The entire unicorn herd treated Ethan and Ali with astonishing warmth and acceptance.
Within minutes, they had fully accepted Ethan's identity as a Hogwarts student.
Didn't students and unicorns normally clash?
Apparently not.
Unicorns trusted blood and magical instinct far more than eyesight. To them, blood magic functioned exactly the same way human eyes did.
And according to every instinct they possessed, Ethan belonged among them.
Honestly, unicorns truly deserved their reputation as the most beautiful creatures in fairy tales.
Ethan eventually found himself forced to sit beside the frozen lake while being surrounded from every direction by affectionate unicorns.
The snow around them had completely melted away under the influence of their magic, revealing soft green grass beneath.
Why there was healthy spring grass under winter snow remained entirely beyond Ethan's understanding.
Apparently unicorn magic simply transformed everything around them into a fairy tale.
At one point, a small golden foal wandered over carrying a pink flower in its mouth.
Young unicorns were born gold before gradually becoming silver as adults.
The little foal shyly pushed the flower into Ethan's hand before immediately rolling into his lap afterward.
Ethan stared down at it silently.
Unicorn souls ranged from roughly fifteen to forty in strength.
More importantly, their souls carried something known as the Curse of Purity.
Anyone attempting to kill a unicorn would automatically become marked.
Unfortunately, Ethan still had no idea what the curse actually did.
Every book discussing it used the same vague explanation:
If you kill this pure, fragile, innocent life for greed and selfish desire, what remains for you will only be a half-dead, cursed existence.
Beyond that, there were no details whatsoever.
Which explained why so many desperate Dark wizards still hunted unicorns for blood despite the warnings.
Most people assumed the curse was survivable.
Ethan personally suspected the curse targeted fate itself.
After all, Quirrell and Voldemort had consumed unicorn blood and immediately failed in their attempt to steal the Philosopher's Stone. Quirrell died horribly, while Voldemort returned to being a bodiless parasite.
Still, none of that really mattered to Ethan.
He wasn't here to kill anyone.
He only needed blood.
And as the beloved "new member" of the unicorn herd, obtaining both blood and hair turned out to be absurdly easy.
The moment Ethan explained that a Dark wizard was threatening him and wanted unicorn blood to harm their kind…
…the entire herd nearly started volunteering donations.
Especially the herd leader, Fyodor.
The massive unicorn absolutely insisted on doing it personally while repeatedly warning Ethan not to injure himself.
Honestly, Ethan almost felt emotional.
So in the end, he only took a single full vial instead of extracting more.
[Is this truly enough?]
Fyodor looked deeply worried.
[Will that monster continue harassing you?]
[Ding! Sin Value +100]
[Note: You said "Unicorns do not deceive unicorns."]
"I-If he keeps bothering me…" Ethan awkwardly copied Hermione's fragile, brave expression. "I'll… I'll…"
[Do not fear, child.]
Fyodor gently rubbed against Ethan's hair.
[If he troubles you again, return to us. We will fight him together.]
"Healed."
Ethan casually cast a healing charm over the small wound where the blood had been taken.
The cut slowly vanished.
Fyodor's expression immediately softened even further.
Apparently, this simple gesture had deeply moved him.
[Affinity +100]
[Note: Every great villain performs at least one emotional acting scene.]
"This is genuine kindness," Ethan complained internally.
The system clearly wanted to drag him further down some dark path.
Admittedly, Ethan probably didn't need much encouragement.
Rustle.
Suddenly, movement echoed from the forest beyond the frozen lake.
Heavy movement.
Like hooves.
A second later, Ethan already knew what was coming.
The centaurs had smelled the unicorn blood.
"Did the creature that attacked the unicorns return again, Fyodor?"
Bane burst from the trees carrying a bow and arrow. Snow exploded around his hooves as he galloped toward the lake.
"I can smell unicorn blood," he growled.
Then his eyes landed directly on Ethan.
Immediately, Bane's expression changed.
This strange child possessed an aura disturbingly similar to the mysterious Dementor-like creature that had slaughtered Acromantulas inside the forest.
Normally, Bane wouldn't care what happened near the spiders' territory.
But the unicorn herd was different.
[He is one of our new herd members.]
Fyodor hissed sharply.
[And this is his mother, Ali.]
"How does he look anything like a unicorn?!" Bane roared.
The sheer force of his voice shook snow loose from the surrounding trees.
"He doesn't even have horns!"
Ethan immediately hugged the little golden foal beside him with a pitiful expression.
[You frightened him, Bane.]
Fyodor sounded openly angry now.
[We possess our own methods of judgement.]
"Are all of you blind?!" Bane snapped furiously. "A unicorn was attacked recently!"
But none of the unicorns sided with him.
Every single one stubbornly insisted Ethan was obviously a unicorn.
At this point, Ethan himself was beginning to feel slightly convinced.
Bane clearly wanted to argue further, but he had no desire to openly fight the unicorn herd either.
Eventually, the furious centaur stormed back into the forest alone.
Ethan remained with the unicorns for a long time afterward.
Curiously, their scent even seemed to shift according to his mood.
At first they smelled like vanilla ice cream.
Then honey cake.
At one point, Ethan could swear the herd smelled exactly like White Rabbit candy despite the obvious impossibility of that.
Unfortunately, the only food they offered consisted entirely of grass and shrub leaves.
After Fyodor proudly pushed a pile of fresh grass toward him, Ethan finally decided it was time to leave.
He claimed he needed to return to Hogwarts to study.
This time, however, he had absolutely no intention of sending Ali back to Hagrid's hut.
The environment inside had become comparable to a volcanic cave thanks to the dragon egg.
Honestly, if given the opportunity, Ethan would genuinely like to raise a proper pureblood unicorn someday.
[You mean I am not good enough?]
Ali gave him a deeply suspicious look.
"You don't smell like vanilla ice cream," Ethan replied calmly. "And preferably you shouldn't develop any strange ideas about me either."
Then he added seriously:
"In human society, that sort of thing is called chaos."
[What nonsense are you talking about?!]
Ali nearly exploded in anger.
[Then remove that Unbreakable Vow immediately if you dislike me so much!]
She snorted furiously.
[Why are you exactly like that stupid bird? Both of you constantly think about weird things…]
For a brief second, she almost said How did I end up with a child like you?
Then she remembered Ethan technically wasn't her child at all.
The wizards had only used her blood.
"Is following me really that terrible?" Ethan asked calmly.
"I've treated both you and the Count very well."
"The Count gets the most expensive owl feed available, you get endless Butterbeer from Hagrid, and I've never mistreated either of you."
Then suddenly, Ethan paused thoughtfully.
"Actually…"
"How about living with the unicorn herd permanently?"
"Build stronger relationships with them."
[Okay.]
Ali agreed instantly.
Far too instantly.
Ethan immediately narrowed his eyes.
Something was wrong.
"Wait."
He turned toward her suspiciously.
"You are absolutely forbidden from teaching the unicorns how to drink."
....
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