Chapter 46. It Was Resurrected.

Jjeojeojeok-

At the eerie sound, I looked down at my hand.

A clear crack had formed on the crystal, which hadn't even been scratched until now.

‘This is not good.’

It was the same crystal that hadn't gotten a single scratch even when I swung it around like a flail.

For it to suddenly break from an external impact now was nonsensical.

Then, there must have been another reason.

The pulsation had continued, so it couldn't have died.

Could it be-

‘Is it breaking out from the inside…?’

The one inside was the Queen of the Arachne.

I recalled the memory of facing the Arachne Queen’s true body.

A gap that I could instinctively sense.

I had sensed my death.

How much had she recovered?

Could I handle her now?

She was surely not in a complete state.

At the very least, I wouldn't be taken down in an instant.

‘Here, I can expect help from the guards.’

It was rather fortunate that we were in front of the guard headquarters.

As long as the guards reacted properly, the damage would not spread to the civilians.

In that case, what I had to do was set.

‘The Queen will try to kill me first.’

This was close to a certainty.

The karmic debt I had built up with the Arachne Queen was not just a thing or two.

My mere presence here allowed me to predict the Arachne Queen's actions to some extent.

I wasn't too keen on it, but to finish it for certain, it would be better for me to become the bait.

“Brother! Did you catch him?!”

I sent a hand signal to stop Pol, who was searching the surroundings separately and now came running out of breath.

Come to think of it, there was that guy too.

The guy who would have earned the Arachne Queen's resentment right after me.

If Pol was next to me, the Arachne Queen's attention would be divided.

That couldn't happen.

“Brother?”

“Stay back. It’s dangerous.”

“Yes? Is it dangerous?”

What was this?

That stupid reaction?

“Can’t you feel the ominousness?”

“No. Not at all.”

It was a situation where the Arachne Queen might be resurrected.

Had Pol’s intuition finally failed him?

If not that-

‘Is it not dangerous?’

Even as I felt confused, the crack in the crystal only grew larger.

Jjeojeojeok-!

And soon enough, the crystal split in half, and what was inside popped out.

“Ahahaha! This body, resurrected! Tremble in fear, you humans! Your nightmare has returned!”

A form that combined a spider and a human.

Without a doubt, it was the Arachne Queen.

However, it was vastly different from her previous form.

Unlike her previous form, which was just a spider's head on a spider's body, she now had a human's upper body with her lower half replaced by a spider's.

Cobwebs were draped between her legs, forming a tent-like shape, which reduced the feeling of disgust.

At a glance, she almost looked like a woman wearing a voluminous dress.

“It seems you’re too afraid to even speak. Go on, beg for your life.”

And the most important difference.

“She’s tiny…!”

* * *

‘Ugh….’

The resurrected(?) Arachne Queen was no bigger than a hand’s span.

Since she came out of a fist-sized crystal, it might have been unavoidable.

In any case, the sight of her flailing with her small body made her seem like a doll, to the point that I even felt she was cute.

‘No. I had to get a grip. How could a monster be cute.’

I couldn't let my guard down.

No matter how small she had become, that was the Arachne Queen.

Look at that venomous way of speaking.

“You cur! You dare to look down on me to the very end?!”

“Is there any way for me not to look down on you…?”

I wasn't sure if our eyes would meet even if I lay flat on the ground.

The Queen, enraged by my response, rushed at me.

Dodododo.

The Queen, having reached me by moving her legs furiously, tapped on my shoe.

A surprisingly small impact traveled up my leg.

“……”

What should I call this.

Should I say it felt like a kitten pouncing on my shoe.

It felt ticklish.

I reached out my hand and grabbed the Arachne Queen.

“Kkyaang!! How dare you inflict such a humiliation upon me!”

“Yikes.”

No matter how weak she was, I couldn't be careless.

Because she was a spider.

She might have a potent venom.

I quickly put the Queen, who was trying to bite me, into my money pouch.

When I tied the pouch shut, I could hear scratching sounds from inside, but it seemed she couldn't tear through the leather.

“Brother. That thing just now….”

“Yes. It’s the Arachne Queen.”

I had expected that she wouldn't be resurrected completely, but I didn't know she would become this weak.

There were many things I wanted to check, but the location was not good.

Experimenting with a monster in the front yard of the guard headquarters was an act as idiotic as playing with fire next to a gas station.

“You there. What are you doing here?”

The moment I was about to leave, an unpleasant voice that sounded like scraping on a steel plate came from behind me.

I quickly put the pouch containing the Arachne Queen inside my clothes and turned around to see a large man who looked like a guard glaring at us.

Damn it.

I thought I would get away without being caught.

“U-Us, you mean?”

I turned to look at the man, pretending to be frightened.

The guards of the Imperial Capital are different from those guys who were searching based on a wanted poster that didn’t even resemble Luke.

There was a high possibility that they might know Luke's face from seeing it around.

‘They were the last people I should have gotten involved with.’

Running away from this spot right now was the worst choice.

According to the principles of this place, where the presumption of innocence doesn’t exist, things would likely head in the direction of being arrested first and questioned later just for being suspicious.

There were no other guards visible in the vicinity.

If I could just take care of this guy, I felt like I could escape….

Since I didn't know the opponent's skill level, it wasn't easy to size him up.

“Is there anyone else here besides you two? Come here for a moment.”

The guard beckoned with his finger, whether he knew of my complicated thoughts or not.

“Are you mercenaries? What's your business at the guard headquarters?”

