Negotiating With a Herbivorous Spider
I was amazed by their ecosystem, but my main goal was to find a monster to serve as Princess Annette’s bodyguard.
When I explained this to the spiders, they responded quite favorably.
(Hmm, a human child needing a bodyguard. Intriguing. But is this child in such danger that a monster must protect them?)
“Yes, well—”
“No need. I shall explain.”
“Oh, please do, Rumaja.”
Rumaja explained Princess Annette’s situation in detail, even sharing things I didn’t know.
It sounded like there had been some truly dangerous incidents.
Since the Kiblinki Saltas could use mind-reading, there was no point in lying—it had to be the truth.
It felt heartbreaking to think of a child enduring such peril.
(I see. So the child is truly cornered to this extent.)
“Indeed. For that reason, we plan to officially declare her ‘dead from illness’ and have her live in secret among the populace. But even so, there’s a high chance that assassins will target her. That’s why we’ve been seeking a monster capable of serving as her bodyguard.”
(Understood. We don’t condone allowing a child to live in hardship. We are willing to help. However, it would not be wise for us to do so without setting conditions. Let us propose a few terms.)
The spiders got straight to the point, much faster than I expected.
I had assumed they’d be reluctant, but they agreed surprisingly easily.
Still, it seemed there would be some conditions. I wondered what they might demand.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t be anything too difficult.
(First, we would like you to secure land for us.)
“Land, you say?”
(Indeed. The size of this cave limits how much we can cultivate. We ask for assistance in clearing a nearby forest and designating it as our new habitat.)
“Land… this area belongs to Marquis Vardmoi, doesn’t it?”
“That’s correct. But if you explain it’s for Princess Annette’s sake, the Marquis will likely agree. This place is so remote, only accessible by climbing a mountain. It’s not as if we’re asking for farmland already occupied by settlers. Handing over a mountain with nothing but monsters and beasts shouldn’t be a problem.”
That made sense.
Given the magnitude of our current requests, we could likely secure permission for this.
But if that was just the first condition, what else would they ask for?
(Second, we would like you to procure vegetable seeds for us.)
“Vegetable seeds? Not vegetables themselves?”
(We will grow the vegetables ourselves. However, acquiring seeds is quite difficult. In human society, seeds are widely available, are they not? We’d like you to obtain them for us.)
Hmm, that made sense.
In such a remote mountain, getting seeds would indeed be a challenge.
I could probably ask Marquis Vardmoi for help with this as well.
(And third, we’d like you to introduce us to the nearby village.)
“Introduce you?”
(We want to apologize for stealing their vegetables in the past. Also, we’d like to negotiate.)
“What kind of negotiation? Depending on the content, I may not grant permission,” Rumaja said, clearly cautious.
But the Kiblinki Saltas’s response was surprisingly peaceful.
(We wish to propose protecting the village from pests and other monsters in exchange for a small portion of their vegetables. We would like to openly enjoy the produce humans cultivate.)
What do you think about this chapter?
Jumping Spiders are generally non-hostile anyways. They attack intruders but are just curious little buggers in general. Black with white dot ones are in a decent chunk of north america and will just chill on a wall watching you until something tasty comes near em and gets eaten.
Had a small one hop on my monitor and start chasing the mouse around once, was funny as hell.