"Bandits again? Things really have been unsettled lately. But Mr. Ash sure is a good person."
After hearing Ash's explanation, the lady immediately showed a guilty expression.
'Mom can't actually believe that, can she? This girl doesn't look like someone who was attacked by bandits at all. If she'd really been attacked badly enough to lose all her clothes, she wouldn't be this calm, right? Ah~ the Middle Ages really are savage. This guy even goes after...'
Sophia, who had no idea what the Demon King's actual age was, kept shaking her head off to the side.
But in reality, after turning away to find clothes for Ariel, the lady's smile returned. It was the smile of an adult indulging and understanding young people.
It was obvious she hadn't really been fooled by Ash's explanation. She simply felt that matters between young people didn't need to be taken too seriously, and she didn't want Ash and Ariel to feel embarrassed.
"That human's look is really irritating."
Ariel, who had remained silent the entire time, frowned and spoke unhappily after the lady left.
She could sense that beneath the lady's friendly gaze was something that made her uncomfortable.
"I don't care, so why do you care?", Ash shrugged, looking unconcerned.
"You're pleased with yourself, aren't you?", Ariel looked at him with disdain.
"What is there to be pleased about? Sure, one of the people I like right now is small, but. That's because the person I like happens to be a small. I don't like her because she's small!"
Ash defended himself righteously.
Unfortunately... Ariel had no intention of listening and didn't believe a word of it. She even silently stepped half a pace away, her eyes full of caution.
"Say no more. I'm not interested in your preferences, but please stay at least two meters away from me."
"Uh, don't avoid me. You might not know much about me right now, but I have to tell you, back in my hometown I was actually... well, forget it."
It wasn't as though he had a particularly good reputation back home. He had always operated from the shadows, making him seem like some mastermind behind the scenes... though that probably wasn't just a matter of appearances.
Besides, trying to explain would only make things worse, so he didn't want to continue the topic.
Especially when Sophia was looking at him with the same wary expression.
While he was amazed that even a baby could show so many emotions, he also felt pretty depressed.
———
Kumoko remained in the courtyard, worried the entire time, staring without blinking toward the area where the fierce clash had just taken place.
Earlier, Ariel's act of venting looked to Kumoko like a battle to the death.
Her small heart beat nervously in her chest, every beat seeming to express her concern for Ash's safety.
The moment she sensed spatial fluctuations coming from the building behind her, Kumoko took a deep breath and tried to calm herself.
After giving herself a bit of mental preparation, she gathered her courage and leaped up, landing lightly on the windowsill.
However, when her gaze fell upon the three people before her, especially Ariel, her pupils trembled.
Her body tensed instinctively, and she was about to attack Ariel.
But at that critical moment, Ash rushed over and quickly pressed down on her head.
"Wait! Wait! We've already made up!"
'What's... going on here?'
Kumoko was completely confused by his sudden action. The anger that had filled her little eyes was now replaced by bewilderment.
Ash let out a helpless sigh and patiently began explaining things bit by bit.
But Kumoko's vocabulary was extremely limited, making the process incredibly difficult.
The more she listened, the more confused she became.
She still couldn't understand what Ash was trying to say and could only tilt her head sharply to one side.
Seeing this, Ash had no choice but to pull Ariel over.
After saying something to her, he directly wrapped an arm around her shoulders to show that the two sides had become friendly and hoped Kumoko would understand and stop the strange mental attacks.
However...
'W-What is this situation You two know each other? Were you even former lovers?'
Though she couldn't understand the conversation between Ash and Ariel, Kumoko understood what she was seeing.
Especially after noticing Ariel's state and the intimate way the two were acting.
The sight left far too much room for imagination.
The discovery instantly made her stomp around on the windowsill in anger. Her tiny body shook as she shouted, 'I've been worried about you this whole time! And you're doing this behind my back? Are you even human? Is this something a human would do?'
"What's she saying now?"
Ash stared blankly at Kumoko, who was waving her scythes and screeching.
He instinctively looked toward Ariel, hoping she could translate.
But Ariel, who was being forced to cooperate while trapped in his embrace, was equally unhappy.
Suppressing the urge to shove him away, she frowned.
"Did you forget why we fought in the first place?"
"But after thinking about it carefully, you're a spider. Why wouldn't you understand what a spider is saying?", Ash asked innocently.
"That assumes it's actually a language. This one doesn't even understand spider language. She's just making random noises," Ariel explained irritably.
"I see. So spiders really do have their own language. Learned something new."
Ash nodded as though he had discovered a new continent.
"This is not the time to be learning things! Think of a solution already!"
Ariel stamped her foot in frustration, hoping he'd deal with the situation.
"But... even if you ask me..."
Ash looked helpless.
What could he do?
Communicating with Kumoko had always been difficult. Being suddenly told to solve it was impossible.
When he first communicated with the earth dragons, he had only managed it after reading human memories. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to talk with the earth dragon chief either.
At this point, the only option seemed to be teaching Kumoko a language.
