Who Let This Spider Cook?! Ch.43

— Narberal Gamma (During Adventurer’s Exam) —

“Lineup here!” The examiner ordered, and Nabe’s fist clenched at the sound. She glared at the examiner, ready to take his head for his carelessness toward the Supreme Beings, but a gentle hand and smile from Lady Momonga calmed her aggression. 

She would never doubt the judgment of the Supreme Beings, never. They knew better than her, or anyone for that matter, which is why she surrendered her wrath to fuel her indifference. 

These humans were nothing, mere insects to be toyed with and used as the Supreme Beings wished. 

Even she herself could kill these mongrels with a wave of her hand, the meager Aura the Humans were releasing told her much about the race’s weakness.

Lord Kakuei and Lady Momonga were acting, suppressing their own anger at the overconfident insect as he waltzed around, acting high and mighty. 

If only he knew how easily he could be squashed. 

“I’m only going to explain the rules of this exam once, so listen closely and don’t ask questions.” The examiner smiled lazily, and again, Naberal’s anger spiked at the weak Human’s insolence. “As of right now, you’re the lowest of the low, less than fodder, a mere F Rank. That being said, you’ll have the chance to rise to your deserved rank here; to do that, you must defeat a monster at each rank. If you want D Rank, defeat a D Rank monster. The same applies to the rest of the ranks, but it ultimately ends at B Rank. A Rank is reserved for the chosen few, the mightiest adventurers we have to offer, and you’re all a bit green for us to risk any of you attempting.” 

The examiner paused and drank in the looks of the gathered group of examinees, the weaker worms is what Nabe looked at them as, if they managed to be so weak that they were below this insignificant bug that had the audacity to command his betters. 

“You have your numbers, we will begin the examination shortly.” The bug uttered and finally began his walk away. An assistant behind him stepped forward.

“Will Examinee #1 please step forward?” The woman asked and a muscular-teen stepped forward with a confident smile and followed the woman after the examiner. 

“What number do you have, Momonga?” Lord Kakuei asked with a small smile. 

“Four, I assume you have five?” Lady Momonga smiled back slyly. 

“I do.” The Leader of the Supreme Beings nodded before he turned his attention to Naberal Gamma. “And you?”

“Seven. I know not why they separated me from my Lord and Lady.”

“No harm has been done, Nabe, hopefully we’ll be out of here soon. However…this is a good test.” Lord Kakuei hummed in thought which earned Lady Momonga’s curiosity.

“How so?” The white-haired beauty asked with a frown. 

“Well, the Examiner said we would be fighting up to B Rank monsters. We can get a glimpse at how most of the monsters are scaled in this world. A B Rank adventurer should be just above a B Rank monster in a fair fight, or else how would they expect to beat a B rank Monster? With that information we can apply that to our own intel to perhaps learn the scaling of this new world of ours. A Rank is probably the cream of the crop in regards to this world, if we are stronger than them we can relax a bit.” 

Naberal Gamma’s eyes widened. Leave it to the Leader of the Supreme Beings to find a beneficial explanation for the continued existence of insects. Truly, the Lord’s knowledge is unbounded by this world’s limits. 

“I see. Thank you for educating me, Master.”

“It’s Kakuei here, Nabe. We don’t want to stand out.” He sighed, and the exasperated sound of his voice struck her very soul like a hot iron through her gut. Was she causing her Lord headache?!

“My Lord, have I upset you?!” She asked quietly with just a little bit of desperation as she reached at her hip and unsheathed her blade slightly. “Say the word, and I will make up for my foolishness with my life!” 

“Naberal Gamma.” The Leader of the Supreme Beings placed a hand on her left hand that had been unsheathing the blade and frowned at her. “You have not upset me, and make no mistake, I do not give you permission to die, not now, not ever, do I make myself clear?” 

Her heart skipped a beat as she heeded her Lord and sheathed her blade. 

“You are clear…K-Kakuei.” She stuttered out from the sheer disrespect she had just given her Lord by addressing him with anything besides a superior title that honored his supreme power. 

