Chapter 449: Special Payment

The younger centaurs, meanwhile, were consumed by a different kind of excitement.

"I feel so much faster!" One declared, sprinting across the clearing and skidding to a stop. "Riley was right! I can run without worrying about every little rock!"

"I feel like I could charge into battle and take on an entire army by myself!" Another shouted, brandishing an imaginary sword.

"Look! Look at this!"

A third centaur had found a large rock and was leaping over it, landing gracefully on the other side.

"Usually, when I jump this high and land, it hurts my hooves! But now—nothing! Not even a twinge!"

Another was walking across deliberately rough terrain—the kind of uneven, rocky ground that would normally have her wincing with every step.

"It doesn’t feel awkward at all! I can just walk through everything!"

They were having the time of their lives.

—

The little ones on the other hand had already started a game of tag, their small bodies darting between the older centaurs with impressive speed.

Nella had somehow become the one to chase, and she was faster than anyone had ever seen her run.

"I can’t catch her!" One of her friends complained, panting heavily. "She’s too fast! Why is she so fast?!"

Nella laughed, easily dodging another attempt to grab her.

"It’s because of these hooves!" She crowed. "I can run so much faster now! And I don’t have to be careful about every little rock!" She spun around, her small hooves clicking against the stone. "I’m the best tag player in the entire world now!"

"That’s not fair!"

"It’s completely fair! I got shoes, you’ll get shoes soon, and we’ll all be fast!"

—

One by one, the centaurs were fitted with their new shoes.

Each one expressed their joy in their own way—some with tears, some with laughter, some with quiet gratitude.

It was, as one elder put it. "like receiving a birthday gift we never knew we were waiting for."

Finally, only one centaur remained in Luca’s line.

Sigrid stepped forward, her expression a mixture of nervousness and determination.

"This time you cannot send me to Mavis, Sir Luca. You have to be the one to do it."

Luca raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And why is that?"

Sigrid’s cheeks flushed, but she stood her ground.

"Because...Because I would like it if you, Sir Luca, were the one to put on my hooves."

She looked almost like a noblewoman requesting that a knight help her into her slippers, a scene from a fairy tale.

Luca chuckled. "Sure, sure. I can do that."

Then his eyes glinted with mischief.

"But of course, there will be a service charge."

"A service charge?" Sigrid’s expression faltered. "But you did it for free for everyone else! Why do I have to pay?"

"Because I’m the one making the rules." Luca shrugged. "You can’t go against them."

Sigrid pouted, her frustration palpable. "That’s so unfair..."

"Oh, don’t worry." Luca’s voice dropped, becoming almost intimate. "The service charge isn’t coin, jewels, gold, or even swords."

She looked at him warily. "Then what is it?"

Luca leaned closer.

"A deep, passionate kiss for every single horseshoe I put on your hooves."

Sigrid’s face erupted in crimson.

"WHAT?! Sir Luca! You can’t—that’s not—how can you possibly—"

"Those are the rules." Luca jingled the horseshoes in his hands. "If you want them, you have to comply. Otherwise, I’ll keep them for myself. Maybe I’ll try them on later—see how it feels to wear horseshoes."

"You...You absolute..." Sigrid sputtered, searching for words. "Shameless! Cheater! Always trying to trick and swoon people!"

But even as she said it, she was leaning down.

She glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then grabbed Luca’s face and pulled him into a deep kiss. Their lips pressed together, tongues grazing, for a long, lingering moment.

Then she pulled back, her face as red as a tomato.

"First one please..."

Luca grinned and obliged. The horseshoe slid into place, the nails were driven in, and the first hoof was done.

He looked up expectantly.

Sigrid’s eye twitched. She leaned down and kissed him again.

Kiss!?~

And again.

Kiss!?~

And again.

Kiss!?~

Four kisses. Four horseshoes.

By the time he finished, Sigrid was trembling—though whether from embarrassment or something else, she couldn’t tell.

She moved to stand, ready to escape when suddenly Luca grabbed her face and pulled her into a fifth kiss.

Kiss!?~

"Ah....Ah..."She pulled away, confused. "W-What was that for? I only have four hooves. You gave me five kisses."

