Swapped Souls

Chapter 8.1 - First Quest - part 1.1

As if answering the happy young girl near her, the spider leaned down her gigantic head and gently rubbed Meryda's arm, making her laugh. "Hahaha! You even have hair on your head, and it tickles so much! What are you guys doing in this forest? Are you a couple?"

The other spider walked slowly around the still scared group and joined Meryda and the other spider, and while clacking the pincers, the spider nodded her enormous head a few times, then pointed with one pointy claw to Pof Grinun's sword, then to a scar she had on her left side, and then pointed to the deep forest around them.

Meryda tilted her head while caressing one leg of both spiders and asked, "You mean someone attacked you, and you hid in this forest? Is that it? And you have been living in this forest ever since?"

The green Fae approached Meryda and said while tapping the head of one spider, "We believe they were living somewhere else, but they had to escape from where they used to live because a group or an army attacked them. They have a few minor scars and burns, so someone probably attacked them with spears, arrows, and Magic. That is strange because people usually collect the webs they leave behind or the webs from where spiders make their nests. After all, spider webs are useful for making strong fabrics to be used underneath armour or to make ropes. Attacking and trying to kill a spider is normally a last resort because they are more valuable alive. Perhaps a Noble or a merchant wanted to arrest them and use them as web providers? Some rich people like to do that. Instead of buying a web on the market, it is more profitable to have a spider in a cell, making webs. It is sad because spiders that are captured live the rest of their lives in a dark cell, being fed, and only making webs as a distraction."

"But... Why kill a spider instead of only capturing it? You said sometimes people try to kill them."

"That is because the tips of a spider's leg and their pincers can be used to make weapons. Arrow tips, daggers, or spear tips, for instance. There are sometimes Quests in Guilds asking for spider materials such as these."

Tetil Stog, the usual cheerful Demi-Lamia girl, said with her face completely pale, "Meryda... Those are Gigantic Spiders... They are deadly, and people are their usual food source. They also eat any animal or bird they can catch, which is why your Bone Boars are so apprehensive. I know they often fight for territory, and like spiders kill and eat Bone Boars, sometimes Bone Boars also eat Gigantic Spiders. And be careful with their pincers, will you? They have poison there."

Meryda called the two boars to join her and the spiders, and with a faint glow around her, she told them, "I don't want to see any fighting among any of you, okay? I suppose since they don't have anywhere else to live, and before an Adventurer finds out they are hiding here and tries to kill them, it is better if they go with us to my farm. What do you guys think? I hope they can help us on the farm, like defending the farm against Monsters that try to kill the little Bone Boars we now have there."

While the two Bone Boars were looking at the spiders, deciding what to do, Meryda faced the curious big spiders and warned them, "As for you two, if you want to go with me and live on my farm, you must promise me you won't attack any Bone Boar, including their offspring, or the Fur Cows that we have there. You can't also attack my horse, the chickens, or the pigs. There is a big forest at the back of my farm, so you can hunt there for animals or Monsters."

As if it were answering, one spider made a small ball of web and gave it to Meryda while clacking its pincers. The smiling Fae said while pointing at the ball of web that Meryda was holding, "They seem to be saying they can pay you with this for their stay. Gigantic Spiders, unlike what most people think, are extremely intelligent Monsters. A bit smarter than Bone Boars, actually."

With a big smile, Meryda hugged the enormous heads of each spider, and from behind her, Pof Grinun asked, "Meryda... You want these guys to go with us now? Spiders are..."