Chapter 63: Volume 4 - CH 7

Two days after that, afternoon arrived. Kyle’s group found themselves in the deeper area of the forest, surrounded by large grass and trees as they progressed. According to Erina, they were reaching a perfect break area, so they were moving towards that right now.

“That reminds me, there are Unicorns in this forest, no?”

Usually, this wouldn’t be the time for idle talk, especially the path they were trodding, but Lieze asked with no hesitation in her voice. Of course, they were still cautious of their surroundings despite that.

“There are, but…they coexist with the dark elves in their territory, so we probably won’t be able to see them.”

“I see…I read about Unicorns in a children’s book before, so I wanted to see one at least once.” Lieze showed a somewhat dejected response after hearing Erina’s words.

Unicorns were white horses with a horn growing from their heads, which possessed excessive healing capabilities, being able to heal whatever poison or disease may plague you. The magic medicine created from these horns could even revive people from the dead—or so the stories go—which is why hunting for Unicorns has escalated to the point they were an even rarer existence than a dragon.

“You mean ‘Maiden of the Lake’? I read that a lot when I was younger as well.” Kyle remembered the picture book Lieze was talking about.

“Yeah, I liked that one.”

‘Maiden of the Lake’ told the story of a young girl who wanted to save her mother from a disease, meeting the Unicorn living in the forest, saved by the Unicorn because of her pure wish.

However, Erina and Urza watched the excited Lieze with somewhat complicated expressions.

“There were Unicorns in my hometown, you know…” Urza looked like she wanted to say something, but gave up mid-way.

“Not to mention that they don’t suddenly go around saving others…Ah, we’ll be reaching a lake any second now.” Erina commented, changing the topic.

They passed through a wall of tall grass, to which all the large trees around them disappeared instantly. What greeted them was a lakeshore with comparatively small vegetation. It was a relatively large lake, as the lakeshore stretched far into the distance. The way the sun shone down on the lake, creating a charming glimmer on its water’s surface, was a sight to behold. The breeze passing the group felt comfortable and relaxing as well, making it evident why Erina called this a passable resting space.

While enjoying their lunch, Kyle’s group checked out the map, discussing which route to take next.

“We’ll be going alongside the shore for a bit. After that, we’ll go past the mountains…so the quickest route would still take around six days.”

The route drawn onto the map went alongside the shore of the lake, taking a large detour. With magic, they may be able to cross the lake at least, but they would run into dark elves in the process.

“…By the way, are you sure about the new ruins?”

Erina was talking about the previously undiscovered ruins they passed by on the way here. It seemed to be a research facility of Zaales, covered in earth and growing plantations, spotted by Shildonia. Undiscovered ruins of Zaales technology were said to hold countless treasures. Simply the location would pay a great sum of money, and yet Shildonia had no interest in it whatsoever.

“Yeah, just do what you want with it. I don’t believe that people of today will be able to understand everything that is to be found in there but letting it rot won’t benefit anybody. Since this facility was built to fully use the potential of the earth veins, they were built underground, thus hard to be found. I should probably tell you where the other ones are.”

“W-Well…Um, why do you know so much?”

“Because I was the one who had all of them—”

Shildonia was about to say something, but Kyle interrupted her, changing the topic.

“So…is finding a ruin like that a big deal for adventurers?”

“Yes. I may not be a specialist when it comes to ruins, but it is one of the biggest goals of every adventurer coming here. You often hear about them wanting to visit the Sangurd mountain range, conquering the legendary [Magic King’s Labyrinth] —” There, Erina’s gaze shot upwards, pointing at the lakeshore.

It was a long way away from Kyle’s group to the point not even Seran or Kyle could figure out something, but something was moving.

“Not good! Hide!” Erina gave a warning, and Kyle’s group immediately crouched down on that spot.

“A dark elf?” Kyle asked.

“Yes…But, it should be fine. I don’t think they spotted us just yet.” Erina responded with a quiet voice.

“A single dark elf…A woman, huh? Also, that monster she’s with…is that a Unicorn?”

“What?! Where…Mguh!”

Seran spotted a Unicorn in the distance, to which Lieze’s head almost shot up in excitement, only held down by Kyle.

“It’s rare for them to come out here, but…she can’t find us. Luckily, we’re in a downwind, so as long as we don’t make any noise, we should be—”

However, right then…

“Heeeey! I found a Koato tree over there! Their fruits are famous for their sweetness! They’re usually high up, but if we’re careful……What’s wrong?” Urza came back from plucking flowers, running towards the group with a bright grin. “Ah…”

“It’s too late, we’ve been found out.”

