Kumo desu ga, Nani ka? 266

Upstaged by a NEET? Oh dear…

266 – Didn’t even need to be here

「Umm, in the end, why was I brought here exactly?」

Felmina-chan asks me that in an awfully forlorn voice. Yep. She didn’t even need to be here. I didn’t even speak a single word this time. I guess we were unnecessary weren’t we? Yep yep. Us unnecessary comrades might as well be air.

Sensing that I wasn’t going to reply, Felmina-chan sinks into silence as if giving up. During the conference itself she might as well been air, but even when that was over the sense of her existence was still gone. This girl, seems to have talent for espionage.

Felmina-chan was abandoned by her fiance, and after that I picked her up and reforged her, but instead of pure combat skills, I’m glad that I had her develop skills that seemed useful for espionage and intelligence gathering. Unlike a certain meido-sama from somewhere, she’s not at the level where you can lose sight of her when she’s right in front of you though, but she is able to make the sense of her existence quite thin. Clearly enough for her to fade from awareness and her existence to be forgotten. Normally that probably wouldn’t be enough to deceive the eyes of the members of this conference, but under the cover of the impact of the Demon King she erased the sense of her existence, so she wasn’t spotted by any key figures. Muhaha, this girl who I’ve tempered thoroughly, is superior to their ninja-kun.

That ninja-kun aka Kusama-kun, has gone off somewhere together with oni-kun. The two of them were pretty good friends, so I guess they’re renewing their old friendship or something. There is a sense that the Demon King will return soon, so I sent vampire girl, who was glowering at all the Divine Word Religion members, to go fetch them. If I’d let her remain as is, then it seems like the life span of the Divine Word Religion people would have reduced. The moment that vampire girl left the room, they were noticeably relieved after all.

Thus the current situation, with the scowling vampire girl having left, the Divine Word Religion members are now glancing towards me. What about Felmina-chan? With that beautiful “I’m air” technique, those glances are passing right over her splendidly. Umm. All these oji-sans are glancing at me. Somehow, I feel a bit uncomfortable.

The conference this time was, amazingly enough, a huge success. Somehow, it was managed entirely by the Demon King and moved along quickly. I just had to sit and stare vacantly. To think that that Demon King could be useful in such a place. Thinking that she was just some NEET, I feel cheated somehow. Thanks to her I was able to be at ease.

And yet, what’s with this situation? To be honest, I feel uncomfortable enough that I want to return home, but it’s not like I can return without the Demon King etc. Without my teleportation, it would be impossible for them to return to the demon territory from here. Which is why I gotta wait, but this waiting time is agonising. Demon King, oni-kun, vampire girl, come back quickly.

「Umm.」

They came! I knew it! As expected, the fact that they stayed behind meant that they’d definitely try to talk to me about something! Otherwise, they would have left their seats long ago after all.

The one who began to talk to me, was one of the younger members amongst the oji-sans. I guess he’s in his thirties? Because he introduced himself during the previous conference, I do more or less know his name and position. He’s one of the generals commanding an army.

「That puppet, what exactly is it?」

He asks while pointing at the puppet spider that is waiting behind me. Oh, this.

The puppet spider that the Demon King summoned, as indicated by the name of Puppet Taratekt, is a monster from the Taratekt family. With a puppet like outer shell wrapped around, the main body is a spider in the chest region the size of a fist. That spider, using the threads spread out through the interior of the puppet and able to move by pulling on the reeling threads, is the real part of this monster. The manipulated puppet is like the crust of the main body. Like the shell of the hermit crab.

This puppet spider, is actually under the Demon King’s control, and is the next strongest to the Queen Taratekt. The average status values are around 10,000. It’s beyond even the Arch Taratekt. On the occasion when I fought the Demon King before my apotheosis, ten of these were summoned at the same time and beat the crap out of me.

They might have been puppet spiders then, but in the past their form wasn’t so similar to humans. When I was beaten up, they had the outward appearance of something like a department store mannequin. However, because that’s not beautiful, I performed magical remodelling and that’s how it gained the current form. The exposed joints in the arms and legs have a coating over them so that you wouldn’t notice with a glance. The face is now built with fine details, remodelled to the extent that it can even blink, believe it or not. On top of that, with the vocal cords being reproduced it is an ambitious work that even has the ability to converse! Every home should have a puppet spider. Capable of doing domestic chores or real combat or whatever takes your fancy!

Actually, I feel that I overdid it a bit. Although there’s no change in status values, on top of it becoming far more human-like in appearance, because the joints are made to be able to move much more smoothly it’s now able to do detailed work. As a result, it’s become able to master things like cooking and sewing that it couldn’t do before. Scary. It has more femininity than an unskilled human girl.

「I am a variety of demon called a Puppet Taratekt. My name is Ael. In accordance with Ariel-sama’s order, I shall be under your care for a while. During that time, please feel free to use me however you wish. I look forwards to working with you.」

As seen, it can even respond perfectly! Even if I wasn’t here, it has the capability to judge when to make a self-introduction. Wonderful. Huh? Doesn’t this mean that there was genuinely no need for me to be here? I’m just the transport? The Divine Word Religion people’s interest is now towards the puppet spider Ael, and until the Demon King and co return, Felmina-chan and I both become air. In it’s own way, this is rather incomprehensible.

Translation notes:

Ael talks using very humble language, suitable for a maid working for a noble. When Shiro is explaining the Puppet Taratekt, she starts using marketing and salesman type language.