Chapter 49

If updated daily, the text tends to be shorter. This time, it’s 2200 characters. § In terms of volume, it’s average or slightly more.

(I need to convey this information to my brother as soon as possible...)

Nodo, having obtained the information, thought it was absolutely necessary to report it to Johan, the lord of Alba Village. The Knight Spider itself is a dangerous monster with a voracious appetite, likely to cause damage to human settlements. It has been reproducing in large numbers in the forest near the village, building a huge nest, and a being that seems even more threatening than a flying dragon is leading the swarm of monsters—this was a first-class emergency.

It was necessary to start evacuating the residents as soon as possible and simultaneously request the mobilization of the Adventurer Guild, or even the Royal Knights.

However, to do this, the lord, who is responsible for the region, had to recognize the situation first.

– The legendary monsters have revived and are approaching your village.

If a mere adventurer were to warn the lord, he would never believe it. If it were a Black Iron-class adventurer, a Silver-class adventurer, or a more famous adventurer, the story might be different, but unfortunately, Nodo is just a Crystal-class adventurer. No noble would take the words of a mid-level adventurer seriously.

Fortunately, however, Nodo was the younger brother of the lord, Johan, and an apprentice Dragon Knight. If Nodo were to persuade him with all his sincerity, Johan would surely listen to the warning.

If not—

– In Nodo’s mind, the scene of the swarm of vicious monsters attacking Alba Village flashed by.

The villagers, celebrating the autumn harvest and praying for a bountiful year ahead, the residents of nearby villages and towns who came to see the Spirit Festival, travelers, and merchants. As the Spirit Festival reached its climax and everyone listened to the priest’s blessings, a sudden sound of destruction would come.

The crowd would be in turmoil. The organizers would try to grasp the situation. Then, the army of spiders would rush in, sweeping away the houses.

The inorganic spider eyes would catch the people, who were still in shock, and the feast of screams and slaughter would begin.

The monster invasion would not stop at Alba Village. After destroying the village and using the residents as food, they would attack nearby villages and towns.

When the Adventurer Guild and the Knights finally grasped the situation and began their extermination efforts, ordinary adventurers and knights would be no match for the giant spiders—the Empress Spiders. After many casualties, it would finally be exterminated by high-level adventurers with Silver-class or higher capabilities, or by the Hamil Kingdom Knights near the capital.

By then, the damage caused by the monsters would be unimaginable.

But this tragedy could be prevented by Nodo.

By chance, he had noticed the abnormality in the forest and grasped the situation. All he had to do was deliver this information—

At that moment, the wind stopped.

The strong wind from the Northern Mountains, which had been blowing from the other side of the cliff, suddenly stopped.

Nodo, who had been peering over the cliff, was about to start preparing for a retreat.

All he had to do was retrace his steps, run through the night forest by the moonlight. That was all. That was all it should have been.

“!?”

A tingling sensation ran down Nodo’s neck.

His body detected the approaching danger before his mind did.

From his crouched position, Nodo reflexively stood up, twisting his body to look behind him.

(Something’s coming! Damn, I didn’t notice it because it was upwind.)

Always staying downwind of the prey was a habit Nodo had from his adventurer days. To avoid being detected by smell, it was a basic action for an adventurer. Indeed, his presence should not have been known to the Empress Spiders.

However, this also meant that he would be slower to notice anything approaching from downwind. The smell and sound would be carried away by the wind.

The moment the wind stopped, the sound of branches breaking reached his ears for the first time—faint, but it was proof that something was approaching.

Sure enough, as Nodo turned around, it appeared.

Eight legs in two pairs, a body covered in black hair, twelve red compound eyes—it was a General Spider.

There were two pieces of luck. One was that the wind stopped, and he barely noticed its presence. The other was that the smell-eliminating treatment he had applied to his body beforehand prevented the General Spider, which was downwind, from noticing his presence.

Therefore, the General Spider that leaped onto the cliff where Nodo was hiding, before it could recognize the shadow it saw as a human and a young dragon, was bisected by Nodo’s quick draw and cut.

(…Damn!)

– Perhaps the misfortune was that the General Spider was carrying food to offer to the Empress.

As a result, Nodo could not stop the combined mass of the spider and its captured prey.

The spider’s body, having lost control upon death, rolled down the cliff along with its captured prey, following the laws of inertia.

The spider’s corpse tumbled down the cliff with a clattering sound and hit the ground.

A squelching sound reached Nodo’s ears.

Nodo involuntarily turned around.

There was silence.

The army of spiders and the giant Empress Spider, which had been moving just moments ago, had stopped. And—

Hundreds of red eyes were staring intently at the intruder, Nodo.

That's it for today's portion.

I wrote up to 1500 characters in the morning, took a nap, and before I knew it, the sun had set. Doh!

I was supposed to write one more section and make it around 5000 characters... but, oh well! I’m just splitting one chapter into two updates. No worries, no worries.

Continuing the announcement.

The first volume of "Nodo, the Poor Noble's Adventure" will be released on February 15th (Saturday). For more details, please see the activity report.