Chapter 120. Offer of employment

If like to say we got lost and spent the evening watching the sunset together but that would be a lie.

Instead a rumor had been apparently circling that I was a tamer and hand had caught a Arachne that would do anything I told her to.

I mean it wasn't completely wrong but that was besides the point.

What this meant however was that the moment we stepped into the artisans district and out of sight from the crowd we were immediately jumped by a very passionate young dog lady.

"Would you be interested in hiring out your Arachne to us? We would pay handsomely for her services."

Voras hissed back. Apparently uninterested in the offer.

Unperturbed the woman just stared at me like it would give a different answer.

"No sorry she's not up for sale." I tried to politely decline.

"I can guarantee we will give you the best price available." She continued like I hadn't refused already. Her floppy ears seemingly bouncing around with her.

"It's not about price. Voras just isn't for sale or hire. We've just come here looking for a weaving loom." I tried again to refuse.

It wasn't like I wanted to be mean but even if she offered a good price I doubt it would be enough for Voras's work. She could infuse her silk with resistances after all. That would definitely increase the price. Now that I think about it the adventures in the guild would probably benefit more from it than anyone else.

"And what if we offered a custom built one that was originally built for Arachne?" The woman still continued having seen the potential of us accepting.

"Still no. We have other tasks that need..."

"Can we see this loom?" Voras interrupted.

The woman bounced happy to have gotten a positive response. "Of course. This was please."

I gave Voras a side glance to try and figure out what she was trying to do but she just followed behind the woman. While holding my hand of course.

"Voras?" I tried to whisper without the canine woman hearing. I wasn't successful.

"I would like to see this loom Master Clovek." She brought her face in closer. "And I don't think she was going to accept a no. Don't worry, I have no intention of giving her any of my silk but I would like to see about purchasing this loom. If it is good that is or real to begin with."

That makes sense. Hopefully I could find something for the other girls in time.

Actually. Finding what I want for Zeldi would be really easy especially if they were supplied in bulk to the artisans themselves.

I wonder? Would Tarakona like some sort of carving kit?

She currently used her claws and magic but once she's laid our egg and is more free to use her Draganoid form she might like a more hands on approach.

We passed what looked like a quiet warehouse district but as I looked through a couple of the windows I could make out the forms of people hard at work. There was also a few times I noticed guards patrolling and some private security subtly looking out of windows.

They all kept a close watch of Voras as we passed but when none of them tried anything I just shrugged. She did look dangerous and maybe that was my type so I couldn't blame them.

Well maybe I had many types. There are very few people that would ever say Zeldi is dangerous, so long as you stayed away from her back legs.

"What type of work are you looking to get out of Voras?" I asked the woman, I wanted to know a bit about what she did if we were going to do anything.

"Weaving of course. Arachne are some of the most skilled people when it comes to their skills. Right now only the Underdark can successfully tame them enough to produce enough to sell."

"My silk is not for sale even if we do agree with helping you." Voras hummed. "Though if you were to provide the silk and are willing to offer the loom as payment I'm sure we could do something."

The canine woman stopped and turned around. "That won't do. Your silk is part of your skills. It would be very bad form to only have half."

"Unfortunately that's just how it is." I said with a sigh. "Voras here is a Livestock so her silk is a lot more valuable than other Arachne."

"Oh." The woman exclaimed. "She's not a tamed beast?"

Poor choice of words.

"No I am not." Voras purred revealing her fangs. "While he is my Master I can ignore his words if I so choose and should something happen to him I won't be required to wait for his orders."

Suddenly the woman looked a lot less sure of herself.

"Then..." She trailed off trying to think of something that was eluding her.

"You were more interested in gaining her silk than actually wanting her to weave." It wasn't much of a question. If gathered from the Underdark that Arachne silk even from non-Livestock was still worth a pretty penny.

I might have been a bit biased as the girls and myself have been wearing nothing but Voras's silk cloths for the past few days and it was easy to tell at a glance that my current clothing was better quality that your typical townfolk. Add Voras walking beside me and it was easy to see the reasoning.

