The Crescent Moon in the Starry Forest is just a Giant Kitten~ - Chapter 10

VS Unicorn

For the past few days, I’ve been taking solitary walks instead of visiting the centaurs or Harold. Even though I’ve made acquaintances in the forest, there are times when I just want to be alone. Walking at my own pace, taking naps, and sometimes sprinting… being alone is incredibly enjoyable.

So today, I was walking through the forest alone again. While I was playing with the water of a stream, splashing it with my front paws, I suddenly felt a gaze and looked up. Far away, I saw a creature resembling a horse with long, slender horns. Although there was some distance between us and it was standing among the trees, making its full form unclear, its distinctive horns gave away its identity.

That must be a unicorn.

I knew about them, but this was the first time I had actually seen one. It had a whitish color but was difficult to see because of the distance.

As I stared intently, the unicorn disappeared somewhere.

And since then, I’ve been encountering unicorns frequently in the forest.

The unicorn has a white body with a faint purple mane and pink eyes, giving it a fantastical appearance. Its horn, extending straight from the center of its forehead, has spiral striations and a beautiful silvery-white color with a sharp tip.

Why am I able to describe the unicorn’s appearance in such detail? It’s because each time, the distance between us seems less.

At first, it was just a fleeting glimpse from far away, but it seemed the unicorn became interested in me, perhaps thinking, “What’s with that big kitten over there?”.

It seems to have realized that I’m not a hostile creature, so its guard has gradually lowered, and it even approaches within ten meters of me at times.

But whereas before, it seemed to observe me, now, it sometimes seems to tease me.

It would suddenly sprint toward me at full speed, and when I got startled and chased after it, it would quickly retreat, or it would keep a distance and follow me, fleeing when I got irritated.

The unicorn has an expressionless face, but it has expressive pink eyes.

That guy is definitely looking down on me.

The unicorn is proud and confident, mocking me just because I’m bigger.

For the past few days, it has been observing me. So, it must have witnessed my foolish moments—like when I bumped into branches during my walks, slipped and rolled down a slope, or chased after my tail without realizing it was mine.

Even now, as the unicorn appears about ten meters ahead, I protest with a “Meow!”

(Every day, please don’t follow me! Go somewhere else!)

In response, the unicorn stands there and neighs.

…I don’t understand horse language, but it’s definitely taunting me. I mean, it’s looking at me with its chin up, like ‘Hmph’.

The unicorn lifts its front legs again and neighs, seeming to say, “Hey, come over here!”

…

I glare at the unicorn, focusing my eyes.

This guy. What should I do?

I gather strength in my legs and sprint toward the unicorn at full speed.

But the unicorn immediately reacts, swiftly turning its body and gracefully galloping through the forest. With my large body and the need to avoid trees and branches while running, the distance between us quickly widens.

Unable to catch up, I give up and stop, glaring at the unicorn. The unicorn glances back at me once before leisurely walking away with an air of superiority.

What a jerk! I feel like it was mocking me when it looked back.

(But even if I chase after it, it’ll just run away again. Its speed and agility are superior.)

I calmed my anger by grooming myself and started to devise a plan.

You jerk, just you wait. I’ll make you eat your words and humiliate you!

And so, to teach the unicorn a lesson, I decided to enlist the help of the centaurs.

Although the unicorn has long horns, its basic form is that of a horse. Centaurs also have horse-like lower bodies. So, I thought there wouldn’t be much difference in leg strength, and we might be able to catch the unicorn. In fact, I believe centaurs are among the fastest creatures in this forest.

(Requesting cooperation!)

“What’s wrong, Moon?”

“Do you want to play?”

When I called out to the strong adult male centaurs, they patted my head and said,

“We’re about to go defeat some monsters. Sorry, but we can’t play right now.”

“Kids are playing nearby. You can join them if you want.”

The centaurs sometimes patrol the outskirts of the village and exterminate troublesome monsters. They carry spears bows, and arrows. Moreover, they seem to have life and magic stars in the pouches hanging from their waists. You can’t see them, but you can sense the presence of stars.

(Let’s go and defeat the monsters first. Then let’s together deal with the unicorn!)

I desperately meowed to convey my request, but it got brushed off with a “Maybe next time.”

So, reluctantly, I headed towards the nearby centaur children. At this point, I don’t care if they’re children. Centaur children should still be fast, right?

“Meow!”

“Ah! It’s Moon!”

Six children gathered around me.

Among them was a boy named Ades, whom I had helped before.

Even centaur children have reasonably muscular bodies and toned figures. There were also two girls, and although they covered their chests with cloth, they didn’t seem to have any excess fat on their stomachs or arms.

“Moon, let’s play together.”

“I was playing tag just now. Moon, do you want to play too?”

The children gathered around me excitedly.

“Meow!”

Unable to speak, I meowed in response and started walking, occasionally glancing back at the children.

“What? Are you coming with us?”

