Majo no Tabitabi - Volume 12 - Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Lucille Who Never Smiles

Her mother was someone who often smiled.

She smiled when saying good morning, or waving someone off, or welcoming someone home, or when it was time to say good night. From the girl’s perspective, her mother was always smiling. Her mother was always kind and warm, like the sun in the sky.

She had never seen her mother get angry. She had never seen her sad. The girl’s mother was always full of love.

One day, the little girl looked up at her gentle mother and asked, “Mother, why are you so kind?”

The girl’s mother answered, “Because you are always such a good girl.”

“So if I stop being a good girl, you’ll stop being a kind mother?”

The girl’s mother said, “I just might,” and let out a gentle laugh.

The girl asked, “Mother, why are you always smiling?”

The girl’s mother answered, “Because I am always happy and having fun.”

“So if you stop being happy and having fun, you’ll stop smiling?”

The girl’s mother smiled. “Perhaps.”

Gazing far, far off into the distance, she smiled.

“Even if I tell you something like this, you might not believe me, but—you know, there was a time, a long while ago, when I didn’t smile at all.”

The mother kneeled down and looked directly into her daughter’s eyes.

The girl was about ten years old.

I believe I was around this age when I stopped smiling— She gently stroked her daughter’s hair, orange tinged with red, and the girl seemed a little embarrassed.

“That tickles!” the girl said.

The girl was a child who often smiled.

Though she took after her mother’s looks, she was so overflowing with smiles that she didn’t bear any resemblance to the child her mother had once been. The woman was determined to do anything at all if it was for the sake of the girl’s smile.

“I want to hear a story about when you were little, Mother.”

So of course she was going to grant such a trivial request.

The girl’s mother answered, “Very well—then how about I tell you a bit of an old tale?”

She broke into a smile.

“It’s a story from when I was just about your age.”

Long, long ago, when people told tall tales—she began.

As a wandering traveler, I’ve never had much interest in decorations for dressing myself up.

Travelers blow through a place just like the wind and the rain, and I’ve got no need to make the sort of impression that would lodge in someone’s memory, so there isn’t much meaning in dressing up to get people to remember me. Even less so in wearing high-class garments.

So the adornments I do wear—for example, my witch’s brooch—are emblems that directly represents an aspect of my existence. I also wear things that were gifts or weird articles with interesting histories.

I’ve got a lot of those.

“Hmm…”

In a jewelry store—

The shopkeeper, kneading the air with his hands, asked how I was doing as I stared at a necklace hard enough to bore a hole through it.

“Miss Witch, what do you think? This necklace is a particularly fine article. It’s garnished with sapphires, but we sell it for a low price—”

Generally, I don’t walk around wearing fancy jewelry or things like that.

But there are always exceptions.

Exceptions, because I am a wandering traveler.

The prices of things fluctuate to a fascinating degree depending on the location. For example, jewelry that was fairly cheap in this city was sold for a rather high price in other places. Such situations naturally exist. And of course, if I could buy it where it was cheap and sell it where it was expensive, I could make a profit on the price difference.

What I was troubling over at the present moment was, basically, just such a situation.

In the city I was visiting that day, certain varieties of gemstones seemed to be very inexpensive compared to other places I’d been. The jewelry that lined this storefront, for example, was very reasonably priced.

But even though the price was reasonable, that didn’t change the fact that I was looking at gemstones, and they weren’t cheap enough that I could just simply buy them.

“Now this necklace, I normally sell one for thirty gold pieces, but you’re so cute, I’ll cut you a deal and give you three for the price of one. How about it?”

That was why the shopkeeper was trying to talk me into it. The price seemed too cheap. It was so cheap that it was making me slightly suspicious.

“Are you serious?” Ah, now I’m in trouble. “But it’s a well-known fact that I’m cute…” More to the point, I don’t need three of the same necklace…

“All right then, I’ll throw in a free gift, too. How about that?” The shopkeeper hounded me, determined not to let me get away. He disappeared into the back of the shop and immediately came back holding another necklace.

It was a fairly pretty necklace.

“I’ll throw this in, too, so how about it?” the shopkeeper asked.

“How much does that necklace cost?”

“You can’t put a price on this piece.”

“…………”

“If you buy now, I’ll throw in two of these! Now what do you say?”

“…………”

It is pretty, but somehow it seems cheap.

“Is there any chance that the reason you can’t put a price on that necklace is that it’s worthless?”

“…………”

“Sir?”

The shopkeeper looked off into the distance.

As he gazed blankly to gather his thoughts, he cleared his throat once in a forced way and continued:

“Miss Witch, do you know the phrase ‘nothing is as costly as a free gift’?” he asked.

