Case 04: The Pheromonal Arachne

Case 04:
The Pheromonal Arachne

 

THE ATTACK on the village took only a moment.

Men in masks—the Black Widows—came out of nowhere in the middle of the night, pilfering the village in an instant.

They somehow got past not only Tisalia and Sioux, but also Arahnia’s warning traps, undetected.

The first thing they did was set fire to the mansion.

Saki, who was in charge of the village, prioritized getting out all the residents of the building, enlisting the help of Tisalia. But, while they were busy with that, the sake was stolen from the cellar.

It all happened in an instant, perfectly coordinated.

Saki had no choice but to prioritize the lives of the residents. While she was distracted with them, they took exactly what they came for.

There was nothing the people of the village could do against their perfect execution.

 

There were sounds of wood cracking.

The smell of burning wood filled the air—it was a horrid smell.

Lulala flung up water from the river. Thanks to her webbed hands, the water was steadily subduing the flames.

 

***

 

The buildings near the river suffered minimum damage, thanks to Lulala and the other mermaids. But—

“I’m so sorry…” Saki said, biting her lip as she gazed at the buildings that had burned to the ground. She had a mild burn on her arm, to which Glenn applied ointment, and then he wrapped the wound.

Most of the buildings set on fire were warehouses without residents. One, however, was the building where all the orphan child monsters stayed. Apparently, the adults in the village took turns watching over them. Saki happened to be with them this time and had saved the children from the burning house. They said she’d somehow lifted a burning pillar that had toppled over—an incredible feat.

“Glenn, how is it?” Souen asked worriedly.

“Saki’s demon skin is tough. It’s a minor burn.”

That said, the building she’d been in had burned down to the ground. The damage done to the village was substantial.

“We were unprepared—I never imagined arson.”

“I’ve treated it with medicine, so I don’t think it will leave a scar. Is anyone else hurt?”

“I think it’s just me. Thank you, little brother.”

All the children were unscathed. One little arachne girl was covered in soot and whimpering. It was the girl Arahnia had been teaching. At first, Glenn thought it was because she was scared, but…for some reason, she was apologizing to Arahnia.

“I’m sorry… Arahnia… Your ball burned…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m so glad you’re okay, Tsumu. I’ll make you an even better one.” Arahnia drew the crying child into a hug. “The arsonists who did this…they’ll get what’s coming to them.”

She had an easygoing smile on her face, like always, but Glenn didn’t miss the fact that her eyes were ice-cold. The Black Widows’ actions had left her furious.

“Doctor, the fires have been put out,” Sapphee slithered up to him. There was a bucket hanging from her tail, probably used for fire extinguishing.

“Thank you. Are you all right, Sapphee?”

“I’m just fine. But…” Sapphee looked around.

There was the injured Saki. The children, burned out of their home. Aluloona’s daughters, who feared fire. And the smell of burning earth and wood still lingered in the air.

Houses in the east were made of wood, which only helped the fire spread. In Heian, arson was considered a crime worse than murder.

Souen stared at the burnt-down houses. Glenn could tell that his clenched fists held the words of anger he couldn’t get out.

“They’ll pay…”

“Yeah, we have to do something.”

This had gone far beyond needing Glenn’s father’s blessing to marry Arahnia. They could never forgive someone who would attack a village where monsters lived.

“Brother, you’re back!”

A loud voice echoed through the village as Tisalia, Sioux, and Kunai—the three warriors—suddenly appeared. They were all covered in dirt, tree leaves, and branches. They must have been deep in the woods.

“Sioux, did you find them?!”

“It is unfortunate…we lost the Black Widows in the woods.”

“You lost them? But you could track any bandit,” Souen frowned. Sioux looked defeated.

“They ran into the mountains, then scattered. The way they moved was chaotic…Sioux believes they dispersed that way to throw off anyone following them.”

“Even with my able legs…I couldn’t keep up in the mountains…” Tisalia said, also sounding defeated. Centaur hooves were made for galloping on flat ground.

“But if they’ve scattered, how will they escape the island?” Souen asked.

It was Kunai who answered.

“We saw escape boats. They must have come to the island separately, in small boats that only carry one or two people, then gathered in the village. Since they came ashore in those boats, our surveillance didn’t pick them up.”

“Dammit. It’s the same thing again! How can they be so coordinated if they only meet at the site of the crime?! Are the Black Widows ninjas or something?!” Souen cried out, unable to control his anger.

“Souen, calm down,” Saki said.

“How can I calm down?! How many years did we spend building this village that they just burned down, injuring you? And after all that, we can’t even trace them!”

Baiting the Black Widows had been Souen’s idea, which was probably partly responsible for his regret. The fact that his own strategy led to his fiancé getting hurt left him even more upset.

“And as a bonus, they left us this note. Cretins. I won’t let them make a fool of me!”

“A note?”

“This. Look,” Souen said, handing over a piece of paper.

Glenn spread out the crinkled paper. It was composed in the eastern text, in messy calligraphy.

“We receive the curious monster village specialty as an offering to Arachnida Black Widows.”

An impudent, one-sided notice, written in eastern-style ink. He could feel the fanaticism with no doubts of their own morality.

“Damnit…” It wasn’t like Glenn to swear. But to think they’d set the fires and left this arrogant message behind… He was gripping the paper so tightly that he ripped it without meaning to.

“Doc, hey—” Arahnia snatched the paper from him from the side.

