97. Solitude (4)
97. Solitude (4)
"It's all done."
"Thank you..."
"You're welcome. Return to your place."
Tigris's second daughter, despite having just had her leg healed—a leg that likely hadn't been normal for a long time—wore a regretful expression instead.
She must have been thinking, 'Perhaps I won't be chosen as the pack leader by the Dungeon Queen after all?'
The moment a threatening leader disappeared, she was already thinking of seizing the pack. It seemed she possessed a mindset governed by desire.
It must have stemmed from her instincts as a monster.
'Her entire skeleton and carapace were completely misaligned.'
Regardless of her delusions, I was holding onto the thought that had occurred to me when I saw her leg.
The daughter of the Spider King.
Her leg—which by human standards would be called a princess's—had been attached in a completely misaligned state. It had broken once, then healed strangely.
And not just one, but three out of her eight legs were like that.
'It's fortunate she has a monster's body.'
Still, after I cleanly broke them again and properly set the bones for treatment, they recovered enough for her to move right away...
"Domestic violence, huh... I suppose monsters wouldn't have that kind of mentality."
"Probably not... For monsters and demons, teaching through violence is common sense... Their bodies are so tough and regenerate easily, after all."
"Still, that was crossing the line."
"That's true too..."
Who the culprit was, was obvious.
No matter how I looked at it, her body showed no signs of ever having experienced combat, let alone a close-quarters fighting style.
Her bones and muscles were superior to a human's, true, but they were inferior to her father's—and even to the other soldiers and worker spiders beside her.
So, that injury was ultimately something she suffered at home.
"Even if I had left him alive, I would've kept agonizing over whether to kill him or not."
- Dalkak.
"Yes. You did well."
- Tak!
Seizing the moment, I praised Evangeline by patting her body as she approached me, radiating aegyo. I then gazed at the three spider-kin before me until the queens returned after finishing their task.
Just as the eldest queen had ordered, all three were kneeling with their postures lowered.
... Gulp.
The eldest son, who seemed the most nervous among them, had already moved past confusion and was looking at me with eyes full of subtle greed.
If I were to choose a successor for an ordinary faction, he would have been a viable choice.
Seeing that his mental state was uniquely stable compared to the other children, perhaps Tigris had thought the same and handled him less roughly than the rest of his family.
'And that's exactly why it's a demerit.'
I wasn't trying to choose an ordinary successor.
In that respect, the second-born—whose leg had been broken earlier—was also a demerit.
"..."
She was radiating her will to follow my orders with her entire body, her head and torso fully bowed.
However, as I had already confirmed from her eyes, she was someone brimming with desire she couldn't hide.
She was intelligent enough to realize, the moment her injury was treated, that she hadn't been chosen as queen.
It was rare for anyone from such a hellish family to be capable of such proper thinking—unless they had something they desperately wanted to achieve.
Naturally, my gaze shifted to the third-born.
'First of all, her appearance passes.'
Overall, she was the third-born, and likely the second daughter. She looked to be in a much worse state compared to the other two.
And that was precisely why she passed.
Because I intended to create a Spider Queen who would cooperate with me, so I could manipulate this faction as I pleased.
'Is she doing this because she's smarter than her two older siblings, or is she truly in that state?'
There were suspicious points, certainly. If it was the former, choosing her would be a mistake. If not, she would be a useful card to play.
Though, all these assumptions were essentially meaningless.
"「...According to this, the contract is concluded.」"
What I was seeing now was merely a first impression, since I had intended to make a contract with all of them anyway.
As I'd mentioned, contracts with monsters didn't burden the dungeon much.
So, wouldn't it solve everything to just place this entire Arachne royal family under the contract's influence?
That would make it much easier to gather information about them as well.
『Name - ...』
First, I checked on the three queens of Tigris.
However, based on their abilities, they were merely Arachne who barely met the system conditions for upper-rank, and there wasn't anything particularly noteworthy about them.
No, there was just one thing.
『Poison Eating - By consuming a living or dead creature that possesses poison, permanently absorbs a small amount of the higher of the target's magic power or resistance. A very low chance exists to generate or improve a poison-related trait.』
This trait alone was worth paying attention to.
It was a hero-grade trait I discovered from the queen with blue hair. Inspecting the details closely, it was a decent trait, though it had its limits.
The rising stat scaled with the target's corresponding stat value, but the amount was extremely small.
It couldn't absorb stats from a target whose magic power was stronger than the user's own, and attempting it would result in a powerful backlash. Those were the limits.
Still, the fact that the stats that could be absorbed were unlimited, and that additional poison-related traits could be obtained, was truly excellent.
'I should keep an eye on this one.'
It's a trait that only living summoned creatures could use, but having someone other than me absorb it would be fine too.
Though the user's mood would definitely worsen.
"This is...?"
Thinking that, I was checking the children's information when I discovered one more thing in an unexpected place.
From that second princess whom I had considered 'passed' a moment ago.
