Majo no Tabitabi - Volume 2 - Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

The Inheritance

One day, when I was sightseeing in a certain city, a very strange man approached me.

“Hey! Yer a witch, right? Annat means ya can ride on brooms?”

What a silly question.

“Yes, I am a witch and a traveler, which means I can obviously ride a broom.”

If I couldn’t ride one, I wouldn’t be much of a traveler.

The man nodded in satisfaction. “That’s perfect! Hey, hey, I wanna ask ya somethin’,” he said forcefully. He pulled out a map and kept talking. “I want’cha to take me to this area on the map! There’s somethin’ I gotta do there.”

“Huh?”

The place the man was pointing to looked like an ordinary forest to me.

You have business in a place like that? Just what are you planning to do? Not that I care either way.

I answered, “I don’t really mind taking you there, but…it’s going to cost you.”

“Ya don’t need to worry about that! I’ll pay up, so rest easy!”

“Then it’s fine.”

“That’s great—Oh, but I’m gonna hafta pay you after we get there. That okay? Heh-heh.”

“Or…you can pay up front.”

Somehow, I don’t think I can trust you. I get the sense that you might run off after I get you there. I can almost see you want to rip me off. It’s practically bubbling out of you. The way you’re speaking and acting is a dead giveaway.

“Hey, wait! Don’t be in such a rush! If ya get me there safely, I’ll pay up. I’m headin’ over there to get the money, see?”

“Oh. And it’s in the middle of a forest, is it…? Are you going to dig up buried treasure or something?” I asked sarcastically.

But the man nodded enthusiastically at my words.

“Exactly! My inheritance is buried in this spot!”

Okay, I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting that.

Looking back and forth between the map and road, I advanced toward the center of the forest.

A cord was tied to the handle of my broom, and the man was riding on a sled attached to the end of cord. I flew toward the spot he had indicated as the hiding place for the buried treasure.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaahhh!”

There was some screaming coming from behind me as I plowed through the forest, but I didn’t pay it any mind. An hour had passed since we had headed out on the broom. Right after he had gotten on, the man had complained, “What’s with the sled? Lemme ride behind ya on the broom,” but I had replied ever so kindly, “If you even think about trying to ride behind me, I’ll leave you right here and be on my way.”

But as time passed, it became clear that even bringing him along was a pain. Unfortunately, it turned out that the man loved to chat. From his spot on the sled, he went on and on about his many feats of heroism. According to him:

He was the son of a legendary gambler and made a decent living as a gambler himself. Following in his dead dad’s footsteps, he had been making easy money up until a few years ago.

But recently, his luck had run out, and his fortune had dwindled.

“When I win, I’ll pay you back.”

“I promise I’ll pay you back.”

His debts to his friends had piled up, and he continued to gamble, but as if the universe was mocking the flustered man, both his luck and his money had evaporated like morning dew.

To make matters worse, he had used up every bit of goodwill with his friends and acquaintances, and his father’s friends ended up whispering behind his back, “A cursed child was born of a blessed parent.”

However, not long ago, as he was worrying about dying broke and in debt, the man happened to find a map in his family home, showing where his father’s buried treasure was hidden.

“Well now, looks like the gods haven’t abandoned me after all!”

He danced with joy.

Then the man found me, a traveler, and decided to make me his guide.

Oh, this must excite the gambler in him.

I didn’t really get it, but that seemed to be the gist of his situation.

“This’ll show those jerks who treated me like a fool! I’ll prove to ’em that the old saying that ‘the apple never falls far from the tree’ is true!”

But that’s an insult that the child will inherit bad characteristics of their parents, no matter how hard they try… Well, whatever. I let it slide.

After that, he just kept telling me about his life up to this point, regardless of whether I wanted to hear it or not. He spoke about his highest earnings in a single day, his passionate affairs with a beautiful girl, and all kinds of other stories.

At first, I politely kept up with the conversation, but it became more and more annoying the longer he went on.

So I may have decided to start flying less carefully.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaahhh!”

Ah, that’s better.

And so we arrived at our destination.

“Bleeeeeehhh.”

The man leaned against the thick trunk of a nearby tree and let out a long stream of vomit.

Gross.

“Are you all right?”

“Never better! This ain’t a big deal compared to finding my old man’s inheritance!”

“By the way, where is this inheritance?”

“Um…” He wiped his mouth and looked at the map. “Here, maybe? Oh, no… Well, here? No, that’s not it. Um…”

He held the map in his hands and turned it around and around.

Aren’t you going to throw up again if you keep doing that?

Indifferent to my apprehension, he kept turning it, and then—

“Oh. It’s this tree. I’m pretty sure my inheritance is buried under this tree.”

He pointed to a thick tree.

“……”

“……”

It was right where he had thrown up.

“…Well, that’s unfortunate.”

“…Ah, nah, that don’t bother me none…”

My job was finished, so I obviously didn’t lift a finger to help him dig. That would have been a pain. Staring vacantly at his back as he used a shovel to dig up the soil around the tree’s roots, I was just waiting for time to pass.

“Buried treasure…! Buried treasure…! Buried treasure…!”

He looked just like a robber.

The dirt made a crunching noise with every strike of the shovel, and by the time the shovel rang out with a sharp, metallic clang, a mountain of loose earth had formed next to him.

I stood up at the sound, and he turned around and gave me a thumbs-up.

“I found it! Hey, look here! The buried treasure!”

He held the shovel up and tossed it my way. A tin chest rolled over the ground.

“Oh-ho, is it inside the case?” I asked.

“Yahoo! Let’s open it!”

I nodded, and he opened the chest.

He peered in at the contents.

“Heh-heh-heh… With this, I can make my comeback as a rich man… Huh?”

In an instant, his smile turned upside down, and the color drained from his face.

“…? What’s inside?”

From where I stood, I eyed the contents.

The case did not contain a single coin.

Instead, it was packed full of slips of paper.

Papers from friends, relatives, inns, liquor stores, meat shops, and greengrocers. They detailed every bit of money his father had borrowed, including the deadlines for repayment, and even the names of guarantors, all meticulously recorded. The case was stuffed full of them, as well as a brief memo.

Dear son, take care of these for me, will ya? —Dad

“Of all the…unbelievable…! This can’t be happening…! Old maaaaaaaan!”

Then he ripped every piece of paper out of the case and tossed it aside. Invoice after invoice went fluttering away on the breeze.

Among them was a single letter. He seemed to throw it away without noticing.

The letter read:

Sorry. The “buried treasure” thing was a lie. I was never actually some legendary gambler. Sure, things were going well at first, but eventually I stopped winning. I’m just a terrible father who fell deep into debt. Please find it in your heart to forgive your no-good dad somehow. And while you’re at it, it’d be great if you could settle my debts. I’ve explained everything to the lenders. They should be waiting for you to get the money together. I’m counting on you.

It really was an incredible setup. The father had been such a scumbag that it was almost refreshingly honest.

“Old maaaaaaaan!!”

As I looked at the man with pity, I could think only one thing:

I guess the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree.