Book 4: Move 3 – The Third Move to Slay a Dragon: “Raise money to fund the adventure.”

*Disclaimer note: This is merely a translation of the original Chinese version. I do not claim any part in the creation of the original story.

 

When I got back to the weapons store, Igor was no longer there. I figured that he'd probably got tired of waiting for me, so I hurried back to the inn. Sure enough, the moment I opened the door I saw everyone sitting around inside, even Igor.

"Where the hell did you run off to?" Igor asked me in annoyance.

I ignored him.

Women should be better at guessing one's age, right? So I turned to Caecilia and asked, "Caecilia, how old do you think I am?"

Caecilia who was busying with the nets and traps blinked at my question. The others, too, put down their work and looked up at me.

When she saw my serious expression, Caecilia straightened up and gave my sudden question some thought, scrutinising my face carefully before saying with certainty, "Probably around twenty-three or twenty-four; definitely no older than twenty-five. "

Damn it……

"Could I possibly be eighteen years old?"

"Definitely not!" Caecilia immediately rejected the possibility.

I got quiet at that.

So, I'm a twenty-three to twenty-four – possibly even twenty-five – year old virgin…… Could there be anything harder to accept than this?!

"Creus?" asked Yuna gently. "Do you feel that you should be younger? It's alright, people will mature in time, so don't worry. Eighteen is a bit unlikely, but maybe twenty--"

"Ah!" Caecilia's sudden cry cut Yuna off, as she stared at the open door.

The unicorn that I had hidden outside had impatiently pushed its way through the door and trotted up to me. I could sense that its muscles were a little tense as it kept a wary eye on the rest of my teammates.

"How did you find it?" my teammates asked in surprise and glee.

I, on the other hand, was feeling a lot less happy about it, and said dully, "I didn't find it, it found me."

Yuna and Caecilia moved forward and reached out to touch the unicorn, but it shied away and hid behind me, bumping its head against me in uncertainty. The girls' actions had probably made it feel uneasy; it was stomping and snorting heavily. Upon seeing this, I gave it a few pats to calm it down.

As I patted it…… why's everyone staring at us so?

"Don't unicorns only allow the touch of virgin girls?"

I froze at that and said defensively, "I'm not a virgin—ah!"

Oh shit!

They blinked before turning to look between the unicorn and I.

The unicorn – not pleased that I had stopped petting it – was now trying to push its way into my arms. I tried to push it away, but was no match for its strength. I couldn't do anything to stop it from rubbing its head against my chest…… damn horse!

Just then, Caecilia started snorting in laughter.

She was followed by Igor who gave an unapologetic bellow of laughter.

Walter tried to keep himself from smiling, but was unsuccessful. He finally gave in and burst out into chuckles.

Archie gave me a pitying look and patted my back, consoling, "Perhaps forgetting everything was a good thing after all. Pfft, hahaha! A twenty-five year old virgin…… hahaha!!"

Halfway through his failed attempt at consoling me, he could no longer control his laughter and burst out laughing…… right in my ear! Thankfully, I was well-prepared this time and had quickly covered my ears. The others, on the other hand, had been too busy laughing at my plight and so were caught unawares, receiving the full blast of Archie's loud penetrating laughter. They looked to be in agony.

'Hmph! Serves them right!'

After his laughter had died down, I immediately retorted, "Who said I'm twenty-five! According to Caecilia, I might be twenty-three! And Yuna even said I might be twenty. That's right! I must be twenty!"

Just then, the unicorn started licking my hand. I immediately snatched my hand back and smacked its head. Even with their headaches, Yuna and Caecilia cried out in alarm for the beast, but the damn horse didn't seem to feel anything and continued pressing up against me…… Damn it!!

'You damn perverted, virgin-loving unicorn, get away from me!

'I'm definitely not a virgin!!'

"Seeing as Creus has brought the unicorn back…… pfft! Wahahaha!"

Caecilia's serious words turned into mirthful laughter midway in her sentence. She was laughing so hard that drops of tears were leaking out from the corners of her eyes and she was unable to get another word out. She was then followed by Igor. I covered my ears in preparation…… but to my surprise, Archie did not burst into a second bout of laughter. Instead, he smirked at me lasciviously as he put an arm around my shoulders. "Never say that Archie doesn't look out for you. Next time, I promise to bring you with me to the brothels, where you can finally leave your days of virginity behind. Hohoho……"

Archie merely smirked at my refutations. That bastard!

Just then, Walter finally recovered enough to speak. "Cough, now that we have the unicorn, we can go and claim the reward! We should do it soon to avoid any unnecessary turn of events, giving the others the chance to steal our reward."

"The reward? I object!" I said moodily, still upset about them laughing at my plight.

"Don't get upset, Creus," said Walter as he smiled wryly. "We didn't mean to make fun of you; we were just joking around with you."

"Oh, I'm not upset." I smiled faintly as I explained. "I really do object to handing the unicorn over to the Adventurer's Guild."

Caecilia's laughter suddenly stopped; Walter went quiet; Igor scratched his head in bafflement, and a look of incomprehension flittered over Yuna's face.

"You can't be thinking of keeping the unicorn for your ride, are you?" asked Archie warily.

As he asked me the question, Archie made as if getting ready to run over to me and snatch the unicorn from me. However, the unicorn was clinging too tightly to me, and I doubt that it would allow anyone else other than me approach it; its glowing horn which was emitting even more light aura than usual would attest to that.

So even though Archie had moved into position to snatch the unicorn, he made no further move to come closer.

"I'm a priest, not a knight, remember? What the heck would I do with a horse?" I rolled my eyes at Archie before explaining to the rest. "Listen carefully. If the Adventurer's Guild is willing to offer five hundred gold coins for this unicorn, what do you think this signifies?"

"That the unicorn is worth way more than five hundred gold coins……" answered Walter. He then hesitated before continuing, "We understand this too, but no one would try to sneak a unicorn out of the city, because every gate out of the city is being guarded. And if we fail this operation, we would forever be blacklisted by the Adventurer's Guild, and even be hunted down!"

"Then we'll just have to make sure that they don't know who it is, duh?" I said matter-of-factly.

"How can we possibly not get noticed?" shouted Yuna upset, "Creus, stop fooling around."

'Fooling around?' I got distracted for a moment. 'This sounded really familiar…… Do others often scold me for fooling around?'

"Hold on guys, I think it might actually work!" Archie shouted. "We could mask ourselves!"

"Masks?" Walter echoed thoughtfully.

Mask? I blinked at that. Is he referring to using other elements to cover our faces? Even though I already had something like that in mind, I hadn't known that this was called 'masking'.

"No!" Yuna objected, glaring at me and shouting, "You shouldn't do bad things, Creus. You are a priest of the Church of Light."

Caecilia hesitated, looking at the latter's angry face before mumbling reluctantly, "Erm, this doesn't seem like a good thing to do……"

Walter, too, snuck a glance at Yuna before shaking his head. "It's not proper."

I ignored their objections and turned to Archie. "Archie, how much is a unicorn worth?"

Archie hesitated before mumbling, "I heard that the Adventurer's Guild was thinking of giving the unicorn to the Silent Eagle as a gift instead of selling it. But if we were to sell it, according to the rumours I'm getting from the black market, at least-at least….."

Everyone quietly perked up their ears, and I purposely baited them: "At least?"

"It would start from at least five thousand gold coins."

When I heard this, I spun around and grabbed Archie's shirt, shouting, "Five thousand gold coins?!!"

Archie was startled by my move. "Hadn't you already known?" he asked.

How could I have known?!

I had only guessed that the damn horse would be worth a pretty sum, but I never knew it would be worth this much. Five thousand gold coins! That's ten times more than what the Adventurer's Guild is offering, and this is merely the starting price!

"Five thousand gold coins……"

I tried to imagine what five thousand gold coins would look like, before realising I had no idea what a gold coin even looked like. I don't even know what one hundred gold coins look like, let alone five thousand!

Could it be that I used to be really poor?

"Five-five thousand gold coins…… That's a lot of money!" Caecilia shrieked.

"Five thousand…… That War God's Glory Staff I had been eying was only worth three hundred gold coins……" muttered Yuna distractedly.

In the end, when they couldn't decide what to do, everyone turned to look at the leader of the group – Walter – to await his decision. The latter was still deliberating, but when he saw everyone looking at him, he said hastily, "Don't look at me, I didn't suggest this. You should be asking Creus' decision instead!"

They then turned to look at me. I gave them a warm and gentle smile to calm them down before calmly saying, "When it comes down to it, it wouldn't matter to the unicorn who it will be sold to, right? And besides, see how much it likes me? I'm sure it would prefer to stay by my side rather than to go to the Adventurers' Guild. If we bring the unicorn along with us, it'll be happy to stay with me for a longer while. So to the unicorn – and to us as well – it's a win-win scenario."

"Isn't that right, my dear unicorn?" I smiled at the creature as I bent to rub its ears.

The darn thing seemed to take that as permission to cover my face with its saliva…… I wonder if there's demand for unicorn saliva? If the unicorn itself is worth five thousand gold coins, I might be able to sell its saliva for a gold coin!

"I guess you have a point, and the unicorn does seem to like you," nodded Walter.

Yuna shot a glare at him before protesting unhappily, "Walter! How can you believe this nonsense Creus is spouting off?!"

Archie ignored Yuna's protests, busy working out math problems. "Five hundred gold coins turn into five thousand gold… and that divided by six… deducting the team's expenses… would mean that each could get at least five hundred gold……"

"What is wrong with your maths?" I rolled my eyes in exasperation. "It's five thousand minus my twenty percent share, and then deducting twenty percent off from that for the team's expenses, with the remainder split evenly among the five of you, which should give each of you about 640 gold coins. Of course, if you are giving up a hundred gold, I won't say no to that."

"You're asking for more even after allocating a 1000 gold to yourself?!" cried Archie. "I think you're even more suited to my role as a thief than me!"

