WE MET A MATERNAL SPIRIT
A little while had passed since I started being called the Witch of the Pastries.
I was in Flatta shopping with my daughters.
It was all a familiar sight. More people were wearing heavy coats because of the chill, but in a way, you could say that was the only difference.
On the way home, I dropped by the guild to exchange for money the magic stones from the slimes I’d killed.
Our village guild didn’t have many workers. Natalie was sitting there prim and proper.
“Hello, here’s this batch of magic stones.”
I produced the bag stuffed with the stones.
“All right, then, I’ll start counting them. There’s sixty in here. That comes out to twelve thousand gold.”
That was about twelve thousand yen. Even though I was taking my time saving up my money, it was perfect, since I could kill slimes in my free time.
Laika was killing much more on her own, so she exchanged her own money separately. She probably felt so accomplished whenever she saw how many magic stones she’d collected.
“Great Witch, don’t you think that you could make much more money if you just concentrated on making desserts? If you do, I think Miss Halkara might be making quite a profit at her factory there.”
Natalie was starting to become aware of the Witch of the Pastries…
“Killing slimes is a regular habit for me. Even if I had millions of gold, I’d still want to get that thousand, you know? I’m not exactly sad to get it.”
“That’s true, I suppose. If you want it, you want it.”
People weren’t generally upset to receive money, and the more there was, the happier they were.
“Oh, right, right. A letter came for you, great Witch.”
Falfa gingerly accepted the letter Natalie held out for us.
“A letter, huh? From whom, I wonder? I hope it’s not a request to go kill some weird monsters.”
Now, let me explain how the mail system in this world worked.
And let me start by amending what I just said: There was no public mail “system.” There were public offices that sent notifications to child organizations, but that was different. We’re talking about Ordinary Person A sending something to Ordinary Person B.
The way they did this was that if there was someone headed in the direction of where Person B lived, Person A handed the letter over to them. If the carrier wasn’t going all the way to the letter’s destination, then they handed the letter off to someone else. The letter was like a hitchhiker.
And that was how this letter eventually came to the village of Flatta.
I think Japan in the Middle Ages had a similar mail “system.” It was common for people to receive letters almost half a year since they were written. I could imagine a love letter being written then arriving at its destination after the writer was already in a different relationship.
Additionally, when the demons brought over invitations, they had someone specifically for that. In the human world, too, when it was urgent that Person B get something quickly, someone would take on that role.
Needless to say, that was really expensive.
It was almost like sending out a messenger.
So what could this be?
One of the advantages of this crude system was that something unspecific like “The great Witch who might live in the town of Flatta” would eventually find its way to me. As long as it made it here, someone would keep it in a place my family frequented.
Falfa opened the envelope and started reading the letter inside. She shouldn’t have done that if it was for Halkara or Laika, but if it was addressed vaguely to my house, then it was fine.
“Hmm, Falfa didn’t know this was a thing.”
Falfa’s comment didn’t tell me much.
She handed the letter to Shalsha to read over when she was finished, but it was still hard to tell, since Shalsha was reading silently.
Still, judging by their reactions, it didn’t seem like unhappy news or something that would disappoint them.
“Hey, you two, who is it from?”
“It’s from something called the World Spirit Summit!”
“World Spirit Summit?”
I’d never heard of that before. Summit implied it was some kind of conference.
But I couldn’t say it was totally irrelevant. My daughters were slime spirits, after all.
“Do you know about this summit?”
Falfa said, “Nuh-uh,” and Shalsha shook her head.
Then it was very possible that no one else in the house would know about it.
“Mom, to summarize what it says, spirits occasionally get together to hold the World Spirit Summit, and both Shalsha and Falfa have been invited.”
“Huh… But you’re not registered with them or anything, so I’m impressed they knew you’re slime spirits…”
“The invitation says they heard about us from a rumor on the wind.”
This world really was sloppy.
“We should be able to make it. It’s close by, too. They’re apparently gathering at night by Lake Nanterre.”
“That is close.”
The name of this province, Nanterre, came from the beautiful Lake Nanterre in these equally beautiful highlands.
It was close enough to be in the same province, but it was a little too far for a day’s walk, so I’d never gone. I hadn’t been doing much sightseeing these past three hundred years.
“We did get invited, so Falfa wants to go!”