“Arahnia? Wha—”

“I’ve been wondering. I had thread traps set up all around the village, but the Black Widows got around them. Even if they could dodge Tisalia and Sioux’s patrol, they shouldn’t have made it past arachne traps. There must be more to this.” Arahnia scanned the remainder of the letter with her sharp eyes.

But she wasn’t looking at the text—she was looking at the back of the paper.

“I can read it…”

“What do you mean? There’s nothing written there,” Sapphee said, peering over at the blank back of the paper.

“It’s written in scent. That’s the best I can do to describe it. It has a scent that only arachne can recognize… I’m not sure how to explain it,” Arahnia said, looking at Glenn. “But this is a relief.”

“Huh? Arahnia?”

“I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you with the Black Widows, Doc…but now, I can finally help. If it works, that means I came this far for a reason.”

Glenn cocked his head to the side. Arahnia looked back at him with a sense of resolution in her countenance.

“Saki?” she called out, grinning.

“Yes?”

“Can you loan me some calligraphy ink?”

 

***

 

Souen’s residence had escaped the fire untouched. Currently gathered in it were the Litbeit siblings, Saki, and Glenn’s fiancées. Obviously, they were there to discuss the Black Widow arsonists.

“What are you doing, Arahnia?” Even Aluloona was there. As a plant-type monster, she was especially afraid of fire. All of her daughters were unharmed, but her face was stern.

“Arahnia…says she has a link to the Black Widows.”

“Oh?”

Arahnia held the letter left by the Black Widows, running a brush over the back of it. A designer by trade, her movements were elegant. Everyone in attendance watched.

“There it is…” she said, putting the brush down.

The back of the Black Widows’ letter was now packed with text—all of which Arahnia had just filled in. Glenn rubbed his eyes. It was a sea of eastern characters, and while they weren’t perfect, he noticed a date and time right away. The date was yesterday and the time was the exact time that the village was attacked.

“This is—”

“Yeah…the procedure for attacking the village is written here in detail.”

It had the date. It had the location of the village. It had the positions of the homes in the village and the warehouse where the sake was stored. It also had instructions for coming ashore and escaping via the mountains. Their entire plan of attack was written on that small piece of paper.

“What is this? Watermarking? Invisible writing?”

All of this information had been hiding on the back of the paper that they thought was blank.

Arahnia shook her head in response to Souen’s questions. “No, it’s arachne pheromones.”

“Pheromones?”

“I guess you can think of it as…a scent. We can write words using scents.”

“Sorry. Glenn, Can you explain?” Souen looked to Glenn for more details.

Glenn read over the plan of attack that Arahnia had transcribed. “Pheromones are substances used mainly by insect and plant monsters. It’s an attractant generated by living things, used to induce certain behavior.”

“So that means…?”

“Umm, for example… Aluloona’s pollen contains pheromones that have effects to encourage reproduction. In that case, it’s called a meiosis-inducing substance.”

Aluloona guffawed, probably because Glenn had real-life experience being on the receiving end of those pheromones. But setting that aside—

“I guess the Black Widows used this paper, with colorless and odorless text on it, to communicate their plan of attack,” Glenn said. “It looks like a normal letter, and humans can’t read it. This is how they coordinate their attacks without having a base of operations.”

“So that’s how they do it. With a code that no one can read, they can hide anywhere,” Souen said, grinding his teeth.

“The reason Arahnia noticed is because the text is written in ink made from arachne-derived material. She was able to detect the trace amounts of pheromone included in the ink.”

“If it uses scent, wouldn’t anyone with a superior sense of smell notice?” Saki asked, but Glenn shook his head.

“Arahnia described it as a scent, but that’s not quite right. A pheromone is a substance that works on a living being to directly trigger some kind of instinct. Arachne just perceives it as a scent.”

“The Black Widows all looked human. How could they read it?”

“That…I don’t know.” Glenn shook his head again.

At least they now knew the method the Black Widows were using to keep from being caught.

“…This is a method my ma often uses.”

“Arahnia…”

“When I was a kid, this was how she directed her bandits. She extracted pheromones from her thread and used it to write text that humans can read if they use a special pair of glasses. That’s probably what the Black Widows do,” Arahnia said, distraught. “It’s all my ma’s fault…I’m so sorry, everyone.”

“So the Designer did have a connection to the Black Widows,” Souen stated.

Glenn had kept that fact from Souen, but apparently, he’d had his suspicions about it the whole time.

“Does this mean her mother is the leader?” Souen was livid.

“Nah, that’s impossible,” Arahnia brushed him off. “This is an old code. My ma wouldn’t keep using it. If she were involved, she’d be using a different code. And she’d never needlessly recycle a piece of evidence to write a criminal declaration. This was just the people she left behind being careless… In other words, we now know that the Black Widows are the leftovers of the bandit group my ma made.”

Everyone was silent.

Glenn couldn’t tell what feelings Arahnia was harboring about her mother and the Black Widows. But then, she continued.

“This is our chance.”

“What are you talking about?” Souen asked.

Arahnia laughed. “I can read this code. Actually, I can even write it.”

“You don’t mean…”

“Right. If we extract my pheromones, we can write the same code. The Black Widows are collecting rare objects to offer to my ma, right? So I just need to pretend to be my ma and write a code to call the bastards out.”

