Chapter 1: Ashley, Chasing Her Dream with a Bow in Hand

CHAPTER 1 Ashley, Chasing Her Dream with a Bow in Hand

In a small city surrounded by countryside.

An old man, face full of suspicion, posed a question to the witch who had suddenly knocked on his door.

“Who are you?”

When I introduced myself as the Ashen Witch, Elaina, and added that I was a friend of his granddaughter, the old man’s attitude completely changed, as if those were the magic words, and he eagerly let me into his home.

I do feel like he let his guard down a bit too easily, but sometimes the countryside is just like that, I guess.

Or maybe he just had too much time on his hands, stuck in his spacious mansion.

The old man led me to the dining room and asked me where his granddaughter was now and what she was up to. I spoke honestly and told him what I knew. The old man quietly listened the whole time I was talking, then let out a deep sigh and muttered, “I see.”

Then the old man hung his head and began speaking deliberately, as if he was pondering the meaning of each word as he said it.

“No matter how much time passes, these useless regrets eat away at my body like poison.”

The area around his eyes was notched with deep, dark lines. He looked down at the tabletop, put his elbows up on it, and crossed both arms. As he took this posture, which looked just like he was giving confession in church, the old man slowly began to tell me a story from long ago.

It was a tale of useless regrets.

A sad tale about someone who couldn’t accomplish anything, despite not doing anything wrong and trying their very hardest.

“……”

The only thing I could do after hearing his whole story was change the subject.

“Actually, your granddaughter entrusted something to me.”

“What could that be?”

When things are tough, just talking is enough to make you feel better. The old man’s expression looked like it had more vitality in it than it had earlier.

Feeling somewhat guilty, I set the parcel down on the table and slowly opened it up.

Inside was the item that had been entrusted to me by the man’s granddaughter—by Ashley.

It was a shiny dark blue gemstone that the adventurer Ashley had always treasured and kept safe.

It was a special item, known as a goddess tear.

“…This is—”

The old man opened his eyes wide and looked down at the contents of the parcel.

Inside was the goddess tear—or at least, what remained of it. What had once been a precious stone was now debris, just a loose collection of glittering shards. It had already lost its brilliance. It looked like nothing more than some colored glass.

“I gathered up what I could, but…”

The jewel was in so many pieces that there was no hope of ever restoring it to its original condition, and the remaining pieces likely comprised no more than half of the original. What I had was only a portion of it.

It wasn’t really my fault, and Ashley wasn’t to blame, nor was her grandfather.

I was simply delivering the final product of those useless regrets.

A very beautiful full moon hung in the night sky.

It was lovely, but it didn’t seem all that bright.

Clouds drifted slowly across the sky as a cold wind rolled by. Whenever the clouds obscured the moon, the sky fell into shadow, and darkness enveloped the world. When the witch surveyed her surroundings, it was like she was sitting on the bottom of the ocean, and an even colder and deeper darkness spread out around her.

It seemed like the world was completely shrouded in darkness.

The witch tossed a single branch into the flickering flames. The fire, which had been burning continuously since she had started camping, crackled and popped, as if grateful for the new fuel, and the witch’s shadow danced in its light. Beside the fire, two freshwater fish were skewered on sticks. They looked about ready to eat.

“So cold…”

When someone is traveling, they are often met with unforeseen situations.

For example, take the story of a certain traveling witch. Looking over the map carelessly as she always did, she said, “Now, given the distance, on my broom, it shouldn’t take me more than half a day, I figure,” totally underestimating things before she departed, and then she promptly got lost and found herself in an unfamiliar forest as night approached.

In the end, there was nothing she could do, and she was forced to camp out, and now she was holding her hands over the fire.

The season was late winter or very early spring.

The witch let out a very, very deep sigh.

“How miserable to get lost in a place like this. What a fool I am.”

By the way…

This very empty-feeling witch, making snide comments about her own situation, who on earth could she be?

That’s right, it’s me.

Even my words of frustration faded into the dark of night. My own voice and the crackling fire were the only sounds in the moonlit forest. There was something romantic about the quiet night, but frankly, it was also a little unsettling.

When traveling, unforeseen situations can arise, and it often happens that these unforeseen situations beget even more unforeseen situations. Once one bad thing happens, a relentless series of unforeseen events often follows, almost like they were attracted by the first thing that happened.

“At this point, the best thing to do is just to wait quietly for morning, but—”

Well, most of the time when you say a line like that, something’s going to happen, right? It was only after I uttered those words that I noticed something.

Rustle, crackle—I heard a sound coming from behind me.

It was like someone was trying to cautiously approach me from behind. But in the quiet forest, I could clearly hear even the shaking of the leaves on the trees. I focused entirely on what I was hearing.

“Hah…hah…”

Ahh, a pervert!

I couldn’t tell whether it was from passionate desire or something else, but the person approaching me from behind had ragged, erratic breathing. As soon as it became obvious that it was not a wild animal in the bushes, I pulled out my wand in such a way that the other person wouldn’t notice.

Rustle, rummage. “Hah, hah…” The ragged breathing continued as they slowly took one step and then another, closing in on me out of the underbrush.

Against an opponent like this, how about I give them one good blast of magic after they get close enough? There’s no need to take their life. It’ll do just fine to hurt them enough that they never approach this fire again.

I gathered plenty of magical energy in the tip of my wand, and then—

—the moment they stepped out of the underbrush and stood directly behind me—

“Don’t come any closer, pervert!”

—I turned around and simultaneously fired off a ball of magical energy. Pew—the blue light struck home, hitting the person in the pit of the stomach. It sank right in.

“Guaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!”

With a fierce cry, the pervert was defeated.

“Heh-heh-heh, you underestimated me. You thought I was just an ordinary girl. But there’s no way someone would be camping out in a place like this without being able to protect themselves, is there?”

I, the witch, had a triumphant look on my face as I blew on the tip of my wand. Intoxicated by my victory, I peered down into the face of the pervert, who was stretched out, hanging over a bush.

“…………?”

It was a girl.

Her golden hair was tied into two bunches behind her head. She looked like she was about in her late twenties. I could see that she had cute features. She was dressed in leather armor that was pitifully thin. She had collapsed from just a single blow to her stomach, so the armor was probably about as durable as it looked.

There was a large bow strapped to the girl’s back. From what I could see from just a quick look over her, she appeared to be an adventurer.

Her hand was hanging loosely over a bush, and I could see that her fingers were curled tightly around several coins.

At that point, I thought a little harder about the situation.

Supposing that she was a pervert who meant to attack me, why wasn’t she holding her weapon in her hand? If she had threatened me or done anything with that huge bow, if I had been just a helpless young girl, I probably would have obediently thrown both hands in the air.

Why was it that she was holding money in her hand, instead of her weapon?

“Your…fish…”

Finally, after just barely managing to wring out those few words, she abruptly lost consciousness.

Ah, I see, so she was trying to offer me money in exchange for getting some of the fish I was grilling by the fire.

I see, I see.

In which case, I also understand why her breathing was so labored. She was probably traveling and couldn’t withstand her hunger anymore, and her physical strength was at its limit, too. And just at that time, she took a harsh blast to the stomach.

I see, I see.

“…Uh-oh.”

Oh my.

The unforeseeable situations just keep coming, huh?

When I held a skewer with a perfectly grilled fish in my hand and waved it back and forth in front of her, the girl whose name I didn’t even know immediately woke up with a shriek.

“Fish!”

As she awoke, the girl opened her mouth and lunged forward.

However, though she pitched forward, the girl’s mouth came to a stop right before it reached the fish. I was waving the fish just out of reach of the girl, who was tied up and bound to a tree.

For the moment, I was just relieved that she’d woken up. Feeling reassured, I greeted her. “Good morning. I am Elaina, a traveling witch.”

“…? Uh, ah, okay. Hi… I’m Ashley, an adventurer…?” Ashley answered me with a polite bow of her head, and I could tell she had been taught good manners. At the same time, she seemed to be a little bit of an airhead, because it was only after she lowered her head that she realized she was tied up.

“Um, why am I tied up…?”

That’s a very natural question to ask.

“Sorry. I have a good reason for tying you up.”

“Because you’re going to do dirty things to me…?”

“No.”

What are you talking about? Are you still half-asleep?

“First things first, I just want to ask you, how did you find your way here?” I asked, waving the fish back and forth.

“Um, I, well, the thing is, I’m really hungry right now,” she said, her eyes darting left and right like a cat’s, following the fish. “And so, um, I thought maybe you wouldn’t mind giving one to me—”

She had been trying to give me money in exchange for one of my fish.

I see, so just as I thought, I jumped to the wrong conclusion.

“So that’s what was going on…sorry.” As I apologized, I loosened the ropes that were holding her.

“Here, have a fish.”

I couldn’t begrudge her asking for a fish in recompense, when I had launched a fierce blow at her guts, even if it had been a misunderstanding. I decided to give it to her for free. The girl’s eyes lit up brightly.

“Huh?! Really? Hooray! Are you a goddess?”

“I guess so, if you can call the person who attacked you the moment you met her a goddess.”

“In my hometown, the word goddess is generally used to mean something like that.”

“What an incredibly twisted place you must come from…”

“It’s a bizarre land filled with rather bizarre people,” Ashley told me as she munched away at her fish.

According to what she said, her hometown was very, very far from us and deep in the mountains, and she had been traveling the countries of the world as an adventurer for the past two years.

“Wow, this fish is good… It’s been several months since I ate a fish this tasty…”

Ashley heaved a deep sigh. As the person who had grilled it, it made me glad to have someone take so much joy in a simple river fish.

“You must have had a hard time of it…” I could guess that the path she had traveled over the preceding two years had by no means been an easy one.

“Hardship is an essential part of any journey. If your goals are lofty, then the path to get there will naturally be steep.” Ashley answered me matter-of-factly.

Lofty goals, huh?

“What are you aiming for in your adventuring?”

When I asked the question, Ashley, who had been chewing away, swallowed her fish and, after a short pause, put on the listless smile of someone fully aware that they are walking a steep path and told me, “I’m searching for a goddess. Do you know any goddesses?”

She pointed straight up into the sky as she asked.

The moon peeked out from behind the clouds.

“Okay, so this is a fairy tale told in my hometown.”

Ashley told me the tale carefully and tenderly, as if she were telling a child a bedtime story.

Apparently, a tale known as “The Legend of the Goddesses” had taken root in the town where Ashley had been born and raised. According to the legend, in the region where she lived, the word goddess referred to enormous birds that grew vivid blue feathers.

They were said to be as large as houses. Their blue wings sparkled brilliantly, and the legend said they looked just like shooting stars as they drifted elegantly through the air.

“Sounds like they were beautiful creatures.”

“And that’s not all. It was believed that there was amazing power hidden in the bodies of these birds. The feathers that fell from their wings contained extremely powerful magical energy, and just touching one could instantly heal any illness. Their claws were blades that could cut through anything, and if their tears fell to the ground, they would transform into precious gemstones that concealed special powers.”

“Sounds like the birds had all sorts of really good things going for them.”

“That’s why the people in the past called those birds goddesses.”

“I see.”

“Oh, also, apparently the goddesses were quick to spew blue flames around everywhere.”

“Are you sure they weren’t terrible monsters?”

In contrast to their divine name, they sound like pretty fierce creatures.

“It requires remarkable determination to come in contact with one of those wonderful birds, as you can imagine. Just acquiring one of their feathers or talons or tears, any one of those, would be certain to change your life forever.”

“And so you’re traveling to look for one of those birds?” The more I heard her talk about them, the more confused I became. “I just want to make sure I’ve got this straight. Those birds really exist, right? You’ve seen one?”

“Not even once,” Ashley replied.

“……”

“Just now, you thought, ‘That sounds kind of fishy,’ didn’t you?” she asked.

“That is exactly what I thought,” I answered.

“I knew it. You made that kind of face, so I figured that was it.”

I’ve been told that my face is honest to a fault. It’s an unfortunate face to have. I pinched and squished my traitorous cheeks.

“But if you’ve never seen one, doesn’t that mean you have no idea if the goddesses really exist?” I asked, still pinching.

“Uh-uh. I can prove that they do. As thanks for the fish, I’ll show you something marvelous.”

As she shook her head, Ashley pulled on a slim cord that she was wearing around her neck.

At the end of the cord was a brilliant dark blue gemstone. It had been hidden under her clothing.

“This is a goddess tear,” Ashley said. “A precious jewel that conceals special powers.”

“Special powers…”

She said that earlier, too.

So I asked, “What kind of powers does it have?”

“You can sell it for a lot of money.”

“Compared to the feathers and the claws, that’s a pretty modest power.”

“That and, according to one theory, it’s said that just by possessing one, you will find true happiness.”

“That’s an awfully vague power.”

“And apparently, it will lead you to the whereabouts of a goddess.”

“So when it comes to seeing one—”

“There have been many hardships along the way…”

“You never have, then.”

I see, I see…

For the time being, I nodded along perfunctorily. Ashley narrowed her eyes sharply at me when she saw me doing that.

“Again, you just thought, ‘That sounds kind of fishy,’ didn’t you?”

“You could tell?”

“I sure could. You’ve got that kind of face.”

Nevertheless, she must have understood just how rare the creatures were, if she herself had been chasing them for two whole years.

I started to pinch and squish my face again, and beside me, looking up into the empty sky, Ashley said, “One day, I will meet a goddess. Because that is my dream.”

For a girl who was dreaming, her eyes looked rather full of determination.

It had already been quite a long time since I’d encountered that girl in the deep forest and had that conversation with her.

But no matter how much time passed, I had never forgotten about her.

Even now, I vividly remember that night when I first met her.

How strange. I wonder why?

Perhaps it’s because every time there’s a beautiful night with a full moon hanging in the sky, I recall the dream she told me about. Or maybe it’s because every time I gaze up at the sky while traveling, I start hoping I might somehow, someday, find the blue bird called a goddess.

“Ah, if it isn’t Elaina. Good to see you again.”

“Oh, hi there.”

Or maybe it’s because I run into her with some regularity at my travel destinations.

……

Maybe it’s because she and I are traveling around the same area.

The first time we met was several years ago, but ever since then, every few months, we run into each other on the road.

The second time we met was, if I’m remembering correctly, about one week after the day when I presented her with that fish. We casually reunited with the simple greeting that I recorded above.

Given that we were seeing each other again after a week, we chatted with some excitement at the time.

I asked her, “So did you find your goddess or whatever it was?”

But she laughed it off. “There’s no way I would find one in just one week, is there?” Then she sighed.

After exchanging some conversation basically along those lines, we parted there, both of us feeling like it was pretty unlikely that we were going to run into each other again, but at the same time thinking that we didn’t have that much to talk about, since it was the last time we would ever see each other. When we parted, I waved and offered an uncharacteristically generic, empty good-bye: “If we run into each other again, let’s go out to eat together or something.”

The next time I saw her was about two months after that, I suppose.

“Wow, Elaina! Long time no see! You’re alone?”

“Oh, hi there, Ashley.”

In a popular restaurant in a certain country, she appeared before me, waving her hand to and fro.

“That’s quite a rich way to use a table there.”

Apparently, the sight of a witch occupying a four-seater table in the middle of a crowded restaurant didn’t make a good impression.

“It got crowded after I came in,” I told her by way of explanation as I gestured to the seat across from me. “You could sit with me if you like?”

“Oh? You don’t mind? Thanks.”

I shook my head. “I was starting to feel ashamed, so you’re actually helping me out. I was just getting uncomfortable with all the looks I was getting, so this is perfect.”

And then, strangely enough, as if to make the suggestion I’d offered the last time we’d parted come true, we sat opposite each other and had dinner, exchanging friendly chatter as we ate. When I asked her if she had encountered a goddess, she laughed and said she still hadn’t found any trace of one. Her expression looked wearier than when I’d seen her previously.

After that, we went our separate ways. But when we parted that day, I waved and said, “See you next time,” and had sort of a hunch that I would run into her again.

And that hunch naturally proved to be true. I found her again about three months after that.

“You’re an adventurer, too? If you like, why don’t you join up with us?”

One evening, when I was roaming around searching for lodgings in a certain country—

—I spotted a group of suspicious men surrounding a single woman.

“Hey, c’mon, please? Let’s hunt up some loot together!” said one.

“Just one run is fine. Come on,” said another.

My, my, looks like a pickup attempt, I thought to myself. I deliberately walked right past them so that I could get a good look at the situation.

Immediately after I passed them, I backed up three steps and blinked in disbelief.

The young woman who was surrounded by the men, frowning in annoyance, was an acquaintance of mine.

It was Ashley, the adventurer hunting for goddesses.

“No…I, um… Well, you see…”

When I caught sight of her, she seemed to be in the middle of searching for an excuse to turn them down. But maybe she was bad with words, because her voice gradually got quieter and quieter as she shook her head at the men. “Really, I’m fine on my own, so…” Eventually, she was just mumbling.

The men put more and more pressure on her, and she seemed surprisingly timid.

“Don’t worry! No matter how we look, we’re really strong, you know? If you’re with us, you can depend on us!”

One of the men took her hand and started walking.

If you’re so strong, you wouldn’t really need to take her with you, now would you?

“Excuse me. That girl is traveling with me, so—”

As thanks for what she had done the last time we’d met, I grabbed hold of Ashley’s other hand from behind. I was fully aware that I was sticking my nose in where it didn’t belong, but—

“…! Elaina…!”

Naturally enough, I couldn’t just leave her there as she was being taken away by questionable men. With a tug, I pulled her from their grasp, and she hid herself behind me to get away from them and shouted, “What she said!” She was like a cat threatening them from the safety of her hiding place.

In response, the men gave us both extremely rude looks, as if they were sizing us up.

“Oh, what’s that? A pair of you? Then how about you come with us, too—?”

“Impossible.”

Then I immediately turned on my heel. I had stealthily readied my wand to shower spells down on them if they chased after us, but fortunately, they didn’t seem to be that stupid.

We left the crowd, and when we got to a quieter spot, I turned around.

Ashley looked uneasy. I found that funny and laughed in spite of myself.

“Doesn’t seem like you’re used to that sort of thing. That’s not what I would expect,” I said.

She hung her head awkwardly.

“I knew I had to turn them down, but… I also thought I might be able to get some information that would lead to a goddess from people like that, so I guess I felt like it would be wasteful or something to dismiss them… How can I put it…I wasn’t sure? Basically.”

“Any goddess you discover with guys like that isn’t worth finding.”

You’ve really got your back up against the wall here, don’t you?

I asked her, “Is meeting a goddess really such an important dream for you?”

“It certainly is. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be spending years as an adventurer, now would I?”

“……”

That was my fourth encounter with this woman, so I wasn’t necessarily all that familiar with her circumstances.

She was an adventurer who had left her hometown to chase after birds. That was about all I knew about her.

And so I asked, “If you don’t mind, do you think I could hear more about why you’re chasing the goddesses?”

“…It’s a long story. Is that all right?”

“That doesn’t bother me.”

It would be pretty anticlimactic if the story of a dream you’ve been chasing for years wrapped up quickly.

“Then how about we go eat together at the restaurant over there? My treat, as thanks for saving me.”

As she spoke, she took my hand and walked off.

My oh my, that’s all I could ever ask for!

“Looking forward to it.”

I nodded and looked up at the night sky.

Just like the night we had first met, there were clouds floating past a full moon.

She told me she had lived with her grandfather ever since she was little, just the two of them. Ashley’s mother had passed away soon after she was born. Her father was an adventurer who was hardly ever home, she said.

Ashley’s greatest joy was hearing the adventure stories from her father when he came home every few months, plus her training with the bow.

Her father returned home from time to time, always showing up out of the blue, without any notice or warning. He told Ashley about things he had seen and heard as he traveled the world. Stories about strange people he had encountered at his destinations. Stories about strange countries he had come across. Tales of business failures.

The various stories her father told her in the breaks between archery lessons were one of the few pleasures she had, living out in the remote countryside.

The tale of the goddesses was one of those stories her father told her.

“In this world, there are legendary birds that are called goddesses. Do you know about them, Ashley?”

“I do know about them! They’re terrifying birds that breathe fire if you get close to them, right?”

“Heh-heh-heh, Ashley. The truth is, that is not the true form of the goddesses.”

Her father spoke to her in a teasing tone. The girl took the bait and tilted her head in puzzlement. “Huh? What do you mean?”

Her father lowered his voice like it was a secret they couldn’t let anyone else hear and continued telling her about them.

“In the regions around here, people say they’re dangerous birds, but the goddesses are really very beautiful creatures—”

The feathers of their wings contained extremely powerful magical energy, and just touching one could instantly heal any illness. Their claws were blades that could cut through anything, and if their tears fell to the ground, they transformed into precious gemstones that concealed special powers.

Her father told her such a far-fetched tale.

They sounded like incredibly fascinating birds.

“Do birds like that really exist?” asked the young Ashley.

Her father nodded. “Your father is traveling in order to meet those goddesses. So I’ll be in trouble if they don’t exist,” he said.

Then her father leaned in close to Ashley again and showed her a single gemstone. “This absolutely has to be our secret.”

It was a radiant dark blue jewel.

“This is proof that the goddesses really exist.”

The jewel was what’s known as a goddess tear.

It was not especially beautiful, and it had a dull shine to it. But the gem had a curious appeal, and the sight of it seemed mysteriously etched into her memory.

After that, her father set off on his travels again.

That day was a turning point, and her father never came back home again. Never, despite years and years elapsing. Her father, the adventurer, returned home no more.

The days spent waiting for her father’s return were heartbreaking for the girl.

“Ashley. You mustn’t turn out like him.”

The girl’s grandfather seemed prejudiced against his adventurous son. As long as she could remember, whenever her father came home, he always got into an argument with her grandfather. They certainly seemed to be on bad terms.

“Abandoning your young daughter to roam about looking for birds that don’t even exist is something only a fool would do. Being an adventurer or whatever you call it isn’t something a decent person does. That’s not the kind of parent you should be. Are you listening? You need to grow up already.”

He must have talked to his son like that because they were on bad terms.

The girl adored her father.

Daily, she was troubled by the many cruel words her grandfather had for him.

The girl wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps and become an adventurer herself. As she became an adult, she honed the archery skills she had learned from her father at a young age.

Naturally, her grandfather, who was prejudiced against adventurers, vehemently opposed what she was doing.

“You moron! You should know better after I told you so many times! Don’t go becoming an adventurer! There’s no such thing as a goddess!”

Her grandfather told her over and over again to cut it out and wake up to reality.

At first, she shrank back every time he told her off.

Once she got used to it, she started arguing. “No way!”

Eventually, she started answering him with stronger words like “Shut up!”

Her skill with the bow improved with every full moon, and she progressed until it was said that there was no one in her hometown who could measure up to her. If she had that much strength, then surely she could handle being an adventurer.

Even so, her grandfather stubbornly refused to approve of her dreams.

“You can get along fine right here! Give up on chasing after some meaningless story and stop wasting your life!”

“I’m the one who will decide whether or not it has meaning! I told you to shut up!”

Before she knew it, Ashley was quarrelling with her grandfather almost every day. Her grandfather seemed to really hate adventurers. Or maybe he really hated the idea of Ashley leaving home and couldn’t stand to face the thought. Even when she just went out for a little while, even if she was just going into the mountains to hunt, her grandfather started butting in to say “Don’t become an adventurer” or “Adventuring is a bad idea.” At that point, his reactions almost seemed pathological.

Why did he despise adventurers so much?

Ashley whiled away her days in her hometown, harboring gloomy feelings.

And then one day—

She entered the family storehouse in order to organize her father’s belongings, who had been gone for so long and still had not returned.

She wondered when on earth he was going to come back home. She pondered how long it had been since he’d been back.

His many bags were covered in ancient dust. He had not come for them, no matter how much time had passed. As a way of remembering her father, Ashley put his things in order.

There were only a few items she had seen before. The majority of it she didn’t remember seeing. Undoubtedly, the stories her father had told her had only covered a small fraction of his adventures across many years. She found dangerous weapons and mysterious tomes. The storehouse was overflowing with things she had never laid eyes on before.

“My dad sure is amazing…”

Her eyes lit up at the evidence of stories that she had never been told from her father’s mouth.

“…?”

And then—

—among it all, one peculiar item stood out.

A dark blue gemstone that gave off a dull shine.

It was the proof that goddesses really existed, proof that her father had carried with him before. She was sure that nothing could have been more precious to her father, who had spent many years chasing the goddesses. She wondered what on earth it was doing there in the storehouse, covered in dust.

“Just what is going on here?”

Ashley immediately showed the jewel to her grandfather.

“What’s that stone?”

Ashley’s grandfather cocked his head and pretended not to recognize it. She wondered whether he really didn’t know. She couldn’t deny that possibility.

But there was another possibility swirling around in Ashley’s mind.

Her grandfather had derided her father for being irresponsible, even though the fact that her father continued to be an adventurer barely inconvenienced him.

And her grandfather must have also thought long and hard about how he could get her father to give up on his dreams.

For example, if he stole a precious jewel her father had found on his adventures and hid it, maybe her father would give up on his dreams.

For example, if he forced him to agree to stop being an adventurer in exchange for returning that gemstone, maybe her father would give up on his dreams.

No, I’m certain my father is a genuine adventurer. He wouldn’t give up, even then. He’d set off on a journey.

Ashley tried to remember.

The last time she had seen her father, he had gotten into a furious argument with her grandfather, the likes of which she had never witnessed before.

Why was that?

Why was it that he had never come back again after that?

It must have been because they had parted for good.

“You’re the worst. Did you really go that far because you wanted to confine my father to this house? Father just wanted to follow his own dreams!”

“A man shouldn’t leave his own daughter behind.”

“I didn’t feel like I was being left behind at all!”

“Regardless of what you think, that’s what it looks like to the rest of the world, with you at home alone.”

“You’re so prejudiced.”

“That’s how the world sees it.”

“And why should I care about the opinion of a bunch of rotten jerks like that? The countries my father told me about in his travel stories sounded way more appealing!”

“…You’ll understand once you’re grown. There’s no meaning in adventuring. It’s much better to stay in your hometown and—”

“No meaning? That can’t be right. More like you robbed it of all meaning, Grandpa!”

Really, her father should have been walking around with the goddess tear, traveling through the world with proof that the goddesses existed. Whereas now, her father was probably wandering aimlessly through the world, since his proof that goddesses existed had been stolen from him.

Ashley found that unforgivable.

“I’m leaving now.” She had been preparing for years to say those words, but they came out spontaneously at that moment. “I’m leaving this house, and I’m going to become an adventurer just like my father.”

Her grandfather was indignant at those words.

“You idiot! Do you want to be just like your father?!”

“That’s what I just said!”

“What meaning is there in chasing after nonexistent goddesses?!”

“The goddesses are out there for sure! This gemstone proves their existence.”

“It does not. Goddesses are nothing but a myth. Do you plan to waste your whole life, misled by that little pebble?”

“It’s not just a pebble! This is a goddess tear. It’s a precious gem with special powers!”

“Humph. The power to make whoever holds it into a moron?”

“…I’ve had enough.”

She could tell that no matter how long they argued, there was no way they were going to see eye to eye. Then, still holding the jewel in her hand, Ashley broke free of her grandfather’s control, energetically dashed out of the house, and ran away.

She ran frantically, until she could no longer hear her grandfather’s shouting voice.

In this way, her journey began several years ago, and she had not returned home since.

Just like her father.

The day I first met her, Ashley had told me hardship was an essential part of travel. But after she left home, her journey was an endless series of hardships.

Though she called herself an adventurer, she was also a country bumpkin who knew nothing of the world. And of course she had also never once in her life embarked on something like a solo journey. What little she did know came from the adventure stories she had occasionally heard from her father. The only skill she could boast of was her facility with the bow she carried on her back.

To state it plainly, she was an adventurer who was fairly easy to manipulate. She had a friendly face, and she was young, and she looked kind. And so in the countries she visited, all sorts of people turned to her for help.

“Say, you’re an adventurer, right? Actually, I’m in a bit of a bind, you know—”

In a certain country, she met an old woman who came to her to ask her to exterminate a pack of wild animals that was laying waste to her fields night after night.

“Certainly! Just leave it to me!”

Ashley readily accepted the old woman’s request. In her mind, adventurers were people who granted others’ wishes. Doing a good deed was, to her, a natural course of action.

“All finished!” Though it was a natural course of action, exterminating the pack of wild animals required substantial labor. By the time the work was done, she was exhausted, but even so, she still made sure to wear a smile. Her reasoning was that adventurers were people who granted wishes.

“Oh, thank you. It isn’t much, but here you go.”

“No, no, I couldn’t. I just did what was right, so…”

Ashley waved her hand and insisted that she didn’t need compensation. The old woman said, “It’s all right. Go on, please take it,” and pressed the money into her hand.

“Oh, I don’t know what to say. Is it really all right? Thank you so much!” As uncertain as she sounded, in the end, she accepted the money. She of course needed money to pay for her travel expenses, but for Ashley, who considered the task a good deed, it was important for her not to worry about receiving any money.

After parting from the old woman, Ashley stealthily checked how much money she had received.

It was three copper coins.

Allow me to give one example of what she could buy there with three copper coins:

Three pieces of bread.

That’s it.

—Seriously? That’s so little.

Suddenly, her real opinion flashed through her mind.

No, no, that won’t do. That’s not right. She kindly paid me money, even though I accepted her request without mentioning anything about a fee, so I should actually be grateful for the old woman’s generosity.

That’s what she told herself.

Adventurers had to do good things for other people.

But she also wanted money.

Ashley continued her adventure, carrying this contradiction with her. In the end, well, people were always taking advantage of her. Ashley was the kind of person who made an easy target for the unsavory types.

“Oh, Miss Adventurer? Did you say you’re hunting for birds called goddesses? Come to think of it, I feel like I might’ve seen birds like that before.”

In a certain country, an insincere-seeming man said that to her. He added, “If you want me to tell you about them, come help me out a little with a job.”

Ashley didn’t so much as question the man’s words, even though it was obvious that he didn’t know anything, and instead helped him with his job.

She hunted down beasts and carried bags. After she’d helped him with no small amount of work, the man told Ashley, “Thanks a ton! Here, this is the whereabouts of the goddesses!” and handed her a slip of paper, and then he left.

“Thanks, mister!”

She opened up the paper.

—It was blank.

“Hey, wait a second, this paper’s blank. What’s the deal? Hang on! Mister! Wait up!”

To make a long story short, he had used the promise of information about the goddesses as bait. In the end, the only result was that the man escaped, Ashley got nothing in reward for her work, and she wasted several days.

She wasn’t just easy to trick; she was also extremely eager to please other people and had the type of personality that led her to rush headlong into trouble.

If she came across a lost child, she would immediately offer to help. To Ashley’s mind, it was only natural for adventurers to do such things.

“It’s an adventurer’s duty to help people in trouble.”

One day, after running into her for the umpteenth time, I asked her, “What are you doing in a place like this?” and that was what she said.

After looking around, I repeated my question.

I’d come across her in a remote mountainous region, where everything was bare rock as far as the eye could see. She had animal flesh dangling from one hand, and there in front of her were some newly hatched bird chicks, crying out for want of food.

“As far as I can see, there don’t seem to be any people here.”

“You’re so picky.”

I watched her offer the food to the demanding chicks, puffing out her cheeks angrily. Their bodies were black, and they came up to about my knees. They were fairly big for birds, but they seemed quite attached to Ashley and chirped at her from the nest, begging for food. They seemed to have mistaken her for their mother.

“What’s going on with these little ones?”

I approached the nest and peeked in. The chicks immediately started shrieking in a burst of rage, tossing little rocks at me and vomiting and excreting at my feet.

……

Apparently, they hated me.

“What did you do, Elaina?”

“Nothing…yet,” I said. Then I decided to ask again, “Just what is the deal with these rude little birds?”

“They only seem to be rude toward you, Elaina… A week ago, I happened upon them in the course of my adventures. It seems like their mother has stopped coming back to them, and when I found them, they were incredibly thin and on the verge of death.”

“Huh.”

So that must have meant she had taken on the burden of their care, in place of their parents. She must have been returning to them frequently. The peeping chicks seemed to rely on her completely.

As she tore up the meat and offered it to the black-feathered baby birds, Ashley told me, “I’m staying in a nearby city right now, and whenever I have time, I come out here to feed them.”

“A nearby city…?”

As far as I’ve seen, there aren’t any cities in this area…

“How long does it take you to get here and back?”

“On horseback, it takes two hours one way.”

“That’s your definition of ‘nearby’?”

“Well, but if someone doesn’t give these babies food, they’ll die… Even if it takes four hours round trip, I just have to come, don’t I?”

“You’re very dedicated.”

“I’m just doing what anyone would do. It must be hard for them to keep waiting at home for a parent who’s not coming back,” she mumbled quietly.

“……”

She really is much too easy of a mark.

“How long do you plan to continue?”

“Who knows? I guess I’ll keep coming until these little ones are able to fly.”

She giggled jokingly.

Based on what I could tell from her words and actions to date, I was sure she was not necessarily altogether joking.

It just so happened that the city where she was currently staying was the place I was thinking of going next, so after that, we didn’t really even have to say anything to each other—we just sort of headed off together toward that city. But as soon as we got there, she started making the rounds of the butcher shops, searching for food she could give to the bird chicks.

In the end, she was just too much of a nice person. In all the various travel stories her father had told her when she was little, there must never have been anything about calculating profit and loss.

That said, even if that was the case, I could hardly imagine how difficult it must surely have been for her to keep on acting like the ideal adventurer she had aspired to become when she was a child.

“……”

Watching Ashley as she went around choosing bird food, I suddenly had a thought. Two hours one way every day on a horse. If we flew on my broom, we could probably get there in less than half the time.

Adventurers are always helping people.

But living your life chasing an ideal is hard work. Whether it’s in a job, or school, or whatever. You often hear stories about people who run out into the big beautiful world with a dream, only to find there isn’t a single flower blooming when they arrive at their destination.

And most people get used to the idea and keep on living even though they’re disappointed by reality.

“Hey, Elaina, which of these meats do you think the babies will like best?”

In a world like that, someone like Ashley, who kept on endlessly dreaming, seemed like quite a radiant sight.

It makes sense. I can understand why strange people want to approach her, to manipulate her, and take advantage of her. It’s because someone like her stands out.

