Olivia and Oliver were accommodated without hesitation. Food was set in front of them, drinks poured, and the settlement's residents gathered around like they always did with anything new.
"What are your names?" Maya asked, already settled comfortably in Olivia's arms having climbed up the moment she had the chance.
"Olivia. And he's my brother Oliver. We're twins." Her voice was soft and gentle.
"Tell me, how did Leigh find you both?" Elder Elka asked, settling them on the bench beside her.
"He... bought us. He came into our previous owner's boutique demanding a seamstress and seamster. She sold us to him." Olivia said it slowly, still processing it herself.
While the others were busy helping the new arrivals settle in, I brought Torra to the densest part of the forest near the settlement.
"Brother Leigh, what are we doing here?" He asked as I set him down on the grass.
"Just watch. Stop asking."
I built walls around a section of the forest to serve as the Weaving Tarantula's enclosure. High enough to contain it, but not to trap it entirely. If it wanted to leave, it could.
When the walls were done, I opened my item box.
"Come out."
Torra immediately pressed himself against my side and peered toward the box.
The tarantula's legs emerged first. Torra vanished behind me instantly.
"Brother Leigh, that's a big spider." He gripped my thigh with both hands.
"If you're scared, go back."
When the Weaving Tarantula was fully out, it found the nearest large tree and pressed itself against it. Twice my height, and trying its best to disappear behind the trunk.
"Make me webs. Or I'll kill you if you don't." I stared at it coldly.
Torra, still watching from behind me, tilted his head. The tarantula's behavior looked familiar to him.
"Brother Leigh, the spider's afraid of you, isn't it?" He slowly stepped out from behind me and walked toward the tree where the tarantula had hidden.
The moment it saw him approaching, it screeched and lurched forward.
I let my bloodlust seep out toward it. It whimpered and froze mid-movement, like a dog that had been firmly corrected.
Torra reached his hand out. The tarantula shifted slowly toward him.
"It's coming to me, Brother Leigh." Torra giggled.
"Yes. And if it tries to hurt you, even a scratch, I'll burn it." I said flatly.
Torra pet it. The tarantula, perhaps sensing that I didn't bluff, slowly settled under his touch.
Or maybe it was just Torra's warmth. It was difficult to tell the difference.
I let the two of them be and watched as Torra eventually climbed onto its back, laughing as it moved carefully beneath him.
"Don't drop him. Or I'll end you." I said once, then turned toward the cliff edge overlooking the settlement.
Behind me, the tarantula carefully coated Torra's waist in web to keep him secured on its back.
I started working on the cliff face, carving out a direct path from the settlement up to the mountain top. Going out of the gates and climbing the long way around every time made no sense.
A proper stairway was the more efficient solution.
From the public dining area, the residents watched the cliff side crumble. Rubble floated away from the farm without touching it. Then slowly, stone stairs began forming from the ground upward.
"Leigh's up to something again." Helene said, then turned back to offer more fruit to Olivia and Oliver.
Everyone had grown used to the changes I made, regardless of how large or loud they were.
When the stairs were finished, I installed lights along the railings, using iron ore from the cave and magic stones set every three steps. I added intricate designs to the railings.
At the top, a gate served as the entrance to the tarantula's enclosure.
Benneth came over when he saw me finishing up.
"Leigh, where do these stairs lead?" He asked curiously.
"Tarantula's home."
"T-Tarantula? The monster?" His voice cracked. He looked up at the gate with visible dread.
"It won't hurt anyone."
The way I said it made Benneth doubt it. But because I was the one saying it, he trusted it anyway.
So contradictory.
"Can I go up and see?"
I nodded and walked up with him.
Benneth went pale the moment we reached the top.
Torra was wrapped in web from the shoulders down, completely still.
"TORRA!" He pulled out his dagger and ran toward him, the mother tarantula looming beside the bundled child.
"You said it wouldn't hurt anyone. Look at this!" He was already cutting through the web.
"Look at what?" I said.
"Torra's... Torra's...."
