"So, B-Bell..."
"Yes? H...Haruhime?"
Both had started to call each other just by their names, without honorifics, it was faster to speak, which was important in the dungeon. But for some reason, both were really shy about that.
"Lady Alfia guessed we should take a quest from the guild for once."
Alfia also had allowed Haruhime to use her name, but she made clear this didn´t mean anything else.
"That sounds good, we need a bit more money."
They had made quite good money recently in the dungeon, at least for two level one adventurers. If they would make a bit more money, the familia would be able to add another room to their home, so Haruhime could finally move in for real.
So both were moving to the north east after leaving their home. In the direction of the north-west main street they would find the guild. It would be their first time to take a quest from the guild. The collection of blue papilio wings was a job they were given by Miach and Naza, so this didn´t count as a quest.
Both were in high spirits, Haruhime´s status rose a bit faster than before due to her skill, she still hadn´t told Bell about what it did exactly, only that her status points grew a bit faster. She couldn´t believe that her back showed her feelings for Bell so openly, thankfully Miach knew how to lock a status, so no one would ever see that, except for her god. But the fact that being close to Bell helpt her to grow faster, let her heart race.
.
.
When she told Aisha and Lena about her skill, Aisha started to laugh.
"You are showing your feelings so openly, little sister, now isn´t that quite cute?"
But Lena reacted different. "Haaaah...so romantic. I also want a skill for my hubby..."
Normally an adventurer shouldn´t tell people outside of the familia about his or her skills, but Haruhime trusted both completely.
Aisha had grinned naughty. "So, you have set your eyes on him, hm?"
Lena was more direct with her question. "So Haru-Haru, you really love him?"
Haruhime had gotten deep red, she lowered her head, steam rose up from it, she looked into this direction, then that direction and finally...nodded.
.
.
"Oh, it is normally not that crowded here."
"Just my thoughts."
Bell and Haruhime were surprised, many people were at the guild, most of them standing close to the black board.
"I wonder what is going on."
Their questions soon got answered by a familiar half-elf.
"Ah, Bell, Ms. Haruhime, good morning."
""Good morning, Ms. Eina.""
Eina giggled in her mind, how they answered in unison was cute.
Haruhime looked curious. "Is there a reason that so many people are here today?"
"Haven´t you two heard?"
Both shook their heads.
Acting so similar, just like a young couple. Oooooh, could it be?!
As a young woman, Eina was as interested when it came to love as many others. For a few moments she just looked at them, but there was no way she could just ask them.
"Ms. Eina?"
"Oh right, sorry, ehe. So the reason why so many people are here, a unicorn was spotted outside of Orario."
""A Unicorn?!""
Now this was really cute.
Eina was sure that these two had something going on between them.
It is my duty as the older one and their advisor to help them! I am an advisor after all, so why not when it comes to love? Just you watch, Ms. Cranel! I will show you who is the best advisor for them!
In her house, Alfia sneezed slightly. She didn´t know how much of an fire she had ignited in Eina when she took her role as an advisor from her.
"A unicorn? A real unicorn?!" Bell´s eyes shone.
"A really real unicorn? Like in my books?!" Haruhime´s pure expression equaled the sun.
Eina had problems to look at their shining eyes.
Ah, why do I feel purified?
"But unicorns are really rare! I thought they only live in elven forests!"
"I read that too, that they barely ever come out of these forests!"
Eina smiled. "Yes, one of these true unicorns. The guild issues a quest to catch it."
"WHAT?!"
"How dare you?!"
"How could you?!"
"Why catch it?!"
"You monsters!"
"What are you planning to do with it?!"
It was hard to say who was more shocked and agitated, Haruhime or Bell.
"Please calm down you two, the quest is to catch it, not to kill it."
"But why catching it?!"
"It is a unicorn! A wonderful being like that shouldn´t be catched!"
Eina tried to calm them down a bit. "Please let me finish. The quest is to catch it, so that it can be brought back to an elven forest. So that nothing will happen to it."
"Oh."
"Oooh."
"And also, to cut off it´s horn."
Now the glares of the two were digging into Eina´s soul, it looked like they wanted to doom her just for saying these words.
"Please listen to me you two and stop staring like that! I feel sorry for even saying these words when you look at me this way! You make me want to cry!"
Eina really felt bad. "You have to cut off the horn carefully when you catch it, so that everyone will lose interest in the unicorn and leave it alone. Their horns grow back after a while, otherwise the one who will guide it back to an elven forest might get attacked."
"Oh...I guess that makes sense."
"Oh, so the guild are the good guys for handing out the quest."
When their eyes became friendly again, Eina took a deep breath.
"Normally we would ask someone special from the Loki familia, but that person is in the dungeon at the moment. Many people take interest in the quest, because a horn is worth more than eight million Vals."
"Eight..."
"Million..."
"Vals..."
"Dear Heavens..."
Wow, they really are in sync.
"No wonder so many people are here, eight million vals...I can´t even count how long we would take to make so much money."
"Indeed, but..." Haruhime´s eyes wandered to Bell.
Hm? Eina looked curious, the way Haruhime looked at Bell was...special.
"Bell...your...I mean."
Haruhime knew about Bell´s list, he told her about Alfia´s condition one day in the dungeon, when they took a break between the floors.
He had shown her the list and what he needed to heal Alfia, that this was one of his two wishes in his life. He also told her about his other wish, Bell just felt he could trust Haruhime. In her eyes, he already was a hero in her eyes...her hero.
Eina continued. "But while many people are interested in the quest, many also don´t dare to take it. You two know about the special behaviour or unicorns?"
