The Green Devil

---

“BOOOOOOIINNNGG!!”

A green, long, and lanky monster let out an incredibly depressing war cry and attacked me.

Though it might looked unimpressive, this monster was apparently considered quite high-ranked, even feared and named by the locals as the ‘Green Pole Devil’.

It can bend its tough yet flexible body to absorb 60% of the physical damage it receives.

Its level is only around 40-50, lower than me, and it doesn’t really have any troublesome attack skill, so the monster isn’t a threat to me… but due to its nature, defeating it takes a long time.

If only I could leverage its weakness to fire, I’d only need one shot… The only reason why I couldn’t was that the monster would get burned, and I wouldn’t be able to use it as materials.

“Mmmm… Grrrr… S-So annoying… You’re just a freaking green bamboo!”

That’s right. The monster that’s been rampaging and swinging its long body in front of me was officially called the ‘Bamboo Devil’. It looked exactly like a bamboo tree…

Long time no see.

I am Arakura Shiori (25), the overpowered half-human half-spider monster Arachne.

In this world, I would be called the owner of Arachne Tailor, Shiori Arachne, instead.

By the way, it’s been one year since I reincarnated in Falyias, the world where I’m currently living in, so I added 1 to my age in the self introduction.

If I round it off, I’d be stepping into the 30-year-old threshold.

Well, I’d be barely 1 year old if I’m counting by the number of years since I’ve reincarnated in this world, though.

And if you ask me why I’m fighting with this bamboo monster…

…Well, um…

I wanted an ‘earpick’.

Furthermore, I wanted the bamboo type, similar to those sold in Japan.

Apparently, the concept of ‘tools for cleaning ears’ didn’t exist in this world, so I had no choice but to shave some random stick of wood to make an earpick… but I just couldn’t get it right.

Looks like I really do need to use some kind of material with the characteristic pliancy of bamboo… The wooden earpick felt sort of hard.

And so, I tried to ask the customers visiting my store to see if there’s a way to purchase some bamboo… but apparently, they can’t be found in the markets around this area.

Bamboo does exist, but they only grow in a place far east, across the ocean.

And I can’t afford to leave the shop empty for several days for just an earpick… Just when I was racking my brain over the problem, a repeat customer of my shop, Ronica the magician, told me some welcoming news.

“Bamboos themselves don’t grow here, but within the category of plant monsters, there is a type of bamboo monster, you know? Well, not only are they quite powerful, they only drop ‘bamboo’ when killed, so no adventurers bother with them.”

When I asked her for the exact location, surprisingly, it was in the nearby ‘Forest of the Tree King’. If I skip over there in Arachne form, it’d only take 2 days for a round trip.

There’s no reason to not go! And so, I aimed for a regular holiday, when the shop is closed, to leave for the forest.

“Boyoyoingggg!!”

… I just didn’t expect the monster to be making me feel so tired.

The Bamboo Devil swung its branches, as thick as a person’s wrist, to attack me from all directions while letting out that depressing shriek.

Looking at how big its branches were, I could easily guess the size of its real body.

It’s so big I couldn’t even see the top even when I looked up.

While throwing out a few casual slashes of my hand to parry its attacks, I jumped forward to get into close range with the Bamboo Devil.

This has gotten way too troublesome now. I decided to use a finishing move, even if it resulted in less usable materials.

“Arrrghh, just die already… 4 Strikes Combo!!”

The claws growing out of my lower body – my spider body – minced the Bamboo Devil’s torso as if slicing through thin air.

*clack!* *klaklaklak!*

Seems like the Bamboo Devil’s physical damage reduction has finally reached the limit. With the four-hit combo from my claws, a large rip immediately appeared on the monster.

“Boinnnggg…”

The Bamboo Devil let out a final shriek and fell down.

Its scream didn’t feel like something a dying creature would make at all, but that’s probably just my imagination.

“Haaahhh… I should have done this right from the start. Actually, don’t I only need enough material for an earpick?… With the size of this thing, just 1% of its undamaged body would have been enough…”

Well, having a reserve of materials is never a bad thing.

If I ever want to, I could begin selling bamboo products, starting from earpicks. Bamboo helmets, bamboo armor, bamboo shields…

Different from normal bamboo, the materials I acquired have a lot of magic inside them, so they’ll probably make for some pretty good quality armor.

…Wait a minute? I heard that you can only get normal bamboo from Bamboo Devils. This is weird.

“Hmmm… Activate [Tactile ThreadSensor Web]”

I felt like this monster was quite a lot stronger than what I’ve heard, so I decided to use [Tactile ThreadSensor Web] to recheck just in case.

