Chapter 40: Mom!!!!

Cohen felt that even if a ghost popped out of the basement, it would be more normal than the current situation—though perhaps "a ghost appearing here" wouldn't be normal either, as the souls of the dead in this place should have been devoured by Cohen a decade ago.

However, a soul strength label of 67 was not enough to scare Cohen off, especially when the label was followed by the word "weakened." Even if he couldn't win in a fight, Cohen felt he could still manage to escape. It wasn't as if there was another Dementor behind that door, was it?

As Cohen stepped toward the door at the end of the corridor, a strange sensation spread from his chest throughout his entire body. It felt like...

【Child...】

It was a female voice, but Cohen felt as if it had appeared out of thin air directly inside his mind. This was a first—mental magic like this shouldn't have been able to target him at all.

"Mom?"

The word slipped out of Cohen's mouth. The sensation was as if a giant hand called "bloodline" had pried his jaws open and forced him to speak. The blood relations in the magical world were a bit too sinister... and Cohen figured he would have to get used to this phenomenon. Considering his system panel listed five different races, he likely had more than one mother—and perhaps more than one father as well. He practically had parents all over the world.

Maybe one day he would wander somewhere, bump into some bizarre creature, and it would shout "My child!" before hugging him tight, intending to dump all its hoarded gold, silver, treasures, and magical artifacts into his hands, saying, "You've worked hard all these years, my child; this is your father's (mother's) compensation, just take it..."

"Too abstract. It must be the inferiority complex of an orphan playing tricks on me."

Cohen shook his head to clear the wild thoughts. Those melodramatic scenarios were still far away—though he had just visualized a scene where his five magical creature parents met and started fighting.

To be safe, Cohen sent his soul—which was only half of his being—through the door to scout the situation inside. After all, a soul could escape faster than a physical body. Behind the door was a dim basement. Even in the gloom, Cohen could clearly see everything through the "night vision" of his soul form.

To the left of the entrance stood a long wooden table, piled high with bottles and jars. The floor was covered in tangled Devil's Snare—vines resembling tentacles that easily infested basements. But Cohen was most concerned with the other side.

The right side was much emptier compared to the left, which was cluttered with tables and alchemical flasks. There was only a wide metal cage, barely the height of an adult, so cramped that the large creature inside couldn't even stand up. Inside the cage was a black horse, resembling a Thestral, but fuller and less skeletal than one.

It was the creature that had just called Cohen 【Child】.

【Soul Strength: 67 (Weakened)】

Suddenly, it lifted its head and stared directly at where Cohen stood. It had milky white pupils, which, paired with a coat that seemed to blend into the darkness, looked truly eerie. As it raised its head, Cohen saw a single horn—a silver, spiral-patterned horn he had seen before in the Forbidden Forest. Only unicorns possessed such holy horns, capable of neutralizing almost any toxin, making them highly prized ingredients for potions.

Before it lifted its head, the horn had been dull and lusterless, almost blending into the darkness and its fur. But once it raised its head, the once-dim horn regained its normal luster, shimmering with light.

However... no unicorn had black fur; they were supposed to be golden in their foal stage and silver-white as adults. Wait—

Cohen immediately pulled back. He was in soul form! Even Dumbledore couldn't see him—could this unicorn?

【Child... don't be afraid...】

Its voice appeared in Cohen's mind again. 【Let Mother look at you...】

Having not had a mother in his past life, Cohen felt a bit unaccustomed to suddenly having so many in this one.

"Sigh..." Cohen sighed.

He could clearly sense that the unicorn held no malice toward him; it truly believed Cohen was its child. No mother would harm her own child—this was a fairy tale, and fairy tales should behave like fairy tales.

Cohen pushed the door open and stepped inside. The Devil's Snare retreated into the cracks of the wall, driven back by the light from the tip of Cohen's wand. He walked up to the cage.

【Don't be sad... I can live for a long time... I can stay with you for a long time...】

It assumed Cohen looked dejected because he saw his mother trapped—

"Actually, I'm not that sad." Cohen said with a gloomy expression, "It's mostly because the Earl can now actually attack me with 'mother fuck'—it's a bit uncomfortable."

【...】

The mood it had carefully built up was shattered by that single sentence.

"But is what you said before true?" Cohen looked up, meeting its all-white eyes. "The part about 'staying with me for a long time'?"

Sincerity was always the ultimate weapon, especially the "sincerity" shown by an eleven-year-old with pitiful, watery eyes. It seemed to instantly forget what Cohen had just said. It even forgot to ask who the "Earl" was.

【Of course, Mother will always protect you...】

【Can you let Mother out?】

"Sure!" Cohen agreed cheerfully. "But I've been deceived a lot before—will you lie to me?"

【Mother is a unicorn—unicorns never lie...】

It looked at Cohen with maternal love—Cohen didn't know why he could see "maternal love" on a horse's face that was nothing but white eyeballs; perhaps it was some sort of mental trick.

"Then swear it. Chinese people don't lie to Chinese people—no, wait, unicorns don't lie to Dementors."

【I swear.】

Visibly, the black unicorn was becoming impatient.

"How about we make an Unbreakable Vow?" Cohen looked at it pitifully. "You know... I've always been an orphan... I have no sense of security..."

【Fine, fine, fine—hurry up—I mean, I can.】

The black unicorn tapped its hooves impatiently against the metal bars of the cage. It didn't actually know what an "Unbreakable Vow" was, until an owl flew in looking quite unwilling, exchanged a few words with Cohen, and began the ritual-like questioning.

