Majo no Tabitabi - Volume 2 - Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

For the Sake of My Hometown

Squat, sand-colored mountains stretched over the horizon.

The small cluster of trees and plants were like specks on the desolate landscape, providing the tiniest smattering of color. But the sky was engulfed in ash-gray clouds, which must have been why even the vegetation was totally immersed in shadow.

A girl flew past the barren scenery on a broom. Looking witchy as ever in her black robe, pointy hat, and a star-shaped brooch, she was, in fact, a witch and a traveler.

Her hair was the same shade as the clouds, billowing in the arid wind that scattered the sand, and her lapis-colored eyes remained focused on her destination.

But her next country was not yet in sight.

Yet something strange had caught her eye.

The young lady gazed out over the unforgiving terrain ahead. Oh, who on earth could she be?

That’s right. She’s me.

“……”

I was supposed to be heading in the direction of the corpse of a fox-like animal that looked large enough to swallow a human whole—if I remember correctly, a type of giant fox. Swarming around its carcass were the figures of several men and women.

They were standing on the back of the dead fox, shearing off its sandy fur. With saws in hand, they were hacking away its thick, heavy tail and had pried its large mouth open, trying to remove its teeth.

Paying absolutely no attention to the congealed black blood leaking out of the corpse, they were chopping the body up.

“We caught a big one today,” one said, chummy.

“This should fetch us a nice price,” another commented in high spirits.

Their faces beamed with pride.

“……”

I slowed my broom and stopped when I got close to them. For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to pass them by.

Plus, there was something I wanted to confirm.

When I dismounted, a cloud of sand whipped up around my feet for a few moments before disappearing. It was then that the people noticed me.

“…?” They stopped and turned their faces toward me all at once.

A man on top of the fox, who had been hacking away with a sword, spoke to me. “Hey. What is it? Do you have some business with us?”

I didn’t sense any hostility or distrust. That was a bit of a relief.

I took a big breath and shouted so everyone there would be able to hear me. “Um, I want you to tell me the way!”

“Ah, I see. You’re lost, huh? Did you run away from home or something?”

“I’m a traveler.”

“Oh. And you’re lost?”

“Well…”

I didn’t want to admit it, but I had no idea where I was. Though the visibility was good in this mountainous terrain, I couldn’t see my destination. On top of that, this whole desert was mostly empty, devoid of established kingdoms. After all, it would be hard to live in a place without much water.

Because of that, there was often quite a distance separating country from country in the dry zones.

I had been camping in the open air for the past several days. Occasionally, I had even lost my way and flown off to some strange places. If I could help it, I really wanted to avoid doing that again; that was my reason for interrupting them midhunt.

The man on top of the giant fox said, “Ha-ha! I see. But unfortunately, Miss Witch, we’re not familiar with this area, either. We’re foreigners ourselves.”

I could feel myself beginning to sink into despair, but the man smiled.

“However, we do know the location of the closest country. We’ll show you.”

He had a great smile, but since his face and his sword and his skin were completely plastered with blood, it was a strangely disgusting sight.

Oh dear.

The one who pointed me in the direction of the closest country was an older girl who I had seen earlier with her hands deep in the giant fox’s mouth. She was pretty, with dark-brown skin and glossy black hair.

“Let’s see. For starters, this is where we are right now, so—”

Her finger was tracing over my map that we had spread out on top of a boulder conveniently close by.

A fierce odor surrounded the girl, which must have been because she had previously had both hands in the mouth of a giant corpse. There are flies buzzing around you. Are you okay with that?

“In that case, the country closest to us is this one,” the girl said, pressing her finger to the map.

“Oh?” I urged her to continue as I resorted to breathing through my mouth.

“I don’t know how fast your broom can go, but if you go by horse, it’s about a day, maybe?”

“Hmm.”

Then I can arrive in several hours. Great!

“There are no mountains in between, so you can get there if you just head straight. Like this.” Squish, squish.

“Ah.”

“…You’ve been breathing heavily for a while now; are you all right?”

“Don’t worry about it.” I nodded. “So which way should I go from here?”

The girl looked back and forth between the map and our location several times. “Um… Ah. It’s this way. You should head this way.” She turned to me with a smile, pointing a finger into the distance.

Okay, then.

And that’s how I got back on track after getting lost.

“Thank you very much. With your help, I should be able to arrive at the next country today.”

“It’s fine, really. Giving someone directions is no trouble at all.”

Beneath the girl’s exterior—a chaotic mix of pungent smells and buzzing flies—beat the heart of a good person. Meanwhile, her companions continued their grisly work.

They stripped off the fox’s pelt, carried it away, and cut off the tail.

“What are they—? I mean, what are you all doing?”

“We’re…hunting?”

Her reaction made it seem like she really wanted to ask, “Isn’t it obvious?”

“That’s a giant fox, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Have you seen one before?”

“Never. Not a live one, at least.”

Though I’ve heard they’re ferocious enough to eat people.

“We can sell its fur and teeth for a lot of money. That’s why we’re hunting in this area.”

“Oh?”

“And then we take the money back home—and help the people in our hometown.”

