Versatile: Alternate World



The death of the Tsuchigumo dropped a few items that I took with me since Queen Tanya didn't need them and Queen Tori had no use of them. As for me, I don't have any idea whether this will be useful or not but there is a chance I can use them, you see. Who knows in the future? And besides, some of the materials dropped seems interesting to use. It would be interesting to craft something out of these items as well.

In any case, the invasion and attack are clear enough that even this city is not safe from the wrath of the Shogun's soldiers. That is enough for everyone to know what the current shogun was like.

With Mizuchi carrying the Jorogumo, we returned to also inquire about the damages done to the city from the attack. Entering the city once more, the guards were shocked to see the body of the Jorogumo. Since the Jorogumo still retains her upper human body without much change aside from the obvious spider features, nothing much changed from when she was still a human.

"Isn't this Commander Saya of the 10th platoon?!"

"No...she also became a monster?"

"Does that mean, if we didn't get cured fast, we will also turn like her and the attacking soldiers?"

The surviving soldiers feared the outcomes of the debuffs done to the soldiers and to be honest, they will become similar to this if they were not cured in time. It's terrifying and there is no way to return to their former self until the very end of the battle where the perpetrator in this case is already dead. Still, knowing what will happen to them will also help on stopping them from returning to the shogun. It's much more dangerous and they are more likely to be killed than being a guard.

As for the dead two, I can't do anything about it as they are already dead. There isn't much I can do when they died this fast though it's not their fault that they are easily killed when the enemies are very dangerous as well.

You guys should rest in the meantime. You guys did well in handling the invasion and keeping the gate closed. Otherwise, the situation might be much worse if the gate was opened and destroyed.

The three sighed dejectedly. However, they didn't rest and instead, went ahead and grab some shovels and carried the remains of their two comrades. Since they carry the shovels with them, they will be burying their remains somewhere.

"Your Majesty, I think this is a good time for you to rest as well. It's best to accompany Queen Tanya as well as she is currently injured or not in good shape to fight. Just keep her like that in the meantime and let her rest," I suggested to Queen Tori.

"What about you, Bladeheart? Don't tell me you plan on staying up and guarding the gate."

"It's necessary to do so. With the body of the Jorogumo here, it's best to keep an eye on her body and to also guard this place. Don't worry, I can manage. I have my ways as well."

I then summoned two skeletons that were part of the skeleton soldiers I summoned before. One of them is the strongest skeleton I have. I can also tell he is stronger than the rest of the people here so having the little skeleton guard will take some easier time to guard this place with minimal effort for me. As for me, I needed to calculate the damages done by the soldiers and also prepare for the information extraction we needed for the Jorogumo. Before the sun rises, I needed to do more work than expected.

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The next morning, the people who evacuated to the safer part of the city returned. They were thankful that the damages that were inflicted is not that big but they were still horrified when they see Saya the Jorogumo. A few of them even knows her and so they asked me if I can thaw the ice and let them communicate with her.

Since I am not someone who is bad enough to enforce that they cannot communicate with them, I allowed it and thawed enough ice on the Jorogumo for her to talk and interact with any of us there. But instead of a good result, she just screamed and starts spitting poisonous and corrosive spit. Some of the people who interacted almost got harmed but thankfully, I made precautions before allowing them to block the spit unharmed.

Still, the people who tried to talk to her were disappointed that they can no longer talk and interact with her anymore. But there's nothing I can do if she was already this bad and I can't do much about her situation. Even if I throw a bottle of Splash Full Restore on her, she won't be cured of her status anymore therefore, it's just a big waste in the end.

Queen Tori arrived a bit later to check up on the situation. She was a bit groggy as she slept a bit late due to her taking care of Queen Tanya.

"So? What's going on here now?" Queen Tori asked seeing a lot of people gathered around.

"We are trying to communicate with the Jorogumo here. A few of the people here knows the Jorogumo when she was still a human and hoped that they can communicate with her and reason her with in hopes that she still retains her humanity."

"I can guess based on everyone's look on their faces that the attempt was a failure, yes?" Queen Tori tilted her head.

"Indeed. Many tried to interact with her but every single time they did, they are only greeted with either a snarl or an attempt to attack. Some persisted but they were then shot with corrosive spit. Thankfully, I already added some precautions in case she does a spit so the people are fine. It's sad that these people happen to be acquaintances or close friends of the human form of the Jorogumo in the past and yet she can't even recognize them anymore."

"Then, can she be cured just like how you did on the five soldiers?"

"Nope. I already tried that before but she didn't revert back to her human form. I tried various things as well but nothing seems to work. Everything I did was useless as they don't even trigger any reaction to her except for getting angry."

One of the people who proclaimed to be Saya's friend before approached us when she heard that I can't cure her at all.

"Is there no other way? Perhaps there is something that can be done for her to be reverted back to the point she was still human!"

I can only shake her head. Unfortunately, the people who changed into this kind of form won't be able to revert again to their normal human form. Because back when we defeated the perpetrator, the people who became monsters didn't get to return as humans but they are cleared from the pain of the debuffs as a result and regained their humanity as well. The only thing that remained is their deformed form.

Some who only have some deformations in their bodies and not as bad as they looked managed to return to duty while the people who are too monstrous either decided to live in the woods and avoid the people or decided to end their lives in shame for their new forms. But who can blame them? They cannot go back to their old lifestyle anymore and even if they did, will they still be accepted by the people a few years later on? It's not easy for them to accept it and no one seemed to be that happy either.

In the end, I freeze her back up again. Until Queen Tanya wakes up from slumber, we will have to postpone our information extraction. We will also have to discuss the matter of executing Saya as well as I can tell that many of them will refuse that to happen. I don't want to decide things on my own, therefore, it's best to discuss this with everyone. For now, she will be stuck in the [Ice Prison] until then.

We also asked some of the people around to check the corpses of the soldiers outside the gate whether they know anyone from there. Maybe a friend, a family member, or an acquaintance. Whatever they are, we wanted to know whether they are one of those people.

The three soldiers also returned to guard the gate as well. They are still recovering from the loss of the other two soldiers as well but they were not at fault.

We also promised to help in the repairs of the places that got destroyed from the attack but the leaders of the villagers denied that and said that we have done enough and its their duty to do that instead. In the end, the situation might not be as better as before, but thankfully, it seems it won't be as bad as I thought it would be.