Once we were in the bathroom and Velariah had closed and locked the door, my attention was locked on Minia. She was still positioned in the same spot where we left her, and ran a few circles when I approached.

She felt… happy that I was back.

Poor spider.

I couldn’t believe I had just thought that.

Yet here I was…

I started taking off my clothes and deposited them in the sink as usual.

“You’re just gonna leave Minia there?” Velariah asked behind me.

She walked up to me and put her clothes on top of mine.

“I suppose it will be fine?” I said with a question. “As long as she doesn’t suddenly jump on me, I don’t mind.”

I turned to see the spider raise a pedipalp.

Did that mean it understood what I just said?

How did this Arachnid Communication thingy work anyway?

I had the feeling it was still quite limited due to my evolution level being low. I wondered how much I could communicate with Minia if I evolved.

Never, ever, would I have imagined myself somewhat looking forward to this…

Velariah jumped into the hammock as I stared at the spider, trying to understand what it was feeling.

It made me wonder if all spiders would react to me the way this one had.

Maybe I had been too harsh on the Hellspiders very early on in my journey…

“You coming, El?” Velariah asked.

I nodded as I stepped into the hammock. I gave one last look to Minia before I turned my attention to Velariah’s eyes.

“Vel, don’t look at me like that… Those eyes of yours… I can’t resist them, you know?”

“You like them that much?” She asked with a smile as I started to place my front two sets of legs around her frame, my pedipalps joining them.

I nodded. “I truly do. They are beautiful. Where did the blue come from?” I asked.

“My mother,” She spoke. “She had blue eyes… Somehow, I ended up with one of hers and one of my father’s. It’s one of the few things I still have that remind me of her...”

I could see her mood become slightly gloomy at the mention of her mother. I should have expected as much when I asked the question. It made me feel guilty for even asking.

I gave her a quick kiss in an effort to distract her. The elf beneath me replied with a giggle as I moved my pedipalps slightly to get more comfortable.

“I do love yours too, El. Red really suits you.”

“Because of the hair?” I smiled.

She nodded. “It’s also a color that isn’t found in either elves or humans, it adds a bit of… exoticness to you.”

I chuckled. “Really, Vel? I’m a freaking half spider, and you refer to my eyes as exotic? I can’t believe this.”

Velariah laughed.

“If anything, yours are exotic to me too,” I said with a smile before kissing her again.

“Hmmm, how are your arms, by the way?”

“They are still a bit sore, but I’m afraid I’m too tired to do anything.”

“Shame,” She said before taking me in for a deep kiss.

I took hold of her hands with my upper set and placed my lower set in her hair from under her arms. I spread her arms over her head and gave her another kiss before placing my head on her shoulder.

I loved this.

I loved holding her like this.

I could feel from her heartbeat that she loved it too.

“Hmmm, I can already feel your arms getting stronger,” Velariah teased me.

“Just you wait. I’ll leave you completely helpless soon enough,” I teased back.

I already knew what her reply would be.

“Looking forward to it.” She smiled and turned her head to kiss me once more. “I hope we get to do some more things tomorrow.”

“You mean… as in, fighting, or...?”

“Hmm, some of both would be good.”

“Temptress!”

“Don’t lie. You love it, El.”

“I do.”

I kissed her one last time. “Good night, Vel.”

“Good night, El.”

I placed as many limbs around her frame as I could from this position. I ended up placing three pairs of legs at her sides and my pedipalps, while still holding her hands with mine. I relaxed with my head on her shoulders and soon found my mind slowing down, feeling nothing but the elf’s body and love as I was sent to the world of dreams.

__________________________________________________________________________

What a crappy night.

I’d never had a night this bad before. Not when I was with Velariah, at least. My head hurt for whatever reason. My arms seemed mostly fine, though. They were slightly sore but not nearly as much as I’d expected.

“Ugh,” I groaned.

“Hmmm, you okay, El?” Velariah said while hugging me.