Urza immediately covered her mouth, guessing the situation. However, Kyle judged that there was no need in hiding anymore, so he stood up.

“Don’t think we were too loud, but she’s got good senses.” Seran followed suit.

“Hey, is there a Unicorn?” Lieze stood up as well, still brimming with excitement because of the Unicorn.

“………” Erina kept a stern expression, looking at the lake.

“I-I’m not supposed to be the idiot in the group…I’m usually a lot calmer…I was just careless for a moment…” Urza seemed to have understood the situation, depressed about her mistake, but nobody had any time to blame her.

As they were on the opposite sides of the lake, running away might have been possible for them—if not for the fact that the other party was using the shortest possible route.

“It’s…running across the water?”

With speed any normal horse couldn’t hope to compete, a single-horned beast ran across the water, creating ripples at every step—It was a Unicorn, which completely stole all of Lieze’s attention.

“Unicorns have a high affinity with spirits, as they are half-spirits themselves. It’s probably relying on the powers of the Water Spirit Undine.” Shildonia explained while observing the Unicorn approaching them.

It didn’t take long for the Unicorn, as well as the dark elf riding on it, to reach the group, and become more visible. The sight of the Unicorn possessed a beauty that could not be replicated by a human hand, its eyes overflowing with wisdom you wouldn’t see in any normal horse. As for the dark elf, when comparing it to human years, she looked to be in her early twenties. Her skin was dark-brown, tanned almost, yet she possessed snow-white hair, as she gave off stern personality vibes unbefitting of her beauty. Besides her skin and another certain body part, she looked no different from your average elf.

In her hands, she had a large bow described as a complex bow, and the sight of her aiming this bow amidst the Unicorn with perfect posture was enough to entrance you. The Unicorn’s white and dark elf’s black created an odd contrast that resulted in a picture-level beauty. Then suddenly, the two came to an abrupt halt, almost as if they stood on solid ground. They were probably right at a distance where the arrows could reach.

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As they stood on the surface of the water, Kyle’s group had no way of approaching them. If a fight broke out now, they would be decimated by the arrows before being able to do anything.

“What are you doing here!” With the arrow pointed at the group, the dark elf emitted a roar filled with hostility.

Even though Kyle and his group had the advantage in numbers, she showed no fear, indirectly stating her confidence in her own skill. Kyle hesitated for a moment, wondering how he should respond, when the dark elf fired an arrow, most likely as a warning. It stabbed right into the ground a few inches away from Kyle’s foot.

“Speak! The next one won’t miss!” The dark elf readied another arrow immediately after firing the first one, pressing Kyle with a harsh tone.

“Phew…what a sight.” Seran watched this and let out a voice filled with admiration.

However, this was not directed at the dark elf’s skill with the bow. His lustrous gaze instead was focussed on the woman’s cleavage. In fact, her chest was bigger than Seran had ever seen before. It seemed like not only her skin color but also her proportions were different from the average elf.

“Aren’t they getting in the way when she’s shooting her arrows? No, their heaviness might give her additional balance on the horse…”

Kyle fully ignored Seran’s worthless yet awfully serious comment and started thinking. Certainly, fighting in this location wouldn’t necessarily end in defeat, but that would turn all the dark elves fully hostile towards them, and the same will happen if they ran away. However, as the other party was on a horse, they probably wouldn’t start any forced battle, so as long as Kyle and his group emphasized they were innocent, there might be something that could be done about this.

“Calm down, Paserane. They have three maidens with them, so we shouldn’t be so unscrupulous.”

Before Kyle could say anything, the Unicorn started speaking fluently.

“Eh? Ah, hey!” The dark elf woman called Paserane missed her chance to stop the Unicorn, as it immediately ran towards Kyle’s group.

With its innate speed, it reached Lieze in an instant. Lieze’s eyes shot wide open because the monster appeared right in front of her, as the Unicorn spoke up with a friendly tone.

“Human maiden, I am Roas. Would you mind telling me your name?” His expression was hard to figure out as the horse it was, but everybody could imagine it smiling with ease.

“Ah, um…M-My name is Lieze.” Lieze was taken by surprise, still dropping her name.

She didn’t know how to react in the face of Roas’ extravagant reaction.

“Ohh, what a wonderful name. It reminds me of a gentle spring breeze…So, what is your name, my beloved elf maiden?” The Unicorn’s voice resembled a man in the prime of his life, but his tone made him sound like a playboy trying to pick up girls.

“Get away, Roas! We still don’t know what they may be plotting!” Paserane desperately tried to get through to Roas, but he wouldn’t listen.

