Chapter 21: Reunion with the Spider Princess (03)
Just as I was about to take action, several figures among the audience rose from their seats, as if they'd anticipated this moment.
These were the knights we had identified earlier alongside Dane. Some were openly armed as if serving as escorts, while others were disguised as ordinary spectators.
For an auction with barely 200 attendees, having nearly ten knights present seemed like overkill...
*"So, the rumors about us—members of the Magic Knights—investigating this place must have already spread."*
Although the senior knight’s order to investigate was given covertly, it must have passed through multiple channels before reaching us. It seemed these people had expected someone to come after them.
"Ah, we figured it would be you two."
"Most knights who come here are trash, but you two actually look like proper ones."
The senior seated at the far left smirked and began drawing his mana saber from his belt. Following his lead, the other knights also unsheathed their weapons.
*'Quite the bold bunch,'* I thought.
Suddenly, a suffocating aura of intimidation and killing intent descended upon me, so heavy it felt as though my shoulders might collapse under the pressure.
Startled by the killing intent, Mollang burrowed into my arms for safety. I secured her against my torso—the safest part of my body where she’d be least likely to get hit.
Attaching her to my lower body might have hindered my movements.
"Out of goodwill, let me offer some advice to my juniors in the Magic Knights: ignore what the other knights said and just walk away."
"Yeah. As you know, the transactions here aren’t illegal."
That much was true, even to my understanding.
There were no laws prohibiting the breeding of harpies or the trading of monsters. Moreover, if buyers registered their purchases as research materials for magical studies, there would be no legal issues. With ten knights present, safety measures were deemed sufficient.
"No matter what fuss you cause here, the Knights won't send reinforcements. If you fight on your own, you'll just die a dog's death."
"Exactly. So put away your sword and ask us seniors nicely to let you off. I'll even buy you a drink tonight, and we can part on good terms. How about that?"
"Oh, how thoughtful..."
I laughed, flipping him off.
"Trash knight. Sure, it must be nice that it’s not illegal."
When I openly rejected his offer, the other knights’ faces darkened with humiliation. However, the senior knight in our row looked at me with a different expression—one of regret.
"Hah... Trainee knights, always consumed by some misguided sense of justice."
"This isn't about justice. It's a personal matter."
"I don’t make a second offer. Judging by your unfamiliar face, you're just a trainee. If someone like you dies here, no one will raise a fuss."
While the senior knight was stalling, the audience had already evacuated, leaving only Dane, myself, Princess Aracne, and the mercenaries attempting to take her.
Princess Aracne clung to the bars of her cage, reaching out to me pitifully. Meanwhile, the mercenaries anxiously glanced at me, trying to drag her away.
Time was running out. We had to escape before more escorts arrived.
"Ah... Damn it. You know releasing a high-risk monster is a punishable offense, right?"
"You just have to keep quiet. I’ll make you a custom homunculus later with all the top-tier options."
"Can we even get out of here?"
In response to his question, I raised my mana saber. It was a signal that I intended to break through by force.
"You still don’t get it, do you? Pointing a mana saber at us won’t scare us into begging for our lives. We’ve got weapons too, you know?"
The senior smirked, holding a high-end mana saber. The other knights also wielded weapons far superior to the civilian-grade saber issued to me.
Mana sabers vary significantly in performance depending on their price. Against these elite models, a cheap saber would shatter if their blades clashed.
*"Typical government-issue junk."*
Of course, the senior knight didn’t give me this saber expecting me to engage high-level opponents head-on. It was more of a self-defense tool for retreating if necessary. Still, it was woefully inadequate for facing a group of ten knights.
"What are you waiting for? Just kill him!"
A burly knight with a beard lunged at me, swinging his mana saber. Its dark blue blade aimed to slice me in half. Blocking it would be impossible; the blade—and likely my body—would be severed.
*"But I don’t need to block it."*
I feigned an intention to clash blades but adjusted my swing at the last moment, dodging the attack entirely. The charging knight, like a rampaging boar, missed me and left a deep gash in the spot where I’d been sitting.
Before he could recover, I activated my blade briefly and slashed his vulnerable hamstring.
The other knights charged at me, but their movements were riddled with openings. Sidestepping them, I simply had to stab my blade...
As they say, a healthy mind dwells in a healthy body. These knights, with their garbage attitudes, had garbage skills to match.
Despite wielding mana sabers, they couldn’t hold a candle to my fellow trainees, let alone a senior knight.
"What the hell? He’s not even swinging properly, yet how...?"
"Move aside! I’ll take him!"
A heavily armored escort knight stepped forward, fully clad in gear reinforced with anti-mana coating. My cheap saber wouldn’t even scratch it.
I tossed the saber’s hilt between the gap of his helmet and neck. While he panicked, I struck the hilt’s end to leverage it as a makeshift lever, adjusting the angle.
Before he could react, I activated the blade.