Luca leaned back lazily. "I don’t know. I just felt like kissing you. Is that a problem?"

Sigrid’s blush deepened impossibly further.

"No...No problem..."

She scrambled up and hurried away, too mortified to stay any longer. But she only got about fifteen steps before Claudia materialized in front of her with a hand on her forehead.

"Sigrid, dear, you’re burning up—"

"I’m fine."

"Your face is red as a beet, are you coming down with something—"

"I’m fine, Claudia!"

From the pedestal, Luca watched four mothers close in around his flustered commander with sympathetic cooing, and he had to look down at his own knees to keep from laughing out loud.

Then he turned around and saw something even more silly.

"Oh, Mavis. Oh, Mavis..."

’What on earth is she doing?’

Mavis was bent over awkwardly, her tongue sticking out in concentration, trying to put horseshoes on her own hooves. She was failing spectacularly, her body simply wasn’t flexible enough to reach her own feet while standing.

Luca walked over, thoroughly entertained.

"You know, you could have just asked me for help."

Mavis looked up, her expression a mixture of relief and irritation.

"Well, I would have asked you." She said sarcastically. "If you weren’t so busy kissing my sister!"

Luca’s brain stopped for a second.

"...You saw that."

"Of course I saw that."

"But she checked. Twice. She made sure nobody was looking—"

"She did a very good job of it, too." Mavis folded her arms. "But you should know that I was also doing something. See that breastplate over there?"

She nodded at a piece of polished armor propped against a post.

"I was polishing it. And polishing means that it basically acts like a mirror. Which means..." She smirked. "...I had a perfect view of the entire scene. My sister may be strong, but she’ll never think as smart as me."

Luca crouched down and took her hoof without being asked and he started setting the shoe.

"...So." Mavis said, after a moment. Her voice had gone careful. Almost hesitant. "Then that confirms it. You and my sister are actually...together?"

Luca fitted a nail. "Honestly? I don’t know."

Mavis’s head came up. "What?"

"We’re getting closer. But nothing’s been said out loud, nothing’s official." He set another nail. "I don’t know how your sister looks at this kind of thing. Whether she’d even want it. What it’d mean for her position, her duty, all of it. So." He shrugged. "Work in progress."

Mavis’s anger flared.

"What do you mean, ’work in progress’?! Are you saying you’re just playing with my sister?! Thinking she’s a toy you can discard whenever you want?!"

"That’s the last thing I would do."

Luca looked up, and his eyes held absolute sincerity.

"If your sister really wants to be with me, then I wouldn’t take a moment’s hesitation to bring her in." He chuckled. "You should know by now—if there’s anyone on this continent who wants to take responsibility over a woman, it’s me."

Mavis realized the truth of his words.

He already had so many wives back at the elf village and he was managing every single one of them with care.

His goal given by the Goddess was also to make all the women in the continent happy. There was no chance he was simply playing around.

The relief she felt was...complicated.

Bittersweet.

’Why do I feel like this?’ She wondered. ’Why does it bother me?’

But before she could dwell on it, Luca spoke again.

"Good job."

"Huh?"

He finished the final nail and looked up at her.

"I said good job. Not just for today—for all the work you’ve been doing for these centaurs over the years."

He gestured at the clearing, where everyone was running, laughing, celebrating.

"While I was fitting horseshoes, many of your clanmates talked about you. They said that in the past, if they needed repairs, they had to travel all the way to the dwarven territory—pay extra money, give up materials, wait for weeks."

"But now? Because of you, they just have to come over, listen to you complain about them, and you’ll fix everything."

He smiled.

"You’ve made their lives so much easier. You’re basically the blessing of this village."

Mavis felt her face grow warm, and it had nothing to do with the nearby furnace.

"That’s...that’s not..." She struggled for words, which was a rare sight for her. "I’m not doing it for them! I’m just using them for practice. For materials. So I can build my own inventions better."

Luca’s smile was infuriatingly knowing. "Sure you are."

"Stop looking at me like that, Dummy Hero!" She snapped, scrambling to her feet.

But even as she scampered off, her heart was doing something warm and fluttering in her chest.

It was a strange feeling, being appreciated. She wasn’t sure she hated it.