The Usual Sacred Beast Forest

I had obtained the Philosopher’s Stone and the Jewel of Light for the sake of rejuvenation.

I would have Edgar look into the Bust of the Evil God, so all that was left was to earn money.

There were 6,000,000 left, but “Puchi Eli” was selling over 500,000 a day now, so I figured I could save up the money in about two weeks.

So, on a spring night.

Having returned to the Forest Mansion from the Yamata Kingdom, I felt no anxiety as I shared love with Liricia.

“I’m going, Liricia!”

“Master—!”

Liricia cried out in an overwhelmed voice, forgetting her embarrassment.

And the moment I released Holy Wave, white wings spread with a rustle across her gently sloping back.

Just like that, we pressed our heated bare skin together and held each other gently.

As I soothed her and stroked her head while catching my breath, her silver hair felt soft and fluffy against my fingers.

She smiled softly too and buried her face against my chest.

“Thank you for always giving me so much, Master.”

“Leave it to me. I’ll cleanse your sins as much as I can.”

“Yes—mm…”

Our soft lips met. We entwined deeply.

—And then.

The handheld device on the table beside the bed buzzed and trembled.

When I glanced over, it was glowing red.

A sign of danger.

—An attack!?

I snatched up the device in a hurry and called.

“What is it, Kou!?”

‘There’s a monster in the garden, Master!’

“The garden?”

When I looked out the window, I met a pair of big, round eyes.

A pure-white horse.

It looked apologetic, and it even bowed.

“Eek!”

Liricia screamed and covered her ample chest.

I threw on a bathrobe and grabbed the sword propped up beside the bed.

I drew the black-bladed sword from its sheath, raised it, and observed.

“A horse…? No, a pegasus?”

Looking closer, there were folded wings on the white horse’s back.

It was classified as a monster, but since it possessed holy power, it was called a sacred beast.

Naturally, it wouldn’t be affected by my Holy Wave. If anything, it might get energized.

Maybe it understood my mutter, because the white horse nodded.

It said something, but since the room was soundproof, I couldn’t hear it.

Since I didn’t sense danger, I left the bedroom slowly and headed for the entrance.

A sky full of stars.

When I stepped outside, the horse approached, eyes wide in surprise.

Then it spoke.

“Is this Holy Wave… coming from you!?”

“Seems so. Are you a pegasus?”

“Yes. Please—I beg you. Save my child!”

“Your child?”

The pegasus looked back, so I followed its gaze and saw another winged white horse collapsed there.

Its coat was stained red.

—Was it injured?

I shouted toward the house.

“Liricia, come out here. It’s injured!”

“Yes, Master!”

Liricia came out wearing a bathrobe with the sash tied. Her wings fluttered lightly.

“It’s over there.”

When I pointed, Liricia’s ample chest swayed as she shot over to the fallen foal in an instant.

She immediately crouched and placed a hand on it.

“—Full Heal.”

The foal was wrapped in golden light, and its wounds mended.

I asked the pegasus mother, who let out a breath of relief.

“Why is a pegasus here?”

“We were attacked by humans and fled, but my child was injured… When I thought it was hopeless, we found this sanctuary, so we came.”

“By humans?”

“Yes… but for such an immense Holy Wave to come from a human—amazing. You are a hero, aren’t you?”

“I’m not a hero. I used to be.”

Just then, the foal groaned.

The mother jolted, lifted her head, and rushed to the foal.

“Are you alright, Ciel?”

“Yeah… Mom. It doesn’t hurt anymore… I’m hungry.”

Ciel struggled up on thin legs.

The mother spread her wings and wrapped Ciel gently.

“Ah, thank goodness. Thank you so very much. My name is Mireine, and this child is Ciel.”

“I’m Alec. And this is Liricia.”

With big, round eyes, Mireine looked at Liricia.

“You’re an angel, aren’t you? What splendid wings.”

“Thank you, Mireine-san.”

“Mom, I’m hungry…”

“Oh dear. It’s already dark today. Endure until tomorrow, alright?”

“Okay…”

Ciel lowered their head weakly.

—I felt bad for them.

But what did pegasuses even eat…?

Then I remembered there were hay bales propped up beside the house.

“I don’t know what you eat, but there are rolled hay bales leaning by the side of the house. You can eat those if you want.”

“Oh, truly!? Thank you!”

“Yay, hay!”

“This way.”

I guided the happily hopping Ciel and the calm Mireine to the side of the mansion.

Ciel found the big hay bale roll, trotted up on thin legs, and began munching eagerly.

Mireine spoke apologetically.

“Thank you for letting us intrude at night, and even feeding us.”

“Don’t worry about it. When you’re in trouble, people help each other. You should have water too. Wait here a moment.”

I went inside and headed to the bedroom.

I picked up the handheld device and spoke into it.

“Kou, can you put out a watering trough and a bucket with Puchi Elixirs in the garden? And if you can, I want you to build a stable too.”

Right now, the forest ecosystem had changed, and the Adventurer Guild was getting suspicious.

If I did nothing, there was a chance they’d discover the mansion.

So I was thinking I’d gather lots of sacred beasts and have the place recognized as a sanctuary.

For that, it would be better to have facilities where sacred beasts could live.

But Kou refused.

‘Cannot. Beyond the entrance stepping-stones is outside the dungeon, yes.’

“What. So that’s how it works… huh? Then how did you do the walls and moat?”

‘Those are connected to the house, yes.’

