Chapter 31: Dungeon (2-1)

Dungeon 2 part 1

“Hey. Can’t you call me ‘big brother’ too?”

Ignore.

“You can call me ‘big brother’ right?”

Ignore.

“Hey. If you keep ignoring me, your ‘big brother’ will cry.”

Ignore.

“Seeing a tsundere Charlotte is also cute.”

Ignore.

We proceeded through the dungeon.

Howard, who was walking in the back of the line behind me, was very noisy.

It’s also annoying that he was crying a moment ago, but now he’s just fine.

In case you were wondering, when he grabbed my hand while crying, I silently slapped it away with a beseeching smile.

Why the hell would I call you ‘brother!?’

Brother Lucas is enough for me!!!

…I have no idea what’s wrong with Chris-sama and Howard-sama.

Why do they even want me to be their sister when I’m giving such a bad look?

…And my brother, who was walking in front of me, had been laughing out loud since a while ago.

Haah…

It’s just one thing after another…

Even though the investigation was about to begin, I was already quite tired.

Last time, we had left an instant teleportation device on the fifth dungeon level, so we were able to get down to the fifth level at once.

Currently, we were crossing the fifth dungeon level.

Only weak demon beasts would appear on the floors we’ve conquered. There were only a small number of them, so we were able to proceed quickly.

In no time at all, we arrived at the sixth dungeon level.

What kind of demon beasts would be here?

What I could see near Brother and the others was…

It was the creature that both Charlotte and Izumi hated the most…It was a spider-like beast.

There were spider webs going in all directions throughout the sixth dungeon level, and in the middle of each web was a large spider…there were dozens of them that I could see.

Moreover, each spider was a large beast that was a meter long.

…I want to go home.

I can’t even handle small spiders…this is absolutely impossible!

“…Brother”

I tighten the grip on the hem of my brother’s shirt.

“I know this is too nerve-wracking for you, Charl…”

My brother looked into my face.

Perhaps I’m turning blue.

I had been feeling the blood drain from my veins for a while now.

“Is Lady Charlotte bad with ‘Evil Spiders’?”

These large spider demon beasts are called  [Evil Spiders].

I nodded widely at Howard’s question.

They had large bodies with black hair and several red eyes…so disgusting…

They were a demon beast that would eat anything that got caught on its threads, even its own allies.

They also attacked by releasing viscous threads. They would twine their threads in multiple layers, making it impossible for its prey to escape.

The absolute worst thing about the Evil Spiders was…they always seemed to laugh in the moment they killed their prey.

What’s with that? Scary…too scary!

Whether it’s a spider or an evil beast, it’s all the same to me.

I hate both.

“It’s without a doubt a disgusting creature, but the threads that can be extracted from the Evil Spiders are valuable goods to thee point that it ranks very high amongst guild quests. For adventurers, encountering them is a chance…”

What—!?

When I looked at Father and the others of the vanguard, they looked very happy.

“What should we do, Brother?…I think Father and the others are going to do it again…”

I was supposed to quickly burn them with the same fire magic as before (I did that on my own last time)

If they’re going to increase the number of demon beasts like last time…

“Howard-sama…will the Evil Spiders increase in number…or will they call for help?”

I will definitely run away.

“If there are female Evil Spiders, then more will come out from their stomachs…”

“—That’s enough!”

I knew it…I guess they really are just like spiders, right?

With the Evil Spiders being that large, the size of all those baby spiders…

I am confident that I will run away just by imagining it.

“I’m going to meet up with Father. I’ll leave Charlotte to you, Howard.”

“Brother—!”

Brother gently removed my hand from his shirt, smiled, and ran towards Father and the others.

My brother’s warmth was gone and I was filled with a sense of anxiety.

“Do you want to hold my hand?”

…I don’t want it. I shook my head helplessly.

“Did I do something to make you hate me so much…?” Howard muttered quietly.

1. You continuously pestered me with that menacing glare, saying “Let’s fight.”

2. For some reason, you kept asking me to call you ‘big brother’ (very persistently).

…That’s enough to make me hate you, right?

But…it wasn’t not only that. I also realized that there was a problem with my own attitude.

It’s just that I really didn’t want to get involved.

I had no way of knowing what might trigger things to take a turn for the worst… I was scared.

<Positive, positive…> I tried chanting an invincibility spell in my heart…but it didn’t seem to work.

It seems that it was meaningless to a broken heart.

***

“Charl…Father and the others have asked you to do something for us.”

My brother had come back.

I knew it…

They said that they wanted to collect the threads of the Evil Spiders because they are valuable for medical purposes, such as for broken bones.

“Medical purposes…?”

You’re going to use the threads?!?

It was in that moment that I swore to myself that I would never break a bone.

If I do, I’ll heal just it myself no matter what!

“Also…apparently the thread is vulnerable to fire, so they want you to refrain from using it like last time.”

Seriously…

I want to burn them all without a trace right now…

So that means…the only way to attack the Evil Spiders is with a weapon?

If that happens, their bodily fluids will be…

“………”

It’s impossible. I feel like throwing up just thinking about it.

“Father said that we’ll defeat the Evil Spiders with just Team Leah, so Charlotte should close her eyes.”

I squeezed the hem of my brother’s shirt once again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

T/N: I honestly don’t blame Charl. Giant killing spiders??? Uh-uh. NOPE.

Also, there were multiple ways that I could translate the [Evil Spiders]—‘mourning spiders’ or ‘eating/biting spiders’ or ‘Spiders,’ etc. but ultimately, I went with the same translation as the manga. Feel free to interpret however you’d like. Based on the translation though, the spider is something like an Uroctea Compactilis, a species of araneomorph spider where the fangs slope towards each other, giving these spiders more ways to bite prey (scary!!!).

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