Bear School Astartes

The world also has legends of unicorns, but they carry the distinctive flavor of this world, which is ’dark fairy tales’.

Long ago, the legends of unicorns were not that different from what Lann imagined.

Noble and beautiful sacred creatures, attracted to pure virgins, fleeing in fear upon sensing the malice in human hearts, and so on.

But later...

Rumor has it that in a past too distant to verify, girls discovered that unicorns indeed, as the legends said, would defenselessly rest their heads on the laps of pure maidens and fall asleep.

Subsequently, the maidens exploited this.

They remained chaste for long periods, maintaining their purity to lure unicorns closer, facilitating hunters’ capture of them.

It is said that the hunters offered generous pay for this task. Thus, many women, for the sake of this job, remained virgins for life.

”However, this trick was soon exposed, and unicorns thereafter only approached young girls, completely ignoring the older ones.

As wise creatures, unicorns undoubtedly realized that maintaining virginity for years was highly suspicious, as it defies natural laws.”

This is how it was explained in the book Lann read.

But the Lady of the Lake’s version seemed more credible.

”The strongest ability of unicorns is their power to travel through time and space, but their combat capabilities are not strong. And as for their appearance... most of the ’for practical use’ unicorn dolls on the market today are quite accurate.”

Lann nodded, indicating his understanding.

He turned his head and glanced at the qilin curiously nibbling away on the Lake Lady’s throne made of waves.

This qilin’s lightning could even cause a thunderstorm, but it neither traversed time and space nor sensed human hearts.

It could only be said that the creatures in the magic world are surprisingly powerful in odd functionalities.

”And you, Lann...”

Suddenly, the lady’s tone shifted, and simultaneously her palm tenderly caressed the Demon Hunter’s face.

Lann looked up, meeting her gentle and serene gaze.

”I’m pleased that you have found inner peace compared to when you left.”

Lann smiled slightly, an expression of relief and ease appeared on his face, causing even the lady to momentarily lose her composure.

”I found a nice place and a group of nice friends. It’s a good remedy for the soul.”

The lady’s expression stiffened for a moment, but soon she returned to her natural demeanor.

With a nonchalant demeanor, she retracted her arm and gestured towards the plush ball and the qilin.

A soft golden glow flickered and gently fell upon them.

The sensation should be quite comforting.

The plush ball instinctively propped its hands on the ground, striking a cat-like stretch. The qilin did something similar.

”They clearly do not adapt well to Chaos Magic Power.”

In Lann’s puzzled gaze, the Lady of the Lake spoke while curling her hair around her finger.

”Their bodies have never encountered Chaos Magic Power, which isn’t a bad thing. So I’ve made it so that they can’t sense the Chaos Magic Power spread throughout this world, nor can the Chaos Magic Power sense them.”

”It seems... it really does feel more relaxed, meow!”

Lann looked down at the plush ball, and the little cat, a bit uncertain, bounced a bit, closing its eyes to sense the change.

”Thank you, my lady.”

The Lady of the Lake nonchalantly waved her hand.

”Should you be on your way?”

”Indeed, but perhaps during this interval, I might return one more time.”

Lann took out the Elf Beacon and showed it to the lady.

”I think it’s time to try it out.”

”It seems your lover truly possesses extraordinary talent.” The lady glanced at the Elf Beacon and seemed to understand its modifications.

”When she came to find me, I was a bit surprised.”

This must have been Margaret’s first meeting with the Lady of the Lake.

Lann suddenly realized this.

Instinctively, he quickly shifted the topic.

”By the way... how did you contact Queen Aisne at that time?”

”For us, contacting each other is never difficult. The difficult part is that beings like us long ago lost interest in mutual contact.”

As the lady spoke, she looked seriously at Lann again.

”But I must remind you once more. If it weren’t for that Ancient Deer-headed Spirit originally coming from here, and Aisne having considerable control over it, transmitting power across worlds would be difficult, even for me.”

This sort of temporary assistance is rare and not to be expected as regular, and the Lady of the Lake did not want Lann to take such unstable support as standard, thereby letting down his guard.

But it was just a mention, as she knew very well that Lann wasn’t someone who would become complacent due to temporary success.

After bidding farewell to the lady, Lann started to worry about how to get the qilin aboard the ship.

Although it was no longer discharging electricity, earlier it had probably been a bit tense after arriving in the magic world, being stimulated by the diffused Chaos Magic Power, causing the static discharge.

But even without the electrical issue, this creature was still over four meters long, standing over two and a half meters tall at the shoulder.

A fishing boat wasn’t equipped to carry such a creature.

Finally, Lann sighed and gave up on the fishing boat.

He hoisted the plush ball onto the back of the qilin.

The little cat on the qilin’s back wiggled uncertainly, torn between excitement and fear.

”Alright, we’ll have to rely on you yet again.”

The demon hunter patted the qilin’s neck from the side.

Though qilins looked like horses, they could cross the ocean from the old continent to the new one.

The Vizima Lake before them was just a ’small puddle’, and Lann’s hesitation was because... the appearance of both the qilin and himself was too conspicuous.

”Whoosh!”

The qilin shook its head, its pale mane flying in the air like white flames.

From the transformed [Yakxi Rune] came the will of an ancient dragon: ”Couldn’t you say that sooner?”

The qilin’s hooves stepped on the water, each step creating a web-like pattern of lightning.

Lann couldn’t quite discern the principle at work, but this creature could indeed walk on water.

Under the qilin’s powerful strides, they quickly crossed the distance from Black Seagull Island to the dark waters.

”Screech!”

The hooves that emitted web-like lightning touched the land by the shore, producing a burst of sound.

Originally, Lann didn’t have anything left in the inn at Dark Waters from his trip to Black Seagull Island.

So he really had no reason to stay in this village.

The only reason the qilin had come here was because it was the nearest point to the shore, and after patting the qilin’s neck, he prepared to head towards Velen.

But just as man, cat, and qilin were about to turn and leave, Lann suddenly pulled on the mane around the qilin’s neck.

Making it turn its head back from where it was already inclined.

While the qilin sniffed in confusion, Lann looked at the village not far away and let out a gentle chuckle.