LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 75: Homecoming
As the iron grip of Domination set in, the true extent of their commitment gradually dawned on the two. The overbearing nothingness hung heavily upon something deep inside them, and though the feeling like that of massive shackles tying them down only lasted for a moment before vanishing without a trace, it left an indelible mark. They couldn’t shake off the feeling that they just signed off their souls to the devil for dubious compensation. Alicia, the so-called devil, was simply rubbing her forehead as if she had a headache, habitually rather than from any real pain. Before any of them could raise a question Alicia started talking… to no one in particular.
- “Alright, we’re leaving today then. Gather up! Those who’re staying keep your wits about you and remember to stay in contact.”
Before they could ask who she was talking to, countless white spiders crawled out of every nook and cranny of the room and streamed towards Alicia. Old coach driver and his young liege were choked in silent awe as the arachnids slipped under and climbed up her cloak. One particular Hex crawler scaled up her face.
- “Ow! You stepped on my eye, you idjit! Gahh!”
Apparently the spiders’ destination was her hair as they disappeared among the strands of her platinum tress.
- “Aren’t you going to prepare to leave? We’ll go as soon as I return after I finish a few errands.”
They snapped back into reality when she brought the subject of departure to them.
- “Wuh-What was that?”
- “My little helpers… though some of them aren’t as small as they appear to be. Listen, I know you're a little dumbfounded by what just happened and have a million more questions for me but let’s leave that for later, not here, not now, okay? Now how about you two grab your things and get ready.”
As she said this, she exited the room and gently shut the door, leaving behind the still perplexed couple. Delivering the news to the innkeeper that she and her party were leaving today elicited an indifferent response from him; still reeling from the murders that happened in his establishment. Only the excessively-bonhomie-at-times waitress girl bid farewell and invited them to come back soon. From what she noticed, the ‘staff’ area at the back felt empty as she perceived almost no presence at all compared to when they first arrived. ‘Day offs and early leave…? Yeah right. Probably quit or laid off. Ahhh… I can’t say I’m not completely uninvolved with this mess but I can’t really do anything. Let’s just hope we can make up to them later if the opportunity presents itself.
Anyway I need a return vehicle, straight back to the forest… Albertini might have what I’m looking for… I don’t know how much a whole carriage costs but it should be much cheaper to rent it instead. He needs to know where we are to buy anything from us, the driver of the said carriage should be able to tell him all about the route when he returns… Just have to be careful about not showing him too much. That sounds like a plan…’
- “…felid…”
- “Oh right! I completely forgot about her… We’ll have to make a short stop there after we secure our transportation.”
Recalling the location of where his office was, Alicia made her way to Albertini's store. She entered through the back door, but as soon as she did, one of the assistants approached her and confirmed who she was, recognizing her look to fit the details left behind by their boss. From the assistant she learned that Albertini was absent. He had left earlier in the morning to check up on a shipment of goods near the gates. When they offered to take her to where he was, she readily accepted. After some time following the man around town Alicia found Albertini in front of a busy warehouse overseeing its work, talking to his subordinates. The assistant who led Alicia here briskly went up to inform him of her arrival, the ambitious merchant quickly gave some final instructions to his men before turning to meet her.
- “I'm relieved to see that you are well; I'd heard the gruesome news of what had transpired, I have been quite worried. If I may, I wish to invite you to a place that’s much safer. It is placed closer to the noble estates you see.”
‘Easier for you to keep tabs on me, you mean… not like you haven’t been doing that anyway…’
- “I will have to turn it down this time, there’s something I need that you might be able to help me with…
- “Why of course, everything and anything under the sun can be yours… for the right price that is.”
Although she had the urge to tease him about his audacious statement, in the end her wish to resolve the issue quickly won out.
- “You and your men require a path to us in order to conduct your business, do you not? I’m here to help plot it out for you and ask for a little favor.”