“I think they’ll be happy with either one. Either is fine, as long as they get it from you,” I answered.

“Well, that’s a lazy answer. Come on,” she said critically and puffed up her cheeks, then once again fell into deep thought. “Hmm…”

I wondered how the rest of the world looked in her eyes.

“Well, fine then! I can just buy both of them.”

In the end, she gave up thinking about it and came back to where I was standing with a joyful smile on her face, holding two pieces of meat.

“……”

I had thought weirdos were approaching her to try to trick her and take advantage of her, but perhaps she had the kind of character that summoned those people to her.

From that day on, I sort of fell into a pattern of helping her with her hobby—that is, with taking care of the birds. It wasn’t that she had told me plainly that she wanted me to help her, but, well, I didn’t have anything else to do, and it seemed like there was nothing wrong with lending a hand.

“Hey, missy, I heard you’re looking for those goddess birds. Did you know there’s been a group of adventurers around here recently searching for the goddesses just like you? If you pay me some money, I could introduce you to them. Heh-heh-heh…”

“Huh? Really? Wow, thank you! How much?”

“Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh…let’s see, how much should I charge…?”

……

Well, I also stayed because I was worried about this girl who, say what you like, was far too easy to manipulate.

“Ashley, we’re going. You mustn’t pay any attention to people like that.” I dragged her forcefully away from the shop. When I glanced back, the suspicious shop owner was staring at Ashley as if he was appraising her.

Creepy…

“Hey, Elaina! What do you think you’re doing?! I was finally about to get a clue to the goddesses!”

But of course, I became subject to the offended girl’s protests after getting in her way.

“Any goddess you discover with a guy like that isn’t worth finding.”

Just like the men who had previously tried to coax Ashley to go with them, everyone looking for the goddesses had selfish motives.

At any rate, from that day on, I started to help her.

As for what we were doing, we repeated the same exact actions morning, noon, and night.

We went to the market, bought some meat, and delivered it to the birds. That was it. There was nothing difficult about it. There was nothing to think about. It was something that anyone could have done.

As long as they weren’t hopelessly unlucky, that is.

We left the city, and once we made it back to the bird chicks, Ashley began tearing up the meat she had just purchased earlier and giving it to them.

“Okay, good birdies. I brought you something to eat again today!”

The chicks hopped up and down in their nest like they were happy to see her.

Ashley’s face bloomed into a smile when she saw how they behaved.

“Oh no, they’re too cute!”

“They don’t look cute at all to me.”

“They’re so cute, I could just eat them up!”

“I think that’s a wildly inappropriate phrase to use when you’re talking about birds.”

Do these look like chickens to you?

“These little guys are just the apple of my eye…!”

Or maybe she’s experiencing some sort of maternal instinct.

Still holding the food, she reached out toward the next bird, and her eyes looked like they were full of affection.

By the way, in other news, the chicks seemed to be very hungry.

With great force, one of the chicks chomped down with determination on Ashley’s hand.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaahhh!”

Her screaming voice echoed around the mountains.

Maybe the bird chicks also thought that Ashley looked cute enough to eat. On the way back, I tried to cheer her up. “You all share a beautiful love for each other!”

When she ran out of extra money to feed the baby birds, she said, “Well, I am a master archer, after all. There’s no reason I can’t get some meat on my own, is there?” She forgot about paying for meat at the butcher’s shop and started taking the natural approach.

“Wow, can you really?”

“Since we’re out here, let me show you my skills.”

She said that and led me into the forest nearby. After hunting around a little, we saw that there was a baby deer standing by the water’s edge. Without a doubt, Ashley was excited to have the opportunity to show off the skills she had trained in her hometown, and from her hiding spot, she drew her bow. The look in her eyes was serious. There was none of the usual cheerfulness in her eyes as she stared intently at her prey.

Then she sucked in a breath, and the moment she let it back out, the arrow launched smoothly from her hand.

Plonk!

It stuck into a tree trunk.

“Awwwwww!”

All the creatures of the forest fled at once as she roared.

“So far, I feel like I’ve only seen the uncool parts of you.”

One evening, while I was eating a meal with her at a restaurant, I said that.

“Humph. Elaina, you just don’t know the real me yet,” Ashley replied with a haughty look on her face as she picked up the bottle that was sitting on the table and poured its contents into her own glass. “Do you want any water, Elaina? I’ll pour it for you.”

“No, I’m fine.”

I would like to meet this real Ashley you’ve mentioned.

“By the way, Ashley?”

“What is it?”

“That’s sauce.”

“Aaaaaaaaaaaahhh!”

The picture I had in my mind of Ashley was a picture of a person who couldn’t say no, who had been bitten by a baby bird she was rearing, who missed with her arrows and couldn’t tell bottles of sauce and water apart, and who boasted about how she naturally had extremely poor luck.

The way things stood, I wondered how on earth she had ever been adventuring for as long as she had. Through day after day of bad luck, she earnestly faced everything life set before her.

Supposedly, she had set out on her journey looking for goddesses. And yet here she was, suffering through the days, spending all her time traveling to see the baby birds, giving them food in place of their parents. Nobody had ordered her to do this; she was going because she wanted to.

As her days feeding these birds stretched on, she was sure to drift farther and farther from the goddesses.

After dinner, while we were chatting, I indirectly asked her about it.

I asked if there was anything on her mind.

“…There is one thing, something my father said.”

Ashley, whose eyelids were looking a little heavy as a result of eating her fill, told me with a foolish look on her face, “ ‘If you earnestly try your hardest, someday you’re sure to get the things you want,’ he said.”

That must have been why the troubled person before me couldn’t just overlook the baby birds.

“You’re too good-natured, you know.”

“Those words are wasted on a delinquent girl who argued with her grandfather and ran away from home.”

As she spoke, she smiled softly.

Not long after that, during a lull in the conversation, she fell fast asleep. Even though she was always smiling, she must have been exhausted, since she was also always getting roped into troublesome situations by people she didn’t even really know.

“No helping it, I guess.” I wasn’t inclined to interrupt her, now that she had started breathing pleasantly in her sleep.

However, apparently her bad luck was in effect even while she was sleeping.

“Are you the pair that’s been looking for the goddesses?”

……

Even when she’s asleep, weird men try to talk to her. What’s that all about? Is she giving off some sort of scent that summons weirdos to her?

A man with a calm demeanor suddenly appeared at our table. Without asking permission, he pulled out the chair beside me and took a seat.

“I heard about you from a friend of mine. He said that a witch and an archer were traveling together, searching for goddesses.”

He started talking all on his own.

Oh my, what a predicament this is.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have any intention of teaming up with anyone else to search for the goddesses,” I replied.

Actually, I’m not even searching for them at all.

“Are you sure? That’s too bad…” Even as the man said that, he showed no signs of leaving.

Far from it, he kept on talking in an overly familiar tone.

“If it’s goddesses you want, we’ve already found them ourselves,” he claimed.

“…What did you just say?”

Did I mishear him?

“I said, we’ve already discovered the whereabouts of the goddesses. All that’s left is to capture them, but in order to do that, we want at least one person on our crew with real power. So I decided to come speak to you two.”

After that, the man made us an extremely generous offer, one that seemed incongruous with his suspicious appearance. According to him, he was going to pay us with all the feathers and talons we could collect from the goddesses, plus a small monetary reward as well.

There could probably be no conditions more ideal than those for Ashley, who had so far spent her days unblessed by fate.

“What do you say?” the man asked me again.

“I’m sorry. I’m actually just helping her out—” I poked at the head of the girl who was fast asleep across from me. “It’s really up to her,” I said.

But she does have some seriously rotten luck, huh?

To be leisurely dozing away when someone comes to propose the perfect deal.

“Ah, is that so? Well then, I’ll come back when that girl wakes up—”

He was probably about to say something about coming to talk to us then, but the man suddenly froze, staring at Ashley in fascination.

Uh-oh, what’s this? Is this guy ultimately just another man attracted to her charms?

I looked at him distrustfully.

But the next word the man faintly murmured was something I’d never expected.

“…Ashley?”

He called her by her name.

His reaction to her was less like someone who had guessed her name right on their first meeting and more like he had known her name for a long time.

“……Hmm?”

Ashley awoke at the sound of the man’s voice.

Then immediately after opening her eyes, she gasped.

It wasn’t because there was a strange man there in front of her.

Just like the man, she also looked like she was seeing someone she knew from long ago.

“D-Dad…?”

He was the very person who had told her that if she earnestly tried her hardest, someday she was sure to get the things she wanted, and it turned out that her earnest efforts had reunited them in the end.

“As a matter of fact, we’ve known the whereabouts of the goddesses for quite some time now.”

According to Ashley’s father, who had been adventuring for many years, the creatures known as goddesses were not some sort of legendary beasts. Rather, they were totally normal living, breathing animals.

However, perhaps because they had such beautiful forms and special bodies, they were extremely rare and also very wary, and they almost never appeared before humans.

“There are many people who will tell you that goddesses are legendary creatures or whatever, but that’s a mistake. Goddesses definitely exist.”

Ashley’s father pulled a blue feather out from his pocket. The glistening feather was steeped in magical energy. I approached to take a closer look, and just being near the feather made me feel like power was surging through my body.

“This feather is endowed with healing properties, and just holding it makes healing from any injury much faster. Ever since I started carrying it with me, I’ve had basically no scrapes or bruises.”

“I know about that!”

This reunion with her father had Ashley understandably brimming with more energy than usual. From her own pocket, she pulled out the radiant dark blue gemstone.

“I’ve always believed they were real,” she said, clutching the jewel to her chest.

“…That’s—” Her father gasped. The radiance shining out from the gemstone was fainter than the light of the feather he possessed, but it was still undeniably captivating.

“Ashley, that stone, where on earth did you…?”

“I brought it with me from home!”

As she said that, Ashley handed the stone to her father, almost pressing it into his hands.

“…Are you sure I can have this?” Her father looked a little bewildered after she handed it over to him.

“What are you talking about? It was yours to begin with, wasn’t it? I’ve been carrying it with me this whole time so that I could give it to you if I ever saw you, Dad. So I’m giving it back.” She smiled.

“Oh…” Her father ran his thumb over the gemstone in his hand, as if admiring the texture of it. He gazed admiringly at its dark glow. “Thank you, Ashley.”

Then he patted her head.

“Oh, come on…don’t do that in front of my friend… She’s gonna laugh at me.” She blushed like any girl her age would.

They weren’t really doing anything that was worth laughing at, but it was just a little bit funny to see her trying to act grown up in front of her father, and I ended up chuckling quietly.

It was a reunion between a father and his daughter after several years.

That’s a pretty heartwarming scene, isn’t it?

“But you really helped me out by bringing this to me, Ashley. Now our plans can go ahead smoothly, starting tomorrow.”

“…Huh? What are you talking about?” Ashley cocked her head.

Her father said, “The reason I was originally searching for an archer and a mage to join us was because our strategy for tomorrow is going to require some forceful action.”

“Forceful action?”

What does that mean?

I cocked my head just like Ashley.

“The goddesses are not only highly wary, they’re wild and ferocious birds—in order to capture them, we’ll have to brave great danger. But we can’t attack too forcefully, or we might wound the goddesses. It’s very difficult to find the right balance.”

“…Hmm.”

According to him, the goddesses were very temperamental and delicate creatures, and apparently, even for how ferocious they were, they sometimes died from the stress of being captured.

“That’s what happened the last time we caught one. My partners and I caught one in a net, but while we were transporting it, it burned itself with its own fiery breath and died on us.”

In the end, they’d hardly been able to harvest any claws or feathers. In fact, the feather he’d shown us earlier was the only one they’d been able to recover.

“And you didn’t manage to get any goddess tears either?” I asked, but if the bird had been engulfed in flames, then I didn’t suppose any tears had been left behind anyway.

He shook his head like that was a given.

“Of course we didn’t get any.” Then he said, “By the way, Miss Witch, the goddess tears aren’t actually jewels produced when the goddesses cry, you know?”

“Hmm?”

Is that so?

“There’s no way tears would turn into such beautiful gems, is there?” Shaking his head, he kindly and thoroughly explained it to me in my ignorance.

According to him, the goddess tears were condensed balls of the goddesses’ very power itself.

“These gemstones were made by mages and adventurers back in our parents’ generation, you see, and they have the effect of letting you feign the presence of a goddess.”

“Feign their presence?”

“To put it simply, just by possessing one of these, the goddesses mistake you for one of their own and come to you. I’m sure that last time we caught one, if we’d had one of these, it never would have burned itself with its own flames.”

If that was true, then the fact that Ashley had the tear must have been the very definition of good news to this man who was hunting the goddesses.

At that juncture, I suddenly recalled how attached the baby birds had become to her.

“……”

But I wonder if Ashley is aware of the effects of possessing a goddess tear?

“Whoa… Who knew it had an effect like that…?”

She clapped her hands together, exclaiming how amazing that was.

Right, it seems like she didn’t know.

“Truly, thank you, Ashley. Thanks to you, my dearest wish is granted—”

Overcome with emotion, Ashley’s father pulled her into a hug.

He had been searching for the goddesses for a long time before Ashley set out on her journey. Now that dream was close at hand, and what’s more, the one who had made it possible was his own daughter, who had followed in his footsteps and become an adventurer, too.

For Ashley’s father, this had to be the happiest day of his life.

And probably for Ashley as well.

“…Yeah.”

She was no longer complaining about being embarrassed.

She was just hugging her father as tight as she could. “Let’s do our best tomorrow,” she answered him.

By the way, I, the traveler, was unable to read the mood even at a time like that.

“Where and when should we meet up tomorrow?”

From the sidelines, I said that if we were getting up early, I wanted to hustle back to the inn and get some sleep.

With a bitter smile, Ashley’s father, who had forgotten all about everyone else in the world, let go of Ashley and answered me. “There’s not any real need to get up early. The goddess’s nest isn’t too far.”

“Oh, it’s not?”

“No, there’s a nest in a spot about two hours away from here by horse—”

He went on to say that we should meet up in front of their secret base around midday.

When I asked him where their secret base was, he pulled out a map of the city and circled it. It was a storehouse right near the restaurant where we were currently talking. Apparently, he was living there for the time being, adventuring with his buddies.

When I asked him where the goddesses were, he warned me half-jokingly as he marked a spot on the map, “Don’t go getting a head start on us, now.”

“…Gotcha.”

I nodded.

“……Uh.”

Then Ashley, after letting out a single noise of confusion, clamped her mouth shut.

It became clear at that point that Ashley had the worst luck.

The spot her father had circled was in the mountains.

It was the same place Ashley had been visiting so frequently.

The home of the little baby birds.

The following day, before I realized it, everything was already over.

In the afternoon, we went over together to the secret hideout Ashley’s father was using as his base of operations. He and his small group of about four people total were all carrying old, worn-out weapons. There was a mage there, too. She was the only woman and looked like she was in her late twenties. The three men I estimated to be in their thirties and forties.

According to Ashley’s father, all of them were experienced adventurers who had been making money in the occupation, particularly by capturing rare animals.

It sounded like even for them, the goddesses were a tough fight.

“Even if they are goddesses, we’re just going after the babies this time. That’s because we need to play it safe after the last time—it’s really a huge help that you brought the goddess tear to us, Ashley.”

Her father boasted that they had nothing to worry about so long as they had a goddess tear.

From his perspective, it must have seemed like a miracle that Ashley was here now, in this place. That was why he was in very, very high spirits.

“What we do from here is simple. The person carrying the goddess tear will get close to them. The rest of us will catch them. That’s really all there is to it.”

Apparently, as long as we had the goddess tear, the chicks would easily fall into the net.

What happened after that was simple, too. As long as we placed the goddess tear right next to them, the chicks would not struggle. They would let us quietly carry them off.

“Now then, one of us has to hold the goddess tear and play the part of the lure—Ashley, would you do that?”

His eyes sparkled as he told us about his simple strategy. Then he placed a hand on the shoulder of his beloved daughter who had brought him closer to his dream. “We’ve finally made it this far, thanks to you. To honor that, I’m asking you to take on this important role.”

“……I—I will…do it…?”

Ashley was clearly flustered.

“It’s all right.” Her father encouraged her. “You are an adventurer just like us, so you can do it. As long as you’ve got a goddess tear, there’s no way they will attack you. Besides, if it does seem like they might attack, we’ll come help you. So won’t you please do it?”

I was sure Ashley’s father was trying to show his daughter how much he appreciated her.

He was probably trying to do something fatherly.

“…S-sure…okay…”

Ashley, who couldn’t say no, was swept right up into the plan as we headed for the baby birds’ nest.

When we got up into the mountains, Ashley stood in front of the chicks as planned. What unfolded then was a scene I had already seen many times before. The hungry chicks opened their mouths wide, chirping like they would for their mother.

The chicks definitely seemed to have mistaken Ashley, who had been bringing them meat every day, for their real mother.

“—I’m sorry.”

It happened right after she mumbled those words to them. The adventurers, who had been hiding nearby, simultaneously threw their nets over the chicks and captured them. Then, with practiced movements, they sealed up the young birds’ beaks, bound their bodies and legs so that they could not fight back, and tossed each chick into its own individual cage.

While all that was happening, the chicks did not once struggle. They very politely went into their restraints.

However, from the outside, the chicks looked pitiful, sitting in their cages unable to move a muscle. After the job was done, the whole way back, Ashley sat beside the cages.

“……”

She sat there with her eyes cast sadly downward.

Her father stroked her head tenderly.

“It’s okay. This way they don’t get too excited when we transport them. We don’t want these little ones to end up like their mother, after all.”

Then the chicks were carried to Ashley’s father’s base of operations.

The adventurers were thrilled.

Their many years of labor would finally be rewarded. Goddess feathers and claws were incredibly scarce and immeasurably useful. Especially the feathers, which were steeped in magical energy and even had healing powers. It was impossible to guess how many people might want one of those.

How wonderful it would be if there was a way to artificially increase the supply of feathers. Surely that would bring her such fortune as she could never exhaust for the rest of her life.

This was something to be happy about.

“……”

But even though she knew that, still, Ashley couldn’t truly be happy about it.

“Um, Dad—?”

Ashley, who was struggling to put her emotions clearly into words, spoke pleadingly to her father.

She seemed like she was trying to put together the words to question whether this might be wrong, whether they might be doing a bad thing.

“What is it? Cheer up, Ashley. Now we can make many people’s dreams come true,” he said with a joyful smile. “Isn’t that also why you became an adventurer?”

“What are you supposed to do when the dream you’ve been chasing after for so long doesn’t hold up to your ideals?”

After everything was over, she and I didn’t say a thing. We walked back to the same restaurant we always went to. Finally, on the way, she asked me that question.

The look in her eyes was somber and perplexed.

“That’s a difficult question.”

Unlike her father, who had looked delighted after accomplishing his goal of many years, Ashley was wearing an expression of despair. Her ideals and her reality were too far out of alignment. All the stories she had heard from her father when she was a child had ultimately turned out to be just fantastic tales.

It may be that people aren’t capable of living up to their ideals. Living your life chasing an ideal is hard work. You often hear stories about people who run out into the big beautiful world with a dream, only to find there isn’t a single flower blooming when they arrive at their destination.

And what should they do when that happens?

“Most people just get used to living with the disappointment of reality.”

There’s nothing you can do about the fact that reality doesn’t live up to your ideals, after all.

“The normal thing to do is resign yourself to the fact that dreams are dreams and endure as you live on.”

“……”

“And then before long, you’re sure to forget what dreams you even used to have.”

“…Seems kind of sad.”

“It sure is.”

“……” Ashley kept her eyes fixed on the ground as she asked me one more question. “What about you, Elaina?”

“What about me?”

“If the ideals you were chasing turned out to be incompatible with reality, if it was you, what would you do?”

“That’s a difficult question.”

If it was me, what would I do?

I pondered over what I had done when I set out on a journey, dreaming of the stories I had read in a book, and found that reality was not always nearly as lovely as those stories. As I thought back on it, as I searched through my memories, I spoke to her as if I was beginning to tell a tale.

“When it happened to me, I, too, did the same thing that others do.”

I was also hurt and disappointed by a reality that was rarely so neat and pretty, and then I came to terms with it and went on with my life.

“……”

Apparently, Ashley didn’t like my answer. Her expression clouded over even more.

“So that’s really how it goes, is it?” she asked.

“That’s really how it goes.” I nodded.

“But,” I continued, “I don’t think my life changed all that much just because it didn’t go according to my ideals.”

“……?”

She tilted her head questioningly, and I threw out my chest self-importantly and offered her the following insights.

“My dream was to travel, but I didn’t stop traveling or anything just because my journey didn’t go according to my expectations.”

“……”

“My dreams were the reason why I chose this path, but they don’t dictate my whole life.”

By the way, I did have my own doubts along the way.

“Was your reason for leaving home to find the goddesses?”

“Huh?”

“Watching you for this last little while, you’ve got a look on your face like the world is ending, but if I remember what you told me correctly, your dream was aspiring after those stories that your father told you, wasn’t it?”

“…It was, but…” Keeping her voice low as if holding back so that her father, who was not even there, wouldn’t hear her, she said, “But the things my father was doing aren’t in line with my ideals, so…”

“You’ve lost sight of the reason why you’ve been chasing your dreams?”

“I was thinking, what’s the purpose of everything I’ve done so far? At the very least, I know the dream I’ve been chasing doesn’t involve kidnapping baby birds,” she mumbled.

No, I don’t suppose so.

“I just don’t know what I should do.”

Ashley was at a loss.

“What do you want to do? What would the person you’ve been up until now do?” I asked her.

“……”

And she answered me.

By the way, I remembered one thing about her.

She was a good person, but at the same time, she was also a rebellious daughter.

“But wow, I never would have expected your daughter to show up with a goddess tear! This time, we can chalk up our success to a real miracle!”

After their great success, the adventurers spent the afternoon sitting around a table drinking. There was Ashley’s father, with his bow on his back. There was another man who was a swordsman, who clapped Ashley’s father on the shoulder, celebrating their recent accomplishment. There was one man with an ax who was quietly enjoying his drinks. And there was the mage, who was tending to her wand.

Altogether, there were four of them.

“Well, it might just have been a miracle, you know.” Ashley’s father nodded in agreement and said something a little strange. “Actually, I never told you guys this, but I’ve known for a little while that she was somewhere near this city.”

What’s this? We thought it was a chance meeting, but you actually knew ahead of time? Well, that just spoiled your emotional reunion, now didn’t it?

“What do you mean?” The man with the ax apparently had the same questions I had, and he pushed the conversation forward.

Ashley’s father said, “I heard about it from another adventurer buddy, that there was a young adventurer hanging around near this city.”

According to the stories, that young adventurer had golden-blond hair and a big bow strapped to her back, and she was traveling around searching for goddesses.

Her father had thought that maybe they could convince another girl searching for goddesses to collaborate with them—and had immediately tried to get her to join their gang. Then he saw it was Ashley.

He’d probably been convinced about who she was as soon as he saw her.

He had known his own daughter had become an adventurer.

“I was happy, and even more than that, I was surprised—because she was carrying a goddess tear.”

The mage narrowed her eyes as she said, “Come to think of it, didn’t she say you’d always had that? It’s the first I’ve heard of it.”

Ashley’s father waved his hand and denied it.

“No, the goddess tear isn’t mine. It’s my father’s.”

“Your father?”

“He’s already retired, but he used to be an adventurer—the very man who discovered the ecology of the goddesses. The goddess tear is something a mage helped my pops create.”

The grandfather who was so prejudiced against adventurers did, you say?

At that point, I suddenly realized something.

“Ah, by any chance, was Ashley’s grandfather prejudiced against adventurers because he was fed up with people trying to use the goddess tear to make money, or some situation like that?”

There I was, heedlessly cutting in to the conversation.

They all turned around, surprised, and pulled out their weapons. Since I was a sudden, unexpected visitor, I suppose it was a natural reaction.

“……You’re the witch who was with Ashley, right? Where on earth did you—?” Ashley’s father asked, relaxing his guard.

I pointed at the door, which was standing wide open.

How can you ask where I came from? I came through the door.

“…You have a key?”

“Sure, well, with magic, it’s…a piece of cake.”

“……” Ashley’s father responded to my casual answer with a big sigh. “That’s trespassing.”

“Now, now. Aren’t I one of the people who helped you catch those goddesses? Even if they are just baby chicks.”

I asked him to overlook my intrusion.

“……” He answered the flippant energy of my reply with a sour face. “So what do you need?”

“Oh, I just forgot something.”

“What?”

I pointed to the cages in the back of the room. There sat the pitiful goddess chicks and one of the gemstones that made them believe their mother was nearby.

How can you ask what? I mean both of those things.

“…What do you mean?”

Not a very clever father, is he?

“Your daughter is going through a rebellious phase at the moment.”

“Huh?”

Immediately after he let out that idiotic noise—

Whizz!

—an arrow passed right between us, cutting through the string on Ashley’s father’s bow.

“…Huh?”

He once again let out an idiotic noise, then the four of them turned to look out through the open door I had come through earlier, as if following the trajectory of the shot.

“—I’m sorry.”

By the time everyone’s eyes had gathered on her, she had already loosed a second arrow. This time, it sent the ax flying out of the man’s hands.

With that second shot, they all seemed to grasp her clear hostility.

“—Ashley! What do you think you’re doing?!”

Her father shouted, tossed his now useless bow aside, and drew his sword. He must have finally comprehended our intentions.

We were ready for this. We knew there was no other way this could end besides a battle.

The swordsman and the other man who was now missing his ax joined Ashley’s father, and they all attacked her together.

Ashley hadn’t even been able to shoot down a fawn before, but in that moment, she demonstrated incredible skill and precision. One by one, she calmly used her arrows to send their weapons flying as they ran toward her.

When the axman tried to grab her with his bare hands, she pulled away and dodged his attack, then used her momentum and the bow itself to deliver a hard blow to him.

Apparently, she’s going to have no trouble on her own.

Why don’t I go ahead and quickly retrieve the goddess chicks and the gemstone?

Taking advantage of the confusion, I snuck toward the cage—or, rather, I started to, when suddenly my gaze landed on something nearby. The various treasures the group of adventurers had collected during their ongoing adventures were sitting there casually. Weapons, wands, jewels, and all sorts of other things, every treasure you could imagine, were all just lying around.

Just like you’d expect from veteran adventurers.

“My, my…” I picked up one of the weapons. “So you’re already stockpiling items of value, huh…? Good idea…”

“Elaina?! What’re you doing?!”

Ashley’s voice came from near the door. Though it was subtle, in her gentle comment, I couldn’t help but sense that she was telling me to hurry the hell up.

Then, a beat later—

“Hey! You go stop that witch!” came Ashley’s father’s shouting voice.

When I turned around, I saw the mage very reluctantly trotting in my direction. Behind her, Ashley’s father was lying on the ground. It looked like his daughter had given him a proper thrashing with her bow.

I had been trying to take advantage of the confusion to steal the cages.

But I guess I’ve been spotted.

What a bother.

“Um, it’s going to put us in a tough spot if you take those chicks from us, so…”

The mage hesitantly pointed her wand at me as she asked me to surrender.

What’s this?

“Ah, that wand. By any chance, might it be the same wand that Niche used in The Adventures of Niche?”

“Huh, you know that book?”

“Do you like it?”

“Heh-heh-heh-heh. I actually became an adventurer because I aspired to be like the witch Niche!”

“Well, well, well!”

This is quite a fan we have here.

“But you’re kind of in my way a little bit, so allow me to confiscate your wand.”

With a spell, I sent her wand flying.

“Ahh! My wand!”

By the way, the wand that made an appearance in The Adventures of Niche was a vintage model made a long time ago. As a fellow fan, I could not overlook it if it was to get damaged.

To that end, even as I sent the wand flying, I hit it with another spell midair and adjusted things so that it drifted slowly and gently to the ground.

“Ah, so kind…”

The two of us watched the wand’s slow descent.

…This is no time to just be standing around, now is it?

I took the goddess tear away from the cages.

Once their mother—or the thing they thought was their mother—was taken away from them, the chicks started thrashing around so violently that it was hard to believe they’d been so still before. I untied all the ropes that bound them so that they could at least move freely within their cages.

All the cages rattled around loudly.

“Elaina.”

There was a voice from behind me.

I turned around again to look and saw the three men facedown on the ground and, in front of them, Ashley standing ready with her bow.

The arrow was aimed right at me.

Or rather, right at the goddess tear.

“Throw it.”

I didn’t think Ashley meant that she wanted me to toss it over to her.

As long as the goddess tear existed, the chicks would always mistakenly think their mother was by their side. As long as it existed, there would people who would try to use it in the same way.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course.”

Something like this shouldn’t exist. I want to destroy the goddess tear.

I assumed that was what she wanted to do.

I flung the goddess tear into the air.

“Ashley! Do you understand what that is?!”

From the floor, her father raised his voice to almost a scream.

“I know!” She nodded.

She fired her arrow.

“It’s just an ordinary stone, right?”

Then the goddess tear shattered.

“No matter how much time passes, unresolved regrets will eat away at your body like poison.”

In a small city surrounded by countryside—

—Ashley’s grandfather confessed the following to her:

“The jewel known as the goddess tear was the product of an accident. Through trial and error, I worked with my companions to see if there was anything we could make out of the remains of a rare bird, and in the end, we managed to produce that gemstone.”

Ashley’s grandfather, who had been an adventurer, had happened to encounter another goddess not long after creating the gem. “It was an extremely beautiful bird. It had feathers steeped in magical energy and talons that could cut through anything. I had never seen such a beautiful bird in all my life.”

The surprising thing was that the goddess that appeared before them perceived them as its fellows. They soon realized that as long as they carried the goddess tear, the goddess birds approached them without any caution.

After that, they started researching the goddesses.

They became obsessed with the beautiful birds. The more they learned about the goddesses, the more perfect they seemed. They were completely engrossed. And then eventually, they began to fight with each other over the goddess tear.

“After that, we naturally parted ways. No one should have ever possessed such a thing,” her grandfather said, spitting the words out.

That was his first regret.

His second was that he had told his son stories from when he was an adventurer.

“My son also turned out to be just like my companions. He was obsessed with the travel stories I had told him when he was young. It’s all my fault—”

And then, his third regret—

“I wanted to make sure that at least my granddaughter, at least Ashley, didn’t turn out the same way…”

But he hadn’t realized that hope either.

His granddaughter, Ashley, repeatedly ignored her grandfather’s advice. She ran away from home and became an adventurer.

And so her grandfather’s useless regrets had all been eating away at him.

Year after year.

“……”

The last time I saw Ashley was about six months ago now.

We returned the goddess chicks to their nest together, and I haven’t encountered her since—

“What do you plan to do after this?”

I asked Ashley this as we were finally returning the chicks to their nest. They had been struggling in their cages since the loss of their artificial mother, the goddess tear.

“What does it look like?” She turned around with a cheerful smile on her face, holding meat in both her hands.

“The chicks aren’t going to be as attached to you as they have been up until now. What do you plan to do from now on?”

“The same as before. I’ll bring them food and look after these little ones until they’re ready to leave the nest. I’m not surprised, but it doesn’t seem like I’ll be able to cuddle up close to them while I’m taking care of them, like I could before…”

She smiled bitterly while looking at the chicks, which were doing their best to intimidate her.

To Ashley, being an adventurer meant helping others.

At least, that’s what she saw reflected in the adventurers in the books that had inspired her when she was young.

Even if it turned out that the characters she looked up to in those beloved stories didn’t live up to her ideals.

That didn’t matter.

The reality she saw before her eyes may have contradicted those earlier dreams.

But that didn’t mean she was going to pretend all the days leading up to this moment never happened.

“After these little ones are able to fly on their own, I think I’ll go back home for a little while.”

“Will you really?”

“I’ve got to apologize to my grandfather.”

For breaking the goddess tear. For ignoring his warnings and leaving home. For saying awful things to him.

She would decide everything else about her future after going home, she told me.

“Ah, that reminds me, Elaina,” she said, after tossing the meat to the bird chicks from a good distance. “You’re a traveler, aren’t you? Do you have any plans to go to my hometown?”

“I don’t know where your home is, though.”

“If you had a map, you could find it.”

“Is there something you want me to go there to do?”

Even as I was asking, I had more or less figured it out.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like you to take my grandfather the pieces of the goddess tear. It seems like I’m going to be tied up here a little longer.”

As she said that, she handed me a parcel. The broken shards of the gemstone were packed inside. Then she handed me a map, and without even waiting to hear my answer, she said briefly, “I’m counting on you.”

It seems like it’s already a done deal in her mind that I’m going to visit.

“Well, if I feel like it, I’ll go, okay? Though I don’t know when that might be—” That’s how I answered her then.

I guess it’s been about half a year, huh?

As promised, I found myself passing by her hometown after half a year had gone by, so I gave the gem fragments to her grandfather and told him the whole story.

“So the last time I saw her, she was doing well. I think she’s probably doing well even now.”

Even though a dark cloud had hung over Ashley after the encounter with her father, ultimately, she had only been upset for a little while. After that, she conducted herself as cheerfully as always, so I was sure that even now, she was getting along just fine.

“Did she say when she might be coming back?”

“No, she didn’t give a specific time frame or anything.”

“All right—”

He must have been concerned for his granddaughter’s welfare.

“Well, I’m sure she’ll come back in time. So, you know, I think it’ll be all right—” I made this flippant comment as I looked out the window, up into the dazzling blue sky.

A bird that was every bit as beautiful as a goddess was flying pleasantly through the air.

Chapter 2: The Traveling Killer

CHAPTER 2 The Traveling Killer

“Hey. Can I tell you a scary story?”

Yesterday was the first time I ever heard about a certain bloodthirsty killer.

“It’s a famous story around here. No one knows what the killer looks like or how old they are. After all, there are no surviving witnesses. But they always kill people the same way. Before long, they started calling this wandering murderer the Traveling Killer.”

In a popular café in a certain city—

The girl sitting across from me was gleefully telling me the story as she stabbed her chocolate cake with a fork.

Her hair was long and black, and at her hip she wore a dagger and a wand.

Her name was Litta.

Normally, she was a traveling mage, moving from place to place with her two companions.

“Is that so?”

Now, as for how a traveler like her ended up sharing a meal with me, I suppose I’d have to call it a turn of fate.