“Shalsha is also interested.”
“Of course. I’m wondering what it’s all about, and I’m not even a spirit. And I bet it’ll be full of spirits, right? I don’t remember ever seeing a fire spirit or a water spirit, so I’m not totally sure if they even exist.”
They had to—this was a fantasy world, after all—but I hadn’t done any fantasy staple activities like dungeon diving. I guess I wouldn’t have met any.
“Do you want to go, too, Mommy? You should come with us!”
Falfa was pointing to a spot on the letter.
It said, “Parent or guardian accompaniment allowed.”
I see. Maybe the wind also said they were child spirits.
“Of course. It would be dangerous to let you two just go by yourselves, especially if this is a kidnapping pretending to be a summit. I should go along.”
“Yaaay! A trip with Mommy!” Falfa hugged me. She shouldn’t get so worked up inside the guild, but I was happy that she was hugging me. She could hug me as much as she wanted.
Shalsha wasn’t as forward as Falfa, but she looked so sad that I decided to give her a big hug on the way home. My style was to treat both sisters equally.
Natalie was a little shocked. “That was quick for such a terrifying summit. Well, you are the great Witch, after all…”
“Is the general opinion that spirits are not easy to deal with?”
“It’s a legend, but they say that many spirits are capricious. You also hear about some who don’t have the same values as humans. For example, a lightning spirit may want to strike a human with lightning just to test it out, and the human ends up dying…”
Maybe like children catching and dissecting insects.
Falfa and Shalsha didn’t do cruel things like that, though.
I called it cruel, but the concept was one of the values for adult humans, too. Sometimes people did similar things without really thinking. Nobody thought it was cruel to cut vegetables to use for soup.
“In that case, I really should go. Spirits would probably be peaceful on their own, though. And it was in some way calling itself a summit, so I guess it shouldn’t be too dangerous.”
And so I decided to attend the World Spirit Summit.
Laika offered to escort us to Lake Nanterre, but I wanted to take the opportunity to have a nice relaxing time with my girls. And that’s just what we did.
We first walked to Nascúte, and from there we took a cart.
A slow journey wasn’t so bad once in a while. Laika’s ability to change into a dragon and carry us was very convenient, but we couldn’t get too accustomed to it. It was good to enjoy the road to the destination, too.
“He-he-he! Traveling! Traveling! Traveling with Mommy! Wheeee!”
Falfa was so excited about it. It was like a field trip for them.
“Your bag is stuffed full, isn’t it? Did you really need to bring all that?”
I also read the World Spirit Summit invitation, but it didn’t say to bring anything. The most we needed was probably just stuff to write with.
“Yeah! There was a lot I wanted to prepare!”
“I see. I’m excited to attend, as well.”
Incidentally, Shalsha sat on the other side of me, and she looked so sleepy the entire time. Actually, I think she was asleep.
There were lots of people who dozed off on trains, apparently because the rhythm of the train rocked you right to sleep. Maybe this cart was doing something similar.
“Shalsha was so excited yesterday, she couldn’t sleep.”
“That sounds just like someone before a field trip!”
That took me back… The day before any field trip in elementary school, I could never fall asleep, so I think I put music on to help me. It’d put me to sleep before I knew it.
Shalsha ended up falling asleep hugging her bag. She was leaning right up against me.
“Shalsha’s asleep,” Falfa commented, and soon she did the same and was leaning against me.
“Awww, you cute kids.”
It was fair to say my motherly joy had never been higher.
Personally, I was so happy with our trip that I could probably end it now and still be more than satisfied, but our main event was the World Spirit Summit.
What was this summit going to be like?
Along the way, we stayed the night at a town halfway there, then the second evening, we finally arrived at Lake Nanterre.
This was a tourist destination, and the scenery before us was stunning.
The most appropriate thing for such a sight was to not say anything at all, but if I had to say something, it would be about how deep the blue of the lake was. It was almost an ultramarine, a perfect match for the green of the highlands.
It was as though someone had placed a gigantic mirror in a high-elevation spot.
“Woooow! It’s so prettyyy! And so biiig!”
“Writers and artists have praised this view since ancient times…”
Both of them were expressing their impressions in their own way. But—
“This is where we’re supposed to meet, right? No one’s here.”