—–

King Bamboo

LV 85

HP 0 (Max 4555)

MP 0 (Max 300)

Acquired Skills

Physical Resistance (Large)

Blunt Weapon Resistance (Small)

Flurry

Photosynthesis (Slightly Auto-Heal HP)

A plant-monster subtype, bamboo species.

Lord of the Bamboo Devils.

Due to the skill Physical Resistance (Large), which has the effect of reducing physical damage by over 90%, its physical endurance is even better than the Demon King.

On the other hand, it has no resistance to magic at all, which is the reason why its juvenile form – a bamboo shoot – are often eaten by the lower-rank monster Flame Boar.

—–

…Huh?

Lord of the Bamboo Devils?

King Bamboo?

…So it was a boss monster… over 90% physical damage reduction. No wonder it was so tough.

Hahhh, so tired…

※

Right, so after getting high-rank materials for nothing, I picked myself back up, returned to the road, and ran full speed back home to my store during the night.

I made sure to return to my human form before entering the village, of course.

It might have been night, but in the village, you can’t be sure if someone’s looking.

“Well then, let’s get on with it.”

I took some monarch bamboo, the material taken from the King Bamboo, out from the bag of holding, then used my right hand’s nails to cut the bamboo into appropriately-sized slices.

Next, I split the slices vertically into sticks the size of chopsticks… The next step is just shaving, shaving, and more shaving.

*Krrrpkrrp*.

*Krrrpkrrpkrrp*.

*Krrpkrrpkrrpkrrpkrrp*…

I made one side of the earpick’s body flat, for a better grip.

The spoon part of the pick was shaved as thin as possible, which helps it clean easier. It’s also spring-shaped to make it gentler on the ear.

I took extra care on the end of the pick to make a smooth curve, since this part will be directly touching sensitive skin.

Don’t underestimate it just because it’s an earpick!

In the end, after trying and failing twice, I finally managed to shave the third pick into the ideal shape.

I used my threadsArachne Silk to make that white, fluffy ball that looks like a pom-pom – the official name for it is bonten, apparently – then used adhesive threads to glue it on the earpick.

And finally. I used my nails to carve some healing runes on the body of the pick and enchanted it.

This was only possible because the material wasn’t just normal bamboo, but monarch bamboo taken from the King Bamboo… This normal earpick turned into a type of magical tool, so to speak.

Hahahah, now I no longer need to worry about hurting my ears due to picking them for too long!

　※

The next day.

With the completion of the supreme earpick, I immediately tried it out at the store counter.

“Auhhh… uff… this is… really nice… “

Mmm, this felt much better than I expected.

I knew it, earpicks just HAVE to be made from bamboo.

“Nnn… Nnnnn…”

“Shiori… What’s with that sexy voice?”

Oh my, I didn’t notice that a customer has arrived.

When I turned my eyes toward owner of the voice, standing there was a young woman with chestnut hair.

She’s one of my repeat customers, the magician Ronica.

I unwittingly got too into picking my ears and didn’t notice her coming in.

“Ah, miss Ronica. Welcome. Ehee, sorry for showing you that…”

“No, I didn’t really mind… What’s that?”

“Aaah! I’ve been thinking about giving you my thanks, Ronica! Thanks to your information, I got my hands on some bamboo.”

“Aaaah… I see, so that thing is made out of bamboo… What is it used for?”

Ronica played with the earpick with a curious look.

“This thing is, in fact… a tool used to clean the inside of your ears.”

“Mm? Don’t you just use your fingers to scrape out the earwax?”

“This thing can clean deeper than fingers can. And it feels good too, you know? Do you want to try?”

“Eh… That stick goes inside my ears? Kinda scary. I feel like I’ll poke my ears out if I do it myself…”

“Hmm. Then how about I do it for you? Here, if you could just lie down and put your head on my thigh…”

“Eh, you mean… A l-l-l-lap pillow from the lovely Shiori?!”

Suddenly, Ronica jumped forward and asked me with a face as serious as it gets, her cheeks flushed.

Wait, too close! Your face is too close!

“Y-Yeah, we can sit on the raised floor over there, so…”

“It’s all good! I’m fine with wherever as long as I get a lap pillow from Shiori! It’s worth sacrificing an eardrum or two!”

How rude. I’m not that bad.

I may not look like it, but in my past life, I’m already experienced in cleaning my little brother and sister’s ears.

“Yes, well then, put your head here…”

“Waaaa… Shiori’s lap pillow…”

“Hey, don’t grope around! My hand’s going to slip!”

“Even better!”

After lightly hitting Ronica’s hands, which were fondling the back of my hips, I immediately got to cleaning her ears.

…Huh.

