Arachne Chapter 10

An Adult Christmas

At the counter stool was a red-haired beauty around 20 to 30 years old with her face buried on the table.

The warrior Millie Hackman was one of this store's – the Arachne Tailor's – regular customers.

"Heeeey, listen to me, Shioriiiiii… You know my guy? He completely stopped wanting me these days…"

What in the world are you saying to a kid? I looks to be around 13, but my real age is just over 1 year old, you know?

In any case, don't you think it's a little bit early for me to hear about that sort of things?

—Well, I am 25 years old mentally, though…

Greetings. It's been a long time. Arakura Shiori (25), the ex-j.a.panese reincarnated as a half-human half-monster bizarro spider womanArachne, has returned.

Or if you can remember me as the owner of Arachne Tailor, Shiori Arachne, that would be my honor.

These days, I'd been worrying that perhaps our readers have forgotten about me after so long.

"And I even did a lot of exercises for him too, you know? Here, look."

*swish*. Millie lifted up the hem of her clothes to show her belly.

She's got a perfect six-pack.

"How's that?! Totally jacked, right?"

Millie happily displayed her muscles.

Ah, now she's started to pose.

"Next, this is the front lat spread! And the side chest!"

… Who the h.e.l.l brought bodybuilder poses into this worldFalyias?

Millie the beauty has gone down the wrong path. Tarnation.

"No, well… Perhaps your husband was tired? I don't think he came to hate you."

"T-That really so? Really?"

As a matter of fact, Mille's husband, Rizott Hackman, also came to me yesterday and,

"These days, my wife was showing off her muscles even in bed… It's called bodybuilder posing or something. Anyway, since she started doing that, I couldn't get in the mood… Shiori, what do you think I should do?"

Consulted me about their relationship.

Or rather, just what sort of discussion was this pair of husband and wife bringing to a kid? You two should know that this would be considered s.e.xual hara.s.sment if it was modern j.a.pan.

"So us two are still young, yeah? I'm thinking it's still early to do a s.e.xless marriage… And I wanted some kids too, as wife and husband, you get what I'm saying?"

"Mmmm… I see… How about this, you can try giving shape to your feelings and showing it to your husband once in a while?"

"… Giving shape?"

"Apparently, there is a certain custom in a foreign country. Once a year, on a snowy day, lovers and couples would send each other presents. I think it was called Christmas."

"K-Krissmas…?"

"That's the holy night for lovers! Cakes, turkeys, some slightly expensive wine. And then, once the mood is right, when both of you are a bit tipsy…"

"I push him down, right?!!"

"… Please 'let yourself be pushed down' instead."

Rizott was quite a high level magician too, but it's true that he's disadvantaged against Millie. So lady, please cooperate here.

"A 'holey' night, is it?… Foreign countries are quite progressive, huh… To have that sort of indecent custom…"

I had a feeling she's misunderstanding something here, but no need to correct her.

And j.a.pan's Christmas was pretty much like that, anyway.

I didn't have someone to be with back in j.a.pan, so Christmas was only an event for me to chant some explosion curses for all those fulfilled couples.

"And so, as a matter of fact, I have just the right thing for you to present to your husband… As long as he uses it, your man is guaranteed to turn into a beast!"

"R-R-R-R-Reallyyyy?!"

Millie jumped up and charged towards me.

You're close, lady. Too close.

"I-It's 10 silver coins. A bit pricey, but the effect is extraordinary."

"Buyinggggggg!"

"Thank you for your patronage! I'll need some time to make it, so please come back 2 days later."

"2 days later, yeah? Got it. I just can't wait, Shiori! *kissy*"

When she left, she gave me a hug & a kiss on the cheek, apparently out of extreme grat.i.tude.

I'm telling you, do that sort of things with your husband instead.

※

"Well then, I don't have that much time, so let's hurry."

Right after closing the store, I started on making the presents inside the workroom.

In fact, I had a similar conversation with the husband Rizott, and I already accepted an order to make a present for him to give to Millie.

Basically, I had to make something for both of them, which meant I didn't have much free time.

"First, to release my human transformation."

When I disabled the skill [Human Transformation], my lower body turned into a huge spider, and six rubies popped up on my forehand.

These eyes belong to my human-spider-hybridArachne form. Plus my natural eyes, I would have 8 in total, just like a real spider.

They're also quite convenient.

Not only is my field of vision large, I can also see as far away as if I'm using binoculars, and can even make out tiny details like a real microscope.

These eyes help out quite a lot in sewing, too.

"Well then, first off is Millie's… and there we go."

I put some strength into my spider's b.u.t.t while activating [Charm].

And then, some clear secretion began to slowly ooze out of the tip of my b.u.t.t.

