The Exiled Knight Takes Up Life as an Adventurer — A Former Captain's Secret Power and His Carefree Days in a Distant Land - Chapter 16

The Fang Spider, Denefis, revealed itself.

From its mouth, it shot out a thread of filament as if the fifty-medelt distance between us didn’t matter.

“Whoa!”

The captain and I split left and right, diving to the ground to avoid the attack.

“It can reach from that far?! Captain, this is a bad spot! We need to get out of the woods!”

“Understood!”

We cut through the brush ahead with our swords and leapt out of the thicket.

Just then, I felt something grip my right leg.

“Gah!”

Looking down, I saw filament thread tangled around my leg.

I slashed at it while still running, but I lost my balance, tumbled across the ground once, and quickly got back on my feet.

“Huff… huff…”

My breath was ragged.

When I turned around, Denefis had already closed the gap to just ten medelt.

It aimed and shot another filament thread at me.

“Damn it!”

I dove to the right, rolling on the ground to dodge the thread.

“But at this distance… this is my range too!”

I reached for Raphil, my thread reel, and manipulated the filament thread.

I aimed for one of Denefis’s front legs.

“Yes! Got it!”

With a sharp pull, I yanked the thread.

A dull, tearing sound echoed—like roots being ripped from the earth—as one of Denefis’s legs was torn off.

“Skreeeeee!”

The Fang Spider let out a grotesque scream.

It still had seven legs, and although its movement was slightly hindered, it could still walk.

But its speed had noticeably dropped.

I quickly closed the distance and drove my sword into the center of its six clustered eyes.

“Skree… skreeeeee…”

The light faded from all six of its eyes.

“What about the other one?!”

I glanced around and saw the captain had fallen on his backside.

Both his legs were tangled in filament thread.

Even so, he had lifted his upper body and was gripping his longsword with both hands—clearly ready to strike back the moment he was attacked.

That kind of resolve was admirable.

But realistically, there was no way he could move.

Fang Spiders like Denefis hunt by binding prey from a distance with their thread and immobilizing them before devouring them.

“Skreeeee!”

Denefis fired another thread at the captain.

Anticipating this, I jumped in front of him and slashed the thread mid-air with my sword.

Without pause, I charged straight at the spider.

Denefis spat another filament thread, but I dodged it by a hair’s breadth.

Then, once again, I stabbed my sword directly into the center of its six eyes.

“…Skreeeeee…”

The light vanished completely from Denefis’s eyes.

Once I was sure it was dead, I surveyed the area again.

There was no sign of any other threat.

“Whew… That’s done.”

I walked over to the captain.

“You alright?”

“Y-Yes. Thank you so much.”

“Let me cut these.”

I carefully sliced away the filament binding his legs.

“This thread’s stickiness is no joke.”

“It really isn’t. My pants and boots are all sticky now.”

“Even for a C-rank, this Denefis was on a whole different level.”

The captain stood up and returned his sword to its sheath.

“You saved me. Truly, thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s just part of the job.”

“Haha… By the way, are you by any chance from the Kingdom of Jeneth, Mr. Mardin?”

“Huh? Well, yeah. Why?”

“When I was still a knight, I was stationed near the Jeneth border. I once heard rumors about a thread-wielding knight—Ilgrad, the Moonshadow Knight…”

Yep. That’s me. But this is getting troublesome.

Better to just play dumb.

“I get that a lot. But I’m not him.”

“W-Wait, but weren’t they called Mardin the Thread-Wielder too?”

“Ahaha, just someone with the same name.”

“N-No way. You clearly have absolute mastery over filament threads. I’ve never seen anyone at your level.”

The captain didn’t let up.

“Well… they say there are three people in the world who look exactly alike, right?”

I brushed it off with a vague comment, but this young captain had already figured it out completely.

“I see… The Kingdom of Jeneth did undergo a regime change. I believe Ilgrad, the Moonshadow Knight, was said to have changed drastically too… Well, of course, none of that has anything to do with you, Mr. Mardin.”

“Exactly. Ahahaha.”

“Haha. I’ll pretend I believe that.”

The captain smiled and pointed at the Fang Spider Denefis’s corpse.

“What do we do with the body?”

“If there’s space on the caravan’s wagon, I’d like to bring it to Irevs.”

“The Adventurer’s Guild buys materials now, right?”

“Yeah. Selling it would bring in a decent sum. Plus, this Denefis was a big one. I want to craft a weapon out of it.”

“Agreed. This one’s filament is definitely special. Understood. I’ll inform Mr. Zaal that these materials belong to you.”

“Eh? That’s alright?”

“Yes. Our contract doesn’t cover monster materials, so the rights go to the one who defeated it.”

“I see. Thanks, I really appreciate that.”

We returned to the caravan and reported the subjugation to Zaal, the merchant.

Then we loaded Denefis’s corpse onto the wagon and resumed our journey.

—

“Whew… We made it safely.”

By evening, as planned, we arrived in the city of Irevs.

The caravan passed through the gates and headed toward the inn district.

“It’s thanks to you that we arrived safely, Mr. Mardin.”

Zaal shook my hand firmly.

“I’m just glad I could help.”

“We’ve already arranged lodging—please stay the night. Let’s have dinner together.”

“Thank you.”

“Actually, among our salvaged goods, we found a bottle of grape wine.”

“You don’t mean… wine from the Grand Duchy of Estièry?”

Zaal smiled.

“I’ll open a bottle. Let’s drink.”

“Seriously?! That’s amazing!”

We rented out the inn’s dining hall and dined together with all the caravan members.

The salvaged wine turned out to be a vintage from ten years ago.

If put on the market, it would go for at least five gold coins per bottle.

“To think we’d get to enjoy such a luxurious wine… I’m truly grateful.”

“Hahaha. If we get another chance, I hope you’ll join us again. Your skills are top-notch.”

“Thank you. I’d love to. Oh, by the way—if it’s not too much trouble…”

I made a small request to Zaal and received the final signature confirming quest completion.