I was currently in an absolutely enormous pinch.
"Just a little, just the tip is fine!"
In front of me stood the worst kind of enemy.
Both
"I'll fix you right away! Okay? So it's fine, right?"
To put it plainly, this was a life-or-death crisis.
"Let me eat you!"
If this kept up, I was going to be eaten!?
Let me rewind time a bit.
When we arrived at the inn, we split into two groups.
Melazophis and I were the stay-behind group.
Ariel and Shiroi were the shopping group.
The shopping group entered the room, then immediately left again.
When they did, Shiroi summoned three white spiders and left them behind.
They were about the size of an adult's palm—like tarantulas or large spiders, as you'd call them on Earth.
In this world, there were apparently spider Monsters that easily surpassed humans in size, so I figured these were still within the realm of normal size and appearance.
That said, I'm not such a big fan of spiders that I could feel at ease with them in the same room.
If anything, I found them disgusting.
They were probably meant as guards, but they made me uneasy.
It was also creepy and unsettling when I tried using Appraisal on them and got "Appraisal Failed."
Appraisal was, frankly speaking, a useless Skill, but I'd developed a habit of Appraising anything that caught my interest.
Even so, most of the time Appraisal told me nothing useful.
But even though a decent amount of time had passed since I'd acquired the Appraisal Skill, its level still hadn't gone up.
It might become more useful once the level increased, but the road to that was so long I couldn't be bothered.
I dodged the spiders as they wandered around at their own pace and climbed into bed.
The room Ariel had taken was a massive hall that occupied the entire top floor of the inn.
There were six beds, and the setup allowed for dividers to be placed around them.
To my surprise, it even had a bath and toilet.
This world didn't have a water supply system like Japan.
Commoners typically used well water or river water, and among nobles and a few wealthy people, some households used magical devices that could generate water.
Our household had used a low-grade magical device too.
If this inn used such devices, didn't that make it a pretty prestigious establishment?
Having a bath meant they also had fire-type magical devices for heating water, and even just that would be considered a small fortune by commoner standards.
Magical devices were crafted using special Skills called Skill Enchantment and Magic Enchantment.
Both were Skills that required considerable effort to acquire, and few people possessed them.
Moreover, even among those who had them, only a handful actually made magical devices.
That was because the enchantment process apparently demanded an enormous amount of time and labor.
For that reason, even low-grade magical devices came with a hefty price tag.
This room must have cost more than a minor noble's mansion.
In such a luxurious room, I thoroughly enjoyed a plush bed for the first time in ages, and before I knew it, I'd fallen asleep.
It was partly from the fatigue of the journey, but more than anything, the mental exhaustion of losing my homeland had crashed down the moment I finally let my guard down.
What would happen from here on out?
That vague sense of unease.
I would follow Ariel only up to the border between Human race and Demon race territory.
Until then, I could coast along as things were.
But beyond that, I'd have to make a decision.
Either stay behind in Human race territory with just Melazophis and continue living on the run, or follow Ariel straight into the unknown Demon race territory.
Without reaching a conclusion, my consciousness faded into a half-sleep.
I was woken by a tantalizing aroma tickling my nostrils.
When I sat up, dishes were lined up across a large table, filling every last inch of space.
"Oh, you're awake? I was just about to wake you. Let's have dinner."
At Ariel's signal, everyone took their seats.
That was when I caught sight of Shiroi handing Melazophis a new bottle filled with a red liquid.
"Well then, let's eat."
"Let's eat!"
"Today's food is completely poison-free, so don't worry~
Ariel's warning was appreciated, but telling me not to eat this would be nothing short of cruel.
It was my first meal without poison in a long time.
Moreover, it was made with proper ingredients and had the refinement of a dish likely crafted by a first-class chef.
One bite and my cheeks involuntarily relaxed into a smile.
Back home I'd only been eating baby food, so this was the first real meal I'd had since being Reincarnated.
Delicious!
Wait, why was Shiroi crying?
It was delicious, sure, but was it really tear-worthy?
She was even eating while crying.
Oh man, what a waste of a beautiful face.
The mountain of food vanished in the blink of an eye.