My, my.

“Well then, it’s too expensive for me to handle. No, thank you!”

Waving my hand in refusal, I left the shop.

There is a phrase “nothing is as costly as a free gift.”

It’s an instructive phrase, normally applied to things you acquire for free, warning that the associated costs may pile up in the future, causing you to wind up paying a lot for it in the end.

The word free has a nice ring to it, and something seems very desirable when it doesn’t come at any cost to the person getting it. But if someone gives you something for free, that transaction must have some other, non-monetary merits for the giver.

And usually, they think those merits are worth more than the money would have been.

And so nothing is as costly as a free gift.

Munch, munch.

However, there is one wonderful product in this world that has nothing but merits, despite being distributed for free. Do you know what that is?

“How is it, miss? That is our store’s most popular item.”

“It’s excellent. I’ll take one, please.”

In the shopfront of a bakery, I was chomping away, stuffing my cheeks with free samples and quickly deciding what to buy. It was a moment of supreme bliss. In other words, on top of eating delicious free bread, I also got to buy more delicious bread.

Is this as good as it gets…?

“Thank you very much! Please come again!”

“Heh-heh-heh, next time, prepare ten types of free samples and wait for my return.”

In high spirits from beginning to end, I left the shop and disappeared into the crowd of people coming and going down the city street.

I could see plenty of merit in bread being handed out for free, and at the same time, since I had gotten something for free, I felt compelled to pay back the favor somehow.

“—So what are you going to do for us?”

After walking a short distance from the bakery, a voice came from out of nowhere.

“……?”

It was a man’s voice. I couldn’t tell who was talking, but when I examined my surroundings, I could guess where the voice had come from.

A crowd had formed on a street corner.

The man’s voice was clearly resonating despite the noisy crowd.

“You’ve been trying for a while now, haven’t you? Today of all days, we want a good result. I’ve got high expectations of you.”

Just who is over there, and just what could they be doing?

I wasn’t really sure what was going on, but I was drawn in by the atmosphere that suggested something interesting was afoot. On the very outskirts of the crowd, I jumped up and down several times, but—

“…I can’t see.”

—the only thing I could see, rather plainly and distinctly, were the backs of people’s heads. It was completely hopeless.

In that case, I had no choice. I ultimately decided to take out my broom, hover lightly into the air, and look down on the crowd from above.

“Now, entertain us!”

In the center of the crowd was a gentleman dressed in fine clothing giving orders and a well-behaved young girl seated in a wheelchair.

Facing the two of them, a mage dressed as a clown waved his wand, performing tricks like sending up a puff of smoke and charring his hair, or dumping water over his own head, or simply waving his wand to no effect—well, he was really acting the clumsy fool.

Clowns are a type of jester, whose occupation is to make fools of themselves in public to get laughs.

And indeed, the sight of the clown below me waving his wand around did bring smiles to the faces of the people surrounding him.

Some laughed, their big mouths open wide. Some smiled as they enjoyed the clown’s performance, like a little snack to go with their afternoon drink. Some grinned while tossing popcorn into their mouths. Some hid their faces and left elegantly. Some pointed and guffawed at the clown. There were all sorts of reactions.

It seemed like there might be only one person on the street corner whose expression didn’t shift in the least.

“…………”

Beside the gentleman—

—there was the young girl seated in a wheelchair.

She looked to be about ten years old. Her orange hair, tinged with red, hung down to her waist, and her eyes were blue. She was dressed in a fancy gothic dress.

She looked just like a doll.

Her polished and luxurious attire was probably what gave me that impression. The girl seated in the wheelchair sat there politely, looking very bored, without the slightest emotion showing on her face.

Surrounded by smiles, she was the only person who was not only not smiling, but whose expression had not changed at all.

Now then, what on earth is going on in this scene?

“Um, excuse me?”

By the way, there was another mage who had followed the same line of thinking as me in the face of such a big crowd. She was sitting on her broom, hovering over the crowd alongside me.

So I moved my broom over closer to her and whispered, “What is that clown doing?”

When I asked my question, the mage tossed some popcorn into her mouth and answered, “Hmm, I don’t really know myself, but you see that gentleman over there? Apparently, he’s a traveling millionaire.”

“A traveling millionaire?”

What’s with that weird setup?

“Those two have been in the city for about a week doing stuff like this.” As she talked, the mage pointed down at the girl, who was still completely unsmiling. “That girl’s name is Lucille, see, and apparently she absolutely never smiles, no matter what, regardless of what happens. That gentleman said he’s never seen her smile, not once in her whole life.”

