Black Witch from Another World

"Kumo." Opening the door to see the familiar face of the blonde and red eyed ikemen for the first time.

"Morus-sama." He bowed down gracefully as expected.

[So you really did stay in this room all day huh…] For the first time ever he doesn't look prim and neat.

One thing comes to mind, "Did you take any rest Kumo?" I'm very concerned.

"I only took the minimum amount of rest." Is what he bluntly said.

"..." I made a very suspicious face.

[So no rest…] I wanted to sigh and hold my palm to my forehead but I stopped. I might invalidate Kumo's work.

"Make sure it isn't the bare minimum." I spoke but quickly moved on. "But anyways..." I look up and around and everywhere this room has or more appropriately, covered wall to floor with.

"You made a lot of webs." I couldn't help but stare at it all.

It's almost like this room was a nest, not only spider webs. "You even made it into balls." Spider yarn balls.

"Is it not enough Morus-sama?"

"No no no it's more than enough!" I quickly fused him off to not have any more strings here. "Just rest up Kumo." I told him before he backed down.

I just stare at the sight of this room, a room full of webs. [He did a great job but he may have overdone it a bit.] I feel like there's so much webs that it looks like a cave in here.

"Anyways, shall we get started then?" I said to him, "You know what to do right?"

"Yes Morus-sama, I am but a humble servant so of course I know how to perfectly knit a piece of clothing." He proudly proclaimed.

[I don't think the word humble belongs there.] I smile wryly at that and continue. "You know what clothing that is as well?" I will ask him one more time."

"A gift for Itia of course."

I smiled and nodded, "Good, let us begin." So I sat down and began knitting.

•••

[I guess Silkco's constant nagging for knitting wasn't so useless after all.] I thought to myself.

Right now I'm knitting a dress to use for Itia in her debutante, at the end of the harvest festival. Which happened to be tomorrow so yeah…

Silkco, the Swan beastman. Known for her grace and beauty, she was known for being the best seamstress in all of Endless and is the patron deity of all things sewing in the present day. 

[Being taught by her I am by no means a slouch but…] Look in front of me though, [Thank god for Kumo being here.] I breathe a sigh of relief.

"Is there something wrong, Morus-sama?" He notices me.

"No no it's nothing, just that you're truly impressive Kumo." I can't help but stare at his arms? Or is it his legs? His many spider legs.

Branching out right from his shoulder area is the many thin spider appendages all weaving the web strings together all at once like an efficient machine. I can see white cloth almost being printed out one by one.

[Kumo was also taught the art of tailoring by an AI modelled after her.] And from the results he clearly surpasses me.

But… "No it is nothing compared to the intricate details that you're doing Morus-sama." 

I couldn't help but frown.

[Sometimes I just wanna hit him in the head.] It really irks me that he can't just take my compliments. [There's a line that crosses from being humble into being a hard-ass.]

You know what, "Kumo, please, appreciate your own effort for once." I talk to him honestly about it.

"What do you mean Morus-sama?"

"I mean that it is fine for you to boast about your own achievements and stuff, or just say that you can do something better than me Kumo." I told him all the things that's been bothering me about him. "Talk to me like your friend."

[Out of everyone Kumo has been the most distant from me.] He's the only one left that I can't have a natural flowing conversation with yet. Like right now, there were a lot of silent moments while knitting with him.

If I can, I want to be able to talk to him casually. [Though he'll probably feign ignorance.] Saying something like, well of course you're better than me and I cannot understand. 

But instead, "I have no interest in doing such a thing Morus-sama." Kumo said something totally unexpected.

"...What do you mean?" Now I'm curious.

"You see..." He struggles to say it but eventually, "Being close to you Morus-sama, being intimate and not giving you any formality. It is something I simply cannot do." Kumo shuts and clamps down, in fear of punishment I suppose.

"Continue Kumo, I am interested." I told him.

