Majo no Tabitabi - Volume 3 - Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

The Wall That Travelers Inscribe

I found myself in a country divided in two. The eastern and western halves did not get along, so the people had built a wall straight down the center and agreed to have nothing more to do with each other.

Of course, the wall was still standing when I visited the east side of that country. The tidy gray barrier completely blocked off the other half. It was just as cold and imposing as the other side to which it was preventing access.

When I touched it, it was quite chilly and felt nice.

“Oh, what pain, what a pain. This thing is just the worst.” As I stood there rubbing my cheeks against the cool stone to kill time, a government official of the eastern side had come up behind me and was grumbling complaints.

With my cheek still stuck to the wall, I asked, “Just what is so irksome?”

“What are you doing there…?” The official shook his head. “Well, the truth is, you see, the relationship between the eastern and western halves of our country is pretty bad. I mean, if you ask me, every single person on the other side of that wall should just go straight to hell, but the thing is…have a look here. Don’t you think it’s a bit of a pain having this big wall running through the middle of everything?”

“Oh…? Whatever do you mean…?”

When I listened to what he had to say, it was easy enough to understand. It sounded like the eastern and the western sides of the country each hated the thought of losing out to the other more than anything.

Both this side of the wall and the other had the same drab, gray appearance, which was exactly what upset the official. He was certain his half of the country was much better than its counterpart, but there was no way to demonstrate that.

In other words, what the official wanted to say was: “Take a look at this wall. It is the greatest proof that our side surpasses our neighbors. That’s what I want to be able to boast.”

That seemed to be the situation, plain and simple. It was a pretty mild dilemma. You could say that it was a frustration typical of citizens who had built a wall that was too gray when what they actually wanted was to make everything black and white.

“From what I heard, you are a traveling witch, are you not? Don’t you have any good ideas for us?” the government official continued.

“……”

For a few moments, I pressed my cheek against the wall and hummed.

“Well, I don’t not have an idea.”

I showed him one suggestion.

As it turned out, the people on the other side of the country were exactly the same.

“Hi there. So you’re a traveling witch, huh? Have a look at this wall, won’t you? Don’t you think it’s just awful? I’ve actually got something I want to discuss with you.”

I visited the other side of the wall—that is, the western side of the country—and pressed my cheek against the wall just like I had on the eastern side.

That’s when an official of the western government, sure enough, made the same request of me that his counterpart on the eastern side had.

As before, I groaned, and after acting as if I were giving it a little thought, I presented a proposal to the official from this side as well.

“Well, I don’t not have an idea,” I said.

The government official’s eyes sparkled with joy. “Really?!”

“Yes. I don’t not have one, but there’s a condition. Mr. Official, do you have a knife?”

“Hmm? Um, I do, but…” With a skeptical look, the government official handed me the knife at his hip. “What on earth are you planning to do with it?”

“I’m going to do this.”

As I spoke, I stabbed the knife into the wall.

Scraping and scratching, I carved into the gray stone.

The official’s eyebrows knit as if to say, “What in the world is this girl doing?” as the knife in my hand inscribed a single statement into the wall.

This side of this country is really splendid. —a wandering witch

“…What is this exactly?” The official continued frowning. He was apparently a bad guesser.

“To be brief, this wall is a symbol, separating this side and that side, but at the same time, you want it to show how magnificent your side is, right? So you should get visiting travelers to carve their words onto the wall. The more carvings you have, the greater your side will seem.”

“But…I’m not the biggest fan of that method…” Not only was the western official knitting his brow, but his forehead began to wrinkle.

He went out of his way to ask me, so I showed him a good way, and this is the reaction I get?

I fought to keep myself from shrugging in exasperation. “Oh, come to think of it…” I said, acting as if I had suddenly remembered something before tossing out the magic words.

“The other side of the wall already has many inscriptions from travelers who have visited.”

From what I heard after I’d left, a new custom had started in that country of handing knives to visitors and having them carve their words onto the wall.

It’s a wonder that those people, who were ready to argue over just about everything else, would happily agree on this one matter.

Excerpt from Chapter 5 of The Adventures of Niche

When she visited that country, together with her teacher, it had not been long since she had become a witch’s apprentice.

Their trip had begun when her teacher said, as if she had suddenly remembered something, “Oh, come to think of it, they have some really good food in that country. Oh, I want to eat something tasty… Let’s head there right away.”