“…?”

I tilted my head in confusion at this extraordinary development, and she told me the situation.

According to her, these people were travelers who had come here to try to save their hometown that had been overrun by a terrible disease.

By hunting the giant foxes and selling their fur and fangs in a large country nearby, they could earn enough to buy medicine to cure the epidemic. One by one, they hunted down the giant foxes that roamed the desert, and before long, they had become quite well-known in the surrounding lands. Now they had been tasked by the nearby countries with eliminating the giant foxes entirely.

The girl told me proudly how, in the three months since they had fled their hometown, they had saved up enough money to help their friends and families suffering back home.

She brought over a money pouch from a nearby cart and dropped it into my hand. I could feel its considerable heft.

The pouch was full of powder. This must be the medicine.

“This is the medicine,” she told me, just as I expected. “By the way, Miss Witch, as thanks for showing you the way…well, not really, but if possible, there’s something that I’d like to ask you to do while you’re traveling.”

“What’s that?” I tilted my head.

“If you happen to visit our hometown on your travels, could you please give this to the village chief? We have to keep hunting here for a little longer.”

“Is it all right for a traveler like me to bring it to him?”

“You don’t seem like a bad person.”

“…You’re very trusting.”

Well, it’s not like I would swipe it or anything. I didn’t have any use for it, after all.

Plus, I do owe her for showing me the way.

“Could you show me where your country is?”

She looked deeply moved when I asked. “Thank you! This is a huge weight off our shoulders! Let’s see; our country is—”

She lowered her eyes to the map; screwing up her face, she walked her fingers over the sheet of paper.

“Huh? It’s not on here. It should be around—” Squish, squish.

She was pointing to the edge of the map.

To a place I had visited once.

……

“I’m sorry; I’m not going that way. I’m planning to go to the country closest to here and then flying in the opposite direction, away from your hometown,” I said, feigning composure.

“Oh really…”

“I’m sorry. You went through the trouble of showing me the way, and yet…”

“You don’t need to worry about that. I’m the one who should be sorry. It was rude of me to ask.”

“……”

I returned the purse containing the medicine to the disappointed girl.

The heavy burden had been taken from my hand.

“……” After being at a loss for what to say, I finally blurted out something foolish. “I hope you all are able to return safely to your hometown.”

That was all I could think to say.

“Thank you. You’re very kind.” The girl smiled sadly.

Her expression made my heart ache.

I had been to the place she pointed out on the map once before.

It was exactly two months ago.

Before I had acquired my map of the area.

“……”

It was no accident that their home village was not recorded on the map.

Because it didn’t exist anymore.

When I had visited two months prior, the place had been full of corpses. They belonged to lots of giant foxes, lots of soldiers, and lots of citizens. Their bodies had been piled up on top of mountains of rubble. There were people who had died with their eyes open, people with their guts spilling out, whose bodies had been mauled, and clumps of matter that were no longer human-shaped. The area was rife with death.

It was such a gruesome sight, it made me want to cover my eyes.

However, there had been survivors. In the place that had once been the village, they were swarming over the remains of the giant foxes, just as the people here had been doing earlier.

I asked them what on earth had happened.

The men gathered around the giant foxes told me.

“We’re soldiers deployed from the surrounding countries. We heard that giant foxes had been appearing more frequently around these parts, so we were sent in to investigate.”

“By the time we realized what was going on, this village was already done for. As you can see, the villagers were completely annihilated.”

“It sounds like some idiots drove the giant foxes out of their home territory—they don’t really live in these kinds of climates.”

“Because of those assholes, the devastation has reached as far as our home countries. It’s just deplorable.”

“According to a merchant, there’s some gang overhunting the giant foxes. They’re probably the reason for this disaster.”

“The damage won’t stop here. Driven from their desert homes, the giant foxes are gradually devouring everything in sight. It’s only a matter of time before they attack our houses.”

Then one of the soldiers entreated me and said, “Miss Witch, if you happen to see a group hunting them over the course of your travels, would you please tell us? I won’t be satisfied until I kill those fools.”

In response to that soldier’s earnest request, I nodded.

Because at that time, I didn’t yet know about this girl and her countrymen.

Sending up a cloud of sand, I continued flying on my broom.

I kept following the path that had been so kindly shown to me. Before long, I would be able to see the next country.

The wretchedly empty terrain continued, and there were no signs that a country might be nearby, but certainly, if the place wasn’t already in ruins, there ought to be living people in that direction.

……

In the end, I hadn’t been able to fulfill either request: neither the plea of the soldiers who had been troubled by giant foxes nor the appeal of the girl and her fellows who continued to hunt dangerous creatures for the sake of their hometown. I hadn’t been able to grant either wish.

I had averted my eyes from the very sad incident—and from harsh reality.

No one was happy now; and knowing they would never be…was just too tragic.

But there was nothing I could do.

No matter how they struggled, only despair awaited them in the end.

How heartbreaking.

“…I’m sorry.”

Mumbled to no one in particular beneath an intensely clear sky, my simple offering was covered in sand and quickly forgotten.