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News about the Aquaria Kingdom being taken over by the Empire of Bestellen for "justice" had already begun to spread through all of the continent of Anir's Hands for months now, but Ervas and Veronica had just heard about it today while having breakfast.
"So that's how it is…" said Percy, having informed about things Ervas and Veronica.
"I see… well, that's how things are, we have not related to those people anymore, so I don't think we should care," said Ervas.
"Oh yeah, but there was something else that-" muttered Percy, as he was interrupted by an adorable little girl's voice.
"Mama, I finished!"
"Ah, Kuro-chan! What a good girl!" said Veronica, as she immediately shifted her attention to her daughter.
It has been two weeks since they joined the aristocratic community of Seashore Town, and had established themselves as a good business family with their restaurant, as they were even beginning to consider buying more buildings to make more restaurants and spread their influence over the common folk.
Although some plans such as creating a ghost ship were delayed, today was supposedly the day they would finally get to it.
Veronica was cuddling with her little daughter, Kuro.
Kuro was the first direct descendant of Veronica, formed from a metallic egg that popped out of her metallic body through her Metallic Arachnid Matriarch Skill, she hatched as a new species of tiny metallic undead spider, something similar to a Living Armor but that was able to shapeshift very easily like her mother.
After six months, Kuro developed as a girl, even though she was genderless, and had taken in the form of a tiny Arachne baby girl that Veronica loves dearly.
Since the moment Veronica hatched her, that she has not made any more children, as she found that she could not produce children in mass because she was too responsible for them, and would have to take care of all of them instead of using them as soldiers, so for now, such a thing has been postponed.
Unlike monsters, Veronica was emotional and would easily feel attached to her children, hatching them in mass just to use them as soldiers were… not something she would ever do.
For now, she had Kuro as her first "biological" daughter, while Aqua and Charlotte were her adoptive daughters more than tamed monsters.
Her lower half was that of a large, around two meters large black spider, covered in a metallic exoskeleton, while her upper half was pale white and transparent, even phantasmagoric, her hair was long and wine-colored, and her eyes scarlet red, like a small version of Veronica.
She wore a dress over her upper half, although it was her armor which she had shaped like a dress like her mother.
Kuro was beloved by everyone in the Igni Kingdom, and was known as the "little spider princess", she was always at her mother's side inside of her soul, which she used a Soul Avatar to appear in this internal space, as her real body was outside.
But now that Veronica had managed to convince Doragon and Vairvec to give them special cards that could let her get in with demi-humans that were often thought to be monster such as Arachne (which was what Kuro looked like), little Kuro could go around town with her mommy now, although people would see her weirdly as she was so big, yet had a little girl's torso, that was how her physiology was.
And Veronica did not want to ask her to shapeshift her metallic body just to appease these people and let her daughter be however she wanted to be.
At first, Veronica had to really cope with being a mother so suddenly… but she felt like she had been acting like one for Charlotte and Aqua already, so it did not felt so hard as she imagined.
Also, Anna was there to help her as a second mother for Kuro, and well, there was also Ervas that was like the uncle… or more like the big brother.
And well, Jason had a better role as an uncle than Ervas, although he would be technically something like a grandfather if Ervas and Veronica were considered siblings due to having been the same soul once.
"Mama! I want snuggles!" said Kuro, as she finished her meal and immediately extended her little arms towards Veronica, as she quickly placed her over her legs, although her spider half was very big, so she reduced its size through Skills whenever she was going to snuggle with her mommy.
Her bright crimson eyes were shining brightly, this was technically the first days that Kuro had explored the outside world, as she was born and nurtured inside of Veronica's soul.
"Of course my little girl, there will be all the snuggles you want! Who's the most beautiful girl in all this world~?" asked Veronica while rubbing her nose with Kuro's.
"Me!" said Kuro rather boldly, as Veronica could not help but smile warmly.
"Of course you are, Kuro-chan! Such a nice little girl, eating all her veggies! She deserves a little gift~!" said Veronica, playing with her daughter as Ervas glanced at them with a mild smile.
"Having children…" he murmured softly, as Pekorina who was at his side heard him.
Having children!
Did Ervas already wanted that?!
