Call You 'Father'

Black matter splattered like a web all over them as Larkin caught both Lupina and Artie from crashing. The black horse also used his strong body to catch Lupina's momentum, but his body went astral to prevent any injuries on the white mare. Lupina only leaned into the web as she closed her eyes to rest. It was a bad idea, but she really hated this black horse right now.

["How foolish. You could have harmed your body."] The Black Kodiak neighed as Larkin dismounted from his back. He then watched the archduke pick up the archduchess who looked so lost. His head then moved down to take a look at the exhausted horse… before helplessly passing the art of telepathy. ["Rise and live through your humiliation. We have yet to reach the watchtower again."]

["This is your fault..."] Lupina huffed in her mind before trying to get up from the hold of the web. What she didn't expect was that the Black Kodiak began biting and pulling the web off of her. The soft nudges from his actions froze the queen mare as her limbs seemed to lock in place. She began to relax, locking her limbs to keep her body from falling down.

Behind them stood the masters. Artie covered her mouth as if not willing to disturb the two horses in front of them. She then leaned against the archduke and whispered at him, "Let's leave them alone and start walking towards the watchtower. Don't mind about the race; I'm still going to cook for you one of these days."

Larkin then grinned. "Are you conceding?"

"...? No, that's not what I meant..." Artie pouted. When she turned to the two horses, the web was gone. Lupina was only looking away while the Black Kodiak was staring at them as if waiting. The archduchess placed her hands on her lips and stiffly walked towards Lupina, sulking as the show ended in an instant. She then stroked at the mare. "Are you okay now? Didn't you hurt yourself earlier?"

["...I am fine..."] Lupina turned to her master and felt strange as she hoped to test out the telepathy on humans. However, it's not like it would work on humans at all. It's just that Artie was not really one. Lupina just received a smile from her master and proceeded to the watchtower after letting Artie mount her.

…

Unlike earlier, the two horses strolled around until they got to the watchtower. Lupina saw the new place and hurried towards the entrance. She then pawed the ground while looking in the direction of the males. ["I won. I reached the place first!"]

["You already received your reward from me."] The Black Kodiak would lift a brow, but he just shook his head. 

He continued to ferry his master until the two nobles dismounted their horses. The soldiers in the watchtower received the archduke who they thought was only racing around the perimeter. The horses were led to the simple stalls while Artie and Larkin were receiving reports of the captain in charge of the place.

[You have succeeded in completing a steed ability quest! "Lupina of the Freedom Lands" is now a level 2 steed. Its parameters are now open! Continued unlocking quests for your steeds to make them more powerful.]

[You have unlocked a secret task: learning the art of telepathy (Steed)! Reverence+10.]

Artie's eye twitched, but none of the men around her caught it. She then looked out the open windows of the watchtower as she reviewed her notifications. 'So Lupina still won even if I barely did anything in the race. Well, she did claim victory when she got here. Does this mean that other quests only cared about the results? Did the system not take her fall into account? 

'As for the art of telepathy, where did I get that? I mean, Lupina did respond to me directly earlier, but I have no idea if it was because I can hear her already. Hm, art of telepathy… art of telepathy...' Artie hummed as she watched the scenery far away. From there, she could see a vast forest that might as well be separating two duchies. 'I wonder if I will ever go far beyond this view...'

"Artie, let's proceed," Larkin called her shortly, and she nodded before picking up her skirt and hurriedly catching up to him. The archduke led her to a path towards the backside of the watchtower. There was a small courtyard there where bow targets were placed. "You can practice here. I'd rather not rob Clarissa the chance to teach you about moving targets, but you should at least be able to pull an arrow and aim properly."

"Oh, I see! Don't worry! Leave it to me!"

That was what she said, but Artie wished she wasn't that confident.

She had forgotten that the bows used in game-like worlds were the traditional ones. The bow she held in her hand was carefully crafted with wood and had no actual accessories to make things easier… unlike the ones she was used to in her father's country club.

'Someone, die for me.' Artie carefully picked up an arrow and tried to nock it correctly on her bow. She couldn't help but be scared. Even if she wouldn't be harmed all that much, she was still going to be displaying her non-human state if accidents happened.

"How amusing. How different are your bows from the ones we use?" Larkin only laughed as Artie trembled enough to stop her from pulling the arrow back against the string. He then stood behind her and helped her with her fingers. "I can see that you have the right stance, but you seemed to be clueless about the weapon itself."

"You won't believe it, but my bow has an arrow rest so I don't have to use my knuckle for it. The arrows actually have a gap to hold onto the string on its own." Artie sighed as she carefully kept balancing the arrow on her bow and stopped her hands from trembling. "To think I once wanted to master mounted archery. I learned horseback riding and archery separately, but I haven't started with my real goal..."

"Mounted archery… hm, as much as I remember Clarissa is excellent at it. She had been hunting with… Lord Wessel since she was fifteen. You might truly learn from her tomorrow."

Artie's eyes quivered as she heard his words, making her accidentally release the bow from her hand. Since she followed up her motion, it looked like a clean shot from someone who was trying out a new bow for fun. Even if she didn't hit the red dot, she was just a hand span away from it. It's just that… she was more concerned about Larkin. That pause…

Her eyes lifted to his face as she turned her head to see a glimpse of his eyes. They were stuck on the arrow she just released, but there were still traces of sadness in his faraway gaze. Moreover, his grip on Artie's hand tightened slightly.

'He couldn't even freely asked for the twins to be returned to him because another father will lose his daughter...' Artie closed her eyes and looked down at her bow, slowly reaching out to the arrow. When her fingers took a hold of it, it gave her a feeling of resolve. "Larkin, tomorrow, if I beat Clarissa in a showdown, I'll make her call you 'Father' once."