But his protest was drowned out by Caecilia's cry of "640 gold coins!" Caecilia was instantly all for sneaking the unicorn out.

Even Yuna was affected by the huge amount, wavering between her morals and the sinful calls of money. "The War God's Glory Staff... no, shouldn't do bad things… but the Glory Staff……"

Seeing that everyone was on the verge of agreeing, I quickly gave the final push. "This way, the unicorn's happy, I'm happy, you guys are all happy. See? Everyone's happy, so why not?"

Huh? The Adventurers' Guild won't be happy, you say? Well, that's none of my business. It's not like I know them.

I watched as they stared at me, their inner struggle shown plain as day on their faces. Especially Yuna; she kept mumbling about 'glory staffs' and 'bad'…… until in the end, I heard only 'glory staff'; the word 'bad' had completely disappeared.

Sure enough, she finally gave in. "Creus, you-you are definitely not a priest from the Church of Light… you are the devil! The Seducer!"

"Why do you say that?" I smiled my brightest, most innocent smile. "See? Even unicorns love me! I must be the world's kindest, most virtuous Light priest!"

"Yup, he's the devil……"

"…… definitely the devil……"

"The devil's evilness is so powerful even unicorns are forced to bow to him…" muttered Walter under his breath.

This is when selective hearing comes in real handy – I simply filtered out their 'silly' comments and continued, "Well, if everyone is in accord that five hundred gold coins simply cannot compare to five thousand gold coins, we should start discussing our strategy now. We can't keep the unicorn here forever without being discovered."

Everyone quieted down; there were no oppositions this time. Looks like everyone had folded to the lure of five thousand gold coins.

"Firstly, you guys have to think about how we are going to get the unicorn out of the city without anyone noticing."

"Hold on! What do you mean 'you guys'?" complained Caecilia. "If we do the planning, what are you going to do?"

I shrugged irresponsibly and said, "I'm an amnesiac, remember? I haven't cast a single spell that a priest should know, so I want to test out my abilities and get a feel of it. I wouldn't want to end up becoming your burden and slowing everyone down."

"… ah…" she gave in reluctantly while the rest nodded supportively.

"Creus, you should try and see if you can cast Divine Wings – it adds speed; should come in handy when escaping," suggested Yuna. "Holy Protection and Divine Wings help to shield against blows and increases speed respectively. Those are spells that Warrior priests who specialise in increasing fighting power lack. But I'm told that Divine Wings is a bit more complicated. Not only do you need light elements, you also need to be able to use wind elements, so not all priests are capable of casting it. But there's no harm trying."

"Alright, I'll try my best."

"You should first try to gather some light elements," instructed Yuna.

I had no problem with this, for there are always an abundant amount of light elements gathered around me. So with just a wave of my hand, I had the light elements rushing to my hand.

By then, no one was bothering to brainstorm about ways to escape the city. Instead, they were all staring dazedly at my hand. I looked around me before finally picking the one who had dared to leave me alone in the city – Igor. I flung the light elements at my test subject while yelling out, "Holy Protection!"

Yuna sighed and said, "Not like that, Creus. You have to chant the incantation first……"

The ball of light had simply circled around Igor before dispersing. I stopped to think about it. If it were going to shield against attacks, shouldn't the light elements be more sturdy and solid? So, I started pressing the layers of light elements into a thin but solid layer, before using this thin sheet to 'wrap' him up, as if he's wearing paper-thin armour.

"My goodness…!" exclaimed Yuna.

"What is it?!" cried Igor anxiously. "Yuna? He didn't bungle it up, did he? Creus! What the hell did you do?!"

I, too, was startled. 'I couldn't really have made a mistake, could I? But he looks perfectly fine to me!'

Yuna did not reply Igor and instead shouted, "Archie!"

"Yes!" The thief leapt to his feet in surprise at being called upon.

"Attack Igor," she commanded.

"Huh?" Archie stared at her blankly. He wasn't the only one stunned.

"Hurry up!"

Folding in to Yuna's urgings, Archie walked over to Igor with confusion on his face. Just as he had raised his fist – and at the same time Igor had braced himself for the coming blow – Yuna called out again, "Don't use your fists, use your weapon!"

"Yuna……" pleaded Igor, nearly in tears.

Archie hesitated. In the end, he lowered his arm, 'I dare not' written all over his face.

Just then, Walter suddenly gave a cry and – and he then began shifting shape…… Fur started growing out of his skin and his hands became huge meaty paws, each paw equipped with five large black claws. I shifted away from those claws. If I were to get swiped by those claws, I would definitely lose something.

Walter finished his transformation and became a bear. A huge black grizzly with a V-shaped patch of white fur on his chest.

I goggled at him. What's going on? Is Walter human? Or a bear?

"Walter?"

Igor cried out weakly, before instantly paling when he saw the Walter-bear swipe at him. He was unable to avoid the blow and crumpled to the floor instantly, but still Walter refused to relent. He continued to kick and stomp heavily on the fallen man……

I stared at the scene before me, mouth gaping wide open. What the hell's going on?

"What are you guys doing?"

Although Caecilia sounded a little worried, she looked more curious than worried to me as she watched Walter who was already changing back to human form and Igor who was slowly getting to his feet. "Are you alright, Igor?"

Igor rubbed the back of his head in confusion. When he heard Caecilia's question, he scratched his face sheepishly and said, "No, I'm fine. Weird, I didn't feel a thing."

"Really? But Walter sure didn't look like he was holding back his punches!" exclaimed Caecilia in amazement before turning to me excitedly. "Creus, me too!"

I had silently breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Igor's uninjured self, so when I heard Caecilia's request, I immediately gathered some light elements and pressed them into a thin solid layer before wrapping them around her too.

"Quickly! Quickly!" yelled Caecilia excitedly as soon as I was done. "Archie, come and hit me! Ah! Err…… use your fists first."

After seeing Igor's example, Archie no longer hesitated and threw all his weight behind his punch. Even though Caecilia knew that she wouldn't get hurt, she couldn't help closing her eyes at the coming attack. One second, two seconds, ……

When she opened her eyes, the sight of Archie enthusiastically swinging punch after punch at her greeted her eyes. She exclaimed in wonderment, "It doesn't hurt! It really doesn't hurt at all!"

"Of course it wouldn't hurt," said Yuna matter-of-factly. "With such a thick layer of light elements protecting you, I think only 'Frenzy' would have been able to break through. Unbelievable. If Creus casts this Holy Protection on all of us, we wouldn't even need to bother with any plans and just force our way out of the city. There aren't many high-levelled fighters capable of Frenzy in this city. "

Walter shook his head, saying, "It's not that simple, Yuna. You, too, can feel how strong the Holy Protections are, can't you? It'll be hard for Creus to repeat the same on so many of us… he would have to gather a lot of light element--"

Archie, Yuna, Walter, and last of all–me. There – that's all of us done! With the Holy Protection done with, next should be the Divine Wings. According to Yuna, I would need to add wind elements in addition to the holy elements. 'Hmmm… I wonder how much wind elements I'll need?'

"… …" – Walter and Yuna.

I gathered some light and wind elements and just 'meshed' them up together, but this led to an outcry from Yuna as she warned anxiously, "Be careful, Creus. It's dangerous mixing elements of different types together. If you're not careful it could explode!"

When they heard that, everyone instantly backed away from me and rushed towards the door, prepared to get out at any time but staying inside to watch what I was doing.

Okay, that's them all meshed up together. I looked at my test subject candidates and noticed Archie – he was the one furthest away with half his person already out the door.

Alright. You're next!

I threw the mixed ball of wind and light elements at him, adjusting them as they fall on him and arranging for more of them to gather around his hands and feet. All the while, Archie was trembling like a leaf and not daring to move a muscle. When I was finally finished arranging the elements to my liking, I looked up and said, "Archie, run around a little and see."

Archie nodded before muttering a prayer, "May the War God be with me." He then got into position to run and lifted his foot……

Boom!

Archie disappeared, followed by an ear-shattering boom. When we looked around for our missing teammate, we noticed a human-shaped hole in the wall.

Igor and Caecilia gaped at the hole.

I, on the other hand, looked on at the human-shaped hole woodenly. The Holy Protection is one of the God of Light's divine spells; yet, you ask for Her rival – the War God's – protection…… Really?

"Are you alright, Archie?" called out Caecilia.

"I'm fine……"

Archie popped his head back through the hole and grinned at us cheekily. "Didn't hurt at all."

Everyone let out a sigh of relief at that. Yuna then turned to me and said, "Too much wind elements."

I nodded.

It seems that too much wind elements had caused the overwhelming burst in speed, so I should mix in less. But for some strange reason, I had the feeling that I had used the right amount of wind elements, and that Archie merely hadn't mastered such intense speeds.

If anyone were capable of mastering such great speeds, he would be as swift as the wind.

As swift as the wind, huh?…… to that person's enemies, he should make a formidable foe even more frightening than a windstorm.

After adjusting the amounts of wind elements several times, I finally got the right mix. As Archie and Caecilia were originally of the nimbler speedier types, I need only add a little wind elements. Igor, Walter and Yuna, on the other hand, needed more. As for me, well…… I'm more of the latter type than the former.

Looks like priests from the Church of Light aren't one of the speedy types either.

Archie, Caecilia and Igor were running around the room in some twisted game of tag, having the fun of their lives with the new spell.

"Divine Wings and Holy Protection on each and every one of us! Your gathering abilities are amazing! No, not even! To get the right amount of wind elements in your Divine Wings, you even had to cast the spell multiple times!"

I smiled and said confidently, "I wouldn't have had any problems even with twelve people!"

Yuna blinked at the odd number, but continued, "I don't think I can contradict you on that. Just who are you, Creus?"

"A priest from the Church of Light," I answered. I paused before asking her unsurely, "Isn't that what you said?"

