# 007 Appraisal Complete
# 007 Appraisal Complete
The unicorn.
A legendary phantom beast famed for the trait that only a chaste virgin could ride him.
To the masses, he was nothing more and nothing less than a white horse with a single horn, but the unicorn who guarded the entrance to my dragon's lair was different from ordinary unicorns.
A phantom beast who had been bound by contract to me for a thousand years and had guarded the entrance to my lair.
-Make a contract with me and identify virgins for me!
-Then what's in it for me?
-I'll give you the chance to skewer non-virgins. If any non-virgin comes to my lair, skewer her without hesitation.
-You know what you're doing, Master.
I had forged a very constructive contract with the unicorn, and he had leveraged his ability to produce exactly the results I desired.
Whether the being before him was a virgin or not.
The unicorn was not the only one capable of making that distinction.
When a vampire sank its fangs into a nape to suck blood, the vampire could discern whether the target was a pure being or not.
When an incubus stole essence from a target in a dream, the incubus could discern whether the dense essence belonged to someone with experience or not.
But that was not true discernment.
A vampire defiled the body by sinking its fangs into a pure woman's neck, and an incubus caused the body to remain pure but forced a simulated experience through a lewd dream.
In that sense, only the unicorn could verify safely and effectively.
Sniff sniff.
The unicorn could determine a target's purity by scent from a distance.
One could not be a hundred percent certain of a target's purity even with lie-detection magic, but by some unknown principle, only the unicorn could confirm it without touching the body.
Therefore, pretending to bring the two of them into the dungeon, I opened a teleportation gate and brought them to my lair.
Right to the entrance of the lair of me, Demon Dragon Lord Rapepral—a place that would require descending several floors to reach, and which not even Diamond-rank adventurers could easily come down to, let alone Platinum-rank.
"Wh-what do we do...?! I think we've fallen into a dungeon trap...!"
Hudia was in disarray.
Likewise hiding behind a pillar and trembling with anxiety, she bit her nails and fell into a panic.
"We're going to be killed...! How many people have died to that monster...!"
"What do you mean?"
"W-Well, that unicorn... they call it the 'Unicorn of Annihilation'...."
The unicorn's notoriety must have been that great.
No matter how capable the unicorn was in a one-on-one with a Sword Master, I'd never imagined he had built up such infamy.
"Shh. Quiet. If it catches us, we're dead."
Even Sharia, tense and trembling, pulled me behind a pillar.
Her thoughtfulness in looking after me even while she herself was in danger of dying was as kind as her chest.
Prrrr.
The unicorn paced back and forth through the obsidian corridor, keeping us on edge.
He just kept moving between the lair entrance and the corridor.
[Master, what are you doing right now?]
Correction. He had been pretending.
The unicorn had noticed me immediately and asked through mana.
[There's no way you'd be joking....]
He couldn't not know.
Since a being bearing his master's mana had revealed himself.
Bound by contract, the unicorn knew me regardless of whether I suppressed my mana or disguised myself in human form.
[Have you changed your profession to adventurer now?]
[Yes. To put it in a single word....]
A single word that would convince the bewildered unicorn.
['Play.']
[Ah, I see.]
The unicorn grasped my strange behavior instantly.
When a dragon polymorphed into a human and got sold to a slaver, or played the role of a kingdom's guardian dragon, nine times out of ten it was because the dragon couldn't endure boredom and had gone on a journey for stimulation—'play.'
During play, most understood whatever eccentricities a dragon committed.
Because play, literally, was about conceiving a specific role and behaving faithfully to it.
[What kind of play are you engaged in?]
[Finding a companion. First, there's something you need to do.]
I informed the unicorn of my plan.
At that, he immediately rushed at Sharia.
"Kyaaak...!!"
"Do not be afraid."
I raised my sword and aimed it at the unicorn.
Without wavering, maintaining my composure as much as possible, I pulled Sharia tightly into an embrace and confronted the unicorn.
"I will protect you."
"M-Mr. Rape...."
[Aha. You're mimicking those righteous knight fellows. Excuse me.]
The unicorn lowered his head.
"Grrrrr... s-sniff... sniiiiiiiff... grrrrr."
With his nose pointed downward, the unicorn sniffed a few times and then turned his head away as if he'd lost interest in Sharia.
"Phew."
I felt genuinely relieved.
And my feelings for Sharia slowly began to rise.
"Sharia, are you all right?"
"Y-Yes...."
Sharia was fine.
Then what about Hudia...?
Sniff, sniff sniff.
"Kyaaak! D-Don't come...!"
Sniff, growl, grrrr....
Gradually, ferocious sounds began to flow from the unicorn's mouth.
Grrrrr...! Kang! Kyaaaaak!!
A horse's whinny?
No.
This was the roar of a monster.
Aaaaaaak! Aaaaaaak! Aaaaaaahhhh!!!
Hudia trembled in fear at the beast's convulsive roar.
'As I thought.'
My prediction had been correct.
My intuition had been right.
Although my sense for humans had dulled over the past thousand years, the sense of a dragon who had lived in the human world for two thousand years had not disappeared.
The reason I hadn't spread her legs and violated her mercilessly.
Because I'd feared she was a woman who already knew men.
Because I'd feared that the place where I was supposed to teach her about her first time had already been frequented by another man.
'She wasn't a virgin after all.'
My prediction had not been wrong, and now it was time for the unicorn, as always, to roughly handle the being that had hurt his nose.
Puhihihing!!
The unicorn began to rampage and charged at Hudia.
"Kyaaak!!"
Hudia screamed and tried to reach out to me, but the unicorn moved faster.
[Go easy on her. She did serve me with her mouth, after all.]
Thwack!
