Chapter 62: Guardians of the World
“?!”
Jin reacted instantly to the pressure he felt behind him and reflexively spun around.
On the rocky mound beyond the vine monster they had just defeated, where nothing had existed just moments earlier, it now stood.
Atop the rocky rise, staring straight at them, was a creature shaped like a horse nearly twice the size of a normal one.
But it was no mere giant horse—an ivory horn extended straight from its forehead.
Its mane shimmered in silver-white light as it swayed, and its deep blue eyes held a profound, intelligent glow.
It was both graceful and powerful, yet the aura it radiated had an unmistakably wild edge.
“A unicorn…”
Jin murmured in awe, captivated by its fierce yet beautiful form.
The common image of a unicorn was an elegant, sacred being that protected maidens.
But the creature before Jin dwarfed those tales in both size and presence.
Even if the impression it gave was different, the underlying beauty was unmistakably the same.
A few seconds later, Jin finally snapped back to reality and hurriedly stored the weapon in his hand into Infinite Storage. But Aria and the others behind him were still frozen in shock, blankly staring at the unicorn.
“Everyone, put your weapons away!”
His shout finally snapped them out of it, and the three of them quickly stored their weapons.
After confirming that, Jin turned back to the unicorn and addressed it.
“My name is Jin. These are Aria, Erza, and Rachel. Do you have business with us?”
He had no idea what this being was, but although it was clearly wary, it also wasn’t hostile—Otherwise it would have attacked them without announcing itself or sending a message.
The fact that it revealed itself meant it wished to communicate and was rational enough to do so. Out of respect for that, Jin naturally adopted a polite tone.
The unicorn descended the rocky mound with surprising lightness for its massive body, stopping about five meters from them.
Then it spoke again—its voice echoing directly in their minds.
《Humans, this is one of the domains under my protection. I shall overlook the fact that you defeated the sentry I placed here. However, you claimed moments ago that you intended to climb further up. Is that correct?》
The unicorn’s telepathy didn’t just press on their minds; it transmitted emotion as well. What Jin felt now was something close to quiet anger.
He struggled against that pressure while desperately thinking.
That first message—“That won’t do”—made it clear that answering yes was not what the unicorn wanted. But lying wasn’t an option either. They couldn’t back down now.
“Yes. We came here to collect the Madoren Petals, which serve as a special remedy for disease.”
At Jin’s answer, the pressure bursting from the unicorn intensified explosively.
《Nonsense! Will you humans repeat your mistakes yet again?! How utterly foolish!!》
The thoughts it emitted were like a raging storm of emotion—mostly anger, but with a trace of sorrow as well.
The sheer force of that fury and pressure made Aria and the others stumble back and fall, and even Jin nearly dropped to one knee.
But giving in here would be the same as admitting that his words were nonsense. And if he did that, he could never save Airis and the other children.
Thinking that, Jin braced himself, summoned every bit of resolve, and shouted back without faltering.
“This is not a lie!!”
Having forced the words out once, Jin felt a bit lighter, and he pushed on so he wouldn’t buckle under the pressure.
“The reason we seek the Madoren Petals is because we can use them to create a medicine called Demonbane Elixir—and with it, we want to save the children suffering from Mana Fever!”
This was why they had come all the way here—to save Airis and the other children suffering from the illness.
For that purpose, Bean had provided the recipe for a forbidden medicine, Greg had granted a special exception and offered his support, Aria had accompanied them in person, and Clark was surely running around working on the children’s treatment.
Just as they had fought their way here, the children and their families were fighting their own battles.
Jin desperately conveyed his feelings, refusing to back down.
“I don’t know why you’re angry, but we seek the Madoren Petals for that reason alone. If this land is yours, then I beg you—please. Could you spare even a small amount of the petals for us?”
Thinking only of the children, Jin pleaded with all he had.
And before he noticed, the storm of raging emotion that had surrounded them earlier had quieted.
《Human. Give me your name.》
The unicorn’s pressure hadn’t lessened, but the flare of fury from before was gone. It simply questioned Jin in a calm voice.