"Really? Well, I'm not so sure now……" she muttered.

"Well, let's just forget about who I am right now," I said to both Yuna and Walter. "Shouldn't we now think about our strategy to escape this city?"

Walter sighed and watched the three idiots running around. "What strategy? With this speed and shield, no one short of a high-levelled profession would be able to stop us."

"And what if we do meet a high-levelled profession?" I asked worriedly. "Remember, this is five thousand gold coins we are talking about here. Wouldn't the Adventurer's Guild have hired some high-levelled adventurers to guard the city gates?"

Walter and Yuna shot me a strange look. Walter shook his head and said, "How could high-levelled adventurers possibly lower themselves to guarding a city gate? At their level, they could even become the city's commanding officer if they wished it so. Have you ever seen a commanding officer guard a city's gates?"

I kept quiet at that. 'I see, so high-levelled professions are a big deal huh?'

Just then, Archie had stopped fooling around and ran up to us. "I know, I know! There's only one high-levelled thief in this city; there's no other high-levelled professions in this city other than him."

"Thief, huh?"

Walter and Yuna exchanged looks at this news, the former smiling as he said, "That's good to hear. Even if he's a high-levelled thief, he won't be able to stop us as his profession deals more with the shadows and hidden missions. Alright, it's decided! We'll just storm our way out!"

"Mm." I nodded my head in agreement before turning around and seeing the unicorn. I suddenly had a bad feeling. "And who's going to be in charge of the unicorn?" I asked in dread.

"Duh, you of course!" sang Walter and Yuna in unison.

"Whaat?! But I'm a priest!" I objected. "Priests are supposed to stay in the back in these kinds of situations!"

"Are you sure you lost your memories……" muttered Walter under his breath.

"Well, what you said is true!" Archie patted my back. "But! You forget, Creus, that you are the only virgin in our group! You see? The unicorn refuses to allow us 'impure' people to touch it, so only you, the only 'pure' person here, is capable of leading the unicorn out of this city. "

I stared at him expressionlessly. "Would you like me to send you to the God of Light, where he may cleanse your soul and make you a 'pure' person once more?"

Archie burst into laughter at that. With no warning forthcoming, I was subjected to the full blast of his loud laughter, causing my ears to ring and a migraine to form in my head.

"Creus! You are a priest! Priests have no attacks; therefore, you pose no danger to me at all!"

…… perhaps it's time that I try and see if I'm truly incapable of magic spells.

~O~O~O~O~

And so there we were, sneaking around in the shadows and dark alleys of the city as we made our way towards the city gates with our 'contraband goods'. After a lot of effort and luck, we finally managed to sneak the unicorn into an alley not too far away from the city gates, and were now preparing for our final dash to freedom (and our five thousand gold coins).

If we were to make our mad dash, both Yuna and Igor wouldn't be able to run fast enough, so we decided that they would join in the queue to exit the gates, leaving Caecilia, Archie and Walter with me. In his human form, Walter would have slowed us down too, but once he transformed into his leopard form he could have beaten even Archie.

"Just how many animals can you turn into?" I asked the leopard beside me, but the large cat only stared at me.

"Walter can't speak after turning," smiled Caecilia. "But to answer your question, he can only turn into a bear and a leopard. He gets super strength when he's a bear, and super fast when he's a leopard."

"In that case, Walter will be in charge of causing a distraction, while Archie and Yuna will clear up a path for me. I'll storm through. If we get separated, make your way to the meeting place we agreed upon."

Two humans and one leopard nodded before putting on our masks. Archie had prepared them for us beforehand, saying that they were a must when doing naughty things…… So…… masking one's face is some kind of tradition?

I put on my mask, still not quite understanding its purpose, before covering each of my teammates' faces with a cloud of holy aura so that their faces wouldn't be seen.

Of course, as a leopard, Walter didn't need any.

I pulled the unicorn to my side, and as both the unicorn and I looked at each other, I suddenly had an uneasy feeling…… Do I even know how to ride a horse?

As I stared at its flawlessly white back, I was in no mood to admire the unicorn's graceful lines. I felt extremely nervous; if I fall off its back……

"What if I fall off?" I asked with a pinched look.

"Fall off?" Caecilia looked at me strangely. "Does it matter? You're a Light priest! Just heal yourself!"

Really? Is that all? But why do I feel that if I were to fall off its back, there would be very, very bad consequences?

Archie frowned as he watched me hesitate to get onto the horse. "Creus, looks like you've never ridden a horse before."

"I'm a priest, not a knight! It should be normal for me to never have ridden a horse before!"

Archie scratched his head. "That's true," he said, forced to agree. "But how are you going to ride away on the unicorn if you don't know how to ride a horse?"

"Well –as long as I just hold on tight and don't fall off, I should be fine, right?" I said as I braced myself to the ordeal.

Caecilia rolled her eyes at this. "Just hold on tight? Yeah right. Are you sure the unicorn even knows where to go?"

"Unicorn!" I stared the unicorn in the eye as I said forcefully. "Later, no matter what happens, you are to storm out the city gates, got it?"

The unicorn nodded.

"It can actually understand us? That's so bizarre…… Or could it be that this unicorn is actually a druid?" Archie's inane ramblings earned him a head butt from Walter the Leopard.

I drew in a deep breath before leaping onto the unicorn's back without any mishaps. Archie whistled in surprise and admiration. "Perfect form! Perhaps you do know how to ride a horse!"

'Really?' I suddenly felt full of confidence as I gave the unicorn's flank a kick. The unicorn gave a prideful toss of its head and a loud neigh before setting off.

"Aiyah!!"

Caecilia burst into laughter before turning to Archie. "Archie, how could a person who knows how to ride fall off his horse? And on his back too? Haha!"

"I just hadn't had a good hold of it, is all!" I said defensively myself as I got up from the ground.

After dusting myself off, I smacked the unicorn's head and scolded it, "What did you go rushing off so suddenly for? You trying to knock me off on purpose?"

The unicorn lowered its head and gave a small apologetic whicker as it looked up at me piteously.

"Alright, alright." I softened a little at its pitiful eyes and relented, only reminding it to be more careful next time.

The unicorn perked up and started licking at my hand happily. God knows why this horse likes licking me so much!

And so after that brief incident, I got back onto the unicorn's back. When everyone was fully prepared, Walter the Leopard rushed out into the crowd, drawing cries and attention from the crowd gathered around the gates. There were even a few screams of terror.

"Where'd the leopard come from?" roared the city gates' guards as they fanned out and surrounded the leopard, carefully keeping their sharp spears pointed at the leopard.

"Now!" I shouted at Caecilia and Archie. At my order, they rushed out as planned, and I nudged the unicorn out behind them…… This time, the unicorn dared not leap at full speed as before and instead kept a steady but quick pace. Feeling the wind in my hair and the smooth gallops of my ride, I felt that riding wasn't so bad after all.

I sighed with feeling as I said, "This is soo much better than riding on a person's back."

Right after I said that, I stopped to examine my words. 'Weird? How would I know whether riding a horse is better than riding on a person's back?...... Could I have ridden on someone before…… but that's preposterous!'

Ergh! Whatever, now is not the time for this. Ahead of me, Caecilia and Archie had already cleared a way for me. I grabbed on tight and said in the unicorn's ear, "Hurry now!"

The unicorn instantly increased its pace, causing the wind to whoosh past my ears. The city gates were not far away now. However at the same time, people were beginning to notice the unicorn and my presence.

"It's the unicorn!" someone shouted.

The crowd stared open mouth before quickly gathering their wits and coming at us with all sorts of weapons. I even caught sight of a broom coming at us!

The city guards immediately gave up on the leopard and turned their attention on us, but Caecilia, Archie and Walter started attacking them from behind. Even when faced with all sorts of weapons like spears and swords and daggers, they still flung themselves at the crowd fearlessly. The crowd paused at this show of recklessness. Especially when they saw with their own two eyes how the blades bent upon hitting them, leaving the three of them completely unharmed. They stared at this display in shock.

Perfect opportunity to escape! "Quickly! Unicorn, go faster!" I cried in excitement.

The unicorn immediately put on a burst of speed, and I could see the gates just ahead of us! Everyone had been drawn away by the distraction, so no one was around to guard the gates; no one to stop us!

But, the pleasing wind whooshing in my hair came to a sudden stop.

Not too far in front of us, a huge wall suddenly came up from nowhere. The unicorn gave a jolt and tried to stop its pace, but our mad dash was too strong and quick for us to stop so suddenly. It tried its best to stop, to slow down, its hooves scratching against the dirt road, trying fervently to gain some friction, but still inertia carried us forward.

I clung to the unicorn with both hands and feet, grasping its mane tightly and doing all I could do to stay on its back.

In the end, the unicorn couldn't avoid hitting the wall, but thankfully it wasn't a very heavy impact as the unicorn had slowed down considerably by then. The unicorn stumbled a bit before shaking its head and steadying itself.

My heart was pounding in my chest. That was too close. If the unicorn hadn't reacted quickly enough and slowed down in time, at that speed, I would have been knocked out from the impact. And chances are I would have woken up to find myself in jail!

I let out a breath of relief before examining the wall before us. The wall was composed entirely out of ice elements – it's an ice wall!

"What's going on?"

Caecilia, Archie and Walter had caught up to us and were staring at the ice wall.

"Knock down this wall!" I cried out in anger.

"With what? We're an archer and a thief!" Caecilia and Archie shouted back.

'Who the hell's counting on you?' I rolled my eyes at them.

By then, the unicorn let out a blast of light aura and threw it at the ice wall before us.

"Let's go!" I cried, but the unicorn neighed in dissatisfaction, and a second later I could see why, for the large amounts of ice elements had once again gathered to form another ice wall. And I could feel that this ice wall was thicker than the previous one. I didn't think the unicorn would be able to destroy it with just one blast like just now.

