The Depraved Unicorn

After spending an entire week traveling, Lina and Skayla finally reached Vulcan, the capital of the Kingdom of Ash, and entered the Adventurer Guild completely exhausted.

“Welcome to the Adventurer Guild. My name is Zoe. How may I help you?” the receptionist asked, struggling to maintain a professional smile after seeing how heavily they were breathing.

“D-D-Do you happen to know where I can find a smithy run by a blacksmith named Hefa?” Lina asked between gasps.

“Yes, I do,” Zoe answered. “Please give me a moment to write down the directions to his shop.”

As Zoe stepped away from the counter, Skayla collapsed onto her knees after finally reaching her limit.

“Stand up,” Lina said, offering her a hand. “The floor is filthy.”

“I CAN’T!” Skayla whined. “MY LEGS ARE TIRED!”

“We wouldn’t be this exhausted if someone hadn’t tried to cuddle a Bloodied Ox calf and gotten us chased by the entire herd,” Lina replied, still annoyed by Skayla’s poor decision.

“WELL, IT CAME TO ME!” Skayla shouted. “I THOUGHT IT WANTED TO SNUGGLE!”

“It approached you because it wanted your apple,” Lina said. “You really need to learn how to eat faster.”

“Umm... I’m sorry for interrupting, but did you say Bloodied Ox?” Zoe asked as she returned with the directions.

“Yes, that’s correct,” Lina answered.

“Did you manage to subdue any of them?” Zoe asked hesitantly. “It’s perfectly understandable if you didn’t. Bloodied Oxen are A-Rank monsters.”

Skayla immediately stood and proudly stepped forward.

“WE SUBDUED TWENTY OF THEM!” she announced, flashing a peace sign.

The entire guild fell silent before erupting into a deafening uproar.

“Did you bring back any of the materials or at least some of the meat?” Zoe asked after noticing that the two women were empty-handed.

“Of course!” Skayla answered. “I have all of them stored inside my mag—”

Lina immediately covered Skayla’s mouth before she could announce the existence of her magic bag to the entire guild.

“We brought back some of the meat and stored it inside our item box,” Lina said, glaring at Zoe. “If you have a private room, we can take it out for you.”

“Y-Y-Yes, of course,” Zoe answered, trembling beneath Lina’s stare. “P-Please follow me.”

Zoe led Lina and Skayla into the guild’s dismantling workshop, fully aware that they had brought back all twenty Bloodied Oxen.

Once the doors were closed, Skayla opened her magic bag and unloaded twenty fully intact Bloodied Oxen onto the workshop floor.

Every employee stared in disbelief.

“Holy crap!” one of the workers exclaimed.

“Look at these wounds!” another employee shouted, pointing toward the single puncture wound in each Ox’s forehead. “Every strike went directly into the brain!”

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL STANDING AROUND FOR?!” the workshop chief roared. “GET YOUR ASSES TO WORK! I DON’T WANT THE MEAT SPOILING ANY LONGER THAN NECESSARY!”

A thunderous rumble of footsteps shook the workshop as everyone immediately got to work.

Meanwhile, Zoe escorted Lina and Skayla back to the reception counter to discuss payment.

“Regarding the Bloodied Oxen, how many would you like to sell?” Zoe asked discreetly.

“Hmmm... we’ll sell fifteen and keep the remaining five,” Lina answered. “We still have a long journey ahead of us, so keeping some of the meat and materials would be useful.”

“Understood,” Zoe said. “May I see both of your Guild Cards?”

“Yes, here’s mine,” Lina replied, retrieving the card from her item box. “Skayla, where is yours?”

Lina turned toward the empty space beside her and realized Skayla had disappeared.

“Hey! What are you doing?” Lina asked after finding her standing in front of the Quest Board.

“Lina, doesn’t this horse look familiar?” Skayla asked, pointing toward one of the posted requests.

Upon examining the request, Lina immediately recognized the white horse with the violet horn and noticed a subjugation bounty worth twenty million listed beneath its illustration.

“W-W-WHAT?!” Lina shouted before rushing back toward the counter. “WHY DOES THAT UNICORN HAVE SUCH A HIGH BOUNTY?!”

