Chapter 21: 1.21 Bears and Boars and Spiders, oh my!

Faragi

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How much could a person cry? I had no idea. On several occasions I had thought that Velariah had reached that point, only for her to shed more tears. This poor elf really hadn't processed her loss. 

I wondered if Valtheril had even given her the opportunity to do so. He seemed awfully cold in making the remark that had caused all this. Did he even know? He didn't strike me as a bad person, not at all but it seemed he still had to learn how to parent. I wasn't sure if I could even blame him, he had seemed awfully busy. and I knew that a large part of that involved trying to make sure everyone else was safe.  

I didn't want to blame him, I wanted to believe the idea that he just had no time left to spend with Velariah. Most of that seemed true.  

And so, it had apparently fallen to me to try to console the elf that was crying her heart out over something that had happened a year ago.  

One small light in all this darkness was that I had somehow appeared in this world through supernatural forces. I still wasn't sure whether I'd actually died or whether I was simply transported here. Either way, if I could appear here, it could certainly mean that her mother's soul might still be alive somewhere? 

I had told her that and she had shown a slight smile through her tears. It was a happy thought, a belief. A shimmer of hope that could allow her to live through the rest of her life knowing her mother might still be somewhere and some day they might even meet again. 

In the middle of all this someone had tried to open the door. I still had a grasp on it with two of my legs and fought against the force of whoever tried to open it. I had not said a word to them but eventually the tugging had stopped. I would not let anyone see Velariah like this. 

When she seemed to have stopped and all she did was hug me tightly, I started to let my thoughts get back to where they were before the elf broke down.  

I couldn't imagine anyone would willingly let themselves be hugged by me. My pedipalps still had a hold of Velariah. She had not seemed to mind, I wasn't sure if she was actually aware. I couldn't really help it either, I couldn't make them disappear or hide them like my fangs.  

I guessed I couldn't blame spiders for looking the way they did. They hadn't chosen to turn into spiders at birth, neither had I. So what if they had a bunch of freaky extra parts. I might actually find charm in them at this rate, I would like to think that was impossible. 

After consoling her for a while she had visibly improved. I hoped her psyche had also been healed, albeit partly. When I broke the hug to look into her eyes, they held a certain spark again that had been missing before. Velariah seemed reluctant to let go but tried to regain her composure anyway. I knew she knew she couldn't stay here crying all day, as attractive as the prospect may have been. 

We still had things to do, I was certain Draco was getting impatient waiting at the guild for the both of us.  

Maybe a good meal would cheer her up. 

I lifted Velariah up and put her down on the floor. Her armor may have weighed quite a bit, her slender frame did not. Besides that, I had four arms to split the weight between. 

''Thank you, Elania.'' She said as she wiped away the last of her tears. 

''No need to thank me, you seemed like you needed that.''  

''Yeah, I guess I did.'' She replied with a small smile.  

It was good to see she was doing slightly better already. I knew a good cry could sometimes really lift some weight off your chest. I just hoped she would be okay now that she had finally seemed to let go of that part holding her down. As cliché as it sounded, I doubted any parent would want to see their deaths hold their children back.  

We waited a few minutes until she felt like she was ready to go. We both had to undo the mess that was our hair as tears had stained it. When we were ready, I picked up my spear that had dropped to the ground, before we turned around and left the alchemy workshop room behind.  

A few of the treemenders that seemed to be working on some new powders at the large desk turned around to look but I paid them no heed. It seemed most were too busy to notice us. It appeared a new patient had come in and they seemed to be in a state where they thought it was necessary to close the curtain in front of one of the beds.  

We made our way over to the guild hall which was literally next door to find Draco inside, sipping on a cup of coffee. I guessed a cup of black gold could really help Velariah right now. The only thing I could imagine that might help more would be chocolate. Maybe hot chocolate. If chocolate was not a thing in this world that would be the suckiest thing ever.  

Part of me dreaded eating chocolate right now. If I were to find out that my body would react the same way as coffee, I may actually just have to force people to get used to my body going out of control. There was no way I was giving up on chocolate. 

The strawberry smoothies at the guild came in at a close second place, I had to admit. Everything here was as fresh as it could be and it certainly showed in the taste.  