If I can make an honest confession, often while I’m traveling, just on a whim, without any particular forethought, I line up in the queue for a popular shop. Standing in lines is a reasonable thing for a traveler with too much time on her hands to do.

“Your name, miss… Oh, party of one…? Just a moment, please… Um, may I seat you with another customer…?”

And then, after waiting endlessly in line, the host showed me to a table, which ended up being the table where Litta was sitting.

“Heya.”

Litta gave me a casual greeting, as if I was an old acquaintance of hers, even though we were meeting for the first time.

Then we each gave a simple self-introduction.

“I’m the Ashen Witch, Elaina,” I said.

“Hmm, Elaina, is it? Charmed. Those are some nice clothes you’ve got on.”

“Are they?”

“Though they’re not to my taste.”

“Excuse me?”

The one thing I could clearly tell from our very first meeting was that Litta was a pretty strange character.

After that, she told me her name and the fact that she was a traveler.

According to Litta, she was temporarily taking a different path than her two traveling companions or something. When I asked her why, she pointed to the cake she was just starting to eat.

“I heard about this from my traveling companions. Apparently, it would be a great loss to miss out on tasting this cake.” That’s what it came down to.

So there is a reason for that long line, huh?

After that, our conversation turned to small talk. But eventually, for some reason, she suddenly launched into the story about the killer.

“That’s a pretty disturbing story.”

“Isn’t it?”

“And I don’t think it’s the sort of story you tell while eating.”

“Maybe not,” Litta said, blissfully chewing away.

She must have been the type who didn’t put much stock in other people’s stories. After that, she kept right on talking about this Traveling Killer.

“I should warn you right now: The Traveling Killer mainly targets other travelers.”

“A traveling killer who targets travelers?”

Sounds like an extremely troublesome individual.

“The Traveling Killer’s victims are mostly female travelers. The disgusting thing about this killer, you see, is that they always steal all the victim’s clothes.”

“Steal their clothes?”

I cocked my head.

She nodded.

“They just rip the clothes the victim was wearing right off, just like that! Then they slip new ones right on them, wham!”

“I’m sorry, I don’t get it at all.”

The girl seemed to have a limited vocabulary, but I can tell you what she was trying to say. She was saying that whenever this serial killer attacked someone, they always removed all their clothes, then re-dressed their victim in a stranger’s clothes before leaving.

“So who do the strange new clothes belong to?”

“The previous victim.”

“……”

“And at the same time, the killer, until a moment earlier.”

“……”

In other words, the Traveling Killer put on the clothes of their victims, pretended to be them, and, when they got tired of their outfit, committed another murder, put on that victim’s clothes and posed as someone different…and in this way traveled from place to place. That sounded like the pattern they were following.

“They sound like an awfully dangerous person, if they commit murder every time they feel like changing clothes,” I said.

“You got that right.”

“But why go to the trouble of swapping clothes and all that?”

“I don’t know the answer to that one. I’m not an expert or anything,” Litta said. Though she speculated, “Probably they want to boast about their killings.”

“Boast about them?”

“This serial killer wants to boast about how many murders they’ve committed. So when they flee the scene, they leave behind a mark on purpose so that everyone knows who the culprit was. Then, as a keepsake of their murders, they steal the clothes from their victims. And repeat. You know how when you spot a nice outfit around town, you check it out like ‘Those are some nice clothes’ or ‘Oh, but these over here are nice, too!’ And then when you buy new clothes, of course you put them on, right? Probably, to this murderer, killing gives them that same sensation.”

“…I see.” I felt like that hypothesis of hers did make sense. “They’re a terribly dangerous person, then.”

“Right. That’s why I’m giving you this warning. If you’re wearing nice clothes, you might be a target—,” she said with a sadistic smile.

Apparently, the story of the Traveling Killer was pretty famous among travelers in that area. It was a tale of a heinous criminal who stripped their victims of all they had and posed as other people. The fact that they hadn’t been caught yet, despite this peculiarity of theirs being so well-known, meant they must have been quite skilled at changing their appearance. Either that or very good at hiding themselves.

Whichever it was, this was certainly helpful information to have.

“You be careful, too, Miss Witch. The Traveling Killer mainly operates at night. All of their victims have been killed in inns.”

Litta giggled as she told me I should be especially careful of anyone who came visiting in the night.

“Is that a threat?”

It’s an unsettling thought.

“There are certain stories in this world that you’re probably better off not hearing, you know? I think this story is probably one of those.” Litta continued to talk in her easygoing way, even as I narrowed my eyes at her. “I mean, after I heard this story, I was afraid to spend the night in an inn for a while, you know?”

Sure, yeah, I guess you would be.

“And it’s the type of story that you go out of your way to tell during a meal…?”

“I was also super scared when I heard it from one of my traveling companions, so I’m just sharing the misfortune.”

“What a troublesome story it is.”

I am pretty sure this is not a good story to tell while you’re eating, though.

“Well, let’s both be careful, okay?”

With a smile, Litta enthusiastically stuffed her mouth with cake.

The following day, I got word that Litta’s body had been discovered.

The city I was staying in that day was quite small, so it didn’t take much time for news of the murder to make its way to a traveler like me.

Litta’s dead body had apparently been discovered in an inn.

Just as she’d described the day before, she was dead, and her clothes had been changed.

She lay on the floor with a piece of cloth covering her face, her expression not visible. Her cold body was just lying there limply on the floor of the inn.

“Oh…Litta… How could this happen…?”

The person clinging to her remains must have been one of her traveling companions.

According to them, Litta’s two traveling companions had come to her room for breakfast, and they had discovered her body there.

The two of them had been off doing their own thing the day before, so the last time they’d seen Litta had been two days prior, and then that was it.

“……”

The culprit must have come in normally through the door and then left normally through the door after killing Litta. There was no evidence of forced entry, and the window was closed. The walls of the inn seemed thin, and even from inside the room, I could clearly hear the soldiers questioning the townspeople about Litta’s recent movements.

However, as one might expect, it wasn’t easy for them to find anyone who was acquainted with a traveler.

Ultimately, other than Litta’s traveling companions, I was the only person who had been called to her room for questioning.

No one had heard any noises either.

“There’s no doubt this is the work of the Traveling Killer—”

At a loss, one of the soldiers who had come to see the scene of the crime came over to me. I was the last person to talk to Litta.

The soldier’s expression was very gloomy.

“Lady Witch, I’d like to hear your story in detail, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure.”

On my way over, I had given an initial explanation to a different soldier, but, well, in a situation like this, one often has to tell the same story multiple times.

I agreed and explained it again.

“I just happened to be seated at the same table with her at the café—”

I started at the beginning and told everything in order, almost like I was establishing my own alibi.

“…Hmm, is that so…?” The soldier’s expression was still gloomy. “By the way, about what time was that?”

“…I think it was around lunchtime yesterday.”

No question about it. That’s an accurate memory.

When I gave him that answer, the soldier tilted his head to one side with a stern expression. “…How very strange.”

Then he said—

“She died the day before yesterday.”

“…Huh?”

The soldier said to me in my confusion, “She was killed in this room two nights ago. There’s no way she could have been in a café yesterday afternoon, but—”

Baffled, the soldier walked over to Litta’s corpse. “What on earth is going on here…?” He pulled away the cloth that had been hiding her face and showed her to me.

“Lady Witch, are you certain the person you met was this girl here?”

He revealed a frighteningly pale face.

A pale face, twisted in terror.

I was aghast.

“…Who on earth is that?”

There before me—

—was the face of a complete and total stranger.

“Excuse me, miss, I’m so sorry to interrupt you in the middle of your meal, but at the moment we are incredibly crowded, and—”

A waitress bowed politely to a traveler who was eating alone in a restaurant in a certain city.

As she ate, she lent an ear to the waitress and learned that apparently the restaurant was so crowded that they didn’t have enough tables. The only open seat they had was at the traveler’s table, which seated exactly two.

In short, the waitress was asking her about giving the other seat to another customer.

“That’s fine.”

The traveler readily agreed.

The place was feeding her, so how could she object to giving up the other seat to someone else?

A few moments later, another single customer sat down across from her.

“Heya.”

She gave a casual greeting, as if the newcomer was an old acquaintance of hers. When she asked, the girl sitting across from her gave a small, slightly confused bow as she said that she was a newcomer who had just begun traveling recently.

Indeed, the girl sitting in the seat across from her with the innocent face was, on closer inspection, very pretty, and she was wearing nice clothes.

“Those are some nice clothes you’ve got on,” the traveler said, looking the girl in the face.

Her clothes and her face were both very pretty and attractive.

“But what a coincidence this is. I’m actually also a traveler—”

Then the traveler began to tell the girl about herself.

Maybe because she felt a surge of affinity for someone in the same field, or because she was happy to run into someone who had been traveling longer than her in an unexpected place, the conversation between the novice traveler and the veteran traveler was livelier than expected.

Then, in the middle of their conversation, the veteran traveler said to the girl—

“Hey. Can I tell you a scary story?”

Chapter 3: A Conversation About Rain Between an Umbrella and a Broom

CHAPTER 3 A Conversation About Rain Between an Umbrella and a Broom

Rain was falling that day.

Raindrops poured down incessantly from the leaden, overcast sky. The whole world seemed to be swallowed up in dark fog.

“Oh, yuck…”

When I entered the restaurant, the sky had only been cloudy, and it was just threatening to rain. But by the time I had filled my empty stomach and left the restaurant, the world outside had completely changed.

Something about the pelting rain made it seem like it had been pouring down forever, and it didn’t seem likely to stop anytime soon.

I put up my umbrella and followed the road back to my inn.

I don’t really care for rain. It’s damp, and gloomy, and brings my mood down. But then, even if I spend the whole day reading a book inside, the humidity still dampens my spirits, and I just seem to lose vitality as time goes on. I get stuck lying on the bed unable to move, like a soggy piece of cloth that has soaked up all the rainwater.

Even if I’m not doing anything, it wears me out.

“I think I’ll go right to sleep after I get back today…,” I said as I let out a sigh, utterly unmotivated.

Lately, I hadn’t been able to spend much time leisurely sleeping at an inn, so surely this was the perfect time to get some relaxation in.

But the girl who was walking beside me raised her umbrella and looked at me.

“You’d rather sleep, even with me here? Well…!”

This dramatic display of surprise and sadness came from the girl, or rather, the object, that always accompanied me on my solo journey.

My broom.

Just as weapons will rust and become unusable if you don’t maintain them periodically, so too will magic wither away if you don’t use it from time to time. Especially when it comes to complicated spells like the one that changes objects into human form, if you don’t use them for a long time, you may forget how to do them.

Even if you do it under the pretense of polishing your skills as a mage, it’s important to occasionally cast a complicated spell or two.

To that end, I had turned my broom into a person for the first time in a while, and while she was transformed, we had gone for lunch together. I wanted to perfect the spell that turns Miss Broom into a person, to the point where I could cast it even in my sleep.

However, it was terribly bad luck that on the day I chose to do so, it was raining.

“Isn’t the rain nice? The sound of the rain drowns out the noise of the city. This downpour gives us a little moment of tranquility. I just love it.”

Turning her attention to the streaming rain, she stuck her hand out from under her umbrella and smiled.

“Tranquility, huh…?”

I listened carefully to the sound of the rain. The sound of the rain falling on the cobblestones. The sound of raindrops hitting roofs and bouncing off. Drops of rain plunging into puddles. The raindrops fell incessantly over the city, each making their own kind of noise. Then, just barely audible between the sounds made by the rain, I heard something that sounded like the cry of a puppy.

……

The cry of a puppy?

“Whine…whine…”

Suddenly curious, I raised my head. When I looked over, I saw a black umbrella that had been left sitting open by the side of the road. Under it was a single wooden box. The puppy’s cry seemed to be coming from there.

“…Must be an abandoned dog.”

As soon as I realized that, I headed in that direction. As I was a wandering traveler, I wouldn’t be able to do anything with a puppy if I did pick it up. But at the moment, I was curious, so I wanted to take a peek inside the box.

I hurried, just a little, as I trotted over to the wooden box.

Then I lifted the large umbrella that was covering the box.

“…I don’t really understand how someone could be so kind and so cruel as to heartlessly abandon a puppy and yet put up an umbrella so that it wouldn’t get wet,” I said as I did so.

Then I peered down into the box, but…

“……?”

I tilted my head to one side.

“Whine…whine…”

I could hear the crying voice.

In spite of that, the inside of the box was empty. Never mind a dog, there wasn’t a single thing inside it.

“Lady Elaina, what’s the matter?” my broom asked, trotting up behind me.

In the way she said her words, it sounded less like she was asking if I had found something strange and more like she was confused about what exactly I was doing.

Then she looked at me, saw that I was holding two umbrellas in my hands and tilting my head in confusion, and said, “It’s not the box that is crying, it’s that one.”

“Huh?”

I looked at the umbrella I had just picked up.

“Whine…whine…”

The umbrella, soaked with rain, was crying.

……

What in the world?

Chapter 3: A Conversation About Rain Between an Umbrella and a Broom - 11

“How on earth does this thing work?”

Mistress Elaina was immensely curious about the crying umbrella. It was a very unusual item. As soon as she carried it back to her room at the inn, she wiped off the rainwater and observed it from all angles while opening and closing it.

By the way, this is a little off topic, but apparently during an investigation, observing the outward appearance of something is an extremely important component of the research. Mistress Elaina told me that once. By observing how something looks on the outside, you can get a general understanding of what kind of thing it is, she said.

Accordingly, whenever Mistress Elaina was examining something, she always started by taking a good look at the outside.

When she was talking to me about that, I took the liberty of telling her, from the perspective of an object, “But even among objects like me, there are some who are shy, so please don’t stare at anything too hard.”

Perhaps Mistress Elaina had forgotten the conversation we’d had at that time.

“Where exactly is it crying from…?”

She tried poking it, running her hand over it, and patting it. She investigated every fold of the umbrella, going over the whole thing. The flames of her curiosity were fully ignited.

I was observing Mistress Elaina doing this when I suddenly realized something.

“Mistress Elaina, by any chance, are you unable to hear the umbrella’s voice?”

I cocked my head to the side, and Mistress Elaina did the same, like a mirror image.

“Its voice? No, if you’re talking about the crying, I’ve been hearing that this whole time.”

“Crying, you say? You don’t mean like when someone is crying tears?”

“That is what I mean, but…”

“I see.” It took me a long time to finally realize it. “So then do you mean that to your ears, the umbrella’s voice sounds like the crying of an animal?”

“…? Yeah, well… I’m hearing a crying voice like a puppy whining, but is that different from what you hear, Miss Broom?” she asked me.

It certainly is.

“To me, it sounds like an ordinary human voice.”

I nodded and looked at the umbrella.

“Ahhhhh! Stop it! Where do you think you’re looking?! Just who do you think I am?! Excuse you!”

Miss Umbrella was shouting at Mistress Elaina, who kept rudely slapping at her folds.

“By the way, Mistress Elaina, what kind of noise is the umbrella making now?” I asked.

“It’s saying ‘a-woo.’ ”

“It’s howling?”

“Is that not what it’s doing?”

“As a matter of fact, it’s saying something completely different.”

It had become clear that there was apparently a large gulf between my perception and Mistress Elaina’s.

“Stop it! A human like this shouldn’t be opening umbrellas!”

“My goodness. It’s crying out in such a sweet voice. It must be pleased.”

“It’s furious.”

“Will you give it a rest already?! Don’t think you’ll get away with doing something like—kyah! Stop it! Where are you touching—?”

“What’s this? The umbrella’s cries suddenly became more mellow, didn’t they? By any chance, is it warming up to me?”

“No, it’s furious with you.”

“Grr… I’ve never been so violated in all my life—fine, then. I’m resigned to my fate. Go on! Do your worst! Boil me, burn me, hold me over your head!”

“Oh, that time I could tell it was angry, though.”

“Actually, depending on how you interpret it, that time it sounded like it might be a little bit pleased.”

Mistress Elaina looked confused by my answer.

“This is all very complicated…”

I nodded.

“Many umbrellas have prickly personalities.”

“Sigh… Is that so?” Mistress Elaina nodded.

It was then that Mistress Elaina threw out the most basic of questions. “By the way, exactly why was Miss Umbrella here abandoned?”

Certainly, that’s something I’ve been curious about as well.

“Why was it?” I asked Miss Umbrella.

“Huuuh? What do you mean? I won’t have some broom asking me that!”

Interesting.

“It doesn’t seem to want to answer.”

“Interesting.”

Mistress Elaina mercilessly flapped the umbrella open and shut.

“Noooooo! I’ll talk! I’ll talk, okay, so stop that!”

Whoa.

“Well then, Miss Umbrella. What exactly happened to you?”

“Ohhhhhh… And I used to have such a good owner, too… Now this weird woman is messing with me…”

“What did she say?”

“Now she’s really crying.”

The drops of water that had been clinging to the umbrella were shaken loose by all the flapping and spattered onto the floor.

“Were those tears the whole time?”

Mistress Elaina folded Miss Umbrella up in a hurry, and she began her story.

Miss Umbrella loved rainy days.

That was really only natural, since they were the days when umbrellas got to be more active. She had been created in a well-established umbrella shop, so she was like a young lady from a good family. Every time a rainy day came around, she would feel a thrill as she gazed out the window from the back of the shop, and she quietly spoke to the craftsmen who were making other umbrellas.

“Ah, how delightful, how delightful! Just what kind of wonderful person is going to come and buy me, I wonder? Say, old man, what kind of person do you think it will be?”

Her handle was made using a tree from the forest. The umbrella, who had remained unsold for many years, tried to speak up. Objects that have been used for a long time are sometimes endowed with mysterious powers, as we know.

One of the craftsmen turned around to look at her and said, “Huh? Whassat? Thought I heard some kinda weird noise comin’ from that umbrella. That one’s pretty old, too… We can’t sell somethin’ like that. Okay, guess I’ll toss it.”

“Huh?”

The next day, she was discarded as a piece of unburnable garbage. Nobody could hear her voice.

“Well, if we’re being honest, an umbrella making weird noises in the back of a shop would be creepy.” Mistress Elaina made a very sound argument.

“Please stop that, Mistress Elaina. In some cases, a sound argument can seem more like harassment.”

Let’s get back to the story.

The umbrella, which had been thrown away as a piece of unburnable garbage, looked up at the sky from the dumpster, overcome with sorrow.

She looked up at the leaden sky.

Ah—would her life end there, in a place like that? Unused, in a complete reversal for a young lady from a good family? A victim of life’s vicissitudes? She was stunned by the magnitude of her fall from grace.

Then the rain began to pour.

The rain mercilessly soaked her whole body.

It was at that very moment that something happened.

“Ah man, this sudden rain…how annoying—”

A man just happened to pass her by.

The man suddenly spotted her. “Oh! Didn’t expect to find an umbrella here. Lucky me!” He picked her up.

“Kyah! You pushy man…!” The young lady from a good family was surprised and embarrassed when the man suddenly opened her. “Stop that right now, you insolent fellow! I am not some cheap umbrella to be opened by the likes of you!”

Even as she said that, in fact as she was speaking, she felt a definite throbbing in her chest.

“Why…why is my heart pounding like this…?”

She was prone to romance, and she had immediately fallen in love.

After hearing her story up to that point, I asked the umbrella a question.

“Does that mean he was your owner?”

She shook her head.

“No, he was the first man I ever knew.”

“The first man?”

As her words suggested, although she fell in love with him, ultimately, her relationship with that first man soon reached its end.

“After that, he went into a café, and he left me right there in the restaurant’s umbrella stand…”

My goodness.

“What a cruel man he was.”

But why was she abandoned?

“Anyway, I didn’t want to be abandoned, so as soon as the man picked me up, I started talking and didn’t stop, but he said, ‘Ew. What’s up with this umbrella?! It’s creepin’ me out!’ and I was discarded.”

“I see, so there was a justifiable reason why you were thrown away?”

“That’s so mean! How can you say that?!”

Sob, sob, sob, sob.

Miss Umbrella started crying again. Mistress Elaina got a little frustrated—“Not when I just wiped you off earlier…”—and mopped up the floor with a rag, her cheeks puffed out in irritation.

Miss Umbrella kept right on spilling tears down onto Mistress Elaina.

“It ended just like that with the first man I ever knew… You know, he never even took me to his house…”

Her first relationship with a man was over quickly, like nothing more than a passing shower, she said.

“Isn’t that awful…? And it was my first time, too…”

Well, let’s leave discussions of first times or whatever aside.

“What happened after that?” I prompted her to continue her story.

According to her, after that—she was passed around to many different owners.

“After that, I passed through the hands of all sorts of different people, men and women alike…” There’s probably nothing in this world as easily stolen as an umbrella. For some reason, people don’t tend to consider it a crime to take another person’s umbrella when it’s pouring rain outside.

As a result, she found herself drifting back and forth between the side of the road and various umbrella stands.

“Jeez… Sudden showers are such a pain…”

The umbrella’s second owner was a young woman. “Ohhh, normally I would have the boys hold up umbrellas for me, but…” According to Miss Umbrella, the woman was the vulgar sort who regularly went through all sorts of different men, one after another.

“Well, it’s a little dirty, but I guess this umbrella will work.”

The young woman picked up the umbrella and opened it.

“Grrrrrr!”

Miss Umbrella blew her top. Frankly speaking, the young woman and the umbrella were not at all compatible.

“Gyaaahhh! The umbrella talked!” The young woman thrust Miss Umbrella into the umbrella stand of a neighborhood café and dashed home as fast as she could in the rain.

“Tch! Serves you right!” the umbrella spit from the umbrella stand.

After that, it was only a few minutes before she was claimed by another person.

Her next owner was a man whose attire suggested he had a very high annual income.

“Uh-oh. A sudden shower, huh? That’s awfully inconvenient.”

The man, who had just come out of the café, turned his palm up toward the sky, caught a few raindrops, and sighed.

“But it would be a real loss for the world if I were to get wet.”

This dainty, genteel man boldly stole the umbrella, just as if it had been his own to begin with.

“Kyah…! You pushy man—”

Miss Umbrella was thrilled. He looked like he was well-off, and he showed his humanity by taking her with him at just the right moment, which really pushed Miss Umbrella’s buttons, she said. It’s hard to describe the feeling of hearing an object that you only just met tell you about its romantic preferences.

It sounded like her relationship with this attractive fellow continued for a little while, but according to Miss Umbrella, the man was horribly abusive.

“Tell me, where are you taking me today?” asked the girl under the umbrella.

Even though the pretty man had Miss Umbrella’s companionship, he nevertheless allowed another woman to stand underneath her!

“Where do you want to go? We can go anywhere you like.”

“Do you like me?”

“Of course! You’re the best.”

“Oh, you! You must say that to all the girls.”

The woman smacked at the pretty man’s shoulder, looking not entirely displeased.

Several days later—

The man had let another woman under the umbrella and whispered to her, “You’re the best…”

Even I thought the man in her story was scum.

The pretty man already had a favorite girl, but by confiding in them and showing them that he was vulnerable by saying things like “Things haven’t been going so well with my girlfriend recently…,” he awakened the maternal instincts in the other women and went through them one after the other. Perhaps because he was easily able to pick up women, and just as easily able to discard them, every time he went out, there was a different girl underneath Miss Umbrella.

He let many people underneath Miss Umbrella.

Then suddenly, one day after about three weeks had gone by, he discarded her. Miss Umbrella, who had been sadly discarded for a variety of different reasons, was once again simply an abandoned object.

She was left behind at a café, just like when they had met.

And after that, she was passed between different people again. One day, it was a middle-aged man. Another day, a young girl. One day, an old man, the next day, an old woman.

Many people walked around holding her overhead.

It was all temporary, just long enough to keep them out of the rain.

“Heh-heh… And so you see, I have already been sullied by many people’s hands…,” she said, laughing in a self-deprecating way. I decided to ignore her questionable remark.

“So then, when did you meet your current owner?”

“How lovely of you to ask!”

Her voice leaped with excitement.

“Mnh, mnh…” And just at that moment, Mistress Elaina began breathing deeply in her sleep. The story was long, and she was tired, plus she hadn’t been sleeping very well for the past few days, so I suppose it was inevitable.

According to Miss Umbrella, the encounter with her current owner had been a true stroke of fate.

It was raining that day, and she was waiting by the side of the road where her previous owner had abandoned her.

Just like the day when she had first been thrown out.

“Whine…whine…”

She had been sorrowfully weeping.

Every time it rains, I spend the whole day being passed from person to person. What on earth am I doing with my life? It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

She no longer had any pride in herself as a glamorous umbrella.

She wondered if this treatment would continue for the rest of her life—and as she was thinking such thoughts, her tears never ceased.

But then, on that day, another stranger picked her up.

“Man. Sudden rain showers sure do suck.”

It was a young boy, only about ten years old.

She cried out, “Oh, how miserable…! In the end, even a child has picked me up…! I can’t believe it, a glamorous umbrella like me! I’ve fallen as far as I can fall!”

She grieved and moaned. From the boy’s perspective, her laments must have sounded like nothing more than some strange noises, or maybe the crying of a puppy dog.

But at any rate, the boy didn’t seem to listen to her voice at all.

“Wow! This umbrella is super cool!”

The black umbrella opened with a thwap in the falling rain.

“Humph. I’m a high-quality, glamorous umbrella, you know? It’s only natural that I should be ‘cool,’ or however you put it. What’s wrong with this child…?”

Even as she grumbled her complaints, the umbrella protected the boy from the rain so that he wouldn’t get wet.

The boy was in a good mood as he walked through the rain.

“I’m sure this boy is just going to throw me away in the end like all the others…”

She no longer felt any joy when someone picked her up. Instead, she thought about how many people had abandoned her so far.

This child will throw me away in any case. I make myself miserable by getting my hopes up.

She had even stopped crying out as she had before. She had been reduced to nothing more than an ordinary umbrella.

“I’m home!” As soon as the young boy got home, he took the umbrella straight into the bathroom. “You got real dirty in the rain, huh? I’ve got to clean you up proper.”

The boy rinsed away the raindrops that were clinging to the umbrella with clean water and then dried her off in his room.

The filth that had clung to Miss Umbrella for so long was washed away.

“Hmm… He’s quite perceptive for a child…when it comes to umbrella care.”

As impressed as she was, Miss Umbrella still cautioned herself, “This child is going to throw me away in the end. He’s definitely going to throw me away. I mustn’t have any expectations—”

But the boy was quite an eccentric child.

“Wow, it really is super cool, huh…?”

The boy gazed ecstatically at Miss Umbrella once she was dried off in his room. He must have had a lot of time on his hands, because after that, he spent a while drawing a sketch of Miss Umbrella. Then when night fell, he went to sleep cradling her in his arms.

“What’s with this boy…?”

And the boy’s strange behavior didn’t stop there. The boy seemed extremely taken with Miss Umbrella.

He woke up in the mornings holding her. Then the whole way to school, he had a one-sided conversation with Miss Umbrella. And later, when he came back to get her, he talked to her about what had happened during the school day.

Miss Umbrella told me she was really bewildered by this turn of events, which was unlike anything she had experienced in her life before. I believed she was. I was bewildered just hearing it.

Nonetheless, the boy was only ten.

It is a sensitive age.

Sometimes when people are young, completely ordinary objects become valuable treasures to them. Surely, to that boy, this scavenged umbrella was exactly such an object.

But Miss Umbrella had completely lost her ability to trust people.

Because she was always discarded in the end.

“Heh-heh-heh, Miss Umbrella, listen to this. Today, you know what? I got praised by my teacher at school! Why do you think that was? It was because my grades are really good!” The boy threw out his chest proudly.

Will it be one week, or two, or maybe just one day?

At some point, I know this child will get bored with me, like all the others—

“Miss Umbrella, I have today off school, so let’s go out somewhere together!”

However, whenever the boy had spare time, he took Miss Umbrella around with him.

“Let’s go to the library today!”

They were always together on his days off.

“It’s raining! Now’s your time to shine!”

On rainy days, they would go out with no destination in mind.

“Aw man, won’t it ever rain? I wanna put my umbrella up already.”

On sunny days, he waited impatiently for rain.

“Every day has been so much fun since I picked you up, Miss Umbrella.”

Even so, she was certain he would get bored of her before long, so she stayed silent.

“I wish it would just rain forever.”

But she gradually came to trust the boy, who always spoke to her with a smile on his face.

And so the time she spent alone with the boy continued right along.

A week before Mistress Elaina and I encountered her—

“Yay! Finally some rain!”

That boy was as restless to get out into the depressing, pouring rain as anyone else would be on a bright, sunny day.

To him, rain was shine.

“Miss Umbrella, where should we go today?”

It was his first day off in a long time. The boy carefully put his dear umbrella up and took a walk around town.

Before she knew it, the umbrella began to feel like she wanted to reciprocate the boy’s feelings.

“……”

She thought about where she might like to go.

Though she knew for certain that even if she spoke words, they wouldn’t reach the boy’s ears, she still told him, “Anywhere is fine.”

That was honestly how she felt. “As long as it’s someplace where I’m keeping you out of the rain as an umbrella should, anywhere will do—”

That was her most cherished desire as an object.

All she wanted was for someone to take very good care of her, for a long, long time, and make good use of her.

She wondered if her sentiment made it through to the boy.

She knew that her words must have sounded like weird noises to him. Just like they always did.

“……”

The boy was silent.

Ah, I knew it, he’s withdrawn from me because I made a strange noise—, she thought despondently.

“—Huh? What’re you doin’ here?”

However, none of her words, or rather, noises, had made it to his ears in the first place.

“You’re in an awful good mood today, when you’re so quiet at school.”

Right in front of the boy stood three other boys who were about the same height.

“Ah, uh…”

The energy the boy had shown just a moment earlier abruptly vanished. He fell into silence, almost like he was a different person entirely.

The side of him that was always cheerfully chattering to Miss Umbrella was nowhere to be seen.

“Huh, what’s with that umbrella?! It’s so old-fashioned! Don’cha have your own umbrella?”

“Ah, uh…well…” The boy grasped Miss Umbrella tightly in both hands and held her up. “Ah-ha-ha, I borrowed it from my dad…”

“Oh, didja?”

Miss Umbrella knew that the children surrounding the boy weren’t saying those things out of malice. They were just too honest. They didn’t consider the boy’s feelings.

“But man, your dad has a super-weird umbrella.”

“It’s ugly!”

“It’s old!”

They said whatever they liked. But they weren’t trying to be mean.

The umbrella knew that perfectly well.

She knew what children were like.

But she felt angry at the children for mocking the boy who had been treating an umbrella like her with such care.

She didn’t want them to ruin this for her.

Not when she was finally enjoying every day.

“Ugly, you say? Old, you say? Don’t you thumb your nose at me! I am a glamorous umbrella! How rude of you!”

She got angry and shouted loudly. Her voice probably reached the boys’ ears as the sound of a dog crying, just as it had sounded to Mistress Elaina.

Needless to say, that made it obvious that she was more than an ordinary umbrella.

“W-waaahhh!”

“What’s with that umbrella?! It’s freaky!”

“It’s a monster! A monster!”

All of the children shouted as they snatched the cursed umbrella from the boy and threw it away on the side of the road.

“Ah—”

The boy reached out for the discarded Miss Umbrella.

“Come on! Let’s get out of here! That umbrella’s dangerous!”

But one of the children took the boy’s other hand and pulled him away. The children seemed frightened, but also they seemed to be enjoying themselves as they then ran away into the city with the boy in tow.

After that, some kind passerby had found Miss Umbrella, who had been left by the side of the road still open, and placed her in a box.

Hoping that the boy would come get her sooner or later, Miss Umbrella growled every time someone tried to pick her up and prevented anyone from taking her.

She kept on waiting for the boy.

And then there was what happened yesterday.

Miss Umbrella saw him.

She saw the boy walking around with other children.

“……”

The boy was only ten.

It’s a sensitive age.

She was sure that after being dragged away by the hand, he had befriended the other boys.

The boy seemed to be enjoying himself as he walked along. His smiling face, which the umbrella had grown accustomed to looking down on, now seemed very far away.

“—Ah.”

In the middle of their conversation, his gaze suddenly turned her way, and they locked eyes.

“……”

However—

The boy did not pick her up again. The boy must have been certain that Miss Umbrella was a cursed object.

At that moment, she understood.

She knew that she had been abandoned again.

“Whine…whine…”

From that point on, we know what happened.

Miss Umbrella was crying by the side of the road, and Mistress Elaina picked her up.

“I get it now—an old object like me will never be loved by a person…”

Miss Umbrella, who had gone on at length telling us about her memories, burst into tears once more.

Oh, Mistress Elaina is going to be angry again—

“Snore…”

Mistress Elaina is asleep. Okay. Well then, I guess it’s fine.

I comforted Miss Umbrella, who was feeling completely disheartened. “Um, cheer up, Miss Umbrella—”

“Just go ahead and break me and throw me away… Please, living is so painful for me—”

“Come now! How can you say such a thing?!” I was shocked and horrified.

To objects like us, destruction is the same as death. “Are things so difficult that you’re brooding over thoughts like that…?”

“The pain of being discarded by someone you care about… I’m sure you understand?”

“No, I’m sorry. I’ve never been discarded.”

“Waaah!”

Miss Umbrella started crying again. The floor was so soaked in water, it seemed like a hole must have opened up in the ceiling.

Ah, I wonder what I should do?

Like an adult faced with a wailing infant, I just stared in confusion at the rapidly growing puddle. I was at a loss for what to do.

“Young lady…I understand it, the pain you feel.”

Abruptly cutting into our conversation at that moment was the wood grain floor. “I still remember long ago… When I was young, just like you, missy, I had my own hopes and dreams about the people who would use me… Those tears of yours, I really feel them…in more ways than one—,” said the old wood grain floor.

I couldn’t tell what his expression was, but he was probably wearing a self-satisfied look. I recoiled a little from his slightly creepy comment.

“Ew!”

In an instant, Miss Umbrella’s tears receded. I would say that receiving sympathy for her worries was effective, but in this case, I think it had too much of an immediate effect.

But putting that aside, I felt like I wanted to deliver a lecture to Miss Umbrella, who was saying that she wanted to give up her own life.

“Miss Umbrella, please try to calm down somehow. Talk of throwing away your life is not something an object should bring up lightly!”

