part0014

This is my medical record. A re cord that I, Saphentite, will never show anybody. For example, even if my beloved Dr. Glenn were to see this, then, well…

That would be quite a problem.

At any rate, this is somewhat like my personal diary. The clinic operations are all left in public record. Why then, you ask, am I leaving these personal records separately? That would be because, while I don’t want them to be seen by Dr. Glenn, I have a variety of things that I want to write down.

It’s as simple as that.

I do know that Glenn isn’t the type of person to take a peek at another person’s secrets, but…

Just in case, what would I do if he saw this? Poison him? Even I think that is a bit excessive, so if he does peek at my diary, I’ll have to settle for seducing him. Seduction is a kind of poisoning of the mind, after all. Having inherited all the assassination techniques of my family, the Neikes, I am ever prepared to seduce the person closest to my heart, if necessary.

Of course, even I feel embarrassed at the thought of seducing him, so it will be a last resort at best.

It’s only to be expected.

This spring, the Litbeit Clinic began making preparations for Miss Skadi’s big surgery. Thanks to the efforts of Miss Memé from the Kuklo Workshop, we were able to meet our delivery deadline for the large quantity of surgical tools we ordered. But this also means there are fewer reasons to put off Miss Skadi’s surgery. The more our preparations continue forward, the more real the operation becomes. There is no backing out now.

Dr. Glenn’s work includes Arahnia’s special training and meeting with Dr. Cthulhy. On top of all that, he needs to convince Miss Skadi, but it doesn’t seem like things are going very well on that front. Because of how thin he’s stretched himself, I am left more and more in charge of the essential clinic business.

Taking care of the clinic while he’s gone is, in a word, lonely.

I don’t mean to complain about my work, but we’re supposed to manage this clinic together, yet I don’t spend any time with him.

Though it’s not like I’ve even had time to feel lonely. I have to soothe and humor Arahnia—who whines whenever I say anything to her—and prepare the reagents for the anesthetic using the Aluloona herbs I ordered, all while examining every patient that visits the clinic every day. Even with the fairies, I don’t have enough hands to do everything. I find myself wondering—if I were multi-legged like Arahnia, would I be able to work a little more?

No—it won’t change anything to ask for the impossible. All I can do is somehow endure this with the fairies’ help. These thoughts had been on my mind when—

“Are you tired?”

One of the fairies touched my finger, looking as if they were worried about me.

The fairies are about big enough to fit in the palm of my hand. With their big heads, they look somewhat childlike, and have androgynous features. It’s difficult to distinguish whether they are men or women, and I can’t quite tell them apart individually. Similar to social insects like ants or bees, they don’t have much individual personality, and they are known as a race of monster that prosper by living together in colonies.

“It’s okay,” I replied to the fairy at the time. I squished their head as I spoke, and it seemed like that tickled them.

The helper fairies and I don’t have any sort of mutual understanding. We are simply employer and employee, connected by one singular condition—a plate of milk for their payment. Yet this one fairy actually showed personal concern for me.

I still had a number of different anesthetics that I wanted to test out, so I couldn’t afford to relax and take it easy. As a pharmacologist, it is my job to puzzle over the medicine I make.

But more than my medicine, what had me troubled and puzzled were the habits of my close friend Arahnia. It was truly such a waste of my brain power.

Why was I troubled? Because her habits were one more thing that I couldn’t consult with Dr. Glenn about. I didn’t want to hide things from him, but women do have their own secrets.

This happened around the time the fairies were comforting me during my busiest days. Dr. Glenn spoke up, distressed, as he peered at the clinic’s shelves.

“Hey, Sapphee, do you know what happened to the antiseptic solution I left here?” he asked me.

“No idea—could the fairies have put it away for you?” I replied.

When Dr. Glenn left medicine bottles lying around, the fairies were often sensible enough to clean up and put them away for him. This was the least of the work that the hardworking helper fairies did in the clinic.

“No, I was sure that I put it properly away in here…” he continued.

Dr. Glenn thought long and hard about where it could be. I surveyed the small clinic. Now then, wherever could it have gone?

If it was in the clinic, then I knew I’d get my hand—or rather, my tail—on it. Casting my gaze around, I immediately found the medical bottle in question. It was on the shelf right behind where Dr. Glenn was standing.

“Here it is, Doctor,” I said.

“Huh? It was there ? Whoops—my mistake—but I really didn’t remember leaving it there at all…” he said.

“Please be a little more attentive, Doctor.”

I coiled my tail around the medicine bottle and carried it to Dr. Glenn. Sometimes I feel like my long tail is quite a nuisance, but I always end up coming to the conclusion it is convenient compared to other two-legged or four-legged species.

“Didn’t you mention recently that you lost your stethoscope, too?” I asked.

“P-probably… In the end I found it in another spot when I went looking for it,” Dr. Glenn replied.

“You should at least understand where you place your tools. This is your clinic, after all, Doctor.”

At my words, Dr. Glenn scratched his head with a distressed look upon his face.

He is totally unreliable.

Well, that’s only natural—even I am apt to forget the fact that Dr. Glenn is still seventeen years old. The other day he was so happy at Miss Memé’s remarkable personal growth, like he was actually her guardian and not her doctor, but from my perspective both Dr. Glenn and Miss Memé looked as though they were the same age.

Since he is managing his own clinic at such a young age, it would be stranger, if anything, if he were reliable. He is still Cthulhy’s junior pupil, and it doesn’t seem like these chances to scold him for his mistakes will be going away any time soon.

Although this makes me a little happy, in its own way.

“Sapphee, you haven’t asked the fairies to do anything weird, have you?” Dr. Glenn asked me.

“…Huh? What do you mean?”

“It’s just, well, I was just thinking maybe my tools are going missing because the fairies are putting stuff away in the wrong places…or something like that.”

“You’re overthinking things. Neither myself nor the fairies have done anything of the sort.”

Well, well, well. I had thought he was unreliable, but it appeared that unbeknownst to me, Dr. Glenn had matured somewhat. They say that men can mature greatly when you stop watching over them for a while, but it seemed he had improved his abilities of perception somewhere along the way. “More importantly Dr. Glenn, I believe it’s time for you to head out, isn’t it?” I reminded him.

“Wait—already?” he replied.

“You’re heading all the way to the Council Hall, right?”

Dr. Glenn started preparing to go out in a panic. Recently, it seemed like his head was always filled with thoughts about his discussion with Miss Skadi.

I hadn’t seen it directly, but a second heart had grown on Skadi’s chest. Miss Cthulhy, and Dr. Glenn and I all barely had time to sleep as we prepared for the surgery to excise the tumor. The tools had been all gathered, and our outside assistant Arahnia’s surgical skills were getting better and better by the day, without any problems whatsoever. All that was left was, well, convincing Miss Skadi herself.

This seemed to be what was puzzling Dr. Glenn the most. I don’t know exactly what conversations the two of them have been sharing, but it seems like she isn’t being very receptive to his persuasion.

“Dr. Glenn, what about this?” I asked. I grabbed something that was left on top of the desk. It was an accessory made from a golden drake’s scales.

Dragons themselves are rare, but dragonscales aren’t that uncommon at all. I’ve heard that dragons frequently drop one or two scales at a time, and that if you search the forests or mountains you can pick them up easily. There are scale decorations on my own clothes as well, and it is not uncommon, even among monsters, to wear scale accessories.

It is believed that the scales of a dragon give the wearer divine protection, and they are used as talismans to protect the wearer from evil. Lying on top of the desk was a present of golden dragonscale that I had given to Glenn, indeed partly as a protective charm.

Of course, part of my goal was to give us matching charms to wear.

“So you’re not going to wear it?” I asked him, cruelly giving my voice a reproachful tone—implying that I was disappointed he was refusing my present.

Dr. Glenn didn’t hide his panic. Seeing him panic over something like this—he was just so pure and adorable. I knew I had to make sure he didn’t get corrupted by any of the strange bugs hanging about.

