To begin, let’s discuss the setting—the Kingdom of Azami.
This kingdom was located on the southern end of the continent, blessed with a temperate climate. It faced an ocean filled with the bounty of the seas, and it had access to a great river that crossed the continent, making transport of goods considerably easier than neighboring countries.
Fueled by trade, Azami was divided into five major districts: The Central District, or the place for the royal castle and noble estates, as well as where the army was stationed. The North Side—more or less the kingdom’s front door and the location of all kinds of shops. The West Side, a tidy residential district. The South Side, which was nearest to the harbor or the heart of commerce, lively in a very different way from the North Side.
And finally, the East Side, where Lloyd was headed. This was, to be blunt, where the dregs of society gathered.
The East Side was inside the kingdom, but public order was low enough it could hardly be considered part of said territory. An unkempt district with all sorts of things shoved in it—kind of like a dresser stuffed to the brim in a vain attempt to impress a surprise visitor. Half the district was lower- and middle-class homes, but the farther inside, the more it became another world, where all kinds of people ran things according to their own laws.
Paving stones with cracks ignored for years, wooden price tags on garbage (or was it merchandise?) under the awnings of homes, women well past their primes—verging on old—chattering with one another and showing excessive amounts of skin… A run-down vibe welcomed all who came. Lloyd was roaming these backroads late at night, with the little knapsack clearly marking him as a country bumpkin, as he searched for his destination.
Walking an alley with his appearance, he was practically begging to get mugged. A pair of hardworking delinquents quickly approached him, making threats as they leered at him.
But Lloyd didn’t even seem to notice. He just breezed right past them.
“Ignoring us, huh? Then we’ll just have to get rough.”
The leader slammed his shoulder into Lloyd. A classic technique. An unexpected shoulder bump followed by…
“Aughhhhh! That huuuurts!” The delinquent made a big show.
“Wh-what?! You’ll pay for this, kid!” And his partner took advantage of that to press the kid for a payout.
Be careful of this scam if you ever find yourself in a seedy part of town!
Accosted by this thug, Lloyd looked terribly surprised. “Huh?”
“‘Huh,’ what? You messed up my buddy’s shoulder!”
“Ow! That seriously hurts! Call a doctor! I think it’s broken!”
“But I barely bumped into you!”
“Doctor! Doctor!” he chanted, sweating profusely, and crumpled over.
The man’s performance (?) was certainly convincing.
“Man, he’s really going for it today,” his partner muttered under his breath, impressed, before zeroing in on Lloyd again. “Like hell you did! You’re paying for his medical bills! Pay up! All the money you got! Everything on you! Leave it all here! And no, you can’t keep your underwear, either!”
“A doctor…,” the injured man hissed as his coconspirator got more and more worked up.
His friend broke off his demands, gradually realizing his injured partner wasn’t faking it. “Huh? Uh…you mean…for real?”
“For real!” he shrieked. “Can’t you see it swelling up, you numbskull? Get a damn doctor! …Oh shit. This is real bad!”
His friend stared at him a moment, then turned back to Lloyd with eyes even more bloodshot than before. “Yo! Look what you did to him! You’ll pay for this, kid!”
“Uh… That’s exactly what you said a moment ago…”
“Shut the hell up! This time I really mean it! We gotta get him to a doctor—stat! Stop dickin’ around! Hand it over!”
He held a hand out expectantly, but Lloyd looked lost.
Um…hand it over? …What exactly? Uh… Is he asking for a high five?
Not knowing what else to do, he lightly tapped the delinquent’s hand. Or at least…to Lloyd, it was a limp slap. But you guessed it…
A loud crunch rang through the alley. His “lightly slapped” hand rocketed from place, winding around his shoulder three times before he hit the ground in a crash landing.
“Aiiiieeee!”
Now it was the friend’s turn to writhe in the middle of the street, his hand and shoulder twisted in unnatural angles. Both of them were coated in mud.
“Uh? Really? But that was the lightest of high fives!”
The delinquent’s reactions definitely seemed to be more than just “dramatic,” and Lloyd was thoroughly rattled. But when he stepped closer out of concern, they scuttled away like a pair of cockroaches.
“W-we’ll remember… I mean, no! Please forget this ever happened!”
The pair were too cowed to even finish delivering this classic line—used to save face by fleeing cowards everywhere—as they staggered away, leaning on each other for support.
“Huh…I wonder if that was some sort of street performance? I’ve heard they have those in the big city.”
Baffled, Lloyd tried to explain this away by attributing it to life in the “big city,” a magic phrase that seemed to solve everything, even though it was a stretch this time.
As he continued to shake his head in bewilderment, he found his way to a store on a gentle slope of a hill. There were a number of old potion pots hanging from the eaves, and a shoddy small sign that announced WE’VE GOT POTIONS, as if it’d been posted to keep up appearances. The whole vibe was so phony that it actually made it seem like a real witch’s shop.
