Chapter 78

As Ethan’s exclusive maid, Lilith is given a fairly long break time every day after lunch.

Usually, after breakfast, there is some spare time due to cleaning Ethan’s room, and similarly, after dinner, time tends to fly by strangely due to preparations for bedtime.

However, this flying time after lunch could be considered my personal free time unless there were special circumstances.

Unlike general maids, exclusive maids are exempt from other duties in the mansion, so it’s kind of a privilege. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

Of course, in exchange, one disadvantage is that you have to quickly respond to a call while dropping what you’re doing when your master calls, but Ethan isn’t the type of character to call me at any time anymore.

Since that incident three years ago, the number of times Ethan has personally called me can be counted on one hand. Except for a few cases where we had really important conversations, like asking about attending Seraphine’s masquerade ball.

That means, in other words, the free time from after lunch until dinner is completely personal time that I can use.

I usually invest this time in efforts to survive as Lilith in this world.

I did things like steadily saving up Lilith’s independence funds through knitting or gradually accumulating knowledge of this world with books borrowed from Ethan’s room. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

The skill I started learning today was also closely related to that said survival.

That was none other than horseback riding, one of the skills that would never hurt to have as an adventurer.

Today, I came out to the stable with Head Butler Dittmeyer to learn horseback riding.

“Be careful, Miss Lilith.”

“Ah, I know….”

The instructor, Dittmeyer, warned me while looking at me with a slightly anxious expression.

I also made eye contact with the white horse in front of me without shaking off the tension.

…How do I become friendly with a horse? Should I make eye contact and pet it?

“Um, I’ll be in your care today, Zeraon….”

“NEEEEEEIIIIIGH!”

“Eek! Ehehehe…?!”

Although I only made eye contact and greeted it, Zeraon neighed loudly with an exaggerated reaction.

It was fortunate that it didn’t seem to show an aggressive attitude, but it was still enough movement to startle me.

Seeing that it’s not particularly snorting at me, it’s probably just one of its expressions of affection.

“Will you be alright, Miss Lilith?”

“Yes, yes…. This much is….”

“I came to cooperate since you said you wanted to learn horseback riding, but if it seems difficult for you, Miss Lilith, you don’t have to force yourself to learn it. Just because you’re Ethan’s exclusive maid doesn’t mean you necessarily have to learn it.”

“Ah, no. I’ll learn it properly, so, head butler, please teach me thoroughly.”

“…I understand. If that’s what you want.”

Dittmeyer, who didn’t take my words lightly, immediately approached Zeraon and grasped the reins attached to its back with one hand.

After stroking Zeraon’s neck a couple of times, he handed me the reins in his hand.

“Take it, Miss Lilith.”

“…Aren’t you going to show me a demo or something?”

“It’s much easier to learn horseback riding by directly experiencing it yourself. And horses get tired if the rider changes frequently.”

“I… see….”

“Also, haven’t you experienced riding a carriage I drove a few times?”

“Well, that’s true….”

“Basically, riding a horse and driving a carriage follow the same principles. Miss Lilith, you have basic motor skills, so just watching me drive the carriage yesterday should be enough as a prior learning experience.”

…Actually, I was sleeping due to fatigue, so I hardly saw it.

How can I watch it when it’s so hard to stay awake while having exhausted all my mana?

Well, still, I’ve seen characters riding horses a lot so far. I only recall a scene of the main character riding a horse in my previous life, though.

If I roughly imitate that, it should work out somehow.

After receiving the reins handed by Dittmeyer, I stroked Zeraon’s nape in front of me a couple of times.

With a brief greeting, I kicked myself off the ground and got on the horse’s back.

“I’ll be in your care, Zeraon.”

“Ah, by the way, that horse’s name is Lucina….”

Thud!

“……”

Thanks to the fairly high jump, fortunately, I didn’t show an unsightly appearance in front of Dittmeyer.

…I just imitated what I saw in the game, and it worked.