Glenn was startled. Arahnia had cracked the Black Widows’ code. And she could lure them out. It wasn’t impossible but—

“It’s too dangerous,” he cried out. “We’ve already suffered arson. It may be possible to call on the Black Widows by using their code, but what will happen if we do? They may be capable of anything. We don’t even know if they’ll come to the same spot a second time…”

“Th-the bastards won’t get away this time!” Sioux said, completely worked up.

“As a doctor, I can’t overlook the danger. If we know the code, then we just need to search for people that have the same sort of paper and the glasses needed to read it.”

“They could just discard those. If they toss ’em while you’re busy searching every residence in the east, there’ll be no evidence left. And then you won’t be able to nab all the Black Widows, ya know? I guess I could walk around Heian trying to catch a whiff of the pheromones, but…”

Souen shook his head, his lips pursed. Heian was already in an uproar, having only just learned the truth about humans and monsters. Letting the people in town see Arahnia was even more dangerous.

But they also couldn’t summon the bandits to the village again…

“As long as we use the code, the bastards will come out as many times as they’re called. I’m sure my ma drilled that into them… You can tell because they’re still using her name.”

“I can’t let them get away with wreaking havoc on my land. We need to bring the bastards here and round up every last one of them,” Souen declared, fired up.

Glenn had a bad feeling about this. He understood Souen was angry about what they did to his village, but this was completely out of character. Saki’s injury was keeping him from thinking straight.

“Hey.” Aluloona suddenly broke her silence. “In that case, let us take care of capturing the Black Widows.”

“Aluloona… What do you mean?”

“The group is all men, right? We can catch them easily enough. Just lure them to the house my daughters and I are staying in. Our new flowers will be blooming soon.” Aluloona smiled.

It was true that Glenn’s treatment had only been a temporary measure. Until the simultaneous blooming period ended, new flowers would keep emerging, leading to an endless flow of pollen and nectar.

“Aluloona, I can’t ask a guest to do such a thing.”

“Hohoho, just who do you think I am? I may not look it, but I’m second in power only to Skadi. Do you understand what it means to wield that kind of power, as a monster? To be the second most powerful, after a dragon?” Aluloona bragged as she fluttered her fan.

Aluloona’s pollen was powerful against men, but Glenn had never heard anything about her being skilled in combat. That said, Souen had no way to contradict her claim to being Lindworm’s second-in-command. He might be a politician himself, but he didn’t have the authority.

“Aluloona, it’s too dangerous.” He couldn’t help but sound the alarm bells.

“Don’t worry, young doctor. I get the feeling that you think I’m nothing more than a sex maniac. Why don’t you let me show you another side of me?”

“Er…” Glenn couldn’t rebut her this time.

“What you need to do is pump some pheromones out of Arahnia. Nothing can be done without distributing the coded letter.”

“Ahh, ya…well, I…” For some reason, Arahnia turned her eyes away. Her face was red.

“Arahnia? What’s wrong?” Sapphee frowned.

“There’s not enough pheromones in my usual thread… There’s a specific process to get thread with a high-enough pheromone content…”

“You aren’t usually so evasive. Tell us.”

“The arachne pheromone…is made for seducing men and other living beings,” Arahnia muttered, looking at Glenn. “It’s thread that comes out when I’m…excited… So to extract it…”

“Wha—” Sapphee’s face went white. “What are you saying?!”

“W-well…the Doc is here, so it should be all right…” Arahnia put her hands on her bright red cheeks.

Sapphee’s tail was rattling, a sign that she was on alert. Glenn took a deep breath. The course of the conversation had changed drastically.

 

***

 

“My ma…she made the men in the bandit group fall in love with her so she could use them. She’d kiss them, and that would…excite her, so she could make pheromone-loaded thread. That’s what she used for the code…”

“I see—and it’s the same for you?”

“I think so… I mean, I’ve never tried.”

Souen had prepared a room in one of the houses, telling Glenn to use it however he wanted. There was a futon laid out on the floor in the room. Saki had probably been trying to be helpful, but it looked like she’d set the scene for their wedding night, and Arahnia’s bashfulness only enhanced the effect.

“So, then, let’s kiss and make the thread with pheromones. Sapphee, we need your help.”

“What about me, what about me, what about me?!”

“Sapphee…”

The shoji door was open slightly. They could see familiar lamia eyes peeking in and hear Sapphee muttering continuously.

Actually, Sapphee wasn’t the only one peering in. When Aluloona heard there would be relations between a man and a woman, she’d decided to watch for her own entertainment. There was one more large shadow they could see through the shoji.

“Sapphee, calm down.”

“How am I supposed to calm down?! Why does Arahnia get Dr. Glenn’s first kiss?! I’m the first wife!”

“I’m more surprised that you haven’t done it already.”

“It’s prohibited in Lindworm, and I couldn’t after all this time! I had so many plans for when we got to the east, even using Aluloona’s sake to create the mood! Wait a second… Tisalia, does that mean you’ve… When?!”

“No, I haven’t either. But if it’s going to happen eventually anyway, what does the order matter?”

“Ahhh, even Tisalia is casual about it! I am the first wife!”

“Hey, this is a necessary procedure. Sapphee…” Glenn called out to the two through the shoji.

They were doing this to extract pheromones. It was a natural part of arachne biology for more pheromones to be produced when coming in contact with the opposite sex. And if someone had to excite Arahnia, there was no one more appropriate than Glenn, her fiancé.

“F-fine! It’s just pheromone extraction, right? Then leave it to me, Sapphee, your pharmacist and first wife! You can always depend on me more than anyone else!”