The girl had cocked her head, very confused by the sudden proposal, thinking, What’s she talking about all of a sudden? Though she didn’t really have any alternatives to suggest.

So the girl nodded at her teacher’s unexpected whim, and the two of them decided to visit. However, since the teacher was the one who had proposed the trip, the girl used her position as a designated accomplice and replied with, “I’ll go if the food is your treat.” She got a very nasty look in return.

After this and that, the two of them flew on their brooms over wide prairies for several days before arriving at their destination.

As the teacher had said, the cuisine there was incredibly, unbelievably good.

The teacher hadn’t said anything about it before they came, but in the center of that particular country was a large barrier, separating it into two halves.

“……”

“……”

The two of them looked up at that wall.

One of them had ash-colored hair. She was a young witch. She looked to be in her mid-teens. The other one was that witch’s pupil. She was a witch’s apprentice with beautiful, long, smooth hair that was black as night.

Now then, on to the main issue:

The girl, the apprentice.

The one whose desire to become a full-fledged witch grew stronger day by day as she studied under her teacher. Who on earth could she be?

Please answer in no more and no fewer than four letters.

…All right, time’s up. Let’s group up and compare answers.

Who was she?

That’s right, she’s—

“Fran.”

I turned around when I heard my teacher call my name.

“Yes, miss?”

“Look at this wall. Incredible, isn’t it?”

My teacher was quite excited.

“Haven’t you been here before?”

My teacher shook her head at my question, looking like she wanted to say, “Oh, you really don’t understand anything, do you,” and shrugged. “I’m telling you it’s gotten even more incredible since I came here.”

Many words, too many to count, were carved into the wall. They read This country is the best! and This is the first time in my life I’ve been to such a great country! and We’re getting married soon! and Best travel buddies forever! and so on, each message unrelated to the next. All kinds of people had carved mementos of their visits.

This wall had apparently been brand new when my teacher first visited.

“Oh, is that so?” I replied.

She continued proudly, “Do you know who started the trend of carving messages into this wall? That’s right, it was me,” she boasted, using a strange expression.

I didn’t really understand what she was saying, so I let it slide.

“But what do you mean? What’s the purpose of carving words into the wall?”

“There isn’t really a reason. The people on this side of the country wanted to compete with the people on the opposite side. They wanted to prove their side was the best. That’s why they encouraged people to leave messages on their side of the wall. And on the opposite side, they did exactly the same thing.”

“Hmm, hmm…”

So, frankly speaking, it’s a popularity contest.

I see.

But if it’s a popularity contest, that poses a slight problem.

I pulled on my teacher’s sleeve. “So which side is better?” I asked.

“Goodness, you really want to know which side is the most popular?”

“Of course I do. The more popular side is obviously going to have the better food.”

“……”

After being silent for a short while, my teacher made another nasty face. “How are you still hungry…?”

I’ll skip ahead and tell you the results. After examining both sides of the wall, it turned out that—

“They’re virtually identical.”

Similar phrases had been carved in similar numbers. We’re going to get married! changed to You’re kidding, right? Divorce is the way to go. while Best travel buddies forever! had become What a terrible joke. Just break up, already. There were a few differences, but it was more or less identical.

In other words, it was impossible to tell whether the eastern or the western half of the country was better based solely on the wall.

Well, we can probably make a distinction judging by the cuisine, I thought, so I dragged along my reluctant teacher and headed for a restaurant on the opposite side of the country, only to find that the food there was equally delicious.

With full stomachs, we stood in front of the wall once again.

“I ate too much… I can’t walk…”

While I was satisfied to have eaten so much, my teacher looked like she was going to be sick.

“But, miss, what does it mean that both sides are exactly the same?”

“……” My teacher rubbed her belly, let out a sigh, and looked at me. “Most of the people who thought that one side was great also found the other side great; that’s what it means.”

In other words, there was no difference between the two rivals. That was the only truth.

However, that was also as it should be. The country was now divided into eastern and western halves, but originally, they had been united. They had ended up splitting apart only out of a sincere desire not to be bested by their neighbors.

Both sides had developed together, just like a mirror image.

“…Why doesn’t either side realize they’re headed in the same direction as their competition?”