Next, I collected it in bottles of pottery.

To explain, this secretion has its origins in the characteristic ecology of the Arachne race.

Since only female Arachnes are born, the race would need to find human or elven males and get their sperm in order to breed.

For that reason, Arachnes can secrete aphrodisiac fluids targeting males and use it to lure them in.

However, it'll be too strong if I'm using it as it is, so I added some Oran fruit juice into it and diluted by a factor of around 20.

Furthermore, to help with the husband's weak physique, I added some vitality-boosting essence taken from goji berries, added alcohol as a preservative, and finally poured some magic power in to stabilize the quality. Finished.

After pouring it into small bottles… I got enough for 12 bottles. Exactly a dozen.

"Now to wrap them… Done."

Let's call these drinks in wrapped bottles… umm, 'Alvitan D'.

I put them in my merchandise storehouse and moved on to my next job.

Next is the product to be given to Rizott… which meant this will ultimately be used by Millie.

Right, so first off is to prepare some Crimson Dragon scales and Dragon Pearls.

The first step would be to have a meal.

I had 5 pieces of the scales, each as big as a human's hand.

The pearl was much more expensive than the scales… so I had just a little bit of a bite, just one mouthful.

"Mmm… The scales aren't bad, they're like rice crackers. Like shrimp crackers."

And the crunchy texture was quite good too.

Of course, if a normal person tried to eat it, they wouldn't be able to make a dent on the scales, literally. The dragons are still S-rank monsters, after all. Even the average swords wouldn't be able to make a scratch, much less human teeth.

By the way, the dragon pearls' texture was like slightly tough gummy bears.

"Thank you for the meal."

After eating all the ingredients, I focused the Crimson Dragon's essence in the thread-making organ inside my body – the thread gland.

This way, I can color the threads at the same time they were created, which means I don't need a separate dyeing process. Yuuup, convenient.

Furthermore, during this phase, if I guide magical power into my thread glands and imagine what I want to do, I can somewhat adjust the threads' toughness and characteristic.

By the way, I used to have a separate dyeing process after creating the threads, but ever since I thought of this method, the dyeing were all done inside my body.

Not only can this method help cut down on the work I need to do, it's also quite efficient.

"Right, preparations complete. Let's get to crafting."

*swish* *swish*. The threads came out of my b.u.t.t and were directly shaped into clothes.

This time, it's important for the clothes to be thin, so I created some super-fine threads.

I also focused to the utmost of my abilities to weave them thinly, as thiiiiiiin as possible.

And then, after 30 minutes of concentration.

"Alright, done! It was really difficult to get the curse and blessing to coexist, but it was worth it! Yeah, I'm totally singing my own praises here."

That's right. "Curse" and "blessing".

That was the most important point for this product.

I can only hope that this works well.

※

And then, the day of delivery.

"Shiorii-, o-pen u-p!"

Before the shop even opened, Millie's giddy voice already rang around the neighborhood.

"I've arri-ved! For the happy-marriage secret medicine!"

I'm telling you, you're way too loud.

Look, the neighbors were sn.i.g.g.e.ring and looking over here. Aaaah, so embarra.s.sing.

I ran towards the door, quickly opened it, and dragged Millie inside the shop.

"Geez, don't bother the neighbors so early in the morning."

"Ahaha, sorriez sorriez. I got a bit too excited. So, where's the good stuff?"

"You're making it sound like I'm dealing in illegal goods… Well, whatever. Here, the items you ordered."

*thud*. I dropped a case with one dozen bottles of Alvitan D on the counter.

"Hmm? These are… potions?"

"No… If I have to say, they would be energy drinks. 1 silver coin for each bottle. There are 12 bottles in a case, 2 of them are complimentary."

"I see, I see… So, what's the effect?"

"Supplementing energy, increasing strength, increasing stamina… And heightened s.e.xual excitement towards women… One bottle's effect should last for around 2 hours."

"Oooooooohhh!!"

"Do be warned that his l.u.s.t will be targeting women in general. These drinks can't specify you as the only target for his excitement, so make sure to have him drink it only when the two of you are alone."

"Yeah, yeah, thank you—!!"

After paying the 10 silvers, Millie carefully picked up the case of Alvitan D, carried it in her arms as if it's a crate of jewelry, and skipped back home.

…Will you be okay, mister husband?

I did try to weaken the aphrodisiac effect and strengthen the vitality boosting effect when concocting the drinks, but I'm still worried.

"Shiori, Shiori."

"My, if it isn't mister Rizott."

Speak of the devil.

The magician Rizott Hackman, Millie's husband, came into my store as if exchanging places with his wife.

"You're finished with that thing, right?"

"Yes, since this order was much more in line with my specialty than the items I gave to the missus."