“Good, and nice job.” He patted her left shoulder before he removed his attention from her, and dispelled the charm he placed to hide their conversation.

They all waited several minutes before the examiner came out again. “Numbers two and three step forward.”

Two girls walked toward the examiner as he led them away and the realization that Lady Momonga would be next filled Naberal Gamma’s heart with a small amount of dread. Curse these foolish humans in their foolish ways, if Lady Momonga went off by herself, how was Naberal Gamma supposed to protect her. 

In no way did the mere Pleiades maid believe she could hold a candle to Lady Momonga’s strength, but in the case of a powerful adversary, it was her duty to fight them with everything she had, besides a Supreme Being shouldn’t stain their hand with weaklings. 

However now she couldn’t do that, at least not without disobeying Lord Kakuei’s orders. 

Another few minutes of silence went by before the examiner came out. 

“Number four.” 

Lady Momonga strode forward with grace, earning the eyes of everyone around. Naberal narrowed her eyes at them before disregarding them completely. They weren’t worthy to be in her presence, nor were they worthy enough to gaze upon her form. 

However, as the maid of the Supreme Ones glanced back at their leader, she realized that not even he looked like he cared about the looks the humans were sending Lady Momonga’s way. 

The examiner eyed Lady Momonga for a bit before he coughed into his hand and led her away. The Eclipse Queen gave Naberal Gamma and Lord Kakuei one last wave, and her leader returned it with a thumbs up. 

Then she disappeared through a door. 

“Is something bothering you again, Nabe?” Lord Kakuei questioned only a few moments after Lady Momonga had left their sight.

“Not anymore.” She answered after a moment of hesitation. 

He looked unconvinced, even if she believed her words to be the truth. Again, they waited for several more minutes in silence until the examiner came out again. 

“Number five.”

Lord Kakuei gave her one last encouraging smile and then followed the human through the door. 

After a few minutes passed, Naberal Gamma noticed the first few humans that had entered finally exited the room looking tired but nonetheless unharmed. 

“So, how far did you guys get?!” One of the humans who hadn’t gone in yet asked the two girls that were numbered two and three. 

“It was tougher than we thought.” One of them laughed tiredly. “I made it to the C Rank monster.”

“Same.” The other one laughed. 

“Wow, that’s pretty good though!” Another of the humans that hadn’t gone in yet encouraged the two. Meanwhile Naberal Gamma decided to tune them out from now on for the best. She had let their needless words enter her mind for a time, but just as she had previously thought, humans truly offered nothing to beings like her. 

The Supreme Beings could look past their uselessness, and so could she, but she couldn’t see any positives within them. 

Eventually Lady Momonga came walking out with a serene smile on her face. 

“That was rather…informative.” The Lady of Nazarick breathed out with a thoughtful expression. 

“I assume your might utterly befuddled the minds of the humans, my Lady.” Naberal Gamma resisted the urge to fall to a knee as Lady Momonga stopped in front of her. 

“I suppose you can say that.” The white-haired Supreme Being smiled teasingly at her. “The exam was rather easy, I look forward to you passing with flying colors. Too bad we can’t progress to A Rank yet.” 

Nabe’s nose scrunched in annoyance. It made no sense for the humans to limit how high someone could rank in this exam, but then again, she didn’t exactly expect more out of them. 

“Number Seven.” The examiner called, and Lady Momonga gave the maid a little wave. 

Naberal Gamma returned her graciousness with a low bow of her head before she made her way to the examiner, who she looked through as if he wasn’t there. She was uncaring as his eyes locked on her face and roamed over her body for a moment. 

In her mind, this human, much like the rest, was utterly nothing. A being worth less than the air the servants of Nazarick needn’t breathe. 

She followed the examiner into a dark room where there were a few other humans who were wearing gaudy-looking armor and silky robes. 

“We’ll start from the bottom. The first monster you will face is a D Rank monster. Should you defeat it, you will then face a C Rank, then a B Rank. Should you defeat all of the monsters, you will be given B Rank and finally begin your adventuring career. The men and women in this room are here in case the monster ends up overwhelming you. You are safe in their hands, that being said, do not fight as if they are your crutch. Any intrusion from them will result in a failure of the monster you were facing. Am I clear.” 