Her emphasis on the whole first wife thing was rather excessive. Personally, Glenn didn’t want to rank his wives—but Sapphee’s anxiety about it was his own fault. Though he didn’t want to make distinctions between his fiancées, he resolved to do something for Sapphee later.

“We have quite the audience,” Arahnia said.

“I apologize. But we need someone to collect the thread.”

“Heh, it’s fine. Actually, it’s kinda fun to think that I’m taking something Sapphee wants,” Arahnia said, playing at being the villain.

They could hear the rattle of a snake tail. Glenn wondered why Arahnia was trying to pick a fight with Sapphee.

“Should we get started then, Doc?”

“Y-yes…”

Arahnia moved in toward Glenn. Apologizing to Sapphee in his heart the entire time, Glenn touched Arahnia’s lips with his.

“Mmm…”

Arahnia wrapped two of her arms round Glenn’s back and used the other two to hold his face in place. He was unable to move. Arahnia was in charge now.

“Heh. It looks like I get first pick…”

“Th-thanks…” Glenn didn’t know how to react.

“You haven’t done this with Sapphee yet, right?”

“Uhh, well…I-I mean, I plan to.”

“Heh. Well, I guess we have to show her, huh?”

Arahnia glanced over at Sapphee’s eyes, peering at them through the shoji screen.

They kept kissing. Each time their lips touched, thread was discharged from the bottom part of Arahnia’s abdomen—the part that looked like a spider. The fairies pulled the end of the thread, delivering it to Sapphee, who was rotating the handle of a manual spool to collect it.

“Ahhh… This…is how you make good pheromone thread.”

“I-is that so?” Glenn didn’t really know a lot about it, but it seemed the kissing was effective.

“Mmm…” Smack. “Heh…mmm.”

Arahnia looked like she was enjoying herself. She kept glancing over at Sapphee. Sapphee kept wrapping the thread around the spool, but she stared intently at Glenn.

“E-ergh…”

“Mmm-hmm. That’s good. You can go even further, y’know.”

“Don’t instigate him, Aluloona! I won’t stand for it!” Sapphee yelled back.

Arahnia was one of his fiancées too. It wasn’t Sapphee’s place to decide if she stood for it or not—but as the self-assigned first wife, she probably felt it was.

What is going on?

Glenn’s lips were locked with Arahnia’s. He could feel his head getting fuzzy. It reminded him of how Aluloona’s pollen and Plum’s bloodsucking felt…

“Mm, erg, mmm…”

“A-Arahnia?!”

Just then—

Arahnia took out a sake bottle that she had hidden in her kimono. She guzzled it down as if she were gulping water.

“Heh heh…it’s delicious.”

“W-wait, that’s not Aluloona’s sake, is it?”

“Yep. I’ve been drinking it.”

“B-but when?”

So it hadn’t all been stolen. And it was why he felt faint. Arahnia was drinking the sake and transferring the alcohol to Glenn by mouth.

She moved her red face close to Glenn’s, completely ignoring his protest. Sake dripped from her mouth and onto her bare chest. “Heh, what’s the problem? It excites me…and I can’t do something this embarrassing while sober.”

“Wait, but—”

“Mmm.” Arahnia wasn’t interested in listening to Glenn’s words. She pulled his face to hers, and he felt sake flow from her mouth into his.

“Mmm, mmggu…”

“Heh, tastes good, yeah? How does it feel to drink sake from your fiancé’s mouth?”

“I…it’s a little strong for me…” Glenn moaned. He almost never imbibed, so this was a bit intense for him. A little sake seeped out from his mouth.

“Arrrgh. I should have done that. Why didn’t I think of it?!” Sapphee lamented.

What was she talking about? Glenn had visions of her making him drink and drink, with no care for his limits.

There was one other thing that worried him. “Um, Arahnia?”

“Hmm? What?”

“Is this…your first kiss too, Arahnia?”

“Mmm?! Wha, er, uhh?!” Arahnia squirmed at Glenn’s question. She spit out the sake that was left in her mouth. “Well, uh…yeah, it’s my first.”

“Wait a second. But Aluloona, what about when she stole your lover?”

“That was just her predatory habits at play. Arahnia is a genuine virgin. She’s never even kissed anyone—it’s surprising she gives off such an experienced impression.”

“You in the bleachers! Would you mind shutting up?” Arahnia screamed toward the whispers behind the shoji. Her face was bright red—maybe from the sake, or maybe because the truth of her virginity had been exposed.

Still, she kept producing thread, as if prompted by those emotions. The fairies were hard at work collecting it, and Sapphee continued to spool it through the gap in the shoji.

“Ya know…I thought since it was your first time, I should take the lead, Doc…”

“Strange, I got the feeling you were coming on to me in the harpy village before…”

“D-don’t mention that! Oh, my god…how embarrassing!”

Glenn had brought up something from back in Arahnia’s predatory days. She covered her face, clearly embarrassed by her past. She was a completely different person now from the one he’d first met back in the harpy village.

He was glad his impression of her changed.

“Um, Arahnia. There doesn’t really need to be someone leading—”

“I need it! It’s a mental thing!”

Arahnia’s four arms were trembling and she had tears in her eyes. She looked exactly like Sapphee when she was sulking. Maybe they had these little similarities because they were best friends.

