Majo no Tabitabi - Volume 7 - Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Village of Beauties

I visited that village quite a while ago.

I had only just started my travels, and I was flying through the forest on my broom when I happened upon it.

My memories from that time are fuzzy. Honestly, I don’t recall just what region or in what sort of place that village was located. The scenery of the environment that surrounded the village was so very ordinary; there was nothing there but the forest.

However, among all my hazy memories, there is one unique thing about that village, a single thing that I do recall quite clearly.

It’s the village’s name.

It was called…

…the Village of Beauties.

“Welcome to the Village of Beauties!”

Standing beside a cheap-looking gate set in a cheap-looking fence was a beautiful girl. She was probably about one or two years younger than me. This place called itself the Village of Beauties, so I figured the residents must be pretty confident, and sure enough, that girl was the very definition of beauty.

If I had been a naive young man, I probably would have been dumbstruck, unable to even look her in the eye.

“Hi there,” I replied with a slight bow.

“Are you a traveler?” The beautiful gate guard smiled and tilted her head. “We welcome female travelers. Please, go on in!”

The guard tugged at my hand, urging me along, and to my surprise, I was pulled straight into the village.

Uh.

But.

“Um…what is the Village of Beauties? What does it mean?”

I looked at the guard as she pulled me by the hand.

“Hmm?” She kept prancing along with excited little steps as she turned to me. “Everyone who has ever visited this village has called it that. So our current elder said we should go ahead and make it our official name, and that’s how we came to be called the Village of Beauties,” she explained.

Well, that’s a display of extremely excessive conceitedness. Aren’t they embarrassed to say that? No, they chose that name because they’re not embarrassed by it, isn’t that right?

Walking behind the excited girl, I looked around at the interior of the village.

It was a small village, with wooden houses standing here and there.

Every one of them, without exception, looked old, dilapidated, and deserted. I supposed this village must have been here since antiquity.

“……”

Standing among the quiet houses were the villagers, looking at us with curious eyes. There were young women tilling the fields. Women carrying baskets stuffed with vegetables on their backs. Women lounging in the shade of the trees. Women chatting and relaxing by the side of the road.

There couldn’t have been many people there, and as far as I could see, all of them were young women, and every one of them, without exception, was a beauty. These young women of tender years, without exception, all had gorgeous faces.

I see. This certainly does seem to be a village of beauties.

“By the way, Miss Traveler, what is your name?”

“I’m Elaina.”

“I see. Elaina, is it? This is the first time a traveler as beautiful as us has come here! I feel a great connection with you already!”

“Huh…”

The excited guard was still pulling on my hand.

“As a traveler, you must know many things about the outside world, right? Please tell us a story or two, won’t you, please?”

“Huh…”

“Ah, this is the village elder’s house.”

And then the guard stopped on the spot. It was a little late for this, but I wondered whether she was really cut out to be a guard. She had left the gate wide open. Though I couldn’t imagine very many people came this deep into the forest anyway.

The house that she had pointed out as being the village elder’s house looked just as old as all the other ones. Even though she was supposed to be in charge around here, she didn’t really seem to be living in the lap of luxury.

“Goodness, a traveler?”

With perfect timing, a single woman emerged from the village elder’s house.

“This person is our village elder. What do you think? She’s quite a beauty, isn’t she?” For some reason, the guard spoke boastfully. This woman was no exception; she was a beautiful young woman. She may have been the village elder, but that apparently didn’t mean she was actually any older than the rest of them. Not in this village.

“Hello. It’s rare to see a beautiful traveler, oh-hoh-hoh!” As she let out a sophisticated laugh, the village elder extended a hand toward me.

This was turning out to be a very strange place. I stared at the village elder as I took her hand.

“…Are there only women in this village?” I asked, though I could pretty much guess the answer from the fact that it was named Village of Beauties.

So far, everyone I’d seen, without exception, had been a woman. It certainly struck me as odd to have such a skewed ratio of the sexes.

“It is as you say.” However, the village elder nodded, as if it was only natural. “As you can see, this is the Village of Beauties. Only young, beautiful women are permitted to live here.”

Sure enough, it seemed there were only young beauties, or girls who looked like they would grow up to be beautiful.

“Well then, how does the village maintain itself?”

