As summer approached, it was quite hot, but walking while eating ice cream seemed to ease the heat a little.
Yerna, who could eat dairy products but not direct meat, was sipping on elven-style sorbet, worried about potential indigestion.
Thanks to the cold sorbet or perhaps because she had relieved some emotional burden, Yerna’s expression had brightened considerably. This also allowed Luke to feel reassured by looking at her.
He had asked Yerna why she looked so unwell, but she hadn’t given him a proper answer.
Could it be related to work? It seemed that she didn’t want to burden the childlike self with the stresses of work.
While he could understand her feelings, he wished she would lean on him just a little.
‘Well, it seems the business trip must have been quite tough.’
As Luke was watching Yerna, she seemed to sense his gaze and smiled back at him.
“Ah, Lu, I heard you came in first place at the competition! Congratulations.”
“Hmm, did Dayton tell you?”
“Yeah. After all, I believed that you would definitely come in first.”
“Haha, this is rather embarrassing.”
It was an expectedly trivial matter, so the excitement about the exam aspect felt somewhat deflated. Instead, there was something else he wanted to talk about…
‘When should I mention the matter with Ras…?’
As Luke pondered, Yerna offered her sorbet to him.
“Do you want to try a bite?”
The contemplative look on his face seemed to indicate that he desired to taste the sorbet himself. However, wasn’t her sorbet lemon-flavored? He wasn’t particularly fond of sour tastes.
Luke hesitated for a moment before shaking his head.
“……”
He was curious.
Although he generally disliked sour flavors, there was the question of whether ‘this body’ would dislike it as well.
Thinking back, every flavor he had tasted in this era had been to his liking. Perhaps he might like sour flavors too.
He realized he had never actually tasted anything sour until now.
“…Then, just a little… is that alright?”
“Hehe, of course it’s fine. Here.”
As Yerna held out the cup, the refreshing scent of lemon wafted into Luke’s nose. Just the smell made his molars tingle and saliva pool in his mouth, as the sourness was quite pronounced.
Just like how Yerna had been eating, he gently put the straw to his lips and sucked lightly, and the lemon juice soaked into the ice fragments immediately reached his tongue.
“Ugh!”
Luke grimaced at the unexpected intensity of the sour taste. The combination of the minty freshness he had just been eating and the sourness of the lemon made it unbearable.
The crumpled expression on Luke’s face was quite a sight for the others as well.
“Ugh.”
“C-Could it be that sour?”
“Puhaha! You really dislike sour flavors, huh?”
Luke barely managed to swallow the sorbet in his mouth and exclaimed, “It’s the mint! I didn’t expect it to be so sour!”
‘Even though I have become this body, sour flavors still seem to be sour.’
Some things really don’t change.
Still, it gave him a bit of relief.
——–
The truth that there is no infinity in the world certainly couldn’t be shattered by mere ice cream, and soon their ice cream was gone.
However, the positive feelings the ice cream had given them still lingered, allowing them to walk with a bit more cheer in their steps.
As they strolled through the zoo feeling happy, Diana burst out in admiration as she looked at a giant trapped in a large cage.
The massive creature, which appeared to be about four meters tall, resembled a version of Dayton doubled in both width and height. It had almost no hair, only thick, straight brows, and a nose the size of a fist hanging below its eyes.
It was a cyclops.
“Wow, look at that! It’s huge! Can you beat that, big brother?”
“No. Only Yerna could fight it alone.”
“Dayton, what are you saying to the child?”
Yerna blushed as if embarrassed and playfully slapped Dayton’s back. Dayton responded with exaggerated grunts, producing sounds like an instrument, making Diana clutch her stomach and laugh.
Dayton didn’t mind the playful touch too much and smiled back while thinking about whether he should put on a patch when they got home.
“So what about that one?”
“That one is easy.”
“How about that one?”
“That one might be a bit tricky.”
“And that one?”
“That’s Yerna.”
“Oh come on, Dayton!”
“Yikes!”
Diana continued to ask Dayton about whether they could defeat various magical creatures as they walked.
Forest Keepers were mostly licensed hunters in various nations. Perhaps because she was the sister of a seasoned hunter, Diana found enjoyment in ranking the monsters based on their combat abilities.
Well, everyone has their own way of enjoying the zoo.
Diana seemed particularly pleased that Dayton could defeat a unicorn.
However, both cyclopes and unicorns were endangered species, and hunting them was prohibited unless under special circumstances.
Most magical creatures were currently facing the threat of extinction, so even the cyclops, once a disaster in the past, now needed to be protected.
‘What an interesting era, really.’
While Luke was feeling quite content, he couldn’t help but wonder how things would have been if such facilities had existed in the past.
What would it have been like for Renie?
What would she say if she saw animals confined to enclosures like this? Would she be happy that endangered species were being protected and managed or would she be saddened that the free magical creatures were deprived of their freedom?
Both insights were very much in line with Renie’s character, making it a bit of a dilemma.
‘If Py really is an immature form of an ancient spirit, perhaps he might have seen Renie…’
While thinking about this, Luke suddenly realized that Py hadn’t been seen for a while.
He remembered seeing him fly off somewhere after eating ice cream, but he still hadn’t returned?
‘It shouldn’t take this long.’
Luke looked around.
