Rhonda exited her camp.

There was a large enough crawl space for her to slip through the concealment surrounding the site. Then she arranged a bush and a few fallen branches to hide the hole from view. She skipped around the twigs and traps set around her site before striding swiftly over to the meadow’s creek. It would be brimming with very fresh water after last night’s rain.

Her movements felt energetic and purposeful, especially since Basic Long Stride had become Greater Long Stride. She suspected that her stride could almost match a galloping horse, but this only worked outside combat. Unfortunately, she could not use the Quirk when she was in a fight, which was a damning limit on her movement. Still, she managed around the limit anyway by moving smarter rather than harder.

After a refreshing drink, she collected her morning breakfast. She liked to start with her veggies and fruits since her appetite had grown in variety. She thought it was quite proper of her to eat her greens.

Then she delighted herself on a buffet of grubs before transitioning to prey animals at a river a short walk away. She had developed an inescapable cage for fish for an extra source of protein.

This was just the start of things, of course. She soon went on her way to check her other traps to net her bigger, more satisfying game. They were farther away to separate her hunting grounds from her sleeping one.

It was a glorious day, too. Through the gaps in the forest canopy, Rhonda saw a bright blue sky empty of clouds. The birds were singing, and there was a nice east-bound breeze, which was very helpful because she was going west.

Rhonda would stop to take in vistas of sun-bathed meadows covered in vibrant flowers along the way to her first destination. Or she would crest a hill and view the rolling lands of Brogheim Southern Hills spread before her. When met with such views, Rhonda submerged herself into the moment by drawing deep, happy drafts of the cool, clean hill air. It was all so pleasant. Rhonda couldn’t help but smile throughout the experience, even after she moved on.

She was in such a serene state of mind she nearly missed the spiderweb that was leveled with her face.

That happened sometimes, but she had just enough awareness to stop fully before colliding with it. With a quick scan, Rhonda figured it was either a big yellow spider or a big death spider that set the web. Then she noticed something twitching to her left.

She turned to Identify it when a gasp escaped her mouth at the sight of a Lvl 34 King Butterfly. It… no… he was stuck on a web!

Rhonda blinked at the little creature. She watched closely to see if he would try to fight against his snare. He did not, but he also did not show signs of death. She could see the glint of life in his beady eyes. She almost felt he was looking directly at her, pleading for her aid.

“Could it be you, my liege?” Rhonda asked, wondering if this was the same King Butterfly from the start of her outdoor adventure.

Of course, the King Butterfly could not answer.

It was here that Rhonda felt the shameful burn of her decision to forgo Beast Whisperer. She could not communicate with the creature without it.

If she felt rather devious, she was confident that she could easily crush him if she wanted to despite his level. If she had been Super Huntress, she might’ve done it. Contrary to that horrid imagination, Rhonda felt a budding kinship with this little creature.

She did not have to think long to know she would help him!

Rhonda drew her knife and cut him free from his trappings. He dropped into her awaiting hand. The moment the remaining silk on the King’s body touched her palm, she felt the tingle of paralyzing magic. Yup, this was the work of a big yellow spider.

She could use one of her rib bones to extract the silk without harming the King carefully. She had extras in her satchel for delicate work such as this.

That did not mean she lost awareness of her environment. She had good enough experiences with creatures like big yellow spiders. She knew what to look for even when they were preparing to launch an ambush upon her.

Rather than look up, Rhonda glanced down to the ground, where speckles of sunbeams found their way through the treetops to reach the forest floor.

She noted an arrangement of shadows shaped peculiarly like one would shape a shadow puppet to pantomime a spider. The day-shadow shifted abruptly, and Rhonda responded in kind by punching upward.

She uppercutted the Lvl 25 Big Yellow Spider.

Its body was the size of her chest, and the legs were many times longer. The counter-strike bounced it away like it was a little ball.

The spider flipped end-over-end and smacked high against a tree bough. Icky spider blood oozed out of its sternum where her stalker claws had gouged it.

The Spider collapsed onto the ground. It thrashed around, suffering great pain, undoubtedly. When it got to its feet, it looked up to Rhonda with eyes that suggested that it was afraid of receiving further damage.

Rhonda glared down through her Stalker’s mask eyesockets, knowing how intimidating she would appear. She was a looming monster that could end the spider’s life in a blink. She knew she had grown powerful enough to overtake creatures that were in their mid-twenties quite easily.

“Flee, you,” said the giantess. “Or I’ll proceed to crush you under step, little spider.”

She did not need Beast Whisperer to get her message across. The spider scuttled away when it saw that the giantess was not pressing for the finish.

That was not the first time Rhonda spared such creatures. She supposed she found the spiders useful. She would nab tasty birds from their webbing while she avoided them. They became an essential component of her breakfast cycle near her campsite when their webs were ripe for her pickings.

As a fair trade, she would flick grubs onto their webs, leading to Rhonda and some spiders gaining from mutual coexistence. At least with the ones near her campsite.

Rhonda sighed, shaking her head. She recontinued her journey to her first major trap, but at a slower pace. She moved sufficiently without leaving tracks and paid close attention to the King. She procured a little bone from her satchel and intricately removed the paralyzing threads.

Seconds later, the King Butterfly stood again. He extended his wings and flapped them righteously. Then he fluttered upward, granting the giantess the honor to bask in his full majestic glory. He circled her head, galavanting merrily for the hero that had rescued the King until Rhonda reached up with her index finger.

The King took the gesture as an opportunity to settle down on the end of her finger. For that brief, wondrous moment, Rhonda felt enamored by the little being. He was all shimmering black and gold. When she looked closely, she could see sparkly dust falling from his wings when he flapped them. The ends of his antennas were fuzzy, which accentuated his cuteness⁠—although she dared not call the King cute aloud.

She could not help but draw the royal butterfly close to her face. With her other hand, she removed her Stalker’s mask and revealed her puckered lips.

It was a heart-pounding moment. She worried the King would be offended or frightened by the gesture of a giantess trying to kiss him. The last time she drew him close to her mouth, she had attempted to eat him. How would he take to full-size lips that could crush him if pressed down upon him.

The King stood bravely on her finger, rising to the challenge.

Rhonda clutched her mask against her thumping chest. For some fantastical reason, she imagined the King Butterfly would transform into a slight man of the utmost grace once she kissed him. Then she imagined him summoning a carriage big enough for her to ride in while speedy caterpillars pulled it. He would magic a fantastical dress of flowers and sunshine for her to wear and take her hand. Then he would guide her to a new wonderful adventure where she lived happily ever after.

It was a dreamy imagination.

Reality couldn’t compare.

“Mm.” Rhonda gave him the softest peck she could muster.

When she drew the King away, the royal creature dipped his face as if to tip an imaginary hat to her. Then he took to the air, circled down before her feet to genuflect for her, and then whisked away with the blowing of the wind.

Frankly speaking, the moment was quite exhilarating, but that didn’t really mean she was attracted to a mere butterfly. That was silly, of course. She knew his fairy-tale presence really drew her. He seemed to invite fantastical, childish ideation. Perhaps it was a magical power that belonged to the majestic creature. Something about him made him exceptionally charismatic... could a creature have high charisma?

Rhonda sighed.

She wished for the King Butterfly to return to her so she could continue basking in childhood dreams. Or to be further comforted by his wondrous presence while she proceeded with her day as she protected him from all threats. He was the only king version she had seen so far, and she knew he was the same King Butterfly she had met once already.

“Tis twice now we’ve been acquainted.” Rhonda slowly drew her mask back on. “It is only destiny that we shall meet thrice. Then you will be my companion, King Butterfly.”