Indiscernible to all but one, the attitude instantly shifted to a more serious businesslike manner.
“I need a carriage ride for four people. Ideally, the driver, one of your men.”
- “And when do you need this carriage?”
Clearly he was intrigued by the sudden request.
- “Today, preferably before evening.”
- “I see… I’m guessing your compeers1Archaic form of Companions. From ‘Com-’ meaning; Together, Friend, Brother + ‘-peer’ from latin ‘Par/Parem’ meaning ‘equal’. will accompany you…? Then I suppose the carriage should be sent to the sanative spirit?”
- “Oh…! Yes, obviously…”
‘I guess that’s the name of the inn…?’ She was distracted by the discovery of the name of the inn. She was committing it to memory as she wanted to later provide requisition. Meanwhile Albertini was on his own musings.
He picked up on what he thought she was hinting at; to hire a wagon at surface level but maintain secrecy. He had not heard of Velauhart, where it was or how far away it is, nor did he find any maps mentioning it. It goes without saying that the place most likely lied outside the kingdom’s borders. The fact that she required someone to plot out the route could mean only one thing. It was either an undiscovered or previously uninhabited location. Not only did this imply a new commercial partner, but also a new way- a route. Although it may seem unimportant at first, discovery of a new route implied far more than just another road leading to a settlement. It is through these routes that goods flowed, populace migrated and armies marched. They were the blood vessels of a nation, delivering vital necessities where they were most needed.
The merchants who brought in goods from distant territories were the ones that braved the savage wilderness between towns and cities to establish the paths which would later become roads. Monster infestations, thugs and bandits, rogue mercenaries, deserters and sometimes nature herself barred this path between cities. Even within the bounds of counties with high public order where protection is provided by the local lords, however small, there is still a risk involved and a tariff imposed by the fiefdom. Knowing the right time and the right road meant all the difference between the loss of life and life of opulence. At its worst, a new route simply offered an alternative path to consider. However, at its best it could mean a safe, tariff-free passage into regions that were previously inaccessible. But not for long. For when his subordinate returns with a complete route mapped out those windows of opportunity would be his to exploit. Keeping it under wraps as long as possible meant that he could take advantage of it much longer.
Alicia, on the other hand, hadn't even thought to think about the matter to that degree. Despite the fact that her former career was intimately related to such infrastructure projects. He quickly called out to one of his aides.
- “Fidel!”
A youngster ran up to him, reporting.
- “Master Audenzio, what is it?”
- “My boy! Go tell Arno to get my carriage ready and tell Ignazio to buy the best maps of the eastern region he can find and bring them to me.”
- “Yes sir!”
- “And fetch me some ink and paper from my room when you return!”
With how glad Alicia was to hear that exchange, she thought that that’s all there was to the conversation and had already prepared a tame response to end the discussion when Albertini surprised her.
- “Then I shall join you shortly.”
- “You have my tha- Wait wha- You’re coming too!?”
- “Without a doubt, there’s no one I trust more than myself.”
- “I mean… Don’t you have things to take care of, will everything be alright without you?”
- “All is well, I will not lose a chance at peregrination2Archaic form of Travel/Journey from latin ‘Peregrinari’ meaning ‘to travel abroad’. Sometimes translated as Pilgrimage. to lands unknown.”
- “Aren’t you worried about safety?”
- “We’ll have you of course.”
- “I am but one…”
- “And I have nothing but confidence in you.”
- “But… agh…”
- “I shall meet you there with everything prepared.”
- “Fine, but I need to pick someone up first with it.”
Guiding the Carriage through a set of familiar buildings she found the slave trader’s place. This time when she set foot inside, even through the crowd of customers from all walks of life leering and ogling the ‘products’ being showcased, she was brought into the back immediately by one of the clerks who recognized her. She was led to a room made for private affairs, not too unlike the one before. It didn't take long for the frail looking slavemaster to come through the door, not even bothering to knock this time around. After some brief exchanges and a little wait the Lithiline girl was brought to her.
