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『Ciel, are you alright?』
『Yes, but I do feel slightly tired. After all, it’s been a while since I used this much magic power. By the way, would it be better to pick that up?』

Ciel points to the spider fang left behind.
It’s a spider part, so I completely understand her feelings, but I also don’t think we can just leave it behind.
After all, this fang is the only evidence we have of defeating the golden spider.

『It would be better, yes.』
『Right, it can’t be helped.』

With heavy footsteps, Ciel reluctantly picked up the fang. And just like with the golden wolf, I then felt something enter inside me.
I feel something growing stronger inside of me. It’s not a significant change, but as it’s to the point that I can feel it, I suppose it was worth going through that ordeal.

However, unlike with the golden wolf, there are unfortunately still things that need doing after the battle.
We have to check what’s happened to the people Liessyl protected; we also need to do something about the silk threads binding them, and before all of that, we need to ask Liessyl to do something about the plants.

If the people are still alive, we also have to think of some way to transport them to the surface… Is the fact that I couldn’t help but hope that they’re all already dead a sign of me greatly deviating from humanity?
Honestly, I don’t care whether they’re dead or alive; I’d just rather not have troublesome work.

I generally don’t trust people I just met, after all.

Whatever the case, we still have to confirm the aftermath.
Hoping that she’ll move away or even remove the plants, I look Liessyl’s way and see that she’s staring hard at something.
Wondering what it was, I followed her gaze and saw a shrub, likely conjured by Liessyl, partially burned.

It appears that at the very last moment, the flames became powerful enough to burn that small portion. It’s one of the most destructive attacks Ciel can use, so I’m not surprised. Actually, I’m surprised that it took so much just to burn it. It’s telling of how great a spirit’s power is.

Noticing me, Liessyl moves her lips, but I can’t hear what she’s trying to say.
I suppose my apotheosis hasn’t progressed far enough yet. Still, I believe we’ll only need a little more to be able to communicate with spirits.
Perhaps realizing that we can’t converse, Liessyl pointed at the burned area and made a surprised gesture.

『You didn’t expect that Ciel could make it that powerful?』

She nodded.
I’m glad to hear that. After all, it was an attack that used around half of Ciel’s total magic power.
It isn’t like we absolutely won’t need to use any other sorcery afterwards, so it’s practically only usable once per battle. It was clearly overkill this time, though.

『Liessyl, I want to check on the people you protected; what should I do?』

Liessyl being surprised is interesting, but there are other things that must be done now, so I asked her.
After blinking her eyes for a moment, Liessyl seemed to have understood and erased the plants.
I’ll assume that these were conjured with magic, but are these really that easy to erase? Well, I’ll stop contemplating too deeply for now.

『Ciel, I switch with you?』
『Okay, I’m leaving it to you, Ain.』

Seeing Liessyl remove the plants, it seems like Ciel knows what I wanted to do next and gladly obliged. Well, Ciel would probably be happy to switch with me, even without any significant reason.

After switching, I look at the cocoons enveloping the people. The binding of the threads seems to be loose, as on many of them you can see the body of the person inside.
Then perhaps the thread’s tight pressure was reliant on the golden spider. I’m glad we don’t need to forcefully pull them out of the cocoons.

There doesn’t seem to be anyone conscious; no voices can be heard.
There are people awkwardly hung by the threads standing upright, but there aren’t any capable of standing on their own.
They might just fall down eventually, so we had them all lie on the ground in the meantime.

『It seems that there are many still alive.』
『It seems so.』

I noticed when laying them on the floor, but a considerable number of them are alive.
While it’s quite fortunate for the people in question, we still don’t know what to do on our end.
If possible, I’d rather leave them as they are. However, I can easily imagine the trouble that will befall us for leaving them on their own devices, so we’ll do as much as we can. If there are still complaints after that, we can either ignore them or just shut them up.

As I was walking with that in my head, I ended up seeing that. It’s hard to describe. Bones, skin, and weirdly soft flesh. It’s a dead body. I knew there would be some, but it’s still a pretty grotesque sight.

『Ain, are you alright?』
『Yes, I’m fine. However, let’s bury them now.』

I answered Ciel’s worried inquiry. Perhaps due to what happened immediately after we left Rispelgia’s mansion, Ciel always shows concern for me whenever we see dead people. I feel somewhat pathetic since Ciel seems fine with it, but I also feel a bit happy that she’s worried.

Now, about the burial. It only requires digging a hole and filling it, so even my sorcery is capable of it.
I can’t make pitfall traps, though.

After going around the stratum, all that’s left laying on the floor are the living, which consists of around 10 odd to 20 or more people.
While they are alive, practically all of them have broken bones. Even if they wake up, it’s questionable whether they can return on their own.
Some of them might never even wake again.

『For now, let me sing a song.』
『What are you going to sing?』

I’m sure she knows the reason why I’m singing, but having her sound so happy about it cheered me a bit.
Instead of singing to heal people I don’t even know, I’d rather sing to make Ciel happy.
And so, instead of a random hymn I was going to use, I decided to use a song that even I would enjoy singing.

It’s a song from a slightly niche anime. This song might just sound vaguely familiar even to those who are really into anime, but I like how cool it is.
The song is based on the plot of the show… or rather, the lyrics depict the character’s thoughts and feelings, so listening to it back then was really moving.

It’s definitely out of place as a healing song, but only Ciel and I are the only ones who know this song in this world, and even if others hear it, they won’t know the meaning of the lyrics anyway.
As I continue singing, I am reminded of how convenient Song Princess is for these occasions. The church apparently can’t use wide-scale healing. Song Princess doesn’t have precise control, though.

After hard work defeating the spider, there’s still more hard work… Such is life.

Not much new things for me to unpack here today, but it was funny how Liessyl had to gesture her surprise to the burned bush. Also, Ain having a low-key proud mom moment, lol. Oh, and the floppy almost deflated balloon-like dead people… Spiders just spidering their food.

And a new tidbit about the church, they can’t use aoe healing magic??? What? It’s less about the church and more about the implications of healing Jobs range of abilities that is interesting here.

Now then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to comment. Stay healthy, stay safe, and have a nice day~!