Chapter 123: Returning Makes for Unexpected Situations

- Arachne Hidden Village, Village Entrance - Rose's POV -

[Are you sure you have to leave? N-Not that I'm going to miss you or anything after you're gone! Hmph!] - Zhizhu

[Yes, I'm sure, it's already been long enough that they're probably searching for signs of us already. Plus, it's not like this is the last time we'll see each other.] - Rose

[Lady Rose is correct Devotee Zhizhu, you'll be together before long, I'm sure. How long that ends up being depends on your own efforts though so work hard and you'll see your friends that much sooner.] - Undine

[Yes, Honorable Guardian! N-Not that they're my friends or anything!] - Zhizhu

The remainder of the negotiations had been more heavily reliant on Annabelle's assistance as we moved on from the thing we most desperately needed. At least probably anyway. I'd never been explicitly told that we would need more soldiers but I figured that using the opportunity presented to get them was most likely a good idea. The fact that Annabelle hadn't tried to stop me even once backed up that it was at the very least not a problem. Plus by the expected time of battle I'd be an adult once more and having people I somewhat trusted to have my back around me seemed a good plan. Having a literal God vouch for you within a population makes it pretty unlikely for them to actually betray me afterall.

Regardless though I still opened the door at least for further negotiation regarding luxury goods as well as supplies both ways. Given the long separation between our peoples it was unlikely that the money used on the surface would have as much value to them so we'd agreed that initially the trades would be through a barter system for the most part whilst we slowly integrated them into the economics of the surface world. This was of course if everything went well.

This had brought up a strange thought, however. Military aid made sense as a way of reparation, especially given Undine's fear of both Love and my family. But the idea that they'd be open to integrating back into a society they hadn't been a major part of since a thousand years even before the last Demon Lord was... a bit strange. When I'd asked about that however all I'd gotten in answer was a noncommittal response about it being "the right time". Definitely not a straight answer which meant there was more to it.

Despite the obvious sketchiness of their sudden interest in communication I'd felt it wouldn't be worth it to pursue the matter and possibly halt said interest. From the tone of voice and general air around their answers it didn't seem to be malicious at the very least.

And so, I found myself facing off against a small group of Arachne and one sentient puddle one of which was hiding- scratch that, barely hiding her lonely filled eyes as she saw us off. Agreeing with my assertion that it'd already been too long Undine left what sounded like a thinly veiled threat to the poor boobie spooder that seemed to instead take it as positively as she possibly could. I could recognize the look on Undine's face as the same as those of the teachers of my little sister in my past life. The better ones that were just wanting to push her towards her potential anyway. Not the ones that were more or less spies of our parents on their payroll. I decided to send a prayer her way whilst knowing how ironic that was considering that the one that I was praying for her safety from was literally a God herself. Ha.

[Yes yes. Moving on, my wards will send a delegation after you within the week. We would appreciate it if you gave prior warning to both your own family as well as the Dwarves so that they may pass without being accosted.] - Undine

[Will do. Are we ready to leave Annabelle? Guys?] - Rose

[I'd say we're completely recovered? What about you guys?] - Malaise

[Yeah.] - Karen

[Yes Lady Rose!] - Argent

[Not as refreshed as "certain" people but yes!] - Veronica

[I feel confident in my ability to fulfill my duty as your "personal maid" Young Miss.] - Annabelle

[...mhm.] - Shade

Clapping her hands as best she could, being water they made more of a wet slapping sound rather than anything close to a true clap, Undine reminded me of our prior agreement to have official negotiations between our two peoples done on a more proper stage before asking me to let the Dwarves know of their intentions. Wait would this cause any territorial issues with them? Oh well nothing I could do about it now, let's let someone else deal with that.

Making up my mind to ignore the possible consequences of introducing, on an official level, an entire empire of people that were living in such close proximity to another military power I moved completely by telling myself it wasn't anything I'd be able to help with regardless.