“You be quiet! It’s all very well for you to say that, when you’re being treasured and used every day, isn’t it?”

“Heh-heh-heh.”

“Waaah! I can’t take it anymore! I’ll break you!” Miss Umbrella shouted.

“Quit bein’ so loud!” Something reacted to Miss Umbrella with a rattling jolt. It was Mister Window. “I been listening to ya, an’ all yer doin’ is grumblin’ ’cause ya hold a grudge about bein’ thrown away, but not only have I got experience being thrown out, I never even had anyone ta talk to about it! You know why that is?”

Because you’re a window, I guess.

“ ’Cause I’m a window!”

I thought so.

“You silly thing!” Then, jumping in to sympathize with Mister Window was Miss Bed. “In my case, day after day, I go through customer after customer! No matter how hard I try, the customers never pay me any mind at all. I’m always just a one-night stand to them. Though I may keep my customers warm, my heart is always cold. Do you know why?”

Is it because you’re a bed?

“It’s because I’m a needy woman…!”

I really envied Mistress Elaina, who was fast asleep in her chair.

“Well, in any case, to sum it all up, we’re saying you’ve still got a chance.” Taking it upon himself to summarize the conversation so far was the door to the room. “You’re an umbrella; you can skip on out of here anytime. There’s another object right there who could carry you away.”

Oh? Is it possible that having my support is putting things in motion?

“B-but…the boy. I don’t even…know where he is…” Miss Umbrella was somber.

The door to the room smiled at her with his doorknob.

“Hah. Hey now, just how many objects do you think there are in this city?” Then he said, “I’ve already got my pals looking for your little buddy.”

“Mister Door…!”

No, it isn’t just the door.

All of the objects in the room were trying to encourage her. I suppose they had developed a kind of solidarity through their shared frustrations at being unable to move. All together, they bid her in high spirits, “Go see him…!”

“…Well, they’re right, you know?” Then even I, a lowly broom, got caught up in the mood of the room. “I’m certain that if you find the boy, he’ll be your owner again.”

“…How can you be so certain?”

To be honest with you, I have conclusive evidence.

Just like when Mistress Elaina always spits out some pithy saying to fit the mood of the room, I left a good long pause and then smiled at Miss Umbrella.

I said—

“The reason is that youth is a sensitive time.”

The boy must have had some regrets about it, too.

He was walking alone in the rain. He didn’t mind getting soaked. He walked along, passing people with their umbrellas up as he went, and examined every single umbrella.

This is the story of the objects of the city.

“In his case, I think we can find the boy right away.”

I asked around, describing the boy, and the objects of the city immediately told me where to find him.

“That boy spends the whole afternoon walking around town looking for something.”

“He’s passed down this road time and time again.”

“I’m sure he’ll be here before too long.”

And so I stood there waiting on the main avenue for the boy, holding Miss Umbrella above my head.

It wasn’t long before the boy appeared.

“……”

Maybe because he was exhausted from searching for so long, or maybe because he had already given up hope, the boy’s eyes were dark and gloomy looking.

He was moving slowly, with heavy steps. He seemed to be dragging his rain-soaked body along.

I wonder if he’s all right?

“You’ll catch a cold, you know. You shouldn’t be walking around at a time like this without an umbrella.”

Smiling at the boy, I let him stand under my umbrella.

As if she was snuggling up to her former owner, Miss Umbrella tilted toward him, protecting the boy from the rain.

“Say, miss, that umbrella, where did you—?”

“The world seems so confining when you’re young, doesn’t it?” I said, interrupting the bewildered boy. “Your values can be shaken by just a few words from your peers. Just a brief comment can make you feel like everything about you is wrong.”

Just like when your view is blocked by an umbrella, and you can only see one little sliver of the world. Even though there’s actually plenty of beautiful scenery to be seen on the other side of the umbrella.

“…Miss, who are you?”

“Heh-heh-heh, who could I be?”

In these circumstances, it doesn’t matter who I am.

“Let’s just say for now that I’m the Fairy of Lost Objects, shall we?”

“The Fairy of Lost Objects…” After looking back and forth between Miss Umbrella and me, the boy said, “Maybe you are…” From his reaction, he seemed confused. After that, he muttered quietly, “…Seems fishy.”

I heard that, you know.

Calling myself some sort of object fairy isn’t entirely incorrect, though.

Well, whatever.

“Is it really all that important how you look to others?” I asked the stray little boy. “Is it so important to you to make people like you?”

For example, just as the objects had a good understanding of the boy who couldn’t even hear their voices or converse with them, people could get to know others well without having any relationship with them at all.

“……”

The boy was silent.

I spoke to him again.

“You’ll wear yourself out if you only pay attention to what’s right in front of your eyes,” I said. Then I tried to put it another way. “Make sure you really look carefully at the people who are important to you.”

“……”

Though strictly speaking, Miss Umbrella is not a person.

“Whine…”

I felt certain that this boy was the one who could properly give the peculiar Miss Umbrella, who was cunningly crying in his hands, the proper affection.

“You take good care of her, okay?”

I wanted him to somehow understand, without me saying so, just how deeply Miss Umbrella cared for the boy and how anxious she was about being left behind.

“……”

Then the boy looked at the handle of the old umbrella he was grasping tightly with both hands and—

—held it overhead.

“Okay.”

Then he nodded.

In a world that opened up wide.

“So that’s what happened while you were sleeping, Mistress Elaina. And that’s the reason why Miss Umbrella wound up back with the boy from before.”

“I wasn’t sleeping.”

When my broom, who had vanished from our room at some point, returned, her hair was soaking wet, and as I handed her a towel, I asked, “Where did you run off to?”

In response, she gave me the full story, so I comprehended what had happened and nodded in understanding.

“When I woke up, the floor was a wet mess, so I figured something had happened. So that’s what it was, huh?”

“Oh? So you were asleep, then, Mistress Elaina?”

“I wasn’t sleeping.”

I was stubbornly unwilling to admit it.

Who on earth could that rude witch be, falling asleep during a conversation? Oh no, I haven’t got the slightest clue.

“It seems like you’ve been awfully tired lately.”

As she blotted her hair with the towel, Miss Broom frowned with concern. I couldn’t help but think she ought to be more concerned about her own well-being.

Anyway, her concern was unnecessary.

“There’s just been a lot going on lately, you know, so I’ve been on my guard and haven’t really been able to sleep. Fwah…” I yawned as I said that. “But as far as I could tell from your story, it sounds like he’s quite a strange little boy.”

“Well, he is the owner of an umbrella that makes noises like a crying dog. In a certain sense, Miss Umbrella may have been a perfect match for the boy. Just as she needed him, I’m sure Miss Umbrella was also indispensable to the boy.”

“Well, that may be true, but I bet he must have been pretty confused when you handed him an umbrella the first time you ever met. You’ve got no room to complain if you get mistaken for some kind of creep.”

“……”

“I’m relieved you made it back here safely.”

“Mistress Elaina…! To think that you were worried about my safety…! What welcome words those are!”

She seemed really pleased, but—

No, no, that’s not how I meant it.

“If you weren’t around, I wouldn’t be able to travel anymore, you see.”

I decided I would leave the city the following day, but—

“Rain again…”

—when I looked up, drops of rain were pouring down from the sky. It hadn’t been raining when I had stopped at a café on my way out, but apparently while I had been enjoying my coffee inside the café, the weather had taken a turn for the worse.

I don’t really like traveling in the rain, is the thing.

“P-please…! Please wait! Don’t leave me!”

As I was standing in front of the café in a daze, I saw a handsome man shouting by the side of the road. His expensive clothes were soaked through, and what had probably been a stylish hairdo was now soggy and shapeless.

“Oh, shut up! How dare you ask me that, when you’ve been fooling around on the side this whole time, you lousy bastard!”

There was a young woman trampling mercilessly on the man.

“You’re the only one I really want! Believe me—”

“Go to hell!”

A different woman joined the first and kicked the man when he was down. Taking a better look, I saw various colorful umbrellas all around me, and all sorts of different women were looking down at the pitiful figure of the man.

“You said you only loved me…”

“I’m gonna kill you.”

“You’re so cruel…!”

“How dare you? Eight-timing all of us!”

“You’re trash.”

In the rain, the abuse poured down on him incessantly. They were merciless.

As far as I could gather from the situation, the man must have been saying sweet things to multiple women.

“Hey, miss, what are you doing out here? Waiting for someone?”

He had probably, for example, been approaching women who were taking shelter from the rain in just that way.

“Well, something like that. My friend is just going to say thank you to a few people—” I turned in the direction of the voice that had spoken to me.

A young boy of about ten tilted his umbrella back and looked up at me.

“Going to say thank you?”

Maybe he wasn’t familiar with the idea. The boy cocked his head at me curiously.

“She’s gone to visit some people who helped her out. She got assistance from all sorts of different people while we were here in this city.”

“Oh, I get it!” The boy broke into a smile. His cheerful expression was a poor match for the dull, rainy sky. “It’s good to say words of thanks to people who are important to you, isn’t it?”

“It certainly is.”

“By the way, miss, don’t you have an umbrella?”

“Uh, well, no I don’t.”

“I thought so! By the way, what do you think of the umbrella I’m holding?”

The boy whipped his umbrella around to show it to me.

It was a strange umbrella, very old and worn. And yet despite its threadbare appearance, it was making a barking noise just like the cry of a dog. “Woof, woof !”

I guess you could really say it was an interesting umbrella.

“It suits you very well.”

“Eh-heh-heh, I sure think so! Thanks!”

As if he had been waiting for me to say those words, the boy smiled happily again and walked right off, still holding up the umbrella like a precious treasure. “Bye!”

“……”

“If you like, you could stand under my umbrella.”

“No, no, that’s all right. Besides, if you go around saying things like that to women who are total strangers, you’ll wind up like that guy over there.”

“Whoa, what’s going on there?”

“He’s probably some sort of awful jerk, I bet. If you don’t want to wind up like him, just don’t go around approaching women out of nowhere, okay?”

…Or something like that.

I imagined our conversation would have gone more or less like that.

But the boy just turned and left. While I was taking shelter from the rain, an unfamiliar boy had suddenly appeared, boasted about his umbrella, and then just walked away.

“—Sorry to keep you waiting, Mistress Elaina. It took longer than I thought to go around and thank all the different objects…” There came a voice from behind me. It was my broom. “…Mistress Elaina? Is something the matter?”

She looked down the road, following my gaze.

Down the main avenue, where many umbrellas of all different colors were coming and going.

There was a whole swarm of umbrellas, and though many had similar colors and shapes, there wasn’t a single other one exactly like it.

Staring at one particular umbrella in the middle of all that, I said, “I just met a strange little boy.”

The figure of the boy, holding his old umbrella aloft, finally disappeared into the crowd.

“…Ah, I see. So you met him, Mistress Elaina?”

Staring at the same spot I was, Miss Broom nodded in understanding.

Then, smiling softly, she said, “But, Mistress Elaina, that’s not a strange little boy at all. In fact, I believe that fellow is what’s known as an awful jerk.”

“I don’t mean him.”

Chapter 4: A Record of the Struggles of a Girl Who Couldn’t Win

CHAPTER 4 A Record of the Struggles of a Girl Who Couldn’t Win

“I think today is the day we finally settle things, oh rival of mine!”

Which meant it was time for the duel.

…But before we do that, I guess I’d better explain just who I am and what I’m doing.

My name is Crechill.

I’m a mage, standing in a grassy field outside of town, my dark blue hair fluttering in the wind as I raise my voice loudly. My age is seventeen. My face is cute. My magic skills are decent. And my face is cute.

My scholastic performance is always top of the class. Even though I go to a prestigious magic high school, there’s only one person there who gets the grades to stand shoulder to shoulder with me. I guess I’m pretty perfect.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the phrases accomplished in both the literary and military arts and gifted with both intelligence and beauty were made to describe me. In fact, they’re so fitting that I could almost claim to be the inspiration behind them both.

Now that I’ve explained myself to this extent, I’m sure it would be easy for even a little fawn that had just stood up on its own four legs to understand what kind of person I am.

However, there is one person whom I can call my rival.

“Huh? Settle things…? Didn’t we plan to have a picnic today?”

The person cocking her head at me as she spread a blanket out on the grass was my rival. Imagine, having a picnic in a situation like this! As someone accomplished in both the literary and military arts and gifted with both intelligence and beauty, I can only conclude that she is my enemy.

In both academic performance and magical skill, this girl, Nadona, is the only person in my class competent enough to measure up to me.

It’s no exaggeration to say our abilities are evenly matched.

However, being so evenly matched really makes me want to settle the matter. Doesn’t that make sense?

Accordingly, I had called Nadona to a grassy field outside town.

The time had come to determine which of us was the superior mage.

Of course it was not so that we could treat ourselves to a pleasant little picnic.

“It should be obvious that I called you out here so we could fight, you foolish girl!”

“Huh? You did? It’s been so long since you invited me anywhere, Crechill, I was sure we were having a picnic!”

“Wrong. We’re having a battle.”

“Aw. It’s such lovely weather, and you want to battle with spells? A picnic will be more fun.”

“No way. We’re battling.”

“Maybe the fact that you came in second on the test we had earlier is bothering you?”

“Silence.”

“Actually, since I never heard anything about a battle, I didn’t bring my wand with me today, you know?”

“Huh?”

What did you say?

“Well, I told you, I didn’t feel like battling. So even if you want to, we can’t.”

……

Whaaat?

I don’t suppose I have to tell you that I was indignant to hear that.

“Then what in the hell did you come here for?!”

“Well, I told you, for a picnic…”

Laughing foolishly and chiding me not to be so upset, Nadona pulled a baguette out of her bag. From the way she was acting, I could tell that the only thing she was at all interested in was eating.

“Now, if you were to lend me a wand, I guess we could have your duel.”

She stood up reluctantly, just like she was humoring a child throwing a tantrum. Nadona seemed to think a duel with me would be a bit of light exercise before the meal.

You’re really underestimating me, huh?

I laughed.

“Ha-ha-ha! Nadona, just so we’re clear, I don’t want to hear any complaints afterward about you losing because you used a borrowed wand!”

“Okay, okay. No problem here!”

My rival waved her hand dismissively and gave me a foolish smile.

Apparently, I need to make this girl understand her own position.

“Just to let you know, I’m different than usual today, Nadona. Heh-heh-heh. I’m worried you might wind up in tears.”

“Wow, really? So scary. Go easy on me, okay?”

Nadona displayed a frivolous attitude the whole time she was answering me.

You won’t be able to wear that placid expression for long.

And so Nadona and I dueled.

In total, it was our forty-second duel.

“So that’s my situation, and I’m currently wandering around town looking for someone I can call my teacher. And while I was looking, I found you. This is fate. Just three days will be enough, so I want you to become my teacher.”

The girl appeared in front of me right after I passed through the gate into the city.

This is a slight digression, but I do occasionally run into people who target travelers ignorant of the circumstances in their city and try to rip them off with some ridiculous scheme.

For that reason, I’m fairly wary of people who come up to talk to me right after I enter a new place.

“I see.”

I was curious about the girl who had suddenly appeared before me and casually introduced herself as Crechill or something. And because I was curious, I found myself lending an ear to her life story, which she launched into all on her own.

According to her, she apparently had a rival.

Well, in short, to sum up the story she told me…

“You lost big, so now you want to retaliate, is that it?”

That’s about what it came down to.

Crechill was standing in front of me wearing clothes that were covered in mud and filth. Though she was standing beneath a sunny sky, her whole body was filthy all over, as if she had plunged headfirst into a mud puddle.

Since she was out there looking like that and begging me to become her teacher, it was easy enough to guess the outcome of her duel or whatever.

“Heh-heh-heh. That’s just the kind of insight I would expect.”

“I just said my reaction to what I’m seeing.”

“No, you misunderstand, Lady Witch. I’m praising myself for taking such an insightful witch for my teacher.”

“……”

“That’s just what I would expect from me… It’s not for nothing that I’m known as the embodiment of the phrases accomplished in both the literary and military arts, attractive face and figure, and gifted with both intelligence and beauty.”

Are you sure you’re not the embodiment of narcissism?

Practically every word she said sounded like boasting. This girl, Crechill, seemed to be incredibly prideful. It made me feel sort of embarrassed, like I was looking at a former version of myself.

“But I think it’s pretty questionable to say you’re accomplished in both the literary and military arts when you were entirely defeated by your rival.”

“Humph. Don’t get the wrong idea, Lady Witch. I wasn’t entirely defeated at all.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“If anything, this time was a narrow loss. I just couldn’t quite get fired up for the fight, so I happened not to win this time, that’s all, and actually, come to think of it, I haven’t had anything to eat all day, so one cause of my loss was being so hungry, and also, I was worried about whether or not I had locked my door, so I couldn’t really focus on the match, which also had a big effect on the outcome this time. If you put it all together, my loss was just a fluke. It’s certainly not because I’m weak. You got that, Lady Witch?”

“You talk really fast.”

“Anyway, it just so happened that this time I wasn’t feeling well, that’s all, Lady Witch. I wouldn’t be such a sorry sight normally.”

“Oh, is that so?” I asked. “By the way, what’s your record like in your fights against your rival?”

You said that in total, you’ve had forty-two duels, so even assuming you lost this one, what percentage of those duels have you won?

“Let me see, well, to put it mildly, in forty-two duels, I have suffered forty-two losses.”

“Are you sure you know what putting it mildly means?”

You’ve lost every last duel, haven’t you?

“But I want to mark our forty-third duel with a triumphant finish, Lady Witch.”

“Huh…”

I suppose that’s why you were deliberately seeking out a witch.

More importantly, this girl is really convinced she’s a genius despite her record of failure.

“Uh-oh, Lady Witch, you just thought, ‘She’s really convinced she’s a genius despite her record of failure,’ didn’t you?”

“That’s incredible. That is exactly, word for word, what I was just thinking.”

“Do you know why that is?”

“It must be because you’re shameless.”

“It’s because I think the same thing, too, every time I lose!”

“So you’ve been crying behind your thick mask of shamelessness…”

Now, I knew there was no way this girl truly thought she was a genius. Her words of praise for herself seemed to be about eighty percent in jest.

I was very familiar with people who tended to say and do things that seemed crazy like that.

Who on earth could that be referring to?

That’s right, it’s me.

“But I’m not sure it’s a good idea to get too hung up on wins and losses. You’re not a child.”

“Please don’t say such insensitive things, Lady Witch. Do you really mean to mock those of us who live our lives dedicated to competition?”

“Do you really think your struggle against your rival is so serious that it demands a life dedicated to competition?”

“Of course!” She raised her voice even more. “And when you’re living a life of competition, losing isn’t a rare event. No matter how much of a genius you are, you will experience failure and defeat.”

“…Sure, I guess you’re right.”

I obediently agreed with her. She had a point.

“I think that what separates a genius from an ordinary person is what kind of analysis they’re capable of when they fail, Lady Witch.”

Mm-hmm.

“So then, what kind of conclusions have you drawn, as a genius?”

When I asked that question, she paused. Then, staring at me with clear eyes, she said, “I concluded that, in the end, I’d best seek the help of another genius.”

“Oh-hoh?”

What’s that? A genius, you say? My, my, who on earth could that be?

“My rival is also a genius, and we are evenly matched. I figured that in order to challenge another genius, I obviously ought to seek knowledge from many other geniuses, even though I’ll fight her on my own, Lady Witch.”

“I see, but I’m impressed you were able to perceive that I’m a genius.”

“Actually, I’ve been observing you this whole time, ever since you were undergoing your immigration inspection, and I saw your expression, full of confidence, and the way you carried yourself, as well as the star-shaped brooch that backs up that confidence. I surmised that you must be a genius magic user who became a witch while still quite young.”

“Oh my, my, my!”

“How’d I do, Lady Witch? Did I guess correctly?”

“Apparently, your powers of perception are pretty sound…”

“Heh-heh-heh. They are, aren’t they? So then, for the next three days, I’d like to learn anything and everything from you, Lady Witch. How about it?”

“Huh? Don’t you want me to teach you magic?”

“Lady Witch, in order to better understand Nadona, I want to learn everything about geniuses. To that end, please don’t limit yourself to magic. Show me things like how you live, your hobbies, and your special skills, too. I want to get stronger, even if it’s just a little bit, by learning about geniuses, Lady Witch.”

“I see. You’re greedy, then.”

“I’d like to ask you not to say insensitive things. I simply have a craving for knowledge and all the skills I can gain, heh-heh-heh…” She chuckled and put on a bold smile. “You see, I’m frustrated, Lady Witch. My rival not only beat me with a wand she borrowed from me, she then said some nonsense like ‘Well, it was just pure luck that I won today.’ It was humiliating, her showing kindness to her enemy. I want to get back at her, no matter what it takes.”

“She must be a very nice girl, to be so considerate of the person who lost.”

“Or maybe she held back because I started bawling like a baby.”

“You cried over it?”

“As you might expect, after forty-two consecutive losses, I was pretty disheartened, you know?”

“I mean, I understand the feeling, but…”

“Anyway, I want to get a deeper understanding of genius. And that’s why, Lady Witch, I’d like you to allow me to record your behavior in detail.”

So basically, she wanted me to stay with her constantly for three days, not necessarily to teach her magic spells but simply to show her my normal life, and act as a conversation partner, while teaching her some magic if we had any free time. That seemed to be her standpoint on the whole thing.

I’d say those are favorable terms, since they demand basically no responsibility from me.

I’d also say that whether or not I’m going to accept her request depends on the retaining fee.

“By the way, I forgot to mention it, Lady Witch, but since I’m renowned for being the embodiment of the concepts of accomplished in both the literary and military arts, attractive face and figure, gifted with both intelligence and beauty, and living the life of luxury, if it’s money you need, I’ve got plenty.”

“Understood. I’ll do it.”

I immediately accepted her proposal.

“Now then, Lady Witch. Now that we’ve settled everything, I wonder if I could get you to ignore me entirely and just let me see what you would normally do after you enter a new city?”

“What I would normally do, huh…?”

I certainly wouldn’t spend so much time thinking about what I would normally do, so I wasn’t sure how to deal with that now.

What exactly would I do, if I was my normal self ?

I feel like the moment people are made aware of how they act naturally, they stop acting naturally.

After thinking just a little bit, I said, “For now, I think I’ll go to a café or something.”

Then, in what I figured was the best plan for the situation, I pointed at a nearby establishment without giving it much thought.

“If you like, I’ll treat you. Have you had breakfast already?”

“No, that’s all right!”

“Oh, so you have eaten?”

“Actually, I ate quite a lot of sandwiches just a short while ago.”

“So on top of receiving comfort from the person who defeated you, you accepted her charity as well?”

“They were delicious.”

“That’s good to hear…”

Chapter 4: A Record of the Struggles of a Girl Who Couldn’t Win - 11

“I think today is the day we finally settle things, oh rival of mine!”

It was four days after my forty-second regrettable defeat.

There I was, triumphantly shouting exactly the same line as I had four days earlier. First, I suppose I’d better explain again just who I am.

“Huh…you’re doing that again…?”

“Don’t be so obtuse, my rival. Because we are rivals, it’s only natural that we should fight.”

I stood before Nadona, my rival, who had no enthusiasm for the fight. My dark blue hair fluttered in the wind as I shouted at her.

My name is Crechill. I am a mage. My age is seventeen. My face is cute. My magic skills are decent. Wearing an expression full of confidence, my face is still undeniably cute.

Let me say it again.

My name is Crechill.

That’s the name of a mage who will one day make a name for herself in magical circles.

“And it’s the name of the woman who will knock you down completely this time, graaaaaahhh!”

Slam! I issued her the challenge.

Armed with the knowledge and skills I had gained through observing the witch Elaina for three days, I threw down the gauntlet for my forty-third duel. Preparation is everything.

“You want to fight in a place like this…?”

My rival wore a puzzled face.

Ordinarily, I would have summoned her to a grassy field outside of town, but this time was different.

We were in a neighborhood café.

“Heh-heh-heh. You don’t seem to have realized it yet, my rival. The match has already begun, from the very moment I summoned you to this place today!”

“So basically we’re just on an outing that you’re calling a duel? I think this is the first time I’ve ever come to a shop like this with a friend.”

Nadona giggled, placing her hands, which had been pressed closed together, on both her cheeks. Right after that, a ridiculously large parfait was placed before us.

As I had said, the contest had already begun, from that moment on.

I had learned a lot of things from spending time with the esteemed witch.

For three days, I had followed the witch, Lady Elaina, to many different places. They included a bookstore, a normal café, and a nearby park.

Lady Elaina was free. She wasn’t tied down by anything, and I envied the way she lived, surrendering herself to the passage of time.

“Crechill, I bet when you look at me, you’re thinking that I seem so free, and you’re jealous of that, right?”

One day, Lady Elaina had started talking in this way, as if she had seen right through me. I was perceptive enough to get the hint that she was about to start telling me something that would be of benefit to me, so I’d opened up my notebook.

According to Lady Elaina, travelers only appeared to be free, but actually, that was not true.

“I’m sure the idea of not living in any particular place and not having to fit your life around school or a job seems wonderful to you. But that’s only how it looks from your perspective. The truth is, reality is different. We travelers seem so free, but of course we have troubles of our own.”

When I had asked her for some examples of what sorts of things troubled her, she had thought it over, holding her coffee cup in both hands and staring out into space.

“Let me see… There’s anxiety about the future, and about money for living in old age, and things like that.”

“I worry about those kinds of things, too, though.”

“I guess you do. So maybe we’re not different from you at all.”

“……”

I hadn’t quite understood, so she had simplified things for me.

“What I’m saying is that neither witches nor travelers are really actually that different. We worry just like everyone else and think about things like anyone else does,” she’d told me.

Then, on top of that, she’d given one piece of advice to me, who hadn’t won any of my matches.

“Even in different situations, people are still people. Nobody is free from worry. Even you, who proclaim to be perfect, seem to be troubled that you can’t win against your rival—,” the witch Lady Elaina had said.

Then I’d realized something.

“In other words, Nadona also must have a weak point…?”

“That’s right. She probably does,” the esteemed witch had said as she blew on her coffee.

Then she’d added another comment. “Well, it occurred to me that it might be easier for you to study your rival, who is so close at hand, before studying some witch you’ve never seen before. Start with that.”

In other words—

She had told me that what I had been lacking was an understanding of my opponent.

Accordingly, I had decided to spend the day taking Nadona around to different places, just like the days I had spent with Lady Elaina, so that I could study her habits.

“Today is my treat,” I said. “Eat whatever you like.”

“So tasty!”

My rival smiled broadly at the parfait, unaware of my real objective.

I see. Apparently, she likes sweets. Come to think of it, I feel like many of the sandwiches she was eating at our last duel were fruit sandwiches.

After we finished eating, we went shopping.

The first store we went to was a bookstore.

“Ah, I was just wanting this book!”

Nadona headed to the counter, clutching a recently released mystery novel to her chest. Her stride was light, like she was dancing.

Come to think of it, I went into a bookstore during the three days I spent with Lady Elaina, too.

As we lined up for the register, Nadona turned back to me and said, “Wait a second, okay?” She waved her hand, and as I waved back, I recalled an exchange I had with Lady Elaina.

“Novels are just great, aren’t they? Now I have something to enjoy before bed for the next few days, heh-heh-heh.”

Lady Elaina had chuckled to herself while clutching a mystery novel.

When I saw her like that, I had decided it was as good a time as any, and I threw out my chest with pride.

“Lady Elaina, do you know about speed-reading?”

“Sure. Well, I know it’s a thing that exists. It’s where you can understand the content of a book just by flipping through the pages, right?”

“Exactly!” I had raised my voice in the bookshop. “I’m an accomplished speed-reader, you know, and if I were to read that book you’re holding now, I could finish it in about five minutes,” I’d boasted.

I’d been puffed up with pride, but Lady Elaina had sighed to see me that way.

“Even if you boast about it, I don’t envy you one bit.”

“You don’t have to be so hesitant. If you like, I could teach you my speed-reading methods.”

“That’s all right.” She waved her hand awkwardly. “I think reading is something to be savored as you enjoy it, like a good meal.”

“But a meal is just a way to get nutrition.”

“Apparently, we hold completely conflicting ideas.”

“But if you speed-read, you can make more effective use of your limited time.”

“There is something ironic about you using the time you save that way to proselytize about speed-reading. Anyway, I’m good—” She’d demonstrated absolutely no understanding of what I was saying.

I see. Apparently, not every single genius out there is looking for ways to save time like I am. This is another lesson for me.

By the way, I wonder what my rival thinks about that?

When I asked Nadona, who was clutching the book in its bag like a precious treasure, she cocked her head and answered as if it was only natural, “Huh? What advantage is there to speeding up your reading?”

“I see, so you’re the same type of human as Lady Elaina, then.”

“I don’t really know what you’re talking about, but…”

“I’m just talking to myself. Don’t worry about it.” I waved my hand and left the shop with Nadona.

After that, we made the rounds to several more places. For example, I went with Nadona to look at clothes, to walk around the city for no real reason at all, and to sit on a bench in a public square for a while because I had nothing else to do.

Incidentally, all these activities were Nadona’s idea.

“I love walking around the city with no real purpose.”

Saying exactly the same lines Lady Elaina had said, she looked around the city, dazzled by sights that ought to have been familiar to her.

“I also love spending time in places like this, without rushing.”

She said that and sat down on a bench in the city square.

Incidentally, I had sat on the same bench with Lady Elaina the day before.

Is she secretly Lady Elaina?

“Thanks for today, for inviting me out,” Nadona said, sitting next to me. She looked embarrassed as she stared out into the distance. “I don’t have anybody else in my life who would invite me out like this, so I was happy when you did.”

“If a genius like you isn’t getting invitations, I guess the people around you don’t have very discerning taste.”

“Genius, huh…?” She let out a sigh. Her expression was cloudy, which was rare for Nadona, who was usually smiling foolishly. “I’m not too happy about being called a genius.”

“Why not?”

“It’s an awful lot of pressure, when the people around you expect you to be able to do anything as a matter of course. Plus, since I’m always smiling, people often tell me I look like I haven’t got a care in the world.” The next words out of Nadona’s mouth were something the esteemed witch had said to me before. “But I’m actually living with troubles of my own, just like everyone else, you know?”

Really, could she be Lady Elaina?

I wonder if every person who gets called a genius is bothered by the distance between themselves and other people? That’s a novel discovery. Starting tomorrow, I’ll try being troubled by the distance between me and others.

“By the way, why did you invite me out today?” Nadona tilted her head inquisitively. “Was it because I confided in you about my troubles?” Her expression had gotten some of its cheerfulness back.

But setting that aside—

—I wasn’t sure how to answer when she asked why I’d invited her.

“Why would you ask such a thing?” I answered her question with a question.

Nadona looked a little surprised and flustered, then once again blurted out something incomprehensible. “Ah, sorry? I mentioned this earlier, but I don’t really have anyone I’d call a friend, so I’m not really sure, but is this what I think it is?”

“…?” Even though I was also supposedly a genius, the meaning of whatever she was trying to say was completely unclear to me.

“Huh? I mean, look, normally you make me have some weird duel with you or something. But today, we just ended up going out and making the rounds to all sorts of different shops, and I thought maybe we aren’t going to fight today? In other words, maybe starting today, we’re not battling rivals but frien—”

“No, I never said a single word about not fighting today.”

I whipped out my wand.

I never said we weren’t fighting.

“In fact, I thought we could do it now.”

Actually, it would be no exaggeration to say everything that’s happened up to now was in service of this moment.

“……”

In the blink of an eye, all expression had vanished from Nadona’s face.

This was another fine result of the detailed strategy put together by Lady Elaina.

I recalled once again my time with her, the witch who had been in this city until the previous day—

“If you want to win when you duel against your rival, the first, most important thing is of course to know your opponent. But that’s not all. It’s also important to throw your opponent off their game.”

“Meaning what?”

“You’ve got to do things that will make them uncomfortable. For example, challenging them to a duel after hanging out all day.”

“What’s the point of that?”

“I’ll tell you the point. Right around dinnertime, in the early evening, right about when you start thinking about what you’d like to eat when you get back home, if an errand that you couldn’t avoid was suddenly added to your schedule, you would hate that, right? That’s more or less what you’re trying to do to your opponent.”

“Are you some kind of demon?”

“Heh-heh-heh… They say you put yourself at a disadvantage if you don’t use slightly underhanded methods in order to win.”

“Now I see…!”

And so—

—this time, after tediously taking her from place to place, I challenged her to a duel.

There was no doubt that the effect was immediate.

“Oh, okay…”

Nadona let out a big sigh. There was even something about it that suggested all the events of the whole entire day had been negated. “Um, I didn’t bring my wand with me today, though—”

“I’ll lend you my spare.”

“You’re very well prepared…”

“Heh-heh-heh. You can keep right on praising me.”

“I didn’t mean it as praise…”

Nadona took the wand from me, looking exasperated.

“Today of all days, I will not lose, oh rival of mine!”

“Sure, sure…”

My rival responded to me listlessly, as if she was a completely different person than she had been all day. I had been confident that she would lose her motivation just like this.

As long as I did everything according to Lady Elaina’s advice—

—without a doubt, today I would win—

Then the two of us once again went to the grassy field outside town, as we always did.

Once again, we leveled our wands at each other, and the contest began.

“Graaaaaahhh, prepare yourself, Nadonaaaaaaaaa!”

One minute later—

“Uaaaaaahhh! I’ll get you for thiiiiiiiiisss!”

I heard the sound of a mage running away in tears.

I just wish it hadn’t been me.

“…So because you couldn’t win against your rival this time, you thought you would get some help from a different witch, is that about right?”

It was the day after I suffered my defeat, my forty-third in total.

I spent the day loitering around by the city gates, waiting for a new mage to visit the place, and a witch came to visit my city.

She was a young witch with hair the color of charcoal that fell to about her shoulders.

She said her name was Saya.

She didn’t so much as flinch at me when I went up to talk to her the moment she entered the city, and she listened to my situation. Far from being repulsed, she pulled me by the hand to a café, saying, “It’s not right to stand around talking in a place like this, so I’ll listen to your story there.”

Then I wound up telling her all about my circumstances over lunch.