It was a straightforward question. Without the help of men, it seemed like the village would have a hard time sustaining itself. After all, they wouldn’t be able to have children. The population would just keep shrinking.

It wasn’t hard to imagine that the Village of Beauties would eventually turn into the Village of Biddies, and then finally the Village of Bones.

“Oh! What’s this, a new girl?”

Just then, a voice came from inside the village elder’s house, and a lively looking young man appeared from behind the door. “Hoh-hoh, what have we here…?” He turned his gaze on me, as if he was evaluating me.

Who is this man, this picture of boorishness?

“And who might this be?” I asked.

Some kind of live-in livestock, maybe?

Smiling radiantly as she looked at the man, the village elder said, “He is the village’s only man.”

She introduced him plainly.

The only man.

I see, so this is a harem situation?

Doesn’t this mean…?

“So men do live here after all?”

I wanted to know just what she meant by telling me that only young, beautiful women were allowed to live here.

I asked my question, and after an awkward pause, the village elder replied, “Hmm? …Ah, he’s not exactly living here, you know.”

She smiled slightly and stared at the man again. The look in her eyes was somehow captivating, and fiery. She looked just like a wolf stalking its prey.

…A woman on the hunt, huh?

“Well, the truth is, I actually used to be a traveler, too, and roamed through all sorts of lands, but this place—well, I guess you could call it heaven. Really, they ought to name it the Village of Men’s Dreams.”

“Huh…”

I had been invited into the village elder’s house and was hearing all sorts of tales from the man.

Apparently, this man had previously wandered the world as a traveler, but one day, he had received an invitation from a girl native to this village. “Come visit our village! Only women live there!” She added to this sweet temptation, “If you come, you can enjoy the company of as many of the village women as you like.”

He told me that at first, he, too, had thought it had to be a joke and that he had suspected the girl was running some sort of clever scam. These things do happen, after all. And thinking about it rationally, there was no way such a perfect village could exist, right?

But it did exist. What a surprise.

“Apparently, the girls around here never leave the village until they’re all grown up. And as a result, they never get to meet any men. So I was the one chosen to deliver these poor women from the torment of loneliness.”

The man snorted. “My life here is great. Every day, I come and go between many houses, and every day, I get to enjoy myself with many women—though I’d never do anything with the young ones, obviously. Although, if there’s one downside to all this, it’s that my diet and exercise are strictly controlled. But I do get plenty of exercise at night, so that’s not really an issue.”

“Um, excuse me, but are there any hotels or inns in this village?”

“Hey, I was in the middle of a story—”

“Sorry, I stopped listening.”

“Oh. How mean.”

“So about that place to stay.”

If there wasn’t one, I would promptly be on my way.

But…

“Well, there aren’t any inns, but I’m sure we can find you a place to stay. You’re in luck!”

The generous person who clapped a hand down on my shoulder and made that suggestion was none other than the village elder.

She turned her beaming grin on me and said, “Tomorrow, our village will be holding a harvest festival, so tonight, all the adults will gather at my house to prepare. Everyone will probably end up sleeping here anyway, so all the houses in the village should be virtually empty.”

“…A harvest festival?”

“Yes. We hold them regularly. Tomorrow will mark half a year since he came to us.”

“Ah…has that much time passed already? …What a lonely thought…” The man didn’t try to hide his grimace.

What on earth does he mean by that?

I tilted my head inquisitively, and the village elder kindly answered me.

“Our village has certain rules regarding how long men are allowed to stay. After a man has lived with us for half a year, he must take his leave. That is our custom.”

The man shrugged. “I wish I could stay a bit longer… Ah, what a bothersome custom.”

The village elder smiled wryly at him. “Good grief,” she muttered before turning back to me. “Well, in any case, it’s tradition in our village to hold a farewell ceremony during the harvest festival.”

“What do you do at the harvest festival?”

“We all eat together.”

She counted on her fingers.

“We eat tasty salads, and bread, and cookies, and cake, and mutton.”

“So it’s just a normal dinner party?”

Though the menu is pretty weird. Sweets and salad and sheep’s meat? What an odd combination.

“Will you join us?”

“…I’ll consider it.”

That’s how I answered her, but I had already decided to leave the following morning.

For some reason, this village made me feel uncomfortable.

“What’s that? You don’t have a place to stay? My goodness! Well, I guess it can’t be helped. You can stay at my place!”

