Majo no Tabitabi - Volume 6 - Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

The Cursed Servant

Two neighboring cities were separated by a forest. The people called it the Wandering Wood, and they loathed it.

Unless they had a very good reason, the people refused to enter the forest, and even the trade routes that joined the two cities circled all the way around to avoid it. Of course, the fastest way to get from one city to another was to cut through the Wandering Wood, and unfortunately, sometimes extraordinary circumstances gave someone enough reason to enter that dreaded forest.

The Wandering Wood.

A treacherous forest that one did not enter without reason.

In the middle of that forest was a lone witch.

She wore a black robe and triangular hat. She was a witch and also a traveler.

She surveyed the forest with her lapis-colored eyes as her ashen hair fluttered in the breeze. Not much light made it down from the sky through the thick canopy of leaves, and moss grew on the trunks of the trees that she passed. Whenever she took a step forward, the ground would yield softly underfoot, and she would grimace at the sensation.

By the way…

Before she entered the forest, a soldier from a nearby city had tried to warn the witch.

“Huh? A shortcut?” he had said. “Don’t even think about it! You’re sure to get lost!’

But the witch had brushed off his warning with baffling confidence. “I’ll be fine,” she had insisted. “I’m telling you, I’ve encountered this sort of thing many times before.”

That witch, who ultimately ended up exactly as the soldier had said she would… Who could she be?

That’s right, it’s me.

And I’m lost.

“I can’t do this anymore!”

It had been nearly an hour since I first started walking through the forest, and I was convinced that I had been going in circles the whole time.

I walked and I walked, but I never reached the edge of the forest.

Just how much farther do I have to go? Am I even making any progress? Am I really just going around and around in the same spot?

I continued walking past the monotonous scenery, clearly making zero progress. Before long, exhaustion, boredom, and loneliness began to overtake me. I was utterly fed up with this stupid forest.

And then, at last, the landscape showed me something different.

“……”

Farther ahead, I saw a girl, facing away from me. Her hair was dark blue, almost black. It fell smoothly just past her shoulders. She wore a black dress, darker than her hair. Her long skirt didn’t have a speck of mud on it. It was immaculate.

She was holding a basket in one hand as she hunched over to collect things to put inside it. She looked like she was out gathering edible wild plants in the local wood. The girl hummed cheerfully as she worked, and her carefree demeanor seemed out of place in the spooky forest.

I wonder if she lives here in the forest.

“Umm…”

Without giving it much thought, I called out to her.

Immediately after I did—

“Hyaaah!” She looked at me with a very, very surprised expression, and in her panic, she lost her footing. “Ah, ahhh, ahhh…!” The girl lost hold of her basket and it flipped over, dumping a huge pile of mushrooms right on her head.

I see, it seems she was gathering mushrooms. Eww, mushrooms…

“Wh-who goes there?!”

“Um, I’m a traveler… My name is Elaina.” I extended a hand to the girl. “Are you all right?”

She looked at my hand, looked at my face, finally realized that she was in an unseemly state, then after panicking again and frantically stuffing the mushrooms back into her basket, she took my hand.

“Thank you very much…”

She gripped my hand tightly and stood. I only realized now that we were standing a bit closer that she was a little taller than I.

“Ah. My name is Eustia. What did you come here for, Elaina?”

“……” I averted my gaze. “Actually, I’m just taking a shortcut from one city to another.”

“Ah. So you’re lost?” Eustia clapped her hands.

“…No, no. You’ve got it all wrong, I’m definitely not lost. I’m just…passing through the forest, as a shortcut to get from one city to the other.”

“Oh? But this place is quite deep in the forest, you know? In the time it took you to get here, you could have gone around faster by the detour that avoids the forest.”

“……”

“Are you lost?”

“…Okay, fine! I’m lost. What of it?” With the evidence stacked against me, I started to sulk.

But Eustia wasn’t bothered by my disgruntled expression and clapped her hands again. “In that case, shall I show you the way? This forest can be pretty confusing, so it’s rather difficult to find your way out alone.” Her carefree attitude seemed out of place in the dark wood.

