Chapter 30

The noontime forest looked incredibly peaceful. Birdsong filled the air, tree branches rustled, and light dappled the forest floor. Partway there, an enedo met him and showed him the rest of the way. As they approached the house, it let out a sound somewhat like a sneeze and disappeared into the forest. She was there, standing on the roof of the house, looking straight up. Her black coat fluttered, and her absurdly large hat seemed ready to tip over. The weather was bright and clear that day, rare for the kingdom in fall. There was not a single cloud in the sky, which seemed like a pale-blue sheet that continued on forever. The sunshine was warm, and the wind was cool. Ix noticed that a branch had been cut from each of the trees surrounding the clearing. There were sharp cross sections and light-colored incisions. They’d been cut from near the base of the tree, which made him think of a large bundle of sticks. Perhaps she had made a broom or something similar. She noticed him and leaped to the ground. “Hello,” she said with a smile. “The staff’s done,” he replied. “That was fast. Wasn’t it supposed to take half a year the first time?” “That was because Master had other contracts to deal with at the shop. Most of the crafting time for your order was just waiting for those to be finished. But this time, yours was my one job.” “You really didn’t want to make a different one?” “I’m going to start now. I’d decided to focus entirely on the one that needed finishing before that… Actually, I couldn’t even work on another staff while there was one sitting there unfinished. This whole time…” “Really?” she said gently. Ix set down his bag and pulled out a long, thin package. He put on a pair of white gloves, then opened it with care. The outermost layer was cloth. Inside was a layer of paper, followed by another layer of cloth, this time an immaculate white that wrapped around the staff to protect it. He undid the final cord, and the cloth slipped apart, revealing the staff. It was bright in color, its length about from the ground to his chest. The core material in the top was a mix of gold and brown. Ix slowly raised the staff with both hands and held it out to her. She straightened her back and held out her hands as well. “Engraved number: 3403, Passing. Made from the fourth branch of a reneel tree. The core is eshi amber. It is stubborn and gentle,” he said quietly. “Crafter: Ix. Owner: Camilla Toah.” “Wrong.” “Huh?” “I’m not Camilla anymore. I’m the witch,” she said with a gentle smile. “…Crafter: Ix. Owner: the witch.” “Mm-hmm.” The witch nodded and accepted the staff. She took the staff, the first Ix had ever made, with such joy. She poured some warm tea for him, which the two sipped as they sat outside. Ix didn’t drink it immediately, as it was too hot. “How did you figure it out, Ix?” asked the witch gently. “Even with what I am now, I still barely believe it. I don’t think it’s something a human would be capable of imagining.” “It’s not like I understand how it works. I just realized the structure and told you about it.” “Incredible… And I never even suspected.” “I wanted to ask before, but it is magic, right?” “Ummm… Keep this a secret from everyone else, okay? This is special.” She winked. “A spell is a technique for changing mana into a variety of possible forms, right? There’s heat, light, sound… But there are still so many things it can be turned into. Like…what should I call it…? Knowledge? Or perhaps it would be easier to understand if I call it information? You change the information you have into mana and release it. Obviously, the reverse is also possible.” The witch shrugged and continued. “This was originally how the dragons gave humans knowledge. They couldn’t convey everything with words, so they would give it in a single lump of information. But when that knowledge was just far too large for a human to take in…they used this forest.” “…The forest?” “Yes. Mana flows through the trees of the woods, right? They put the information they couldn’t all fit into their heads into the trees, so they could access it whenever they needed it. It’s almost like the forest itself is one massive brain. That’s why the witch has always lived here. We wouldn’t want someone to come and cut down all the trees while she was away, now, would we?” “Uh-huh…,” Ix said, his eyes closed as he nodded. Turning information into mana and releasing it…hmm. If that was possible, there would be no need for schools or books. Was this, too, a magic that humans would achieve in the distant future? “Right, now it’s your turn,” said the witch with a smirk. “You didn’t know anything about that kind of magic, so how did you figure out the…structure?” Ix looked up at the sky and murmured, “Because Mali cried.” “That’s why?” “Well, it’s not really the reason why, but it was a clue that led to the realization.” He let out a sigh and explained. “First of all, why was Mali chased out of the forest sixty years ago? That confused me. If the witch was really a powerful magic user, she would never have allowed that. She would have immediately located Mali and gobbled her up. Which meant she couldn’t do that. There was some reason why she couldn’t eat her. Once I hit upon that, it led to only one probable explanation.” He held up a finger. “The witch can’t eat someone without their consent.” “That’s what you thought…?” “I had absolutely no idea why it was that way,” continued Ix. “But as I thought about it, I realized I was making it too complicated. I was distracted by the immortality and the people eating and the mysterious witch. Even though anyone who thought about it logically would come to a