“What is this, Paserane? Jealousy? Rest assured, my utmost love will always belong to you. I just have some extra love left to shower other maidens with.” Roas spoke like he was arguing with his parent, laughing heartily.

His attitude was always friendly and genuine, but that was only towards Lieze and the others. He perfectly ignored Kyle and Seran, like he didn’t even accept their existence. Shildonia watched this and commented with a bewildered tone.

“Unicorns can instantaneously figure out if a woman of the humanfolk is a maiden…or virgin, more accurately. They indiscriminately treat every maiden with respect and favoritism…And at the same time, they discriminate against men of any sort, not giving them any affection or attention. It appears as if this Unicorn is a prime example.”

“Hm? You young woman…are a mystery. You don’t seem to be a human either…This is a first for me.” Roas looked at the magical entity Shildonia and showed a gesture of confusion.

“Well, I technically am a maiden myself. My real body never experienced anything like love……” Shildonia seemed like she suffered some damage by saying that, as she stared into the distance.

“In other words…Unicorns are just extreme womanizers.”

“Yuck…almost like Seran.”

Urza seemed to have recovered from the initial shock, and Lieze threw in a backhanded comment. Said Seran was now thinking about something.

“Hm…I knew that Lieze was a virgin, but to think Urza as well…Then again, she doesn’t look like she’s used to men, so—Guha!” Seran blurted out what he was thinking as usual, as Lieze’s iron fist slammed right into his abdomen.

Once Seran fell to the ground, Urza stepped on the back of his head with a beet-red face.

Idiot…Well, I knew that Urza was a virgin though…

Kyle was thinking the same thing as Seran, but he chose to go with silence rather than seal his own death. In his previous life, during the night before the final fight with the Demon Lord, Kyle and Urza enacted the ‘Applied Contract’, which meant the same as a marriage ceremony. There, he learned of her true name, and they promised to stay forever if they made it back alive. That was also the time when Kyle learned about her being a virgin.

In the end, as a cause of this vow, Urza sacrificed herself for Kyle, and was erased from this world in front of his very own eyes…

Thinking about that now, promising marriage the night before a decisive battle is practically the beginning of a tragic heroic tale…

Of course, it’s not like that fact allowed him to achieve a draw with the Demon Lord, but if he went through the same situation again, he wasn’t sure what to choose…Problematic in this situation however was that, while thinking all of that, he was practically staring at Urza.

“W-What are you looking at!” Urza blushed even more furiously as a result of that.

“Eh, ah, well, I’m sorry…” Kyle remembered that night and blushed as well.

The person to finally break through that silence was none other than Seran himself.

“Ouch…you really don’t hold back at all…Ah, does that mean that our lady Paserane here is also a virgin? What a waste with those giant—Woah?!”

Fueled in anger at this sexual harassment from Seran, Paserane did not hesitate a second to fire another arrow at him, which he evaded at the last second. Following that, the entire girls’ group glared at Seran, wishing that arrow could have hit.

“…Is Seran supposed to be that man over there? Are you comparing me to such a vulgar human? You may be graceful maidens, but those words did indeed hurt me.” Roas sounded evidently displeased.

“Ah, well…I’m sorry.”

“As long as you understand, I shall bear no grudge. Being compared to such a lowly human is nothing short of humiliation, see…Really, if only all males besides me could just go extinct. Then, all the maidens in this world would belong to me.”

“Phew…” Lieze immediately regretted apologizing to Roas. “It feels like my magical image of Unicorns broke apart into a thousand pieces…” Lieze muttered in disbelief.

The second the Unicorn began acting like Seran, Lieze was thrown into a deep depression.

“Roas, will you drop it already?! They may be poachers, you know?!”

“Yeah, not happening. I’ve seen as many foolish people as stars in the sky who tried to hunt me, so I can immediately differentiate between them. Especially if they are maidens,” Roas spoke with absolute confidence. “Not to mention that there’s a familiar face amongst all of you…If not for that, I may have questioned you after an attack.” Roas glanced at Erina, who had been quiet this entire time. “Erina, it has been a while. To think a maiden would go out of her way to meet me…There is no greater joy I could feel.” Roas’ voice didn’t change much, as he spoke to Erina with a friendly but also gentle tone.

“…Why have you returned, Erina.” Paserane purposefully kept a sharp tone, as she spoke to Erina.

“Returned? …Ah, I see!” Urza caught on to something thanks to Paserane’s words. “I was wondering why something didn’t feel right the moment I met you…Erina, you’re a half-dark elf and half-human, right?”

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