My teacher smiled softly. “Isn’t it obvious?” she answered. “It’s because they’ve never taken a look at the other side of the wall. Neither of them has.”

“I’ve heard it’s a wondrous place where a great gray wall towers in the center of the country.”

Following these rumors, a single witch landed her broom in front of the nation in question.

She was a traveling witch. She wore a black robe and a pointy black hat, plus a star-shaped brooch that was her proof of being a witch. She gave the impression of being in her late teens, though she looked rather young for her age.

“Wow. This is incredible!”

The girl stood in front of the enormous wall and mumbled to herself. Messages from all kinds of people who had visited were inscribed there.

By the way…

That traveling witch…

That girl, pretending to be a wandering witch…

Who on earth could she be?

That’s right, it’s…

…Just kidding! It’s me! It’s Saya!

“Oh, you’re a witch from the United Magic Association, right? What do you think of the wall?” A government official approached me. Today I had been dispatched on request from municipal officials.

“It’s incredible. You can see that a huge number of people have visited this country!”

I’m traveling as a hobby, but for work, I fix people’s problems in all sorts of locales.

Basically, the United Magic Association goes around dealing with incidents and accidents caused by magic, but we also accept commissions for issues that seem like they can be solved with magic.

For example, commissions like this.

“Madam Witch, I believe you’ve already looked over the request form, but please do something about this wall. For ten years, we have allowed visitors to inscribe messages on the wall at the suggestion of another traveling witch…but lately, perhaps because fads come and go with the passage of time, there haven’t been many visitors who want to write new messages. It seems our wall has gone out of fashion.”

I suppose he’s thinking that something that was started by a witch can be fixed by a witch?

In other words, it seems the people of this country have gotten it into their heads that they can just let traveling witches handle all their problems while they coast along, living the sweet and easy life.

They must really want this wall to remain popular if they were willing to go to the trouble of requesting a witch. Honestly, I think it’s impressive enough as is.

“How about it, Lady Witch? Don’t you have some sort of good idea?”

“Hmm…”

I stared at the wall and thought for a short while.

The barrier bore many messages from many travelers. There were all sorts of words and impressions.

Hmm? Huh? What’s this here? It says: This side of this country is really splendid. —a wandering witch.

Compared to the rest of the carvings, this looked like it had been written a long time ago, and given that it was enclosed by a gold frame, it was clearly somehow more important than the rest.

“Ah, that there is the very first message, written by the witch who came up with the idea of carving on the wall. Thanks to her, our country has flourished ever since.”

Ohh? Well, well. So an amazing witch visited this place, hmm?

Huh?

“Wait, this handwriting, something about it is…”

It was slightly different than I remembered, but I was sure I had seen it before. Specifically, several years earlier in a particular inn in a particular country. I had no doubt that the traveler who carved this line was a witch with ash-colored hair and lapis-colored eyes. It had to have been the work of my beloved Elaina—no, upon closer examination, I was picking up only a partial Elaina vibe, so it must have been Elaina’s mother or something…or don’t tell me, it couldn’t have been her daughter, right? Of course not! No way! So that means it was her mother. Elaina’s mother visited this country and was the first person to carve a message into this wall. Incredible! Amazing! It must be my fate to encounter Elaina’s mother in a place like this. Hooray! Now there’s nothing to do but get married, my sweet angel, Elaina! Amazing! It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mother, I’m Saya, your daughter has been very kind to me, by the way, you’re so amazing and beautiful, just like Elaina, but of course, Elaina is even more amazing and beautiful, but Elaina is, Elai, Elaina, Elaina, Elaina, Elaina, Elaina, Elaina, Elaina, Elaina, Elaina, Elainaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

“…Eh, heh-heh.”

“Madam Witch, are you all right? You’ve got a very manic look in your eyes.”

“Oh, I’m all right. I just went into a bit of a trance.”

“Ah, um…I see…”

I nearly lost it there.

But I was fine.

Actually, I was in perfect form.

My head had just started to spin with tremendous speed as I imagined the face of Elaina’s mother.

At that very moment, a solution to the country’s wall problem flashed into my mind.

“Mister, lend me that knife, please.”

“No good could possibly come of handing you a knife…”

“Come on, come on, it’ll be fine.”

“Hmm…”

With a reluctant look, the government official handed me his blade.