At this stage I almost stop weaving the fabric together but I continue, intently staring at Kumo to continue his plight.

"Well you see..." Kumo closes his eyes before staring at me once more with vigor. "Morus-sama, since the day I was born I was treated...differently." 

He looks down at his many arms. "Even among my fellow kin I was different in that I can create these golden threads." And proceeded to do just that. "So because of this rare trait of mine I could never belong to anyone; my mother tried to eat me and many tried and captured me." 

"But then…" I believe this is the part where I come in.

"I was captured and then was given to you Morus-sama. At first I expected a cycle of use from me but alas it was not. You did not use my webs like cow's milk but instead you and Sir Arin gave me a new form, a new chance at life. Somewhere that I belong to." He makes a rare genuine smile and looks at me one more time.

"It was all thanks to you Morus-sama, without you I would have been in chains producing golden silk for owners to sell. So I apologize again Morus-sama, my own gratitude to you wouldn't let me be able to treat you as an equal to my own." Kumo bows his head to me. "I hold you at too high of a platform to the lowly me to be able to not be formal with you."

"..." I was silent.

I look at him with silence.

"Please let me receive your most severe punishment for not abiding to your sincerest wish, Morus-sama. I have failed you."

[I'm not mad Kumo! My brain is just rattled!] This whole thing threw me off my gear. 

[That's what's bothering him huh.] He doesn't want to be treated like I did with the others. He's a servant through and through. 

[Alright Morus, let's not fuck this up.] Admittedly I am not too good at this kind of intimate talk, but this is my responsibility.

"Kumo." My hand moves towards him.

"Morus-sama I—!" He seems to be startled but,

"There, there." I am not gonna hurt him.

"...Huh?" He slowly opens his eyes and sees that my hand is on his shoulder. I can also see that the many spider legs he has stuck together to form his arm again.

"Thank you for telling me Kumo." I did not beat around the bush.

[You might not like me petting you on the head so it's the shoulder instead.] I thought.

"I…didn't know what you felt at all before this, so thank you so much for telling me." My words aren't really good but it's how I feel. "I'm happy I get to know you better Kumo, so straighten yourself up and calm down okay?" I can feel him shaking.

"Y-yes of course." And so his many arms started to loosen again.

"I'm happy you told me about this Kumo, I really do." I continue, "At the end of the day all I can say is this, move at your own pace Kumo. Do whatever you want, be it formal or not, I like it being the latter but it's up to you if you want to change what kind of relationship we have right now." And with that.

"Of course Morus-sama." I can see a glimpse of a smile from his face. "But I will admit, I enjoy our time right now." And so his many spider arms began moving once more to knit Itia's clothes.

"That's good too." I looked down and saw my hands not moving the needles and so we resumed our work.

Meanwhile, "Silkco huh..." I mutter to myself. [...We met one more time in that dream thing but I was busy at the time.] Now that I'm not I can recall what happened back there?

"Did you say something Morus-sama?" Kumo of course heard me muttering.

"Well..." I quickly thought of a conversation starter. "Oh yeah, about Arin!"

"Well… It's weird to say this but I suddenly remember a memory for the first time, Morus-sama."

And so we talked and talked. With Silkco always being at the back of my mind.

•••

"Almost done!" I shouted out loud.

Standing up and stretching my back, it's been a day of hard working labor for my fingers. Although this body almost has infinite stamina in it, the mental toll from when I was a dude still applies.

"Yes it is." A certain someone agrees with me here.

Looking down, I can see Kumo whose multiple legs had once again come together to form his hands, in which he also stretched them out.

[Seems like even a spider kin like Kumo can pop their joints.] I smirk.

"I'm feeling kind of hungry Kumo, so why don't you take a break as well." Told him.

But he politely shook his head, "I apologize Morus-sama but I am someone that doesn't like to leave a work that's almost finished."

