"I have to say...your homeforest is...big."
"You think so?"
"Yes...I mean...this looks like an ocean of trees."
"I heard from the Alv mountains, you can see just how far it actually stretches out."
Bell followed Riveria´s finger with his eyes, while it wandered over their map. They were in the eastern reaches of the forest.
She showed him where the main village was, it wasn´t marked on the map, since Riveria wouldn´t want to risk the position being revealed in case she lost the map. Bell held his left thumb and index finger around Orario, then placed them multiple times on the forest part, to see how much bigger it actually was.
Riveria blinked and looked what he did.
"Ahm Bell, you are aware that this map isn´t completely accurate, are you?"
"Eh..."
He took his fingers away and got slightly red. Riveria smiled slightly...she really loved to travel with him.
"So what are we going to do now? You saw the approximate position right?"
"Not directly, just that it was a small abandoned village with a destroyed tree house in the middle, a bigger one."
"And you don´t know where that is?"
"No, even when I spent over sixty years here, I don´t know every location."
"Hah...that this day might come..."
"Bell?" She looked at him confused.
"I never thought...you would lie to me..."
"Bell?! What are you saying?!"
Riveria was a bit agitated right away when he said something like this.
"You can´t have spent over sixty years here...you look way too young for that...like in your middle twenties."
"Eh?..."
She needed a moment to understand what he had done...and meant. Riveria´s ears got slightly red and she tried to cover her embarrassement...she wasn´t used to flirting...especially when Bell did it suddenly without telling her beforehand that he would flirt now.
"D-Don´t tease me...Bell..."
"Wasn´t my intention to tease you...but in front of this forest...I am just so captivated by your beauty...Riveria. While this forest looks magnificent...it becomes dull next to your appearance."
"Mmmh...e-enough of this now...w-wait until we are b-back to Orario...okay?"
"Okay."
Bell still smiled...he saw her ears twitching...despite being embarrassed...Riveria enjoyed his words. Their behaviour towards each other had changed a bit, ever since their confession...and especially Bell´s love poem and the romantic moment they had.
Her heart often jumped or skipped a beat when he did something gallant, like offering her his arm to get over a puddle or different things. Being in love was such a wonderful feeling...but Riveria wasn´t sad that she didn´t had that in the past...for her...Bell was her fated partner. They still hadn´t time for the elven ritual, to swear their eternal love for each other, they wanted to wait with that until the journey was over and Aina safe. Aina´s health was Riveria´s priority, and she was all too happy that Bell saw it the same way.
Also...except for the day of his poem...they had only kissed two times. Bell had promised Riveria to give her as much time as she needed to get used to the situation. She was over a hundred years old now...but when it came to love...she was completely inexperienced. And except from sleeping close to each other...sometimes ending with touching a finger of the other while doing that, there was no body contact between them...this also needed time.
Bell cleared his throat.
"So, what is your plan? Are we going to the main village and asked there?"
"No, that would take too much time...I know that there is someone else in the forest...someone who knows the forest better than probably any elf. Also there are other reasons."
"I dare to guess...it has something to do with who you are?"
"More or less, yes."
Riveria started to walk into the forest, Bell at her side, she continued.
"I told you I had a fight with my father before I left the forest together with Loki, Finn and Aina."
"Yes."
"It might shock you, but we have only seen each other once in the meantime...and that was fourteen years ago, we hadn´t seen each other eighteen years since then."
"So, you left your forest thirty-two years ago?"
"Yes."
"Hmmm...hmmm...hmmm...hmm..."
"Bell?"
"I'm just trying to do some math."
"Hm?" Riveria looked confused again.
Bell mumbled. "So...hmm hmm...seventy-eight...divided by four...hmm..."
"Bell, what are you doing?"
"So...If I break it down to a human age, you left your home to see the wide world at the age of nineteen." He beamed all over his face.
"Ahm...if you want to count it like that...yes?"
