So I’m a Spider, So What Vol 2 — Part 8 of 8

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Part 8 of 8

Oh. When the last sea horse went down, I leveled up and gained some kind of title.

Maybe I can do this?

I activate Cursed Evil Eye and Paralyzing Evil Eye in four eyes each.

Matching the number of remaining opponents perfectly.

Apparently, this makes the fire dragon and the eels uncomfortable as they start frantically shooting fireballs at me.

I run.

Two of the eels pursue.

It’s like a pincer attack, with one on either side.

That’s not gonna work on me now!

I dodge with a vertical leap.

But it seems the fire dragon anticipated that.

A fireball homes in on me while I’m in midair.

Guess my patterns were getting predictable.

That sucks, but nobody said I can’t move while airborne!

I create some shock-enhanced thread and smack myself with it before it burns up.

The shock runs through my body.

The resultant impact sends me soaring.

Ha! With this little trick, I can practically fly—

—as long as I don’t mind taking a chunk out of my own HP anyway!

Its target gone, the fireball lobs uselessly through empty space.

I watch it with satisfaction even as I tailspin, then use some thread to land properly on the ceiling this time.

By now, the eels have fallen victim to my Paralyzing Evil Eye, floating totally stiff in the water.

All that’s left now is the fire dragon.

Possibly in a last-ditch effort, the fire dragon’s body erupts in flames as it charges.

I counter with more magic.

My newly acquired Poison Magic level-7 spell, Paralysis Shot.

Game, set, match.

Once the effects of Paralyzing Evil Eye have set in, the victim will remain paralyzed as long as you keep looking at them.

Paralysis Shot, on the other hand, wears off gradually, but that’s not a problem as long as I keep my Paralyzing Evil Eye on them.

Now that I’ve paralyzed the fire dragon, I’ve won. I can boil it, mash it, stick it in a stew…whatever.

No matter how high its stats may be, they’re no match for my ability to inflict status conditions.

Now that I’ve captured it so beautifully, it’d be a waste to just let it sink into the magma.

There’s nothing I can do about the sea horses and the eel that already sank, but I can’t let any more valuable food go to waste.

Using some spider thread and a great deal of elbow grease, I manage to yank my prey onto land.

What a pain. The thread kept catching fire, so I had to keep making more and repeating the process.

Now then, I guess I should finish off these losers.

First, the eels.

Since they’re already paralyzed, I go ahead and toss some Deadly Spider Poison right down the first one’s gullet.

Despite its paralysis, the eel gives a final shudder before its strength runs out.

Watching this, the other eels’ faces contort in fear.

Don’t you worry. The suffering will only last a moment.

I pop more poison into the second eel’s mouth.

I got a title. Man, it’s another creepy-sounding one.

Geez, going by titles alone, everyone’s gonna think I’m some kinda crazy person.

Oh wait, I’m a spider, not a person.

Well, I’ll check it out later.

Same with this Wyrm Slayer title or whatever.

For now, I have to finish my business with these guys.

So here, third eel, I have a special present for you.

I worked really hard to make this, so you’d better appreciate it. C’mon, say “Ahh.”

How was it? Oh, so delicious that you died? That’s sweet.

Information brain, you’re scary!

Nice one! Keep it up!

Oh, you guys are back?

Yep. I don’t think we need to be at max synchronization level anymore.

“Max synchronization level” is a name I randomly coined for a Parallel Minds technique.

Like the name implies, it lets me sync all of my separate minds so we can act as one without the slightest lag.

Basically, it’s like having a single mind that can do three different things at once.

I guess the only real downside is I can’t have conversations among my selves when we’re synced up.

We won more easily than I expected.

Yeah, I didn’t think it was gonna go this well, either.

Maybe I’ve gotten even stronger than I thought.

Thanks to the new attack methods that magic enables, the range of strategies I can employ is much wider now.

Above all, now I know just how powerful status conditions like poison and paralysis can be.

Damn, dude.

I guess there’s no way to avoid paralysis no matter how strong you are.

Like this fire wyrm here.

Good thing that fire wyrm was so stupid.

Yeah, if I were him, I’d have run away when things went south.

Totally. Why wouldn’t you retreat when your losses start getting that heavy?

I suppose it was a muscle head who didn’t know when to withdraw, just like the sea horses.

Maybe it’s because it never got into such a pinch before?

Ohhh, maybe.

Yeah, it probably didn’t think it would lose.

Exactly. I feel kinda bad now, so let’s finish it off.

And so I give the fire wyrm what may have been its first (and certainly last) taste of defeat.

Okay, body brain!

Yeah, yeah. I’ve got some boring work ahead of me.

Yep. I’m counting on you to de-scale these things.

It’s nice to be able to foist work like this off on someone else now.

Meanwhile, I’ll take a look at the effects of the skills and titles I acquired.

