Chapter 56
(Stefan’s Perspective)
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When Layla, held in front by Raiga, clasped her hands and prayed, a faint white wall of light formed, surrounding us.
The unicorn rabbit, charging toward us with its two long, sharp front teeth shining, was pushed back by the light.
If it’s like t
is… we can do it!
“Raiga!”
At the signal of my voice, we started running toward Sonya.
“Stefan! Raiga!”
Sonya, startled to see us suddenly appear, shouted in surprise.
“Why… are you here…?”
“Sonya, long time no see! Keep it burning! We’re coming!”
We scattered the rabbits with the wall of light and headed toward her. Even the flames she was casting were overcome by Layla’s prayer wall.
“That child…! And Jean too…”
Sonya gasped when she saw the swordsman strapped to Raiga’s back. She stopped chanting and lowered her staff, extinguishing the fire. Layla continued muttering her prayers, hands clasped. The unicorn rabbits’ heads with horns were repelled by the thin wall of light, their fangs bouncing off.
Unicorn rabbits are extremely ferocious monsters. If you approach their territory, they attack with sharp fangs and swift movements.
Even so, a handful—four or five—aren’t monsters that would trouble a beginner adventurer. But the ones in front of us now easily numbered over a hundred. Moreover, their blood-red eyes were full of anger; they were not in a normal state.
…We could scatter them and run, but leaving them be would be bad.
If other adventurers entered the mountains, it could be disastrous. Worst-case, they might descend the mountains and head toward villages or towns.
…We’ll have to burn them all at once.
I took a bottle from my pack and spoke to Sonya.
“Sonya, when this bottle breaks, I’ll need you to use your specialty—explosion magic.”
“Huh… what’s that?”
“Highly flammable fuel. I’m counting on you.”
Then I whispered to Layla, who was still praying.
“Layla, it’s going to be loud, but keep praying until I tap your shoulder.”
I swung the bottle high and threw it into the center of the rabbit herd. Sonya quickly readied her staff and cast the spell.
Boom!
The explosion engulfed our vision in flames, swirling through the rabbits. Raiga stepped forward, holding Layla while still carrying Jean. I lifted Sonya and, protected by Layla’s wall of prayer, leapt out of the swirling fire. Thick black smoke filled the area, making us cough.
“It’s okay now. Thank you.”
I tapped Layla’s shoulder after emerging from the fire vortex. She stopped praying, blinked, and stared at the scene before her, dumbfounded.
“It’s burning!”
“Yes, it is.”
“Should I put it out?”
“That would help.”
When she prayed again, the fire vanished with a hissing sound, leaving only smoke behind. What remained were the charred skeletons of countless unicorn rabbits.
“—Amazing.”
Sonya let out a voice of disbelief. Usually proud as a talented magician, it was rare for her to react with such admiration. I nodded along, silently acknowledging it.
—At first, I wondered if something was wrong with Layla’s prayer when she couldn’t calm the rabbits, but—she really did calm the flames and protect us with that wall.
“All the rabbits were taken out with that fire…? Was that also your magic, Sonya?”
“Yes.”
When I answered, Layla’s eyes shone.
“Magic… Sonya’s magic… it’s incredible…”
“…Well, I guess.”
Sonya pulled her robe’s hood over her head, pressed the sides with her hands, and muttered softly:
“I’m skilled with fire magic. I skipped grades at a prestigious magical academy in the Magic City. I’m a capable magician.”
She added that while keeping her hood on and looking down: “…Well, I guess.”
“Stefan, treat this one,” Raiga said, setting Jean down from his back. His injuries were severe, but he didn’t seem in life-threatening danger. I took a cloth from my pack, wrapped the bite wound, and applied minor healing magic to close the worst of it.
“I’ve given first aid, but once we get back to town, he’ll need to stay in a clinic for a while.”
“—Thank you—”
Feeling less pain and more alert, Jean spoke haltingly.
“Is Sonya… safe…?”
“She’s safe, safe…! …Ugh…”
Sonya, holding her hood, sobbed to her knees.
“—I’m so glad Jean is safe too… I thought we were going to die…”
She then looked around at us, crouched down, and whispered:
“Thank you for coming… ugh… waaaah…”
Perhaps the tension finally broke. I considered tapping her shoulder, but decided to watch. After sniffling for a while, she stood up straight and said to Jean:
“—Well, if you hadn’t been alone from the start, you wouldn’t have been cornered like that!”
—Looks like her emotions have stabilized. Good.
“What happened? Can you tell me in detail?”
Sonya seemed calmer, so I asked, and they exchanged glances before answering.
“Jean was trying to dig a hole to drop the magical herb… then, a unicorn rabbit jumped out from the ground, dragging Jean into the hole.”
“Sonya attacked with magic, and he somehow climbed out… but then more of them came out of the ground, all heading toward Sonya… she told me to run, so I did, and fortunately, I met you two.”
“From underground… so many legless unicorn rabbits…”
I repeated their words mentally.
Unicorn rabbits do make burrows in the ground, but usually only one family of five or six lives in a burrow. There’s no way so many would be in one hole. And legless…
A new species? —No.
“Maybe another illegal monster trade.”
After the dragon eggs… what on earth is happening recently?
“Illegal trade?”
Layla tilted her head.
“Unicorn rabbit legs are sold for high prices. For charms of luck, safe childbirth charms, or as materials for magical tools. —Someone might have bred unicorn rabbits in bulk for materials, cut off their legs, and buried the rest of the body in holes without properly disposing of them.”
—Or perhaps they didn’t finish them off, leaving them legless and buried. Thinking about it made me feel sick, so I fell silent for a moment.
“…But this area has a lot of magical herbs, so there’s a lot of magic underground… they probably resurrected as ghouls, and Jean found them while digging. If monster corpses aren’t disposed of properly, they can turn into even more violent [ghouls].”
When monsters are mistreated by humans, they can become ghouls, growing more aggressive and dangerous. We call all highly magical and harmful animals [monsters], but they are still animals. While it’s unavoidable to exterminate them when they harm people or for magical research, needlessly torturing them is wrong. Even I make sure to strike a killing blow or end them in one attack when slaying monsters.
“—What a pain.”
I muttered, feeling the weight of the situation.
