3 Witches' Forest

"Kuro, I'll be letting you out of the castle for the day, if you come back without being caught I'll give you a reward, fail and I'll bump up the training difficulty." A woman in a lime green dress spoke out in a cold tone.

A 15 year old boy with black raven hair with pink ends and hot pink wine colored eyes could be seen kneeling in front of a throne. "Yes, mother"

This was none other than the Witch Queen and Kuro, 5 years had passed since Kuro reincarnated, and as expected during the first year the queen locked him inside a giant golden cage with her saying "I'll get you to pull out your true potential." at first he thought he'd be here for the rest of his life as a trophy but that thought quickly vanished the next day when she dragged him out to train.

The Witch Queen refused to let him train with any other weapon if it wasn't a scythe, since he was her son now she was going to train him the way she wants to and make him use the weapon she uses.

If every day could be described in one word it would be hell, she would beat him near death without hesitation and use her magic to heal him back anew then repeat. Kuro was what you'd expect of young tenno, unrefined with limitless potential waiting to have its shackles broken.

The little tenno was forced to make risky moves in battle so he could learn the basics of Tenno maneuvers, at first he would end up going too far and crashing into a tree or the ground which ended up with him being berated by the queen as she continued to beat him.

She gave him no breaks, for the past 3 years this continued until he was slightly able to keep up with her, the witch queen was satisfied with the results for now and proceeded to teach him how to use lower magic that Yuno could do to make small gust of wind.

During this time the Witch Queen put Kuro into the birdcage, locking it completely while also blocking out all signs of light and sound from the room, she only left him the words "Focus on the mana in the air, until you're able to do this I won't feed you nor give you anything to drink, I wish you luck."

Mori kept insisting how helping on how to use mana without a grimoire but Kuro denied her completely, he needed to learn how to do this on his own, and with him having the elven blood or something like that within him it shouldn't take long.

And he was right, It only took a day for him to feel mana, so he just sat there and waited for the Witch Queen's next visit which didn't take long.

She was slightly surprised which was one of few moments considering she could look into the future, Kuro was able to use lower blood magic, the Witch Queen explained the basics of which was healing that could only heal scratches, weapon creation that had a limit of daggers and below, and puppets that only worked on creatures with little or none existing intelligence.

The Witch Queen spent the remaining 2 years training Kuro with small mana control and more combat training.

Now back to the present.

Kuro put on his cloak while walking to the exit, waving goodbye to his mother he jumped out the window and landed on a branch, this would be his first time actually exploring the witches' forest since he got here.

To others that never visited the witches' forest, the request from his mother, the Witch Queen, may sound easy but in reality, it's difficult.

First the guards, Golems that look like they're made out of mud with a frown on their face, his mother told him about these when he was younger called them monsters that go after children, and second all the women here detest males.

Kuro let out a breath he never knew he had and let all the anxiety melt off of him before jumping from tree to tree towards the town using the giant trees as cover, he stopped on a tree branch in front of a store, it had a wooden sign with the word 'Sweets' on it which grabbed his attention. 'Sweets? If I'm right then that should be a bakery right?'

Kuro sniffed the air, in seconds a sweet smell hit his nose almost making him drool a bit. 'Is this the reward mother was talking about? If so then I must survive!'

Kuro's eyes lit up for a moment as a creepy giggle left the branch sending shivers down the spines of witches that were flying by on their brooms, as Kuro stood up to bullet jump away his foot slipped.

Kuro was about to start falling but he quickly latched onto a branch and pulled his body up quickly to hide in the leaves, a few seconds later he heard a burst of laughter in his head.

'HAHA, what was that mister tenno?' Mori asked trying to breathe between the laughs.

'You ain't see nothin woman!' he yelled inside.

'Sureeee' Mori voiced smugly.

Kuro just rolled his eyes and bullet jumped away into the trees to explore the forest more, he was determined to not get caught no matter what, though he knew his mother was most likely watching him.

*****

The Witch Queen sighed looking at her son almost drool and tripping from a tree. "Idiot" she mumbled to herself staring into the crystal ball. "Hopefully you can gain some experience from this, It would be a shame if you didn't get your grimoire."

The Witch Queen looked at the crystal ball one more time before turning it off, doing so she stood from her throne and started to walk around the castle remembering the recent years.

She didn't care much for memories but the recent ones she had with Kuro were fun? Interesting at the very least which she didn't get very often, letting out a sigh she returned to her throne and awaited Kuro's return.