Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina, Vol. 1

by Jougi Shiraishi

  Could you please be quiet for one second? —Wait, no, don’t say that aloud. “Um, it’s all right? I just came to stay at this inn tonight.”

  “Nooooo— Oh, is that all? In that case, please fill out this form.”

  “……”

  There were several things I would have liked to say, but I refrained. Setting her off again would be more than I could handle right now.

  I took the form from her and picked up a quill pen from its stand on the counter. It was a simple piece of paperwork, just asking the number of people and number of nights, plus the name of a representative. As an experienced traveler, I had quickly grown accustomed to these kinds of forms.

  As I moved the quill pen smoothly across the paper, the girl spoke up in a very bright voice. “I’m really sorry for what happened this afternoon. Whenever my mind wanders during practice, I seem to lose the ability to steer the broom…”

  “I see.” In other words, you’re a bad flier.

  “I really wanted to thank you properly, but you sped off— Ah, so your name is Elaina. I’m Saya.” She smiled cheerfully at me as she watched me write.

  “You don’t really need to thank me,” I replied as I continued filling out the form. “Besides, plenty of people get tangled up with others when practicing magic.”

  Come to think of it, I once set my house on fire trying to light a candle. My parents really chewed me out for that one. Oh, to be young again…

  “But won’t you let me do something for you? I caused all that trouble for you, and you even healed my injuries. I’d hate to leave things as they are.”

  “It’s really fine, but…”

  “Anything is okay! Please! Miss Elaina!”

  I shook my head as the girl begged me to let her pay me back. I’m sure it would have been strange to watch.

  Well, it’s not as if she’s asking me to go out of my way for her, so there’s no need to dig in my heels. I gave it a little thought as I was writing.

  “Hmm…well then, in that case—” How about I get you to give me a discount on the room? I was about to ask, then stopped myself.

  An item on the form had caught my eye. SPECIAL DISCOUNT FOR WITCHES (HALF-OFF ONE NIGHT) it read.

  Oh-ho! What have we here?

  “Ah, that discount doesn’t apply to anyone who’s not a witch. Ordinary mages should circle the regular price option,” she said, knitting her eyebrows.

  “I see.” I circled SPECIAL DISCOUNT FOR WITCHES (HALF-OFF ONE NIGHT).

  “Eh? No, um… Huh?”

  What’s with that weird reaction? Sheesh, rude. “I am a witch, so…”

  “Come on, you can’t joke about that… Oh, well, but I did cause you a bunch of trouble… Okay! I’ll go ahead and apply the discount!” She clapped her hands once.

  I had a feeling that we were somehow talking past each other, which was making me nervous. I shook my head. “No, no, no, that’s not it. You see, I am a witch. Can’t you see how I’m dressed?”

  “Huh?” she said, pointing at my chest. “But you don’t have a witch’s brooch.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  Following her finger, I lowered my eyes to my own chest.

  The brooch that belonged there had disappeared.

  In a sense, a witch’s brooch is her identification. Without it, I was just a traveler who could use magic.

  That must be why the last inn treated me like a little child. I see, I see. But how did I only just notice that it was missing? Witches aren’t all that rare, and if I had been just a little more skeptical, I could have done something earlier. Am I just an idiot? Ugh, screw you, Elaina!

  As I cursed and swore at myself, I searched frantically for the brooch.

  “…It’s gone.”

  It was nowhere to be found.

  I must have dropped it when Saya and I collided, but it was already completely dark outside. The brooch was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand…not exactly the kind of thing I could find just by groping around in the dark.

  “…Ugh.”

  After scouring the roof in a thorough zigzag pattern and looking into all the cracks between tiles, I went down to ground level and searched all around the house. But of course, no luck.

  I’m gonna cry.

  “I didn’t find anything!! Miss Elaina, it’s not over here, either!!” An obnoxiously loud voice came from the rooftop, echoing down the alleyway. When I looked up, I saw Saya illuminated by the moonlight.

  Right after we had discovered the brooch was missing, she had said, “This is my fault, too, so I’m going with you!” and insisted on joining me in my search. She had left another person in charge at the inn or something, I guess.

  While I was walking around below, I had let her take the roof on the off chance that I had overlooked something. But apparently, she hadn’t fared any better.

  I floated up beside her on my broom.

  “We’ve done a thorough search and the brooch isn’t here. We have to consider the possibility that someone picked it up…” I let out a deep sigh.

  “I think it’s also going to be hard to find because it’s dark outside,” Saya said. “It might be good to search here again tomorrow morning.” Her voice was cheerful, though my shoulders were slumped with disappointment. I was a little grateful for her optimism.

  “I’ll do that…” I nodded meekly at her suggestion and turned to head back to the inn.

  Flying around unsteadily on my broom, I must have looked just like a mere apprentice witch who was still learning how to steer. Ah, if anyone were to fly close to me, I just might collide with them.

  I had gone through a lot to get that brooch, and it held a lot of memories of my time with my teacher. Losing it was a bitter pill to swallow.

  If I had lost it when I first became a witch, I’m sure I would have noticed right away. But after wearing it every day for two years, I was probably too accustomed to just always having it on me.

