Chapter 356

355 Revival and Reunion #6

It was late at night when I finally returned to the graveyard and the temple site.

Tomorrow, I have a meeting with Nemea along with Elpride. I’m a little interested in what might happen, but at the same time, I feel a bit scared.

At least, I should rest tonight in the temple’s cabin.

“This thing is quite agile!”

Meoooww!!!

Contrary to my intention to have a peaceful rest, a bizarre fight was taking place in front of the altar at the temple.

A ridiculously huge white spider. And Antiope was darting around the spider’s front legs, stabbing it with her short spear.

So, this spider has reappeared.

I knew that this guy dug burrows somewhere in the graveyard near the temple and lived there but I had forgotten about it due to my busy schedule. Now, seeing it again, it was quite frightening.

However, Antiope was dodging the attacks of the monstrous spider without hesitation, despite it being about the size of a standard car.

Finally, she plunged her spear vigorously into the graveyard floor.

Spat-.

“Lightning!”

At the same moment, Antiope’s hand sparked with strange electricity that flowed from the spear embedded in the ground, spreading across the earth.

Zziiiiit, Zziiiiit-.

Even in the dark night, the sparks were shining brightly, flying wildly in all directions and finally surged towards the massive spider’s body, making it shiver.

Brrr, Brrr-.

The huge spider seemed to be in a stunned or paralyzed state, trembling and ceasing its movements.

Grrrr…!!

I wasn’t sure, but Antiope’s “million volts” seemed to be working quite well. Impressed by this scene, I forgot my fear of the spider and shouted at Antiope.

“Hey, get rid of this guy quickly!”

“Ah?”

It was then that Antiope noticed I had returned to the graveyard. Right when Antiope pulled her spear out of the ground.

…Mee, Meeooong…

Fsshh, Fsss, Fsshhh-.

The huge spider, shaking off its paralysis, dug into the ground again and disappeared back into the earth.

“It’s gone again!”

No matter how much I tried to dig around where the spider disappeared, this time the guy was completely out of sight.

Whatever this thing is, it really knows how to burrow. Could it have some kind of blessing of underground digging? Anyway, it was quite regretful to miss this perfect opportunity to drive the spider away.

To have to continue cohabiting with this strange creature underneath is frightening enough to keep me from sleeping. I felt like shouting or making some noise, just to relieve the tension.

“Arachnid, come out! This is my land!”

While I was wildly stomping my feet on the ground,

Ziiik-.

“Ah, finally, I can relax a bit.”

Antiope approached me, unzipping her leather suit down to just below her belly button.

“Why are you trying to chase away the spider? He’s a nice one.”

“This spider is nice?”

“Yeah, it helped us clean up the trash. It understands our words quite well, and that creature named Keng Keng seemed quite smart.”

Huh.

“Then why were you fighting?”

I glanced at Antiope’s body glowing under the moonlight.

Her leather suit was pulled down around her belly button, and her chest and skin looked quite smooth, glistening with sweat. Sweating this much must mean they fought a pretty intense battle.

“Because I’ve been feeling a little stiff lately. That spider said he would help me fight. There’s nothing better than a fight to loosen up!”

Taak, Taak-.

Antiope then flicked her fingers and sparked a flame in her pipe.

Not resting because her body was stiff, but fighting instead. At first, I thought she was talking nonsense, but then I realized she is, like Hippolyte, a daughter of the War God Mars.

Pheww-.

Then Antiope blew a thick fog of smoke towards me.

The somewhat pungent and sharp smell caused me to scrunch my nose. How dare she blow smoke at me, a non-smoker.

But the delinquent-like Antiope acted like it didn’t matter and rather frowned at me.

“But still, I’m a bit unsatisfied. Why are you chasing away a good guy?”

“Did I chase it away?”

“Yeah, Hassan, when you showed up, the spider ran away.”

That I scared off a ridiculously huge spider was something I never even imagined. Usually, it’s more likely the other way around.