- 4 Hours Later, Dwarven Settlement, Calidus, Sens Estate - Rose's POV -

The journey back to Calidus had been quick, despite the trip up to the Arachne city taking more than half a day somehow, we ended up making the decent down through the caves in only a few hours. Helped along by our Arachne escorts I couldn't help noticing that each and every one of them was built like the guards around the Riyuegu Xiamen Holy Manor. That is to say like a brick shit house. Tall, muscular and physically imposing they looked like the prime example of "Your son calls me mommy too". And from the brief interactions we'd had with male Arachne it seemed the old hentai trope of S/M play between a milf spider and a shota partner was basically a biological necessity.  I'm sure they enjoyed it though as the Arachne guiding us seemed to take great pride in showing off their physical prowess whenever one of our gazes lingered on them. The sharp contrast between this group and the more lithe one that Zhizhu had been leading made me consider if their were possibly different physical types of Arachne. Possibly a physical warrior/bulky type and another more stealthy/petite type. Well whatever the case was I was forced to bring my attempt at escaping from reality to a close as I focused back on the cause of my stress.

[Release your hostages and we'll allow you safe passage back to where you came from!] - Dwarven Guard

[Don't worry Lady Rose, we'll save you!] - Lolianne's Big Brother 1 Did I decide on a name for him? I don't think I did... let me know?

[We're not holding anyone hostage fools! We're here to escort the Lady Rose and her retinue! Allow us passage or we'll assume you are enemies!] - Arachne Captain

[Everyone stop! Stand down!] - Rose

[Don't panic Lady Rose, we'll deal with these ruffians immediately. Guards attack!] - Lolianne's Big Brother

Yes, the reason I was avoiding reality was on display with this stupidity before me. I don't know why but apparently when we'd shown up at the gates of the city the guards there had immediately assumed that we were hostages and called for Lolianne's Big Brother to come and mediate as he was technically responsible for our safety as our host. Unfortunately, the inclusion of the politician had only seemed to make matters worse as he immediately started ordering the guard to "save" us at all costs. It didn't help that our escorts had been tasked, by their literal Goddess, to keep us safe until our destination and they'd taken their hostility badly. Even worse was my own attempts at calming everyone down was either not heard or ignored. It was... infuriating.

[Okay that's it, EVERYONE CALM THE FUCK DOWN!!!] - Rose

[Huh?!?] Both Groups of Combatants

Deciding that enough was enough I tried something that I'd seen in a barely remembered anime one time, getting between both groups as they rushed each other.

Using my powerful tail to launch myself high into the air I ended up creating a massive crater in the soft mycelium of the mushroom forest surrounding Calidus as I slammed my muscled tail into the ground to shock everyone out of their stupidity. It worked.

[You! For all the Gods we're not hostages! They were only escorting their new allies back to Calidus! And you! If you're going to work with other races you'll have to be less prone to immediately becoming hostile!] - Rose

[So.... You're not being held against your will?] - Lolianne's Big Brother

[Do we fucking look like we are?!?] - Karen

[You... do not. Apologies for our mistake Miss...?] - Lolianne's Big Brother

[It's Captain and you're not worth my- fine, it's Captain Zhe Shi] - Captain Zhe Shi

[Lord Shou. The ones you are kindly escorting were under my protection.] - Lolianne's Big Brother 2 So I came up with a sufficiently punny name, but I'll just keep calling him Big Brother so that when he shows up again no one will be like, "who's that again?"

Finally getting the crowd of stupid under control I sent a certain captain a harsh look when she tried to blow off someone that would soon be allies if all went according to plan. While we "technically" didn't have an official alliance with the Arachne, yet it was only a matter of time with the daughter of a Duke, aka Me, and an actual Goddess, aka Undine, backing said alliance. Unlike my old world this one was one where a powerful enough noble could get their way with a minimum of effort and if everything else failed a bit of gold under the table would get rid of most disagreements. Although large movements sometimes required marriage agreements so that wasn't always the case. In this one though there should be enough benefits for all involved parties for there to not be much push back. Now that everyone was introduced...

[Where's the rest of our class anyway?] - Rose

[Ah yes, they're still at the manor, if you'll follow me?] - Lolianne's Big Brother

- 1 Hour Later, Dwarven Settlement, Calidus, Sens Estate - Rose's POV -

The next hour had been spent bringing my classmates, and most importantly my teacher and the dwarven government, up to speed. Letting them know everything that had happened in the last 2 days led to a large amount of activity as they rushed to prepare for the first official delegation from the Arachne. It initially surprised me that they didn't ask more questions about the fact that the spider women were not only real but part of an entire Empire but I was quickly informed that all the major powers had known about their existence it had just been impossible to make contact without antagonizing them. Apparently the fact that we'd not only NOT been killed on sight but had even returned with an endorsement was absolutely unheard of. I'd held off on letting them know about the fact that the one in charge was a literal Goddess however as I wasn't sure who it would be okay to tell that. My family and King Nero at the very least and anyone else at their discression since that seemed like a sensitive bit of information.

