Isekai Nonbiri Nouka Chapter 991: Familiar Figure

Noon.

The village mansion.

In the snow-covered courtyard stood someone unfamiliar.

A man in black clothing.

His face was covered by a black hood, and he wore something like sports sunglasses.

He held nothing and was moving his body.

As if checking the range of motion of each part of his body.

Once that check seemed finished, his movements shifted into something like martial forms.

I cannot judge how impressive it was, but Gulf, who was watching with me, gave off a feeling of 「He’s pretty good」.

Then the man in black stopped moving and gripped a wooden sword.

Facing him was Daga.

After lightly tapping their wooden swords together, the fight began.

Having watched the martial tournament many times, I can tell who is stronger.

Daga.

The proof is that he is pressing the attack.

An overwhelming offense.

The man in black, on the other hand, focuses entirely on defense.

He handles Daga’s sword well, but Daga’s attack is about to land… hmm?

The man in black dodged Daga’s sword with a strange movement.

Strange, or rather, he dislocated a joint and moved it in reverse.

Isn’t that cheating?

No, that is part of the match.

Daga is using his tail too.

Daga follows up using that tail, but he cannot keep up with the man in black’s strange movements.

Then, taking advantage of a brief opening, the man in black counterattacks.

Daga took a surrender pose.

-0-

The man in black and Daga came together to stand before me.

Good work.

Are you hurt?

To my question, Daga replied that he was fine, and the man in black answered with a gesture that he was fine as well.

That’s good.

So, what do you think?

I asked Daga and Gulf.

「I see no problems」

「It’s frustrating, but he’s stronger than me」

I see.

The man in black made a gesture of joy at their evaluation.

「However, isn’t it troublesome in many ways that he cannot speak?」

「Wouldn’t it be fine to set him up as someone who lost his voice? Even among adventurers, there are those who can no longer speak」

「That’s true, but wouldn’t that make him stand out? It would also be difficult to coordinate with those around him」

「Ahh, well, I guess so. You can manage without coordination, but considering the objective…」

Hmm.

No problem with the man in black’s abilities.

The issue is that he cannot communicate.

But even if you say that, countermeasures are… what should we do?

Well, there is no point in thinking alone.

We should discuss it with everyone.

And the man in black… no, we also need to hear the wishes of the spiderlings.

-0-

The true identity of the man in black is a puppet operated by spiderlings.

Rather than being controlled by webs from the outside, they enter inside and operate it with webs.

It is the humanoid version of what they previously operated from inside a giant spider costume during the parade in the Demon King’s Kingdom.

Of course, one alone cannot control it, so there are eighteen of them inside the man in black.

Among them, ten are responsible for controlling the body.

Normally, no matter how skilled the spiderlings are, even if ten of them gather, reproducing the movements of a human body is not just difficult, it would be hard to even make it stand.

The reason they can operate it well enough to fight Daga lies in a secret of the humanoid costume that the spiderlings enter.

-0-

The ones who built the humanoid costume were the Mountain Elves.

First, the Mountain Elves created a hollow humanoid body.

The inside was hollow, but they prepared many points where webs could be attached throughout.

They also made space in the torso and head to house the spiderlings.

Then came the trial run with the spiderlings inside.

At that point, they realized that the humanoid costume could not stand on its own.

Of course it couldn’t.

No matter how much they connected the parts with webs inside and pulled them, it would only lie flat on the ground.

If it was to stand, they would have to extend webs from the soles of the feet and anchor them to the ground.

However, that would prevent it from moving properly.

Well, to be fair, it still couldn’t move properly at that stage anyway.

So, what did they do during the previous spider costume?

They stuffed it full of spiderlings to an extreme degree.

Through the coordination of those spiderlings, it was able to stand and move.

In other words, if they packed the humanoid costume full of spiderlings, it might also be able to stand and move, but that would not do.

They wanted to operate it with as few as possible.

So, the Mountain Elves changed their approach.

Instead of the spiderlings moving a humanoid like a human, they would create a humanoid that could move like a human, and have the spiderlings operate that.

With that in mind, they first began modifying the humanoid costume so that it could stand on its own.

They inserted a skeletal structure modeled after a human’s bones, installed supports and springs in each joint, and added a balancer at the center of the torso to control the center of gravity.

This reduced the space inside the torso for the spiderlings, but they chose not to worry about that.

They decided it could be dealt with later.

Once it could stand on its own, the next step was movement.