Naberal utterly ignored the man and stepped forward. 

The examiner remained quiet for a moment before he nodded to the others, and a faint glowing circle of blue color appeared around Naberal Gamma. On the ground, a circle of light appeared and a second later there was a gray wolf standing in the circle with her. 

“Your first monster is a dire wolf, use your might to take it down.” The examiner instructed and she stared at the wolf with a scrunched nose. 

This…was a test? 

Pitiful. 

ZAP

“GRAH!” 

A single blast of lightning from her finger was all it took to end the direwolf’s existence. 

She waited patiently as they sent out the next monster. After half a minute, the circle glowed again and a large bear appeared in front of her. 

“Your next monster is a Giant Bear, de-”

ZAP

“GRAH!”

As the bear was disintegrated by Naberal Gamma’s powerful lightning, all she felt boiling in her gut was anger. 

This was what they used to waste Lord Kakuei and Lady Momonga’s time?! Weak creatures that couldn’t even pose a threat to the weakest of Nazarick inhabitants?! 

The bear was cleaned up through magic, much like the wolf had been, and after another few dozen seconds, the circle lit up. 

“...Your next monster-”

ZAP

“GRAH!” 

“...”

“...Congratulations on achieving B Rank.”

An utter waste of time. 

— Ulbert Alain Odle (Present) —

He took from the room-temperature glass in his hand and smiled down at the red liquid. 

In his life, his old life—if you could even call it that—he had only had fine wine once, and it was because Kaito had practically shoved it down his throat. 

Yet here he was, sitting in a library filled to the brim with books, sipping on some fine wine. Truly, he has had no end in luxuries since coming to this world. 

Ulbert truly believed he could spend the rest of his life just like this. 

That being said…he wouldn’t. 

Kakuei wished to play nice with everyone around him, and Ulbert could support that; however, he could only support peace for so long.

Ulbert had no problems dealing with the people of the Kingdom he was currently staying in, Dwargon, but a Kingdom like this didn’t represent the general thoughts and motives of the entire world. 

This was a world with powerful individuals. Merely asking around the Kingdom had allowed him to gain more knowledge than anyone else at their current stations. 

To sum it up, Demon Lords held territories in the world. The Demon Lords are feared because they’re strong and have powerful servants/enforcers in their territory. 

Ulbert was unaware of how powerful these so-called Demon Lords were, but each was given the ranking of Disaster Class, a being that could threaten a large Kingdom.

Then there were two Demon Lords, a cut above the rest, two so-called Awakened Demon Lords, Milim Nava and Guy Crimson, each of whom was said to be powerful enough to oppose the entire world on their own.

From what he learned, the Awakened were a higher form of existence. However, the Demon Lords weren’t the only ones with Awakened beings on their side. There were also beings known as Saints who were also Awakened beings. They were basically Ascended Humans.

Seeing as both were Awakened beings, Ulbert guessed they were the rivals of the Demon Lords.

Surprisingly enough, there is a Saint in this very kingdom, Gazel Dwargo, the King of Dwargon and a Champion.

Champions were basically Heroes that were revered by the masses.

Ulbert still hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting the Hero King, but he hoped to one day. He wanted to see a glimpse of the man’s power and thus see how it fares against their guild. 

In Ulbert’s honest opinion, he doubted the King sported as much power as them, and even if he did, there was absolutely no way he came close to Kakuei’s level. 

At the end of the day, these Demon Lords and Saints should all fall short of Kakuei, even if they may be stronger than the entirety of Nazarick. 

Kakuei was an entirely different beast with all his titles and classes turning into real tangible power in this new world.

A grin came to Ulbert’s face. Even as a normal World Enemy, Kakuei was strong enough to solo even the most powerful of guilds, and Nazarick was no exception. His stats, Gram and World Savior, were the ultimate combination of true power. 

