In a Different World with a Smartphone Chapter 406: Unicorn, and the Sacred Horn.

"A phoenix's tail, a holy dragon's tear, a sacred white snake's molted skin, and a unicorn's horn…"

"Yeah. Mix them into the fertilizer. Just like how our opponent slowly acclimated his body to the Godslaying Poison, we'll slowly let this sapling… The 'Sacred Tree' take in the essence of things with purifying powers and condense them inside."

Kousuke ojii was gazing at a sapling, roughly 20cm tall, growing out of the ground in front of him.

"Basically, we let it take in the powers of those commonly known as holy beasts. The power of us divines are no good since they're stronger, which means the Godslaying Poison will react that much stronger to it; the power of Kohaku's group, the divine beasts aren't good due to that as well."

"Sounds like a difficult thing to balance, isn't it."

If we give it too much divine power, then this tree would become something similar to a god's dependant. If that happened, forget purifying the Godslaying Poison, it would just receive an even stronger effect from it and wither up instantly.

I can understand that all the materials asked for are ones with purifying effects. The phoenix is an existence that revives itself perpetually, and the unicorn is said to have healing powers. If the "Sacred Tree" manages to take those in, it should be strengthened nicely.

However, the fact that they're holy beasts are somewhat troublesome.

They're not magic beasts. Which is to say, they're not existences that would bring harm to humans. They have a high level of intelligence, and are capable of communicating with people.

Long story short, there's no way we can simply go and subjugate them to obtain the necessary materials. We'll have to negotiate with them and have them give those up willingly.

"We should be fine with the holy dragon, the sacred white snake and the phoenix. There's a holy dragon in Ruli's subordinates, and the sacred white snake and the phoenix should be

good if we let Sango and Kokuyou as well as Kougyoku talk to them. The problem is the unicorn…"

"Fumu. What about Kohaku-kun? Even if it's a holy beast, it's still part of the animal spectrum. Can't she do something about it?"

"Well, they apparently have very bad compatibility with each other… It seems like it'll definitely turn into a fight the moment they meet. From Kohaku: 'Something like that can just get hunted for all I care!', was what she said."

"Ah, that'll be bad. If we killed it, the unicorn's negative emotions like lingering regrets and hatred will corrupt the horn, and the precious purifying power we wanted would be all but gone from it. That would make the whole endeavor meaningless."

Unicorns live in a special forest in the Great Sea of Trees. It's a place cut off from the outside world, and no one can enter easily. Well, I can probably get in easily though.

I mean, I do have a friendly relationship with the Rauli Tribe, the current "Tribe of Treelord" which rules over the Great Sea of Trees, after all.

The problem is that unicorns don't let men approach them, I suppose. To be exact, they only allow unsullied maidens to approach them. Which means that even if you're a woman, if you're not a virgin then you won't be able to touch a unicorn.

They apparently are pretty ferocious and temperamental; if the opponent is a man or a non- virgin woman then they'll attack them mercilessly, and if they're caught they would make their own horns decay and fall off, and end their own life. Just how much do you hate them…

Anyway, they're troublesome creatures to deal with.

"Well, I'll try to gather them somehow."

"Yes. I leave it to you. If we can gather them, we should be able to finally finish the 'Sacred Tree' that can purify the Godslaying Poison."

Now then. I'm gonna need helpers…

I hope everyone doesn't back away from this.

"A unicorn-degozaru ka…"

"So a woman-loving perverted horse, right? Leave it to us."

You're saying some very harsh words there, Elze. The holy beast's stocks are falling faster and faster…

Since we cannot obtain a unicorn's horn by hunting it, we'll have to negotiate with it to receive the horn. As it would show enmity to men and non-virgin women, only pure maidens can take on that role.

…I'll say this upfront, but I havn't done something as stupid as asking everyone "You girls are all virgins, right?" to their faces, okay?

With the ulterior motive that seeing more girls would probably make the unicorn feel better and aid in our negotiations, we came to the Great Sea of Trees with me bringing along the entire fiancée group.

The Rauli Tribe that ruled over the Great Sea of Trees currently. I've properly received permission from their matriarch, Pam, to enter the forest where the unicorns lived.

"Can we communicate with the unicorn?"

"According to Kohaku, we're good on that front. Holy beasts have a high intelligence, so they can speak the language of humans, and also communicate properly with us."

I answered Hilda's question. Well, in this case, because of their high intellect they start to stubbornly hold onto some weird ideals, which creates a problem for us.

"I've talked with a unicorn several times before but… It was pretty biased, you know? Its attitude changes 180 degrees depending on the other side. It would treat pure maidens almost like a knight would, but to any other woman it would go so far as to continuously curse at them, after all."

"You serious?"

I'm a bit fed up upon hearing the information from Leen. If it's like that to other women, who knows what kind of thing it may do to men like me?

"How do you think it judges purity?"

"Dunno… Smell?"

"Somehow, that feels terrible…"

Luu made an unpleasant face as she listened to Linze and Sakura's conversation.

Smell, huh; I wonder if it's something like pheromones. It judges whether you're pure or not by smelling those… In either case it's still a perverted behaviour, yeah.

