CHAPTER 8
The Country of Truth Tellers
“…The Country of Truth Tellers?”
As I stood before the gate of a small country near the coast, I puzzled over the strange name the guard had said.
“That’s right! Our country is called the Country of Truth Tellers. As the name states, there are no liars here! And boy, does this place suck!”
“…Huh.”
“The moment a person passes through this gate and enters our territory, they lose the ability to lie. It doesn’t matter who they are—even if they’re a witch.”
Contrary to my expectations, I felt a small surge of interest.
“Exactly how does that work?”
“The magic sword in our king’s possession has some mysterious power and apparently blankets the whole country with a net of honesty. Oh dear, I suppose that sounds very fishy, but that’s how it works.”
“……”
“So, Madam Witch, what do you think? Will you enter our country?”
To that, I gave my response.
I requested a three-day, two-night stay and passed through the gate.
As I entered, the faint scent of the ocean wafted in on a cool, early summer breeze.
The seaside townscape was vibrant. The houses lined up along the road were painted blue, red, yellow, green, purple, and other bright shades. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason. But the mismatched colors worked together somehow.
The whole atmosphere in this country was nice.
“Miss Witch! Come buy our bread! It’s not that delicious, and it’s been out for a while, so it’s getting a little stale. Oh, and the bread at the very front of the store is leftover from two days ago, but we’re selling it at regular price anyway! Buy it!”
“…Um, who would intentionally buy garbage?”
An unbelievable voice had come from a stall that I passed by, and without thinking, I had made a jab at the speaker.
For some reason, what came out of my mouth was about 20 percent meaner than usual. Is it because I can’t lie?
“How could you?! Obviously, the taste and quality go down because we’ve left it out for a long time! But it’s not inedible! Buy it!”
“……”
For a moment, it seemed like the very first thing I would do after entering the Country of Truth Tellers would be to get in a fight with a random shopkeeper. But apparently everyone here was used to that sort of interaction.
“Oh, Miss Witch! You’re so cute it’s sickening! By the way, I’ve made a new perfume recently. Won’t you buy some? I don’t really want to sell it to a cute young lady like you, but I am running a business here, after all.”
“Oh, hello there. Honestly, you’re not really my type, and you’re far too young, and worst of all, your chest is way too small, but right now I’m practically starved for female attention. If you like, we could go get some tea over there—Oh, no?”
Everyone was so brutally honest, it made me want to give them a piece of my mind, like “To be perfectly blunt, are you all stupid?”
Their inappropriate comments gave the whole country a vaguely sinister air.
“Bald as ever, huh?”
“Yup, and you’re fat as always.”
“I’ve thought this for a while, but your breath reeks.”
“Yup, and your body odor makes me want to gag.”
“…Ha-ha-ha.”
“…Ha-ha-ha.”
The combative natures of people were being forcibly brought to the surface, since they were unable to conceal their true selves.
…What on earth could that king have been thinking when he made the country this way?
I wandered through the town until I eventually caught sight of the castle.
“As of today, it has been half a year since we abolished lies from our country! What do you think, everyone?! Isn’t it wonderful to have a country without dishonesty?!”
The young king was in the middle of delivering a spirited speech.
In his hand, he held an elaborately decorated sword. The thing was so gaudy that, if anyone had asked me, I wouldn’t have been able to keep myself from remarking that the king suffered from a serious case of bad taste.
The crowd before the king roared, holding up signs:
YOU’RE THE BEST, SIRE!
THANK YOU FOR OUR WONDERFUL COUNTRY WITHOUT LIES!
I GOT A GIRLFRIEND THANKS TO YOU!
LONG LIVE THE KING!
There wasn’t a single person shouting a coherent sentence. They were all just cheering and hooting in incomprehensible garbles.
The king nodded at his citizens, evidently satisfied, and pointed the sword toward the heavens.
“Lies are evil! We must hold them in contempt! I swear on this sword: Our country will continue to be a noble and righteous land with absolutely no falsehood!”
I’LL FOLLOW YOU FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!
I LOVE THE KING!
INCREDIBLE! SLEEP WITH ME!
LONG LIVE THE KING!
LONG LIVE THE KING!
“From words without lies, and from honesty without deception, come real, trusting relationships! By pitting truth against truth, let us lead this country down the path of righteousness!”
……
As I watched from a distance, filled with feelings about the strange spectacle that I hesitated to say in public, someone suddenly tapped my shoulder.
