"Demon King Born! Hopeful Stakes Record Shattered at 1:28!"
This headline completely exploded internationally.
The race footage from the Hopeful Stakes sold like crazy.
Gold Ship's "Demon King" title was officially cemented and recognized by the entire world. Because if this girl could maintain the power she showed in the Hopeful Stakes, there wasn't a single horse girl on the planet who could rival her. Forget "Demon King"—if she wanted to call herself "King of the World," she'd probably be recognized. After all, with that kind of strength, she was already invincible.
Although the Demon King had only just debuted, with only one debut race and this one world-shocking Hopeful Stakes, the entire world now accepted one thing as default: the Demon King was unbeatable. As long as she wanted to, she could probably win any race. Don't even talk about "track suitability." With that powerful stride, she could probably just brute-force her way through any track, suitable or not.
As Gold Ship walked to school, she, who was once avoided, was now the subject of countless fiery gazes. Before, she was a "troublemaking Demon King" with some talent and a bad attitude. Now, she was a "True Demon King" with immense talent, unrivaled in the world. Although both were "Demon King," the meaning was completely different. She was now the star of the entire school.
'Tch. Utterly boring.'
Gold Ship, however, disliked this popularity. In this situation, even if she deliberately tried to "bully" other horse girls, they wouldn't be scared. Some might even look forward to it. It was precisely because she knew this would happen that she had been reluctant to use her true strength. If it wasn't to spread "skills" to the world, she wouldn't have wanted to expose her power so soon. After all, at this rate, it would be very difficult to make anyone "feel pain" in the future.
"As expected of the Demon King! She's so cool!"
"Did the Demon King just look at me?"
"You're full of it! She was clearly looking at me!"
Gold Ship walked through the school's front courtyard in an extremely poor mood. She didn't go to her classroom, but instead followed a small path to her team's activity room. Because she had poached Agnes Tachyon and Manhattan Cafe, Trainer Okino had re-established a team and been assigned an activity room. It was just... rather remote, and very small.
"Boss! You're finally here!"
The moment Gold Ship opened the door, Agnes Tachyon rushed up to greet her. Don't call her a sycophant; Gold Ship had given her all the prize money and the broadcast revenue from the race for her research fund.
Anyone who landed such a generous boss wouldn't be any more reserved than Agnes Tachyon. Not to mention, this boss possessed the "new realm" she had been searching for. This was a double harvest for both her career and her dreams!
Gold Ship's eye twitched.
"Tachyon, have you... become more depraved lately?"
"Not at all, Boss! Look! Because I've been getting enough rest and eating well, even my dark circles have faded a lot!"
Yes, your physical health has improved, but I feel like your mental state is getting more and more... unstable. And why is it that I'm forced to be serious because of everyone, but you get to become even more unruly?
"What's the status of the plan?"
Gold Ship didn't care about anything else. She only cared about her "grand cause."
"Mhm. With the President's support, I used the funds you gave me to acquire a pharmaceutical factory. As soon as 'Demon King No. 1' is in production, we can distribute the basic skill knowledge along with the pills."
"Wait. Wasn't it called 'Repair Potion'?"
"Boss, this is for brand recognition and marketing! Your reputation is global now. So, if our product carries your name, and we declare to the world that this is the reason the Demon King is so strong, I'm sure we can achieve your goal even faster."
...Mmm, that's logical.
Gold Ship nodded in understanding.
Whatever. Trivial matters like that don't matter.
"You should have a finished product, right? Give me one."
"I've got it ready!"
Tachyon pulled an exquisitely wrapped box from her bag. The packaging had Gold Ship's photo on it. The company's name was literally "Demon King Group," and the logo was a "Q-version" (chibi) of Demon King Gold Ship. In short, it was doing everything possible to tie the company and the product to Gold Ship's image.
"Not bad."
Gold Ship glanced at the "cool and charming" version of herself on the box. She had been about to say something about using her likeness without her permission, but seeing as they'd made her look this good, she decided to let this disrespect to the Demon King slide... for now.
"I'll confirm one last time. This thing doesn't have any... unknown side effects, right?"
"Of course not! Please trust in the ability of your vassal, my Demon King!"
"..."