"Oh? Touya, it's a spring-ja. Looks pretty-ja no."

As we proceeded further into the forest, we found a spring in a wide open space. The sight of the spring with its crystal clear waters has a mysticism to it that reminded me of the "cenote" of the Yucatan Peninsula.

"Touysan, look… That."

"A unicorn…"

At the place where Yumina was pointing at, a single unicorn was drinking from the spring.

It looks just like a white horse. However, there's a long spiral-shaped horn growing out of its forehead. That's the objective that we have to obtain this time.

"I guess it's best if I don't approach any more than this."

"Right. It's already being wary of you. It's not stupid enough to not understand the difference in strength though, so as expected, it's not coming to attack you."

Just like Leen said, the unicorn had stopped drinking water and looked in our direction. Wait, its eyes look kinda evil!? It feels like I'm being glared at by delinquents or something.

"Tch."

It clicked its tongue!? It clicked its tongue just now, didn't it!? Can unicorns even click their tongues!?

"Somehow, it's different from what I imagined-degozaru na…" "Yeah. It feels like a bad person somewhat…?"

Yae and Hilda looked at each other and furrowed their brows.

"I guess it means not all unicorns are the same. So, who should go?"

"It's a bit awkward for some reason-degozaru na… How about Luu-dono-degozaru?" "Eh? Me?"

"Sounds good, doesn't it? You're a princess too, so it might be even better."

After being pushed on by Elze and Yae, Luu became the first one to head out. Luu slowly approached the unicorn who's standing on the edge of the spring.

The unicorn didn't move its eyes off Luu, who had arrived in front of it, and kept glaring at her. It looked completely like a delinquent had his eyes on her.

"G-good day. I am called Lucia. Could I talk with you for…"

In reaction to Luu who called out to the unicorn with a smile, it moved itself to the side as if to dodge her.

…Eh?

When Luu circled around to where the unicorn is, it moved itself back to its original position. And when Luu chased after it, it moved to the side again. It's clearly avoiding Luu no matter how you look at it.

"Umm…!"

"Don't get close to me."

The unicorn spoke for the first time. We froze in place when we heard it. The unicorn was said to only prefer pure maidens, and would only warm up to them. The fact that such an existence rejected her means—

"It, it's not like that okay!?"

Raising a loud voice, Luu came running this way. She has a very desperate-looking face on her. There's a bit of tears in her eyes as well.

"I, I'm pure! I would never do anything like that with anyone other than Touysama! Please believe me!"

"I, I understand, okay. Un. First, calm down."

I mean, forget people other than me, even I havn't done anything yet. I'm actually panicking a bit due to how desperate Luu's face is.

"… What could this mean?"

As I was comforting Luu, Yumina who's next to her tilted her head.

"Yuminsan! Is even Yuminsan suspecting my chasteness!?"

"Ah, no, not that. For the unicorn to avoid you even though you're a maiden… It's weird, isn't it?"

True. Of course, there's no doubt at all in my heart about the pureness of Luu who's clinging onto me with tears in her eyes. In that case, the strange one here can only be the unicorn.

"Could it be that she wasn't its preferred type? Then the opposite… Right, Yae, you go this time."

"Leen-dono… There's something concerning about the way you said that-degozaru na…"

After staring at Leen for a bit, Yae headed off towards the unicorn.

However, the unicorn avoided Yae as well, and dodged the hand that she tried to touch it with.

When Yae became peeved and clung onto the unicorn, once again, it let out some unbelievable words to her.

"Don't touch me. You reek of men."

"It, it's not like that okay-degozaru yo!?"

Just like Luu earlier, Yae ran towards me while crying. And like Luu, she clung onto me after flying at me like she was tackling me.

"I would never, with another man! Never!"

"Ah, I know, I get it. It's probably talking about me, I guess."

Seems like that unicorn is a pretty serious clean freak. It doesn't seem like it'll permit any trace of a man's existence nearby.

Still, we have to at least tell it about our situation.

"I'll go next."

"Sakura? Will it be fine?"

"Fine. I don't care what it says to me. I'll just tell it what we want."

While humming, Sakura approached the unicorn. It seems like the unicorn was interested in Sakura's song as well, as it doesn't show any sign of trying to escape. There's also the fact that Sakura stopped and stood still at a distance farther away compared to Luu and Yae's attempts.

When she finished a tune, Sakura came out and directly told it our request.

"We want your horn. Hand it over."

"Keh. And I thought someone decent is here, but you're just looking for the gold? You gonna offer it to that man behind you or something?"

If you crush a unicorn's horn to powder and ingest it, it's said to be able to heal any kind of disease. Due to that, a unicorn's horn had always been traded at very high prices since old. It can't be helped if we were thought to be someone like that too.

Still, I'm beginning to get pissed at that unicorn. That guy, just because we havn't done anything, he's saying whatever he wants to Sakura. Who the hell does he think he is?

"… Should we just kill that stupid horse-degozaru ka? If we cut its neck before it could feel anything like hate or regrets, wouldn't the horn stay pure?"

As if representing my feelings, Yae muttered under her breath.

Well, wait on that. We'll save it as the final option. Going straight to killing it is a bit bad, as expected.

