Chapter 140
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 140
Chapter Title: Unicorn (2)
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"Hihiin! Hiiing!"
"Hmm... Not bad, it has a pretty good eye for this. I'll have to sample its blood later."
"Hiiing???"
Not quite to the extent it had with Lilith, but the unicorn was rubbing up against Erzsebet with considerable affection.
And Jeanne, who had seemed to be getting along decently just moments ago, had suddenly been demoted to spare tire the instant Erzsebet came into view. She was looking thoroughly dejected.
"I'm a saintess... I'm pure... I'm innocent..."
She'd been quite taken with the unicorn when she first saw it, and it seemed she harbored a bit of admiration for them.
But not one, but two others. And to be outdone by demons, no less... denied the unicorn's favor...
'What's the criterion here?'
Lilith, Erzsebet, and even Jeanne all seemed to meet the basic condition of being 'pure virgins,' at least on the surface.
Yet it clung desperately to Lilith, showed strong fondness for Erzsebet, and merely tolerated Jeanne at best...
'Is it age? Does it prefer virgins who've maintained their purity longer... Or is it just Lilith's abilities?'
After that group mesmerization incident, Lilith had stopped hiding her appearance with illusions like before.
She still kept her wild hair and regulated her scent and pheromones, but she occasionally mesmerized people who saw her face anyway.
Maybe the unicorn had just fallen victim to Lilith's powers. Whatever. It worked out fine.
"M-Master? The kid's a bit..."
"Hihihiiing!!!"
At some point, its interest in Erzsebet had vanished, and the unicorn was now pressing its body against Lilith, huffing roughly.
...Was this thing a male? The way it was rubbing its body and mane against her felt a bit...
'Not quite what I expected...'
I'd imagined Saintess Jeanne earning the unicorn's favor and taming it.
Instead, a dream demon—a female one, so a succubus—miles away from any image of 'purity' had been chosen. Who'd have thought?
"Lilith. Can you look after it for now?"
"M-Me...?"
Lilith eyed the unicorn with clear distaste, but the creature seemed to understand my words perfectly, gazing at her with sparkling eyes.
And Lilith, unable to withstand that gaze, nodded reluctantly.
"A-Alright..."
"Prurrk!!"
"Oh. And if it tries anything funny, snap its horn off immediately."
"Prurrng?!"
Something about that thing screamed male, and it felt suspicious. If it pulled any dog shit, 330,000 gold or not, I'd yank those horns and turn it into horse meat tartare.
"Anyway, let's test its abilities first. Lilith, it seems to listen to you well, so..."
Skipping the complicated taming process entirely, we could consider it tamed already. I had Lilith issue various commands to the unicorn.
-Clop! Clop!!
Basic mobility test. Lilith mounted it with a grim expression, and the unicorn bolted into the sky, brimming with excitement.
'No wings. How's it flying?'
And at impressive speeds—two or three times faster than a normal horse.
Leading with its sturdy horn, it looked like it could one-shot most foes just by charging.
Plus, it was quite intelligent. I had Erzsebet create obstacles with her blood, and even fired a few weak attacks to intercept the airborne unicorn, but it deftly dodged the barriers and evaded strikes with skill.
'Mobility's solid.'
I called Pandora, who was repairing the erased magic circles in the unicorn's wake, and tested some spells. It showed near-immunity to curses and shrugged off most magic with robust resistance.
And even though she had gear protecting her, the unicorn's shielding extended to Lilith riding atop it.
"Is this what a top-grade magic beast is like?"
Of course, taming was notoriously tricky, but unicorns ranked pretty high among top-grade beasts anyway...
Still, reassuring. It could probably handle a 3-star hero solo without a dedicated mount.
Against someone who could exploit its mobility, even a 4-star.
"Gaaahhh!!!"
"Ah."
Mid-flight, a wretched scream echoed. Rushing over, I saw Desmond—planted in the ground earlier—dusted by powder from the unicorn's horn.