Crap. Now that I've become more normal, the people around me are getting weird. Gold Ship's eyes twitched. She secretly glanced at Manhattan Cafe, who was as quiet and gentle as ever, and felt a wave of relief. Has the "alien monster horse" brain transferred to Tachyon?
"Of course... This great one trusts you, Tachyon."
Gold Ship didn't want to stay any longer.
It's good that the alien monster horse's head moved! Just... don't come back!
"I have things to do. I'm leaving."
Tachyon watched Gold Ship flee.
"Huh?"
She had thought Gold Ship would love this. Why did she look like she couldn't wait to get away?
As expected, the Demon King's mind is hard to read.
As soon as Gold Ship left the activity room, she saw Trainer Okino.
"Gold Ship, skipping class again?"
"Hmph. And you're just lazing around, as usual."
"...Fair enough. Will you be at afternoon training?"
"Depends on this great one's mood."
Gold Ship took off, leaving no one with any idea where she was wandering off to. Okino couldn't do anything. A horse girl who was the "strongest" right from her debut... a trainer had no way to manage her.
Gold Ship's original plan was to find Mejiro McQueen. She still had some hope for her. She remembered that her "other self" seemed to have an ability to possess bodies in parallel worlds. She didn't know how to activate it, but it was most likely related to the "system." If she could get this world's Mejiro McQueen to learn skills... could she summon her "other self" here?
Although she was unwilling to admit she was "lacking love"...
...Gold Ship really wanted to meet her other self.
But when she got to the academic building, she realized it was class time. Since she had barely attended a single class since enrolling, she was unaccustomed to the building at this hour.
"...While this great one doesn't mind, maybe it's better to find her after school."
After all, she could imagine that finding her now would only "stimulate" McQueen, and might even provoke her resistance. That wouldn't be good.
'Well... what should I do now?'
After a moment, Gold Ship decided to go fishing on the school's back mountain.
She didn't really have any hobbies. She usually just sunbathed on the roof, teased stray cats, or went fishing. She didn't like video games; with her reaction speed, they were just too boring.
She went back to her dorm, grabbed her fishing tackle, and easily avoided everyone, hopping the back fence. She headed to the back mountain with her bucket. Tracen Academy was by the sea, and there were excellent fishing spots nearby.
A calico cat, which had been sunbathing by the back gate, saw Gold Ship jump the fence. Its eyes lit up, and it immediately hopped the fence to follow. By the time Gold Ship got to her spot and started setting up, the cat had already jumped onto the chair she'd just unfolded. Gold Ship didn't mind. She just picked up the cat, sat down, and started fishing, not even wondering why there was a stray cat at the academy.
Unlike the "original" [Gold Ship], this Gold Ship was not liked by human children and didn't like them back. However, she had an excellent affinity with animals. Stray cats, stray dogs, even birds... she could approach them all easily. Perhaps their wild instincts were more sensitive; they knew a powerful creature like Gold Ship meant them no harm, and it was safe to be around her.
Gold Ship's fishing style was basically "go with fate." She had no technique, but she was no "air-force" (empty-handed) angler. She almost always caught something, as if it were a gift from nature. Even she didn't understand why, since she was just playing and had no intention of eating the fish.
Sure enough, only a few minutes after casting her line, there was a disturbance on the water's surface. The little cat's half-closed eyes snapped open, and it meowed, "meow, meow!" to alert the spacing-out Gold Ship. Gold Ship gripped the rod, ready to pull, but... her expression suddenly changed. The pull from the other end was a bit... strong.
'Hmm?'
A mere little fish dares to match strength with this Demon King?!
Gold Ship stood up from her chair and started pulling seriously. The cat, seeing a whirlpool forming on the water's surface, sensed something was wrong and bolted. Gold Ship also realized this was not normal, but letting go was impossible. She had never been afraid of anything. Even if she had hooked a dragon, she was going to reel it in!
Just as she stomped her foot down for leverage, the rock beneath her suddenly cracked. Gold Ship, stunned, fell with the collapsing cliffside into the whirlpool. As her consciousness faded, she heard a strange voice cry out.
"Damn it! Lord Goldie-chan finally got a bite, but what the hell did I reel in? Wait... why does this person look 70-80% similar to Lord Goldie-chan..." [Gold Ship] stared at the beautiful, disheveled, long-haired horse girl in front of her, and just couldn't handle it. No matter how she looked at her... this was Lord Goldie-chan, right?!