Redo of a Romanceless Author’s Life Devoid of Love; Another Chance at Youth

Chapter 457.

Chapter 457. An Exciting Night with Two Girls Outside the City: The Alleged Haunted Castle. (7/7) 

When no souls appeared to my dismay, I let out a sigh and got to work. By work, I didn’t mean clearing up the area though. I meant writing up a contract in advance since it seemed Rosa was planning to help me acquire Dawn’s soul.

She was seriously playing wingman for a devil. Or was devil’s advocate the more appropriate term for this sort of situation?

Well, I’d never say no to another soul. Really though, getting people to sell you their souls was so much work. If I was a hot girl, I wonder if it’d be easier to get people to sell me their soul? I could just promise a guy I’d sleep with them if they’d offer up their soul to me on a silver platter like I was some sort of Succubus. I’m sure there would be plenty willing to jump at the offer. Hell, I imagine there’d be guys happy to just be stepped or spit on for such a deal.

As a gloomy looking guy, such a method was impossible. Maybe if I was a hot stud with a ripped six-pack it’d be a different story, but I wasn’t.

I wonder if there are any devils that have started a prostitution ring. They could just get girls to have a bunch of horny dudes sell their souls for sex. Personally, I’d never go and do that though. I don’t particularly like the idea of being some sort of pimp daddy.

While I lamented over such nonsense I finished writing up the contract. Once finished, I folded it up and stuffed it back inside my pocket. I didn’t bother to add in the aging clause this time around.

I got to work and cleared away some of the small debris on the ground by sweeping it to one side with my feet. When there was enough space cleared out for the nonsense summoning circles we were going to make, I figured I’d take a break. I took a look at the benches and swiped my finger over the surface.

There was a very thick layer of dust. It… also felt wet. Gross. When I looked at my finger, I realized it was a layer of mold buried beneath the dust.

I wiped my finger on some of the debris on the ground and absolutely refused to sit on the benches at all costs.

I turned my focus to the two chairs in the room. When I shone the flashlight on it... something moved! My heart trembled out of fright as I fell backwards. 

Nope. Nope. Nope!

“Hah… hah… hah…”

Spider. A freaking big ass scary-looking one at that. The bloody thing’s legs made it look the size of a dinner plate. It had its webbing spun all over the two chairs. My skin crawled when I saw the other insects it had wrapped up and entangled in its web. Some were still wriggling. There were grasshoppers, crickets, flies, and a few cockroaches. 

Even if I slept among cockroaches, that was many years ago when I was a small child. I could tolerate them and even kill them without getting squeamish, but after decades of not having to deal with them, they caught me a bit off guard here.

It was honestly the location that made it so bad. If I was home, a little cockroach wouldn’t be a big deal. But what I turned to see just now was the sight of that cockroach having its innards torn away and eaten by that spider.

Wait, the spider!

Where’d it go?

Not knowing where it was lurking, my skin tingled uncomfortably, the hairs on my body stood on end, and I jumped to my feet. 

Of all spiders, it looked like the Brown Recluse spider Rosa showed me a picture of. As we traveled Rosa had informed me of a few different animals and insects in the regions we passed through to be on the lookout for. Though you were more likely to die from a lightning strike than this species of spider, my luck was still dog shit enough that it happened to be the worst one I could encounter around these parts. Eighty percent of their bites were considered serious. 

The worst part of everything was that these were supposed to be rare and you typically only came across them here if they were transported by relocated residents.

God damn it! I’d have been happy if it was a Black Widow or something.

But wait a minute… didn’t Rosa say the Brown Recluse was only the size of a quarter?

Had I just been that unlucky? I’d encountered some sort of monster Brown Recluse? Oh god, how I wish I’d left with Dawn now and that I’d never come across such a behemoth of a spider. I seriously wanted to scream. This wasn’t some baby spider I could laugh off and call cute damn it!

I slowly backed away from the chair as my eyes and flashlight darted about from left to right trying to track down where that freak of a spider went.

Why the hell can’t I find it when it’s practically a walking dinner plate?

Oh god, what if it’s already behind me?

Freaked out at the thought of it I spun around frantically and shone the light behind me.

Nothing.

Calm… down. Calm the fuck down, me.

“Haha… hahaha…” nervous laughter slipped out.

What was so funny?

I’m a freaking devil.

Why am I freaking out so much over a spider?

Because it seems faster than me?

With a body that size, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the Usain Bolt of spiders.

I didn’t understand it either, I just didn’t know enough about it. I’d only gotten a very brief glance at it before it abruptly disappeared.

Wait... does a spider that fast or big even need to make webs to catch prey? Shouldn’t it be able to hunt with its size and speed rather than relying on a web?

Damn it, I just don’t know enough about spiders to tell if it really was a Brown Recluse or something else entirely. That was the scariest part of this, not knowing the real danger.

Calm down, remember what Rosa told you about Brown Recluses before. These spiders are the types to hunt prey rather than catch them in webs. However, they did still produce pretty messy webs though. 

The size was throwing me off since it didn’t coincide with what Rosa told me about them. However, she did say Brown Recluse spiders didn’t catch prey in webs...

Did this web really belong to the spider I saw just now? Had I incorrectly jumped to conclusions here? Was that spider… maybe preying on a smaller spider and the food it captured?

If this wasn’t its web… then I couldn’t say for sure whether it was really a Brown Recluse or not. The spider I saw just now may not rely on webs at all.

Think, damn it, were there ever any other dangerous spiders Rosa mentioned that looked similar that I should be concerned about here?

No… I couldn’t think of any dangerous ones she showed me that resembled the one I encountered just now.

Wait, is it maybe not a dangerous one then?

I thought back to the various spiders Rosa talked about including non-dangerous ones and my eyes lit up as I remembered one in particular that she brought up. I hadn’t committed much of it to memory since it wasn’t a very dangerous one. A Huntsman Spider! That’s it! If I remember correctly, Rosa said they were often mistaken for Brown Recluse spiders but the easiest way to tell the difference was their size. The Huntsman Spider was much larger than the Brown Recluse.

My eyes lit up and I breathed out a long sigh of relief. Although it was still creepy how big it was, it wasn’t a spider I had to be majorly concerned about. Its venom wasn’t even comparable to a Black Widow let alone a Brown Recluse of all things.

It probably ran away after being startled by the light I shone on it just now. It wasn’t out to get me at all.

Once I understood it, it wasn’t nearly as scary anymore.

Seriously though, a dangerous spider is way scarier than a stupid ghost.

“Ha… hahahaha… that could have been pretty bad.”

I felt drained and exhausted from just that one little encounter. I was extremely thankful I had Rosa who was quite knowledgeable in this area. It came with being an assassin though. Knowing about dangerous poisonous insects and animals. Such poisons could be useful tools in their line of business after all.

I’d definitely be sure to learn more from her in the future. Our relationship started off with me teaching her things, but at some point, she started teaching me about all sorts of different things.

“Haaaaaaaaah. The world really is just one big circle.”

I really want to just get out of here and leave. I’ve had enough of this gross castle.

From outside the door, I suddenly heard the sound of echoing footsteps growing closer.

Finally, they’re back.

“It’s about time you guys got back.”

“...”

There was no answer.

But… the footsteps continued echoing outside the door.

Were they trying to scare me or something?

Should I try to turn the tables on them?

“You guys aren’t fooling anyone. If you’re trying to scare me by staying quiet, it’s not going to work.”

“...”

The sound of echoing footsteps suddenly stopped.

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