A thought build up in Bell´s mind...a thought he better not spoke out loud.
So...it was like...her rebellious phase...how !
"Bell...why do I have the feeling...you think about not so nice things?" She raised an eyebrow.
"I would never do that when it comes to you...I just have the feeling to learn something about a new side of you."
He imagined a slightly younger Riveria, a sort of teenager...running away from home with her best friend, to see the wide world...he fell in love more and more with her. Imagine her a bit wilder and curious about the world. For a split second, Bell even imagined a rebellious, teenage Riveria with a short skirt, that only covered one third of her thighs,
with a pony tail and a light jacket...sort of what Lefiya sometimes wore...he couldn´t help but grin. And his cheeks flushed...when he imagined the current, adult Riveria wearing something like that...that would be...nice.
Riveria stared at him while they walked.
"Why can I guess some of the things that go through your head right now, Bell?"
"Because...you know me?"
"Trust me...you probably wouldn´t have liked me back then."
"Why that?"
"I had problems to get along with people of other races. Finn, Gareth and I often butted heads with each other...it was thanks to Loki that he grew close together and started to respect the others. While I didn´t liked how most elves behaved towards the other races...I was completely unexperienced with them too.
At some days I thought if my father was maybe right, about the world and the gods. I didn´t wanted to judge them before meeting them...but as you know, things were going bad in Orario back then. Our Familia wasn´t that strong at first, we did our best and grew stadily, but were no match for the Zeus and Hera Familias...up to this day we are no match for them in their prime."
"Really?"
"Yes, goddess Hera´s captain alone could wipe out Orario today, alone. If she would still be alive."
"You mean the "Empress"?"
"Yes. To get back to the topic, when they failed to kill the black dragon king, both Familias were so weak that Evilus grew in power. Things were going bad, but we also learned to rely more on each other. So you could say...if you would have known me back then...I doubt...that you...well...would feel...like you do...today."
"Then maybe it was fate that I was born the time I was..."
Bell leaned slightly towards her and smiled amorous."
"So that I could fall in love with you...Riveria. Maybe it was an act of the gods?"
"M-Maybe..."
But he rememberred his promise to not flirt more with her in this forest, it could cause problems when elves here saw them.
"So this person you want to ask...who is that?"
"I told you about her when our journey started, remember?"
He went silent for a moment. "The spider queen?"
"Exactly."
"Is that why you bought these souvenirs and snacks in Altenia? To bargain with the queen?"
"Yes, and why I asked for the extra bottle of wine in Wishe. I hope this will be enough for an information."
"Is it...dangerous?"
"Only if we are hostile first. But it would help if we can find some fruits on our way to her tree."
There was also another reason why Riveria didn´t wanted to go to the main village...or rather visit her father. While love was something between two people and no one should interfere for Riveria...it somehow felt like she would go to introduce her love to her father...and she was not ready for that so soon after confessing to Bell.
She felt surprised by her own thoughts...but she couldn´t help it. Not that she would separate herself from Bell even if her father and all of her people would be against it, her father had to accept it, since it was true love. One day she would introduce Bell to her father, if only so that he would meet the future father of his grandchildren...if they decided to have children.
Am I really thinking about children already? Hah...
.
.
They needed to days to get even close to the area they were searching for. Bell noticed that Riveria got more and more restless, the chance to get the flower came closer and with it the possibility to save Aina.
The forest changed only a little bit, the trees got bigger and bigger, the treetops got so close that they formed a roof over them and yet again it wasn´t dark on the ground.
"Elven forests truly are magical, just like your people, Mylady Riveria."
He changed the way to talk to her again, just in case an elf would hear them. During the time of their journey, Bell became quite good at Elvish as they had been traveling for almost two and a half months and they spoke it almost continuously.
It also was the longest time in thirty years for Riveria to speak her native language...and Bell told her often enough how beautiful it sounded to hear her speak it or just hum a melody.
"You are very polite, Sir Bell."
He looks really good in his armor...so manly...so... !