Velariah was sitting on the other end of the table with Draco and let her eyes wander over the quest paper that Draco had picked. I quietly drank my strawberry smoothie as they drank their coffee. I ordered a second one and lunch for the three of us as Velariah and Draco were both looking pretty optimistic about the quest they picked.  

Draco had already armored up before we arrived at the guild, his axe was laying on the leather bench next to him.  

Velariah handed me the paper after they were done looking at it.  

It was a quest to slay a Saibon boar that had been roaming close to the edge of the forest. The interesting part was that the quest had been posted by the guild itself. The reward was a single gold piece and fifty percent off of meals at the guild for a week. All in all, it was a pretty sweet deal. I also knew what we were going up against, not entirely irrelevant information.  

What had they been discussing for so long? This quest was peanuts. As long as we stayed alert and spotted it before it spotted us we could simply lay a trap, ensnare it and finish it off.  

Maybe I should have paid attention to their conversation. 

''What took you so long to discuss? This quest is going to be a joke for the three of us, you know that.'' I looked at Velariah when I asked. 

''Oh, that wasn't about this quest, there's another quest on the board that is in about the same area. Apparently, there's a Bunbear on the loose and the Bunbear and Saibon boar have been wreaking havoc in the surrounding area.'' 

''Turf war?'' I proposed. 

''Seems so.'' Draco answered.  

''Think we can handle both?'' I asked. 

''If we stuff your face with food, then we probably can,'' Velariah remarked. It seemed she had gone back to her old self real quick... 

''What does food have to do with this?'' I didn't actually catch on to her line of thinking. 

''You know, we will probably need to use your... you know... behind for this quest. We can't have you running out of thread.'' 

Oh. 

OH.

I see what she meant. I haven't actually eaten that much in the past day. I had the reserves of most of a Unibelea when I had initially exited the forest. After that, I had a double portion of pork chops but hadn't eaten dinner. Maybe I should actually stock up some reserves. Good thinking Vel. 

''You may have a point...'' I said as I realized what needed to be done.  

How much was all this even going to cost?  

''I would suggest ordering herb spiced omelets, they are a great source of protein and I would assume that’s what you need. They are only one copper each as well, this village produces plenty of eggs.'' Draco suggested. 

How did he know that? 

That may actually be very useful advice, though. I loved omelets, and proteins were indeed what I needed. I came up with an idea that would make the omelets even more worthwhile regarding proteins, a useful side effect was that they would be even more delicious too. Hmmm. 

''Do they have cheese here?'' I asked. 

''No, why?'' Velariah inquired. 

''Oh, I was actually thinking of having cheese omelets.'' 

''An omelet with cheese?'' Draco looked at me with his yellow reptilian eyes. ''How does that work?'' 

What? 

Was he serious? My mind told me no, but his eyes told me otherwise. This world kept surprising me. Had these people no creativity? 

''Uh, you slice a few slices of cheese and you put them on top of your omelet, then you let them melt, it's delicious!''  

''Never heard of it before, it does sound good though.'' Velariah chimed in. ''If we can get some cheese, I'd like to try that as well.'' 

Crap, I had already ordered some sausages for all of us. Oh well, it's not like I was going to be full anytime soon anyway. The others would probably not be so lucky. 

''Uhhh, I already ordered sausages, if you want to try what I just suggested I could eat your portions though.'' 

Seriously, even suggesting that made it sound like I was a vacuum cleaner just cleaning up food. 

''Cheese omelet with sausage sounds good too, actually.'' The elf replied.  

Sure, that was a concept not completely unfamiliar with me.  

The usual waiter brought in the plates of food. After he put the plates down, I asked him if it would be possible for them to get a piece of cheese and explained what I had just explained to Draco. I had Velariah toss me the coin pouch and gave the waiter the money for the sausages, plenty to buy some cheese, and then a generous tip.  

He was quite cooperative and said it wouldn't be a problem at all. 

If my intuition was correct this would soon be something that would appear on the menu. 

The waiter walked back to the kitchen and reappeared a few seconds later. He looked around to check if anybody needed him and walked out of the building.  

When my attention turned back to my plate, I noticed Velariah had deposited two of her four sausages on my plate. I glanced over to her and she met me with a smile.  

''I wouldn't be able to try that cheese omelet otherwise.'' She spoke. 

Fair enough. I would have no issues taking care of these lowly sausages! 

