The Unicorn Knight
***
Silver joined me in the hidden basement beneath Albrecht’s mansion after she had finished dealing with all the soldiers in the darkness.
The Master had already eliminated one of Albrecht’s loyal retainers who had been guarding the place and left the prison door wide open.
Inside the narrow room that resembled a beast’s cage, the stench struck the nose the moment one entered.
In that cold, dark, filthy space, six women from the territory who had been captured by Albrecht were huddled together.
One had a scraped knee covered in hardened scabs. Another grimaced in pain with every breath, as if her ribs were broken. Yet another simply stared blankly at the stone wall, no longer able to cry. The rest lay so still it was impossible to tell whether they were dead or alive.
From behind his mask, the Master spoke in a dry tone.
“It’s over.”
“…Wh-what…?”
The woman sitting closest to the Master—the one who still looked relatively unharmed—looked up at him with trembling eyes, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Your master is dead. You’re all free.”
A heavy silence fell.
The Master set down a heavy pouch of gold coins he had taken from upstairs at their feet.
Clink.
The golden coins spilled across the cold stone floor in a dazzling scatter. They were the filthy riches Albrecht had hoarded over a lifetime by squeezing the lifeblood from his people. Now those coins lay at the feet of the very people his greedy hands had trampled.
“This is fair payment for every single day you endured in this hell. Take it and go wherever you wish.”
“Sir Knight…”
“You may return to your families. If you have nowhere to go, head to the village priest’s quarters.”
One woman covered her mouth with both hands and began to sob like a wounded animal.
Another untied the rope that had been tightly bound around her wrists, staggered to her feet, and touched the hem of the Master’s cloak as if it were the most sacred object in the world. Then she pressed that same hand to her forehead.
One by one, the six women in the basement dropped to their knees on the floor.
It was a prayer offered to their nameless savior.
“Who… exactly are you? Please, at least tell us your name. We will devote our entire lives to—”
The Master turned away without hesitation and answered curtly.
“I have no name. If you must call me something, call me the Unicorn Knight.”
Silver stared at that overwhelming back.
A good deed that asked for nothing in return. It was the ideal image of a knight she had once dreamed of, back before she learned the harshness of reality.
And that ideal was now being shown to her by the very young master who had been mocked within the family as a worthless fool.
Inside the mask, Silver’s heart pounded violently once again.
***
The moment they left the mansion, the sound of hoofbeats approached from the direction of the territory’s center.
At least twenty mounted riders. Their torches were scattered like fireflies, drawing closer.
“Silver. Who are they?”
“…They are my subordinates.”
Silver’s voice changed subtly from behind the mask.
It was her direct unit from the Krause Knight Order. They had likely been dispatched with orders to capture the unidentified masked knight.
Normally, as their commander, she should have been leading them herself—yet here the commander stood, naked beside me, wearing a mask.
I let out a small chuckle.
“This is about to get interesting.”
“…Master. Please do not harm them.”
Unlike when she had received the order to deal with Albrecht’s soldiers, Silver was now pushing back against me.
It was only natural. Even though she had been reduced to my hunting dog, those men were still her comrades who had swung swords alongside her.
For a brief moment, I considered ordering her to attack them, just to test whether the affection I had raised through Corruption Training or her sense of camaraderie would win out.
But with the monster subjugation looming soon, I couldn’t afford to do something so foolish. Besides, I wasn’t crazy enough to order Silver to kill innocent knights.
The only people I truly hated were those like Albrecht—people who deserved to die.
I placed a hand on her shoulder.
“We’re just going to shake them off.”
“…”
“Let’s go.”
I kicked off the ground and leaped forward. Silver followed like a shadow.
The narrow mountain path on the northern hill of the territory.
The mounted unit chased after us with torches, but their mobility was severely limited on such a tight trail. I had chosen this route with that exact weakness in mind.
“Stop right there! Remove your mask and reveal your identity!”
The voice came from behind us. It belonged to the knight who had appeared at the training warehouse the last time I was in the middle of corrupting Leona. The one who was supposedly in love with her.
Silver’s footsteps faltered for half a beat without her realizing it. I didn’t miss that opening.
I lightly caught her wrist, pulled her toward the cliffside, spread my cloak wide, and wrapped her inside it as I hid us deep within the shadow of a large rock.
The riders’ torches swept across the spot we had just passed. We remained undetected.
“Circle around to the northern ridge! Spread out!”
Leona’s subordinate knight shouted at his men. The sound of hoofbeats gradually faded into the distance.
Yet I did not immediately release the edge of my cloak.
Inside the narrow, dark space between my chest and the crown of Silver’s head, her breathing trembled in a way that was different from usual.
I lifted the cloak slightly and looked down at her face.
Her mask had been pushed up just a little. Strands of her silver hair, disheveled from the heat of battle. Cheeks stained with dirt and blood. Two eyes looking up at me with ragged breaths.
Those were no longer the eyes of Silver—the woman who had been blackmailed and forced to cooperate with me in this obscene state.
Those were the eyes of Leona, the proud female knight of the Krause family.
I brushed her cheek once with my thumb. Her eyelashes quivered delicately at the touch. It was not the reaction of a hunting dog panting for my cock. It was the reaction of a woman.
“Silver.”
“…”
“Do you trust me?”
Leona’s breath caught for a single beat.
Normally she would have answered instantly. ‘Yes, Master.’
But that would have been nothing more than a conditioned reflex. Like a fake moan, the kind of thing she would say because she craved my cock and had no choice due to my blackmail.
