Chapter 106: The Itsy Bitsy Spider

- Dwarven Settlement, Calidus Upper Reaches - Rose's POV -

Entering the opening immediately after setting up our formation I inwardly gulped as our torchlight reflected off the cave walls at strange angles, the shadow's thrown by it weaving around us with strange shapes. Shivering once more at the creepy atmosphere the cave gave off as a result we still pressed forward into the labyrinth proper, our goal within.

[Ew ew ew, what is this?!?] - Argent

[It's a spider web, or haven't you ever run into one your Ladyship? Heh...] - Karen

[O-Of course I know it's a spider web! I'm just surprised by the size of it! Hmph!] - Argent

[That's what she sai-] - Veronica

[Quiet! Ver, keep an eye on the ceiling. We'll most likely be dealing with Feronid's if the books I've read are anything to go by.] - Malaise

It only took a few minute of travelling through the winding cave system, guided by the map contained in our instructions, before we came upon a massive web blocking the entire passageway. The web, it's ivory strands spread along the walls and throughout the passage beyond the obstacle, was covered thick in a myriad of bundled up dead insects of various sizes. From tiny fly-sized bundles even to one nearly as large as a 2 year old child it seemed as if most were already dead with only a few twitching every now and then to indicate how active this specific web was. Maybe this was a storage area of some kind?

[Feronid's?] - Rose

[Remember those rust red spiders that attacked us when we were with the caravan? Supposedly those are only juvenile's according to most books on the subject of underground monsters. It's said that in some cases they can reach sizes comparable to small houses and some eye witness accounts report seeing an individual the size of a castle.] - Malaise

[A-A castle?!?] - Urz

[Don't worry it's likely that the one that made this web is no larger than a dog or cat considering the size of the cave.] - Malaise

Ah right! I vaguely remember seeing enormous spiders during our trip here, and they were also a part of my meal with the Prince during the Tournament if I remember correctly. Though I never did end up finishing that now that I thought of it...

Regardless the thought of fighting enormous dog-sized spiders was mildly- scratch that, extremely terrifying.

Although I also remember that shota dwarf dude with a crush on Karen mentioning that those spiders had a penchant for eating iron. Or was it Legal Loli Sensei that said that? I don't remember which one but someone said something to the effect that they were massive pests for machinery. Did that mean that they didn't eat meat? Probably not considering the literal wall of dead and dying prey caught in the thick white webs blocking our way forward.

[S-Should I burn the web down?] - Rose

[...? We better not, this is supposed to be a test afterall and potentially risking the destruction of our goal would probably earn us an automatic failure regardless of the outcome. No, we need to do this properly.] - Malaise

[...] - Annabelle

[H-Huh? A-Are we going into that?] - Urz

[Our goal is on the other side so yes.] - Malaise

[...!] - Urz

[Don't worry though, we'll be fine, we're all strong here. And if this was truly dangerous our little maid follower of Rose's would save us. Right Miss Former Adventurer?] - Malaise

[...] - Annabelle

That old internet meme came to mind immediately. The one that inevitably always came up whenever Australia was involved and specifically "spider rain" and how the internet reacted. Burn it down was basically all anyone could think of when they were faced with the prospect of enormous "fuck-off" spiders falling from the sky and it's also the only real way I could think of dealing with what, back on Earth, would have been extinction-level sized spiders.

I specifically remember one time when I was cleaning my newly acquired living space and came across an enormous amount of cobwebs in a storage room and, rather than painstakingly clearing them out over a few hours I instead got the brilliant idea to light them on fire with a lighter. I nearly burned down my apartment. 1This actually happened to me as a child, luckily while cobwebs burn extremely fast they don't burn all that hot...

Luckily, at least for our test's sake, our leader Malaise was thinking clearly as she briefly glanced back at our shadow in the form of Annabelle following us before giving a negative to my idea to burn the entire cave to the ground. Unfortunately our newest member, the shy and timid Kappa Urz, was absolutely terrified of the idea of meeting whatever had made such massive webs. Squeaking in terror when Malaise gave an affirmative to our goal being on the other side of that horror inducing sight I couldn't help not feeling sorry for the poor girl's nerves. Especially since I agreed with her terror on a fundamental level.

What she said next however confused me since it had seemed like this entire trip our normally friendly foxgirl had been attempting to rile up or get a reaction from my maid Annabelle. This most recent attempt drawing yet another glare from the unfriendly Lamia.

[U-Umm as much as I trust Annabelle to save us in a pinch I think it'd be better to operate under the assumption that she's not there at all. I think the point is to make our own decisions as much as possible.]

<Why are you antagonizing my maid?> - Rose

<I just think she should be more clear about why she came is all!> - Malaise

[Clear about what exactly Miss Malaise? Care to explain your whispering?] - Annabelle

Once more I interposed myself between the two of them to stop what was seeming more and more like a personal attack against my maid. I needed to find out what Malaise's problem was now!

[N-Nothing! We mean nothing by it! R-Right Malaise? <Say yes!> ] - Rose

[Honestly no, I'm addressing this now. What was Lolianne Sensei playing at by sending someone with such a clear conflict of interest as our escort? You're obviously not here to give us preferential treatment so what's the deal?] - Malaise

[...] - Annabelle

She did it! Ah now she's gone and done it!

To be honest I'd been wondering the same thing this entire time, given our age I could obviously get behind sending our groups out with chaperone's. And it even made sense that we were a bit short on official teachers at the current time so using all available personnel was an obvious choice as well. What wasn't obvious was why my maid was with OUR group rather than another one. It was an obvious bit of favoritism to assign my own maid to a test where I'd be the one being tested. Lolianne was never THAT obvious when giving someone a leg up so something was obviously up with the entire thing.

Despite that however I'd never have been able to directly ask the person involved. Especially with the glare she was levelling at our brainy foxgirl.

[...hah. Fine.] - Annabelle

[You'll tell us then?] - Malaise

[No.] - Annabelle

[Wait but I-] - Malaise

[What I can do is complain to myself rather than speaking to anyone directly. Be sure to not listen of course as none of this is directed at any of you.] - Annabelle

[...] - Everyone

[So... Those damn old politicians from the Council are after my Mistress are they? Think they know what the Church wants and aim to get it for themselves huh?!? Not on my watch. That damn lion and his harem always going after anyone they view as strong. His damn lust is as powerful as his battle frenzy... Ahem.] - Annabelle

[Wait so someone on the Council is after Rose and wants to capture her?!?] - Karen

[Lion? It can't be King Leo could it? Why's he after Rose?!?] - Malaise

[Ahem! I don't know where either of you got these types of ideas from, I was only talking to myself afterall. My mistress understands right?] - Annabelle

[...I get it. Guys let's leave it at that, we heard nothing but we can definitely prepare just in case in the meantime...] - Rose

Staring at the determined face of someone that had been my protector since I was born I tried to ascertain whether she would let more slip before giving up, her resolute gaze telling me that she'd let slip far more than she'd been given permission to do in the first place.

Waving off the questions coming from my friends I thought of the only person that could have given an order to hide something from me, my Aunt would answer to me when we returned of course but I still could be upset that I hadn't been let in on it in the first place. I'd proven my worth during the Tournament hadn't I? Regardless the fact that Annabelle had hardened her heart to protect me still sent little warm tingles through my belly as I compared my current life to the horrible relationships in my previous one. Now all I needed was a little sibling to take care of and it would be perfect.

- Ligera Province Capital Building - Robert's POV -

[I'm pregnant.] - Lily

[Huh?!?] - Robert