Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

Aunt-Master safely managed to raise a realm.

Once I let him feed on yang energy and he accepted Yo-hwa’s energy, he entered the next realm without any trouble at all.

He stepped into the Golden Core Stage without incident.

At my request, Yo-hwa had said she would try, but I’d been a little doubtful whether Yo-hwa’s ability could be applied to another human-faced spider. Still, Yo-hwa’s ability, which could turn ordinary spiders into something almost on the level of spirit-creatures, worked on a human-faced spider just fine as well.

Though it probably helped that Aunt-Master had already been right on the verge of the next realm.

“The stabilization is faster than I expected.”

Even more than that, while it had taken my wives and the other spirit-creatures two or three days, Aunt-Master’s body stabilized in barely four hours.

If there was one difference between Aunt-Master after molting and Yo-hwa, it was the hair.

Yo-hwa’s hair turned golden after molting, but Aunt-Master’s did not.

Maybe because he was an ordinary human-faced spider, his hair wasn’t golden or anything like that.

This was probably the standard that separated the queen from the human-faced spiders that were not queens.

At the Tang Clan, they’d probably thought of it as something like an upper species.

After emerging from his shell and drying his body, Aunt-Master bowed, deeply moved.

“Th-thank you, Mother. Father.”

He had been in a state where death wasn’t far off, and now his lifespan had almost doubled, so how could he not be grateful?

He would even be able to raise the realm that had stopped.

But the word Father made my head spin.

Because thanks to Aunt-Master, our family tree had now become a complete mess.

“No, about that Father part...”

Originally, Aunt-Master was in the same generational rank as my junior sister’s aunt.

My master was in the position of a father, so my junior sister was my older sister, and Aunt-Master was my aunt.

So in other words, my father’s older or younger sister had basically become my daughter.

When you say it like that, it doesn’t quite hit.

But if I put it this way, you feel it immediately.

I married my grandmother.

Yo-hwa wasn’t my grandmother, but the mother of your aunt was your grandmother.

If you really picked it apart, Yo-hwa was in the grandmother generation.

So it was no different from me marrying my grandmother.

‘Ah, this is a damn cauldron of chaos.’

I was thinking, This family tree is so cursed there isn’t another one like it, when Aunt-Master said in a firm voice,

“Father, even if it makes you uncomfortable, it can’t be helped. Our species is born to serve Mother and Father.”

“No, this is the cultivation world, so all that from the lower world... well, those customs, just forget them...”

Cultivators were people who cast off everything from the lower world and ascended.

So I was saying there was no need to cling to things like that, but Aunt-Master explained with an expression that said that absolutely wasn’t the case.

“Even after ascending and being severed from everything in the lower world, the thought that I must serve the two of you is still this intense in me. That means this is something that takes precedence over even that order.

So of course I have a duty to serve the two of you.”

“I-I see.”

What kind of instinct was it that took precedence over the law that severed an ascended human-faced spider from the order of the lower world?

‘Does that mean there’s something stronger than the order of the lower world? Ah! Zihwa mentioned before...’

But when I thought about it, I remembered hearing Zihwa mention in passing that there was a species similar to Yo-hwa higher up.

Was it called the Golden Spider Clan?

As soon as I remembered that, this thought followed.

‘Well, it’s just a form of address... and that’s not what matters right now, is it?’

What did it matter if the title was Father or something else?

I decided to forget little details like that and worry instead about how I was going to explain this to my wives.

The water had already been spilled.

It was already in, so taking it out wouldn’t make it something that had never happened.

Once it went in, there was no turning it back.

Not that I’d put it in of my own free will.

So I had no choice but to accept this cursed family tree.

“Well, Aunt-Master’s realm rose smoothly enough. Let’s head to the First Heaven for now. I already made a base there.”

“What do you mean, Aunt-Master? Please, take that back. Though I once shared Tang Hwa-seong’s purpose, we split apart, so Father does not need to call me Aunt-Master. You may simply call me Seventh.”

“Seventh?”

I was thinking I should just resign myself to riding this current like some drifting thing on the waves, but even so, it felt like I should give a new name.

What kind of name was Seventh?

A lazy name like that did not exist in the Fabre dictionary.

“But that name is kind of lazy... no, long. Don’t you have another name? No, wait, you don’t?”

