“Well then—it seems everyone has safely made it to the starting point.”
Forty-eight hours later, the eleven examinees had gathered at the tower. Not a single person had been eliminated. All of them had managed to arrive within the time limit.
That said, most of the candidates arrived just in time, and the very last one had barely made it with only ten minutes to spare.
As for me, I was still in the cockpit of the Seno Grande Kai, overseeing the examination as it played out on the monitors. With full audio too.
“Now then, without further ado, we will begin the first examination.”
“W-wait a second!”
The one who hurriedly raised his hand was the adventurer who had arrived last.
“I—I only just got here! It’s only been ten minutes. I ran without sleep or rest, got attacked by monsters over and over along the way… C-can’t you at least give us a little more time to recover?”
He probably thought it was unfair, since those who arrived early would have had plenty of rest.
Randia answered with a sarcastic laugh.
“I see. It sounds as though you’ve already completed a thorough warm-up. By all means, I look forward to seeing the results of that effort in the first examination.”
With that, he casually brushed aside his plea for mercy.
“And now, as for the all-important contents of the first examination—it is to locate an Evil Unicorn and bring back its horn.”
“““Evil Unicorn?”””
“Yes. It is an upper-tier subspecies of unicorn that inhabits only the deepest reaches of this Infinite Wasteland. Its horn is extremely rare. So rare that it’s even said to be a material for elixirs. The time limit is twenty-four hours. In other words, if you return to this tower by this time tomorrow with an Evil Unicorn’s horn, you will pass the first examination.”
He paused briefly before adding,
“For reference, the Evil Unicorn’s favorite food is carrots. It seems to be especially fond of carrots from the Kōrai region. With its exceptional sense of smell, it can detect the carrot’s scent from several hundred meters away and will approach on its own once it sniff a scent of it.”
The explanation ended there, leaving the weight of the trial to sink in.
When Randia opened the box at his feet, it was filled to the brim with carrots from the Kōrai region.
“Each of you may take five. Be warned—once they’re gone, there will be no more. With that, the first examination will begin as of this moment.”
The examinees snatched up carrots in a scramble and burst out of the tower all at once.
Fana, Anje, and Orion followed right after them.
“This really does seem like a test that favors Fana-oneechan again.”
“What kind of monster is this Evil Unicorn, exactly?”
Karen spoke up with a question.
“First of all, a unicorn is a horse-type monster with a horn growing from its head. They’re extremely fast and highly wary, which makes them difficult to hunt. That said, their actual strength isn’t anything special… but when it comes to the upper-tier variant—the Evil Unicorn—that’s a completely different story. They’re incredibly aggressive, and on top of that, they’re very strong. And the most troublesome part is that horn of theirs—ah, looks like one of the examinees has already run into one.”
One of the eleven candidates was walking along with five carrots hanging from his belt when, from the distance, an Evil Unicorn came charging toward him at terrifying speed.
“T-this sound of hoofbeats…! So it’s here—eh?”
Sensing something amiss, the adventurer turned around and immediately doubted his own eyes. By the time he looked back, the massive horse was already bearing down on him.
“~~~~~!?”
He was sent flying, hurled through the air, and slammed hard against a rocky outcrop.
“Guh… ngh… t-that thing… is that the Evil Unicorn!?”
Even so, he was an A-rank adventurer aiming for S-rank after all. Grimacing in pain, he somehow managed to force himself back to his feet.
“It’s… this huge…?”
“Hihiiiiiiiiiin!!”
The Evil Unicorn let out a thunderous neigh. It looked to be roughly ten meters in length, standing about five meters tall. The horn growing from its head was nearly a meter long. It’s more like a knight’s charging lance than anything one would call a horn.
“Fire Lance!”
The adventurer hurled an attack spell at the Evil Unicorn as it made a wide U-turn, almost leisurely changing direction.
However, the spell was effortlessly dodged and the beast sprang forward again at blistering speed.
“Oh no—whoa!?”
The A-rank adventurer desperately evaded the charge, but—
“My carrots!?”
All five carrots hanging at his waist were deftly snatched away by the unicorn’s horn.
The Evil Unicorn munched on the carrots as it ran, and the adventurer chased after it in a panic. But since their speed was on entirely different levels, the distance between them only grew.
“Damn it! Did it get away…?”
The adventurer gave up and came to a stop.
Just then, the Evil Unicorn—having finished its carrots—came back.
“Thank goodness, it’s still nearby! …Huh? Is something… glowing around its horn?”
The very next instant, a ferocious bolt of black lightning erupted from the unicorn’s horn, blasting apart the ground right at the adventurer’s feet.
“…Huh?”
After standing there in stunned silence for a moment, the adventurer finally seemed to grasp what had just been done to him.
“T-th-this thing’s a monster! There’s no way anyone can beat something like that!!”
He turned tail and ran.
“Right—that horn is what makes it so troublesome. It can unleash lightning that powerful.”
“I see, indeed. But even after getting its favorite carrots, why did it bother to come back?”
“I told you, it’s highly aggressive. Especially toward anyone who attacks it. It won’t show mercy and will chase them down until it finishes them off.”
“That is far too frightening. Will that adventurer be all right?”
“Hard to say. Still, it likes carrots more than anything else, so if it catches the scent of another batch, it’ll probably head that way instead. …Ah—speak of the devil.”
The Evil Unicorn suddenly twitched its nose, as if it had sensed something, then abruptly abandoned its pursuit of the adventurer and changed direction.
“That adventurer just barely escaped with his life.”
“Yeah. And with his carrots gone, he’ll probably have to withdraw.”
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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