The chapter 23 is here!

Sorry for my absence.... my family just move out so I need to packing my stuff... our new house is messy... and still little bit uncomfortable since my phone can't get any signal...and there is no wi-fi there... yeah, no wifi and signal...

Once I manage to get an internet, I can't log in from my phone and keep listed as guest...

Anyway, please enjoy (^_^)

And thanks for editing this chapter Panacea-san (^_^)/

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(Pana-chan's note : Warning, mass spider destruction. For the delicate souls of Kumoko-chan's admirers, please skip this chapter.)

"Kyaaaaaaaaa!"

I could hear a girl screaming . In front of my face, an invisible screen only I can see was full of red dots...

As I feared, those two encountered the white spiders already, we should move faster.

I signalled Mark that I would be running ahead and he nodded at me

As a beastkin, I could run faster than humans but not fast enough to reach those two..

Diactivated [Mapping]

Diactivated [Analyzing Eyes]

Activated [Acceleration]

The moment I activated [Acceleration], my body dashed in high speed and left the others behind.

After a few seconds, I saw the kids. There were bunch of white spiders in front of them.

Rick's legs were tied up with the spider's thread and he was having hard time trying to cut the thread.

"Le..let go of Rick! You stupid spider!"

Elma tried to taunt the spider while throwing some rocks at them...but the spider continued pulling Rick's leg and ignoring Elma...

Spider's eyes are usually vulnerable towards light, so let's use Shena's light bomb. I take out a white, hand sized ball and throw it between thespiders and the kids.

"Close your eyes!"

I shout to the kids.

"Hisssh!"

The spiders backed away while emitting distrubing cries because of the sudden bright light.

I then tried to cut the nearest spider

*CLANG*

Their body is hard as hell! It's totally different from the other spiders'.

Is it because of their level?

"Rick!"

Elma is desperately pulling Rick's hand. I should have cut the thread first.

Activated [Strength Boost]

"[Slash]!"

I cut the thread and pull the kids away, at that moment, the other shows up from afar.

"t-the..between c-cephalothorax and the abdomen... the pedicle! Cut the pedicle!"

Lila shouted from afar while catching her breath...

Pedicle? That one?

I cut the part described by Lila and the spider fell easily...the head moved a few meter then it slumped down.

Yuck! Its so eery and disgusting!

I moved foward as I cut down the spiders, then suddenly a big object just fled near my head...and crushed the spider in front of me.

That... was Perika's battle hammer...

"Don't throw the weapon! Perika!"

Parika scolded her twin while cutting or should I say crushing the spiders with her axe...

Is that even possible?! The spider's body should be hard!

"Don't crush the head! Parika! It can be used as weapon materials"

"I know Perika! Crush their abdomen!"

The twins eagerly crushed every spiders' abdomen in front of them...

"Hey! Don't crush their abdomen!"

On contrary, Mark is stabbing the spiders from it's mouth through the head...

"They keep their eggs in their abdomen! I want those as cooking material!"

Wha-?! Spider's egg!? Thinking about it make me feel nauseous...

"White spider egg...that does sound delicious.." Kena was almost drooling.

It is?! In which part?!

"I used adult altractian spider's eggs for today's fruit tart. Delicious right?"

The moment Mark said that, I almost vomited...

Spider's egg?! Spider EGG?! are you kidding me?!

"Urp!"

"Hey! Don't you dare to throw up on my dish!"

I just ate a spider egg, I just ate a spider egg, I just ate a spider egg, I just ate a spider egg...

"Urrppp!"

"You! Don't you dare waste my food! Shove it back! Shove it back now!"

Are you crazy?!

"*huff* the hell are you using spider's egg?! That is disgusting!"

"Huh? Which part?"Kena seemed genuinely surprised

"Spiders egg are delicious~"singsonged Perika, sooned followed by her twin.

"Right! Delicious~"

"Un! It is good even with bread"

Even you Lila?!

"Why don't you just use normal eggs?"

Like chicken for example!

"? Spider eggs are normal though?" Mark seemes puzzled

"No! Something like...er...Hille bird! Hille bird's eggs!"

"But, Hille birds doesn't lay eggs"

They don't?! Every bird should have to lay an egg! I can't imagine a bird giving birth, it makes no sense at all!

"T-then what about Colka birds?! They lay eggs right!"