“Yes. Father Tang Hwa-seong simply called me Seventh. Because only Mother or Father may give me a name.”

“Only Mother or Father can give you a name?”

“Yes. Isn’t that true for all living things?”

It seemed that because Yo-hwa was a queen, she didn’t mind if someone gave her a name, but for an ordinary human-faced spider, only the Gold-Masked Spider Queen as Mother and the human father could give a name.

Thinking that worked out nicely, I gave him a good name.

“Th-then from now on, your name is Chilhyang.”

I took his old name and added the character for fragrance, making it Chilhyang.

“Thank you, Father. To give a name even to one as lowly as me...”

Chilhyang was overwhelmed after even being given a name.

Since we had to head back now, I decided to gather the things from the place where Chilhyang had been living and put them into Dokmul-hyang.

“Chilhyang, gather up whatever you want to take and pile it over here. I’ll put it in Dokmul-hyang. I’ve already set up our fortress in the First Heaven.”

“A fortress? Ah, it seems you intend to build a fortress. Understood, Father.”

A little later, Chilhyang came out carrying only a single large box.

Since he wasn’t human and hadn’t exactly been eating meals, he had none of the tools used in a kitchen, and it seemed he made and wore his clothes out of his own silk, so his baggage was simple.

His tableware was nothing but teacups, and he didn’t even have spare clothes.

After gathering the things Chilhyang brought out, I immediately came out of the cave, and fittingly for a spirit-creature from the Central Plains, Chilhyang collapsed the cave at once with something like Dao arts.

-Rrrrumble.

The cave caved in, sending out smoke.

As I stepped back, I spoke to Chilhyang and Yo-hwa.

“Well then, shall we get going?”

“Understood, Father. I shall attend you.”

“Don’t do that. Ah... right, Chilhyang, as far as I know, there are male human-faced spiders too. So what are those? Is that wrong?”

Something I suddenly got curious about right before we left.

It was about the male human-faced spiders.

Because the Tang Clan had said there were males too.

At my question, Chilhyang nodded as if he understood immediately.

“Is that what you heard from the Tang Clan?”

“That’s right.”

“That is because I did not teach them properly. No matter how well Tang Hwa-seong understood us, how could I so easily teach him the secrets of us human-faced spiders?

So I simply told him that there were ordinary males and females.”

“Ah.”

So that was why stories about male human-faced spiders had spread through the Tang Clan and the martial world of the Central Plains. It sounded like that rumor had probably been spread by Chilhyang.

Chilhyang continued.

“It was easy to deceive them too. Because of some human-faced spiders that are discovered after transforming into men. Human-faced spiders have to feed on the yang energy of men in order to live, do they not?”

“That’s right.”

“But they cannot always suck the yang energy of men. Sometimes they are hungry, but there is no man in sight, so they have to suck even the faint yang energy possessed by women. If that keeps happening, they end up taking the form of men.

So it was easy to deceive them.”

“Ah.”

Now that my curiosity had been satisfied, I told both Yo-hwa and Chilhyang to go into Dokmul-hyang, and I was just about to call out Cho.

“All right, then let’s go. Everyone get inside. Then I’ll...”

The moment I was about to leave, one thought filled my head: what exactly was I supposed to say to my wives?

‘What do I say? Yo-hwa and I crossed the line. Yo-hwa forced herself on me? It was unavoidable because of the medicine?’

I’d planned to think it through while being carried off wrapped around Cho, but now that we were actually going back, that one thought completely filled my head.

But it was the exact moment I thought of that.

Suddenly I felt the movement of energy from beside me.

When I looked over, Chilhyang was drawing up his energy.

Was he trying to confirm the realm he had just risen to?

That was what I thought, and at the same time, a strand of spider silk shot out along the ground.

The spider silk began drawing something like a magic circle on the floor.

It didn’t feel like he was doing anything bad, but it was an energy I’d felt plenty of times before.

“Ah!”

In that instant, I realized what this movement of energy was and my eyes went wide.

At the same time, my vision flashed and changed.

My body felt like it was stretching out long, then slapping flat against the ground.

Then I felt a dense, familiar energy.

What appeared before my eyes was White Night City.

Right, the energy Chilhyang had used just now felt like a talisman that teleported you instantly.

It seemed Chilhyang had something like a spell that could move us directly here, and confusingly enough, voices I needed time for rang out immediately.

