really has absolutely no fundamentals. Even her starting stance is... hard to describe."
"Retainer, everyone begins somewhere. Was I not once the same? Though naturally, this Overlord is a genius and comprehended all things in one instant."
Opera O sat on the grass nearby, sharing breakfast pastries with Kireijun, watching the now-soaked-with-sweat Shining Dyna.
Wada shook his head and took a cookie from the bamboo basket, stuffing it into his mouth. Progress this morning had actually been quite substantial. At the very least, Dyna could now adapt to the starting motion. As for pace-work and chase training, if they could squeeze in even one proper session before the Shortwave Cup began, that would already count as a victory.
Training this horse girl gave Wada the feeling of taking over someone who had already spent half of her novice period without any formal coaching.
Dyna was a case of "open nine of the ten apertures—yet understand none of them."
"Morning training ends here. Take a break and come eat breakfast."
The moment Wada said it, Dyna collapsed onto the grass like mud, heedless of the dew. She rolled several times until she reached the picnic cloth, rested her chin on it, and breathed in the smells of grass and earth.
"So being a horse girl is really this hard... Winning those first two races must've been pure luck."
Dyna had no appetite at the moment. Only after recovering a little strength did she sit up, cross her legs, and let out a soft sigh.
Holding a skewer of dumplings, Kireijun looked at her and said,
"Actually, if you look at it from another angle, Miss Shining Dyna won two races purely on her own. That's extraordinary talent! With just a little proper guidance, you could reach even greater heights, couldn't you?"
"Can I really...? I'll work hard. At the very least, I don't want to leave myself with regrets. Thank you all for being willing to train something this basic with me..."
"Since I accepted the commission, then I have to see it through. You're a horse girl recommended by Oguri Cap. I won't doubt Oguri Cap's eye for talent. If I fail to make you shine, then it's probably because I'm just mediocre."
Standing to the side, Wada wrote down the results of this morning's session. He needed them to adjust tomorrow morning's training.
Looking at the data made his scalp itch.
And his head feel pointy.
For the time being, he could only teach her the most urgent techniques. Everything else had to be pushed back.
What a headache.
By the time it was almost work hours, more people had begun using the path, so Dyna glanced at her watch and decided it was time to head back to the shop to start preparing food. She said goodbye first.
Jogging back would count as aerobic training anyway.
"Retainer, what is your evaluation of Miss Shining Dyna?"
Wada bit down on his pen and met Opera O's gaze before answering:
"Other than fairly good physical gifts, everything else is a mess."
"Her movements, her awareness, her willpower—all of it fails. The first two are understandable enough. The one I'm most afraid of is her willpower getting stuck exactly where it is now. If that happens, then no amount of training will mean anything. She'll always be at a disadvantage whenever she has to fight another horse girl head-on."
"Willpower... how interesting. In that case, arrange for me to do chase training with her."
As the Overlord, Opera O had absolute confidence that she could raise Shining Dyna's willpower. It was the very same method she herself had always used to temporarily elevate her will in the middle of racing.
She believed it would work on Dyna too.
The Overlord's sharp intuition could sense it clearly:
Beneath Dyna's timid exterior, a giant beast lay sleeping.
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
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 32
Uma Musume: From Beginner 26
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