If we can't destroy it with just one blast, we won't be able to dodge the attack from the person behind us – the origin of the ice wall!

I patted the unicorn's neck and said softly, "Turn around."

Everyone had long since turned around by then; I heard Caecilia's shocked cry of "How could it be?! Holy knights from the Church of Light!"

"And not just holy knights……" Archie's voice trembled as he said, "Look at their leader, his insignia on his chest marks him as…… one of the Twelve Holy Knights."

"It's the Frost Knight!" Caecilia moaned. She sounded close to fainting.

The Frost Knight?

Sounds familiar. My attention shifted from the group leader's ice and holy aura to his appearance. He had an icy look on his face, his entire posture was frozen stiff and he even held an ice popsicle in his hand!

He truly is worthy of his name 'Frost' Knight! …… Is he even going to eat that popsicle?

The Frost Knight raised the popsicle at us and said in a frosty tone, "Freeze." (@_@)

"Who do you think you're trying to scare with that popsicle of yours?" I asked. To avoid being recognised should we ever meet in the future, I had purposely lowered my voice when replying.

The Frost Knight said nothing in reply, nor did he do anything; not even the muscles on his face twitched. I'm beginning to think this guy's face had been frozen solid.

Everyone else, on the other hand, had some kind of reaction to my challenging words. Even my teammates had drawn a sharp breath; as for the Frost Knight's holy knights, they had exploded in anger at my disrespect. "Silence! How dare you insult our Frost Knight Captain's Holy Frost Blade!"

Holy blade huh? But it totally looks like a popsicle…… I guess you could call it a holy popsicle,… but a blade?

"Creus," Archie said in a panicked undertone. "Th-the Frost Knight is even stronger than a h-high-levelled swordsman. It's impossible for us to w-win against him. He's one of the Twelve Holy Knights! What should we do?! What should we do now?"

"Calm down! We don't need to win, only to escape," I said quietly.

Archie's face fell at that. "It's impossible to even escape from him… Creus, you-you've lost your memories, so you don't understand how scary the Twelve Holy Knights truly are. Th-they are as scary as the gods themselves!"

"Bullshit," I rolled my eyes at him. "I don't care if he's the devil king himself, you guys will hold him off and buy us some time so the unicorn can knock through the ice wall."

Although his face paled even further at the order, he, Caecilia and Walter moved to shield the unicorn and I from the holy knights, moving into position to attack. When they saw this, all the holy knights were surprised; with the one exception of the Frost Knight – his face had yet to twitch.

"Defensive positions," he called out calmly.

The holy knights immediately moved into a neat formation and braced their shields, forming a wall of shields and raising their swords through the gaps of their shield wall.

Twenty or so holy knights forming into defensive positions around the four of us? Do they not have the intention of capturing us?

As we were puzzling over their unexpected move, a gap opened up in the wall of shields and the Frost Knight walked out towards us alone.

At the same time, the unicorn let out a large burst of lightning elements, and from the skies came streaking down a lightning bolt right onto the ice wall behind us. Unfortunately, I could tell that the ice elements had yet to break up.

Ahead of me, the Frost Knight was steadily pouring more ice elements into the ice wall. As long as we don't take him down, attacking the wall would be pointless, for he would just keep creating another one until either he or the unicorn collapses from magical exhaustion.

The unicorn screamed in anger and pawed the ground furiously, as if thirsting for a showdown with the Frost Knight……

"You better behave, or else…" I warned as I smacked its head.

The unicorn whinnied plaintively and lowered its beautiful head dejectedly.

Just when the Frost Knight was no more than ten steps away from us, another ice wall formed up from the ground in front of us, blocking him from reaching us.

This was followed by another bolt of lightning behind us, identical to the earlier lightning summoned by the unicorn.

"Run!" I shouted.

There was a second of blankness before my teammates comprehended what was going on. Archie was the first to react, immediately slipping around the unicorn and I and running away. His actions reminded Caecilia and Walter of the opportunity and they too started running.

As Caecilia passed by me, I kicked the unicorn's flank, signalling it to follow quickly.

As we made our escape, I could feel the ice wall behind us crack and crumble apart. But not to worry, I still had a couple more bolts ready to throw in the Frost Knight's way and stop him from following us.

At last, we escaped the city.

 

Previous                                                                                                             Next

Book 4: Move 2 – The Second Move to Slay a Dragon: “Get an awesome ride.”

*Disclaimer note: This is merely a translation of the original Chinese version. I do not claim any part in the creation of the original story.

 

According to Archie, the city gates had been sealed shut after the unicorn's escape, leaving only a smaller door for people to enter and exit from the city, so we knew for sure that the unicorn was still in the city. However, it was still a mystery as to why the unicorn had yet to be found, trapped as it were in the city with nowhere to escape.

We quickly prepared for our first mission as a group together, worried that as time dragged on unwanted twists of events may happen; such as the unicorn escaping, or it being captured by someone else and secreted out of the city. This was precisely why the Adventurer's Guild had announced a reward of five hundred gold coins for the beast's capture. The only condition they had was for the unicorn to be captured alive, and preferably not heavily wounded.

I picked carefully through the information Archie had gathered previously, and in the end I came to the conclusion that the first thing to do was to search out the unicorn's location and capture it before anyone else could beat us to it.

We were sorely pushed for time!

"Where's my equipment?" I asked of my new companions.

At that, Caecilia and Yuna exchanged looks before the former reluctantly took out a badge. She looked at it longingly for a few more moments before handing it to me.

I looked at the badge lying in the palm of my hand. It fitted just nicely into my hand, and was made of some kind of metal, but I could sense a very dark aura coming from it. I had to struggle to make out the metal elements in the midst of all that dark element, and then making out its shape.

The badge was not flat, but had a relief sculpture in the shape of an imposing…… creature.

I could not recall what the creature was, so I probably hadn't come into contact with it often, but the badge itself certainly seemed familiar to me, so it should be mine.

After that, I waited a moment longer, but nothing else was forthcoming. "Is that all?" I asked in surprise. "Not even a sword? What about my clothes?"

Even though I was currently wearing an outfit – an ordinary white shirt and brown pants – intuition told me that they weren't mine. I had to get back my original clothes – those weren't cheap stuff!

"You're a priest, and priests only use staffs, not swords," explained Yuna. "As for your clothes, they were beyond salvageable. When we found you in the woods, your surroundings were completely burnt. You yourself looked as if you had been burnt alive; your clothes were burnt black and falling apart, and your staff…… I'm sorry, but I think it had been burnt to ashes in the fire."

Burnt to ashes huh?…… how come I don't feel the slightest bit upset to hear that?

That doesn't feel right. My staff should be something very important to me, right? Yet I don't feel upset or anything. Perhaps, it was something that couldn't have been destroyed in a simple fire?

Oh, never mind that.

"Is there really nothing else?" I pressed on.

Both of the girls shook their heads.

'Is that so……' I absentmindedly touched my chest. It felt like something was missing…… Argh! Forget it!

"Alright! Now, the first step is to grab a virgin girl--"

"Are you really going to kidnap a virgin?" Igor exclaimed in surprise. He shot Yuna a cheated look before pointing out, "And it's not like you can tell if one is a virgin or not, so how are you going to get one?"

"I'll just have to grab a little girl, right?" I replied matter-of-factly. "And besides, as soon as we've caught the unicorn we'll let her go home, duh!"

"Grabbing a little girl? I don't know……" muttered Walter, struggling to keep to his morals.

"We can't do that! I absolutely refuse!" shouted Yuna, glaring at me angrily. "You can't do that, or you'll regret it for the rest of your life. Remember, you are a priest of the Light Church. Everyone knows that priests from the Light Church are the kindest and most honest people. If you were to kidnap a girl, once you've regained your memories, you'd regret it for the rest of your life!"

Regret it for the rest of my life? I-am I really such a good and kind person?

"What are you all so worked up about?" snorted Archie. "We don't have to kidnap anyone, we could just pay her!"

Archie nodded his head in mock solemnity before continuing, "We'd just have to get a girl from a poor family and offer to pay her ten copper coins for a day. But we'll have to get a young one, 'cause otherwise she might not be a virgin either. But that's life; a girl from a poor family – for ten copper coins a day, you can ask her to do anything…… heheheh……"

"Archie!" Yuna admonished.

Archie just shrugged his shoulders, but kept quiet.

I had quieted down after Archie's words. Hearing him speak so, I had felt an uncomfortable feeling in my chest…… perhaps Yuna was right, and I'm not really a bad person. If I did kidnap a little girl, I might actually regret it for the rest of my life! But if we're hiring one, then it's a whole different matter altogether.

No need for kidnapping little girls, able to carry out my missions and at the same time not going against my conscience, and also satisfying my love for money; what a perfect solution! Ah, I have a lot to learn from Archie!

Thinking this, I smiled at the aforementioned thief. But for some reason, he returned my smile with a perverted leer.

"I know, I know. I give you the honours of hiring the girl." He shook his head, giving me an exaggerated exasperated look before winking conspiratorially at me. "See how good I treat you, bro?" He continued in an undertone. "So make sure you take a little extra care when healing me, 'kay?"

…… on second thought, perhaps I shouldn't learn from him after all.

"No way!" Yuna immediately refuted. "Caecilia and I will be the ones to hire the girl."

"Ok, that's settled then!"

Walter immediately agreed, before assigning tasks to each of us. "Yuna and Caecilia will hire the girl; Archie, you'll continued to keep an ear out for any further developments. I will try to prepare some equipment that we might need to capture a unicorn, and Igor, you and Creus will start looking around for any trails or clues as to the unicorn's whereabouts."

I glanced at Igor and said politely, "I'll be counting on you."

"No problem, bro!" said Igor as he clasped a hand on my shoulder. "We'll head out and get back my sword and armour before getting a drink or two!"

"Er?" I blinked at him before asking uncertainly, "But the search……?"

I looked back at the other team members, but they, too, were leaving for their respective tasks.