Starting with this Demon Lord skill.

Man, what’s that supposed to mean?

Ooh. That’s a pretty sweet skill. Thanks, Demon Lord.

Next, let’s check out these titles.

<Fearbringer: Acquired skills [Intimidation LV 1] [Heretic Magic LV 1]. Acquisition condition: Induce a certain amount of proficiency in Fear Resistance in others. Effect: Inflicts the heresy attribute effect “Fear” on anyone who sees the holder. Description: A title awarded to those who personify fear.>

Whoa! Wyrm Slayer’s nice and all, but the effect of Fearbringer is crazy!

So just looking at me is fear inducing now?

That’s not good!

I mean, it’s great for enemies and all, but making everyone else scared of me isn’t helpful in the least!

There’s no way to turn titles on and off, is there?

Hoo, boy. Does this mean cowardly monsters like catfish are gonna run away as soon as they lay eyes on me?

Aw, man. Well, guess there’s nothing I can do, since I’ve already got it.

Okay, shake it off. Time to look at the other skills.

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them on the list before, but I don’t remember the effects at all.

Ugh. I have the worst memory ever.

Should I grab the Memory skill or something? Oh, whatever.

Hmm? Hmm. I don’t get it.

It seems to be the kind of skill that you have to activate, so I’ll give it a try.

Oh? It looks like my stats went up a little.

And I lost a little MP and SP.

Guess this skill consumes a bit of MP and SP to raise my stats.

Unlike Magic Warfare and Mental Warfare, it also raises my magic stats.

Since it’s level 1, it doesn’t do much, but it might become pretty powerful if I level it up by keeping it on all the time.

The combination of Magic Warfare and Mental Warfare already has a pretty potent effect, but if you add Wyrm Power on top of that…

Niiice. Yes waaay.

<Intimidate: Inflicts the heresy attribute effect “Fear” on surrounding area>

You too, huh?

Unlike the title, I can at least turn this off and on, but wouldn’t the combination of the two make pretty much any monster that sees me turn tail and run instantly?

Oh well. I can’t turn the title off anyway, so I may as well keep this on all the time.

It doesn’t seem to cost anything, in any case.

Oh, great.

This isn’t just a “mental attack” anymore!

This is waaay creepy.

I’ll have to try it out soon. Yep.

So Wyrm Slayer just ended up being a minor stat boost.

And Fearbringer… I’m not sure whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing, on the whole.

It could be really good, but it could also be really bad.

Well, that’s it for titles.

I have a bunch of skill points now.

And since I leveled up so much, I have quite a few.

Now I can get that skill I wanted!

Hee-hee. I didn’t think I’d be getting it so soon.

There it is. Spatial Magic is a staple of cheating.

I’m sure I won’t be able to use the kind of spells I want right away, since it’ll start at level 1, but thanks to Ruler of Wisdom, my magic skills level up really quickly.

If I work hard at it, it should get to a useful level in no time.

Heh-heh-heh. I’ve got high expectations for you, Spatial Magic. I expect Teleport to be on my desk by Monday!

I mean, it’s gotta exist, right?

What’s Spatial Magic if not stuff like Teleport, Item Box, and hosting a villa in another dimension?!

There might be an Item Box–type skill that lets you store objects in another dimension, but I’m not in the habit of carrying stuff around in the first place, so it wouldn’t be much use to me.

A villa would be nice, but given that’s probably really high-level if it exists at all, I don’t think I’ll get it anytime soon.

But then there’s Teleport. A wonderful spell that moves you to a different area in an instant.

If I can get Teleportation, I won’t need to traipse all over the Middle Stratum anymore!

Thanks to Professor Wisdom, I have a map of the Upper Stratum!

If I can get it to work with the map, then I bet I could use Teleport to get there in a blink!

All right, Divine Voice (temp.)!

Spatial Magic, please!

Hell yeah!

<[Spatial Magic LV 1] acquired. Remaining skill points: 0.>

Okay. Let’s try out the level-1 spell right away.

Magic brain!

Aye, aye, sir!

Magic brain activates the level-1 Spatial Magic spell posthaste.

The level-1 spell is called Coordinate Designation.

Some kind of cube made up of green lines appears.

Magic brain can make it bigger and smaller, change its shape, and move it to the left and right.

Apparently, it’s nonphysical because it sinks into the ground as well as magma.

It reminds me of selecting a range of objects on a PC. In fact, I think that’s exactly what it is.

Looks like all this spell does is designate a space.

What good is it, then?

Maybe it’s a preliminary setup thing for the higher-level spells?

Right, that makes sense.

So I guess this is another skill that won’t be any use until it’s a higher level, like Shadow Magic.

Yep.

Hmm.

Well, I wasn’t expecting it to be useful in combat or anything right off the bat, so what really matters is that I got it for now.

We’ll just have to level it up quickly.