That was right—I didn’t see any people around the lake. Well, they were spirits, so not strictly “people.”
“The sun should be setting soon. Even if there were any tourists, they would all be at the inns back at the foot of the mountain by now.”
“It’s just like Falfa says. It’d be weird to see anyone here at this time.”
“According to the invitation, it says we should be at the part of the lake that juts out a bit. I think that’s up ahead.”
We all headed to the spot Shalsha pointed out. Still nobody.
“Were we tricked? Is this a joke? But this isn’t a very impressive way to trick us…”
“Mom, the invitation says we’re all gathering at night. It’s too early to say it’s nighttime. This probably means we should wait a little more.”
“You’re right. We’ll relax here, then. It might be nice to watch the sunset.”
And as we lazed about for an hour—
I suddenly felt a number of presences.
And I mean a big number—like we’d been suddenly thrown into the middle of the marketplace in the royal capital!
And it wasn’t just a feeling. People—no, spirits—were gathering in swarms.
Generally, the majority looked like humans.
Most of the women wore loose, fairly revealing dresses. Like something you’d wear at a ball. Others wore dresses with open backs, pretty close to how I imagined spirits in my head.
A great percentage of the male spirits were shirtless and had bulging muscles. That was also pretty close to what I’d made up in my head. I was thinking of those spirits who came out of lamps when you rubbed them.
I wondered if they were shirtless because they wanted to show off their muscles, or if they wanted to show off their muscles because they were shirtless.
Compared to humans, their hair was very colorful. It was just a guess, but maybe the blue-haired spirits were related to water, and the red-haired spirits were related to fire.
And some didn’t take human form at all.
There were creatures who were like shaggily cut rosebushes with eyeballs and even fancy ones reminiscent of mascot characters from a magical girl comic.
I had no idea what kind of spirit they’d be. My own Falfa and Shalsha were pretty irregular themselves—it was hard to tell they were slime spirits just by looking.
And these spirits were all chatting noisily and happily.
When did they all get here?
“Woooow! There’s so many!”
“These are spirits…”
Though they reacted differently, both of their eyes were glimmering. There were so many spirits, just like them. This would be great motivation for them.
“Falfa’s gonna say hi to everyone!”
The ever-proactive Falfa quickly ran off and started talking to all the spirits. “Hello! I’m Falfa!”
She was so outgoing! More than I was when I was a kid, for sure!
In comparison, Shalsha was carefully observing the spirits. It didn’t seem like she had the courage to go up and talk to them on her own. Wait, “no courage” was a weird way to put it. This was normal. Not even I would go up and talk to them outright.
“Shalsha, if you want to go around and say hello, I’ll go with you.” I stood to face her and squatted down. I was eye level with her now. “You were invited, so you can be as social as you want, okay?”
Shalsha didn’t respond right away, but when she did, she said, “I want you…to come with me…Mom…”
“Okay. Let’s make our rounds, then.”
To be honest, I was thankful. I felt awkward going around to say hello as a non-spirit, and having Shalsha with me was giving me psychological support. In a way, our interests aligned.
But, betraying my expectations, Shalsha did as Shalsha was—a girl who really had it together.
“Good evening, I am Shalsha, a slime spirit… This is my first time attending…”
As she said her greetings, Shalsha handed over a card with her name written on it!
She’s handing out business cards! Just like a Japanese businessman!
“Welcome to this gathering of spirits. I am Forahn, spirit of the falls.”
“Jasva, spirit of volcanic ash.”
“I’m Misami, spirit of cumulonimbus clouds.”
The other spirits greeted her in turn. The categories were more specific than I thought…
“I am Azusa, Witch of the Highlands and mother of Shalsha. I’m here as her chaperone. Nice to meet you…”
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to introducing myself like this, no matter how old I get…
There was a stir.
“The Witch of the Highlands? You mean the one who decimated the blue dragons and the demons?!”
“I heard she’s sent all sorts of adventurers to their graves.”
“They say she’s practically a god.”
You’re getting too worked up! I haven’t decimated anyone! They’re still living peacefully right now!
After I corrected them, they were still accepting of me.
“But you know, I never knew there were so many kinds of spirits,” I said first to the lady waterfalls spirit.
“Yes. We are all rather divided by concept. Among the water spirits, there are puddle spirits, spring water spirits, underground water spirits, hot spring spirits, rivers, marshes, ponds, lakes, oceanic depths, everything.”