Pekorina became a bit nervous!
"Eh? Pekorina-chan, are you okay?" asked Ervas.
"Ah! Yeaaah, peko…" said Pekorina, as she began to eat a fresh carrot to calm her anxiety.
However, Pekorina had already matured as a young woman due to her race traits, and her inner instincts, after hearing Ervas talk about having children, began to rush with strange thoughts… and certain soft happiness of imagining her having a child with her beloved boyfriend!
"Fwah… A child with Ervas-kun?" she wondered, as she glared at Veronica cuddle with Kuro.
Completely ignoring Percy as he decided to wait for Veronica to give enough attention to her daughter, Veronica quickly took out a few things from her own soul, which was not like an unlimited inventory for her now.
Then, Veronica took out a few weapons, dresses, and other strange-looking clothes, which were made specifically for Arachne physiology.
"Eh? Mommy, those are!" said Kuro while being excited.
"That's right, today Kuro-chan is 6 months old, happy half birthday! And because of that, I have gotten you a ton of gifts! I know that you want to join Bert and the rest as an Adventurer, so I got you a ton of new equipment that your me and Anna-chan poured our souls into!" said Veronica.
"Uwah! Adventurer equipment? I get to be an adventurer too?!" asked Kuro as her crimson eyes shined the brightest that Veronica had ever seen, everyone present felt their hearts being melted by the adorable Kuro-chan!
"That's right! You better train very hard, alright?" asked Anna with a gentle smile, while giving a wink to Kuro.
"Sure, Anna-mama!" said Kuro, as she glanced and inspected her equipment in detail!
Wait, how could she inspect her equipment… stats?!
It was as obvious as knowing that oil floated over the water, it was because Kuro-chan was made from a piece of Veronica's soul, but not containing her memories nor anything, a piece of pure soul that formed into her own daughter, and due to inheriting a core piece of it, she inherited the Samsara System and also her initial Skills… including Appraisal!
This was something quite amazing, if Veronica kept doing this, she could have an army of Spiders having Appraisal… But she was not interested in using her children as soldiers, so this would never happen.
Kuro-chan immediately realized that these items were no mere replications made from her mother's Armory Skill and that they were enhanced several times with many types of alloys, spells, runes, enchantments, and more, making them top-notch Magic Weapons and Equipment that even S-Rank Adventurers would kill for!
"I have only seen you use magic and your own claws while fighting this whole time, so I was confused in what weapon you would prefer. So we ended up crafting one of each main type of weapon for Adventurer Classes," said Anna.
"Yep! There is this giant long sword that unleashes black flames that can eat up the soul of your enemies, this giant axe that exudes powerful slicing winds that can turn your enemies into shredded meat, this spear that releases enormous explosions of blue flames so your enemies are blasted into pieces, and this little and cute staff decorated with the skull of a dragon, which can release a powerful dragon breath to anything you target!" said Veronica, each weapon sounded more terrifying than the previous one!
But to Kuro-chan and most of the people here, they were pretty awesome!
"Amazing! I am going to use all of them! I will be a jack of all trades and master of all!" said Kuro-chan, she was a prideful and brave little girl, and immediately generated two more arms using Soul Form Manipulation, which she used to wield every weapon!
"Amazing, Kuro-chan! She will raise in the Ranks in no time," said Ismene.
"Indeed, little Kuro is very promising," said Jason.
"Kuro-chan is… precious…" said Ragdaz while containing his tears due to how cute Kuro-chan was!
"Oi, old man, aren't you exaggerating a bit?" asked Azra, as he was smacked by his own father!
Smack!
"Azra, I will not let you say that Kuro-chan's adorableness is exaggerated!" said Ragdaz.
"Agh… Have a daughter with Desephise then!" said Azra.
Smack!
As Desephise at Azra's side smacked his head as well.
"Stop spitting nonsense, boy!" she roared as she blushed intensively.
"Y-Yeah! We are… far that point!" said Ragdaz.
"Ugh… Get a room…" muttered Azra, as he drank a bit of coffee.
The truth was that both Ragdaz and Desephise had actually begun to date a few months ago, but they were still pretending to be rivals on the outside...
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