You know what to do, right, magic brain?

Focus on this more than other magic, right?

Yeah. By the way, how many different kinds of magic can you activate at once right now?

Depends on the kind of magic. But Coordinate Designation doesn’t seem too hard, so I think I could do two other spells at the same time as long as they’re simple ones.

Gotcha. Try and stock up on proficiency while we’re on the move as much as you can, then, ’kay?

Yessir.

Body brain is still busy with de-scaling.

Makes sense, since there are three eels, and the fire wyrm’s about twice the size of one.

Looks like it’ll be a while before we can do a fire wyrm taste test.

Man, though, I can’t believe I beat a whole gang of monsters led by a super-strong wyrm.

In terms of stats, the fire wyrm was way stronger than me.

My chances didn’t look very good at first.

But I managed to win by paralyzing them and dousing them in poison.

Just goes to show all over again that stats aren’t the only thing that counts.

For example, a spider that specializes in abnormal status conditions can be an extremely difficult monster to deal with, if I do say so myself.

If my stats keep going up and I keep getting better at magic, maybe I’ll become a high-powered all-rounder mega-monster?

Heh-heh-heh.

And I got the Demon Lord skill, too. Maybe I should really start calling myself a demon lord sometime?

I have the Fearbringer title already, so I bet it would suit me.

It is I, the Spider Demon Lord!

Just kidding.

At the time, I had no idea.

When I joked about becoming a demon lord…

…I didn’t realize the significance of those words.

THE DEMON LORD’S AIDE SIGHS AT A MEETING

I walk down a long corridor following a petite figure nearly two heads shorter than I am.

As a result, this individual’s gait is quite a bit slower than mine.

Which means I have to be careful to proceed less briskly than usual.

It’s not ideal, but I can’t simply overtake the one I’m following.

Because the girl striding ahead of me at the moment is the current Demon Lord.

When we finally finish traversing the lengthy corridor, we arrive before a single door.

There, the Demon Lord stops.

To be perfectly honest, I do not want to open this door. However, I have no choice but to do so.

Taking care to swallow the sigh that threatens to rise unbidden from deep inside me, I open it.

Then I step aside to allow the Demon Lord to enter, bowing my head reverentially.

The Demon Lord doesn’t so much as spare me a glance as she enters, as if she expected no less.

Once the Demon Lord has crossed the threshold, I fall in line behind her.

—After gently closing the door so it doesn’t make a sound, of course.

The room we’ve entered is a sort of council room.

There’s a circular table at its center, with a seat of honor reserved for the Demon Lord.

Ten other men and women are already arrayed at the table.

Half of them stand as the Demon Lord makes her appearance.

The other half remain seated.

The problem is that one of those who remained seated is my younger brother.

Once again, I have to suppress a sigh from escaping my throat.

I pull out the Demon Lord’s chair so she can sit.

Again without even looking at me, the Demon Lord flops casually into the chair with an utter lack of elegance.

I notice a few grimaces in response.

I’m sure the Demon Lord noticed, too. She takes great pleasure in evoking that kind of reaction, after all.

Personally, I think it’s in rather poor taste myself, but if I were to let it show on my face as well, there’s no telling what she might say to me later.

The most effective way to deal with this Demon Lord is to keep a poker face at all times.

“Now, let’s get this meeting started. Balto?”

“Indeed.”

I give a brief reply to the Demon Lord’s command.

To be frank, once she’s given the signal for the meeting to start, the Demon Lord’s role here is over.

All the actual work of conducting the meeting falls to me.

Or rather, it’s forced on me.

“Well then, as our first order of business, let’s hear your reports. We’ll start with the First Army, shall we?”

As usual, we start the meeting with activity reports from the troops deployed in various locations.

At my prompting, First Army Commander Agner, who’s served as the general for several generations of Demon Lords, rises.

Though Commander Agner would likely appear youthful by human standards, he is considered a senior even for a long-lived demon.

His power and competence are such that one wonders why he has never been a Demon Lord himself.

“The First Army has completed its preparations to advance toward the stronghold of the Renxandt Empire, Fort Kusorion. Supply trains have also been successfully deployed. We are ready to march on command. That is all.”

As usual, Commander Agner gives a straightforward report without any extraneous information.

His fortitude and vigor make him the picture of a model military man.

“The Second Army is prepared as well. However, if granted a small amount of additional time, our shadowy dealings may bear fruit.”

The next person to stand and report is an alluringly beautiful woman.

Second Army Commander Sanatoria. As a succubus, she’s exceptionally charming and crafty, even for a demon.

The “shadowy dealings” she refers to are probably something along those lines.

“How much longer will it take?”

“As little as two or three days, perhaps.”

“You are free to proceed, as long as it does not interfere with the advance.”

“Thank you very much.”