I recalled how Lady Elaina, who had come to this city about four days earlier, had handled me with an annoyed look on her face, and Lady Saya, sitting there before me, seemed like an angel.

“I’ve got a good understanding of your situation now. It sounds like you were not blessed with a good teacher.”

That’s how quick she was to understand, after listening to me talk just a little. “But wow, your former teacher is a disgrace to witches everywhere! What a totally irresponsible witch. She didn’t teach you a thing, even though she had three whole days!”

Then Lady Saya, renowned angel, out of concern for me, a total stranger, revealed her anger toward the witch who had put such nonsensical ideas in my head.

However, it made me feel guilty to hear her say such angry things. After all, I was the one who had in fact requested Lady Elaina’s help; I was the one who had told her she didn’t particularly need to teach me anything.

“Part of the problem lay in the unsophisticated way that I asked, so that esteemed witch isn’t entirely to bla—”

“Oh, no!” Lady Saya cut me off. “Are you listening, Crechill? When you become somebody’s teacher, you have to do more than listen to your student’s requests. You also have to intuit what your student really wants to accomplish and help them do it!”

“Is that how it is?”

“That’s how it is! Actually, the person who I called my teacher was also a pretty lazy person, but you know, she was good during my training days. She was strict and taught me a lot. But as soon as I became a witch, if I had any spare time at all, she handed me money and made me go buy her tobacco. It was awful.”

Lady Saya was fuming indignantly. If I had to say, her anger seemed like it was directed less at Lady Elaina and more at someone else.

“Well, anyway, once you’re in a position to be teaching someone things, you’ve got to understand that person’s aims and give them guidance that aligns with their true feelings—and their true objectives, even if they don’t show on the outside!”

Lady Saya was insistent.

What an incredibly conscientious person she must be. I no longer see her as a sweet being such as an angel. She is a god.

I reverently elevated her in my mind. If I could adhere to her guidance, I was certain that even winning against Nadona would be easy. Her powers of persuasion were enough to make me think so.

“Really, just who could she have been? Who was that irresponsible witch?”

Lady Saya was indignant. I answered her.

“A woman named the Ashen Witch, Elaina.”

“Huh?”

Suddenly—

—Lady Saya stopped. She stiffened, as if time itself had frozen. “What did you just say?” Perhaps because she was so stiff, her words were also somewhat halting.

“Oh, I just said I took lessons from someone named the Ashen Witch, Elaina. The results were terrible, though.” I shrugged just like I had earlier.

“…I see. Ahem!” Lady Saya cleared her throat. “Are you listening, Crechill? When you become a pupil, sometimes you must intuit your teacher’s expectations. Ultimately, teachers are just in a position to guide you. But if the student doesn’t have the inclination to learn, then no matter how the teacher prepares the way, it means nothing. Do you understand?”

“What’s the matter all of a sudden?”

“Imagine not being able to beat your rival after studying under Elaina for three whole days! Elaina would weep if she heard that!” Suddenly, Lady Saya was shouting hysterically.

“I feel like this woman has suddenly become emotionally unstable.”

Is the name Elaina a cursed magic word or something?

“Apparently, this means I need to take over after Elaina to show you the way. Good grief, what a hopeless case!”

Lady Saya let out a sigh.

“Well, if you place yourself in my hands, it will be a piece of cake. Leave everything to me,” she said, thumping her hand against her chest.

“Th-thank you very much…!”

Before I knew it, the god who had been there before had come back to me.

What on earth was that just now?

“All right then, Crechill, could I get you to tell me, in a little more detail, about your relationship with your opponent?”

According to what she said, Lady Saya, who was an outstanding and well-respected member of society, had come to my city that day for work, and she would be staying for about three days. It sounded like she was very busy and couldn’t stay any longer than three days, so in other words, the amount of time set for my training was also limited to three days. Strangely, that was the same number of days I’d had with the witch Lady Elaina, whom I had previously begged to be my teacher.

“Although we have three days, I’m not going to be as lenient as Elaina was! Prepare yourself now!” Lady Saya asserted.

I will follow you for the rest of my life.

“My opponent, Nadona, is a genius on par with me—”

I disclosed everything I knew about Nadona to Saya. Strangely, the knowledge I had gained based on Lady Elaina’s advice came in handy for this.

Since I had gone on an outing with Nadona on the occasion of our last duel, I had a decent understanding of her tastes and preferences.

Nadona.

I knew that she was a genius and that she was aloof, but I also knew that she was a girl who enjoyed reading and sweets and who liked to go out with friends on her days off.

“Oh-hoh!” Lady Saya gave an odd response as soon as she heard about the relationship I had with Nadona.

“Now, could I ask you to tell me, in a little more detail, about the conversation you had during your outing, before the last duel?”

For some reason, this lady suddenly looks delighted.

“Um…”

I told her everything, as far as I remembered it. Et cetera and so on.

“Iiinteresting.”

As I was talking, Lady Saya started eating the pasta she’d ordered for lunch more and more quickly. It was almost as if she was ingesting my story itself as her meal.

But there’s no way a god would do something so vulgar. She’s probably just hungry. Even very busy, esteemed witches get hungry. If anything, she must need to be proactive about her nutritional intake, precisely because she is such a busy witch. No doubt about that.

“I see, now I reeeally understand your situation! With three whole days, we can eeeasily best this Nadona girl. Rest assured.”

“Wow, really?!”

She must be telling me that, just from hearing my story, she’s already put together a scheme in her head to defeat Nadona. I knew it. This is true genius…!

“Please give me your guidance!”

Then I bowed my head deeply and began my training with Lady Saya.

“Heh-heh-heh… What a great opportunity to put Elaina in my debt…!” Lady Saya mumbled to herself. Her expression was less divine and more demonic.

“I feel like this woman has suddenly become emotionally unstable.”

Apparently, geniuses have something special about them that ordinary people can’t understand.

The results of my training with Lady Saya showed themselves several days later.

“Heh-heh-heh. Welcome to my house.”

“Wow, what a big house!”

That day, I invited Nadona into my house.

……

Even I wondered what on earth I was doing, when my intention was to battle her, but this was precisely what my teacher, Lady Saya, wanted me to do.

“My room is this way,” I said, and while I was showing Nadona the way, I recalled a conversation with my teacher, Lady Saya.

“Next, why don’t you invite her into your room…? Heh-heh-heh-heh,” Lady Saya had said with a bold smile.

It had been perplexing.

I want to have a match against her, you know?

“Yes, yes. I know. That’s right, you want to have a match, of course.” Lady Saya nodded with a friendly grin. The way she looked was just like a mother humoring her child. “Well, don’t you worry! If you use the method I’m about to teach you, you’ll knock her right down.”

“Knock her right down, you say?”

“It would be no exaggeration to say that after your next encounter, you won’t be holding any more matches.”

“That badly, huh?!”

I could hardly wait.

But I didn’t have the slightest idea at all why I needed to invite her into my room. Feeling a complicated mixture of anticipation and apprehension, I invited Nadona into my room. Incidentally, before today, the appointed day, arrived, the filth in my room had started to bother me, so I’d cleaned it up, and I’d walked through what we would do once Nadona got there, and counted down the days on my fingers as I waited, and told my mother “My friend is coming over, so I don’t want you to come out of the dining room” to make sure we weren’t bothered. It would be no exaggeration to say that letting Nadona see how I usually lived would be tantamount to giving her the upper hand.

“Oh, hello, welcome!” Despite all that, with the worst timing imaginable, who should pop up but my mother. “You must be Nadona. You’re so cute!”

My own mother addressed my rival, Nadona, with a familiarity characteristic of housewives with too much time on their hands. She grabbed her hand and chuckled as she said, “Oh my goodness, you’re just as lovely as a doll!”

The creatures known as mothers have a habit of saying things that are uncalled-for at times like this. And my mother was no exception.

“This girl of mine, she’s an odd one, right? That’s why she’s never made any friends. Nadona, sweetie, try to get on well with Crechill, will you?”

“Mother, stop it.”

Before she could offer any more inappropriate comments, I pushed Nadona on the back and forced her away from that place. Turning over her shoulder to look at my mother, Nadona smiled and said quietly, “What a lovely mother you have.”

Quit making that face.

In that way, I led Nadona into my room.

My room was frighteningly clean. There wasn’t a single speck of dust. Once again, I thought, What a perfect room I have!

As soon as she saw my room, Nadona reacted by saying it was lovely. I nodded in agreement with her. Then Nadona wandered slowly around the room, as if she was searching for anything incriminating.

Even though I didn’t think I had anything to feel guilty about, I was strangely nervous.

Reacting to the books and papers I had, she kept commenting, “Oh, this sure is interesting” and “I’ve got this one, too.” It felt like she was rummaging around inside my head.

She soon ran out of things to look at in my room, which was of fairly modest size despite the size of the house. Nadona stood motionless in the very center of the room, without anything to do. I wondered what on earth she was doing, and it was at that very moment that I finally realized the only places in my room to sit were the bed or the desk where I did my schoolwork.

What a blunder!

But I guess there’s no way I can make a guest sit on the bed.

“……”

Nothing for it, then.

I took a seat on the bed. Then I looked at Nadona, implying that, fine, she could sit in the chair.

“Uh, okay.”

Nadona seemed to consider something, and a moment later, while nodding, she sat down heavily beside me.

“……”

That’s where you’re gonna sit…?

I was perplexed, and I wasn’t sure whether I should say something. After puzzling things over, I wound up staring at Nadona.

Come to think of it, today Nadona’s wearing the clothes she bought when we hung out together before. I wonder why I noticed something like that at this stage? I wonder if I’m feeling nervous?

I wasn’t able to think straight anymore, and I wanted to escape from this reality.

I wondered what exactly I should do next.

“Crechill…Crechill…”

Then, the moment that I escaped reality, a voice echoed inside my head. I was very familiar with the owner of that voice.

“T-teacher…!”

It was the voice of Lady Saya, who had been with me until just a few days earlier. Startled, I looked around me. Where on earth was the voice coming from? Where was Lady Saya watching me from?

And more importantly—

“T-teacher, did you wiretap my brain…?”

“Heh-heh-heh…do I look like the kind of person who would do that?”

“……”

“Hey, don’t just stay silent.”

“Teacher, geniuses do have a tendency to lack common sense, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was true. But if possible, I would have liked you to tell me beforehand.”

“Wait, don’t proceed with the conversation assuming that I’ve wiretapped your brain, please…”

“But where exactly is your voice coming from?”

“Heh-heh-heh. My dear Crechill. Even if you look for me, you won’t find me anywhere. I’m sure the real me is walking around as usual in some country you’ve never even heard of right about now. In short, my voice you’re hearing in your head now is Saya’s voice, but it isn’t me.”

“…What do you mean?”

“You’re a little slow, huh? In short, this is a product of your imagination! In short, I’m the Saya inside your mind,” said Lady Saya, or rather, god.

I was astonished.

“Is it possible that I’ve lost my mind, too…?”

“That sounded an awful lot like you were calling me crazy.”

“……”

“Go on, deny it, please.”

“So anyway, exactly what purpose do you have for turning up in my mind, god?”

“You changed the subject… Well, whatever.”

She was here to correct my train of thought, which our conversation had derailed. The image of Lady Saya that my memories produced was sure to show her puzzled pupil a single path forward.

“Crechill. Remember what I taught you. Remember it well…”

“Remember what I learned from Lady Saya…” I looked at Nadona, sitting beside me. “I’m already putting it into action, though.”

“My, my! Well then, what are you asking for?! Now is when the main event begins!”

“The main event…?”

“I mean, now that you’ve invited her to your room and she’s obediently come along, wouldn’t you agree that it’s no exaggeration to say you’ve already won a decisive victory?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. If you confess your feelings now, she’ll probably return them!”

“…Confess?”

Hmm?

What is she talking about?

Far from righting my train of thought, all I could hear echoing through my head, which was engulfed in chaos, was Lady Saya’s voice.

“Come ooonnn. Don’t make me say something crude. If you strike now, you can get involved with your little rival!”

“Huh?”

“Hmm?”

“…What are you talking about?”

“…Didn’t you come to me for advice because you wanted to get your rival to fall for you?”

“…No, I was talking about actually wanting to defeat her.”

“You weren’t using the metaphor of winning a battle to say you wanted to start an intimate relationship?”

“I was not.”

“…Are you sure about that?”

“I thought I was pretty clear from the start, but…”

“……”

“Lady Saya?”

“……”

“Lady Saya? Hello?”

To cut straight to the point, I ceased to be able to hear Lady Saya’s voice altogether. I’m not sure whether that was because I was finally released from my nervousness or because I felt a pair of eyes watching me from my side.

“……”

Just how long had we been sitting beside each other in silence?

Nadona was looking at me.

“…Eh-heh-heh.”

She just laughed.

But I’m your rival?

Actually, at this point, what even is a rival?

What exactly am I doing…?

Suddenly, my mind was blank.

Then an exchange I’d shared with Lady Elaina sprouted from the back of my mind.

“Let me teach you one good method you can use when you feel like you have no chance of winning a match. This is an extremely effective measure you can use when you absolutely do not want to lose.”

Does such an amazing measure really exist…?

When I’d asked that, she had said to me, with a boastful expression, “Heh-heh-heh. You run away. If you run, there can’t be any winners or losers, so when it looks like you’re going to lose, you can proactively use this tactic—”

Mm-hmm.

Interesting.

“……”

I stood up.

One second later.

“Aaaaaahhh!”

I heard a pathetic mage fleeing from my room in tears.

Once again, I just wish it hadn’t been me.

“Amnesia, Avelia.”

A woman laid out two entry forms for the interview and called each of our names, then said, “As I’m sure you understand, I find it’s best to thoroughly evaluate potential teachers before accepting their instruction.”

When you travel, sometimes it happens that you run low on funds.

My older sister and I had recently arrived at a new city, and, drawn in by a suspicious flier that read, EASYWORK-ANYONECANMAKEMONEY! we went to an interview.

The venue for the interview was a fairly luxurious single-family home.

My sister and I were taken through to one of the rooms, obviously the private bedroom of a teenage girl, and met Crechill, obviously the teenage girl in question, face-to-face.

We were told to have a seat in some very old chairs that must have been brought in just for the interview and Crechill, who was wearing a very serious face that she must have put on just for the interview, told us the substance of this job.

“Are you ready for this, you two? I’ve already been betrayed by my own teacher twice—”

Apparently, she was searching for a teacher so that she could defeat her rival, another girl named Nadona. It sounded like neither of the teachers she’d had so far were very good individuals, and she was still losing against this rival of hers.

“Sigh…I can’t believe I lost twice in a row… Actually, strictly speaking, I didn’t lose yesterday, but…”

Crechill told us about her memories of losing as if they were in the distant past. I was genuinely curious, so I raised my hand and asked, “By the way, what is your record so far?”

“Well then, could you please tell me about your reasons for applying?”

Wah, she ignored me.

“We chose this position because the flier said that anyone could do it. We didn’t have any particularly deep reason.”

My sister answered the question. She was honest to a fault.

What are you saying? She’s going to think there’s something wrong with you.

“Heh-heh-heh…I see. Amnesia, it would seem you have the makings of a genius.”

Crechill, what are you saying?

“What’s this girl talking about?”

My big sister was just as confused as me.

“Geniuses are always damaged in some way,” said Crechill.

“What should we do, Avelia? I can’t understand what this girl is saying.”

“That’s probably because this person here is a genius, don’t you think?”

“Heh-heh-heh.” Crechill reacted alertly to the word genius. “You really get it, don’t you, Avelia? You pass.”

I don’t really understand what’s going on, but I guess I passed.

Wait, wait, but I don’t think it’s necessarily true that the people they call geniuses are always damaged in some way or that all damaged people are geniuses.

It seemed like it would upset her if I made this astute criticism, so I gave up on that retort. If you want to know why, it’s because, at the time, I was in an interview.

“But, Crechill, why do you want to defeat that rival of yours?”

“I’ve been losing, so I want to win. I don’t think I have any other reason for it.”

“Hmm…” I nodded with a thoughtful look on my face.

I honestly didn’t understand. According to what I’d heard, her opponent, this girl Nadona, was known to be a genius. Even if Crechill fought and lost against a girl like that, surely she could console herself to a certain degree by saying she’d chosen the wrong opponent.

That’s what I thought, but still I held my tongue. If you want to know why, it’s because I was in an interview.

“That’s an awfully vague reason. Do you really want to win?”

And yet my sister, who could never read a room, asked that question, honest to a fault.

That’s the second time.

“Big Sister, what are you talking about?”

“I thought if I said something strange, I would pass, too.”

“Seriously, what are you talking about?”

“Heh, heh-heh-heh-heh…my reasoning is vague, huh? Heh-heh-heh-heh…”

Laughing to herself, Crechill hung her head. She must have sensed something, too. “I suppose it is…” I clearly heard her muttering quietly.

My big sister, of course, took no notice of it.

“We’ve heard your story so far, but how do I put this? I can’t sense any fighting spirit in you, Crechill, any serious desire to win. It’s almost like you keep challenging your rival to matches so that you can continue spending time with her.”

Why are you finding fault with the interviewer?

“Sob.”

And it’s having quite an effect on her, too.

“So in actual fact, what’s going on?”

“…What do you mean, what’s going on?”

When Crechill raised her head, the expression on her face looked gloomy and stiff with strain. It made me wonder which of us was actually undergoing the interview.

“What do you actually want to do? Tell us honestly.”

“……”

“If you actually did want to win a bout against her, I doubt you would turn to complete strangers, mages you don’t even know, to be your teachers a third time, would you? If I was in your shoes, I’d get someone to refer me to a famous mage or to a real teacher.”

Crechill was silent.

Huh? Whatever could be the matter?

“…Is it all right if I say something weird?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

My big sister agreed.

Then Crechill went on at length, relating a story that could have been taken for a confession.

“Honestly, recently I’ve been wondering myself what I should do…”

She told us that at the beginning, it had merely been a passing fancy.

Nadona was the top girl on campus. Crechill also had good grades, and her ranking on their examinations always put her in a place close to her rival. Naturally, she had to get the other girl to notice her.

However, she didn’t have the courage to talk to her directly.

As a result, what sort of trick had she come up with?

Apparently, this kind of trick.

“Heh-heh-heh…you’re Nadona, top of the class, right? Have a battle with me.”

……

She’d seized on this method. I couldn’t help but wonder why. Well, the answer to my question was because she was a self-proclaimed genius and, of course, a weird person!

“Ultimately, I called her out for a duel over forty times after that, for the same reason…”

Then, as they continued battling against each other, Crechill had become aware of her own feelings.

“Whenever I considered the fact that we wouldn’t be able to duel anymore if I won one of our matches, I just couldn’t bring myself to win. Last time, when I challenged her to a fight, in the end I couldn’t do a thing and just ran away. I’m not sure how to say it. At this point, all I want is to become good friends with Nadona. But ever since I ran away from her, now I feel awkward to go speak to her with an innocent look on my face, and I find myself wondering what I should do now. There’s also no question that I was only fooling myself, thinking I would be able to do something if I was following someone else’s instructions. For the time being, anything will do. I just wanted some advice.”

“Sounds about right.”

My big sister immediately agreed with her.

She probably hadn’t listened to half of what Crechill had said. That was the sort of expression she had on.

It was certainly possible that Crechill hadn’t really let her emotions show on the outside. Either that, or maybe she wanted to make things easier by finally letting out the feelings she had been hiding for so long. The words spilling from her mouth came pouring out like a dam had burst.

However, we had not necessarily prepared ourselves for the torrent of emotions that came pouring out of her.

If there was one person who would have been able to deal with her emotions, surely that would be Nadona, who had thus far accepted the ceaseless challenges to battle.

Well, I don’t think we can expect her to appear at this perfect moment, though.

“—Crechill?”

The door to her room opened with a click of the latch.

When I turned around, I saw a girl there, about the same age as Crechill.

“…! Na-Nadona?”

Apparently, that’s Nadona.

Why is she here now?

“I was listening to your whole conversation…”

“Huh? You were eavesdropping?”

“Yeah, I had my ear against the door.”

“Wait, back up, why are you here?”

“After we ended things like that yesterday, I wanted to talk to you again, so I came over. Do you mind?”

“I don’t mind, but…”

I see, so this girl’s a little weird, too?

After that, Nadona came into the room and addressed Crechill. “I feel the same way you do.”

I’m just guessing, but this girl probably doesn’t even see me and my sister.

“I ran away from you… I’m not worthy of standing face-to-face with you anymore…”

She sure did start spitting out cool lines all of a sudden, huh?

“Nah, it’s okay. I’ve known for a while that there was a little something off about you.”

“What was that?”

“I mean, we’ve battled over forty times. How could I not know?” Nadona cackled as she approached Crechill. “But don’t run away from me anymore, okay?” As she spoke, she stood in front of Crechill, as if to block her means of escape.

My sister and I, on the other hand, were forced toward the door of the room.

“Nadona…”

“Crechill…”

It was somehow difficult for us to stay there in that incredibly sickly sweet atmosphere. Already, it seemed like no one at all would be able to encroach on their little bubble.

“Big Sister, what exactly is unfolding here?”

“I don’t really know.”

The two of us were bewildered by the situation. We wanted to leave.

“Oh…how wonderful, Crechill…”

In the middle of it all, an adult woman suddenly appeared, standing between us and the door.

“Big Sister, who is this person?”

“I don’t really know.”

“I’m Crechill’s mother.”

Her mother, huh?

Crechill’s mother was tearing up, gazing at the two girls who were looking at each other intimately.

“Really, I’m so happy for you, Crechill… I worried about you because you couldn’t make friends for so long, but all of a sudden you have three of them… Mama is just delighted…!” said her mother.

Three? How’s that?

There’s Nadona, and then maybe she’s including my sister and I in that count?

…I’d like to avoid letting this situation get any more confusing than it already is.

“Um, ma’am?”

“My little sister and I just came here for an interview. We’re not really friends—”

“Eh………………………………………………………………”

“On second thought, we are her friends.”

“That’s right, super-best friends!”

And so that’s how my sister and I both ended up getting dragged into the strange situation. It probably never would have happened if the two mages who had given Crechill her training had recognized her true feelings at a slightly earlier stage.

Although, I suppose one could argue it was thanks to their oversight that the friendship between the two girls had grown so close.

“Crechill…”

“Nadona…”

But wow, this sure is an awfully sappy atmosphere…

It’s enough to give me indigestion—

“…Ah!”

Just then, a bolt of lightning flashed through my head.

Given the mood in this room, I bet I could say just about anything—?

I whirled around to look directly at my older sister.

I said—

“Amnesia, could I say something strange?”

When I asked, she answered me with a wide smile.

“Mm. No.”

The second time I visited that city was about one month after my first trip.

Without any particular purpose in mind, I went for some sightseeing around the city again, doing as I always did and killing some time by idly shopping, visiting a café, reading a book on a bench in the plaza, and so on.

It sure is nice to be able to use your time freely.

I guess you could say it’s the special privilege of travelers to be able to always use our time in indulgent leisure.

However, the flip side of that is we constantly have anxiety about our wallets hanging over our heads.

“…This is freedom.”

If I listened carefully, I could hear the hustle and bustle of the city.

People doing business along the street. People giving food to songbirds in the plaza. People playing music for passersby. And people enjoying their free time, just like I was.

Come to think of it, after I took up the role of teacher for three days…or at least pretended to…I wonder what exactly became of that girl after that?

“I never expected to find a book that I wouldn’t be able to speed-read…”

“Didn’t I tell you? This book’s really interesting. You won’t be able to fall asleep reading it.”

Two totally ordinary girls walked past in front of me. Completely ordinary girls, the kind you could see around town on any weekend.

One of them, the girl with dark blue hair, suddenly looked back and waved her hand at me slightly. The smile on her face belonged to a totally ordinary girl.

A girl indifferent to things like duels, a girl whom you would have a hard time describing as a genius, just a completely normal girl.

I gave her a little wave back.

On such a fine day, being overly curious about the results of a complete stranger’s battle would surely be quite—

“Insensitive, huh?”

So I went back to my idling.

Chapter 5: The Land of Diversity

CHAPTER 5 The Land of Diversity

“Oh, it’s a traveler. Yoo-hoo! Take your time and enjoy your stay, okay?”

One resident who just happened to be near the gate that had been left standing open ushered the witch into the city with a casual gesture, as if welcoming in a friend.

The land the witch in question was visiting that day was a place that was known by the curious name Cocktail Country.

According to what she had heard, no definite name existed for the place, and travelers who had visited gave it their own names that pointed to some of its characteristics.

The name for the place was different from person to person. One person might call it Marble Country, while another might call it Patchwork Land.

The fact that they hadn’t even settled on a fixed name revealed the curious nature of the place. Nobody knew how many people lived there. Even the amount of territory it covered was unclear. The residents, who had come from all over, lived however they liked.

So much so that one could say it was less of a city and more of just an area where people lived as they pleased.

In summary, it was a very complicated place.

The event that had caused the witch to fly there on her broom had taken place three days earlier.

It had happened while she was walking through the shopping district in a different city.

“You there, Miss Witch! Are you interested in a little part-time job?” I heard a voice from behind me. “I’ve got a sweet little deal for you. Whaddaya say, my cute witch?”

Cute witch, you say?

Now, just who could that be?

Oh, right—

“You mean me?”

The girl who turned her head suddenly was a witch with ash-gray hair and lapis-blue eyes. She was dressed in a black robe and a black pointed hat and wore a star-shaped brooch on her breast. Who on earth could this incredibly cute witch be?

Allow me to repeat myself.

That’s right, it’s me.

“I saw you come in earlier. You’re a traveling witch, right? In that case, I’ve got a good job for you. Want to give it a go?”

“Oh? A good job, you say?”

I frowned, doubtful of the extremely suspicious solicitation, but once I listened to what they had to say, it seemed to be an invitation to a surprisingly respectable job.

According to what the person said, they wanted me to go buy books in a place called Cocktail Country or something like that. They said they were desperate to get their hands on some items that were only sold there.

I couldn’t help but think that if they wanted them so badly, couldn’t they go buy them themselves? But of course, the fact that they were asking someone else meant they must have had their reasons for it.

“The fact is, it’s a really dangerous place…”

So basically, you’re saying you’re scared, so you don’t want to go there?

I was shocked.

“My! Imagine sending a weak, helpless girl to a dangerous land!”

“You’re a witch, aren’t you?”

“And I’m also a weak girl.”

“Anyway, just get going. We don’t want to go near that place if we can avoid it.”

“We?” I cocked my head questioningly.

A moment later—

—all around me, a crowd of men who seemed to be the merchant’s colleagues quickly gathered.

“You’re going to that place? Well then, while you’re there, buy some cosmetics for me, would you?!”

“If you don’t mind, would you buy some clothes for me?!”

“I want weapons!”

“Me too, me too!”

As if they were competing with one another, the men held out money for me.

I wondered just what kind of place this could possibly be.

“Whoa, seems risky.”

Apparently, this is the kind of place that many merchants would want to avoid.

So that is how I ended up flying on my broom toward a dangerous land, holding on to a large sum of money from the group of merchants. That was when I had heard about all the different names used to refer to the place.

I had asked them, “So what kind of place is it anyway?”

But since not a single one of them had ever been there even once before, their answers were all the same.

“Mmmm…”

They just gave a low groan.

Ultimately, still lacking a clear picture in mind, I had set out for a place that at least had a variety of names, whether it was cocktail, or patchwork, or marble.

Well, it may have a lot of different names, but—

“You know, our city has a lot of different factions, one for each neighborhood.”

—to learn about a place, the best thing you can do is ask the people who live there, right?

I figured I’d better take care of my job first thing as soon as I arrived, so I wandered around town reading the shopping list of things the merchants had requested from me.

The first place I visited was a bookstore.

“By the way, this is a place where avid readers live. We call it the Bookworm Block.”

“Huh.”

“The people who live here live in different neighborhoods depending on their hobbies and tastes. If you’re an avid reader, you live in the Bookworm Block. If you like clothes, it’s the Fashion Block, and the muscle lovers are in the Brawny Block, while those who love scents reside in the Perfume Block.”

“Hmm…”

I see, so you group yourself with others who share your interests and live close together?

Looking around, it certainly did seem like the whole area was filled with bookstores, just as I might have expected of a place called the Bookworm Block. The store I had just happened to enter had a chic appearance. It was the type of store that carried a lot of philosophy books.

“Even within the Bookworm Block, ours is the most refined store. Our location is also closest to the city gates, and most importantly, we have many wonderful books, wouldn’t you agree?”

Most of the things the merchants had commissioned me to acquire were things made by the people who lived here. It was just my luck that my shopping list had the title of a philosophy book written by someone who lived there on it.

I carried the designated number of copies of that book, and nothing else, up to the counter.

By the way—

“I’d also like to get some adventure stories written by people who live here, but where are those?” I asked.

“Ah…adventure stories, huh? Those will be in the farthest corner of Bookworm Block.”

The moment I asked, the attitude of the clerk in the most refined bookstore, or whatever it was, turned cold. Maybe I had said something unsavory?

Though I was feeling uncomfortable, I drew a line through the name of the philosophy book that was written on my list and continued down the street.

There, I found a store with a colorful appearance.

“Hey there! If you want adventure stories, we’re the place. Whatcha looking for?”

As soon as I entered the store, the clerk called out to me. I had many things to find, and searching diligently for them one by one would be exhausting, so I was grateful for this kind of attention.

I showed my paper directly to the clerk.

He immediately said, “Got it! That’s a new work that just came out recently! Wait just a minute,” and went into the back of the shop. He quickly returned.

“I see you’ve already been to the philosophy bookstore?” he said as he handed back my list.

“Yes.” I nodded.

“Ha-ha-ha-ha! And I bet that odd clerk was there?” he asked with a smile.

The clerk kept laughing as he told me that he pitied the other store for having been driven to the farthest corner of Bookworm Block.

“……”

I see, so it seems that even similar stores on the same block do not necessarily get along well.

“Ah-ha-ha-ha! Those avid reader guys have always had trouble getting along with others, after all! That’s why they can’t even keep the peace among themselves.”

The next place I visited was a boutique.

The merchants wanted some of the clothes sold by the designers who lived in this area, so it was time for me to visit the Fashion Block. On the whole, the block had a gorgeous atmosphere hanging over it.

As I was doing my shopping according to my shopping list, a clerk quickly appeared and began a one-sided conversation. Well, that part’s not all that different from a normal boutique, is it?

“Just the other day, they were having an argument, two fellows from the same block! It’s really astonishing to see. They’re all so antisocial, they can’t hold back their words when they don’t like somebody. They really are a bunch of fools.” The boutique clerk sneered.

The next place I visited was the Perfume Block, lined with perfume stores.

It was a street that had an elegant atmosphere and a lovely smell.

By the way, the Perfume Block was located next to the Fashion Block.

“You were diffusing your aromatic oils again, weren’t you?! Would you stop that? The horrible stench soaks into my merchandise!”

“Huh? But I’d think you’d be grateful to have the smell of my merchandise on yours?”

One store was selling scents, while the other was selling things to wear. Apparently, they weren’t all that well suited to stand next to each other, and the owners of the stores were having an argument out front.

As I watched them fight, I went into a different store to purchase some perfume that was only sold there, or whatever.

“Wow, they’re really going at it!”

As she handed me a box with my perfume in it, the owner of the store was watching the situation in front of the other shops as if it had nothing to do with her.

The quarrel between the shop owners continued to heat up. They had each other by the collars, and it was turning into such an uproar that other shop owners and even customers were stepping in to stop it.

“Seems dangerous.”

I gazed at them absent-mindedly.

Come to think of it, I was told this was a dangerous place, but—

“Are there an awful lot of those sorts of arguments?” I asked.

“Hmm? No, not at all.” The store owner readily shook her head and answered me. “That’s quite a tame one.”

I turned my eyes toward the arguing women again.

“Get real. No one cares about your precious clothes shop atmosphere!”

“You shut up and don’t come near me! Your perfume stinks!”

The two shop owners came to blows. And the other shop owners around them rained down abusive jeers and shouts of encouragement on both of them.

I’d thought the crowd was going to jump in to stop them, but apparently the other women were just there to join in the fight.

……

That’s on the tame side…?

I was puzzled.

The shop owner beside me mumbled as she watched the fistfight that was steadily turning into a feud between two blocks, “This is awful. With people like that around, everyone’s going to think all of us in our block are like that, aren’t they?”

But looking back on the quarrel (and fistfight) between the Fashion Block and the Perfume Block as I toured the rest of the city, sure enough, I came to realize that their fight might indeed have been on the mild side.

The conflicts in the other blocks were terrible.

For example, in the Painters’ Block, two painters were showing each other their works when they started to create some friction.

“Wouldn’t you say this composition of yours is an imitation of mine?”

“No, no, you’re the imitator.”

“What did you say?”

“Hmm? Looking for a fight?”

Though it could have ended there, other painters who had come running when they’d heard the uproar started to give their opinions.

“I’m not interested in who copied who, but personally, I prefer this one.”

“Oh, no, I favor this one.”

And so the quarrel developed into an argument about the quality of the paintings. As a result, they left the painters at the center of the whole thing behind and started an all-out brawl. To make matters worse, people from different blocks started butting in.

“Hey! Your buddies are over there fighting, and it’s your fault. How do you plan to take responsibility for that?”

It was like a scene from hell.

My goodness, how frightening, I thought, and I escaped in a hurry after purchasing the painting I was there to acquire.

The place I visited after that was the Weapons Block.

“The owner of the shop over there is a cheat!”

Someone told me it had been proven that the owner of a certain popular weapons shop was passing off weapons she had ordered from elsewhere as items she had forged herself. Well, that’s a big problem! Understandably, the other shop owners, hungry for justice, heaped criticism on her.

And the woman who owned that shop was cute, which was one of the reasons why some of the other weapons shop owners literally shielded her, and fighting broke out among the weapons shops. Then, because they found the behavior of those men revolting, women from other blocks heaped abuse on them, and men from yet other blocks mocked those women for being jealous of the cute woman, dragging women from yet other blocks into the dispute, and it turned into a really terrible spectacle. It was a total disaster, as if the whole place had been set on fire.

“What do you think, as another woman, Lady Witch?!” the man at the weapons shop asked me. He was practically brimming with self-righteous indignation.

Wah, I’m going to get dragged into this.

