Arachne

 

Ten minutes after Neri's capture.

 

- Masiabi -

 

Ohmy, ohmy, ohmy!
I'll admit that I'm a tiny bit excited.
Okay, I'm often excited after I've hunted, but this time is different.
If what Kyroki said is true, she could add this girl that right now dangles from my torso, secured by a string, to our family.
It sounds so easy, coming from her.

And I'm certainly not against it.
She'll be far greater in this role than as fodder.

To be honest, I don't like eating the young ones.
There's no spice to them, they're bony, and there's not much on them in the first place.
Also, it goes a bit against the hunters' codex.
You shouldn't kill the young ones as it isn't sustaining for the flock.
Instead, you go for the old and sick, and if there aren’t enough of them, the males first and then the females.
Something like this girl would be quite low on my target list.
If not for our rule that they're not allowed in our forest, as it would only bring trouble if they're allowed to scout our territory, I would’ve left her alone.
So Kyroki's solution sounds really great.

Finally, we reach the entrance to our nest.
Once we're deep enough I turn back to human form.
There are some narrower passages and my huge frame would get stuck.
Yet now I have to think closer about how to carry the girl.

 

"You seem to be in an awfully good mood, Masiabi." (Akasia)

"I guess I am." (Masiabi)

"Don't you worry that she might wake up if you swing her around like that?" (A)

 

Oh, I didn't consider this.

 

"There's no reason for concern. The poison I applied will knock her out for the remainder of the day. We have time." (Kyroki)

"Do you really think this will work? I can barely imagine it." (M)

"Don't get your hopes too high. This is purely experimental. Yet from my first quick check-up, I can tell that this girl has some traits that will support the process and if we all work together I can further improve the rate of success." (K)

"There are traits that are beneficial for what you're planning to do?" (A)

"Sure there are. She's somewhat frail, has no magic of her own from what I could gather, and is still early enough in her development that there are no solid features." (K)

"And this is good?" (M)

 

She's saying she's weak and regarding what I know, Kyroki's poisons are quite hard on humans.

 

"Didn't you listen? Sure it is. The smaller the expected resistance the easier it will be to force some changes onto her. And as there'll be barely any resistance at all this leaves her open for massive changes." (K)

"Forcing changes... That doesn't sound pleasant." (A)

"Oh, she'll be in a waking hell. You can be sure of this. Which makes it all the more important that you complete your parts without fail." (K)

 

Hm, that could make her a bit reluctant to get along with me.

 

"What about you, Eritu?" (A)

"Wh-what about me?" (Eritu)

"You didn't say all that much about this plan. Are you fine with it? You hate humans more than any of us." (A)

"Y-You know, my little ones went all over her. Climbing all around her body, however, not a single one got even as much as a scratch. I can appreciate such a thing. Also, she won't stay one, r-right?" (E)

 

The last part went to Kyroki.

 

"Naturally not." (K)

"Will you also be able to get rid of that icky human smell?" (E)

"Sure. If you do your job properly." (K)

"Then I have no reason to complain." (E)

 

We progress a bit deeper into our nest.
Now the critical part starts as the walls of stone get replaced by our web.
And Talisa has set up hers in a way that the tension on them informs her of any movement around the nest.
Which means she's probably already aware of our presence.
And unsurprisingly, she's already waiting at the big junction when we arrive.
Now we just shouldn't look too secretive or she's going to assume we're doing something forbidden.

 

"Ahem, what exactly is going on here?" (T)

"Hello, Talisa. How nice of you to welcome us." (A)

"Don't try to cover it up. It's already strange that you're all coming at the same time. Especially Masiabi who would usually still hunt for several more hours. Yet as I know that your familiars brought already a grown human male, I need to ask myself for what reason you'd all go out of your way to personally transport this human girl. It leads me to believe that you don't intend to deliver her to the storage halls." (T)

 

This isn't good.
She's already in scolding mode.
I'm not sure if we should tell her everything if she's like this.

 

"Eritu, please tell me. What is going on here?" (T)

 

Damnit!
Eritu was never able to withstand our big sister.

 

"I-it was Kyroki's idea." (E)

"What exactly?" (T)

"You really had to snitch on me, huh?" (K)

"S-sorry." (E)

"What are you up to?" (T)

"Kyroki said she could turn her into an Arachne!" (M)

 

It just blurted out of me.
But I really want to see this.
Now Talisa stares at us with a bewildered, disbelieving expression.

 

"From all the things you could have said... If we weren't talking about you, Kyroki, I wouldn't give it any further thought since it wouldn't matter if you'd fail. However, the simple idea that you're even pursuing such a thing." (T)

"Sure, whatever. I already have the others on my side, so by rule of majority vote I declare we're doing this!" (K)

 

Actually, Kyroki is right and Talisa can't do much here.
While we let her boss us around, as this is a job that none of us really wanted to do, we long ago decided that we would always vote together about the important stuff.
And getting a new sister is plenty important.

 

"Really? You're all supporting her?" (T)

"Getting a little sister sounds so great. I could show her all the tricks for hunting and safely killing your prey." (M)

"Akasia?" (T)

"You know that I kinda like humans? I mean not excessively, but it would be kinda nice to have someone to talk to about this. I mean, we could have shared interests, right?" (A)

"Even you, Eritu?" (T)

"I-I'm not say-saying that I'm particularly supporting this, but I'm not against it either. Can I abstain from the vote?" (E)

"Even without her, that makes three to one, which means I win!" (K)

"Do you have any idea how much trouble this could bring? You don't even know her character! What will you do if she doesn't turn out as you imagine?" (T)

"She will be our sister. Family. You do what's necessary for family, right?" (M)

 

She's still young.
I'm sure, even if it's difficult, we can help her adjust.
I certainly will.

 

"Tskch! Do what you want." (T)

"Uh, one more thing." (K)

"What is it now?" (T)

"I would need something to contain her during the process. Something stable that will keep her together. Would you mind weaving her a cocoon?" (K)

 

Wow. I need to say, you have to be bold to ask this in such a situation.

 

"Why don't you just assign your familiars?" (T)

"Because I need an impeccable one. Nothing can drip out from the inside, but it should still be accessible from the outside. Also, it has to be tight enough that she won't be able to move, which might cause severe damage during the transformation. Also, naturally so stable that nothing will shift out of place. You're still the best of us at this. Would you mind supporting your sisters? That little one there as well, while we're at it. You really don't want to know what's going to happen to her if anything goes wrong." (K)

 

I'm glad that I'm not in Kyroki's place.
The kind of response she's about to hear should be enough to drive away even the greatest of beasts.

 

"Sigh! Hand her over." (T)

 

What!?!

 

"You're doing it?" (M)

"If this goes wrong, I don't want to hear anything about this ever again. However, you had a majority vote and I submit to the rules. The least I can do is make use of my specialty." (T)

 

Seriously, I didn't think it would turn out like this.
But Talisa isn't so low as to lie to us here and do something like snapping her frail little neck while she's in her possession.
So I hand the string I tied around the girl's wast to Talisa, who quickly snatches it and walks off to her chamber.

 

"She's not going to wake up, right?" (A)

"The poison should still last for around sixteen hours." (K)

 

Let's hope so.
I don't even want to imagine what would happen if she disturbs our big sister while she's working on her.