When I turned around, there stood a witch in an earthy-brown robe and pointy hat. She looked to be in her early twenties and had disheveled, mud-colored hair.
“…What is it?”
Wearing an elated expression, she silently held up a sketchbook with the words You’re the witch who was dispatched from the United Magic Association, right? written on a page.
“……?” I tilted my head in confusion. “No, I’m not.”
Oh, the United Magic Association was the organization that held the apprentice witch advancement exams, resolved any magical incidents, and researched new types of magic. To put it simply, they were a mysterious organization that wanted to have a hand in all things magic.
“You should know, members of the United Magic Association wear moon-shaped brooches on their chests.” My brooch was star-shaped and served as proof of my witchhood.
Once I had kindly explained that much, the girl seemed to realize her mistake—her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment, and she began to run her pen around the page in a panicked rush.
I’m sorry, wrong person, please forget I said anything!
She held up the sketchbook again and, after bowing several times, ran off.
What on earth was that about?
“…Hmm?”
Come to think of it, why did she write everything down on paper? Does communicating nonverbally somehow exempt you from the truth-telling rule?
Doubts arose in me as I shifted my attention between the strange witch who didn’t speak and the mob of people gathered in front of the king.
Spoiler alert: The truth-telling rule does, in fact, apply to written words as well.
For example, a sign advertising a new type of treat at a shop read TRY OUR NEWEST BAKED GOODS! and after that was appended ACTUALLY, WE JUST ADDED A NEW INGREDIENT TO SOMETHING WE HAD ALREADY BEEN SELLING. At other shops—a candy store, a café, a bookstore, and others—generally speaking, the signs were a mess.
THE MANAGER’S SPECIAL! OUR HOT NEW ITEM ON THE MENU! THEY’RE DELICIOUS! THAT’S A LIE. THEY’RE TRASH. THEY’RE CRAP. IF YOU EAT THEM, YOU’LL DIE.
A DEBUT NOVEL WEAVES A TALE OF MYSTERY! EVEN BESTSELLING AUTHORS WERE SHOCKED! (AT HOW BAD IT WAS.)
THESE NEW PRODUCTS ARE FORTY PERCENT MORE EFFECTIVE THAN THE PREVIOUS ONES! WELL, YOU’LL AT LEAST THINK THEY ARE.
And so on.
The signs at every store all had sentences that could be taken as slander—added to the end of each statement. Never at the beginning, it seemed, but always tacked on after the pitch. On top of that, every advertisement and sign had marks like it had been dirtied on purpose with parts that were forcefully erased, and there was no ignoring the fact that they were hard to read.
Feeling bored with all the uncontrolled honesty, I stepped foot in an inn that had a blurred, dirty signboard standing next to it that read SUPERCHEAP INN! CHEAP BUT EXTREMELY CLEAN!
Since this is the Country of Truth Tellers, those words on the sign can’t possibly be a lie.
“……”
However, the room that was prepared for me was far from beautiful. It was trash. It was the worst. It looked like if I spent the night there, I would die.
Is this what passes for clean to the owner of the inn…? He must have vision problems.
I holed myself up in the room, feeling disappointed by cruel reality, and took a memo pad and pen out of my bag.
“…What should I write?”
I figured I might as well push the limits on this prohibition on lying.
I held the pen to my mouth for a little while, then hit upon the idea to try to write down what had happened that day.
And so I wrote. Fretting over it, remembering as I went, I pushed the pen over paper.
Now I could see that somehow or other, whenever I tried to write a lie, my hand would move on its own and write the truth instead. I thought I would try writing some noncommittal untruths, but despite my best efforts, after I finished writing, only facts were written on the page.
For example, when I tried to write the lie “I’m actually a man,” the letters on the page would spell out the opposite, and even when I tried to make the lie come out of my mouth, I would end up saying “I’m actually a woman” instead.
Amending it afterward also had no effect. When I tried to say “The previous statement was a lie,” both out loud and in writing, what I saw and heard instead was “The previous statement was true.” This was pointless.
Even when I got a new piece of paper or devised some new roundabout way to lie, it seemed I was unable to say or write any false words.
“…Hmm.”
It was a strange sensation.
Once I had familiarized myself with the feeling, I spent a while playing around, making my body do things that didn’t follow my intentions.
“…Huh?”
I soon realized something odd.
I realized that the residents of this country, who had forcibly become truth tellers, all had an unspoken agreement to keep their mouths shut.
I strolled around town the following day as well.