With a bewitching smile that could make your heart skip a beat, Sanatoria returns to her seat.

However, the Third Army Commander makes no move to rise.

“Commander Kogou.”

“Weh… So, um, there really is going to be a war?”

The giant Kogou attempts to shrink down in his seat.

“There’s no way we can, um, avoid that?”

“It is inevitable. If there were any way to avoid it, we would do so.”

“Wha… No matter what?”

Before I can answer Kogou’s insistent queries, a different voice echoes through the room.

“No matter what. But if you really want to avoid a war, Commander Kogou, there is one thing you could do.”

It’s the Demon Lord. She has a nasty smirk on her face, as if she’s thought of a cruel prank.

“U-um, what is that?”

“It’s easy. You and every last member of the Third Army can become the cornerstone for the world.”

Kogou freezes at the Demon Lord’s words.

“What’s the matter? I thought you wanted to avoid a war? Well, that’d do it.”

“I-I’m sorry. Um, I won’t bring it up again. So, um, please forgive me.”

Before the Demon Lord opens her mouth to bully Kogou further, I quickly cut in.

“Kogou, please let this be a lesson to avoid speaking out unnecessarily in the future. Do you have anything to report?”

“Um, everything is going well.”

“Good. Next, please.”

The Demon Lord looks a bit disgruntled, but this is for the best.

The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth commanders give their reports without a problem.

Then it’s the Seventh Army Commander’s turn.

However, the commander, my younger brother Bloe, makes no move to stand.

“Bloe.”

“I just don’t get it, Brother.”

Bloe crosses his arms and slouches back in his seat disagreeably.

“Why is this random chick the Demon Lord when you’re the one who’s been coordinating and managing us demons all this time? It doesn’t make sense!”

“Bloe.”

“And I don’t get you, either! Why do you serve her, Brother?! She don’t look strong enough to keep you under her thumb like this!”

“Fool! Don’t speak of the Demon Lord that way!”

The Fifth Army Commander, Darad, erupts at Bloe’s temerity.

Bloe and Darad clash often; their personalities seem to be at odds with one another.

Usually, one of their neighbors will step in, but this time no one is stopping them.

Some side with Bloe, some with Darad, and some prefer to watch and wait.

The commanders all have varying opinions.

However, it seems that this time everyone has decided to stay out of it.

“Have you forgotten, Bloe?! The providence of the world compels us demons to follow the Demon Lord no matter who it might be!”

“Who cares about that crap? She’s no leader of mine! I’ve never even seen her lift a finger—have you?!”

“Do you think the likes of us are permitted to doubt the Demon Lord’s intentions?! The inner thoughts of a Demon Lord are too complex for us to even imagine!”

“Maybe for you, but some of us have minds of our own, pal! What kinda chump follows every order without a second thought just ’cause it comes from the Demon Lord?! I don’t wanna hear anything from a dumbass like you!”

“You, of all people, dare to call me such a thing?!”

Sandwiched between the arguing pair, Sixth Army Commander Huey looks very aggravated.

The other officers simply look on.

Among them, the only one whose thoughts I absolutely cannot guess is the Fourth Army Commander.

Commander Merazophis’s pallid face doesn’t show the slightest twitch of emotion.

Of all the villainous leaders in the demon army, this man is particularly difficult to understand.

I always pay careful attention to him, but thus far, I haven’t noticed anything suspicious.

“Fine! Let’s do this, then!”

Finally, Bloe puts a hand on his weapon.

Darad reaches for his own in turn, but his hand stops short.

“Wh…? My body…”

“Why can’t I move?!”

Both of their bodies are frozen in place, not responding to their commands.

“Sorry, guys, but d’you mind not fighting over such stupid shit?”

These acrimonious words emanate from the Demon Lord, the very cause of the quarrel.

All the commanders, not just the two who are frozen in place, are overcome with astonishment.

None of them know how the Demon Lord is sealing the pair’s movements.

Understandably so. The Demon Lord has always avoided demonstrating her powers in front of them.

Her method of restraint is silk too thin to be seen with the naked eye.

The threads are attached to the backs of their heads.

Marionette threads. Anyone captured by these strings becomes the Demon Lord’s puppet.

And this isn’t limited to living things.

To my knowledge, the Demon Lord can use these threads to simultaneously control ten puppets, developed specifically for battle, to wipe out hordes of enemies.

However, even I know no more than this.

The Demon Lord has yet to show her hand, even to me.

Bloe is sorely mistaken in thinking the Demon Lord incompetent.

The fact that she holds this station is no mere fluke.

She is the Demon Lord because she is worthy of the station.

“If you piss me off too much, I might have to use Abyss Magic, ya know.”

A savage smile. After seeing that expression, there are none in the room who dare oppose her.

The Demon Lord gives the marionette strings a tug. That alone is enough to force the pair into their seats.