“Hmm.”

“But the gentleman apparently wants to see her smile.”

As she spoke, the mage moved her finger to point to a sign that was standing right behind the gentleman—it had words written on it.

It read—

IF YOU CAN MAKE THE UNSMILING LUCILLE SMILE, I WILL GIVE YOU EVERYTHING I OWN!

I had no idea whether the relationship between the gentleman and Lucille was one of parent and child or whether they were complete strangers, but it seemed like he was very concerned about her.

In other words, I surmised, he was traveling the world just trying to make the girl smile.

The mage threw another handful of popcorn into her mouth and, chewing away like it was delicious, told me, “So every performer in the city has been trying to meet the challenge.” Munch, munch.

“And people keep gathering to watch because they can see something entertaining for free, is that it?”

“Yep, pretty much.” Munch, munch.

“I see, I see.”

“Any other questions?” Munch, munch.

“Where did you buy that popcorn?”

The girl who didn’t smile.

Lucille.

After that, I watched the performers taking up the challenge posed by the pair for a while before I noticed that apparently it wasn’t free to perform before the gentleman.

It seemed it was necessary to have a certain degree of resolve in order to win the compensation for making the unsmiling girl smile.

“Now then, is there no one else who will accept the challenge?! One gold coin per attempt!”

Ultimately, the clown didn’t seem to fit the bill, and he dropped his shoulders and disappeared into the crowd. A genial shout of encouragement briefly went up in support of him. According to the other mage, that clown was always the first to appear before the gentleman and the girl, and he always failed, and he was always consoled by the spectators.

It must have been a familiar sight for the onlookers.

“I’ll go next!”

“No, I will!”

“I’m next!”

Chomping on popcorn, I gazed down at them as, one after another, hands shot up from the crowd. For the entertainers who lived in this city, there was no more convenient place for their presentations than this street corner. If they performed their art in front of the unsmiling Lucille and got her to smile, they could strike it rich. Even if she didn’t smile, their act would stick in the memories of many people. It was clear they were getting plenty of value out of paying their single gold piece each.

Although it was also possible that deep down inside, they genuinely felt they wanted to make the little girl who couldn’t smile smile.

But no matter how much the onlookers from town smiled, Lucille continued to remain expressionless.

“…………”

Far from smiling, as the artists performed before her, the girl just sat there the whole time without any expression, like a corpse. If her eyes hadn’t been moving, she could have been mistaken for a mannequin.

Even when a comedian who was famous in the city appeared before her. Even when a young man, a nameless amateur, made all the onlookers smile. Even when another girl tried the underhanded tactic of tickling Lucille’s sides.

Lucille absolutely never smiled, and many people offered up their single gold coin in front of her before taking their leave.

Gradually, the number of hands going up diminished. Finally, no one raised their hand at all.

“Oh. Done already?”

The gentleman shrugged, looking deflated.

Then he said:

“We had a few more takers in the places we visited before.”

Basically, to put it another way, he was saying that despite having so many challengers, Lucille had never smiled. It was impossible to make Lucille smile without doing something extraordinary.

“…Hmm?”

But to put it yet another way, that meant he had a very large number of gold coins.

Which meant, obviously, that if I could make Lucille smile then and there, a countless sum of gold would come my way. In short, it would likely be enough that I would never have to tediously worry about money again.

“Hmm…!” Just as I had done in the jewelry shop, I let my imagination go to work as I stared down at Lucille and the gentleman below me.

My mind started churning through calculations.

That was when the conference on money in my head was convened.

What do we think about this matter, everyone?

I posed the question to my other selves. It wasn’t like I always kept a full roster of Elainas in my head, but, well, when it was time to decide on something, I used this method to examine my own values and weigh my options. I think it’s a pretty common thing to do, right?

For example—

I think it’s fine. Go ahead.

There was the optimistic version of me who said things like that.

You absolutely must abandon the idea; it’s a waste of money! Money is precious!

There was the stingy version of me, who firmly rejected the idea.

It’s dangerous to get involved carelessly. There’s obviously something suspicious about those two, don’t you think?

There was also the distrustful version of me, who offered such words of warning.

Munch, munch.

And there was the version of me who was hungry and didn’t really care.

That girl Lucille, she’s very cute, isn’t she?

There was the version of me who liked cute things.

At any rate, all sorts of values clashing in an instant is the stuff that decisions are made of, right? And on this occasion, naturally enough, various opinions clashed inside my head.

Are you listening? The girl hasn’t ever smiled, even with comedians from who knows how many cities trying to make it happen! It’s only suitable to conclude that they’re using some kind of strange trick.