"We'll look around on our way," said Igor matter-of-factly. "And pubs are the best places to hear about any news!"

I blinked at his answer before turning to look at Walter. Walter turned around and smiled at me, explaining, "Don't worry. Searching for clues isn't part of a warrior's responsibilities. I'm only asking him to keep an ear out. Also, searching for clues isn't part of a priest's responsibilities either. So I'm letting you go with him for a drink and to grab a bite. You've been sleeping for so long; even though we fed you some glucose water, you should still be hungry, right?"

'The priest should stay at the back in situations like these,' I recalled. Is this also part of my 'general knowledge'?

"Let's go! Creus, you're coming with me for a drink……" Igor paused and looked at me doubtfully. "Will you be fine? It'll just be a glass. You don't look like you'd be any good at drinking."

Walter – who had just exited the house – poked his head back in and warned, "Igor, if he can't drink then you'd better not force him. A little alcohol is fine, but if either of you get drunk, you know the rules…"

"I got it… what a party-pooper," muttered Igor.

Alcohol!

The moment I had hear the word 'alcohol' I couldn't help licking my lips eagerly…… Somehow, I don't think I would end up as bad at drinking as they believed.

~O~O~O~O~

Igor and I walked along the city's streets; even though night had fallen, the city was still bursting with life. People were still making their way up and down the streets; plenty of stalls lined the streets, selling all sorts of odds and ends. With all the various elements mixed together so chaotically, I had a very hard time making out everything. But whenever I finally manage to piece together something particularly complicated, I would feel a sense of achievement.

"Creus!" Igor suddenly called out.

Bam!

Stars filled my eyes as a throbbing pain shot through my forehead. I crouched down and grabbed my head in agony……

"My god! How could you not have seen such a huge pillar right in front of you?!" Igor asked me in incredulity. "What the hell were you looking at?"

Ah, I walked into a pillar. No wonder it hurt so bad…… "There were too many things; I couldn't piece them all together!" I growled lowly in embarrassment.

"Piece?" Igor asked blankly.

"Damn, it hurts. Oh god, my head hurts so bad," I whined as I gripped my head. It felt like the pillar had spilt my head open.

"Of course it'll hurt, you even managed to crack the pillar," said Igor. "You're a priest, so heal yourself. We should move on, everyone's staring at us."

Heal myself…… Even though I knew that I was a priest, I had yet to use any healing spells. I wonder what I'm supposed to do?

"Elementary Healing!"

I blinked in surprise as light elements circled around me before turning into a new type of element and making their way into my forehead. The more they came in, the less it hurt.

I see! So this is how healing spells work!

Just then, an unfamiliar laugh sounded not too far from us. "Ahahaha! Igor, I've always thought you were stupid, but I never thought there would be someone even stupider than you! Pfft! Walking into a pillar!"

"Wha-? I'm not so stupid as to walk into a pillar…… and Creus isn't stupid either!" yelled back Igor indignantly before realising his mistake. He hurriedly turned to me and explained, "Really, you're not stupid. It's just that, you've only just recovered from your injuries, so perhaps your reactions were still a little slow, and you didn't even notice the pillar and accidentally walked into it."

…… Igor, you're only digging yourself a deeper hole. If you say anything more I'll throw you into the pillar myself!

"Are you alright? Did the healing spell completely heal you?" a soft and gentle voice spoke up. Too bad it's a guy's voice.

Before I could reply, the first voice interrupted.

"Kyle, why did you go and waste a healing spell on him for?" he asked impatiently. "Even if it's just an elementary healing spell, you can only cast five of those a day."

The gentle voice which unfortunately belonged to a guy – Kyle – replied, "It's fine. We're not leaving the city in the next few days, so we won't need much healing."

I stood up and observed the other party. Even though I had only heard two voices so far, there was actually four people altogether – probably a party from the looks of it. The first to speak to Igor just now was also a warrior, but with a higher level of wind elements, so probably a warrior focused on speed. The one who just healed me was – obviously – a priest, so he had high concentrations of light elements. But not as high as mine, I noticed.

Does that mean that I'm stronger than him?

"Igor, this guy doesn't look like one of your teammates?" asked the warrior, all the while keeping his gaze on me.

"'Course he is! He just joined us. Creus is a priest."

"Priest?" he sounded surprised, before asking dubiously, "Don't you guys already have Yuna as your priest?"

"Creus is a priest from the Church of Light," declared Igor proudly. "Just like your sissy."

'Who the hell is like a sissy……'

Sissy gave a light cough. "So, you're a comrade from the Light Church too?" but his soft question was drowned out by his companion's louder voice: "From the Church of Light? Really?"

"Or course, and Creus' healing skills are very strong too!" boasted Igor.

"Truly?" Kyle sounded pleasantly surprised for some reason. "You look so young! To be so strong at such a young age is pretty impressive. What level priest are you now?"

Level? I was at a loss. I had no idea what level I was; I hadn't even known I was a priest until Yuna had told me let alone what level I was. This was the first time I'd even heard about priests having different levels.

"Creus doesn't even need to recite any incantations to cast healing spells!" said Igor, before asking in curiosity, "Hey sissy, what level do you think he is?"

"No need to recite any incantations?!" cried Kyle, startling everyone else.

After a while, he said hesitantly, "This, er…… usually, incantations are necessary for the spells, but if one is very, very familiar with the elementary spells, perhaps it's possible. I think the Cardinals might be able to do so……"

"Cardinals?" I asked. "What's that?"

Kyle was rendered speechless by my question before saying with difficulty, "The Cardinals are the four archbishops, second only to the Pope…… Are you really a priest?"

"No idea," I replied honestly.

"You don't know?!" The four of them stared at me.

"That's 'cause Creus' lost his memories," Igor snatched to say.

"Lost his memories?" The other party stared at me, dumbstruck. Yup, Walter and the rest had looked exactly like that.

After a while, Sissy muttered thoughtfully, "Creus? I don't seem to recall any priest by the name of Creus."

When I heard that, I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. If someone recognised me, I might have been able to find my friends quicker.

"It's alright." I said despite my disappointment.

"I'm really sorry I couldn't help you." Kyle looked at me apologetically, saying, "Perhaps you should go to the Church and try asking there. With such an eye-catching person as you, there'd definitely be a lot of people who'd recognise you. Unfortunately, there aren't any Light Churches here in Kissinger. I'm afraid you'll have to go all the way back to Forgotten Echo; there are quite a few branches in Moon Orchid too."

I nodded at him. "Thanks for your help."

~O~O~O~O~

I chugged down the entire bottle of alcohol before releasing a satisfied sigh and wiping my mouth with my sleeve.

Beside me, Igor stared at me in stupefaction. "Creus, stop drinking! This is already your third bottle! Oh no, this is bad! Walter will kill me when he finds out I got you drunk……"

I turned to look at him in the eye. "She sells seashells by the sea shore, and the seashells she sells are sea shore shells," I said clearly. "Who did you say was drunk?"

"Okay…… you're not drunk."

Igor scratched his head before standing up. "Well then, you can stay here and continue drinking, but don't overdo it, okay? I'm heading over to the weapons store next door. Oh, and here, I'll pay for your drinks for now, but you'll have to pay me back when you get your pay!"

"Then I'm not drinking anymore!" I cried out in horror.

"……"

~O~O~O~O~

"It wass just a little bit of alcohol, why couldn't you have just treated me to it?" I complained as we stepped out of the pub.

"You drank three bottles, Creus, three bottles. That's not 'just a little bit'! Each bottle you drank cost one silver coin……"

I really wanted to say 'it's only three silver coins', but I couldn't. One silver for a bottle! And to think that I'd drank away three silver coins…… I haven't even completed a single mission and now I've got a debt of three silvers!

Oh unicorn, where are you?

My hundred gold coins, where are you?

Just then, Igor laughed heartily as he ribbed me. "But I never would have thought you would be such a heavy weight drinker! I would have drunk with you, except that we've got a mission now. We'll have a proper drink once we've finished this mission, that's a promise!"

"Your treat?" I immediately asked with interest.

"…… You really are stingy. Even more so than our thief, Archie," muttered Igor. "How about this, the person who manages to drink the other under the table won't have to pay for the bill, okay with you?"

"No problem!"

I may have lost my memories and have no clear idea of just how high my tolerance was, but I felt strangely confident that no one would be able to drink me under the table!

"Here it is," Igor announced, before turning to me. "You don't have any interest in weapons, right? If you feel bored there's a store selling magic staffs opposite the street. You can go there and pick one out. The party will pay for the staff for now and once you've gotten your pay it'll be deducted from…… Your expression says: 'I'm not buying one if I have to pay for it'."

I nodded emphatically.

Igor didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "A priest cannot go without a staff. Forget it. You'll come with me for now, and we'll visit the staff store together later on. I'm worried that you might get conned by them, seeing as you don't remember anything…… Hmm, doesn't seem very likely though, with how money loving you are...... Did you really lose your memories?"

"Hey! Yes, I really did lose my memories!" I protested.

"You sure don't look like it; you don't look worried at all," he said as he stepped into the store.

I shrugged. "I don't feel like there's anything to be worried about. I'm confident that my comrades will come looking for me."

"True……"

The store keeper immediately greeted us the moment we stepped in, his eyes sweeping the two of us before immediately focusing on Igor and completely ignoring me. To be able to tell at a glance that my type did not use weapons – and thus not even bother to waste his time with me; should I say he's materialistic or praise him for his insight?

As Igor and the store keeper discussed something about weapons, I was left with nothing to do but walk around the store. Most of the store's merchandise consisted of swords and daggers. Somehow, the swords feel very familiar to me. The staff, on the other hand, sounded unfamiliar to me…… Do I really use staffs?

I couldn't resist picking up one of the swords and giving it a few swings. It felt familiar in my hands too, I probably do use swords—erk! Where did the sword go?