Then the threads separate from their bodies, and the commanders finally regain their freedom.

“I…I apologize.”

“…”

Dalad apologizes, the color drained from his face, while Bloe seems incapable of speaking at all.

“Now, a report from the Eighth Army, please.”

Though it may be cruel, I have to leave my deflated younger brother as he is.

“No problems here.”

Eighth Army Commander Wrath responds curtly.

This man shows no interest at all in whether the Demon Lord is worthy.

He has all kinds of other problems to make up for that, but as they’re not particularly relevant, I’ll refrain from going into them now.

The issue at hand is the remaining two.

“The Ninth Army is prepared to advance.”

If I were to describe this man in a word, it would be “dark.” He is always clad in black armor and a black helmet, as if they were attached to his body.

What little skin can be seen underneath the helmet is dark. His hair is dark as well.

All that stands out are his eerily red eyes.

I don’t even know his name. We simply call him Black.

“The Tenth Army has no issues to report.”

The girl seated at the dark man’s side is his polar opposite.

Her robe is pure white. Even her bleached skin is oddly white.

Her long, braided hair is white. And because her eyes are closed, no color is visible.

I do not know this woman’s name, either. We simply call her White.

These two individuals were added to the staff of the demon army by the Demon Lord.

I know nothing about their identities.

However, I can make a guess.

I believe these two are Rulers.

Rulers are said to manipulate this world behind the scenes.

And these are two of their number.

Even I have no idea how the Demon Lord managed to turn this pair into her subordinates.

But I cannot help but be wary of their overwhelming unearthliness.

“I see, I see. Sounds like things’re going well.”

The Demon Lord nods, looking pleased.

“So…shall we start a war?”

With these words, the curtains open quietly on a great war, perhaps the worst in history, between demons and mankind.

All too aware of this reality, I cannot help but finally expel a quiet sigh.

AND SO THE WAR BEGAN

The demon army is on the move.

I received this information just this morning.

The report came from a spy who’d infiltrated demon territory.

“So the time’s finally come.”

“Seems that way. Though personally, I hoped it never would.”

“Come on, Julius. I know you don’t like fighting ’n’ all, but humans and demons are bitter enemies. You must’ve known this would happen sooner or later.”

“S’true. The demons have been active since the previous hero died, so if anything, it’s been a long time comin’.”

Just as my comrades say, there’s been a great deal of demon activity since the death of the hero before me.

Maybe we were just lucky it hadn’t developed past little skirmishes into a full-blown war until now.

“So how long until the demon army arrives?”

“Hyrince went to find out. He should be back any… Ah, there he is.”

At Yaana’s remark, I turn to see Hyrince, the second son of Duke Quarto and my close childhood friend, walking toward us.

“Hyrince. What’s the news?”

“Well…judging by the speed of their advance, it seems they’re likely to arrive at this fortress tomorrow.”

“I see. So it’s really happening.”

War.

Ever since I became the hero, I’ve spent day after day in the heat of battle.

This will be my first time experiencing combat of this magnitude, though.

And I’m not alone in that.

Large-scale warfare was unknown in the era of the previous hero, as well.

The only ones with experience facing such strife knew the hero from several generations back, and most of them have long since passed on.

Aside from those belonging to long-lived races, the handful remaining from that generation are far too old to fight.

In other words, none of the humans who’ll participate in this conflict have ever experienced such a large-scale war.

Demons, on the other hand, live much longer than humans.

It’s possible that some of them lived in the days of that hero—or may be even older.

How will that difference in firsthand knowledge play out?

On top of that, demons also have the advantage in terms of basic combat ability.

Both their physical and magical talents far exceed those of humans.

And their intelligence is equal to ours.

Humans can fight monsters with superior stats because of the power of their skills and their intellect.

However, we have no such advantage against demons.

Because, like humans, demons are able to make use of skills and intellect.

To be honest, I’m scared.

But as a hero, I can’t let that fear show.

The hero is humanity’s best hope. If I’m afraid, everyone else will be, too.

To hide my fear, I tug lightly at my scarf, a memento from my mother.

I lost her around the very same time the demons became active and I became the hero.

My father was grief-stricken at the loss of my mother, but as the king, he had no choice but to commit himself to his work while shouldering that grief.

Because of that, he became estranged from Shun and Sue.

I truly believe their familial bonds will surely heal with time, but right now, both my siblings are attending the academy.

My father will just have to bear it until they graduate.

Once those two graduate from the academy, I have no doubt they’ll be a force to be reckoned with.

I wonder if I’ll survive this war and get to see them again?

No, of course I will.

I can’t just die here.

“If we survive this war, betcha the rewards’ll be huge.”

As if trying to prevent the mood from getting too dark, Hawkin speaks up in the most cheerful voice he can muster.

“I would hope so. Our compensation for that battle with the Nightmare of the Labyrinth wasn’t nearly enough for the trouble we went through,” Jeskan chimes in.

