Volume 3 Chapter 12: String Hunting

String Hunting

I arrived at the hermitage where master lived. I received additional lesson in alchemy while also spending five days to create the pills and potions that I had spent. Perhaps master's medicine also worked well, because I managed to get good sleep and my physical condition managed to recover until nearly 90%.

「Then, it should be about time soon. Surly disciple, we're going out, so make your preparation.」

「To where?」

Come to think of it, master said that she was making "preparation" because she felt that I would come back soon. I didn't even have any time to ask her about that before she started teaching me about medicines to recover from fatigue and for nourishment and the like. She also told me to make them. But what should I be preparing for this time?

「It's already nearly two years since the last time you made the string. Shouldn't it be about time that you run out of "string"?」

「......How do you know?」

I felt a bit of chill because master's prediction was just too precise, even so I kept my expressionless look while asking her back. Then master replied casually.

「That's because I know from the size of the spider you hunted Aria, that you would run out in several years with that much. It's you we're talking about anyway, you must have gone through some reckless battles haven't you?」

「............」

It looked like master understood just how reckless I am, but as expected I might get scolded if she learned about how I fought an orc general and more than fifty orcs, so let's not tell her.

The string of the giant spider I hunted used fresh ingredient so it was well made but, in the end it was just mid-grade item. Few human or monster could cut string that fluttered midair, but there were also those who could do that among high ranked humans or monsters.

When master saw my combat strength the last time I returned here, she thought that I might also encountered high ranked enemy in the future. It seemed that she used the peddler who came here and the few connections she had to gather information about spider monster for me.

「It seems that an "arachne" has been sighted since several months ago in a valley with a river passing through it, located around three days north from here. There is still no damage caused by it and there is river, so no adventurer will go through the trouble to hunt it, but we're going to hunt it before it's gone.」

「......Roger.」

Master had four elements just like Elena. Her body couldn't work too hard because of the enlarged magic stone in her heart. Furthermore master had gone through many fierce battles that she even got called as War Demon in the demon race army because of that. Her body broke down due to overwork and now her body became unable to fight for long.

『Don't force yourself.』

『You don't need to do anything too straining.』

I didn't say anything like that to master.

Her life belonged to her alone. But, that was exactly why, I didn't want to allow what master did for my sake despite her condition to go into a waste at the slightest.

.

I was using the boots and arm protectors that master used when she was still in active duty as War Demon, so master only equipped herself with sorcerer equipments. The burden to her heart shouldn't be that great if she only used sorcery, but just in case before departing I also put master's baggage near me.

I too wore the leather dress that Gelf had finished repairing, sheathed Galbas's black knife and black dagger on my waist, then I wore the secondhand mantel over my body.

「Then surly disciple. Tell me what's the trait of arachne.」

Master's lesson immediately started after we departed.

Master taught me not only about sorcery and alchemy, but also common sense in ordinary life, knowledge about dangerous monsters and creatures in the forest that were useful for my activity as adventurer, and many other various topics.

Arachne was a giant spider monster with the upper body of a female human growing on top of it. Unlike monster that was originally wild animal that transformed into monster due to magic particle, some people questioned that perhaps such bizarre appearance qualified it as a "mythical beast" like griffon or manticore, but there was no definite answer to that.

There were two types of this arachne. The "normal type" and the "rare type". Both of them were the same race but according to master they had differences from each other that it wouldn't be wrong to call them different species.

The normal type's upper body looked like normal woman at first glance, but it was only as intelligent as a goblin and the moment it started moving, its whole body distorted uglily, displaying its real nature as a monster.

The rare type had lost almost all of its nature as a monster and seemed to have high intelligence. It understood human language and also could use sorcery. It was also said that its upper body would always look like beautiful woman that could even seduce human male.

In short these two types were the same species but it had differences like how human differed from goblin. If the normal type was a monster, the rare type could be said as an existence that was closer to demihuman.

Rare type arachne had intelligence and it was possible to communicate with it, but its attitude would be neutral. Some was friendly, but some could skillfully use words to deceive human and devour them. They could also use sorcery and excelled in scheming, so the difficulty level of exterminating a rare type was considered rank 5.

But this time master and I were hunting a normal type. It couldn't use sorcery so its rank was lower by one to be rank 4, but its physical ability was superior than the rare type, so in the case of a scout like me who had low attack power, letting my guard down might lead to death.

I gave such answer while moving through the forest. Master nodded to what I said so it looked like I passed the test.

「Master, is there any difference in the string quality of the normal type and the rare type?」

I tried asking about what drew my curiosity from the lesson. Master made a slightly conflicted look before telling me the answer with a wording that I could understand.

「They're generally considered the same, but monster is also a living thing, so there will be some differences between individuals based on their physical condition or eating habit. Especially with the rare type, they're paying attention to their hair and skin's glossiness in order to seduce man, so some of them are paying attention to what they're eating with even more fussiness than human.」

「......I see.」

It's hard to be a monster huh....... By the way the toughness of the rare type's string was no different than the normal type, but it had good color and luster, so apparently it could be sold for good price to be made into noble's ornament.