I stared at my bare hands in bafflement. Wasn't the sword in my hands just a second ago? How did it disappear after a few swings?

"Ahh!!" Igor's voice cried out, followed by the clear ringing of a heavy piece of metal falling to the ground.

I turned to look and realised that the sword had flew from my hands and hit the back of Igor's head with 100% accuracy…… fortunately, it was only the helm of the sword.

Igor touched his head gingerly, pain splashed across his face as he turned around.

"Creus, what the heck did you throw at me…… Fuck!"

When he saw the sword on the ground he looked up at me in disbelieving horror. I immediately looked back in innocence and said apologetically, "Sorry, my hand slipped."

"You and your slippery hands nearly killed me! Priest, you are forbidden from touching any sword!" warned Igor in exasperation before turning back to continue haggling with the store keeper.

I walked over and picked up the sword before putting it back. I dared not touch any other weapon. 'I guess my weapon really is a staff,' I thought.

At least, if my staff were to slip from my hands and hit someone, no one could die from it.

Since I dared not touch anything else, I had nothing else to do. Igor and the storekeeper didn't look to be near finished with their argument anytime soon. "Igor," I called out. "I'm heading over to look at the staffs now."

"Okay, just don't buy anything before consulting me!" he replied without bothering to turn around.

"Got it."

After promising that, I left the store and looked around before noticing the store opposite me. There were carvings of fake staffs decorating the front of the store, so that should be it.

I stepped forward, but felt something pulling at my shirt…… who is it!

This really startled me, for how could anyone have snuck up on me? I can see 360 degrees in all directions; no one could have approached me without my noticing!

I turned to face the person - and relaxed my guard. For the person who had pulled my shirt reached up to only my chest, had a round plump face, long waist-length hair and wore a cute dress – it's only a girl!

I was probably too focused on the store opposite me and hadn't notice her.

I looked down at her and asked gently, "Hello, what's your name?"

"Red," the little girl replied shyly.

Red? What a peculiar name. "And what is it that Red wants with this big brother?"

"Big brother, come with me!"

Red suddenly grabbed my hand with both hands and tried to pull me after her. I hurriedly stopped her and said, "Hold-hold on! I'm with a friend and can't go with you."

But Red refused to let go, and kept pulling while calling out, "Come with me, come with me, come with me……"

I was too heavy for such a little girl to move – even if I am a 'weak' priest. But Red was very insistent, and so there we stood at an impasse. After a few minutes, Red's eyes – which had started filling up with water elements – finally defeated me.

I had no other choice but to bring her with me into the store and look for Igor. Igor was still haggling with the store keeper and looked nowhere near done. "Igor," I called to him. "I'm leaving for a while, so we'll meet up at the staff store, alright?"

"Sure, whatever," replied Igor without bothering to even look at us before continuing on with the shop keeper.

After getting his agreement, I crossed my arms and looked down at Red. "Alright! I am now all yours! You can take me wherever you want."

Red was immediately all smiles and the water elements in her eyes disappeared.

I was dragged off by Red through countless streets and alleys, but thankfully, I seemed to be in possession of an excellent memory and was able to memorize all the twists and turns. Three times left, five times right, the third road from the left at a five-way crossroad…… I managed to imprint our route into my head.

But even though I remembered the way back, it won't do to get distracted now! I still have a unicorn to capture – er, I mean, I have an Igor to meet up with!

"Where are you taking me, Red?" I asked curiously.

Red gave a small tinkling laugh and dragged me into another small alley before stopping and pointing. "Take a look for yourself, big brother!"

I looked in the direction Red was pointing and 'saw' what exactly it was Red wanted me to see. Even though it was some distance away, and even though I wasn't sure if I had ever seen it before, from the moment I laid eyes on it, I was certain of what it was.

A unicorn.

It was in an underground basement, and gave off a staggering amount of light aura. Even with so many things blocking the way between us, I could still see clearly its shape. Just as Walter had described it, the unicorn looked like a horse, except its lines were slimmer and more elegant.

The single horn on its head clearly distinguished it from the average horse. The holy aura the horn was emitting was so strong that I wasn't able to 'look' at it for long, and its shape was a little blurred.

Just then, the unicorn raised its head and looked in my direction…… No! It was looking at me.

It stared at me, as I stared at it.

After some time, I woke up from the shock of seeing a unicorn and asked quietly, "Was it the unicorn that asked you to bring me here? Red…… Red?"

There was no one around.

I blinked in surprise, but wasn't overly shocked. I am an amnesiac after all, and there are way too many things that I do not understand. For all I know, turning into a little girl could be one of the special abilities of a unicorn.

I headed in the direction of the unicorn and entered a small house. The house was pretty old and badly in need of repairs. It was filled with cobwebs and a thick layer of dust covered everything, a sign of just how long the building had been left abandoned. No wonder no one had thought to look here. But then, how had the unicorn gotten into the underground basement?

I was actually already able to 'see' it in the underground basement – it had been resting on the floor, but the moment it noticed me moving in its direction, it stood up and paced around in the underground basement, looking very excited.

I quickened my pace and hurried down the stairs before bursting into the basement where the unicorn had been hiding.

There it stood, not five steps away from me…… no, it had just moved forward a couple steps closer.

Even though I couldn't even tell if Caecilia was pretty or not, I was immediately convinced that the unicorn that stood before me must be one of the most beautiful creatures in the world; a breathtakingly lovely and graceful snow white creature……

Huh? Snow white? I knew somewhat of snow – some kind of frozen water – but what is this 'white'?

Just then, the unicorn moved even closer to stand right before me, nudging me with its graceful head.

"You like me, don't you?"

I smiled at it and reached out to pat its neck. The unicorn pushed its head against me, closing its eyes in pleasure at the petting that it was receiving and even licking my hand……

"Ah! That tickles, stop that! Hahaha… don't you only like virgin girls? It's not like I'm a virgin--"

Wait a minute……

Could it be that-that I'm a 'pure and clean'…… virgin?!!

Just then, as if to fan the flames of my growing horror, the unicorn pushed past my hands and nuzzled its head against my chest.

"Damn horse! Get away from me! I am not a virgin!!"

In reply, the unicorn started licking my face…… You shitty horse! Am I really that 'pure' and 'clean' that you would willingly lick me!

"Oh yeah! Maybe I'm actually only eighteen years old!" I mumbled to myself. "In that case, it wouldn't be that weird if I am still a virgin, right?…… Yes! I can't be wrong, I must be eighteen! No, perhaps even sixteen!"

 

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Book 4: Move 1 – The First Move to Slay a Dragon: “Form a rescue party. Again.”

*Disclaimer note: This is merely a translation of the original Chinese version. I do not claim any part in the creation of the original story.

 

Creus! You cannot escape, you can never escape……

I jolted awake.

I hurriedly opened my eyes, however upon doing so I felt that something was not quite right, but I just couldn't put a finger on what it was exactly……

Normally when one opens their eyes, is all they see a sea of black?

Opening one's eyes and keeping them closed made no difference! If that's so then what's the point of opening one's eyes? Or is it, could it be that, I-I can't see?

That's not right! I can 'see', and it's becoming clearer and clearer, as if someone had wrapped the surroundings with several layers of gauze, and was now unravelling them, layer by layer. The black was fading and the surroundings were becoming clearer to me.

I 'saw ' myself lying on a bed; the bed had a very strong wood element, so it should be made out of wood. A thick blanket covered me, and beside the bed is a chair. Even further away is a table with four chairs around it, and on the table is some water element…… ah, a jug of water.

I could even tell that the jug of water was only half filled.

But, I hadn't even needed to turn my head to 'see' these things. They just appeared in my mind. I tried closing my eyes, then opening them again…… the image in my mind didn't change!

So, what is the purpose of these 'eyes'? Are they not for 'seeing'? And this word, 'seeing', I'm getting more and more confused as to its meaning…… Am I 'seeing' right now? It seems like it, yet not.

I was still puzzling over this when something more important came up – someone's coming!

I turned towards the door, but then stopped in puzzlement. What is the point of turning one's head? I don't even need to turn my head to see the door!

Even though I felt the purpose of eyes rather mystifying, I pushed the matter to the back of my mind to focus on the person who had entered. This person had very high amounts of wind element, but not enough to be a mage…… Ah! Must be some kind speed specialising job like a thief, or an archer. And his appearance…… ah, my mistake, it's a 'her'.

And a 'her' with an extremely good figure to boot! Even though I could not tell if she was beautiful or not, a person's figure had nothing to do with beauty. As long as they had a big bust, a slim waist and long legs, they can all be classified as having a 'great figure'.

"Oh! Are you awake?" she asked the moment she saw me.

From her voice, I could make out that the person was a pretty young woman. To meet a young and curvaceous woman moments after waking, what bliss!

"I…… um, I'm awake," I answered as I struggled to get up and nod at her.

"Don't get up!" She hurried forward. "You've been severely injured…… er, it seems like you're almost healed… Amazing! But Yuna clearly said that with your injuries you would have to lie in bed for a month, yet it's only been three days and your injuries are just about completely healed. Yuna even suspected you for an undead!"

"Yuna?" I asked confused.

The girl placed her belongings on the table before pouring a glass of water and walking back to the bed, all the while explaining, "Ah, Yuna is our party's priest. She and Igor went out to buy something. Igor's our warrior. There's also a druid called Walter and me, Caecilia, I'm an archer. You should be thirsty, here, have some water."

I was feeling a little parched, so I quickly took the glass of water and gulped it down after a quick thanks.

"What about you?" Caecilia asked with curiosity. "What's your name?"

It was not until I had finished the whole glass of water and quenched my thirst that I heard her question.

"My name's……"

"Hm?"

Caecilia moved a little closer, and I could finally 'see' her face. She had almond-shaped eyes and sharp features with full pouty lips. Even though I couldn't tell if she was pretty or not, but based on that busty chest of hers I'd declare her a beauty.