Both nodded, they had read a lot about this. So Haruhime felt really bad, she wanted to help Bell, but she could also be the reason why he couldn´t get close to a unicorn. Because unicorns only got close to purity and would never let a non virgin touch it or even dare to ride it.
Unicorns were also known to be pretty dangerous when they got angry. Even when no one dared to call them that, unicorns were monsters. Monsters outside of the dungeon were weaker than their counterparts inside the dungeon, since the magic stones got smaller and smaller with each generation. There was a kind of dinosaur in a forest not too far away from Orario, each of them were five meters tall, but they were not stronger than an orc of the 10th floor.
Their were exceptions, those who escaped the dungeon in the past and never created offsprings or died, the ancient monsters. One of these kinds were unicorns, they were nearly immortal, no one knew if they could die of old age. So it was possible that unicorns got thousands of years old.
And they were magical beasts, which was a more fitting name than monster. The horn of a unicorn was a powerful weapon, far more dangerous than the lance of a knight. Also they had the purity atribute, which meant they were the natural enemy of everything evil or dark. A unicorn horn could even be used to stab a poisened wound and purify it this way, but that also meant that demon like monsters, like the floor boss of the 49th floor or the entire 37th floor, were weak against something like that.
So when a person had a bad character or did evil regularly, a unicorn´s attack could be fatal.
And there was the curse. No one knew if it existed or was just superstition, but it was told that if someone killed a unicorn, they would be cursed for life.
"Bell, shall we dare it?"
"To get the chance to see a real unicorn? Absolutely!"
Eina looked serious. "I can´t stop you from taking the quest, but you have to be very careful, you two are only level one. In case the unicorn gets angry, you won´t have much chance to defend against it. So please be very careful."
"Understood."
"We will do our best."
Eina took two notes out from under her desk. "With these, you two have permission to leave the city, it shows the guards that you are on a quest."
"Thank you."
"What shall we do when we caught it?"
"Bring it within sight of the gate and we'll send someone."
"Okay."
"Good luck, you two. The unicorn was spotted in the east."
.
.
Hah, will I be able to do this alone? I have to do my best!
There was more than one other person that took that quest. But most of them worked in teams, only one single person went alone. Not because she was incredibly strong, even when her familia said exactly that, but because her quest and dungeon partner couldn´t come this day. Lefiya wanted to go with Filvis, but for the black haired elf, it was this time of the month. It was one of these days when the Astrea familia split into smaller groups, instead of going as the whole familia. Alise had claimed that she was really exhausted and only spending the whole day with Astrea and Ryu could fill up her energy again. Astrea was used to this, but she enjoyed spending time with her captain. And Ryu already knew that Alise would tease her, while Astrea would dote on her.
At least Ryu had managed to escape Iska, unlike Lefiya. Out of all of Astrea´s children, Iska Bra had by far the best fashion sense. Over time, she had become a genius when it came to makeup. Looking beautiful and pretty was her justice, but she never played around with men, even when she had the chance to do that. And yet she was first and only member of the familia that had a boyfriend. Like she said, she was completely in love with him, he was also the only man that was ever allowed to touch her body, when they held hands. Ryu had even seen them kiss one time at the entrance to the familia´s home, he had walked her home after a date. She was more than shocked that someone did that in bright daylight! Well it was actually late evening, but still, doing that outside was too much for the pure elf. But to see afterwards that Iska´s cheeks were really dark, the way that amazons blushed, was something.
But Iska was a strange amazon to begin with, out of all the amazons that the Astrea familia had ever seen, Iska wore the most clothes. In fact, she covored pretty much of her skin most of the time, due to her pretty clothes. And she was the most girlish person in the whole familia. Over years she tried her best to bring fashion to her familia members. One by one she got them, was allowed to show them how to use a bit makeup, not too much of course, but one evening she even did that for Astrea, in front of all the familia members. Iska managed to bring out Astrea´s beauty even more. The only ones that refused her makeup ideas were the elves of the familia, while they trusted Iska, they still refused to let their skin get touched. So Iska showed them what she could do, after she was finished with Astrea, she promised her skin wouldn´t touched the other´s skin. Eventually Laurier gave in and let her do it. The result was simply stunning, Iska really managed to accentuate Laurier's natural beauty as well as Astrea's divine beauty. And not once did her skin touched Laurier´s.
Normally elves didn´t used makeup, not even a tiny amount, but Iska changed her familia members a bit. Ryu still refused, but Iska sensed that she slowly went through to her, one day she would reach her goal.
And at this morning, she finally got Lefiya. Looking good was nothing bad, so Lefiya let Iska carefully apply a bit makeup around her eyes, cheeks and just a tiny bit on her lips.
"You look beautiful, Lefiya. I bet at least one man will compliment you today."
When she looked into the hand mirror of Iska, which was actually so big that Lefiya doubted it was still counted as a hand mirror, she was really surprised.
"This is me?"
"Yep! Man you elves really have smooth skin and a natural beauty, I knew just a tiny bit of makeup was necessary. You look gorgeous, Lefiya."
"Thank you, Iska."
And like that, Lefiya went out of her familia´s home.
Since Filvis wasn´t feeling well, Lefiya went to the guild, to see if there was a quest that she could do alone. Over her time in the Astrea familia, Lefiya got much more confident, her trust in her familia members was complete.
And so Lefiya arrived at the guild, one hour before Bell and Haruhime. The news about a unicorn made her curious, she always wanted to see one!
.
.
There was a light forest not too far away from Orario to the east.
"Bell?"
"Yes?"
"Do you have an idea how we should catch the poor thing? I would feel really bad to lure it into a trap or use a rope."
