Chapter 20: Reunion with the Spider Princess (2)

  If "what if" bees "as expected," what should one say?

  The merary immediately flipped over the body of the oldest harpy, who was screaming with a vicious expression. Using her cloaca, he ied his arm up to the forearm—not in a sexual way, but like a veterinarian, forcibly stimuting her egg sac.

  "…This is insane..."

  Dane's mouth hung open as he watched the unimaginable se, and I too stared in shock. The merary wasn't particurly aroused but was meically stimuting the harpy's lower abdomen, where her egg sac was, to induce oviposition.

  "Screee... Screeeee!"

  Even a monster with low intelligence would feel humiliated being forcibly stimuted to y eggs in front of a crowd.

  The eldest harpy, her face buried in her wihers, ehe humiliation and pain of this forced act. The other two younger harpies trembled in fear as they watched.

  "We’ve caught it. I’ll pull it out soon."

  "Did you hear that? They said it will begin ying eggs soon!"

  The crowd erupted into cheers at the annou. Shortly after, the merary ied his other arm, using both to reato the harpy's cloaca.

  "Alright, got it!"

  "Screee! Screeeeee!"

  Amid the harpy's desperate cries, the merary forcefully expanded her cload finally pulled out a rge egg from within.

  "Wooooooo!"

  When the egg, drenched in the harpy's bodily fluids, was revealed, the aueer accepted it and held it high to dispy to the audience.

  "And here it is! Freshly id harpy eggs—starting at just 500,000 gold!"

  **‘500,000 gold?!’**

  To me, 500,000 gold was an astronomical amount of money.

  And that was just the starting bid—within moments, the price soared past 700,000 gold.

  "Wow…"

  While 700,000 gold was a rge sum, it wasirely unattainable. However, it was undoubtedly an excessive price to pay for a single harpy.

  "1,000,000 gold! But I want to see if the others y eggs too."

  "Yes, we have a bid of 1,000,000 gold. Does anyone else wish to verify whether the other ties also y eggs?"

  The audience roared in agreement, their enthusiasm siing enough to make Dane and I shake our heads in disgust.

  "How is this… not illegal?"

  "It’s not illegal."

  Strictly speaking, harpies are cssified as monsters.

  Though they resemble humans, their low intelligend simplistiimalistic biology categorize them as monsters. If they were to attack humans violently, extermination orders would be issued against them.

  Thus, no matter what was doo these monsters, there were no legal sequences.

  "But Dane, something's been b me..."

  "The person in the fourth row, farthest left?"

  "Yeah. They look familiar, don't they?"

  "Yeah, they do. Weren't they one of our training barracks seniors?"

  Aside from that person, a few other former members of the Magiight Order were scattered throughout the venue, perf security duties.

  **‘Damn… Has the Magiight Order fallen this far?’**

  These weren’t actual knights but trainees who had dropped out and joined private knight panies instead.

  "W in a pce like this… Do they have no pride?"

  "Exactly. They might as well have joihe Holy Knight Order."

  For Dao pare them unfavorably to the Holy Knight Order was no small insult.

  **‘Let’s check the yout.’**

  As a precaution against potential cshes, I sed the area, noting the positions of the other knights and meraries. Meanwhile, the au tio heat up.

  "And now, the fifth item! A warrior from the taur , the st survivor of the Grasswind Tribe! Who among you will tract this valiant warrior with no pce left to return to?"

  **‘These bastards… They're meticulous.’**

  For transas that might otherwise cross legal lihey had devised a way to skirt the w by presenting the merdise as having voluntarily entered into merary tracts.

  If a taur warrior cimed to have sold themselves as a merary to serve a master, there was no legal ground to intervene.

  "Ban. This is…"

  "It’s legal."

  It seemed the w was always more advantageous to vilins.

  Good people didn’t o skirt the w, so they didn’t bother to uand its intricacies. But vilins, bang on the edges of legality, exploited it to its fullest.

  **‘This is bad.’**

  At this rate, the Magiight Order wouldn’t have any justification to raid this sve market.

  The operation was hidden in a dangerous, dimly lit area, but that could easily be excused as a necessary security measure. As long as they cimed to sell monsters discreetly to avoid public disfort, their activities would be overlooked.

  No matter how brutally harpies or other monsters were treated, no legal a could be taken against them.

  After all, the kingdom's ws were desigo protect humans, demi-humans, and other intelligent races, but not monsters.

  "And now, the final item of the night!"

  The aueer's voice cracked, but his annou still echoed powerfully across the venue.

  "The item everyone has been waiting for!"