Most of it had disappeared into Shiroi's stomach, but from the looks of it, her belly wasn't even slightly swollen.
What kind of interdimensional stomach did she have?
By the laws of physics, eating that much should make you bloat.
You don't need to apply beauty corrections down to a physical level.
That was what I was screaming internally, though my own stomach was plenty swollen.
It hurt.
But I was happy.
Maybe because I'd eaten while savoring each bite, the level of my Sensory Enhancement Skill had gone up too.
Melazophis also seemed to look a little healthier.
That was good.
But that was as far as my relief lasted.
"Ahhh. So happy~"
At first, I couldn't tell who had said that.
The completely blissful tone of the voice didn't match the image I had of that person.
When I looked toward the voice, I saw Shiroi with an expression that perfectly embodied the phrase "goofy grin."
Her eyes were open.
They were horrible eyes—multiple pupils nested within each pupil.
Moreover, they seemed unfocused, the pupils spinning round and round.
Shiroi gulped down the contents of the glass in her hand.
Then let out a satisfied breath.
Ah, it reeked of alcohol.
Wait? Alcohol?
Had she been drinking alcohol this whole time instead of juice?
What I'd been drinking was just normal fruit juice.
Could it be that she was drunk?
The contrast with her usual self was staggering, and seeing her in this completely sloshed state, that had to be it.
This is what happened when you drank alcohol despite being underage.
"Mao~ Another round!"
"Shiro-chan, shouldn't you stop around there?"
"No way! I'm still drinking!"
"Well, it's not like I brought any more alcohol with me~"
"What did you say?"
*Glare.* All of Shiroi's multiple pupils locked onto Ariel at once.
Terrifying.
I felt like this would haunt my dreams.
"Go buy some."
"Ehh? I'm not going out of my way to buy more. Let's call it quits for tonight. Okay?"
Ariel's face, which had been trying to coax and calm her down, took a chop straight to it.
No metaphor intended—roughly half of Shiroi's hand was embedded in her face.
Ariel toppled over, chair and all.
For some reason, Shiroi burst out laughing at the sight.
Wait? Was Ariel okay?
"She's fine, she's fine. She won't die, she won't die. If she does die, I'm sorry~"
She was really going to be fine, right!?
Why was she twitching and convulsing like that!?
"She's got HP Auto-Recovery maxed out, so she'll be fine. She may look like this, but in this world, she's one of the strongest creatures around."
Shiroi was uncharacteristically talkative.
"By the way, how much did your Skills grow?"
"Huh?"
"Your Skills! Your Ski-lls! It's super inconvenient without Appraisal! Oh, do you have Appraisal? That's Lord Appraisal, you know? You have to show it respect! If you don't have it, get it immediately. If you do, you can Appraise anything, anytime, anywhere. Do you have it?"
"I-I have it."
"Yay! Then always keep Appraising stuff~ It gets super useful once the level goes up."
"S-Sure."
Who was this pushy person?
She wasn't the Shiroi I knew.
"Also, the Status-boosting ones. Those are incredible. Thank the heavens, Lord Idaten. You should level up your Skills whenever you can~ This world is survival of the fittest. Might makes everything—it's become a wonderful era. So to fight off perverts who go 'hyahahaha,' you need power, understand?"
"Ah, yes."
"If you're weak, you die. Even if you're strong, a stronger guy will kill you. So the only choice is to keep getting stronger, right?"
For some reason, those words alone had a weight to them that couldn't be dismissed as mere drunken rambling.
"Seriously, if you're weak, you get eaten. For real. No way~ If I'm gonna get eaten, I'll eat you first, you know? Oh, I just remembered—babies are all squishy and look delicious, don't they?"
And so began the time of hell.
Against Shiroi, who was advancing with absolutely no hint of a joke, Melazophis stood her ground bravely.
She was easily defeated with a flick to the forehead, though.
She ran.
She ran with everything she had.
But she was caught in an instant.
So this is what being weak meant!
"Well then, let's eat."
*SCREECH!*?!
Huh!?
My arms?
They were there.
It was a dream.
Ahh, that was terrifying.
A dream about having my arms eaten—what a nightmare.
I didn't feel like I'd actually slept. Let me go back to sleep.
Good night.