  “…Sigh.”

  This was depressing.

  After the search, I returned to the inn and ate dinner, then entered my room using the key I got from Saya, remembered I hadn’t taken a bath yet, and headed straight for the big bathroom instead.

  I soaked in the hot water for a whole hour as my mind wandered. Ah, I must have dropped it when I collided with Saya…but it wasn’t there… How mysterious… I stretched out almost fully and filled the big bathtub (I was alone). Then, just before I melted away into the hot water, I sat my heavy body back up.

  And then I went back to my room…

  “Ah, hello—”

  …and found Saya inside.

  I closed the door. I took a step back and checked the room number. Yep, it matches the number written on the key. Strange. Maybe I was just seeing things?

  I opened the door once again.

  “Ah, hello—”

  If only it had been a bad dream… But alas, there was no mistaking it: Saya was in my room, giving me a carefree wave from atop the hard bed.

  ……

  “…What are you doing in my room?” I closed the door with a hand behind my back.

  “I wanted to talk to you, Elaina, so I waited here for you.”

  “I thought I locked the door.”

  “You sure did! But I work here!” She proudly pulled out a key ring with a large number of keys.

  I walked up to her without a word and grabbed both of her cheeks.

  “Ow, dhad hurtsh! Id hurtsh!”

  “What’s the big idea, entering a person’s room without permission? Huh?” I pulled hard on her cheeks.

  “Dhey’re gonna teahw! You’we teahwing bwy cheeks!” They’re gonna tear, you’re tearing my cheeks is what she seemed to want to say.

  “Hmm? What’s that? I can’t hear you.”

  “Waaaaaah…”

  I pulled and twisted her tender cheeks until I was satisfied and released her.

  Massaging her slightly red cheeks with both hands, Saya muttered, “That was mean…”
Really, though, which one of us was actually in the wrong here?

  “Well, what did you want? You made a point of waiting in my room, so you must have some reason for it, right?”

  Still massaging her face, Saya said, “Miss Elaina, you’re really a witch, right?”

  “Yeah, well,” I confirmed, “I don’t have my brooch at the moment, but yes, I’m a witch.”

  “Then that means you passed the magic exam, right?”

  “I did.”

  Even now I remembered how disappointed I was by the lack of challenge.

  Saya stared at me for a moment, then suddenly got down off the bed and knelt down. Then she placed both hands on the floor and pressed her forehead to the ground.

  “Please help me! Teach me the secrets to passing the exam, please!”

  “…Um, what are you doing on the floor like that?”

  “This is the traditional way of prostrating ourselves in my hometown! It’s a surefire technique used when you’ve done something unforgivable to the other party.”

  What a strange tradition… Do the people in her hometown have to apologize to others that often? Still, you can really feel the sincerity.

  But it gave me this…what’s the word? Weird feeling? Creepy, even?

  Repressing the urge to say, “Huuuh? You think that’s all it takes to ask a favor like that?” I knelt down beside her.

  “Um, just take your head off the floor for now.”

  “You’ll do it?!” She stared up at me.

  “Take it easy,” I said. “First, tell me about your situation.”

  She told me.

  I let her sit on the bed again, and I pulled out the cheap-looking chair from the desk and sat facing her. Saya gave her black hair a slight shake and tilted her head, then hesitantly opened her mouth.

  “Um… So I have a younger sister. She’s very cute.”

  “Okay…” That’s a pretty weird way to start, but I’ve already committed.

  “We come from a country far to the east. My sister and I came all this way to become apprentice witches—there are no organizations offering the exams in our hometown. So the two of us worked at this inn and saved money while studying for the exams. We lived that way for several years, but…”

  “But the two of you are still just novices?”

  She cast her eyes downward and shook her head slowly. “Only my sister took the latest round of exams. And she went home. Without me.”

  “…Hmm.” I see, I see. I think I know where this is going. In other words…

  “Your cute little sister has surpassed you, and you got so impatient that you decided to rope a witch you just met—in an accident, might I add—into helping you pass your exams? Is that it?”

  Scratching her cheek in apparent embarrassment, Saya mumbled, “Well, um…that’s…yeah, more or less.”

  “So when is the next exam?”

  “One week from now… I don’t have much time…”

  You’ve taken the advancement exams several times, so I don’t think there’s any need to panic. But you’re probably so worried about it because you want to see your sister again.

  “……”

  Breaking the silence, I spoke. “I’ll help you for as long as it takes me to find my brooch.” I couldn’t leave the country until I had found my brooch anyway, and I wouldn’t have anything to do when I wasn’t searching. She would probably even let me stay at the inn for free, so I thought it sounded like a good idea.

  In order to be promoted to the level of apprentice witch, you have to pass a written exam and then a practical magical skills exam.

  The written exam is simple, and so long as you can drill magic theory, history, and other subjects into your head, nothing could be easier, really. But then there’s the practical exam. There’s no way around it; without real ability, you’ll have to take it over and over again.

