Ever since I took on a humanoid form, the stares from other people have been unbearably annoying.
Ugh, I'm so irritated.
You'd think people would get that staring makes me uncomfortable.
Especially the men.
First they look at my face, then they eye up my body line — don't they think that's rude?
I try to wear loose robes to hide as much of that as possible, but there's a limit to how much you can cover.
Like, my neck area is still exposed no matter what, and every time I feel gazes drift there, I get goosebumps all over.
I'm a spider, by the way.
I knew neck fetishists existed as a concept, but I never imagined I'd become a target.
Is it my hairstyle?
Does the braid make my nape more visible? Is that the problem?
Maybe I should let my hair down.
But if I do that, it'll overlap with his hair...
Is there some way to trick people's eyes so they don't look my way?
Hm?
Wait, couldn't I actually do that?
No, more than that — isn't that pretty straightforward?
Isn't that basically what the camouflage Skill did?
I don't have the Skill anymore, but if I recreated something similar through magic, couldn't I use that as a substitute?
I immediately ordered a clone to develop camouflage magic.
Hang in there, clone.
And so the journey continued.
Little by little, I was managing to reproduce my Skills.
Thanks to my clones working so hard.
As for those clones, I'd been increasing their number whenever I had energy to spare.
I didn't have the egg-laying Skill anymore, but making clones didn't require anything that complicated.
I'd just pinch off a piece of my body, knead it around a bit, and done.
The lost body part would regenerate back to normal.
It consumed energy, so I couldn't just churn them out endlessly, but right now I was mass-producing around a hundred per day.
The more clones I had, the better my work efficiency got, so I planned to keep growing their numbers.
Then an incident occurred.
It happened when we stopped by a certain town.
The Demon King said they were running low on travel funds and were going to withdraw some from the Adventurer's Guild.
Apparently the Adventurer's Guild also handles banking services.
And the Demon King had savings deposited there.
Incidentally, the Demon King was registered as an adventurer too.
They said that whenever they got serious, rumors spread instantly, so they hardly ever took on requests.
Well, I was also a little curious about the Adventurer's Guild, so I tagged along.
The Adventurer's Guild — it's a fantasy staple, right? You've got to visit one at least once.
That's the kind of lighthearted mood I was in when I headed to the guild. That's when tragedy struck.
"Ohhh, pretty thing, aren't ya!"
A drunk man suddenly latched onto me.
It was my first time in an Adventurer's Guild, so I'd been eagerly observing the interior of the building — that was my first mistake.
To add to that, I'd let my guard down because, having ascended to godhood, ordinary humans couldn't possibly harm me. That was my second mistake.
So I was late to notice the drunk adventurer approaching with no ill intent — just a lot of alcohol.
By the time I noticed, his arm was already draped over my shoulder.
I'm not used to physical contact with other people, and that alone was enough to make my body go rigid on the spot.
I might be strong, but when it comes to martial arts, I'm a complete amateur around here.
I bitterly regretted not being able to pull off some quick throw to send him flying.
Seeming pleased by my stiffened reaction, the drunk took things even further.
I was groped.
"Whoa! You're deceptively well-endowed under those robes!"
Groped.
For the first time in my life, I was groped.
In moments like this, normal people are supposed to blush scarlet and scream "Eek!" or something, right?
That might be the correct response, but I couldn't do any of that.
Instead, I turned deathly pale and collapsed on the spot.
When I came to, I was lying in the Adventurer's Guild's rest room.
The Demon King was beside me.
"Are you okay?"
The Demon King's expression: ten percent concern, ninety percent worry.
Ah, I see — they're worried I'm going to go berserk or something.
As if I'd do something that wild.
I nodded for now.
Yes, I'm perfectly fine.
It was just a grope. That's all.
It meant nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not a single thing.
A knock at the door.
The drunk from earlier walked in.
I reflexively retreated to the ceiling corner of the room — zzt — before I even realized what I was doing.
I-I'm not scared.
Not scared at all, I tell you!
"See, this is what happens when you do stuff like that. Look, she's terrified."
Another man appeared behind the drunk and whacked him on the head without mercy.
"Sorry. I'm really sorry."
The drunk — now sobered up — dropped to all fours on the floor and apologized.
Fine, understood, I forgive you, now get out of my sight.
Get away from me.
Over there! Shoo!
As if reading my intent, the Demon King gently ushered the adventurer out.
"So, White — you're not good with this kind of thing, huh?"
"Do you think I'd be fine with someone touching my body when I can barely hold a conversation?"
"That's true too."
Ah, this look on the Demon King's face — it's the "I've got leverage on you, hehehe" face.
"Just so you know, if you ever try to blackmail me with this, I'll destroy this entire world."
I said it with a straight face.
The Demon King froze with that sleazy grin still plastered on.
This time it was a sneak attack, so I ended up in an undignified state — but as if I'd ever tolerate sexual harassment.
Not a chance!
Normally I'd have killed anyone who touched me before they even got close.
But I'd been through something truly terrifying.
Even though I'd lost them, this body of mine once had strong resistances against fear — and to think something could push me this far...
Wait, was I actually this weak against this kind of thing?
I thought I understood intellectually that I was being perceived that way, but when it actually happened, I couldn't do a damn thing.
I hate this. Humans are tougher than I expected.
Men are scary.
O-Okay, calm down.
It's fine, it's fine.
This was a special case. If I just don't provoke anyone, I shouldn't get attacked like this. Probably.
Oh wait, I was attacked in the very first town too.
This is hopeless!
Why does this world have to contain the male species?!
That's it — men are the problem. If I just wiped out all the men, everything would be solved, wouldn't it?
I couldn't help but congratulate myself on what a brilliant idea that was.
"You're not thinking something awful, are you?"
Nope, not at all!
Alright, enough jokes.
I really should hurry up and finish developing that camouflage magic.
I had a feeling that if I didn't, something truly catastrophic was going to happen.
Just as I was resolving to pour more effort into the camouflage magic development, a message came through from one of my clones.
"The transfer route to Earth is complete."