episode_0030

What is this smell?

Shrimp? Crab? Whenever I cook some crustaceans, this smell vibrates.

After thrusting the Flame Sword into the head of the Arachne Queen, the magical flames engulfed its entire body.

I pulled out the sword and stepped back, watching as it burned until the end.

“Ugh….”

The sight of a spider the size of a house burning and writhing its eight legs was not a pleasant sight.

And the smell, as much as I hate to admit it, was savory and appetizing.

Still, I have no desire to try eating it.

Instead, every time I eat shrimp from now on, I might think of the roasted scent of the Arachne Queen.

Maybe I shouldn’t eat crustaceans for a while….

“Just wait a bit. I’ll bring you down now.”

After confirming that the Arachne Queen’s life had been definitively extinguished, I climbed the sticky spider web wall to rescue Sylphy, who was tied up and hanging upside down from the ceiling.

Sylphy, completely upside down due to the hanging, with her short skirt flipped completely, presented a striking image.

Although my eyes kept wandering to her exposed white legs and underwear, I tried to act nonchalant as I spoke.

“Be careful. You might fall suddenly.”

“Y-yes… I’m fine! Please cut me down!”

I immediately cut the spider web binding her legs and feet with the Flame Sword, being extra careful with the magical control to prevent Sylphy from getting burned.

As soon as the web was cut, Sylphy spun around in the air and landed lightly on the ground.

“Hey! Bring me down too! Hey!”

Seeing that, Nigel shouted at me.

It was slightly amusing to see him half-transformed, swaying back and forth.

He really can’t grasp the situation even in such circumstances.

Should I tease him a bit?

“Oh, my back hurts. I can’t move!”

“A-are you okay? Aren’t you pushing yourself too hard?”

As I grabbed my waist and sat down on the floor, Sylphy rushed over and supported me.

In reality, my body was fine. In fact, my waist was stronger than ever.

But I didn’t feel like letting Nigel off the hook just yet.

I still felt irritated when I recalled what he had said.

“You’ll feel better after resting for a bit. Let’s take a short break.”

“Oh, okay! Should I make a fire or something?”

“Should we? Let’s just rest slowly.”

I lay down with my arms as a pillow, watching Nigel swaying back and forth while hanging from the ceiling.

“Let! Me! Down! Now!”

In the nest of the Arachne Queen, Nigel’s desperate cries echoed several times.

***

The hero Cain was filled with rage for 24 hours.

It was because he realized that the burden of fighting the Demon King was not a convenient indulgence for the hero, but a fateful shackle.

After experiencing the pain of his body being torn for the first time in front of the saint that day, Cain had to endure several more pains.

Beyond simply not expressing his intention to subdue the Demon King, he was no longer allowed to even think about it.

Whenever he unconsciously thought, ‘The Demon King? That’s none of my concern,’ a shock as if struck by lightning would hit him.

After experiencing several shocking pains like that, Cain began to hate the Demon King.

“That Demon King… I’ll kill him… that damn bastard… and I’ll kill those bastards who made me a hero too….”

In a room provided for the hero next to the Central Church, Cain clenched his fists and trembled.

But then the door quietly opened, and a middle-aged man dressed in the bishop’s robe appeared.

“What? I told you not to come into my room without permission.”

Cain glared at the man who entered the room and spoke.

However, the man dressed in bishop’s attire paid no attention and was slowly approaching Cain.

“Who… are you?” Cain asked the man.

Although he was dressed as a bishop, he was not someone Cain knew.

It wasn’t the usual bishop of the Castia diocese that he always saw, but someone else.

“I am Bishop Javiel of the Freya Church. I have come from afar to see the face of the hero.”

“Get lost,” Cain said without hesitation.

He disliked the sight of any church, saint, or bishop.

They all felt like villains who shackled him as a hero.

“Hero Cain.”

But Bishop Javiel did not back down and called Cain’s name in a low voice.

Cain felt something was off.

Suddenly, he felt like the room was getting darker.

A strange magical energy emanated from Bishop Javiel’s body as he reached out his right hand, and a peculiar staff appeared from a rift in space.

