Chapter 22 – A Spiders’ Future
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Did you think I wouldn't tell you what happens next to Kumo and her web? My dear reader, I would never do that to you. After all, unsolved plots are annoying and I can't do that. So let me tell you what happens next.

After a week, Kumo actually decided to go to Tempest. However, before she left, her two favorite spiders joined her. They wanted to come with her on their own. And Kumo was happy about it. Before she left, she thought about gifts! The gift Rimuru and Nemu brought her was something irreplaceable. She thought about this for a while but couldn't come up with something. But then she remembered something. When she first lost her web, there were humans talking about how valuable the threads were. So she decided to make her two little spiders carry two huge balls of her threads. Thats not child labor, isnt it? For her, the gift was nothing. It wasn't comparable to what she had gotten. But still, she wanted to give them something.

And so, they started their journey. After 70 long years she finally left her web again. It was... emotional for her. Excitement, curiosity and... fear were mixed together. But she didn't want to live like that any longer. It took them only a day to reach the road Nemu had talked about. It was something she had never seen before. She knew that humans used something like that. But not in the forest. It just wasn't possible to build something like that in an area with many monsters. The idea of paved roads was something interesting for her. For spiders, it didn't really matter. After all, they can move through the forest without slowing down no matter what obstacles there are. But she could see the advantages of roads. Not only could every race moves faster through the forest, they even could transport goods through it. Very convenient.

On their way, they met other races. In the beginning there weren't many. Most of them were orcs building the roads and later they saw goblins riding on wolves. Shocked at first that something like that is even possible, Kumo realized that they had the same look on their faces. Intelligent spiders and goblins on wolves? Something usual for them, something very special for the others. Some of them have drawn their weapons. But after Kumo showed them the rainbow slime, they sighed in relief. She was really surprised how everything worked out. There wasn't any doubt left as soon as they saw the slime. They even talked to her, where she came from, what she is doing here and she had to explain some things about her race. None of them have ever seen, or even heard about an Arachne before. And not only once. After all, an Arachne was a unique monster that only evolved every few hundred years. Well, that should change very soon. However, she did the same. Surprisingly, every time she asked something about how the forest changed like that, the answer was always the same. Rimuru. Kumo was excited to see him.

And then, she finally arrived in Tempest. And like everyone who visited Tempest for the first time, she was shocked. Roads, buildings, dozens of different races living peacefully together. That was something Kumo wouldn't have thought about even in her wildest dreams. In Tempest, there was no hostility in the eyes of the people. Not even towards Kumo. On the roads outside, many people thought she must be a mindless monster. In Tempest, they weren't even surprised about an intelligent spider race anymore. Many people approached them and Kumo happily talked with them. Always followed by her two spiders. It took her a while until she reached her destination, but she didn't mind. Actually, she enjoyed it. She lost every bit of fear while walking through Tempest. Some people even approached her and wanted to buy the threads her spiders were carrying. But she couldn't do that, after all, it was a gift. Also, she didn't really understood the concept of currency. Oh, and she finally understood what Nemu meant by the obsession to build things that looked like slimes. They were basically everywhere. Even some of the food had the form of slimes.

After hours she made her way to the biggest house in the middle of Tempest. Obviously, she had no idea about architecture but she was still very impressed. She hadn't even seen windows before. But there was glass everywhere and beautiful white and flawless walls. She really wanted something like that.

When she entered the building she got greeted by a beautiful young goblin woman. After a short introduction Kumo explained why she was here. The goblina made big eyes as she was the rainbow slime Kumo was carrying around. Kumo also told her from Nemu and Trewy. Apparently, Nemu was well known in the city. He was the second slime in the Tempest and that made him kind of a celebrity. He wasn't even aware of that. Before Kumo should meet Rimuru, the goblina started to start a tour through the house, which looked more like a palace. Kumo immediately realized that the goblina was used to it. She talked for 2 hours straight. Telling stories about the house, about Tempest and praised Rimuru a lot. At one point they were in front of a room. The goblina told him that's Nemus' room. Kumo really wanted to see it. And, like already told, it was a mess. However, what was most surprising was that there was a blonde man in it. The goblina bowed to him, back then Kumo didn't even know what that meant. But the blonde man gave her goosebumps. He was extremely powerful. Kumo had to promise that she wouldn't tell anyone about him being in the room, because it was his official hideout.