『Solitary Poison Bag - Swallow a living creature that possesses poison into the poison sac, dissolving that creature to obtain the higher of their magic power or stamina. A very low chance exists to obtain a poison-related trait.』
A hero-grade trait.
Checking its description, it was an effect that was slightly better, even with somewhat greater restrictions compared to the 'Poison Eating' I had seen earlier.
While confirming information to ask her if she knew she possessed this ability, I found one more element that drew my attention in the process.
『Name - Sanme』
Her name.
No matter how I looked at it, it was clearly foreign.
It didn't seem like a name the daughter of an Arachne King living on the Eastern Continent would have.
"Is your name truly Sanme?"
"H-h-how did you...?"
"It seems it is. How did you come to bear such a name?"
"I, I don't know... Father just... called me that..."
"... Haa."
I felt my 'Nobility' trait suppressing my brow from furrowing at the timidity that seemed born of violence, when I heard a sigh from behind me.
Turning my head, I saw the figures of the wives.
The source of that sigh, which seemed to pour out all the deep lamentation held within, was the blue-haired Arachne from whom I had discovered the 'Poison Eating' trait earlier.
Come to think of it, her hair color was the same as this child's.
"The Queen is watching."
"Ah, yes? Hic...! I-I'm sorry!"
When the first wife beside her poked her side, the woman only then realized my gaze was upon her. She covered her mouth with both hands and bowed deeply in rapid succession, hurriedly offering her apologies.
The reactions of the wives standing beside her were indifferent, as if they were used to it.
She had maintained a fairly dignified attitude like the other wives while performing her queenly duties, but it seemed this was her original nature.
"I did not intend to punish you. Straighten your back."
"Thank you...!"
"However, I am curious. The reason for your sigh."
"That is..."
The blue-haired wife hesitated briefly at my question.
"Go on and tell her, Sister. It's not like you owe that bastard any loyalty, anyway."
"R-right, you're right...?"
When the brown-haired wife beside her pressed her, the woman finally bowed respectfully and opened her mouth.
And the first phrase she uttered was exactly what I had expected.
"That child is my eldest daughter..."
"Indeed. So?"
Despite my acknowledgment, she hesitated, biting her lip briefly. Eventually, she spilled the rest of the situation as if confessing everything.
In a tone that was clumsy, yet seemed to be trying to maintain an old-fashioned, elegant air.
"Our husband, no... that man... had no interest in the children. I heard that he simply gave them names meaning 'first', 'second', and 'third'."
"I see."
'He was even more heartless than I thought.'
Examining them now, the other princes and princesses also had names ending in 'me'.
Yonme, Gome... they looked quite familiar.
At first, I had seen 'Nime' first and then 'Sanme', so I hadn't immediately sensed anything beyond that.
"It was truly so...! He didn't take us out of love or anything, he simply kidnapped us and...!"
"Little sister."
"I-I'm sorry..."
"It's alright."
This time, the blue-haired queen's words, which were about to stray off-topic, were reined in by the black-haired wife's restraint.
Judging by the behavior, she seemed to be the second among the three, so I figured I could call her the second wife going forward.
"Haa. And so... feeling pity for my child, I unknowingly let out a sigh. Your Majesty."
Hearing that, the other former queens beside her also sighed without realizing it, or cleared their throats and blinked their eyes.
They had an air about them as if all the sorrow they had endured was flooding back. Seeing that there was no sign they were putting on an act, the blue-haired queen's words appeared to be true.
'Third', 'Sanme', was it?
"The language of Hwaguk, I see."
"So I heard."
"It seems he was someone from that land."
Hwaguk, or Hwa-nara, was an island nation and one of the great powers of this world that had inherited most of Japanese culture.
Although it lacked in size and strength compared to other large nations of the Western Continent, it was building wealth by independently expanding trade with the Eastern Continent, using its island position and 'Gaf's Demonic Territory'—which lay between it and two other nations—as its border.
Though in truth, part of its territory was currently occupied due to invasions from Gaf's Demonic Territory itself.
"May I speak, Your Majesty?"
"You may."
The one who stepped forward was the black-haired wife, whom I considered the first of the three.
She looked the oldest among the three, a mature woman whose appearance seemed to have aged exactly as the years passed.
"I have been with that wretch since the time he first fled here from the Western Continent. Therefore, I know his past."
Stepping forward, she spoke in a manner far more archaic than the other wives.
It seemed she was the source of the other wives' 'clumsy yet old-fashioned tone'.
"Let us all sit and speak. Very well. What of this past?"
I invited the queens and their children to all sit down.
Because I had a premonition that the tale she would recount afterward would be a rather interesting one.
"She says we may all sit."
"It-t-t's fine... We'll listen standing."
Not everyone sat, but I didn't pay that any more attention. After confirming that only the queen before me had taken a more comfortable posture, I sat in my shadowy chair and listened to the story.
"He was once one of the relatively large yokai of Hwaguk, called Aotsuchigumo. Originally, he led three Hyakki Yagyō."
