Despite the recent loss and great tribulation, the mood of celebration was in the air; Lamia culture was an interesting one. First, they wanted to ‘crown’ a new queen (there was no crown involved), and secondly to celebrate their new hero.

This village had never held a big celebration, and it was high time to change it.

The tables were assembled, the food brought and dresses made. Apparently, the Lamia being cave dwellers didn’t appreciate the sunlight much and in the end were thankful for the clothes the spiders gave them; so the law was upheld.

However, it seemed inappropriate for the Queen to wear plain clothes. Right before the celebrations he managed to make her a dress.

[You have crafted royal dress of superior quality. Crafting +100exp.]

[Royal Dress: +10MP.]

The dress was complex in design because he wanted to incorporate a tail; due to Lamia aversion to sunlight, he couldn’t leave any skin exposed. Arguably this wasn’t a dress but a full-body suit, however, he added a skirt and many frills along the tail to improve that. It was all blue in colour, but different parts of the dress had different patterns. Also, there was a hood and a veil to hide her face from the harsh sun. In the end, it was both functional and eye-catching.

The Queen's inauguration will be beginning soon. Right before that, he went into a dome-shaped building where the new Queen was preparing herself. There were no doors so he knocked on the wall.

“Can I come in?”

“Come-sss in.”

“I made this for you, here”. He handed her the neatly folded dress. “A gift to celebrate the new Queen.”

She unfurled the dress and inspected it curiously. Her face went through various expressions.

“If you don’t like it you don’t have to wear it. I just thought…”

“No, I like-sss it, it’s just… How do I even put this-sss on?”

“Oh… Well, I could show you if that’s appropriate.”

“Thanks”

The Queen pulled off the clothes spiders had made her exposing her naturally pale skin.

“…”

“What are you waiting for? Come on, sss-show me.” She pushed the dress into his hands.

“Okay, first…”

He pushed her through the upper part. Her hands, of course, got stuck in the sleeves and he had to untangle her.

“Now…”

He strapped the cloth to her tail using laces and belts.

“And we’re done. Give a spin.”

She spun around lifting the skirt and frills up as she did so.

“This-sss looks-sss fun.”

“It looks better than I thought it would. I didn’t have your measurements.” Likely saved by his perk.

“Really. Do I look good?”

“Yes, you’re very beautiful.”

It was a shame he had no mirror for her to see the outfit. One of many reasons why he wanted to trade with different people.

A servant lamia slithered into the room. “Huh?” There was a momentary surprise, but the servant lamia corrected herself quickly. ”Queen, are you ready?”

“Yes-sss.”

…

The Lamai borrowed his throne room for the inauguration. The entrance of the Queen made quite a bustle within the Lamia crowd. His spiders watched from the ceiling and clacked their mandibles to celebrate the entrance. What followed were the oaths.

The warriors swore an oath of loyalty, the servants an oath of obedience, and the Queen to protect and guide her people.

Just when he thought this was over the Queen gave him a meaning full look.

“King of Spiders-sss, sss-Slayer of The Great Worm of Oberon, you may come.”

He didn’t expect to be a part of this. He made a slow walk through the throne room. Thousands of eyes stared right at him, it was hard not to be self-conscious, so he projected the Aura of Authority.

He wasn’t sure of proper etiquette so he winged it. “I am here, Great Queen of Lamia.”

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The Queen giggled at her title but collected herself quickly. “I declare you our hero, sss-saviour of all Lamia.”

Everyone cheered and clapped.

“You have sss-saved us many times already, I am forever in your-sss debt.”

“No problem.”

She wasn't finished. “Hence, we shall come to your aid then you need us and no matter how grave the danger.”

He bowed. “I shall rely on you brave Lamia.”

The Queen bowed even deeper. “We thank you.”

Everyone clapped again.

“Ssss-shall we eat then? I am sss-starving!” The Queen broke her otherwise immaculate performance with a toothy grin.

“Let’s dig in!”

The feast began and spiders ate with Lamia like they were best friends. For this occasion, he brought a very special treat – a jar of slug jelly.

The Lamia Queen looked at it in suspicion.

“Just try it.”

She jabbed her whole hand into the jelly and scooped a generous amount.

“Mmm, so sweet.”

He tried to take the jar back so others could have a go.

“No! I am not finished.”

“But…”

“The Queen says NO!” She was already abusing her authority.

“You will get fat if you eat it all. It’s meant to be shared.”

“No!” She began scooping the jelly even faster into her mouth. “Have you ever seen fat lamia?”

“No, but…” He reached for the jar again.

She raised the jar over her heed and toppled the contents in her mouth.

“Here, you can have it back.”

The jar was empty, slug jelly gone. He didn’t know to scold or praise her, she must have broke a record or something.

“Don’t blame me if you feel unwell later.”

This was not the only jar he had, so he went to get more. And he will keep those far and away from the greedy Queen.

…

The Lamia will be staying until their eggs hatch, and maybe for a bit while after. He didn’t mind, they were welcome here.