“I am Jin, an adventurer from the city of Lientz.”
Straightening his posture, Jin met the unicorn’s gaze head-on and answered clearly.
《Jin. I understand that you desire the Madoren Petals for the sake of sick children. I do not grasp the logic behind it, but I will, for the moment, accept your claim that the petals become a cure for their illness.》
The unicorn acknowledged Jin’s explanation, at least to a degree, and continued speaking. But what came next was something Jin had never expected.
《However, Jin. Do you realize that what you are attempting could destroy the world as it is? Do you realize you are about to repeat the sins of ancient times?》
The tone was completely different than before—quiet, composed, and deeply solemn.
“No, of course not. What do you mean by that?”
World destruction? It was so far-fetched it felt absurd. He couldn’t imagine petals causing anything like that.
《Jin. Even if I tell you that you may doom the world, do you still seek the Madoren Flower? Do you possess the resolve to bear the world’s destruction upon your shoulders?》
The emotion he felt from the unicorn was absolute seriousness.
So Jin answered with equal sincerity.
“If that is what’s required to obtain the Madoren Petals, then I will accept that responsibility with resolve. And I swear—I will never allow anything that would destroy the world to happen.”
Even if the world itself might be endangered, he could never abandon Airis and the other children.
Call it selfish if one wished—Jin could never turn his back on them. Yet at the same time, he would never allow anything to threaten the world they lived in.
After Jin spoke, a brief silence passed between them.
《…You understand that words alone cannot convince me. Then—how will you show this resolve?》
“By offering anything within my power that you demand.”
“Jin-san!”
He answered instantly.
Giving the opponent complete authority over the terms might be the highest form of sincerity, but in negotiations, it was the last thing one should do.
Aria, who had held her tongue so as not to interfere, couldn’t help but shout—her voice echoing vainly through the air.
《Very well. …Then I shall take your dominant arm.》
Jin gasped sharply at the unicorn’s demand, and the three behind him let out small cries.
Losing an arm was no trivial matter, even for Jin.
For a moment, he wondered if he had failed the negotiation. But if the price fell only on himself, perhaps it wasn’t the worst possible demand.
Besides, though extremely difficult, there were healing spells capable of restoring lost limbs. Few could perform them, but the possibility of regaining his arm wasn’t zero.
Considering that a method to restore the arm did exist, Jin concluded that the demand might actually be reasonable.
Besides, even if he were to live the rest of his life with only one arm, when he compared that to a life without Airis and the others, the latter was far more unbearable.
“…Understood. But it may be a little difficult,” Jin agreed, fully prepared for the worst-case scenario.
However, there was one issue that concerned him: his body simply could not be injured.
《Are you telling me you cannot comply?》
It was only natural that the unicorn’s thoughts would turn displeased upon hearing that someone so much weaker than itself claimed that something was impossible.
But this wasn’t a matter of strength—it was simply how his body was built.
“I have been granted a blessing that prevents this body from being harmed. That is why I said it might be difficult.”
《I have lived a long time, yet I have never heard such a thing. Do you intend to distract me with nonsense? Is that your so-called resolve?》
If the unicorn said that, then the only option left was to prove it through action. And even if he did lose his arm, Jin reasoned that doing so would still serve as proof of his resolve.
“Very well. Please try it. If I lose my arm, then let that stand as proof of my resolve.”
《Still you persist… very well. I shall take your arm, then.》
The unicorn let a flicker of anger show, but recalling Jin’s conduct thus far, it suppressed its irritation.
It didn’t believe Jin’s story about a blessing, but it reconsidered—perhaps there was some reason behind his claim.
At the very least, Jin’s behavior until now had been worthy of trust.
When Jin extended his right arm, a bubble-like sphere enveloped it. A moment later, as it vanished, Jin felt a searing pain and cried out:
“Gah!!”
It was the most intense pain Jin had ever experienced.
The sleeve and gauntlet that had covered his arm had vanished, but his bare arm remained completely intact.