As I passed through the profusely colorful cityscape, I asked questions at the food stalls, like “Is this tasty?” “Is it fresh?” and made them tell the truth. I bought tons of fresh and tasty food without any doubts, humming as I went.
Since this was a seaside town, I could hear the sound of gently crashing waves as I went about my food tour.
It was a good feeling.
I knew this town had a good vibe.
“You jerk! I’ll kill ya! You bald bastard! Yer breath stinks!”
“Shut up, fatso! That’s big talk coming from someone with your BO!”
“Die!”
“You first!”
……
The pleasant atmosphere was immediately obliterated.
I turned to look, and in the direction I was headed, I saw two men hurling insults at each other as they grappled: a fat man who was so inflated that he looked like he would pop if stuck with a pin and a bald man whose head was giving off a dazzling sheen. Incidentally, they were surrounded by a miasma of body odor and bad breath.
…Actually, those are the two men I saw yesterday.
“…Wah!”
Caught up in their struggle, the two men didn’t pay any mind to the crowd forming around them. The people just watched. No one seemed to have any desire to intervene.
I mean, I did the same thing.
“Is it okay that no one’s stopping them?”
I posed the question to a nearby man. I knew it would be better to stop them, but since I didn’t want to do it myself, the next best thing was to get someone else to do it.
However…
“Hmm? Miss Witch, could it be that you’re not from around here?”
I nodded, and the man smiled.
“Arguments like that happen on a daily basis in our country. But watching other people fight is a great way to relieve stress, so no one ever intervenes.”
“……”
“We have so much pent-up rage thanks to that idiot king of ours, so this is a good way to blow off a little steam.”
What a strange thing to say.
“Trusting relationships will be born from struggle”—I could see that there was a hopelessly deep rift between the words of the king and the experiences of his subjects.
“Okay, stop iiiiiiiiiiiittt!”
Just then, I heard a voice so loud, it made me want to cover my ears from across the road.
When I looked in the direction of the voice, next to the two grappling men stood a lone witch, gripping her wand—using magic, she had forced them to stop just before they were about to get physical.
The witch wore a black robe adorned with both star and moon brooches. She had short, glossy black hair and seemed to be a bit younger than me. She glared at the two men who had been fighting.
“Enough with this senseless squabble. It’s the middle of the day! Can’t you see you’re bothering everyone around you?”
I recognized her face, and she wore a familiar pointy hat.
“And as for the rest of you! If you’ve got time to watch, then stop the fight. Why should a nobody like me have to step in when they’re surrounded by their own countrymen?”
She was absolutely fuming, with smoke coming out of her ears and all.
“……”
Long ago, I had given a girl a hat just like mine, and now here she stood before me.
“…What are you doing here, Saya?”
I pushed my way through the crowd until I was face-to-face with her.
She also noticed me.
“Ah…Elaina…?”
Her eyes went wide with surprise, and her limp mouth swung open. Her grip on her wand faltered, and the spell that was stopping the two men fizzled out.
Suddenly released from the grip of her magic, the men regained their momentum and punched each other right in the face. They both collapsed.
“Oh, sorry.”
It was a very, very flimsy apology.
“I never thought I would meet you in a place like this, Elaina! Could this be fate? It’s fate, isn’t it? At this point, we have no choice but to get married!”
After the two men passed out, and we left them at the mercy of the crowd, we sauntered around town and spoke for the first time in ages.
“It really has been a while, hasn’t it? Have you been well?”
I pretended I hadn’t heard the last thing she said.
“Thanks to this hat, I’ve been extremely well! I made it. I became a witch.”
Saya gently stroked the pointy hat as she spoke.
The most important thing is that she’s taken a liking to it.
“What witch name did you take?”
“I’m the Charcoal Witch.”
“Huh… That’s pretty similar to mine…”
I’m the Ashen Witch. It’s almost exactly the same.
“I asked my teacher to choose a word that felt close to ashen.”
She puffed out her chest as she spoke. When she did, the two brooches on her chest bumped into each other and made a ringing sound.
There they were: the star-shaped brooch and the moon-shaped brooch.
“You joined the United Magic Association?”
She nodded. “I did. I thought it would be the easiest way to earn money while I traveled.”
When a person joins the United Magic Association, they are provided with a moon-shaped brooch and are eligible to receive commissions from any Association branches they visit. It seemed she was able to earn a stable living that way.
I see. In other words…
“You’re here on business?”
“That’s right. That’s why I would be grateful if you would tell me a little about this place. I don’t really know anything about this country.”
