Volume 2, Chapter 4.1: Unicorn’s Horn①
In a place a short distance away from Lambert and Co.’s location, ten adventurers from 『Dancing Sword』, a first-rate guild in Barreira City, were riding their horses through Lost Folk’s Great Forest.
『Dancing Sword』 was a proper guild, which had gained deep trust and respect from the citizens and Earl Mondo, the current lord of Barreira City.
The reason they came into this forest was to investigate certain rumors, but not those of the headless undead『Great Horse of Nightmare』.
Recently, there was a rumor about a beautiful white horse with a horn on its forehead, a unicorn.
Unicorn horn was a priceless material used in the creation of a powerful miracle drug, useful for dispelling curses and cleansing impurities.
However, unicorns were extremely rare animals; on top of that, they were extremely vigilant creatures.
The unicorn itself was extremely ferocious by nature, which made their horns even more precious and rare.
There was a constant demand for the horns since there were no stocks kept anywhere.
Due to that rumor, a noble lady who was a distant relative of Earl Mondo, came from far away to Barreira City, bowing to him to search for that unicorn to cure her illness.
Properly speaking, the noble lady should have used a messenger for that, but she came personally due to the urgency of that material.
Since Barreira City was the city of adventurers, most of the commission was left to the adventurers.
Earl Mondo himself was focusing on the development of the adventurer guild, so he had a small private army.
For that reason, even though he put a large reward for the search of unicorn horn, it got less attention since it came after the strife surrounding the 『Great Horse of Nightmare』, which became the current focus of the adventurers in Barreira City.
Even in the『Dancing Sword』 guild, only the upper-ranking members were dispatched to search for the unicorn after they made plenty of preparations.
「Sense anything, Legge?」
Atop the largest horse, a man with cropped red hair and a trace sword wound on his cheek shouted.
His name was Fando. He was appointed as the leader by the guild master for this unicorn subjugation commission.
「There’s… no sign of a strong monster, Fando-san. Maybe they’re hiding from that 『Great Horse of Nightmare』, I can’t feel the presence of other adventurers ei- AH! Just now, I felt the presence of a medium-sized monster around 500 hein (around 500 meters) from our position. Further… it seems they’re hiding their presence. Though I might be wrong, please be careful, just in case.」
The one who replied was a short youth running diagonally behind Fando, Legge.
His long forelock almost covered his eyes.
Although he shut his eyes, cane in one hand while the other hand controlled the reins of his horse, he still replied when Fando asked him about the situation around them.
Legge had turned out to be an extremely gifted sorcerer with detection-type spells for someone who was just twenty years old. He was the most prominent detection-type sorcerer in Barreira City, the capital of adventurers.
Thanks to his talent, he was forced by his father to join dangerous hunts ever since the tender age of eight, gaining more experience as he grew up.
The reason 『Dancing Sword』 allowed Legge to participate in this dangerous unicorn hunt was mainly due to his ability.
They hoped that they could use Legge’s magic to avoid an encounter with the『Great Horse of Nightmare』 and find the unicorn.
In addition, Legge had also mastered direction magic, a magic that allowed them to know the cardinal directions in case they became lost in Lost Folk’s Great Forest.
「If our target was such a courageous fella, its horn should’ve been harvested a long time ago. You’re just too nervous.」
The female adventurer Talmiya told him.
She had long, golden hair and a slender body.
In addition, even though her hatred toward protective gear that would only slow her down made her seem unqualified at a glance, she was in fact one of 『Dancing Sword』’s four strongest.
Her mastery in using custom-made double-edged knives made her a top-tier adventurer.
Although there were traces of cuts around her legs, chest, and arms due to her preference in wearing cloth with a high degree of exposure, it gave her a wild charm instead.
The 『Dancing Sword』 members, who kept looking for the unicorn by following Legge’s direction, had finally found the one they were looking for.
Although the unicorn was in the middle of drinking water, it raised its head from the water’s surface as soon as it saw the incoming party from the corner of its eyes.
The length of the horn that grew from its forehaead was even longer than the length of its head. Its horn was considered large, even amongst other unicorns.
「Woopsie, quite a big one we got there… We’re literally screwed if we get stabbed by that. Ready the arrows! Legge, get back. Talmiya, Melk, you two come with me to attack from close range!」
Fando gave a precise order: They were going to encircle the unicorn by dispersing their fighting power and slowly closing the distance.
The arrows were nothing more than a distraction, since they couldn’t penetrate too deeply into the unicorn’s tough hide.
Soon enough, one arrow fell upon the unicorn. The unicorn was enraged, lowering its head and pointing its horn toward the weakest part of the formation in an attempt to escape the encirclement.
In that moment, Talmiya kicked her horse as she rode on, jumping toward the unicorn and slashing it at the base of its neck as she flipped in midair.
「Yes, HERE YOU GO!」
Her following three slashes were aimed at the unicorn’s head.
The unicorn glared angrily at Talmiya, kicking the ground with its hind legs.
Fando entered the fray at that moment, attacking with his great axe toward the unicorn’s head.
The great axe pierced the unicorn’s head.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