It happened the first time I ventured outside the city.
As the eldest daughter of the city's lord, I had been under heavy protection and never once stepped beyond its walls.
My mother was making a brief trip back to her parents' hometown in the countryside, and under the pretext of introducing me to my grandparents, I was taken along.
My very first look at the outside world.
That said, the destination wasn't particularly far from home.
A full day of being jostled about in a carriage.
We arrived at a town slightly smaller than the one I'd grown up in, and there I met my grandparents for the first time.
They were young—too young to really be called grandparents.
Well, my mother was quite young too. I suppose people married early in this world.
My grandparents were also nobles who governed their own city.
We spent a few days with them before setting off on our journey home.
It was on that return trip that the incident occurred.
We were attacked by bandits.
There were six of them.
That was a surprisingly small number for an assault on the wife and daughter of a city lord, so I could only assume it was an unplanned attack.
The kind of simplistic strike where bandits see a well-dressed carriage pass by and decide to ambush it on impulse.
The problem was that we couldn't even handle that kind of impulsive attack.
Against six enemies, we had four guards.
I'd heard rumors that bandit activity had been picking up lately, but I never imagined we'd be attacked right in the middle of the highway.
I learned firsthand that this world's common sense was nothing like Japan's.
The guards fought valiantly, but the numbers difference slowly began to tell.
And then one of them was slashed by a bandit.
"Melazophis!?"
My mother screamed involuntarily from inside the carriage.
The guard who'd been slashed was also the butler who had served at my mother's side since she was a little girl.
They had a relationship like childhood friends, and his loyalty to her ran deep.
My mother had a airheaded personality, so she might not have realized it, but Melazophis was in love with her—not as a master, but as a woman.
He had transformed those feelings into unwavering loyalty and devoted himself to her service.
That loyal retainer had been cut down.
Blood spread across the ground.
A person who had been moving just moments ago lay collapsed and still.
The blood pooling beneath him looked like his very life force draining away.
*Gulp.* My throat made a sound for some reason.
It was probably the terror of death closing in.
If all the guards were wiped out, we would be next.
My mother was still young—she could be abducted.
As for me, being a baby, I might simply be disposed of right away.
I might be kept alive for ransom, but I doubted it would end well.
I'd only just been reincarnated. I was supposed to be starting my second life. And this is how I die? In a place like this?
No.
I'm scared.
I don't want to die.
I still want to live.
Someone, please help me!
It probably wasn't because the creature heard my silent cry, but it appeared without warning all the same.
One of the bandits suddenly collapsed, drenched in blood.
Standing there was a pure white spider.
A spider impossibly large by Earth standards—easily over a meter across.
I'd heard stories about them.
This world had Monsters.
There was magic, so it wasn't surprising that such creatures existed.
But the one standing before me now was different from the stories. It radiated a very real, tangible terror.
With a single sweep of its foreleg, the spider cleaved the bandit—who had been standing there dumbstruck, just like me—cleanly in half.
Internal organs sprayed everywhere. The gruesome sight was seared into my eyes.
*Gulp.* My throat made that sound again.
This was supposed to be the part where I felt nauseous.
I mentally roasted myself.
While I stood there dazing, the spider Monster dispatched one more bandit with some kind of magic, then quickly finished off the remaining two.
The magic looked like it had been earth magic, if I had to guess.
Something brown had flown at high speed and pierced through a bandit's skull.
But the last two were a mystery.
They tried to run, suddenly stopped moving, and collapsed on the spot.
I couldn't even tell what it had done to them.
The spider turned toward us with an unhurried air.
Tension shot through the space between us.
It was our turn next.
We had nearly lost to mere bandits.
And this Monster had wiped them all out in an instant.
There was no chance of survival.
The guards raised their swords at the spider.
Their bodies trembled with fear.
They had to know there was no winning this.
Even so, they were determined to fulfill their duty as guards to the very end.
The spider didn't immediately attack. It seemed to be studying us, gauging the situation.
Its lifeless red eyes swept over the surroundings.
Those eyes locked onto the fallen Melazophis.
The spider approached him.
I braced for the worst—but the spider cast a spell, and Melazophis's wound began to heal.
Healing magic.
"A... a Divine Messenger?"
My mother hurried out of the carriage.
Still holding me in her arms.
"Lady Celas! It's dangerous!"
A guard urged her to get back inside, but she ignored him and walked toward the spider.
The spider turned around.
I had the illusion that all eight of its eyes were focused on me.
A chill ran through my entire body.
Scary.
What is this thing?
Was it really okay for a creature like this to exist?
Its very presence radiated dread, as though it was scattering fear just by standing there.
Did Monsters like this appear frequently in this world?
If so, I might have been reincarnated into a truly absurd place.
"Are you a Divine Messenger?"
My mother's words triggered a memory.
*Divine Messenger*—right, in the Goddess Faith my mother followed, that was the term for the servants who attended the Goddess's side.
The Goddess had attendants of various races, and mythological records preserved names like the "Deep Sage" and the "Guardian of the Green"—stereotypically chuuni-sounding titles.
Among them, there was a spider said to have sewn the Goddess's robes.
From my mother's perspective, this spider that had just saved us must have looked like one of those Divine Messengers.
No matter how you looked at it, though, its ominous aura was the exact opposite of anything holy.
But my mother appeared to have already confirmed in her mind that this spider was a Divine Messenger.
She continued offering words of gratitude and sacred prayers.
The spider turned its gaze toward her.
"Appraisal?"
My mother flinched and muttered that word softly.
Was that the name of a Skill?
It sounded handy—I wondered if I could learn it too?
《Your current Skill Points: 75,000. Skill "Appraisal LV1" can be acquired for 300 Skill Points. Would you like to acquire it?》 Out of nowhere, a divine voice rang out in my head.
While my consciousness was briefly pulled toward that voice, the spider had vanished.
My mother shouted "Please wait!" at the spider's back as it dashed off at incredible speed, but personally, I was glad to see it go.
The tension drained from my body, which had been locked rigid with fear.
《Proficiency has reached a certain threshold. Skill "Fear Resistance LV1" has been acquired.》 And so, I survived the ordeal unscathed.
But in the days that followed, the spider took up residence right next to the city where I lived, and that sparked yet another commotion.