I clapped on the lights. “I need a cup of coffee… scrap that, I need a jar of coffee… maybe more.”

“Awww, my poor little spider.”

“Thanks for the sympathy, Vel...”

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

“My head hurts...”

“Here,” She said softly while kissing my forehead. “Better?” She rubbed my eyes and I could see her smile when she stopped.

“A bit, I think?”

Velariah brought my head closer and planted a kiss on my lips. “Better?”

“Much better,” I smiled.

Not really, but I didn’t want to make her feel bad.

I released my limbs and let them dangle at the sides of the hammock while trying to relax on the elf’s chest.

This was not the best start to the day.

Velariah seemed to recognize that I wasn’t feeling well. She put her hands in my hair and played with it for a while. I could even feel a faint sense of compassion coming from beyond the elf’s head.

I looked up and saw Minia staring at me from the wall.

Could spiders feel sympathy?

I knew dogs could, through facial expression and body language. I wasn’t aware spiders had the same capacity.

Then again, Minia had already conveyed several other emotions to me.

I placed a pedipalp on the wall. Minia walked up to it and took hold of it with her tiny palps. It looked as if she was hugging it.

At least, that’s what it felt like in my mind.

Maybe these conflicting emotions were why my head was hurting so much right now.

“That’s so cute...” Velariah said as she looked at the spider.

“Hmmm,” I mumbled as I laid my head down on her chest again.

“El, your mind is truly beautiful, you know?” Velariah said as she continued to play with my hair.

“Hmmm,” I let out again.

“Anyway,” She continued. “We should get up. There’s a lot of things to do today.”

“Such as?” I asked.

“You know… check the guild for quests, see if it’s safe to go to the dungeon again. Stuff like that.”

She waited for a few seconds. “You want a painkiller?”

I nodded.

Velariah wormed herself from under me and jumped out of the hammock. I could hear her rummaging around in her pack before I felt her hand on my head again.

I opened my eyes to see a small yellow vial before them.

“Here,” She said.

I took the vial and pinched my nose. I quickly downed the vile liquid and felt a warmth speeding to my head, easing the pain.

It made me feel much better.

“Thanks, Vel. I assume you still have more of those?”

“Plenty. Don’t worry about it.”

I stepped out of bed and fished my one piece of clothing from the sink. I did my routine in front of the mirror while Velariah got herself clothed. I wanted to wait for the elf, but she said I should go to the other room already. I totally forgot she’d need to use the toilet.

I had her quickly strap the saddlebags to my spider abdomen while I equipped the pieces of armor that I had in this room.

I shook my head at my own stupidity for forgetting Velariah had to use the toilet far more often than me as I opened the doors.

Seralyn, Draco, Nira, and Elly were already present at the table, drinking coffee.

How jealous I was…

They were already armored, which made me wonder just how early they got out of bed.

What was more, Valtheril was also present, and he didn’t exactly look happy.

“Good morning,” I said. “Everything okay here?”

Valtheril nodded. “Everything’s going okay. The only issue is that Lorin went missing.”

I sighed.

Of course, this wasn’t going to be easy.

“Which, in my opinion, confirms his guilt,” Valtheril finished. “I talked to your companions. They told me you were thinking about going to the dungeon.”

I nodded.

“The way is open if you like. I’ve completely lifted the lockdown. I think it’s pretty clear who is guilty here. I’ll take care of the rest. If you do plan on going there, I have a squad of soldiers ready to join you to guard the entrance.”

“Thank you, sir. That’s very kind,” I said politely.

“Do you think we can take on Master Lorin on our own?” Seralyn asked. “I mean, if he somehow turns up and attacks us.”

“There is no telling. I don’t know what he is capable of. It’s perfectly possible he kept some abilities hidden. I know him to have a nature-based healing inherity, as do all treemenders. Anything beyond that, I do not know,” The General replied honestly.

He paused for a second as he sipped on some coffee. “It’s better not to attack him until he attacks you first. I still need to interrogate him.”