But the thing is, Kakuei is a World Eater, a being that puts even World Enemies to shame. To beat a fully maxed out level 150 Kakuei at the end of the game would take the might of all of Nazarick, and even then, victory wouldn’t be certain. 

In this world, where his power has been made reality, and his levels have been turned into real strength, Nazarick is an immovable force, and Kakuei is the stone that weighs and anchors them. 

Ulbert nodded to himself, pleased at Nazarick’s current situation. Everything was going well for them, the only downside being Joni and Vampira’s disappearance, but even then, Ulbert wasn’t too worried about them, at least not at the current moment. 

Worse case scenario, they were sent to a world stronger than the one they were currently in, which would be worrying. Another horrible reality could be that they just weren’t transferred in general, but that wasn’t as bad. 

After all, the newfound realization of immortality and versatility of magic meant that traversing worlds wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. 

Meaning that if Joni and Vampira ended up back in their old world, it would be possible to go back there, find them, and then return them to Nazarick…along with a few others. 

Ulbert smiled fondly for a moment as he recalled the old days of the guild. By no means was Ulbert a liked member of the guild, in fact, it was quite the opposite. He’d bet his left nut and a bottle of Touch Me’s wine that he was the most hated member in the guild. That being said, it didn’t mean everyone hated him. He had friends, people with which he shared ideologies with. 

Touch Me, Momonga, Kakuei, Pero, Buku, Joni, Blue Planet, Tabula, Bellriver. 

All of those people were his closest friends, ones he agreed and disagreed with, but cared about nonetheless. 

Blue Planet, Tabula, Bellriver…they would have loved this world. Especially Blue Planet. 

…They deserved a chance to see it, and Ulbert vowed to give them that chance one day. 

Bellriver had gone radio silent after the boss fight, and some guild members speculated he had died or something horrible, but Ulbert always believed he was alive. 

The Bellriver Ulbert knew was a cautious, calculating man, one who could decipher even the greatest of secrets and puzzles. He wouldn’t end up dying before his time. 

Which means, it was all a matter of finding him in their old world. 

And he would, all of his friends. 

The others, they could rot in that hell for all he cared. They were the problem with humanity, no matter how much they tried to act like monsters, they still couldn’t shake that human ignorance. 

“Ulbert!” A soft, yet angry voice called from above. 

“This is a library, didn’t Kakuei teach you manners?” Ulbert said as he took another sip of wine. 

“I taught myself manners!” Buku stepped into the room and placed her hands on her hips. 

“Then use them.” Ulbert argued back as he ran a hand through his black hair and narrowed his crimson red eyes at her. “We are here as guests, we cannot prance about like we own the place.” 

“Isn’t the plan to own the place?” Buku tilted her head, making her flowing orange hair flow away from her smooth pale face. Her orange eyes stared into Ulbert’s red ones in confusion. 

“No, where did you get that idea?” Ulbert raised an eyebrow. 

“Oh, I thought Kakuei sent us here to study these guys?” Buku scratched the back of her head. 

“He did, but not to conquer them.” Ulbert facepalmed. “We’re simply here to learn more about the kingdoms and the world. We have no intention of making any big moves until we have gathered all the data, and even then, Kakuei still has no idea on what he wants to do.”

“And you do?” Buku questioned with a sly smirk, as if she caught him doing something naughty. 

“Not even I have worked out all the kinks.” Ulbert shook his head. “But what I will promise is I will never allow this world to become like our old one, and I’ll do what it takes to preserve its beauty.” A dangerous glint shone brightly in Ulbert’s crimson eyes as he grimaced. 

He truly hoped that day would never come, but he would stand by his word if and/or when it did. 

“I can understand that.” Buku nodded with a low hum, as she walked over to his small table, all the way carrying the skirt of her fancy blue dress so it didn’t touch the floor as she moved. When she reached him, she took a seat beside him and poured herself a glance of wine. 

As she took a sip of the expensive wine, Ulbert eyed her for a moment and had to admit to himself that he did good work. 

Buku’s main problem since coming to this world was her slime body. She was unable to do much and being able to enjoy the things she once did weighed heavily on her mood. 