"Asleep." I finished.
I walked past him and pet the tarantula on the head. The enclosure was filled with webs now. Soft, silky, smooth. High grade material, and plenty of it.
"You've already produced this much. Why haven't you woven it?" I leaned forward until all seven of its eyes were level with mine.
The tarantula began weaving immediately. Steadily, efficiently, pulling every available web into fabric, including the web wrapped around the sleeping Torra.
Benneth caught him as he came loose and held him with a long exhale of relief.
Torra didn't wake up. The softness of the web had apparently put him to sleep as thoroughly as a proper bed.
"What is it doing, Leigh?" Benneth stepped closer, watching.
"Weaving. For winter."
I reached out and felt the fabric as it formed. Extremely soft. Comfortable against the skin. The tarantula was working quickly enough that I stopped it before long, the length it had produced was already enough to cover three houses.
But when I looked at it closely, it was drained. Weakened.
I scanned it.
About to lay eggs. Malnourished. It had been working itself past its own limits just to stay functional.
Totally has long been abused.
Even if it was a monster, it had its own limits. Its own condition. Something I hadn't accounted for.
I was already having difficulty adjusting to human emotions. A monster's feelings were an additional complication I hadn't planned for.
I tried healing it. Malnutrition couldn't be fixed with magic, but its overall constitution improved. The eggs inside it stabilized.
I remembered seeing the mages at the count's farm feeding the tarantulas fruit. Herbivores, most likely. I teleported to the orchard and picked from the fruit-bearing trees I had replanted from the Abyssal Forest.
A scan told me the fruit's name. Glowfruit. The soft glow it gave off came from its mana content. Eating it would cleanse mana blockages and restore a depleted mana reservoir.
I brought a bunch back and held them out.
The tarantula ate from my hand without hesitation. When it finished, it sat still for a moment. Then began spinning again, quickly, eagerly, like something had been restored in it that had been missing for a long time.
I took the first batch of fabric and headed back down with it.
Benneth followed, Torra still sound asleep in his arms.
The others were still gathered under the Sequoia tree, the table long cleared, everyone now just talking with Olivia and Oliver like they had been there for weeks.
"Here."
I dropped the fabric in front of the twins.
Olivia's eyes went wide. She touched it carefully, turning it over in her hands.
"This is Tarant fabric. A single meter of this costs five gold coins."
"What? That expensive?" Favio reached over and felt it. The others followed, passing it between them, all of them immediately taken by the texture against their skin.
Soft.
Smooth.
Nothing like the monster skin tunics and rough furs they had been wearing.
"You bought us for this?" Oliver looked up at me with a direct expression.
"What else? You know what to do, so do it."
I turned to leave.
"We'll do it." Oliver's voice stopped me. "But we need tools. And a place to stay."
He said it without flinching. He knew what he was worth and he knew I needed him.
"List what you need and give me the details."
Oliver walked toward me, and the smile on his face wasn't the kind that pushes for advantage. It was the kind that asks honestly for what it wants.
"A house like the ones here. And a separate one for the shop. A spindle, needles, scissors, and a long work table."
He kept going from there, describing his ideal workspace in full.
I looked at him.
He flinched.
"Was that too much?" He shifted on his feet.
Olivia was already pulling at his shirt behind him.
"I'm sorry about my brother. Needles are enough. And we can camp outside if there's no space." She said it barely above a whisper.
"Gringo. Take them."
I walked over to Benneth and lifted Torra from his arms, carrying him back to his bed where he could sleep properly.
Once I was out of sight, Gringo chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.
"Leigh's just like that. You'll get used to it. Come on, I'll show you the house you'll be staying in."
Oliver and Olivia looked at each other.
They had only been here a few hours, but it was already clear that this settlement ran more efficiently than most of the capital they had come from. They had been bought without warning and brought somewhere completely unknown.
But working here didn't seem bad at all.
They both had the same quiet thought, looking around at what Leigh had already built.
This place was going to grow into something much bigger than it was now.
And they would be there to see it.