Whoa… Eww…

I already knew this world didn’t have the culture of ear cleaning, but this is terrible.

This is truly worth cleaning.

“IlluminationLight.”

First off, I enchanted the spell IlluminationLight onto the tip of the earpick.

The light helped a lot in checking the inside of her ears.

Next, I wound some more adhesive threads onto the earpick.

This was to preventing the earwax that I scraped off from falling back inside.

With the preparations complete, I began to carefully clean up Ronica’s ears.

*scritch* *scratch*…

“Hyaah?!”

Ronica’s body nearly jumped off my lap.

Whoops, that was dangerous… I secretly used a bit of my threads to bind her.

“It’s dangerous to move, so try to bear with it, oka~y?”

“Y-Yeah…”

With that sentence, she should be convinced that the reason her body’s not moving was because she’s keeping herself still.

Right, let’s continue.

*scratchy* *scratch*…

“Haaauh!”

*scritch* *scratch*…

“Hiiii!”

*scratch* *scratch* *scratchy* *scratch*…

“A~h… hahhh…”

Oooh, what a haul.

The earwax has already hardened into the shape of the earhole.

I stuck the earpick into it and carefully scraped it out.

*scratch*……*sssssscratch*.

“Ahhaauhn! Wa… Wait… Wait a minute…”

“Not wai~ting! Ah, there’s another big one here. *scratchy scratchy*…”

“Ahhh… aaaahh… hiii…”

Around 20 minutes later.

After getting both ears violated by me, Ronica’s whole body got flushed, with a bit of sweat sticking on her skin… she’s almost hyperventilating, even.

Next, the final finishing touches.

I slightly inserted the puffy part of the earpick, the bonten, into her ears, tapping and rubbing the inside…

As Ronica was already exhausted, she couldn’t even make a sound, but her body was twitching with what I thought was a face of happiness, so let’s just consider this a win. Yeah.

※

One month later.

Even though it’s not yet opening hours, but there’s already a long, long line of people in front of the Arachne Tailor since early morning.

After that day, Ronica kept on coming to the store and begged me for some ear cleaning again and again. Because of her glowing reviews, I decided to turn it into an official service for the store.

—–

Ear cleaning service, done on a lap pillow by the owner with all of her heart.

(For the first 5 customers with a purchase of over 1 silver coin)

*Only on the first 3 days of every week.

—–

…And with that piece of paper stuck on the door…

The news quickly spread thanks to Ronica’s reviews, and the line got longer with every passing day.

…Or rather, is it fine for the hero and the crown prince and the ex-demon lord to line up together?

Well, sales shot up and I earned a whole lot more, so I didn’t have any reason to complain.

---

As usual, below are stats of the item created:

—–

Earpick [Emperor Bamboo]

Type: Earpick with bonten

Attack Power 0

Basic Stats Dexterity +1

Passive Healing Effect 3%

Can use the spell [Light, cleanse my bodyClean Body] 5 times per day.

The user may feel some slight pleasure as a side effect of healing magic being cast on the ears.

---

1. This thing.

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Siren – Second Part

---

※

This wasn’t a ship with sails, but a golem ship.

A golem ship… Truly the kind of naval vessel you would find in a fantasy world.

By appearance, it looked similar to a paddle steamer.

Instead of an internal combustion engine, it used a golem to drive the paddle wheel.

Paddle golems themselves used the mana of the spellcasters as energy, so this ship also had several magicians on board to serve as mana suppliers.

By nature, golem engine ships weren’t suitable for long distance fishing or long voyages, but it looked like people usually use them for sailing across shorter distances.

Since the ships didn’t have masts and those other stuffs, the deck felt quite spacious.

Right in the middle of that wide deck, Harn was unveiling his beautiful voice, his pride and joy.

“Aaah, beautiful goddess Kagura. Thou tamed the sacred white beast and sliced apart the ferocious demon of the underworld. And in the end, light filled the land, and hope was returned to the people…”

Apparently, the song that he was singing while accompanying himself with music was based on this world’s mythology.

I can’t deny that it’s quite a clichéd story, but his voice was undeniably beautiful.

He’s completely different from the frivolous man that he was, just moments ago.

The listeners around him were enraptured by his singing, their faces flushed.

The story finally passed the climax, and it ended with goddess Kagura returning to heaven.

And just as it ended, the deck exploded in cheers and applause.

Everyone was throwing offerings non-stop into the donation box put in front of Harn…

“How is it? Quite good, don’t you think?”

Waiting until the listeners scattered, Harn brought the box full of tips to where I was, watching him a little distance away, and showed it to me.

Mostly small and medium copper coins, but considering how many there were, it’s quite the haul.