"You—what's its name? Black Horse? Moldy Unicorn? Or what?" The Earl held the wand, pointing it at the space between Cohen and the black unicorn. Only as he prepared to start did he realize he didn't even know the creature's name.

The unicorn snorted in frustration, blowing out rough breaths, but it didn't speak. It just wanted to leave this place immediately, regardless of what this ridiculous vow was. It knew no curse could trap it—or rather, it was a collection of curses itself. Even if it broke the vow, what curse could this magic possibly place upon it?

"Alexia," Cohen found the name on the cage's tag.

"Oh, fine. You go first, you little brat." The Earl prepared the preamble for the Unbreakable Vow—it was the first time Cohen had felt that having a talking bird was so useful.

"Alexia, when I need you, will you come to help me solve problems?" Cohen asked the unicorn.

【I will.】

A thin, dazzling tongue of fire erupted from the wand under the Earl's claw, looking like a hot, red metal wire that wrapped around their hand and horn. The first vow was successful.

The most reassuring thing about this spell wasn't the result that "the vow-breaker dies," but the mandatory nature of the concept of the vow. Once the vow was spoken, its complete concept was fixed—there were no loopholes to exploit, and the other party could not reinterpret the original vow with their own thoughts.

So, when Cohen's first request took effect, the unicorn began to feel that something was wrong.

【Wait—what happens if this vow is broken—】

"Are you willing to always obey my requests, without defiance?" Cohen said the second sentence. "Whatever, either we finish the process amicably, or I leave now with my bird. You choose."

【I will.】

The unicorn's voice sounded like it was gritting its teeth. It really wanted to leave this godforsaken place, but this was absolutely not the way it had hoped to do so.

Clearly, this little brat mixed with its own blood had been acting normal before; wasn't it acting like a charitable mother? It had clearly heard Cohen shout "Mom" outside the door. A normal, lonely, and slightly conscientious experiment should have unchained its mother without hesitation. This child should have opened the cage immediately and wept in its arms...

The second tongue of fire erupted from the tip of the Earl's wand, leaving a distinct mark on the unicorn's horn.

"If you break the vow, you die," Cohen answered its question. "But you said you wouldn't hurt me and that you'd stay with me for a lifetime."

"Chinese people don't lie to Chinese people."

【I am not Chinese at all—and I am not a person!】

It completely dropped its facade, its sharp voice making Cohen's eardrums ache.

"Well, nothing to be done about that. The vow is already made. Heh heh heh... you have to listen to me forever now!" Cohen let out a sinister laugh. "Now, follow me for the final vow."

"Are you willing to never harm me, or any other life that I cherish?"

【I... will.】

It had used up all its strength just to say those three words. It felt as if escaping or not didn't make a difference anymore—no, it seemed it might actually be freer inside the cage.

The third tongue of fire erupted from the tip of the Earl's wand. All three vows were complete; Cohen had done it airtight.

"Mission accomplished—you didn't think I was actually foolish enough to believe a unicorn with black fur, did you?" Cohen rubbed his hands. "Even if you are my mother by blood, it doesn't matter. I have at least five fathers or mothers; this stuff isn't that rare."

【You *****】

"Get used to it." The Earl spoke to Alexia the unicorn with the tone of someone who had seen it all. "But you're a bit dumber than me; you crawled into the cage yourself."

The unicorn was trapped by some sort of rune-etched metal that blocked magic; Cohen's spells were useless against it—he could only search the various corners of the room for a key. Finally, Cohen found the key and opened the cage that had trapped the furious unicorn for over a decade.

"Why don't you look happy?" Cohen asked with concern. "I'm not some slave owner. I told you, those before were just insurance measures. Aside from helping me with work, you can use the rest of your time however you like—"

"Expelliarmus!"

Suddenly, with a crack of Apparition, a red beam of light hit Cohen, and his wand flew away with a swish. Two men in black robes appeared in the basement, one tall and one short. The tall one caught Cohen's wand in mid-air, while his own wand pointed straight at Cohen, sparks of dangerous magic erupting from the tip. The shorter wizard acted mainly as a backdrop, holding his wand high, illuminating the room with *Lumos*.

"Don't move. You are under arrest." The tall wizard narrowed his eyes. "Hmph, Dumbledore said to let us trust you—I've always been of the opinion that we should root out the evil."

Both were Aurors. And Cohen had a faint impression of them.

The tall Auror... he seemed to have appeared in the memories of one-year-old Cohen, and that face was accompanied by a flash of green light. He had used the Killing Curse on Cohen, though it hadn't succeeded.

"You mean... you wanted to kill me when I was one—and now you want to kill me again without a word?" Cohen tilted his head and asked.

"Returning to the manor, releasing Dark magical creatures—you've already stepped onto the path of a Dark wizard—or rather... you were always on this path." The tall Auror said coldly. "Monster."

"Some bad seeds are born that way. I stand by my opinion from ten years ago; I should have found a way to kill you back then."

He seemed to have no positive view of Cohen at all, firmly believing that a monster created in a Dark magic laboratory would always be an evil monster.

"So, there's no room for negotiation?" Cohen raised an eyebrow.

"In that case... then I have no choice but to—"

This sentence made the tall Auror react immediately:

"Protego!"

The tall Auror cast the Shield Charm. But Cohen didn't cast wandlessly, nor did he launch a direct attack. Instead, he took a deep breath—

"MOM!!!!"