“Fuck that Masuri guy”

-Ina, the Thread Weaver

Shi-shoot, I thought I looked pretty cool there, but I am kind of dying right now, and that would really just ruin my plans right now. Thank God for shock though, since I think I’d probably really be hurting.

I tried to ask if my new master could kindly put her spiked tendrils out of my body, but all I spit out was blood. She, however, was not quite taking this situation as I had hoped, and was now shouting frantically while still being held up with her tendrils spiked through the ground. And me.

“W-what are you talking about, serve me?! W-who would possibly… No, surely this is just another trick, to have me t-trust you!” Suddenly she paused, though I couldn’t see her face with all the blood that somehow got in my eyes.

“Wait, surely you didn’t just-you did. You really did. Why? You do know you can’t hurt me that way, right? Even if it does w-work, you’ll never be able to take it back!”

I really couldn’t understand her right now, for multiple reasons. Still in my kneeling position (I couldn’t really move right now either way) I simply nodded, coughing up more blood. She became quiet, and I still heard her sniffling. I hope this doesn’t traumatize her in any way, but considering what she’s clearly already been through… Slowly, the tendrils pulled themselves out of my body, and suddenly opened up to spray this odd black mist on my wounds, which solidified in black splotches all over my body, preventing the blood from leaking. Not knowing how to show my gratitude, I nodded again, and promptly collapsed. My master apparently stopped floating, since she suddenly ran towards me. I got to get a glance at her eyes. With a full blue like sapphires and filled with tears, they radiated a mix of more emotions than I could describe. Great eyes, but it could do without that expression… Ah, probably not the best first impressions...

I woke up with excruciating pain in my body for perhaps the third time today, covered in those black smooth patches and a pile of leaves, perhaps to keep me warm? Laying on the flat stone floor, I looked up to see I was in that cave from before, and that my newfound Master was sitting in a corner poking at a piece of moss with a stick talking to herself. Getting another glance, I could see that she was wearing what may have been nice clothing, but was long since torn up into a blue mess. The back of it especially had multiple holes. She was clearly malnourished, from how thin her arms were and how her bones seemed a bit too big for her skin.

“I can’t go hunting, I don’t know if my curse would even protect me properly or just shred the animal. And why did it just heal him like that anyway? I didn’t even know it could do that! And… Why was he the only person my curse didn’t kill immediately? Ahh, I don’t know!” She started poking the moss harder until the stick broke. I coughed a bit to have her know I’m awake. At my cough, she jumped up and those tendrils started appearing and extending from her back, as though they didn’t exist just a second ago. Odd.

She slowly turned towards me with her blue eyes wide, fear fully shown on her face, though with less of that anger and despair before. We stared at each other for a couple seconds, before I decided I should probably say something.

I got to my knees in spite of the agonizing pain, and bowed my head again. Not quite sure if this is the right way to present myself, but I have few other options, and I want to show that I mean no harm.

“Hi there. I’m sorry about earlier,” I said, trying to keep the pain out of my voice. I’m sure she didn’t mean it anyways, no point in making her feel guilty. And with my acting skills from socializing in my past life, I’d say I should be able to not screw this up. Oh geez, now that I’m thinking about it, that whole ‘serving’ line was extremely embarrassing. Hope she doesn’t thinking I’m some weirdo or somethi-

The confusion in her eyes only grew however, and she suddenly exclaimed “Sorry? W-what could you possibly be sorry for?! I stabbed you, and yet you still asked to serve under me, you even went through a catalyst!” She went on like that for a few more seconds, getting closer without realizing it, tendrils moving behind her frantically, until she kneeled right in front of me. She suddenly said much quieter, eyes growing wet and head bowed like mine “So why? You went in without a weapon, and just sat there as I impaled you! In all the Hells, clearly you don’t know who I am, what I’ve done, and yet you stayed all the same!”

“Why would anyone want to give up their life for someone like me?”

I closed my eyes. Death had no meaning to me, but to sit there and pledge loyalty? I know I’m asking for a life much harder than needed, that the path more travelled is probably quite close, so why am I doing this? I know I have a quest for it, and seeing someone so young in so much pain hurts me, yes, but why would I give so much for her, without the promise of heaven? Hell, I’ve already gone through more than I could possibly have in my previous life for this. Yet, I think I might know the answer to some of my own questions, if not all of them. Ha, I really am messed up in the head, huh?

I bowed my head further, and spoke with as much conviction as I could. “My life… Means nothing. It probably never has, so don’t worry about using it as you wish. Tell me to jump, and I’ll jump. Tell me to die, and you’ll hear no complaints from me. Why am I doing this? I’m afraid I can’t tell you that, not yet, because I don’t think you’ll believe me. Yet, know that this was my decision, and that your past means nothing to me.”

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She became quiet, tears streaming down her face. I didn’t have any siblings, so I just decided to go with what I thought was best. I dragged myself to her, and hugged her. That’s all I could do, and all I knew to do.