The children looked at each other and then followed me.

“Where are we going?”

“Don’t you want to take a walk together?”

I thought the unicorn might not approach the centaur’s dwelling, where they live in groups. So I decided to leave the village for now. If I just walk around casually, the unicorn will probably come to tease me.

As I thought, after a while, the unicorn appeared as expected. Perhaps because the centaur children were also there today, the unicorn stood farther away than yesterday, gazing at us.

“Look! It’s a unicorn!”

Ades noticed the unicorn with my gaze and pointed to the trees.

“Wow, it’s true!”

“I’ve never seen one before!”

“Me neither.”

The children waved their tails and chatted excitedly.

(Can you help me catch it?)

I wish I could say that, but since I can’t speak, I couldn’t convey my feelings to Ades and the others.

(I have to show it through actions…)

So, I crouched down on the spot, stared at the unicorn, and slowly swayed my tail from side to side. Every time my fluffy tail moved, the fallen leaves and twigs on the ground rustled.

Ades and the others laughed when they saw me like that.

“Is Moon trying to hunt the unicorn?”

“You can’t catch a unicorn, though.”

But I let out determined meows and maintained a low posture to be ready to sprint at any moment.

The unicorn remained motionless, still watching us from a distance.

“The unicorn isn’t running away.”

As Ades murmured this, another strong-looking child responded,

“Shall we help Moon and try chasing it?”

“Huh? The unicorn?”

“Yeah. It has horns, so it could be dangerous to get too close, but I’m curious about who’s faster, us or the unicorn.”

“I’m curious too. We might be able to catch up with it.”

The centaur children seemed confident in their speed, engaging in such a conversation.

And when I started running ahead, the children also kicked the ground excitedly and ran after me.

“All right! Let’s catch up with the unicorn!”

(Go, go!)

With the giant cat and six centaur children charging together, the unicorn apparently decided to flee, quickly distancing itself.

“It’s fast!”

“But we won’t give up!”

The children ran through the forest like the wind, leaving me behind.

Wait! Um, I got my face stuck between two trees…! I thought I could pass through, but it’s impossible! Help!

Unnoticed by the children, who were running, I struggled quitely until I managed to pull my face out from between the trees. By that time, Ades and the others had returned.

Apparently, they couldn’t catch up with the unicorn, and it had escaped. They all looked a bit disappointed.

Then, Ades looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“Moon, you were the first one to run off, but you disappeared without a trace… What were you doing here?”

I’m not gone! They’re just faster, and I got left behind! I just got stuck between some trees for a moment!

I pouted and glared at everyone.

The next day, and the day after that, and even the day after that, I chased after the unicorn with Ades and the others. From the second day, the centaur children seemed to have realized that when I’m around, the unicorn shows up.

“With such a big cat, it’s rare even in this Starfall Forest, and it seems like the unicorn is interested in you.”

“Interested? Or maybe teasing Moon?”

“Yeah. Unicorns seem quite childish. I thought they were more aloof.”

I nodded deeply at the children’s conversation. Yeah, that’s right, it’s really childish and has a bad personality.

“They don’t seem to care about us at all, and that’s annoying. It doesn’t even seem scared of us.”

“It’s frustrating. I definitely want to catch up with the unicorn.”

The children seemed to be competitive, and they were determined to make the unicorn eat its words.

But maybe the unicorn and the children are equally fast, or maybe the unicorn is a little faster. If it were adult centaurs, there might have been a chance to catch up, but just chasing after the fleeing unicorn wouldn’t lead to catching it anytime soon.

So, I came up with a plan. Since I’m a cat, I thought I’d hunt in a cat-like way.

I usually only chase after squirrels for fun, as I mostly eat fruits that grow on trees. I’m honestly not good at hunting, but I think there’s a chance with this approach rather than just running after it.

“Meow!”

I meowed loudly to gather everyone’s attention, then led them to the center of the forest where a towering ancient tree stood. This is the old tree where I usually sleep.

“What’s up, Moon? Why did you bring us to the heart of the forest?”

Ades tilted his head. The heart of the forest? I also think this tree is the heart of the forest, but do Ades and the others have the same recognition?

Then Ades explained.

“My dad told me. This tree is the heart of the forest. It’s said that the Starfall Forest began from this single tree and expanded. It’s the oldest tree in the forest.”

(Hmm…)

I didn’t know that much detail. Although my head is filled with knowledge about this forest and its inhabitants, there’s still a lot I don’t know, and I don’t know what criteria distinguish between what I know and what I don’t.

“Meow.”

I changed my mindset and tried to convey my strategy to the centaur children. First, I hid behind the old tree and then jumped out from there.

While my body would stick out from a regular tree, the trunk of this ancient tree is thicker than me, so even a giant Ades suddenly exclaimed. Genius, huh? You figured that out pretty well.

Well, perhaps the centaur children also realized that I’ve been coming to them daily because I want their help catching the unicorn, so it might have been easy to guess.