“I-I thought today I’d leave it here,” he replied.

“And why is that?” I was positive this charm had been attached to his doctor’s bag. It was already with him when he left the clinic. So if that was the case, I wondered—why did he take it off today?

It couldn’t be—was he meeting with another woman?

Did wearing the charm I gave him make him feel guilty?

There was a woman he thought so tenderly about—other than me?

“Tch,” I said under my breath. The fires of jealousy seemed close to burning over inside of me, but I immediately calmed them. Thinking about it logically, I managed to figure out why in an instant.

It was absolutely nothing to be angry about. Yes, yes, of course it wasn’t.

“Oh—you’re being considerate of Miss Skadi’s feelings?” I asked.

“Y-yeah. Miss Skadi’s a dragon, and I kinda thought that maybe she’d…not like dragonscale stuff.”

“I think you’re reading into it too much, but… No, it might be best to treat her with that level of courtesy.”

I was sure that she wouldn’t have any problems with dragonscale goods. For example, even I wouldn’t think anything of someone using my molted skin to make a good luck charm. I’ve actually heard of some businesses decorating their building with lamia skins. Nevertheless, that didn’t necessarily mean that Miss Skadi felt the same way.

I did think that consideration was necessary. Dr. Glenn’s shortcomings weren’t going to be fixed overnight, of course, but he should pay attention to the things he’s able to notice.

“I understand. In that case, I’ll put the charm away for now,” I replied.

“S-sorry Sapphee. I’m heading out now.”

“Okay, have a good trip—you better not fool around while you’re out.”

“As if I have time for that.”

Dr. Glenn even gave a serious reply to my joke—although I’m sure he really didn’t have the time to spare.

I was left alone in the clinic.

Lately, the clinic had been receiving fewer patients, perhaps because of the beautiful spring weather. This was a windfall for Dr. Glenn and me, as we had a mountain of problems to deal with—I was able to spend time adjusting and tuning the anesthetics I wanted to try, so I found the freedom was a boon.

But I wasn’t actually alone. Running in between my legs (though since I don’t have legs, maybe I should say “close to the underside of my snake tail,” instead?) were the fairies. Even I didn’t know how many of them there were total, but I knew that there were a considerable number working at the clinic. Whether it was organizing the medical equipment or cleaning the clinic itself, they devoted themselves diligently to any work they found that needed doing.

In addition to the fairies, there was one more person.

“Arahnia. Your break should be just about over by now,” I said to Arahnia, who was occupying one of the clinic’s beds.

“Hnn… Now just a little longer won’t hurt, right?”

“Nope. Time to get up.”

Arahnia moved her jointed legs and squirmed up out of the bed. Perhaps it was due to the unfamiliar work that Dr. Glenn and I were asking of her, but she seemed particularly sleepy as of late.

Climbing out from under the covers, Arahnia’s face looked pale. I could see her exhaustion. It wasn’t uncommon for the fashion-crazed designer to be subject to such overwork. I wondered if she was reluctant to use makeup, if only just to hide her tired complexion.

Well, makeup was strictly prohibited in the clinic either way.

“Hey, Sapphee, have you ever seen blood vessels or nerve bundles in your dreams before? I saw them in mine last night… Teehee, it was my first time ,” Arahnia said, seductively.

“I did back when I was at the academy,” I replied.

“I’d expect nothing less from a professional,” Arahnia said, sluggishly beginning to work.

Lately, Arahnia hadn’t just been focusing on her suturing practice, but also helping me out with the clinic chores. Even with the fairies here, the clinic didn’t have enough people helping out. Having a clever woman like Arahnia assisting me often proved useful in some way or another.

I had warned Dr. Glenn that Arahnia had some ulterior motive she was keeping to herself. Although my doubts hadn’t been completely dispelled, in reality, the fact that she was as utterly exhausted as she was made me think she didn’t have enough energy for any secret schemes. Nevertheless, it was important to keep oneself in good shape. I thought she might need a breather soon.

“This surgery—I wonder if it will happen,” Arahnia said. It was rare for her to express such a sentiment.

“Are you worried?” I replied.

“But of course. Why, to think, if after I’ve tried so hard, we end up not being able to do it…”

“I’m sure Dr. Glenn will convince her somehow. It’ll be fine.” Those were the words I replied with. But they were just words. In fact, I was worried. I was very worried! It didn’t show on my face, but inside my mind, I was rife with anxiety.

After all, Dr. Glenn was still young, still unreliable! And the person he was speaking to was a dragon who not only had been alive for an unknowable number of years, but possessed wisdom and intelligence that helped turn Lindworm into the rich and plentiful city it was today. That’s who he was going to convince? Could Glenn really do it?! My tiny little Glenn?!

The gap in their life experience was too big. It was probably impossible for any human to ever have as much experience as a dragon, no matter how long a life they led. That was the type of person Miss Skadi seemed to be.

If I was being perfectly honest, I wanted to do everything for him.

Dr. Glenn was only incredible when it came to medical knowledge and techniques. He was totally useless when it came to anything outside of that. When it came to the practical side of daily life, he couldn’t do anything—cooking, cleaning, laundry, none of it. If it was in my power, then I wanted to do everything he couldn’t do for him. Of course, that wouldn’t be good for Dr. Glenn himself, so I had to maintain some level of self-control.

“You really do love the Doctor, don’t you, Sapphee?” Arahnia asked.

“Yes, I do.” I nodded. It took courage for me to proclaim my love in front of Arahnia, but I tried to answer as calmly as possible.

Arahnia has a bad habit. It was an extremely irritating habit. She always wanted to claim the people or things that others held dear and precious for herself. Previously, she had tried to get her hands on Dr. Glenn. To be perfectly frank, her hobby was stealing away and sleeping with her friends’ lovers.

Not only that, she would insist that all of it was done for the sake of her art.

She was beyond help.

Thanks to this personality of hers, even when she made friends, she would steal her friends’ lovers and sour the friendship. Repeating this over and over again, Arahnia finally lost her popularity.

Fortunately, it appears that she hasn’t been entirely ostracized among her own race—this habit of plunder and thievery is more or less common among the arachne. There are truly some awful species of monsters out there in the world.

Even if she is understood by other arachne, the other monster races aren’t so understanding. It’s incredible that I’ve even been able to become friends with such a woman, if I do say so myself. Arahnia is a strange woman for sure, but I might be a very eccentric person myself.

“I’m fine if you fool around with him, but you can’t ever get serious, Arahnia,” I said.

“You’re saying I can fool around?” she replied.

“As long as it doesn’t become serious, I’ll allow him to have any number of mistresses he wants.”

It was a lie. An outrageous lie.

I had thought that maybe I’d be fine as long as his mistress was Arahnia… But thinking about it again, I really did hate it. It may be odd for me to say this about myself, but I do think I’m very possessive of Dr. Glenn, so while I might try not to be excessively overbearing toward him, I still can’t help detesting an idea if I truly hate it.

However, as long as Dr. Glenn didn’t become serious about anyone besides me, I ended up thinking that I’d be fine with him fooling around with someone else. My possessiveness came from my desire to always be Dr. Glenn’s number one, which made me feel that so long as he kept things casual, I’d be okay with letting him flirt, and see as many other women as he liked.

Am I contradicting myself? I probably am, aren’t I?

“…Well, that’s a little boring, I’d say,” replied Arahnia.

Huh? I thought she would say that even being lovers would be fine so long as she got to enjoy herself, but her response came as quite a surprise.

Did Arahnia want to be his number one, too?

I realized that while I thought we were close friends, it might actually be impossible to figure Arahnia out after all. She was an arachne, a race of all women. Women were annoying creatures no matter what race of monster they were—this annoyance was probably all the more worse among a race of all women.

Even for other women, it was impossible to understand a woman’s heart. As if a man could ever understand it.

“Arahnia,” I said, addressing her. Possibly because of her exhaustion, she seemed somewhat absentminded.