“They sure are specific…”
“Well, if there were a general spirit of water, it would have to be really strong, right?”
“I understand what you want to say.”
A spirit who ruled over all water would obviously have too much work.
I guess even the most natural of beings had their limits.
“If you were wondering, slime spirits fall under the category of water spirits.”
“What?! Is that true?!”
I’d lived with the two of them for a while, but I’d never thought about it!
“That’s because slimes’ bodies are apparently made of ninety-nine percent water. Thus, water spirits.”
“But humans are made of seventy percent water, so most animals would fall under water’s jurisdiction… Still, I get what you’re saying.”
Slimes were monsters, and I’d wondered how monster spirits worked. When I thought of them as a part of the water division, then it made sense.
“Shalsha and Falfa are water-type spirits…”
The news seemed to come as a shock to Shalsha herself, as she placed her hand to her chest and stared out into space.
“A water-type spirit… I feel like I’ve reached greater heights than before…”
“Definitely! It feels more dignified to say you’re one of the water spirits than to say you’re a slime spirit!”
Shalsha suddenly struck her hands out before her.
She reminded me of a middle schooler trying to awaken secret powers. Was she entering that phase?
“There’s no water magic…”
“Maybe just being a water spirit alone isn’t enough… We’ll practice again, okay?”
Shalsha had used a specific spell for crushing evil to fight against me, and her mana had run completely dry ever since. Even if she learned some spells, she wouldn’t be able to use them for decades.
Just discovering the truth about my daughters made it worth it enough to come here.
But I had still been underestimating what my daughters could do.
Shalsha rummaged through her bag and pulled something out.
What could it be? What could she produce after her business cards?
“I know this isn’t much, but please take this as a symbol of our acquaintance. These are sweets called edible slimes and leaf slimes.”
She was handing out gifts!!!
Seriously…? This girl wasn’t bad at communication, either.
Falfa was also saying, “Here, some sweets for you!” and handing out edible slimes (eight packs) far away from us. They were kids, but I guess they had been alive for fifty years…
Though I wondered if spirits would actually eat the sweets, they took them with a word of thanks as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Well, my daughters ate cooked food, too.
After that, we went around greeting and chatting with all sorts of spirits.
But all we really talked about were things like where someone found a mountain with pretty flowers, which bakery had the best bread, or if there was really any point to spirits in the first place. Were they all really spirits?
Either way, we spent a few peaceful hours like that.
Along the way, we met up with Falfa, and the three of us went around to all the spirits. I thought they did a magnificent job as newcomers.
“This World Spirit Summit is so much fun!”
“You’re right. Having an opportunity like this every once in a while isn’t so bad— Wait.” I realized something was odd here. “This summit hasn’t started at all, has it?”
Indeed—I felt like it’d been almost two hours since the spirits first appeared, but nothing meeting-like seemed to be happening. This was outside, so maybe it was taking place at a different venue?
I went to the spirit of the falls, who I’d had a great conversation with earlier. I was the type to talk a lot to people once I got to know them.
“Excuse me, but will the meetings be starting soon? I heard this is where they’ll be taking place…”
“…? I don’t really understand your question. You’re already participating.”
Okay, but I don’t understand what you’re saying.
“I don’t see anything that seems like a meeting. Is it already happening elsewhere?”
“Ohhh, I see. I see your mistake.”
The spirit of the falls seemed to understand me. What was it?
“The World Spirit Summit is just a gathering for us spirits to get together and have a chat.”
It was more slapdash than I thought!
It was more World Spirit Chitchat. Summit was overkill. There wasn’t even a theme.
“Oh, and this World Spirit Summit should be ending soon. I’ll see you next time, then. I’m not sure when or where the next one will be, though.”
The spirit of the falls waved to me, walked a few steps away, then poofed into thin air. I guess she could teleport.
Shalsha looked a little disappointed after overhearing my conversation.
“To be honest, I wanted the concept to be a little clearer. I was excited to find out what we were going to talk about.”
“That’s because you’re so conscientious, Shalsha. Well, these sorts of loose ties are also charming, in a way. I didn’t see much of a hierarchy here.”
Falfa was exercising her solid communication skills chatting with other spirits elsewhere, but I had a feeling the number of spirits here was starting to dwindle.