Interestingly there were three whole sets of bindings that were attached to her. Although at first Alicia thought the measurements taken to be excessive and bafflingly ineffective as there were no chains between them but without her needing to ask, the slave trader started talking about it unprovoked. Unsurprisingly the girl was uncooperative and they couldn’t tame her temper at all with just the collar necessitating use of bindings enchanted with specialized spells; the costs were deducted from the gold Alicia left as an allowance. Specifically the obedience instilled by the collar was insufficient; the cuffs on her wrists prevented her from lashing out against the training staff and tearing through her clothing. The chainless fetters did the same for her feet, as well as preventing her from escaping. It was a maximum security solution usually reserved only for the most dangerous criminals. Under normal circumstances only the collar would be needed.
But in the end they managed to put her under their control as she seemed fairly responsive to orders as demonstrated by the trader. However it is supposedly still unsatisfactory compared to the standard as he lamented at the fact that she still did not respond verbally very well, a point for devaluation. Regardless they managed to put some clothes on her as she was dressed under a simple shift dress and a servant's apron. After finishing the talks with the trader, he made some final business pitches before Alicia could leave. Informing her that he will have new stock from the Capital soon. The slave market at the capital had a larger variety, quality and services. Apparently there was a whole industry focused solely on slaves; training guilds disciplined slaves into various professions, simple miner, farmhand prostitutes to more common housekeeper, scullery3Kitchen. maid, entertainer, dancers roles to even assassins, escort services and bodyguards. At a pretty penny some slaves could even be educated to do more sophisticated work such as clerk, vending, accounting and so on. Of course most if not all earnings would line their masters’ pockets.
In the end she asked ‘hypothetically’ how she would release the slave. According the trader’s explanations she would have to either channel her magical energy through the bindings at a constant rate in order for the bindings to: quote revert to its original state of being unlocked unquote or bring the said slave to a reputable slave trader - preferably the slavers that sold them in the first place - who could release the slave after some careful tinkering with the bindings. As a last warning the bindings should not be forced off without the proper precautions or overloaded with excess energy as doing so could irreparably damage the bindings and mentally scar the said slave to catastrophic degree.
With that Alicia bid farewell to the slave trader and returned to the awaiting carriage followed by her new attendant. Despite all the efforts made by the trader, the petite lithiline still had much defiance left in her but for now she submitted. When she stepped onto the Carriage Albertini took much interest in the girl of Felid descent who came after her. While they were on their way back to the he was observing her intently, disregarding her ferocious gaze eyeing at his throat.
- “Fascinating… a Grimalkin.”4Archaic word for Cat.
- “Grimalkin? I thought they were called Lithiline…?”
- “Well it is not wrong to call them as such but that is as insulting as calling humans and chickens the same simply because they both walk upon two feet.”
- “Oh?”
- “If I’m not mistaken there are two types of Lithiline. The Grimalkins hail from the frosty north and Sakhmi come from the searing deserts of the south east. The latter is worshipped as the descendants of a local goddess according to the desert people’s folklore and are common sight within their cities or so others say. There are many gossips and hearsay about the Sakhmi, particularly of their combat prowess and lasciviousness. Grimalkin, on the other hand, are extremely hard to come by. They are quite reclusive in the wild, electing to come out only when attacking a trespasser or prey in their territory. Not much is known about them, in fact it is my first time seeing one this closely.”
- “You seem quite knowledgeable about this.”
Alicia was suspicious of him having his own slave ring.
- “A merchant needs connection as much as he needs talent for trade. I often meet with merchants that deal with this line of work.”
- “I see…”
Hearing that Alicia understood that she was addressing the girl rather rudely, through their species name only. Realizing now why she disliked clothing, coming from a cold climate that they’re adapted to, she probably finds the temperature of the temperate kingdom and the attire absolutely unbearable. Thinking that, she remembered she never asked for her name and thought now would be a good time to ask.