“Tonight, do you want to go out for a drink?”

It was a large bar that was found a little ways past the Central Plaza and its fountain, en route to the Merrow Waterways. The owner was a kindhearted kraken madam. Their specialty was their squid-ink pasta. It was Arahnia and I’s favorite spot to go drinking together.

I love wine. Arahnia, on the other hand, enjoys a type of alcohol made in the eastern regions of the human territory known as “ginjo.” There aren’t many bars in Lindworm that carry both. The Great Squid’s Inn was one of the rare places where we could drink together despite our different preferences in alcohol.

“Phew…” Arahnia sighed after taking a gulp of ginjo from her cup, which was small enough to fit in the palm of her hand. It was as if she were expelling all her daily exhaustion with the sigh.

“Arahnia, are you really not going to use a glass?” I asked.

“When drinking alcohol from the east, it’s proper etiquette to use this choko to drink it. One ends up drinking far too much with a regular glass,” Arahnia replied.

“Choko…? Like chocolate?”

“No, no, no,” Arahnia answered with a cackle.

I was enjoying a glass of white wine from the Aluloona Plantation. It was a mass-produced vintage of not especially high quality, but it had a very full-bodied flavor that I enjoyed.

I wondered if Miss Aluloona was doing well. The owner of the plantation, she was a woman I often bought medicinal herbs and plants from, but I hadn’t met with her recently.

I suddenly thought about her arresting green skin and extending vines. Miss Aluloona had an influential voice in the city council, and was close to Miss Skadi, so I imagined that she was busy at the moment as well. I decided that I should take the time to visit the Plantation soon.

“Now then,” Arahnia began as she poured more alcohol into her choko cup. “It’s been a while since I’ve gone drinking with you, Sapphee, but…before we begin the festivities, may I ask you something?”

“What could that be?”

“Why is she here?” Arahnia said, pointing her finger at the third woman sitting at our table. The woman she pointed to disregarded Arahnia’s remark, using a fork and knife to continue digging into the humongous salad in front of her. For a drink, she appeared to have some kind of carrot juice.

The picture-perfect vegetarian.

“I was invited too,” replied Tisalia the centaur nonchalantly. “Sapphee, the vegetables at this restaurant are very delicious.”

“I’m glad to hear you like it.”

“Why, of course I would love it! Oh, waiter, could I get another serving?” Her bowl completely empty, Tisalia got the attention of a passing waiter.

She ate far too fast. She was eating so much good food every day—was that still not enough? What was truly maddening was that despite all she ate, none of it went to her stomach and all just went to her breasts instead. I wonder if becoming an arena fighter would give me that ideal body.

“You know this is a bar, don’t you? What’s with that red juice of yours?” chirped Arahnia.

“I simply don’t drink,” Tisalia replied.

“I called her here, Arahnia. I haven’t gotten a chance to see her in a while,” I replied.

Tisalia Scythia. She was the daughter of the head of Scythia Transportation, which was responsible for the transportation network in Lindworm. To me, she was my natural enemy for Dr. Glenn’s affections. On the other hand, I couldn’t help having a soft spot for her straightforward personality.

She was an attractive woman—which was precisely why she was also capable of stealing Dr. Glenn away from me, and therefore someone I needed to be cautious around. I had to meet with her every once in a while and check up on her inclinations toward Dr. Glenn.

Seeing her wasn’t solely about deepening our relationship as I had my own self-interests in mind as well.

“Yes, well, I did have some things I had to speak to you alone about, Sapphee…” said Arahnia.

“It’s fine, isn’t it? It’s just us girls today, so feel free to confide in me everything you can’t talk about in the clinic,” Tisalia replied.

“Well… You do have a point. It makes no difference whether Miss Scythia is here or not,” Arahnia sighed.

“That’s right,” I replied. Part of Arahnia’s objections might have come from the idea that having a non-drinker with us might stifle the fun of our drinking party.

Our drinking get-togethers were always quiet and leisurely. It wasn’t the type of party to get loud and noisy. We liked having a gentle, peaceful chat together, like a steadily pouring rain storm. The addition of a slightly gluttonous centaur wouldn’t stop us from having an enjoyable time.

“That reminds me, Sapphee, are the surgery preparations going well?” Tisalia asked.

“Yes. Thank you very much for your cooperation, Tisalia,” I replied.

“Oh, please don’t mention it, it’s just… Considering you ordered anesthetic ingredients…” Tisalia trailed off.

An anesthetic to use on a dragon. This was my task. I guess I could also say it was a test imposed upon me by Dr. Cthulhy.

Heart surgery required whole-body anesthesia, but in all of my studies, I didn’t know of a single anesthetic that worked on a dragon. While the lamia were known as the pharmacologists of the monster world, performing surgery on a dragon was something completely beyond anyone’s imagination.

“Did you figure out a solution in the end?” said Tisalia, finishing her thought.

“Yes. I still need to experiment, but…I’ve found an ingredient that will work on dragons,” I said, pointing my finger at the ginjo that Arahnia was enjoying. Arahnia stared back blankly, the look on her face suggesting that she didn’t know what we were talking about.

“Why—what is it?” Arahnia asked.

“I’m saying that alcohol you’re holding seems like it will work,” I replied. I had seen the story while I was reading an old document. “There was an eight-headed dragon that appeared in a country to the east. Apparently the dragon demanded sacrifices and ate the people of the country, but it got drunk off that alcohol you’re holding and fell asleep, and a hero used the opening to cut off its heads. It said the hero cut them all off one at a time.”

“I see. Everyone seems to have their own fairy tales about killing dragons, don’t they?” Tisalia chimed in.

“I got a hint from this story. Basically, this eight-headed dragon wouldn’t die unless all of its heads were cut off, so it hit me—assuming that the dragon had been asleep because of the alcohol, hadn’t it been alive while its heads were getting cut off one by one?”

Arahnia was listening attentively. I continued.

“In other words, wouldn’t the alcohol be able to act as an anesthetic? I was thinking that so long as nothing vital is severed in the surgery, the alcohol might be able to calm Miss Skadi’s pain during the operation.”

I believed that this line of reasoning had put me on the right track. That being said, it was nothing more than a single line of reasoning. That was why I worked with Tisalia to order some alcohol from the country to the east. I still needed to do experiments on whether the alcohol would actually have the desired effect.

With the power of the Scythia Transportation company, ordering some liquor from a country in the eastern part of human territory seemed simple enough. Besides, even the Giant Squid’s Inn had stocked up on many bottles of the eastern liquor, and there was already an established trade route, as well.

“Ah… I see. You’re as clever as ever, Sapphee,” Tisalia replied.

Arahnia had listened attentively to my description of the old story I had found (it had been called yamata-something-or-other) and to the idea that the story had given me.

“There’s the story of this snake in the east, called ‘uwabami,’ that’s supposed to like alcohol as well. Although, snakes and dragons might not react the same way…” said Arahnia.

“If it’s from the east, then that means there’s a chance it’s a subspecies of the dragon. I’ll have to look it up,” I replied. I was fairly certain that Arahnia was somewhat knowledgeable about the eastern edge of the humans’ territory. The clothes she wore looked like they were from the eastern countries. I’m told that when she was studying, she even traveled through the human territory on foot. I knew without a doubt from her achievements as a designer that she had experience living there. It was safe to say that if someone in Lindworm happened upon an exotic piece of clothing, it was probably Arahnia’s work.

This wasn’t good. Dr. Glenn also came from the human territory. If he talked about his hometown, he might hit it off with Arahnia. I needed to stay vigilant. After all, I know a thing or two about the human territory myself.

“Anyway, I still need to prove my theory with an actual experiment. If this goes well, it’ll be a big step toward producing an anesthetic,” I continued.

“I hope the surgery can move forward without any delays…” Tisalia replied. She also seemed to be concerned for Miss Skadi. Everyone was worried for the dragon. It was plain to see just how much prestige she had gathered for herself.