“You accepted a commission and entered the country without knowing much about it…?”
I’m sorry. Are you an idiot?
“Well, it’s just that, right now, I’m low on funds because of some expensive purchases… I took this commission blindly because it promised a hefty reward. That’s why I’m here.”
“……” I let out a sigh at Saya’s carelessness and lack of foresight. “What would you have done if that reward had been a lie?”
“But this is the Country of Truth Tellers, right? They shouldn’t be able to lie.”
“That doesn’t seem to be the case.”
“What do you mean?”
“Saya, do you have a piece of scrap paper?”
“I do, but…”
“Let me borrow it, please.”
“…?” Tilting her head in confusion, she pulled a single sheet of paper from her pocket and held it out to me. “Okay, here you go!”
The thick paper was covered in neat, closely packed writing. By all appearances, she had handed me the formal request that the country had issued in sending for a witch.
“…It should be obvious that I can’t scribble on this.”
Incidentally, the request Saya received was as follows:
Dear United Magic Association,
I would like to extend a request. Currently, due to the power granted to our king by a magical sword, no one in our country is able to tell a lie. Telling the truth is not inherently bad; however, it is a tremendous inconvenience to us citizens. Can you please send a representative to our country to help us solve this problem once and for all? We will pay a reward in accordance with the following—
Sitting next to me as I took a long, hard look at the request form, Saya puffed up her cheeks.
“It’s nice that the reward for this commission is high, but it doesn’t have the client’s name or address or anything else written on it. So I have to start by searching for the sender. Basically, I can’t get any information from that letter. What I’m saying is that that paper may look important, but the truth is I don’t need it. Do whatever you want with it. Eat it for all I care.”
“I think you’re mistaking me for a goat, Saya.”
As Saya fumed, I sighed and took another look at the paper in my hand.
Somehow, I had the feeling I had seen it somewhere before. The thick paper looked just like the paper used in a sketchbook, and the beautiful handwriting looked familiar as well.
……
Oh.
“I think I might know who sent this request.”
“Ah! Really?!”
“Do you know what country we’re in right now?” I said as I returned the thick paper to her hand.
We went back to the palace. In contrast to the previous day, there was nothing you could call a crowd, just people coming and going through the square.
“……”
“……”
In no time at all, we found the witch we were looking for.
She was running around in a panic, thrusting her sketchbook at various people passing by. On it was written Is there anyone here who knows about the witch dispatched from the United Magic Association? She’s wearing a moon-shaped brooch.
It was extremely suspicious behavior. She stuck out like a sore thumb.
“Hey! You again! You can’t hang around in this area after being banned from the palace, you incompetent witch!”
Eek! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!
She was chased off by a soldier.
“…That weirdo?” asked Saya.
“That weirdo.”
I nodded at Saya, who looked doubtful.
Then we chased after the runaway witch.
What a terrible experience…
The witch who had been running around was now huddled up in the back of an alleyway, clutching her sketchbook. She was crying.
I stuck my face out from the alleyway to check the road and confirmed that the soldier was nowhere nearby.
“Hello there. Haven’t seen you since yesterday.”
She was surprised.
You’re the witch from yesterday! What’s up?
“If I remember correctly, you’re searching for the witch who was dispatched from the United Magic Association, right?”
Ah, yes, but…
“Allow me to introduce you. This is my friend Saya. Apparently, she’s the one who the United Magic Association sent.”
I put a hand on Saya’s shoulder and pointed to her chest with my other hand as I spoke.
“Ah, hi there!” Saya chirped very casually.
The girl was surprised again.
That brooch! So you’re the witch I’m looking for! I see… I am the Quicksand Witch, Eihemia. I’m the one who sent the request to the United Magic Association.
Saya took out the thick piece of paper. “Is this your form?”
Nodding several times, Eihemia turned over a new page in her sketchbook, and after holding up the word YES, she turned the page again and wrote on the new page: Sorry. I was in a hurry. I carelessly forgot to write my name or a place to meet. Oopsie, she explained.
It seemed she had prepared some simple answers in advance.
And so—
“Um, you can’t talk?”
YES.
“Why?”
Out of the mouth comes evil.
“Would you be serious, please?”
…There’s some backstory to it, she wrote. But it is deeply connected to the current state of the country. Since you’ve taken the commission, please allow me to tell you my story.
“Hmm.”
“Ah, wait a minute, please; I’ll take notes.”
I nodded, and Saya got a pen and paper ready. She certainly looked like an overly attentive new hire, trying to leave a good impression on her first day.
