Who Let This Spider Cook?! Ch.44

— Momonga (Months Later) —

It had been over half a year since Nazarick had arrived in this fantasy world, and in that time, so much had happened. A soft breeze blew through Momonga’s crystal white hair as she stared off into the vast distance beneath her. The tall mountain they stood on provided ample view of the scenery this world had to offer—and it was so much more than anything their old world could muster. 

Yes, their old world. There weren’t many times Momonga pushed herself to think of that desolate place that could barely even be called a planet. The only times she did was in recollection of the good memories she made there. In her heart, that world was not home, nor was it ever a home. 

“It’s a gorgeous view, isn’t it?” 

The white-haired beauty only flinched slightly as she felt strong arms wrap around her waist from behind and a head lean over her shoulder. 

Smooth black locks of the man she loved filled the right side of her vision, blocking the view on that side for her, yet nonetheless all she could do was giggle and lean her head into his. 

That world wasn’t her home, nor was this one. Her home was within the arms of her lovers, and when they weren’t around to hold her, it was within the walls of Nazarick. 

“Yes, it is.” 

They stood there, relishing in the warmth of one another for a few minutes before they heard a pair of footsteps approaching behind. 

“My Lord, My Lady.” Naberal Gamma stopped and dropped to a knee. 

“Naberal Gamma, speak.” Kakuei addressed her, matching the seriousness the maid was giving to them. 

“The Guild Master of the Free Guild’s Blumond Branch wishes to meet with our party.” 

Momonga’s eyes widened minutely as she looked at Kakuei. Judging from the slight raise of his brow, he was just as surprised as she was. Within the last month or so, their party managed to attain A Rank, becoming some of the strongest adventurers out there, at least in terms of rank. At the same time, Momonga expected that to draw some attention from the humans' higher-ups, she hadn’t expected to be personally called by a guild master so soon. 

The Leader of Nazarick looked up at the sky in thought and let out a low hum. 

“Then we shall grant his wish.” Kakuei gave the maid a small smile, earning a bow from her as she vanished from sight, likely returning to Nazarick to inform Nishikienrai of this news. 

The two Supreme Beings stood together in silence for several moments before Momonga spoke up. 

“Do you have an idea as to why a guildmaster would call us in?” 

Kakuei continued looking off into the distance as he nodded with a small frown. “I do, however I cannot be certain. Either way, I’m sure it’s not a bad thing, this is what we wanted after all.” 

Momonga agreed wholeheartedly with Kakuei, his words were just confirmation to calm her nerves. The last thing they needed right now was their cover blown, or some unexplainable force to arrive that utterly destroys their plans. 

However, if Kakuei says all will be well, then that’s what it will be. He has never led them astray before, and Momonga trusted their fate in his hands enough to believe that today wasn’t the day he would. 

— Kakuei (Later) —

After briefly returning to Nazarick to catch up with some of the others, Momonga, Naberal Gamma, and I all made our way back to the Kingdom of Blumond to see what the guildmaster wanted from us. 

We were likely supposed to show up as soon as possible upon his summon, but I sorta took my sweet time getting things in order. Hopefully he doesn’t get too offended by that, but knowing humans who hold positions of power…I doubt my hopes are well placed. 

We arrived at the guildhall and to the front desk, passing by the adventurers we’ve come to know very loosely who were mingling amongst one another. 

The woman with brown hair and glasses behind the desk noticed our approach and her eyes widened slightly. 

“You three are the A-Rankers Guildmaster Fuze summoned, correct?” 

“That we are.” I nodded and immediately the woman got out of her seat. 

“It is nice to see that you three managed to arrive here safely and timely. I will lead you to the guildmaster’s study, please follow me.” The woman smiled slightly before turning away and walking toward the back of the guild.

Momonga and I shared a look with one another before we followed the woman. Timely? We took our sweet time, what does she mean “timely?” 

As we rounded a corner we noticed there were stairs that led straight up to the second floor before rounding and leading to the third floor, which seemed to be as high as the building allowed. Upon reaching the top floor, we went down a hallway and the woman came to a stop at the end, making us halt as well. 

The woman knocked on the door thrice before softly speaking. “Guildmaster, the A Rankers you summoned have arrived.”

“Eh? Oh, right, send them in.” A bored, gruff voice ordered from the other side. The woman opened the door and moved aside for us to enter. I stepped in first and immediately my eyes locked onto the guildmaster. 