Riveria was just a little bit ashamed that she knew what the body looked like under the armor...and it was quite the sight.
No one that would hear them talking would guess that the way they called the other had a much deeper meaning for them already. At first it was just to prevent misunderstandings...but now to call Riveria his "Princess" or "Mylady"...was like her nicknames...as were "Knight" and "Sir Bell" for him.
What surprised Riveria the most was the fact that it felt so natural to do that...love really was a strange thing.
"I´m just stating facts."
"If you say so."
For a short moment both chuckled, she had often said that sentence in their dream, so it had become something of a joke between them.
"Lady Riveria?"
"Yes?"
"These strands here..."
Bell pointed upwards to some white strands that were in the tree tops here and there.
"Spider threads...which means we are coming closer. Soon the trees should stand a bit wider and we will be able to see the sky, then you should be able to see it."
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.
"Woah...just...woah..."
The tree before them was a titan among giants...Riveria told the truth...it was about two hundred meters high...and at least forty wide.
"It´s one of the biggest trees in the forest."
Not only was this tree titanic, it was hung over and over with spider threads, without suffocating the tree like ivy did it sometimes, it was fully alive. Bell thought he saw movement here and there, only short moments and not many. The tree stood nearly alone, the next trees were about forty meters away, connected with many spider threads.
"I thought they would cover more with their threads, but I don´t see many on the nearby trees."
"It was always like that, the Queen is really smart, she knows that the trees would get sick or die if they covered everything in threads."
"And how do we get to talk to her? Just walking inside would be rude."
"Follow me and please leave the talking to me."
"I´ll follow you, Mylady."
Riveria didn´t tried to hide herself, she gently tapped against one of the threads that went from the giant tree down to trunk of a nearby tree...the thread trembled.
"Now they know we are here."
She walked openly towards the tree, it had something like a front side, which was her point of interest. Bell noticed more movement, around them and high above in the tree. Around fifty meters in front of the entrance, Riveria stopped and waited.
She held her staff in her right hand, Bell held his hands away from his sheathed weapons.
"Kssshr..."
He looked up and his eyes widened a bit...all the way from the far away tree top came a spider down on a threat...and this spider was big...very...big. At least the size of a normal dog, it was completely white, except for the red, glowing eyes.
Why does this feel familiar...
Bell had to think about his own eyes and hair. The spider moved further down until it was on the same height as Riveria´s face.
"I am Riveria Ljos Alf, daughter of the king of the wood. Next to me is my loyal knight, Bell Cranel. We would like to visit your Queen. I have offerings for her and something to trade for a question."
The spiders legs twitched and the mandibles clicked a few times.
"Kshhr..."
With one of it´s hind legs, the spider cut off the threat and dropped to the ground, then it turned around and moved to the entrance.
"And now?"
"We wait."
"I´m surprised the spider understand you."
"I was told it was due to their queen. That the spiders don´t understand directly what we say, but bring her the message...or something like that. An elf in the past told this story, apparently the Queen explained to him how to behave around her."
"The world sure is fascinating."
"Indeed."
They waited for a while.
"Does that mean she doesn´t want to see us?"
"No, I heard she let´s you wait for a while, since she is a queen and only let´s you in her territory when she wants to, not when you want to."
"Hmm."
"Just think about a stranger visits you and immediately wants into your house."
"Fair enough."
After around ten minutes, the spider returned and clicked with it´s mandibles again, then it moved into the tree again.
"Does that mean..."
"We are allowed to enter, come."
"And if we weren´t allowed to enter?"
"Then a big number of spiders would come to chase us away."
"Oh..."
"Is this your first time here?"
"No."
Riveria slowly went to the entrance of the tree, Bell followed her. It looked like a gate that went over into a hallway. There were many threads here too, but they didn´t covered the entire area. Bell had to look out for his enormous backpack to not touch the threads.
