So I'm a Spider, So What?, Vol. 8

by Okina Baba

  But in her eyes, I didn’t matter one inkling.

  Somehow, between this and my fateful encounter with that great being, I was becoming painfully aware that I had thought too highly of myself.

  Perhaps her concern for her husband, Buirimus, and their newborn child left no room to contemplate me at all.

  Either way, it was clear that I was insignificant to her.

  Though I was called humanity’s strongest mage, I was keenly aware that to her, at least, I was nothing more than a trifle.

  Thus, I became aware of my own ego and felt embarrassed.

  In the end, despite his wife’s refusal, I found ways to help her anyway.

  I felt my mind could not be at ease if I did nothing. Perhaps it was more for my own sake than for Buirimus or his wife.

  I also reached out to all my connections to find ways to help the troops in the Mystic Mountains, where Buirimus was being sent.

  The rest was up to Buirimus himself.

  But while he was away, another tragedy occurred.

  The kidnappings.

  Buirimus’s own child was among those who were being kidnapped all across the world.

  Tiva led a special operation to try to track down the kidnappers, but to this day, there has been no progress.

  “I apologize that you had to see me in such a state.”

  Buirimus’s wife’s voice is still shaking as she pulls herself together to apologize.

  Tiva and I quickly assure her that she has nothing to apologize for.

  After her streak of ill fortune, there was no doubt that her heart had reached its breaking point.

  And then this terrible news.

  I could only imagine her feelings.

  “What…happened to him?”

  “We don’t yet know the details. But when I went to check in on him, I found that his entire troop had been wiped out.”

  Due to certain circumstances, I have been demoted to a station at a fortress in the north.

  It is relatively close to the Mystic Mountains, so I received information about Buirimus’s squadron there.

  When I learned that their regular communications had suddenly ceased, I quickly went to investigate, myself, only to find utter destruction.

  “Though it’s not certain, we believe that the cause was a unique ogre that appeared around the same time.”

  Buirimus was highly skilled, so there were not many monsters that could wipe out his entire troop so easily.

  And around that time, word had just started to spread of a powerful ogre that had killed several adventurers.

  Surely this was no coincidence.

  “It’s been decided that I will soon lead a special force to find and defeat this ogre. Though it may be small comfort, I will be sure to avenge your husband.”

  “And I will do everything in my power to get your child back home as soon as I possibly can,” Tiva promised.

  “…Thank you.”

  Buirimus’s wife bowed her head weakly.

  “Do you think it’ll be all right?”

  As we sat in the carriage on our way back from the mansion, Tiva stared out the window.

  He didn’t specify a topic, but no doubt he was referring to Buirimus’s wife.

  “Who can say?”

  Even I do not know the answer.

  Try as I might, I cannot hope to understand the feelings of a woman who just learned her husband has died and whose child has been kidnapped.

  It is not my place to carelessly say, She’ll be all right.

  “That depends on your work, good Tiva.”

  Some say that a mother regains her vigor if her lost child is returned, so perhaps Buirimus’s wife, too, could recover if things went well.

  “You must now face this with all your strength.”

  Tiva nods heavily.

  Of course, it’s not as though I think he was ever handling this investigation half-heartedly.

  Tiva has always been a hard worker, and he has his own reasons for taking this case especially seriously.

  “I swear that I will bring those children back alive. I swear it.”

  His voice contains an edge that he can’t quite disguise.

  It goes beyond righteous fury toward the kidnappers to a deeper, more personal rage.

  You see, Tiva has a son.

  Or perhaps I should say had.

  His son had a wife, and they had even given him a grandchild.

  The babe was born around the same time of year as Buirimus’s own son.

  It was his son’s first child and Tiva’s first grandchild.

  Happiness beyond compare.

  But after one fateful day, his son and his family were gone, never to return.

  Their carriage had gotten into an accident.

  However, in a later investigation, it was discovered that the tragedy was no accident at all but deliberately engineered by someone.

  In fact, the methods strongly resembled the modus operandi of the kidnapping organization.

  Had they targeted Tiva’s grandchild and accidentally killed all three?

  Or did they have some other reason?

  That I do not know, but it means that Tiva lost his son, daughter-in-law, and grandchild all at once.

  Thus, this man has a very powerful reason for hunting down the kidnapping organization.

  I’m sure he feels just as strongly about it as Buirimus’s wife.

  “I shall assist you to the best of my ability.”

  Now that it’s come to this, I cannot simply sit by in silence.

  I have a dreadful premonition about this organization.

  A feeling that if they’re left alone, it might lead to something truly terrible.

  “…Even after your demotion?”

  Tiva looks at me blandly.

  Why, you little…!

  I scowl at the low blow.

  For reasons entirely beyond my control, I’ve been sent to the north at present.

  In fact, I did not have permission to be in the capital today, so I cannot move freely.

  “Harrumph! To send me away for such a ridiculous reason!”

  “No, I think it’s a natural punishment for nearly killing a hero. In fact, you should be pleased that you were not executed.”