  Uhe previous rounds, this time, the product resented first. A steel cage was brought onto the stage, and the aueer deliberately built suspense, letting the audience’s anticipation mount.

  "As you all know, there exists a dangerous pce called the Spider Forest."

  **‘Spider Forest…?’**

  "Until now, no one has successfully ehe Spider Forest and survived."

  The aueer gestured dramatically toward the knights stationed around the venue.

  "However! Retly, through their efforts and valor, these individuals have successfully quered the Spider Forest, eliminating all the colossal spiders that once ruled it and bringing back the spoils of war!"

  Upon hearing this, I instinctively rose from my seat.

  ‘No way…!’

  "This noble spe, caught only with the bined efforts of these veteran knights, is being aued for the first time in history!"

  The aueer, with tears streaming down his face as if overwhelmed by emotion, tinued his grand procmation.

  "To obtain this product, tless knights id down their lives, many being food for the spiders. Yet, we succeeded in quering it!"

  At the aueer’s dramatic signal, meraries pulled back the curtain that cealed a rge iron cage.

  "And now, behold... the Arae!"

  * * *

  "Ah!"

  I gasped unsciously, though my voice was lost in the collective excmations of the audience.

  Ihe cage was someone familiar to me—the Arae Princess.

  Her spider legs, specifically two of the joints, were twisted, rendering her uo stand properly. She cowered against the edge of the cage, trembling with fear.

  Despite her current dition, I immediately reized her as the same Arae Princess I had entered during my training.

  ‘So, that’s what happened!’

  While I was captured and ter escaped with the help of Erin and the other trainee knights, tless giant spiders were defeated. This must have left a gap in the Spider Forest’s defenses.

  The operators of this sve au, whether by eticulous research, seized that opportunity and uheir raid, successfully subjugating the forest.

  "Kririk…"

  Terrified, she tried to retreat to the farthest er of the cage, but in the small space, there was nowhere for her to hide.

  "Although we regrettably failed to capture the queen, we mao secure this young Arae spe!"

  “She’s hiding in the cage, and it’s hard to see her properly. I’d like a closer look.”

  At the words of an elderly gentleman, the aueer gestured to a merary. One of them ehe cage, intending t the Arae Princess out.

  "Kirik…"

  “Get out here, you damn spider!”

  Crack!

  “Kiiiiiik!”

  When she hesitated to emerge, trembling with fear, the merary lost patiend kicked one of her already-injured legs with his leather boot. Screaming in pain, the Arae Princess scrambled out of the cage.

  Now, the attention of nearly 200 spectators was entirely focused on her.

  "She is still a young spe. Furthermore, her aggression is low, and her carapace is soft, making her suitable even for recreational purposes."

  To emphasize his point, the meraries prodded her chest with long wooden sticks, drivio a er.

  "Additionally, Arae venom has aphrodisiac effects. Properly extracted, it be used to create potent stimunts or aphrodisiacs."

  Several alchemists among the audience had their eyes gleaming with i.

  "If supplied with the right mates, she is at a prime age for reprodu, boasting high fertility. You could easily create an army of spiders in no time!"

  At this, the eyes of some collectors and nobles lit up with greed.

  "Such a perfect product starts at the modest price of 10 millio’s begin the bidding!"

  "15 million!"

  "20 million!"

  As the shouts of bidders, driven by their desires, echoed through the room, I stood still, silently watg the Arae Princess.

  Her damaged legs wobbled, barely holding her weight, and she crouched low to the ground. The sight filled me with a mix of emotions—anger, sympathy, and guilt.

  Was it pity for her pitiful situation, being separated from her family and sold alone?

  Or perhaps it was the memory of her reag out to me desperately during my escape, a moment that still weighed on my sce?

  "Ba’s leave."

  "..."

  Dane pced a hand on my shoulder, seemingly having cluded there was nothing more to be gained here. I agreed with his judgment.

  Returning to the training grounds to report that these individuals operated just within the bounds of the w was our duty as trainee knights.

  But...

  "Kirik..."

  From within the darkness, amidst the crowd of people, she found me.

  Just as she had back then, wheended her hand toward me while I was fleeing from the Arae Queen and the giant spiders.

  The princess was reag out to me once more.

  "...Damn it."

  How could I leave after seeing this?

  "Ban?"

  "Dane. you head ba your own?"

  "What? What are you pnning to—"

  "It’s nothing major."

  I quietly retrieved an unmarked, unofficial mana saber from my belongings.

  "I’m just going to act like a knight for the first time in a while."

  For my Spider Princess.

  AnnouA Special Thank You!:

  I want to extend my deepest gratitude to [Fitzgibbon], for supp me on Patreon!

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