“Yes. However, there’s still one problem,” I replied.

“What problem?” Tisalia asked.

“That,” I said, pointing toward Arahnia once more. She didn’t seem to be paying attention at all, and hummed a tune as she enjoyed her alcohol. She was ordering a refill, meaning she had drunk all of the ginjo that had been in her small earthenware bottle.

“Gulp, gulp, gulp… Aaah!” Arahnia licked her lips and continued to savor the flavor of the alcohol.

“Arahnia’s not actually a doctor, but I think she is doing very well. Even still, it will be her first experience doing actual surgery. She’s been practicing on Miss Kunai’s dead flesh, but I wonder what her reaction will be upon seeing real blood vessels, nerves, and organs… I remembered what I thought at the time, that the insides of a living organism can be quite disgusting to look at,” I continued.

Tisalia watched Arahnia enjoying her alcohol as if she were looking at some sort of rare beast. For a non-drinker like Tisalia, the sight of a heavy drinker like Arahnia must have been bizarre. As someone who also enjoyed alcohol, it was a gaze that I had often seen cast my way.

“Hehehe, Sapphee?” said Arahnia.

“Yes, Arahnia?” I replied.

“Are you drinking?”

“For the most part,” I replied. It seemed I had also gotten a little tipsy. The wine was superb, as usual.

It would be nice if I could drink with Dr. Glenn, but he doesn’t seem to enjoy alcohol very much. Besides, it might be better that way, since it would be a problem for a doctor to love alcohol.

“Sapphee, you really are adorable.” Her words slurring as she spoke, Arahnia gave me a sidelong glance.

Well, she was clearly drunk. She had probably lost some her tolerance as a result of our recent alcohol ban. And she had been particularly exhausted, so I wondered if that made the alcohol affect her more.

“You’ve had a little too much to drink, Arahnia,” I said.

“Why, I’ve had practically nothing!” she replied.

I ordered her a glass of water. The only snack we had ordered was a simple egg dish, and Arahnia hadn’t even eaten that. She was always a light eater, but having nothing but alcohol in her body was concerning, whatever the circumstances.

Tisalia gave a curious look at the red-faced, giggling drunk.

“Is she always like this?” she asked.

“No, normally she’s more…docile,” I replied. Even when she had had too much to drink, she had almost never looked this intoxicated before. Perhaps because she was hot, she took off the ornaments she had around her neck. I had a feeling that if she wasn’t stopped, she’d be stripping off all her clothes entirely.

Every movement as she took off her ornaments was suggestive—erotic. I’m sure there are many men who would fall madly in love from seeing it. But even though she had stolen the hearts of countless people’s lovers before, she had yet to try and settle on a partner herself. Once she grew tired of one of the lovers she had stolen, she would quickly kick them to the curb. She had less interest in the person or thing she was taking away than the act of snatching them away itself.

She was quite the ill-natured arachne.

“Miss Arahnia, do you remember our quarrel in the harpy village?” Tisalia asked.

“Hmm? Oh, that, I definitely remember that,” Arahnia replied.

“Back then, you asked me if my love for Dr. Glenn was real or not, didn’t you?”

“I did, didn’t I?” Cackling as she spoke, Arahnia didn’t show any signs of regret for her actions.

The incident at the harpy village hadn’t been a mere quarrel. If I hadn’t gone and stopped them, either Tisalia or Arahnia would have gotten seriously hurt. Of course, it had been entirely Arahnia’s fault for making a move on Dr. Glenn to begin with.

I wondered just what would happen if she tried to lay her hand on my sweetheart—and yes, Dr. Glenn is my sweetheart—or the lover of another woman. I knew that Arahnia was aware of what would happen. And yet, despite that, she went out of her way to provoke people.

“Well, then… Miss Arahnia, do you know what real love is?”

I almost gave a triumphant clap at Tisalia’s question. Instead, I used my tail to clap quietly against the floor.

Arahnia smiled in satisfaction, as if she was scheming something. It was a very suspicious smile—but I understood. Tisalia had touched on a sensitive subject with Arahnia, and Arahnia was just trying to gloss over it with a smile.

“I wonder…” Arahnia began, slurping down a sip of her drink. “Love, lust, fancy, hatred—you see, I just love the diplomacy of it all. But is there any real emotion in any of that, or is it all just lies? Everyone might just be lying. Everyone’s feelings might be true. Is there any way you can verify if your love is true or not?”

I sensed some sort of sensation on my pinky. Without my realizing it, a thin strand of white had wrapped itself around my finger. Looking over, I spied a similar piece of white silk on Tisalia’s pinky as well. The glittering white spider silk had been wound around Arahnia’s finger, too.

“A red thread connecting two pinkies is proof of two lovers’ destiny. Now it may not have any color, but I can connect anyone with my silk any time I want. Not just between a man, but between other women as well—look, just like this,” Arahnia continued.

Connecting the three of us with her threads of silk, Arahnia was overjoyed. At least on the surface, she seemed to be in high spirits.

“Us three—our pinkies are tied together, so we’re friends,” Arahnia continued.

Really? It would be simple for Tisalia to use her dinner knife and cut right through the thread. Was Arahnia trying to say that this thin web had tied the three of us together? I had no idea what she was so happy about or why she was grinning so much. It felt as if she was trying to confirm that our friendship would be everlasting.

“Yes… That’s right, Arahnia,” I replied, for the time being. I knew very well that Arahnia couldn’t satisfy herself with relationships that could be severed whenever she wanted.

You may ask how I know that.

Of course I do. After all, she’s my best friend.

The city newspaper had apparently written a new article on Miss Skadi’s illness. This time, they even mentioned how the Central Hospital would work with the Litbeit Clinic to operate on her.

Well, the Central Hospital, Kuklo Workshop, and Loose Silk Sewing were all major institutions that had many different people coming and going from them. If one went around collecting all the available information, it was probably an easy guess that we were preparing for surgery. But it didn’t seem like Dr. Cthulhy was strictly enforcing a gag order, either.

We medical professionals weren’t about to get involved with the commotion. It was clear what needed to be done, so all that was left was for us to push forward toward our goal. Fortunately, it appeared that the paper had done its research properly this time and hadn’t spread irresponsible rumors around the city.

It wasn’t that which was causing a stir in my heart.

“Yes, that’s it right there. Be thorough. Like you’re gently pinching it. This area’s important, so be careful… Yes, that’s it. You’ve gotten much better,” said Dr. Glenn.

“Oh, come now, it’s only because you’re such a good teacher, Doctor,” Arahnia replied.

“This time, why don’t you try doing it faster?”

“Okay, I’ll try.”

They were close. They had been too close to each other for a while now. But there wasn’t anything I could do about it. Dr. Glenn was looking over a body with a surgical sponge and having Arahnia practice her suturing. Arahnia had an instrument in each of her four arms, and Dr. Glenn stood next to her with his face close to hers, watching how she used her hands.

This practice was necessary for the surgery, so I just had to deal with it, but nevertheless, they were, well, quite close to one another. It was irritating.

“Here…and here, Miss Arahnia.”

“Understood, I’ll just squeeze here and… Okay, Doctor, how is that?”

“Good—very good.”

Hold on a second. What exactly were they talking about? Listening to the words out of context made it sound like bedroom talk—no, no, no what was I even thinking? This was all because Arahnia’s very existence was indecent. Enough that even innocent surgery practice ended up sounding obscene. Yes, that’s right, this was all Arahnia’s fault.

“Doctor, you are so fantastic. Why, it feels like I’m taking more of a fancy to you with each passing minute.”

“Ah ha haha…” Dr. Glenn’s smile twitched as he laughed. It was only natural he’d be unsure how to handle Arahnia’s confession, considering he had already been attacked by her before.

“Dr. Glenn,” I said forcing myself into the conversation, unable to bear listening any longer. “About this medical record.”

“Huh? Oh, um, yes?” replied Dr. Glenn.

“The pages are all out of order. Please make sure to arrange them properly.”