The distrustful version of me once again demonstrated her position of outright refusal.

And it’s a waste of money, too. Moreover, we bought popcorn earlier, right? And it was a bit more expensive than buying it in other cities, you know? About three times the market price. In my estimation, the popcorn seller is almost certainly in cahoots with the gentleman as well.

The cheapskate version of me agreed with her, readily piling on criticism of our popcorn purchase.

Running counter to these two, who were already colluding, were the other two, who were soft in the head.

Munch, munch.

Hungry Elaina kept right on eating popcorn, in spite of the criticism.

But isn’t that girl Lucille so cute? Don’t you want to try talking to her a little bit?

The Elaina who likes cute things was mainly driven by curiosity.

The conference between distrustful Elaina, cheapskate Elaina, hungry Elaina, and the Elaina who likes cute things became a total quagmire, and they weren’t able to reach any conclusions.

This is obviously some kind of trap. It absolutely is. So we should give up on the idea. In fact, I think that clown from earlier is also suspicious. He was actually in cahoots with the gentleman, too, wasn’t he?

On what grounds are you saying that? Munch, munch.

He probably used the clown to gather a crowd and get attention.

I’m asking you, based on what? Munch, munch.

Because that’s what I would do if I were him. Anyway, I’m opposed to participating.

But Lucille is so cute.

So she’s cute, so what? Should we waste money just because someone’s cute?

Munch, munch.

Actually, I think it’s doubtful whether or not that gentleman is truly wealthy. Maybe he has some ulterior motive?

Munch, munch.

If you’re talking about being two-faced, that applies to me as well, doesn’t it?

You’re right. And what a cute face it is.

Are you a narcissist, Elaina who likes cute things?

Of course.

Munch, munch.

All of your munching and crunching is getting annoying!

Want some?

Oh, do you mind?

Go ahead, please.

…This stuff is incredibly bad, for something that costs three times the market rate.

So the conference was a frustrating mess that resulted in no conclusive decision.

Despite discussing it for a long time, ultimately no conclusion was reached, and the conversation got totally derailed. The conference, stuck at an impasse and reaching no conclusions, ultimately reached the point where everyone started searching for natural, moderate points of compromise, and in the end, the optimistic Elaina, who had spent the whole conference reading in the corner, ended up settling the whole thing with a single comment.

It’s fine, isn’t it, for us to participate? Even if we waste one gold coin, we can buy some jewels here and sell them elsewhere to make our money back, after all, she said, snapping her book shut.

So in other words, it’s like the participation fee doesn’t matter? I replied.

I see. That makes sense, I thought to myself.

And with that, the conference on money that had been opened in my head found a really simple point of compromise. To make a long story short, I ended up raising my hand.

“Wonderful!” The gentleman smiled happily once he noticed me. “Come on down here!”

I did as the gentleman said and slowly lowered my broom, alighting on the ground. Then, as I casually tossed my used popcorn bag into a garbage bin, I asked, “So all I have to do is make that girl smile, right? And you don’t care what methods I use?”

“So long as you can pay the participation fee of one gold piece, I’m utterly unconcerned with your methods.”

I see, I see.

“Well, then—”

After paying the gentleman, I walked over to Lucille and crouched down in front of her. “Hello, Lucille. My name is Elaina, the traveling witch.”

As I spoke, I looked up at her.

“…………”

There was no response. A pair of expressionless eyes looked back at me. The girl’s face was frozen like a doll’s, but her eyes alone moved around, following me.

We stared at each other, me and Lucille.

“…………?”

Eventually, her eyes turned away from me, toward her own pale hand that was resting on the arm of her wheelchair.

Oh, right, we haven’t shaken hands yet.

“Very pleased to meet you.”

I held out my hand.

But the girl didn’t move.

Since there was no other way, I picked up her hand and grasped it by force. It was just like shaking hands with a mannequin—that much was true, but she was unmistakably a living human. I could definitely feel the warmth of her hand.

And then, while I was still holding her hand, I spoke to her.

“Lucille, could I ask you to call to mind something that seems amusing?”

As I spoke, I pulled out my wand and cast a spell. “Ei!”

Even for a witch, I have mastered a great variety of spells. From the ones I use on a daily basis to head-scratchers that would make you wonder why I bothered to learn such a thing, I can use a huge number of spells.

The spell I used this time belonged to the latter category.

A white mist formed between us as we held hands, then it coalesced before her eyes and began to glow. The hazy glow then projected a single scene visible only to me and her.

This was a spell with a slightly silly name, the Spectacle of Greatest Desire.