"Me too, this is not an option. Maybe we should at first try to find it."
"Hah, I´m really nervous, I always wanted to see a real unicorn."
"And I´m sure we will find it."
"Mh..."
"Haruhime?"
"Don´t you think...it will stay away from me? Be disgusted?"
Bell made a serious face and shook his head. "Not for one second."
"Really?"
"Yes, you are the purest person I know. Ms. Mikoto and Ms. Chigusa said the same."
"Thank you." It made Haruhime happy that he said that, even when she herself saw it different.
Both thought about various ways to get close to a unicorn or to lure it to them. Haruhime even shyly suggested they could use pieces of sugar, maybe that would help.
Even when they didn´t find a solution so far, one thing was sure, they should hide their weapons somewhere, not that the unicorn thought they would try to harm it.
The way to the forest took about half an hour, the forest was easily big enough for a unicorn to hide in, and they didn´t see anything similar in the lands around.
"I wish we had Mikoto and the others with us, I´m sure she would like to see a unicorn too."
"But maybe it won´t show up when we are too many."
"True."
The outskirts of the forest were already really pretty. It wasn't a dark forest, more of a light nature, the trees were further apart. The treetops alone were a phenomenon that neither Bell nor Haruhime had ever seen. Both looked up in astonishment, the treetops didn't touch each other. It looked like fine lines ran between the treetops, as if the leaves of one were too shy to touch the other. With the distance between the tribes, it would be easy for a sacred beast like a unicorn to move around. But even though the trees were sparser, they couldn't just see through the forest, for that he went too far again. They half-expected to spot the unicorn from a great distance due to its pure white fur.
"Hm."
"Haruhime?"
"Somehow this light forest seems to be fitting for a unicorn, it is so bright in here. And the trees look really unique."
"True, I wonder what causes it that the tree tops don´t touch."
"Maybe a god that is interested in plants could it explain to us."
Both moved further into the forest, instead of moving with Bell in the front, like they did in the dungeon, Haruhime walked by his side. This was the spot that she wanted to be, at Bell´s side.
We move further and further into the forest, even when we want to look for the unicorn...Hauuuu! We are alone in a forest! Just the two of us!
Haruhime was ashamed for her impure thoughts, she glanced at Bell´s hand a few times. How would it feel to walk through a forest, holding hands?
I´m such a bad fox...
Bell wanted to say something after a while, but then he noticed that Haruhime´s ears twitched one time, a sign that she heard something.
"Bell, someone is coming."
"Someone? Not something?"
"No, whoever it is, it is a person with two legs."
"Your ears really are amazing."
And so fluffy.
Both stopped, the person came closer.
"Hello?"
Haruhime´s ears twitched. "The person is walking towards us."
Soon they heard someone mumble, as if that someone was in deep thoughts.
"I wonder where it is? Hmm."
Haruhime´s ears perked slightly up. "Oh, it´s her."
"Her?"
Bell got his answer a second later and his heart made a jump out of joy. The one that appeared from between the trees was a fairy, a forest fairy...the most beautiful of her entire race, at least in Bell´s eyes.
Lefiya Viridis.
The beautiful, young elf wore her usual pink dress with the jacket, she held her staff in her left hand, a backpack on her back.
She turned her face back and forth, looking in many directions. Only when she was about two meters in front of them, did Lefiya finally notice that she wasn´t alone in the forest.
"Eh?...Ack! It´s you again!"
Lefiya pointed at Bell and yelled out.
"Why is it you again?! Are you following me? Everywhere I go, I meet you!"
She didn´t really looked angry, more irritated, and she immediatelly pulled her hands back, just in case.
And indeed, over the last two weeks, Bell ran every day into Lefiya somewhere in the city, often with Haruhime at his side. .
The first time had be in the morning after they were at the pub, when he was out shopping. Many people were at the market in the early morning and it just happened by chance, that it was Lefiya´s and Bell´s duty to buy ingredients for their familias.
Bell had spotted a few lettuce heads and wanted to take one, but when he leaned forward, another hand entered his field of vision, a female, slender hand.
"Oh, sorry, you go first."
"No, you go first."
When their eyes met, Lefiya´s became small.
"Ah! The filthy human!"
In an instant, she pulled her hands back.
"Are you planning to grab my hand too? You filthy man!"
"Eh? No I don´t."
"How can I believe you? You forced yourself onto Ms. Ryu yesterday!"
Mumbles and whispers rose around them.
"Did you hear that?"
"He forced himself onto some girl."
"Juding by the name, probably an elf."
"He forced himself onto an elf?!"
"What a lewd man."
Bell´s face turned whie. "That´s wrong! I just grabbed her hand by accident!"
But Lefiya´s face contorted slightly with anger.
"I will never forgive you for defiling the pure, graceful, wonderful, Ms. Ryu! I needed four years to take her hand after becoming part of the familia!"
It was widely known that elves only let these people touch their skin, that they trusted. Over the years, Ryu had grown so close with her familia, that each one of them had held her hand at some point, most of them only one time. The only one that really looked forward to hug Ryu again and again was Alise, and Lefiya was a bit jeaouls because of that. Ryu was her idol.
But the one she was the closest with in her familia, was Filvis. Filvis was more than a friend for Lefiya, she was her best friend, forever and ever.
"That wasn´t my intention! I swear."
"Hmpf!"
Lefiya had just walked away.
A day later, she met a beautiful but stern looking woman in the city, that was looking for a shop where they sold elvish ingredients. This woman had ash colored hair and heterochromatic eyes. Neither Lefiya nor Alfia knew who they met by chance, but both had a good impression of the other.