“Understood… But still, that’s strange, isn’t it…?”

Oh no—I ended up scolding him.

While it was upsetting that Arahnia was so close to Dr. Glenn, if I acted too harshly he’d just end up hating me. I knew that, and yet, I still acted this way.

“It’s fine. I’ll just fix it. You’ll be going to the workshop and the Central Hospital today, right?” I said.

“…I’m sorry, Sapphee. Oh, and I’ll be stopping by the Council Hall today, too,” he replied.

“In that case, I’ll prepare a late dinner.”

I was right—it seemed he was having a difficult time convincing Miss Skadi. That was why his trips out of the clinic were getting more frequent. Every time I thought he’d stay in the clinic for once, all he did was coach Arahnia instead—if you could even call their subdued whispering to one another coaching.

Was I just being ignored? Was that it?

I couldn’t stand this. Nothing but jealousy—I couldn’t stand what I was becoming.

“I’ll be waiting for you to come back, Doctor,” I said.

“Yeah, I’ll leave the rest to you, okay?” Dr. Glenn replied.

Even I could feel the sardonic tinge to my words. I was sure Dr. Glenn picked up on the irritation I couldn’t hide. But he was so thoughtful that he faced my jealousy with calm composure.

No, that wasn’t it. I’m sure it was simply that he didn’t have the time or energy to fully contemplate my feelings. Dr. Glenn just wanted to help Miss Skadi and the other monsters of this town.

“Are you fine with that, Sapphee?” Arahnia asked me after I had seen Dr. Glenn off, never breaking her smile.

“You have to say to him, ‘Doctor, please pay attention to me.’ A man will never understand unless you tell him properly.”

That’s right. I was looking after the clinic as always. It was proof that Glenn relied on me. I’d look after it, organizing documents, while Arahnia continued her four-armed suturing practice.

I knew that Arahnia wanted to provoke me. But unfortunately for her, that wasn’t going to work.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve looked after the clinic,” I continued.

“Hmm? What does that mean, exactly?” Arahnia replied.

“We’ve been separated from each other once before. We parted, and I thought that I would never see him again.”

Back then, I had lived at Glenn Litbeit’s family home. He was from a major merchant family, and I only lived there because of a ruse involving both my family and Glenn’s—a hostage exchange, in a sense. But I was able to meet Glenn through that, so I was grateful to my family, the Neikes, for everything, and didn’t bear them a grudge at all for involving me in their plot.

For less than a year, I spent time with the young Glenn. During that period, I was completely taken with him—so much so that I wanted to howl when it came time for me to return to my own home. Lamia don’t have tear ducts, but we are still able to express our sorrows with loud cries.

I thought it was a final farewell—that I would live my whole life with the memories of the days I spent with a boy named Glenn, my first love, without ever seeing him again.

“Can you understand what it felt like back at the Academy, when I was reunited with my first love?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t know, but I’m sure that was quite the surprise,” Arahnia replied.

“Yes, very much so.”

I had been surprised. The young boy from so many years ago had arrived at the Monster Academy, now a student overflowing with genius. There wasn’t any among Dr. Cthulhy’s students at the time that could rival his knowledge or his skill.

The once-young boy had now started to become a man. My knowledge of pharmacology, too, was easily eclipsed by his passionate pursuit of learning. His skills weren’t just for show—they were recognized by Dr. Cthulhy, and he was the only one among her students who had been permitted to open their own independent clinic.

Anyone would fall in love with him, wouldn’t they?

Or rather, I should say it was practically a given I’d end up falling in love again, wasn’t it?

Glenn Litbeit is a man I have seriously fallen in love with twice in my lifetime. The first time, I found him adorable, while the second time I found him attractive. That’s why it was already too late—my heart is a slave to Dr. Glenn.

I wouldn’t be moved, even by Arahnia’s little provocations. I absolutely. Would not. Be. Provoked.

“Dr. Glenn really is loved, isn’t he?” Arahnia remarked.

“Yes, that’s right. So you keep out of it,” I replied.

“I’m rather jealous.”

As I organized the documents, I wondered. My reunion with Glenn had made me extremely happy. Although we currently slept in different rooms, we were living together in the same clinic. It wouldn’t be too much to say that we were already in a de facto marriage. Yes, that was exactly right, and I wouldn’t hear any objections that said otherwise.

That personality of his—the one I fell in love with—was exactly why he was so often absent from the clinic. This was most evident at times like now, when he was the most busy. There were many things he had to handle outside the clinic. So long as there were only two people working there, I would have no choice but to look after it while he was gone.

Of course, there were also times we would take trips as part of our clinic work, or go out shopping together, but it was a little lonely right now, as even that was out of reach.

I can only imagine what would happen if these feelings of mine were made clear.

I’m not good at being by myself and not cut out for watching the clinic while Dr. Glenn is gone. Not to mention the fact that when I’m left alone here, all sorts of thoughts come into my mind. Thoughts like the possibility that Dr. Glenn might go somewhere far, far away in order to help someone—far enough that no matter how I may stretch out my tail, I’ll never be able to reach him.

Even if I tell myself that there is no way it could happen, in the back of my mind I remember that, when I was younger, I had already experienced parting from him once.

“…Sapphee, you’re making a rather frightening face right now,” said Arahnia.

“You’re the one who said something strange,” I replied.

“Really? Well then, I suppose it’s my fault then.”

The golden dragonscales—Glenn hadn’t been carrying the pendent I had given him today, either. It should have been carefully tucked away in his bedroom. So that meant that he was actually meeting with Miss Skadi today. He did mention he would be stopping by the Council Hall.

I found myself touching the dragonscale attached to my own clothes. I felt a little bit of peace of mind when I was touching the charm—probably because it matched the one that Dr. Glenn had.

I had things of my own that I needed to do. I could wait until it was all over before I selfishly asked Glenn to dote on me more.

“Arahnia. Time to get back to work. Let’s work hard,” I said.

“Snakes sure can be mean and cold, can’t they?” she complained.

“I’m just hiding it. If I were really that cold, I’d be hibernating.”

Women never say what they really mean. Isn’t it shameless to expose anything and everything, all the more so if it is to someone you love? The boiling passion in a woman’s chest is always desperately pushed beneath the surface.

So I hope that in front of Dr. Glenn, I will always be his reliable senior professional and assistant.

My mother was a thief.

My beautiful mother was greedy. There was always something she wanted. What made it worse was that she didn’t know a single way to curb her own desires.

Her modus operandi was shrewd. She would use her natural beauty to con the men who approached her and control them. Even when she would make her men steal for her, and snatch things from others, she made sure never to get her own hands dirty.

The men that she ensnared wouldn’t even balk at committing a crime if it was for her sake.

My mother stated that the one thing she absolutely wouldn’t do, whether directly or indirectly, was murder someone. But even that felt suspicious to me. She was a woman who would do whatever was necessary to get what she wanted. If, for example, she had used the chaos of the great war to take someone’s life, I wouldn’t have been surprised at all.

I had always thought her behavior was wretched—being unable to restrain oneself from wanting something, the inability to endure the fact one couldn’t have something. As such, she was a woman who would take advantage of any sort of good will or kindness that was directed toward her, and do anything in order to satisfy her desires.

It was only natural that I detested her.

Nevertheless, my mother’s blood runs through me.

My mother thoughtlessly had intimate relationships with many different men, so I don’t know who my father is. My mother didn’t neglect me at all, but I wouldn’t say that she cherished me, either.

She probably just saw me as a by-product of her escapades in seducing men.

How unfortunate—to have such an ugly and indecent woman’s blood in my veins.

Not only that, but I am similar. I am very much like my mother. I inherited her inability to restrain herself from the things she wanted.

Possessions, love—I want all of it.

I want to control it all.

My mother acted like a queen, with all those men following her every beck and call, and her blood does indeed flow through me as well.

That’s exactly why I’m different from her. I wanted to show that I’m different.