That day we camped in the forest. If I was going alone for just three days, I would sleep on a tree branch while erasing my presence without making fire, but this time I was with master, so we burned incense to repel monster and made an adequate soup using wild grasses and mushrooms at the surrounding added with dried meat for our meal.

「......Surly disciple. I always wonder why your cooking is brimming with the charm of wilderness like this.」

「It's nutritious.」

.

After that we traveled for one day and heard the sound of river. From there we climbed a forest slope for around half a day before we could see the summit of a valley that had a river flowing below.

The merchant guild was using ship through this river to trade with a noble territory that was at seaside, but since some time or another, the bird monsters that would attack any passerby sometimes had stopped appearing. In exchange people started catching sight of a giant spider web at the upper part of the valley and a silhouette of arachne.

The merchant guild hired adventurers to protect ships, but it seemed the arachne wouldn't show itself when adventurers were present. If it was possible to prevent any attack with just that, there wouldn't be any need to go through the trouble of going deep into the forest like this to proactively hunt the arachne, so it was just left alone currently.

「Then, I'm going.」

「Take care.」

First I needed to lure out the arachne who should be somewhere in the valley. Rather than using master for that role, it should be easier to lure it for me to go alone seeing that I was female and a child. I started walking alone toward the valley's chasm.

Master was rank 5 as a sorcerer, but her close quarter combat skill was rank 3, so right now I was the most suitable to be bait. Besides seen from outside, I should look like a normal traveler seeing that I didn't bring any visible weapon.

Of course, it was unnatural for a kid to be alone inside a forest like this but, setting aside the rare type, the normal type with their lower intelligence would only see me as "prey".

I arrived at the summit of the valley that was about 40 meters wide. I sat on a nearby rock to make it looked like I was resting and killing time. Then my "eyes" showed disturbance in the visible magic particles.

「Tsu!」

*Tan-* I kicked on the ground and dodged aside while throwing away my mantel. The mantel blocked the "string" that came flying before it instantly got reeled away.

「──Typhoon──」

Master who was hiding had been waiting for that timing and fired a level 5 wind sorcery Typhoon. The raging storm blew away the arachne targeting me to the air.

『GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIH!!』

.

▼Arachne(Normal Type) Race:Spider Monster・Rank 4

[Magic Power:132／150][Stamina:386／435]

[Overall Combat Strength:657(With Body Strengthening:831)]

.

A spider around two meter long with human's upper body growing on it......it was definitely an arachne.

Typhoon's effective range was large but, if it didn't hit from close by then human would only get blown away. The arachne was letting out a strange voice from getting blown away while falling on the ground. Its upper body's face changed from human female to a twisted look like a goblin as it glared to me.

I already rushed forward at that time and threw a knife. In respond the arachne fired string not from its butt but its head and tied up the knife.

『Giigih!』

The arachne spat out something that looked like poison liquid from its human head.

「──Shield──」

I quickly blocked it with magic shield while jumping to the side to dodge the poison. Then master fired Guillotine from behind me and severed one of the arachne's legs.

『GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!』

The arachne screamed while trying to withdraw. I threw the all-purpose type pendulum after it.

The spider head spewed out string again to entangle the pendulum, but I controlled the string to make it dodge the arachne's string and left a shallow gash on its neck.

*Doonn!*

The next moment, a thunderous sound resounded above me and a huge rock fell down to crush the arachne and me.

『Giih!?』

The arachne noticed that and tried to escape, but master who had circled to its side threw three knives that stabbed deeply into its back, stopping its movement.

I charged through master's illusion of giant rock that didn't even make any air pressure from its falling and quickly cut off the confused arachne's right arm with my black knife.

But, as expected from rank 4 perhaps. It still wasn't fatal for it. All the attacks that landed on it also missed its vitals.

It tried to spit poison again at me who approached while holding a knife and a dagger in both hands, but the arachne sensed master also approaching from behind it. It might sensed the disadvantage it was placed on and suddenly changed its warped face that looked like goblin to become a pretty woman face. It showed a fearful look.

But, what's the point of doing "that" after this far?

「──Thrust──」

「──Slash──」

My black knife and master's hatchet hit the arachne's neck from left and right, severing it like a scissor. The "human head" that had the look of shock and fear etched on it fell on its own into the valley and vanished.

It seemed that arachne had two brains in it human head and spider head respectively, but the spider brain had the role of small brain and on its own it could only move its body like actual insect.

Just in case I also stabbed the spider head. Then master murmured softly.

「Do we look like humans who will hesitate just from seeing a woman's face?」

「Who knows?」

There was no way we would go easy on an opponent that tried to eat us.

This would take longer if I was alone but, master worked together with me, so we were able to defeat the arachne without much effort.