“Yes, your singing was lovely… Harn, do you always work on passenger ships like this?”

“Ah, naah… this singing is more like a side job kind of thing. My real occupation is an adventurer of the Adventurer’s AssociationGuild.”

“…Wait, so you were an adventurer. Isn’t it quite rare for a bard to be an adventurer?”

“Mm, not exactly. Since a bard travels from town to town, they work together well with the adventurer’s association, which has branch offices in every town… And you need some amount of fighting ability if you’re going to travel alone anyway.”

“I seeeee… So this time, you’re here on this ship because of a job or something similar?”

“Mmmm… Well… Sort of…… Don’t spread this around, ok? Actually…”

Looks like Harn wasn’t someone with very tight lips.

Well, it’s not like I know if he’s obligated to keep the adventurer’s association’s secrets or not.

According to that blabbermouth Harn, recently, ships passing through this area have been constantly getting stranded.

Luckily, no one died and there were only injured people, but according to the results of investigating the damage…

A lot of people mentioned hearing a strange song before the ship got stranded in their testimonies.

Judging from that, it’s likely that the cause of the strandings was some sort of singing aquatic monster, like a merrow¹ or siren. And from that conclusion, the association decided to make a request to a bard who can neutralize hypnotic songs, like Harn.

“If that’s true, shouldn’t they stop sending ships out?”

“They can’t do that. Shuren island is a large supplier of magic crystals. Even if trade between the island and the mainland ceases for just 3 days, there’ll be a much too large impact on the islanders and the town of Jiza…”

“Then maybe change the route?”

“They don’t even know where in the route the incidents happened in the first place. One of my duties this time is to find that out.”

“…I see. The request you received wasn’t to defeat the aquatic monsters.”

“…There’s no way I can manage to do that alone.”

I see, no wonder.

“So, what do those merrows or sirens thingy look like?”

“Mmm… Well, first off, both of them are beautiful women with the lower body of a fish. The difference is that merrows manipulate the weather to sink ships, while sirens use their songs to manipulate the sailors to have the ship run aground… so this time, it’s highly likely that sirens were the culprits.”

Hmph. As someone who has the lower body of a spider, I suppose this was where I should show my sympathy… But leaving that aside.

“Lower half of a fish… You mean, like that?”

Around 50 meters ahead and starboard of the ship, a single human floated on the ocean with the lower body half submerged.

Her skin was tinted blue, but she certainly looked like an extremely beautiful woman.

Her long blue hair swayed along with the waves, and I could see something like fins where a normal person’s ears would be.

And once in awhile, *splash*, a large fish tail slapped the water surface.

“Yeah, yeah, exactly like… Whaaaaaaaa?!”

Looks like that was a bulls-eye.

Flustered, Harn took out his harp.

“Ummm, n-neutralization song…”

*ting* *tllling*

Harn began to play his harp even while panicking, but at almost the same time, the water monster began to sing with a voice like the sound of a glass harp.

*Ptwitttlrillllllllriii…tweetwweetwee…*

As the aquatic monster’s song echoed throughout the sea, the song’s magic began to force the ship to deviate from its course.

Looked like it’s stronger than Harn’s neutralization song.

“Grrr… That’s quite some power there, siren, but how about this?!”

*tingtlingting…* *twangggg…*

Harn put more strength into his performance… Beads of sweat formed, crowding his forehead.

And his effort wasn’t in vain. The ship slowly turned back to the right course…

“Hah, haha… How about it, don’t underestimate the power of a bard’s spellsong…”

“Wow, you really are amazing!”

“Of course, right? Right?”

“Ah, but…”

“Hmm?”

“…There’s more of them now, you know?”

“…For real?”

Adding to the first siren, another five showed their upper bodies above the water and joined the fray.

A solo performance turned into a concert.

*Ptwittttwiiiiitlrillllllllriii…tweetwweetweetweeetweetwetwettwee…*

“Waaaarghhhh! Like hell I can neutralize this!!”

“Ahh… Yeah, this really is too much.”

The moment the sirens’ songs harmonized, I could feel the magic inside their singing increased by more than an order of magnitude.

The ship was getting further and further away from its planned course.

Just one person’s ability was certainly not enough to repel their singing.

… If that person was a human, that is.

“Hey, what’s that voice?”

“Sounds beautiful… but sad, somehow.”

“…Hey, look! Over there!”

“Monsters?!”

“They’re sirens! Monsters leading ships astray!”

Whoops, this is bad.

Looked like the other passengers have also discovered them.

The deck began to get crowded, chaotic.

“Hey, at this rate… we’re going to get shipwrecked…”

“So the recent frequent strandings were because of sirens?!”