"Hmm…" I pondered a bit before, "Alright Kumo, I'll leave you to it." Saying to him as I touch the door handle.

Staring at this room I am giggling to myself and mutters, "This is the first time I've stayed in this room since I first came." This place is my bedroom, but besides sleeping here for only like two nights I think this is the only time I've stayed here for this long while awake.

[But now…] This might be my last night here.

[Tomorrow will be a big day.] I wonder, because it will be the final day of the harvest festival, so the debutante. Also Nir the one handling the sale of my house, will be giving me the deed tomorrow.

[I'll have to say goodbye to this place.] I know my house won't be far from here but I'll still miss it.

But I shake those thoughts off for now and look my head back at Kumo, "Don't overdo it okay?" Before turning back and clicking open the door handle.

"I need to do this quickly—" Before I blurted out my plans.

"Eii—!" A girl was startled, and not just any girl.

"Messy haired girl?" The one that was making Mary's dress for tomorrow, and also, [Hmmm…] I may or may not be glancing at Kumo right now.

But besides that, "What are you doing here Petrishka?" I do know her name.

"W-well...can I explain first?" She asked and I nodded. "You see, all the yarn that was given to me by the prince—I mean Kumo, it was all used up so…" She bumbles her way through the explanations.

"And uhm, I knew you were staying in this inn so when I asked Mrs. Marina about it and guided me here so yeah." Petrishka finishes explaining.

"Sigh." First of all I place my hand on her shoulders. "First off, stop shaking hun." My hand makes sure she does that.

And when she finally calms down a bit, I look back to Kumo who seems to have a skeptical yet curious look on his face towards Petrishka. "Kumo." I called him. 

"Wanna talk with Petrishka over here? Even help her out if you want." Asking Kumo to help.

"..." His eyes narrowed for a bit before standing up and walking towards us, "Well if Morus-sama says so, I will talk to the girl with the messy hair." Said so with a sigh.

"It's Petrishka!" She shouted, looking back at her I can definitely see she was smitten by Kumo's more casual look this time around.

And looking closer, I notice from her shoulder down she's carrying a basket of sorts.

"What's this?" I ask.

"Oh uhm!" She frantically shows it to me. "Oh you see this is the dress you've ordered, uhm I brought it here in hopes that I could finish it here and stuff."

Inside the basket is a neatly folded dress that has threads that are almost shining; those must be from Kumo's then.

Hugging the basket she said. "Yeah, I know this sounds rude but I really do need more strings for this..."

Upon saying that I got out of the door blocking the room from her view and upon seeing what's inside, she gasped and almost dropped the basket.

"Well, I'm gonna leave it to you two then." I let go of Petrishka but not before doing one final push towards Kumo. 

"Thank you Morus-sama, I will come when the dress is finished." He calmly said.

"Oh uhm! Me too!" She on the other hand was finding her step before saying goodbye as well.

"You two have fun okay!" I said in a half joking manner before leaving those two behind with a smirk on my face.

"Everything's so peaceful." I mutter happily. [Now then, I have to do something first…] I cannot believe I forgot about this.

•••

Before going out and meeting everyone, I need to check up on something first.

"Alright then..." I am checking my bags right now.

When I thought of Silkco I suddenly remembered something very important. Something that happened within that very important dream I had with bOb and Arin days ago. So I checked.

"God why am I so forgetful?" I almost curse myself for not doing something about it.

I was just outside the area the dining area was at, and I'm sitting down on the floor and into my bags looking for it.

But of course, "Mori-nee?" I was caught.

Looking up I can see a girl in a blue dress. "Itia!" I didn't notice her.

"What are you doing—" Besides her is,

"Mori-san!" It's Mary, who interrupted me and also sat down on the floor.

"It's you two haha..."

[What bad timing.] I thought.

"What are you doing Mori-nee?" And now the two kids are interrogating me.

[What should I do?] I thought for a moment before I stood up and pushed off the dust on my clothing.