Tonight, however, Leona’s reaction was different. She lightly bit her lip, avoided my gaze, and answered.
“…That doesn’t seem like an appropriate question to ask in our current situation, Master.”
It was an unexpected answer. My eyebrows rose slightly. Still, it wasn’t an unpleasant response.
“You didn’t actually answer me.”
“My adjutant is currently leading the unit that should be moving under my command… to capture me. This can hardly be considered normal, can it?”
It was a sulky reply that, under normal circumstances, would have earned her a few sharp smacks on her bare ass.
Instead, I simply chuckled.
[Mind Reading]
Leona’s true feelings flowed into me at that moment.
[I don’t hate it. I don’t hate any of it. I’m actually relieved my men can’t find me. It’s warm inside Young Master’s cloak. Young Master’s scent… it smells so good.]
The corner of my mouth slowly curved upward.
This hunting dog was complaining with her mouth while secretly praying in her head that I would keep her trapped inside my cloak forever.
How cute. Honestly, it was almost too cute.
I pretended I hadn’t heard her thoughts. Instead, I slowly lowered her mask back into place. The moment my fingers touched the edge of the mask, I felt her shoulders twitch faintly inside the cloak.
“I promise your subordinates won’t be hurt.”
“…Yes.”
“And I won’t mistreat you anymore. I give you my word on that as well.”
“…Yes.”
“So continue to offer me your loyalty, just as you have been. Will you promise me that?”
Leona remained silent for a long time behind her mask. Then, as if reluctantly, she gave a small nod.
“…A little.”
I smiled faintly.
That was enough. After all, our relationship had begun with blackmail and corruption training.
We had taken one step back from perfect submission, arriving at the sweetest possible position for both of us. I knew Leona was excited by this kind of relationship. Whether she admitted it or not, she was falling in love with me, just like Anna had.
In the distance, the sound of hoofbeats echoed—thududududu, thududududu.
The moonlight was bright.
The night had grown chilly, so every breath Leona exhaled inside my arms turned into white mist that brushed against my face.
I gently stroked the hair of the woman who was quietly resting her forehead against my chest inside the cloak.
It was the first time I had felt something close to affection for a woman who was no longer a virgin.
*
We returned to the castle just before dawn.
We slipped in through the back gate and walked along the dark corridor of the annex. Leona followed half a step behind me like a shadow, just as always. Her footsteps and breathing remained perfectly controlled.
When we reached the door to my room, I spoke without turning around.
“You did well.”
“…Yes, Master.”
The same answer as always. The same tone as always.
Normally, the moment that reply ended, she would have returned to her own room.
But tonight, Leona lingered for half a beat longer than usual.
She stood in front of my door a little while longer. It was as if she herself didn’t know what she was waiting for or what she was hesitating over—that half-beat pause.
Then, finally, from behind her mask, Leona left me with a small remark.
“…Please rest well.”
It was the kind of thing the usual her would never have said.
A hunting dog does not wish its master peaceful rest. That was a greeting between people.
I turned my back to her and smiled faintly.
The crack in her heart was no thicker than a single strand of hair. But once a crack forms, it eventually splits open from the inside.
*
The rumors spread with terrifying speed.
In the market alleys, in front of the bakery, by the well. In the square where children played, and among the weary commoners carrying loads on their backs.
Everywhere, one man’s name was whispered with secretive fervor.
The Unicorn Knight.
[They say he burned every last debt document belonging to the loan sharks.]
[After the usurer Birk was killed, a massive unicorn symbol was painted in blood on the wall of his house.]
[They say Baron Albrecht, who had been violating his maids, was beheaded with a single stroke.]
[They say the people locked in that basement received a huge amount of gold coins and returned safely.]
Such rumors.
No one knew who he was. Where he came from, or whose sword he wielded.
Yet every single commoner in the territory desperately prayed that he would come for them again the next night. Even the poorest orphan girl within the castle clasped her hands together in the darkness and prayed with all her heart.
A girl wrapped in tattered cloth sat seven children smaller than herself in front of her and neatly folded her hands.
It was Celine, the girl Werner had saved not long ago.
“Listen carefully. There is a savior. He has no name.”
The small children swallowed hard, staring at Celine’s lips.
“But if you really want to call him something, he said you can call him this… Unicorn Knight.”
Celine quietly closed her eyes. Behind her closed eyelids, the holy back she had witnessed appeared once more. The single blue eye visible behind the mask. The gentle voice that had apologized while wiping the bloodstains from her neck.
“He is someone who comes to save even commoners like us. We are neither rich, nor knights, nor lords. And yet he swings his sword for our sake.”
“…Really?”
The smallest child widened their eyes.
“It’s true. I saw it myself… The reason I’m alive and back here is all thanks to him.”
Celine clasped her hands tightly once more over the center of her chest.
“So from tonight onward, when you go to sleep, fold your hands like this and pray. …Unicorn Knight, please return safely tonight. And please, come to us again tomorrow night. Understand?”
All the children simultaneously brought their small hands together over the center of their chests.
🕯 Please return safely tonight.
🕯 Please come to us again tomorrow night.
“Unicorn Knight…”
“Unicorn Knight…”
The children’s small prayers began to quietly drift into the darkness of the dawn alley.
And that prayer passed into the hands of a mother in the next alley. Then into the hands of an old man in the alley after that. From one alley to the next—passing from the hands of the lowest people in the territory, hand to hand.
At the very end of that first night, the name of the masked man finally began to grow into faith, starting from the lowest place in the territory.
It was something that even Werner—the one who had saved them—had no idea was happening.