For example, any clothes, jewels, food, or even men—if it was something I could obtain, then I did so relying only on my own power. I made use of nothing but my own talent and my own charm.

Even if what I did was wrong, I didn’t want to become someone who uses others for their own purposes, like my mother.

Well, I didn’t want to completely avoid becoming like my mother.

Even now, I still believe that I am different from her. Yet despite that, an emotion flares up within me from time to time. It’s probably because I used to watch my mother’s audacious behavior from up close, but sometimes, there are things that I can’t help but want. A fierce desire burns within me, and I lose the ability to think about anything else.

I feel a growing desire to pluck up and take away something another holds dear, without at all considering the trouble I would cause for those around me.

Alas, how wretched a thought!

Yet, the more I think about how contemptible my mother was, the more I despise myself for being so much like her.

That’s right—a perfect example would be this very moment.

I couldn’t contain these feelings, very similar to those of my mother. The thing I wanted most to avoid was acting exactly as she would. In that case, what was I to do? At the end of my inner turmoil, what I reached out for was—

“Don’t even think about it.”

It was then a voice spoke to me, interrupting my thoughts. I was sure there hadn’t been anyone around. In spite of myself, I turned around.

“You didn’t even plan a trap. That’s pretty careless of you.”

Oh, what a lovely voice and a lovely face. Standing there was my close friend, truly far too good for a person like me.

“Isn’t it now…Arahnia?”

“Sapphee… How did you know?”

“Oh, what’s that? Not even using that hokey dialect of yours? That’s very unlike you, Arahnia.”

Whoops! I had forgotten both my feigned smile and my fake dialect.

I had never shown anyone my natural self before. Lately I had been a little…tired. It was because of all the unfamiliar medical training and studying I had been doing. That was why I wasn’t acting like myself, acting careless.

“I don’t really care,” Sapphee continued. “If you want to swap around the medical vials in the clinic and put them where they don’t belong, or mess up the order of some of the medical records, I’ll overlook that level of mischief. But that is off limits. That’s something very special that I gave to Glenn.”

I had it gripped in my hand. It was a golden dragonscale charm—something Glenn always carried on him and held dear to his heart.

I had tried to steal it because it was something he always kept with him. How unsightly. In the end, I was a thief, just like my mother.

Dr. Glenn’s bedroom.

I had crept in knowing that there shouldn’t have been anyone inside, but Sapphee had been lying in wait. In retrospect, it should have been obvious to me. Sapphee was well versed in the arts of the assassin. Outwitting a simple thief should have been easy for her.

“Tch!” Throwing the dragonscale charm, I escaped.

I have confidence in my ability to escape. Arachne exoskeletons are as sturdy as they are light. While Dr. Glenn’s bedroom was on the second floor, leaping from tall spaces and other physical maneuvering was the specialty of the arachne, and didn’t pose a problem.

Fortunately, the window of the bedroom was quite wide. I could slip through. I wrapped my silk around the handle and pulled. It was unlocked, and I was able to open it in a split second.

Tomorrow, I would leave town.

It was a fitting fate for someone like me, unable to curb my thieving nature. But through it all, I still believed that I was different from my mother. My mother would probably have held the golden dragonscale charm in her hand even as she was making her escape. I, however, had cast it aside as I left, either because I wanted to return it to Sapphee, or because it wasn’t really the charm that I had wanted. Which was it, I wonder?

I probably don’t even know myself.

But as for what I was really after—was that even something that could be stolen? Was it really something that a cowardly, greedy, black-hearted person like me could get their hands on?

My eight legs absorbed the impact of landing on the ground.

I wouldn’t be able to carry through with the work that Dr. Glenn had asked of me, and it would cause trouble for Loose Silk Sewing, but it was hard to believe that either of them would even ask for the help of a thief like me. Lindworm was a pleasant city to live in, and I had grown attached to it, but I had brought this on myself. This was the end of my time here.

Or at least, I had thought it was the end, when—

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

I had escaped from the clinic’s second floor—or so I had thought—but there was a large figure standing outside to greet me. I was dumbstruck.

It hadn’t been just one person lying in wait for me.

There was a massive figure standing in the road.

Miss Tisalia had already drawn her spear and made her intention clear—she wasn’t going to let me go a single step further. I couldn’t win against a powerful woman like this head on. While I was confident in my nimbleness and speed, I had no knowledge of the martial arts.

“Now then, you’re going to have to explain yourself, Miss Arahnia. In detail , understand?” said Tisalia.

“Tch.” Could I escape? Perhaps I could use my agility to slip right past her.

It seemed difficult—my opponent didn’t seem to have any holes in her defense and had blocked off the path of my escape with her spear.

Maybe I could use my silk to jump up and escape?

In forests or inside buildings, this option was effective. However, Lindworm was a well-developed cityscape and there weren’t many superfluous things to grab hold of around the town. I couldn’t see any convenient starting point I could use to attach my silk. My vision in the dark wasn’t that strong to begin with, either.

In that case, I had to go back. My segmented legs immediately cut backwards—but I knew it was impossible.

A figure fell with a thud from the second floor. Coiling her long lower body, the assassin blocked my retreat.

“…Give it up, Arahnia,” Sapphee declared, with a look of reproach in her eyes. I had tried to steal something of importance to Dr. Glenn, so I couldn’t expect anything else.

I sighed, giving up. It appeared that I had once again managed to lose a friend.

The arachne were supposed to be skilled at ensnaring others, yet in the end I was the one who ended up being captured. All I could do was shrug my shoulders in defeat.

It seemed that this bad habit my mother passed down to me would never be something I, Arahnia Taranterra Arachnida, could cure.

Tisalia and I brought Arahnia with us to our regular pub. I was completely at my wit’s end. I couldn’t believe Arahnia. I had realized her intentions long ago and only wished she hadn’t waited until the middle of the night to make her move.

Arahnia looked on in amazement.

“Um… Aren’t the two of you going to hand me over to the patrolmen?” she asked. Her dialect had returned. This sounded much more like the Arahnia I knew, whether or not it was an artifice. Even if it was just a quirk she had stuck to herself to try and hide her own personality, using the dialect of the eastern countries suited Arahnia much better.

“What do you mean…?” Arahnia replied.

“You haven’t taken anything. Isn’t that right?” Tisalia said next to me, nodding her head. Arahnia’s face turned more and more perplexed.

“You’ve been tasked with a nigh-impossible job, Arahnia,” I said. “I know that the stress of it was what caused your bad habits to come out. You just started wanting to mess around with other people’s things, right?”

“Augh… It looks like I’ve been found out…” Arahnia replied.

“Dr. Glenn thought they were all his mistakes, but the medical vials moving around, the documents being rifled through and messed around with… All of that started after you arrived. So it was logical to think it was all your doing, wasn’t it?”

I opened up my hand. Hopping up and down in my palm was a fairy, wearing a small cap. The helper fairy, always quick to appear when called for, crooked its head sideways as if to ask what was going on.

“You know, I’m pretty friendly with the fairies,” I continued.

“Oh yes, that’s true, isn’t it… These little ones are always helping out with the chores around the clinic,” Arahnia said, letting out some silk and winding it around her finger. Sensing the presence of something entertaining, the fairy made a flying leap from my palm onto the silk. Grabbing it, it swung side to side like a pendulum.

I had thought the fairies were a race of monster that didn’t particularly enjoy doing things for their own amusement, but it seemed that even if the impulse was weak, they still had a desire to be entertained.

“Weee! A swing!” The fairy shouted in joy.

“I’m honored you’re enjoying it so much,” Arahnia replied.

Just then, the server brought over our orders. I hadn’t hesitated to order some wine. Arahnia had ordered her favorite ginjo but wouldn’t even touch it.

“That’s why I thought with how tired and irritated you were, Arahnia, that you would try to do something eventually. I spoke about it with Tisalia, as well,” I said.

“That’s right. I lie in wait near the clinic every night. It also served as a nice evening walk for me,” Tisalia said, puffing out her unnecessarily large chest in pride.