“H-Hey, sailors! Do something!!”

“We might still make it if we escape on the boats now…”

“There aren’t enough boats for that… or rather, will that song let us go even if we get on the boats?!”

Yeaaah, at this rate, everyone’s going to panic, and worst case scenario, someone might even try to jump off the ship…

No other choice.

“Harn, please stop playing for a bit.”

“W-What silliness are you spouting, miss? … The ship is already going way off track as it is!”

“I have something I want to try. It’ll probably work.”

“… Tch, if nothing changes, at this rate we’re going to lose anyway… Got it, I don’t know what you’re going to do… but try it.”

“Mmm. Right, then…”

*swish*. I took the aforementioned shamisen out of the bag.

I might not have the tortoiseshell, but otherwise, the shamisen was made with all the best rare materials, and I even enchanted it with magic… If I were to give it a name, it would be a ‘Magical Shamisen’.

“H-Hey… That instrument… What the hell is it? I’ve never seen such a shape before… but more importantly, I don’t know if it’s magic or demonic power or something, but it’s giving off some crazy vibe… Just what was it made of?”

“Mmm… Nothing special. And it’s still incomplete, anyway. The body was made from Sword Wood, Stampede Beasts’ fangs, and Firefoxes’ skins… The string is Arachne Silk, I guess.”

“… That’s plenty special already. With all that rare materials, no wonder it’s giving off that devillish aura.”

Streams of sweat ran down from Harn’s forehead. Maybe he’s nervous due to the shamisen’s aura.

“So, are you going to play a neutralization song on that?”

“No… As you would expect, I’m not so omnipotent as to have learned any of the bard’s skills.”

“Then, what are you going to do…?”

“Since sirens themselves sing, I think they should be really sensitive to songs and music, right?”

“Huh? Yeah… Well… From what I’ve heard, there have been cases where they got attracted to a normal song, played without using skills, and approached the performer… At least, such reports exist.”

Then this might work.

I didn’t have any skill to sing or perform spellsongs, but I do have [Charm].

Combine this with the music and the singing…

*peng!* *prreng!*

The sound of the shamisen, which has pretty much transformed into a cursed magical tool already, cut through the ocean waves to reach the sirens.

“In the midst of the o~cean, flowers of camellia~a… Bloom red, unflinching from the waves…” *prrreng*

I sang a song about a fisherman who lost his life at sea, and his sons who followed his footsteps…

This song, Flower Ship, is one of my favourites.

I sang with the best vibrato voice I can, pouring all of my soul into it.

In my opinion, while there can be any number of good songs throughout the whole world, nothing can beat the style of enka in terms of conveying emotions within a song.

Especially when the songs are about loneliness, sadness, sorrow, honor, human love, and the likes.

“Cutting through the wa~ves… Braving through the storms…” *prrengpeng*

Before I knew it, the sirens have quieted down.

Even though they got closer to the ship, they didn’t seem to plan on singing the hypnotic song again any time soon.

“Once again, heading for the sea~… Flower ship of the so~ul…”

With the vibrato coming to a climax, I let myself be carried by the flow and finished the song… And then, after a delayed moment, a rain of applauses fell upon me.

The passengers, who were just moments ago panicking, applauded with tears streaming down their cheeks.

And they’re not the only ones moved. The sirens were crying too.

*Piiikkyurliiii…*

Let’s see… you’re saying that it’s the first time you’ve heard such a heartrendingly sad song?

*Ptryulli. Krkrkrrrrurr… Kyurrrli.*

“Nyahahah, you flatter me. I see, you girls also have it quite rough… That’s why you called the ships?”

*Kyurrllii…*

“Yeah, in the end it just led to ships getting stranded. I’ll need you to stop doing that, learn from your mistakes.”

“Uh… Excuse me?”

“Mmm, what’s up, Harn?”

“… Are you conversing with the sirens?”

Ah. Shoot.

I just talked to them without thinking much about it, but that was because I’m also a monster, specifically an Arachne… Normal people shouldn’t be able to understand their speech.

“Y-Yeah, magic! I have an enchanted ring that allows me to talk with monsters!”

I raised my hand and showed him the silver ring on my middle finger.

In actuality, the ring was enchanted with the spell [Light, cleanse my bodyClean Body].

“Ah, yeah… I see. So what did they say?”

“Mm. Looks like they weren’t intending on getting the ships stranded.”

“Hahhhh? No way they weren’t…”

“In fact, they were looking for help. They used to live in the Dead Ocean region, but then the Kaiser Archelon attacked their nest and chased them out. Since then, whenever they spotted a ship with some powerful-looking human on it, they would use their songs to guide the ships towards their nest, but it seems like the path would cut through a reefy region full of rocks…”

“And so, the end result was that the ships got stranded, is it?”