  As for the contents of the practical exam, they mainly look at two skills: your ability to fly a broom and how you handle offensive magic. Each time the exam is given, only one person may pass. The exam being given in one week’s time would be no different. Winding through the sky on a broom, each aspiring witch would attack the others, trying to take down her opponents while protecting herself. The last one left would pass the exam and be declared an apprentice witch publicly.

  The battles were always violent and hard to watch. The nastiest parts of human nature always seemed to be on full display. I would never want to take the exam again.

  “I’ve got to tell you honestly, Saya. With the ability you possess right now, no matter how earnestly you fight, the chance that you can win against the other candidates is pretty close to zero,” I said from atop my broom. It was early in the morning the day after I had promised to help her. “However, close to zero doesn’t mean absolute zero. Set your mind at ease.”

  “Wh-what should I do?!” She was energetic even in the early morning, and her eyes sparkled with excitement. She was as radiant as the morning sun.

  I steered my broom over to where she was sitting on the tiled roof, knees folded under her. “First, I’ll teach you to control your broom at least as well as I can, if not better.”

  “Aw… That seems a little tough…” She wrinkled her nose.

  Tough? I’m going easy on you.

  “There’s no other way to keep up during the practical skills exam. If you go in at your current skill level, you’ll probably fall off the moment the exam starts and waste another chance. You’ve got to avoid that at least.”

  “Rgh…”

  So that’s where we’re at.

  First, I set her to work improving this most basic of magical skills. Just as I had imagined, Saya could barely even fly. (It was so bad that I was ready to question whether I should even call her a mage at all!) I really had to put her through the wringer.

  Ah, so this is what mothers feel like teaching their children how to fly on brooms…

  We trained from morning until night, as long as the day would allow. We persevered with our crash course even when the neighborhood children flying freely around us started sneering and pointing.

  Naturally, I had not forgotten about searching for my brooch. Saya had seen gradual improvement, but I hadn’t made any progress at all.

  Seriously, where in the world is my brooch?

  “Next is turning. Smoothly shift your body weight and make a quick turn, please.”

  “Okay!”

  “Next is emergency braking and speed boosts. Use the full weight of your body and pull the broom hard to stop it, then burst forward like you’re kicking the sky.”

  “Okay!”

  “Next is midair dismounts. After letting go of the broom midair, use magic to call it back. I’ll help you out if you get into trouble, so don’t worry and just fly.”

  “Okay!”

  “Next is—” Okay, you get the idea.

  In the end, Saya quickly learned to control her broom almost as well as I could. As for how many days it took for her to reach that level? Only two! I had coaxed some amazing improvements out of her. Really makes you wonder what she’s been doing before now…or perhaps it’s my teaching that’s so good?

  When I asked her, Saya told me bashfully, “Until now, I’ve only studied by myself.”

  Well, there’s your problem.

  It was the fourth day of my stay in this country—and the third day of our intensive training regimen. Unlike the search for my brooch, which had not seen any headway (though I had simply been asking around), Saya’s education was progressing rapidly and didn’t seem like it would stop anytime soon.

  “Next, let’s study some offensive spells—how is your wind magic?”

  “Wind magic?” Saya sat atop the scorched reddish-brown roof, head tilted.

  I nodded once and answered, “Yes, wind. By controlling the flow of the air, you can block the other participants.”

  This was the slightly unconventional method that I had used during my own practical exam. Changing
the flow of the air had been surprisingly effective, and even now I remembered how the other contestants had lost their balance and fallen from their brooms or swerved into buildings.

  Wind control was both easy to learn and a powerful weapon. If we had enough time, I definitely wanted to teach her.

  “Well then, hit that can over there with a blast of wind, please.”

  I pointed at the cans we had set up on the peak of the roof across from us. There was about one house’s worth of distance between us and the cans, so it wasn’t a difficult task at all.

  “It works best if you visualize making a ball of air and hitting the cans with it—like so.”

  I waved my wand, and instantly, a strong wind grazed one of the cans. It teetered back and forth with a clatter.

  I turned to face Saya, who was looking at me dubiously. “It didn’t fall down, did it? Did you mess up?” she seemed to be asking.

  But I did that on purpose. Really!

  “All right, give it a try.”

  “…L-like this?”

  With a whoosh, Saya waved her wand. Air magic is one of the first types of magic a novice witch learns, so she was able to produce a gust of wind, but it merely rushed over the tops of the cans. Too bad.

  “You’re holding the wand wrong. You’re pointing it wrong, too. Wind magic is subtle, so trying to force it won’t help.”

  “Um, okay, how about this?”

  Whoosh. The wind flew right past the can, exactly as before.

  “Wrong. Like this.”

  I waved my wand, and the cans clattered against each other again. Saya let out a small noise of surprise. “Whoa…” She had finally realized I was trying not to knock the cans down.

  And then she waved her wand again, more gently this time, with a little “Ey!” She had clearly learned from watching me, but the force behind her magic was too weak. It only produced a light breeze.

  …This isn’t going well.

  “Not quite. Like this.”

  “Like this?”

  Swing and a miss.

  “Totally wrong. Like this.”

  “H-how’s this?!”

  The wind didn’t even brush the cans.

  “Just awful. Like this, watch.”

  “Something like this, then!”