And when Lefiya was on the way to the dungeon with Filvis, they went to the stairway down to the dungeon at the same time as Haruhime and Bell did.
"Na! It´s you again! Don´t you dare touch my poor Filvis!"
Lefiya immediatelly pulled Filvis backwards and shielded her with her own body.
"L-Lefiya? What´s wrong?"
"This is the human that grabbed Ms. Ryu´s hand! I´m sure he wants to take your´s too! I won´t allow this!"
Before Bell could reply, Haruhime stepped forward with a determined look on her face.
"Mr. Bell isn´t like that. He was just too surprised to see Ms. Aeola Ventus at the pub. She saved his life and he wanted to thank her for that. So please don´t think ill of him and yell out he wants to touch every woman in the city. I am part of his familia for weeks and he never touched me without my permission and even then it was only my hand."
Haruhime would not tolerate badmouthing of her hero.
Bell as well as Filvis, who knew Lefiya very well, expected a harsh answer, but instead, Lefiya seemed to soften a bit, as if there was something on Haruhime that had a special effect on Lefiya. Or if she just didn´t dared to go against Haruhime.
He noticed that Haruhime´s tail moved in a special way, that was normal for her when she was slightly agitated.
Day after day, they met by chance. And slowly, something happened, sometimes Lefiya let her mind drift a bit too far...and had slight delusions.
.
.
"Why are you two here?"
"We are searching for the unicorn."
"And may I ask...why?"
Haruhime put her hands together as if in prayer. "We both really want to see one in person. And we were told that it would be led back to it´s kin then."
"And that is all?" Lefiya raised her eyebrow.
Haruhime shook her head and looked at Bell.
"We need a part of the unicorn horn, the lower part, to make a pestle."
"A pestle?! Just for that?! Do you know how valuable a unicorn horn is for magicians and healer?"
Bell nodded. "We are aware."
"Then why do you want to make a pestle out of a unicorn horn?"
"Our familia´s captain is a genius potion maker, this unicorn horn will increase the quality of her potions."
"But still.."
Bell took a deep breath. "And also, I have a very personal reason. My mother suffers from a sickness, the unicorn horn pestle is one of the things I need for our captain to make a potion that will heal her."
Lefiya´s eyes widened slightly, suddenly she looked really sorry for lashing out at Bell like this. It was a sort of character flaw of her, she jumped too fast to conclusions, without waiting for an explanation. She knew about this flaw of her and tried to work on it, but that needed time. And since Bell was the one that had grabbed her idol´s hand, when it came to her or Filvis, Lefiya got too emotional too fast.
"Oh...that is a very good reason indeed."
Haruhime smiled slightly. "By no means do we want to harm the unicorn. Such a wonderful being belongs into the wild and to be free."
"Are you here for the unicorn too, Ms. Thousand Elf?"
Bell didn´t really know if he should call her Ms. Viridis or Thousand Elf, but since he didn´t know her personally, he used her alias.
"Of course I am, I can´t let anyone harm a unicorn. And I also need a part of the horn."
Even when she admitted she needed a part of the horn, Lefiya wouldn´t just tell them for what or for whom.
Bell´s heart went a bit faster when he heard that the girl he was in love with had the same goal as him and Haruhime.
"Ms. Thousand Elf."
"Ms. Viridis is fine, Ms. Thousand Elf sounds strange."
She allows me to call her by her last name! And what a wonderful last name this is!
"Ms. Viridis, I am aware that you are much stronger than us, but in case you are alone here, shall we work together? Maybe we three will be able to do it."
Working with another familia was never easy, except the two familias were allies or old friends.
"True, no one of my familia has time today. But..."
Bell took his sword from his back and held it up, placing it over his heart and his hand on top of it.
"I swear to you on the sword of my father, which is one of the two most precious objects in my life and all that I have left of him, we won´t betray you."
Haruhime bowed down so that her golden hair waved around. "I also swear to you, we won´t betray you nor harm the unicorn!"
W-Why are they like that? So open and forward?
It made it really hard not to trust them, they didn´t have the expression nor the behaviour of people who pretended to be like that. She couldn´t help but smile slightly when she looked into Bell´s face and eyes, he didn´t looked like someone who was very used to deal with women and just wanted to show her that he was honest. And Haruhime on the other hand, for Lefiya it looked like the fox girl was completely unable to lie, that even if she would try to do it, she wouldn´t know how to do it. And yet at the same time as if her very nature would go against the concept of lying.
Hah...it feels like...I can trust them...somehow.
Lefiya wasn´t used to feel like that for someone outside of her familia. It was not that she trusted them completely, but...somehow... It felt like they could maybe be people that were "worthy of justice", like her familia said.
But for now it was just a feeling, she would see if that was false. Then again, even if she didn´t think in that way, Lefiya belonged to one of the strongest familias in Orario. If these two would betray or do something to her, her familia would come for them.
Which actually said a lot more about Bell and Haruhime, than it did about Lefiya. It was harder for a weaker familia to trust a strong one, since they could do what they want most of the time. And these two were willing to trust Lefiya for not betraying them. Then again she belonged to the Astrea familia, they had a very good reputation in the city, their core members weren´t called the angels of Orario for nothing.
"Hm."
Lefiya´s eyes wandered to Bell. While she was easily mad at him for grabbing Ryu´s hand, she also had seen him acting kind in the city.
But Bell still didn't know to this day who the person he'd been nice to actually was.
.
.
It happened about a week ago. It was Lefiya´s turn again to buy the ingredients for dinner and she happened to pass by a potato snack stall. A certain, black haired goddess, with a very small body but humongous breasts worked there, she was kind of the mascot of the shop.