Her intelligence was clearly high enough that she shouldn't have trouble learning.
Whether there would be problems during the process, however, was another matter.
Still, things had reached this point.
All he could do was keep an eye on Ariel and make sure the Demon King girl didn't do anything extreme.
And just like that... another week passed.
Under the guidance of a language teacher they had specially found, Kumoko's comprehension improved greatly.
She could finally understand most of what he meant.
Although she kept muttering to herself, she did withdraw her mental attacks.
Just as Ash breathed a sigh of relief and felt the matter had finally come to an end, Ariel unexpectedly wrapped both hands around one of his arms and showed a bright smile.
"My, my~ Those three annoying voices in my head finally disappeared. I really have to thank you for that."
"H-Huh..."
'Doesn't her personality change a little too fast?'
'Did human food cause some kind of mutation?'
In just a single week, both her personality and hostility had undergone a shocking transformation.
Ash laughed awkwardly, but couldn't help wondering.
'Has this girl been drinking fake alcohol?'
But to Kumoko, this scene looked like...
Another shameless betrayal.
Unable to hold back, she charged over and forcibly separated the two.
She even waved her scythes at Ariel and shouted, 'You cheating cat! An ungrateful cheating cat!'
"Oh my, what are you talking about? I can't understand a thing~"
Looking at the screeching Kumoko, Ariel smiled especially smugly.
Because her mind was too powerful to be consumed by Kumoko's parallel minds, parts of those three parallel minds had instead merged with her.
There wasn't even a trace left of the serious, unsmiling person she had been before.
['L-Liar!']
Even with her severe social anxiety, Kumoko finally couldn't hold back.
Overcoming her mental barriers, she used telepathy to scold Ariel in a stumbling manner.
A surprised expression appeared on Ariel's face.
"Oh my~ You finally spoke. But~ when you're alone, you're so talkative. Why is it so hard when you're talking to other people?"
['S-Shut up!']
'W-Wait, that's not right.'
'What's going on?'
'Why does she seem to know about my situation?'
Not only Ash, but Kumoko herself was beginning to suspect that something was wrong with Ariel.
In truth, when Ariel had instinctively grabbed Ash's arm earlier, she had been shocked by her own action.
But openly showing it would have been embarrassing.
So she merely acted as though nothing had happened and quietly let go of Ash's arm while talking.
Compared to her actions, however, it was her final words that made Ash realize something.
He unconsciously stared at Kumoko, who for some reason only spoke to Ariel and refused to communicate with him through telepathy.
Ariel awkwardly hugged her own arms.
The gesture was clearly a little stiff.
However, she quickly seemed to realize something, silently lowered her arms, pretended nothing had happened, and casually walked elsewhere.
Ash didn't really understand the girl whose personality had changed so drastically.
After worrying about it briefly, he stopped paying attention.
Or rather...
His attention had been completely captured by what she'd said to Kumoko before leaving.
Without realizing it, he stared at Kumoko on the ground.
He suspected she had already communicated with Ariel through telepathy.
'But I met Kumoko first.'
'Why does it seem like she gets along better with Ariel?'
To be honest, he felt a little as though something precious to him had been taken away.
'W-What? Why are you staring at me like that?'
Feeling the pressure of Ash's gaze, Kumoko cautiously backed up two steps.
Although she kept screeching, she still wasn't using telepathy.
"You. Why do you only talk to Ariel?"
Ash crouched down with an unhappy expression.
"I really wanted to have a proper conversation with you too."
'What do you want to do with me? Proper? D-Don't tell me! A confession? Sorry! Let's just stay friends! And this is way too sudden! More importantly! That confession is way too perverted! Properly and deeply and all that... there's no way I can accept that!'
Although Kumoko had learned enough over this period to understand part of the language, she still couldn't fully understand everything Ash said.
The parts she misunderstood were particularly unfortunate.
She completely twisted the meaning of his words.
The result was that she reacted as though she'd received a tremendous shock.
She instinctively covered her face with her two "hands" and shook her head repeatedly, as though trying to fling his shocking words out of her mind.
The reaction was so bizarre that Ash couldn't understand it at all.
"What now?"
'P-Pervert! And you're asking what now? Are people in this world really this open? Even demons should have limits!'
Kumoko screeched loudly.
Her tiny heart had received an enormous shock.
"If you don't want to talk to me, I won't force you. But we've always gotten along well, haven't we? Why are you so unwilling to talk with me?"
Ash sighed helplessly.
He genuinely couldn't understand why Kumoko resisted communicating with him so much.
'Of course you can't force something like that! What are you thi—w-wait! What are you doing?'
Kumoko had been about to properly lecture Ash and make him understand how inappropriate his words were.
Before she could finish, Ash suddenly grabbed her.
As though venting his dissatisfaction, he grabbed one of the spikes on her back.
With a slight pull, he flipped her over.
Kumoko immediately cried out, 'L-Let go of me, you pervert! Forced melons aren't sweet! What are you trying to do to me? I'm still growing! And a spider too!'