- “Ah, it has slipped my mind that we've not met properly yet… Ahem. I’m Alicia… you are…?”
The Girl after being told to introduce herself looked confused before clutching her head in distress then shaking it side to side.
- “Unfortunately I doubt that she remembers her name. The collars often strip its recipients of their identity, including their names. Evidently it is to instill obedience more thoroughly. It often falls upon their new owners to bestow them a name, if they feel like it. I know quite a few prominent individuals who call them all sorts of unsavory things.”
- “Huh… I’ll give it a proper thought…”
‘Great… just great… What is a good cat name… whiskers…? She doesn’t even have whiskers… No, no I have to take this seriously… Felix… No…’
It didn’t take long for them to reach the inn where Rosalia and Stephano had already prepared their few belongings. It is here they departed with Arno who had been driving the coach throughout town and Stephano took the reins, Albertini sitting next to him with his map in hand. They unceremoniously left Viveria behind and followed the road all the way back to the village where they first met Albertini. Here they stopped to let the horses drink and rest before moving out again, by instructions Alicia they drove off the beaten path into the direction of Velauhart. By now Albertini, who had the map, quickly noticed where they were headed and grew a little anxious. Before long he and Stephano noticed large wolves were closing in on them from them.
- “Wolves! We ha-”
- “Calm down, all of you. They’re here to guide you, follow them.”
- “Surely you jest?!”
- “See for yourself.”
It was as she said. The wolves followed at a distance trotting in parallel with the carriage. One of the wolves sprinted in front of the horses, far enough that they didn’t panic. As it ran it kept looking over behind it as if making sure that they were following it.
- “Never have I seen such a thing…”
Stephano muttered to himself.
- “Which one…? The direwolves and their loyalty or her…?”
Albertini commented from the side, just as amazed and baffled.
- “I must say both…”
Within the carriage Rosalia was infatuated attempting to communicate and ‘play’ with the Grimalkin who much preferred to be left alone sunbathing while Alicia sat in a meditative trance. Or so it seemed to everyone else. She had already left the carriage and went ahead of them leaving behind a mirror image for quick return. As much as she preferred her human guise, her other set of legs were much faster at covering ground. Her hair waved behind her as the winds rushed past. Entering the forest she soon started to recognize the familiar woods. Suddenly at a distance she saw a landmark that she didn’t see before. An enormous tree towering over all the others, enveloping a large portion of the forest under its shadow.
Eventually it clicked in her head… The tree that she was looking at was the great oak tree she first awakened on, in this world. Previous provenance of Dryssia before their covenant.
‘What the hell did that leafhead do while I was gone…?’
Erelong, she was finally home, but as much as she wanted to rest, there was much to catch up on and even more to do ahead of her. When she returned to the lodge she noticed few additional dwellings there. Among the verdant foliage of the trees she noticed the hallmark rope ladders and the small elevated houses of the Elves leaving the grounds clear for Trollish chums. Without much searching Alicia found Llynbel and Faenas to learn of all the notable happenings that occurred. She was relieved to hear that no problems arose while she was away for a few days. Though it would be a fallacy to say that there were no developments.
For instance, the Troll hunting parties and the Elven rangers had embarked on a joint excursion that had shown promising results, bringing in more game than any one previous expedition. Apparently, Faenas had developed a new type of magic for the rangers with their arrows on distant targets called Farflight, which she adapted from what they understood from elfshot Alicia created. After severe lessons from both trolls and elves, the girls who had been released from the brigands had become more or less accustomed to life in the forest. According to one of the trolls who’ve helped train them they could survive at least a minimum of three days on their own within the forest, something he evidently takes pride in for having taught them as much. With some help from Dryssia, Llynbel had managed to divert a subterranean river enough to create a distributary5 Geological. A flow of river that diverts away from the main flow. flow to feed a natural reservoir underneath their little growing hamlet. The reservoir was easily accessible after she had the girls dig a well into it in one afternoon. Although Alicia was highly concerned that she made them dig with their bare hands, it was revealed that the Troll had supplied some rudimentary tools with stone or bone heads.