“That’s right.”

“Aaaah… But… If that’s true… Then probably even S-rank adventurers wouldn’t be able to deal with it, yeah? That monstrous Kaiser Archelon can reach over 20 meters in length. It’s already difficult enough even if we fight it on land, but this time the battlefield is the ocean.”

“Yes, which is why I’ll try to convince the sirens to move to another ocean area.”

“Aaah… No other choice, I guess… Sorry about this, can I request you to handle the problem instead?”

“Leave it to me… In return, can you ask the captain to give me one of the small boats on this ship?”

“Yeah, you’ll need a mean of transportation for guiding the sirens too… Got it, I’ll go ask.”

Moments later.

Seemed like the captain was quite averse to the idea of sending a girl alone off on a boat, but after I convinced him by showing how obedient the sirens are to me (to be precise, by having them perform something like a dolphin performance), I finally acquired the boat.

“Listen, don’t try to do anything over your ability, got it? Return to the ship immediately after you finished guiding the sirens.”

“Yes, don’t worry. I’m not going to do anything over my ability.”

“Alright… I’m leaving this to you, Shiori.”

“Yes. By~e!”

As the sailors and passengers sent me off with grim faces, the boat carried me away from the ship together with the sirens.

To those people, I probably looked like a brave girl sacrificing herself to save the passengers, without any fear for her own life.

But they got it completely wrong.

Just like I promised Harn, I totally did not have any intention to overreach myself.

I simply coincidentally encountered the Kaiser Archelon while guiding the sirens, then luckily managed to defeat it, acquired its materials, the Kaiser Tortoiseshell, and safely returned to the ship after about an hour.

Yup, 100% honest, no lies.

… I did feel a bit guilty when the sailors hugged me with tears in their eyes when I got back, though.

Ah, by the way, after that, when I used the Kaiser Archelon’s meat in a collagen hotpot and ate it, I also got skills like [Underwater Movement I], [Water Cannon], [Expanded Lungs II], [Intimidate Aquatic Creatures], [Increased Physical Defense – Large], and some others.

Mr. Turtle was truly very generous. The end.

---

Author’s notes:

The whole shell of the Kaiser Archelon was indeed too large to carry along even while using the magical bag, so after Shiori took the necessary parts, she asked the sirens to keep the remains for her.

Also, the lyrics sung to the sirens in this chapter does not actually exist. Though I did use a real song as the model… or to be more precise, I mimicked the atmosphere of the song.

As usual, below are stats of Shiori’s products:

——

Shamisen [Songdancer – Enhanced]

Type: Shamisen (Medium Neck)

Attack Power 0

Basic Stats Intelligence +1

Basic Stats Charm +1

Mental Status Effects Resistance +30%

Damage Received from Sound Attacks Reduced by 50%

Bonus to Musical Performances +50%

Bonus to Singing +30%

Bonus to Chanting (Chanting Failure Rate -50%)

When performing, the performer’s music and singing can reach any location within 1 kilometer.

Kaiser Archelon Pick

Attack Power 69

Critical Rate +30%

Bonus to Performances with Stringed Instruments +30%

---

Footnotes:
1. Merrows are mermaid/mermen in Irish folklore.

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Siren – First Part

---

The stagecoach shook and rattled.

My butt jumped off the floor and slammed back down whenever the carriage hit a bump.

Man, humans really are amazing. How can they handle this sort of transportation without even breaking a sweat?

If I were a normal human being, I think my butt would have been in pieces by now. Totally.

Yes, welcome back. The spider monster womanArachne, Arakura Shiori (24), is here.

And if you can remember me as the owner of Arachne Tailor, Shiori Arachne, I would be very much honored.

To speak of my whereabouts, currently, I am on the path leading to the port city, Jiza. To be precise, I’m inside of the stagecoach going there.

For a stagecoach with a capacity of 8 passengers, it was quite empty. Aside from me, there’s only a pair of mother and daughter, plus a man in his thirties.

Of the mother-daughter pair, the girl looked to be around 7 years old. Perhaps because she’s not used to the horrible shaking of the carriage, she seemed extremely distressed, and it wouldn’t be surprising if she started crying at any moment now.

“Mom… Mommy… My butt huuuuurtsss…”

“Endure it. Weren’t you the one who wanted to go to the town?”

“B-Buuuut… Uuuu…”

Her eyes were pretty much flooded already.

True, this carriage was shaking terribly. It’s a bit too rough for children, I think.

I did want to help somehow… but I didn’t have any springs or rubber tires.