She shouted frantically.
All kinds of terrible images appeared in her mind.
She thought Ash was about to do something awful.
However, after saying all that, she realized none of the strange things she'd imagined were happening.
Ash had merely flipped her over like he always did.
Then he sat on the ground, leaned against her soft abdomen, and looked back at the spider that had suddenly fallen silent.
"Is it really that serious? This isn't the first time I've laid on your stomach. Why are you acting so dramatically?"
'Uh... so... that's all you were doing?'
Kumoko's two scythes and six legs, which had been struggling nonstop, slowly froze in midair.
She stared blankly at the sky.
Seeing her dazed expression, Ash quietly looked away again.
Resting both hands on the edge of her abdomen, he gazed at the blue sky and let out a long sigh.
"You really are... always so strange."
'Ahhh, I don't know exactly where things went wrong, but I want to die!'
Kumoko covered her face, curled into herself, and completely escaped from reality.
Because of her ridiculous imagination, she wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.
The only thing she could be thankful for was that nobody here understood what she was saying.
Otherwise, she'd be so embarrassed she'd want to die.
———
Unlike Ash and Kumoko, who were in completely different moods, Ariel had been taking deep breaths nearby, seemingly trying to calm herself.
Now she walked back over and slowly crouched down.
Without saying a word, she stared at Ash from close range.
There was even a trace of something complicated in her gaze.
The look was so focused and strange that even Ash felt uneasy.
"What do you want? Still holding a grudge after all?"
Ash looked back cautiously, unable to figure out her intentions.
"You don't need to be so wary of me. I just think your behavior is... strange."
Ariel frowned slightly.
"Ah~ This kid looks scary, but she's actually pretty comfortable to lie on."
Ash smiled while explaining.
He even patted Kumoko's abdomen, looking completely satisfied.
"That's not the issue..."
Supporting her chin with one hand, Ariel tilted her head to the side.
The troubled expression on her face deepened.
Her fingers unconsciously reached out and lightly played with one of Kumoko's hind legs, which was still frozen in midair.
But it wasn't just Ariel who was troubled.
Ash also found all of this very strange.
He simply couldn't understand why Ariel's hostility toward him kept dropping at a visible rate, even before the mental attacks had been removed.
At this point, she had completely lost her hostility.
She was even showing him a strange sense of closeness.
Honestly, anyone would probably suspect some kind of scheme.
Maybe a honey trap or something.
But... wasn't the person carrying it out a questionable choice?
Or had spending time together created feelings?
But they had only actually spent a week together.
Wasn't the change too fast?
Ash didn't understand.
Could demons, humans, and monsters really be that impossible to understand?
Just as he failed to reach any conclusion despite all his thinking, Ariel stopped fiddling with Kumoko's leg.
Sensing that he seemed to be imagining something strange and excessive, she let out a long sigh.
"You don't need to overthink it. Actually, those three sent over by Wakaba Hiiro... parts of them mixed together with me. So right now, I'm Demon King Ariel, but also partly a piece of Wakaba Hiiro. The main personality is still Ariel, though my personality and emotional tendencies might lean toward Wakaba Hiiro's. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure myself..."
That was the truth.
Even she didn't know exactly what her current state was.
Her personality had definitely been affected.
But compared to personality, it seemed that emotional aspects had been influenced more heavily.
Perhaps during their earlier fight, the three consciousnesses worried Ash might lose.
As a result, they altered the direction of the fusion, making it difficult for her to attack him.
"Seriously? You actually... no, wait. Wakaba Hiiro? Who's that? Shiro?"
Ash was completely lost.
At the same moment, both he and Kumoko turned toward Ariel.
"Of course it's true. More importantly... don't you think I've changed a lot?", Ariel asked half-jokingly.
"Well..."
Ash awkwardly shook his head.
"To be honest, I don't know you very well."
"It's fine. I know quite a bit about you. For example... you're enough of a pervert to peek at Wakaba Hiiro while she's using the bathroom."
"Hold on! That's a misunderstanding! I just wanted to see how spiders use the bathroom! Wait, is Wakaba Hiiro really Shiro?"
"Yes. She's a reincarnator too."
"No, no, no. That can't be right. Shiro doesn't have a name."
He felt like Ariel was trying to sow discord.
He used Appraisal on Kumoko again.
Although her instincts automatically blocked it and prevented him from seeing anything, he clearly remembered the previous result.
She had been nothing more than an ordinary nameless spider monster.
There had been no extra notes like Sophia's.
If both of them were reincarnators, why was there such a difference?
"Ah~ As for why that baby has an extra name while Wakaba Hiiro doesn't... I don't know either."
Because she had inherited Kumoko's memories through the fusion, Ariel also found the issue puzzling.
In the end, she could only guess, "Probably one of D's weird hobbies."
"Now a D suddenly appears too?"
"She's the creator of the system. An evil god."
"Wait. Let me sort all this out first..."