“I’ll prove that I’m not just a weakling who needs to rely on Lady Witch!”
“I refuse to make Lady Witch sad! I’ll kill the weak part of myself so that I won’t get in her way!”
“We won’t force Lady Witch to stay here to look after us! We need to learn to fight on our own!”
“She has shown us the way, now it is up to us to carve the path ahead! We need to stop relying on her! She wants her freedom, so we’ll give it to her! Stop taking advantage of her kindness!”
I was so shocked by how intensely they were fighting and by the words coming out of their mouths that it took me a couple of minutes to notice the shadow looming behind me. Turning around, I realized that it was the Great Elder.
“Great Elder, that’s...” I started, but was too astonished to find the words.
“It is proof of their love for you, Lady Witch. For over ten years now, you’ve given your everything to ensure that they would find peace and happiness in the forest. And these people...” The Great Elder paused for a couple of seconds before continuing. “They also wish for your happiness. You have taken us into your land, even though you had every reason not to, and you have given us more than we could ever ask for. However, we have all noticed the melancholy expression that occasionally crosses your face.”
I softly touched my own face with the tip of my fingers.
Me, melancholy?
I supposed I must’ve been doing it unconsciously. I stayed silent for a few seconds, trying to root out the cause of my gloomy mien.
“I think that...deep down, I long for another journey,” I confessed. “To travel to unknown lands, to witness sights unseen. I want to put all of the things that I’ve learned here into practice.”
When I first started traveling the world with Teto, it was so that I could find a place to call home. And I succeeded—I had the forest, and all of its colorful residents whom I had sworn to protect. But after having spent so many years in the same place, reading insatiably, I had learned many things; I itched to apply them. I wanted to tread the earth with my own feet, discover new sights with my own eyes, test myself against all its challenges with my own two hands.
“It’s ironic, isn’t it? I spent so many years traveling in search of a place to call home, and now I want to leave again. It only took a few decades to make me turn back on my whole purpose in life.”
I was pretty much done refurbishing the former Wasteland of Nothingness. I had spent so long here, yet it felt like I still hadn’t discovered everything it had to give. And despite that, I still found myself yearning to leave it behind. I couldn’t stop a self-deprecating chuckle from escaping my lips at the irony of it all.
“You’re still young. It’s only natural that you’d feel wanderlust,” the Great Elder reassured me.
“Great Elder, I know I might not look the part, but I’m actually ninety, you know? I’m already an old lady,” I pointed out, causing the dragon to burst into laughter.
“I have been in this world for ten thousand years and longer still. Compared to me, you’re still very much a youngster—maybe even a mere babe. You’ve still got a long way to go.”
My eyes still riveted on the tournament, I chuckled softly at the Great Elder’s words.
“As your friend, I shall protect this land in your absence,” he told me next. “There’s hardly anyone who’d dare attempt to invade the territory of an ancient dragon, even if it does house the greatest treasure in the world,” he said, punctuating his sentence with a chuckle.
“Master Great Elder will deter any external threat from attacking this land. As for the internal and external affairs, the other maids and I will take care of everything. You may rest assured, Master,” Beretta told me.
I had already prepared to resume my travels by founding the council and fostering its autonomy. It wasn’t like I hated this place; all I wanted was to leave for short periods at a time—maybe a month or two—try something I never could at home, and come back. And it seemed that the forest folks wanted nothing more than for me to follow my dreams.
I focused my attention back on the tournament. The lamias tended to the contestants with potions and healing spells between matches; before long, it was time for the final bout.
A thunderous roar echoed from the arena as a griffin—who had been chosen to represent the mythical beasts—fought with Raphilia.
“I’ll show you what A-rank adventurers are made of! Don’t underestimate me!” she yelled. “Chise, I know you’re listening! I’ve seen the faces you make sometimes. You look just like me before I left my village. If you want to travel the world, go! I’ll protect the forest while you’re away. So go ahead and run amok around the world like you used to.”
I once again found myself chuckling at Raphilia’s remark.
“Huh? Wait! Hold on! You’re supposed to let me win! Aaah!”
Griffins were strong—much more so than wyverns, just to grab an example from a comparable niche. Raphilia might have been A-rank, but she could never defeat such a powerful mythical beast all by herself. She was sent flying out of bounds, and the griffin roared as it was proclaimed champion of the entire tournament, to a round of furious applause.
I fully trusted that the griffin would protect the forest along with Beretta and the Great Elder while I was away. Meanwhile, I would travel the world, looking for new knowledge and technology to bring back to the forest folks and the mythical beasts.
“Teto wants to go travel with you, Lady Witch!”
“It’d be fun, wouldn’t it?”
The Witch of Creation’s Forest was my home, and I had already spent more than enough time resting there in between my travels. The others were right; it might well have been time for me to leave again. Before that, though, I still had a few things to do—first among them awarding the griffin its prize. And so that’s what I did, draping a belt with the orichalcum medal dangling from it around its neck. It seemed very happy about its shiny new trinket. Raphilia, who had ended up second, and Shael, who had come in third, glared at the griffin, frustration plain on their faces.
And just like that, the first martial arts tournament of the forest came to an end and the sun started setting.
I might have made up my mind to resume my travels, but there was still one last thing for me to do: perform the closing ceremony of the festival.