Awakening
After getting in contact with the orb, I was enveloped in a white light that was the last thing I remembered.
"W-what is going on? Where am I?"
I said as I snapped out of the bed.
"Where is this place? Where is the orb? Am I even alive right now?"
[You got quite the questions there.]
"[Global Wisdom] If you are here, it means I'm still alive, but where is this place? I can guess that we are still in the spider queen's palace from the wall decorations, but I don't recognize this room at all."
[This is a good question. I myself had just woken up.]
"What do you mean?"
[After you touched that orb i completely passed out.]
"Whaaat? Is that even possible?"
[Well, yes, if somebody interferes with your system.]
While I was having my discussion with [Global Wisdom], a maid suddenly entered the room.
She looked completely different from the maids I had seen thus far; she was more human than an arachne. Were it not for the six arms she had, I would have confused her for a human.
"Hmmm!?"
'Well, this situation is quite embarrassing.'
After the maid noticed me, she dropped the things she was holding and covered her mouth.
"Hmm, are you okay? Do you need any help?"
I tried to get close to her to help collect what she dropped, but she suddenly ran out of the room screaming and calling the queen.
[I see that you still make a realy good impression whit women.]
"I may start to feel depressed, you know. I am really so ugly in their standard."
[I don't think so; in my opinion, she looked quite happy to see you.]
"Well, anyway, I think she went to call somebody. Let's wait and see who it will be."
I said as I looked around the room, noticing a chair with a window view, I decided to sit there and wait.
I didn't have to wait long before I started hearing the footsteps of someone running outside the room.
"It looks like they are already here."
[It seems so, but why are they waiting so much to enter the room?]
"I think they want to be polite this time."
[Hoping they will not run away as well.]
"...That was not fun."
Finally, they decided to knock at the door. After letting them enter, I was greeted by a familiar sad face.
The moment I saw the woman in front of me, my eyes wide open, she was definitely the spider queen, but this time, for some reason, she was not wearing the mask. A name kept on coming to my mind, a name I was unfamiliar with but for some reason felt so nostalgic about. Before noticing, I started crying and eventually called her by that name.
"How have you been, Eris?"
After hearing those words, she started crying as well. She ran at me to hug me.
"I missed you, mom."
She said in tears, For some reason, being called that way felt so nostalgic.
I didn't know the reason I called her in that way or why I felt comfortable with her calling me Mom. The only thing I knew was that by her side, for the first time in my whole life, I felt at home.
Like a mother who finds her lost child after many years apart, I was hugging Eris the same way. I could not bring myself to let her go. We hugged each other for hours, but for us, time seemed to have stopped. The guards and maids she came with have gone out of the room so as to give us our space.
After Eris calmed down, I asked her to explain what happened after I grabbed the orb.
"After Mom grabbed the orb, the entire palace was enveloped in its light. After I regained consciousness, I was in my room, and all the spiders in the palace had already evolved into something different, me as well."
"I see...How long have I been sleeping?"
"It's been two weeks since then. You were cold like a dead body; were it not for the slime-like liquid coming from your body, I would have cursed myself for letting you die."
"Luckily I'm still alive, haha... Is there a mirror so I can take a look at myself?"
"Yes, right over there in the locker room. If you want, I can guide you."
"Sure."
I said while patting her on the head. We went in the locker room together, and what greeted me was an oversized room with countless clothes and dresses and a ridiculously big mirror right in the wall in front of the door.
"This place is way too big!"
"You think so?"
"Honestly, how long will it take you to use all of these dresses?"
"Mh, they are not for me. I personally prepared all of these for you; they are in size order from the smallest to the biggest. Since I don't know your numbers and what kind of clothes you like, I made a few of all the styles I know."
Honestly, after hearing the explanation, I took a look at the sea of clothes and dresses; my face turned pale at the thought of trying all of them on.
"Do you not like it?"
"Eek!"
'You can't look at me with these puppy eyes; it makes it difficult to say no.'
[Oooh, we found one of your weaknesses.]
'If you try it, i'll throw up.'
[Tch.]
"No, I love them. Let's go try them on."
I said as I held Eris's hands and walked inside my living nightmare, but seeing how happy she was for the whole time, I felt it was worth the time and effort.
After around five hours, I had changed over three hundred dresses.
'I am exhausted.'
[I'm surprised that you could hold on that long. Were you really a man in your past life? In the way you acted recently, it is difficult to believe.]
'In reality, I don't know anymore. It's a fact that I like women over men, but I don't understand why I feel happy every time she calls me Mom. My man side don't act as well when she do, like it was something natural.'
[Honestly, i don't understand.]
'Me neither, haha.'
[You're in a really good mood.]
'You think so? ... Well, effectively, I'm really happy right now. Do you think i'm growing too soft?'
[I don't think so After what happened in your past life, i feel you deserve this happines.]
'And yet I still need to fight more to make it last."
[...]
While I was discussing with [Global Wisdom], Eris came over with a new red dress.
"Mom, are you okay?"
She said, with a worried look on her face.
"I'm alright; I was just taking a little break. What did you find?"
I said, trying to change the topic.
"It's a red dress that may fit you, but if you are too tired..."
"Ooh, that looks nice. Can you help me put it on?"
"...Yes."
She smiled back at me.
After wearing the new dress, I looked at myself in the mirror for the first time since we started.
The reason is simple: Eris didn't want me to look at it till we found a dress that looked good on me.
To my surprise, I looked younger than before I touched the orb. The biggest difference I could find was the third eye in my forehead and the color of my hair. They were still black and red, but now they also had some white-blue mash as well.
With that princess-like red dress, I looked so beautiful.
"Wow."
"Do you like it?"
"Yes, I really do. Thank you for the help, Eris."
"I really enjoyed today; I should be the one to thank you."
Since we were already there, I decided to find something nice for Eris as well, so I forced her to try on all the clothes I found nice.
The result of another three hours of changing and searching in that sea was a nice light blue princess dress with white thread and a big white ribbon in the center.
"You look amazing dressed like this; you remind me of the blue sky outside."
"T-thank you for the compliment."
She said, turning completely red from the embarrassment.
"Hoho, what do we have here? Are you embarrassed?"
"..."
That dress was completely the opposite of what she would usually wear; it was a choice I made on purpose. I wanted her to get used to wearing nice and colored clothes and not the usual white color.
"How cute!"
I shouted as I hugged her. She was basically a tomato at that point.
When we got out of the room, it was already way too late to do anything more for that day, so we just decided to have dinner and go to bed. While eating, we talked about a lot of things; some were completely meaningless topics, but nevertheless, we enjoyed our time together.
'Today was really chaotic.'
[Right, i never saw you put so much effort into anything. If only you cold be so much focused while trying.]
'You can't put training and Eris in the same level.'
I started talking and thinking of a plan with [Global Wisdom] when I sensed a presence outside the door.
Well, i already knew who was there so i just let her in.
"Am I disturbing you?"
"No, what's going on?"
"...Hmm...I wanted...If it's not a problem."
Eris's face was slowly turning red. I roundly guessed what she wanted to ask me, so I just lifted her up with my skill and brought her beside me.
"I'm still not accustomed to sleeping in this huge bedroom. Do you want to sleep together?"
"Hmm!"
She replied with such a smile.
'I think today i will be able to sleep well.'