"Thanks a bunch. What was it called again, baby… something?"

"It's a babydoll. It's a kind of s.e.xy lingerie that can also be used as a nightgown. Also, for this particular dress, I added a curse that weakens the wearer's strength."

"I see, and will it cause any health problems?"

"It's safe. The curse only takes effect when worn, and it's not like she'll be completely immobile… To give a precise number, I'd say that her strength would be reduced by around 20%."

At the same time, I also added the blessing of Charm by using Crimson Dragon materials.

This blessing was a particularly strong one.

"Thank you very much… Umm, you see, she has a habit of hugging me… Thinking of all the times I got hugged when climaxing, I was afraid that one day I would ascend for real…"

I told you, stop telling children about all the things that go on in your bedroom.

…Well, I'm not surprised if it's Millie, though.

This amazon was even rumored to have used a bear hug to finish off a real Forest Bear.

For the bookish magician Rizott, keeping her company at night must have been a matter of life and death.

Well, since I already knew all of that beforehand, I made sure to focus more on the strengthening enchantment on those Alvitan D drinks. So please try your best, mister magician.

"Alright, here's the payment."

"Yes, exactly 3 gold coins."

"…But is this really fine? This is much too cheap."

"Please don't worry. I managed to acquire the materials for an extremely low price."

Or to be more precise, for free.

I hunted the Crimson Dragon myself anyway, and even the threads were mine.

Taking the technical cost and the handling charge into account, this price should be right.

"Instead, I would like to ask you to help advertise the babydoll. I can sell the unenchanted version for quite a lot less."

"Got it. I'll see if I can drop a few hints for the married crowd in the magician's guild."

Rizott promised me with a serious look on his face.

…No, half of it was a joke, so you don't need to take it so seriously.

※

And then, another few days after.

The Hackman couple came together to offer their thanks for the items, which have been much more effective than they thought. I could only spare them a glance as I busied myself in the store that has turned into a warzone.

"Shiori, thank you! Darling's present was also prepared by you, right? That was amazing, I just put it on and approached him and boom! He really turned into a beast… Kya♡!"

"Mm, mmm… Well, umm, that's how it was. The energy drinks I got from wifey also helped out a whole lot. I didn't expect that it would also raise my defense in addition to stamina… And it's even almost twice as powerful as the traditional Booster strengthening medicine. If we can use this whenever and wherever we want, not just at night, it could also be incomparably helpful for combat… With this, I could even withstand the wife's bear hu- lovely embrace."

Yeah, well, it's good that it went well for you two.

But please read the mood a bit.

Right now, my store was jam-packed with customers looking for Alvitan D and the babydolls.

To compare, it's like a department store on the first opening day of the new year.

"Miss owner! 5 cases of this Alvitan D, please!"

"Oi, you f.u.c.ker trying to buy it up? Leave some for me!"

"Shiori, which one do you think fit me better, this pink or black babydoll?"

"Hey! Don't get both of them! Leave one for me!"

"Excuse me, my order of Alvitan…"

"Come now, mister. These drinks are for a couple's happiness, you know? So I'll be taking them."

"Your man wouldn't spare a glance for old bats like you even if he drink those!"

"The h.e.l.l was that? Do you dare say that one more time?!"

"What should I do… Would this thong-babydoll set be a little too s.e.xy?"

Etcetera, etcetera. The scene of chaos.

Outside the store, there was quite a long line too.

Apparently, the Hackman couple spread their story around way too much.

I'm happy that my products got famous, but! But!

Nope, my storehouse wouldn't hold at this rate. Looked like the only solution left is to accept the orders for now and deliver them another day.

"Millie ♡"

"Darling ♡"

Yes, yes, you d.a.m.n couple over there.

If you're done, go back home. Else I'm going to put an explosion curse on you.

As always, below is the stats for the products.

For this chapter, they're the Al D drink and the babydoll.

——

Alvitan D

Drinks made by processing aphrodisiac secretions from an Arachne.

1 bottle lasts for around 2 hours.

For safety reasons, the aphrodisiac effect was reduced down to only around 5% of its strength.

Instead, however, the drink can grant a large bonus to stamina and defense.

This effect is much more powerful than the market-sold strengthening medicine's.

——

Dragon Pink Babydoll

Defense +19

Magical Defense +47

Fire Resistance +55%

Basic Stat Charm +30%

Basic Stat Strength -20%

A see-through s.e.xy pink babydoll.

A rare product with a curse that reduces strength by 20%, mostly for the husband's safety.

As the dress was thin to the point of translucence, it doesn't have much defensive power (it's still as tough as a normal set of hard leather armor, however). Yet, as it used Crimson Dragon materials, its fire resistance is extraordinary.