So this was how it felt to fight with a party......to think that the difference from fighting solo was this striking.

While I was processing the torso of the exterminated spider, master took out a simple alchemy tool set from inside the luggage she carried with her and handed it to me with a grin.

「It's a match against time now, surly disciple. If you want to get a proper string, try making the chemical to create string with the ingredients here in one hour.」

「......Roger.」

Master was strict as usual. Even while thinking that, I felt 『nostalgic』 and accepted the alchemy tool set before hurriedly starting to make the chemical.

***

That day, the three noble ladies who became the crown prince's official fiancées met together in the palace of Claydale Kingdom.

The daughter of Marquis Dandall, Clara Dandall.

The daughter of Duke Fudale, Patricia Fudale.

The daughter of Count Lester, Carla Lester.

The girls weren't told anything about the reason why they were gathered here today. Ladies from high ranked noble house like them were permitted to bring several servants and bodyguards even when going to the palace, but they were only permitted to bring one servant with them into the room while the others were told to wait in another room.

(......I'm bored.)

While the other two were looking nervous, the youngest among them all Carla was the only one who was feeling completely bored without any tension at all.

Carla was experimented by her father since her childhood to obtain all elements. As the result she should have lost any "significance" as a noble lady to create connection with other noble house, but her father imposed the task of being the crown prince's consort as her last task.

He didn't have any expectation on Carla whose health was problematic to function as a royalty. He was simply using her as "pawn" to strengthen his house's connection with other influential noble houses within the country.

Originally once every two generations, a royalty from other country should be welcomed to be the queen. That was the custom of this Claydale Kingdom.

With that the country strengthened its ties with the neighboring countries and dealt with the political problem with other powerful countries, but the current king who should be strengthening the royal family's ties with the influential nobles within the country picked a daughter from viscount house who originally wasn't even a fiancée candidate. It caused the factional dispute within the country to intensify.

The previous king attempted to stabilize the royal family's position by abdicating his position to the crown prince, even so the opposition within the country still didn't settle down. Because of that they royal family had no choice but to pick the next queen from an influential noble house within the country once more. As the result, it caused friction to form with the royalty of Solhorse Kingdom whose princess had originally been arranged to marry into Claydale Kingdom's royal family next.

(I don't really care......)

Carla didn't have any opinion about that. She was able to obtain the chance to get a "toy" that was the crown prince, so she didn't give a damn about how the country would turn out.

She was thinking that she would be able to play until "death" by dirtying the innocent crown prince, but after meeting a certain girl, Carla felt like there was color in her life for the first time.

A coldhearted and merciless angel of death. She felt like that girl was the only one who understood her true self. That girl was the only one who was standing on the "boundary of death" just like her.

The figure of the girl the last time she saw her and her grand way of life that she heard from rumor after that made her felt jealous. Carla was dreaming with her eyes staying open and looking at far away.

(How lovely it would be if I can die from fighting Aria to the death in a garden with many flowers of blood blooming.)

That was her aspiration. A desire so strong that it made her felt like vomiting blood.

She wanted to kill. She wanted to be killed.

Drowning those who held Carla in contempt and trampling her dignity underfoot into a sea of blood and fire, and then at the end fighting that girl to the death on that greatest stage──.

That fleeting dream of Carla was suddenly interrupted by a palace official's voice.

「Presenting his highness the crown prince Ervan Fon Claydale, and her highness the first princess Elena Claydale-」

The door of this room opened and this country's crown prince and princess entered inside.

Carla's interested toward the crown prince had lessened some, but in exchange she was starting to harbor interest toward the first princess Elena. Her gaze moved from the crown prince who entered the room toward Elena who followed behind him. In respond the princess looked back with a strong and wary gaze toward Carla even though even the other fiancées avoided meeting Carla's gaze.

Before this Elena should be someone who always clinging on the first prince, but since around three years ago, that fixation had calmed down to a normal degree and she started behaving resolutely as a member of the royal family so that the noble faction couldn't take advantage of her.

What was the cause that changed her like that? Most people only saw it as her growing up, but Carla's interest was drawn by that change.

(It will be a bit better if only she is the crown prince.)

A short while after that, his majesty the king entered the room with the prime minister and Carla's father, the head of the royal sorcerers accompanying him.

What were they planning to talk about by gathering the children of the royal family together with the fiancées in here instead of the audience hall?

Everyone except Carla waited with a bated breath and tense posture. Then his majesty the king looked around at the faces of the children and talked to them directly with a dignified demeanor.

「One year from now, I shall have all of you conquer the dungeon in an isolated island within Duke Fudale's territory. I wish for all of you to make a wish to the "spirit" there to obtain a Gift and used it for the sake of the country as a member of the royal family.」

Everyone fell silent for a moment after hearing what the king said. Then they made a stir while in the shadow Carla alone was sporting a thin smile on her lips.