They were probably disappearing like the spirit of the falls did, and I could see some of them vanishing from the lake on foot.
The end of the event was coming closer, but we didn’t even get an announcement to mark the beginning.
They just talked freely and went home at their leisure.
Shalsha must have accomplished what she set out to do, as she sat at the edge of the lake and took out a pack of edible slimes.
“You want one, Mom?”
“Sure, I’ll have one. Let’s stick around until Falfa’s ready to go home.”
“Okay.”
As Shalsha stared out into space, I observed the remaining spirits. I couldn’t really see anything special that set them apart from humans. It felt like I was attending the wedding of someone I didn’t know well at all, then I ended up coming to the after-party.
It wasn’t like I made a mistake or anything; it was okay. Things like this happened sometimes.
“But there’s something that still bothers me,” Shalsha said as she ate.
“What is it? What bothers you?”
“Even though this didn’t have the format of a summit, someone sent us the information about the event. That means there has to be an executive office or something.”
“I see… You think about a lot of things, don’t you, Shalsha?”
Shalsha really was diligent… Who did she take after? I hadn’t raised her from the very beginning, so maybe she’d been like that since she was born.
“I want to know who the sender is, at least, but—” Then, Shalsha’s expression clouded over. “But so many people have gone already, I don’t think it’s possible…”
As I sat with Shalsha, the number of people dwindled still, and there were now only a handful left. That would be tough.
Soon there was no one else to talk to, and Falfa came over to us. She tossed an edible slime into her mouth.
“I guess it’s over now.”
“Yeah. Everyone’s gone. We should head to the inn.”
Just as I lifted my rear off the ground—
A single woman appeared right in front of us, in the middle of the lake.
She was probably a spirit, too.
“How was the World Spirit Summit? Ufufu~”
The question sounded like something someone from an executive committee would say.
And my very first impression of her was how big her boobs were.
They were massive. Bigger than Halkara’s. Halkara’s were a healthy size, but these were too big. I bet if she closed her eyes and stood on one leg, she’d fall over because of them.
She had a generally calm air about her and soft, gentle-looking eyes.
“Falfa got to speak to a lot of spirits and had lots of fun!”
“I wanted the World Spirit Summit to be more like a summit.”
The contrast between the girls was easy to see. I was indecisive, so my opinion sat squarely in the middle of theirs.
“Ufufu.” She giggled. “I see~ It used to be more like a summit in the past. But then the spirits who weren’t interested stopped coming, and attendance suffered~ So we decided to stop holding meetings~”
So spirits didn’t want to attend a stuffy and formal event, either. Spirits were more lax than humans were, after all.
That was a general tendency, but long-lived races would start dropping the ball after so long.
“Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I am a droplet spirit. There are lots of spirit children without names, but I am called Yufufu. I’m the one who sent the invitation~”
She’d come to talk to us, which meant that she was in charge of all the administrative stuff.
“A droplet spirit? What kind of spirit is that?”
“You know how water drips from the gutter after the rain, or how the water drips in spring as the snow melts? That’s me—a droplet spirit.”
These water types were crazy specific!
“The other spirits often call me a busybody. No one else would take on the administrative duties of the World Spirit Summit, so I did it myself. We held the summit in my neighborhood one time. They called me Momma,” Yufufu said, placing her right hand against her cheek.
I could tell where the nickname came from. Momma suited her way better than Ma or Mother Dearest would.
And she wasn’t like my own mom at all. Mine always said, “That’s fine for them but not for us.” Whenever I begged her for something my friends had, that was her favorite answer.
“And so, as I took on my administrative duties, I decided I may as well investigate all I could about spirits. See, spirits sometimes pop up out of nowhere. And I heard a rumor from a wind spirit that there were slime spirits, so that’s why I sent the invitation to you.”
“Not a rumor on the wind but a rumor from a wind spirit!”
Now that spirits were involved, the explanation suddenly made a lot more sense. I could see wind spirits liking gossip!
“Ever since I took charge of the World Spirit Summit, there have been many new participants.”
If you’re going to do one thing for a long time, you need new blood.
“Oh my, well, we can’t stay chatting here forever, can we? Why don’t you all come over to my home? If you don’t have any place to stay, you’re welcome to stay with me.”