“Ahaha. Well….”

Right next to me, Pol flinched suspiciously.

An impulse to smack him on the back of the head surged within me at his action, which would create suspicion where there was none.

It had reached a point where Leon, who refused to approach and stood still as if there was a barrier around the guard headquarters, was more helpful.

‘I have to avoid messing with the guards as much as possible.’

The risk was too great to leave it to luck.

Attacking the guards who manage the public order of the Imperial Capital was grounds for immediate execution.

I was already the emperor's assassin, so I'd be executed if caught anyway, but... I should avoid a situation where two of my names each become that of a heinous criminal, shouldn't I.

For now, I decided to try and resolve it through conversation.

I started writing a scenario in my head based on facts, mixed with a few lies.

“...It’s just that we were pickpocketed.”

“Pickpocketed?”

The guard’s eyes narrowed.

“Yes. We just arrived in the Imperial Capital today, and our pockets were picked as soon as we got here. We tried to find the culprit ourselves, but we just couldn’t catch the pickpocket… so we were wondering if we could get help from the guards.”

I slightly changed only the ending of what had actually happened today.

Except for the part about thinking of getting the guards' help, it was mostly true, so there were almost no contradictions.

“Hmm. Is that so.”

The guard scanned Pol and me a few times and then nodded.

“You definitely look like country bumpkins.”

“Hehe. Is that so?”

Damn bastard.

He really had no filter saying things to a person's face.

Endure it, I must endure it.

“Why are you laughing? Shouldn’t you be angry after hearing something unpleasant? This is suspicious.”

“Phew. How could I get angry when I’m in a position where I have to get on my knees and beg for help.”

“Then why were you loitering around outside instead of coming in?”

“When I thought about it, I felt like I would be bothering the guards over something trivial……. Haha….”

The guard didn't readily let go of his suspicions.

This guy was a nasty piece of work, too.

Just let me run into you alone later.

I won't let you get away with it.

“Still, if you could just help us a little-”

Jolt.

Surprised by the wriggling I felt from within my clothes, I paused for a moment.

“What’s wrong?”

The suspicion in the guard’s eyes deepened.

“No. It’s nothing.”

This damned monster.

Just stay still.

If you pop out now, do you think I'm the only one who dies?

Do you think a monster that entered the Imperial Capital can get out alive?

Jolt.

My wish did not reach her, and the Queen began to rampage even more.

I clutched my stomach and endured.

“……”

The guard's gaze was unusual.

“Ah... my stomach suddenly hurts….”

I never thought I would have to make such a lame excuse.

I couldn't suppress the Queen just by pressing with my hand, so I punched my stomach repeatedly, but the Queen did not stop her rampage.

So she had little strength, but was her durability still good?

It would be a big problem if she tore through the pouch and came out.

“Brother! Are you okay?! Does it hurt a lot?!”

Outside, a suspicious guard; inside, a foul-tempered monster.

And behind me, the clueless Pol.

The encirclement was closing in from all sides.

“You, take off your helmet. Let me see your face.”

The guard said, grabbing my shoulder.

My heart sank.

* * *

In that fleeting moment.

My thoughts accelerated.

What were the chances that this guy knew Luke's face?

How about luring this man to a secluded place instead?

If I took out the rampaging Arachne Queen, couldn't I buy some time?

But what about after that?

“Hey. What are you doing? Not changing shifts?”

To make matters worse.

Another guard had appeared.

The newly arrived guard seemed to be the superior of the one who was cornering me.

“There’s a suspicious fellow here.”

“Suspicious? What is?”

I first crouched down.

I listened to the conversation happening above my head while tightly squeezing the pouch containing the Queen.

“He says he came for help after being pickpocketed.”

“And you beat up a guy like that?”

“What do you take me for?”

“He was clutching his stomach. I thought maybe you hit him first for being suspicious.”

There was no tension whatsoever.

A state of being completely off-guard.

Perhaps now was the most suitable moment to get rid of them both.

‘No, why do I keep thinking about killing them?’

I understood that killing the guards was a stupid thing to do.

The urge to solve things by killing kept surging.

I could get a glimpse of Luke Ivers’ thoroughly broken personality.

If I didn't quickly find a method other than killing, I might unconsciously draw my sword.

‘Damn it. I should have prepared for this beforehand.’

I was aware that a situation like this could happen.

A countermeasure was needed for a situation where I had to take off my helmet or it came off due to an accident.

I just hadn't expected a problem to erupt on the very first day of my arrival in the Imperial Capital.

Right now, I was paying the price for procrastinating on what I had to do.

“Hey. Look at this state. He repainted an old, scratched-up helmet to somehow make use of it and put it on. And how about the fact that he couldn't even get a proper set of armor.”

“He could have disguised himself to look like a rookie mercenary on purpose.”

“Why are you so suspicious? If someone put in that much effort, just play along. Seriously.”

“It doesn’t take long to check a face, does it?”

The squabble between the two guards continued.

In the meantime, Pol approached me.

“Brother….”

“Stay still.”

I understood his worried heart, but moving carelessly here would only prove that the suspicion was justified.

From now on, I had no choice but to break through head-on.

Fortunately, I had just barely managed to come up with a countermeasure.

After a not-so-short discussion, the guard who appeared to be the superior raised the white flag.

“Alright. Alright. You stubborn bastard. Hey, mister. Sorry about this, but let’s see your face for a moment.”

The guards placed their hands on my helmet.

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