“I see. So it’s about setting a mood…”

Glenn thought to himself. They were performing this procedure in order to extract arachne pheromone. Though he wasn’t treating an ailment, he tended to interpret problems through a medical lens, and to take a medical approach to solving them.

In that case, perhaps she should have been the one to take the initiative?

“Arahnia, can I speak to you for a minute?” Glenn held out his hand and took the sake bottle from Arahnia. He took a swig.

“Oh, you’re ready to drink, Doc? If you would have just told me—mmm?!” Arahnia opened her eyes wide.

“Mmm-aaah?!” Sapphee let out a screech that no one had ever heard from her before.

Glenn had taken Arahnia’s lips in his, his mouth still full of sake.

“Mmm?! Mm?! Ahh…mmm!”

Arahnia was resisting, her lips still locked with Glenn’s. Glenn didn’t know why she was struggling, but he remained calm and wrapped his tongue around hers, pushing past it to pass the sake from his mouth into Arahnia’s. The process was basically the same as when he gave Lulala mouth-to-mouth artificial respiration in the water. It was passing the liquid in his own mouth along to someone else.

“Mm! Mmm…mmm…argh… ahh…!”

Unlike the underwater process, Glenn didn’t have to hold his breath, so it was much easier for him to use his tongue this time.

He closed his lips over hers and wrapped their tongues together, careful not to get in the way of her breathing.

Of course, from Glenn’s perspective, he was only kissing her to extract her pheromone. But to the naked eye, what they were doing could only be interpreted as a sexual act between fiancées.

“Mmbbaah… Doc!” Arahnia pulled her mouth away from him in resistance. Despite the intense kissing, not a single drop of sake dripped from her mouth. “What are you doing?! I thought this was your first kiss, Doc! N-no one said that you knew how to use your tongue like that! Where and from whom did you learn that?!”

For some reason, she was really interrogating him. It was rare for Arahnia to act so openly jealous, and in a way, it made Glenn happy to know she was that infatuated with him.

“It’s not his first kiss?! That’s news to me too!” Sapphee shrieked.

“Settle down,” Aluloona said.

There was a commotion on the other side of the shoji screen.

“No, um…this is my first kiss.”

“Really? It doesn’t seem like it.”

“But artificial respiration was hammered into me at the Academy…I had to practice on others,” Glenn said, recalling his experience.

To make a long story short, he’d taken Cthulhy’s class on artificial respiration. Thanks to technology developed by the cyclopes, they now had dolls that could be used to practice artificial respiration. But that hadn’t been the case when he was at the Academy, forcing him to practice on live subjects.

“Huh…so in other words, your first was…Cthulhy, Doc?”

“No, that was really just a class. There was nothing romantic about it…and besides, Sapphee took the same class.”

“Ahh, we did have that class!” Sapphee spun around, looking annoyed.

Cthulhy had trained every student in her class how to perform artificial respiration. No exceptions. That was the only way, back when there were so few study materials available.

“The lives of many have been saved by artificial respiration, thanks to that class.”

“It’s just treatment, not a kiss—mm,” Arahnia began, but Glenn stopped her, covering her lips.

He estimated they only had a small quantity of the pheromone. They would need a lot more if they were going to use it to write out coded messages. Sapphee was still wrapping thread around the spool, but he didn’t think it was enough.

“Mmmm, D-Doc…oww…mmm!”

“I’m sorry, I want to get a bit more thread.”

“You always get so forceful…mmm!” Arahnia squirmed, trying to resist.

Glenn thrust his tongue deeper, attempting to excite her as much as possible. Every time he wrapped his tongue around hers, large amounts of thread were produced.

“Mmm…mmm… Aaagh…”

He could see Arahnia’s eyes were glazing over. He couldn’t tell if it was from his kissing, or from the sake. They had both consumed quite a bit already, so it would make sense that they would be inebriated by now.

I think…I drank too much.

If he were to be honest, Glenn couldn’t do this sober either. It was because of the sake that he was able to act so boldly.

“Mmmp…ahh…mmmhhmm…”

More and more thread was produced as Glenn explored Arahnia’s mouth with his tongue, accurately determining which spots produced the most thread and made her seem the happiest.

“Mmm, mmm, bfaa!” Arahnia pulled her mouth away again. A string of saliva connected their mouths. “Doc…I…I’m so embarrassed.”

“Arahnia,” Glenn whispered in her ear.

“Aggh… Th-that tickles…”

“Arahnia. It’s all right,” Glenn said. His head was fuzzy and spinning from the sake. Perhaps that was why he was able to utter words that he never would have thought of under normal circumstances. “It’s all right. I love you, and so does Sapphee.”

“D-Doc?”

“I don’t want you to say that you’re fine being a mistress… Don’t think you should keep your distance in case something happens, or that you don’t need me to like you… No matter what happens, I’m here for you,” Glenn told her.

Arahnia just listened to him, dumbfounded by a combination of alcohol and humiliation.

She listened to Glenn’s words and couldn’t come up with her own.

Glenn could see right through her. He knew she was trying to keep their relationship casual. He knew she was continually prioritizing Sapphee and Tisalia, making sure that he didn’t care about her any more than necessary.

She’d always thought this day would come—when she’d hurt someone she loved because of her bandit mother. She thought it best to stay a mistress and separate herself from Glenn and Sapphee, so she wouldn’t cause them any future trouble.

But—

Glenn not only saw right through that—he declared that he would always be by her side. He never wanted them to be separated again, like what happened with Sapphee before.

