“So, by the way... did anything happen in the territory while I was away? It seed a bit hectic...”
Gretel asked shyly, looking apologetic for having been absent while relocating his family to safety. Ayra inford him of the ongoing conflict between Sobletz and Bolni, and how it all centered around the silk spiders—how the talks had all but failed.
“They discovered a border stone near the Silk Spider Forest? If that’s true, it would be an incredible historical find.”
The history nerd lit up with excitent—briefly—then furrowed his brow as if having the sa thought Ayra and Jinas had.
“If only we had silk spiders in our territory, we could repay the debt in no ti. If only we knew why they can only survive in that forest... Well, I suppose they're enormous monsters, so capturing them wouldn’t be easy either.”
“Enormous monsters?”
Ayra raised an eyebrow as she listened, nodding.
“Sir Gretel, do you even know what a silk spider looks like?”
Ayra had also done so digging into the silk spiders, but in Solar there was virtually no information to be found. Bolni had locked down the forest so tightly that no one ever laid eyes on one.
“Oh, yes! I once read about them in an old manuscript...! J-Just a mont, let see...”
Gretel pulled out a piece of paper and began sketching. He was surprisingly skilled; his lines flowed swiftly, and soon the image of a spider ca together—spotted, rounded body, legs one, two, three... seven, eight, nine, ten. Ayra blinked. She’d seen sothing like that before.
“I’m not the best artist, but I drew it as close to mory as I could. It looks like a spider, but I don’t think it is one. Spiders have eight legs, and this has ten.”
Gretel glanced over nervously—Ayra was scowling, staring intensely at the drawing. As he hesitantly added so fuzz details to the legs, Ayra suddenly slamd her fist on the desk.
“Ah! I finally rembered!”
Startled, Gretel and Jinas watched as Ayra thrust her hand into the air and reached into subspace. After rifling through it with fervent energy, she pulled out a thick, well-used book and slamd it onto the table with a thunk. She flipped through it without hesitation and stopped at a specific page.
“That thing’s not a spider—it’s closer to a magical beast. Think of it like a subspecies, like the zenseung. There’s a detailed explanation here—read it.”
srized, Gretel stepped closer, completely enthralled by the sight of a book he’d never seen before.
“Wait... Zenseung are magical beasts?”
Jinas, surprised, asked. After all, the zenseung just looked like an oversized, durable bird of prey.
“Technically, it’s not a full magical beast... but it’s not entirely biological either.”
Subspecies of magical beasts looked superficially like normal animals, but on closer inspection, they had strange traits. Silk spiders, for example, looked like spiders but had extra legs and produced thread so bizarre it could be woven into cloth. So birds had better scent detection than dogs and high cold resistance...
Most notably, they sotis consud mana stones like magical beasts. In rare cases, stomachs of creatures the size of a small dog had been found containing several half-digested mana stones—no one knew how they’d even managed to swallow them. But unlike true magical beasts, their bodies didn’t contain mana stones and decomposed normally after death.
Because they resembled normal animals, many subspecies remained undiscovered. It was a still-mysterious field of study. Among magical beast researchers, the theory was that mitic-type magical beasts were either evolving into animals—or degenerating into them. But that didn’t matter right now.
“I’ve raised silk spiders before.”
“You’ve raised silk spiders?!”
Jinas asked, stunned. Technically, it wasn’t the exact sa species—but based on Gretel’s description, it matched. Ayra, while researching magical beasts in the labyrinth, had once raised several subspecies as a hobby. Silk spiders were among them.
“They’re really not that hard to raise.”
A smile slowly crept across Ayra’s face. It wouldn’t be hard to sneak into a forest and steal a few pairs of males and females. The thought of raising silk spiders beneath the Lord’s Castle and raking in cash made her glow with happiness. Just as she was daydreaming, Gretel, deep in thought, spoke cautiously.
“M-My Lord... then, how about we try this?”
❄
The next day, Ayra visited Orsain carrying a bottle of wine. It was a small bribe, prompted by Pebble’s system tip: [Tip! The Lord of Sobletz is a wine enthusiast.] As expected, Orsain, who hadn’t cared one bit about so low-born young lord of a minor territory, changed his deanor the mont he saw the bottle. Ayra lifted it with a smile.
