The fact that senior Xian taught me horseback riding started with a trivial opportunity.

As I said before, the academy has about 10 days of vacation before the evaluation to recover from injury or physical condition after the evaluation match.

In the evaluation match held half a year ago in the second semester of last year, the opponent was Stella, so I had to fight with all my might.

After a fierce battle to the point of not knowing who won, I had to work on recovering from the injury for 10 days, so it was virtually the same as not having a vacation.

However, this semester’s opponent was not a special case like Stella at that time, and as it was just an ordinary graduating class student from the Ministry of Magic, the decision was easily settled without much change.

There were no injuries that could be called injuries.

The opponent was also a 4th circle wizard, so he was quite the strongest student at the undergraduate level, but once the basic circle was two steps apart, it was inevitable.

It was because there was a difference in power to the extent that it was virtually meaningless even if they dug into the reverse nature.

In addition to that, there were five attributes that I could use, so even in the midst of that, it was rather me who hit the reverse image.

The department didn’t seem to have high expectations either. It was an evaluation match between students, but rather, it looked like an evaluation of the other student having a mock match with the professor.

There were rumors about a head-to-head match with a professor from the Ministry of Magic, but it seemed to be an unfounded rumor.

After enjoying not only my evaluation match, but also Delfina and Stella’s evaluation match, I was left with an entire 10-day vacation period.

It was a ten-day week left without any plan or schedule.

Of course, having a lot of time was a good thing. At least it’s much more than being chased by time and not being able to do anything.

Even Delfina couldn’t get rid of all the fatigue she got from the evaluation match, and she was spouting crazy noises saying that she had to deal with her overdue work because she was on a long-awaited vacation.

As for Saint Claire, since the evaluation match was over, it was the time when the theology department would be the busiest.

Compared to that, my circumstances, where I spend time in a daze, lying on the dorm bed without doing anything, must have been better.

Even so, spending time doing nothing was obviously not a very good option.

As much as I have free time, I wanted to use it in a more appropriate place.

It would be nice to focus on making magic formulas, which I have been doing as a hobby, but since this was more of a hobby that I could do at any time, I put it on hold.

Since I had 10 days of free time, I thought it wouldn’t be best to do something that could only be done in 10 days.

It reminded me of going to the Forest of the World Tree with Xian-senpai last summer vacation.

Since it was a bit far to visit for 10 days, of course I didn’t mean to suggest to Xian that we go to the forest of the World Tree together.

What I remembered was the vehicle I rode with her on the first day of the trip.

At that time, senior Xian forgot and couldn’t borrow a carriage, so he had no choice but to ride me on the back and ride a horse to a nearby village.

I remembered the hardships of going on a trip for hours with her close to me.

At that time, it was difficult just to care about the body closely attached to Xian senior, but looking back, Xian senior’s riding skills at that time could be considered to be of a high level.

It wasn’t usually easy to cover a fairly long distance in half a day with only one horse, and to drive for hours with concentration even with one more person hanging from the back.

During the long-awaited vacation, I thought it would be nice to learn horseback riding from her.

That would also be true, because Xian was exempted from the evaluation match this year, and like me, he had no schedule during his vacation.

Due to the extension of the grade, classes and exams were taken with the existing 4th graders, but the confrontation before the evaluation was against the existing undergraduate students, so it was not applicable to senior Xian.

“You want me to teach you horseback riding?”

“Yes, senior Xian. I remember the last time I visited the Forest of the World Tree, you were quite good at riding horses.”

Of course, there was a possibility that she had scheduled it earlier than I did, but what she got back was a positive answer.

“Yeah, because I also have an empty schedule that week. If Conrad juniors want to learn, I will teach them.”

“Really?”

“Since tomorrow is the vacation period, do you want to start tomorrow? Or shall we start on another day?”

“It’s not something you can learn in a day or two anyway, so the sooner you start, the better.”

“Okay, then come tomorrow at 10:00 to the academy riding ground.”

That’s how Saturday morning I started taking riding lessons from senior Xian. I arrived about 30 minutes early at the meeting place, the Academy Equestrian Center, and waited for her.

With about 20 minutes left before the appointment time, Xian sunbaenim also showed up.

“You came early. I should have prepared a little sooner.”

“no. I haven’t been here in a while.”

“Let’s go right in, Junior Conrad.”

There were many student welfare facilities in Alexandros Academy as they usually pay expensive tuition.

One such welfare facility was the equestrian center for students, where students who could not afford to buy a horse could learn horseback riding.

You might ask what the academy and equestrianism are related to, but surprisingly, equestrianism was one of the essential skills for the academy’s desired talent.

There were many people who could wield swords or spears normally, but there were far fewer people who could do horseback swordsmanship or horseback spearmanship.

In a one-on-one battle, individual strength may be more important, but if the stage becomes a battlefield, much more operations can be performed just by being able to ride a horse.