Noticing Luke’s search, Yerna wondered aloud if he was looking for some magical creature.
“Are you looking for something, Lu?”
“Umm, no, not really.”
Well, he thought it was fine since there couldn’t be any harm that could befall Py in this era…
As Luke stroked his chin, Dayton walked ahead and spoke.
“It seems we’ve seen almost all the magical creatures now. Should we head toward the land animals? Or perhaps the marine section?”
“Hm, anywhere is fine.”
“I want to see the fish next!”
“Alright, let’s go there.”
At that moment, as they turned towards their destination, Py suddenly appeared before Luke, sparkling with something.
“Ah, Py. Where have you been?”
-Luke, look at this!
“Oh, this is a magic crystal! This one has quite a high purity.”
-Right? If I have this, I might grow a bit more!
“Is that so? That’s quite fortunate. But where did you get that?”
At the moment Luke questioned the source of the magic crystal…
-An announcement to visitors in the magical creature area!
Currently, the magical creature, ‘unicorn,’ has escaped. Please move away from the unicorn’s enclosure and follow instructions! Once again, this is an announcement that the unicorn has escaped from its enclosure…
“Magical creature escaped?”
“The unicorn has escaped?”
“The unicorn escaped?”
The voice echoing from the loudspeakers along the tree line made most of the visitors begin to murmur. The atmosphere was tense.
Luke rubbed his forehead.
“Py…”
-…Yes?
“You stole that from the unicorn, didn’t you?”
The enchanted shield, likely originally a powerful magical barrier, would have required a spirit to physically touch the shield to get inside. However, it seemed the spirit hadn’t properly reconstructed its shield according to the intricacies of the modern class magic.
It looked like it had just been left the way it was and returned.
-…
Py averted his gaze.
This was definitive.
“Haah…”
———
Dayton was equally flustered.
“What, what’s going on all of a sudden?”
A magical creature escaping? Why today of all days?
As a result, Yerna, Dayton, Luke, and Diana began to move away at a quick pace.
“Big brother, you said you could win! Why are we running away?”
“I’m fine, but it’s dangerous if you get caught up in this!”
“Hmph, I wanted to see you fight with a magical creature. Besides, you said I wouldn’t get hurt because Luke’s here to protect me!”
“…”
“Is that true?”
Thinking about it made him feel he could afford to be more relaxed than expected.
Even so, he wouldn’t slow down his pace.
It might actually be fortunate that it was a unicorn and not some other magical creature that had escaped.
At that moment of inner relief…
‘What about Luke?’
Dayton glanced down at Luke.
Seeing Luke with a serious expression made him suddenly think of something unpleasant.
‘Oh no, Luke…’
As that thought crossed his mind, he figured he should hurry his pace a little, but then he realized…
‘Wait a second, he’s stronger than me.’
Regardless of the circumstances, Luke was safe enough.
In that instant, Dayton sensed a subtle shift in the air.
“Yerna, I think there’s a unicorn hiding nearby.”
“Hmm, really?”
At his words, Yerna raised her guard.
It seemed that Luke’s presence was making her instincts a bit dull, and she was lagging in picking up on such slight reactions.
Thinking about it, unicorns were known to excel in stealth among the mythical creatures.
Their hides are used as materials for military optical camouflage.
The reason unicorns became endangered in the first place was due to excessive hunting for their hides.
“Do you know its exact location?”
“My senses are dulled, so I can’t pinpoint it…”
“There it is.”
“Eh?”
At Luke’s words, Dayton and Yerna turned their heads in surprise toward where Luke was pointing, only to see him placing a hand on the unicorn’s body, smiling faintly.
‘Huh, when did that happen?’
No, since Luke had magic sight, it must have been visible from the beginning.
No, wait a moment.
But if a non-virgin touches a unicorn, then…
“Hey, you! That’s dangerous!”
Luke cut him off.
“It seems it’s not going to be a problem, doesn’t it?”
Indeed.
The unicorn was sitting in front of Luke like it was bowing, calmly allowing him to feel its touch.
“…What’s going on?”
“Lu, you…?”
Yerna was just as bewildered.
A unicorn that remained still even after Luke touched it…?
“…”
Yerna felt her tension release completely.
Was that unicorn just docile? Or…?
Hoping for the latter, Yerna turned to Dayton and said, “Dayton, why don’t you try touching it too?”
“Me?!”
Dayton’s dumbfounded expression turned bright red as Yerna glanced away shyly.
“I wouldn’t mean anything by it….”
“…Huh? Huh?”
‘Wait, what does that mean?’
Dayton’s face turned as crimson as Yerna’s in an instant.
“Ah, I got it! I’ll try touching it!”
“Okay. Be careful, just in case.”
“B-Be careful, big brother!”
“Yeah, I got it.”
Encouraged by Yerna, Dayton approached the unicorn, extending his hand toward its body. Just as he was about to touch it…
Heeee-ing!
“Ugh, I knew it…!”
The unicorn seemed to warn him with a snort, making it impossible for him to approach any further.
Yet how was Luke able to tame the unicorn so easily?
‘This is… right? There shouldn’t be any problems thinking this way, right?’
Perhaps he didn’t even understand his own body state, did he?
“It’s really fortunate…”
Yerna’s expression lit up.
Very brightly.