His missing equipment appeared at the unicorn’s feet—the unicorn had intended for Jin’s arm to be transferred in the same way.
《Impossible!?》
The unicorn could not hide its shock.
The spell it had used was a form of spatial magic—a technique that transported anything caught within the bubble to a space of the user’s choosing. It was the same magic used to bring the Vine Beast here.
By spatially transferring only Jin’s arm, the unicorn had intended to sever it.
There were other ways to do it, of course, but a spatial cut created a cleaner severance than any blade, making the healing process far easier.
After confirming Jin’s resolve, the unicorn had planned to restore him afterward, which was why it chose this method.
This spell could be resisted by someone with extremely high mana, but the unicorn’s magic was overwhelmingly superior to that of humans. Normally, a human resisting it was impossible.
Yet Jin—an ordinary human, supposedly—had endured it.
“Does this make it clear that I wasn’t lying?”
Jin said through gritted teeth, sweat beading on his forehead from the pain.
Even if his body remained unharmed, his HP still decreased, and the pain was very real. It had been brief, but the pain was intense enough to make him tremble.
Noticing his condition, Rachel hurried to Jin’s side and began casting healing magic.
《…What are you?》
If Jin were a being similar to itself, perhaps—but for a mere human to resist that spell was unthinkable. The unicorn was unsettled.
“As I said, I am just an adventurer. Well… with a few differences compared to others.”
Jin ended with a wry smile, whispered a quiet thank-you to Rachel, then straightened his posture again and addressed the unicorn.
“Apologies for the delay. Then… what should I do in exchange?”
Because his body had rendered the trial ineffective, Jin asked for a replacement.
Truthfully, he would have preferred something less painful—but refusing the trial altogether wasn’t an option.
《…That is enough. You have shown your resolve.》
With those words, the unicorn acknowledged Jin’s determination, sounding almost tired.
Even if his body bore no wounds, the fact that he had endured the pain was proof enough. That was the unicorn’s judgment.
While Jin let out a small sigh of relief, Aria and the other two stepped forward.
“Forgive our rudeness, O Sacred Beast.”
Hearing Aria use the term Sacred Beast, Jin finally realized that the unicorn before them was one of those legendary beings.
It didn’t match the illustrations from picture books, but now that it was said aloud, nothing else fit.
Unaware of Jin’s thoughts, Aria continued.
“Please grant us a trial as well!”
“Please!” “Us too!”
Following Aria, Erza, and Rachel also asked for a trial. They didn’t want Jin alone to carry the burden.
But for Jin, that was something he could not accept.
Even though he had just done something reckless, he couldn’t bear the thought of them taking on a burden because of him.
He was grateful they had respected his decision earlier, but the reverse, standing by quietly, was something he just couldn’t do.
Perhaps that was one of Jin’s weaknesses.
“No, that’s—”
《Enough.》
The unicorn cut Jin off and answered Aria and the others directly.
《I understand your resolve as well. And how desperately you all seek the Madoren Petals.》
After pausing for a moment, the unicorn continued, its voice more serious than ever.
《What I am about to tell you must never be spoken to anyone. Not even to your closest family. Swear that you will keep this secret.》
For Jin and the others, such a vow was only natural at this point—but that only emphasized how grave the matter must be.
““““We swear!””””
All four answered instantly—not out of reflex, but fully aware that what they were about to hear involved the fate of the world.
《Very well.》
Satisfied, the unicorn began to reveal the secret.
《Then let me ask you first, Jin. Do you know the other name of the Madoren Flower?》
“No, I do not.”
《And you girls?》
Aria and the others shook their heads just like Jin.
《Its other name… is the Mana-Draining Flower.》
The unicorn spoke the name heavily.
《It is so called because it absorbs excess magic power flowing through the air, stores it in its petals, and releases it into the earth. And this flower is one of the reasons this world nearly collapsed in the distant past.》
Thus began the explanation—of the world’s structure, and a history long forgotten.
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