The Great Fang Spiders were binding five people, who had all been knocked unconscious. These were the people who had been following me ever since this morning, and at least one of them had something to do with Celia's poisoning.
After I left the clinic, I headed back to the Inn, but I deliberately took the route where there was lots of twists and turns. And when they least expected, I teleported behind them using the warp point I placed beforehand.
It gave me the element of surprise to knock down two of them before they could even realise that I was behind them. I took out my spear and clashed with these people, who were definitely trained assassins. They used all sorts of weapons like daggers and even a tiny hidden crossbow.
A couple of the Great Fang Spiders came over and assisted me by immobilising them with their webs during the fight.
I took off their cloaks, which were hiding their faces. Two women and three men all looked around their twenties to thirties. If they were assassins sent by someone, they would be trained not to leak anything unless I broke them.
I doubt that handing them over to this city's guards would get me the information I wanted. So I teleported back to the forest.
Kumo was surprised to see me again, as she quickly rushed over to me, like an excited dog. Of course, I was happy to see her again.
I had her bind all five assassins to the little den she had made under this giant tree. Countless bones and monster material were piled up neatly in a spot in the corner.
I guess that is the waste from Kumo's meal. I placed them all in my storage, but I was going to wait for a few days before selling them to avoid any attention at the Guild.
All I had to do was wait till morning, and hopefully, they would break by then. I specially told Kumo to eat her food deliberately in front of them when they woke up. It should cause some trauma.
Before I left, I took out some of the larger monster corpses that I had sitting in my storage when I first came here.
The following day I returned to Kumo's den. However, all I could hear crying, shrieking, and just pure terror. I think my method was effective...maybe a bit too much.
I took a peek around the corner just to see Kumo literally rip apart a large deer-like monster in half. The five assassins were either screaming their heads off or were soiling themselves.
"Good morning, Kumo," I greeted as I walked into the middle of the den, which Kumo returned by waving her front legs.
The five assassins looked at me with absolute terror on their faces. Now that they had all been readied, the interrogation should go relatively smoothly.
"So, who's going to talk first?" I asked.
"Me! I will tell you everything!"
"No, I will! Just get me out of here!"
"Please, I do anything; just don't let it eat me!"
"Hand me over to the guards. I don't care; I'd instead get tortured by them than eaten!"
"Anyone...help...me."
I smiled whilst giving Kumo a thumbs up. This is why you should have a two-meter tall spider as a pet.
After an hour of interrogations, I had learnt they were members of the Dark Guild. The Dark Guild was similar to the Mercenary Guild, but they specialised in criminal acts, such as assassinations, stealing and kidnapping.
These five assassins were from a clan specialising in assassinations but were only middle-ranked members.
Apparently, there was not just one but two bounties on me, whilst there was one on Celia and her dress, which was just ridiculous.
I instantly knew who was the culprit for one of them. However, the other one would require me to do a bit of digging. Thankfully, I learned of the location of their clan's main hideout.
I took all the assassins to the guard station since apparently, they all had bounties on their heads.
Before that, I made sure to tell them that if they let out a single word of Kumo, I would find them, and they would be Kumo's dessert. It's safe to say that my threat works.
I knocked on the door of the guard station and was allowed to enter. From there, I handed over the five assassins, and after the guard checked them, I was given five signed slips. These slips were for me to take to the Guild to get my reward.
During our interaction, I overhead the conversation between two other guards. They said that three wanted criminals were found bound at the clinic, and all the criminals were saying that monster spiders were the ones that attacked them. But it seemed that no one believed them because of the anti-monster barrier.
My only guess was that my spiders did their jobs very well. They all deserved a reward after this.
I visited Celia, who was in the middle of eating a mixture of fruits and a bowel of bland porridge. Immediately seeing me, Celia stops eating and tries to get up. But her body was still recovering, so she could barely move.
I quickly rushed over to put her back down on the bed. But all it did was make her cry. Why? I don't know?
"C-Celia *sniff* is s-sorry for c-causing Master t-trouble." she cries, with tears dripping like a waterfall.
"Don't worry about it. It's not your fault; it's the bad people's fault."
"I-it's not?"
"Of course not; we will find who did this and put them into prison. Now you need to recover. I'll bring lots and lots of delicious food every day."
At the mention of food, Celia's eyes sparkled.
Before I left, I tried to pay for Celia's bill; however, the physician made a counter offer. Apparently, she tested the antidote created by Kumo and was amazed.
She was willing to pay ten gold coins, but I lowered it to five because she saved Celia. I'm pretty sure this isn't how negotiation usually works, but I guess this is a special case.