Somehow, they are all looking at me with blank faces...

"...it does lay an egg...but..." Kena started.

"..it's worth a try"Mark added. The twins though...

"NOOO! they are squishy!"

"Yuuuck! squishy and sticky!"

They are?!

"......disgusting..."

Lila is whispering under her breath but I still can hear her..

Even Lila dislikes it?! I just can't comprehend this world's logic!

Our group was having such a conversation while fighting bunch of spiders...

White spiders were considered as strong monster--for a beginner adventurer...

But most of our group is made of people with a level above fourty...

This kind of monster actually was not to hard for people above level thirty, but you can get killed if you let your guard down only because your level is higher.

The dangerous part is what lay at the front. About 750 or 800 meters from here, there a white spider queen at level 60 and bunch of traps further down...

I am really curious about how Mark figured out which path is safe and which is not...but, I'm kinda scared to know at the same time....

After seeing their fallen comrades, the other spiders backed down and ran away.

Mark and the twins started dismantling the spider's bodied while having an argument with each other...

"Hey! I want those parts!"Mark shouted

"We're first!"Perika retorted

"For making a shield!" Perika added

Meanwhile, Lila and Kena were taking care of Elma and Rick.

"Are you two alright?"

"...yes...thank you"

While they are doing so, I'm checking the surroundings. Sometimes monsters retreat only to gather more of their friends. With my [Detector] skill still active, I check the other monsters' position before I deactivate it

....it doesn't seem they will be coming back or anything, there are no monsters until 400 meters from our position...its safe..

I diactivated [Detector], [Strength Boost], and [Acceleration]. Now I'm feeling sleepy...

I sit down against the dungeon's wall, close my eyes and concentrate...I'm look like meditating, I think? Actually I'm doing [Mana Circulation Control].... Shena taught me this technique....she really knows anything and can make anything, it a little bit scary in my opinion. If she ever was stranded in an unpopulated island with only coconut trees, I bet she could make a ship out of those coconuts! Or maybe an air balloon?...yeah, it's kinda scary, you can't really mess up with her or she will make a weapon out of coconuts to kill you...

[Mana Circulation Control], this technique allows me to take control over mana inside me, and gather more to fill out the used mana. I have to do this before my mana reserves empty too much or I will fall asleep for a looong time like two or three days? Before I learned this technique, I could fight those monsters only with my fists or a weapon. I couldn't use magic at all or I would fell asleep while fighting those monsters and become their lunch...

Like re-charging a phone, I could feel my mana reserves getting filled up.

Realizing that I'm not moving and only sitting on the spot with closed eyes, Elma and Rick timidly walk toward me.

"U-um...."

Still re-charging....

The other already know about my routine so they understand why I'm not answering the kids..

"........"

I could feel the kids in front of me, but they don't say anything... And the three idiots were still arguing over who got which spider part...

"That part is ours!"

"The spider's legs! Give it back!"

"I took it first so its mine!"

"We want it! Let it go!"

"Let go!"

"No! its mine! You two, hands off my spider's leg!"

Those guys are so noisy!

...Are they doing tug o war with the spider's legs?

As I feel my mana fill up, I exhale and slowly open my eyes

In front of me, Rick was sitting down with a dark face while Elma was onthe verge of tears

"Ugh..."

Wh-wait! Why? Are you crying?

"*Sob*...I..uguh...I'm so sorry! HUAAAA!"

Elma's crying started to get louder.

"*sob* its all my fault...*hic*...I won't blame you for....*sob*...reporting me to the guild...*hic*...b-but please don't report Rick!"

Reporting who? Now I'm confused...

"Wha-?! No way! Its my idea! So, if you're going to report to the guild, then it should be me- "

"What are you guys talking about?"

"*hic*...w-we know that..you're angry...*hic*...a-and-"

"And we are sorry for tricking you..."

"Tricking me?"

"....*hic*...w-we..."

This girl should stop crying before she speaks, I just don't know what is she saying...

"We used you and your party to gather the black golem cores...we planned to secretly  switch the bag..."

Rick explained everything while I'm wiping Elma's face with my handkerchief.

Turn out, they are in huge debt because of their brother and have to pay it back in the end of this week. After being treated harshly by other parties, they started to use and scam them? Or something like that...when things got bad, they planned to run away with the rewards.