“Puh, that was scary. Who is he?” Kumo asked as soon as they left the room. Even her spider companions had sweat on their faces. Yes, spiders can sweat. I think…

“You just met the Storm Dragon Veldora.” The goblina simply said. Contrary to her explanations before. She kept it short this time. Her face was pale.

“You mean... The legendary Veldora?” Kumo was shocked. She was sure that nothing could shock her anymore, but it seems like there were still many surprises for her in Tempest.

The goblina simply nodded, not even surprised that a spider who had lived for 70 years without any contact to the outside world heard his name. And that wrapped up the topic Veldora.

And soon after, she finally met Rimuru. But he wasn't in a slime form. He was looking like a human, with long blue hair sitting behind a desk. There were others with him. Two female Onis and someone who looked human if it wasn't about his black eyes and red pupils. So Nemu actually told her the truth. There were Onis living in the Tempest. The legendary race. And not only one, but several. But all of this wasn't what surprised Kumo the most. The slime, even with different hair and without a mask. Didn't he look like the girl who saved her 70 years ago? But that would be impossible.

“Are you... Rimuru?” Kumo asked.

 

“I am, and who are you?” Rimuru asked with a gentle smile.

“I'm Kumo. I thought you were a slime?” Kumo was confused.

“Wait... Kumo?” Rimuru looked at her with big eyes.

“Yes, an adventurer gave me the name 70 years ago.” She explained.

“Kumo is actually the name for spiders in my home country. That's a surprise.” Rimuru said.

“Hmm, the adventurer said one of her companions said the same. A young girl with a mask. She saved me afterwards.” Kumo said.

Rimuru laughed. “Well, that's even more surprising!” He then took out something from his bod... dimensional space. “Are you talking about this mask?”

“How...?” Kumo didn't know what to say. She immediately recognized the mask.

“Well, that's a long story.” Rimuru said with a grin on his face.

“I have time.” Kumo repeated something she had heard not long before.

And so they started talking for a long time. Before Kumo met Rimuru, she was nervous. After all, everyone was praising him. But shortly after they met, Kumo wasn't nervous anymore. They had a long talk. One of the Onis even brought them food. An Oni served her food? Once again, what a strange place. Rimuru said to be very pleased that the younger Oni brought the food. However, she didn't understand why. And she also did not understand how close she was to her afterlife.

After they finished their stories. Rimuru asked them about the two spiders, who were still carrying two large thread balls. Kumo explained to him that he wanted to bring him gifts. And that these threads seemed to be something valuable for humans. At that time, she had no idea how valuable her threads would be. She should find that out later. Judging by Rimurus' face as he was looking at it, he was very surprised. He told the younger Oni to bring them to the tailoring. Then Rimuru wanted to give something in exchange. Kumo told him that she didn't want something and that she already had more than enough with the potion. But after some thinking, he decided to give the two spiders who were with Kumo a name.

Shiro and Wakaba.

And not only a day later, there should be two more Arachnes in the Great Jura Forest. Nobody but Kumo was surprised.

Nemu would later find out where these names were coming from. That made him very suspicious of Rimurus legendary naming abilities and he decided to do some research about how many names were from novels and mangas. The answer: a lot. Cheater!

Shiro and Wakaba should stay in Tempest for a long time. Working in tailoring. Before they decided to become adventurers themselves.

However, the threads, or what should later become silk, became famous far beyond the borders of Tempest. Mana infused threads from spiders were such a valuable good that every noble and rich merchant wanted to wear them in their dresses. But not only dresses. Battle robes for mages, strings in armors and even as bowstring were something that every top adventurer had to have. At first, Kumo was ashamed of the poor gift, but later it became one of the pillars of the Tempest economy. Rimuru promised her that he will buy more for a fair prize. Kumo didn't really know what that meant, but she agreed because she wanted to make Rimuru happy.

It should be a year after Kumo decided something. She wanted to make her web a place, also for other people. But she needed a house first. After all, her cave wasn't really suitable for guests. So Kumo decided to spend all her money she made from the silk to build a house. Still unknown to her how much she even had.

In the end, her house became the same size as the main building in Tempest. She hired some orcs and after they saw the huge amount of money they decided that anything other would be inappropriate. They even built a road directly to the heart of Kumos web. Oh, and there were always two rooms for Nemu and Trewy ready.

Kumo was sure she would never need all of the rooms, but then something else happened. Apparently, almost all visitors loved the forest and the blue shining threads in it. They called it romantic. So in the end Kumos web became a place for a lot of couples. Even weddings in Kumos place were a pretty common thing.

And finally, after 70 years, Kumo was truly happy again.

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