“Ugh…” Arahnia held Glenn tight.

She’d been so sure he would never notice. She’d thought, based on how he behaved, that Sapphee would always come first for him—but she’d been happy with that. She loved Sapphee anyway.

But, Arahnia thought to herself, the fact that she wasn’t completely immune to jealousy was a testament to how much she truly loved Glenn. And it couldn’t be helped.

“You’re hopeless.”

Arahnia decided right then and there that she would never let him go. No matter what happened, they would be together, as if bound to each other by a spider’s web.

“Okay, okay, okay!” Sapphee opened the shoji door. She jumped in between Glenn and Arahnia, not willing to let them continue for even one second more than necessary. “We have plenty of thread. That’s enough! All done, the end!”

She threw her arms around Glenn, her jealousy on full display. Arahnia laughed inside. She knew that Glenn loved Sapphee the most, no matter what she did, and it was adorable that Sapphee couldn’t contain her jealousy, despite that.

This is how we should be.

Arahnia thought they could be happy forever, if they just stayed like this.

“Huh?”

“Doc fell asleep.”

The sake must have been too strong for him, because Glenn was snoring in Sapphee’s arms. It was only to be expected after consuming that much alcohol, since he didn’t normally drink.

“I’m…a little tired too.” Arahnia was lightheaded.

“Hey, Arahnia—are you okay?”

“Fine, fine.” She laughed, but she was unsteady. Sapphee narrowed her eyes.

“What did the Doctor say to you?”

“Er.”

“I knew it. Ugh, unbelievable. He’s never said anything important to me.” Sapphee wrapped her tail around Glenn, lifting him. She laid him on the futon.

“No, I mean, er…”

“Oh, my. You’re flustered, Arahnia.” Tisalia laughed, having stuck her head out from the shoji to see what was happening.

It was useless. Arahnia would no longer be able to hide anything from these two women—the women who loved the same man as her.

In the past, it had always been Arahnia who smoothed everything over. But she wouldn’t be able to do that anymore.

“Ugh, I hate this…” Surrendering, Arahnia covered her bright red face.

Sapphee and Tisalia watched her, amused.

 

***

 

They were able to extract pheromones from Arahnia’s thread without issue. Souen distributed ads with Arahnia’s code written on them throughout the capital of Heian. On the surface, the ads looked like a large-scale advertisement for Aluloona’s sake, but they actually held a message to the Black Widows.

The message was that the “Arachnida” they served was in the monster village. The Black Widows were to ready themselves and all make their way to that monster village. As the bandits had no central base, being spread all through Heian, this should be enough to make them all congregate on Souen’s land. Souen took over all preparations, pulling what strings he needed to.

Glenn, for his part, simply waited patiently for the day the Black Widows would come.

And then—

 

Once, there was a poor drayman in the human realm. His father had been a drayman before him, and his father’s father, and his father before him. The man assumed he would also live and die the dull life of a drayman.

 

But—

One day, he met a beautiful woman who seemed like she’d walked out of a fairytale. The woman, who by the name Arachnida, showered him with boundless love. The bottom half of her body was…well, she was what they called a weaver in the east. But Arachnida was so spellbinding that the man’s aversion to this was short-lived.

Who cared if she was half spider, or a monster? The more he got to know her, the more he found her just as beautiful as any human—nay, even more beautiful. Being with her made him happier than he’d ever been before. He left his village and devoted his life to Arachnida, giving her everything she desired—even if he had to steal to obtain it. In accordance with Arachnida’s wishes, he formed a group of thieves who procured everything she desired, even using violence when the situation called for it. It was all for Arachnida.

Eventually, the man became the leader of the Black Widows. He gave everything he had to Arachnida. He did everything she asked, bloodying his own hands in the process. He left his home and his family for her. He could no longer even remember the name of his hometown.

But his love was entirely unrequited. Arachnida partnered freely with other people to sate her lustful desires, and though the man forced himself to tolerate this for many years, one day he could no longer hold back. Criticizing Arachnida for her debauchery, he told her that he wanted her love all for his own.

Arachnida disappeared, leaving the Black Widows behind, the very day after the man reproached her.

I need to get Arachnida back.

He was forever her slave.

This time, he wouldn’t let her get away. He’d cut off her limbs if he had to, to make sure she couldn’t run. He was sure he could make her stay by his side. The other members of the Black Widows, who adored Arachnida just as much as he did, had no inkling of the dark thoughts their leader harbored. The only reason they’d become bandits was because they believed the woman they loved would return someday.

“Captain,” called his second-in-command, a lit torch in his hand. “Is Arachnida really in this village? We got the coded letter, but…”

“I’m sure of it. Arachnida is the only one who can make this ink and coded message,” the man said.

The tinted glasses resting on the bridge of his nose contained special polarized lenses that allowed him to read the message written made from the pheromone ink. He’d also used them to get past the arachne traps set in the monster village.

“It was stupid of me. I knew the traps were arachne…but I never thought Arachnida herself might have set them. Now we can finally bring our queen home.”

“Understood.” The man saluted his leader obediently. Smitten by Arachnida, these men were easy to control.

The Black Widows had surrounded one of the houses in the monster village. Inside that house lay Arachnida, who’d send them a coded message in pheromone ink to summon them here. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, the message had read. I watched what you did in the village. Because of everything you’ve done for me since I went away, I’ve chosen to dedicate myself to you once again. Come get me in the monster village.