I couldn't believe part of preparing for combat was going to consist of just stuffing my face with food. This world, or rather, this body was ridiculous. Then again, Saibon boars would not be an issue for me and Velariah. I was told earlier you would have to take them on with groups, we managed to take one down quite easily with two people. 

I had no idea what a Bunbear was though. I doubted it was a bear that would make hamburgers. 

When I asked, I got the reply that it was a huge bear with rabbit-like ears that gave it great hearing. Once again, a very original name. We'd have to be careful sneaking up on those from what I got to know about them. 

The only thing that had me worried was that a Bunbear appeared to be a low-ranked gold monster. As such the only ones that could accept the quest would be Draco and Velariah. I could join them of course; I was free to do so. What were they going to do, anyway, send the guild police after me?  

True, Draco had said that Velariah would be rated gold rank if she had not screwed up her trial. Velariah in turn had told me that I could also be considered gold level if there had been any way for my strength to be properly measured.  

All these things considered had me thinking we would be able to beat it without much of an issue. A Saibon boar was considered a high-tier silver monster and as such wasn't too far away power wise from a Bunbear. Besides, it appeared a Saibon boar was much bigger than the other monster so I was fairly confident my silk should be able to ensnare a bear.  

In the meantime, the waiter had returned with a block of cheese wrapped in paper. Due to the absence of drunkards and the smell of alcohol I could already take in the scent of spiced omelets. This body was a blessing. I could now eat all the tasty things without getting fat! 

That was a weird thought.  

The not getting fat part was quite a plus though. 

The rest... not so much, unless you started looking at the combat capabilities.  

And the ability to restrain an elf that would wake you up far too early in the morning...  

''We should take that quest.'' I concluded. ''What's the reward for it by the way?''  

''It's one gold as well.'' Draco informed me.  

Not bad at all.  

One thing was actually bothering me, economy wise. I decided to check if my companions knew the answer. 

''So, If I get this correct. A Saibon boar hunt will earn us one gold from the guild. Where do they earn that money back? I mean, I get that they sell the meat here in the guild but it's only a few coppers. Does it really have enough meat on it to be able to bring in so much money for the guild?'' 

''It does, also, you're forgetting something,'' Velariah answered. 

I looked at her, expecting her to continue. When she didn't I asked her what I was forgetting. 

''You see, the real value of a Saibon boar is the tree on their back.'' She looked very pleased with herself when she said it. 

''What?" I questioned. 

Draco sighed. ''Just tell her already.'' 

''Fine. The trees that grow on their backs make for some of the best wood to make bows out of. It's why elves are so good at archery. Humans tried to match us but they lack the necessary knowledge.'' She was smiling from ear to ear. ''And the treemenders to work the wood before processing, that's the secret ingredient.'' 

That was very interesting information. In that case, Velariah should have received a large sum of money for selling the one we felled earlier. Why did I feel bad for her again? Damn, I had even offered to have her buy a sword with the meager gold I would have had left after buying a weapon... 

''Why are you still walking around with your starter weapon when we felled one of those earlier?'' 

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Her mood darkened. 

''My father confiscated it as it wasn't a quest. We killed it in self-defense so it's fine but unless there is a quest open for them, they are a protected species.''  

One more road to collecting gold easily shattered before my eyes. What a crappy turn of events. 

''So, we get kind of ripped off by only getting one gold?'' I frowned.  

''Kind of,'' Velariah confirmed. 

Damn, capitalism sucked! 

''Come to think of it. I will have to look into that inherity thing when I got my armor fixed. How much is that going to cost?'' 

I had never actually checked. I figured I might as well ask now since we were talking economics already.  

Draco was happily downing his sausages while Velariah and I did the talking. I managed to take a bite every now and then but Velariah hardly seemed to get to it. 

''Fifty gold.''  

I almost spat out the sausage that I was eating. I quickly swallowed instead before responding. 

''That's crazy!'' 

''Yep,'' Velariah said. ''That’s if you don't get the materials yourself. They are quite rare and can only be found in dungeons. If you do manage to find everything yourself, the ritual is ten gold.'' 

That sure as hell sounded like an invitation to clear dungeons. I guessed we would still have to be lucky. Maybe the dungeon I discovered would have them? According to Draco, it shouldn't be too difficult but as I stated before I'd rather wait until we have a healer in our party before we do that.  