When I left the village elder’s house, the gate guard came to greet me with an easygoing “Yoo-hoo!”

Apparently, she had been sitting outside waiting the whole time, and now she was waving and brushing off her backside.

“Is there some reason why you didn’t come inside the village elder’s house?”

“Mm, well, I’m working now. People would get mad if I took tea at the elder’s house.”

“…You seem to be acting quite freely, considering you’re on the clock.”

“Oh, come on, Elaina! It’s not like that many people are going to come to a village this deep in the woods.”

“I think maybe you ought to ruminate on your own words for a bit.”

“Well, that aside, what do you say? Will you come stay at my house?”

“……” At this point, I didn’t feel like going to the trouble of asking someone I had never met before, so I was actually pretty grateful for her invitation, but… “Sure thing, if your parents say it’s all right.”

“Oh, that’s fine, then. My mom is long gone.”

“……”

I don’t think that’s something people are supposed to say with a smile.

“Well then, how about your dad?”

“Never met him.”

“That doesn’t sound good at all…”

If the village replaced its single male resident every six months, then it was no surprise that she had never seen her father’s face.

But isn’t that sort of sad?

“Well, it would be hard for me to miss a father I never knew, don’t you think?”

It seems my fears were unfounded.

“And my mother left the village when I was very small, but everyone here is like one big family, so I wasn’t really lonely or anything.”

She began walking slowly and aimlessly, telling me everything in a detached tone of voice. She didn’t seem bothered to be sharing any of this personal information.

“Everyone in this village is the same. Our traditions stand at the center of our lives. We know nothing of the outside world, but that’s surely a good thing!” She laughed.

There was no way I could understand the mind of a girl who thought like that.

After that, the two of us strolled around the village.

I had a whole lot of nothing to do and plenty of time to not do it, so I wanted to kill a few hours.

“I’m sorry to say, our village doesn’t really have any interesting places to show off…”

With an apologetic smile, the young guard led the way, and sure enough, there wasn’t really anything worth mentioning.

“Anyway, here’s the nursery.” She pointed to an ordinary house. “Girls stay here for several years after we’re born, and we learn the traditions and customs of the village.”

“Uh-huh.”

I nodded vacantly.

“And here is the poultry farm.” The next place we visited was a short, long house. “This is where we raise chickens and get their eggs.”

“I see.”

Only their eggs? So in other words…

“You don’t use their meat?”

“Meat?” When she responded, the guard was wearing a very puzzled expression. “Do people eat the meat of chickens elsewhere in the world…?”

“Um…yes. It’s eaten pretty regularly…”

“Oh, how savage!” The girl looked appalled. “Even though they’re sooo cute?!” She whined and wriggled around.

Okay, well, I can understand how a person from a different culture might see chickens differently, but…cute? Really?

If I had to choose one, I think I’d say that sheep are cuter, but still…

The tour continued.

“This is the armory.”

“Why do you have an armory in your village?”

“Well, we need weapons for wrangling and butchering the sheep, don’t we?”

I see, so in other words, it’s full of kitchen tools.

“And here is the farmer’s house!”

“I see. I can tell from the looks of it that it’s an ordinary farmhouse.” Behind the house were the fields.

“My final task for today is to pick up some wheat from here.”

She looked awfully proud of herself for some reason, but it would have been more trouble than it was worth to knock the wind out of her sails, so I left it alone.

“And here is my house!”

“Ah, so we were just walking you home, is that it?”

“Well, it’s evening already!”

In the end, we had spent the whole day just looking around the village.

While we had been taking our time with the tour, the other women had been quietly starting preparations for the harvest festival. Looking out across the village, I could see that there were many women heading for the village elder’s house.

For example, there were women carrying bags of wheat, and others holding freshly picked vegetables and fruits, and still others holding large kitchen knives. They were carrying all sorts of things, and each of them looked quite excited to be getting ready for the harvest festival.

All of them looked cheerful, just like girls going to meet their sweethearts.

“Come on, Elaina! Leave the adults to their business. We’ll have a party, just the two of us! What do you say?”

Just like when she had ushered me into the village, the young guard was tugging on my sleeve, and she tugged me right into her house.

And that is how I came to stay at her house.