“I see. So, then, Miss Tisalia joining us for drinks the other night… It was all a part of this, then?” Arahnia asked.

“That’s right. I got to keep an eye on you and see how you were doing, all at the same time,” Tisalia replied. It appeared that even Tisalia could clearly see Arahnia’s state of exhaustion. She had said so to me after our get-together.

“I was of the same opinion. After all, you aren’t a woman that can restrain herself,” I said. My words prompted a sour expression on Arahnia’s face.

“Leave it to you, Sapphee,” she replied, as if she was giving up, and as if she was ridiculing herself with her words. She limply rocked the silk that was suspended from her finger. The fairy squealed and looked to be enjoying itself. “Leave it to the clinic pharmacologist. You’re right—I’m at the mercy of an inescapable ailment known as kleptomania. If I want something, I can’t control myself, whether the something belongs to me or not. It doesn’t take me long to start desiring my friends’ lovers. The flirting in the clinic, for example…”

“To try and capture Dr. Glenn’s attention…? Miss Arahnia, you still haven’t given up on him, have you?” Tisalia replied, her ears jolting to attention. This behavior suggested Arahnia’s words had put Tisalia on edge.

Arahnia had attempted to rape Dr. Glenn at the harpy village. I didn’t think Arahnia would give up at such a small setback, myself. There was no way she had abandoned her plans—the emotions held within her were much more complicated than that.

“You had some sort of ulterior motive when you accepted the work at the clinic in the first place, didn’t you, Arahnia?” I asked.

“Quite. Well, I would never say my motives were ‘ulterior’ or anything of the sort… I was being honest when I said I wanted to wear matching outfits and work together with you. It’s just that I wanted to know more about Dr. Glenn on top of that…or perhaps I wanted to get closer to him? I wonder,” she replied.

As I put my glass of wine to my lips, Arahnia at long last also began to drink. It appeared that she had something difficult to say. If that was the case, I thought, borrowing a little liquid courage wasn’t a bad idea—Arahnia wasn’t very good with alcohol to begin with. Why not loosen her lips with some liquor?

“Up at the harpy village, I tried to steal the doctor,” Arahnia began.

“Yes, that’s right,” I replied.

“That’s a perfect example of it—my awful habit. Stealing the doctor who was so precious to you, Sapphee… At the time, I boasted that it was all for the sake of my art and designs, but…while that wasn’t entirely a lie, what I was really doing was testing you, Sapphee. I thought—could you still be my friend? Someone who would try to steal the man you love from you, a terrible person like me,” said Arahnia.

What an unbelievably cowardly arachne. Without trying to test me, she couldn’t even believe in our friendship.

Previously at the Giant Squid’s Inn, Arahnia had coiled her silk around our fingers and had declared the three of us friends. Yet, the one who believed the least in our friendship was none other than Arahnia herself.

This woman couldn’t form relationships with others, unlike the silk that she had spun herself that night.

“Even when you came to talk about the surgery, honestly, I was astonished. I couldn’t even imagine what you were thinking, after I had done all those things to both of you,” Arahnia continued.

“There wasn’t any other person for the job,” I said.

“Putting your feelings aside and taking the best course of action for the situation at hand… That is much easier said than done. Dr. Glenn really is able to be calm about these decisions, isn’t he?”

“Dr. Glenn praised you, too, Arahnia,” I replied.

It wasn’t a lie. Her growth in such a short time was remarkable. Dr. Glenn and I had been coaching her, but her improvement was the result of Arahnia’s own work ethic. She had been so serious about her work, so why all of this nonsense?

“I can’t help but find it strange,” remarked Arahnia looking off into the distance. She was looking at someone who wasn’t there. I’m sure she was thinking of the same person who always occupied my own thoughts. “Every day, that man would carefully teach me as though all the indecent things I had done were forgotten. No matter how much I teased him, tricked him, he didn’t seem to be hurt or offended at all… For Sapphee’s beloved doctor to be this much of a softhearted, good-natured person—I couldn’t believe it.”

“He is, isn’t he?” I replied.

“As I thought about all of this, I began to want to know more about what was going on inside him… I started to want to pick on him. To test him,” Arahnia continued.

“That’s true. You are that sort of person, aren’t you?” I replied.

“It’s awful. That man truly is unflappable.”

I wondered just how good-hearted Dr. Glenn could be.

Setting up a harmless prank, Arahnia wanted to see his reaction. If the prank had made him angry, that would have been that—she would have understood the type of person he was. But Dr. Glenn not only failed to even notice the pranks, but thought they were his own mistakes instead. He didn’t even consider the possibility that it had all been Arahnia’s doing.

“Well, normally,” Tisalia chimed in with a look of exasperation, “that would be the end of it. Can’t you just be satisfied by knowing he’s incapable of distrusting others? Why do you have to reach out for more and more?”

“I wonder. I guess it’s my own cowardice, after all. No, I think it might be because I don’t trust anyone to begin with. You two are different, of course. But both humans and monsters, if you peel back a single layer, they’re all just masses of greed and desire, and anyone who doesn’t appear to be that way makes me suspicious. It’s impossible to tell just what black thoughts and deeds someone is hiding inside them, no matter how good-hearted they may look,” Arahnia replied.

“There you go again, acting like the bad guy. I’ve had more than enough of your cheap sense of evil,” Tisalia snapped. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing at her reply. Her words got to the heart of the matter.

No matter how hard Arahnia tried to pretend to be an evil woman, a thief, or some kind of villainous mastermind, I knew the true extent of her malicious motives. She was just pretending to be a trifling scoundrel—transparent even to someone as simple and straightforward as Tisalia.

“Either way, I still think that going for the dragonscale charm was going too far,” Tisalia added.

“That’s off limits, Arahnia. If you stole that, Dr. Glenn would try to get it back—I’ll give you that. But you won’t get the reaction that you’re hoping for. He would take it back, and that’d be the end of it. You won’t get strung up like a criminal or anything like that. Dr. Glenn is so busy he doesn’t even have the time for it,” I said.

Arahnia hung her head silently. She was reflecting on her actions. No, that wasn’t it—she should have known from the start that what she was doing was a crime. She was a woman capable of differentiating between what she should and shouldn’t do.

So why did she do it, despite knowing that?

The answer was simple—she truly wanted to put it to the test. Would Dr. Glenn still refuse to turn her away, even after she stole the most precious thing he owned? Would he hate her? After she had crossed the line with her pranks and done something to be hated for, would the kindhearted Dr. Glenn truly hate Arahnia?

She wanted to test just how far Dr. Glenn’s good nature went.

She couldn’t feel confident her relationships wouldn’t collapse until she had completely stretched them to the breaking point. An arachne, more cowardly than anyone else, and because of it, unable to make any friends.

Although I wasn’t one to be laughing at another’s cowardice.

“Lately, I’ve even felt strange to myself,” Arahnia said, putting her head in her hands. “I accepted the job because I thought I’d try to get close to Dr. Glenn and embarrass him a little. But even though that doctor has such a hard time handling me, he doesn’t try to avoid me at all…”

“He’s not the type to do that, you know,” I remarked.

“When he’s closely watching me and teaching me how to suture, his face will get red when I tease him a little, yet he doesn’t even try to lay a hand on me… He’s so careful with his work, and gentle… What’s the idea?! Does he think that I’m a terrible woman? Aaaargh, honestly, I have absolutely no clue what that man is thinking!”

Was Arahnia’s face red from her ginjo? Or was it, perhaps, some other reason?

“Arahnia, why don’t I give you an exam?” I asked.

Her eyes widened in surprise at my abrupt change of subject. Normally, Dr. Glenn would be the one to give exams, but—I was sure it would be fine. I could handle being his replacement without a problem.

“E-exam?” Arahnia replied.

“Recently, have you been thinking about Dr. Glenn when you fall asleep?”

“I already told you, didn’t I? That strange man is all I’ve been able to think about.”