  “That was just a trifling amount of training! Nearly killing is an outright exaggeration!”

  The reason for my demotion is simply that I was training Julius, my first apprentice.

  He demanded that I take him under my wing, so train him I did.

  However, Julius’s homeland and the so-called Word of God religion objected to my methods, and the Renxandt Empire unfortunately agreed, so I was banished to a far-off northern post for doing nothing wrong in the slightest.

  I suppose even the empire couldn’t cover for me if other nations were angry with me.

  But why would they get so angry about a small bit of training?!

  “No, that could hardly be called training. By anyone else’s standards, that was torture, understand? You must realize, Sir Ronandt, that your idea of common sense does not match the rest of the world.”

  “Hmph!”

  This is ridiculous!

  I just hit him with the smallest amount of magic to build up his resistance!

  It makes no sense whatsoever to punish me for such a thing!

  “Very well, then. I shall just do whatever I can. Starting with avenging Buirimus’s death.”

  Sitting in the carriage, my thoughts were already on the ogre that killed Buirimus.

  I’M STUFFED

  Right now, I’m locked in a desperate battle.

  Things aren’t looking good.

  It’s been a long time since I faced a predicament like this.

  But that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up!

  I will win!

  No matter what it takes!

  “U…urgh!”

  “Miss, you don’t need to force yourself to finish it, all right? If you’re full, it’s okay to leave
some on the plate.”

  That’s nice of you, lady, but there’s no way in hell!

  I refuse to leave a speck of food on this plate!

  That’s right. I’m eating my lunch in the inn’s mess hall right now.

  And eating, and eating, and eating!

  “Hurk!”

  “See? You’ve clearly reached your limit, young lady! You’ve been at it for almost an hour now, but if you can’t eat it, then that’s that.”

  Delicious food is right before my eyes.

  As you may have guessed from the presence of those adventurer assholes from earlier, this inn is for the general public, so it’s not fancy like the kind of place nobles might stay.

  And all the food definitely emphasizes quantity over quality!

  Bam! Tons of bread!

  Boom! Tons of veggies!

  Pow! Tons of meat!

  And so on.

  But this lady must be a pretty good cook, because even though the food is humble, it’s also surprisingly flavorful and hearty.

  That’s right. It’s delicious.

  It’s delicious, but I can’t quite finish it!

  “Urrrrgh!”

  I groan despite myself.

  How can I possibly leave this delicious food unfinished?

  No! Noooo! I won’t do it!

  But my stomach has reached its limit, my throat is closing up shop, and my mouth refuses to take another bite.

  My body won’t listen to me. I’ve been betrayed!

  What insanity is this?!

  How can I allow such a terrible tragedy?

  I can’t, obviously!

  “Wehhh…”

  “Miss?! Please don’t cry, miss! There, there, it’s all right. Okay?”

  The nice lady comforts me, but that doesn’t change the reality that I can’t finish the food in front of me.

  The greatest misfortune that’s befallen me since becoming a god is the fact that I can’t eat as much as I used to.

  Battle power?

  That’s not nearly as important as food!

  Until now, with my monster body and Satiation skill, I could eat way more than you would think possible just from looking at me.

  Thanks to that, it’s been ages since I last experienced the feeling of being too stuffed to eat another bite.

  I just ate and drank as much as I wanted.

  But now that I’m a god, the tiniest amount of food makes me totally full!

  Thinking about it, it’s pretty obvious that without the Satiation skill, I’d be able to eat only the same amount as an average person.

  If anything, Hiiro Wakaba’s body always had a small appetite, so I need only about half the amount of food most people might eat to feel full.

  Yeah. If I remember right, cup ramen or a convenience-store bento box was enough to satisfy me.

  Depending on which kind, sometimes I couldn’t even finish the whole bento box.

  So since my current body is based on that, it’s no wonder I suddenly have a small appetite.

  My heart wants to keep eating, but my body refuses to accept it.

  Do you have any idea how awful that feels?!

  Even now, no matter how much I want to finish the food in front of me, just looking at it makes my body want to puke a little bit!

  Uuurgh, this is the worst.

  What did I do to deserve this, God?

  Okay, I know I’ve done plenty of bad stuff, but still.

  Not to mention, god in this world mostly refers to that awful you-know-who…

  Unreal.

  Absolutely, positively unreal…

  Utterly heartbroken, I push the cold food in front of me over to Sael, who’s sitting across from me.

  Sael has already demolished a giant plate of her own, but like most spider monsters, she has the Satiation skill, so she can eat a lot more than you’d expect.

  Even though her actual body is a palm-size spider, the skill allows her to eat several times her own body weight in no time flat.

  She may have had the same meal I did, but I bet she can still finish my leftovers.

  In fact, it’s been a while now since Sael finished eating, so I bet she’s already getting hungry again.

  Ugh, to think that I of all people would have to relinquish my food to someone else!