They planned to trick my group but hesitated because we treated them nicely? I thought we treat them normally? Just how harshly did the other groups treat them?

Rick and Elma look at with dark faces...

"...I'm not angry with you two, but with all the things you two did, have you even considered the possibility of your previous party to reporting you before we do.."

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"...they haven't done that because they think it's humiliating to be tricked by beginner adventurers and kids at that."

"We...we didn't mean to trick you...it just we are in pinch an-and.."

"Just, how much is your debt?"

"..1,500 gold..."

Kena's eyes opened wide when she heard the debt

"1,500 gold?!"

"How much you have gather?"

"...pretty much? I guess, 2 black golem....and 1 from your group..."

"That's not even the half of it!"

Rick and Elma looked scared and fell silent from my remark.

"We are sorry! We promise you to pay back those golem core including the we have stolen! Just please let us have the money to get our brother back!"

Well, if these kids were pleading to me with that kind of faces... it kinda hard for me to reject them...they do seem desperated...

Kena is also looking at me with similiar a face with the kids...

"*sigh*..lets get moving, we need to gather more black golem cores"

Elma and Rick looked at me with wide eyes

"You two should promise me to have to work hard to compensate the money later. Including the core you have stolen"

"Y-yes! We will work hard!"

"We promise!"

"Ru-I mean Crev! I could just kiss you right now!"

Kena leaped toward me and started hugging me...tight! Too tight! I can't breathe!

Our group ended up gathering more black golem cores in the dungeon for two days straight...since the request time limit almost up, we camped in the dungeon to save some time. Finding black golems is really hard because you can't tell the difference between black golems and normal golems. Only their cores are slightly different, black golem cores have a grey light while normal golem's are dark yellow. Thanks to [Analyzing Eyes] and [Detector] skill, we manage to gather 4 more of black golem core in a short time period, but it still isn't enough so we decided to give them our reward money and sell some things to earn the rest. Mark opened a food stall and besides him, the twins sold their hand made weapons.

"*sob*...my beloved child..."

"*Hic*..p-promise us to keep them nicely...*hic*"

Do they have to cry everytime their weapon is being sold?

We actually manage to reach 1,500 gold in this past five days .

After we count the rewards, we accompany the kids to pay their debt.

We walk toward a big white mansion, the maid lead us to a big room which looked like an office. A big, fat man with bunny ears is sitting on an expensive looking chair, wearing expensive looking clothes full of jewellery..how can he even walk with that weight and those clothes?

"Ah, the swindler kids have come. Did you finally give up and are ready to be sold?"

The man smile smirked mockingly while looking at Elma's body and licking his lips. Rick moved between the man's sight and Elma, glaring at him.

D-disgusting! What up with this man?! We are right behind these two kids and he still did something like that!

Noticing my group, the man raised his brow. He is looking intently as his gaze moved from Mark, Kena, Lila, the twins and m-eeeeppp! I got goosebumps the moment he looked at me!

He is sneering at me while looking up and down.

"And who is this?"

"..These are my friends"

Rick stated, still glaring defiantly.

"Friend, huh?"

Wh-why is he still looking at me?

The others moved to hide me from him.

"Hmp! If you can't pay the debt this week, I can extend the time limit by one month if this friend of yours become the bail or maybe the useless girl over there "

"!"Elma stiffened, looking like a deer caught in headlights.

"W-we came here to bail out big brother Dema!"

The man snorted at Rick's words but then he fell silent when Rick showed him the money

"Here is 1,500 gold as we promised!"

As Rick put the money at top of the man's desk, he began counting them.

The man smiled right after counting the money

"Nope, not enough"

"?! What are you saying? That is exactly 1,500 gold there!"

"No, its not 1,500. There are monthly interest so your debt is actually 2,000 now"

Rick and Elma looked at the noble man with disbelief

"Here, it was written on the contract that you will get a ten percents interest each month"

Said the man with grin on his face while showing us the contract. There are small words written at the edge of the paper.

Ten percentage? Huh?

"Isn't it supposed to be 1996 gold and 250 geld?"(Crev)

Everyone gazed at me and the noble man's face became red from anger.

"W-what!? I said it 2,000 gold! Are you saying that I, as a nobleman can't count?! Insolent fool!"

But I'm so sure about my calculation, is this man trying to cheated us? Lets just make sure of something here...

