chapter 60: Unity of Rider and Mount (02)
"Aaaaargh!"
Had they ever been hit by a mana saber before?
Even if the centaurs clashed with the kingdom's army, most would die from arrows or flying magical attacks rather than facing a knight's mana saber directly.
If the kingdom fought against centaurs, it would always be in a defensive stance, and even in a punitive expedition, it would end with scaring the fleeing centaurs from coming near the kingdom, so they never really faced knights head-on.
That's why they didn't know the fear of a knight.
"Just one person... why are we...!"
Of course, I was just one person.
If these centaurs had not panicked and had calmly formed a defensive line and attacked from a distance or poked with long spears, there would have been nothing I could do. But the centaur bandits were already in panic, fleeing in terror.
"There's the obstacle! Tie the rope I prepared around my waist..."
Originally, Eileen had planned to break through the obstacles by tying a rope around them and running downhill herself, clearing the obstacles and creating a path for her sisters to escape down the rocky mountain.
However, there was a problem; her plan was based on the mistaken belief that she could pull out a tightly wedged log from the mountain's structure by herself.
Not that there wasn't a solution.
"Move aside!"
I stopped Eileen from tying the rope around her waist and jumped off her back while extending the mana saber long.
Swoosh!
Then I slashed the center of the obstacle with the mana saber, creating a large gap, and slashed on each side of it, completely severing the middle part.
Crack!
The high-heat, high-pressure mana saber cleanly cut through the log used as an obstacle as smoothly as a saw would have, and I kicked the logs aside while whistling.
Whistle!
Being a rocky mountain with not a single blade of grass, my whistle echoed across the whole area, and soon after seeing the obstacle gone, the centaur maidens glanced at each other and started approaching one by one.
"Who... is that..."
"No time to explain. Eileen!"
As I called her, Eileen, who had been dumbfoundedly tying a rope around her waist, hurried over, and I climbed back on her body and sheathed the mana saber.
"Let's go!"
"There are warriors here not from our village..."
"Escape first, send them back later!"
"No, but our village's location, to tell others... Ahh!"
Smack!
I smacked Eileen's buttocks, and she instinctively started running, followed by the other centaur maidens sprinting after her.
"Damn... block them, block! Don't let them escape..."
It was a cavalry versus cavalry clash.
However, the centaur maidens charging downhill with the acceleration of the slope showed the true power of shock cavalry, and the centaur bandits below, unable to form a line, were a clear demonstration of how not to use cavalry.
Smash!!
Using the downhill momentum, the centaur maidens overwhelmingly breached the bandits' defenses and began to escape, while the centaur bandits were left battered by punches and kicks, their bodies a wreck.
It's commonly known that physically, males are usually stronger than females, but with horses, mares can be as fast and brave as stallions, so physically, they were on equal footing as horses.
What that means is... the centaur maidens were no less physically capable than the members of the centaur bandit gang.
"Eileen!"
"Sister!"
"You... carrying a man on your back..."
While they were grateful for being rescued, the sight of me and Eileen was shocking to the centaur maidens.
'Well, the centaur bandits were also shocked by the sight of a two-headed centaur... to the centaurs, it must be a fearsome sight?'
The centaur maidens from Eileen's village took the lead, clearing the way and starting to charge, and seeing the captured centaur maidens forming a line and running behind us, I completely released my grip on the mana saber and let go of Eileen's hair that I had been holding in my left hand.
'We succeeded. It's a partial victory, but...'
At that time, I was unaware.
Why the other centaur maidens looked bewildered when they saw me and Eileen.
And why Eileen had been so adamant against carrying me, the reason for that.
* * *
"Nice to meet you. We are warriors from Arlin village."
"I am a warrior from Esrei village."
Outside the tent, the centaur maidens were introducing themselves.
Though they had escaped to the village where Dein and I were indebted, they had no intention of staying here and planned to return to their respective villages after tonight.
Just that they needed to talk beforehand, so they were sharing stories frantically in the middle of the night.
"At first, I thought it was just a few rogues causing trouble, but having experienced it directly, I realize the danger."
"Yes. We were lucky to be rescued this time, but if it happens again... smaller villages will have no chance."
While escaping, the centaur maidens had trampled about ten of the bandits, but there were still nearly a hundred bandits left, and there was no law preventing them from trying to kidnap centaur maidens and sell them as slaves in the future.