“Then what about a watering trough and a Puchi Elixir bucket right in front of the entrance?”

‘Mmm… I will try, yes.’

“Do it.”

When I returned outside, there were a huge tub and a medium tub blocking the entrance.

“Man, that’s really in the way…”

Leaving that problem for later, I stepped over the tubs and went around to the side of the mansion.

The pegasus mother and child must have been starving—they were mindlessly chewing the hay propped against the wall.

I spoke casually.

“If you get thirsty, there’s water set out in front of the entrance. And I put potions there for the child, so use them.”

The foal kept devouring hay like it was stuffing itself, but Mireine stopped eating and lowered her head to me.

“Thank you, Alec-sama. I’m sorry for the trouble. As soon as it’s light tomorrow, we will leave…”

“No—if you want, you can stay here.”

“…What?”

“If you have somewhere to go, that’s different, but… honestly, it would help me if you stayed.”

“Is that so? We were looking for a place to hide, so it would help us… but we may bring trouble with us.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. That’s the kind of cost you just have to accept.”

More to the point, to get this place recognized as a sanctuary, I needed multiple sacred beasts.

I told them the essentials—where to drink, where to sleep, and that if pursuers came, they could flee into the house—then I returned to the mansion.

In the bedroom, Liricia was sitting on the bed. Her wings fluttered happily.

“What’s wrong, Liricia?”

“I can’t stop feeling happy at your kind consideration, Master. As expected of you!”

She looked at me with sparkling, violet eyes full of admiration.

Thinking, This is going to be trouble, I sat down beside Liricia.

“I’m sorry if this disappoints you… but I’m not a hero anymore. No matter what I do, I’m only acting for myself.”

“I know… but when you simply move as you please, Master, I feel like the world becomes cleaner… It makes me happy.”

As I leaned close, Liricia’s white wings softly wrapped around me.

The soothing peace, and the fluffy feel of her wings, were comforting.

I slipped an arm around her delicate shoulders and gave her cheek a light kiss.

“Thank you, Liricia.”

“Eep… y-yes, Master!”

And then we began to share love again.

—Partway through, I realized I’d forgotten to close the curtains, so I hurried to pull them shut.

Morning in the forest.

We were eating breakfast in the mansion dining room.

Liricia sat beside me at the table. Across from us were Teti and Sophia.

We were talking about what happened in the Yamata Kingdom.

“Edgar-san and the Princess turned out alright—yay.”

“Yes. It ended with no one being hurt, and I believe your radiant influence was splendid, Master.”

“Not this again. I didn’t do anything… well, now it’s just the Bust of the Evil God and money.”

Teti bit into a bread sandwich stuffed with meat and vegetables as she spoke.

“The money is fine! Because yesterday we went over 1,200,000 gort!”

“1,200,000!? That’s sixty bottles sold—amazing. …So our name recognition is rising?”

“Yep yep! Lately there were people buying twelve or twenty-four at a time, but yesterday someone bought forty-eight!”

Teti declared it with a delighted grin.

But Liricia’s hand, which had been lifting soup to her lips, froze.

“Twelve at a time…? That sounds like…”

“What is it, Liricia?”

“I have a bad feeling… twelve may be a distribution unit.”

“So that means they’re shipping it somewhere.”

“Yes… if they and their friends are using it, that’s fine… but there’s a chance they’re reselling it.”

“Reselling, huh. If it gets too bad, we’ll need to take measures.”

“When Edgar-san has time, it may be best to have him investigate.”

Liricia nodded with a grave expression.

—Even if it’s for resale, if they’re buying over 1,000,000 gort every time, it’s hard to complain.

And what I thought was 6,000,000 left had turned into 5,000,000.

Maybe we could ignore it until we earned the remaining 5,000,000, and then deal with it.

As I ate my sandwich thinking that, Sophia shook her blue hair and said,

“By the way, I’ve been hearing a horse neighing outside the property since morning. Is that your horse, Alec-san?”

“No—last night, a pegasus mother and child came here because they mistook this place for a sanctuary.”

““A pegasus!?””

Teti and Sophia widened their eyes in shock.

“That white horse with wings—one of those!?”

“Amazing. The sacred beast pegasus. I only saw one once during a church rite.”

Sophia sounded purely impressed, but Teti’s excitement visibly spiked.

Her jade-green eyes sparkled with curiosity.

“Um, um—do you think they’d let me ride on their back!?”

“That would be way too rude. And it looks like they’re fresh off a long journey, so we need to let them rest.”

“Oh, right. Okay! But can I at least go meet them!? I want to talk!”

“Yeah, that should be fine… just don’t be a nuisance. Make sure you greet them properly.”

“Okaaay!”

Teti bolted off with her sandwich in one hand. Her long elf ears twitched happily.

—Right. So the sandwich really was designed to be runnable at all times.

As I admired that, there was a loud SPLASH! from the direction of the entrance.

Then came an unseemly scream: “Gyaaah!”

I clapped my hands once and said,

“Ah, I forgot to mention it. There are watering tubs and potion tubs in front of the entrance.”

“…That was far too late, Master—Teti-chan, are you alright?”

Liricia stood and headed for the entrance.

From the entrance, Teti’s crying voice was clearly audible.

“What is thiiis—!?”

After that, it was a flurry of baths and changing clothes.

—We urgently needed to expand the grounds.

But I did think it was admirable that Teti didn’t throw away her soaked sandwich—she still finished it to the last bite.