Payday

-----Yui's POV

Finally it was over. With every step we took to leave that massive spider nest, the more I felt my heart calm down. I couldn't take part in any of the harvesting as I didn't even want to look at the dead spiders.

But finally, we had made it back to the guild with no surprises. Seems as though Faye was still working at the front, but what I immediately noticed was the presence of more adventures.

Xavier: "Ah! Kaede!"

And a few of them, we have met before apparently. But I cant seem to remember this person who's calling out to Kaede like that. We decide to stop by at their table before going to Faye. It seems like she's still busy with other adventurers anyways.

Royce: "We thought you'd be fighting at the front with us."

Kaede: "No. I was helping the medics with the injured."

Sicily: "Mhmm! We made a deal."

Both Sicily and Lillian wore their hoods up like usual, even around Olivia. I find myself lucky to know their true identity as a smile creeps on my face

Onyx: "Deal?"

Lillian: "Kaede's strong, so we wanted to have a good chance to fight without needing to rely on Kaede."

Onyx: "I see."

Xavier: "Did you guys just come back from a job?"

How could he know? We stuffed everything in Kaede's bag so they shouldn't have realized anything

Kaede: "Yes."

Xavier: "Yeah, I can tell. You guys smell like shit."

Now that he points it out, we do smell a little, but maybe that's just me having gotten used to the smell.

Garnet: "What were you guys hunting?"

Mell: "Spiders!~"

Garnet: "Huh?!"

She looked visibly shocked when Mell poked her head out next to Kaede.

Kaede: "Mhmm. We were tasked to kill the giant spider that's building a nest. But when we got there, the nest was already built."

Onyx: "A Giant Spider?"

Kaede: "Yes."

Garnet: "Well it is Kaede we're talking about here. I'm sure you had no problems with it?"

Kaede: "Not really"

Royce: "Wait, so how many spiders did you kill?"

Kaede: "I wasn't really counting."

Sicily: "I killed maybe around 23?"

Lillian: "I lost count."

Personally. I can't recall how many I killed either. I was too focused on drowning out my fear by just blindly fighting anything that came into view. But I know I had to have killed at least one.

Xavier: "Wouldn't that be more like an A ranked threat? Spiders are D level threats, but in a swarm that big along with a giant spider, that's got to be an A ranked threat."

I'm still new to all this adventure talk, I have no clue what these threat levels are, but I can see how our adventure rank might correlate to those threat levels. I'm guessing that at my level, I wouldn't even be able to fight one of those regular spiders if I was alone.

Olivia: "H-honestly... It felt a lot easier-"

Sicily: "It's cause sis is awesome!"

Lillian: "Yeah, Kaede made the giant spider fight look like a joke."

Just then, the counter that Faye is manning has been cleared. Kaede must've also noticed as we started to move away from the adventure group.

Kaede: "We're turning it in now."

Garnet: "Okay. Talk again next time."

After getting to the counter, Faye looked surprised, but before I could figure out why, she started holding her nose, letting us know that we stink like shit.

Kaede: "All done~"

There's a huge difference in how Kaede talks with Faye and those adventurers. Back there, she looked like she just wanted to leave, but with Faye, she looks genuinely happy.

Faye: "How was it?"

Kaede: "The nest was already established, but we cleared it as much as we could."

She brought out the giant spider fangs out of her bag to give to Faye. It still shocks me seeing such large fangs somehow coming out of a small bag.

Faye: "Jeez. That sure is a giant spiders- Wait, the venom glands are intact as well? That'll be a nice bonus!"

Kaede: "Oh I also managed to get 5 silk glands from it as well. But I did slightly damage one."

Faye: "Woah!~"

Once again, Faye's eyes lit up at the sight of Kaede brining out more and more spider materials.

Faye: "Ah~ Yeah, I can see a small cut in this one, but that's minor."

Kaede: "How much would all that be?"

Faye: "Including the clearing payment-"

She begins to inspect them one by one once more. However Kaede still hadn't brought out the other spider materials.

Faye: "That'll be... 120 gold. 50 for the job clear. 20 for the intact venom glands, and another 50 for the 5 giant silk glands."

Now even I know that's a lot of money. But when I bought Luna's longsword, it was still more expensive than this. Sure the longsword was exquisite, but it's still shocking that someone who can clear a spider nest like that can't even afford that longsword...

Olivia: "WOAH!~"

But from Olivia's point of view, she seems to be shocked at the amount. There really is something wrong with the economy in this kingdom.

Eventually, after Faye had collected all the rest of the spider materials. Kaede managed to get another 1,200 silver. Kaede immediately began to distribute everything evenly, but we all strongly insisted for Kaede to keep most of it. I myself am quite rich, so I just took the bare minimum of 1 gold. I would've liked to take nothing, but Kaede was persistent. Everyone else was happy to take 5 gold each.

