Chapter 1782: NO.397: Seeking One Peace of Mind

NO. 397: What I seek is just a sense of peace.

"Trainer, the speed training just now… you, what's wrong with you?"

「…」

Just moments ago, while the other party was speaking and he lifted his head, a pair of crimson eyes reflected icy killing intent in the youth—within that silence of less than two seconds, a fleeting warmth of apology and scattered focus passed through.

"Nothing much, just a brief dissociative episode."

「Huh？」

After that brief moment of dissociation cleared, he spoke plainly with a remark that surprised Narita Shiratori.

"What are you…"

Before the word "joke" could leave his mouth, the other party interjected first: "Godzilla, have you heard of it?"

"Your collectible card? You said you wouldn't use it unless necessary…" Having visited the agency before, even leaning on the counter to gaze at the display case cards, this lone wolf horse girl not only has exceptional memory but also naturally favors those cards.

Especially a few that feel sharp and aggressive—once regrettable that they were consumables, unusable by Omer, thus impossible to witness their true form; now, mentioning it makes everything click instantly.

"... Could it be you obtained a normal one?"

"Keep it quiet." He raised his index finger to his lips, glanced at the three little girls sleeping nearby, gently stroked their slightly raised ears, letting them settle softly, then withdrew his hand under the gaze of Aori and Bourbon, who were playing on their phones leaning against the bench.

Likewise, likely due to diminished energy from his youthful physique, the three elementary and middle school horse girls who once engaged in fierce fights and chases eventually succumbed to fatigue around the same time. After struggling for half an hour, they fell asleep under the trainer's gentle, soothing hypnotic voice, making up for the childhood nap they should have had two hours prior.

And along the way, he gained two unusually complex glances from horse girls who hadn't diminished in size.

Though complexity implies a tangle of mixed emotions, as long as there's no panic-driven attempt to call the police, it counts as a victory.

Though Omer himself thinks his gentle way of speaking to children isn't particularly remarkable—it's simply something he picked up living and working part-time in orphanages and childcare centers, later refined through tutoring into basic ASMR techniques for sleep induction, now he's quite skilled at lulling people to sleep.

Yet seeing the complex gazes of Miura Bourbon and Aori Hikohime, he still feels an inexplicable sense of crisis.

But matters vary in weight—not every doubt needs to be resolved on the spot.

Although the two horse girls have so far maintained a habit of occasionally glancing this way, he still pretends not to notice, playing the oblivious fool.

"And I was just trying to enter that state of Godzilla."

"Legendary one?" Shiratori lowered her voice, glancing at the few little girls resting on his thigh.

"Yes."

Talking with insiders is just easy.

Although Narita Shiratori's glances at the monster community were from half a year ago, she's able to fuel her interest with extraordinary enthusiasm and rare free time, achieving rapid proficiency.

"I see… but truly being able to do that is still unbelievable," she said, observing Omer now, then asked, "Have you recovered?"

"Yeah."

"Then how did your dissociation come about? I mean the kind of split… uh… trigger?"

Shiratori, feeling she couldn't quite master her native tongue, gave up trying and went straight to what she really wanted to ask: "Have you been under a lot of pressure lately?"

Just thinking of that first glance—the icy killing intent that stunned her—makes it hard not to suspect he's hiding some dangerous side job she doesn't know about.

But honestly, being an agency mercenary is itself a dangerous side job, and having immunity to kill violent criminals is basic, baseline stuff.

It's just that Shiratori can't figure out what specific tasks could have trained him to possess such bone-chilling killing intent—this gaze comes fast, vanishes just as quickly, lasts too briefly; she'd barely felt a chill before seeing him return to normal, otherwise, in this swimsuit, she'd likely have seen him sweat coldly.

So even though Golden Godzilla is a fantastic topic she'd love to keep discussing… well, checking in on the trainer's current state is still more important.

And though her concern is obvious, she just doesn't know how to express it clearly—Omer, understanding, merely gave her head, resting close to his, a gentle pat.

This clearly shows he's developed the habit of lowering his voice and leaning in when speaking to ordinary people, considering their circumstances; Omer guesses those ordinary people are likely his uncle and aunt.

Know that while horse girls are born under certain hidden conditions, those conditions are usually only understood in hindsight, rarely predicted in advance.

So most horse girls are born randomly into ordinary families, not through calculated prediction awaiting their arrival.

And among them, the most common is a human couple with a horse girl daughter.

Slightly less common is when one spouse is non-human; extremely rare is when both spouses are non-human.

As for horse girls born into horse girl families—like the Uma, Mejiro, Golden, or Great Shock lineages—such cases across the horse girl world are as rare as gold or rainbow pulls in a gacha game.

Narita Shiratori's family is also somewhat unique: she and her sister, Biwa Morning Light, are both horse girls—meaning in a family of four, both daughters are horse girls, and both have achieved outstanding results, making them a rare household.

But her parents are indeed ordinary humans, no mistake.

Because their work is so ordinary, there's no need for energy cultivation or bodily modification.

In the public information Omer gathered, at most it mentions the aunt having visited some beauty salons, and the uncle having periodically gone to the hospital for physical adjustments—these routine health and beauty checkups are normal for people over forty, not worth special mention.

Especially since this level of activity can't even compare their hearing to that of demons or horse girls.

Thus, after being gently tapped twice on the head, Shiratori's ears twitched as they shot up, and though her face looked pale at first glance, she couldn't hide the red flush rising slowly at her neck.

"Nothing's wrong." He said, cutting her off again before she could speak.

Though watching this usually tough, handsome girl stammer cutely is quite entertaining, even adorable…

But on this beach, where every step demands caution, with three little girls napping nearby and others watching from both sides in a 'danger lurks everywhere' situation, Omer still knows how to live.

"It's just that part of me, hidden in daily life, has been refined into this—it doesn't come from recent events."

Although this is something you might not even mention to close friends, and avoiding it is still wise given how deeply private it is, yet if those ladies with impure thoughts were present, the demon would feel it's necessary to bring up.

First, they wouldn't leak secrets carelessly; second, this hidden side would serve as a test of drive and motivation.

Although he actually knows deep down what the results of such evaluation would be, some things aren't facts just because you strongly suspect them—you can't skip verification just because you're convinced.

Under the weight of multiple people, some refuse to overlook any detail, even if called nitpicky, paranoid, or pedantic.

?? I was just trying it out with no expectations, didn't expect Shiratori's swimsuit art review—though it took ten minutes longer than most—still passed.

? (End of chapter)