"Well, long story short. It's troublesome because we're currently 'asking the unicorn to give its horn to us'."

"And what are you going to do?"

"Just make it so that the unicorn would 'ask us to take its horn'."

Let's just give up on approaching that unicorn passively like that. We just need to break its horn while it's feeling good, right? If so, I've got all the methods I could ever need.

Kukuku… You rotten unicorn, prepare to meet heaven.

"That face is as evil as always-degozaru na…"

"He's thought of something cruel, right? It's what always happens."

Yae and Elze are saying something, but I'll ignore them.

I called Sakura back, and went up towards the unicorn myself this time.

The unicorn's gaze leveled up from the stare of a delinquent. It's now glaring at me with what could only be called eyes filled with hatred.

"You do seem like you hate men a lot."

"Aa? Don't talk to me, you idiot. This great me hates harem bastards like you the most. You put your smell on those girls like they're yours, and you don't even do it with them? You showing off that composure or something, you son of a bitch!? I hope you fall into hell!"

For an instant, I worried about the fact that we're using this guy's horn for the purifying "Sacred Tree". Isn't he pretty corrupted?

Well, whatever. Let's start the operation.

"[Prison]."

"Wh-!?"

I set up a roughly 2m-wide prison around the unicorn. With this, it can no longer escape.

"The hell are you doing!? Let me out! If you don't, this horn of mine will decay and fall off, you know! Is that fine with you!? Huh!?"

"Well, calm down. I'll be calling your favorite maidens here after all."

"What?"

"[In the name of the Spirit King. Come forth, O Spirits]. Summon!"

Inside the [Prison], three beautiful girls appeared. They're all flawless young maidens who look like they're in their early teens. I'm repeating myself, but all three of them are stunning beauties.

"Uhoo!?"

The unicorn made a joyous sound. This damn lecher horse. Do enjoy your short stay in paradise.

"I'll call even more out. There."

Beauties of different types than the first three appeared one by one inside the [Prison]. One of the girls put her arms around the unicorn's neck and made it sit down forcefully, before the other girls all pressed onto it.

"Uhyohyohyohyo! They don't smell like men! They're without a doubt top-quality maidens! This is amazing!"

With the increasing number of spirits appearing inside the [Prison], the unicorn was jam- packed at the center. However, the aforementioned unicorn had a full-faced smile and looked satisfied.

Taking this opportunity, I started the negotiation.

"How is that? If you give me your horn, I'll let you play with those girls for a whole day inside there, you know?"

"One day? Hah, make it three. Three days. Or else I'm not doing it."

"Tch, what a greedy guy. I got it, three days it is. In exchange, I'll have the horn up front. Don't worry, I'll uphold my promise."

I set the [Prison] to only allow the unicorn's horn to pass out, and cut the horn off cleanly with Brunhild. It's a horn the unicorn presented to me willingly. As such, there's not a speck of impurity in it. I should've done this from the beginning.

"You better protect your end of the bargain. Nothing like these girls disappearing midway, okay."

"Don't worry about it. Sorry guys, but play with that unicorn for three days inside there. Ah, it's fine if you guys returned to your original appearances already."

""""Yessir!""""

"Eh?"

The unicorn leaked out a dumb-sounding voice when it heard the deep voices the "beautiful girls" around it let out.

The maidens surrounding the unicorn began transforming into macho young men and ripped uncles one by one. Being surrounded by a sea of beautiful male bodies that wouldn't be weird if they belonged to bodybuilders, the unicorn had its jaws hanging wide open while snot dripped out of its nostrils.

"Wh, wh, what the hell is thisss—ss!?"

What is that? Well, they're the dependants of the macho old man, the spirit of stone, overflowing with male bodily beauty. They're all spirits representing the rugged minerals and ores of this world. Manly, aren't they?

It's obvious that they don't smell like men. Spirits don't have any smell anyway. Also, when they appear in the human realm due to the Spirit King's, my summoning, I can freely change their appearance to whatever I want.

"Ah, I'll also send in some alcohol, food and snacks. Have all the skinship you want with that guy."

I transferred some wine barrels and food into the [Prison]. Gotta make the macho three-day holiday the best one it can be. The spirits were all "Uooooo! It's a party!" and cheering. The unicorn, on the other hand, had all sorts of things flowing down its face, like tears and saliva and snot. Disgusting.

"Wa, wait! It's fine with the promise! Just let me out! Hiiiii, the muscles! The sweat!"

"Hahaha. Don't act so reserved. You can have a feel of the happiness that is being surrounded by men as much as you want. I'll pass on that, though."

"Ahh! Wait! The machos, the machos are! Ahiiiiiii! Don't touch me, don't grip me!"

"Serves you right."

I left the place without turning my head back once. Yumina and the others were looking at me with very complicated expressions, but I got the horn, so all's well that ends well.

Afterwards, I heard from the matriarch of the Rauli Tribe, Pam, about the appearance of a weird unicorn with different fur color who does not approach women at all, but rather warm up to macho men instead.

It must have found its own happiness.

Of course, I pretended to not know anything about it.

- Pixel

Chapter end