If there were at least some cushions… Ah, wait.

I did have them. Cushions.

I put my hand inside the large hemp bag that I’m using to carry around my musical instrument, and started to create threads from my fingertips.

I granted the threads some viscosity, then wove them into a fine sheet of fabric.

Next, I knitted the cloth into the shape of a bag, then shrunk the bag’s opening.

Viscous threads would harden and turn into a material similar to rubber after some ten-odd seconds or so. When they do, my air cushion will be finished.

One disadvantage is that the threads I create from my fingers don’t last for very long.

After a month, its composition will change, and the fabric will deteriorate.

Well, it’s just for the duration of the ride anyway. There shouldn’t be a problem.

The threads I create from my butt can last for quite a long time… In fact, it seems like they won’t degrade even after several hundred years, so if the cushion I made here is well received, I’ll think about adding it to my line of products.

First, let’s see how the little girl like my test prototype.

“…Excuse me. If you don’t mind, please try using this.”

I pretended to take my home-made air cushion out from the bag as if it has always been there, and give it to the mother.

“Thank you, umm, what is this?”

“Yes, this is a prototype for one of our store’s products. First, you’ll need to blow air into it.”

*Pfffffff*… When the girl saw me using all my strength to inflate the cushion, her eyes lit up.

“Waaaaa!! What’s that?! Looks funny!!”

“This thing is, *pfffff*… supposed to be like this… *pfffff*… And done!”

Once the bag filled up with air, I tied up the opening to finish the job. It looked like a thick seat cushion that’s about to burst.

“Here, this is for you. Put it under your seat.”

“Y-Yes… Like this?”

“Right, that’s it. How is it?”

“… Amazing, it doesn’t hurt at all! Mommy, this is really fluffy!”

“… My, my… No air escapes this bag at all… J-Just what is this made of?”

Alright. The girl’s mood got better instantly, so I could consider this a success for now.

“Excuse me, umm, can we really have this…?”

“Yes, please take it as an advertising gift, since this is the prototype for a new product of our store. I think this cushion will only last for around a month, but the official product should last for years.”

“Store…?”

“I’m sorry for my belated introduction. I am Shiori Arachne, owner of the Arachne Tailor.”

“Oh my… That recently famous shop…? Which reminds me, I’ve heard people said that a girl who looks just like an angel is running that store!”

“A-Angel…”

It wouldn’t be a problem if I were an actual kid, but mentally I’m an adult woman.

Anyone would feel embarrassed if people told them they’re an angel, and I’m no exception.

“Oh? Miss, I thought you were a bard like me. Turns out I was wrong.”

The man in his thirties talked to me.

The good-looking lady-killer with brown hair was wearing some slightly gaudy clothes colored red-white, and in his hands was a harp.

“There, that thing peeking out of the bag. I haven’t seen anything like it before, but it’s a stringed instrument, right? I was convinced that you were also in the same trade as me.”

“Aaahh… You’re talking about this shami-… this instrument? It’s just something like a hobby to me…”

“Hobby?”

“Well, something like that.”

While giving some vague reply to the bard, I recalled the happenings of last night.

“Aaaaaaaaahhh… Nothing to dooooo…”

I unintentionally let slip a complaint while lying on the bed.

My work is going well, so normally I don’t have any free time…

But the problem is that I have nothing to do during the holidays, or when I close my shop for the day.

Since this world doesn’t have BL… ahem, light novels or television or the internet.

When I’m not working, I have absolutely no way to pass the time.

“So something to do beside those things… Karaoke? Yeah, that’s a no go…”

Hmm, what’s next?

A hobby that I was doing back in that world that I can also do here would be… embroidery… but I’m doing that as my work now.

A long time ago, I did learn to play some Japanese traditional instrument for a little while… But this world doesn’t have those instruments.

“Hmm? If it doesn’t exist, can’t I just make it…? Luckily, I can use my threads as the strings… Hmmm…”

Once the idea popped up, I immediately got to work.

I jumped right off the bed and grabbed some materials from the storeroom that looked like they might be useful.

“If I remember correctly, the neck and body was made from the slightly hard type of narra wood, I think…? Then let’s use some fully grown Sword Wood… Ivory for the string winders? …  The fangs from a Stampede Beast should work as a replacement. The bridge and the pick would be made from… tortoiseshell… turtles, is it… Adamantite Turtle materials… oh, I’m out of that. No wonder, I don’t often go hunt aquatic monsters. So for the time being, let’s use some hard wood… Rosewood would do… Then I’ll think about the shell once I get them, yeah. Next is the skin. I think it’s normally made from skins of a small animal like a dog or cat, was it? Then the skin of a Firefox should be fine.”