From time to time, Riveria gently tapped against a threat at the side, so that the spiders would always know where they were, apparently the spider queen demanded it...even if she could actually sense these two from the moment they stepped into her tree.
The hallway went on until it ended in an enormous chamber...it looked like a big part of the tree was hollow.
"How can the tree still be alive?"
"Some of the bigger trees get hollow on the inside, like a scratch on your arm, a hole like this is nothing for such a giant tree."
The light inside the enormous hall was dim, not completely dark due to some flourishing moss. Bell noticed more movement in the shadows, while the spiders were completely white, they vanished between the threads...and Bell had the feeling that the one they saw wasn´t the biggest one...not even nearly...
In the middle of the hall, there was a hole in the ground, around two meters in diameter, it led to another massive room, down there were even more threads and something massive moved around there. He really didn´t wanted to see that spider...it looked like one of it´s legs was twice as big as Bell...and a red eye he noticed shorty...bigger than a plate in the Hostess of Fertility.
He knew two elven maiden who would have collapsed already by the sight around them...they were really weak to insects and spiders. Bell didn´t knew why there was a difference, but a god that studied live forms explained to him once that there was a difference between insects and spiders...not that Bell cared much.
Riveria walked around the hole without looking down, she looked up to a point where the shadows gathered, many threads led to this point...it almost looked like a kind of...throne.
"I greet you and am pleased to see the Queen of the Eastern Forest in good health. My name is Riveria Ljos Alfr, I am the daughter of the wood king and the elven princess, I came to pay my respects to you as I have done in the past. Like back then, I brought gifts for you. At my side is my loyal knight, Bell Cranel."
"Ksshhrr...allways so polite...Princess."
Something moved in the shadow...someone. Slowly and very elegant...for a spider...came the queen into sight. Bell´s jaw dropped when he saw her...he hadn´t expected THAT. Of course he had learned what an Arachne was...but the Queen was different...alot.
Her body contained of two parts, the upper body and the lower, spider part. Her hips went over right into the big part of a spider, the "butt". She had eight legs with something like slight fur, close to a tarantula, her whole lower body was covered in it.
And her upper body...was that of a female, naked elf...Bell had to avert his eyes. She had long, white hair, six red glowing eyes, two bigger ones and four smaller ones...at least that was all he could see. What surprised him were three facts...that she had pointy ears like an elf...her upper body was naked...and when he looked at her eyes...Bell mumbled before he could stop himself.
The contrast between her with white fur covered spider body and her slender upper body was just...
"Beautiful...So cute..."
Somehow the "fur" together with the red "googly" eyes...looked really cute...especially the eyes, they reminded him of the "Puppy Eyes" that Syr used from time to time against him...or Haruhime...or Lily.
Riveria´s expression slipped in shock. "Bell!"
"Oh, I´m s-sorry..."
"Kshr, Kshr, Kshr."
The Queen made a strange sound...did she...laugh? She seemed to be amused by Bell´s behaviour, he looked so innocent to her, by the way he blushed and averted his eyes from her bare skin.
"This would be the first one to call us cute, what a polite knight you have, Princess."
"It seems so."
Riveria sighed in her mind...she couldn´t believe Bell had just said that to the Arachne queen...but that was how he was...a woman was a woman for Bell, monster or not. The Arachne moved her hands a bit and wrapped spider silk around her breasts to cover them, normally she didn´t cared, but she had noticed that elves felt uncomfortable when she didn´t did it. The fact that she had breasts were strange enough, since she had no use for them,
but it was part of her being an Arachne, half elf, half horse-sized spider.
"You said you have offerings for us."
Riveria showed the queen the fruits she had gathered on her way, a few souvenirs and snacks from Altenia.
"This is Altenia´s famous dried beef, along with other delicacies."
"Oho, you went a long way for our offerings, we are pleased, Princess."
The Arachne stressed the word extra, to point out the difference between a Queen and a Princess. She wasn´t really arrogant, but behaved how her mood told her. Bell noticed that the Queen looked at him for a while, then suddenly all three of her right eyes blinked...did she just wink at him?
