Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Chapter 1979: Silk Thread

At the table, Kaelira turned the armguard beneath the window light. One of its overlapping plates had folded into the next, trapping dirt and a wad of pale webbing inside the joint.

She set her small tool beneath the bent edge.

"Quin, could you hold this plate clear while I loosen the strap?"

He came to the table and held the plate up by its edge. Kaelira loosened the leather beneath it and lifted the trapped webbing with her tool. Fine silk threads stretched between the bent pieces of metal.

"Spider silk," Quinlan said. "Or something very much like it."

Kaelira tilted the armguard toward him. "There’s quite a bit caught in here."

He looked from the webbing to Edric, who was rubbing his fingertips over the blanket again.

"Celia, I want to test something on your father. He may react strongly."

She looked back at her father. He hadn’t followed their conversation, and she smoothed the blanket beneath his restless hands while she considered it.

"As long as it might help him, please try."

Quinlan called Kitsara in.

The foxkin eyed her lover with excitement. "What is it, husband? Did you miss me so much that you couldn’t-"

"Please turn into a spider."

"-live a single moment longer without me... Wait, what?"

"Please turn into a spider."

"I heard you!! I don’t like spiders..."

"Please?"

"Haaah... What am I to do with you? To think you finally called on me-"

"Today, please," Aurora interjected.

"..." The foxy’s eyes narrowed. Then she scoffed. "Fine. What kind?"

"Just an average one. But perhaps make it bigger so he can see clearly."

"What I don’t do for my husband..." Kitsara crouched on the clear floor near the doorway, well away from his chair. With [Perfect Form], her body shrank and reshaped into a brown spider no larger than a dinner plate, eight jointed legs spread beneath her.

Edric’s eyes fixed on her.

"Off! Get it... get it off her!"

He recoiled into the chair and caught Celia’s sleeve, dragging her toward him.

Lucille supported Celia around the waist as Kitsara immediately returned to her foxkin form.

Quinlan sighed. "> <Yep...> Quinlan sighed. <We’re dealing with some kind of spider monster.>

He could hear a lot of wincing on the other side of his link. His girls might’ve been the most amazing of warrioresses, but that didn’t mean they were immune to the shortfalls of womanhood, such as having an unnatural distaste for spiders.

Though, to be fair to them, a few did not care one bit.

"I always knew spiders were freaky as fuck, but isn’t this-"

"You can leave now, dear." Lucille addressed Kitsara from beside Celia. Her tone, however, was anything but accommodating. The Slutty Foxy was ordered to abdicate the premises.

"Okay." Kitsara slipped outside before her damned husband could decide to test other spider forms using his loving, utterly adorable, cute and gorgeous, loyal beyond reason, wife.

"She’s gone, Father. Look, she’s gone."

Celia kept speaking while Seraphiel crouched within his sight.

"You’re at home," Sera told him gently. "Your daughter’s here with you."

His breath came in gasps. Celia held his hand against her sleeve until his grip began to ease, and nobody asked him another question.

"Had to... cut..."

Celia leaned closer to hear him.

"Couldn’t get... her loose. Still... moving."

Her eyes rose to Seraphiel’s face. The elf stayed beside them while Edric’s fingers loosened, then helped Celia free her sleeve.

"That’s enough for today," Sera said softly.

Quinlan agreed. Kaelira wrapped the armguard with the webbing still caught inside it, and Aurora gathered the treatment notes while they gave Celia time with her father.

They spoke in the kitchen while the neighbour took her place beside his chair.

"Does that mean somebody’s alive?" Celia asked.

"I don’t know, Celia," Seraphiel answered. "Even if some were alive back then, days have passed since."

"I understand..." Celia pressed her hands over her mouth. Lucille drew her against her shoulder, and the young woman finally let herself cry.

Quinlan left them together and stepped into the courtyard. When Seraphiel joined him, he put an arm around her waist, drawing her close.

"You alright?"

"Yeah..." She bit her lips in frustration. "I just wish I could do more."

"You gave a desperate daughter hope where all other healers fed her desperation. You did plenty already."

"...That’s one way to look at it, I suppose..." Sera rested against his chest for a moment. Celia had gone back to her father’s chair and was telling her neighbour what they had found. Through the open door, Quinlan could see Edric listening quietly beside them.

They walked farther into the courtyard to join the others, leaving the doorway clear for Celia and her neighbour. Once they were away from the house, the elf looked up at Quinlan, her nose wrinkling.

"An entire nest of spiders...? Ugh."

Kitsara edged closer on his other side, rubbing her arms.

"Quinnie... Is it too late to choose another quest?"

"You were just a spider."

"Yes, and I hated every moment of it. I need to scrub myself off."

"Sure. [Water Jet]."

Quinlan pointed at the hissy foxkin, sending a broad gush of water over her head. He kept the pressure gentle enough that she barely swayed, but her indignant squeal carried across the courtyard.

"Kyaah!"

Her white hair fell over her face in wet curtains. Behind her, five magnificent tails sagged into dripping ropes of fur, and water ran from her clothes onto the paving.

Kitsara stood with her mouth open while he lowered his hand.

She slowly parted the hair covering her eyes. The betrayal in those red depths was immense.

"I turned into a fucking spider for you."

Sera pressed a hand over her mouth, but the laugh escaped through her fingers anyway. Ayame leaned against her shoulder, giggling at the drenched foxkin’s expression.

"You said you wanted a wash," Quinlan replied.

"You absolute bastard! I’ll make you pay!"

Kitsara lunged for his casting hand. In response, he sent another shower for her.

"Pfft! Stop! I’ll bite you!"

She swiped wet hair out of her mouth and reached for his wrist again. Quinlan lifted his hand beyond her grasp, grinning as the water followed her across the paving.

"If you don’t stop, I’m turning into a man for a whole year!"

The water stopped before she finished drawing breath.

Kitsara blinked up at him. His hand had dropped to his side.

"A year?" Serika laughed. "You wouldn’t last a day without climbing into his bed."

Sera looked from the dripping foxkin to Quinlan’s suddenly rigid posture.

"Quin... You believed her?"

"No. But I don’t want to see her try. Not even for a fucking second."

The sheer disgust in his voice set them laughing again. Kitsara glanced down at herself, then back at his face, her wet ears beginning to lift.

"I’ll tell on you when I meet your mothers..."

She stepped forward and wrapped both arms around him. Her soaked hair slapped against his neck while her wet clothes pressed against his front.

"Bastard... Why must I love you so much?"

Quinlan accepted the embrace without a word.

With the check-up done, it was time for Unbound to begin their first proper expedition into Thalorind’s new continent!