"Are you going to tell me your name or not?" asked Caecilia in suspicion.

I hurriedly came to my senses and answered her, "I'm called-I'm called……"

I trailed off into silence.

Great. I now know what's wrong……

Who am I?

~O~O~O~O~

Four people sat in front of me. Starting from the left is the incredibly built warrior – Igor; skinny as a weed – Walter; the priest whose figure wasn't quite as good – Yuna; and the hourglass figure – Caecilia. According to them there's still a thief called Archie who had yet to return.

From the observations of their respective jobs, I could tell that this party should be pretty good, as they had a good complement of roles in their party…… Huh, looks like my common sense and general knowledge hadn't been lost along with my memories.

"You've got amnesia? How incredible," muttered Walter as he got lost within his own thoughts.

"Yeah! How inconceivable," Caecilia butted in. "I had thought it incredible that he had gotten hurt so severely! How is that possible?!"

Yuna nodded her head in agreement.

"That's right," Igor agreed completely. "Too true."

"Em, m-may I ask," I was a little confused by this, so I asked, "what is so unbelievable about me getting injured? Everyone gets hurt…… er… Everyone can get hurt, right?"

I was getting a little unsure of myself. For someone who can't even remember his own name, the 'general knowledge' I know might not necessarily be correct.

However, the four in front of me had turned to look at me before saying in unison, "It's unbelievable because you are really, really strong!"

"I'm strong?" I asked in surprise. "Am I a warrior?"

"No, you're a priest," Yuna corrected me.

A priest?

I am a priest, yet they say I am strong? But then why does my 'general knowledge' tell me that priests are known for being weak pussies? Hmm, looks like my 'general knowledge' cannot be trusted after all.

"Well, it's not that you're really strong, even though you are a very powerful priest indeed," said Yuna thoughtfully. "We were actually referring to your companions."

My companions…… I asked in surprise, "Is that not you guys?"

Caecilia rolled her eyes at me. "If we were your companions, why would we bother asking you for your name?"

She's got a point.

I fiddled with my hair absent-mindedly as I voiced my question, "You know that I am a priest, and that my companions are pretty strong, yet you do not know my name? Do you or do you not know me?"

They exchanged looks with each other. In the end, it was Walter who answered my question. "We don't know you, really, but we were rescued once by you and your companions. We knew that you were a priest because we saw you casting holy light that one time. And we could tell that your companions were quite strong from their attacks. Even though your party had only three people, you guys must have been pretty strong."

My companions, huh? I wasn't really surprised to hear that I had companions. In fact, several blurry figures came to mind when I heard the word, though there were far more than the number Walter had given. So even though I had no recollection of whom they were and how they looked like, I was very sure that I had companions, and quite a large number of them too.

I felt more relieved after realising this fact, but I was still curious. "What are my companions like?"

"There was a holy knight, and a-a……"

Walter hesitated. I noticed him frowning…… so that would mean he was hesitating, right? But why? Is there something wrong with that companion of mine?

Igor leant near me and said in a low voice, "He's a dark elf."

"A dark elf?" If I wasn't mistaken, the dark elves are a race of white-haired, ebony-skinned elves with a bad reputation, but the finer details seem to elude me.

Just then, Yuna hurriedly said, "Perhaps the dark elf was being held captive by you and the holy knight."

"Y-yeah!" Igor parroted. "Holy knights and priests would never be on the same side as a dark elf! They are dark creatures! And everyone knows that the Church of Light hate dark creatures the most."

"The Church of Light? I'm from the Church of Light?"

I turned the words over and over in my head. 'The Church of Light'. 'The Church of Light' and 'holy knights' certainly seemed to ring a bell, so perhaps it was true.

Yuna nodded and explained, "Your holy light is very strong. Only priests from the Church of Light could have such strong holy light, so it's not possible for you to be a priest from the other churches. But I wonder what you are doing here."

"Here?" I asked confusedly. "Where is here?"

"This is the country of Kissinger, the Church of Chaos's territory! The Church of Light in Forgotten Echo is quite a long distance from here. You would have to walk towards north for five days before you can even reach the borders of Forgotten Echo!"

I nodded my head in comprehension. 'Kissinger' sounded foreign to me, so I'm probably not from around here. And 'the Church of Chaos' didn't sound any more familiar either; not as familiar as the Church of Light, at least.

I turned to Yuna and asked, "Then, Yuna, are you a priest from the Church of Chaos?"

"Of course not. I'm from the Church of War," she replied impatiently. "If I were from the Church of Chaos we wouldn't have needed your help back then in the first place."

What did that mean?

I quieted down, not wishing to ask again. Even if Yuna did answer me, it would only raise more questions. Besides, it's not like I really care about which church she's from. All I want to know is - who the hell am I?!

I would be pleased with even just a name.

Creus! You cannot escape, you can never escape……

I paused. I do remember hearing this when I was startled awake earlier, and the first word – 'Creus' sounds like a name…… Could it be my name?

Just then, Yuna said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I forgot that you had forgotten everything. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"It's quite alright."

I came to when I heard Yuna's apology. I then said to the four gathered before me, "Seeing as I do have companions, it should be alright. I mean, they're sure to come looking for me, right?"

They looked at each other before Yuna said delicately, "I don't think so. It's already been ten days, yet no one has come for you."

"Ten days?" I blinked before turning to the archer. "Caecilia, didn't you say that I had completely healed within three days?"

"Yup!" Caecilia shrugged her shoulders and said, "But after your wounds had healed, you continued to sleep for another seven days! We were so worried; we had no idea what to do! We couldn't just leave you behind, in your unconscious state, but we had used up all of our money on your medical bills and desperately needed to take up a few jobs--"

"Caecilia!" Yuna hurriedly cut her off.

However, Caecilia refused to be stopped. "But it's true!" she shouted, "We should be frank with him about our situation and have him help us out with the jobs! If not if we were to continue on like this we'll soon be without a roof over our heads!"

"Caecilia!" Walter said sharply. That seemed to stop her. Walter then turned to me and said apologetically, "I hope you can forget about what Caecilia said. We should have helped you without asking anything in return. After all, if you and your companions hadn't helped us out back then we would have died in the cave."

"He's right. So don't mind what she said, she's just too reckless and headstrong," said Yuna as she shot a warning look in Caecilia's direction. The latter backed down, reluctantly.

"Creus."

"What?" They blinked at me in incomprehension.

"You guys can call me Creus. It should be my name…… I guess."

They all nodded; Caecilia even muttered my name under her breath a few times, complaining that it was hard to pronounce.

I then continued on, "According to you, I've saved you guys once, and now you have saved me, so let's call it even. No one owes anyone anything from now on."

The four of them nodded, and Igor even shouted out approvingly "Good man, Creus!"

I smiled before continuing, "As for helping you out with the assignments, I won't refuse, but I want a cut of the pay. I'll take a ten percent cut for midlevel healing and twenty percent for advanced level healing. Should you need divine spells, that'll be another ten percent – thirty percent in total."

"… …"

"Are you really a priest of the Church of Light?!" Caecilia burst out. "I thought that they're all kind and generous?"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Who knows? I've lost my memories and don't remember anything. I could be from the Church of Chaos for all I know. And besides, you'd reminded me that in my current circumstances, I have neither companions nor my memory, so I have to depend on myself for food and shelter. If I have to start earning money, isn't it better to earn more than to earn less?"

At that, the three members all glared at their archer; Caecilia, on the other hand, looked remorseful.

When she noticed her group members glaring at her, she complained, "You're not at all like your cultured and elegant appearance!"

My appearance? I asked her curiously, "What do I look like?"

Caecilia leant closer to me and answered seriously, "Beautiful long golden hair, deep blue eyes, fair skin so soft to the touch……"

Fair? What does fair mean......? Hold on! Soft to the touch? "Wait a minute! How would you know my skin is soft to the touch? You didn't touch me, did you?"

"… … Ah!"

Caecilia froze and stared at me in mortification, before hurrying to explain, "I-I couldn't help it! It was when I had to change your bandages, and when helping to dress you I would of course come into contact with your skin. And how could I avoid touching when helping to bath you, or when turning you over on your side while you were unconscious, and……"

And? There's more? It'd be easier if you just list the times where you hadn't touched me.

Damn it! I've been molested by a woman, yet I wasn't awake to enjoy it?! That's not fair! And I'm never one to let things go! I always get even!

"You have to let me touch you in return," I told her.

"Okay--"

"Caecilia!" Yuna hurriedly interrupted. "What nonsense are you talking about?!"

And Caecilia immediately changed her tune in embarrassment, "No! I mean, of course not! You big pervert!"

What a pity…… I should have requested it from her while no one was around. Judging from her reaction, Caecilia didn't seem to mind being touched. No, not at all!

Caecilia embarrassedly ducked her head down at her companions' disbelieving faces, muttering, "Well, it was 'cause he's so handsome, so I agreed without thinking…"

"Think about the holy knight in his party and you won't think he's so handsome anymore," Yuna suggested.

Caecilia looked up at the ceiling. Even though there was nothing up there, her expression turned dreamy…… or should I say, starry-eyed?

After a moment, she looked back down at me before nodding in agreement with Yuna. "She's right, you're not that handsome after all!"

…… I suddenly don't feel as enthusiastic about meeting up again with my holy knight companion.

"Yeah, that holy knight was so elegant."

This time it wasn't Caecilia who spoke, but Yuna. In a manner belying her usual composed self, she recounted excitedly, "And he's so handsome and strong, and he looked like such a perfect gentleman. His voice is deep and mature, and he was pretty generous. He didn't even try to claim credit for saving us, and even apologised for taking our kill away from us, trying to push the spoils of the kill onto us in apology. And he advised us to leave the place to avoid even more danger…… Sigh, he's just too perfect!"

It was now Yuna's turn to go off in her own world.