Maybe it was scared of the red aura blade from last time.

I realized why the spider hadn’t shown itself to me for quite a while. It appears that the spider doesn’t show up when I’m around, but it does when I’m away.

Still, I was feeling a bit uneasy.

What if the spider suddenly jumps out from the ground and bites or captures my leg?

“Mr. Hassan, wouldn’t it be fine to let us keep it…?”

But then Paranoi says something extremely irritating from beside me.

“What do you mean by keep?”

“The hellish creature, the friend of the Hell Border Duke, the Argoliants Spider…”

“What spider?”

While I was confused by the long name, Antiope, with her arms crossed, added another comment nearby.

“No, that guy is a faithful subordinate of the Hellish Legion Commander Antiope, the Warrior Spider Gigant Spider.”

“Argoliant! As your senior, the junior must follow my words…!! And who said something about becoming the commander of the Hellish Legion…?”

It seems that while I was gone, both Antiope and Paranoi had already named this ridiculously huge spider in their own ways.

I started to fear that while I was away, those eight legs had somehow brainwashed their minds.

“Anyway, Mr. Hassan, wouldn’t it be fine if we take care of it? I’ll give it food, take it for walks, I’ll take care of everything…”

“But you couldn’t even bother to feed the small Keng Keng. You feed too much at once and then forget about it for days.”

“Th, That’s….”

Paranoi was quite flustered. I couldn’t help but see my younger sister in that behavior.

My younger sister also wanted to raise some cats, despite already having Spot the dog. She was apparently obsessed with the cat videos that were trending on YouTube.

But from what I know, she’s not the type to properly take care of animals.

I’m the one who has been taking Spot for walks, giving him food, and all that. If we bring in a cat, I would undoubtedly be the one responsible for feeding it, cleaning the litter box, and sweeping the hair off the floor.

My sister would likely just take cute pictures of the cat and post them with hashtags like “#withmycat” on Instagram or Facebook, without doing any of the tedious tasks.

That’s why our house decided against her idea of keeping a cat.

And now, seeing Paranoi reminds me of that time.

“You can’t even take care of something as small as Keng Keng; how do you plan to take care of such a big thing?”

“That’s something my junior, Antiope, can handle…!!”

“If you want, I’ll take care of it, and the name will be decided as the Warrior Spider Gigant Spider.”

“Ugh…!”

Just as Paranoi was struggling with internal contradictions,

Fsshh—

Suddenly, a small sound was felt from beneath the ground. I thought maybe the giant spider, annoyed by our loud talking, was coming back for revenge.

Mi, MiOONG…

A faint sound accompanied something that soon began to appear on the ground. It looked like metal, broken glass, and shiny aluminum foil among other random items.

What junk?

Collecting this kind of junk from underground and sending it up?

Does it think it’s feeding me trash?

Is it teasing me with this?

I couldn’t understand what the hidden giant spider was thinking. If Luna, who is fairly knowledgeable about spiders, was here, she might have explained what was going on.

But from the way it was pushing this garbage-like junk towards us, I couldn’t really sense any ill intent.

Then the memories of my sister wanting to keep a cat came back.

Cats bring mice, birds, insects, or junk to show affection and friendliness to their owners.

Could it be that the giant spider hiding underground is doing something similar?

I don’t know why the spider does this. Right at that moment, my brilliant dual-core brain quickly processed everything and came up with a peculiar conclusion.

Could it be that this spider had been watching me give away money to people for the past few days?

Seeing people happy after receiving money from me, this spider might’ve gathered coins or similar items from all over and brought them to show its gratitude, thinking that I would be happy?

Of course, this is just my speculation.

How could I possibly understand the thoughts and motives of a spider?

However, according to Fleur, this thing was supposed to be raised in the Ceres Temple in Sodomora, kind of like a white puppy.