It was a spell that was extremely difficult to use, one which projected a scene of whatever the person holding hands with the witch who cast it most desired, visible only to the two of them. In other words, right before us was the thing Lucille wanted most of all—the thing she found most interesting was floating right there between us, so, well, to put it simply, I thought she was sure to smile. Because she could see the thing she most desired.

So as I was firing off the spell, I was gloating to myself. Heh-heh-heh, I just became one rich witch! I was confident in my triumph; however—

However, as for what actually happened—

“…………”

Lucille only looked toward the scene that was revealed, and far from smiling, her expression and posture didn’t change in the least. The whole time the images of her greatest desire were visible, her expression never changed.

“What is going on…?”

Lucille’s spectacle of greatest desire, spread out before my eyes, changed rapidly, flipping through images every few seconds. A few examples were Lucille walking along eating ice cream, or Lucille watching a play while eating popcorn, or Lucille buying new clothes. I saw Lucille buying bread at a bakery, Lucille reading a book, Lucille decorating herself with a necklace.

Basically, those sorts of things.

The strange thing was that they were such extremely ordinary requests, for someone in the company of a millionaire.

And what made me feel more uncomfortable than anything else was the fact that the gentleman, her supposed guardian, was nowhere to be found in any of the scenes.

Could it be that the gentleman’s presence was not required for any of the events Lucille found most interesting?

The gentleman, who had been intently watching my series of actions, looked at Lucille’s expression and let out one big, showy sigh.

“…Unfortunately, Lady Witch, Lucille doesn’t seem to have smiled.”

In other words, it was a complete failure.

But I had been so convinced that I could make her smile.

“…Does that mean I wasted my money?”

Although I had worked out how to make money by selling jewels, losing a large sum did affect me a little. Disappointed, I let go of the hand I had been holding and put away my wand.

The mist that had been hanging in the air between myself and Lucille disappeared.

“—Ah!”

That was the first time I heard Lucille’s voice.

A quiet voice, like a little chirp, escaped her mouth.

“Well then, I think we’d better be going.”

I was not sure whether the gentleman had heard her voice, but he pulled Lucille’s wheelchair toward him and immediately left the plaza, moving quickly.

The entertainment was over.

The popcorn vendor hurriedly started closing up shop. The people who had gathered in the square each scattered in their own direction. The performers started trudging away, sighing as they went.

I alone was left behind in that place.

“…………”

I looked down at the palm of my hand that had been holding Lucille’s hand a moment earlier.

I had taken her hand in order to facilitate the spell, but maybe the gesture held some other meaning for her.

In the moment when I shook her hand, Lucille had pressed something into my palm—perhaps she had been trying to get everyone who had stood before her until now to take her hand.

Maybe she had been pleading with them using only her eyes, staying seated in her chair, without moving.

In my hand was—

—a small shred of paper, like something torn from the wrapping on some bread.

The dirty, crumpled scrap of paper had just one word written on it, totally blurry and barely legible.

Help.

“Listen up, Lucille. We are good people.”

The gentleman was always telling Lucille that.

The man and Lucille had first met about a year earlier. They weren’t related, but the man had found her close to death in a back alley and had offered her help.

He had washed the filth off Lucille’s body and dressed her in clean clothes. He had given her lots of delicious things to eat.

The man had two associates. The man who was made up as a clown performed funny skits for her every day and made her smile. The man who sold popcorn made her popcorn every day.

Lucille’s days with the gentleman were full of incredible, unbelievable happiness.

Every day of her life was filled with smiles.

Then on one such day—

“Lucille, the three of us are traveling players who roam from place to place—if you like, I’d like you to work with us as well. Will you help us?”

—the gentleman made a proposition.

Every day of her life was filled with smiles.

“Sure!”

She thought it would be a really wonderful thing if they could put smiles on other people’s faces, too. She agreed to the gentleman’s proposal, and I don’t need to tell you that she wound up going with them on their travels.

But from that day onward, her smile disappeared.

“…………”

A pitiful little girl placed in a wheelchair. No life behind her eyes, emotionless and empty, just staring into space.

Pointing at such a girl, the gentleman lamented.

“Oh, isn’t there anyone who will make this child smile? Anyone will do. Someone please make her smile! If you can make her smile for me, I’ll give you everything I own!”

Tearfully, the neatly attired man addressed the people walking down the road.

There was no way he wouldn’t stand out. And the gentleman clearly looked like someone who had a fair amount of money.

“Well then, I suppose I’ll give it a try.”

Before long, a clown performed his act. When a man dressed in a bizarre getup suddenly started doing strange things right in the middle of the street, it drew onlookers’ attention. In the end, Lucille didn’t smile, but gradually other people appeared to continue trying after him.