Further improvements were made to each joint so that it could reproduce human movements.

Balancing independent standing and human-like motion was apparently difficult, but the Mountain Elves had a reference they could use.

The multi-purpose humanoid mobile heavy machinery(Arti-horse).

However, the first unit, Siegfried, which was closest to a true human form, was absorbed by Klim. Before that happened, it was dismantled and examined, and records of that investigation remain.

They even created wooden replicas.

That alone did not mean they fully understood its functions and mechanisms, but the Mountain Elves said it was a valuable learning experience.

That was probably the result.

A humanoid that could stand on its own and move like a human when controlled by webs was completed.

The Mountain Elves were satisfied, but there was almost no space left to store the spiderlings.

Two in the head, one in the stomach, and four in the left and right sides of the abdomen.

Seven in total.

They were aiming to operate it with a small number, but while seven were enough to move the humanoid, combat would be difficult.

If it were to fight, they would want at least five more to operate it.

If they were being greedy, the spiderlings wanted a bit more so they could see the surroundings of the humanoid costume.

There was also a proposal to have it carry a backpack on its back to store the spiderlings, but it was rejected after considering the intended use of the humanoid costume.

The Mountain Elves thought carefully.

There was no extra room inside the costume.

There were empty spaces, but those had to be kept clear to ensure a proper range of motion.

More importantly, many webs passed through those areas and were in constant motion.

To prevent the webs from interfering with each other, those spaces needed to remain empty.

So, there was no place left?

No, was there not some wasted space somewhere?

Not wasted, but a place that could be replaced with the spiderlings……

There was.

The bones.

The Mountain Elves thought that they could store the spiderlings inside the bones.

They expanded key bones and created cockpits inside them to house Spiderlings.

The spine, the thigh bones, the upper arm bones, and the shoulder blades.

While they were at it, they also made cockpits in the backs of the hands, allowing the fingers to move with fine precision.

What was completed in this way was a man in black clothing, possessing enough combat power to fight Daga.

-0-

Of the eighteen spiderlings who boarded the cockpits placed throughout the body, ten handle direct control of the body.

The remaining eight are in charge of vision while giving instructions on how the body should move.

It requires sound judgment, but at the current stage it is considered not to be a problem.

This humanoid costume that houses the spiderlings.

Its purpose is to act as Alfred’s bodyguard.

Some time after winter had begun.

People from the country of ancestor-san, where Alfred is being taken care of, requested that a guard accompany Alfred.

Personally, I wanted to ask Gulf, Daga, or perhaps the Angels, but……

The spiderlings volunteered.

From Zabuton, who was hibernating, permission was given as long as it was a small number and they stayed hidden.

No matter what, Zabuton is soft when it comes to her spiderlings.

Originally, they themselves planned to use the spider costume from the Demon King’s Kingdom parade, but that would obviously cause problems, so it led to the creation of the humanoid costume.

-0-

「Village Chief」

Yaa, a Mountain Elf who was in charge of making the humanoid costume, came over carrying a small box.

「If this is installed in the head, conversation will be difficult, but communication should be possible」

The other Mountain Elves behind Yaa took the small box he was holding and installed it inside the mouth of the man in black clothing.

They then explained how to use it to the spiderlings in the head.

「All right, go ahead!」

At Yaa’s signal, the man in black clothing raised one hand and……

「Bo—di—gu—a—rd……」

Body, guard?

Oh, he’s talking!

The pronunciation is a bit shaky, but the meaning comes across properly.

No problem!

「With more practice, I think it will become easier to understand」

Yeah.

That’s amazing.

「Ehehe. It’s a modified musical instrument」

No, no, that’s truly impressive.

And so are the spiderlings, for mastering it immediately.

They’re amazing.

-0-

However, it will still be a little while before the man in black clothing goes out as a bodyguard.

That will be in spring.

For now, they will focus on improving their control skills and identifying any remaining problems.

If something were to happen over there, it would not only trouble Alfred but also ancestor-san and Fushu.

I want to avoid that.

Anyway, it is about time to head back inside.

Even if the weather is nice, winter outdoors is still cold.

-0-

Ah, right.

We still need to come up with a name for the man in black clothing.

We cannot keep calling him the man in black forever.

But I have no sense for naming.

Even though everyone knows that, they still ask me to do it.

First candidate, Zabuichi.

……

Yeah, let’s discuss it with everyone and decide.