Witch and the Unicorn (2)
Witch and the Unicorn (2)
#
Just like that, the unicorn foamed at the mouth in front of Reni and threw an absolute shitfit. The veins in its eyes were so bloodshot they looked like they were about to burst—I half-wondered if it would start weeping blood soon...
"..."
The moment I drew the Holy Sword, it snorted and calmed down. No, more than calming down, it was rubbing its body against the barrier and licking it with its tongue. Wasn't that the kind of behavior animals used to show affection? As if it wanted to get closer to the Holy Sword...
-Puh-hing. Pu-hihing.
After several failed attempts, seeing no sign of the Protection dropping, the unicorn let a single tear fall and then turned right around and retreated.
"..."
It left after seeing the Holy Sword. So that unicorn was an anything-goes freak. Come to think of it, hadn't they said it was fine as long as someone stayed away from men for about a week? It really was a knockoff unicorn.
[Notification: The Holy Sword feels a sense of affection for the monster.]
[Notification: The Holy Sword recommends taming the monster.]
[Who's going to feed it? You?]
[...]
Idiots did have a way of understanding each other. A knockoff unicorn that was into swords and a fool who didn't even know what sex was.
"See! I told you! That one earlier was just acting up because something was wrong with it! I told you, I've never gone to see a man!"
"...Just lead the way."
Tina started spouting nonsense again as we watched the unicorn leave us behind.
As if. How could that woman not get a single thing right from start to finish? Did she plug knot-holes into her eye sockets instead of eyes?
...Still, our adventurer rank was low. I didn't need to go out of my way to tell her about the Holy Sword.
In that respect, that muscle-for-brains idiot's nonsense could occasionally be useful... Maybe if I spun it right, I could reel in a sucker.
"Reni? Let's go now..."
Reni was frozen stiff. She was staring vacantly at the unicorn's retreating figure. When I called her, her whole body trembled and she made a tearful face.
"Reni?"
"Y-Yoo-jin... I-I'm...."
"Huh?"
"Purity... purity!"
...Purity? No, where was this coming from all of a sudden?
Reni seemed to be in massive shock over the unicorn's rampage. She was practically misty-eyed, looking almost like she wanted me to deny it...
"Yoo-jin..."
"....Let's go."
Reni. You weren't pure anymore. You, of all people in this party, were the furthest thing from a Mind, Body, and Technique virgin, so why were you acting like this...?
"Hwuing...."
#
The forest where the witch supposedly lived wasn't a dense jungle. It was full of towering conifers. It felt more like a Northern European forest than the Amazon or Southeast Asia.
The path through the woods was rather tranquil. We walked down it until we arrived at a hut.
"This is the witch's..."
"Shh! You have to address her properly—as the Witch!"
"Ah, okay."
The witch's house was less a hut and more a fairly decent two-story building. From the way those three idiots talked about it, I'd imagined something decadent and sinister, a ragged wreck about to collapse—but it was cleaner and more stylish than I had expected.
"Um, s-so, we'll go and explain things, so please wait here for a moment. We'll come back out soon."
"Ah, sure."
The trio shrank into themselves and went inside the witch's house. With nothing to do, we loitered around outside.
Anyway, she lived alone in a place like this? Surrounded by unicorns, no less? Then that Witch was definitely a virgin. One who was perfect in Mind, Body, and Technique...
"Ah, u-um...."
A moment later, the cute-faced Emily came out, looking dismayed, and called for us.
"L-the Witch asked if she could see you briefly, so...."
"Sure, why not."
We'd come all this way, so what was the harm in seeing her face? And honestly, I was a little curious. What would a Witch who was perfectly pure in Mind, Body, and Technique look like? A snow-white Witch?
#
"Do come in."
"I-It's a pleasure."
My expectation of a pure, snow-white Witch was completely wrong. She was the exact opposite. I couldn't take my eyes off her.
Her voice was languid, almost drowsy. Her jet-black hair stretched down to her waist, and her bangs covered half her face. The tips of her ears were slightly pointed, so she probably wasn't human. And her half-lidded eyes with decadent dark circles—she was a bewitching beauty.
Her skin was utterly pale. But if Reni's skin was full of vitality, this woman's skin felt chillingly white, almost like moonlight. If you could embody the word "pallid" in flesh, would it feel like this? But that wasn't the important part.
I couldn't tear my eyes away from her chest. Breasts even bigger than Reni's... absolutely massive tits! And her dangerously low-cut black dress barely covered half of them.
On top of that, the dress was slit down the middle. Not only was her navel fully visible, but if you looked closely it almost seemed like you could see even lower...
"Woaaah..."