“Yeah, probably ’cause Julius went and crushed the damn thing into dust. If the corpse had been even slightly salvageable, we could’ve probably sold it as materials.”

Hyrince glowers at me exaggeratedly.

Come on, what choice did I have?

“Really! I’m sure Julius did his best. Besides, I wouldn’t have wanted to carry a dead spider back home anyway.”

I can’t help but smile at Yaana’s offhand remark.

“You’re probably right that the remains of a monster like that could’ve earned a good price, though. Bet the silk and such could make some clothes with pretty high defense properties, don’t you think?”

Jeskan shakes his head in response to my banter.

“Not likely. Taratect thread is apparently generated by a skill. Even if you dissected a corpse, you wouldn’t find any.”

“Really? I didn’t know that.”

I instinctively reach for the scarf I always wear.

“Oh yeah, taratect thread. Y’know, I heard there was one time some adventurers brought back some taratect thread that weren’t sticky, ’bout ten years back.”

“I’ve heard that as well, when I was still just a young adventurer. They say a party burned down a taratect nest and found some intact thread inside. Apparently, it had ridiculously high magical conductivity and durability, so it fetched quite a bounty. And this part is only a rumor, but I’ve also heard they collected a dragon egg there. Dragon eggs are so rare, word is selling just one would be enough to allow you to live in luxury the rest of your days. As a fellow adventurer, I was rather envious at the time.”

“Yeah, and then there was a craze of capturing taratects to get more o’ that thread, weren’t there? But nobody managed to turn up one that could produce it.”

I froze during this conversation, still clutching my scarf.

Hyrince raises his eyebrows at me.

“Julius, you really didn’t know how valuable that thing is? You’re always wearing it…”

“I had no idea.”

I answer awkwardly.

“? What’s this, then?”

Overhearing our exchange, Yaana tilts her head inquisitively.

“The scarf this idiot’s always wearing is made from the same thread they’re talking about.”

Hyrince’s words turn all eyes toward the scarf around my neck.

Guess I’d better not tell them that Shun hatched the dragon egg Jeskan mentioned and is currently raising the product as a pet.

“Ho-ho! Is it, now?”

“I’ve never actually seen the material before. I did hear that some of it was even sold to a royal family, but I never guessed that family was yours, Julius.”

“So it’s that valuable? I always wondered about it, since you never take it off.”

“Oh, no, I only wear it all the time because it’s a memento of my mother…”

“Really? Ah, I’m sorry…”

“It’s all right. It was a long time ago.”

Shortly after she gave birth to Shun, my mother’s health declined, and she passed away.

She knitted this scarf for me not long before Shun was born.

I knew it was made from taratect thread, but I had no idea it was such a rare material.

“Don’t worry about it, Yaana. Julius just has an Oedipus complex.”

“Come on, Hyrince, isn’t that a bit much?”

I grin in response to Hyrince’s light teasing.

Seeing this, Yaana feels relieved of her anxiety about upsetting me and giggles.

This is how it should be. A hero shouldn’t be enveloped in a gloomy atmosphere.

I’m grateful to Hyrince for having my back. It’s so important to have a close friend who really understands you.

Although I do think he could’ve picked a better phrase than “Oedipus complex.”

True, I may have more intense feelings about mothers than most people, having lost mine when I was young.

That’s evident from the fact that I see traces of my mother every time I look at Shun, who never even knew her.

I still remember the first time I met Shun.

It was the day before my mother died.

I was surprised by his steadfast gaze, the intensity in his eyes so unsuited to a baby.

His expression looked just like my mother’s.

Mother was a strong-willed person, too.

She gave birth to Shun knowing full well that it could destroy her weak body.

“If anything happens to me, please raise your little brother right.”

As she spoke, the radiance in my mother’s eyes was just like the one I saw in Shun’s.

Intelligent, gentle, yet somehow dangerous.

Those eyes…

When I think about it, the moment when I became strongly aware that I was an older brother was also when I accepted my position as hero.

When I first took on the role, I was terrified.

The realization that I would have to fight shook me to my core.

But when I lost Mother and met Shun, I felt the powerful desire to protect him.

I am his older brother, after all.

Even if I can’t replace our mother, I can at least protect him as a brother.

That was the beginning of my story.

The origin of Julius the hero.

My thoughts are interrupted by telepathic communication from Hyrince.

Julius, there’s something strange about the way these demons are moving.

What’s strange about it?

It’s like they’re dispersing all their troops to invade human territory all at once, but we don’t know why they’re breaking up their forces like that.

You think there’s something behind it?

Yeah. It’d surely be better to concentrate on one front, so why divide their troops like that? It’s best to assume they have a reason.

Any idea what that might be?

Not sure. It’s beyond me right now. But we’d better not let our guards down.

