Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina, Vol. 2

by Jougi Shiraishi

  In response to that soldier’s earnest request, I nodded.

  Because at that time, I didn’t yet know about this girl and her countrymen.

  Sending up a cloud of sand, I continued flying on my broom.

  I kept following the path that had been so kindly shown to me. Before long, I would be able to see the next country.

  The wretchedly empty terrain continued, and there were no signs that a country might be nearby, but certainly, if the place wasn’t already in ruins, there ought to be living people in that direction.

  ……

  In the end, I hadn’t been able to fulfill either request: neither the plea of the soldiers who had been troubled by giant foxes nor the appeal of the girl and her fellows who continued to hunt dangerous creatures for the sake of their hometown. I hadn’t been able to grant either wish.

  I had averted my eyes from the very sad incident—and from harsh reality.

  No one was happy now; and knowing they would never be…was just too tragic.

  But there was nothing I could do.

  No matter how they struggled, only despair awaited them in the end.

  How heartbreaking.

  “…I’m sorry.”

  Mumbled to no one in particular beneath an intensely clear sky, my simple offering was covered in sand and quickly forgotten.

  CHAPTER 14

  The Ancient Country and the Divine Cat’s Reincarnation

  I was crying.

  In the middle of the day, when there was still plenty of pedestrian traffic, whizzing down the main avenue of an old city on my broom, I was weeping. The wind on my face swept the tears out of my eyes.

  “Wait!”

  “Don’t let that witch get away! Catch her!”

  “Bring her back alive!”

  In hot pursuit were soldiers of this country. There were mages riding on their brooms, trying to catch me.

  And those weren’t my only concerns.

  “Leave it to me!”

  “Damn…! A little more, and I would’ve had her!”

  “Don’t let her get away! Chase her! Catch her!”

  Every person in town was leaping into the air, trying to pull me off my broom. They were coming at me from all sides.

  Until moments ago, these people had been doting on cats, or in the middle of a conversation, or doing their shopping, and even some people who had just left the stores.

  I avoided them all.

  Right now, this entire country was uniting against me. They thought I was an evil person who was going to bring ruin to their whole civilization.

  Unfortunately, that was the truth.

  “Gah… Ohhh…”

  I wiped away my tears and kept my eyes forward. I was in much worse shape than usual. The trajectory of my broom was incredibly unstable, and I wasn’t flying straight by any means. I felt that if I stopped focusing for even a second, I could crash. I tightened my grip on my broom and forced it back on course.

  I pressed onward, doing my best to avoid the angry mob.

  From the crook of my left arm, in a voice that only I could hear, she muttered, “I’m starting to feel sick…”

  She must have felt unwell from being tossed around by my hectic steering, which made sense.

  “Please hold on… I’ve got my own share of problems at the moment.”

  I wasn’t able to breathe very well. Every time I inhaled, I had the unpleasant sensation of something hot and heavy in my lungs.

  She looked at me with round, blue eyes. “Well, do your best. Look, there’s the gate.”

  Then she let out a meow and nuzzled my cheek.

  I started crying again. I wonder if they were happy tears or if something else made me weep.

  “Give us back the Divine Cat!” rang out a voice from behind me.

  As if refusing the request, the one I was holding—the cat—let out another “Meow.”

  Let’s backtrack a little bit. About two rotations of the hands of the clock. Or one rotation of the sun and moon.

  In other words, this time yesterday.

  “Oh? A country with a strange custom?”

  “Yes, indeed.”

  I was in a village I had stopped by during my travels. I had casually asked a local, “Do you know of any interesting countries?” That was when I learned about this country.

  “How is it strange?”

  “I know’st not. Alas, of those who have gone yonder from our village, nary a one has returned hence.”

  “Um, sorry, but could you speak normally?”

  “……I have no way of knowing what makes it strange. Only, I am certain that it is a strange country.”

  “Oh-ho.”

  Well, then.

  How odd.

  When I pressed the villager for more details, I was told this village had started a campaign just a few years prior to bring in tourists by marketing itself as “Very quaint!” Apparently, it worked, and many naive city dwellers flocked to the village, falsely believing the boonies would offer them a peaceful life of freedom and harmony. The village raked in their cash, which gave them enough social capital to boss other groups around.

  But more recently, a country with a strange reputation had cropped up nearby, and the quaint village had nearly lost all their income. The villagers sent spies to see what the big deal was to copy their scheme that attracted new visitors, but each and every spy had decided to stay in the new country instead. The flustered villagers tried to take it all in stride and decided to draw bigger crowds by “talking in an old-fashioned way,” and they just went with it.

  That about sums it up.

  ……

  I wondered just how interesting their competitor could possibly be.

  I got curious, you see.

  “So how can I get to that country?” I asked, and the villager used many affected, old-timey expressions to explain it carefully to me.

  Beneath the afternoon sky, I pointed my broom west from the village and flew off. I proceeded over the plains, crossing a river that had a small bridge and passing over more flat land.