“Fair enough,” Seralyn said.

Velariah entered the room, fully armored. “What’s going on with everyone here?” She seemed to be asking the question half-jokingly.

“Master Lorin’s missing,” Draco filled her in.

“So he was behind this. Any idea where he went off to?” Velariah asked.

Valtheril shook his head. “I’m still trying to figure out how he escaped the village in the first place. I’ve requested for the rest of the troops to be transferred here from Duskleaf. They should have plenty of supplies now.”

Ah, so that’s where they were. I was wondering that before.

“Some of them will probably have to sleep in the Treemenders Oak, though. I’m not quite sure on the capacity in the inns...”

He looked at our companions. “If you guys don’t mind, you could transfer your things and stay here for a while.”

“I have no objections. If it’s the space you need, I’d be happy to help,” Draco said.

Nira nodded.

“Well, guess I’ll be picking up my stuff somewhere in the afternoon then.”

“You live in an inn?” I asked before I even knew it.

I thought she had her own home.

Seralyn shook her head. “I’ve stayed in an inn for years now.” Her voice broke up and her facial expression changed for the worse. “Orphanage until I was old enough to join the rangers. I’ve stayed at an inn ever since...”

I felt guilty for asking. I didn’t know this side of the brunette. An orphanage she said? That certainly explained a few things about her behavior. I wondered what caused her to end up there…

I felt bad for her…

“I’m sorry...”

“It’s alright,” She shook it off.

“Elly, you mind preparing some breakfast?” Velariah asked, seemingly breaking away from this touchy topic on purpose. She then turned to the others. “Have you already eaten?”

“We have,” Draco spoke. “We were waiting for the two of you.”

“As usual...” Velariah sighed.

“No problem, Velariah,” Elly said as she stood up and walked to the kitchen.

“As I’ve already told the others... Velariah, If you plan on going to the dungeon, there’s a squad of soldiers outside the guild hall. I’ve put them under your command. It’s just an extra safety measure for now.”

“Thanks, father.”

Elly returned, and after a quick breakfast and half a cup of tea, we were preparing to head out when Velariah mentioned something.

"You gonna leave Minia just like that?"

"Well, we can't really take her with us now, can we?"

“At least you could say goodbye. Who knows how she’ll feel with you suddenly disappearing?”

“Fine.”

“Wait wait wait,” Seralyn interjected. “Is this Elania getting friendly towards spiders?”

Velariah nodded. “She’s made great progress already.”

I sighed and walked back to the bathroom.

I found Minia still waiting on the wall. A faint stream of happiness at seeing me came from her.

“I’ll be gone for a while, Minia. Please don’t feel sad.”

Why was I even doing this again?

A shocking reaction came from the spider on the wall. She raised a pedipalp and made a waving gesture, as if she was telling me goodbye.

I shook my head as I raised one of my own to wave back.

At least Velariah didn’t see that…

I left the room and looked around. “Where’s Gray, anyway?”

“He’s upstairs,” Elly said, while taking the dishes. “Sleeping.”

Interesting…

“Let’s get going,” Velariah said. “I’m excited to see what Arch has in store for us today.”

Now that she mentioned it, Arch did seem to have different enemies each time we visited. I wondered if that was on purpose…

As if he was preparing us for the many kinds of enemies that could be found in dungeons…

It certainly wasn’t outside the realm of possibilities.

“If we have some time after, I’d like to speak to Master Endomir,” I commented as we walked to the hallway to fetch our remaining gear.

“Spider questions?” Velariah asked.

I nodded. “He probably knows more than me… well, maybe not anymore, but he can still fill me in.”

“Sounds good. Let’s check the guild first, though. If there’s anything good, I want to get my hands on it before somebody else snags it away.”

“Fair,” I smiled.

I put on my gauntlets and took my new helmet with me. I’d prefer to leave it off until we started combat. Velariah seemed to think about it the same way.