And then, after Eihemia had looked the two of us over, she began to write.
The truth is, I was the one who crafted the king’s sword.
For some reason, she looked a bit proud.
It all happened a little over half a year ago.
Eihemia, who was working in the palace at the time, received a request from the king.
“Rid this country of liars. I only want honest people around me.”
She had listened to the situation. Apparently, the king believed all his retainers were lying to him. He could no longer bear this treachery, so he decided he had to eliminate all liars.
Eihemia respected the king deeply—and might have even harbored an unrequited love for him—so she immediately accepted the task and brainstormed ways to bring the lying to an end.
Then she had a flash of inspiration.
“That’s it! I can set up a barrier that will prevent people from lying as long as they’re within its boundaries!”
But creating this barrier would require a ton of magical energy. And so Eihemia sacrificed her own voice, greatly empowering the spell. However, it still wasn’t enough. With no other option, she resorted to pouring every last bit of her magical energy into the spell.
As a result, she lost the ability to use magic entirely and her voice, but she completed the sword.
You might ask why she had decided to sacrifice her voice. I asked her in the middle of her story, and she blushed and wrote Because I was worried that if I lost the ability to lie, I might accidentally confess my feelings to the king…
She was that shy.
Afterward, she had taken the finished sword to the king immediately.
My king. If you grip this sword with your dominant hand, the whole country will immediately lose the ability to lie. If you let go, or hold it in your nondominant hand, the effect will vanish. Please accept it.
This way, the king would always have to carry around her gift. She was quite the schemer.
“…Why does it have to be my dominant hand?”
The spell is stronger this way.
That had been a lie. The truth was that Eihemia hoped to remain by the king’s side, helping him whenever he had trouble because he couldn’t use his dominant hand.
“Hmm… By the way, why can’t you speak?” The king thought it was strange. She revealed everything about the situation to him, and he lamented, “You went that far to obey my orders… If everyone was as devoted as you, I wouldn’t have had to resort to this kind of action…”
Your kind words are wasted on me.
Then the king took the sword in his dominant hand and said, “But wow, what’s with this tacky sword? You sure have bad taste. I guess I’m stuck carrying this piece of junk around, huh?”
…Huh?
“…Oops.”
That day ended on a somewhat awkward note, after the king accidentally spilled what he really thought.
The following day, the king used the sword to bring sweeping reform to the entire country. First, he banished retainers who refused his orders. Next, he used military might against the citizens who complained about being unable to lie.
Thus, the Country of Truth Tellers—or rather, the Country of Hostage Loyalists—was founded.
And now the only people left were those who agreed with the king, no matter what.
By the way, after losing her magic, Eihemia was deemed incompetent and expelled from the palace.
I had no value to him other than my magic powers…, Eihemia wrote, finishing her story.
I had never heard anything so absurd.
“Of course your magic was all he cared about. You were employed as a witch.”
I thought I would still be able to stay by his side, even after I lost my magic.
Indifferent to Eihemia’s suffering, Saya added, “But knowing you’re the reason someone gave up their voice and used up all their magic just to follow your orders is a lot of emotional baggage, isn’t it? Didn’t you consider that the king might feel uncomfortable?”
Those are choice words coming from someone who talked about fate and marriage the moment we were reunited!
Ignoring my exasperation, Saya stared at the request form.
“The request you submitted was for me to return this country to normal, right, Eihemia? What’s the best way to go about doing that?”
Take the sword out of the king’s hand.
“I see.” Saya nodded.
“What would happen if we destroyed the sword?” I asked.
The magic energy that I poured into the sword would dissipate, and both my voice and my powers would be restored.
“Oh-ho.”
“In that case, the easiest way would be to destroy the sword while the king is making a speech like he did yesterday, right?”
The next speech is in one month.
“Elaina, the two of us could share a room for a month—”
“Let’s come up with another plan, shall we?”
To steal the king’s sword, you can’t go wrong by entering the palace.
“…But won’t it be difficult to get in if we can’t lie? If anyone asks us what we’re doing there, our cover will be blown,” argued Saya.
True.
“This is the Country of Truth Tellers, right? So it must be impossible to lie your way in.” I continued, “But if we use that thing Eihemia is holding, we can make it work somehow. The magic here prevents lying, but there’s more than one way to deceive a person.”
Even if we couldn’t lie out loud, we could get by with writing.
Eihemia nodded and held up her sketchbook with the word YES written on it. She seemed to realize the loophole in her spell—the fact of the tacit understanding already established here. She may have even arranged it that way on purpose.