“So this is where the Witch of the East Side lives.”
The door was so rickety that he was almost afraid to knock on it, but there was a light spilling softly out from under it. Certain there was someone home, Lloyd opened the door, softly calling out as he did.
“Hello?”
The rusted hinges made the door rather heavy. Behind it was a woman wearing a black robe; a wide-brimmed, pointy hat; and rimless glasses—looking every bit the part of a witch. She had flaxen hair and was in the middle of reading a book, a cup of coffee in her free hand. She looked to be about Lloyd’s age, but something about her air made her seem much older.
The shop interior was also extremely befitting of a witch—with half-made potions, mortars, unfamiliar and poisonous-looking thorny plants, and piles of old tomes in the corners as if specifically trying to create that mood.
“………”
She lowered the thick volume in her hand, gave him a disinterested look-over, and then went back to her book. The ensuing silence was broken only by the sound of the page turning.
Her utter lack of response left Lloyd unsure what to do next, so he just kind of stood there. Perhaps this was what wore her down eventually.
She hooked her shoulder-length hair over one ear and said, “What?” The voice emerged from deep within her chest, which he could tell was impressive even under her loose robes.
“Er, um…I was told to come see the Witch of the East Side.”
“Hmph. You have a message from someone?”
“Uh, no. I’m not a messenger, I’m…”
“Oh, so you’re someone who knows I’m a witch.” She took a sip of coffee, closed her book, and glared at him from behind her glasses. “Do you know what it means for a child like you to ask a favor of a witch?”
This sounded so ominous that Lloyd flinched. “No, I was just told to come here.”
The witch sighed, shaking her head.
“According to tradition, witches grant wishes in exchange for payment of equal value,” she explained. “You must be ready to make a sacrifice. With that in mind, what is it you wish for? Marie the Witch will guide your path, no matter how impossible the task—just make sure you don’t regret it.”
This was more a threat than anything else. Lloyd swallowed hard, working up the nerve to proceed.
“I-I’ve come from the country to become a soldier! Can I stay here until then?”
There was a long pause, then she coughed. “According to tradition…”
“Yeah, um, I’ve already heard your spiel.”
“Then go find an inn and look at some job postings in the town square, ya little shit!”
Her theatrical shtick instantly shattered into pieces. She’d jumped out of her chair, looking like a girl scolding her bratty kid brother. Lloyd cowered slightly.
“Geez,” she grumbled. “What do you think witches are? Handymen? Charity workers? Hospitality staff? Is that what they’re teaching kids these days? Where did you even come from?!”
“Uh, a town called Kunlun…”
“Yeah, yeah. Well, go back to there and tell them witches aren’t… Hmm? Hold up. Kunlun?”
The witch sat back down and stroked her chin on her hand, as if trying to remember something. And a moment later, the color drained from her face, making her look like someone who’d forgotten something really important at home.
“Uh…boy…what’s the name of your village chief?”
“Hmm? Alka. Is there a problem?”
At the mention of that name, the witch’s back snapped as straight as a stick, and sweat began pouring down from every pore on her face. She clasped her hands and positioned them on the tops of her tights, prim and proper like a job applicant at an interview.
She was muttering something under her breath. It sounded like an incantation. “No, it could be just someone with the same name. I mean, what could she possibly want after all this time…?”
Lloyd watched this for a moment, then exclaimed, “Oh, I totally forgot!” He undid the knot on his knapsack and began rummaging around inside. “She said to show you this…”
He gingerly put a huge hunk of crystal down on the table.
“My hopes are dashed! It’s definitely her!” The witch threw her arms up like an athlete who’d missed a goal.
Lloyd smiled in response, misreading her actions as part of her great sense of humor.
The witch saw him looking, snatched her hat off, ruffled her flaxen hair, and started briskly making more coffee without a single trace of her dismissive attitude from earlier.
“Where are my manners?” she asked. “And? She didn’t give you any sort of message for me? Oh god, she didn’t come here with you, did she? That’d be too much for me to—”
“No, no messages. And it’s just me.”
When she heard this last part, the witch pumped her fist, shouting triumphantly. “Yee, boi!” She was totally acting her age now.
Hand still clenched, she shot Lloyd a look and asked, “Uh, so you’re seriously just…planning to stay here instead of an inn?”
“Sh-she said if I showed you the crystal, you’d understand…”
Both pairs of eyes turned toward it. In the next instant, a stream of aurora-esque light shot out of the rock, forming the shape of a person.
As the outline grew clearer, Lloyd recognized her—it was the chief of Kunlun, Alka herself. But when the witch saw that petite body and those distinctive twin pigtails, she let out a little shriek and instantly fell on her hands and knees.