It’s probably possible because my current self is at level 9, so my basic physical abilities aren’t that weak…

…or it could be the influence of Lilith’s unique abilities as a character.

Among the main heroines of Luminor Academy, she was one of the three characters capable of solo horseback riding along with Seraphine and Natalie.

By the way, characters like Agnes can’t even get on a horse alone, let alone solo horseback riding. In the first place, she doesn’t look like she’d be good at that kind of thing.

“You have good motor skills, Miss Lilith.”

“Th-thank you.”

“While tightly holding the reins like that, slowly….”

“Hold the reins tightly… eek, AHHHHH?!”

“NEEEEEEIIIIIGH!”

As soon as I lowered my waist once while tightly holding the string with both hands, Zeraon suddenly ran off with a loud voice.

As a result, I had to experience an unexpected sense of speed while clinging to Zeraon’s back.

“EEEEK! ACK! AAAAAH!”

“Li-Lilith! Pull the reins! Pulling means stop!”

“P-pull, you say?! Like this?!”

Pull!

“NEEEEEEIIIIIGH!”

“That’s acceleration! You shouldn’t pull too fast….”

Dittmeyer, who was desperately chasing after me to stop me, quickly became distant, and Zeraon suddenly started running around the Blackwood mansion’s yard with me.

I suddenly felt dizzy from the sense of speed I was experiencing for the first time since coming to this world.

In those few seconds of being unable to regain my senses, Zeraon was running towards the wall at the end of the Blackwood mansion’s yard as if it was going to crash into it.

“EEEEEK! S-stop!”

“Neeiigh!”

“Th-then at least change direction!”

With the thought that I have to somehow survive, I tilted the reins to the right as much as possible and leaned my body.

Fortunately, Zeraon, which understood my gesture, also leaned to the right, and I managed to turn the corner somehow with a 90-degree drift.

Wait a minute, I’m at the training ground on the east side of the mansion. The people in the training ground right now are probably….

“EEEEK?!”

“M-maid?!”

“What are you doing right now…?”

“W-wait a moment! Please get out of the way! Master! Young Master!”

The Blackwood father and son, who were in the midst of clashing swords, noticed me approaching, panicked, and avoided me.

Fortunately, they avoided the rushing horse with agile movements befitting a Sword Master and his son. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

From the first day of horseback riding, the unfortunate incident of running over the master of the mansion or his son did not occur.

“Maid?! What are you doing?!”

“I-it’s okay! This much is nothing…!”

“What are you suddenly doing right now….”@@novelbin@@

Ah, no. “It’s okay” is not something I should say right now.

If Harold or Ethan see this sight of a debt maid suddenly getting on a horse and rushing, they might have strange misunderstandings.

Just before turning the next corner with Zeraon, I desperately appealed my innocence to the two.

“I-I’m not trying to ride away~!!”

…It was only after I managed to stop the horse that I realized I had uttered unnecessary words and almost caused a strange misunderstanding.

Clop. Clop.

“……”

Clop, clop, clop.

“S-stop.”

“Neeiiigh!”

As soon as I spoke while slightly pulling the reins, Zeraon quietly stopped in place with a single cry.

Seeing its obedient appearance, which made the previous rush seem insignificant, I silently sighed in relief in my heart.

“You’re doing well, Miss Lilith.”

“W-was I doing okay…?”

“Being able to do a trot from the first day is a tremendous talent. At this rate, you’ll be able to handle a canter *1 sufficiently within a few days.”

“……”

Thank goodness. I was worried about what I would do if I didn’t have talent in riding even after possessing Lilith.

Indeed, perhaps because of his skills that allowed him to become the head butler at a young age, Dittmeyer’s teaching method was easy to understand from the start.

He taught things like the posture to hold while on a horse, or how to show certain signals to the horse and how it will behave; his way of teaching was so effective to the point where even I, who was riding for the first time, could easily understand and follow along.