"I am glad it is to your liking, Queen Arachne."
Arachne went with her right hand through her long, white hair.
"So what is it that you seek from us? We heard you have something to offer to trade for an information."
Bell was surprised about the way the Arachne talked, she spoke of herself in the third person, Bell had read that nobles or kings in the past tended to do that.
"Indeed. Your knowledge of the Forest is unmatched, even by my people. We seek for an abandoned village with a giant tree in the middle, a split one that is smaller than your own tree. It has a hole i-"
"You seek for the Infinity Flower that is guarded by the red firedragon...don´t you?"
Bell blinked surprised when Riveria stopped...the queen was really smart.
"Yes, we do. A dear friend of mine fell sick and needs that flower."
There was no point to disguise the truth towards the queen.
"And we guess you would like to know the location of the dragon tree?"
"Yes."
"What are you offering us in return?"
Riveria opened Bell´s backpack and pulled the extra wine bottle out that she got in Wishe.
"This elven wine from the forest of Wishe in the south, from all the elven forests, they are the most famous for their delicious wine."
"Is that so?"
Riveria just looked at the queen, the Arachne knew that elves didn´t liked to lie, and she knew who Riveria was.
"Hmmm...we accept the offer...but we want something else." The Arachne smirked.
"What is it that you desire?"
The queens eyes wandered to Bell.
"We want something from your knight, Princess."
"Wha-"
The Arachne raised her right hand and ordered Riveria to be quiet.
"We will see how loyal your knight is too you, you may go now...your knight will stay for a moment."
"Ugh..."
Riveria looked uneasy to Bell, but he only looked at the queen.
"Go...Riveria. I will follow you in a moment."
"Okay..."
With a worried look to Bell, Riveria turned around and left the tree.
.
.
"What is it that you desire from me, Queen?"
He saw that the Arachne licked her lips.
"You look quite delicious we must say...very...delicious... We like that you look so similar to us...and our children...the white fur...the red eyes...we find that quite cute."
"Then..."
"Blood...we want to taste your blood...give it to us."
The Arachne waited if Bell would decline or protest, but instead he dropped his backpack, took the cloak off and his chest armor, after opening his shirt he revealed his neck and chest to the Arachne.
"Then take it, but..."
"But?"
"Please...let me enough so that I can continue to help her."
"Kshr, Kshr, Kshr...what a loyal knight you are."
The Queen moved on her eight legs towards Bell and lowered herself to be on the same level. Bell averted his eyes again when she removed the silk around her chest.
"You look so innocent...but you don´t smell like you are untouched...yet you...taste pure. You have problems to look at our body."
"You are very beautiful, Queen Arachne."
"Kshr, Kshr, Kshr..."
Bell didn´t moved when the Queen opened her mouth wide, her teeth were razor sharp. She licked his neck lasciviously with her tongue...looking into his eyes while she pressed her body more against him. He didn´t moved an inch when she felt where her right hand wandered...too far down for his taste.
"Kshr, Kshr, Kshr...quite impressive...a shower not a grower it seems...the Princess sure is a lucky one...Kshr, Kshr, Kshr."
She continued to tease Bell and rub her upper body against his, while her hands wandered where they desired. The queen noticed that Bell seemed to feel unwell...and didn´t reacted at all to her touch.
"No reaction...are you disgusted by our appearance?"
"No, Queen Arachne...you are...irkh...very beautiful...and hnnngh...cute..."
"So...why?" She tilted her head and grinned.
"Oooooh...don´t tell us you are one of those who can only get it up for his loved one?"
"I..."
Bell was actually more a man who got turned off when things got too lewd or perverted...how a certain grey haired girl had to learn in the past. But the queen also wasn´t wrong, not only was Bell unable to look at the naked body of a woman for long...except for one of those he loved, and even with them he blushed fiercly in the beginning.