“Sir! You’ve returned?”

“Master!”

“So-ryong! You’re back already!?”

We had arrived in an empty lot beyond the walls of White Night City.

By sheer coincidence, it seemed this location had been the one stored.

My wives must have felt my familiar energy and rushed out right away.

My wives were delighted to see me, but my mind turned white at the sight.

I’d meant to spend the trip over thinking about what to say, but now I’d run into them immediately.

I had nothing prepared—no explanation, nothing I was supposed to say.

Then Chilhyang’s voice rang out.

“Father, who are these people?”

“Father!?”

“Father?”

At Chilhyang calling me Father, my wives’ eyes went wide.

Then maybe Yo-hwa’s mind went blank too, because she stared dazedly for a moment before suddenly bursting into tears and bawling.

-Heeheehee. “Waaaah. Sisters...”

Yo-hwa had been worried earlier, after that storm-like dual cultivation, about how she would face the others, so I had told her not to worry because I would handle it.

I’d said that if there was anything she should say or do, I’d tell her.

It was sudden, but what was done was done, and it was right for me to deal with it directly rather than let Yo-hwa step forward.

But faced with it this abruptly, she hadn’t had any coaching from me at all, and it seemed that the emotions still unresolved inside her all burst out at once.

“Yo-hwa, what’s wrong?”

“Yo-hwa? Why are you suddenly crying?”

My wives asked what was wrong when Yo-hwa suddenly burst into tears.

They were just asking why she was suddenly crying, but a guilty conscience pricked the thief’s heel, and it seemed Yo-hwa heard it like an interrogation.

As if a criminal were confessing, Yo-hwa bluntly explained the entire process of the dual cultivation.

“Y-Yo-hwa put Older Brother’s thing in her mouth and then between her legs...”

My brain came to a complete stop at Yo-hwa’s explanation.

Only my wives’ pupils, growing wider and wider as they listened to her, told me that time was still moving.

‘No, Yo-hwa, why are you this honest?’

I was horrified by Yo-hwa’s honesty and my head was in chaos over how to salvage this disaster when, like salvation, Chilhyang’s voice sounded from beside me.

“It seems these are Father—no, Lord So-ryong’s wives. It is my first time meeting you. I am Chilhyang, a human-faced spider spirit-creature who once belonged to Tang Hwa-seong.

I am Cheongcheong’s Aunt-Master.

Because of a slight misunderstanding, I ended up using a bit of medicine, and due to that medicine, the two of them lost their senses and shared the bedchamber.

It is my fault, so please do not blame them too much.”

Maybe it was because of his age, or maybe because he was quick on the uptake, but Chilhyang more or less grasped the situation and swiftly explained the whole story to my wives.

Thinking that was a relief, I wriggled my fingers and said,

“Th-that’s what happened.”

Then my wives let out long sighs and began soothing Yo-hwa.

With expressions like, Well, in the end, what was bound to come has come.

“Yo-hwa, hush.”

“It’s all right. Don’t cry. I figured something like this would happen someday anyway.”

“Right, don’t cry, Yo-hwa. You don’t have to feel sorry toward us. Well... Tang Hwa-eun aside, if you really get down to it, Gun Hye-rin and I both came after you anyway, didn’t we?”

“In the lower world you couldn’t be joined to him, but this place isn’t like that...”

Maybe not in the lower world, but here even spirit-creatures were treated as splendid beings with personhood.

More than that, weren’t they beings fully fit to be companions?

That was what they were saying—they accepted Yo-hwa.

Yo-hwa had liked me for a very long time, and since my wives knew that, that was probably why.

My wives had minds more open than mine.

Anyway, I was thinking, Well, that got resolved nicely enough, when my wives looked at me and said,

“By the way, So-ryong, you’d better brace yourself.”

“That’s right, Master. Brace yourself. If you’re a man, then be ready for it.”

“Brace myself?”

Since I had one more wife now, did they mean I should steel my heart as the head of the household?

I tilted my head at the words telling me to brace myself, and then Ji-ryeon’s words came down like a nail.

“Now that you’ve accepted Yo-hwa, the other children won’t just stay still either.”

I had definitely planned to gather lots of spirit-creatures, pair them off, let them breed, and live happily buried under adorable little ones as a delightful hobby.

But apparently, most of the spirit-creatures had ended up paired with me.