  Soon I could make out the figures of some slim conifer trees among the green scenery that stretched across the horizon, and then, right where the plains gradually turned into forest, the country slowly revealed itself.

  The large rampart wall was more faded than one would expect for a country that was so recently established, and with ivy growing up the sides, it faded into its surroundings, to which it was well suited.

  I approached, avoiding the trees as the forest got more dense, and saw an iron gate that was shut tight. Strangely enough, only the gate was brand-new, as if it had recently been replaced, so it stood out among the rest of the balanced scenery.

  When I landed my broom and stood before the gate, a small window that was built into the wall opened. The shiny helmet of a soldier peeked out at me.

  “Who goes there?”

  “A traveler. A witch. My name is Elaina.”

  “What business do you have in this country?”

  “I heard that this country was amazing, so I came to see for myself. If it’s all right, I thought I would spend a few days here.”

  The soldier nodded slightly. “…Very well. But if you want to enter this country, you’ll have to answer a question.”

  And then, “Do you love cats?” He asked me without any preliminaries.

  “Um, kitties…?”

  “Not kitties. Cats.”

  “…What’s the difference?”

  “The difference is whether you pay proper respect to cats. Well, how about it? Do you love cats?”

  “Um… Well, I like them…I guess?”

  In truth, I’ve never even touched one—, but I couldn’t tell him that, no matter what. I mean, I think they look cute, and I have no reason to hate them, so I guess that’s fine.

  “…Very well. You may enter. There are no bad people among cat lovers.”

  “Um, yeah…”

  “But I shall conduct an insp
ection of your belongings before you enter the country. Come in through the door to the side.”

  “Uh, sure…”

  And so I easily finished all the necessary immigration procedures and successfully entered the country. I could not have predicted a single thing about the place that lay before me. It was much stranger than I ever could have imagined.

  The city looked very old.

  People were coming and going along a main avenue that was lined with orderly brick houses, all dull colors and covered in ivy just like the border wall. I was curious about the fact that the door of every house had a low square hole that looked much too small for a person to pass through, even on their knees.

  The cobblestones paving the street were covered in moss, and I got the distinct impression that this city itself had been here for a long time.

  “……”

  With the slightest investigation, I finally understood the purpose of the question I had been asked upon entering the country.

  This country was just teeming with cats.

  If I looked down even slightly, I’d find the ground was covered with them. Weaving their way through the people, basking in the sun in the middle of the street, playing in the grass—there were cats everywhere. So many that it seemed strange.

  I guess the reason they ask visitors if they like cats is because this would be your personal hell if you don’t, I thought as I was enticed by an incredible, yeasty scent drifting over from a food stall.

  “Ah, I’d like some bread, please. I’ll take this one and that one and that one and that one.”

  “Righto.” The generous-looking man on the other side of the counter nodded. He used tongs to pick up one of each, placed the bread in a paper bag, and then handed it to me.

  “That’ll be four coppers.”

  “Sure.”

  I paid and received my bread. Yay!

  Immediately afterward, I heard: “Mister, I’ll have some bread, too, please. This one and that one and that one and that one.”

  I hadn’t noticed there a witch who had appeared next to me. She ordered the exact same thing. She was an adult witch, wearing a blue-tinged robe and a pointy hat.

  She exchanged four coppers for a paper bag and headed toward me after bowing to the shopkeeper. Her short blue hair fluttered slightly in the breeze. Though it was cut short in the back, her bangs were overly long, and she was looking at me with only one eye.

  “Hello. I haven’t seen you before. Would you happen to be a traveler?”

  After taking a piece of bread from my paper bag and biting into it, I replied, “Yes, that’s right. And you?”

  “I’m a witch. Also, I live here.”

  “Oh.”

  “Ah, sorry for approaching you out of the blue. I’m the only witch in this country. Even mages are a rarity, so I took the opportunity to talk to you. I hope it’s not a bother.”

  “I was just surprised to be spoken to so suddenly.”

  She smiled bitterly. “Sorry about that… By the way, have you already had a look around?”

  I shook my head after chewing on another mouthful of bread. “I just got here a moment ago,” I admitted.

  “Oh, I see! I can give you a tour if you want. This country can be strange, so if you wander around by yourself with no guide, you might get swindled out of your money, or arrested, or something,” she suggested.

  ……

  I was dying to find out what the deal was with all the cats. A tour sounded perfect.

  How convenient.

  “I’d like to take you up on that. If you promise not to rip me off, that is.”

  “Ah-ha-ha, I won’t collect an information fee or anything. Relax. I came from another land, too, so I remember how difficult it was when I first got here! This country has some unusual rules, and if you inadvertently break them, you’ll be sent to jail.”

  “Jail…?”

  This was the first I’d heard about that.

  “Yes. I’ll explain everything so that doesn’t happen to you. After all, there’s a chance that you and I are going to live together in this country from now on—” She smiled.

  At that time, I hadn’t yet grasped the meaning behind her words.

  We walked through the city side by side, munching on bread.