"Here you go, dear customer, thank you for your purchase!"
The goddess Hestia grinned all over her face as she handed the potato snacks to the customer, a familiar, young, white haired man.
Hah, it´s him again, why do I see him so often?
"Thank you, lady goddess."
Bell didn´t know if it was unpolite to call a god or goddess by his or her name, even when he added lord or lady. There wasn´t a perfect form for all the gods, each god was different in that matter. He didn´t know Hestia personally, he had just seen her once before in the city, but recognized her now.
"Ehehe, just goddess is fine!"
This goddess was always cheerfull as it seemed. Two children on the verge of puberty worked with the goddess, they belonged to her family. One of them was an elf or half elf, the other a chientrope with golden colored ears and fur, a little bit like he imagined Haruhime as a child.
Lefiya watched how Bell stepped to the side, there were no other customers behind him. But right in this moment, hasty steps came closer and a very beautiful maiden with golden hair and eyes jogged around a corner and nearly ran to the potato snack stall.
"The premium Jaggarmaru-kun! Do you still have them?!"
"I´m sorry, sword princess, I just sold the last ones."
"Wh-What?..."
Lefiya´s eyes widened when an elf with jade colored hair and eyes walked around the corner and followed the blond woman.
"Ais, why did you run ahead?"
Lady Riveria!
Ais Wallenstein, the sword princess, stood there as if she was struck by thunder. Her lower lip started to tremble. Now that Lefiya looked closer, her armor and battle clothes were pretty used, in the dungeon probably.
"S-Sold...out?..."
"Yes, I´m sorry sword princess, if I knew you were on the way, I would´ve held back a few for you."
Ais stood there like a puppy left in the rain, she had looked forward to eat the premium potato snacks all day, and always got emotional when it came to them.
But Lefiya wasn´t the only one that had noticed it, while Bell had not heard her alias, he noticed that Ais spoke about the premium potato snacks. Even those potato snacks he just bought for his familia.
"Ahm."
"*Hic* *Sniff*"
Lefiya watched how Riveria walked towards Ais, who was starting to sob. She didn´t know what happened in the Loki familia, maybe something was wrong with the sword princess.
Bell looked really uneasy.
"Ahm, exuse me?"
"Mh? *Hic*"
"I´m sorry, it was I that just bought the last premium potato snacks. I don´t really need them, normal potato snacks will do, so if you want to, you can have them if you give me the Vals for them."
Ais´ eyes lightened up immediatelly. "Really?"
"Yes, if you really want them, I would feel bad for taking them."
"Thank you so much!"
For a second it looked like Ais wanted to touch Bell´s hands, but her hands moved on their own, to the potato snacks. He put the small paper bag that he had down and handed her the four premium potato snacks.
Like a starved wolf, she unwrapped the first one and took a big bite out of it.
"Mmmmh...hahn...thish ish what I waited ffor..."
"Ais, don´t speak with your mouth full!"
Riveria scolded her, but Ais was lost in her small dream and only existed in her taste buds. The adult elf took the amount of Vals coins out of her purse and let them fall into Bell´s hand without touching his skin.
"You have my thanks, young man. These snacks really mean a lot to her."
"It´s no problem really, I just thought they looked good."
"Still, that was nice of you."
Bell had learned his lesson and didn´t talked back to Riveria that it was no big deal. He had seen with Ryu how elves acted when their pride was disturbed.
That really was nice of him.
He didn´t know who Ais and Riveria were, he knew the names sword princess and nine hell, but he didn´t know how they looked exactly.
.
.
Lefiya nodded after her long train of thoughts had ended.
"Alright, I will trust you two. Do you have an idea how to do it? I thought about it for a while, but I was alone so far."
"We should probably look for it together, maybe we can use the attraction."
There was a widely known fact about unicorns, they only let virgins touch them or got close to them, and yet they were also drawn to them in a way. It was a familiarity of purity, that only untouched people got even a bit close to a unicorn.
Of course Lefiya could also count on this attraction when she was alone, but she had to spot the unicorn anyway. And that was easier done with more people.
"Ahm..."
"Hm?"
Lefiya turned to Haruhime.
"I think it will be better if only you two look for the unicorn...I could watch after our stuff..."
The elf noticed that Haruhime´s ears and tail dropped in sadness, Haruhime had forgotten that unicorns would probably not even show up in front of someone like her.
Bell looked sad too. "Haruhime..."
"It´s okay, Bell. It´s okay."
He slightly clenched his fist.
No it is not okay...dammit!
Lefiya looked confused for a moment, but she got quickly what Haruhime implied.
So she isn´t...while being so young?
She wouldn´t judge her, not everyone was like elves. But then again...
Why does she look so sad then?
She was tactful enough not to ask questions, such questions just weren't proper.
So for now, they walked together deeper into the forest until they arrived at a glade that was more or less in the middle of the light forest.
"I will stay here, in case I see it, I will call for you."
"Haruhime, I..."
"No, it´s okay, Bell."
She shook her head and took his backpack from him. Even Lefiya let her backpack on the glade, there was nothing precious or expensive in it, so even if she lost it she wouldn´t be sad.
"Haruhime, I entrust this to you."
He held his sword towards her, he didn´t want to go near a unicorn with a weapon.
"Your father´s sword...are you sure?"
Bell smiled. "Yes, I trust you completely."
Lefiya watched from the side, wondering.
Are they a couple?
While Bell and Lefiya left, Haruhime put down her bow and quiver. She had her weapons with her before they heard about the quest, but by no means would she held them in case the unicorn came close. She arranged the three backpacks around the bow and quiver, just in case.
She had no idea what would happen because of this...