“Ah…must be nice. I bet they’re all preparing for the harvest festival right now.”

As she grumbled about it, the guard brought out dinner: a simple loaf of bread. That was it. A dinner of bread. How frugal…

Chewing on my bread, I gazed out the window. In the distance, I could see lights on at the village head’s house.

“What do they do to prepare?” I asked, chomping away.

“Mmm, they get everything ready for cooking.”

“What is there to do?”

“Well, it takes a lot of work to make a tasty meal, right?”

Yeah, I already know that…

But I can’t imagine that baking cookies and bread and a cake requires a village full of women to gather the day before to “get everything ready.”

“The preparations for the main dish are especially taxing. That’s what the village head says.” The gate guard continued, “She says that getting the mutton ready takes time. It’s an adult sheep, and they can be violent. If it were a lamb, it could be easily wrangled.”

At this point, I was starting to feel a bit uneasy.

I was sure I had been strolling around the village with the young guard all afternoon, and yet…

Does this village even raise sheep?

Never mind full-grown sheep—I hadn’t seen even a single lamb.

I’m sure I must have just missed them…

“Tell me more. What kinds of things need to be done, exactly?” I asked, tossing out the first question that came to mind.

“Huh? Well, first they wrangle them—”

“Annnd I’m bored already.”

The key must be what comes after that. The part where they get the meat? Surely that’s a lot of hard work? I mean, if it takes a whole village working together through the night, it must be pretty intense.

“The village elder is very enthusiastic about this harvest festival, you know.” The young guard seemed to enjoy talking, and she continued on as she chewed her bread. “Because when the festival is over, she has to leave the village.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

“Mmm…” The young guard looked like she was thinking for a moment, then said, “Because that’s the custom. Once the village elder puts on a harvest festival, she leaves the village right afterward. She leaves, and then after a little while, a new person takes her place.”

I see. So that’s the reason why the village elder is so young?

I was starting to put the pieces together, but there were still a lot that didn’t fit.

“I don’t understand the purpose behind changing village elders so frequently…,” I said, tilting my head inquisitively.

“Well, if we don’t do that, we can’t get a new sheep.”

“……?”

Can’t get a sheep…?

I had a feeling that we had been talking past each other regarding a fundamental part of this conversation.

“The job of the village elder is to throw a fine harvest festival and to find a new sheep. So tomorrow, our current village elder, like all those before her, will leave the village for a while after the festival is over, in order to find a new sheep for us to raise.”

For some reason, those words chilled me to the bone.

It was at this point that I was finally able to put my finger on what was wrong with this cheerful-seeming village.

“Once she finds a delicious-looking sheep outside the village, she brings it back here, and the new village elder takes charge of rearing it. And if any little lambs are born in the village, we cook them. And we regularly hold harvest festivals where we eat the mutton.”

It finally dawned on me.

Waaay too late, it finally, finally dawned on me.

Mutton.

A village with only women. Just one man. Sheep. Rearing. Meat. Dietary restrictions. Exercise restrictions. Harvest festivals.

……

I was at a loss for words, dumbfounded by the repulsive reality of it all. The young guard’s eyes glittered as she spoke. “So you see, I think they’ll be serving some very delicious mutton at tomorrow’s harvest festival. I mean, the village elder has spent quite a lot of time raising the sheep.”

In the end, I didn’t wait for morning. I left the village right away. That very night.

I fled, if I’m being honest.

Far away from the terrifying truth.

It’s a memory I don’t like to recall. If possible, I would bury it for eternity. That’s why I haven’t mentioned it before.

I’m sure that to the women of that village, their home is everything to them, and they know nothing of the world beyond.

Yet even if I searched far and wide, I don’t think I could find such a depraved custom anywhere else. And I hope, from the bottom of my heart, that I’m right.

“……”

I was in a place far removed from that village, walking around town by myself, when the memory came back to me.

“Ah, miss! Wanna try some barbecue?”

As I was walking, someone called out to me from a street stall. Behind a forest of blackened meat skewers stood a single old woman, staring right at me, wearing a particularly sanguine grin.

“How ’bout it? Hmm?”

The old woman held a skewer out to me.

Come to think of it, I don’t remember seeing any old women in that village, either.

“What kind of meat is it…?” I asked.

The woman grinned suggestively.

“It’s mutton.”