  “Oh, I haven’t introduced myself yet, have I? My name is Lucie. The Fair Weather Witch, Lucie.”

  “I’m Elaina. The Ashen Witch.”

  She bowed and said “Nice to meet you, Elaina” with a little grin.

  My pleasure.

  “Please allow me to tell you about this country as I show you around. First, there are three laws you absolutely must obey.”

  “Oh?”

  “That said, two out of the three are simple rules you would probably never break if you love cats. First off, ‘Under no circumstances should you bring harm to any cat.’”

  “What happens if you break the law?”

  “Huh? You go to jail, basically.”

  “Isn’t that a bit strict…?”

  “Only toward people who harm cats. Don’t they deserve it? The second law overlaps with the first one to a certain degree… ‘You must treat all cats with unconditional love.’”

  “That’s a little abstract… By the way, what if you break that law?”

  “Jail.”

  “……” That’s extreme… “Um… Specifically, how do you—? Achoo!”

  “Hmm? Are you okay? Do you have a cold?”

  “Excuse me. Don’t worry about it. Anyway, how specifically should you attend to the cats?”

  “Well…the same way you usually do.”

  “So if I treat them like I normally would, it would count as showering them with love…?”

  I don’t get it.

  “I know! It’ll be easier to understand if I have you see it in action, won’t it? Okay, um—Ah! Look, over there.” Tugging on my sleeve as I stood there in bewilderment, Lucie pointed to the side of the road.

  There was a stall selling seafood and a calico cat staring at the rows of fish.

  The cat kept its stance low as it approached the stand, trying not to be caught by the shopkeeper, then stretched out suddenly when it got right under the stall. It skillfully snatched one of the fish stretched out on the stall with the tip of its paw and held it in its mouth.

  “Ahhh!”

  But the shopkeeper spotted the cat as it made the steal. The surprised calico cat glared at the shopkeeper.

  Oh dear. He’s gonna be angry, I thought, but…

  “Ah, Mr. Cat! Thank you very much! Please take as much as you like!”

  For some reason, the shopkeeper was delighted. Moreover, he started throwing all the neatly stacked fish in his vicinity out into the street. Cats immediately swarmed the area and began making off with the goods.

  ……

  Huh?

  “What just happened?”

  “Love.”

  “That doesn’t answer the question…”

  I had a feeling we were talking past each other. Maybe this country was known for its unique expressions? That would be a simple answer.

  “Ah, look! Over there! That might be easier to understand.”

  “……”

  At her urging, I let my eyes pass over the scene.

  And I was knocked speechless. This one was even worse.

  “Aaah! Mr. Cat! Mr. Cat! Thank you! Thank you!”

  There was a man with an ecstatic expression lying faceup on the road. On top of him was a cat seated in a comfortable position with its eyes narrowed, kneading the man’s stomach with its front paws.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Love.”

  “……”

  I turned my eyes away from this strange and incomprehensible new world. But everywhere I looked, I was astonished by bizarre spectacles.

  “Oh, oh, oh! You are just so cute! Meow-meoooow!” cooed a woman in a peculiar voice, holding a cat like she was rocking a baby.

  What on eart
h…?

  “And that?”

  “Love, of course.”

  “What does ‘love’ mean to you, exactly…?”

  We continued walking through the city, and I kept being baffled by everything in my line of sight; and as we ventured farther, the number of cats increased, and the behavior of the humans became more peculiar.

  People were passing by, going out of their way to avoid a cat that was sleeping in the middle of the road. A devilish cat stole the main dish from a couple having lunch at a restaurant, and the victims looked on as it happened, appearing all too pleased. A group of cats, like a pack of evil gods, swarmed mercilessly around clothes for sale, climbed up them, and ripped them to shreds—and the shopkeeper just smiled through it all.

  There was no one to stop the rampant cat attacks, and not a single person stood up to them. The cats were allowed to do anything they pleased.

  “This is what we mean by unconditional love,” Lucie told me boastfully. “You look surprised, but the people of this country—no, once you come here, everyone feels that way. Everyone treats the cats with love.”

  “Honestly, it looks like they’ve lost any sense of reason and resorted to spoiling the cats.”

  “Well, the cats in this country are different from anywhere else in the world. They’re especially cute. We can’t help spoiling them a little bit. You’ll understand soon enough, Elaina.”

  “I don’t think I’ll ever understand…” Maybe it was because I’ve never touched one. “For starters, I don’t really understand how these cats are different from the cats they have anywhere else.”

  “Huh? They’re obviously hundreds of times cuter than the cats in other countries! I came here for work, but I was totally taken in by the cuteness of the cats, and I couldn’t bring myself to ever leave!”

  “For work, you said?”

  “Huh? Oh, yes, reconnaissance work.”

  “……”

  “I was sent here from my village with instructions to observe the culture here and make note of anything that we could steal.”

  I feel like I’ve heard that story somewhere before.

  “…You’ve adapted quite well to this place for someone who came on a reconnaissance mission.”