The unicorn kicked Hudia with his front hoof.
The shape of the unicorn's hoof was imprinted on Hudia's breastplate, and Hudia coughed up blood as she rolled across the floor.
"Ms. Hudia!"
Puhihihing!! Kahak, ptoo!
The unicorn pawed the ground as if threatening Sharia.
Now that the confirmation was done, it was time to go back up.
Vwoom.
"A teleportation circle...?! Mr. Rape! Ms. Hudia...!"
"...Tch."
I ran while carrying Sharia and grabbed the edge of Hudia's armor.
Fwoosh!
The teleportation circle swiftly enveloped us, and we returned to the place we had been before being teleported.
"Oh no, what do we do...! Ms. Hudia, snap out of it...!"
"Calm down, Sharia. You mustn't panic."
I pointed outside.
"The priority right now is to take Hudia to the temple."
"Then I'll support her—"
"I'll carry her on my back."
I hoisted Hudia onto my back.
The sensation against my back and the feeling lower down were somewhat unpleasant and chilling, but I could not let her get close to Sharia anymore.
"We're running out of the dungeon. Hurry!"
Sharia and I escaped the dungeon just like that.
After leaving the dungeon.
I was able to head to the temple in a truly refreshed mood.
Because I had salvaged at least one.
Because that one was Sharia.
Now only one thing remained.
'How do I fuck this woman?'
* * *
We had naturally escaped the dungeon safely.
No enemies pursued us, and we took Hudia, who had been struck in the chest by the unicorn, straight to the temple.
"What happened?"
"Well, that is...."
After entrusting Hudia to the priests of the Goddess Church, Sharia and I explained the whole story to them.
"So, you went to hunt slimes, a strange teleportation circle engulfed you, and when you moved through it, a unicorn appeared?"
"That's correct."
The priests immediately began talking among themselves with grave expressions.
"Wh-What about Ms. Hudia...?"
Sharia, worried about the injured Hudia, fidgeted as she watched Hudia receiving treatment from a priest.
Even at a glance, she had coughed up a mouthful of blood, so her insides, including her ribs, must have been completely wrecked.
"Do not worry. Fortunately, you arrived in time, and the Goddess's grace is now reaching her."
The priest reassured Sharia and pointed to the sight of Divine Power being used.
At the sight of no fewer than two priests extending their hands toward Hudia and sending gentle Divine Power, I could not suppress the humiliation boiling up inside me.
Divine Power.
Literally, the power of a god.
That power, which could without exaggeration be called a miracle from the Goddess, existed only for humans—the authority granted by the Goddess who loved only humans and bestowed it only upon them.
To those who believed in her, she repaid faith with faith, but a non-human being, no matter how much it prayed to the Goddess, would receive nothing in return.
Hudia was human, so she lived.
"She'll be fine after a day of good rest and recuperation. She mustn't overexert herself, but she'll be able to move, so please rest assured. However...."
The priests subtly surrounded us.
Sharia hid behind me, uneasy, and I held out an arm to protect her while stepping slightly forward.
"What is it?"
"We're sorry. About what happened in the dungeon...."
"You'll have to tell me more about the unicorn."
An overbearing voice.
At the sight of the woman approaching from afar, I nearly got an instant erection.
"A priestess...?"
"She's an Inquisitor of the Goddess Church."
Her half-spoken words were quite grating, but because her breasts stood out above her nun's habit and she was a sharp-featured beauty, I decided to let it slide.
From the way she stood crookedly, showing off her long legs in black stockings, it seemed to be her natural disposition.
And honestly, it suited her better.
A woman like that was exhilarating once you'd broken her spirit in bed.
"Hmm... You have an irreverent gaze."
"It's the fault of the one wearing such clothes."
"Ha. You're not an ordinary fellow, are you. Fine. I apologize. But what's more important is the teleportation circle and the unicorn discovered in the dungeon. Depending on the case... no, the temporary closure of the dungeon is a certainty."
"Th-That serious...?!"
Though she didn't know the details, Sharia's reaction was grave.
"I'm sorry, but could you cooperate? A teleportation circle appearing on the first floor of the dungeon is a problem, but the fact that a unicorn is beyond it is a bigger problem. Especially for us, the Goddess Church."
"Unicorns? Why?"
"...It seems you don't know because you're adventurers, so I'll be clear."
The Inquisitor frowned and drew her thumb across her throat.
"The unicorn is a demonic beast that our Goddess Church must eliminate at all costs."
"Why?"
"Because it elicits one of two reactions."
The Inquisitor heaved a deep sigh.
"It kidnaps one type of nun, and impales another type with its horn."
"......"
From a human standpoint, especially from the standpoint of the Goddess Church with its many women, the unicorn was clearly a harmful beast.
However, I wanted to say just this.
'I've impaled and killed quite a few nuns myself.'
Most of them would come while crying 'I'm dyiiiing,' but occasionally, there were nuns like that too.
Especially when it came to saintesses.
"......"
"...Sharia?"
Sharia's gaze at the Inquisitor had been a bit strange for a while.
It seemed like Sharia knew her, but the Inquisitor didn't appear to recognize Sharia.
"Well then."
After the Inquisitor left.
Sharia clenched and unclenched her fists, grinding her teeth.
"What's wrong?"
"That Inquisitor...."
Sharia whispered to me in a very small voice.
"...She's the Saintess of the church."
A saintess.
A woman chosen by the Goddess, only one existed per era.
And.
"...I'd heard that only a virgin can be a saintess."
"Yes. In the past, a certain demon dragon used a unicorn to expose that a saintess was not chaste, so ever since, the Goddess Church has placed more importance than anyone else on the saintess's purity."
"......"
Me?