  Sael looks at my face, then my plate of food, then at the chef lady, then back at me and my food…

  Uh, don’t get stuck in an infinite loop, okay?

  Just eat it already, dammit!

  Sael doesn’t seem to be able to escape the loop, so I just shove some food into her mouth.

  Why are these little girls each so unique anyway?

  Shouldn’t they all be more like their mom, the Demon Lord?

  Since she made them with the Egg-Laying skill, they’re basically just inferior clones of her, y’know.

  So why does she produce such weirdos?

  Yeah, I said it. Weirdos.

  They’re weird, okay?

  Except for maybe Ael. Thank goodness for her.

  Sometimes I feel like Ael’s the only one holding the puppet posse together.

  For a second, it occurs to me that there might’ve been more individuals like Ael among the puppet spiders I killed a long time ago.

  When the Demon Lord and I were still at war, I killed no less than seven puppet spiders.

  The four who are around now are the only survivors from that battle.

  When I think about it that way, my relationship with the idiot who’s stuffing her face mindlessly with food in front of me (also known as Sael) is actually pretty complicated.

  Luckily, all three of them except for Ael are idiots, meaning they don’t really think about that kind of thing and warmed up to me pretty quickly, but I bet Ael and the Demon Lord herself had some thoughts about it when we first teamed up.

  I’m guessing Ael just calculated that it was in her own best interest to accept me quickly.

  In that regard, she’s definitely the talented eldest sister.

  It’s entirely possible that some of the other puppet spiders I killed were just as talented as Ael or maybe even more so.

  If that was the case, it might’ve been easier to keep these idiots in check.

  I imagine it for a moment.

  Picture this: a total of ten little girls milling about.

  Each of them acts on their own, so Ael just throws in the towel and lets them do whatever they want.

  What is this supposed to be, a preschool?!

  …Okay.

  I hate to say it, but I’m glad there are only four of them.

  Since there are only three problem children, Ael can handle them just fine.

  Yeah. I just gotta stay positive.

  Sael looks at me in confusion as she demolishes the last of my food.

  Well, since she’s a puppet spider, her face doesn’t actually change, but I can pretty much tell at this point how she’s feeling anyway.

  Looking at Sael’s blank expression, I shrug and pat her on the head.

  That night, the Demon Lord returns with a troubled look on her face.

  The baby bloodsucker looks furious, too.

  Something must have happened.

  “I have two pieces of bad news,” the Demon Lord begins once we’ve all gathered together.

  Unlike the baby bloodsucker, she doesn’t quite look murderous, but her brow is furrowed deeply.

  The Demon Lord is usually pretty easygoing, so when she’s this serious, it usually means trouble.

  “First, it looks like we’ll have to stay in this town for a few days.”

  I tilt my head in confusion.

  Our plan was to gather supplies for crossing the Mystic Mountains and leave right away, since this is the best time of year to make the journey.

  This world does have seasons, even if they’re not as dramatically different as in Japan.

  Right now, it’s technically summer.

  It’s kind of chilly outside, but still.

&n
bsp; The Mystic Mountains are so cold that they’re covered in snow all year long.

  If we don’t cross while the weather is even slightly warmer than usual, it’s gonna be a rough trip.

  Before my deification, we might’ve been able to push through even in winter, but now I’m way too much of a burden for something so adventurous.

  Because of me, we can’t use the route we originally planned: the shortest way across that the Demon Lord took on her way here.

  I mean, we’re talking hundreds of miles of mountain, y’know?

  I can’t even stroll across a flat plain without passing out!

  Therefore, our new plan is to wind through the gaps between the mountains, avoiding high elevations as much as we can.

  It’s still gonna be tough, but it’s the best we can do.

  This roundabout route is gonna take way longer, and considering the possibility of unforeseen occurrences, it’s in our best interest to leave as soon as possible.

  If we miss this chance, we’ll have to hang out in this town for a whole year until summer comes around again.

  So why would we be staying in town any longer than necessary?

  “The road we’re supposed to take is under a blockade. Apparently some super-evil monster has appeared, see. It’s an ogre, but it’s killed a bunch of adventurers already, so they’re saying it’s too dangerous to leave town. What awful timing, right?”

  That makes sense, unfortunately.

  The lady who made me lunch mentioned something about a dangerous ogre, too, come to think of it.

  For the safety of the townspeople, it’s only natural that they wouldn’t want anyone to go in the direction where a dangerous monster’s lurking about.

  But still, considering that the Demon Lord’s strong enough to crush some stupid ogre with one finger, it’s a bit pointless to insist that she not leave town.

  “So we’re stuck here until they get rid of that ogre. The imperial army’s apparently putting together a whole big squad to take care of it, so we’ll just have to wait it out till then.”

  Gotcha.

  So we have to chill out in this town for a few days until they take care of that ogre, huh?

  And wait a sec, they’re bringing in the army?

  Guess this ogre must be stronger than I thought.

  I’m sure the Demon Lord could still beat it with one punch, though.