[V8C23] I Have No Songs to Sing to a Bug
Translated by Jodas 8: The Witch of the Boundary‘Burn, burn, burn!’ Tia chanted as she burned through the spider webs.
In times like this, she cursed herself for not being able to use fire magic. If Julius or Agniol were here, this would be over in a second.
Then, she heard a ruckus from behind. The centipede Monster was tossed on its back.
Frederik had stolen Oliver’s spear and had launched a counterattack on the Monsters.
That much was fine, but the spider Monster stole the spear from Frederik’s hands and raised it up high.
“BROTHERRR!!”
Oliver stood in front of Frederik.
(I’ve gotta save him!)
But Tia was too far away. While she could fly over there with one leap of the Magical Leaping Device, both of Tia’s hands were occupied with the torches, so she couldn’t grab the lever.
(Crap, I won’t make it!)
Then, Tia’s ears picked up a number of sounds.
The Arachne’s laugh, Oliver screaming for his brother, Frederik’s pained breathing, the sound of the centipede’s massive body convulsing… and one more.
—With a quiet rustling sound, a girl jumped in front of Oliver.
It was another Arachne. Her upper body was that of a malnourished black-haired girl, while her lower body was that of a spider. But compared to the silver-haired Arachne, she was just about half the size.
The spear pierced straight through the center of that young girl’s upper body.
Tia heard the sound of flesh tearing apart.
That black hair splayed out from the impact, and a little later, fresh blood splattered all over.
“…Romy?”
At Oliver’s muttering, the black-haired Arachne turned to face him.
Her blood-stained face was exactly that of the girl who came to talk to Oliver in the village: Romy.
Tia whispered in her mind, not letting the thought leave her mouth:
(Of course. I thought it’d be something like that.)
The silver-haired Arachne’s eyes widened dramatically at the sight of Romy pierced by the spear.
The expression on her face was one of despair and sadness.
“Ah, Ahh, Romy… What in the world are you doing? I was preparing fear for your sake again… Why would you… for a human…”
“…Sorry, Mother…”
While apologizing, Romy’s whole body shook. She was not shaking her body in sadness. Nor were these the spasms of pain.
—This was the sign of an Arachne about to project a web.
Romy spewed a huge ball of silk at the silver-haired Arachne’s eyes. At the same time, Tia finally managed to burn through the webs that were blocking their path.
“Oliver! Over here!”
Oliver grabbed both the impaled Romy and collapsed Frederik, carrying them both at once. Naturally, this was a huge burden for him and his face was beet red.
She wanted to help Oliver, but if the two of them were carrying the wounded together, they’d probably get caught up to immediately.
While the web Romy shot out had bought them some time, it was only a matter of time before they were caught.
(…In that case…)
Tia laid the torches at her feet and pulled the lever of the Magical Leaping Device.
Short metal wings emerged from her back.
“Tia!”
“Go, Oliver.”
Tia spoke in a low voice, then jumped to a branch on a nearby tree.
Then, looking down on Oliver, chirped “Pyofun!”
“I’ll be fine!”
“……”
“Will you believe in me?”
Even Tia couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth.
Oliver closed his eyes once, then raised his voice.
“I will return this favor! Don’t die on me, Tia!”
“Piyopp!”
With a cheerful reply, Tia leapt. White webs were stretched all throughout this forest like curtains. When she jumped over that curtain, she could see a ball of silk writhing like a cocoon.
Eventually, a claw pierced through the gaps in the threads, cleaving the ball open.
Emerging from inside, that silver-haired Arachne.
“They’ve run away with Romy, have they? … In that case, girl, I’ll rip off your limbs one at a time. I’m sure they’ll come running back when they hear your screams!”
Huffing “Pyofu,” Tia pulled the small bottle from her pocket.
Gripping one of the candies from the bottle between her teeth, Tia lifted the corners of her mouth.
“A mere bug like you thinks you can rip off the limbs of a bird?”
The silver-haired Arachne’s eyes twitched.
Tia threw off her shirt and boots, then bit down on the candy.
Pure white wings emerged from her extended arms. Birds’ feet with sharp talons grasped onto the branch beneath her.
To a bug, birds were their worst enemies. The Arachne’s face twisted in shock.
Looking down at her from above with a feeling of superiority, the Harpy of Breakneck Gorge declared:
“I have no songs to sing to a bug like you. I’ll peck at you, tear you apart, and kill you!”