Zoe immediately froze as Lina’s menacing aura spread across the guild hall.

“That’s because the Unicorn is a fucking depraved bastard,” an elegant female voice answered from above.

Lina looked toward the staircase and saw a beautiful silver-haired elf descending toward them. The elf wore a white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a long gray skirt, and black leather boots.

“Guild Master Tifa!” Zoe exclaimed, lowering her head. “What brings you down here?”

“I sensed unfamiliar bloodlust coming from the guild hall, so I decided to investigate,” Tifa answered as she approached Lina. “Hmmm... I don’t recognize you. Where is your Guild Card?”

“Here it is,” Zoe said, handing Lina’s card to the Guild Master.

Tifa examined the card and noticed the S-Rank before seeing Zenos’s name listed as the issuing Guild Master.

“Hmmm... you must be Eos,” Tifa muttered before glancing toward Skayla, who stared at the beautiful elf with sparkling eyes. “That would make her Selene.”

“What did you mean when you called the Unicorn depraved?” Lina asked.

“I’m assuming you encountered it too,” Tifa replied after seeing both women nod. “Come with me.”

Tifa walked toward an empty table, pulled out a chair, and sat down before crossing her left leg over her right.

“As you know, Unicorns are supposed to be pure, majestic monsters whose white horns symbolize their purity,” she explained. “However, the Unicorn you encountered had a violet horn with a black spiral, correct?”

“Yes,” Lina answered. “Why does it look like that?”

“When a Unicorn becomes corrupted by evil spirits, it eventually evolves into a Bicorn,” Tifa explained. “For some unknown reason, this particular Unicorn never completed that transformation. The violet horn suggests that it became trapped somewhere between the two states, which is why we call it the Fallen Unicorn.”

“Wouldn’t that make her an extremely rare monster?” Skayla asked. “Why does she have such a high bounty, and why did you call her depraved instead of fallen?”

Tifa clenched her fist and slammed it against the wooden table.

“IT’S BECAUSE THAT BASTARD RUINED MY MARRIAGE TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!” she roared as a crowd of female adventurers gathered around the table. “AND EVERY WOMAN STANDING HERE HAS ALSO BECOME ONE OF THAT BASTARD’S VICTIMS!”

“Eh?” Lina and Skayla muttered.

“Unicorns are said to allow only pure maidens to ride them,” Tifa explained. “That bastard deliberately lets women ride for about a minute before collapsing onto the ground and pretending to be exhausted. Our fiancés assumed we were no longer pure and ended our engagements!”

“YEAH, THAT’S RIGHT!” the surrounding women shouted.

“That isn’t the worst of it!” one adventurer exclaimed. “The Unicorn hides in the bushes and watches us bathe in streams and rivers. It always has this disgusting expression while panting heavily!”

“No matter what we do, that bastard continues to toy with us,” Tifa said, grinding her teeth. “Magic can’t penetrate the barrier created by its horn, and the Unicorn moves too quickly for us to strike it with a sword, spear, or arrow.”

Tifa’s expression darkened.

“For some strange reason, the only weapon capable of hitting that bastard is a whip.”

Lina and Skayla exchanged deeply disturbed looks.

After several uncomfortable seconds, Lina gave Skayla a dismissive wave, signaling her to reveal what they had collected.

AHEM!

Skayla cleared her throat before retrieving a folded white towel from her magic bag and placing it on the table.

“DO NOT WORRY, MY FAIR MAIDENS!” she announced. “WE HAVE BROUGHT YOU A SMALL VICTORY!”

Skayla slowly unfolded the towel and revealed the nine-foot-long violet horn.

The entire guild stared in complete disbelief.

“I-I-I can’t believe it!” Tifa stuttered as she carefully lifted the horn from the towel. “That violet color... the black spiral winding around it... THIS REALLY IS THE HORN OF THAT FUCKING DEPRAVED UNICORN!”

The female adventurers erupted into joyous cheers at the sight of the severed horn.

“Don’t forget the tail hair!” Skayla exclaimed, pulling the thirteen-foot-long bundle of silver hair from her magic bag.

“WHAT?!” everyone shouted.