Once outside, it wasn’t hard to see that the village somewhat started going back to normal. There were far more people outside. However, the number of guards that were stationed all around was still high as ever.

Before the guild hall stood a squad of five elite soldiers. They saluted when we approached. I saluted back as the others entered before me.

In the guild, the Lore keeper seemed to be drowning in paperwork. It appeared she even had an assistant taking care of people’s business. A young male elf was in charge of sending people on quests. He was quite inexperienced, it looked like. While I was waiting for Velariah and Draco to check the quest board, I could see that the Lore keeper had to step in a few times when the assistant only gave half the information.

It looked a bit silly. Maybe this was some sort of internship?

“Well crap,” Velariah commented. “Seems we’re too late… or too early. There’s not much of interest, yet. It seems they are looking for someone to repair the village wall. I wonder what happened to it?” She asked with a wicked smile.

Seralyn grinned.

“Then there are some repairs requested for some of the fencing around the fields. It appears those Borers did a number on their foundations. Hmmm.”

She continued eying the papers on the board. “Digging for the canal has also started. I know you’re a good digger, El. Whatcha say?” She looked at me with a grin.

“No thanks. I’d love to help with it, but I need something that benefits me. Gods, I hate saying that, it makes me feel greedy.”

“It’s not greedy at all,” Velariah said. “Your situation calls for it.”

“She has a point,” Draco added.

“Thanks guys.”

It seems they were still looking at available quests and had shifted their attention over to the lower-ranked ones.

“Let’s just go to the dungeon. I don’t think those will do any good,” I said.

“Agreed,” Seralyn added.

“Alright, then,” Velariah spoke, “Let’s greet our assigned squad, shall we?”

They all saluted again when we approached. The squad leader stepped forward when Velariah did the same.

“Sergeant Kaniar, at your service, ma’am.”

“Please, drop the formalities,” Velariah spoke loud and clear. “We’re not exactly the most formal group,” She paused for a second. “Say, Kaniar, we plan on clearing the dungeon, I’d like you and your men to stand guard at the entrance.”

“As you wish.”

He ended the salute and he and his men followed as we made for the village’s southern exit.

“You aren’t much of an officer, are you?” I teased the white-haired elf once she was next to me.

She shook her head. “I really am not. I’m happy my father didn’t pressure me into a military career. Guess it’s a bit harder to do that, since he also chose the adventurer’s life before it.”

“Yeah, I’ve been wondering, there aren’t many differences between soldiers and adventurers are there? It feels to me that adventurers have greater potential regarding power, am I wrong?”

“Yes, you are,” Velariah grinned. “Remember how I told you skill with a weapon can be just as important as Corium gain? It’s for this reason that many people start out in the army, or at least military training, before switching their careers to full-time adventuring. Besides the obvious weapon skills, one also learns basic survival skills, and very importantly, discipline.”

“Discipline is not to be underestimated. That was the same with us,” I said, referring to military training on Earth.

We reached the grasslands that stretched out for a bit before the fields started. Once we were off the road, Nira took to the skies. She circled overhead as we continued our trip.

I imagined she’d be completely fine flying for extended periods of time, now. If I had known my blood had special properties earlier, I could have probably used that to heal her wings faster. She had had many days of rest as it was, now. She should be okay.

It was good to know if there happened to be a next time, though.

I looked up at her. Her large white-grayish wings beat against the wind as she flew through the air. From down here, it wasn’t hard to see she was paying attention to the forest next to us. She was an excellent scout.

A little over half an hour later, we reached the tunnels leading down to the dungeon. We walked down the tunnels with the soldiers still following close behind us. Draco led the way with one of his special torches.

“Is this where you’d like us to remain?” Kaniar asked when we reached the opened metal doors.

“Yes, please,” Velariah replied.

We walked down the stairs when Seralyn spoke.

“I’m betting on Draco to evolve his inherity next. Anyone willing to go against it?”

“I’ll take you up on that,” Velariah spoke. “I’m putting my money on Elania.”

What?