He rolled The Blessing of Oberon on the table in his room. The crystalline sphere was golden and even glowed a little.

“It will remain a pretty bauble if I don’t use it. We can’t have that, no?” He was back into his good habit of thinking out loud.

However, nowadays, it was rare he was ever alone.

“No.” Spider advisor chirped. “Blessings. Must. Be. Used. Not. Hoarded.”

“A sage advice from the spider. You are an advisor for a reason. Since I won’t be eating this, do you want to have a try?”

“No.”

“Any reasons?”

The spider remained quiet for a while, thoughtful even.

“I. Know. Someone. Who. Want. To. Be. More. Useful.”

“Hmm… Tell them to come here then.”

The advisor was back with another spider.

“Hello, buddy.” He greeted the featureless spider.

Recently he was getting those. Spiders with no jobs. A similar situation he had with Jesters until they evolved into scouts, explorers and warriors.

“Can your friend speak?” Even now, not all were able to.

“No.”

It couldn’t form words, but it chirped at him happily.

“He will learn in time. Maybe sooner with a blessing. Here.” He offered the sphere. “Swallow it.”

The spider swallowed the large sphere with no problem. He looked at the spider with bated breath.

“Hmm… nothing seems to happen. Were the instructions wrong?”

The spider began to glow.

“Never mind.”

It glowed even more, it was shining, emitting light so bright it was blinding.

“Okay…” It was getting scary. “Please don’t explode.”

The light dimmed, and there it was. The same spider, no longer black but grey, it’s chitin rugged and course as if made out of stone.

“Oh! He evolved. What can you do now? What did the blessing give?”

The spider, of course, still couldn’t talk, but it chirped happily and ran to where he kept the ore samples he obtained from kobolds. And then it ate them.

“I kinda needed those... Don’t tell me you like to eat rocks now.”

It chipped as if to argue.

“No. Rocks. Metal.” The advisor translated helpfully.

“You could understand him? Ask him what it does.”

The spiders ‘spoke’ with each other, there were more dancing and waving than actual sounds.

“Perk. Metal. Extraction.” The advisor translated. “Evolution. Metal. Spider.”

“Nice! But he looks like a rock spider though.”

The advisor did a spider shrug.

“I know, this system just doesn’t make sense. Anyways, let's feed you more ores and see what happens.”

He did just so, and to no surprise at all the spider began to grow metallic plates on its body; no actual plates yet, only a thin beginning.

“And here I thought I would need to burn all the wood for charcoal. The elves will be pleased no?”

He wondered how were they doing. It was a while and maybe he could try talking with them again.

….

Deep in the forest and outside the elven settlement three elderly figures were drawing a large complex circle filled with glyphs, shapes and magical elven language. The magical formula was huge in scale, probably the same area as the elf settlement itself. The inside of the circle was filled with hundreds of statue-like figures of various heights and sizes. The figures were made out of wood and leaves, some were living tree saplings, but all of them vaguely resembled a humanoid. Each of them had multiple glyphs carved in and around their imitation bodies.

“High Elders, thank you for coming to my aid.”

The three high elders were of the same status, each representing an elven settlement. The two simply nodded at the third as if no thanks were necessary.

“Well then, shall we pour the energy into it?”

“Without Divine Guardian blessing? We shouldn’t.”

“But here you are.”

The three High Elders might be allies now, but that didn’t mean there weren’t disagreements.

“I’m just saying this is unwise.”

“Do I need to remind you that I have no choice? Our Divine Guardian was eaten!”

“And mine would only give a blessing if threatened directly. Let’s do it.”

The two began pouring the mana into the circle, and the third joined soon after. The whole formation glowed blood red. Tiny wisps, no bigger than a fist, flocked to the circle. They were coming from all around, from the surrounding trees, grass, and even earth. The air was filled with many colours, putting a rainbow to shame. They blinked and glittered in anticipation. The lines making the formation slithered like snakes, turning the overall shape into something else and changing the magical formula.

The wisps moved to the wooden figures and began circling over as if drawn to them. But the little lights were picky, if they didn't like the wooden effigy they would move to another. Once they picked the one they liked they moved towards merging with it. The figures began to stir, stiff like puppets then the hollow eye sockets took shape and shone with the light of soul and intelligence.

“Dryads heed my command. The forest is under threat you must protect it.” The elders repeated in unison.

They chanted the phrase again and again, hammering it into the hollow wooden heads.

The Dryads transformed further, the wood and leaves flowed like oil unifying and completing the body. The figures were more elegant now, their movement less stiff. They all looked humanoid with two arms and legs, but their heads took the shape of various animals. Some grew tails while others grew claws, some even wings which didn’t quite work. Despite appearing half human - half animal, they were still mostly plant.

“Dryads heed my command. The forest is under threat and you must protect it.”

The three chanted for the last time. The Dryads, one by one left the circle and dispersed into the forest. The elders drained of mana, collapsed to their knees.