“I would be…very grateful…yes.”

I nodded as I reluctantly owned up to my own mistake, and immediately after I did—

“Gurgururu!”

—a weird sound echoed through the trees. I looked around, thinking it was the cry of some unfamiliar beast, but I quickly realized that the noise had come from somewhere near my stomach. It sounded like I had a wild animal in my belly.

How rude!

Eustia smiled back at me in my astonishment.

“Before I show you the way out, how about we get something to eat?”

Eustia told me all sorts of things on the way to her house. Apparently, she lived in the deep forest where other people rarely ventured.

I had to imagine that living in a place like this had not been her choice, but Eustia only said, “Home is where you make it.”

Who’d wanna live in a house full of mushrooms?

Her home was not all that far from where she had been foraging, and we arrived in only a few minutes. The house sat in the middle of a small clearing; it looked like the gnarled trees were avoiding the spot.

The house was built entirely of wood; roof, walls, doors, and all, and it seemed like it belonged to the forest somehow. If it weren’t for the sunlight pouring into the clearing, it would have blended right in. I could see laundry hanging on a line to dry. The place felt lived-in.

Next to the house was somebody’s grave. I couldn’t see the name. But from the freshness of the overturned earth, I could tell that whoever was buried there had passed on only recently.

In the yard, a man was splitting firewood. The way he swung the ax down vigorously over and over again was exhilarating.

Before long, the man noticed the two of us and turned to face us.

“Ah. Welcome home, Eustia…And who is our guest?”

He was a fine young man. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties. He tilted his head, still looking at me.

Eustia trotted over to the man, and said, “I just got back, Master!” She embraced him. “This is Elaina. She’s a wayward witch.”

That title doesn’t quite do me justice.

But that was all Eustia offered by way of explanation.

“Ah…” The man nodded. “Well, it is quite easy to lose your way in the forest, eh? I suppose if you brought her here, you’re planning to feed her, right, Eustia? Well, you’d better get started, then.”

He urged Eustia into the house.

Then, to me he said, “It will take a little time before the meal is ready. If you don’t mind, would you please come into the living room and tell me about yourself? As you can see, it’s very rare for the two of us to meet people from the outside.”

I nodded.

“Thank you… Oh, I forgot to say, my name is Giulio. Nice to meet you, Miss Wayward Witch.”

“It’s Elaina.”

I refuse to let that disgraceful designation stick.

“Wow. So that’s how you got lost, huh? I suppose you must be pretty careless, as travelers go.”

“How rude. I’ll have you know this was the rare exception.”

A warm, inviting air filled the living room, where a fire had been lit in the hearth. Eustia was diligently cooking in the kitchen, while Giulio kept me company.

I felt a little like I was intruding on the life of a happy couple.

Though I knew that the two of them probably didn’t have that kind of relationship.

Because Eustia had called Giulio “Master.”

“Why are you living in the middle of a forest like this?” I tilted my head questioningly,

Giulio nodded calmly. “Ah, well, it’s because it’s better for us to live here,” he answered vaguely.

“Meaning what?”

“This place is called the Wandering Wood, and causes people to get lost, right? Locals don’t enter without a good reason, and any foreigners who try are usually turned away. Because they always get lost.”

“…Right.” I averted my eyes, recalling the face of the soldier who had tried rather earnestly to warn me away from taking a shortcut.

“We’re retired from the world. It’s best that we don’t meet outsiders too often.”

“…I’m pretty sure I’m an outsider, though.”

“You’re the exception, because Eustia brought you here,” he said. “Plus, occasionally even we feel like talking to someone from the outside.”

Aren’t you contradicting yourself?

I didn’t feel like asking.

Because there was something more intriguing on my mind.

“…Does the reason you avoid outsiders have anything to do with that grave in your backyard?”

Beneath the table, I had stealthily drawn my wand.

Giulio seemed to immediately perceive the slight wariness in my tone of voice. With a smile, he said, “I suppose you’re wondering if we killed the previous tenant?”