“Eh-heh-heh, I really don’t know, eh-heh-heh.”

I pretended to be a stupid girl who couldn’t even understand the meaning of his question and quickly made my exit. Then, after I escaped from that dangerous block where all sorts of weapons were flying about, the next place I visited was the Brawny Block.

It was the last place I was going to go shopping that day.

“I see. We certainly do produce our own original muscle drink here on the Brawny Block. Those merchants of yours have very discerning taste.”

The place where I inquired was a weight lifting specialty shop…or at least that’s what the sign said.

The spacious shop was lined with specialty tools for weight lifting and filled with sweaty men and women in the middle of their training. I could sense their enthusiasm for their training by the fact that I felt the humidity and temperature rise by ten percent as soon as I entered the store.

I showed the clerk my shopping list, and he immediately brought me the item I was looking for.

When I’d first looked at the list, I hadn’t really understood what exactly a muscle drink was, but apparently it was just an ordinary smoothie.

“This is the secret muscle drink we have here.”

“What kind of beverage is it?”

“It’s a magic drink that wakes up all the muscles in your body.”

“Interesting.”

I still don’t get it.

“Just now, I bet you thought, ‘I don’t get it.’ ”

“You could tell?”

“Of course I could… The muscles in your facial expression are telling me…”

“Interesting.”

What are they putting in that drink?

“By drinking this after training, it has the effect of building up your muscles. To give you an example, I guess you could say it gives you a body like mine.”

As he handed me the shopping bag, the clerk struck a pose.

At that point, I was ready to hurry and leave, but there was one thing weighing on my mind, so as I took the bag, I also asked him, “This area is quite peaceful, isn’t it?”

I remember fights breaking out basically everywhere in the blocks I’ve visited so far, but as far as I can see, there seem to be no such scenes here in the Brawny Block.

All I could see were men and women single-mindedly dripping with sweat. They weren’t even talking that much.

“I see. You are a keen observer, miss.” The shop clerk smiled. His face was tanned a golden brown. “Look over there.”

He pointed at some men who were posing toward the back of the shop. I could see that their exposed muscles were glistening. I assumed they were wet with sweat after training.

“No, that’s oil.”

Oil, huh?

“So then, Lady Witch, after seeing that, you must understand?” asked the muscle-bound shop clerk.

“I don’t really get it.”

“That pose is called ‘side chest,’ and it’s one that’s mainly used when showing off the pectoral muscles.”

“My question wasn’t about the name of the pose.”

“Oh, did you already know that? Sounds like you’re quite a body building connoisseur.”

“No, I meant I didn’t have any interest in that to begin with…”

And anyway, what’s a body building connoisseur…?

If anything, I was hoping to hear what you had to say to the question I asked.

I put that intention into my expression and stared at the clerk. As if he was once again picking up on my emotions from my facial expression, the clerk said, “Just as you suspected, Lady Witch, this neighborhood is comparatively peaceful.”

Nodding, the clerk told me the reason.

It was a very simple and clear reason.

“Actually, the people around here aren’t interested in anything except their own muscles.”

Now I understand.

After finishing all my shopping, I left my enormous collection of bags at the inn and took a stroll over to the center of town.

I was already exhausted from doing just the little bit of shopping that had got me to the Brawny Block and had been eager to hurry up and get out of there, but when we were parting, the clerk at the body building store had said something that made me really curious.

“Now, listen up. If you don’t make sure to drink the muscle drink within thirty minutes of finishing your training, its effects will—”

No, not that.

“You’re right to say that our neighborhood is comparatively peaceful, but there is an even more peaceful area. It’s called the Central Block—”

That was what he told me.

An even more peaceful place, in a city that was filled with dangerous disputes.

Naturally, I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. So I went to visit it as soon as I could. The Central Block was located not all that far from the Brawny Block.

“Hoh-hoh!”

As it turned out, the Central Block did in fact seem to be where the people who enjoyed a very peaceful way of life gathered.

The scenery I could see was not all that different from other places.

There were normal cafés, and normal restaurants, and normal houses, and the residents were enjoying their free time in normal ways.

To test things out, I entered a café and tried relaxing in a seat on the terrace.

I looked at the menu, ordered a coffee without much thought, and relaxed there for several minutes. Someone brought my hot coffee over, and I took a sip.

“…Delicious.”

By no means was it some exquisite masterpiece of coffee, but after walking around town exhausting myself shopping, it was just right.

To make a long story short, everything was normal.

“Haven’t seen you around here before. Would you happen to be a traveler?”

“……”

Though I’m not really sure whether or not it was normal for a man to start talking to me while I was enjoying my time alone.

I turned and looked over my shoulder toward the sound of the voice, and I saw a lone man in the seat behind me.

“Hey,” the man said and waved his hand. “Ah, sorry. You don’t have to be on your guard. I’m not really planning to come on to you or try to do anything.”

“I feel like that’s exactly what a man would say if he did approach me looking to make a pass, though.”

“However, I can assure you I have no such intentions.” The man pulled a business card out of his breast pocket and offered it to me.

Still on my guard, I accepted it.

“Land of Diversity Steering Committee…?”

I tilted my head, puzzled.

First of all, I’ve never even heard that name before.

“We’re responsible for helping people settle in our city.”

I wondered if maybe the man before me was also an expert on muscles, because he seemed to be able to read my mind by looking at my face.

“The Land of Diversity is the name for this place, at least at the moment. We don’t have a definite name yet.”

“Uh-huh…”

“You’re a tourist, right? It’s rare for us to have a young witch like yourself here. If you don’t mind, I’d like to hear your thoughts on several topics. Not very many tourists come here, you see, so I’d like to consult you while you’re here.”

The man with the mysterious position as a member of the Land of Diversity Steering Committee then disclosed his circumstances to me.

According to what he said, the people living in the Central Block of the city were originally mostly travelers and merchants. Those people, who had passed through all sorts of different countries, had settled there together, and that settlement eventually became this city.

“As we traveled on our journeys, we saw normal people who were able to live without wanting for anything, as well as people who weren’t able to do that.”

When you travel from country to country, you do meet all sorts of different people.

He said, “Especially, we found that in most places, the majority group decided what was normal, while those in the minority were called eccentrics or weirdos or something like that. They were suppressed by the views of the greater majority, until they lost the ability to state their own opinions. Those were the sort of people we saw.”

“…Hmm.”

“When people belong to a group, they lose their individuality. The opinions of the group they belong to become that person’s own beliefs. And they lose the ability to accept differing opinions or thoughts. Everyone who disagrees with the group starts to seem strange. Because people find comfort in their place in the world, you see?”

“……”

“There is nothing more pathetic than a closed-minded person, is there? Really, humans ought to be more accepting of their differences.”

Huh.

“So then, your answer was the Land of Diversity, was it?”

“Right! We created a place where we strive for true peace through recognizing our differences with others!”

“Wow. That’s a worthy ambition. By the way, who’s in charge around here?”

“Ha-ha-ha! Miss Witch, the idea of getting any one person to govern a whole city is so behind the times!”

“……”

I see. I guess their diversity doesn’t extend to my opinions.

“Well, apparently this place is widely known among merchants for being rather dangerous—”

The man seemed like he was bothered by the fact that not many tourists were coming, so I decided I would let him know how the merchants felt about the place.

And so on and so forth.

When I told him that, the man on the steering committee groaned in a low voice with a complicated expression on his face, “Hmm…,” just like the merchants who had asked me about the place.

“A dangerous place, huh…?”

I nodded.

“That’s right. I mean, it did seem like the different cliques were doing nothing but fighting…”

“The people who live here all came here because they were outcasts somewhere else, after all…,” the man told me. “Moreover, we’ve only just started, so we’re still encountering a variety of problems. For now, by grouping together the people who have similar interests and forming communities, we’re trying to make it more difficult for friction to arise between the residents.”

“……”

“People with the same interests gather together, and they reach mutual understandings about their differences. This is the first step toward understanding our differences as fellow humans,” said the member of the steering committee.

I see, interesting.

“In that case, it seems like it’s not going very well yet.”

As I said that, I pointed across the street.

“…?”

The member of the steering committee turned to look.

Right before his eyes, events that were quite contrary to his aims were unfolding.

It was an all-out war between the weapons shops. Apparently, the uproar had spread this far—there were men who were acting as shields in order to protect the one woman, and women raising their voices to ask for help, and men brimming with a sense of justice, and all sorts of other people shouting and carrying on like it was some kind of festival.

And the people who heard the disturbance joined in with the shouting, spreading the uproar even further.

I had thought that if I left well enough alone, the flames would die out, but unfortunately, the blaze was only spreading.

My, my, seems like a tough job.

As long as we were watching from far away, some elements of the battle reminded me of an ordinary festival, but there was no way to describe the scene of a group of armed citizens tearing around the city in a great crowd other than as a sign of poor public safety.

“Oh, good grief, not again…”

According to the man on the steering committee, disturbances like that occurred fairly frequently.

He figured if that stopped, people would stop saying this was a dangerous place.

“Seems like a real problem,” I said, gazing at the riot from afar.

The man from the steering committee answered with a sigh, “It sure is… It’s a real headache for us.”

Then he said, “As long as we’ve got folks like that around, people will assume everyone who lives here is like that, don’t you think?”

After that, I tied an assortment of enormous bags onto my broom and flew away to deliver the goods to the merchants.

“These are all the things you ordered.”

Apparently, that strange land was a source of many rare and exotic treasures. The merchants were delighted. I was also delighted, after receiving my money. Truly, everyone was happy, and everything worked out great.

“……”

By the way, just in case you were wondering—

While I was there, I decided to tell the merchants about the name the people in charge wanted to call the place.

“Huh, the Land of Diversity, is it…?”

“That’s such a lame name. Marble Country is so much better.”

“Nah, I prefer Patchwork Land.”

“No, Cocktail Country for sure.”

“Huh? That’s tacky.”

“Hey now, what did you say?”

“Hey, hey, don’t start a fight! But Cocktail Country really is the absolute corniest.”

“Is it really that bad…?”

Even after they’d been told the official name, their opinions were still split about what to call it, which may have revealed something about the nature of the place.

One of the merchants asked me, “By the way, Lady Witch?”

“Yes?”

“How was the Land of Diversity?”

I suppose he’s asking about the government situation and the general atmosphere of the place.

Now then, I wonder how I ought to answer that question?

I thought back on everything that had happened in the various blocks I had briefly visited and on the people I had encountered.

As a result, I groaned in a low voice.

“Mmmm…”

I’m certain that at that moment, I was wearing a complicated expression on my face.

Chapter 6: The Ashen Witch’s Weight-Loss Plan

CHAPTER 6 The Ashen Witch’s Weight-Loss Plan

This is a story from when I visited Qunorts, the Free City.

A memory of a time when I reunited with Miss Fran and Saya.

“Sigh…”

Who on earth could that witch be, heaving a depressed sigh even though she said this was just a memory?

That’s right, it’s me.

“Huh? Elaina, is something bothering you?”

And the person who quickly noticed her pupil’s distress was my teacher, Miss Fran.

We were currently on our way to a reasonably popular café. There was a reasonably large number of people inside that reasonably popular establishment, and reasonably tasty sets of bread and coffee were placed before us.

As I was eating my bread, I let out another big sigh and looked at my teacher, who was sitting across from me.

“You can tell, Miss?”

Munch, munch.

“It’s unusual for you to sigh while you’re eating bread, which you like so much, after all.”

“Well then, I guess I seem like a peerless lover of bread, a person who’s eating bread around the clock?”

Munch, munch.

“That is what I’m saying.”

“But, Miss, all these worries are making it so that I can’t enjoy even my beloved bread!”

Alas, poor me!

Even as I kept right on chewing away, still, I let out another big sigh.

My teacher seemed surprised at how very upset I was, and her eyes opened wide.

“My goodness, is that so? It must really be an awful problem you’re facing.”

“Yes. I’m really terribly troubled. In fact, it seems like I’ve never been this badly distressed in all my life.”

“What on earth could be the matter?”

“Well, as a matter of fact…”

With a piece of bread in one hand, I leaned forward.

My posture indicated that I was about to make some important announcement, and in response, my teacher also leaned forward and gulped loudly in anticipation.

“Yes…?”

Then I put on an air of importance and said, “Recently…I’ve been getting fat.”

“Sure…what?”

“It might be possible that I just gained weight, but I’m distressed because I don’t have the slightest clue exactly why I gained weight.”

Now, why on earth could that be?

Drowning in despair, I munch, munch, munched away on my bread. Even though it barely tasted like anything, I couldn’t stop myself from eating all the bread I could get my hands on.

“I have a feeling the cause is obvious, though.”

“Hmm? Miss, what are you looking at? I’m not giving you any. Even if it’s not that good, bread is bread.”

“Oh no.”

“And anyway, I’m feeling very upset and depressed right now, Miss.”

“But you’re still eating, aren’t you?”

“Basically, what’s going on here is what’s known as emotional eating, caused by stress. I’m in real trouble.”

“Oh no.”

“Normally, my eating habits aren’t really unusual, and yet…why is it that my body is getting heavier and heavier…?”

“Isn’t it just because your usual eating habits are out of balance…?”

Miss Fran gave me an exasperated sigh. The way she was acting, she seemed to be saying that she was completely giving up. My problem was so serious that even the famous Stardust Witch was ready to throw in the towel when I told her about it.

Now, I wonder what that’s all about?

“Sigh… If this continues, I’ll keep gaining weight, forever!”

I was at a loss.

Isn’t there anybody who can help me?

“I took the liberty of listening in on your conversation!”

Poof !

Suddenly, a girl appeared, sitting beside me.

When I looked over, I could see that the girl had her black hair cut short, and she looked more or less like Saya. She was dressed in a black robe, and looking closely, I could see that on her chest she had both a star-shaped brooch and a moon-shaped brooch. Exactly like Saya.

Also, she had a necklace and a pointed hat that were exactly like mine.

Wow, what a coincidence.

“……”

Or rather, it was Saya herself.

“I listened in on your conversation, Elaina!”

She raised her voice again.

“Oh, Saya?” Miss Fran did not seem particularly surprised by Saya’s appearance. She chuckled quietly as she asked, “How long have you been listening?”

“From the very beginning.”

“Oh my.”

“You’re talking about how Elaina’s gained a lot of mass, is that right?”

“Oh my…”

My teacher’s expression grew clouded.

How cringey…

“Saya, exactly where did you suddenly come from?” I asked, glaring at Saya in annoyance.

“I could smell you nearby, Elaina, so I came over.”

“Are you sure you’re not mistaking it for the scent of bread?”

Do I smell that strongly…?

“Elaina, whenever you’re around, I will always sniff you out. Remember that, please.”

“You are an inveterate stalker, aren’t you?”

“Certainly not! My actions do not constitute stalking at all!”

“Well then, what are you doing?”

“Following you out of love…I guess you could say.”

“So you are stalking me after all? How can you say you’re not?” I sighed.

“Oh my…” Miss Fran, on the other hand, was very, very taken aback.

It goes without saying that I shuddered at Saya’s outrageous act. But even the famous Stardust Witch couldn’t hide the disdain on her face.

And while I’m at it, it also goes without saying that a certain possibility made me a little bit nervous. “What will you do if Miss Fran gets the wrong idea about our relationship, Saya?”

“Anyway, if things keep going on like this, Elaina’s not going to be able to say ‘Who could that incredibly cute girl be? That’s right, it’s me’ anymore, is she? Heh-heh-heh.” Saya chuckled.

“I’ll knock you right off your feet!” I chuckled back.

“Do you normally say things like that? My goodness, oh-hoh-hoh.” Miss Fran chuckled, too.

“Miss Fran, please don’t look at me like you’ve just seen some charming side of your pupil.”

“But I actually did see a charming side of you.”

“And who was it who came ready with a scheme to make sure Elaina stays so charming? That’s right, it’s me.”

“I will knock you down, Saya.”

I glared at her again.

Miss Fran, on the other hand, said, “Oh my,” and turned to face Saya. “Do you have a strategy to keep her from eating too much bread?”

Saya seemed to have struck a chord with Miss Fran, who ate bread just as often as I did.

Saya said proudly, “Of course I do! I have a special trick up my sleeve!”

“A special trick…!” Miss Fran’s eyes twinkled.

I, on the other hand, narrowed my eyes. I was sure what she really meant was that she had some kind of strange scheme.

In the middle of all that, Saya announced grandly, “Have you heard the stories about vegetables growing more delicious if you let them listen to orchestral music every day?”

Wah, I immediately have a bad feeling about this.

“Whatever are you talking about?” Miss Fran cocked her head inquisitively.

“Well, basically, by making the food hear the same sounds every day, you can get it to comply with your wishes, is the idea.”

“I’m following.”

“And so I thought this might be effective on humans, too.”

“You…did?”

“And this implies there is a possibility that if I whisper words of love to Elaina every day, her heart might incline toward me in the future!”

“It…does?”

Please don’t look at me, Miss Fran.

“What I’m saying is that by living together with me, Elaina will be able to eat a proper diet with a good nutritional balance. We’ll never be apart for a single instant, and I’ll guide Elaina toward better health!”

“Oh my, that sounds like you’ll be holding her prisoner.”

Please don’t say that so nonchalantly, Miss Fran.

Oh wait, but—

“Well, I don’t think Saya’s plan is too terrible, in terms of actually making me slim down…” Suddenly, I gave it some serious thought. “I can see a future in which I get super skinny from the stress.”

“Meanie!” Saya wailed.

No, if I had to pick one of us, I think you’re the meanie for proposing such a plan, Saya…

“But, Elaina, if you truly want to lose weight, living with me is always an option,” said Miss Fran, with a very cheerful expression.

“With you, Miss Fran?”

“Yes. Every day, I’ll treat you to my homemade cooking.”

“…If my memories are correct, I believe your home cooking was not fit to eat, Miss.”

“Yes. Well, and so, I think you’ll probably lose weight as a result.”

“That is the result I’m after, but I can’t say I like the sound of the process.”

“Oh my.”

“Great, then my plan—” Saya popped up again.

“I don’t like that process either.” I abruptly turned away.

“Meanie!”

So in short, I passed on both their plans.

“I knew going on a diet wouldn’t be that simple… What a conundrum.” I sighed as I munched away on bread.

…As I expected, it’s not a very tasty proposition…

Watching me eat, Miss Fran let out a similar sigh, as if my sighing had transferred over to her.

“I feel like you could get it done if you just stopped eating bread, though…,” she remarked.

I’m just going to put that off to the side.

“In the course of this conversation with you, I’ve been struck with an idea for an excellent plan, so I’m going to excuse myself for today, okay?”

The two of them cocked their heads, looking confused. “A good plan…?”

I gave them both a sidelong glance as I stood up.

“Yes.” I nodded and said, “I’m going to try having the bread listen to orchestral music.”

Chapter 7: Twilight Helbe

CHAPTER 7 Twilight Helbe

There was a small place in the middle of a deep forest.

Twilight Helbe.

Streetlamps cast their meager light on the quiet city; the night was still and silent. As far as the eye could see, the lamps were the only lights in the city, and the patches of their feeble light were surrounded by darkness.

There were no people on the large thoroughfare that started at the gate that linked the city to the outside world. Only a single set of footsteps struck the cobblestones.

The wind was cold enough to bring on a shiver, and looking up, only a slim sliver of moon hung like a thread in the empty night sky.

Looking up at the dark night sky, the witch thought to herself that the moon made for a pitiful sight, all alone in the dark. It was like it had been abandoned. It looked lonesome.

“……”

Thinking about the moon made the witch realize that she was similarly alone and that her whole life was lonely. The pitiful lone witch stood alone on the city street.

To describe the way she looked in detail, she had ash-gray hair and lapis-blue eyes. And wearing her black robe and pointed hat, she looked like a traveler. Ordinarily, as soon as she entered a new city, she would be showered with cheers of “Ahh, so cute!” but that evening all was quiet, and no one raised their voice from anywhere.

So that’s how the lonely witch ended up walking down the road, dejected and lonely.

Who on earth could she have been?

That’s right, it’s me.

“…What a conundrum.”

It had been about thirty minutes since I’d arrived.

For the past ten minutes, I had been walking along the main avenue, following the light of the streetlamps, but I had yet to encounter a single person. The many tall houses I passed had their windows tightly closed, as if to turn away visits from traveling witches.

The place was so still, it made me wonder if the city was actually inhabited.

Either that, or maybe I’d been imagining the cheers and showers of praise the whole time.

Well, at any rate—

“What a conundrum…”

As I repeated the same words again, I let out a big sigh.

Really, I should never have arrived at that time of night.

For better or worse, this place had a reputation after dark, you see.

“—Listen up, Lady Witch. Even if you are a witch, nighttime here is very dangerous. We’ll take care of your immigration check quickly, so please hurry and find lodgings where you can sequester yourself.”

These were the words the gate guard said to me during my immigration check. Luckily or unluckily, I had arrived just as the gate was about to close. The gate guard was also just about to conceal himself indoors, so he let me through with the warning that I had better find lodgings immediately.

However, no matter how long I walked around town, I never caught sight of another human, much less any open establishments.

After night fell, there was no one out walking around. I’d expected that of the residents, but the guard told me the same was true for soldiers, and travelers, and merchants, and even animals.

The nights here did not belong to people.

“…Ah.”

I heard a voice behind me.

Oh, maybe it’s a resident?

I turned around, mainly by reflex.

As soon as I did, I deeply regretted walking around at night, though it was too late to change anything.

“I have to get my money, I have to get my money, my money, my money, money, money—”

A person was standing there, hanging their head and muttering to themselves.

Their skin was so pale that it was like all the blood had been drained from their body. There was a rope wound around their long, thin neck, one end trailing loosely on the ground.

It was obvious just from looking at them that this was not a living human being.

Judging by appearances, they didn’t seem to be alive, and anyway—

“Whoa, you’re see-through!”

—they were translucent.

“My money, my money, my money, my money—”

The same words kept coming repeatedly from the thing that looked like a translucent person.

Then, as if responding to that voice, another, and then another of the same type of figure appeared out of the darkness.

“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts…”

“Why did you abandon me…?”

“I’ll kill you, then I’ll die, too… I’ll kill you, then I’ll die, too…”

The things that were not people walked around muttering to themselves.

“……”

It had turned into a troublesome scene.

Tales of the infamous Twilight Helbe, where inhuman creatures roamed the streets at night, were popular among merchants and travelers.

That’s exactly why I entered before the sun went down, but—

“Hmm…”

Actually, I wonder what I’m supposed to do when I encounter one of these things?

I wound up standing in front of one of the inhuman creatures that had slowly approached me, puzzling over this question.

I wonder if magic will work on them? Or if they’re even the kind of enemies I can fight in the first place?

I had heard dangerous things roamed the streets here, but I hadn’t asked what I was supposed to do when I actually ran across one of those dangerous things.

Good grief.

“What a conundrum.”

Making the same comment for the third time that day, I pulled out my wand.

Let me just try shooting off a little spell—I pointed my wand away from the things and shot off a small fireball onto the road.

With a sizzle, the fireball burst on the cobblestones and disappeared.

The inhuman things all turned around, following the fire.

Then—

“My—”

—one of the things was about to say “My money” when its whole body disintegrated and then vanished like mist.

“……?”

Of course, the fireball I had created had certainly not had the effect of breaking the inhuman creature into tiny little pieces.

“It hur—”

“Why—?”

“I’ll ki—”

Still less did it have the effect of shattering every single creature around me in the same way so that there was not a single one left standing.

For a moment, a thin fog rolled across the road. The light from the streetlamps dimmed, and the world was shrouded in white.

“I can’t believe you’re out walking around at night like this.”

The sound of a single set of footsteps echoed down the road.

“You must not be from around here.”

After the momentary fog had cleared, standing there was another witch.

She had silver hair with a hint of blue and gold-colored eyes. She wore a white robe and a long black skirt. On her breast, she had a star-shaped brooch.

And the most distinctive thing about her was that instead of a wand, she carried a huge sickle.

Swinging her sickle around in wide arcs, creating a breeze that dispersed the fog, she snickered. “That was a close one, huh?”

Twilight Helbe.

For better or for worse, this place was famous.

Inhuman creatures ruled the night here.

And people said that there was a single witch who hunted those inhuman creatures.

“My name is the Crescent Moon Witch, Clarice. And you are?”

Smiling amiably, she held out her hand.

In the dark night, only her sickle, like a little crescent moon, caught the shine of the moonlight.

Clarice told me that, apparently, it was completely natural that by the time I entered the city, every single business worth calling a business had already shuttered its doors and windows tight, and I wouldn’t be able to find anyone, no matter how hard I looked.

“This is the time of year when the dead are really active, you see, so everyone in town is on high alert. Yeah, bad luck for you.” She chuckled a little as she led me to a safe place, beckoning me along with her hand.

Typically, it’s common sense not to go along with strangers, but unfortunately, since it’s not typical for me to be in a city full of strange, inhuman creatures, I immediately agreed and ended up following right behind her.

Then at last, we finally reached the office of the Crescent Moon Witch.

“Actually, it’s both my office and my house. All right, come in.”

It was a four-story red brick building that looked just like the many other buildings lining that road.

The first and second floors were offices, furnished with simple but expensive-looking desks and chairs. I was shown up to the third floor, which featured two facing sofas and a table. And in the back of the room was a single desk stuffed with a huge mass of papers, magical implements, and research materials.

According to Clarice, this was her personal room.

The fourth floor, incidentally, held the rest of her home.

“…This is quite an office.”

It seems like being the Crescent Moon Witch is a pretty profitable enterprise.

“Heh-heh-heh. Isn’t it? It took me a lot of time and money to put it all together. I was really picky about everything.” She puffed up with pride as she boasted.

The next moment—

—we heard a thud and a groan from upstairs.

……

It seems like her soundproofing measures are somewhat lacking.

Come to think of it, didn’t she say that upstairs was her home?

“Is someone else at home?”

“Oh, it’s fine. Don’t worry about that,” she said in a blunt tone. I could tell she probably didn’t really want me to bring it up.

Then she smiled. “That’s my mother,” she explained. “She’s always like that, so really, don’t worry about it.” Then she quickly urged me with a gesture to sit down on one of the sofas in the reception space and asked, “By the way, do you want anything to drink, Miss Ashen Witch?”

If she doesn’t want to be asked about it, I guess it’s better for me not to ask.

“Elaina is fine.” Nodding, I took a seat. “If you have any coffee, I’ll take one of those.”

“Good choice! We here at the Crescent Moon Company are obsessive about our coffee.”

“Crescent Moon Company?”

I cocked my head at the unfamiliar name.

“That’s the name of this organization, which I founded.”

As she brewed the coffee, she told me, “Well, I guess the simplest way to put it is that we’re a vigilante corps of sorts. Most of our work is in defending our territory and subduing the dead.”

“The dead?” Once again, I was puzzled.

“There were lots of them around you earlier, right? That’s what we call those things here.”

“And just what on earth were those things?”

“Ha-ha. You’re just full of questions, aren’t you, Elaina?”

“This place is full of mysteries, and I’m very confused.”

At least, ever since I arrived here, everything I’ve seen has been bizarre. Like confounding translucent creatures…or something like that. And a witch who owns a company that goes around hunting them.

And even stranger, citizens who shut their windows as if they’d arranged it ahead of time and have an odd sense of unity about absolutely not walking around outside.

I wonder whether there aren’t any people here who would like to go outside at night or who have to keep working until late at night?

As she set a cup of coffee down in front of me, Clarice told me, “The dead is our name for the monsters that are unique to this land, you see. They’re a frightful presence, and they have been tormenting the people here for many years. As soon as the sun sets, they appear everywhere, from the streets of the city to the tops of the roofs and in all of the open spaces outside. If we leave them alone, they go into houses and start attacking people.”

According to Clarice, when night fell, she and the others at the Crescent Moon Company went on patrol around the city, hunting down the dead. Their strategy was to ruthlessly cut the ghouls down where they stood, just as I had seen Clarice do earlier.

“Do physical attacks work well against them, considering that they’re see-through?” I asked.

Clarice nodded. “Sure they do. Jellyfish are see-through, but you can touch them, can’t you? It’s kind of like that,” she said with a satisfied expression.

I see. That’s an easy explanation to understand.

“Although, I don’t think jellyfish turn into fog when you cut through them.”

“……”

It seemed like I’d made a slightly tasteless quip. Wearing a bitter expression, she put her lips to her coffee, then grumbled, “W-well…anyway, they’re dangerous things.” Her cheeks were a little flushed.

Mm-hmm.

“By the way, what happens if one of them attacks you?”

Since you’ve gone to the effort of assembling a subjugation corps, I can easily imagine they must have some pretty troublesome traits.

When I asked that question, Clarice paused—“Hmm”—and made a bitter face again. “That’s kind of a complicated question, actually. Well, to give you a rough idea, they’ve each got different characteristics, depending on what variety of ghoul it is.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah. For example, say they only do a small amount of damage to you… The spots where they touched would get red and swollen.”

“Uh-huh, kind of like a jellyfish, right?”

“……Yeah. Also, after they touch you, you’d gradually start feeling bad.”

“Just like with a jellyfish.”

“Also, you’d start having trouble breathing and maybe even fall into a coma.”

“Isn’t that all basically like a jellyfish?”

“And then, if you’re unlucky, you might die.”

“Is there any chance that the dead are actually jellyfish…?”

“Listen, let’s get away from the jellyfish thing for a while, okay?”

“Your face is awfully red.”

Were you stung?

“Yeah, because of you.”

“My, my.”

And so, leaving the joking there, to sum up…

“So for now, those things out there are always threatening the safety of the city, you would say?”

“And in order to eradicate those dangerous creatures, I formed this organization. As I explained to you in the first place.”

I see. I’ve generally got a grasp on the situation here.

But—

“Is it all right for the most distinguished member of the organization to be taking a coffee break?”

Though I am very grateful that you rescued me from wandering around the dangerous streets, aren’t there lots of other people out there you ought to be rescuing?

Then she answered me, wearing an expression that was full of self-confidence. “Everything’s fine in that department. No problem at all. My underlings are all outstanding, you see.”

Outside the window, a booming noise rang out.

I immediately turned that way in surprise, and when I looked closely, I could see a single beam of light rising into the sky on the other side of town.

“What is that?” I pointed.

Clarice said with a desperate look, “Right. That’s a rescue request from one of my underlings!”

“I see, so in other words—”

“Looks like there was a problem.”

“I see.” I nodded.

She set her coffee down again and put on a very, very bitter expression.

To offer a brief comment in the interest of defending Clarice’s reputation and excusing my own actions, the location of the rescue request beacon was in a residential area quite far away from the city’s main corridor. It was coming from a house far removed from and with no connection to the area Clarice was in charge of patrolling that night, is what I’m saying.

In other words, regardless of whether or not Clarice had run into me, the same thing was sure to have happened.

“What an awful sight…”

Clarice rushed up beside me and let out a huge sigh.

Standing before our eyes was a single-family house where one part of a wall had peeled away, as if it had been carved off. Fortunately, the residents were all unharmed, but the mother stood gaping up at their battered house in amazement, and her daughter was clinging to her, crying.

The Crescent Moon Company member who had been responsible for that area reported to Clarice that some dreadful ghoul had been there until just a little while earlier. The man behind him, who seemed to be the father of the family who had been victimized, was repeatedly and furiously denouncing Clarice’s employee.

“What in the hell were you doing? You incompetent idiot. My house has collapsed, and my wife and daughter could have been hurt. What would you do if they had died? Why did you even join the Crescent Moon Company?”

The man was violently hurling his anger at him. If two other company members hadn’t been holding him back, he probably would have been throwing punches at that point.

“Miss Clarice, I’m terribly sorr—”

Clarice put her hand up to command the man who was trying to apologize in a panic and asked him, “Did you clear the dead?”

“……No, the fact is, it fled from us—”

According to the story Clarice’s deputy told us then, the thing that had appeared on the road under his jurisdiction had looked just like a lump of blubber. He said this round, fat body had been crawling down the street. Just the head of the thing had been about as tall as a human. He imagined that, if the thing stood up, it would have been tall enough to rival the buildings in that part of town.

The man told us that, faced with such an unusual instance of the dead, he got cocky.

What he really should have done was to call for his colleagues and Clarice right away. It was obvious that he couldn’t deal with the thing by himself.

But supposing I can subdue this thing by myself, he’d thought, that might earn me recognition from my other colleagues, and by extension, from Miss Clarice, too—

“However, you can see how things turned out.”

Then as soon as it had destroyed the house, the ghoul had apparently vanished. Just as if it had never existed in the first place.

“Considering the characteristics you described, that sounds like a wandering dead.”

Wandering dead?

I didn’t actually ask the question, but standing behind Clarice, I did tilt my head just a little bit. Even though there was no way she should have been able to see me, she explained what the wandering dead were like.

“The ordinary dead take human form, and you can more or less understand their behavior. However, once in a while, one of the dead appears with a strange form, and the dead like that are hard to predict. These dead are a little different, you see. They’ll struggle violently if you provoke them, and on top of that, they sometimes vanish and flee before you can bring them down. Those ones are called the wandering dead. They’re very dangerous opponents, so I’ve decided that I’ll deal with them on my own, and if any of my subordinates encounter one, I’ve instructed them to let me know right away and to find shelter. What a mess…”

Clarice looked up at the partially demolished house with an exceedingly composed look in her eyes and said, “Sounds like you’ve had plenty of scolding from the residents already.”

Actually, they’re still currently scolding him, but…

“…Yes, ma’am.” Her employee hung his head.

Clarice placed her hand on the man’s shoulder.

“It’s a good thing they’re able to scold you. If they had died, they wouldn’t even be able to do that.”

Then Clarice said in a very cold tone of voice, “You don’t need to come in anymore, effective immediately. Having someone incompetent like you around only exposes your colleagues to danger, you understand.”

Then she shot a sidelong glance at the man, who was standing there in a daze, and walked back over to the house.

She promptly kneeled in respect.

“Please find some way to forgive the failure of my subordinate. We will return the partially destroyed building to its original state immediately. Please, just be patient for a little while—”

It looked like a sincere response on her part.

And it also seemed like a swift reaction designed to deal with the failure.

But for the residents in question, her behavior was apparently intolerable.