The rest of the Widows implicitly believed the message was true. Only the leader smelled something fishy. This was the crafty Arachnida they were talking about. She might have something else in mind.

But there were so many of them, hiding in the woods. No matter what the monster woman had planned, there was only so much she could do. Arachnida was cunning and unmerciful, but when it came to brute force, she was vulnerable. That was why she seduced men into doing her dirty work for her.

Arachnida, you’ll finally be all mine.

The leader of the Black Widows lifted his arm, the signal to strike.

“Unh…”

They entered the house.

The leader and the men who followed him moved swiftly through the dark, like ninjas. They had trained and acquired these skills in order to steal the things Arachnida loved.

There are no traps…

Arachne loved traps. But there wasn’t a single thread to be seen anywhere. He wondered if she really wanted them to come get her.

What he did see, ahead of them in the dark house, was—

“We’ve been waiting for you.”

A flower.

“Thank goodness you’re all hot-blooded men. You did well. Teehee.”

Before them stood a large bulb crowned with red flowers. In the midst of the flowers stood a woman with green skin.

“Wh-who are you? A flower fairy?”

“Idiots. It’s a monster from the west. An alraune,” the leader told his comrades.

Most humans from the east had never seen monsters before. Even most of the Black Widows had only ever seen an arachne. The alraune fluttered her leaves, laughing at them.

“We were tricked?”

“It’s too bad. Well, I don’t feel bad for fooling heretics like you—but I do recommend you go peacefully.”

“Tsk.” The leader clicked his tongue.

There was nothing to fear. A single alraune woman posed no threat to them. Every single member of the Black Widows was enamored of Arachnida. No matter how beautiful this monster before them might be, they would resist her charms.

“Ignore her! Kill her! It’s just a monster flower.”

“Good grief.”

Her vines flew at the men, who cut them away. But there was no sign of the alraune recoiling.

“Seriously? I mean, it’s not like I don’t like it rough.”

“Kill it! Cut it down and put it in a pot. Arachnida will love it!”

“You won’t get off that easy.”

Her vines stretched like whips, wrapping around the men’s necks. The leader nonchalantly sliced through those vines, too…and then it happened.

“E-eee!”

A scream cut through the air.

One after another, the shoji screens in the house exploded as a seemingly endless tangle of vines burst through them. The vines grew in from all sides of the room, stretching out to capture the Black Widows.

“What in the world?!”

“Captain! It’s a huge group of alraune!”

“What did you say?!” The man was dumbstruck.

The women came from every direction—all the same species, all sharing the same face—and began to ensnare the men. Their vines were nothing more than plant matter, but if they bound them up securely enough, they’d have no way to escape.

Where had they all been hiding?!

“Mother, I’m tired.”

“I was already tired waiting for these guys, buried in the dirt.”

“I’d rather be buried in a man’s chest.”

“But there are so many of them.”

“Do you think we can?”

“I think they’re going to be buried…by us.”

“Well, that’s fine.”

The army of alraune chattered and giggled together. Their faces looked so similar that the leader couldn’t tell them apart. The only difference he could see was the color of the flowers on their heads.

“Don’t be afraid. Just set them on fire! Burn this house down!” the leader ordered his second-in-command.

But before he could act, another vine wrapped around his torch. There was a whiff of burnt matter for just a second, and then the flame went out, followed by a strange slurping sound in the darkness.

“Despicable. Don’t you know how hard it is for live trees to burn? We’re just full of moisture. Ridiculous to think you could hurt us with a few torches,” an alraune said savagely.

The men felt eyes on them, as if they were being appraised.

“Hehehe. A man, a man.”

“Is he good-looking?”

“Nope.”

“Not at all.”

“Dr. Glenn is much better looking.”

“He’s pathetic, compared to Souen.”

“Who cares about his face?”

“As long as he has an able body.”

“As long as he’s fit from the waist down.”

“That’s enough to satisfy us.”

Voices echoed through the air as the alraune eyed them through the darkness. The men felt like insects caught by carnivorous plants.

“I-I’ve heard of this…” the man next to the leader spoke up, his voice shaking. “Alraune are… living flowers that suck the blood of criminals! They suck all the fluids from your body, making their flowers bloom bright red… We’re all going to die!”

“Don’t panic! They’re just plant monsters! They’ll die if you stab them!”

“That’s true enough. Not that we’re going to give you the chance to use your blades, of course.”

The second the leader called out, more vines flew toward him. Before he had a chance to cut them away, his blade was snatched from him by vines stretching in all directions.

It’s no use. We’re no match for them…

The unarmed men were surrounded by the alraune.

“Mother.”

“C’mon, Mother.”

“Haven’t we waited long enough?”

“We can eat them, right?”

“These are the bastards who terrorized the villagers. We can crush them, right?”

“Come now, just wait a second. There’s a proper way to do these things.”

That was when the leader finally realized…they never stood a chance. These alraune thought of them as nothing but food.

“We alraune are in the middle of a mass blooming. We received treatment, but it was only temporary relief, not a cure. Our desire is bottomless. It really is such a burden to bear…”

“Uh, ah…”

“But as long as we have men, we can be satisfied. I was planning to let you go if you surrendered, but there’s nothing I can do now that you’ve resisted. We won’t be showing any mercy today. All evil will be crushed. Don’t go down too easily, hmm?”

Screams echoed through the room.