Then any number of performers took up the challenge to make Lucille smile. But she never did. Around dusk, the gentleman said, “Unfortunately, Lucille doesn’t seem to have smiled.” He pulled her wheelchair away, and they left the town.

They repeated this act almost every day.

The gentleman linked up with his associates in the forest outside of town. They were the first man who had performed an act on the main avenue and the man who had been selling popcorn.

“We did well again today, boys.”

They returned to their wagon, sat down around the gold they had collected just that day, and smiled.

The mournful gentleman who wanted someone to make the girl who wouldn’t smile smile, the person conveniently selling popcorn right beside him, and the clown who asserted that he was the one who could make her smile were all friends, connected behind the scenes.

It was all in the pursuit of money.

The story about the gentleman being incredibly wealthy was total nonsense. He hardly had any money at all. But as long as he had a tidy appearance, people were fooled.

After making merry all night long, the men fell asleep.

Then morning came, and another identical day began.

“Good morning, Lucille.” The gentleman put on his smart getup and served Lucille breakfast, wearing a fake smile.

The story about Lucille not smiling was also nonsense.

In truth, she didn’t need a wheelchair. In truth, she was able to smile.

The only reason she didn’t break into a smile was because she was in a situation where she couldn’t smile.

“—Come on, Lucille. Time for your medicine.”

After breakfast was over, the gentleman, with a smile on his face, handed her a small vial with a viscous blue liquid in it.

It was a magic potion.

Once she drank the potion and it began to take effect, for several hours, she lost all ability to move her body freely. Not only could she not walk on her own, she couldn’t even lift her arms.

Of course, she couldn’t smile either. For as long as the potion was in effect, she was like a mannequin that couldn’t do anything.

“…………”

Lucille silently took the potion, opened the lid of the vial herself, and drank it.

She knew that by drinking it, she would lose her freedom.

But she didn’t have any way to refuse.

“That’s it, good girl.”

Over the course of the year they had been traveling together, she had learned the painful lesson that, if she refused the potion, something even worse awaited her.

The gentleman just nodded. He looked satisfied by the behavior of the obedient girl.

“I’m certain you would have died if I had left you there in that back alley instead of picking you up.” Then the gentleman touched her hair and stroked her head. “We are the ones who gave your life value.”

The man gazed at the young girl, who continued to swallow her potion with eyes as blank and dead as a corpse’s.

Then he spoke again, saying the words like an incantation.

“Listen up, Lucille. We are good people.”

Ever since she had been taken in by the gentleman and his friends, she had repeated the same routine every day. She had scrawled a message on a piece of a bread wrapper and concealed it in her small hand so that no one would find it. She had been signaling with her eyes, hoping someone performing an act for her would notice. She had been waiting, praying for help.

But no one had noticed yet, and her despair over having nowhere to go had only intensified as she spent day after day unable to smile.

It had been the same a year earlier, half a year earlier, a month earlier, and the day before.

And that morning had started the same way, too.

“—That was a close one!”

It was evening.

As always, the gentleman left the city to meet up with his companions, who would have already gathered to count their money in the wagon.

While the men tallied up their profits, the man dressed as a clown smoked a cigarette. “It seemed like the potion’s effect wore off on the girl, didn’t it?” he asked.

“Seems that way.” That was exactly why the gentleman had put a stop to their business the moment the witch had used some strange spell. “If things had kept going like that, we might have been exposed. Thanks to that weird witch, our takings for today weren’t so good.”

“I think we’d better increase the dose of the potion, yeah?”

“But it’s pretty expensive stuff, and it’s hard to get…”

As he spoke, the gentleman looked over at Lucille, curled up in a corner of the wagon. Recently, she was always like that. Just curled up in the wagon, not even saying a word, from morning until night. He never properly saw her express any kind of emotion.

It was enough to make it seem like she never smiled, even without the potion.

“By the way, what’s up with him? Isn’t he late?”

When their work was over, the three of them had arrangements to stagger their timing in returning to their wagon parked outside the city. The man selling popcorn should have already returned to the wagon, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Maybe something had happened?

“Oh, I asked him to go buy some drinks, so I’m sure he’s just running late,” the clown answered, taking a drag on his cigarette. “Sounds like he just got back right now.”

The gentleman listened carefully and heard footsteps approaching the wagon. Trampling the underbrush, the sound of footsteps slowly drew closer.

The clown stuck his head out of the wagon.

“Hey, you’re awfully late. We were getting sick of waiting—”

But as soon as he started to say that, the figure of the man dressed as a clown disappeared without a sound.