While we were talking the waiter waked in with three more plates, each one had an omelet with a nice layer of melted cheese on top. It smelled divine. I could get used to eating like this... 

Technically I was eating out. The thing was that these prices were very, very affordable. There was simply no reason to even bother making food myself and this was of excellent quality too. 

Hmmm, cheese omelet and sausages.  

I asked the waiter to prepare five more for me and another four sausages, he had responded with a weird glance before looking over to my behind before confirming my order. 

He could have done that without staring... 

I was preparing for a quest, okay? 

Quests were hard work, after all.  

I was in luck that the place was still pretty empty. I was quickly turning this guild's cook into a full-time personal chef for me.  

The omelet tasted as good as it smelled. I loved this world's food. This was quite something else compared to homemade lasagna prepared from frozen vegetables... 

After eating the other five omelets, even more sausages and downing another strawberry smoothie, I was ready for action. I felt in prime condition. I couldn't wait to get out there and get working on these quests.  

Draco picked up the Bunbear quest from the board and handed it over to the Lore keeper together with the Saibon boar one. She confirmed that Draco was eligible and after a small toilet break for the both of them, we were on our way.  

We made a quick stop at Velariah's home to pick up my pack. Who knew what I might run into that could be of use? 

After that we walked the cobblestone road to the northern village exit. I had actually stumbled on a protruding rock in the road. Fortunately, I had a lot of support, literally. I wouldn't fall down easily. 

''Damn roads, if only we had asphalt.'' I let out without even thinking.  

''What's that?'' Velariah had Draco both asked at the same time out of curiosity. 

Oh god, here we go again.  

''Uh, Asphalt is a byproduct of something. it's ideal to create roads from. it's a black to gray sticky substance which is then laid out where you want the roads to go and heated, I believe. After that, it becomes hard as rock but extremely flat. It allows for more and faster transport between places. I am not sure about the process at all, though.'' 

''Sounds... interesting,'' Draco answered.  

''Well yeah, it kind of is I guess,'' I replied, possibly more in the form of a question than an answer. 

It seemed Draco wouldn't follow up with another well-placed question about how I knew these things. True, I had told him before it was a long story and that perhaps I'd explain it someday but I was surprised to see he could suppress his curiosity so well. 

We followed the road for a while until there was a bridge to pass the canal. After that we walked up to the forest. There weren't many bushes around, which had me a bit nervous as I felt a certain pressure build up in my behind.  

I had not been looking forward to this day, not at all. I could feel myself get nauseous from just thinking about it.  

''Are you okay? You look ill.'' Velariah mentioned while walking next to me.  

''I'm fine, I think I need a bathroom break myself.'' 

''Oh.'' She looked around for a second or two. ''I'll scout the area with Draco, you take care of business.''  

''Thanks, Vel.'' 

She sighed. I had done it again, hadn't I? 

''It's Velariah, also, no need to thank me. I still owe you for earlier. I'm really grateful for your support.'' 

How sweet.  

I made my way over to a lone cluster of bushes that I was sure would obscure their vision.  

Now came the hard part.  

HOW THE HELL DID THIS WORK? 

I knew there was a hole the size of a golf ball above my spinnerets but I had no idea what muscles to contract or release. The other times I was able to find out by touching and trying to feel where the muscles were that I'd have to contract but there was no way in hell that I was going to repeat that here.  

Oh my god, this was going to be horrible. 

Guess I'll just sit here and try to relax? 

I lowered my lower body to the ground and prepared for the worst... 

Something came out. I felt as if I was peeing from a different place. What the hell?  

When I was positive it was finished, I just had to take a look at whatever I had just produced. My curiosity defeated my disgust. I felt repulsed that it did.  

It seemed I had created some black liquidy excrement. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it's guano. Wait, I did in fact not know any better. Since it looked like guano, and more than certainly smelled just as bad, it had urine mixed in it as well, I would call it guano. Hell, it was probably an ideal source of potassium nitrate. Oh woops, almost did it again.  

That wasn't actually too bad. It seems I had worried over nothing. I could do this much every couple days. If only I had toilet paper. Wait, I probably didn't need that, right? 