Once it realized I have a close relationship with the Goddess Ceres, it occurred to me that it might not be such a bad creature after all.

“Mr. Hassan, with this giant spider around, there will be so much we can do…! It can pull carts, hunt in the forest…”

“And if the rumor spreads that such a magical creature is guarding the temple, the security around the temple will improve, reducing issues. It’s the same reason why there are griffins at the Jupiter Temple.”

“Are there really, really terrifying griffins at the Jupiter Temple…?”

“Yeah, griffins patrol the sky and the ground. Have you, as a senior, ever seen griffins?”

“Griffins are beasts that snatch nymphs with their strong legs; they’re nymph-hating creatures! So, Jupiter’s justice is corrupted…”

“But putting such terrifying magical creatures to guard the temple is effective, and you, as the senior, know this more than anyone, don’t you?”

“That’s true… I am both the Duke of Hell and the prophet who first uncovered Mr. Hassan’s thoroughly concealed identity… I know everything…”

“Even I took a little time to figure out his true identity. You’re really amazing!”

“But this amazing Paranoi says this big spider is necessary…”

Just moments ago, Paranoi and Antiope disagreed about the spider’s name but are now united in trying to persuade me.

Their arguments are somewhat reasonable.

Of course, we don’t know whether this thing will follow my control like we think, but I do have some talent as a druid. It might not be bad to use this opportunity to befriend animals.

With that, I picked up a piece of iron plate that seemed somewhat useful among the junk lying on the ground and said,

“Well, anyway, we’ll try living together for a while. This was originally his nest too.”

The night was deepening and I didn’t want to spend more time discussing the spider problem. Besides, deciding about keeping a pet isn’t something that should be done hastily.

Getting a pet is a serious matter requiring deep thought. Just like my sister, impulsively bringing a pet home on a whim could lead to some major regrets later.

Such people might abandon or mistreat animals, or even worse, throw them out, creating all kinds of serious situations. I certainly don’t want that.

So, I need to think this through.

“Then, tonight is done. Tomorrow’s Saturday, a rest day without worship, so everyone get plenty of rest. You can go ahead and end.”

As I saw the two moons brightly shining, I dismissed Antiope and Paranoi. Now, I should go back to Luna’s hut, give Keng Keng his food, and get some sleep.

Just as I was turning to leave with that thought, Paranoi and Antiope were following my back.

“Isn’t it time for you two to go rest?”

“I… I’m worried that Mr. Hassan might be lonely alone, so I’ll follow to keep you company…! Since Luna isn’t here, you’ll definitely be overwhelmed with loneliness…!”

Hmm, that Paranoi thinking so considerately makes me almost want to cry. Normally, I don’t shed tears easily.

Just then, Antiope continued,

“Senior gets scared sleeping in the temple’s office…”

“So?”

The office at the temple was an old, shabby hut left by the graveyard keeper. I assigned it to be Paranoi’s room or management office. It seems she was scared to sleep there.

Well, who would want to sleep in a graveyard, after all?

Eventually, Paranoi curled up on the soft carpet on the first floor of Luna’s hut and fell asleep quickly.

She seemed to be exhausted.

“So, Antiope, what are you doing here? Are you scared to sleep alone too?”

I was preparing to sleep, but Antiope’s lingering made me frown slightly. Why is she still here?

But Antiope said casually,

“What, didn’t we agree to loosen my body today?”

Ah, right. I agreed to give Antiope a massage today, but I totally forgot because of meeting Elpride and Nemea.

“Earlier, during the fight with the spider, my body didn’t loosen at all. Can I take a shower first?”

Antiope soon entered the shower and rustled-rustled off her clothes. When she appeared again, she was wearing a white gown that Luna liked to wear.

She seemed to have casually thrown it on from what was hanging in the shower.

Seeing Luna’s clothes on someone else felt quite strange. Somehow, it also made me feel somewhat guilty.

So, I followed Antiope upstairs to the second floor as she headed up.

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