The smell of burning flesh wafted from inside his armor as he rolled on the ground in agony, trailing smoke.
I kicked aside the groaning knights and stepped forward, ready to face the senior knight from my old training barracks.
"Oh ho, so you’re the infamous Ban?"
"Yeah. A real celebrity. The problem child of the 87th class of the Magic Knights. Rejected by the Swordmaster himself. The ‘monster with a blade.’"
"Did something like that happened?"
"Tch, I heard rumors about you being a freak, so I expected some shadowy lunatic. Turns out you're just a carefree joker."
"Come at me. Unlike the rest of these trash heaps, I won’t be an easy opponent."
The aura from the senior standing before me was far more overwhelming than the combined presence of the other nine knights. It was clear—he was the leader responsible for protecting this underground slave market.
‘I need to end this in one strike.’
There was no way I could let this fight drag out. My opponent had better gear, and at minimum, he was wearing chest armor, armguards, and greaves that could deflect attacks. He could even afford to take hits directly if it came to that.
Crossing swords or trading blows wasn’t an option. One hit from his high-output mana saber, and I’d either die instantly or be incapacitated.
It was an overwhelmingly disadvantageous situation. But still...
‘It’s not like there aren’t any openings.’
I aimed for the unprotected gaps in his armor with my mana saber, and he immediately counterattacked aggressively. It was clear he intended to take a hit if it meant splitting me in half with his blade.
However, his ferocity only played into my plans.
I released my mana saber and grabbed his wrist with both hands, twisting it sharply. Sensing his wrist might get severed, he instinctively dropped his mana saber.
Kicking up the fallen mana saber with my knee, I caught it mid-air and slashed at his armguard.
Even with the low-grade saber, scratching against the mana-coated armor generated enough heat to turn it red-hot.
Victory was mine. If I had aimed slightly outward, I could’ve taken both his hands.
"You… You dare go easy on me, your senior?"
The senior gritted his teeth and threw aside his overheated armguard. He lunged at me again, but I wasn’t in the mood to show mercy twice.
No blood spilled. His wrist, seared black, simply dropped to the floor.
The agony etched across his face was almost pitiful. But such was the way of the knightly world.
Whether in the era of steel swords or mana sabers, knights were always the same—stubborn fools obsessed with proving themselves through their blades.
"Hah… That straight-laced friend of yours was right. The Order really is raising monsters."
"What’s the big deal? You’re the ones running a monster-handling operation here."
"You… shameless brat. I bet you’re here to take her away, aren’t you?"
Despite his pain, he was still trying to maintain his seniority.
"Since I’ve lost, I have no right to stop you. Take her. The rest of the knights have probably fled by now anyway."
I didn’t ask what would happen to his arm or whether he could recover. That wasn’t necessary. Such things were simply part of a knight’s life.
"Don’t worry about me."
While I dealt with the knights, Dane had been handling the mercenaries overseeing the monsters. By the time I looked over, the mercenaries had already been driven away, leaving Dane yawning in front of the iron cage.
‘So that’s how it is with mercenaries...’
When Dane had approached with his mana saber drawn, the mercenaries had just fled.
Of course, for mercenaries, their lives were their greatest asset. They wouldn’t risk death over loyalty. Still, from a knight’s perspective, such behavior seemed pathetic.
Pulling back the curtain that covered the cage, I reached out my hand.
Inside the cage, the Spider Princess huddled in a corner, waiting for me. I offered my hand to escort her out.
Escaping the capital through the underground market’s secret passages wasn’t difficult.
By gauging the position of the sun and the general layout of the city, I could navigate easily. If worst came to worst, I could always climb to the rooftops and jump across buildings.
That was no issue for me, and as a spider, the Spider Princess naturally had no trouble scaling walls. Even if the thieves’ guild were to pursue us, they wouldn’t be able to keep up.
Soon, we reached the edge of the Spider Forest. As if to welcome her return, giant spiders began to emerge, forming a circle around us while keeping me under watchful guard.
Letting go of her hand, which I had held tightly for her safety, I stepped back a few paces.
"Now, it’s time for you to go back."
According to the auctioneer, the queen had been captured and killed.
That meant the princess was no longer a mere princess. She was now destined to become the queen—the ruler of this Spider Forest.
If I didn’t return her, the forest would fall into chaos without a ruler, leaving room for other monsters to take over. That could disrupt the delicate balance of the ecosystem.
"Goodbye, my princess."
It was supposed to end there—with a simple, dramatic farewell. But…
I quietly returned Mollang to her waterskin and, just in case, secured the bottle to a spider web. I made sure the web was wrapped tightly around the lid, ensuring she couldn’t pop out and cause trouble.
Then, approaching the Spider Princess as she prepared to leave, I spoke again.
"Wait… Is this okay?"
Avoiding the spider half of her body as much as possible, I placed my hand gently around her waist. She blushed deeply and nodded.
Well… If she didn’t mind, then surely it was fine, right?