“I see. Indeed, since Tsukuyomi is large, it might be better to hide and ambush rather than chase by running.”

Other children nodded in agreement.

“All right, then. Let’s rethink our strategy to catch the unicorn!”

And about an hour later, just as before, the unicorn came to tease me.

When the unicorn arrived, we were playing a game of jumping over fallen trees away from the old tree. However, in reality, we were waiting for the unicorn to come while playing.

“It’s here.”

“Just as planned.”

As the unicorn appeared, the children became slightly tense. Instead of feeling nervous like them, I was eager to make the unicorn squeal.

We continued to pretend to ignore the unicorn and play for a while, and gradually, the unicorn approached us.

In these past few days, the unicorn’s wariness towards the centaur children seemed to have faded, or rather, it might have the same disdainful view towards the children as it had towards me. The unicorn let its guard down and started to tease us as usual.

“All right. It’s time to go. …Ready, set, go!”

When the unicorn came close enough, Ades and the other six of us started running towards the unicorn at the same time.

The unicorn quickly turned around and started running as well. At the same time, I ran as inconspicuously as possible towards the ancient tree, said to be the forest’s master. While my large body made stealth impossible, the unicorn, chased by Ades and the others, wasn’t paying attention to us.

When I reached the ancient tree, I hid behind it. Ades and the others should be guiding the unicorn towards here.

If the plan goes well, the unicorn should come from the east, but depending on its direction, it might approach from a different direction, so I remained cautious of the surroundings.

(Will it work…?)

Since the unicorn and the centaur children are equally fast, there’s a chance that we might not be able to guide it successfully. So, this is the most challenging part of the plan.

Mentally cheering on Ades and the others, I hear several horse hooves approaching from the front.

Perking up my ears, I concentrate. It seems Ades and the others have successfully guided the unicorn.

I guess correctly from the sound of the footsteps and hide myself in the shadows of the tree. I try to make my large body as small as possible and crouch down, ready to leap out at any moment, with my paws firmly on the ground, ready to spring.

Eventually, I hear the unicorn’s breathing and footsteps getting louder. Based on the sound, I can guess that the target is approaching from the right side, so I turn my body in that direction.

(Now!)

And then, timing it just right, I leap out from the shadows of the tree.

“…!”

The unicorn is surprised by my sudden appearance. Its eyes widen, and it raises both front hooves in shock. It lets out a high-pitched scream, and with foam at its mouth, it tries to flee.

(Yes!)

The plan succeeds, and I grin, baring my teeth. I’m relieved it worked. Now, the unicorn probably won’t bother me or tease me anymore.

Just as I’m thinking that, something unexpected happens to the unicorn trying to escape. Its long, sharp, silvery horn falls off from its forehead.

“Mya!?”

I hadn’t expected it to fall off, so now I’m the one who’s surprised, my eyes widening in shock. My fur stands on end in surprise.

(Wait, did that just fall off…!?)

I try to meow at the escaping unicorn again, “Myaan!?” but it doesn’t stop. The unicorn seems panicked and hurries away, paying no attention to its lost horn.

“That worked out well, Crescent! …But, what’s wrong?”

When Ades and the others come over, I point to the unicorn’s horn lying on the ground.

“Huh, what’s that?”

“A unicorn’s horn!?”

The children are also buzzing with excitement at the sight of the beautiful silvery horn. It’s surprising, isn’t it?

“Can unicorn horns come off?”

“Maybe it’s like a lizard’s tail. It falls off when it gets startled?”

“I don’t know. Let’s take it back to the adults and ask.”

With the horn in hand, we return to the centaur village, and Ades explains the situation to the adults.

Then, a muscular middle-aged centaur uncle explains to me.

“A unicorn’s horn naturally falls off once every hundred years. If it falls off, it will grow back over the next hundred years, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

It takes a hundred years, but knowing that the unicorn’s horn will grow back, I feel relieved. Otherwise, it would just become an ordinary fairy-tale horse without a horn.

“A unicorn’s horn is a symbol of pride. It’s said that as the horn grows, so does its pride. But if it falls off, it loses its self-esteem and becomes very timid. So while the horn is short, the unicorn lives hidden away, rarely seen by anyone. As the horn grows, its confidence grows, and it begins to appear in public.”

What a complicated personality, I think. But it seems we won’t be seeing the unicorn for a while.

“What should we do with this horn? It’s beautiful and cool, but…”

“If Tsukuyomi hadn’t been here, the unicorn wouldn’t have appeared. Why don’t you take it?”

“If we take it, we might use it. It would be a waste to throw it away.”

“Well, if we leave it in the village, it might come in handy sometime.”

Yeah, yeah. As a reward for helping with this plan, I say you can have it.

I communicate that to them in my mind and then meow “Myaan” as I bid farewell to the centaur uncles.

I did my best, so now, I’ll take a nap and relax.