Got it. Thanks.

I have a terrible feeling about this.

As if we’ve somehow walked into some enormous trap.

Like being caught in a spiderweb.

It reminds me of the fight against the Nightmare’s Vestige. I feel the same vague anxiety now as I did then.

But as a hero, I can’t run away.

Once again, I tightly grasp the scarf made of spider thread.

THE VOICE THAT ANNOUNCES RUINATION

“All right, class, today we’ll be talking about wyrms and dragons.”

Professor Oriza starts class with his usual disinterested tone.

Wyrms and dragons…

Hearing that, I can’t help but remember that incident.

Hugo’s attempt to assassinate me, and the wyrm’s attack on the school.

Several years have passed since then.

Although few were hurt in either assault, it was still a shock to the academy.

However, Hugo was never definitively punished.

Before anyone could render justice, he disappeared from the school entirely.

The running theory is that Spatial Magic was involved in his escape, but nobody knows for sure.

At the same time, Ms. Oka disappeared, too.

In retrospect, she wasn’t present for the fight against the earth wyrm, either.

Ms. Oka was strong enough to easily bring Hugo down.

If she’d participated in the subsequent battle, I’m sure we would’ve defeated the monster more easily.

So why wasn’t she there?

With her gone, we have no way of knowing.

That isn’t all that changed after the incident.

For some reason, Fei started devoting herself to leveling up, even though she hadn’t been interested in it at all before.

She quickly achieved the evolution she’d once dreaded and now lives outside.

Something about witnessing the death of the wyrm that may have been one of her parents must have changed her outlook.

My own perspective changed a little after that encounter, too.

Before the attacks, I constantly aspired to be like my brother Julius.

But because of what happened, I learned a small fraction of the difficulty of his path.

Even now, I can’t shake the fear lurking in my mind.

It may be due in part to the fact that I’m a reincarnation, but I’m afraid of killing—and of being killed.

But in order to live in this world, in order to walk by my brother’s side, I have to conquer that fear.

Still, even if I have to overcome it, I don’t think I should forget it.

Since then, I’ve had opportunities to participate in exercises and battle monsters.

These creatures are nowhere near as strong as the earth wyrm; they’re so weak that they fall to a single swipe of my sword.

Still, the weight of killing them is the same.

I mustn’t forget this weight. I mustn’t get used to it.

I have to master my fears and go into battle fully prepared to take a life.

If I forget the weight of that act and get accustomed to taking lives, then I won’t be me anymore.

Just a monster that happens to share my name.

It’s possible I’m just being naive.

But even if I am a peace-loving fool, I don’t want to feel any differently.

I want to respect and understand the weight of a life.

From there, I have to measure the balance between what I want to protect and the lives I must take to do so, and thus decide whether to fight.

It’s easy to put into words but much harder to do in practice.

But my brother must fight with such thoughts held close to his heart.

He’s far too kind to be oblivious to the value of life.

I hope to rise to the same heights as my brother someday.

But I’m not remotely prepared for that day yet.

It’s not something I can just achieve overnight. I have to cultivate it little by little.

Until I find that resolve, I’ll simply continue improving my strength.

That philosophy has helped me progress since that incident.

I’ve grown, and my physical stats have been enhanced accordingly.

My current stats are fairly well-rounded.

Thanks to my body’s development, my physical stats have caught up with my magic stats.

I’m happy to have rounded out like this.

But it no longer elicits the same kind of pleasure as playing a game.

The stronger I am, the more frightened I become of wielding that strength.

But even so, I have to get stronger.

With the demons becoming more active, there’s no telling when a war might break out.

If I’m not strong enough to act when that time comes, I wouldn’t be able to bear it.

I may not be able to fight by my older brother’s side yet, but I don’t want to hold him back.

If possible, I want to at least get strong enough to protect Sue, Katia, and the others close to me.

Sue’s been acting a bit distant lately.

She used to always call me “Brother” and follow me around, but that doesn’t happen very often anymore.

Since she’s becoming a young woman and all, it’s not unusual that she’d want to distance herself from me, but it’s still a little sad.

Still, she hasn’t pulled away completely, and I can tell she still looks up to me, so I can’t complain too much just yet.

My relationship with Katia has become a little strange, as well.

Ever since the incident, I’ve gotten the sense that she’s trying to put some distance between us, bit by bit.

She denied it when I asked her about it.

But she avoided eye contact and backed away while she did, so I’m not convinced at all.

When I grabbed her arm to press the question, I was surprised by how thin it was.

It was too thin. So thin that I thought it might break.

On top of that, she gave an unexpectedly cute squeak of pain, so I let go instinctively.

Watching her face turn red as she rubbed her arm where I’d grabbed it, I couldn’t hide my distress.

“S-sorry.”

I didn’t know why I was so flustered as I apologized.