"Yes." The woman slouched. "I was tasked with trying to get as much of your silk as possible under the guise of employment. If I had known you were a Livestock then I wouldn't have bothered."

"Why is that?" I asked as we moved towards one of the walls to avoid a cart being pulled by horses.

I briefly remembered my days on my family's farm riding them as they passed but that memory was over righted by Zeldi. It probably wouldn't be healthy to ride her while she was pregnant but if she wanted to...

I mean I had ridden her briefly when I'd first arrived and somehow persuaded her non birth mother to let me ride so it shouldn't be that hard right?

"Because the price of my silk is vastly more expensive." Voras answered in the woman's place. "And since I'm not a tamed beast it would be a lot harder for them to try and kidnap you Clovek."

The woman flinched.

"Okay I'm lost." I said doing a quick check to make sure I still had everything in my inventory. The mention of kidnapping had me wanting my spear.

"Be a dear and explain why you were taking us past the weaving district and towards what I can only presume is a secluded section?" Voras hissed with a bit of amusement.

The woman let out a whimper. "How long have you known?"

"From the start. You don't have clothes befitting anyone related to the weaving districts as they would be trying to prove that they were superior. You also don't have guards which is a bit of a surprise but the biggest give away was that you waited until we were alone." Voras smiled down as the woman tried to make herself as small as possible.

"So what? This was all a plot to get us alone?" I asked trying to follow along.

"More trying to get us to a location that wouldn't cause problems if you were to kick up a fuss or resist them." Voras answered without looking away from the woman.

The woman tried to speak again but while her mouth moved no words came out.

"So why does she seem so unsure about it now that she knows you're not a tamed creature?" There was something I wasn't getting.

"Because if I were tamed like they think then knocking you unconscious would severely limit what I could do. And before you ask it's because of what I am. If I was tamed then you would have given me few orders that I would have to follow. Like don't attack anyone in town for example." Voras explained.

"And if they could stop me giving you other orders then theoretically you would be easier to restrain." I realized.

It was a little underhanded but made sense. Though there were a lot of loopholes that didn't make sense. "What happens if I had ordered you to protect me? Wouldn't that make things harder since you could still act even if I was unconscious?"

"Well" Voras turned the question to the woman who had tried to escape while Voras was answering my questions only to find she had been caught around the waist by Voras's silk.

Voras only needed to show her fangs before the woman started to babble. "If we distracted you then all we needed to do was get him to a secluded place. Once he was there and shown his position then we could get him to order you around. We could then restrain you."

Ah. So basically use any methods possible to make me listen to them... I'll take one guess as to their method of doing that.

Voras however moved faster than I thought possible and sunk her fangs into the woman's neck. Not even a scream escaped her before the life left her eyes.

"Shit Voras." I cursed looking around to see if anyone spotted us.

There were a few open windows but no easily visible silhouettes.

I then grabbed the corpse from my Arachnid and dragged it into the shadows of the building.

"She threatened you Clovek." Voras seemed taken aback by my actions. "I know you said thieves we would turn over to the guards but that creature threatened you. Therefore she should die."

My mind raced as I kept looking around for witnesses as I tried to think of a way to get rid of the body. There wasn't really a dumpster or anything in this town so I might need to get creative... Or did I?

"Voras. Wrap her in silk, I need you to make a cocoon as quickly as possible."

Voras didn't argue and began the process. Hopefully it would count as a single item for my inventory.

I also needed to address the pitiful look I was getting from her. Like a puppy that knew it had done something wrong.

"I'm not mad about what you did so much as thinking you could have done it better." My words were backed up by the blood splatter against the nearby wall. "I have no problem with you killing people like that but please make it look a bit more subtle."

Voras seemed to melt slightly at that while she offered the cocoon. Thankfully it did count as a single item and I replaced a gold coin with it.

"Now though. We are going to visit this potential ambush. I'd rather not have them following us home."