The Black Widows behind the leader were rushed by the alraune. There was a chorus of screams—screams of terror from the men, and pleasure from the women. Next came squishing, slurping, sexual sounds.

Even if it was with monsters, these men were getting laid. However, there was no joy in their voices—which was only to be expected, of course. They were merely being used like sex dolls.

“Ahh, don’t expect sweet love-making. I told you there would be no mercy. None of you are leaving here until we’ve squeezed every last drop from you, you hear?”

One after another, the alraune crowded around the Black Widows until even the leader disappeared into the sea of flowers and leaves and women’s bodies. The alraune were fighting tooth and nail for a taste of man.

“Ah, m-my love, my Black Widows…a-ahh… M-my Arachnida…”

The leader’s last words were the name of the woman he loved. He’d wanted her so bad, he was willing to hurt her, and now he was pathetically calling out for her to save him.

But the woman he yearned for enough to commit crimes in her name couldn’t hear him. The only ones who could hear him were the alraune women—lust personified, ready to devour him. There was no love or passion here, merely unrequited lust.

The leader of the Black Widows was swallowed up by that torrent of desire, completely helpless to resist.

“Ah, ah, ahhh…”

He succumbed to the utter humiliation of being used, losing consciousness under the onslaught of pleasure. The concentrated fragrance of the nectar robbed him of his ability to think, and eventually, he stopped trying to.

“Hey, girls, I gave you the men, but leave some for me. And don’t kill them. I promised Souen.”

The agreement was that they would be kept alive and handed over to Souen—and as long as they were alive, it didn’t matter how alive they were.

Aluloona smiled at the orgy before her, clearly pleased her daughters were enjoying themselves.

“I didn’t plan for this to happen, but what a great gift to give my daughters.” The second-most powerful member of the Lindworm City Council chuckled to herself in satisfaction. “It looks like I’ll have granddaughters to look forward to soon.”

And with that, Aluloona joined the fun.

 

The joyful sound of women’s voices wafted from the house. Every once in a while, a man’s cry of agony could be heard as his vital fluids were squeezed from him—but Souen could care less about their suffering.

“Are they having an orgy about now?”

“Well, I would imagine so.”

“Do you want to join, Souen?” Saki asked teasingly next to him.

“Don’t ask such a weird question. I have no time to be infatuated with another woman,” Souen answered honestly, making Saki giggle.

“They didn’t need our assistance at all, in the end.”

The alraune filled the house they’d lured the Black Widows to, having their way with the culprits. You might think the men wouldn’t be too opposed to this, but the alraune were being merciless. Imagining the men being drained of their blood once they’d been drained of semen disgusted Souen, but he did consider it the perfect punishment for such criminals.

“Argh.”

Eventually, a member of the Black Widows crawled from the house, his clothes shredded and his entire body covered in nectar. He must have found an opportunity to escape.

“Hmph!”

Souen hit him with a tranquilizer dart he’d had hidden in his sleeve. The man passed out immediately, and Souen produced a rope, beginning to tie him up.

“So they will run if they can. It’s impossible to keep people from running, even in this state.”

The alraune girls were blind to anything except their own pleasure right now. Souen and Saki had been keeping watch outside the house, just in case one of the bandits managed to slip through the cracks.

“That’s wonderful, Souen. When did you learn how to use darts?”

“It’s just for self-defense. We can’t take blades or other obvious weapons into political situations.”

“How terrifying,” Saki said, striking a Black Widow bandit who ran out of the house with the hilt of her sword. The sound this produced made Souen slightly concerned she’d broken his neck.

“I’m nothing compared to you.”

“My goal is to be a virtuous and adorable wife who can protect my husband,” Saki said, cracking her neck.

Souen wondered precisely what was virtuous, or even adorable, about this woman who’d moaned wildly in front of her lover’s brother just to prove a point…but he held his tongue. For now, he wanted to keep her herculean strength focused on the criminals.

“There must be many more in the mountains—”

“Yeah. I’ve ordered Sioux and the guards to hunt them down. They took the demons who live in the village along too, so they should be able to round them all up. The mermaid diva cut the ropes mooring all the boats the bastards came in on. They’re not leaving this island.”

Souen chuckled.

He was the one who devised this plan to lure in the Black Widows, using the people at his disposal. Barring any unforeseen complications, things should go smoothly.

“It’s a wonderful plan.”

“This village is our home, and the centaur princess is our guest. Still, to think all these people are willing to come together to help Glenn… It’s incredible.”

“He must be popular with people, unlike someone I know.”

“I wonder who that could be?” Souen laughed.

“I see you pretending to be so innocent.”

“I have never pretended to be innocent in my entire life.”

“Nothing but lies… Why not be honest? You’re angry that the Black Widows got the better of you.”

“Of course I am. This is my village. I have to protect it. How much money and time have I spent to turn this into a place where monsters can live in peace?”

“That’s not what I mean.” Saki smiled. “Why don’t you admit it’s because I was burned, and because the people of the village were frightened, that made you angry?”

Souen was stunned. Saki could see right through him.

“That’s not—”

“Yes?” Saki cracked a joint in her arm. Souen’s face grew stiff, concerned that she might try another way of coercing him.

“Well, it’s not completely irrelevant.”

“Ugh, you never can just admit defeat.”

“Shut up.” Souen stepped on one of the freshly captured Black Widows.

The wild voices of the alraune continued to sound from the house they were watching.