“…? What are you talking about, Elaina?”
Allow me to explain.
I borrowed the sketchbook from Eihemia.
“Ready? We can do it like this—”
And then I wrote out our strategy for her.
……
Before I knew it, I was lending a hand with Saya’s operation, but I didn’t want to touch on that until the very end. After all, in a country where you couldn’t lie, it would be impossible to hide your embarrassment.
“Pardon me. What is your business here? You can’t go any farther in without prior approval from the king.” As we had expected, a guard stopped us at the entrance to the palace. Then the guard noticed that Eihemia was with us. “Ah! You! What are you doing here?! You’ve been banned!”
Eek! I’m sorry! Sorry!
“Hey, now.” I grabbed Eihemia—who had turned tail and prepared to flee—by the scruff of the neck and pushed Saya forward with a slap on the back. “Saya, hurry up and explain the situation, please.”
Standing in front of the guard, Saya confidently held up a single sheet of paper.
“Ahem. Mr. Guard, do you understand what is on this piece of paper?”
On that slightly dirty paper was the following:
I repeal the banishment of the Quicksand Witch, Eihemia. I grant permission for her, along with the Ashen Witch, Elaina, and the Charcoal Witch, Saya, to enter the castle.
It was written quite clearly and even included the king’s signature.
“It says your banishment was revoked…? This is suspicious. Is this real?”
Playing hardball, huh?
“What are you saying? Isn’t this the Country of Truth Tellers? It couldn’t possibly be false, could it? Or are you saying the king is lying to us?”
“…Hmm, that is a good point.”
“Well, step aside, please.”
“……” The guard begrudgingly stepped aside, allowing us to boldly pass through the gate.
Phony letter in hand.
In this country, no one could tell a lie. Verbally. However, the situation was different in writing. Letters were different than words, as they could be erased. If one was to erase a letter after writing it properly in the first place, one could very easily craft a lie.
Since revisions didn’t work for whole words, it was impossible to write a lie, no matter what you tried. But if you only edited the letters… Well, there were a number of ways to tamper with them.
The previous day, when I was testing the limits of the spell in my hotel room, I had realized this fact. The ragged signboards everywhere in this country seemed to have been made in the same way. I understood why I had gotten a dirty room at a place that advertised its cleanliness. The people of this country had realized they could lie in writing and were keeping quiet about it.
“Yay! That went really well, didn’t it? Just as I expected of one of Elaina’s ideas.”
“Thanks for saying so.”
As we walked through the castle, Saya stared at the letter I had forged. By the way, I had copied the king’s signature. After properly writing that This is an imitation of the king’s signature, I had erased everything except for his name, completing the forgery.
No doubt about it! The pen is mightier than the sword!
There was someone next to me writing strange things and wearing a triumphant expression, but I pretended not to see.
“And, Eihemia? Where should we go from here?” Saya asked.
Probably the throne room? The king is always there, killing time.
“Oh-ho. So where is the throne room?”
Pretty far from here.
“Got it. All right, you two, follow me, please! I’ll protect you.”
“You’re awfully enthusiastic, Saya.”
Welp, I can’t fight anyway, so I’ll hide in the back.
“All right, leave it to me. In my capable hands, it’ll only take a second to get the sword away from the king.”
Where is all this confidence coming from?
“Do you have some sort of plan?”
“First, I’ll go right through the main door. Then I just have to say ‘Hello, I am a witch from the United Magic Association, and right now we’re conducting research on magical artifacts. If you don’t mind, would you please let me see that amazing sword?’ And then the king should hand it over, right? I mean, it’s a perfect plan, hee-hee-hee!”
“It’s obviously full of holes.”
There’s no way he would part with my sword for such a stupid reason!
We have two witches, so one could distract the king while the other steals the sword. That would be a more reliable method, I think. Well, we could do that even without two of us, though.
Anyway, we’d better touch base before we confront the king—I thought as we progressed through the middle of the palace.
“What’s with all the noise?”
The king emerged from a door directly ahead of us.
But why? Isn’t it supposed to be a ways off? I turned around with a virtual question mark hovering over my head.
Sorry. The throne room is here. It was actually quite close.
Eihemia had written these words.
It was a very flimsy apology. In every sense.
“There’s no way around it, now that we’ve been discovered. Your highness, please let go of that sword right now.”
I realized it would be impossible to proceed safely, so I quickly pulled out my wand, pointed it at the king, and stepped forward, pushing him back into the throne room.