But in that moment, even though I know Katia as well as I know myself, she looked like a total stranger to me.

Things have only gotten more awkward with Katia since then.

Yuri is just about the only one who hasn’t changed. She’s still as zealous about converting people to the Word of God as ever.

If anything, she may be getting more and more intense.

Whenever I see her harassing a student, I pull her away to let her prey escape, only to have her target me instead.

It’s become a routine for us.

If Sue and Katia are around, they’ll jump in to mediate, and we all get caught up in our familiar, friendly squabbling.

So even if there have been a few small changes, my life remains pretty peaceful.

Until a voice shatters that peace.

“Huh?”

Since we’re still in the middle of class, my confused mutter echoes through the classroom more loudly than I expected.

“What is it, Schlain? Is there some part of the lecture you don’t understand?”

Professor Oriza eyes me politely.

But his voice doesn’t register through the chaos erupting in my mind.

“Schlain? Schlain?! What’s wrong?!”

I’m sure the blood must have been draining from my face.

But how could I not be shocked?

The Hero title is only held by one human in the world at any time.

And I know very well who that hero is supposed to be.

Once you acquire a title, you can never relinquish it for as long as you live.

The title of Hero is no exception.

As long as you live.

So that can only mean one thing.

There’s no other explanation.

I can’t believe it. I don’t want to believe it.

But that title has undeniably been added to my status.

No. It can’t be.

This can’t be happening.

No, no, no no no no no no no no no!

That could never happen to my brother!

But that title obdurately reveals the reality.

On this day, a hero has died…

…and a new hero is born.

SPIDER DEMON LORD

The Demon Lord holds a white piece of fabric in her hand, examining it with great interest.

A white scarf that, until a short time ago, was worn by a hero.

“White, take a look at this. Apparently, it’s made of spider thread.”

The Tenth Army Commander of the demon army, known only as White, turns her face toward the scarf in the Demon Lord’s hand.

However, her eyes remain closed.

“I heard it traded at a high price among humans, but can you believe the hero was wearing it?” The Demon Lord murmurs sardonically. “Unreal.”

She fiddles with the white fabric absently, then suddenly becomes still.

Her expression contains the innocent glee of someone who’s just had a great idea.

At least, that’s how she sees it. To anyone else, it looks like a wicked smile.

“Wasn’t the hero’s younger brother a reincarnation? Let’s give this back to him, then.”

As she speaks, she imbues magic into the scarf in her hand.

“Yep, yep. A little present for the hero’s little brother, full of the Demon Lord’s divine protection. Pretty slick, don’t you think?”

White remains silent, offering no consensus.

“Ahh, I’d love to see the look on Yamada’s face when he gets this…”

Picturing it, a malicious grin spreads over the Spider Demon Lord’s face.

GOD LOVES SPIDERS

Looks like she’s taken a liking to Wisdom.

It’s so nice seeing a present well received.

One can’t help but be pleased by such a dramatic reaction.

We’ll definitely have to save the image of her setting herself on fire and flying into a panic.

Surely, our special little spider will put Wisdom to good use.

Even with your mind divided, you can stay surprisingly calm.

Since you have two Ruler skills, Pride and Perseverance, I’m sure you can manage one more.

And someday, I hope you’ll learn of my existence.

I have high hopes for you.

I’m sure you can entertain me for a long time.

For I am an administrator and an evil god.

Now then, what will you show me next?

How will you interact with this world?

How will you change it?

I’m very much looking forward to finding out.

AFTERWORD

Hello, everyone. It’s me, the probably, maybe, hopefully beloved Okina Baba.

It can’t be! You’re telling me there are enough brave souls out there who bought the first volume to justify a second?!

I’m surprised there are so many weirdos out there who like spiders. What a wide world we live in.

Now then, a lot has happened since Volume 1 was released.

The series has gotten a manga, a commercial, lots of comments, and it started serialization on Kakuyomu.

It even got glowing recommendations from Mr. Ryohgo Narita and Mr. Satoshi Hase.

I never expected to receive such kind comments from such famous authors! It was petrifying.

Luckily, once humans surpass a certain degree of emotion, they actually become calm, assume it’s a dream, and go to bed. Then, the next day, they think, Looks like I’m still dreaming! and go to bed again, and so on and so forth.

All joking aside, though, I’m sincerely grateful.

Just hearing that Mr. Narita and Mr. Hase enjoyed my work is enough motivation to keep me going forever.

Thank you very much.

To Tsukasa Kiryu, who illustrates these novels, thank you for always drawing such beautiful illustrations.

To Asahiro Kakashi, who creates the manga, thank you for being the only person alive who can give a spider such a wide range of expressions.

Finally, thank you to my editor Mr. K, everyone involved in the production of this book, and all the readers who picked it up.

Thank you for buying this ebook, published by Yen On.

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Part 8 of 8

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