So Kakuei had asked Ulbert for a favor, one he was happy to carry out. To find a way to give both her and Touch Me not just human appearances, but to completely shape the way their bodies are constructed without changing their race.

It was a tedious endeavor, but a necessary one. They didn’t know what would happen to a person’s skills and abilities should they just suddenly change race, and though they had items that could change race, or illusionary items that could change one’s appearance, they were not danger free, at least they couldn’t be for sure without testing. 

In the end, Ulbert used a mimic item along with a few samples from Aureole Omega to create a long term item that mimics her appearance without changing the consumer’s race. 

Buku took it and took on a form that looks much like Aureole Omega but with orange hair and orange eyes. As for Touch Me, Ulbert hasn’t quite found a suitable person to use to mix with the mimic item. 

If Touch Me used the same item he created for Buku, he’d just end up looking like Aureole Omega as well, and Ulbert knew his friend enough to know that being a woman wasn’t his cup of tea. So, Ulbert would wait until he was back in Nazarick where he could use Sebas instead. 

Until then, Touch Me would have to wait, not that he seemed to mind much.

As for Ulbert, he gained his newfound human appearance through an evolutionary process from his race. 

Apparently, there are different evolutions of Daemon, the race he had become since transferring to this world, though in truth there seemed to be little difference between this one and his old Goat Demon race. 

The different evolutions of Daemon are Lesser, Greater, and Arch Daemon. 

Lesser Daemon’s start off with very clear animalistic features, making them look more like an animalistic humanoid rather than a human. Greater Daemon’s adopt more human-like features, but still retain some of their old animalistic features. Arch Daemon’s take on a completely humanoid look.

Since coming to this world, Ulbert had instantaneously evolved to an Arch Daemon, but his mind had left his physical appearance at the Lesser Daemon stage, at least appearance wise. His strength was still very much an Arch Daemon. 

Now that he’s in Dwargon, he’s persisted in his Arch Daemon humanlike image because apparently the locals and most humans in general aren’t very fond of Daemons, go figure. 

Ulbert’s eyes narrowed at Buku who had gone unusually quiet. 

“Something wrong?” He asked with a raised brow. 

“Nothing you need to concern yourself with.” She smiled back at him, but Ulbert could see past her facade. 

“Does it have to do with Aura?” He pressed and gradually Buku’s smile disappeared, revealing restrained anger. He let out a sigh as the realization that he should have just let her deal with it alone sank in. 

“Those bastards really told me to just sit here and wait as my baby was in danger!” 

Yeah, there she goes.

“Kakuei said Touch Me had things under control, is that not en-”

“No!” Buku growled and Ulbert nodded, not in understanding, but out of fear that doing anything else would piss her off further. 

“Well, did you check on her?” 

“Of course I did!” Buku crossed her arms under her bust. 

“And?” 

“She’s fine.” 

“Just like Kakeui said.” Ulbert nodded, pleased with his assessment of the situation as a whole. His pleasant expression utterly faded as Buku glared at him. “Look, I know you’re angry, Aura was in danger, but she’s out of it now, and that slime never seemed to harbor any animosity toward her or us, so there’s no problem.”

Buku remained glaring at Ulbert but let out a sigh, relaxing the Daemon’s body. He was just about ready to call Kakuei to get his woman off of his innocent back! 

“I know, but that doesn’t mean that I have to like what happened.” 

“I never said you did.” Ulbert shook his head. “But have faith in Touch Me and Kakuei, you know the last thing they want to see is someone in Nazarick hurt, especially Aura.” 

Buku thought about that as Ulbert stood up. 

“And as much as it pains you, hold no hate for the slime, if my predictions are correct, it isn’t the last we’ll be seeing of it.”

“Eh?!” 

Ulbert didn’t speak further and instead left the library with a book he looked forward to diving into. Someone had to learn this world’s history, and it might as well be him.

— Chapter End —

Beta-reader: @Basilisk @Dragonboy1

Author’s Note: I enjoyed writing this and realized I left out the whole adventurer’s exam thingy, so I just decided to throw it in this one. Easy fix.