Rumor of this town had spread far and wide—the vast majority of its visitors came specifically to meet with the witch. Likewise, Jack had already gone to see her and knew the procedure.
“You do need to give her something precious to you in exchange for her answering your question though,” he’d advised before guiding us through the town.
That had given me pause. “Not like money or anything?” I’d asked.
“Nope. I don’t exactly get the metrics, but I’ve heard one person gave a pricey ring set with a sunset gray stone, and another person offered a beaten-up cloth marionette.”
So it isn’t about how precious the item is monetarily, but how much it matters to the person that owns it, I guess.
Knowing that we were after the witch, Jack had offered to guide us. Apparently, the witch had a house and it was within walking distance.
“Can this witch really be trusted?” I questioned, only to get a quizzical look from him; guessing that the witch’s reputation must have been common knowledge, I added an explanation. “I’m an otherworlder.”
“You are, huh? That’s new. Guess you wouldn’t know, then.”
His reaction was less dramatic than I’d expected, which felt like a bit of an anticlimax given how much importance I placed on the fact I’d just shared with him.
“Long ago, witches were commonplace in this world,” he explained. “There were also mages and training establishments for them. Nobles used to go about the whole business with sticks up their asses. Then steam technology powered by mana stones came about, noble society collapsed, and mages started to fade away. Magic’s out of fashion these days; steam’s more convenient. Anyone can use it, plus it’s cheap.”
“Huh... I guess it’s a tough world.”
“Not like you’re uninvolved,” he added.
“Wait, me?”
“The whole idea of steam technology came from one of you otherworlders,” Jack said with a broad grin. “Back then, mana stones were mana gems. They stored mana from the labyrinths, and people used them to have a fairly comfortable life. Plus, mages prized pure mana gems above all else. They were a symbol of magic itself.”
At some point, I’d gotten completely lost in the man’s voice. Jack was like a professional storyteller, speaking clearly and with no hesitation.
“Then, one day, along comes an otherworlder. ‘Let’s burn those,’ he says. Do you understand what utter blasphemy that was? It was crazier than burning money to bake your bread. Either way, though, those precious mana gems gained the new name of mana stones, and burned away as mere fuel, without leaving a trace.”
“I suppose it’s what you’d call a revolutionary idea, or maybe a reversal of values.”
As soon as those words left my mouth, he pointed at me.
“There! That kind of thinking is what makes an otherworlder. Back then, magic was the cornerstone of civilization. People burning mana gems was tantamount to denying their whole lives, culture, and history. That otherworlder’s suggestion spread through the world and transformed it into something unrecognizable. Just because it was ‘efficient,’ we trampled over our past culture to reach prosperity.”
I understood what he was trying to say, but it was difficult to really put myself in their shoes. As far as I was concerned, people had been burning coal for generations for its energy—the concept was pretty mundane. I was sure the person that had thought up burning these mana gems and creating steam technology hadn’t thought too deeply about it either.
“I didn’t do any of that,” I stressed.
“True. Even if an otherworlder thought it up, it was us that accepted the idea and ran wild with it. Anyway, what I was trying to say is that even now that we’re at the height of the steam age, there are still people that have quietly inherited magic, and they’re called witches.”
“So they can use magic still?” I checked.
“Apparently. It’s rare you get to actually meet one, but they’re an old legend, and the legend says if you bargain with a witch, she’ll answer your question—any question—correctly.”
I looked at Nito and she nodded back. She’d told me so, but apparently witches were indeed a commonly known thing in this world.
“You could hear the stories from anyone back when I was a kid. The hero would strike a bargain with a witch, or the witch would trick a greedy merchant, stuff like that. It’s not like anyone knows how magic really works though, so people believe it’s probably possible.”
I suppose it’s like an urban legend. Those tales felt a little different than the whole pumpkin turning into a carriage thing or the princess being fed a poisoned apple though.
“You said you’d met her. Did she answer your question?”
Jack looked back over his shoulder and gave a somewhat exaggerated smile, the corners of his lips moving high up his face.
“Of course.”
Before I could ask what his smile was supposed to mean, he pointed forward and said we would be able to see the place now. I craned my neck and looked in the direction he’d pointed. Up ahead stood a two-story mansion with radiantly white walls. Spires rose up from the roof, like on a castle, and latticed windows lined each floor in a symmetrical array. A short stone wall surrounded the building, but the gate was open.
The closer we got, the more details were visible. As we finally arrived at the gate, Jack strode through without pause. More cautiously, Nito and I followed. A stone path led straight from the gate toward the mansion. In a rounded space about halfway along it stood a dried-up fountain with a statue of a lion-like creature atop it, roaring defiantly at us. All of the windows were closed, except one on the right-hand side of the first floor. Its curtain swayed in the breeze and loud singing issued out through it. It was opera, maybe—the clear soprano voice seemed to stretch out endlessly in beautiful song. Still, maybe the player was broken, or just simply old, as the sound wavered in volume and even occasionally cut out.
Jack climbed the three steps up to the main entrance and pushed the door open. He made no move to enter and just indicated the path.
“She’s in a room on the right. That’s where the singing’s coming from.”
“You’re not coming?” I asked.
“She’s got nothing for me now,” he answered with a shrug.