“Oh, that’s tempting…”
The summit had been so mysterious that I’d checked the nearby inns, but I hadn’t made any reservations.
“But I’m not a spirit, just a regular old witch. Is that okay…?”
“Of course. You don’t have to refuse because of that! Ufufu~”
Just looking at Yufufu’s face was kind of soothing.
“You’re not Falfa’s mommy but you look like a mommy… Why?” Falfa was starting to get confused.
Probably because the concept of “mother” was a broad one…
People could exude that motherly feel without actually being a parent…
“Big Sister, that’s because people can still seem maternal without having children… Shalsha feels her motherliness, too…”
Shalsha was bewildered, too. And so was I!
“Then hold on tight, okay? We’ll fly using spiritual teleportation magic~,” Yufufu said, then wrapped her arms around me. I put my arms around Falfa and Shalsha from behind them.
“Er, I don’t think we need to be so close together…”
“Don’t underestimate the power of physical contact.”
As Yufufu’s chest overwhelmed me, a strange feeling was born within me…like I was her child…
We teleported, and before I knew it, we had arrived in a completely different place.
We were in a mountain with a small double-step waterfall. The second waterfall appeared right at the edge of the basin of the first. Next to the second waterfall’s basin was Yufufu’s house, right where healthy ferns grew everywhere under water that was dripping from the rock. There really were lots of water droplets everywhere.
From the way the interior was furnished, I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn a regular person lived here. Even though she was a spirit, it seemed like she lived a human lifestyle.
“You still haven’t eaten anything, have you? I can’t make much more than a milk potage soup and pancakes right now, though. Wait a moment.”
When I had a sip of the soup, a thought came to me:
“This tastes like home…”
An overwhelming gentleness flowed throughout my body. It was almost like the main ingredient…
The always-energetic Falfa sounded so gentle as she gave her appraisal, “My heart feels so warm…,” with a peaceful expression. It was wholly calming.
“Oh, so nostalgic…,” said Shalsha. “I almost feel homesick…” She actually started to shed some tears.
“I’m so happy to hear that.”
Momma…I mean, Yufufu watched on with delight. The topic of spirits barely came up, but it didn’t feel like we needed to talk about it here.
Afterward, the girls took a bath like normal and then went to bed and fell asleep as they always did.
I was still wide-awake, so I was drinking the hot honeyed water that Yufufu made for me.
“How is it?”
“Oh, it’s nice, thank you.”
“There’s no need to be so polite. You’ve lived a long life, too.”
“O-oh, okay…”
I knew what this felt like. This was like coming home to my parents.
“You know, the real reason I sent the invitation was because I was interested in you, Witch of the Highlands.”
She readily laid out the truth.
“Why would you be interested in—? Well, I guess there are a number of reasons…”
I’d been a little unruly in a lot of places (figuratively, mostly, but sometimes for real).
The demons had taken an interest in me, so it wasn’t too strange for spirits to do the same.
“Indeed. And your name started to spread so suddenly, no? I wanted to see what kind of person you were. And as the one in charge of the World Spirit Summit, I was also interested in little Falfa and Shalsha.” Yufufu smiled faintly with her softly shaped eyes.
“And what’d you think of meeting the witch you were so interested in?”
“You’re just as I expected. I can tell by watching the girls interact that you’re building a beautiful family. You’re a wonderful mother.”
I had almost never been complimented like this before. I was tickled.
“I don’t have any experience as a mom, but I think that’s why I feel a responsibility to play the part as best I can. Without me, they would never have been born.”
“But it’s also clear that there’s something you still lack.”
What could it be? I didn’t think she’d flunk me now, though.
“Azusa, what you don’t have is a mother.”
“…??? I’m sorry, but do you think you could be more specific…?”
Except Yufufu didn’t seem to be joking.
Her gaze felt so warm. It was almost impossible to imagine that we’d just met.
“You are having a lovely time living in the house in the highlands with the girls.”
“Yeah, and it’s fun. It wasn’t exactly painful living alone for three hundred years, but I learned that having housemates does have its good points.”
I couldn’t pick my preference, rank them, or compare them. They were just two completely different experiences.
“And the house in the highlands belongs to you, right? Which means you have to act as the lady of the house, I’m sure?”