"Is it in pain?"
"Unicorns are said to wield purifying power... It must be lethal poison to undead like him."
I hurriedly relocated Desmond away from the unicorn's aura and powder. A low voice emanated from him then.
"Grgh... I... I... Me!!"
"About to wake up soon?"
After absorbing—or recovering?—the dungeon cores from my subordinates' dungeons for that sub-quest, Desmond had been reacting like this more often.
Seemed like he'd awaken any day now.
One or two more cores, and it'd probably happen immediately... But even left alone, he'd wake eventually.
Now that I had the unicorn, I'd prefer he woke sooner. Even if he rampaged, I could smack him down right away.
'...Speaking of dungeon cores.'
That dungeon master from the auction house, trampled by the giant king. I'd seen his real face, so I knew who he was. Couldn't I track down his dungeon?
The dungeon merchant wouldn't sell info on other masters, but my southern subordinates who've lived here long might know.
Worth checking. He must've taken a huge mental hit and not recovered yet. Could score something, maybe even another core.
"Good work. Put it back in the cage the merchant brought for now, then later call in the relic staff one by one to check if anyone else can handle the unicorn..."
"Ah, Master... While flying on the unicorn, I saw that mermaid... Aqua over there?"
"Hm?"
Having fully vetted the unicorn's performance, I was about to crate it when Lilith dropped that bombshell. She'd spotted Aqua mid-flight.
'Underground, though?'
Wondering if she'd surfaced again since my last check, I pulled up [Quick Travel]. Still pinned at the underground lake.
"You sure you didn't missee?"
"Blue hair... And no other blue-haired demons in our dungeon but Aqua, right?"
True. Demons had all sorts of hair colors besides black, but blue was Aqua's alone.
'What the hell?'
Sensing something off, I headed to where Lilith claimed she'd seen her. The garden cleanup was nearly done lately, paths well-maintained, so locating it was easy.
"Huh? It was around here...?"
But at the spot, no Aqua—eyes peeled for blue, nothing.
"Wasn't that what you saw?"
I nudged Lilith lightly and pointed to the slimes slithering on the ground.
Thanks to that one that evolved into a clean slime after consuming detergent, I'd upped the slime ratio in the relic. They were everywhere now.
Of course, I monitored numbers regularly now, unlike before, to prep for surprises...
"M-Maybe...?"
Even after arriving, with nothing but slimes and trees around, Lilith started second-guessing herself.
Yeah, flying high on unicorn-back, horn-shed sparkles flying—easy to mistake.
'Still, better safe.'
This was a fantasy world. Suspicions needed checking. You never knew—a hero with some bizarre holy relic could've snuck in.
I deployed masses of leveled-up [Robot Vacuums] for emergencies, scattering them everywhere. Scanned via their cameras—no Aqua, just occasional elves tending trees.
'Last test showed [Robot Vacuum] cameras immune to illusions.'
Fact I'd learned testing Lilith's illusions. No matter how convincing hers were, vacuums showed the real scene—like my eyes.
So no one hiding via illusion either...
Called Pandora from the entrance array via [Quick Travel]—no intruder traces. Woke a grumpy Erzsebet complaining about the interruption—no other blood scents nearby.
"Well... One more surefire way."
I soothed Lilith, who looked downcast thinking she'd erred, and went with the simplest method.
"Just ask her?"
"Ah."
[Quick Travel] confirmed: Aqua at underground lake.
Easy—just ask if she'd come up. I warped Lilith and myself below.
After Eugene and Lilith vanished...
-...Gurgle.
The sky-blue slime's body darkened to black.
Not stopping there, it wobbled, morphing from goo to elongated arms... legs.
"...A. Ah."
Moments later.
Neither blue-haired Aqua nor sky slime remained—instead, a beautiful pink-haired dream demon stood there, clearing her throat as if checking her voice.