“This is a rare wine from the South—have you ever had it, Lord of the North? It’s called Rosé Tilti, made from wild raspberries...”
“Rosé Tilti! I’ve heard of it. They say it’s incredibly rare.”
Orsain imdiately lit up and flung the door open, warmly welcoming Ayra. A proper gift indeed. As she explained how to store the wine and what foods paired well with it, Ayra pulled out so glasses from subspace. The red liquid filled the unfamiliar northern-style cups with a fragrant aroma.
Orsain cautiously sipped the wine, his expression softening. As they chatted casually—how cold the rooms were, whether anything was inconvenient—Ayra passed the rest of the bottle to him and got to the real reason she’d co.
“I happened to hear that the reason both lords traveled all the way to this frozen land... was just a little forest?”
“Bah. Loose-tongued fools. There are always people who can’t keep their mouths shut.”
Orsain didn’t seem too bothered by the leak. He snorted and gently set the bottle on the table. Since it was a rare item, he savored each sip.
“I’m just trying to reclaim what was mine from the start—from so conscienceless thieves.”
Grinding his teeth, Orsain chomped on the nuts Ayra had served, like he owned them. But his eyes glimred with greed—it was just an excuse. Now Ayra understood why they called him a “rchant with bloodstained hands.”
“This fabric isn’t the kind of thing you buy.”
He glanced down at his shirt, woven from Skite silk, and clicked his tongue. Ayra leaned back leisurely in her chair and smiled.
“Then why not raise silk spiders directly in your territory?”
“Hah! If that were possible, I would’ve snatched so from that forest long ago.”
Orsain scoffed, making no attempt to hide his contempt. But when Ayra made the wine bottle spin ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) magically across the table, he flinched. Just as it looked like it would fall, he grabbed it, now eyeing Ayra with suspicion.
“What if I knew how to raise silk spiders?”
At those words, Orsain slowly released the bottle. It stopped wobbling and sat upright on the table.
“And how would you know sothing like that?”
“I’ve raised all sorts of things in the labyrinth.”
Ayra pulled several glass containers from subspace and floated them midair. Orsain’s eyes widened—then filled with fear as he watched the bizarre creatures inside: luminescent larvae, a shellfish clinging to the glass with silk threads as if in zero gravity, pink-tinged moss puffing mist as it clung to the sides...
The bottles slowly drifted back beneath Ayra’s robe and disappeared. Still skeptical but clearly tempted, Orsain asked, eyes gleaming:
“If you know how to raise them, why not just do it yourself?”
“Isn’t it obvious? This little territory couldn’t withstand Bolni’s army. And it’s not like it’s difficult for to drop in anymore.”
“...Hmm.”
Thinking her reasoning made sense, Orsain nodded. Then, he attempted to negotiate.
“So, what do you want in exchange for the spider-rearing thod?”
“I’m glad we can speak plainly.”
Ayra pulled out another wine bottle from subspace. Pop! The cork ca off. Orsain’s eyes widened—the bottle was even fancier than the Rosé Tilti, and the deep aroma filled the room.
Ayra gently swirled the wine, letting the scent bloom.
“My condition’s not that big. Just extend the debt repaynt deadline by one year.”
“Not asking to cancel it? Just an extension? That’s easy enough.”
Orsain licked his lips. Of course, Ayra wasn’t going to hand over the secret for just that. The deadline extension was just one way to delay the D-Day countdown toward her territory’s destruction.
“And... end the current talks by yielding the forest to Bolni.”
Orsain fell silent. Yield the forest... or face Bolni’s military. He weighed the two, then made his decision. If Sobletz could raise the spiders themselves, there was no need to start a war over a small forest. The choice was obvious.
“Fine. I’ll yield the forest to Bolni and collect the breeding thod right after the summit ends.”
Like a true rchant, Orsain seed to understand Ayra’s real reason for pushing this deal and gave her a knowing look. Then he muttered in a low, threatening tone:
“If that silk spider breeding thod turns out to be fake, you do understand what’ll happen to this tiny territory, right?”
Instead of replying, Ayra simply smiled—and handed him the wine bottle he had been eyeing.
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