Reject Humanity, Return to Monke

The trip to the Arachne village with the two sisters wasn't one steeped in silence like the trip to the Alraune Village, now known as Florein Village. Instead, our trip was lively, with a few conversations and banter between me and Qhandi, the arachne, a surprisingly laid-back type of character.

I liked that kind of character a lot more than those who always act skittish around me. I ain't the head of a company that is hellbent on making his employees work harder for the sake of the company. No, instead, I'm more of a boss who likes his employees having fun and being loyal for the sake of a company.

After all, fun and loyalty is better than fear and domination. The former can have fewer implications since the employees would happily serve you, while the latter would increase the possibility of the employees rising up to remove you from your high pedestal.

Plus, I'm not the kind of guy to rule with fear. Sure, I may have strong-armed monsters to relocate to my Dungeon, but look at them now. They are well-fed, well-clothed, well-sheltered, and happy with their current lives.

Some others, however, still hold a grudge against me, and I don't hold it against them.. After all, I literally coerced them to come and live here so they could serve as the workforce, but I also gave out equal compensation, so most of them stayed quiet, and some of them have also transferred from the grudge-filled hate towards me, to loyalty and respect.

Anyway, enough of that discussion about employees and management. Right now, me and Qhandi were discussing how I was going to improve the livelihood of everybody inside my Dungeon.

The truth of the matter is that I haven't thought of it that far. I scratched my chin and gave Qhandi a rather sheepish look, while Qhithish was still hanging from my back as her spider legs clung to my body, humming up a little tune which I found cute.

"Haven't really thought of it that far." I said while patting one of Qhithish's spider legs, causing her to jerk it back a little, before relaxing to my touch. The texture of her leg felt smooth, not rugged or hairy like some other spider species like I thought it would. "Though, I still have some plans to add to the monster town, like some more advanced technology, but that's still far in the future."

"Hmm…" Qhandi looked at me with a perplexed gaze, before she snapped her fingers and regarded me with her curious look once more. "How about the Alraune Village and my village?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. You all are also included in my advancement plan." I gave her a smile, which Qhandi returned with one of her own. "I'll give you all a sneak peak as to what I mean. You know that there are also humans and demi-humans that live in my Dungeon, right?"

Qhandi nodded and opened her mouth to speak. "It was somewhere beyond the monster town if I'm correct. The back gate, right?"

"Right you are." I nodded back, with Qhithish tilting her head curiously as a strand of fur made itself known to her face. She brought her hand towards the strand of hair and began playing with it.

The strand of hair looks like an ahoge in anime. You know, the giant strand of hair that kept on poking out of an anime character's head, preferably female, for no apparent reason.

That's what Qhithish was playing right now. I had no idea I had an ahoge, but I'll just chalk it up to not owning a mirror.

I looked up, and her gaze followed the ahoge down to her chest. Chuckling lightly at the sight of the cute arachne following the strand of hair, I booped her in the nose, surprising her as she looked at my face with a confused expression, before her face became bright red due to embarrassment.

Beside me, Qhandi let out a snort at the now blushing arachne, all of her eight eyes looking anywhere and everywhere but my face.

We continued like that, with both me and Qhandi discussing some more but unimportant topics, and a few minutes later, we finally arrived at their village.

"Well, here we are. Hope it isn't too creepy to look at from an outsider's point of view." Her words rang true as everywhere I looked, huts made of wood came into view, with all of them having giant spiderwebs as their main decoration or furniture.

Truth be told, I was a little creeped out by it, but I didn't have arachnophobia, so it wasn't anything too anxiety inducing.

"Not at all, at least some pesky insects wouldn't be abundant in this area… Such as flies and mosquitoes…" I grumbled the last part under my breath, my memories filling up with the times I got bitten by a mosquito and my skin getting itchy, which was annoying as hell.

"Wonderful!" Qhandi smiled as she heard the words coming out of my mouth. She then approached me and gave a tug at the younger arachne clinging on my back like a leech. "Anyway, come now, Qhith. We still need to deliver these to the storage room."

Qhithish refused to let go, her spider legs and human arms clinging to my body even harder as she brought my head to her still budding chest.

"No! Big hairy monster is warm… Like pillow but better!" I had to suppress a laugh as the face of one Qhandi morphed into shock, then horror as she heard the words that came out of her younger sister's mouth.

"Q-Qhith!" She screamed out, but that was followed by laughter, which snapped her out of her distressed emotional state. Looking at me laughing with confusion, she tilted her head as I continued to laugh for a few seconds.

Arachnes around us looked at me funny, then realized that I was the Dungeon Master, stopping all they were doing as they looked at me, laughing my ass off.

Once my laughter died down, I patted the young arachnes head and pried her off gently from my body. Her spider body hung in the air limply as her legs remained still in the air.

"Now, Qhithish, if you want to use me as a pillow, all you have to do is ask." I smiled at the young arachne, who then furiously blushed crimson as her gaze looked down at the ground, her eyes refusing to meet mine.

Such a bold youngster, but incredibly shy when embarrassed.

I put her down, her legs touching the ground for the first time ever since she climbed up on my back and claimed me as some kind of body pillow, her gaze still refusing to meet mine as she looked down on the ground.

I patted her head, causing her to tense, before she relaxed once more and looked at me with a sheepish smile, her blush still visible in my eyes.

"But I have something important to do now, so go with your sister and finish your job." I stopped patting the young arachne and shrugged. "If you do so, I will not hesitate to carry you on my back once more."

The moment she heard my words, she beamed and looked at her sister with pleading eyes.

"Big sis! Let's go!" Qhithish rushed up towards her still confused sister, and, with strength I didn't know a child could possess, straight up dragged Qhandi towards the direction of the storage room.

At least, I assume it was the direction of the storage room…

I cleared my throat, once more getting the attention of the other arachnes who were a little shocked at the display of the two sisters.

"Can anyone of you please call Aratella? I have some important topics to discuss with her." My words reverberated across the crowd of arachnes of about 9, before one of them turned around and rushed inside a building which was much bigger than the rest of the huts.

Moments later, Aratella emerged from the hut looking like she was prepared for something grim. From what I could tell of her expression, I assume that she thought that I was displeased with her and her village, which was a far cry from what I had experienced with the two sisters today.

I wonder what the arachne, a male, fed her with the moment he stepped inside Aratella's hut.

She approached me with determined steps, however, a huge contrast to her grim expression. The rest of the arachnes dispersed the moment her eyes landed on each and everyone of them, her determined, chittering steps moving her body right in front of me.

"Shall we discuss this in private, Dungeon Master Jionni?" Aratella said this with no hidden emotion. I cocked my eyebrow upwards, a bit intrigued by the actions Aratella was giving me.

"Sure, not like the public hearing our discussion would be any problem, but alright, let's speak in private." I agreed with her request, her face turning grimmer and grimmer every time a word exited my mouth. "I assume we will be talking in your hut?"

"You assume correctly, Dungeon Master Jionni." Aratella nodded and guided me to her private hut.

Inside my mind, I wondered… Why does she look like the world is ending for her?