As for Dryssia it appears that she fed a bit too much magic into her former home, causing the hallmark gigantic growth spurt. The Apiary garden has grown again and started to willingly donate excess honey. Dryssia at first tried to store all the honey in her apron with sticky and messy results. Fortunately the trolls provided amphora jars suitable for storage. They showed interest in trading large amounts of raw meat for the honey when I returned. Not only is it obviously delectable for them, it also seems that they utilize it in making disinfectant dressings, ceremonies, and other specialty applications.
Having finally been apprised to most of what happened, Alicia too had much to share with them. Informing them of her journey's incidents as well as the current situation. Llynbel was deeply intrigued about why she had acquired a slave. Despite the fact that her explanation was lengthy and difficult, she reached an understanding with her. Ever since she had learned the existence of objects that could instill a degree of obedience to anyone or any beast there had been a growing worry within her. Alicia hadn’t forgotten about her monstrous side of hers, humankind would most definitely be intimidated if not aggressive to her and her kindred. If it were some dung farmers with pitchforks and torches, she could deal with it. However, an army of soldiers out to get her… was another matter. Whilst she felt confident in her ability to manage herself, she was far less convinced about everybody else who may get involved in it, chiefly the twins. In order to not escalate things to that degree she had taken a cautious stance on what and how much she revealed when interacting with outsiders. For the same reason she had to put both Rosalia and Stephano under the effects of domination. To limit the spread of information if anything went wrong. Notwithstanding her precautions, she was always under the threat of the artifacts known as the Bands subjugation and its imitations. The slavers' collars being one example.
To say she was paranoid was an understatement. The thought of her or one of her kin being caught and put under such shackles was mortifying. She needed to devise a means of prevention, if not a countermeasure or a contingency plan, and in order to do so, she needed to examine the actual object in effect. In addition, she had certain experiments she intended to carry out. Kindred, Domination, and the collars all accomplished the same thing, albeit in dramatically different forms. She was curious about how they would interact with one another. Are there precedences and overriding variables? Is it possible that just one of them is valid at a time? Experimentation was the only way to find answers to these questions. Her new grimalkin assistant would prove indispensable in this venture.
- “And that’s that…”
- “Humm… So you did think this through…”
Llynbel was quite impressed by the thought given to the matter from Alicia.
- “Is that an insult or compliment?”
- “You can decide. But where will they stay…? That girl and her manservant. Aren’t all the rooms already assigned?”
- “I can expand the floor plan. I designed the place with the idea of later expansions and renovations.”
- “You know even with everyone’s help you’re not gonna finish it right on schedule like last time?”
- “I have an idea. It might work, it might not, we’ll see.”
She knew she had enough development points to transform her Araneae into beings that resembled herself. Since they possessed a portion of her memory and abilities, if they were successful, they would be immensely useful not only with the construction but also with other more delicate problems.
>Ready for Auto-execution.
- ‘Alice?’
- ‘will be fine…’
- ‘We’re ready.’
>Processing…
As they gave permission the system went on with its actions. Unraveling the potential sealed away, lost to time and history. The transformations brought about by new educements from kindred were generally unnoticeable and gradual, but not this time. Alicia could feel and hear her body structure change. A web of cracks formed on her carapace before crumbling into dust to reveal larger, sturdier carapace growing from underneath. The fine sensitive hairs covering most of her body had changed its composition and form. The patch of hair on her abdomen grew longer and hardened, Alicia could feel a slight pressure building beneath them. The hook-like graspers at the end of her legs were no different, growing more digits and becoming larger. Her overall body spider body had grown yet on the contrary her body felt lighter than ever.