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How did it come to this? I´m walking through a forest with this man!
Lefiya glanced to Bell while they walked, the situation felt a bit strange. But she wasn´t the only one that was in thoughts.
H-How did it come to this?! I am walking through a forest with her!
Bell´s thoughts had a way more happy tone. It was like a dream.
"Ms. Viridis?"
"What?"
"Do you know how the unicorn looks like?"
Lefiya looked at Bell as if he wanted to make a fool out of her. "It´s white with a horn on it´s head."
"Oh yeah, right..."
Argh what is wrong with me? That question was so dumb!
She noticed how he fidgeted around.
Is he really not used to women? Even with her at his side?
Lefiya smiled in her mind, that was a little bit cute. But only a little bit!
While they walked, she made sure to keep her distance to him, at least two meters. She wouldn´t risk giving him a chance to come too close to her hand.
And during these thoughts, Lefiya had one of her slight delusions.
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.
Wamm!
She was with her back against a tree, he rammed his palm next to her face against the wood.
"Ms. Viridis..."
"Wh-What are you doing? You lewd human!"
"I want to touch your hand...like I did with your idol..."
"Y-You fiend! I will never give you my heart!"
"Then let´s see if your body...I mean your hand is honest...Hurr Hurr Hurr."
He leaned closer with a mean smile and his hand wandered towards her own.
"Kyaaaaa!"
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"Ms. Viridis?"
"Y-Yes?!"
"Are you okay?"
"Yes! Just in thoughts!"
They were walking through the forest for an hour now. But so far they had seen nothing.
"Maybe we make too much noise."
"You mean with us walking around? That we scare it away?"
"No, I mean I know that I am not good at sneaking or walking quiet, so maybe I am too loud so that you can´t hear it."
He admits one of his flaws so willingly?
"A good point, let us stop."
Both stopped walking and Lefiya focussed on her ears.
"Be more quiet."
"Okay."
"Don´t breath."
"That is impossible."
Since he was unarmed and Lefiya probably much stronger than him, she trusted her senses enough that she would block him in case he tried something.
So Lefiya closed her eyes and only used her ears. There were the usual sounds of birds, small animals and the wind. But she tried to hear something that shouldn´t be there. At first she heard Bell, then in the distance the slight sounds of Haruhime, elven ears were very sharp.
For five minutes she stood there and listened to the forest. Then...there...a slight sound...a faint sound of hooves on the forest floor. The hooves moved in various directions, as if the creature was confused or not sure where to go.
She only whispered when she opened her eyes.
"This way."
Bell followed her, he was more and more fascinated by Lefiya. To be able to see an elf up close over such a long time, especially the one that he had a crush on, and witness that the stories about them were true. It was a good day. The only thing that made him sad, was that Haruhime would probably have no chance to see the unicorn.
"This w-Kya!"
Lefiya was too eager to follow the unicorn and missed a tree root.
"Unf!"
She fell down to her knees, but didn´t get hurt.
"Ms. Viridis, are you hurt?"
"Owie, no."
Oh?
When she looked up, Bell held a hand to her to help her up, but he had covered his hand with a cloth.
He does that so he won´t touch my skin? That is surprisingly nice of him.
"It´s okay."
She got up without his help, but he had earned a few plus points.
For a moment she thought if he could actually be a nice guy and she just misunderstood the moment with Ryu.
But she couldn´t end her train of thoughts, a sound interrupted her.
Soft whinny.
"Ms...Viridis..."
"I...see...it..."
There it was, about twenty meters away from them, appeared from behind some trees.
A unicorn.
To hear or read about these mystic beasts was one thing, but so see them in flesh and blood was something else.
From the bottom of the hooves to the top of it´s head, the unicorn was one point seven meters tall. Compared to a normal horse it was pretty big, but not as muscular as one would think. The unicorn was pretty slender, if Lefiya should guess, she would say it was female.
The unicorn shook it´s head slightly and whinnied.
Hah, what a wonderful sound for my ears!
It was just beautiful, there was no other word fitting to describe it.
Bell only mumbled. "It is so beautiful, and this horn...just...wow."
"Mhm." Lefiya could only nod.
The unicorn looked at them and whinnied again, slowly coming closer. It eyed Lefiya and came slowly closer and closer.
Haaaaah! It is walking to me! This is a dream! I wish Filvis could´ve seen this!
Her knees shook lightly as it came closer and snorted a bit.
C-C-C-C-Can I dare it?
Lefiya slowly raised her hand and held it towards the unicorn, not touching it directly but let it sniff at her. The unicorn didn´t touched her hand, instead it moved it´s head back and then looked at Bell.
Ouh...don´t tell me...
Suddenly, the unicorn´s ears and nose twitched and it looked into a different direction. Without looking at them again, it galloped into the forest.
And dear heavens was it fast!
"A real unicorn!"
"Stop gawking and after it, we can´t lose it. We somehow have to convince it that it can trust us."
"R-Right!"
Both followed the unicorn. It galloped in this direction, then in that. They saw that it glanced over it´s shoulder to see if they followed it. It whinnied a few times when they were about to lose it and kept galloping.
Lefiya held her staff with both hands to not lose it. With her level three, she was fast enough to keep up with the unicorn, but she was surprised that Bell didn´t fell back.
"Aren´t you level one?!"
"I am, so?"
"How are you able to keep up with me?"
"I am just giving my best?"
"Just giving your best isn´t enough when I´m two levels above you!"
"You are level three already? Wow! That is awesome!"
"Flattery won´t save you from answering me!"
"I trained a lot over the last years and ran every day a long distance!"
Then his status must be very high for a level one.