“Does your chest tighten when you do?”

“Now that you mention it, it does sometimes…”

“Does your head begin to hurt, and does your face get hot?”

“I haven’t had any headaches, but…I suppose, lately…I have felt some heat come to my face.”

“Do you think about wanting to tie Dr. Glenn down?”

Oh boy, I thought. I exchanged glances with Tisalia. It was something so easy to understand, yet Arahnia was in total confusion. She hadn’t realized it herself. I had talked with her under the assumption she knew why she was consumed by thoughts of Dr. Glenn, but Arahnia was, generally speaking, slow on the uptake.

“Arahnia, you’re definitely sick,” I continued.

“You mean my habit of stealing things, don’t you? I know that, but—” she began.

“No, separate from that. Arahnia, you’ve stolen away men from other women and slept with them before, right? And you still don’t get it? Really?”

“Hm…? I have absolutely no idea what you could be talking about, but seducing men is part of my habit of stealing things, isn’t it?”

“Yes, and I’d assume that would entail sharing intimate feelings with another person, correct?”

“Hm? This conversation is becoming more and more confusing. You see, I’m skilled at seduction, but I have no experience with what comes after. I’m just satisfied taking a man from another. I discard them as soon as I’ve taken my prize.”

My goodness, I thought, that was no doubt quite a cruel ending for the targets of her seduction.

This time I let out a good, loud laugh. I had reached my limit and couldn’t hold it back any longer. Tisalia joined me, and with her laughing too, I couldn’t stop myself—thanks in part to the wine I was drinking.

“Pft, hahahaha.” It was truly too funny for me to handle.

“Hey, what the heck is with you two?! Why are you laughing?! Do you have something to say?!” Arahnia exclaimed.

“Arahnia, it seems you’ve been distressed about all this for a while, but for us, this is something we’ve already had quite a lot of experience with…” Sapphee replied.

She was testing Dr. Glenn? She couldn’t stop a bad habit, one that was bred into her?

These excuses were laughable. True, Arahnia could be a slightly troublesome woman, but that and the reason she was so interested in Dr. Glenn were completely different. As long as she spouted these inconsequential anecdotes of hers and failed to realize her own true feelings, try as she might to make herself seem rich with experience, she was just the same as any other innocent young virgin.

I had finally figured it out.

Arahnia’s worst habit of all wasn’t the stealing or her desire for the things of others. It was that she didn’t understand her own true feelings at all, despite speaking with a pretense of wickedness and villainy.

“I’ll tell you all about it. You see, Arahnia…” I begin.

I was glad that I was one or two steps ahead of Arahnia when it came to matters of the heart. Tisalia also seemed triumphant that she could get back at Arahnia for what previously happened between the two of them.

Together, the two of us carefully explained it all to Arahnia—that the truth of what she was currently feeling was something Tisalia and I were very familiar with.

It was lovesickness.

Arahnia was surprised at first, her six eyes growing wide, then at long last her face turned red, and she finally tried to hide her blush by finishing the rest of her drink all in one gulp.

It was definitely an unhealthy way for her to finish her drink. However, she probably didn’t have any other way of dealing with the fact that she was in love—perhaps for the first time in her life.

That is something I can’t possibly write here.

All I will say is that it might have been a little bit more vulgar and a little bit craftier than a gentleman of the world might expect. Of course, either way, it was simply a drinking party. It wasn’t a particularly significant conversation.

What I can write is that our dinner party was very fun—and the party continued without any mention of Arahnia’s attempted theft. Arahnia hid her face and told us that she had a good pair of friends. She had most likely been crying, but she was too proud to show even her closest friends her tears.

After that, Arahnia’s pranks in the clinic came to an abrupt end. She would probably never want another’s property again. The reason was simple. It was because now she realized she didn’t want the things of others—what she really wanted was something all to herself.

“…What are you doing, Arahnia?”

“S-Sapphee?! W-well, you see, hmm, this is just, well… How should I explain it…?” Arahnia was unusually panicked upon realizing that I had entered the room.

But it was probably natural she would be flustered. After all, both of us were standing in Dr. Glenn’s bedroom. While I was confident she wasn’t thinking about trying to steal one of Dr. Glenn’s belongings again, it was nevertheless troubling to have her barging into the doctor’s room on a whim—troubling for myself in particular.

“Well, let’s see… Promise not to laugh at me, okay?” Arahnia said, continuing her explanation as she withstood my ice-cold glare.

“At first, you see, I tied myself up in my own silk, you know, to act like I was stuck, and call out to Dr. Glenn, ‘Ahh, I’ve been caught, please help poor little me!’ That’s what I was thinking anyway…”

“…But I ended up really getting caught instead,” Arahnia confessed, a defeated tone in her voice as she stood covered in silk.

Both her four upper arms and her six lower legs had all been intricately entangled in a way that made me wonder how in the world she could have even ended up in such a state. It appeared she had made a large amount of her prey-capturing silk, and the sticky slime clung firmly to her arms and legs.

It was absurd to believe that an arachne so at home with handling silk could be so unskilled in its use. However, it then dawned on me that while she had used her silk to capture prey before, she had probably never had any experience tying herself up.

I guessed her secret plan had been to show Dr. Glenn what she looked like all tied up, have him save her, and—if everything went well—charm him with her wiles. The fact that I happened to find her before he did meant that her plan was doomed.

Arahnia moved her long, segmented legs and tried to wriggle free, but it seemed futile. Her silk was such that the more she struggled the more she ended up entangling herself.

“I’ll go and call Dr. Glenn,” I said.

“Aaaah! W-wait hold on! This is too embarrassing—I can’t let the doctor see me like this!”

“All the more reason to call for him, right?”

“Demon! There’s a demon in the clinic!” Arahnia shrieked.

“Who are you calling a demon? I’m a snake.”

She was honestly annoying to deal with. While she had previously behaved calm and composed after awakening to her love for Dr. Glenn, as if she could see through everything, she had begun showing off more innocent and maidenly forms of expression. Meanwhile, I was worried to death at the appearance of another rival for Dr. Glenn’s love.

As her friend, I should have been happy that Arahnia was now able to honestly face her own feelings. But that was an entirely different matter.

As long as she had become a rival, she was the same as Tisalia in my eyes. I couldn’t let her take Dr. Glenn away from me. This time, it wasn’t just for Arahnia’s own amusement or a practical joke—she had become a serious rival for his affections.

“All right, then, what do you want me to do?” I asked.

“…Will you help me out of here somehow?” Arahnia replied.

“All right, all right,” I answered, slithering into the room. My decision to help her had been an unwise one.

I’m sure this goes without saying, but I am a lamia. I’m different from the humans and monsters that wobble along on two or four legs. The long tail of our lower body lies flat against the floor and is far more stable.

Therefore, “tripping,” or any similar sort of blunders, are completely irrelevant to us lamia.

However, there are some times when I forgot how overly long my body truly is. And the inside of Dr. Glenn’s bedroom was already covered in spider silk thanks to Arahnia’s schemes.

In other words, I didn’t fall down—I simply hadn’t paid attention to the silk, got my tail stuck in it, and my body ended up losing its balance. As simple as that.

“…Now I’ve done it,” I said, having fallen prey to Arahnia’s silk and tumbled forward into her chest.

“Sapphee… Now, I may not be one to talk, but you’re pretty clumsy yourself, aren’t you…?” Arahnia said.

“This is all your fault in the—No, saying that won’t make any difference.”

Grabbing Arahnia’s breasts, I tried to get myself free. A soft, rice-cake-like sensation spread across my palm. Her bountiful chest was unbelievably aggravating. I wasn’t able to prop myself up at all.

Nevertheless, it was pointless after all. Arahnia’s silk extended across her whole body, and it almost seemed to have a mind of its own as it entangled me as well. The slime had even gotten stuck to my face, but when I tried wiping away the unpleasant sensation, my hand ended up getting stuck, too.