"Well you see you two, I was about to take something out since I'd forgotten about it." Continuing on. "But I guess there's no problem with showing you two about it."

After I said that Mary's eyes sparkled. "I wanna see it, Mori-san!"

Meanwhile, "That is interesting, but I hope we won't bother you Mori-nee." That is Itia's take.

"There's absolutely no problem Itia." I told her with a smile. "But I think we should go somewhere less dodgy than here." And both nodded their heads.

"Let's go to one of the empty tables, Mori-san!" Mary grabbed my pants.

"Mary!" And Itia being a big sister again.

"Alright you two I'm going I'm going." I don't have much of a choice now then to follow these two along.

The two teenagers pulled me both convinced physically and emotionally to their destinations. We had some small talk along the way.

"Where did Rudas go?"

Mary replied, "Oh she left earlier! She said she was satisfied with learning her magic for now and had to report back. But she will be coming back later though."

And this one is from Itia. "What has Kumo done to you Mori-nee?"

I answered nervously, "It's nothing it's nothing haha.. We were just doing something for the big day tomorrow."

It's technically not a lie, I just didn't tell Itia the primary reason why.

•••

All three of us are sitting down at a table by the corner. I have my bag in the middle of that table.

"You guys ready." I look by my side to see the two children beside me nodding.

"Mhmm!"

"Yes, Mori-nee."

"Okay." Opening my bags and began to think of the item I needed to bring out.

[From what Goodman has told me…] If there are too many items inside of one bag, I need to only think about the item I want to get, and it should bring out my desired item.

Zip! 

It opened and I put my hands inside. [My hand feels kinda like it's in a gel right now.] Must be magical void storage magic is used for. 

And then I began to think of that one item…

And then, "Here we go!" Closing my eyes I pull it out.

"Whoa!".I could hear Mary's shocked voice immediately.

"Oh my." Even Itia sounded surprised.

And then I open my eyes.

I wasn't shocked by what I saw, it was the item, the gift that was given to me. But still, I couldn't help but smile at the thing.

"Here it is, my gift from Silkco and Zank und Beharren." I mutter at myself.

Unfortunately, my voice wasn't low enough for Itia to not hear it. "Wait, it's from Silkco and her husband?" Itia's eyes went wide.

"Yes." I look at her. "As you can see it's an egg." I look back at it.

It's an egg, a big one at that. About the size of those American football balls, wrapped around in a cute little ribbon.

[I cannot believe I completely forgot about this.] This was the final thing those two lovebirds gave to me before I permanently left their world and timeline. 

[I'm almost ashamed of myself.] But no matter, right here is the then and now so no more dwelling on my regrets.

I look around the inn, right now it is in the sunset, the sweet spot between day and night. "I really did spend hours in that room." But I digress.

There's only half an hour left when customers start heading here for dinner so we need to be quick.

Looking back at the table. "Oh my…" I can see Itia thinking deeply about this egg.

Meanwhile, "Woah…. I've never seen an egg this big before hehe~" Mary is completely fascinated by it.

Then back at Itia again, I can see her eyes going very wide. She looks at me and mutters, "If this is an egg and it's from Mrs. Silkco t-then…" She caught on.

"Yes." I nodded her head. "This is her child." I spilled the obvious beans.

Gasp!

Itia was shocked. "I-I never knew this…"

And whilst all of this was going on, "Hello there fella~" Mary was oblivious to all of this as she was rubbing and caressing the egg.

"Hmmn? Why do you look so scared Itia?" Mary was confused.

"Look, it's not scary." Mary then proceeded to grab the egg by her hands and showed it in front of Itia. "Let's take care of it~"

"No! Don't just grab it so carelessly!" Itia immediately snaps.

"Haha Itia is scared of eggs~"

"No I'm not—" And the two bickered back and forth.

[These two are like yin and yang huh...] Totally opposite to each other that someone balances each other out. Mary with her contagious joy and Itia with her more cautious and practical demeanor.

