Chapter 2 - Decision (2/2)

I approached the water source and plunged into it, rippling the flat liquid surface. The water near the shore wasn't profound, so I had no danger of sinking, although that wasn't a problem at all to me.

Slowly, I removed the piece of the robe that enveloped the child and soaked it with water. I wanted to use it to clean the baby, who was still dirty with amniotic fluid and blood residues. However, since the water was cold, I had to use this expedient. After all, it would have been too much for the child to be directly placed in the water.

Although this method wasn't so ideal as he awoke crying from his sleep, I finally managed to finish the job without too much trouble. Then, I let out some silk to use it to dry him and then to wrap it up around him so that he wouldn't get cold.

Once finished, I returned to my den in the middle of the forest while the human cub had calmed down once it was wrapped in his silk blanket.

Arriving at the destination, I took a large number of fallen leaves and gathered them together, creating a small circle where I could put the child. Then, I untied the silk that bound my two eggs to my back and placed them on the ground next to the human.

I didn't know the reason, but the sight of my two eggs together with that human cub didn't seem strange to me; in fact, it seemed like it was the most typical picture in the world.

Fogged by this view, I began to weave a web around my position as I thought about what had happened.

'Why did I save him? He is human, after all, and I had no connection whatsoever with his mother. Yet, the thought he would die like this - enveloped by the darkness inside his mother, without knowing the outside world terrified me. The problem now is: what do I do? Humans will soon find out what happened and investigate. I don't know if this area has strong martial artists, although I doubt it, given the level of those people before. But the child needs to be with his race... '

Absorbed in my thoughts, I was awakened by the sudden cry of the child behind me. He had woken up from his sleep and was slowly writhing in tears.

With a start, I turned and ran to him. I immediately inspected his body to see if he was okay, but nothing was wrong. I, therefore, understood that he was probably hungry.

I slowly took him with my legs and carried him towards me. Then, pressing against my abdomen, I let out a substance similar to milk, and, with my spirit power, I brought that substance near the child's mouth.

Slowly, I let the liquid flow drop by drop into him, and soon, he became full and fell asleep again.

'Fortunately, he calmed down; otherwise, I wouldn't have known what to do. For now, I'd say it's time to go to sleep. Then, I'll come back to where the bandit attack happened to see if there is someone who noticed that slaughter so that I could leave this baby to them.'

Thus, the spider with a human baby and two eggs by its side fell asleep inside the thick spiderweb.

The following morning, the spider cautiously returned to the site of the massacre and laid in wait for the arrival of other humans.

It was around noon that she saw a large group of people. These had different types of iron armors and were equipped with various weapons. From their appearance, they seemed to be more mercenaries than soldiers of some army, given the diversity of their equipment.

They soon noticed the brutal scene in front of them. Since they were people who made their living making war, the view of this massacre didn't scare them, but the conditions in which some corpses were, worried them.

”Boss, we examined the corpses. This is certainly an attack by bandits on a group of merchants. But something must have attacked the bandits since we found a wagon full of goods. The bodies of the merchants show normal sword wounds and arrows. The problems are those of the bandits: they were done in half entirely with a single blow. Besides, there is the corpse of a woman with a half-opened stomach and an umbilical cord sticking out.” The soldier reported to the head of his venture company.

The boss, hearing this, frowned and dismounted, approaching the woman nearby the bandit's leader.

'These wounds... can it be the work of some spirit beast? So why did it kill the bandits and then leave the corpses? Furthermore, this is certainly a cesarean section; there is no way that a spirit beast has the intelligence to do it unless it is a high-grade spirit beast?!'

At this thought, the mercenary leader shuddered at the terror of such an eventuality. He remembered very well the stories he heard as a child about the ancient era and the war of the massacre, especially the infernal beasts known as divine beasts.

'No, no ... it can't be. The divine beasts have been extinct for millennia. Surely it has to be a human, and one high leveled too. Otherwise, he wouldn't have left the load. But why did he leave the corpses like that, especially that of the woman?'

Unable to find a reason, the mercenary chief stood up and told his men. ”Take some horses and tie them to the wagons. Pile the corpses of the bandits in one wagon and those of the merchants and the woman in another. We will take both of us with the cargo of goods.”

Upon hearing the order of their leader, the mercenaries set to work without complaining.

Meanwhile, inside the forest, a dark figure was watching them from afar with his eight eyes.

'It's a group of mercenaries. Judging by their actions, they don't seem to be bad people. If I left the child with them, I'm sure they would take him to the nearby city. Yet at the same time, I don't want to part with him.' The spider thought to herself as she watched the actions of the mercenaries.

She remained like that all the time and, even when the mercenaries had finished their task and were leaving, the spider remained motionless as she found herself unwilling to act.

Finally, watching the mercenaries disappear on the horizon, she turned around to return to the forest where she had her den.

'What have I done? What have I done? Why didn't I leave the child there with those mercenaries? Why is it so difficult to part with him?' Throughout the journey towards her den, the spider had repeated these questions inside her head like a chant.

Her rational side was telling her to leave the human cub among his kind while another side was telling her, for some obscure reason, not to let that child go. Finally, after hours of reflection, she made her decision.

'I have decided. It is useless to think about it so much. I'll keep him with me and raise him as my son. I don't know the reason for this choice, but my instinct tells me not to let him go. If this is the case, I will become your mother. But to bring you up in this kind of environment, I need you to get stronger. I hope you won't hate me for this selfish choice in the future. In return, I will give you all the love I am capable of, in the same way your mother would have done.'

With this, the spider extracted the same milk-like liquid from her abdomen. At the same time, with one of her legs, she injured her body and blew out a tiny drop of blood from which she took only a small fraction. Then she joined that small part to her milk-like liquid, which took on a crimson color and gave it to the child to drink.

'This will make you stronger, but it will mark your future. It will probably bring you a lot of problems, but I'll raise you to make you strong enough to solve them. However, as long as I'm alive, you won't have to worry about getting hurt anyway. So, for now, you will grow up healthy and happy, then, when the time comes, I will teach you more about the world and myself.'

With this choice, the child's future was marked towards the tortuous path of cultivation. If this was a blessing or a curse, only time could reveal it.