“M-Miss Clarice! Please raise your head!” The father, who until a moment earlier had been ruled by his anger, was flustered.

“Th-that’s right! We’re not the least bit bothered by something like our house being destroyed!” And the mother bowed much, much deeper than Clarice had bowed.

The course of events that followed was over in the blink of an eye.

Clarice finished apologizing and swung her big scythe, firing off a spell. As if the hands of the clock were winding backward, the damaged house was back to normal in a flash. While that was happening, I saw her hand over some amount of money, as an apology. It was an amount of money that made the residents’ eyes go wide as they insisted they couldn’t possibly accept so much, but Clarice put it into their hands herself.

“Truly, I am so sorry, Lady Clarice. Please—”

The employee who had committed the failure in this case followed Clarice around for a while after she had finished settling things, begging for forgiveness, but she did not withdraw his dismissal.

“What possible reason could I have for keeping a useless tool on hand?”

She clearly refused him with a smile that did not waver one bit and once again announced the man’s termination.

“Please return your uniform by the end of the day.”

Looking on as an outsider, it seemed like a harsh punishment for a one-time mistake.

But I could be sure there was nothing to be done about it.

“I’m sorry you had to see something so unpleasant, Elaina.”

Some distance from the incident, on our way back to the main avenue, Clarice said, “Our job is an important one. We carry responsibility for people’s lives, and so—we can’t be allowed to compromise in any way, no matter what.”

This time, it had happened that no one had been injured, but it was easy enough to imagine that if they’d been unlucky, the whole family, parents and child alike, might have perished.

“Really, I’d rather not have to discard one of our own like that. But you know, if I don’t do it, I know a kid like him will do the same thing again.”

“……”

“Next time, in the same situation, the boy might be the one to suffer a permanent injury. He might even die. Before something like that can happen, it’s better for him to find a different path. A human life is short, after all.”

“And that’s why you fired him?”

What a kind thing to do.

“Why did you think I fired him?”

“I was sure it was because you wanted to nip the people’s anxiety in the bud.”

“Ha-ha-ha. That was part of it, too.”

Clarice laughed and looked up at the moon.

As she stared at the moon, which was really not all that bright, she let out a sigh.

“Ah, man. We’re gonna be shorthanded again.”

Apparently, the turnover at such a dangerous job was pretty intense.

Since the door to every single inn had unfortunately been shut tight by the time I’d arrived, I was without a place where I could stay for the night.

However, in my moment of need, Clarice extended me a helping hand.

“You don’t have lodgings, right? Stay at my house.”

She readily offered this solution as she showed me up to the fourth floor of her office, or rather, her home.

What an incredibly kind thing to do. Truly a lifesaver. I see no reason to decline.

“That reminds me, what about dinner? Have you eaten? If you like, how about we eat together?”

As soon as she’d led me up to the fourth floor, she prepared a meal for us with familiar ease. She warmed up a stew she had prepared ahead of time and placed it on the table with some bread.

“…Are you sure this is all right?”

I couldn’t ask for anything more, could I?

“Dinner without conversation is lonely, after all.”

I immediately took her up on her word. Actually, before I could even give her an answer, she had already prepared a portion for me, too.

If nothing else, the way things were going, I had managed to get dinner. The warm, delicious stew filled my empty belly.

By the way, there was a hidden side to her tasty offer.

“I want you to help me with my work tomorrow.”

“……”

And so over dinner, she suddenly said that to me.

I nonchalantly averted my eyes, thinking I could play coy and pretend I hadn’t heard her, but Clarice doubled down and asked pointedly, “As you know, we lost a member of our team earlier tonight, so would you lend a hand?”

“……”

Ah well.

Somehow or other, I figured it was something like that.

“…It certainly will be difficult for me to refuse, now that you’ve fed me dinner.”

Not to mention that ever since I arrived here and up until just now, you’ve shown me nothing but kindness.

“Of course, if you do help out, I’ll pay you accordingly.”

“For now, I’m not really so worried about the money, but it seems like a pretty dangerous job, so I’m more anxious about that part of it.”

“Ha-ha-ha. Don’t tell me you lost your nerve when you saw the aftermath of what that wandering dead did earlier? You’ll be fine. Things like that rarely appear, and even so, rightfully I ought to be the one taking responsibility for those particular creatures and taking them down myself. The ones I want you to handle are the ordinary dead.”

“Those translucent creatures that take human form?”

“Right. I mean, basically, if you think of it like exterminating jellyfish, you’ll do fine. One or two dead should be easy enough for a witch to defeat, right?”

“…I guess you’re right.”

If that’s all it is, fine.

I nodded in agreement.

After that was settled, we spent a short while eating our meal across from each other.

After we finished dinner, as promised, I spent the night in her house. I had a bath and made myself at home, then the two of us relaxed at the dining table for a while.

While we were sitting around, since we had a little time before bed, she told me a few things about her background. According to Clarice, she had become a witch in order to hunt the dead.

“The first confirmed sighting of the dead in this land was about three hundred years ago. They’ve got some history, like a local custom.”

Apparently, they still didn’t know exactly what had caused the dead to start appearing.

The magical energy in the surrounding forest probably played some part, extending an evil influence into the city itself and making it possible for the dead to appear. The same thing had happened in the land the cats had controlled and the land the objects had controlled. When the magical energy that prevails in forests overflows, it can prove to be harmful to human society.

I made this conjecture and interrupted Clarice’s story to present it to her.

When I did, this was her reaction:

“Yeah. Actually, I reached basically the same conclusion a long time ago.”

“……”

Clarice told me she had reasoned that there was nothing to be done about the dead coming back. Most of the people there probably thought the same, she said.

She also told me that, to be honest, most of the dead were slow-moving and didn’t have much ability to fight, so it wasn’t impossible for normal people to deal with them if they felt like it.

In fact, when the dead had first begun appearing, that’s what they did. The citizens had apparently dealt with the nighttime dead on their own.

But it sounded like, even so, there was a great need for an institution like the Crescent Moon Company.

“The ranks of the dead, you see, take the forms of people who used to live here in the past.”

That included the ones I had encountered.

And the other dead that had been disposed of that night in town.

Clarice said all of them were the same way, taking the forms of people who had lived there and then died there.

“They look like your dead family members, but if you touch them, you get hurt. In the worst cases, people can die. The dead are much too dangerous to let them encounter the city residents.”

Apparently, that was why each member of the Crescent Moon Company acted under the shroud of darkness, before any city residents set eyes on the ghouls.

“That’s an admirable goal.”

I was straightforward with my reaction.

I was sure that if this was a local tradition that had been kept up for three hundred years, the people there must have already been completely accustomed to it.

I didn’t even question the fact that there wasn’t a single person left who was interested in walking around outside at night.

“I want you to exercise your talents to the fullest tomorrow night, as one of us.”

I felt certain no one there wondered how long they would live in fear of the dead or when it would come to an end. Because closing up your windows at night was just common sense around there.

Was that really such a good thing? Or was it something regrettable?

I didn’t really know.

But I simply agreed.

“Well, I’ll do the best I can.”

The following day, I had a lot of free time when the sun was up, since our work would begin at nightfall.

Clarice told me, “You can do whatever you like during the day. I’ll basically be out in town on business all day, so you can come and go from the house as you please,” and handed me a key to her house with a very, very casual attitude.

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

“Aren’t you putting too much trust in someone you just met yesterday?”

“I doubt you’re going to do anything bad.”

“But it’s easy enough to imagine the possibility that I might steal everything of value during the afternoon, then abandon the job at the Crescent Moon Company and disappear.”

“If you only stole a little bit, I probably wouldn’t even notice, so that’s fine.”

No, that’s not fine at all!

“Do you not have any attachment at all to your money?”

“I’m not just heading up the Crescent Moon Company for show, you know.”

Ah, it sounds like you’re earning a substantial amount.

With a confusing mix of emotions, partially shocked and partially impressed, I let out a sigh, and Clarice added, “If you go out into town today, I think you’ll understand.”

As she made this intriguing announcement, she gathered up her things to go to work. Then she warned me, “During the day, my mother often comes out into the dining room, so if possible, I think it would be better for you to be out.” It was a roundabout way of telling me not to stay in the house too long.

After that, she left.

“Huh…?”

Exactly what is going on here? I wondered as she left me behind.

As if urging me to hurry up and go, a loud thud, thud sound of something hitting a wall echoed from the direction of the bedrooms.

“……”

A scrap of paper reading Please eat and some stew, the remainder of last night’s dinner, had been left behind on the dining room table.

I had thought that since Clarice herself had been so boastful, she must have a lot of self-confidence, but…

Setting out into the city during the day, I could indeed see why Clarice wasn’t hung up on money.

“Wow…”

Maybe because it had been dark the night before, I hadn’t gotten much of a look at the city, but when I observed the place more carefully, there were some really tremendous things to see.

First, in the plaza—

LADY CLARICE, GUARDIANOF TWILIGHT HELBE!

There was a water fountain surrounding a statue with that inscription.

“It doesn’t look like her at all…”

But the workmanship was so poor that the face looked like it belonged to a completely different person. The statue itself was an elaborate work of art, but the modeling on the face was not quite right.

As I walked down the street away from the plaza, a sight completely different from last night’s spread out before my eyes.

All down the road, Clarice’s name was written here and there. For example, when I went to a bookstore, there was a whole row of newspapers with articles praising Clarice’s most recent good deeds.

Along the main avenue, people were selling dolls modeled after Clarice and lots of painted portraits of her.

Apparently, she was some kind of local hero.

Actually, giving it some more thought, I had seen a glimpse of that the previous night, during her exchange with the family whose house she had repaired.

“—Ah! It’s Lady Clarice!”

“Lady Clarice!”

“Thank you so much for helping us out again last night!”

I heard cheers coming from the other side of the street.

When I looked over, I saw a crowd.

At the center of that crowd was, of course, Clarice.

“Ha-ha-ha. I just did what needed to be done, as always!”

There was the smile I had seen so many times since the previous day. She responded politely to each and every one of the residents surrounding her.

“Um, would you please hold my child?!” A mother pressed her child into her arms.

“Yes, of course.” Clarice cradled the child in her arms like it was entirely natural.

“Sign, please!” A little kid brought her a piece of paper and a pen.

“Sure thing.” Clarice patted his head and scrawled her name on the paper.

“I’m going to give birth to a little girl soon!” A pregnant woman approached her.

“Well then, allow me to pray that you deliver her safely,” Clarice said, rubbing the woman’s belly.

Children, adults, the elderly, many people of all ages watched with jealousy in their eyes, then one person after another approached the woman and handed her food or money. They seemed to take a liking to her.

I get it now. If Clarice gets this much adoration and charity from the townspeople, I guess she wouldn’t have to worry about money. And I have no doubt that the day I stole anything from the house of someone like her, the people here would pursue me to the ends of the earth.

“Ah, Elaina. You came.”

Her gaze landed on me.

Immediately after it did, the eyes of the citizens all converged on me, too.

“………………………………………………………”

All the cheers from the people around her suddenly stopped, and silence fell over the crowd. The citizens all fixed their emotionless gazes on me, as if they were appraising me.

I didn’t feel anything like clear hostility from them. But the fact that the boisterous atmosphere that had been there a moment earlier had vanished as if it was never there was simply eerie.

I stood there confused, not really sure why the citizens had all suddenly fallen silent.

It seemed like they were waiting for Clarice to say something.

“Let me introduce you to everyone. This is Elaina. She’s a witch who’s going to help me subdue the dead tonight. Last night, we had someone leave the Crescent Moon Company, you see, so I got her to agree to work for me on short notice, to make up for that loss.”

As soon as Clarice introduced me that way, the citizens immediately greeted me with applause and cheers.

“Ah! So that’s who she is!”

“If Lady Clarice approves of you, you must have some magnificent powers!”

“I envy you!”

“The guy who was dismissed this morning was an incompetent who wasn’t worthy of working at the Crescent Moon Company anyway.”

“Now, now. Let’s not talk about those who are gone.”

They all greeted me warmly, all at once, as if they had been instructed to make sure they all smiled, and looked happy, and welcomed me.

“……” After wavering for a moment over how I ought to respond, I said, “…Uh, hello.”

I forced myself to smile.

An uncanny harmony had taken hold of the crowd. Whenever the people clapped their hands and their voices rang out with praises of me and Clarice—

—I was sure I felt a prickling sting against my skin.

“……”

And on the other side of the crowd, I could see Clarice, still wearing that same smile.

Everything in the city seemed just a little bit off.

It was almost like everything there existed to make Clarice look good. Wherever I went in town, all I heard was praise for Clarice.

Little children talked about their dreams to become just like Clarice, and older teenage boys and girls were more specific, touting their goals to join the Crescent Moon Company and be of service to Lady Clarice. Even though I spent just half a day walking around town, I saw such sights many times over.

And not a single person ever laughed at those dreams and goals.

Everyone around those boys and girls encouraged them to chase those dreams, as if pursuing those things was only natural.

The greatest threat to the people of this city was the dead.

And Lady Clarice, who protected them from the dead, seemed to be the one and only thing they believed in.

“…Somehow, this place tires me out.”

Ultimately—

—in the early afternoon, I wound up going back to the building that was both the Crescent Moon Company’s office and Clarice’s home.

I went up to the fourth floor and unlocked the door.

I’m going to start working tonight, so why don’t I take a little nap until then?

After all, I have no idea what might happen to me if I disappoint such a harmonious populace—

With those thoughts, I unlocked the door to my room, but immediately after I did, I remembered something else.

“During the day, my mother often comes out into the dining room, so if possible, I think it would be better for you to be out.”

Come to think of it, Clarice did say something about that when she left this morning.

“……”

In the kitchen, a lone woman was cutting vegetables.

She was in her forties. Her blue hair, somewhat darker than Clarice’s, was pulled up in a ponytail behind her head. She turned to me with a lifeless gaze and said, “…Hello.”

She greeted me.

“…Hi there.”

I went ahead and bowed.

I see, so then I take it there’s no place in this whole country where I can relax?

I thought I remembered Clarice preparing a meal for her mother as well, but—

But apparently, she didn’t feel like having stew for lunch. The stew and the note were untouched on the table, and she was chewing away on a simple salad made of chopped vegetables.

“You must be Elaina?”

She urged me to have a seat. Though I thanked her and sat down, I was still anxious about why she knew my name. But before I could ask, she said, “Yesterday, Clarice talked to me about you through the door. She said you were staying here, starting last night,” as she shoved more salad into her mouth.

Even as she ate her food, her eyes still had no life in them. But at least she seemed capable of holding a decent conversation.

I was slightly relieved.

“Did Clarice say anything about me?” she asked me suddenly.

I immediately shook my head. “No.”

If anything, she seemed to want to avoid talking about you.

When I answered, she just nodded. “Oh.”

“Is there something the matter with you, physically?”

Illness is the first reason I can think of to explain why someone would avoid human contact and stay confined in their room.

But she shook her head slightly.

“My body is the picture of health. It’s not as if I can’t go outside because I’m injured in some way.”

“……”

“But when it comes to my mental instability—well, if you’ve been here since yesterday, then you must know.”

You would say that about yourself ?

It certainly was true that hearing the voice and the noises through the wall had been enough to make me wonder if Clarice was keeping some horrible monster as a pet, but—

But now that I had met her face-to-face, she seemed like a totally ordinary woman.

“In addition to my mental instability, all the townspeople, including Clarice, think I’m a broken person, so I get incredibly strange looks no matter what I do or say. That’s why I can’t leave the house.”

She told me all this in a detached tone. Before I could ask her about the meaning behind her words, she tilted her head and asked, “You’ve been out into the city already, right?”

“…Yes, I have. I just got back.”

“How was it?”

“……”

I was silent, and she looked up at me.

“It was a creepy place, wasn’t it? Night or day, the people and Clarice, it’s all so creepy.”

She told me that at night, the dead roamed the streets, and the people all shut their windows up tight.

During the day, all the people spent all day doing nothing but praising Clarice. Anyone who opposed her was mercilessly eliminated.

There had been a prevailing sense of indescribable discomfort about all the sights I had seen in the city, and if I was going to express it clearly in words, sure enough—

“It was a little creepy.”

I would say it’s a creepy city.

It was as if the whole place existed only for Clarice’s sake.

“It wasn’t always like this, you know—at least, about a hundred years ago, way in the past, there were still plenty of people who had varying opinions about the dead and about Clarice. There were a number of voices speaking against Clarice and the Crescent Moon Company.”

“……?”

A number of voices in the distant past?

“But with time, starting with the most sensible people, they all left town, one after another. The people who remained lost the courage and willpower to run, and now they’re all puppets whose only reason for living is to cling to Clarice. I can’t even tell anymore which people are the dead, the ones who wander around town during the day or the ones that wander around at night. That girl has controlled our days and our nights for such a long, long time.”

“……?”

Hang on, what exactly are you saying here?

“Um…? From the way you said that, it sounds like Clarice has been alive for a very long time, but…?”

What are you saying?

I cocked my head to convey my question, and she cocked her head right back, as if to say, “What are you saying?”

“…Oh? You don’t know?”

“Know what?”

“Clarice has been living here for three hundred years.”

“……”

So that means, in other words, she must be…

“She’s immortal?”

Which must mean that you, her mother, are immortal, too?

“No, that’s not it.”

According to her, strictly speaking, Clarice was not immortal. She was a normal human who could get injured and who did age.

If that’s true, how has she been living for three hundred years?

The answer Clarice’s mother gave to this puzzling riddle of a problem was plain and simple.

She said—

“Have you ever heard the word reincarnation?”

She told me that over the past three hundred years, Clarice had died and been reborn countless times.

This is a chronicle of Twilight Helbe.

It’s the story of the land, as told by Clarice herself.

Let’s go back, three hundred years in the past, to the start of everything. Back then, there was a mage. Her name was Clarice. She lived with her mother and was deeply loved. The two of them lived a totally normal life.

Her fate changed one day when she was ten years old.

Undoubtedly, it was a day that changed the fates of many people living in Twilight Helbe.

That day, after the sun had gone down—

—the dead appeared.

The dead that appeared long ago were just like the typical dead that still appeared at night. Their skin was pale, as if all the blood had been removed from their bodies, and looking at their faces, there was nothing there that could be called consciousness.

They also wandered around town repeatedly mumbling the same words that at first thought seemed to have no meaning.

It was obvious from looking at them that they were not living humans. The citizens could tell the moment they looked at them that these were dead people who had once been their neighbors.

Although they understood what was going on, back then, most of the citizens had had a very different reaction.

“It’s a miracle! Our friends have returned in great numbers from the land of the dead!”

They threw their hands in the air and welcomed the deceased parading through town.

Someone hugged the father they had lost to illness. Another person snuggled up to the sweetheart they had lost in an accident. Others greeted siblings they had once been close with, or comrades who had fallen in war, or friends who had departed after a falling-out.

They were delighted by the reunions.

However, whenever anyone touched the dead, that person’s skin became inflamed, they lost consciousness, and in the worst cases, they even died. In her memoir, Clarice conjectured that this was the result of the dead absorbing life from the living.

As a result, the first night the dead appeared—

—many citizens lost their lives.

Clarice’s mother was one of them.

When it happened, Clarice’s mother was affectionately teaching Clarice to use magic. Then someone knocked on the door of their house, knock, knock. Who on earth could it be? they wondered. A visitor, maybe? Clarice opened the door without questioning it much.

“…Who are you?”

An unfamiliar, translucent man was standing there.

Clarice was puzzled.

“You—”

Apparently, he had been an acquaintance of Clarice’s mother.

Her mother touched Clarice’s shoulder and moved her away from the door, then embraced the man outside without hesitation.

“…? Mother?” Clarice was confused by her mother’s unusual behavior.

Her mother spoke to the bewildered girl through tears.

“This person here is your father, Clarice.”

Her father, who had died long ago, when Clarice was first born. And now, somehow, her mother was telling her that he was standing there, right before their eyes.

Naturally, Clarice was even more bewildered to hear that. How could someone who was supposed to have died be standing before them?

And actually—

“Uaaagh…you, you, you…”

—was it really okay for her to call this translucent man, who was deliriously babbling incoherent words, Father?

The sight filled Clarice with a sense of utter discomfort she couldn’t shake.

“I’m so happy… You came back to me—”

She felt uneasy as she watched her mother embrace him tightly.

She reasoned that her mother must be crying at being reunited after so long. She heard her sobbing and saw her shoulders shaking—but before long, her mother’s arms and legs started trembling like she was having convulsions, and she began coughing hard.

“—Kah-ha! Ah, aaaaaahhh…ow, ahhh…!”

Trickling down the translucent man’s back, a dark red liquid fell in drops onto the floor. A wordless gurgling sound escaped from her mother’s mouth, as if she was drowning in water, and finally her mother’s knees buckled, and she fell to the floor as if she had somehow been knocked down by the translucent man.

After that, her mother did not move.

The dark red stuff just flowed from her mouth and nose.

“…Mother?”

Clarice wrote in her memoir that she didn’t remember most of what happened next.

As they gradually began to realize the truth about the dead, the people destroyed them, one by one. The good-natured citizens then went all around town, warning others that the dead were not really people’s friends and family returned to life, hoping to keep the number of victims low.

One of those people helped Clarice, as she stood there in a daze looking down at her mother’s corpse.

Unfortunately, her mother was already dead by then.

Clarice was heartbroken.

Then she made a promise to herself.

She swore that never again would people lose their families like that—

“And then,” her mother told me, “Clarice studied magic and took the name the Crescent Moon Witch. That was when she founded the Crescent Moon Company and began patrolling the streets and subduing the dead.”

In other words, she’d been doing it for about three hundred years.

She’d been fighting against the dead that whole time.

“She did it to dispel her resentment over her mother’s death?”

“That was part of it, and apparently there were other reasons, too.”

Her mother knew her daughter well, despite hating her—actually, seeing as how she was also a citizen of this place, Clarice’s circumstances were probably basic knowledge for her.

“Her ultimate goal was to make it so that the dead would never appear anywhere else, ever again.”

However, if the dead were inhuman entities that took the forms of deceased humans, then—

—what that meant was as long as there were people living there, the dead would keep appearing at night. They would never stop.

“In order to defeat them for good, just one single lifetime was not enough. By the time Clarice reached old age, she still hadn’t accomplished her goal.”

Ultimately, leaving behind the organization known as the Crescent Moon Company, as well as many mourners, Clarice took her last breath and died of old age.

Or so people thought.

“However, five years after Clarice’s death, a young girl arrived at the Crescent Moon Company, calling herself Clarice.”

Apparently, there were many children who aspired to be like Clarice, the woman who had spent her whole life protecting her home by night, so the adults who received the girl were convinced at first that she was just a mischievous child playing a prank.

However, the little girl revealed many secrets of the members of the Crescent Moon Company, one after another. She talked about finances and the failures of the company. She even knew the combination for Clarice’s old safe. The girl revealed a large amount of information that only Clarice would have known.

Furthermore, the girl wielded a magic wand right in front of them.

And the spells she cast were exactly the same spells Clarice had used for many years to vanquish the dead. It was a nostalgic sight. And at the same time, it was obvious that those spells were much too advanced for a five-year-old girl to be using.

Everyone at the Crescent Moon Company thought a miracle had occurred.

And they welcomed the girl, who was just barely five years old, into the company.

Several decades after that happened, the same thing happened again. Clarice died, and several years later, a little girl calling herself Clarice showed up.

Truly a miracle.

Clarice returned to this world time and again in order to defeat the dead.

The people of Twilight Helbe celebrated Clarice’s continuous resurrection. They came to revere her as their protector, the only one who could defend them.

Eventually, the people started to become restless whenever the end of Clarice’s life approached.

Whose child would be the next Clarice? they wondered. Who would be the parents of their hero and savior? They started to look forward to her death and rebirth.

“I moved here when I was eighteen years old,” the mother of the current Clarice reminisced. “The boy I was dating at the time was from around here, you see, and he had a job he desperately wanted to do waiting for him back in his hometown, so he said he wanted me to go with him and asked me along.”

She had been deeply in love with him and had readily agreed to go with him.

After that, the two of them got married, and four years later, she became pregnant with their child.

It was another half a year after that when he passed away on the job.

“He put his life on the line fighting the dead in order to protect the people here and won a victory for all of us. If he hadn’t been there, there likely would have been a huge number of casualties—”

The Crescent Moon Witch attended his funeral.

The man had been a member of the Crescent Moon Company. He was honored as a hero for giving his life in combat against the dead.

His wife didn’t even feel any resentment.

At the time, Clarice was an old woman in her eighties. Moreover, it was uncomfortably obvious to everyone, even someone who had only lived there for a few years, just what kind of character Clarice was.

“I pray that you and the child in your belly will be blessed.”

Clarice kneeled and touched the woman’s belly.

The woman looked down at Clarice in a daze. The members of the Crescent Moon Company applauded the scene with tears in their eyes. Even though none of them had shed a tear as her husband’s coffin was buried in the ground.

She found that disturbing and repulsive.

But she couldn’t bring herself to leave, because it was the place where her beloved husband had been born. Because her many memories with him still tied her to that place.

Six months after her husband’s death, she gave birth to a child.

Mysteriously, it was the same day as the anniversary of Clarice’s death.

“……”

As for what happened after that, even without hearing all the details, I could guess. “And the child that was born was her, I suppose?”

“Yes.”

Yet again, Clarice had obtained a new life.

The townspeople envied her for becoming Clarice’s mother and gave her their blessings.

“Congratulations!”

“You’re the mother of a hero!”

“I’m so jealous!”

Almost every day, freshly picked vegetables and fruits were delivered to her door, and if she ever went out into town, the people greeted her with a lot of applause and smiling faces. All because she was Clarice’s mother.

You didn’t eat your dinner last night, but you really must eat properly, you know.

You sighed at home yesterday, didn’t you? Is anything bothering you?

You stayed up late last night, huh? You’ve really got to go to bed earlier.

If you’re ever having difficulty with anything, just let us know!

Since you’ve become the mother of Lady Clarice, you don’t have to worry about anything anymore, for the rest of your life!

She knew the townspeople were saying it all with the best intentions.

But she found their smiling faces repulsive. Much more so than the dead that roamed the streets at night.

“—Mother, let’s move out of this house today and live on the fourth floor of the Crescent Moon Company building.”

One day, when Clarice was three years old, she proposed this to her mother, as if it was only natural, and they moved out of their house.

And so they started living in their current home.

After that, Clarice grew up quickly. On the outside, she was a child. But inside, she was a witch who had lived for three hundred years. She knew everything about the world, and of course she also knew everything there was to know about magic.

Clarice did what society expected of her and took the qualifying exams in order to become a witch. She was five at the time. Of course, she passed on her first attempt. After that, she halfheartedly chose a teacher and returned home as the Crescent Moon Witch.

She knew everything.

If they ever encountered anything Clarice’s mother didn’t understand, even a little bit, Clarice would point it out to her in a know-it-all tone of voice. Well, Clarice really did know everything. Her mother quickly figured out that if they argued, she had no hope of winning, so she stopped talking to Clarice altogether.

Clarice also meddled in diplomacy with other nations. Whenever the other parties mocked her and questioned what a mere five-year-old was talking about, she showed off her power and silenced them with her abilities, and if another country ever tried to invade, she stood on the front line and thoroughly beat them back.

Eventually, she became known as a god child in several foreign countries.

And in her own homeland, she was called a hero and a savior.

Her mother was the woman raising that god child, that hero.

Other people only ever looked at her with envy in their eyes.

That was how she spent her days.

Her husband was dead, and the child she had given birth to was a prodigy who could do anything. However—

“Even though I had given birth to his child, I sensed something else was wearing the face of the child I made with him, pretending to be my daughter when it talked to me,” she said.

More than anything, the idea that Clarice, the cause of her husband’s death, had become her child and been reborn into the world was unbearable to the mother.

Consequently, she grumbled—

“I find her really creepy.”

That evening—

“Elaina. I haven’t seen you since yesterday.”

Clarice greeted me with a wave of her hand as she came back to the house.

Her mother had already gone back to her room, and I was alone at the dining table.

“Since yesterday? But we saw each other this afternoon.”

“That was me on my best public behavior, so it wasn’t the real me.”

“That’s not how it looked to me.”

“I’m a good actor.”

I see. So by her criteria, seeing her this afternoon doesn’t count. Well, leaving aside her strange hang-ups about that—

“It seems like the citizens here really rely on you, huh?”

“It’s less like reliance and closer to faith at this point.” She shrugged, looking exasperated. “Have you already heard about me from someone?”

“Heard about you?”

Now then, whatever could you mean? By any chance—

“You mean the fact that even though you look my age, you’re actually just making yourself look young?”

“Right.” She nodded. “Sounds like you already know.”

Clarice must have had no particular intention of hiding it. Indeed, it was something I would have discovered by staying in the city for a day and talking to anyone there.

Well, I do understand why she would be feeling a little uneasy.

“I’ll just go ahead and say that, in the course of my travels, I have encountered many people who have lived for a long, long time and have also spoken to some of them. So it doesn’t really bother me at all,” I said.

Clarice let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness.”

My, my, how touching.

“You know,” I said, “I didn’t expect you to be so concerned about what I think.”

I did not hide my surprise.

Clarice shook her head.

“No, it’s just that, if you were the type of person to make a big fuss about it, the kids in town probably would have gone after you, so I was just asking.”

“……”

So that’s it, huh?

As soon as night arrived, we set out into the streets.

The area that had been designated under my control was the district where the wandering dead had appeared the night before. Clarice was to be in charge of an adjacent district.

It sounded like it was a complete mystery when and where a wandering dead might appear, but once one had shown up, it was easier for others to appear nearby, or something.

“There’s likely to be a mass outbreak of the dead tonight, okay? So let’s you and I take charge of the most demanding areas, Elaina. If a wandering dead shows up, let me know. I’ll deal with it myself right away.”

Faint lights began to glow around the silent city. All signs of human life had vanished.

“Oh my goodness, I think you’re overestimating me. But seriously, you’ve got a really good sense for it, huh? Whether the dead will be many or few?”

“I’m a three-hundred-year veteran of these streets, after all.”

According to Clarice, she was able to intuit, to a certain degree, which nights would see a large outbreak of the dead.

There were almost always large outbreaks on the nights when the wandering dead showed up. The wandering dead appeared only rarely, and in the majority of cases, it was on nights when the moon was waning, or the sky was cloudy, or it was raining—basically, on nights when the moonlight was weak, it was apparently easier for them to come out.

And tonight, there will be a crescent moon.

Plus, last night, they failed to bring down the wandering dead.

A wandering dead is likely to come out again tonight.

“Speaking from my experience, tonight’s probably going to be a tough battle.”

“That’s an unpleasant prediction.”

“But it’s the truth anyway. Can’t help it.”

As she spoke, she pulled out an enormous sickle. Every time she swung it around, it caught the feeble moonlight, and the blade glittered.

“Let’s do our best to make sure no one dies tonight.”

With her eyes full of determination, she said that to me.

Without giving her any response, I pulled out my wand and prepared myself.

And then the dead began to appear in the completely silent Twilight Helbe.

The previous night, the dead had already emerged by the time I turned around to see them, so this was actually my first time witnessing the moment when the dead appeared.

The first change that was apparent along the road was in the air.

It suddenly got colder, and an uncomfortable chill ran up my spine. Then bluish-white lights began to appear on the street and silently gathered into little swirling eddies. There were one, two, three, four little swirls…their numbers increasing one by one.

Every one of those little eddies was one of the dead.

The eddies eventually changed and took on human forms, and just like the night before, they started making wordless noises.

“Ahhh…”

“Ohhh…”

“I see.”

After observing the transformation, I waved my wand.

According to what Clarice had said the day before, physical attacks were effective against them.

“Hyah!”

I immediately let off a blast of magical energy from the tip of my wand. I figured I could go ahead and smash right through them.

I rained down attacks on the dead as they appeared, one after another.

However—

“Uaaah…”

—the orbs of magical energy I conjured were completely, harmlessly absorbed by the bodies of the dead.

Mm-hmm, interesting.

“Excuse me, but it doesn’t seem to be working at all.”

I glared at Clarice, who was swinging her sickle around behind me, slicing up the dead.

Hang on. Just what is going on here?

“Ah, sorry. Physical attacks do work, but if you just hit them with plain magical energy, it doesn’t have any effect, so be careful about that.”

“I wish you would have told me that ahead of time.”

“I’m telling you now, so forgive me. Sorry!”

As she lopped off a ghoul’s head, Clarice offered a rather casual apology.

I see, so rather than attacking them directly with magic, it certainly might have been safer to make sure I had something prepared that could deal physical damage, like her sickle.

And so I tried again—

“Hyah!”

With a spell, I conjured two swords and swung them around, controlling them with my wand. I presumed from the way she had said it that basically as long as it wasn’t magical energy, any kind of attack would work against the dead.

They were probably somewhat difficult opponents for mages to fight.

Though they were no big deal, as long as you understood how to combat them.

“How is it? Going okay?”

I heard her voice behind my back.

When I glanced over, I saw Clarice kicking up a breeze as she swung her sickle around, slicing up even distant ghouls with ease. Just what one should expect from a three-hundred-year-old ultra-veteran, I suppose.

“You can defeat them just by swinging your weapon around, so yeah, things are easy for now.”

I on the other hand had stuck my swords together hilt to hilt and was making them spin round and round in midair. Caught up in my slashing attack, the bodies of the dead fell to pieces.

“Home, go home—”

“Why did this happen to me—?”

“N-no—”

I cut them up, silencing their delirious talk.

I cut and cut, but one after another, more glowing eddies whirled into existence on the road, and the dead appeared again.

Sure enough, the dead seemed to be out in great numbers under the crescent moon.

“There’s no end to these things…”

I couldn’t help but sigh.

Even though I was a long way from exhausting my magical energy reserves, my enemies were dangerous things that could cause me all sorts of harm, major and minor, just by brushing against me. I couldn’t let my guard down for a moment.

“No end in sight at all, huh? Ha-ha-ha!” Clarice answered my complaint with a laugh.

Her laugh sounded dry. It didn’t sound like she was just talking about that night. I’d heard the real feelings of a woman who had been hunting the dead like this for three hundred years.

I recalled what she had said earlier that evening, right before we had come to this place.

I remembered the words she had said to me.