She moved a bit back and made sure he looked at her bare skin, Bell was blushing fiercly.
"Kshr...so pure...good boy...we could give you pleasure beyond this world...do things that no elf would do for you."
"I´m sorry...I..."
"True love...how cute...we like you. Shall we suck the blood from down here?"
"Please don´t..."
"Kshr, Kshr, Kshr...really loyal and pure...we like it."
Suddenly she hugged him, pressed her bare breasts against his chest and dug her fangs into the side of his neck.
He felt really unwell when she started to suck and swallow his blood. From the side, her three right eyes looked at Bell while she took as much as she desired. Right when he felt a bit fuzzy, the queen pulled herself back and licked her lips.
"Deliiiiciouuus...you are so delicious...oh how we want to suck you dry."
Bell staggered back a bit and held his neck, the wound wasn´t deep, she hadn´t intended to kill him, but he averted his eyes again from her bare skin.
"We will honor our promise and tell you the location. It amuses us to see someone so loyal and pure...the princess is a lucky one to have you as her "Knight"."
It seemed she knew that Bell was far more for Riveria.
"And we will give you a reward for offering yourself to us..."
The Queen vanished for a moment and returned back shortly after.
"We will give you this, but we want something in return. You will fight the red dragon...let us have his body...dragons are sooo delicious...and our children desire a good meal."
"R-Right..."
.
.
"Bell, are you okay?"
"Yes...just a bit...weak...I know where we have to go."
"What di-...What is with your neck?!"
Her eyes widened in shock and she ran over to Bell, pulling his hand away from his neck and looking at the wound. Immediately she started to chant her healing magic, worried sick about her love.
"It´s okay, Riveria."
"No it isn´t! Come here and let me heal you! Why do you have this wound?!"
"She wanted my blood for the information."
"And you just gave it to her?!"
"What else could I do? It is a small price to pay."
What Bell didn´t knew, and neither did the Arachne...the Spider Queen was so enchanted by Bell due to his skill.
"Oh Bell..."
It hurt Riveria to see him wounded...but her heart jumped for a moment, that he would do something like that to help her...
"Huh?"
She looked surprised when she felt his right hand gently touching her cheek.
"I would endure much more for you, Riveria."
"Bell, you don´t need to prove something to me, nor do you need to endure something."
She got a bit red in the face.
"I l-l-love you the way you are...there isn´t something that needs to be proved."
"Still...whatever it takes...all for the woman I love...my...Princess."
"Mou...B-Bell...not here..."
Unnoticed by the two, the queen watched them from her hallway, she was really amused how much these two cared about each other...how worried the elven princess was about a human knight. Well the conversation she overheard made it clear, that they weren´t just Princess and her Knight.
"Kshr, Kshr, Kshr..."
When Bell and Riveria turned away from the tree, the Arachne returned to her throne room and eyed the bottle of fine wine.
"Let´s see what is more delicious..."
She emtpied the bottle while she enjoyed the snacks that Riveria had brought her, while the wine was very good, she preffered the taste of Bell´s blood. Now all she had to do was wait.
.
.
Bell and Riveria needed four days to reach their destination...enough time for Bell to recover from the blood loss...it was amazing how fast the body of an level six adventurer recovered...especially with the healing magic of the elven maiden he loved so much.
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Authors Note: Next chapter will be the climax of Riveria´s story, then 2-3 chapters to end her story. I will try my best to make it a real story, with events playing after each other, so the 2-4 slice of life chapters after the Riveria story will play after her story. The other arks won´t be as long as Riveria, I want to use as much of Bell´s lovers as possible, giving each of them their time with him.
Also a small information, I wanted to take up Haruhime´s small ark again, but will use it later in another story. So instead of her small ark, a certain harpy will get a small ark, around 3-5 chapters, want to keep things short so that other girls get a chance.
I will reveal as much about the story with Alfia, Bell will have more than one partner, three to be exact, and one...well let´s say number four is...special.