However, as he retreated, the king shouted “Intruderrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs!” and summoned his guardsmen.
A huge crowd of soldiers came thundering down the hall, shouting things like:
“What was that?”
“That was the king’s voice!”
“Is something wrong?”
They surged through the open doors, and in an instant, our path of retreat had been cut off.
Mm-hmm.
“Saya. I’ll deal with the king. You do something about the soldiers, please.”
“Leave it to me!” Saya readied her wand.
As for Eihemia, she shrank into my side and held up the words I am a noncombatant.
She was totally unwilling to participate.
Well, I guess that’s better than getting in the way.
“Your highness. Hand me the sword, please.” Slowly and steadily, I closed the distance to the king.
“Eh, shut up! Be quiet! Eihemia…what the hell are you doing?!”
My king. That sword is dangerous. I should know. I made it. Eihemia was holding up her sketchbook behind me. So please give it back.
“What are you saying?! This sword is the best weapon I have to lead this country. As long as I have this, I can guide the country in the right direction.”
And then the king said, “Even if villains come after my sword, I can deal with them myself—like this!” He swung the sword in a horizontal slash.
A burst of magical energy flashed from the blade. The bluish-white light formed a crescent-moon shape and flew toward us with the force of his swing.
“Oof.” I dodged it no problem.
It hit Saya.
“Owwwwwwwwwwww!”
The sound of her shrieking filled the hall.
“Oh, sorry.”
“Wahhh… How awful…”
It sure would’ve been nice to know that sword can use magic…
Watch out. That sword can release accumulated magical energy when he swings it. It will really hurt if it hits you.
And why are you telling me this now?
“Tch… So my ordinary methods won’t work against witches—in that case, how about this?! Take that!”
Over and over, the king swung the sword, firing blasts of magical energy. I knocked down every attack so they wouldn’t hit Saya.
Behind me, I could hear signs that Saya was watching, in her half-desperate cries of “Hyah!” and “Damn you!”
“Your Highness, do you think this country has improved since you banned all lying?”
“Of course! All the citizens of my country are happy, aren’t they?”
“Isn’t that because the only people left are the ones who admire your country, while the others have all been chased out?”
“Same difference. We had to eliminate any rebels or traitors.”
“That’s true—on that point, we agree. But there’s a possibility that not everyone really admires what you’re doing.”
“…What did you say?”
As the king furrowed his brow, I thought back to all the signs I had seen in this country—and to the men who had been fighting in the street.
“This place is the Country of Truth Tellers, right? Here, lots of people openly admit their feelings and speak their real opinions, for better or worse. However, there is a downside to all this honesty.
“If you go out of your way to say something that doesn’t need to be said, it’s probably not just because you want the other person to improve their ways. More often than not, it’s stress and frustration taking over.
“It’s the same thing if you write something that doesn’t really need to be written. Not to mention the fact that some other person might then come along and make harmful additions to what you wrote.
“Your citizens may cheer for your speeches, but they keep their mouths shut the rest of the time to hide their true feelings.
“It turns out honesty isn’t always the best policy. And so, in this country where lies—”
“Elaina! Sorry to interrupt, but we’re out of time! There are too many enemies! I can’t deal with them all! It feels like my brain is boiling! Nooooo!”
Do your best, Miss Witch from the United Magic Association.
“Heeeeelp meeee!”
I’m sorry. I’m just an observer.
……
“It seems we’re out of time, so let’s wrap this up, shall we?”
But the king snorted at my proposal.
“Wrap this up? You fool. It’s taking everything you’ve got just to defend against my attacks!”
“…No, sorry. I already finished my preparations for taking your sword long ago.”
“Hmph. You’re bluffing.”
“Look behind you and tell me if you still think so.”
“…What?”
Without letting his guard down, the king peeked behind his back, then hesitated.
Behind him, my broom was floating there.
“Wha—? When did that—?”
Cutting the king off, I recalled the broom. At full throttle.
Whoosh! The broom charged at the king’s back. Letting out a low groan, the king flew toward me.
In that moment, the magic sword fell from his grasp.
“Hyah.”
I conjured up a lump of solid iron and sent it flying at the falling sword. Boom! With a heavy crash, the iron broke the sword in two, then cratered the floor.
With a pleasant snap, magical energy shot out of the sword all at once, and the bluish-white light returned to Eihemia. The shimmering beads of magical energy looked like stars in the night sky.
I marveled at the beautiful spectacle for a moment.
