I went to work under the watchful eyes of the three nearby elves. I placed my pedipalps, fangs, and third set of legs in the dirt and vibrated them while dragging them. It felt good to have something to do to take my mind off of things for a bit. We’d likely talk a lot more soon enough, but right now, I couldn’t be happier.

I grinned as I left my father scratching his head at how effective I was at this. At the same time, Cellestra was talking with my mother. It seemed they were getting along well.

Keelarin tried to get back to work, but with just the hoe, he wasn’t getting much done compared to me. He quickly gave up and decided to walk alongside me to talk some more.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” He said. “Why did you decide to become a knight? I wouldn't have expected that.”

“Neither would I,” I said with a sigh. “The truth is, at first, I only did it to get out of that damn orphanage.”

“That bad?” Keelarin said, his tone unusually soft.

I nodded. “The worst years in my life.” I shook my head. “After that, I found a certain solace in being able to help others which grew into a desire to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. I didn’t want what happened to me to happen to anyone else. That’s also what killed me in the end...”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. There wasn’t anything you could do. We just didn’t have the finances to enlist more guards. Speaking of, how are you doing here, in this new world?”

“New world?” My father asked in obvious confusion.

“Oh, I guess I forgot to tell you. This is a different world than the one we died in. I got the feeling Elysa hand-picked this place for its relative safety and prosperity. Everything I’ve seen so far points to that.”

“Different world…” He whispered as he looked up to the sky. “I never would have known. Elysa sure did a number on us, didn’t she?”

I nodded. “She said that I should tell you myself what I wanted you to know and not, but I won’t hold anything back from you.”

“I appreciate that. There’s something we need to tell you as well, but I’m not sure when would be the right time.“

“Whatever it is, I’m sure it will be fine. Just tell me when you’re ready.”

Keelarin nodded. 

“I’ll probably talk to Elysa again soon,” I said. “There’s still unfinished business when it comes to Hograd, plus I may have set things in motion down south.” I shook my head. “There’s not much I can do about that now. I’d like to stay here, but I just… can’t. There’s so much I’ll have to take care of. This blessing is such a hassle.”

“It’s okay. You’ve got your own life now,” My father said. “It is not our right to interfere with that.”

“Thanks… It’s just… I finally met you again, you know?”

He nodded. “To answer your earlier question, we’re doing fine financially. We have everything we need to survive and are able to save up some as well. Hopefully, one day, we’ll be able to have a farm of our own.”

“...Again,” I added.

“Again,” Keelarin confirmed.

We reached the edge of the field and turned around to till the next lines. Cellestra was still talking with my mother in the distance as we made our way back towards them.

“Cellestra and I will attempt to join the dungeon exploration guild. There is one here, right?”

My father nodded.

“We’ll probably do that tomorrow. We still need to find a place to sleep tonight as well.”

“I know it sounds wrong for me to suggest this to my own daughter, but we have space in a warehouse if you want. I’m afraid I can’t offer a bed when you’re… all grown up so to say.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, my size has been an issue more than once. Things were easier back when I could walk on Cellestra’s hands in that regard.” I smiled as I thought back to that time. “But we can’t stay near civilization for too long due to Cellesta’s… ailment.”

“What kind of ailment?”

“Uhm, you’ve seen her eyes, right? She basically absorbed a bunch of dungeon magic which affects the wildlife around her. Animals tend to converge on her location and go into a frenzy, attacking anyone that is not her with unbridled ferocity and total disregard for their own lives.”

“That sounds… inconvenient.”

I shook my head. “She’s had her fair deal of issues as well. She was exiled for that and ended up living with someone that taught her magic in a small cabin in the middle of a forest. It was by chance that I met her. Some damn hawk picked me up after I had a leg blown off and one severed at the halfway point by some spell.” I sighed. “I was sure I was going to die at first, but after a long struggle, I managed to wound it enough to crash into the ground next to Cellestra’s house. I was knocked out, probably because of the wounds and pain and when I next woke up, I found myself in a terrarium in her cabin.”

My father shook his head. It was obvious he couldn’t even fathom in the slightest what that must have been like.

“Sorry, I’m trailing off there...” I paused for a second. “But yeah, I’ll help you out with the field and then I think we’ll look for a place to sleep in the forest or something. Might even be a good idea to notify Soranir about it too.”

I looked over to where I’d last seen Selleron but cursed in my mind to see that he’d already left. I should have relayed this information to him…

I reckoned sleeping in the forest without anyone knowing who I was, was probably a bad idea. Depending on how many adventurers were out there, it could turn out problematic. Perhaps we should just spend this one night next to the shrine again, before looking for a more… permanent accommodation.

“Thank you for your offer, though. I really appreciate it,” I said, referring to the option of sleeping in the barn.

“It’s the least I could do. Tell me though, how did you communicate with Cellestra when you were… you know?”

I chuckled. “At first, I couldn’t even understand what she said. I had to acquire an ability through my blessing that allowed me to comprehend the elven language in this world. Come to think of it, you speak this world’s elven language. Apparently, it’s different than our old world.”

“Do we?” Keelarin asked with a frown. “That’s odd. I wouldn’t know.”

“Guess Elysa is to blame for that. It’s not a big deal, though.” I smiled as I kept plowing the field. “As for how we communicated…. after I got the ability to understand her, it started with a book. I pointed at letters in them to spell out words. She later created several pieces of paper and wrote letters on them to speed up the spelling process significantly. Looking back at it, it was quite funny.”

“Just imagining that, it does sound funny, in a way...”

“Well, you know, the worst part about being a spider was that with the info I was given, I was afraid I would stay a spider. An enormous one, but still, a spider. Back then, I had no idea that this was what I would become. I’ll admit, I was worried sick about it.”

“I don’t know what to say at that. You didn’t know until you became this?”

I shook my head. “I lived knowing that at some point I would be able to talk, but I never expected this. When I woke up like this, I was… overjoyed.”

“You mentioned this blessing and abilities… do you mind showing us some things?” My father asked, the spark of curiosity strong in his eyes.

I smiled widely. “Sure.”

I tossed a flurry of spells into the field as if it were a show. I started with an ice lance, followed by a high-velocity ice lance. At that point, Cellestra and Lilinia turned to see what was going on. I continued with a fireball and then forced an earthen spike to erupt from the dirt. After that, I hurled an elemental blast which exploded and sent a good amount of dust into the air from the dry dirt. I then summoned a small cyclone of fire that circled twice before dissipating. I finished by throwing a few different types of venom bolts.

“Back in my old life, I was only able to use a barrier spell and some minor weapon enhancement magic. It’s fulfilling to have a wide arsenal like this. My strongest spell, or at least, in my opinion, it’s the strongest one, can’t even be used. I need a target for it.”

“I don’t foresee any trouble joining the guild with that kind of power,” My father said. “That’s insane.”

I nodded. “And I intend to put it all to good use.”