The Handbook for Completing Demi-Human Girls

Chapter 20: Brain Demonkin and Spiderkin

"Fischer, Fischer—did you send Chur away?"

The carriage didn’t come to a stop until near dusk. They’d had breakfast in Keken City, grabbed some supplies to munch on around noon, and by the afternoon, Larr was practically starving. She paced back and forth in the carriage, pestering Fassil and Cachil to go ask Fischer for food.

Knowing she was famished, Fischer stopped the carriage at a small hill by a river and told the Dragonkin they could stretch their legs. He’d expected Larr to ask what was for dinner, but to his surprise, the first thing she said was that.

"Yeah."

After Fischer confirmed it, Larr glanced at him, lips slightly pursed, but said nothing. She ran off to splash around in the water with Cachil and the others—but her steps no longer had that carefree bounce.

Fischer gave her a quick look, then stepped down from the carriage, staff and gun in hand.

The weather out on the plains was especially terrible that day. As dusk approached, the mist grew thicker. Fischer had only taken a few steps to go hunting when he realized he could no longer see the Dragon girls playing in the river. Raphaëlle, still unwell, had to remain in the carriage, and with sunset fast approaching, no one was around to watch over the others.

His gut clenched with unease. Something felt off.

"Mill, bring everyone back into the carriage and don’t let them out."

"O-okay..." Mill wiggled her tail nervously from the driver’s seat, quickly herding Larr, Fassil, and the others back inside. Raphaëlle, who had been napping all afternoon, opened her eyes—though her limbs were still too weak. She took a sip of river water they’d brought back but didn’t see Fischer anywhere.

"Lady Raphaëlle, please rest. Master Fischer went to find dinner."

"Yeah! I even fetched lots of water—look! I saw fish in the river too, but I couldn’t catch any..."

"Larr, stop talking."

Larr stuck out her tongue at Fassil and huffed, sulking behind Mill.

Outside, the fog thickened. Fischer didn’t dare go too far and settled on catching fish for dinner by the river. He had just followed the riverbank for a while when a soft, floating female voice called out from the mist.

"Is anyone there? Excuse me? Can someone help me?"

The voice spoke in Naryan, and there was a tinge of panic and delicacy in her tone—like a noble lady lost outside the city.

Bang!

Without a word, Fischer glanced in that direction, raised his gun, and fired. The muzzle flash vanished into the mist. There was no sound of a body falling, but the voice cut off instantly.

They were being targeted.

Fischer scanned his surroundings with heightened caution—but missed the subtle change behind him. The two horses pulling the carriage slowly developed an eerie white glow in their eyes.

"Hyah!"

When their eyes were fully clouded, they neighed sharply and bolted forward, dragging the carriage with them. Inside, the Dragon girls tumbled and clung to the walls.

"Why is the carriage moving? Wait—Fischer isn’t back yet! Stop the horses!"

Larr’s shout rang out, and she tried to leap from the carriage—only to be stopped by Fischer’s voice from outside.

"Don’t come out of the carriage!"

Larr froze. Mill grabbed her from behind and pulled her back.

Bang bang!

Outside, gunfire erupted in the mist. Bullets whizzed through the fog and slammed toward Fischer. A faint smell of gunpowder lingered in the air. Fischer’s body fell, and the carriage sped away into the fog, quickly swallowed by the murky air.

Inside, Mill was so frightened by the shots that her legs went weak. She collapsed on the carriage steps, holding Larr close.

“F-Fischer…?”

Raphaëlle weakly looked out the window, but there was no trace of the man on the fleeing carriage.

“He… he’s still outside. He told us not to get out…”

Cachil and Fassil exchanged serious glances and turned to Mill.

"You take Larr and Lady Raphaëlle back to the room. I think we’re under attack. We’ll go try to stop the carriage."

Before Mill could nod, something landed heavily on the carriage roof.

The sudden thud made all of them look toward the door. There, a set of blade-like legs landed firmly where Fischer had sat earlier.

Then the full body of a massive spider dropped onto the roof—and on top of it was a curvaceous woman.

She was striking, with silver-white short hair fluttering in the breeze, wearing only a simple cloth wrap around her chest. Her features were sharp, and the only oddity was the six crimson compound eyes on her forehead above her normal ones.

"Don’t move, girls. As long as you stay still, nothing bad will happen."

She gave them a glance and spoke, her mouth clearly forming unfamiliar syllables—but the sound reached their ears in Fermabah Draconian, making it fully understandable.

The spider-woman raised her blue-skinned hands, each holding a short human-style flintlock pistol.

"I ask, you answer. Who else is on this carriage?"

"...It’s just us."

"Lying gets you nothing. Or are you trying to cover for your human master?"

Larr suddenly popped out from behind Mill and yelled,

"It’s just us! No one else! Fischer stayed behind—he didn’t get back on!"

The spider-woman frowned and spoke into the air.

"Korriri, what’s the situation with the human?"

A light, airy voice replied from the mist,

"He was shot. He’s probably dead."

Mill and Larr both paled, looking stunned.

"Tch. Looks like I was wrong—this isn’t some rich human’s carriage... Still, even scraps are better than nothing. Let’s bring the carriage back. Korriri, hurry up and return."

The spider-woman lowered her guns and squeezed her massive body into the cramped carriage corridor—only to be surprised by the expanded interior space.

"Magic inside a carriage? Maybe I was right after all..."

She muttered to herself, then looked down at the Dragon girls inside. "One, two… five Dragonkin slaves. And a red one... That color’s rare. Should fetch a good price."

As she spoke, a faint, transparent figure suddenly appeared above one of the racing horses. Within seconds, it fully materialized into a girl-like figure.

She looked human, with her left eye tightly shut and her open right eye swirling with glowing spirals. But she clearly wasn’t human—her hair was transparent, floating in the air, and through it you could see a brain that shimmered like the night sky.

Her entire head, except for her face, was transparent.

Raphaëlle now understood how they were able to understand the spider-woman—this group had a Brain Demonkin.

This type of demi-human could transcend language barriers and even control normal animals. Before humans came to the Southern Continent, Brain Demonkin were natural diplomats, serving as bridges between tribes.

One was a Spiderkin, a rare forest-dwelling race. The other, even rarer, a Brain Demonkin.

"Sia, what about the human inside—did you kill him?"

"Nope. Aside from the guy who got off earlier, there’s no one else in here."

The one called Korriri nodded, her expression blank as she looked at the Dragonkin inside. Her voice was cool and detached.

"That guy’s dead."