And honestly, he wasn’t what I was expecting. The man looked middle aged with short black hair with white on his left side, thin prickly stubble on his face and a long scar that went diagonal over his left eye. As the man looked up at me, I could see the intensity in his gaze, his eyes studied me, then quickly moved over to Momonga, then Nabe as they entered behind me. 

“That is all, you may go.” The Guildmaster dismissed the woman who bowed slightly before closing the door. I remained firm as I made sure she actually left. I had no expectation of this meeting taking any bad turn, but it didn’t hurt to be careful, getting boxed in simply because I didn’t believe we would be a damn stupid way to blow the jig. 

The guildmaster let out a deep sigh and refocused on us with the same intense eyes. 

“I apologize for making you wait so long, the walk here ended up being longer than expected.” I spoke first, attempting to take some edge out of those sharp eyes of his. 

My words ended up benefiting my intended goal as his gaze grew less strict. 

“No need to apologize, I had some work that needed to be finished, and the others haven’t arrived yet, but I appreciate it all the same.” He said as his shoulders relaxed a bit. 

Both Momonga and I shared a quick glance at each other before she spoke up. “Others?” 

“Ah yes, you haven’t been informed yet.” The guildmaster leaned back in his chair. As he did, I heard a crack come from his body and internally winced. Just how long has he been locked away in this office of his? 

“There is an incident that has occured and as such I have issued an emergency job and handpicked some adventurers for said job. You lot are just three of the seven adventurers that will be partaking.” 

I let out a hum of understanding. I figured it would be something like that, even if they didn’t actually give us much to work with. 

“I see, so the others have been summoned here?” I questioned as I crossed my arms over my chest, earning a nod from the man. 

“They should arrive sometime soon.” 

So we weren’t as late as I thought we were, in fact we’re the earliest of the people he summoned. 

“I suppose this is as good a time as any.” The guildmaster pushed himself out of his seat and stood up to his full height… which wasn’t very tall, at least not in comparison to Momonga and I who towered over him.  “You three have been in my guild branch for quite a bit of time and even been promoted to A Rank, yet we have never met until today.”

“We’ve been taking up a lot of jobs.” I stared down at him with a small smile, one he returned as he walked over and held out his hand. 

“That you have, and might I say, you lot are damn good at what you do.”

I took his hand and shook it. “We appreciate that, don’t we girls?” 

My eyes narrowed at Nabe who until this point had barely even regarded the man. 

“Yes, we do.” Momonga spoke up for both of them, giving Nabe a little nudge which allowed her to catch on and give the guildmaster a little bow. 

The man smiled and made his way back over to his seat. As he sat back down, another breath left him as he looked at us with slightly tired eyes. “Well then, why don’t you tell me about some of the adventures you’ve gone on in your time as adventurers, I would appreciate a bit more insight into your skills. Your records can only say so much about just how strong you three really are.” 

“That’s fair, then where do I-” 

BANG

“We’re here!” 

I turned around to the door behind us to see it had been launched open. In the doorway was a man with medium-length light brown hair. He was dressed in more stylish adventuring gear which seemed like it was less for protection and more for fashion points. 

“Kaval, we’re not supposed to barge into the guildmaster’s office, it’s rude!” The voice of a woman whispered loudly behind him. As she came through the door behind him, I could make out her features. Long blonde hair with special markings under her green eyes. 

“We’re already super late, how much ruder can we get, Eren?” The man supposedly named Kaval crossed his arms and gave the girl a dumb look. 

Another man walked into the room behind the blonde, all the while scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “He has a point, Eren.” 

The blonde puffed out her cheeks at a taller man with light brown hair and brown eyes that entered behind her. 

“And just like that, three more arrive.” The guildmaster let out another sigh, and this time I could feel his tiredness. The man needed a break, I could see as much. “Next time don’t throw my door open like that.” 

“Yeah…sorry about that, Fuze.” 

The guildmaster, Fuze, narrowed his eyes at Kaval who shrunk under his scrutiny. 

“Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.” 

““Right!”” All three of them shouted as they stood at attention. 

“My Lord.” 

I looked down to my left to see Nabe standing next to me. “Yes?” 

“Must we work with these idiots?” She questioned as if the mere thought of doing such would cause her a great deal of pain and headache. 

“Hey, we’re not idiots!” Kaval stepped forward and pointed at her.

“Yeah, it was an honest mistake, I had nothing to do with it!” Eren pouted at Nabe who continued looking at me, waiting for my answer. 

“We will do as we’re asked, and if the guildmaster wishes we work with them, so be it.” 

“Yes, My Lord.” 