“……”

“We didn’t. That’s not what’s going on. Go ahead and relax. That is indeed a grave out back, but you see”—his voice was low, almost confessional—“that’s the grave of an evil person.”

And then he told me the tale of Eustia’s life.

Long ago, when Eustia was still young, she had been sold into slavery. Giulio didn’t know exactly why, though of course it hadn’t been her choice.

In her earliest memories, Eustia could recall her mother holding her tenderly, though she could not picture the surroundings. Then, something must have happened. Eustia was separated from her mother and became a slave.

The first time she was purchased was when she was about five years old. A nouveau riche man, a merchant, took a liking to her appearance, and bought her. But about half a year later, she was returned to the slave trader. The wealthy merchant had died under suspicious circumstances.

The next person to purchase her was an aristocrat. He bought her to serve him as a maid. Apparently, she had spent several years with him, but when the aristocrat’s son, who had taken quite a liking to Eustia, also died under mysterious circumstances, the girl was once again returned to the slave trader.

After that, she was moved many times from one wealthy house to another. But for some reason, wherever she went, unnatural deaths followed. It might be the person who purchased her, or his son, or someone who did business with them. It varied, but eventually she was always returned to the slave trader.

It was like she was cursed.

Before long, she developed a reputation as an angel of death. There was no one who wanted to buy her.

When she was coming up on her fifteenth birthday, a certain young man fell in love with her at first sight and bought her on the spot.

That young man was Giulio.

From the first moment he saw her, he was completely taken by her, from the bottom of his heart. He wondered how on earth she hadn’t been purchased, as lovely as she was. Though he was puzzled, he took her back home with him.

Though he certainly fancied the girl, Giulio had a more practical reason for purchasing her. As a mercenary for hire, he had spent his life wandering through foreign lands. He knew nothing of housework or cooking. So he’d thought to purchase a servant to take care of his daily necessities. And since he was always moving from city to city, Giulio couldn’t form close relationships with people, so he was probably also lonely.

Eustia was a very hard worker. She quietly obeyed his every instruction, and devoted herself to her master Giulio, just like a good servant. Not much time had passed before Giulio was utterly charmed not just by Eustia’s beauty, but by her deeply earnest character.

He spent his days devising plans to win her heart. She had clearly stolen his.

“Eustia. Come here.” One day, Giulio called her to him while she was in the middle of her work, and said, “Thank you for all your hard work. Umm, if you like…here.”

In his hand was a bouquet of flowers. He had thought they would make her happy.

But the two of them had lived in very different worlds. They did not see things the same way.

“I suppose you want me to decorate the house with these, Master?”

At the time, Eustia had cocked her head, with the same earnest expression as always.

“Huh? No…um, they were meant to be a present…”

“A present? Why would a master give a present to his slave?”

“……”

“……?”

Giulio gave her presents many times after that as well, but each time, she would just look puzzled. Never once did she seem pleased.

Giulio was baffled. She still didn’t see him as anything more than another owner.

It seemed he wouldn’t be able to win her with gifts. So, what did she want? It wasn’t clear to him.

“Eustia, is there anything that you desire? A thing that you’d like to have, or something you want for yourself in the future?”

She looked at him with eyes devoid of life, and answered, “There is not.”

Her reply was direct, and very cold.

“There is nothing for me.”

That was when he had a realization.

The girl he knew was an empty shell. Her whole life she had been treated like a doll that was only good for following orders.

So, Giulio gave up on trying to please her with gifts, because she would never be truly happy until she had filled the emptiness inside her.

After that, he took her with him to all sorts of places.

They went traveling together. They went shopping together. They went to the theater together. They holed up in the library together. He taught her a bit of swordplay, as a way to protect herself. The two of them spent nearly every day together pursuing different interests.

Before long, Eustia had filled the emptiness inside her with learning and culture. She had become the radiant young woman that I had met that day in the forest.

“Eustia. Come here.” One day, Giulio called her to him while she was in the middle of her work, and said, “Thank you for all your hard work. Umm, if you like…here.”

In his hand was a bouquet of flowers. He had thought they would make her happy.