I voiced my decisions on the construction of the instrument out loud, while using my claws to cut and shave the materials at the same time.

Just like always, my sticky threads worked perfectly fine as an adhesive, and the creation of the instrument went quickly.

Possibly because I was absorbed in the work, two hours went by in a blink of an eye, and this traditional Japanese stringed instrument with a long neck and a slightly small body – a shamisen – was almost complete.

“And finally, stringing it up. A shamisen’s string is made from multiple threads of silk, so my threadArachne silk is exactly the best material to use… And done!”

Well, it’s not like I ever made a shamisen back in my old world… I only learned to play it as a hobby, so what I created was only a ‘shamisen-ish thing’.

It’s probably good enough to pass the time with.

And so, I got right to it and played a few songs.

Personally, instead of those performances specifically written for the shamisen, I actually prefer enka, so let’s begin with enka songs such as Kita 〇 Yado kara or Tsugaru Kaikyou Fuyu〇shiki!

.

.

.

.

.

.

Whoa!

I completely lost track of time.

It was in the evening when I began making the shamisen.

And right now, dawn was already breaking.

Which mean I pretty much played and sang throughout the night.

The sound-proof barrier covering this work room is always active, so I probably didn’t annoy any of my neighbors…

Oh man, enka really is nice. That unique sort of vibrato¹ just sends shivers down my spine.

But, yeah… I really wanted to use tortoiseshell for the pick and those other parts.

Perhaps because I used good materials, but this shamisen-ish thing almost managed to replicate the sound of an actual shamisen, even though I just made up the design as I went.

Which just made it all the more frustrating!

If only I could make the bridge and the pick out of tortoiseshell, just how much better would it sound?!

Once that thought showed up in my mind, I could no longer sit still.

“Right, once morning comes, let’s go to the sea. There should be several species of turtle-type magical beasts living in the ocean.”

After hanging a ‘Temporarily Closed’ sign on the shop door, I began to make my preparations to go to the port town of Jiza.

…And that was why I’m currently being rocked back and forth inside of this stagecoach.

To be honest, running in Arachne form would be far faster, but doing that on the road in broad daylight is obviously out of the question.

“Hmmm, I was hoping you can perform a song for me, since I’ve never seen that instrument before… but it looks like we’ve already arrived at Jiza. Miss, do you have any business in town?”

The traveling bard guy’s eyes were sparkling with curiosity.

Yeah, just like a little kid’s.

Maybe because of his occupation as a bard?

“…No, after this, I plan on getting on a ship to Shuren island.”

The island of Shuren is about half as big as Japan’s Sadogashima².

There are constant ships going from Jiza to the island, and trade between the two is well developed.

…Of course, my objective lies between the town and the island, in an area of reef called the “Dead Ocean”, a holy site for oceanic monsters. My plan is to silently disappear from the ship mid-way through.

My destination is quite far from the path the ship takes, so I’ll have to swim for quite a distance, but I have no other choice. Ships can’t get inside this reef full of rocks.

The ship will just get stranded if it tries to force its way in.

“Oh, you too, miss? I’m also going to Shuren island. So we’ll be accompanying each other for a little while longer.”

“Yes, so it seems.”

“Well, let’s get along… My name is Harn. A traveling bard, Harn Trad.”

He smiled, showing rows of pure white teeth, and stretched out his hand.

When I gingerly grabbed it, he tightly squeezed my hand and gave me a few vigorous shake.

“S-Shiori Ara-rachne. S-Stop, bit my t-tongue!”

“Ah, whoops, sorry! So your name is Sshiori Ararachne then!”

“… It’s Shiori Arachne.”

“Oh, sorries. Shiori!”

“Aaaah… Well, nice to meet you, I guess.”

Looks like the world has forced a traveling companion upon me.

※

“Sis, thaaaaanks! ♪”

The destination of the pair of mother and daughter whom I’ve given the air cushion to was in Jiza, so they parted with us near the harbor.

Seemed like the girl really liked that cushion. She hugged it close to her chest, even when it was time for us to say goodbye, and energetically waved her hand. So cute.

Her mother also bowed to me repeatedly as they left.

“…Right, let’s get on the scheduled ship, miss. It should leave soon.”

“Indeed. The weather is good too, it seems today is a good day for a voyage.”

“…Yeah, it’ll be good if that was so.”

Harn didn’t look happy, somehow.
Perhaps there’s something weighing on his mind.

While occupied with thoughts about the bard, I followed him and got on the ship.

---

Footnotes:
1. A sort of quavering voice, often seen in enka.
2. Sadogashima is around 850 square kilometers, so half that.

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter