Justinian walked towards the horse, his steps careful not to scare the animal, or better yet, not make it see him as a threat and send him flying.
"Hey there, fella."
’I have no idea what I’m doing... I’ll try treating it like a dog.’
Justinian chuckled nervously, extending one arm to let the horse smell it.
’I wonder if this works...’
The horse approached slowly, leaning towards Justinian’s hand, testing and seeing if Justinian was a friend or not.
"That’s it..."
Justinian whispered slowly, trying to act more like a prince than a soldier to calm the horse; trained animals are still animals after all.
’This feels soothing.’
He mused, he had always had a soft spot for animals, especially ones that had intelligence, and horses had plenty of that.
But of course, training a horse isn’t that simple.
After a while, the horse flared its nostrils, ears pinned slightly back as it stepped backwards as if to show disapproval of Justinian as its new rider.
"No luck... huh."
He then looked at his arm, before smelling closer, and the scent of pleasant-smelling incense hit him clearly; it was faint, but it was clearly there.
"Crap... is this the reason why it rejected me?"
The horse was war-trained, rejecting Justinian was natural for it; it was used to training with soldiers and those who actually fought wars, so anything pleasant-smelling like nobles’ incense was unfamiliar to it.
Dangerous even.
CRASH.
Another loud noise rang out from the courtyard, a person flying off his horse and crashing straight into some crates.
Leaving him grunting in pain, but not badly injured.
"Feels good to know that I’m not the only one struggling."
Justinian laughed, running his fingers through his hair.
"This is going to be tough..."
The horse, meanwhile, just looked at Justinian oddly, still observing, he was oddly calm despite being rejected, making the horse take slight interest.
[The Book of War Responds]
+15 Prestige
+Horse Training System
’...Another... system!?’
Justinian looked back towards the horse, and just as he suspected, a panel was just beside the horse’s head.
[Horse]
[Status: Curious]
[Bond: 3%]
"So you’re curious, huh...? At least you’re not threatened."
Justinian laughed softly.
"Then let’s do this again."
Justinian’s calm nature had rubbed off on the horse, making it calmer; even if it didn’t trust him, it no longer saw Justinian as a threat. His tone and body movements signalled him as someone safe.
He raised his arms in peace, making sure the horse saw it all as he approached from the sides, smiling all the way.
"What’s he doing...?"
A person on the ground spoke, freshly being headbutted by a horse.
"He’s acting like a prince..."
Another one spoke.
"D’you think... he might be the duke...?"
The men looked at each other for a quick second before shaking their heads.
"Couldn’t be... the Marshal never said anything."
They all agreed, going back to taming their selected horse and minding their own business.
’A prince?... really?’
Justinian just shook his head, hearing their mumbling about him.
The moment Justinian reached the side of the horse, he cautiously placed a hand on the horse’s neck, gauging its reaction.
The horse didn’t seem to mind; if anything, it seemed disinterested.
[Horse]
[Status: Curious]
[Bond: 3.5%]
’I’ll take that as a yes.’
Justinian began stroking the horse’s neck in long, steady motions, like he would for dogs or cats in the past.
"Good... boy."
He whispered, and when the horse got comfortable, he placed another hand on the other side of its neck, doing the same on the other.
[Horse]
[Status: Curious]
[Bond: 7%]
Justinian took the huge rise as a sign to go further, slowly motioning to grab the horse’s reins.
"Let’s take a walk."
He said, slowly walking forward, and the horse responded, moving in sync with Justinian as they slowly roamed the courtyard.
His tactics were unique compared to the other men, who thought that elite warhorses were already obedient enough to be ridden, and that alone made all eyes stare at him.
"The... hell...?"
The rest spoke, seeing something that they could only describe as something straight out of a fairy tale, a red-haired prince taming a horse through pure calmness.
It was enough to break even some of the men’s faces.
"That... has to be the duke, right?"
"No way! He’s far too calm!"
Meanwhile, Justinian’s smile broke as he heard the gossip behind him, annoyed at their thoughts.
"How bad is my reputation!?"
The horse seemed to react to Justinian’s sudden outrage, looking at him before snorting warm breath into his face, catching Justinian off guard.
"Whoa...!"
Justinian laughed, ruffling the horse’s coat.
And then he made a sudden realization.
He definitely was acting like a fairy tale prince.
’I’m supposed to be a cold duke, right...?’