The two deflated as they saw how easily Naberal Gamma ignored them. Momonga gave them an apologetic look though I doubt she actually cared much for their feelings. Working with people that didn’t like us would make things much more troublesome than any of us would like. 

“I have arrived.” 

Everyone in the room turned around to see the newest arrival, and when I began to take note of her appearance, I paused. 

The woman had long black hair that flowed down to her mid back, and she was wearing a white shirt and a white cloak along with black leggings. There was an air of mysteriousness around her thanks to the white mask with unknown symbols she wore that covered the entirety of her face.

“Oh my god it’s her!” Eren breathed out in fascination as she looked at the mysterious woman. 

“And there’s the last of them.” Fuze closed his eyes and smiled before standing up and looking at me. “I wish we had more time to talk, but I suppose we can do so when you return.”

“I look forward to it.” 

“Likewise, then perhaps I should inform you of all of the reasoning for your summoning.” The man grew a bit more serious as he walked over in front of his desk and crossed his arms behind his back. “Monsters outside of Jura have been growing closer and closer to the forest in recent times, such a thing wouldn’t happen in the past as the presence of the Storm Dragon has kept them at bay. However, it appears the presence of the Storm Dragon has disappeared, and thus the layer of protection over the forest.” 

“That sounds troublesome.” Momonga whispered to herself. 

“It is.” Fuze placed his hands on his temples. “The Forest is destined to turn into a battleground for monsters, but that isn’t why I called you lot here. I need you all to investigate and solve the mystery of the Storm Dragon. We need to know what happened, why his presence has vanished, and what forces are at play regarding his disappearance.” 

A dragon…the same dragon I recall Ulbert informing us about. The Storm Dragon that was sealed in the forest by a human hero who not only battled him, but also defeated him. 

Dragons within Yggdrasil were incredibly powerful and an all around threat to all who faced them, and people who managed to make their characters dragons were even more troublesome to face. 

From what I’ve been told about dragons in this world, they are somehow even stronger, yet a mere human hero managed to best one in combat. 

This world is much more powerful than the New World I expected, and it’s why I’ve been treading so carefully since we came here. We cannot risk revealing our hand when humans, beings that are supposed to be at the bottom of the food chain, can best a dragon that can wipe out a city as easily as it breathes. 

“It’ll be nice to have some help this time around, especially from a champion.” Kaval smirked and looked over to the masked woman. 

A champion? Is that what she is? 

I knew a decent amount about champions and what their status meant to the people. To put it simply, a champion was someone hailed by the masses as a hero without actually holding the power of what the title of a hero brings. 

This world was rather confusing when it came to things like that, but apparently being called something by the people of the world and being called something by the actual world were two different things. A person that is declared a monster or a demon lord due to wrongdoing is not on the same level of power usually as someone who is an actual demon lord. There are requirements to gain titles and fulfilling those requirements are what takes someone to the next level. 

Someone who is a champion has not succeeded in actually becoming a hero by the world’s standards, but in the eyes of the people, they have done something worthy of being praised and exalted.

My eyes locked on the masked woman. This woman is a champion of the people, an ally of good. Perhaps I’ll need to keep my eyes on her, not that we have any bad intentions, but as monsters, it’d be in our best interest to keep ourselves from being cut down just for being monsters. 

“That was my intention. There is a chance that there are some nefarious forces behind the Storm Dragon’s disappearance, in that case, I wouldn’t ask you to fight against them, but having powerful allies in case of such a confrontation would be for the best, which is why I summoned all of you.” 

Fuze’s gaze scanned across all of us. 

“One A+ Rank Adventurer, three A Rank Adventurers, and three B Rank Adventurers, you gathered a lot should be more than enough to learn more of the disappearance of the Storm Dragon and return here with the information we need. Any questions?” 

“What if we manage to come across this Storm Dragon so many monsters fear?” I asked with a frown. 

“Run.” Fuze narrowed his eyes. “If the dragon poses no immediate threat to the humans of the various kingdoms around the world, I see no reason why you would need to fight needlessly against it.” 

“Very well.” I nodded. 

“Is that all?” He asked again and no one spoke. “Then, prepare to leave within the next three days, remember, learn as much as you can. You’re all free to leave and take care of what you must.” 

— Chapter End —

Author’s Note: Took longer than I would have liked to write this chapter. 

Recently got into Game of Thrones and started watching it so we’ll see how that goes, I hope I can make decent progress in my fics before I finish it because I know myself too well. When I finish it…a fic will shortly follow and I don’t know how much more I can handle. 

Beta readers: @Dragonboy1