I can't help but smile at this view.

I looked at the egg again that had been put back in the middle and also touched it myself.

"Don't worry little guy, you'll be safe." As this was the legacy of Silkco and Zank, I will treat this tiny fella as one of my own.

"Hehehe~" Mary also came back and rubbed the egg as well.

And once she's doing that, "Mori-nee I have a question to ask." Itia is now vacant.

Looking at her. "What is it?"

"Well how did you get this Mori-nee? I never saw this before so that's why I was completely thrown off."

When she told me that I kinda had a cold sweat. [It's really damn complicated.] I can't just tell her I came back in time in the form of a dream.

"Well, as you can see it was a gift…." I kept trying to meander her until she was convinced.

"It was a gift and..." I looked to my side while I was speaking to see Gabril cleaning out the tables.

When our eyes met and she heard our conversation she immediately turned away.

But anyways, "Yeah, that's why you didn't see this Itia." And she seemed satisfied with my answer.

And looking not at the bag itself but the bag, I noticed something.

Grabbing the egg up again I looked down and saw what looked to be a very small gift.

So small that I didn't notice it at first.

"What is that?" Itia notices it as well. "It seemed to be radiating some sort of mana inside."

"Mary hold this for a moment." I look at Mary and put the egg on her lap.

The gift itself was small, the box is the equivalent of an engagement ring box. Grabbing the small gift I slowly opened it up.

And inside was, "Seeds…?" Itia was confused. "But how come there's so much mana radiating out from it?"

As for me, I immediately knew what it was.

"This is—" But before I could even say anything I saw someone's shadow at the end of my vision.

She was approaching at a very quick pace and when I looked to the side she's standing right in front of me. "Mother?" And Marea doesn't look to be her usual cheerful self.

"Oh my, oh my oh my." She holds her mouth tight. "How did you get that Morus dear, oh how?" She keeps asking me the same repeated questions over and over again.

And I couldn't blame her for it. [As a Pomus elf she knows exactly what this seed is.] 

Taking a glance at Itia, her eyes widened even more. "Wait, could it be—?"

"Yes." I immediately answered her question. "This seed here." I pull out one of them, it is the size of an acorn.

"This is the seed of a World Tree." And when I said that,

Gasp!!

Both Itia and my mom let out noises of shock.

Meanwhile, "What is that Mori-san?" Mary's completely oblivious to this.

I continue, "If you two are wondering where I got this from, it's from bOb." Even when I answered the most important question, it only served as a springboard for more.

"How did bOb-sama obtain such an item?" Itia asks.

"I wasn't able to ask her about it beforehand."

"Why did she give you such a thing my dear?" My mother Marea asks.

"I can't exactly remember but she mentioned to me that there was a small but gradual decline in the average amount of mana around the world."

And when I answered the most pressing questions, the two of them were once again silent.

But then, "Wow~" Mary chimed in. "Mori-san, what's so special about that seed?" 

I look around and stare at my mother, both of us had eye contact and nodded, my mom then looked back at Mary.

"Well you see little Mary, for us elves this seed is incredibly important. If fully grown it would become a place of refuge and homeland for any elf in the world. Words alone couldn't describe how incredibly valuable this little guy is." My mother explained.

"Whoa…" Mary was impressed. "If it's that cool then let's grow it!" She said that with a beaming smile.

For the first time ever I saw my mother's smile get crooked a little bit. "Mary my child, such a preposterous thing—" She tried to smile but I can definitely see the sadness and frustration hiding beneath.

 And so, "Mary's right." I joined in.

"Morus…?" My mom turns around and has a question mark kind of expression to me.

"Mother Marea, here you go." I gave one of the World Seeds to her. "I know how frustrating it must have been to be one of the few siblings not able to cultivate one of these seeds. So I'm giving it to you mom." 