“People with ill will can do evil deeds without lying, and there’s no guarantee that all the people left in this country are good people.”
“……”
“Plus, not everyone who lies is a bad person.”
If the sword was truth, then lies were the scabbard. To keep it from swinging around indiscriminately and injuring people, lies held the truth in check. That was one way of thinking about it.
“……”
The king slowly dropped to his knees. He stared motionlessly at the floor, either deep in thought or simply upset. And then, after several very long seconds had passed…
“So what’re you saying…?! That I’m… That I was wrong…?” he mumbled at someone.
“No, you weren’t wrong.”
Replying to the king was a voice I hadn’t heard before, but I knew right away who was speaking.
It was Eihemia. She had regained her voice.
“My king—it’s just, you’re a little too honest about your own feelings. From now on, how about you take a breather and use every trick in the book, including lying—and holding your tongue when something doesn’t need to be said?” Eihemia spoke, smiling gently.
I couldn’t tell whether she spoke the truth or lied for the sake of the king.
It was no longer possible to tell which was which.
Here’s what happened after that.
The king appeared before his people and apologized for the six-month period that banned all lies. He told them with sincerity that he was sorry for everything he had done and begged for their forgiveness.
As for how the citizens reacted, they were surprisingly indifferent. They didn’t revolt or anything—didn’t even jeer at him. They just accepted his apology dispassionately, and when he was finished talking, a smattering of applause rose from the crowd gathered before the palace.
It was clear that the king had not yet won back their trust.
Eihemia, who had regained her voice and ability to use magic, was reinstated as the official palace witch.
“I’m going to be busy from now on!” she said rather enthusiastically. Her eyes twinkled as she stood next to her king, who was eager to put an end to the whole affair.
It seemed like it would take some time before the country was back to normal—before the various tasks of the king had been completed.
“Elaina, I’d like to talk to you about the payment for this job.” Saya grabbed my sleeve as we passed through the gate and left the country.
“What is it?”
“I got your help with this job, didn’t I? So I was thinking… I should probably pay you.”
“Eh, that’s okay. I don’t really need any payment.”
“You can’t say that.” Saya frowned. “According to the rules, I must split my reward with any mages that help me. I have to repay you somehow.”
“If you always stick to the book, you’ll never learn to act off script.”
Besides, it’s not like I did it for the money. I can’t say that, though.
“But please, let me do something to thank you!”
“…No, it’s really fine.”
She was begging me to let her show her appreciation, but I just kept shooting her down.
It felt strange.
“Well, how about this? I’ll give you something nice, as thanks for giving me this great hat!”
She clapped her hands, fished around in the bag she was holding, and pulled out something small.
In her hand were two necklaces.
She held on to one and held the second out to me.
“…What is this?” I asked as I took it.
Saya snorted. “Hmm-hmm. What is this, you ask? This is something I bought using all the money I had on hand, for when I next met you, Elaina. Actually, the reason I ran out of money is because I spent it all on these. Because of that, I took this commission, and I was able to meet you here. It must be fate!”
“Oof, that’s a lot to bear.”
I thought it was weighty enough to rival Eihemia’s backstory. It seemed likely that she had talked me into letting her give me a token of her appreciation just so she could present me with this necklace. That little rascal.
“Treasure that necklace as if it were my heart.”
“……”
I don’t really want something like this, though…
What if I think of you every time I look at your gift? And what if it makes me miss you?
That’d be a pretty bad habit for a traveler to develop.
……
After staring at the necklace in silence, and at Saya for several seconds, I finally said, “Thank you very much. I’ll take good care of it.”
Well, whatever.
I guess it can’t hurt to go with the flow every once in a while.
“Well then, this is where we part ways—I’m heading for the branch office of the United Magic Association, and I suppose you’ll be getting back to your travels, Elaina?”
“Yes,” I said as I put on the necklace. “This is good-bye, Saya.”
“…Well, let’s meet again sometime, somewhere.”
“If we meet, then we meet. If not, this is it.”
“I won’t let this be the end.” She stuck out her pinkie and thrust it toward me.
“…What are you doing?”
“This is a good luck charm for promises, from my hometown! Hook your little finger onto mine, please.”
“……”
How on earth is hooking our pinkies together supposed to bring us good luck?
I latched my pinkie onto hers.
“Elaina. I promise. I will definitely see you again someday. And by then, I will have become an even more impressive witch,” Saya said, grinning.
So I replied, “I’ll travel as I wait patiently.”
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