I quickly used it to carve some words into the wall.

“All right, ready? You do it like this. This is the best way.”

As I spoke, I carved the words I love Elaina, Elaina, Elaina, Elaina, Elaina, Elaina, Ela—

I didn’t get to finish, because the official ran over and grabbed me.

“What the hell are you doing?! This wall is a precious historical monument! It’s not some restroom wall waiting for your obscene graffiti!” He seemed rather angry.

I remained cheerful and deflected his anger. “What are you saying? This is super important stuff!”

“What’s important about it?! This wall is where we have visitors write all the wonderful things about this country!”

“Yes, that has been the rule, but how about changing it, starting today?”

“…What are you saying?”

He didn’t seem to understand what I was getting at.

I explained it as simply as I could.

“Starting today, you will allow anyone in the country to write whatever they please on the wall. Passionate thoughts about the person they love or hopes for the future, for example… Make it a place for people to write what’s in their heart, just as I have.”

“Why? Surely you have a reason for why we should do such a thing.”

I had thought I was dumbing it down enough, but he still didn’t seem to understand. Either that—or he was still angry, and it was making him stupid.

What a stubborn fool.

Let’s see if I can placate him with an idiot-proof explanation.

“Look, the people who live here built this wall, right? So the wall should be something that they can enjoy.”

It’s not a travelers’ wall.

I told him they should make it a wall that the people want to look at.

A lone witch visited that country.

She had ash-gray hair and lapis-colored eyes. She wore a black robe and a pointy black hat, as well as a star-shaped brooch that she displayed proudly upon her breast. She was a witch and a traveler.

She looked to be in her late teens.

By the way, the girl was quite beautiful. People often said she was pretty, and amazing, and a sweet angel.

Who was she?

That’s right. She’s me.

“……”

In The Adventures of Niche, one of the books that had the most influence on me, the protagonist visits a certain country and carves a message on a wall. There are many places around the world that are thought to be that country. For fans of the book, it’s something of a holy grail.

This was the place. The author really did visit this country and really did write on the wall. It was a place of pilgrimage, a place that anyone who called themselves a fan would visit at least once to see the writing with their own eyes and make their entreaties.

Now it was my turn to visit.

I had come with very high expectations, but—

“…It’s a bust.”

It was completely busted down.

There was no trace of a wall, nothing at all. It was just an ordinary country.

My head tilted in confusion. What’s going on? Don’t tell me I came to the wrong place.

But there was no doubt this was the place the author had visited.

This side of the country is really splendid. —a wandering witch

This side of the country is really splendid. —a wandering witch

Two identical inscriptions were standing there like a commemorative plaque. The timeworn letters were surrounded by gold frames and placed in the center of the country, where the wall must have once stood.

“Welcome! Wall for cheap!”

“Get a souvenir of your trip!”

“These are no ordinary ruins; it’s wreckage from the wall.”

“These are rare, rare, rare!”

In the central plaza, where the wall had been demolished, the citizens were walking around selling pieces of the former edifice that they had broken off into sizes small enough to hold in your hand.

They seemed more popular than I’d expected, as travelers were swarming around the many vendors.

Well, it’s just ordinary rubble, right? Though I suppose it has some value, since it was part of the wall…

I had no interest in rubble, so I hurried away from that place.

It looked like the country was no longer divided into east and west, each with its own social leaders. Now everyone gathered together.

As I was taking a short walk around town, I came upon a building under construction.

NEW TOWN HALL UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

Apparently, that’s what it was.

That’s what it says on the sign, so that’s what it must be.

“Hmm…it’s not right. The door is too far to the west.”

“What’re you saying? It’s the windows that are too far east. Gotta be.”

“What the heck are you talking about?”

“……”

Two old men dressed like government officials were staring at the building under construction, engaged in a modest dispute.

“Excuse me, are you two in charge around here?”

The two of them had an air about them like they might be the best people to tell me the whole story of the wall’s demolition, so I stood before them and asked obsequiously, in a very sweet voice. If you do that, men will tell you almost anything you want to know. Especially older men.

“Oh? I suppose you’re a traveling witch?”

“My, my, how nostalgic. It’s been ten years.”

“Oh? You know about me?”

“Didn’t you come here once a long time ago?”

“…? Mm, but you haven’t gotten any older.”