“Well, yeah. I’m the one who was living there first…”
“Which means you don’t have anyone to play the part of your mother in that house or anywhere nearby, no?”
When she mentioned it, I realized it.
It was obvious if you thought about it logically.
I was a transplant from another world; a witch I was born and a witch I’d always been.
I didn’t have a mother here.
“Of course, there are plenty of children who live away from their mothers and many children who don’t know who their mother is. Still, it’s better to have one than not—don’t you think?”
Since I’d truly lived freely and without care, I was never really indulged by anyone. I’d lived all this time without ever being aware of what I’d been missing.
“I mean, I get what you’re trying to say, but I don’t know how to deal with that…”
Who in the world would be my mom? I’d been alive for three hundred years.
Yufufu reached out to pat me on my chest. Really, I could just say she was patting my breasts.
“That’s why, Azusa, if you’re all right with it, why don’t I be your mother?”
I paused. “……What?”
I didn’t think this was a proposal I could immediately accept with a “Yes, please!”
You didn’t get an offer like that every day…
“Erm… This is pretty embarrassing, and… Miss Yufufu, is there any advantage to this at all…?”
“Does there need to be one? I said I was a busybody, no? See, you might seem to have it all together in life, but you still want a mother at times. And when that happens, you are more than welcome to depend on me.”
Nrrrgh… My mind was a mess because this was my first time experiencing something like this in my life. But just having someone be a mother for me could buoy me up. Some things you could talk about only with your mom, and sometimes people just wanted to be spoiled rotten…
“I-I’m not going to be sending you money because I’m your kid, okay…?”
“I don’t need money. I just thought you might be pushing yourself sometimes.”
Yufufu stood and spread out her arms.
“And that’s when you can lean on me. You’ve been working very, very hard, Azusa.”
What overpowering magnanimity… Unfortunately, I didn’t have it yet—the power to validate someone unconditionally…! The power that only someone more senior in life could produce…!
Like a drunkard, I staggered toward Yufufu and buried my face in her chest.
Calling her by her first name would still put too much distance between us now.
Momma Yufufu!
“Momma… Momma Yufufu…”
This spirit was going to drag humans into depravity. But I was fine with that.
“I don’t really have anything that’s bothering me now, but can we stay like this for a little?”
“Yes. Stay there until you feel better. What do you want for breakfast tomorrow?”
I felt like my mind was melting. I also felt like a poison that had long infected my body was slowly being purified…
This was the power of a mother… A mysterious power of recovery…
I stayed cradled in Momma Yufufu’s bosom for a long while.
I felt like I’d never wake up again if I fell asleep like this, but that wouldn’t happen, right? She felt perfectly omnipotent and everything, but I didn’t have to worry that much, right?
Afterward, I really did fall asleep, but my soul didn’t end up stolen or anything, and I woke up in the bed in the morning.
Momma Yufufu sat in the chair by the bed, smiling.
“You’re more like a saint than a spirit, Momma Yufufu…”
This was something I’d never experienced in my three hundred years of living.
There were still plenty of things that I knew nothing about.
“He-he-he, humans will always be someone’s child. That is also true for you. And you may call me Momma anytime, okay?”
I felt like that was a line I couldn’t cross as a person. I couldn’t do that with other people around…
“It’s all right. All you have to do if you don’t have a mom is create one yourself.”
I yielded.
“Momma Yufufu…”
My mind was still in a daze as I sat at Momma Yufufu’s dining table.
I can’t stay like this. I needed to get back to normal… I couldn’t see my daughters the way I was now. I was still their mother, so I couldn’t space out too much.
I stood before a mirror that was the perfect size for my face, checked my expression, and returned to parent mode.
All right, this should be good enough!
And then, Falfa and Shalsha came in.
“Good morning, you two! Did you sleep well?” I asked them brightly and energetically, like a dependable mom.
But there was something odd about their reactions.
“Mommy, what’s wrong…?”
“You shouldn’t say anything, Big Sister.”
“But Falfa will worry about Mommy if I don’t ask!”
Hmm? Is there something wrong with me?
Momma Yufufu didn’t have the terrifying power to drain people’s youth. I checked in the mirror already—nothing had changed.
“If there’s something that’s bothering you, you can tell me.”
“See!”
“Okay. Then Shalsha will obey, too.”
Really, what was going on?