Hero Cain sensed the ominous signs and immediately drew his sword.

The bishop, or rather the pretentious lord Javiel, pointed the staff at Cain, gathering dark magic at its tip, and opened his mouth.

“For my master, you must die.”

***

Having successfully completed the extermination of the Arachne Queen’s nest, we were returning to Kubele.

Nigel, who had been hanging upside down on the ceiling in a tantrum, was eventually released.

I lay down with my arms as a pillow, watching Nigel’s emotional changes, which were quite interesting.

At first, he poured out his anger at me, demanding to be released, then tried to negotiate by promising to write a good evaluation.

When that didn’t work, he apologized politely for his earlier behavior, and finally cried like a child.

Watching all this unfold, I felt a bit sorry for him and decided to release him.

And now, he was bowing his head and muttering something in a voice so soft it was barely audible.

“Nigel, are you cursing me right now?”

“Ah… no, not at all.”

Where did his initial aggressive attitude go? He was startled every time I spoke to him.

His courtesy level is top-notch.

Looking at him, I can’t help but doubt the adventurer ranking system.

Milaya is known for her strength beyond her rank as an adventurer, so she’s an exception.

But with someone like Nigel carrying a Silver rank, isn’t there something wrong with the adventurer system?

Upon arriving at Kubele, we reported to the guild.

Nigel had to do the reporting.

He did nothing but throw a tantrum and get stuck on the ceiling during this request, but it couldn’t be helped.

On paper, he was the leader of our party.

I waited at the back with Sylphy for the report to finish, then split the reward with Nigel.

The ratio of the reward was 2 for Nigel and 1 each for me and Sylphy.

It’s a problem that arose because Nigel is the highest-ranked adventurer on paper.

Even though the amount we received from splitting the reward was much larger than a Bronze request.

It just doesn’t seem right that this guy, who did nothing, is taking the most money.

“Nigel, if you have a conscience, let’s split it evenly.”

“W-what… this is legally my share!”

“You were hanging upside down on the ceiling, doing nothing, and yet you’re getting the most money. It doesn’t make sense.”

“No! I absolutely won’t give it!”

“Then there’s nothing I can do. I’ll do my best to spread the rumor about how you were hanging upside down on the ceiling in the Arachne nest, crying and begging for mercy, so I suggest you give in.”

“Hmph, who would believe such a thing?”

Nigel looked at me with a snort.

This guy, as soon as he escapes danger, he starts reverting back to his unlucky self from the beginning.

“Well, I know two receptionists here. I’ll inform them first, then I’ll tell all the other adventurers. I’ll go to the tavern every day and keep telling everyone there. Maybe Silphy can be a witness. Whether anyone believes it or not, I’ll just speak the truth and go about my business.”

“This… this guy…”

Nigel was visibly shaken.

“I’ll keep talking today, tomorrow, even in the neighboring city. I’ll tell everyone I meet about ‘Silver Adventurer Nigel hanging from the ceiling, begging a Bronze Adventurer to spare him’ in great detail. I’ll even tell the poets and have songs made. If you don’t believe me, it’s fine. I’ll just keep talking. I’ll tell people here and there. I’ll even tell the kids in the neighborhood. And Silphy will surely provide witness. I definitely saw you crying and begging for mercy.”

“Please… stop…”

But I didn’t stop and continued speaking.

Instilling anxiety is what’s important in situations like this.

It didn’t matter how many people believed the rumors when I spread them.

As long as I could cultivate the anxiety in Nigel’s mind of ‘What if this rumor spreads and I can’t even show my face in public?’, he would have no choice but to surrender.

Above all, the fact that he cried and begged for mercy in such a pitiful manner was real.

“I’ll tell other races too. If I meet demons, I’ll tell them too. Silver Adventurer Nigel hung upside down in the Arachne nest, crying and begging a Bronze Adventurer for mercy. I should write a book about this later. I’ll keep it in my repertoire of interesting stories for the rest of my life.”

“Stop! I get it! I understand! Just stop, okay!”

In the end, Nigel declared his surrender.

We ended up splitting the reward evenly as agreed.