"Uut..."
A stupid exclamation slipped from Yuri's lips, while Reni went bright red and stared with her mouth hanging open, as though her jaw might drop off at any moment.
Yeah. I was shocked too. Even if you two wore clothes like that, you couldn't pull off that kind of aura. I wasn't even a virgin anymore, but I felt my body stiffen up. H-How... how was I supposed to talk again?
"A pleasure to meet you as well. It has been so long since I last set eyes on a man..."
"Ah, yes. Yes."
"These little ones tell me they are deeply indebted to you. I could not simply send you on your way, so I have invited you in to offer you some tea."
"Ah, th-thank you."
This woman... she clearly gave off the vibe of being older. And not just by a year or two older than me. She only looked to be in her late twenties, but judging by her aura alone, it was impossible to gauge... I felt like I had reverted back to being a pathetic virgin....
"I should have introduced myself sooner. My name is Reneiyu. I spend my days here passing the time with a few modest research projects."
Trivial little research? I had my doubts. Just from what I could see, it didn't look trivial at all.
The witch's house wasn't particularly dark—the overall lighting was fairly ample—but all sorts of bizarre objects were scattered around the place. On one side there was a huge cauldron, and on the other side were all kinds of flora and fauna preserved in formalin. D-Did that monster head in the jar just wink at me?
"Today, I am truly grateful that you helped my contractees. If it is not too much trouble, might I learn the names of our benefactors?"
"Y-Yoo-jin. I'm called Yoo-jin."
"I-I'm Yuri... please, just call me that..."
"Reni... I'm Reni."
Yuri was trembling all over, while Reni acted like a puppy growling, grrrr, at a crow. Right. I knew what this woman reminded me of! A crow! A crow teasing a puppy!
"Oh my, where are my manners. I did say I would serve you tea."
The witch said that and went somewhere... Th-That dress was open in the back too, so the cleft of her ass was fully exposed. I could feel someone grab my elbow—when I looked to the side, Reni was practically shivering.
Before long, the Witch returned with three teacups. She set them in front of us, then deliberately bent over to pour the tea. As she did, one shoulder strap slid down, and the tip of one enormous breast...
"?!"
My vision went black without warning.
"N-No, you can't!"
This dainty little hand... it was Reni. Reni had covered my eyes.
...
"So, might I hear the story of what happened?"
"Didn't you hear it from those people..."
"A different perspective is always important."
"I-Is that so...? Well, then..."
I told the witch about everything that had happened up to now, but...
This witch... she wasn't just listening to the story, she was openly making sexual overtures. Squeezing her breasts together with her arms, smiling with her eyes while letting her shoulder strap slither down—this wasn't the work of an amateur. This was the real deal, a whole different league from Yuri's knockoff seduction trick! And a woman like this was surrounded by unicorns?...Something didn't add up.
"...I see. How very kind of you. You say you merely chased the unicorn away?"
"Ah, yes. The unicorn wasn't hurt."
"The unicorn simply retreated, you say? There is no way that could..."
The Witch opened her eyes wide in surprise and examined my girls. She kept muttering, "That can't be..." ...Did you have something like a unicorn's appraisal eye too?
"Oh my... oh my?"
The witch's eyes went round. She looked back and forth between me and my companions, then opened her mouth as if something had piqued her curiosity.
"Forgive me if this is impolite, but may I ask what adventurer rank you hold?"
"Ah, we just registered yesterday... so we're still Iron Tier."
"Oh my..."
The witch opened her eyes wide. She glanced between Reni and Yuri a few times, then suddenly smiled.
"I would feel terrible keeping busy people here for too long. I hear you agreed to accept payment from me on behalf of my contractors?"
"Ah, yes."
"Here you are. I've added a little more. You may return now, if you wish."
W-Was this a dismissal? I felt a wave of tension suddenly drain away. The trio fidgeted anxiously as they watched us. Tina, who seemed the bravest of them, shyly raised her hand and called out to the witch.
"Ah, u-um. W-We'll also go together..."
"Ah, I have a great many questions for our contractees. For instance, from the very beginning—how this came to pass given that I entrusted my request to a clan composed entirely of women..."
"Ah, b-but when we head back, the unicorn..."
"You need not worry about the unicorn. There will be no problem at all."
"I-Is that so."
The trio sat rooted to their seats, trembling pitifully. The Witch rose smoothly, and we stood as well, following her as though under a spell.
"Then, I apologize for not being able to see you off properly. My skin is quite weak, so it is a little difficult for me to leave the house looking like this."
"Ah, not at all. W-Well, we'll be going."