My premonition was correct.
The fact that he led three Hyakki Yagyō, the processions of Western Continent yokai, meant that he had surpassed the mature level of an elite grade and was reaching for the realm of 'High Rank'.
At that level, even if small, he would have possessed his own demonic territory—or at the very least, held a significant position within an existing archduke's territory.
In other words, he wasn't originally someone who would have died so futilely at Eve's hands.
A story containing the downfall of the strong is always interesting.
"I see. And then?"
"However, he was swept up in a great subjugation campaign that occurred recently in Hwaguk. He lost his cintamani, his army, and his nest all at once, losing part of his power and even some memories related to that power. That is how he fled to the Eastern Continent."
Listening to her, I sensed something strange.
Of course, if you lost your cintamani, your dungeon core, it was natural for your power to diminish. But losing even your memories was bizarre.
I voiced my conjecture just as it came to me.
"He must have used the Golden Cicada Shedding Shell technique, leaving behind a clone or a proxy."
I said this because the scene of Serica using that very method to urgently return to her dungeon from Copherin's subjugation army had come to mind.
The first wife nodded.
"Your Majesty's wisdom is like a divine mountain. What you say is correct. That wretch transferred his power and some of his memories to his legal wife of the time, throwing her into the chaos as prey while he fled."
"So that's how it was."
It seemed Tigris had escaped to the Eastern Continent while Hwa-nara was subjugating the native yokai to concentrate their full force on the Demonic Territory of Gaf, their main headache.
After that, he wandered the Eastern Continent, building his power, then gathered his forces around here with the intention of devouring the ant monsters.
Learning his origin and history, I naturally deduced that his name was an alias.
"It seems the name Tigris (Tiger) was taken from the pattern on his back."
"That is exactly as you say. His original name was Aorura."
'Aorura (Weaving Blue)', what a truly ill-fitting name.
I turned my gaze to 'Sanme'.
She was wedged between the first queen and me, rolling her eyes as if she had no idea what she was supposed to do.
The wife beside her probably wished the child would shed at least a single tear at this moment.
I wondered if the child thought appearing keen would lower her standing with me, or if she was simply stupid.
"So?"
"Yes...?"
The first wife looked at me quizzically at my prompt.
And before the enjoyment and pity I felt from their story could fade, I urged them.
To show me the end of the 'performance' they had put on so far.
"You must have a request of me, to speak of a past you are so reluctant to tell. Speak."
I waited with a moment of patience.
These spiders held no great value to me at the moment. It would not be easy for them to do so in the future, either.
Their traits were usable, true, but wouldn't simply 'collecting' them be the end of it?
Even the reason I had taken them in to begin with was simply because Tigris had touched my reverse scale and died for it. So it was a situation where I had no expectations of them.
'The north is practically stabilized by force now anyway. I don't even need to make them rulers again. I can just use them as my troops. Alive or dead.'
Thus, once this interest faded, I would no longer consider their requests important.
And giving nothing in return for the price of such an interesting past seemed like a waste of both the effort of telling the tale and the enjoyment I had felt.
That was why I was urging them.
An urging to grab what could be grabbed in time. You could also call it a slight act of generosity.
"You caught on...?"
"Quickly."
By then, the second and third wives, who had been gauging my mood, carefully approached and sat on either side of the first wife, bowing their heads deeply.
"We humbly beseech you."
""Please, do not cast out our children. For that, we will do anything.""
I had suspected as much. This was their own form of desperate struggle.
It was an act of risking their own standing, and even their lives, to beseech me for their children's lives—and simultaneously to educate those children, who had yet to abandon their monstrous instincts, on proper conduct and on knowing who they were dealing with.
Because if left as they were, they didn't know what foolish acts the children—who had grown up watching their wretched father—might commit. It was to prevent that future.
And also.
"Very well. I shall grant it."
Such desperate and wise 'maternal love' was more than enough to move my heart.
"Those words mean...?"
"I shall take you in and by no means abandon you. Among you, those who show talent shall be used in positions befitting that talent. This, I shall prove not with a magical contract, but through trust and action. ... Are you satisfied?"
"I believed you were not someone who would speak falsehoods to those you have already captured. I shall believe those words as well."
Just as they assumed, unless they or their children dared to cross the line, I wasn't one to cast aside 'my own' simply for being useless.
And as the first proof of my answer to their request, I designated 'Sanme' with these words:
"Your name shall henceforth be 'Fortuna', Sanme. And you shall take charge of governing this pack from now on."
"Y-yes...?!"
"You former queens, properly assist her. After seeing the results, I shall decide on future matters as well."
""We shall follow with devoted loyalty, Your Majesty.""
"I look forward to your devotion and wisdom."
With this, the war in this region was over.
It took about two more days to fully take in all the spider faction forces.
Now, the only remaining problem in this region was what to do about the one who had ruled it, the Ant Queen.
And since the region was now stabilized, that wasn't an issue that had to be solved immediately.