That’s why the academy runs a facility that lends horses so that you can learn horseback riding at a relatively low price.

It was an academy-like education policy in that it deliberately collected expensive tuition and returned more to students who wanted to develop.

After hearing a brief explanation from the information staff about senior Xian and the student riding arena, I was able to borrow a horse for practice by paying a small fee.

“Do you know how to ride a horse? Was it the first time you rode together?”

“Well… .”

I thought for a while about whether I should share the experience of my previous life, but it seemed like I was asking about my skill level, so I answered including it.

“I have been on a horse alone seven times. I have fallen against my will seven times.”

“… First of all, it is said that there is no exceptional talent.”

It wasn’t that I wasn’t determined to learn from my previous life. It didn’t go as well as I thought.

“Still, if you’ve climbed the horse seven times, you might have gotten off the horse at least once or twice, but the person who taught you seems to have had poor skills.”

“No, the person who informed me was a person who was good at riding horses and serving wagons, but I think the problem was that I didn’t get along very well.”

“I don’t know what it is, but it seems like there was a situation.”

“… Well, it wasn’t.”

The biggest problem was that it was too late when I learned that I needed to know how to ride a horse.

Among the members of the demon subjugation party, only one person could drive a horse until the end, and this often acted as a factor of anxiety during the subjugation party.

By the time he realized that he needed at least one more driver, he had already entered the Demon Realm, so the only person who could teach him how to drive was the only carriage driver of the Demon God Subjugation Army.

When I asked her to teach me how to ride horseback riding, she had a bad relationship with me due to differences in opinions in various strategies.

As you may have noticed from the fact that I was the only person who could drive a horse in the demon subjugation party, the first horseback riding instructor in my life was also Xian.

Since it was a previous life, I’m not Xian-senpai, I’m just Xian.

‘Aww!’

‘Fifth. How about quitting soon? It’s not very interesting anymore.’

‘… What?’

‘I thought it would be fun to see you fall off a horse, so I followed you, but it’s boring to do the same thing over and over again.’

‘Then you taught me a little straight.’

‘You keep talking. Get on, hold the reins, hold your posture. Isn’t it simple?’

‘I’ll do it that way too. Please tell me how long to hold the reins, how hard to move, and how to maintain a balanced posture!’

‘bothered. Why do I have to go that far?’

‘Then why don’t you just go around and turn it off? It’s my fault for asking a dwarf bitch.’

‘… I would have told you not to say that again, short-lived.’

‘You’re the one who said that you’re tired from driving the carriage alone every day in the first place. Last time, you were sick, so I couldn’t move properly for a while. So why are you so mean when you say you’ll help me not to drive alone?’

‘It’s useless meddling. And don’t worry, I won’t ride the carriage you’re driving. I feel like I’m going to drive the horse to a strange place and drive it somewhere.’

‘Even if you say… .’

‘Coming to think of it, I can clearly understand your intention to teach me how to ride a horse. He must have been aiming for physical contact with me on the pretext of asking me to adjust my posture. A sneaky bastard.’

‘You sound like a dog. Xian, if I can touch you, I won’t learn.’

‘… I should have told you not to arbitrarily omit honorific titles.’

‘I’m grateful just for calling you by name, you dwarf bitch.’

‘Yes, today would be a good day to dig into your fishy eyes.’

‘Mr. Conrad! Mr. Xian! Why are you like this again today! Please calm down!’

I learned it while having these conversations, but of course I couldn’t have learned it properly.

In the end, the lecture of the day ended with Stella appearing as usual and mediating between me and Xian.

Even though they hated each other so much, it was a miraculous journey that somehow managed to defeat the drank Cardia together.

Even now, we’re close enough to wonder if we’re the same person as back then.

At least in this demon subjugation party, there would be no need to blush with each other, so even if I thought about it again, I thought I had put the first button on properly.

“What are you thinking, junior Konrad?”

“… I remember fighting with the teacher who taught me when I first learned horseback riding.”

“I guess he wouldn’t have been such a nice person if he had fought with Conrad’s juniors.”

“… yes, what.”

It was strangely reluctant to gossip about himself in front of him, so he only moderately agreed with senior Xian’s words.

Of course, I am clearly aware that the simple Xian of my previous life is different from the current Xian, and unlike Xian, I sometimes give respect or gratitude to Xian.

Anyway, after the destruction of the world tree forest, there was a good chance that she would become like that.

Compared to Xian at that time, it was needless to say that the current Xian senior is much better in many ways.

“Comrade Conrad, you should get your posture a little more properly. If you stand too stiff on a horse, you’ll get tired quickly. And with the feeling of attaching your thighs a little more to the horse’s back.”

“Is this how you feel?”

“… Would you like to tuck your butt a little further in from that position? Okay. Just like this.”

“yes… .”

For some reason, it felt like I was making too much physical contact.

… Well, it must be because of my mood.