Due to their talk, they had lost sight of the unicorn.
"Oh no...where did it go?"
"I don-"
"Eeeeek!"
Lefiya´s ears twitched when they heard a scream.
"This voice..."
"Haruhime!"
When she thought Bell was fast before, Lefiya now got really surprised. A kind of wild expression got into his eyes and he dashed of with murderous speed.
What is with him?!
In the second that Bell heard Haruhime´s scream, his mind went blank. He had promised to her that something like the Pleasure Quarter would never happen to her again. Bell was too eager to see the unicorn, he hadn´t thought that something bad could happen to her here in the forest.
Lefiya had no other choice than to follow him. Even when he was pretty fast, she was still two levels above him. And as an elf she was more used to run in a forest.
That he heard only one scream, let Bell panic more. Who knew what had happened to Haruhime.
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"Haruhime!"
Bell arrived at the glade where Haruhime waited for them. And she wasn´t alone here, the unicorn stood nearly in front of her, the horn pointed at her.
Don´t tell me?!
He didn´t know what to do in the first moment, surely the unicorn wouldn´t attack Haruhime just because she wasn´t a virgin anymore. It seemed like the sudden appearance of the unicorn startled her. While Haruhime was visibly mesmerized by the creature's beauty, she was still nervous at the horn pointed at her. She didn't think that she had to be like this when the unicorn looked at her. Lefiya now arrived next to Bell and also saw that the unicorn was standing directly in front of Haruhime. The unicorn's tail twitched slightly, it jerked its head slightly and snorted, then took a step closer to her.
"W-Kya!"
Haruhime took a step backwards, ignoring her bow, the top of which was sticking out between the backpacks. She stumbled and fell backwards, landing on her butt with what Bell had to admit was a very cute sound. He wanted to leap forward to protect her, but Lefiya grabbed his sleeve and held him back.
"Don´t, you could startle it! Unicorn´s are known to fall in a frenzy when they feel trapped or threatened."
"But Haruhi-"
"Unicorn´s are not known to be violent or attack people just like that."
They saw that Haruhime got up slightly, but didn't get up as the unicorn was getting closer. Instead, she sat on her legs, the way people from the Far East used to sit, he had seen her do that many times. The unicorn shook its head again and...sniffed her...her right ear. It whinnied softly with pleasure when Haruhime's ear twitched at the unicorn's breath. And then... it lightly pinched the fox's ear with its lips.
"Eek!"
The unicorn whinnied in delight again, then slowly lowered itself until it was right next to Haruhime. It was a picture right out of one of Bell's fairy tale books. The beautiful fox damsel next to the pure white unicorn. Haruhime looked too surprised, it was obvious she would love nothing more than to pet the unicorn, but at the same time she was too cautious. The unicorn made the decision for her, blinked slowly once, then laid its head on her lap.
"H-Huh?"
Haruhime blinked perplexed, as did Bell. Lefiya was at a loss for words.
She tamed it just like that?
Haruhime didn't quite know what to do, but the unicorn snorted softly again, then very slowly, she moved her hand until she gently placed it on her nose. The unicorn nudged her hand lightly and let her caress it carefully.
Her thoughts were everywhere and nowhere, she didn't know what was happening, but it made her overjoyed. Unicorns were attracted to virgins, but at the same time they absolutely refused to be touched by non-virgins. So why did this unicorn let Haruhime touch it, even rest its head on her lap?
Bell and Lefiya watched how Haruhime gently caressed the unicorn. They saw tears running down on Haruhime´s cheeks and she sobbed. When the unicorn noticed that Haruhime was crying, it raised it´s head and nudged her cheek lightly, as if to comfort her. Then it put it´s head down on her lap again and let Haruhime continue to caress it.
Lefiya made slowly a step forward, but the unicorn remained calm. Then another step, still calm. Bell watched how the beautiful elf slowly approached the unicorn, not even the tail moved fast, it knew that Lefiya walked towards it. When she arrived at them, the unicorn raised it´s head and looked at her and neighed quietly. When Lefiya looked in the other direction and held her hand towards it, the unicorn pressed it´s nose against her palm, which let her sigh in happiness.
The unicorn allowed her to kneel down next to it and gently caress it´s neck and mane.
Wow...they look so...wonderful.
While Bell had never seen a unicorn before and was enjoying the sight of it, he enjoyed seeing Haruhime and Lefiya sit next to each other even more. Just for a tiny second, he imagined himself in the place of the unicorn, with his head on Haruhime´s or Lefiya´s lap, maybe a bit of both, with them gently stroking his hair.
C-C-Calm down! Pure thoughts! Pure thoughts!
He dared to slowly walk closer, the unicorn didn´t seem to mind him. But when he knelt down on the opposite side of Lefiya, the unicorn surprised them all, Bell the most. Instead of nudging his hand or something similar...the unicorn suddenly licked along Bell´s cheek up to his hair...which was standing up now..due to unicorn...saliva.
Both maidens looked at him, then Lefiya hastily turned her face away.
"Pfft."
"Ms...Viridis...did you just...laugh?"
"N-No, definetely not!...Pfft."
What a wonderful sound, to hear her laugh.
Even Haruhime couldn´t help but giggle by this sight.
Now they managed to get close to the unicorn and touch it. But how exactly should they continue?
.
.
"Ah, there you are."
Haruhime, Bell and Lefiya had only eyes for the unicorn, so they didn´t hear the steps when someone came closer, not until the person spoke.
They turned their faces to the person, Bell and Lefiya looked surprised.
It´s that elf.
"Lady Riveria?!"
Bell´s face turned to Lefiya when he heard her saying the elf´s name.