With that out of the way I started looking for the elf and lizardman. They had gone a bit deeper into the forest but not completely out of sight yet. There seemed to be hardly any bushes around and the trees weren't that densely packed together. If the Bunbear and Saibon boar were around here I doubted whether we would get time to prepare. 

Ideally, we would be able to spot them from cover to then lay a trap. In this area we would be able to spot them from afar, but the same would go the other way too. This was not going to be as easy as I'd hoped. 

I reached Velariah and Draco who, fortunately, didn't comment on what I had just done.  

We walked for a while before we slowed down. Apparently, we had reached the area where both of the monsters were last spotted. we'd have to be careful around here.  

We kept our eyes peeled and our ears to the ground. To my surprise Velariah's and Draco's armor could be quite silent if they focused on their movements. The elf's chain vest would still produce a soft tinkling sound with each step she took, but it wasn't too audible. I hoped we would be able to see our enemies before we would hear them. Bunbears appeared to have insane hearing, after all. 

We didn't have to wait for long before the towering sight of the Saibon boar came into view. Its massive tusks would incite fear in anything or anyone that would have this monster as their adversary. Its jaws were large and strong enough to easily snap a grown man, and quite possibly their armor with them, in two. 

It was sleeping.  

The Saibon boar was literally sleeping next to a tree. 

This whole adventuring thing was highly overrated.  

I had spun a net between two trees just like I had before, just in case this would turn sour one way or the other. But in the end, it was a simple matter of the three of us walking to the massive boar and just cleaving its skull while it was asleep.  

Mission complete.  

Time to collect our reward.  

Next! 

We didn’t have time to gloat in this all-too-easy victory as a roar snapped us back to attention. A large black bear with far too big and far too cute ears to put on such an animal roared again and charged at us, more specifically, it charged at me! 

It was fast, far faster than I had expected. I didn't have the time to run around the net so I was forced to make a desperate move. I guessed this would improve with time but for now I was limited to praying this worked. Velariah and Draco were running away in opposite directions as the bear was aiming for me, Draco had tried to taunt it but its fixation was not broken.  

I approached the wall of threads with the bear still chasing me. I focused all my mind on my legs. Two front left, two front right, two left back, two back right. When I had closed the distance between me and the trap I kept my back four legs on the ground, lifted my front four, and jumped... 

I made it over the net with room to spare. I did, however, completely botch my landing. I fell face-first into the dry dirt as my legs gave out beneath me. I shook my head as I quickly got back up, but it seemed my plan had worked. The Bunbear was stuck in sticky webs and seemed confused as to what happened to it.  

I beckoned Draco not to rush in as he was planning to do. Rather, I repeated what I had before and ran several more circles of silk around the beast. It was a relief to see that the silk had no trouble keeping this creature in place.  

The Bunbear tried clawing and biting in the silk but to no avail, it couldn't free itself from what was to come. I decided I'd give my new spear a test.  

I walked up to the still struggling bear. Its movements had become slow enough to me to not risk myself getting surprise slashed as a final act of spite. I drove the spear into its belly through the silken restraints. This new weapon seemed to have no issues penetrating the beast's skin in addition to my threads.  

The silk became soaked with red. Soon after, the body stopped struggling and its lifeless form fell over forward, not hitting the ground because it was still bound.  

I sat down on the ground. I was going to need some rest after all that.  

''Nice going, Elania.'' Velariah had her arm stretched out with a thumbs up as they approached.'' 

''That is some effective skills you have there, miss Elania. I can see why Velariah thought you'd rank with the guild's gold members if the trials had been appropriate for you.'' Draco complimented me. 

I felt a wave of pride wash over me. 

''You haven't seen anything yet.'' I pulled up my fangs and showed them off, trying to look cool. ''Wait until you see what these can do.''  

I never, ever would have imagined me pulling that off a few days ago. Now, here I was, trying to show off to Draco with how lethal I could be.  

Velariah let out a giggle.  

This elf... 

Why did she have to ruin my moment like that? 

I brushed the dirt off my face and hands. And got to the next part of the quest, the one that came after killing the monsters. 

''Now, how do we get those to the guild?'' I asked looking at Velariah and then at Draco. 

Velariah's face lit up, that was never a good thing. 

''Take a guess.'' She smiled. 

Oh no. 

Not again.

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