"They say that a thief who steals grains will eventually steal livestock. Before they grow bigger, we must set an example and teach them that bad deeds have consequences if they want to live in these plains."
As a result, each of them planned to return to their own villages to muster forces and form a coalition army to subdue the bandit group.
While ominous statements were exchanged about how their fathers could easily crush these weaklings or even their mothers could break legs with their bare hands...
"Ugh... this is unsettling."
I lay down on a makeshift bed of straw, unable to wash, and tried to sleep.
"I thought our barracks were the worst in the world, but it turns out there's an even lower bottom..."
The dry straw was fairly plush, but the problem was the small insects inside it, wriggling and biting my skin while their buzzing filled the air. Centaurs usually sleep standing, so there were frequent sounds of them shifting and rolling their hooves.
This caused the sound of hooves to echo, waking me up again and again...
"Sigh..."
At times like this, I envy Dane for his ability to sleep anywhere, anytime.
"I'm low on mana too..."
I wasn't drained to the point of squeezing out the last of my mana circuits, but the continuous battles from morning to evening had significantly depleted my mana, bringing on a heavy fatigue.
I should recover after a good sleep, but I need sleep to come first.
Click-clack...
And I wasn't the only one struggling to sleep; I could hear hooves pacing outside my tent, indicating others were also finding it hard to settle.
The other centaur maidens from the rescued villages were planning to stay up all night and run back to their villages, so they were not concerned, but she, who needed to stay in this village, should be resting.
"What are you doing? Come in and rest."
In fact, this tent wasn't mine but Eileen's.
Though it was meant to host a guest, no separate tent had been prepared, and the nights on the plains were cold, requiring two or three to huddle together for warmth, so Dane and I were depending on different centaur maidens for shelter.
Of course, my host was Eileen.
"I didn't intend to impose this much, but..."
I had cooperated with Eileen today, but if she disliked carrying me, I planned to ask one of the centaur warriors we rescued to carry me instead.
If it's not an unavoidable situation like tonight, there's no reason to insist, right?
So I wanted to assure her that I would move with another centaur warrior so she could stop pacing outside, but she hesitated to come into the tent.
Click-clack.
It wasn't until after midnight that Eileen entered, a stark contrast to her wild appearance during the day; now she seemed quite demure, sneakily entering the tent.
"If you dislike my presence, I can leave and sleep outside. I'm used to sleeping outdoors for a day or two."
"That's not it. In the village, we usually sleep together."
Perhaps to the horses, sleeping together is nothing special.
"Then what's the issue with entering the tent? Are you afraid I'll force myself on you?"
"..."
Her silence suggested I was right.
"Don't worry. If I need to be agile, I'll ask another warrior to carry me..."
"It's okay to carry you."
"Really?"
If that's the case, perhaps I should continue partnering with Eileen...
"I'm okay with it now."
Swish.
Eileen began to undress the cloth wrapped around her body.
At first, I thought she was undressing to sleep comfortably, but as she started to peel off her thin undergarments, I realized something unusual was happening.
"Something's... off?"
As the mare undressed, the scent of sweat filled the tent.
Water was scarce on the plains, and bathing in water was a luxury.
Therefore, I was also unable to wash before sleeping, and typically, horse sweat foams up like soap and washes away, so instead of an unpleasant sweat smell, there was a fragrant scent of soap in the air.
"Wait a minute, more importantly, it seems like she's getting naked..."
After throwing off the leather guard and the cloth, the silhouette of her large breasts emerged, more massive than I had anticipated.
Backlit by the tent entrance, the details were unclear, but the silhouette alone conveyed an overwhelming presence!
Her breasts were even larger than those of Lady Melson, which had sunken nipples, and Eileen's nipples were as large as my thumbs, prominently protruding.
"It's okay to mount..."
So, in centaur terms, does 'mount' have that meaning?
"Ah... so that's why...!"
I finally understood why the bandits had been shocked to see me and Eileen during the hostage rescue at the rocky mountain.
From a human perspective, it appeared as a man and woman were merging their genitals while charging towards them with swords – even I would be terrified and flee!
"Are you not going to mount?"
Her voice, usually high during the day, was now languid and subdued, and I responded as a knight should.
"No, I will mount. Isn't that what knights do?"
After all, a knight is a knight because he rides. Yes.