"Sure, we will pay the rest"

I answer the man with smile

"But can we see the kids' brother before we give you the money? We just want to make sure he is alright"

As I asked the man, he paled and started sweating a lot..

"N-no such thing! The money first then I will give you back your brother! That was the promise."

"You will keep him safe until we bail him, right?"

"Of course! I will keep him here until you prepare the money! I can't guarantee his safety if you don't hurry up and pay the debt though!"

"Well, then we will prepare the money by the end of this week"

The noble man and the kids look at me, surprised.

"Y-you should be! Now get out from my sight!"

And just like that, our group was driven out by the guard.

"U-um...about the 500 gold coins..." Elma started shyly.

"....there is no need to pay the 500 gold coins" I answered with a dark expression.

"Eh?"

Everyone has the same blank faces while looking at me, except Lila, who seemed to have understood what I was thinking about.

"....That noble man, he has no intention to give back your brother..."

"You can't give back what you don't have" I precised.

I activated [Analyzing Eyes] and the [Detector] skill as I walked out of the mansion, there is no person with name 'Dema' here

"As I thought, that man has already sold your brother"

"!?"

"W-wha-?! But he promised us to-"

"There is no need to keep your brother a prisoner since he has no intention to let you guys repay the debt, that's why he didn't let us see your brother"

"..So instead of keeping your brother, he sold him since the start and he will keep increasing the debt for you two...make you into his money making slaves..."I finished explaining.

"! That bastard!"

Rick punched a tree near us as he vent his anger...

Woah! Just like people said, bear beastkin do have a great strength... he even left a punch mark on the tree.

"....."

Elma is looking down to her feet as she holds back her tears...

"...Should we kill him?"

"Lets destroy him~"

"Destroy~~!"

"....I will beat this man to plump!"

Aw-wa-wa! These four start to give out such heavy killing intent aura... the twins and Mark said it as if they were kidding, but their eyes aren't! While Kena, she looked really scary!

"W-we can't just kill him, doing something reckless could trouble my lady!" Lila tried to calm them.

Shena's angry face just poped out in my head...everyone knows, angering Shena would be scary and their head start cooled down...

"Breaking a contract just like that, shouldn't there a penalty for it?"

"They are, but only a person with higher authority that could reprimand that man"

"Then we should talk about this with my lady!"

"Does Shena know some high authority in this kingdom?"

"I don't know, but my lady can do anything!"

Uh, well yes, she can...

Elma and Rick's faces lit up once they heard Kena's words

"U-um!"

Elma raised her hand as she timidly spoke out.

"T-this person you're talking about...can she really do anything? C-can she save my brother?"

"Yes she can! My lady has saved many people including me and my tribe!"Kena said proudly, I don't feel so sure, though...

"Will she save them? She usually won't help anyone for free right?"

"W-we will pay! We will work hard to pay!" Rick shouted.

"No, I'm not talking about the money...she only saved people that have abilitied or some skill she gets interest in."

"S-skill...." Elma looked down.

"....W-we don't..."

"I-I can wash clothes really fast!"Elma announced

"Many people can do that"

"I can cook!"Rick tried.

"We have many of those including Mark"Kena told them softly

Rick and Elma started to look down, dissapointed..

"We don't have any special skill..or ability" Rick admitted.

"The only thing I can do is transcripting a magic diagram" Added Elma.

"Eh? You do?!"

I grab Elma's shoulder as I look at her face and with slightly red cheeks, she timidly answer my question

"Y-yes"

"Since our brother is the magic diagram founder, we have done many research for it"

"...that is the reason why we fell into debt.."Elma completed.

"That is great!"

Everyone looked towards me with question marks above their heads

"Huh?"

Since magic diagram are marked as useless and failure inventions no wonder the other looked at me with worried look. But since it was Shena we were speaking about, I'm sure she would be interested... I smile and hold the kids hands.

"This brother of yours, he will be your ticket to get Shena's help!"

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Fot those who get confused by number of the character, I plan to put character list right after chapter 25... if my friend made it, I will put pic as well

My friend : if I make it, okay! No promises! We are in the middle of exam preparation so no promises!

That what s/he said....

I will try to finish next chapter before sunday...I think...I will manage...somehow...*putting my head against the wall*

Thanks for reading(^_^)/