Carrying his brother in his right hand and Romy in his left, Oliver ran, almost dragging them. He ran, and ran until his arms reached their limits. There, he came to a stop and set them both down.
His brother was wounded all over, convulsing from the spider’s poison.
Romy still had a spear impaled through her body, her eyes half-closed in exhaustion. If he pulled it out, he would probably only worsen the bleeding.
He figured it would be best to leave it in there and keep her from making any unnecessary movements until a doctor could arrive on scene. But would a doctor be willing to heal Romy in this state? Now that only her upper half was human, while her lower half was a spider.
“Romy, tell me. How do I save you?”
When trying to learn about Monsters, it would be best to ask a Monster. When he asked that question so directly, Romy laughed weakly.
“Oli… ver… I’m a Monster.”
“Yeah, I figured you might be.”
Romy blinked in surprise.
“…Since when?”
“Since just now.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Romy laughed in a pitiful voice. Between her laughs, blood trickled down from her mouth.
Monsters should have been much tougher than humans. Yet he couldn’t feel a strong life force from Romy’s malnourished body.
Her upper body, in the form of a young girl, had thinned out muscles and her neck and arms looked so thin they might snap at any moment. She was clearly not getting enough nutrition.
“You are…”
At that moment, he heard a shaky voice from behind. It was his brother, Frederik.
Even after being beat up so badly and suffering from that poison, Frederik nonetheless tried to stand up. Both knees still on the ground, he lifted his upper body up with trembling arms.
Oliver immediately rushed over to support his brother’s body from falling over.
“Brother, you shouldn’t get up yet!”
“Shut up, dumbass little brother!”
Frederik grabbed Oliver’s collar with a shaking hand.
Then, his face twisted in anger, he shouted.
“Why didn’t you notice!? She’s the one who ate your fear! You’re just food to them!”
“Yes.”
Romy quietly confirmed Frederik’s angry accusations.
“I am.”
Romy spoke quietly, her expression looking somehow peaceful.
“I am the one who’s been eating Oliver’s fear. Ever since we were kids… This whole time.”
Romy was a weak Monster.
She was powerless, and bad at weaving webs. On top of that, she had problems with her diet, and despite being an Arachne, couldn’t eat human flesh.
Typically, Arachnes could eat all kinds of things. While certain ones had their preferences, they could survive off of just about anything that came from humans.
Be it flesh, blood, or even emotions.
But Romy couldn’t stomach flesh or blood. Emotions were all she could eat. That made it incredibly difficult for her even just to stay alive.
If she could live off of flesh or blood, then she could simply feast off of human corpses. But the dead had no emotions. For her to eat emotions, she had to take them from a living human.
For a time, weak little Romy had been able to survive by sneaking off with some of her mother’s leftovers, but in time, her fellows derided her, saying “You good-for-nothing!” or “Go find your own prey!” and chasing her out.
While Romy was extremely weak among the spider Monsters, she was skilled at mimicking a human form.
Also, because she was so weak, she could stay in human lands with low mana density for much longer than her peers.
So, Romy took the form of a young child and tried to approach a human settlement, only to spend her days nearly dying being chased around by wild animals.
It was a shame on her as a Monster to be weaker than even a wild animal. She could almost hear her peers’ voices scoffing at her.
Abandoned by her fellow Monsters and attacked by wild animals, she spent her days on the run, clutching her famished stomach.
When a boar came after her, Romy rolled down the hill and screamed, all the while resolving herself to her inevitable death.
(I’m sorry, mother… Even though it should have been my duty to bring food to mother… I’m such a shameful Monster who’s about to get eaten by a boar. I’m sorry…)
Then, a rock hit the boar in the head. Romy hadn’t been the one to throw it.
“Hey! Over here!”
It was a human child, holding a spear.
The boy, with his light-brown hair slicked back into spikes, charged bravely at the boar, but was knocked away unceremoniously by the boar’s headbutt.
Amidst her uncontrollable sobbing, Romy approached the boy. Even a Monster could cry. As weak as she was, Romy figured she might have cried more than any other Monster.
“Eugh, Ah… A– Are you okay…?”
No matter how she looked at him, the boy wasn’t okay. His knees were shaking, yet he still guarded Romy, saying:
“I’m… fine… Ach, augh… I came to… helb yew… Ngh…”
For the first time in her life, Romy, the weakest Arachne, had someone else try to protect her.