A momentary breeze blew in, carrying smoke from the fire into the wagon.

“……Huh?”

What could have happened?

Inside the wagon, the bewildered man dressed as a gentleman took one step back. He wasn’t sure what was going on as he stared out from inside the wagon.

It was strangely quiet. It was as if no one had ever been there to begin with.

“H-hey…knock it off with the bad jokes!”

Then, after the man just barely managed to get some words out in a trembling voice—

—someone was suddenly there, peeking into the wagon from outside.

“Good evening!”

There with a cheerful greeting and a wave of the hand was the popcorn seller.

Just kidding. It was a young woman.

She wore a black pointed hat and a black robe. Her hair was the color of ashes. Her eyes were lapis blue. She had a star-shaped brooch on her breast, and the longer the man looked at her, the more certain he became that she was a witch, and none other than the strange witch whom the gentleman had seen use a strange spell that afternoon.

Well then, let’s see, who on earth could this be?

That’s right, it’s me.

The next day, adorning the first page of the local newspaper, there was an article regarding the traveling millionaire.

It had become clear that the traveling millionaire, who had been in the city for about one week and had been going around declaring that he would give everything he had to anyone who could make the girl accompanying him smile, had been running a scam to steal money from the local citizens.

People paid one gold coin each to the millionaire, and in exchange, they performed their acts in front of the girl. If she smiled, they stood to gain a fortune. The traveling millionaire gathered performers and passersby with that appealing story, but the reality was that the girl had been forced to drink a magical potion that made it so that she would definitely never smile.

Someone who had noticed the dishonesty of the traveling millionaire and his companions had captured them the previous evening and tied them up with ropes.

When a traveling witch who just happened to be passing through the area asked the criminal group for the truth, the traveling millionaire and his companions had all confessed together. It wasn’t clear exactly who had done what, but something terrible must have happened, because when the traveling millionaire and his companions were brought before the city government by the witch, she had petitioned for them to be jailed immediately, the article said.

Upon investigation, the article stated, the fraud ring had spent about a year using the little girl, who had no family, to make money. They had acquired a considerable amount of gold.

The girl who had been traveling with them was taken into government custody. Fortunately, the girl herself was uninjured, and at present, no aftereffects from the magical potion could be observed, so it had been decided that she would be placed in the care of an orphanage.

In addition, there were no reports of any damages caused by the fraud ring, and it was decided that in the event that one year passed without any claims by the rightful owners of the money, it would remain in the hands of the girl.

“…………”

By the way, the headline of this news article read something like this: VICTIMLESS FRAUD CASE.

For some reason I really didn’t understand, even though the traveling millionaire had been moaning and pushing around a girl in a wheelchair until just the day before, not a single person had claimed any damages.

It was very strange indeed.

News of the fraud ring’s arrest was being carried to the other cities where they had operated, but I assumed the result would be the same.

“Oh, Lady Witch, thank you so much for everything you’ve done.”

In a café—

I set the newspaper article I had just skimmed down on the table.

The city official sitting across from me hung his head. “If you hadn’t found their gang, Lady Witch, I fear little Lucille might have lost her life. I have nothing but gratitude for you escorting her here and placing her in our care.”

My official account was that, just by coincidence, I had happened across the fraud ring, all tied up in ropes, and had taken Lucille back to the city.

I guess the men were embarrassed that they had been so careless as to let a witch of all people cheat them out of their money… On top of that, it was kind of absurd for them to think there was any chance they might get the money back, and shame got in the way of them making any public statements, so in the end, I had decided to keep quiet about what really went down.

But even bearing that in mind, it seemed the city government regarded me as the little girl’s savior.

“Is there anything I can do for you, as thanks?” the official asked, smiling cheerfully.

VICTIMLESS FRAUD CASE boldly proclaimed the newspaper article I had just been given to read. The official’s question hung in the air.

After reading the moving story of how not a single person had attempted to claim their money back, I was being asked if I wanted any sort of reward. I was basically being asked, at that point, if I could read the room.

“Well then, can I ask for one thing?”

But I am a traveler, and to put it clearly, I had no ties to that city. By rights, there was no room for me to read.

And so—

“Actually, I am a traveler—”

I requested one form of remuneration from the official. I let my greed show through.

But I couldn’t help it, you see?

Because I am absolutely not a good person at all.

The following day—

I went sightseeing in the city.

I went strolling down the unremarkable main avenue, lined with buildings of all colors. I was holding an ice cream in my hand as I walked under the bright sun.

Displaying poor manners, I ate as I walked.

“Mm-hmm.”