“Thank you very much…Master.”

Her smile when she accepted the bouquet was very, very beautiful, he told me.

At last they were ready to leave their master-servant relationship behind and start a new life as sweethearts.

However…

“But even after that point, we weren’t able to take our relationship any further. You see, I couldn’t touch her. She wouldn’t even let me try. We were never able to be truly happy.”

What on earth do you mean by that?

I tilted my head in confusion.

“It’s because she was cursed,” he said.

I still couldn’t grasp what on earth he meant.

“I’ll tell her the rest of that story, Master.”

That’s when plates of food began appearing on the table with a clatter. Apparently, we had been talking for some time. Long enough for Eustia to finish cooking.

“But before we continue, please eat. It would be a shame to let it get cold.”

Eustia wore a sweet smile.

After the meal, Eustia cleaned up, then set three cups of tea on the table, and said with a hint of embarrassment, “…If it’s all right, I’d like to tell you the rest of the story myself.”

“Giulio told me that you’re no ordinary servant, but…” I bowed slightly, thanking her for the tea, and took a sip.

“Right. I’m not an ordinary servant. I mean, usually, a slave would never live such a happy life, right?”

“……”

“……And that’s not all. I think you’ll be able to guess, more or less, now that you’ve heard about my early life. But…,” she said matter-of-factly, “I’m a wicked slave who has brought death upon every master I’ve ever had.”

Her whole life, she had gone from master to master, through all sorts of hands. One time, it was her master who died; another time, it was the master’s son… Without fail, death followed the girl, and again and again she wound up back with the slave trader, and the cycle would continue.

Eustia hadn’t intentionally killed anyone, of course. She didn’t have the strength to do it, nor the constitution. Ever since she was born, this girl had lived her whole life as an ideal servant.

When the first man to purchase her had wound up dead, she had felt relief deep in her heart. Her first master had been the type to lay hands on his servants. He had died right after attacking her.

The next man to buy her hadn’t been so bad, but his son had taken a liking to her. The boy had died after trying to force himself on her.

Again and again, men sought to take advantage of the vulnerable servant girl, and every one of them met an early end, and she would wind up back with the slave trader.

Eustia had realized that there was something strange inside her.

“I’d had some sort of curse put on me. It was almost like I was poisonous.”

Contact with her skin was relatively harmless; the poison, she said, was in her body fluids, like saliva and sweat, among others.

“A man who stole a kiss from me dropped dead on the spot. Men who have tried to…assault me have met the same fate. Every one of them who touched my body died soon after. That’s why I’m no ordinary servant,” she said.

“…How did you come to be like that?”

“It’s a tale from long ago,” Eustia answered. “I had only just been sold into servitude. A dirty, bedraggled old witch came to the slave market.”

Eustia hadn’t gotten a look at the witch beneath her heavy cowl, but she remembered quite clearly what the woman did to her.

The witch had extended her wand toward the girl’s cage. Then she touched the girl’s face and said this: “It is my will that you shall never be owned by another. So shall it be!”

Eustia hadn’t had any idea what those words were supposed to mean. She just remembered feeling very puzzled by the witch’s gentle smile as she touched her.

Even when the slave trader sold her like so much merchandise, those words were always on her mind.

And when the men who bought her started dying, one after another, she knew.

“In order for that shabby-looking witch to get her hands on me… She must have placed a curse on me when she touched me, so that I couldn’t be taken by any other master. And so, I ended up back with the slave trader many times.”

“……”

“Well, some time after Master Giulio purchased me, I caught wind of a certain rumor. I heard that a scary witch was searching for me. Only then did I finally believe it. The witch wanted me for her own.”

So she had consulted with Giulio. He had immediately quit his job and retired to their current home in the forest. Apparently, he was not strapped for cash. He was well-off enough to have easily purchased an expensive slave, after all.

And then, the two of them had come up with a plan to ambush the witch. They spread rumors about a couple living in the forbidding forest. Soon, the rumors reached the witch’s ears.