…

We sat there for a bit, and I tried to get all my worries out of my head. I hope this isn’t weird. It’s not, right? I mean, I’m older than her by a fair few years, but am I old enough for this to not be weird? I mean, I’m not a pervert or anything! Suddenly I feel like all of my automated social skills grown over the years were flying out of the window and I wasn’t sure what to do, like maybe sitting here longer would-

She shuffled out of the hug and looked down. Ah, got a bit caught up there. I cleared my throat, trying to think of something. Perhaps introductions are in order? Gah, why am I so nervous anyways?!

“So, my name’s Dave, though you can call me whatever you’d like. Could you tell me yours?”

She looked up at me suspiciously, though from what she was screaming earlier it was fair to do so.”

“...Eliza” she muttered, looking away a bit. At that I smiled, mostly because it showed that I didn’t screw everything up, though a small part of me thought that the act was maybe a bit adorable.

“Well Eliza, as your newfound servant, would you mind telling me if you’ve eaten yet?” It was too early to ask about her past, much less her powers. For now, I should work on the small things.

“M-maybe!” She replied quickly, glancing at my pockets before looking away. I’m not so stupid as to pat them down in front of her, as they’re clearly empty by that response. Not that I care that she ate it anyway, as she clearly needed the food more than me. I smiled and continued on.

“Right, well even though I’m full right now anyways, how about I go get us some food for later? Then maybe we can talk about the future. Would you like to come with me?” I tried asking gently. She suddenly shook her head in fear, still not meeting my eyes. “N-no, I’ll stay here!” She replied. This...might take a while to get her to truly open up, but I’m willing to play the long game, if it helps her in the end. I nodded, and got up, feeling much better than I should. “Right, I’ll be back soon then!” With that, she nodded and moved back to where she was, eyes still on me and yet not looking directly at me. I rolled my shoulder, and started moving out.

…

You know, now that I’m thinking about it, I feel like I’ve been acting a bit...Oddly. I’ve always been passably fine around kids, but never found any particular joy in being around them. Being around Eliza felt different though, and I still didn’t fully understand why. In spite of how dirty she was though, she still is quite adorable.

...Is this how parents feel? Unlikely, I doubt many would willingly get stabbed by a stranger and call them one of their own. Well, I’ve made my choice, and so I’ll go through with it. The feeling of purpose was nice too, so I’ll ride with that until I can truly answer all of my own questions. Walking down the mountain, I picked up another jagged rock, as well as one of the sturdier branches laying around. Moving down felt good, in comparison to how it would usually be; as though my endurance increased or some nonsense.

Thinking about it more closely, I remembered that I can call onto ‘overview’ now, and did so.

Name: Dave Heckler

Class: Forever Faithful Butler (rare)

Primary Skill:

And forevermore (passive)- Your own power grows in terms of your closeness with your master, as well as your faithfulness. Can be decreased.

Secondary Skills:

May your will be done (passive) - Your ability in your tasks increase if they are of your master’s wishes.

At your side (Active) - once per day you may know the location of your master.

Serve from the shadows (active) - At your will, your movements become fairly quieter. Your scent is also muted for its duration.

Advancement Level: Bronze in Barren Lands

(⅓)

Well. This is all certainly...Interesting. Admittedly, I wasn’t quite sure how some of this worked, much less what it meant. I mean, what does Advancement level even mean? Perhaps I’ll ask Eliza. At the very least, my primary skill explained the reason I felt so much better than normal. If this keeps up, I’d say I’m around the level of someone who consistently works out. Maybe even more, though I’d have to experiment.

Turning away from those thoughts, I decided that it was about time I found us some food. I was back in the forest, jogging instead of walking since the sun was setting by now, trying to find those silver fruits again. Even with an increase to my physical abilities, I don’t know anything about actually fighting, and dying would be awfully embarrassing considering all my statements about serving.

I was thinking about just how my skills worked while searching for fruit when suddenly I heard the roar of a boar. A very familiar boar, which made me not want to turn around all the more. I turned around and, yup, that’s definitely the same boar, judging by that gash in one of its eyes. I mean, I wouldn’t actually know, but it’s just one of those things where-

Aaand it’s running at me. I decided to jump up the tree near me to have the boar ramming itself into its base, having the whole thing tremble at the impact. Hey now, are boars usually this strong? It paused for a bit, shaking itself off, while a very stupid plan formed itself in my head. I jumped off the tree and sprinted to another area, where there was a larger tree with multiple branches hanging off of it. Seeing my movement, the boar decided to go for me again, seemingly even more aggressive. Tracking it with an eye smoother than it should be and some sorta excitement I couldn’t quite place. I jumped and grabbed a branch above me right before it could hit me, having it jam into the tree that much harder. I quickly broke my stick in half and jabbed the broken end in the boar’s other eye with an oddly uncanny amount of coordination. Even that felt like it took more effort than it should’ve, which told me most definitely wouldn’t be killing the thing without a proper weapon.

And though I wanted to get my rock and start bashing it in, one by- no, it’s time to go. I turned tail and ran, thinking about how many near death experiences I’ve had recently, and how I had a feeling that the trend wouldn’t be stopping.