“Haven’t changed a bit.”

“Hmm? If you look closely, she looks even younger than she did the last time.”

“Sure does.”

“And if you really look close, her chest is different.”

“Sure is.”

“I think she’s a different person.”

“Too bad.”

“……”

I could feel their vulgar stares.

I quietly put a lid on the anger bubbling up in my chest and asked, “So are you two country officials? Or are you just ordinary wrinkled old geezers?”

“We most certainly are country officials.”

“Though I suppose we’re also wrinkled old geezers.”

“In that case, that’s perfect. Actually, there’s something I’d like to ask you.”

I proceeded to tell them about what I had seen in town and about my reasons for visiting.

“Mm-hmm. I see. I’d say those are some proper questions.”

“The truth is, not a lot of people visit this country anymore. Maybe it’s an important spot from that book or whatever, but that just means that anyone who does visit must be awfully disappointed.”

“Why did you demolish the wall?” I asked.

The two of them told me.

According to their account, more than a decade ago at the suggestion of a traveling witch, they had started asking travelers to carve their thoughts about the country into the wall. In recent times, however, the people who lived there had begun writing their own thoughts and feelings.

The names of whom they liked. Their hopes for the future. Stupid wishes. Things that they could never say aloud. A joke about the king’s ears. Mere wild ideas.

The people of the country wrote all that and more, without restraint. Whittling away at the wall, they did just as they pleased.

Over the years, many travelers had carved messages into the wall, but suddenly, the wall that towered over the country began running out of space. It turns out the people who lived here had a lot to say.

That was only the beginning of the country’s problems. The residents quickly grew tired of reading the same words day after day, week after week. Their own transient thoughts, permanently preserved in stone. Eventually, they were unable to bear the sight of the wall.

“Oh man, this is embarrassing.” “You’ve got to be kidding—who wrote bad stuff about me?!” “We broke up the day after we wrote about sharing an umbrella! I don’t want to see it anymore!” “Ugh…I wrote something unbelievable while I was drunk…”

Et cetera, et cetera. Complaints from residents came in one after another.

It wasn’t much of a surprise. Unlike the travelers passing through, these people lived in the shadow of the wall. They had to look at it every day of their lives.

A man away from home need feel no shame, but…

The wall became a testament to embarrassing memories. In the end, the number of complaints continued swelling daily, until eventually, the wall had to come down.

Without realizing it, the locals had let go of any resentment they held for their neighbors on the opposite side of the wall. Because they had looked up at the towering edifice and seen themselves and been embarrassed by what they had seen, they could no longer convince themselves that they were so much better than the people on the other side, as they had in the past.

We aren’t excellent at all.

Look at how foolish we are.

We have to apologize.

For the first time in a long, long time, the people of that country crossed the wall and talked to each other. They had been surprised to find that everyone from both sides was thinking the same thing, and everything proceeded smoothly, from initial discussions through to the decision to dismantle the barrier.

“In the end, this country didn’t need a wall. From the very beginning, we were all the same from top to bottom.”

“Well, I suppose we’ll start to live ordinary lives as a single, ordinary country from now on.”

That was all they had to say on the matter.

And so…

…they had destroyed the one thing bringing in tourists.

“Well, hello there, you adorable witch! How about a souvenir?”

“Let me think. All right, I’ll take one to remember it by.”

“Thank you!”

I returned to the plaza in the center of the country, and after purchasing a palm-size piece of the wall, I turned toward the gate and started walking.

The bit of rubble I had just bought had the letters Elai carved into it.

…There’s no way someone wrote my name on it, right? There’s just no way…

“……”

Awash with a feeling I couldn’t quite place, I stuck the piece of rubble into my bag.

In the end, I hadn’t been able to see what I had wanted to see. For now, the place was barely surviving as a tourist attraction by selling wall fragments, but when those ran out, the country would become an ordinary place with nothing worth remembering.

It would continue to exist on the margins of the world, just another completely ordinary locale, not considering itself to be anything amazing.

Well, that’s probably for the best, as far as the country is concerned.

A country isn’t something that exists for travelers and sightseers. There’s no need to change it just to bring in tourists or convince them that it’s a great place to visit. Rather than trying to cater to outsiders, people should probably work on making their cities a better place for themselves to live.

A country belongs to the people who live there, after all.