simpler and more realistic answer…” In all probability… The reason he hadn’t realized it was because he hadn’t done it himself. Ix took a sip of the tea and sighed. “Raising a successor who takes on their title. It’s that simple. The witch raises a new witch, and that person becomes the next one. People die, but the witch is immortal. I hadn’t determined exactly how it happened, but I figured this was the only way that made sense. Which is why I suggested that you be the next witch.” “…I don’t understand why the first witch did that, though,” she said falteringly. “But that’s information I can learn. I do know that long ago, there was the festival, the Feast of Meat, and there was a child watching a ring of people dancing, unable to join. The witch took that child in, and ever since, the title has continued to be passed down.” She smiled slightly there. “Oh yes, this hat… At some point, this odd tradition came about of giving an even bigger hat to the next witch than the hat you received when you took on the role. That’s why it’s so big.” Ix couldn’t help but think that this was how it should be. There were seven gravestones behind the house. That was the number of people who had been eaten up until now. Individuality discarded for the sake of a single name. Immortality created for the sake of a single girl. That’s why they kept passing it on. For an eternity… They would pass down the witch. The witch pressed a finger to her cheek and said, “Mali must have run away before she knew the truth…” “She knew.” “Hmm?” “There’s no way she wouldn’t come to such a simple conclusion in the twenty years she lived with the witch.” “Then why did she flee?” “Because there’s only one witch.” Ix drew in a breath. “If she became the witch, the previous one would die. Mali was afraid of that, so she ran. That’s why…she cried. And I’m sure the witch realized that, too. I don’t know what kind of relationship those two built up over the course of twenty years, but…that’s why the witch decided to let things end.” “Oh…” The two exchanged silent glances. Their tea had gone cold. “What’s she doing now? The old…uh,” said Ix as he cocked his head. “What do I call her?” “Ebe,” said the witch with a smile. “Mm. She asked for some time, and she went to go visit Mali. Apparently, there’s a bit of a delay once you pass on the witch.” “…Uh-huh.” Ix imagined the white-haired elderly woman and the black-haired girl conversing. “But she said she’d be back by winter to, mm, enter her grave.” “…The witch is cruel.” “…Yeah.” There was nothing else to say. Before he left the forest, he stood face-to-face with the witch and said, “So, how long is it, then?” “How long is what?” “A witch’s life span. It’s probably longer than a normal human’s, just not forever. The witch would need to look for her successor while keeping an eye on that span of time.” “Yeah… It’s generally around two or three hundred years.” “So there really is a connection between mana and life span.” “…Yeah,” confirmed the witch with a small nod. “That a secret, too?” “It is, but…” Her lips trembled. “Humans and magic beasts can naturally use magic to, uh, sort of replace what you might think of as your life energy. They can reduce the amount of life energy they use by substituting a bit of mana instead. That’s why magic beasts with mana live longer than your normal beasts without it… That’s…how it works.” “How much longer?” “How much?” She tried to force a smile on her face. “Or the opposite, how much shorter is it?” The witch closed her eyes and shook her head. Did she not know? Or was that the one thing that would remain a secret? She came closer to him, circled her arms around his back, and hugged him. “I…,” she said, her voice coming up from below because of their difference in height. “I am the witch. I know so much that humans don’t. I can use magic that humans can’t. You would be surprised if you knew the things I’m capable of. It makes you feel like you can do anything. But…what is this about? How can I be this sad, in this much pain, when the sky is this blue? Even though it was raining so hard not long ago…?” “……” “Ix, I met you when you were a baby.” Her face was obscured by the large brim of her hat. “I tried to give you a flower. Why did I do that? I don’t know, but I tried to make you hold it in your right hand. You cried. You seemed unhappy. But I kept pressing it into your hand, over and over, trying to force your little hand to take the flower. I’m…so sorry… I’m sorry, Ix…” He didn’t understand why she was apologizing like this, but then he thought, Ah, she’s the witch. She was apologizing for something that happened twenty years ago as though it had happened yesterday. No human could do that, not unless they were somehow special. That’s why she was meant to become the witch. At the same time, he felt a sort of understanding about something. That was it… It was from all the way back then… No wonder he couldn’t disobey anything she’d said… She pressed her face into his chest for a while. Then she released him and looked up with a smiling face. In a cheerful voice so different from before, she said, “By the way, Ebe flies.” “She flies?” “Yeah, she said she was going to fly to Leirest. She left while I was sleeping, though, so I don’t know how…” “But you’re the witch.” “I told you—there’s too much information to sift through. I’ve got my hands full just finding what’s where.” “Is that so.” “It is so. Oh, but,” she said in an amused tone, “there are the sticks.” “Huh?” “It’s weird… For some reason, she cut a bunch of branches over there. No idea what she’s using them for, though…,” she said and smiled. Ix followed her eyes into the sky.