The kittens had grown quite large; I wondered if I would eventually have to bring in a male cat from somewhere.
I mused over such thoughts as I swung my hoe in the Great Tree Dungeon. I had discovered that, regardless of the season on the surface, crops would grow just fine underground even in the dead of winter. I had maintained small plots in the dungeon before, but I decided it was time to make the operation more official.
I formally named the area the Dungeon Field. My primary crops there were bean sprouts, though I also grew white asparagus and various mushrooms. Unlike the fields above ground, I established a rule that anyone living within the dungeon was free to eat whatever they liked. Bean sprouts have a rapid harvest cycle and don’t stay fresh for long, so it was better to let those on-site consume them as needed.
Fortunately, the Earth Dragon was quite fond of them. Thanks to its appetite, we never had to worry about the harvest being delayed or the sprouts overgrowing and rotting. Despite the dragon looking like a purebred carnivore, it seemed perfectly happy with its vegetarian diet. As long as it was satisfied, I didn't see any reason to complain. I even considered expanding the dungeon’s bean sprout fields a bit more.
Then, a strange situation cropped up.
One of the long-time residents of the Ranch Area, a stallion, had a mate and several children of his own. His offspring were of a decent age now, and while it didn't happen every year, he had sired a fair number of colts and fillies. The mystery began when an unfamiliar horse was found snuggling up to the horse’s eldest child—the Eldest Son Colt—who was already as large as an adult.
The beastman girl who managed the ranch came to me with the report.
"That is a beautiful, pure white horse," I remarked.
"It certainly is," she agreed.
"What about the gender? Is it a female?" I recalled that the horse's eldest was a male.
"It’s a female. We should probably assume they’ve naturally become a pair."
"Is there a problem, then?"
"We just don't know where she came from."
"Isn't she just a wild horse?"
She flatly rejected that idea. I wondered if the horse had a stray tag, but if she did, we would already know her origins.
I spent some time asking around the village, but no one knew anything. The beastman girl’s leading theory—that someone had brought the horse from Village Five—was debunked by both Yoko and the Saint. Arako the Arachne, the Teleportation Gate Manager Asa, and his apprentice Futa all confirmed that no horse had passed through the gate, so she hadn't snuck in that way either.
My own best guess was that Dos, Draim, or perhaps Progenitor-san had brought it and let it loose without telling anyone, but they all denied it.
The horse's true identity was eventually revealed when Draim caught sight of her.
"That," Draim said simply, "is a unicorn."
"A unicorn? You mean the ones with horns?"
Apparently, while the males have horns, the females do not, making them nearly impossible to distinguish from ordinary horses. Draim, however, could tell the difference by the specific shape of the creature's magic power.
So, it was a unicorn. It turned out my initial guess was correct—she was a wild animal. The beastman girl apologized for her earlier certainty, but I just laughed it off. There was no way she could have known it was a wild unicorn.
Still, I had always thought unicorns were an all-male species. "How do they reproduce, then?" I asked.
It was a valid question. As it turned out, unicorns do have both males and females. The legend that male unicorns only touch "untainted maidens" was apparently nothing more than a superstition.
"However," Draim added, "it is a fact that male unicorns are incredibly lecherous."
"Is that so?"
"Indeed. Look, right over there..."
A pure white horse with a single horn was currently chasing one of our younger colts around. The one being pursued was the stallion’s second child—the Eldest Daughter Colt.
Wait, that meant...
"Hey!"
Before I could even move, the father horse charged in and tackled the unicorn. It was an impressive strike. The two then engaged in a tense standoff, but the unicorn’s focus was elsewhere; he kept stealing glances at the young filly. He had no concentration at all. There was no way he could win against our stallion with an attitude like that.
Sure enough, while the unicorn was busy looking away, the father horse’s hind leg caught him squarely in the face.
I winced. Was he okay? He wasn't dead, was he? Well, he had been chasing the stallion’s daughter, so I suppose he had it coming. If any man started chasing Tiselle, Fracia, Sette, or Lananon like that, I’d kick him too. Or perhaps I’d just plow him into the dirt.