I couldn’t hold the map open since one hand was taken up by my ice cream, so I was suspending the map in the air with my wand as I hunted for the right street. “Looks like there’s a theater ahead if we keep going straight,” I said, lowering my gaze to the side as I did.

Beside me, walking and eating with the same poor manners, was a young girl with reddish-orange hair.

She nodded at me and said, “Sounds fun.”

That was all she said, but she was wearing a faint smile.

I had made just one request of the city official.

“I want her to come sightseeing with me.”

That was all I’d asked for.

Because I’m a traveler, you see, and from time to time, I start longing for a companion when I’m sightseeing. Well, they wanted to reward me in some way, so in that case, I figured that having the girl fill the role of sightseeing companion was just about perfect.

As long as my time allowed, I walked around the city with her.

We went, for example, to the theater, to a café, and to a popcorn vendor who was doing honest business. I let her pick out some new clothes, and we went to a bookshop.

“What do you think, ladies? That is one of our most popular items.”

Munch, munch.

Munch, munch.

After eating the free samples, I declared, “Give us all you’ve got, right away.”

“Such a splurge…!” Beside me, Lucille’s eyes lit up.

We spent the whole day meandering around the entire city.

It was just ordinary sightseeing, and the sights we saw were so unremarkable that it’s not worth mentioning them one by one.

But I’m sure that, for her, each sight was probably just like an irreplaceable treasure. They were probably the things she had been yearning to see all along.

“Ooooooh…”

We finished off the day with a visit to the jewelry store.

Lucille was a girl, after all, and she couldn’t resist shiny things. She ooohed and aaahed as she stared hard enough to bore a hole in the many necklaces lined up in the front of the shop.

“Is there anything here that you want?”

Standing beside her, I nimbly followed her gaze.

Wearing a frown, she sounded troubled as she replied, “I have no money…”

“If you like, I could loan you some?”

Still frowning, she looked at me. “…You could?”

“Sure, I don’t mind, so long as you pay me back once you grow up and start to make your own money.”

Even though she would be coming into a great deal of money the following year, immediately setting aside that money for the repayment of a debt would make me worried about her future.

I decided to be patient and wait until she was grown before expecting repayment.

So I asked again.

“So what do you want?”

“…………”

Trembling with nerves, Lucille then pointed to one necklace.

It was a very pretty necklace with no price tag.

Oh my.

“All right then, let’s buy two of those.”

I called the shopkeeper over.

He appeared, rubbing his hands together, and I asked, “Give me two of this necklace, and… Oh, right, and three of those sapphire necklaces while you’re at it, please.”

The sapphire ones seemed like they would fetch a high price if I sold them elsewhere. So I decided to go ahead and buy them while I was getting the necklace Lucille wanted.

In the end, on that day, I purchased matching necklaces with Lucille.

After I fastened the necklace I had just bought for her around her neck, Lucille hung her head.

“…Thank you…very much.”

“Don’t mention it. Just pay me back when you’re all grown up, okay?”

“…How much was it?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer her.

After struggling with how to respond for a moment, I decided to answer honestly.

Well, they do say “nothing is as costly as a free gift,” after all.

“Far too expensive for me to pay.”

Lucille realized the witch had been lying only after she had left the orphanage, received a lot of money, and then grown into an adult, gotten a job, and managed to save some money of her own.

She finally learned the truth when she went into a jewelry shop, showed the jeweler without hesitation the necklace the witch had purchased for her when she was about ten years old, and asked, “How much is this worth?”

“I don’t even need to look at it. Lady, that’s just junk.”

The jeweler answered ruthlessly that her necklace was a cheap thing that merchants threw in as a free gift when someone bought another necklace.

At the end of the day, even though the witch had told Lucille to pay her back once she was grown up, the witch must never have meant for Lucille to give her any money from the start.

The witch was an outright, terrible liar.

When she learned that ultimately, no price could be assigned to the necklace and there had never been any debt to the witch from the start, Lucille smiled to herself.

* * *

Perhaps it was because she’d had hardships imposed upon her when she was young.

Her life since becoming an adult seemed to her to be full of happiness, beyond comparison to all that had gone before.

She got a job, met a wonderful man at her workplace, fell in love, got married, had a child, and spent her days taking care of that child while managing her household. Every day was busy, although it was the kind of daily life that could happen anywhere in the world.

But to her, an ordinary life was the thing she had desired most of all.

One day, her ten-year-old daughter asked her a question.

“Mother, why are you always smiling?”

Gently stroking her daughter’s head, she replied, “Because I am always happy and having fun.”

That was why her life was filled with too many smiles to count.