"And very elegant! Real elegance!" Caecilia shot me a look before shaking her head and muttering, "Not like you, who is only elegant in appearance."

I felt a little miffed at this and retorted, "He may look elegant, but he might in actuality be an arrogant and selfish person at heart!"

"Impossible!" Yuna, Caecilia, and even Igor refuted me.

I was struck speechless. Even the male Igor agreed with them. Could it be that my holy knight companion really was as handsome and mature and elegant and overall great guy as they described?

I refuse to believe there's such a person in this world!

Just then, Walter said a little hesitatingly, "To be honest, that holy knight seemed a little too perfect, and felt rather fake."

I shot a commiserating look at Walter.

"Hey, what's that look for?" Caecilia demanded exasperatedly. She had caught our shared looks of commiseration. "We're talking about your companion! Or do you not wish for your companion to be a good guy but a loser?"

Huh, she's right. It's easier to bully them when they are good guys…… Huh? What kind of thinking is this?! I'm thinking of bullying people? Could it be……that…

I'm not actually a good guy?

"That actually makes sense. Why else would my thoughts be filled with money, women and about getting even?" I mumbled.

"What was that?" Caecilia asked me in curiosity.

"Nothing. I'm just a little worried." I raised my head to look at the group in front of me, asking warily, "How would I know that you guys are not bad guys?"

"How can you say that!" Caecilia huffed at me angrily. "Of course we're the good guys! Who else would help you and stay by your side instead of going off on our assignments whilst you remain unconscious! If we really were bad guys we would have dumped you in a gutter somewhere and gone off on our separate ways!"

"You've got a point."

I beamed at her. It seemed to have a positive effect, for both Yuna and Caecilia – who had judged me to be good to look at but otherwise beyond redemption – were staring at me with stars in their eyes.

Seeing this, I felt the ruffled feathers of my manly pride soothed. "So you guys are the good guys; that's great, ohohoho……"

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Walter muttered to himself, but he was distracted by a hearty slap on his shoulder by Igor who smiled at him and said, "Walter, you're always worrying about nothing! Haven't you always wished for a priest from the Church of Light? Now that a super strong one is here what are you fretting about?"

I had overheard their exchange and quickly turned to smile at Walter, hoping to reassure him, but instead, he blinked and motioned for the rest to quiet down. He then moved over to me, raising his right hand to slowly wave it in front of me.

I grabbed his hand and asked strangely, "What are you doing?"

Walter opened and closed his mouth several times before saying, "It's just, I felt something strange. Your eyes……"

"My eyes?"

"No, it's nothing. I'm probably jumping at nothing," he said. "It just feels like you're not looking at me."

"I am looking at you." I was indeed looking at Walter. The minute shifts in his face's muscles, the circulation of his blood in his body, the regular beating of his heart; I was looking at everything quite clearly.

"I must be oversensitive."

After that, Walter didn't bring up the topic of eyes again, and instead turned to more practical issues, namely—my cut of the pay.

He bargained with me, "Let's forget about divine spells – Yuna's a warrior priest, so her divine spells are definitely stronger than yours. So as your only use to us would be in healing, twenty percent is too much. Our group's policy is to deduct twenty percent of the pay for the group's expenses before dividing the remainder between the rest of the team."

"There are six people in the team, so deducting the twenty percent and dividing the remainder among six would be…… not even fifteen percent."

'What? That won't do!' I immediately haggled, "Twenty percent isn't a lot! I remember that light priests rarely leave the Church for these things, so we should be in great demand!"

"… … Are you sure you have amnesia?"

"If you don't want to then forget about it!"

"Alright, alright! Twenty percent, it is." Walter looked a little annoyed at that concession, but he then came back with the condition: "But you will have to cast the divine spells – Holy Blessings on us!"

Holy Blessings? Do I know that? I thought about it. The words Holy Blessings sounded familiar to me, so I probably did know it. Besides, even if I didn't really know how to cast it, it's not like they're going to kick me out then, right?

"Alright--"

I replied, but was distracted by something. I turned to the door whilst asking, "Does your thief, Archie, tie his hair in a ponytail?"

"That's right! Have you remembered something?" Walter asked in surprise.

Before I could answer him, the door was kicked open. "Walter!"

"Walter! Great news! There's a big job in the city…… eh? He's awake?"

The newcomer had a head of long hair tied in a high ponytail. He was short and thin, probably reaching only to my shoulder and being even shorter than Caecilia; about the same height as Yuna. His voice, however, was a great contrast with his small build, sounding like a foghorn blasting in my ears.

This should be the party's thief – Archie.

When Archie noticed that I was awake, he quickly calmed down. "Aiyah! You're awake? That's great, we can finally take up assignments again! But then the news I had heard this morning would have been for nothing……"

"What is it?" asked Walter.

Archie shrugged as he said, "There's a pretty big mission in the city that doesn't require leaving the city, and the pay's not bad too. I was thinking of hurrying back to share it with you guys."

"Is the pay a lot? What kind of mission is it?" I asked urgently.

Archie blinked, looking at me strangely. He then turned to the rest of his group members.

Walter gave a little cough before introducing me. "This is our new member, Creus. He's a light priest and will be staying with us until his friends come looking for him."

Archie made a sound of comprehension before welcoming me. He then began to excitedly explain the task. "You guys have heard about the unicorn that was in the city recently, right?"

Everyone nodded, with me being the exception. "Unicorn?"

"Oh, right, you were still sleeping, so you wouldn't have heard about it," said Caecilia. "A few days ago a party managed to capture a unicorn! They became famous overnight after presenting the unicorn to the Adventurer Guild."

Unicorn? An unfamiliar word. That still didn't clear up my confusion. I hurriedly asked, "What's a unicorn?"

"What?!! How can you not know what a unicorn is?!" Archie exclaimed in astonishment. His voice was so loud that I could hear a ringing in my ears and I felt a migraine growing in my temple…… How could the others stand this?

I turned to look at the rest of the party; there they sat, calmly and not at all like my flustered self. As can be expected of Archie's longstanding friends, they knew him all too well…… they all had their hands over their ears.

Walter removed his hands and explained, "Creus has amnesia."

"Guh?" Archie looked as if he had stepped into a pile of dogs hit.

Walter then turned to me and explained, "The unicorns are a rare type of magical beast. They look like white horses, except that they have a pearly white horn on their forehead. It is that horn which enables the unicorns to unleash their magic. The unicorns are particularly known for their lightning magic."

Magic? I hesitated. I couldn't for the life of me explain what exactly magic was, but it sounded almost as familiar as Holy Blessings, so……perhaps I knew it too?

When I mentioned my suspicions to them, they roared in laughter.

And the loudest of them all was Caecilia. "That's impossible! You are a priest, not a mage."

Is that how it works? A shadow of doubt remained in my heart. Do I really not know magic? But if that were so, why would the term 'magic' ring a bell with me?

"Oh, stop laughing at him, he's amnesiac! You guys are very impolite to laugh at him so."

Yuna was the only one who had refrained from laughing at me, and had even spoken up to scold the others. My opinion of her immediately improved. Her comparatively lesser figure suddenly didn't seem as great a flaw as before.

She gently explained to me: "We've never seen a unicorn either, and have only heard from stories and legends that they can call forth lightning magic, but as to whether that remains fact or fiction, your guess is just as good as ours."

Archie butted in, "And everyone knows too—sorry, I mean rumours - Yuna, stop glaring at me! It's true that that's what everyone says! – rumours tell that unicorns only willingly allow pure and innocent virgins near them."

They like only virgins? Sounds just like my kind of guy…… Cough! I mean – unicorns are such perverted beasts, serves them right for getting caught!

Just then, Archie glanced sideways – well actually, all the males in the group had shot surreptitious glances too – at the only two possible candidates for virgins – the two females in the group.

"Stop looking at me! Do you actually think I'm one?!" snapped Caecilia.

Everyone (including me) immediately shook their heads, before turning to look at the last remaining candidate – Yuna.

Yuna immediately ducked her head at the attention and turned red as a tomato, before her head gave the tiniest of shakes.

Even Yuna was no longer a virgin!

I was shocked, but saw that I was in good company. The rest, too, had dropped their mouths open in astonishment, especially Igor. The poor fellow looked as if his world had just ended before his very eyes…… looks like someone has a thing for Yuna…… oops, looks like it's even more serious than that, for even his eyes had started to redden in sorrow and anguish.

But it would seem that the rest were already aware of Igor's affections, for I was the only one to show surprise at his reaction; even Yuna hadn't looked the slightest bit surprised. I was the only one who had a shred of sympathy for him, it seemed, and when I moved forward to give him a consoling pat on the arm, he looked back at me in gratitude…… and made to bury himself in my arms and cry out his sorrow! Thank goodness for my fast reflexes! I successfully evaded him.

Archie heaved a sigh in disappointment. "Sigh, what a pity. After the unicorn's escape last night, the Adventurer Guild is now offering a reward of five hundred gold coins for its recapture."

I paused at that, before rushing forward in a flurry of motion and grabbed his shirt. "What did you say?!" I shouted.

Archie stuttered in shock, "W-what a pity…-"

"After that!"

"The unicorn escaped last night!" he continued quickly.

I growled at him.

Archie stared at me in disbelief. It wasn't merely because of my growl (though it was rather intimidating, if I do say so myself), but mostly because I had lifted him up by his shirt, his feet having left the ground and paddling in the air.

"A reward of five hundred gold coins will be rewarded to the one who manages to capture the unicorn!" he finished quickly.

Five hundred gold coins!

I let him down and began calculating. Twenty percent of five hundred gold coins would be – a hundred gold coins! All I need to do to get a hundred gold coins in my purse is to catch that darned pervert horse!

I immediately turned to the others and roared, "Alright! We're taking this mission!"

They stared at me. "But-but, we don't have a virgin……" Walter managed to say after a moment.

I smirked. "Don't we? Then how about we just go grab one instead?"

 

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