"Lady Riveria? Like in lady Riveria Ljos Alfr, the Nine Hell of the Loki familia?"
"Yes of course, isn´t that obvious?"
"But why do you know each other, I thought you are in the Astrea familia?"
"That´s nothing of your business, Mister. Whatever...what are you doing here, lady Riveria?"
"I heard about the unicorn when I arrived back at the guild, so I came here."
The unicorn got up immediatelly when it saw Riveria. The unicorn danced to Riveria more than it trotted. Now the unicorn really whinnied with joy, pranced around Riveria, who just stood there with her arms slightly crossed and smirking slightly. The three younger adventurers watch as the unicorn seemed visibly pleased, stopping in front of Riveria, tossing its head back and forth, and pawing at the forest floor. When she raised a hand, it whinnied again, dancing back and forth. It almost looked like the unicorn was having fun.
"Okay, calm down now."
The unicorn threw it´s head back and whinnied again, but then Riveria put her hand on it´s nose and it calmed down a bit. She moved her other hand and slightly scratched the unicorn´s chin, the other three saw how the tail twitched, it seemed to like this.
"Wow...the unicorn really listens to her."
"Amazing."
"Th-That´s lady Riveria after all!"
The adult elf noticed that the three young people were watching her.
"It´s not that special what I do, back in my homeforest, I took care of the unicorns there, I am quite used to them."
"But it ran around so much and now it is so calm."
"Young stallions are often quite wild and boisterous, even among unicorns."
"It is a stallion? I thought it was mare with this figure."
"No, if you know a bit about unicorns, you can see clearly that this is a young stallion."
There would also be a very obvious way to check if it was male or not, but no one of them would do that to a unicorn.
"And what now?"
"I will bring him back to the forest where he came from."
Bell and Haruhime looked at each other for a moment. Lefiya looked relieved but also as if she would like to ask something.
"Of course we will have to carefully cut off the horn first. When the horn is gone, no one will feel even the need to attack us on the way. You three managed to "tame" it, so it belongs to you."
.
.
"Are you sure that is enough for you?"
After Riveria and the unicorn were gone, they had decided how to part the horn. It was around thirty centimeters long, Bell had asked Lefiya if they could keep the ten centimeters from the bottom, that would be enough. She agreed willingly, but felt a bit bad, since she got much more of the horn than they did.
"We are, this is enough."
"But..." Lefiya´s eyes wandered to Haruhime. "It was you who "tamed" the unicorn."
Haruhime smiled slightly and shook her head. "To be able to see and touch the unicorn was more than enough for me. We only need the horn for the pestle for our captain."
"Nnnnh...No, this isn´t enough."
Lefiya used the knife again and cut off a three centimeter long piece of the tip.
"Here, this is for you, they say the tip is special. I won´t accept a no."
"Thank you."
"N-Now then, I have to go, my familia is waiting for me!"
Lefiya ran off more than she walked.
"Did we angered her?"
"I don´t know."
Bell followed Lefiya with his eyes, he had noticed that she wore light makeup, it was just perfect for her.
.
This was the first nice experience that Lefiya had with Bell...and Haruhime. And it wouldn´t be the last one.
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Bell was overjoyed when he showed Miach and Naza the horn as soon as they were back. Naza´s eyes got really big, she could not even imagine the quality of the potions she could create now.
When they told Alfia about it and Bell was able to cross out the first item from his list, she was a bit at a loss for words. But she gave Bell a kiss on cheek, hugged his face to her chest and gently caressed his hair.
"Thank you, Sweety..."
Alfia looked to Haruhime, who wished she could be in Alfia´s place right now.
"You too."
"It was mostly Bell´s work, Ms. Cranel."
Alfia shook her head with closed eyes, Haruhime was surprised how often Alfia held her eyes closed, even when she moved in the house.
Haruhime made bonus points in Alfia´s eyes on this day.
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And it was a good day.
.
Haruhime would later go to a special shop in Orario and let them drill a fine hole into the small piece of the horn, she threaded a fine leather cord through the hole and hung the horn tip around her neck. A reminder of that happy day. She would show the horn to the Takemikazuchi familia and tell them all about it. Mikoto and Chigusa wished they could´ve seen it too.
But the day also shook her...why was she allowed to touch the unicorn. Haruhime had questions, questions that needed an answer...and she had an idea who she would ask.
Her "big sister".
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The only one that wasn´t really happy on this day was Ryu. She got constantly teased by Alise, why she let a man touch her hand, how it felt, if her heard skipped a beat and so on. What made it worse, Astrea was really curious about it. They had held back for a while, but now they needed answers.
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And while Haruhime was on her way to meet Aisha for answers, something happened in the dungeon.
A small figure with an enormous backpack slowly walked behind a group of adventurers.
"Move you useless supporter!"
"Comin´."
I really hate adventurers...
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Author´s Note: I´m happy that people like this story, Bell will have much more contact with the Astrea familia, don´t worry. And thank you again for all those Reviews.
InsaneMakaioshin: Thank you for the information, I changed it about Astrea, Hestia and Demeter.
PharaohThvGvd: Yeah I read that too, but the start of Change of Fates came before I got this information. If I knew it beforehand, I would´ve changed it a bit but Filvis would still end in the Astrea familia.
Silverdragon: I really want to thank you for your tips, I already changed the sentence with Miach and the door. It helps me a lot when people point out where exactly I am wrong with my grammar and I kept that with "didn´t" and the present tense verbs in mind. For your question, yes Haruhime will learn other spells than Kokonoe and Level Boost. One of them even before she gets Kokonoe, it will happen in a not too far away chapter.