"M-me?!" She was shocked to the core at the very least. "B-but Morus, do you not know how valuable these seeds are?!" My mom was fully panicking.

"Well that was before mom, we don't know how valuable it is now." That's a white lie, I'm guessing this seed is worth equivalent to multiple countries now. "And plus, you're an elf mother, a special elf. It should only be proper to have your own World Tree mother." 

[Honestly, I'm just giving it to her to make her happy.] My honest thoughts.

"B-but..." She stutters. "I may not have the mana to cultivate such a tree, Morus. I may even fail and waste one of these valuable seeds." 

[I don't care.] And that is my honest but blunt thoughts about it.

But while I was thinking, "I know how valuable these seeds are, but it's even more valuable to me to see my mother happy." I accidentally let one of my thoughts be.

"Uhm—" I looked at my mother and she quickly grabbed the seed from my hand.

She held it tight around her chest and closed her eyes. She closed them very tight, almost like she's holding back tears. "Thank you, Morus." And seeing her smile wiggle holding back her tears,

"Don't worry Mrs. Marea!" Mary comes to the rescue and hugs my mother.

"Marea-sama." And Itia, who has been silent for a while and silently watching this development, finally speaks. "I have spent enough time with you that I believe you are more than worthy of cultivating a World Tree." 

And in the background. "Yup!" I can see Gabril encouraging my mom in her own way.

""Yeah!"" And some of the customers who are coming in who don't know what's happening are supporting my mother as well

My mother looks around and sees everyone supporting her. With even Marina waving her hand from the kitchen with a thumbs up. 

"Join us Mrs. Marea." Itia then took an initiative to give her seat that was next to me and gave it to her.

My mother, who was overwhelmed with the support, finally made a big smile and said, "I will Itia, thank you." And she finally sat next to us.

""Ooohhh…!"" Everyone cheered even though no one knew what was happening.

"Mom haha…!" I have taken a look at this whole situation and laugh out loud.

[Mother, you're a mom! Why are they cheering for you like you're a protagonist!] I can't help but laugh at this absurdity.

"Hahaha..." I finally started to relax again and after rubbing a tear off my eye I said to everyone on the table.

"Wanna have dinner early you guys?"

And all of them nodded with agreement.

At this precise moment I thought to myself. [I hope it stays peaceful like this forever.]

But alas...

•••

It wasn't meant to be.

Whilst in the middle of dinner festivities in the inn, with all the eating and merry making. The sounds of the jugs hitting each other, and food and drink being eaten. With finally a local bard and a group of minstrels asking Marea to give a little song to the masses, with Itia intently listening to the tune while Mary was dancing, and Gabril serving food to the pervy customers. Everything was supposed to be fine.

"Yeah, it really has been bad lately with all the kidnappings. I heard the slums were in chaos." A fellow tavern goer was chatting to me as we were telling stories of the past and current events right now when—

Slam!

The door was opened and a group of knights came by, it is not like these knights were on a break and are gonna enjoy some drinking as well. These knights were all geared up in their armor and were marching in unison.

Immediately all festivities were stopped and the whole inn went silent.

After the knights went in a representative came inside and took off his helm. It was someone I recognized.

"Everyone we apologize for the commotion, we would have loved to join in the drinking but sadly we cannot as the current situation." He bowed his head. "I, Lefer Garde, would like to extend an apology." It's Lefer, the guard captain that helped me with the priest incident.

[I got a bad feeling about this…] And sure enough, Lefer is now walking straight towards me.

I furrow my brows in frustration as I have to deal with something annoying yet again.

But I never thought something serious was about to come out of it.

"...What is it, Lefer?" I asked with an annoyed tone.

"Morus." He looks down at the floor before looking at me again. "It's about Nir, one of Margrave Norkin's retainers."

"What of it?" This is when I realized something was up.

"He's dead."

This is when, "What…?"

All the previous incidents converge and unravel together.