#
So we set off back, carrying the coin pouch the witch had handed over. The pouch was considerably heavy. Inside it... ten... silver coins? That was a huge sum for a simple errand. But the atmosphere had been far too unnerving. I felt like a mouse placed in front of a snake...
...There was more in here than just money. A small note was tucked inside. And the message read, "We'll see each other again soon." Why?
"Y-Yoo-jin..."
"Yeah?"
"...Ah, it's nothing."
Reni had spoken up and then stopped herself. Her eyes were oddly full of resolve. And Yuri had been silent and dazed for a while now.
"So that's what the real thing looks like... amazing..."
...It looked like these two were indulging in pointless thoughts again. We headed toward the dungeon entrance in silence.
...
"Wait. Don't you hear something?"
"Huh?"
Yuri, who had sharp ears, had picked up on something. She always did notice things fast—maybe because her five senses were so good.
-Dudududududung
A moment later, we hid behind a tree and looked in the direction of the noise, and...
"Unicorns! Unicorns are heading this way!"
Dozens of unicorns were charging in our direction! C-Could those bastards be under orders from that witch?
"Reni! First, use Protec—"
"Yoo-jin, wait. Look at that."
"Huh?"
Just as Yuri said, I looked at the unicorns and saw they were clearly different from before.
"It doesn't look like it's coming for us, does it?"
"Yeah... you're right."
Could a person read a beast's expression? But even beasts had an air about them. The unicorns weren't angry at us. They weren't foaming at the mouth and chasing us like before—it looked more like they were running away from something...
"If we stay like this, I think they'll just pass us by?"
Yuri was right. The unicorns passed right by and disappeared, as if they had no interest at all in us hiding behind the tree.
"Yoo-jin, look over there!"
And chasing after the unicorns was... a giant gorilla?
#
A gorilla. Among the great apes, they boasted the greatest strength and were also enormous. On top of that, whatever the hell this one had been eating in the dungeon, it looked slightly taller than me even with its knees bent!
Its eyes were blood-red and filled with fury. This was the thing that was chasing the unicorns. At a glance, it was clearly a rare monster—not the sort you'd find in a beginner zone.
But why it was here wasn't what mattered right now. The problem was that it had spotted us, and now it was beating its chest and raging at us.
If we fought it head-on, did we stand a chance? I didn't know. The stats shown in its Status Window were all slightly higher than mine.
In that case...
"Run..."
"Yoo-jin! Look out!"
"Yoo-jin!"
-Boom!
Th-That thing jumped! The distance between us had looked like well over a hundred meters, but it took a couple of bounding steps and closed the gap in a single leap, and crashed right down on my position! What are you, Donkey Kong?!
But thankfully, its ground-pound was blocked by Reni's Protection.
-Uoooooooooooh!!!!
With that kind of jumping power, even using Acceleration didn't look like enough to escape. So...
"Yuri! Same as last time!"
"Got it!"
"Reni! Drop the Protection and get Holy Light ready!"
"Alright! Now!"
I had Yuri climb up a tree. The moment Protection dropped, I gripped my Holy Sword tight and rushed at the beast.
-Clang!
The slash I thrust at it was deflected with ease by a single sweep of its arm. Clang—what was its skin made of, fucking metal?!
-Thwip!
"No! It's too shallow!"
As expected. The arrow Yuri had fired from the tree barely scratched the thing's skin before falling away.
-Uoooooooooooh!!!!
The gorilla beat its chest—bang-bang—as if everything we did was laughable. Fine, then this time I'd use the Invisible Hand to deliver an electric shock, and then use the Vibrating Holy Sword to...!
-Twang!
As if mocking me, it swatted my blade aside with a sideways strike again! This was bad. It was reading the trajectory of the blade. Was its intelligence high? It knew that touching the edge directly would hurt it. That meant I couldn't tame it into a familiar and make it docile, either!
-Thwip!
"It's not working!"
Yuri's despairing shout. I thrust with my blade again and again to keep the thing in check, but it swatted me aside like it was playing with a toy.
-Krrrrrrraaah!!!!
I used the electrified Invisible Hand, but it only singed the surface of the thing's skin. That just made it angrier—it started swinging its arms at me wildly! If I let even one of this bastard's punches connect...!
-Clang!
A fresh barrier shimmered into existence. Reni had blocked it. But at this rate, we were going to be overwhelmed. She'd blocked it once with the barrier, but how long could she hold out? We'd be done for at this rate. How could I... how...
...To hell with it!
"Reni! Holy Light! Now!"
"Right!"
An intense sphere of light surged up, and the gorilla bastard was forced to shut its eyes. At that moment, I hurled the flask containing the aphrodisiac slime right at it.