By the way, the one who ended the ‘Zeraon rushing incident’ earlier was none other than this head butler. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

Dittmeyer, who got on the horse behind me after I circled the Blackwood mansion’s yard once and returned, took over the reins from me and stopped Zeraon at the same time.

I had often seen the scene of someone getting on a running horse in the game, but I didn’t know Dittmeyer could do that.

Due to his image of becoming the head butler at a young age, he seemed like a very intellectual character in the original world, but I didn’t expect him to be good at physical tasks, too, huh?

Well, in this era, it would be difficult to advance quickly just by being smart and knowledgeable.

Seeing him driving a carriage for hours from the Blackwood territory to the Imperial capital without getting tired, he’s probably not a character lacking in stamina or strength.

Anyway, in that safe state, I practiced a stable trot for about 30 more minutes following Dittmeyer’s lesson.

Feeling a little tired physically, I got off the horse and collapsed on the ground to take a rest.

“Haaah….”

“Are you tired, Miss Lilith?”

“…I’m a bit tired. I didn’t expect it to be this tiring.”

“Most people think that way at first. Just looking at it at first glance, it seems like the horse is just running and the person is sitting comfortably, but in reality, it’s not like that.”

“…I see. I realized that with my whole body.”

No matter what, I didn’t know I would have to do squats in time with the horse’s movements.

Still, thanks to Dittmeyer’s corrections of my posture from beginning to end, I was able to endure it to some extent from the middle.

Of course, I’m still not used to it, so I feel like it’s better to just run than trot.

“Today’s lesson ends here, but will you continue to learn next week, Miss Lilith?”

“…Why do you ask that? Is it because me asking you to teach me horseback riding is a burden to you, head butler?”

“It’s not that, I’m asking because I thought you might have lost interest in horseback riding, Miss Lilith. Horseback riding itself is an exercise that requires a lot of physical strength, and it takes a long time to learn to the extent that you can use it properly.”

“Aaaah.”

So he was just politely asking if I got tired after trying it for a day.

Indeed, after trying it once, I was tired in many ways. I was so tired to the extent that I thought it might be faster to practice running with the horse during this time instead. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

…But that only applies when Lilith is moving alone.

Considering the adventurer life I will lead later, a horse is essential for long-term activities.

That includes things like loading luggage and moving when changing locations, or carrying someone on the back and moving during escort requests or rescue requests.

…Or if I think about being able to properly drive a carriage later.

The fact that it’s difficult to learn means that it requires a lot of time and money to learn properly.

In other words, it’s not a skill that I can learn as I please later when I go outside.

Then, of course, it’s 100% the right decision to learn to ride even a little now.

Learning from Dittmeyer in the Blackwood mansion is practically free.

Of course, if I express this inner thought as it is, he will definitely not teach me again, so I should express it in a roundabout way.

“Since I’ve already started learning, it would be good to learn it to the end. After all, it’s a skill that doesn’t hurt to learn as an exclusive maid, right?”

“Of course, Miss Lilith.”

“If I’m able to drive a carriage, it will make things a little easier for you, Head Butler Dittmeyer. After all, we can’t take you along everywhere Young Master Ethan and I go.”

“That’s an excellent attitude, Miss Lilith.”

“And it would be a shame to part ways with Zeraon after just one day when we’ve finally become close. Right, Zeraon?”

“Neiiigh!”

“…That horse is not Zeraon, but Lucina….”

Ignoring Dittmeyer’s blocked conversation appropriately, I roughly wrapped up the conversation while stroking Zeraon’s mane.

It was also about time for the free time in the afternoon to end, and I had to change clothes and prepare to attend dinner from now on.

Even for an exclusive maid with flexible time allocation, it was a rule to always participate in the three daily meals. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

With such thoughts, I was moving to hold Zeraon’s reins and take him to the stable when suddenly, a shadow appeared from the eastern training ground of the mansion.

That familiar shadow started running towards me, urgently calling me.

“M-maid! Are you okay?! Are you hurt anywhere?!”

“Young Master?”

…I know it’s kind of funny when I say this, but you’re so quick to worry.