I hear a shout that interrupts my heartwarming conversation with Gon. It is Tenma, whom I had slain with the "Onikiri.
His eyes are tightly closed and he is trembling. He is breathing hard. Eventually, he seems to have lost his patience, and slumps down into a heap.
"Hin...hin...hin...hin..."
His ears are flattened, and he is trembling with tears streaming down his face. If left alone, he will die like this.
"A unicorn pegasus, is it? It's a very rare specimen.
Suddenly, Gon speaks up. What? What's that? Is it rare?
"Pegasus is a rare species, but there are many unicorns in the world. However, a unicorn pegasus, which has the characteristics of both pegasus and unicorn, is rarely born. I have not seen a unicorn-pegasus since about 100 years ago. At that time, however, it died soon after birth.
"Wow~ If it's such a rare individual, it's not a messenger of God or something, is it?"
I don't think so. It is a mutation of a unicorn and a pegasus, two species that do not normally mingle with each other. The man who rode this horse was a royal of the Heedata Empire, as I recall, so it may be one of the Empire's treasures.
Oi oi oi, then it would be bad if this horse died, wouldn't it? If so, how do I recover?
"If it belongs to the empire, it's best to give it back. If we kill them, there will be a lot of trouble. But what kind of magic will be used to recover this state?"
"To recover from delirium, you can use the level 4 recovery magic, Extra Heal, but that's not enough for the effect of this sword. Ultimate Heal can revive a person for about an hour after his death, as long as his heart, brain, and other vital organs are not damaged. Since it has only been a short time since this horse's spirit was cut off, I think it is possible to restore it.
I see, "Onikiri" kills the spirit. I've made something terrible. Let's give it a try. Ultimate Heal!
The unicorn Pegasus is enveloped in blue light. After a while, there was the figure of the unicorn pegasus, eyes still closed, breathing on his shoulders, but he did not seem to be in any pain, and he seemed relatively calm. I went up to the horse,
"Are you okay?"
I called out to him. The horse's eyes opened slightly and it neighed weakly.
"He says he needs water!
Gong, you understand this horse's language? That's what I'd expect from a white fox. I am impressed, and use the water magic technique to produce a large amount of water. The horse gulps down the water.
"Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
The horse neighs again. Hey, Gon, what are you saying?
"Thank you for saving me. I was really close to dying."
"You are a unicorn pegasus, aren't you? Perhaps it belongs to the Heedata Empire? If you like, I can return it to the Empire, but..."
The horse stops moving for a moment. And then it neighs again, neighing, neighing, neighing again.
"He says he doesn't want to go home. He says he will be killed if he returns.
The horse is now four years old, but for some reason, he seems to be growing slowly and is not getting bigger. They say that since he is as big as a pony, they are afraid to take him to the battlefield or even to show him in public. So, the royalty mentioned above are forced to ride them around as their own horses.
The royalty has been very rough with the horse, and it has failed many times. The horse has been beaten with a whip and even cut with a sword in some severe cases. I remember that the royal family used to call this horse "dabba, dabba," but I guess they were just calling him a "spoiled horse. Well, I knew that, but he seemed to be a rather dim-witted man.
At that time, a tremendous specter broke out in the neighboring kingdom of Juka, and all communication was cut off. He sent his horse on a scouting mission, but the horse did not want to enter the kingdom. While I was taking all possible measures, the idiots who attacked me decided on their own to take down the kingdom, and they did it. And they did it by crossing the Juka Mountains. The Juka Mountains are the lair of dragons. It is a route that will almost certainly kill you, but these fools didn't care at all and ran through the shortest route as fast as they could. They were attacked by dragons several times along the way, but they managed to escape with the help of Piaolan the fox's magic tricks and seduction techniques.
The horse kept running all the way to my place without taking a break and without giving any food or water. The three men on the horse were said to have been eating while riding, so you can imagine how much they wanted to kill me. But you can't kill me with just the will to kill. I was too stupid to make a youthful mistake. Well, perhaps Piaolan was the one who initiated this plan.
It is easy to imagine the harsh reality that would surely await us if we return this horse to the empire. Now, what should we do?
"In the meantime, you haven't eaten at all, have you? There are plenty of carrots if you like, eat as many as you like. Drink as much water as you like.
He pulls out a large amount of carrots from the "endless storage. The horse was puzzled at first, but gradually began to eat the carrots. The horse seems to be eating slowly, chewing and savoring the carrots. After a while, the horse stops eating and shakes slightly. We asked Gon to check on him.
He says, "I have never eaten such a delicious food before. He says he is so glad to have been mercied by such a poor creature as himself.
I thought it was a bit of an exaggeration, but how bad a life has this horse had to live to be so grateful for just a carrot and some water? It makes me feel sorry for him.
"Not so bad, is it? The wards I've put up can't be damaged by any attack. But your corner charge did scratch my wards. You should be proud of that."
"I was really scared, but I knew that if I didn't make it through, I would be killed, so I hit him with everything I had..." he said.
"When I saw that I had disabled the fox in an instant, I thought I would be killed next, so I bit him anyway. He apologized for that.
While he was fighting with me, the idiot on horseback handled the horse quite roughly, and apparently the horse was enduring a lot of pain and suffering without my knowledge.
"I see. I'm sorry I didn't know that. I'm sorry I attacked him so badly.
"...I really thought I was going to die. He says he has seen the hell of the world.
"But the hardest part," he says, "was being abandoned by my own master."
He recognized that idiot as his master for the time being. He's a good guy after all.
"It's okay, isn't it? Abandoned. That idiot didn't realize how great you are. In fact, you're a good fighter. Far more than my master. Besides, with your beautiful fur and above all your eyes, I think you're very good looking too.
"...he says he's happy, he's crying..."
The horse rubs his face against my arm and neighs. Now what am I going to do with this horse?
"From the looks of it, no training or slave magic has been applied, so technically speaking, it is not the property of the empire, is it? Since the master has also abandoned the horse, there is no problem if the person who finds it takes it as his own. If you don't want it, you can sell it in the town. It will fetch a very good price..."
It would be a little sad to sell it.
"This horse also says you can ride on his back.
Well, since you're here, I'll accept your kindness. This horse is just the right size for my body. Now then, what shall we call this horse? Unicorn Pegasus sounds kind of long-winded. Ask Gon to name this horse.
"...Dabba," he says.
That's not a good name, is it? Then I'll give him a new name. Unicorn and Pegasus.
Your name is Bright. Is it not a heroic name for the heir to the blood of Pegasus soaring in the sky and the unicorn standing tall?"
"...this unicorn pegasus is a female..."
You better tell me that fast. I take it back. Well...
I've decided, your name is Ilimo. I call you Ilimo.
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. And Ilimo neighs. He seems to like it. I mean, are you sure you're okay, Gon? I hope you're translating what I'm saying.
Actually, the unicorn pegasus grows slowly. This is a misunderstanding caused by the fact that the population is so small that accurate information is not available. Normally, the age of a normal horse is 4 years old, which is about 20 years old in human terms. However, in the case of Unicorn Pegasus, he is only 12 years old. Both Rinos and Ilimo have a long way to go, but that is another story.