Speaking of my family...

[Oh, my poor baby! I heard what happened to you! Your papa and I were so worried that we were about to rush over there as fast as we could and be damned any new territory!] - Momma Lily

[I love you too momma.] - Rose

[It wasn't quite that severe, but we WERE planning for how we would travel to arrive if you weren't found imminently. Plus, a proxy could keep everything from imploding for at least a few day-] - Papa Robert

[It's fine I unders-] - Rose

[Wait if we can have a proxy take over for us why aren't we heading over to our baby right now?!?] - Momma Lily

[In your condition?!? If we weren't calling our little angel, I'd make sure you were still in bed. We can still make the trip in a few months when you-] - Papa Robert

Grinning as I finished letting momma and papa know the general gist of what had happened to me, I once more confirmed my complete and utter love for my new parents as they spoke of how close they were to just abandoning their Royally appointed task with almost no forewarning. Being ever the voice of reason I could still feel my papa's love as he backed her up only to be interrupted by momma when she realized that they could leave their duty whenever they wished if they appointed someone else to take care of it. I wasn't sure it was as easy as that but the thought of seeing them again was a good one. The next thing they said however made my blood run cold. 3 More cold anyway since she's technically cold blooded more or less. Although with their size they'd be able to maintain a fair amount of heat just by virtue of body mass. It's how we think many dinosaurs maintained internal temperatures.

[Wait in what condition?!? Is everything okay?!? Is momma sick?] - Rose

[Oh right, you wouldn't know about it yet. We just found out recently and then all this chaos with your disappearance happened, so it slipped our mind to tell you.] - Papa Robert

[Wh-what is going on?!? Are you both okay?!?] - Rose

[We're fine honey. It's just.] - Papa Robert

[You're gonna be a big sister!!!] - Momma Lily

[Huh?] - Rose

Panicked at the thought that something had happened to momma I immediately started attempting to grab the floating display in front of me only for my hands to pass through it as I demanded answers. My mind blanked however at the answers provided. Big sister? I'm going to have a little sister?

[I'm pregnant! Your gonna have a little sister in a few months!] - Momma Lily

[That's a bit of an oversimplification, it's a few months until the egg is laid. After that she won't be born for almost a full year.] - Papa Robert

[Oh shush! So what do you think?!? Excited?!?] - Momma Lily

[...] - Rose

[Baby?] - Papa Robert

[I'm gonna be a big sister? I'm gonna be a big sister! WOOHOOO! I'm gonna be a big sister!!!] - Rose

[I think she's excited.] - Papa Robert

[How long until she's born?!? Also egg?!? Is that the same one I came out of?!? Is it a boy or a girl?!? HOW LONG?!?] - Rose

[Hahaha, calm down calm down. It'll be few months until the egg is laid depending on the temperature, we're in a more temperate area so it might take a bit longer but after that it's almost an entire year until it'll hatch. We've got a bit of time so don't get ahead of yourself.] - Papa Robert

[Wait temperature slows it down?!? Is that dangerous?!? Does momma need to come back home? I can come and get her!] - Rose

[It'll be fine baby, and as for me going anywhere. Well as much as I want to come to see you Darling is right, in my condition it's not a good idea for any long travel. As for you coming to see me? I'm all for it! I'll talk with your teacher and see about getting you some extra time off. Did you hear that, Darling?!? We've got an excuse to see our darling little girl! Hehehehe! I'd like to see that fool in accounting try and argue against THAT expense!] - Momma Lily

[Don't go too hard on her honey, she's just doing her job afterall.] - Papa Robert

[Oh poo, she's just jealous of our love!] - Momma Lily

[Anyway, why don't you tell us all about the last few days? We'd love to hear what you've been up to and about this... Arachne group that you mentioned.] - Papa Robert

Barely calmed down from my excitement at finally fulfilling my longtime wish to have a little sister in my new life I started speaking.