“The witch arrived at our house a few days ago. She attacked my master—she was trying to kill him. No matter how skilled a warrior my master is, he was fighting a witch… There was no way he could win. That’s why…”

She wrung her hands.

Her slim, white fingers were trembling slightly.

“I killed the witch.”

The witch had wanted Eustia so badly. It was only a matter of going to her, just as she desired. Then one stab into her defenseless back, and everything was over.

It had been a simple matter, really.

And with the witch’s death, the curse was lifted. Everything was settled with that one move. Evil had been vanquished, and now the two lovers could be together forever.

That was the plot of their story so far.

“My master truly saved me. Thanks to him, I was finally released from the terrible curse. I’m finally free. That’s why I want to marry him and spend the rest of my life with him.”

Eustia was practically beaming.

“However, there is just one thing… I’d like to meet my mother someday. I’m sure she didn’t want to abandon me. I just know it. In my memories, she seems so kind. I want to wait here for her, for as long as it takes,” Eustia said.

I wonder whether she’ll go on to live a happy life, now that the witch who caused her so much pain is gone…

…Waiting there, for her mother.

One week earlier…

I was taking a moonlit stroll around a distant city, far from the forbidding forest, when I encountered a strange woman.

“……”

You may think it’s rude to call her a strange woman, but when I saw the mage lying collapsed facedown in the exact center of the main avenue, at first, I thought that she was sick or injured, and went into a terrible panic.

So I rushed over and helped the woman sit up. “A-are you all right?!” Even my voice was uncharacteristically erratic.

“…Um…I’m so sorry… I…uhhh…I can’t move…”

She appeared to be alive. Looking closer at the woman with long black hair, I saw that she wore a star-shaped brooch on her breast, and I gathered that she was a witch. But her brooch was quite old. She had probably been a witch for a long time.

I could guess that she was likely quite skilled.

What on earth could have driven such a powerful witch to this place…?

Warily, my eyes darted about our surroundings.

“Gurgururu!”

The cry of some unfamiliar beast filled the air. I wondered if some dreadful monster was prowling just out of sight, and if that terrible beast was responsible for attacking this witch.

……

No, despite my fears, the awful noise was obviously coming from the woman’s belly. It was simply the screaming of a stomach that could no longer stand being empty.

“…I’m so hungry… I haven’t eaten anything for three days…”

As soon as she said that, the woman passed out right there in my arms.

“……”

This again?

From now on, if I catch sight of someone lying in the street, I think I’ll just ignore them.

“…I owe you a great debt. Recently, I’ve been rushing from city to city, so I’ve rarely had time for a meal. I thought I was about to die, with my destination right in front of my eyes…”

Eventually, I’d gotten the starving woman back to my hotel room and offered her the sandwich I had bought for dinner.

As she quelled her rumbling stomach, the woman told me her name was Sirith, and also revealed that she herself was a traveling witch. She and I had a lot in common, it seemed. I felt strangely close to her.

I, too, gave a simple self-introduction, a little late, and she said just what I was thinking.

“Goodness! I knew I felt a connection to you somehow!”

I see, I see, so I suppose we are similar, in some ways.

However…

“Why were you rushing from city to city? Were you on the run from somebody you offended? Or did you get into a bind after you tried to run a scam and got caught by the police? …I’m sure that’s hardly uncommon for a traveling witch…right?”

If I understood the situation, it would be dangerous for us to spend too much time together. It would be safer for both of us if we separated as quickly as possible, I thought.

But she quickly shook her head at me.

“No, I am a traveling witch. I have never once done anything like offending a host or tricking people out of money. I’m a traveler, and a witch, and I hold myself to the highest standards.”

“…R-right. That’s how traveling witches are, absolutely. We definitely never cause problems in the places we visit.”

“Hmm? Is there something interesting outside?”

“Oh, n-nothing…”

I was staring intently out the window. The moon looked brilliant in the clear sky, unlike the cloudy conversation we were heading toward, so I cleared my throat once, forcefully, and steered us back on course. “So then, why did you collapse?”