“—You know, really, I’d like to end this already.”

With a sigh, but still smiling, she had muttered those words.

When Clarice was still young, her mother was a very kind and good person.

“You are my little treasure.”

She was always saying things like that with a smile and gently stroking her daughter’s hair. Clarice loved her mother.

She even thought that, as long as she had her mother, she didn’t need anything else.

However, her mundane life was thrown into disarray when she was ten years old.

“I think you probably already know about this, about what happened to my life,” she said. She had just gotten back home and sat down on the sofa with a big sigh. Then she continued, “My mother, she died right in front of me.”

I didn’t tell her I had already listened to that story just a little while earlier, right there in the same spot.

I stayed quiet and waited for her to speak.

There were parts of the tale that I hadn’t understood at all, when I’d heard it from her current mother.

Reincarnation.

She kept being reborn and living again and again.

I wasn’t clear on whether that was her own intention, or whether she was granted a new life every time she died like some kind of curse.

I didn’t know which was true for her.

“My greatest regret was watching my mother die without doing anything.”

What she told me then was a story from three hundred years earlier.

It was the truth, which wasn’t written in her memoir.

I suppose that, as the guardian and savior of the city, she could never reveal the true story to anyone.

Long ago, when her mother first died—

—she had felt an intense desire for revenge against the dead that had stolen her only family from her.

She wondered how she could possibly dispel this feeling. She pondered how she could eradicate those ghouls from the world.

Clarice, who had just turned ten years old, dedicated the rest of her life to honing her skills. She spent night after countless night hunting the dead.

However, that did not dispel her feelings.

No matter what she did, her mother, who had died in front of her eyes, was not coming back. Even so, she dreamed of a day when she might feel better, and she continued hunting the dead almost every day.

Eventually, she started to get together with other people who had similar goals.

Eventually, their group came to be called the Crescent Moon Company.

Before she knew it, Clarice had turned fifteen.

Through all the days of endless fighting, she always held in mind the image of her gentle mother. And her pitiful end. She felt it was her duty to keep those creatures from threatening her people ever again.

But the dead were, so to speak, the deceased coming back to this world again. And that meant as long as people were dying, the dead were sure to keep appearing.

And there was also a possibility that her mother, who had previously died in front of her eyes, would reappear as well.

“Ahh…uhh…”

Then one day, Clarice was out subduing the dead as she always did.

Just like always, she was slicing through the translucent entities that appeared on the streets with her sickle.

“—Ah.”

That was the day that her hand, which swung the sickle day after day, over and over, finally came to a stop.

She recognized one of the ghouls, wandering through the streets just like all the others, continuously spilling wordless noises from its mouth.

It was the figure of her mother, whom she had lost five years earlier.

She looked just as she had when she’d died in front of Clarice’s eyes.

“……”

Clarice readied her sickle.

If she was being honest, standing in front of the image of her mother did shake Clarice’s determination. There was hesitation in her hands.

But no matter what form they took, the dead were the dead. If she didn’t deal with her mother there, she was sure to go attack someone else, and that would just give rise to another new ghoul.

Kindness and naïveté would only spur on a never-ending series of tragedies.

So Clarice readied her wand and closed the distance between them in one go.

Then she swung her sickle down.

With a squelch, the body of the ghoul she had cut into collapsed.

“Ahhh…uhhh…”

One by one, each part of the body lost its form and disintegrated. Arms and legs vanished like so much fog.

And the head floated gently up into the air.

“Ah—Clarice.”

“Mother—,” Clarice mumbled. “I’m sorry—”

“Clarice, Clarice—”

Clarice’s mother’s face looked down at her as it drifted up into the sky and disintegrated.

And then—

—her mother spoke.

The remains of her kind mother, her mother who had always helped her with her school work, spoke to Clarice.

“I wish you had never been born.”

When she heard those words, at first she doubted her own ears.

But when Clarice looked up at the thing that had been her mother, it repeated itself. “If only I had never had you! He and I could have been together!” Over and over, it shouted, “If only you had never been born! He and I could have been together!” Again, and again. “If only you didn’t exist! I wish I had never given birth to someone like you! You! If you weren’t here! I would have been free!”

Clarice wondered if she was dreaming.

There was no way her beloved mother would say such cruel things. Surely, after becoming one of the dead, after transforming into an inhuman creature, she had started saying things that were not in her own heart.

“I’ve got to help my mother—”

Before she knew it, Clarice told me, she had a change of heart.

After that, she began her research on the dead.

The very first thing she did was to look into their ecology.

“The dead are nothing more than an aggregation of people’s strong emotions,” she told me. “Right before you die, what do you figure people think about? People who are hanged must surely think about it being hard to breathe, or about wanting to breathe, or something like that. People who are stabbed to death are probably crying about how badly it hurts. For every human death, the conscious thought that is etched into their mind in those last moments must be different.”

“……Well, sure, I guess that’s right.”

“According to the results of my research, the dead are composed of nothing more than people’s thoughts combined with magical energy.”

……

“And if my theory was correct, that meant my mother—”

Wouldn’t that mean your mother was holding a grudge against you? I was about to ask, but Clarice shook her head.

“Do you think people who died by hanging were thinking about it being hard to breathe twenty-four hours a day, every day?”

In a detached tone, she told me, “Those things are each the size of a human being, but they’ve only got a single thought rattling around inside them. They’re mostly empty. That’s the reason why so many of the dead are constantly mumbling nonsense.”

And when the results of her research came to light, there was one more thing that became clear.

Over the course of several years, certain ghouls reappeared wandering around town, again and again.

Perhaps because no one before her had thought of studying the dead, it wasn’t until after Clarice had begun to investigate them that that fact was discovered.

However, that fact pointed to a single truth.

“There were still fragments of my mother’s consciousness drifting around this city.”

And so for as long as her own life continued, Clarice continued hunting the dead.

As she was hunting them, there was one thing on her mind.

“Maybe, if I can gather up all the fragments of my mother’s consciousness, my mother might come back to me.”

She continued hunting the dead, spending her days chasing after traces of her mother.

But one lifetime was too short.

Before she could finish collecting all the fragments of her mother’s consciousness, Clarice was facing the end of her life span. Before she knew it, she had turned sixty years old. She herself was nearing death.

Her life was about to end, and she hadn’t even come close to achieving her goal. Then she suddenly had a thought.

The things they called the dead were what happened when a massive amount of magical energy and the vestiges of a deceased person’s consciousness were floating around in the air and combined together.

This phenomenon, in other words, showed that people could remain in this world even after they died.

Supposing she managed to transplant her own consciousness into a living person, what would happen then?

She wondered if she could live on even after she died—

“That was when I first attempted reincarnation.”

By the time Clarice reached old age, she was respected and revered by almost everyone. If she said go right, everyone went right. If she said something was black, it was black. There were more people willing to obey everything she said than she could count on both hands.

And one of those people was pregnant with a child.

Without consulting anyone, Clarice transferred a portion of her own consciousness into that woman’s belly.

As for how that turned out, things proceeded according to her memoir.

When she was five years old, she showed up at the Crescent Moon Company and told them she had been reborn.

After that, she repeated the same process again and again. It sounded like the reincarnation itself was an easy task for her.

In order to transfer some of her consciousness into a child in utero, she had to touch the mother’s belly directly.

But in Twilight Helbe, there were plenty of pregnant women willing to let her touch their bellies.

“In the early days, I thought if I kept on reincarnating like that, I would be able to collect all the fragments of my mother’s consciousness.”

And after being reincarnated many times, eventually her very existence came to be celebrated.

The more times she was reborn, the more everyone rejoiced at her return. Whenever, as a child, she announced that her name was Clarice, the two people who had become her parents would throw up their hands in joy.

They would be delighted that Lady Clarice had become their daughter. They would plead with her with smiles on their faces to please be their savior again.

Clarice started to enjoy the fact that people relied on her like that.

She wasn’t sure when it happened.

But she stopped searching for the figure of her first mother in the streets at night.

In fact—

“Before I knew it, I had forgotten what my mother’s face looked like—”

She even forgot why exactly she was repeatedly coming back to life, even though she was supposedly making all that effort in order to bring her mother back into the world again.

And now, at this point, she was living every day being lavished with affection in Twilight Helbe, where only her admirers remained.

Over the course of many days spent surrounded by smiling sycophants, she began to forget her original goal.

“It was only after I met my current mother that I remembered how I was feeling in those early days.”

She was the only one.

The woman who was Clarice’s current mother was the only woman who had ever had a completely different reaction to her daughter.

The first time Clarice had spoken any words, her mother had been confused but happy. When Clarice first stood up, her mother had clapped for her. When Clarice had said that of course she could do these things, her mother had looked sad and fallen silent.

Clarice knew that her mother had lost her husband and that she was living alone, so she tried to make things just a little bit easier on her and arranged a place for her to live.

Gradually, the two of them stopped talking.

Even so, her mother always smiled kindly at her.

Clarice was certain her mother didn’t hate her, at least.

However, one day she realized that the looks she was getting from her mother were exactly the same as before—as way before, when she had been young in the true sense of the word, three hundred years earlier.

At that point, it had finally dawned on her that she had never really been loved.

At last, she knew there had been no point in gathering up all those fragments of memory.

“You know, really, I’d like to end this already.”

The nights spent killing the dead. The days spent fulfilling the expectations of the people around her.

She was sick of all of it.

“I’ve spent whole lifetimes doing nothing but what other people want, and now I want to be selfish, you know, and act like someone’s child, just once.”

Her wish, as someone who had never once received parental love, was—

—she wanted someone to love her as a daughter.

That was all.

“Once the fighting is over tonight, I think I’ll try to talk to my mother again.”

She looked at me with a lifeless smile.

And she and I rushed out into the evening streets.

Then we had to face off against the wandering dead.

The wandering dead appeared very, very suddenly.

In an instant, no sooner had I noticed the air getting colder and turned around when the figure of a ghoul with an enormous body appeared in front of me.

The wandering dead.

Its appearance was just as the previous day’s eyewitness reports had described it.

It was just a big blob of fat. Its round, fat body was blocking up the middle of the road. Just the thing’s head was about the height of a human being.

However, the very next moment, everything from the torso down was cut off by Clarice’s sickle.

“Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!”

She had taken aim and made a swift attack the moment the wandering dead had appeared. By the time I saw what she was doing, Clarice had already whirled around, swinging her sickle through the air, and cut the thing to pieces. She did so with frightening familiarity. Which I suppose was just what I should have expected from a three-hundred-year-old veteran fighter.

The wandering dead screamed in its inhuman voice, struggling and crawling along the ground.

The limbs themselves must have had some life in them even after being severed from the rest of the repulsive thing, because the creature’s legs jerked and twitched, pulsing on the ground.

“Aaahhhhhhhhh!”

As Clarice raised her sickle again, intending to start cutting the thing into little pieces from the bottom up, the wandering dead let out a piercing shriek as it violently slammed its arms against the ground, propelling it up into the night sky, where the crescent moon was hanging.

“Wha—?”

Clarice stared in shock in the direction the wandering dead was headed—down the road.

Toward the Crescent Moon Company headquarters.

“C-crap…!”

For one brief moment, as she looked back and forth between the lower half of the ghoul that she had severed and the upper half of it flying through the air, her face showed her frustration.

After it landed, the wandering dead again slammed its arms into the ground and sent itself flying through the air.

If its enormous body happened to land on top of a house, the damage would probably make the previous night’s destruction look like nothing.

I couldn’t tell whether this seldom happened or whether I was seeing a rare miss from Clarice.

The only thing I knew for certain was that if I didn’t lend a hand, the damage would be immense.

“Go, please. I’ll clean things up here.”

With a whack, I used my swords to cut up the wandering dead from the knees down.

“…Sorry! I owe you!”

This was one of the wandering dead that Clarice was really supposed to handle on her own, but you have to do what you have to do. She got on her broom and chased after the upper half of the wandering dead.

“Sure, sure, ride safe.” I waved my hand and took a look at the lower half of the wandering dead, which had been cut to pieces.

“…Hmm?”

I looked over and saw that each piece of the minced-up body had started twitching and pulsing again. Then before long, the severed body parts started to wriggle together and ball up like so much bread dough.

Oh my, what’s going on here?

I watched it with a grimace, and I heard from afar, “The wandering dead never fully disappear unless you make sure to incinerate them after cutting their whole bodies up into little pieces, so be careful! The one ironclad rule about them is to set each piece on fire immediately as you cut it off, or they’ll just keep multiplying, the more you cut them up!”

It was Clarice I heard, shouting at me from atop her broom.

“Dice it up into little bits right away and burn it with all your might!” she added.

……

“That’s the sort of thing I would have liked you to tell me ahead of time!” I shouted back in anger. It was time to throw caution to the wind.

“I’m telling you now, so forgive me! Sorry!”

She waved her hand and flew off on her broom, chasing the top half of the wandering dead.

And as for me, I stayed behind, tidying up after she had made a mess in the streets.

“Ohhh…”

“Ahhh…”

And while I was at it, I also dealt with the other dead. As I used my swords to dispose of all the ghouls that were slowly walking over to surround me, I kept my eyes fixed on what had been the wandering dead.

Though I cut them up one by one into little pieces, the remains of the dead were reforming themselves into human figures.

I see. That makes sense.

That was when it became obvious to me that if I left the pieces alone, they would soon become the dead in human form, like I had encountered before, and start attacking me.

Well, that’s a little annoying.

I guess that means—

“Hyah!”

I waved my wand and sliced up the wandering dead into little pieces with my swords.

Once it was properly minced, I held my wand at the ready. The spell that I cast conjured a vortex of fire. As it sent an eddy of flames swirling through the air, it torched the finely chopped fragments of the wandering dead.

“Well, that probably ought to do it.”

That didn’t take much time at all, now did it?

Surveying my surroundings, I didn’t see any more dead around that were still in their original forms. Each and every one of them was now either fog or in very fine pieces.

“……”

I think I could lend assistance to Clarice, if I chased after her right now.

“…I wonder if she’s doing all right on her own?”

If I went straight in the direction Clarice had headed, I would probably arrive at the Crescent Moon Company’s main office, where we had been before.

…I hope the wandering dead doesn’t make it that far, though.

Maybe it would be better for me to go and help?

Given that she had cut the thing in half in just an instant, as long as nothing drastic happened, I had a feeling she would be able to deal with it handily, without me getting involved.

“……?”

And so on.

Then it happened while I was gazing at the smoldering remains of the dead—of what was left of the wandering dead—and thinking mixed-up thoughts.

“……”

I decided to promptly go chasing after Clarice.

I was feeling an uncomfortable chill, as I had in the moment when the dead had appeared.

I hurriedly flew my broom in that direction, and when I got there, I found that the Crescent Moon Company building had been partially destroyed.

Although only the fourth floor was damaged, as if it had been specifically targeted.

“I did what I always do,” Clarice told me. “I sliced it up into a bunch of little pieces and disposed of it like I always do. But even so, this wandering dead was more stubborn than they usually are.”

Hanging her head, she told me more.

According to Clarice, as if it had some sort of clear intention in mind, no matter how many times its body was cut apart, the wandering dead kept reforming and propelling itself forward, until it reached the Crescent Moon Company’s building.

Clarice had used her sickle to protect her mother.

However, despite her efforts, there had still been fragments of the ghoul that she couldn’t carve away.

Apparently, her mother had been touched by the wandering dead.

“……”

The fourth floor of the building had been partially destroyed. When we went in through the window, we saw the dining room was somewhat bigger than before.

We walked in farther, avoiding the red brick debris that was scattered here and there, and discovered her mother, curled up in a corner.

She was already gone.

We could tell without even checking her pulse.

Because her body had been evenly bisected through the torso.

Just as Clarice had done to the wandering dead.

“I thought this time for sure I could protect her—”

She sank to the floor on the spot as she muttered those hollow words.

She had her sickle in her hand.

“……”

The sickle had blood on it.

Even though there shouldn’t have been even a single drop of blood from the dead, her sickle was wet with blood.

“…Why?”

Why did you kill her?

Why, when you said you wanted to be loved as a daughter?

I was about to open my mouth to ask, but I closed it again.

Instead, I chose a different question.

“Clarice, are you sure there’s not something you’re hiding from me?”

“…Hiding from you? What would I be hiding?”

Reaching out to touch the hand of Clarice’s mother, which was already growing cold, I said, “Earlier, when I was burning the wandering dead, I saw something strange.”

“Something strange?”

I nodded.

“The dead have been appearing here for the past three hundred years. If I’m not mistaken, you said they were born out of scraps of consciousness joined with magical energy, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Well then, why aren’t there any dog or cat ghouls? Why aren’t any of them dead babies who had just been born?”

“……” Clarice let out a little sigh, then said, “You can ask, but I don’t know the answer to that question.”

Oh really?

“Well then, let me ask a different question.”

Ever since I had heard the story about Clarice repeatedly reincarnating, there had been something that stuck in my mind and bothered me just a little bit.

Clarice reincarnated by implanting a part of her consciousness into a child that was already in someone’s belly.

In other words, Clarice’s mind caught a ride on a life that already existed.

In which case—

“Where did the children who were originally supposed to have been born go?”

When I blasted the wandering dead with magic, I saw that writhing and suffering inside the creature were the dead of all shapes and forms. It was, so to speak, an aggregation of the dead.

Part of it would sometimes take human form or take the form of a dog or a cat. It also took the form of newborn babies or even unborn children whose bodies had yet to fully form.

That meant all the mothers who had raised Clarice as their daughter, as well as the woman who was lying dead in front of me, must have never been meant to give birth to Clarice in the first place.

Perhaps, the moment Clarice’s consciousness had entered their bellies, someone else had been driven out.

“……”

Behind my back, I heard the clank of Clarice taking her sickle firmly in hand.

I, too, quietly took out my wand as I released the corpse’s hand. As I did so, I made my mind concentrate on my ears and heard Clarice mumble, “You really tried your best tonight, so—I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what you just said.”

Presumably, she was standing behind me, smiling as she always did.

It was hard to imagine that the hero responsible for saving the city had been killing someone every time she reincarnated.

There was no way she could let anyone know that. Especially the women who gave birth to her. It was hard to even imagine what exactly would happen if they found out.

“Has it been like this the whole time?”

Normally, Clarice took on the wandering dead on her own. Everyone at the Crescent Moon Company followed her order so that she alone dealt with them, and anyone who broke that rule was expelled from the organization. That was how strict the punishment was.

“The wandering dead are a little bit different, you see. They have a very strong habit of trying to return to their own homes.”

“Their own homes?”

“That, or to the place where they were born, yeah.”

At her words, I turned around.

With her back to the crescent moon, which hung in the air above the demolished building, Clarice stared at me. “The wandering dead was also probably trying to get back to her, so yeah, that’s probably what that was.”

“……”

And her mother must have seen something she wasn’t supposed to see and gotten herself killed for it.

“It’s too bad. I really thought we could be a normal family this time. Now I’ve got to start all over again.”

“……”

I stayed silent.

I was silent for a long, long time.

Then, after several deep breaths, the words that finally came out of me formed just one single question.

“Did you have to kill her?”

It was a pathetic question, if I do say so myself.

But those were the only words that would come out.

She responded to my clumsy question with a bitter smile.

“After she saw something she shouldn’t have seen, I couldn’t let her live. I couldn’t let the seeds of anxiety take root in her—,” she said.

She smiled again. “I thought she was the one who would understand me. But after she saw things she didn’t need to see, it was inevitable that this would happen. I am sad about it, though.”

She let out a heavy sigh.

It was so heavy. It sounded like she was giving up on everything.

But at the same time, she also looked like she had high hopes for her next life.

I wondered if that was how it had always been.

Again and again, every time something didn’t work out, every time things went off track, did she scrub everything and start over again from scratch?

“……”

I just stayed quiet, cast my eyes downward, and touched her mother’s corpse.

Sitting there beside her, a single empty bowl, which had once been filled with stew, lay on the ground.

Chapter 8: The Crescent Moon Witch, Clarice

CHAPTER 8 The Crescent Moon Witch, Clarice

“I find her really creepy.”

I recalled the words that she—that Clarice’s mother—had said, almost spitting them out.

She had lost her husband when she was still young. The child she had given birth to may have been the guardian and protector of their home, but she was still, so to speak, a complete stranger.

She told me she found everything about the place creepy.

“But at the same time, I feel like I want to understand it.”

That afternoon—

—she told me about it.

She must have felt she was surrounded by strange people, and even her daughter was weird, so she had no one she could really talk to and no chance to find someone. She relayed her thoughts to me bit by bit, slowly, as if she was carefully considering the meaning of each of her words.

“I can never forgive the Crescent Moon Witch, Clarice. But you know, it’s funny. Even though she’s supposedly a different person inside, her smile is the spitting image of my husband. She’s a complete stranger to me, and yet, when she’s eating her meals, the way she moves is exactly like my husband. It’s probably just a coincidence, but whenever I see those features in her, it makes me happy. It does, even though I ought to know she’s a completely different person who just borrowed my daughter’s body. Even though I’m fully aware that the person in front of me isn’t actually my daughter.”

Her tears overflowed, dripping down her face.

She told me how, the first time Clarice ever stood up, she had been so happy that she’d nearly cried. But after many days had gone by, Clarice had simply become independent of her mother.

Without saying a word, she had grown up. Or rather, it may have been better to say that she had reverted back to being the original Clarice.

Her mother’s days were filled with sorrow. Any suggestion she made was thwarted by a chilly objection from Clarice, and whenever she went out into town, she found only useless meddling and looks of misplaced envy.

And when she went back home, there was a complete stranger wearing her daughter’s skin.

But that didn’t necessarily mean everything about her life was awful.

“Every year on my birthday, that girl—well, she would buy me flowers. The flowers my husband liked. When I asked her how she knew to get those, she said she asked around with my husband’s friends.”

Continuing her reminiscent story, she smiled, even as she was still crying. “Once I started spending all my time moping in my room, she went out of her way to buy me books from foreign countries so that I wouldn’t be bored. Lately, I haven’t been cooking much, but whenever I get a whim and come into the kitchen and start cooking, that girl looks positively delighted. Even though her cooking is better than mine anyway.”

She told me those gestures were all part of the childish side of Clarice, a side that she absolutely never showed to the people of the city.

Even though she knew the person wearing that smiling face was a complete stranger, “Each and every one of those little gestures made me so happy. I must seem like a fool—,” she said.

“……”

Unable to find the words to answer her, I simply stared at her in silence.

Theirs was a warped parent-child relationship, and it certainly must have been a far cry from the ideal one she had imagined. However, they did indeed have a blood relationship, and although they were strangers, at the same time, they were still parent and child.

“Those days were filled with misery, but there were also lots of little joys, I’ve realized lately.”

A human life is by no means a perfect thing, and each life is filled with countless failures and setbacks. I was certain she must have realized that truth to a painful degree in her lifetime thus far.

Even so, she said, “I’m sure there are plenty more unpleasant things in store for me and that my future is full of things so painful, I won’t be able to stand them. But even so, I still feel like I want to try to find common ground with the girl. Because right now, I’m the only mother she has—”

She added that she was sure she was the only one who could ever get close to the girl in any real way.

Clarice’s mother, who had been living for so long in a life that had gone off track, smiled as she said that to me.

“I wonder if it would be strange for me to eat something like this now, even though I’ve always rejected her.”

She lowered her gaze to where last night’s leftover stew sat. It was something Clarice had made. She had left a little out for her mother before she’d gone.

Shaking my head, I answered, “I think it will make her happy.”

The woman heard my response and nodded in apparent relief and lifted a spoonful of stew to her mouth.

She tasted one of life’s small joys.

“My mother was killed by the wandering dead. I cannot forgive myself for my own weakness.”

The following afternoon, a throng of people crowded around in front of the Crescent Moon Company building. The fourth floor of the building had been destroyed. They had heard about the uproar the previous night and all the details later, and many people were there grieving the death of Clarice’s mother, tears streaming down their faces.

They were crying as if their own mothers had died.

“Lady Clarice! Please do not be sad!”

“We are with you!”

“We will be by your side always!”

“Hooray for Lady Clarice!”

“Hooray!”

She was surrounded by mindless supporters.

“Everyone…thank you.” Laying a hand on her chest, Clarice put on a smile. “Please, everyone. I hope I can count on you to believe in me and follow my lead once more. I promise that nobody else will ever end up like my mother.”

I wondered how the citizens saw this young woman. She was such a skilled actor.

I wondered if she looked like a courageous young woman who was bravely putting on a smile even though her mother had just died.

I wondered if she looked like a magnificent witch and a worthy guardian.

“……”

That afternoon—

—while the people were surrounding her with applause and cheers—

—I turned my back and headed for the city gates. I did not say good-bye to Clarice. It didn’t seem like the right situation for it, and I didn’t have that kind of relationship with her.

During the day, the city was brimming with life.

Children passed me, pointing up at the building where the fourth floor had been destroyed. In their hands were dolls patterned after Clarice.

I was certain that even after everything that had happened, the dead were not going to stop appearing.

And she was not going to stop killing unborn children.

And despite that, the people there would keep living lives devoted to her, sacrificing all their own happiness for the Crescent Moon Witch, Clarice.

Just like the dead.

Afterword

I think I’ll tell you a story about the cat that lives with me.

In January of this year, I began working from home, and I spent twenty-four hours a day shut inside my home with my only conversation partner. Her name is Anne. She’s got a very cute face and a very strong hold on me, my darling princess who never leaves the house.

Now, whenever I do go out, she blows her top and is so angry at me when I get back, like, “Huh? Hang on. Whose smell is this on you? I can’t believe you saw someone like that! Honestly!” At this point, except for the times when she’s asleep, it’s no exaggeration to say that she’s usually angry at me.

Recently, she’s started calmly barging in when I’m in the middle of a work-related phone call just to ask, “Right. Who are you calling?”

And even when she does that, she’s the absolute cutest.

As a general rule, she is always hungry, and even after she’s eaten her own meal, if I’m eating anything, she follows me around licking her lips like, “Oh? Hey, buddy, you’re eating something good there, huh?”

Maybe she was a street punk in her former life or something. The way she knocks her shoulders roughly into me is just like the mobster character in the Yakuza video games, after all. As the one she hassles, I’m shaking with fear on a daily basis. She is really a frightening young lady.

My cohabitation with Miss Anne also began in January, around the time I was writing this afterword.

I found myself at my wits’ end.

“She won’t sleep with me at all…”

When it comes to cats, having them sleep with you is a major event, isn’t it? And actually, the cat I kept when I lived at my parents’ house was a little more regular about getting into the futon with me.

But Anne is different.

First of all, she doesn’t even approach the bed. Even when I lift up the blanket and try loudly announcing, “Okay! I’ve got an open spot right here!” she completely ignores me. Far from joining me, she just looks down at me with cold eyes, from the highest point on her cat tower. Maybe she hates me?

When it comes to my value in Anne’s eyes, she probably thinks of me as nothing more than a fully automatic food dispenser. Despite how much I love her!

How can I communicate this overwhelming affection to her?

I immediately searched the internet for help. A guy in his twenties who halfheartedly Googles up some information whenever he doesn’t know something, then repeats it with a smug face as if it was his own original thought—that’s your man Jougi Shiraishi.

“Did you know this? There’s actually a special meaning behind it when cats blink! Blinking is one way cats express affection. If your cat blinks at you when you stare at each other, that’s proof that they trust you!”

All right, I’ve got this.

The cliché wording that is characteristic of low-content sites that always start articles with Did you know? did give me pause for a second, but the information was actually beneficial.

That meant, to put it another way, that if I blinked enough at Anne, it would convey my affection to her, isn’t that right??????

“Anne, sweetie! Look over here!”

And then I immediately started blinking.

Blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink.

“……”

Anne stared back at me with her cold eyes.

“Whoooaaa!”

With all my heart, I kept on blink, blink, blinking.

“……”

Anne slowly lowered her eyelids straight down.

“There it iiiiiis!”

I continued desperately blinking. I hadn’t blinked that much since the time my contact lens slipped away from the front of my eye.

“……”

Then Anne closed her eyes.

“All riiiiiiiiight!” Yeah, I won!

“……”

Anne kept her eyes closed.

“…………? I…huh?”

“……”

“…She’s asleep.”

Anne stayed like that and didn’t wake up for a little while. My feelings probably didn’t make it through to her.

The battle between Jougi and Anne has only just begun.

By the way, the inspiration for Anne’s name was the name of an actress I like.

So anyway, that was my little digression before the afterword. Now it’s time for me to get into my comments on each chapter. As usual, they’re packed full of spoilers, so anyone who hasn’t read the main book yet, please turn right around. Okay, enjoy!

• Chapter 1 Ashley, Chasing Her Dream with a Bow in Hand

I guess this is a story about the gap between ideals and reality. Personally, I don’t think Ashley’s father was a bad person at all. His viewpoint was just different. A character like Ashley, who single-mindedly pursues her dreams, seems dazzling from my perspective as well. Once people grow up, they tend to forget how they felt back when they were innocent…

• Chapter 2 The Traveling Killer

One of the characteristics of serial killers is that they have a tendency to take their victims’ personal belongings or other things with them as souvenirs. That idea was basically the source for this story.

It would be tasteless to offer too much commentary on this story, so I’ll leave it there. The events of this story have a subtle lingering effect on the next chapter.

• Chapter 3 A Conversation About Rain Between an Umbrella and a Broom

So this is a story about a weird little boy.

I feel like when you’re young, it can be very difficult to spot the boundary line between good things and bad things. That’s because the basis for drawing the line between them isn’t set in your own mind yet. In order to develop your standards for assessing things around you, it’s a good idea to live your life with a broad outlook, don’t you think?

• Chapter 4 A Record of the Struggles of a Girl Who Couldn’t Win

This is a story about a girl who couldn’t be honest and her friend. It turned into a total comedy episode. In situations like these, Saya demonstrates her tendency to make a mess of things. They say that the difference between a fool and a genius is razor-thin, and ultimately, even among strange people, there are ordinary weirdos and genius-level weirdos out there…

• Chapter 5 The Land of Diversity

I don’t think the word diversity is the kind of word you use when you are negating your existing value system. I’d like to become the kind of adult who is in a position to use it and who can command an accurate overview of where I dispatched that word from.

• Chapter 6 The Ashen Witch’s Weight-Loss Plan

This is a reworking of the script for a voice play that they let me write for the fifteenth anniversary of GA Books. I had just put out the compilation volume, so it didn’t seem like I’d get a chance to use this retelling anytime soon, so I got them to let me put it in here.

I really, really love writing drama CD scripts and voice plays, so I hope I get to come up with a lot more of them in the future when the time is right. Yeah!

• Chapter 7 Twilight Helbe

I first thought up the idea for this story a long time ago, but I just couldn’t manage to write it until now. Part of it was because the plot was a little too grim, but more than anything, well, when I first started writing The Journey of Elaina, there was another story dealing with reincarnation that was a huge hit, so I wasn’t sure what I should do, and I tabled my material until now.

I don’t necessarily dislike stories about reincarnation, and the reason why I wasn’t able to write a story about it until now, despite wanting to, became the inspiration for this story. Though I’m sure I would have been happier not worrying about things like that and just enjoying the story.

• Chapter 8 The Crescent Moon Witch, Clarice

This is the conclusion of the Twilight Helbe chapter.

Originally, this story was structured as a single chapter, but with all the flashbacks stuck in there, I felt like it got really complicated, so I went ahead and separated the conclusion out into its own chapter. And so it’s got a different title, but this is basically a continuation of Chapter 7.

So there you have it, that was Volume 16 of Wandering Witch.

Did you hear me? I said Volume 16! Sixteen! At this point, it’s got like three times as many volumes as The Adventures of Niche. Shocking, huh? By the way, April of 2021 is going to be the fifth anniversary of GA Novels and the fifth anniversary of Wandering Witch as well. I’m so surprised. I never thought I would make it this far.

I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that last year had a lot of good things in store for me, but this year I also intend to crack on with my work at a breakneck pace, so kindly cheer me on again this year, too!

I want to do my best working toward a second season of the anime.

Also, personally, anime aside, we put out lots of Elaina goods, and I got all kinds of messages and fan letters from overseas, and Toshiya Miyata of Kis-My-Ft2 introduced me on TV, and my year was just overflowing with all sorts of other really delightful things, but personally, the thing that made me happiest was the decision to start reselling the drama CDs.

Time and time again, readers have asked me to start selling them again, but each time I’ve had to tell them, “I don’t have the authority to make that decision! Sorry! Go tell the higher-ups at the publisher!” It must have been worth repeating that interaction so many times, because finally you can purchase the drama CDs as a standalone product! That made me really happy.

I want to keep on selling them like hotcakes.

And I want to keep writing tons of voice scripts.

That said, once the work on Volume 16 is done, I’m going to cash in all the leave I’ve amassed, so though I will be working hard, I’d like to do so after taking a break for a while.

Well, even while I’m on break, I think I’ll ultimately be busily working away, coming up with ideas for Volume 17 and whatnot, so in the end, even though I say I’m going on leave, it won’t be much of a rest for me!

By the way, this is a change of subject, but ever since the start of this year, I’ve been working at home, so I haven’t had a decent conversation with anyone other than my editor and the clerk at the convenience store.

Other than that, it’s been me holding one-sided conversations with Anne. If Anne wasn’t around, I think I probably would have forgotten how to speak Japanese at all. Thank you, Anne.

By the way, now it’s 2021, so I’d like to write down my ambitions for the year.

This year, it would be great if I got a request from someone like Bungeishunju to author an essay. Actually, I’ve been uploading lots of little essays to Twitter for years with that secret motive. Incidentally, at present, no publisher has reached out to me (of course).

So that means it’s about time to get into the acknowledgments.

To my head editor, M, as well as Azure and everyone else involved:

Thank you for your constant support. And I’m so sorry for dragging out my manuscript until the absolute last second this time… Next time, I hope I can get it written with a little more time to spare… That would be nice…

To all you readers:

Once again, thank you so much for reading The Journey of Elaina! In July, we’re putting out a special edition of Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina, Vol. 17 with a drama CD included, so I hope you like it! We’ve got that, and also this year’s online signing event coming up, so I’d love it if I could say hello to you in person there.

I don’t think there’s any stopping Jougi Shiraishi or Elaina, so please, continue to stick with us from here on out. See ya next time!