Published: September 10, 2025
"Arisa, it’s hard to walk."
Since the report of the spider discovery, Arisa had been clinging to my back.
"Mister Satou, I report the discovery of a spider web ahead."
“Derodero~”
“There’s a lot hanging down.”
As we passed through the narrow path, multiple spider webs stretched across both sides of the narrow valley.
“W-why are the webs so big?!”
Seeing spider webs on a scale that could almost cover a gymnasium, Arisa took a step back.
“There are no spiders…”
Liza looked around, Pochi sniffed the air, and Tama listened carefully.
“There’s lots of scent.”
“No sounds, though~?”
There were no red dots on the radar either.
Checking the map—
“It looks like the spiders ran away.”
The glowing dots had moved quite far away.
“I wonder why?”
“Did they run away because of the Pest Repellent (Bug Wiper) magic?”
Arisa, fully energized again, gloated, “Weak, weak, weak~!”
“Something’s moving!”
“—Eek!”
Hearing Pochi’s words, Arisa quickly clung onto me with godspeed.
She seemed genuinely scared; her hands gripping me were painful.
“Is that meat~?”
Something wrapped tightly in spider silk was moving.
“It looks like prey caught by a spider.”
“I suspect it’s a bat.”
Nana pointed at the wings protruding from the wrapping.
“Let’s finish it off and collect the demon core.”
“Roger that~”
“Aye aye, sir~”
The beast girls smoothly placed the wrapped bat onto the ground.
“Wait! Save Morisuke!”
Arisa exclaimed something bizarre.
“Morisuke?”
“I’m talking about this one! Bats eat insects, so they should help get rid of lots of baby spiders!”
I’m not sure if there’s such a food chain among monsters, but the bat’s eyes peeking from the wrappings looked at me with a sparkly (….) expression, as if it had a sound effect.
“Got it. We’ll let it go.”
If we dismantled it like this, I had a feeling we’d be forced to eat grilled bat meat skewers or something.
“Understood.”
The beast girls cut the spider silk and freed the bat.
They looked disappointed but didn’t argue. To make it up, I’d treat them to some delicious meat dishes.
Halfway through freeing it, the bat struggled and wriggled out on its own.
It soared into the sky, chirping happily, and flew off somewhere.
“Farewell, Morisuke. Make sure to get rid of those baby spiders!”
Arisa made such demands to the departing bat.
Feeling movement in my sight, I looked at the log window—
] Title "Tamer" acquired.
] Title "Monster Tamer" acquired.
] Skill "Tame" acquired.
Those messages had appeared.
I didn’t expect just giving orders to increase titles and skills.
“Well then, let’s gather some moss.”
Our real goal was to collect ingredients for a medicine to cure Mia’s magic power deficiency.
“Ugh, spider web stuck in my hair!”
“Sticky~”
“Spider webs are troublesome…”
The younger ones struggled with the sticky webs.
They were quite sticky, so it looked tough to remove.
“—Ah!”
I tried to see if I could store the webs in the Item Box. When I touched the connected part of the spider web, it disappeared from in front of me.
Frantically, I checked the Item Box through the menu, and an item called "Valley Spider Web" was stored.
“Master?”
Arisa looked at me suspiciously.
“This should make work easier, right?”
“Well, I’ll let that excuse slide.”
Arisa shrugged.
“Let’s gather moss.”
“Okay~”
“Yes, Pochi will collect moss!”
We all gathered moss, wrapped it in a slightly damp cloth, stored it in Arisa’s Item Box, and headed back.
◇
“Hmph, quite good quality.”
Back at the ranch, I handed the moss to the old lady.
“Now it’s my job.”
Using a corner of the kitchen, the old lady began mixing the magic power recovery potion.
Alongside obvious tools like a mortar and pestle, there was a board whose use I didn’t really understand.
“Don’t just watch, help out.”
The old lady instructed me, and I washed the moss with water to remove dirt, then ground it finely using the mortar and pestle.
] Skill "Mixing" acquired.