I stroked the stallion’s back to calm him down. As for the downed unicorn... what was I going to do with him? Since there were both male and female unicorns, I found myself wondering why he didn't just find one of his own kind. Perhaps they were siblings? Or, based on his behavior, maybe the female was his older sister?
The female unicorn and the Eldest Son Colt were clearly in agreement about their partnership. At least, I hoped they were. I asked the colt, and he told me he had confessed his feelings and she had accepted.
"Well done," I said, patting him. "Do you want some carrots? Or maybe cabbage?"
Cabbage it was. I gave them some to share.
The problem remained with the male unicorn and the fillies. The Eldest Daughter Colt wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. I told him he should just give up, but then he had the audacity to suggest that if the eldest wasn't interested, the Second Daughter Colt would do just fine.
As a fellow man, I felt the need to give him some advice: that kind of attitude was going to get him killed. If I were the father horse, I would have snapped his horn off by now. And then, while I was in the middle of lecturing him, he started eyeing the mother horse.
My conclusion was simple: this unicorn was hopeless. His biological drive to preserve the species was far too aggressive. I wondered if it was just his personality, but Draim had said the males were naturally lecherous. It must be a trait of the entire species.
"What do other male unicorns usually do?" I asked.
"I don't know the specifics," Draim replied, "but I've heard they sneak into horse ranches, mate with the mares without permission, and then bolt."
They sounded like a bunch of pests.
"Actually," Draim continued, "the foals born from unicorns and horses are born as normal horses, but they're exceptionally sturdy. Because of that, ranch owners usually welcome the intrusion."
In that case, they weren't a nuisance to the owners, but they were certainly the enemy of every stallion. I suspected they weren't so much "running away" as they were being driven out by the local males.
Regardless, I decided the best course of action was to take him to the ranch near Shashato City. I asked the fillies if they were okay with that. The Eldest Daughter Colt and the Second Daughter Colt both gave me a look that said, "Just bring back some handsome stallions if you're going to that ranch."
I promised to do my best.
And so, the female unicorn stayed in our Ranch Area, while the male was slated for relocation. I had originally thought to wait until spring, but having him around was just asking for trouble, so we decided to transport him immediately despite the winter chill.
We put together a small transport team: myself, Galf, and a few of the beastman girls. Since we were just dropping off a unicorn and picking up some new horses, I didn't think we needed much security, but five High Elves ended up joining us anyway.
I had expected the trip to take a few days, even with the Teleportation Gate, but I had underestimated a unicorn's speed. We made it from Village Five to Shashato City in a single hour. It was unbelievable. I accidentally got too far ahead of the group and had to double back; Galf and the girls were pale with worry, thinking they had lost me. I apologized for the scare.
In Shashato City, I stopped by to say hello to Marcos and Paula. After that, I contacted Michael-san, who offered to guide us to the ranch personally. He was absolutely delighted by the unicorn and spent the whole time playing around on its back. Marlon, his eldest son, was standing by, waiting impatiently for his own turn.
I told them that once the unicorn was settled at the ranch, they could ride him whenever they wanted. Michael-san was worried the creature might run off, so we discussed setting up a dedicated area for the mares to keep him interested.
All in all, it turned into a pleasant little trip. I was happy to see that Marcos and Paula were doing well, and Big Roof Shashato had become even more impressive since my last visit.
I brought back several prospective partners for the Eldest Daughter Colt and the Second Daughter Colt, but for now, they were still in the "getting to know you" phase. They were all acting very cautious, stealing shy glances at one another from across the field. That was how it should be. The male unicorn’s lack of decorum was exactly why he’d been kicked.
Though, I suppose I wasn't really one to talk when it came to complicated love lives.
Once I was back at the Village Head's Mansion, it occurred to me that I had completely forgotten to look for partners for the kittens.
Well, there was always next time. Perhaps I was just being selfish, but as I sat there stroking the kittens as they climbed onto my head and curled up in my lap, I found myself wishing they would stay small for just a little while longer.