“…I was panicking. There are all sorts of deeper reasons for that, but…” When she had said that much, the older witch suddenly looked right at me. “Um, by the way, I’m going to ask you something unrelated, but… Elaina, have you already visited many places near here?”

“No, not at all…I haven’t yet.”

“Goodness…” Sirith’s expression clouded over, as if I had disappointed her somehow. “So you don’t know about the Wandering Wood?”

“Hmm? No…”

The Wandering Wood?

I see, I see. Just from the name, I can tell it’s a strange place.

It might be fun to go see it if I have the free time.

“I’m on my way there…,” Sirith continued. “So then, you must not know about the person who lives in the middle of the Wandering Wood either, right?”

I nodded. “Unfortunately not.”

“I see…”

“…So,” I asked, “you’re headed for this Wandering Wood?”

“Yes. I’m going to meet that person.” She told me bit by bit. “I’ve been looking for someone for a long time, and…I’ve heard a rumor that they have made a home deep in the forest.”

“And that is the person you’re searching for?”

“Probably. They should be.” Sirith nodded quietly. “Well, I still don’t know anything for certain, so I had hoped I could get some information from a fellow traveler, but… If you don’t know anything, there’s nothing to be done about that.”

There was no way for me to know about any people living there, I had only just learned about this fascinating Wandering Wood. As she had said, I could not really help her.

“Why are you searching for that person, anyway?”

You could say there was also no helping my curiosity.

In response to my candid inquiry, Sirith replied, very directly, “Because she’s my daughter. She was sold into slavery when she was only a child. My daughter is in those woods.”

Long ago, Sirith had been living in a faraway land. She held a rather disturbing title—the Curse Witch—but she fulfilled an essential role in protecting the country. She was highly regarded in her homeland, for her area of greatest specialty was curses that, once cast, could never be removed, except by her will…or her death.

Sirith’s home had been immersed in a period of strife and war, you see.

She had eliminated traitors selling government secrets, used her powers to manipulate enemy leaders, even jinxed her own nation’s soldiers to feel no fear. The Curse Witch certainly lived up to her awful moniker.

But all her terrible efforts were in vain, and her motherland was headed for ruin.

She exposed so many traitors that paranoia gripped the city, and whenever one of their leaders died unexpectedly, people assumed that she had cursed them. The soldiers who had lost all fear of death ran off on suicide missions into enemy territory, and one by one they perished.

The nation had relied too heavily on the Curse Witch and had doomed itself in the process. The city quickly fell to pieces. It was defenseless against an enemy invasion.

“When it became clear that the enemy was going to invade, I stayed behind with the soldiers to buy some time for the civilians to get out. My daughter escaped with the others.”

“……”

“The soldiers all died, and I fought until my magical energy was all but exhausted. After buying as much time as I could, I was supposed to link up with the people who had gotten away and escape to somewhere outside the country. But at the designated meeting spot, I found a pile of corpses.”

“…What happened to your fellow citizens who fled?”

“Most of the adults were killed. Most of the children were carried off by the enemy. Apparently, they saw through our plan. I thought I was holding them off, but really, they were just keeping us busy.”

“…So, your daughter?”

“She was taken by the enemy as a slave.”

I suppose you weren’t able to get your daughter out.

Not even a powerful witch could march into an enemy army alone and expect to make it out all right. And even if her daughter had survived, there was no guarantee that Sirith could find her. I’m sure this had not been lost on her.

“After my daughter was abducted, I snuck into the enemy country only once.”

There were sure to be more than a few people who would recognize the Curse Witch, so she had dressed up like a vagrant, covered her face with a heavy hood, and gone undercover in the slave quarter.

When she saw her daughter in the slave district, how sad she must have been! How badly she must have wanted to save her! But she was surrounded by the enemy. Rescue was impossible.

Sirith told me that all she had been able to do was to stick her wand into her daughter’s cage. She couldn’t risk causing an uproar.

“All I could do was to make it so that no one could hurt my daughter.”

Her daughter, who was lined up like a piece of merchandise.

Sirith had said, “It is my will that you shall never be owned by another. So shall it be!” and placed a curse on her.