Sicily: "Haaah!~"

We were all back in Kaede's and my room with our tables joined together again. Everyone else besides Kaede looked to be exhausted physically, stretching their bodies. But for me, I'm still struggling with mental fatigue. Even when Kaede was bringing out those spider materials, it gave me goosebumps as I'm only reminded of that spider nest.

Kaede: "We can go shopping soon."

Mell: "Mhmm!"

Sicily: "A bath would be so lovely right now."

Kaede: "We can all wash up then. I don't think I wanna take Mell shopping if we smell like this, hehe."

Olivia: "I'll head back to my room then."

Sicily: "Mhmm! Sis, lets go."

Lillian: "Mm."

Which now just leaves Kaede, Mell and I. With my condition, I'd have to stay close to Kaede, but I can only assume that Mell would be joining us also.

My thoughts would be correct as we head into the bathroom of our room. It's quite cramped, only having room for the bath, and even then, the bath was small.

Kaede: "It'll be a squeeze, but this is all we have."

I can't help but compare this bathroom to the bathroom back in the dorms. Back there, the bath would probably be large enough to fit 4 people in if we wanted to. Not to mention a shower, and cupboards, along with a sink. This however only has a small bath with a small sink squeezed into the side.

Yui: "It'll have to do, I guess."

Kaede: "We could just take turns?"

Yui: "But don't I have to be near you?"

Kaede: "Hmm~"

Eventually, we had no other option. But we wouldn't subject Mell to be uncomfortable, so we let her hop into the bath first, with Kaede and I wrapped in towels. I watch as Kaede washes Mell, covering her hair in soap as the bubbles start to form. Wait, isn't this the perfect opportunity to get closer to Mell? Kaede makes it seem natural as she washes Mell, and Mell herself seems to be enjoying it, with a big smile across her face, and the sound of her giggling echoing through the room. Nervously, I go to bring up some of the water over her back, serving as somewhat of a request for Mell. She looked a bit concerned, but Kaede, almost as if she's assisting me, distracts her by rubbing more of the soap in her hair. I take this opportunity to do the same, adding soap to Mell's back before gently working it into her skin.

Kaede: "Okay~ Close your eyes~"

Following Kaede's request, Mell closes her eyes before Kaede drowns her head with water from a bucket, washing away all the soap bubbles that had formed. Mell's hair now hiding her eyes, like the curtains closing at an end of a play.

Mell: "Pah~"

Wiping her hair out of her eyes, Mell looks satisfied as her light blue hair shines from the light.

Kaede: "All done!"

Draining the water from the tub, Kaede wraps a towel around Mell, drying her off in the process. How had Kaede learnt to be a mom? She makes it look like it's second nature to her. But at least I managed to get somewhat closer to Mell. After a while, she felt completely fine with me washing her back while Kaede focused on her front.

With Mell now waiting in the bedroom, it was finally time for our turn as we both hop into the tub that has now been filled with fresh, clean water. It's been a while since the last time I saw Kaede naked, but it still gets my heart pumping every time I see her. But now's not the time for that, we need to clean ourselves! Get your head out of the gutter, Yui! I quickly begin to wash myself for distraction.

Kaede: "Hmm?"

Yui: "N-nothing!"

Kaede: "Pfft!"

Yui: "What?~"

Kaede: "You're so easy to read."

She starts to creep closer to me from the opposite end of the tub. Since it's so small, it didn't take long until she was right on top of me, forcing my back against the tubs walls. The feeling of having no escape is thrilling as even I can feel that my heart is pumping even faster as I stare into her beautiful, scarlet red eyes. Her pale white skin, glittering from the reflections of the water.

Suddenly, I feel her fingers, taking hold of my chin as our faces get even closer. I close my eyes out of embarrassment as I wait for what's to come...

...

Hmm? I slowly pry my eyes after being kissed on the nose.

Yui: "W-w-wh"

Kaede: "You're too adorable when you're like this, hehe."

Yui: "Stop teasing m-"

Out of nowhere, she brought her face immediately back to mine as our lips finally touch. My heart stops for a second until I realize her tongue had already pried it's way into my mouth, wrapping her tongue with mine. I was struggling to catch breaths in our kiss, but it made it all the more harder as I could feel her fingers glide up my thigh, imitating a spider's legs. Sure I'm afraid of spiders, but I feel myself melting by her touch as she continues to have her way with my mouth. Resigning myself to her, I wraps my arms around her back, making sure she doesn't go anywhere, letting myself indulge in her warmth even more.