“Mommy, did you wet the bed? You’re a grown-up, but…”
Wet the bed? No way. I couldn’t have—
I then noticed my lower half was soaked.
“It can’t be! I couldn’t have! This has to be a mistake!”
Shalsha almost never smiled, but a grin was spreading across her entire face.
“Mom, neither Shalsha nor Big Sister will make fun of the physical peculiarities of humans. You don’t need to try so hard to hide it.”
“Shalsha, I’m really glad you’re growing up to be such a wonderful young lady, but I’m not trying to hide anything!”
“It happens. Falfa understands. It’s okay!”
No! This is all wrong! But it is true that I’m soaked, so maybe…
Wait, no, not in my three hundred years of life has this ever happened before.
Could I think of anything?
Then, Momma Yufufu entered the room. I turned to look toward her with a pleading gaze.
“Oh my, my…”
She was covering her mouth, like she just saw something she didn’t mean to!
“Well, these things happen. To each her own, I suppose.”
“Okay, come on! That’s not it!”
“Perhaps, in exchange for your strength, you received a physique that was prone to these things?”
“No! I haven’t made a deal with the devil or anything like that!”
Momma Yufufu patted me on the head.
“I know this is a delicate subject, so you don’t need to worry about it. You’re not any less of a person because of this!”
She wasn’t going to budge on the premise that I wet myself…? Did I really, though…? If it happened when I wasn’t aware, then I couldn’t say they were wrong because it just wasn’t in my memory…
“But first, please, if you have a change of clothes, could you give them to me…?”
And then, Momma Yufufu started to chuckle. “I’m sorry for teasing you. You looked at me so gloomily, I just had to.”
Oh, that was the response of a trickster.
“I’m a droplet spirit, remember? So when you’re close to me, water begins to drip, it seems. That’s why you look wet.”
“Oh, phew. Then all the mysteries have been solved.”
That sure is an ability that plays on your sense of shame… I’m going to have to change.
“How about that! It’s not your fault after all, Mommy.”
“Shalsha believed you from the start, Mom.”
No you didn’t, Shalsha. You were trying to console me.
But it still seemed like something was on Falfa’s mind—what was it? There couldn’t be any bigger problem than this.
We ate the breakfast that Momma Yufufu prepared for us.
“We don’t want to get in your way, so we’ll go once we’re finished eating.”
“Awww. You can stay as long as you like here; don’t worry about bothering me. You can laze around in an empty room as you wish.”
Wow, she really feels like a real mom at home! I do want to stay and just do nothing!
But if I stayed away from the house for a few days, Laika and the others would start to worry, and we couldn’t have that.
“I’m sorry. We’re going to go for now…”
“Oh yes, you can come visit anytime.”
“Sure… We will…”
I’ll quietly drop by whenever I want Momma Yufufu to dote on me.
The taste of her homemade cooking really soothed my soul.
“Mommy? There’s something that Falfa doesn’t really understand,” Falfa said as she stabbed a vegetable with her fork.
“Yes, what is it?”
“It looked like you peed your pants, right? That’s what happens when you hold on to Miss Yufufu, right?”
“Apparently so.”
“When were you holding on to her like that?”
The food I was eating lost all its flavor.
Is this going to ruin her upbringing? Calm down, calm down. There’s nothing wrong with it. But it was true that I was also embarrassed to say it out loud…
Momma Yufufu sat opposite me, smiling in delight as I scrambled for an answer.
“That’s something you’ll find out when you grow up~”
“Don’t phrase it that way; they’ll misunderstand!”
“It’s nothing weird, dear. Adults sometimes want to be like children, too. I just helped her with that. Do you understand, little Falfa?” Yufufu said with loving eyes.
“Yeah! Falfa understands perfectly now! When Falfa’s nervous and stuff, I want to hug Mommy really tightly, too!”
She understands. Good, I’m glad.
I was truly relieved.
When we finished our breakfast, we left Momma Yufufu’s house.
On the way back, she brought us to the edge of the lake with her transport magic.
“Just come here if you ever want to visit again.”
I nodded—and then, in a quiet voice, I said, “Bye-bye, Momma. Take care.”
For the first time since living in this world for three hundred years, I had a momma.
After all, those three centuries brought me daughters—it wasn’t strange to get a mom at all. Yep, I was in the clear!
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