It was a curse that poisoned her spit, her tears, her sweat, all her body fluids. No matter what terrible master purchased her, no matter what abuses she suffered, at least no one could take her most private dignity.

That was all Sirith was able to do for her daughter—for Eustia—at that time.

“After that, I left the city. The curse wouldn’t have been any use if I had been killed, after all, so…there was nothing more to be done.”

And so she waited, biding her time as she traveled the world, all the while nurturing a secret desire to meet her daughter again. She held fast to the hope that her daughter would somehow escape her place of bondage, and everywhere she went, she asked about a slave girl with beautiful black hair.

More than ten years passed.

“Finally… Finally the time came. I overheard a rumor that my lost child was taken by a new master to live deep in the Wandering Wood. Finally, I can save her…”

Sirith clenched her fists very, very tightly.

After all these years, her dearest hope was in sight.

“…I hope that you are able to meet your daughter safely,” I said. “So, what are you planning to do after the two of you are reunited?”

At that question, she thought for just a moment, then answered, “Let’s see…after I drive her evil master away, I think I’ll retire to live in the forest with her. In the middle of the Wandering Wood, we should be able to live in peace.”

Sirith smiled contentedly.

After Eustia had finished telling me her whole story, I was ready to leave.

“Thank you for the meal. It was delicious. I really appreciate it.” I bowed formally. “I’ve really got to get going, so I’ll take my leave.”

“Ah, in that case, I’ll see you off.” Eustia stood from her seat and pitter-pattered over to me.

She had promised to escort me, after all.

“If you mean to take me through the forest like you promised,” I said, “that won’t be necessary. I can find my own way. …If it comes down to it, I can fly above the forest on my broom.” I shook my head slowly. “Well then…”

I opened the door and stepped outside. Eustia stood there, one arm extended, as if to stop me. But I kept my eyes down as I hurried off.

I couldn’t stand being in that place any longer.

The house was nestled in a small forest clearing. Laundry was drying on a line nearby. The place had a lived-in feeling.

Next to the house was someone’s grave. I couldn’t see the name. But from the freshness of the overturned earth, I could tell that whoever was buried there had passed away only recently.

I was certain that the grave had been dug only a few days earlier.

“Elaina.”

Giulio called out as I lingered near the grave. He jogged over to me, alone. Eustia must have been inside still.

“…Did I forget something?” I feigned confusion.

He shook his head, “You didn’t forget anything. I was just worried because you seemed a bit upset by the end of the story.”

I thought I had been holding it together pretty well, but I guess he saw through me.

I looked away. “It’s nothing, really.” My gaze fell on the grave at my feet. It was just there, a lonely pile of dirt and nothing else.

“……” Giulio followed my gaze. “…Neither Eustia nor I have any idea what this witch was thinking when she placed the curse on Eustia. She died before she could tell us the truth, you see.”

“…I can see that.”

“Sometimes I wonder… I wonder whether this witch was really so evil. What she did made Eustia unhappy, no doubt about it. It was a cruel curse that made it so she could never live a normal life… A bit like forcing her into a life of slavery.”

“……”

“You know, I always assumed the witch was evil, but sometimes I think perhaps we didn’t see the whole picture. Perhaps that witch had some good reason for placing the curse on Eustia. I’ve got a feeling that might be the case. Anyway,” Giulio muttered, “I built this grave as a small attempt at atonement.”

And then…

“What about you?” He turned to look at me.

“Me?”

Giulio nodded sharply. “No one enters the Wandering Wood without a good reason,” he said. “So there must have been something. Why else would you go out of your way to walk through the middle of the forest, even though you can fly on your broom?”

“……”

“Perhaps you came to meet someone—”

“No.”

I cut him off, shaking my head.

No one entered the forest without a good reason… Well, even supposing that I had a good reason, I wasn’t going to tell them what it was. Not ever.

Perhaps I had come to meet someone, but that had nothing to do with the two of them now.

And so, I lied as best as I could.

“I just wanted to take a shortcut. Really, that’s all there was to it.”