>Action complete. Remaining points: 1.
‘Okay… I feel different… a lot different. What happened…?’
>Retrieving Genealogical information.
‘Yup I have no idea what that lower half is supposed to mean… I’ll have to go through this tree later… Seems like we will have four new members in our growing little family…’
‘What the hell is this…? Wait I know this… this is a detailed breakdown of my status… based on genetics… Complexity, enigmatic… you picking a fight with me again? What does any of this mean…’
>Interface with another subject for demonstration.
- ‘Alright, everyone get out here… I'll give you something to interface with...’
The Araneae residing in her hair got out and started presenting themselves, crawling onto her palms.
- ‘Let’s make everyone an Araneae hybrid.’
>Warning. Insufficient energy reserves. Action inadvisable. Recommended to stagger evolution process into stages.
- ‘Nevermind let’s some of you into an Araneae hybrid, now. Everyone will get it later, maybe. Now who do I start with… I think one of everyone…? Let’s start with my first ten shall we… You guys will need names. I'll come with it later…’
As she evenly conducted her magic, she was onset by intense exhaustion. After all, she was supplying enough energy to turn a small critter that she could hold with her index finger into being similar to herself a couple dozen times its original size and she was doing this process ten times over simultaneously. Her head felt light and eyelids heavy, her very bones seemed to ache. It was the same feeling as if she was about to collapse from fatigue… she remembered the first time this phenomena had happened to her was when she was in critically low energy supplies…
‘Damn… you guys are mana drains…’
>Transfer complete.
>Remaining energy 11%.
>Switching to core functions mode. Energy saving priority.
>Inducing Epigenetics triggers, processing…
By the lullaby of feedback reports from Alma the two slipped into a deep hibernation, as her new closest kindred gained their new forms, Alicia’s last thoughts before she lost consciousness was…
‘That grimalkin… I wonder if she has the righting reflexes of cats… if I were to push her off a cliff… would that be attempted murder… or animal abuse……………’
So I had an adventure trying to kill another spider (what a shocker I know) that climbed up to the corner right above me. Now call me whatever. I don't feel comfortable sitting underneath it. Almost broke the floor mop trying to kill it with it. Unsurprisingly it did not work. Instead it only made it fall somewhere near my computer. So I did next logical thing. I panicked and kept smashing it with a soft floor mop. Yep, a great idea. You know what the fun part is? I can't find its body anywhere, it's not on the floor where I last saw it wriggling or on the mop. I'm not sure if it is even dead or alive. It might just come back with a vengeance and smother me in my sleep. Who knows, if I disappear you know who did it.
This one's for you 'Just.Kidding Roflmao u gay' fans I present to you Eriovixia gryffindorii, the sorting hat spider.
It is named as such because of its side profile it looks like the sorting hat from the Harrypothead and the Philosophical stoner and the scientist who found it was a nerd.
Now you might be wondering the fuck is this shape? Allow me to explain. They are part of the Araneidae Family meaning they are related to golden orb weavers. Much like the bird shit spider, their unconventional shape allows them to blend in the environment. Specifically, dried leaves.
Look they can move. Despite what you think of them... you know... hats are usually immobile and without legs...
If you didn't see it, you might need another look or you're in due for an appointment with an optometrist. But if you still can't see it. Let's just say that left side of the leaf is a sussy baka. (end me please.)
Much of the eriovixia family look like they're some sort of hermit crab spider hybrid.
and Male;
You don't need me to explain to you what sexual dimorphism is... right?
Since you guys know that I hate wolf spiders i'll just mention this in passing. Lycosa Aragogi is the name of wolf spider also from the pothead series. You'll have to look that up on your own.
Oh before I go I just introduced the names of 4 additional Araneae that will be featured along with the hybrid forms of the spiders you already know. Try to guess the four new ones. Their common names will do well. The hint... is their names, obviously but also the educements that come before them in the evolutionary tree.