The Lives of the Witches
This is a story from the year 318 of the calendar, nearly four hundred years before the modern era where Zieg and the others live.
A dense forest stretched on endlessly. This was deep in the mountains of a remote countryside, far removed from the commercial districts of the city center. A vast, untouched forest continued as far as the eye could see, all the way to the distant horizon.
Trees stood in wild profusion, their leaves blocking out the sunlight. It was a dim, damp forest, with green scattered throughout one’s entire field of vision in what could only be described as excessive abundance. The area was filled with such an intensely grassy smell that it would make you choke if you breathed it in—enough to make the nose of anyone unaccustomed to this forest feel like it might bend out of shape.
“Haah…… haah……”
In the midst of this dense forest was a single boy.
Exhausted and out of breath, he walked along the slope. A small child of about ten years old looked around frantically in confusion, wandering unsteadily with a face that looked ready to cry at any moment.
The boy was lost. He was a child living in a village at the foot of the mountain, but while gathering wild vegetables, he had lost track of which direction would take him home. The forest was filled with the green of leaves in every direction. Unless one knew this forest well, there was no way to find landmarks, and there were certainly no maintained paths.
“Uuu……”
The boy let out a small sound, and tears spilled from his eyes. The mountain was vast and deep. The chances of wandering around aimlessly and luckily making it back to his village were low. If he continued to wander lost in the mountains like this, he would grow weak and die. The boy understood this.
It was an era where small mistakes and bad luck led directly to death.
“Gurururu……”
“……!?”
Further misfortune struck the boy. Nearby grass rustled, and the growl of a beast could be heard. The boy trembled in surprise.
“Gururu……”
“…………”
A large beast emerged from the grass. It was a bear.
About two meters in length with thick fur covering its body, supported by thick limbs. The weight of its body left clear footprints in the soil. Even with a weapon, it would be difficult to drive off, and needless to say, a child had no chance of winning.
The boy cowered and trembled. His legs lost their strength, and he fell on his bottom right there. Until just moments ago, he had still had some composure. Getting lost in the mountains was terrifying, but he still had the mental space to think about what he should do.
However, the bear that suddenly appeared robbed him of even that composure. The boy’s situation changed in an instant. He was about to be swallowed up by the terror of the mountain.
“Ururu……”
“Hi…… hiii……!”
The bear approached the boy slowly while letting out low growls. The boy, still sitting on his bottom, tried to retreat, dragging his body that was paralyzed with fear and wouldn’t move.
The bear stood up and looked down at the boy. The beast was excited, its eyes bloodshot. The two-meter giant body cast a shadow over the boy’s body. Before the overwhelmingly large physique—many times his own size—everything went dark before his eyes.
“Gwaaaa……!”
“……!”
The bear roared loudly. The boy squeezed his eyes shut, prepared for death.
At that moment—the sound of a bell rang out.
Clang, a single dignified sound echoed through the forest. Among all the chaotic sounds of the mountain—the sound of branches and leaves swaying in the wind, the fluttering of insect wings—that bell sound rang out with an alien quality, and both the boy and the bear turned toward the sound with a start.
Clang-Clang, the bell continued to ring. Elegant and beautiful, like playing music.
The one ringing that bell was a woman. About sixteen years old, with semi-long chestnut-colored hair and wearing a jet-black robe. She had red eyes and carried a small bag over her shoulder that didn’t look like it could hold much. Dressed in attire unsuited for walking in the mountains, she appeared before the bear and boy with the bell in her hand.
“…………”
“…………”
The boy was dumbfounded, forgetting the situation where his life was about to end just moments ago, and stared at the woman. For some reason, he couldn’t take his eyes off her, but the nearby bear seemed to be the same way—it had abandoned the prey right before it and directed its gaze toward the woman instead.
“…………”
She began to dance gracefully while ringing the bell. When she swayed her body, her chestnut hair and the hem of her black robe spread out softly, and the movement was indescribably beautiful. And while dancing, she stepped between the bear and the boy.
The bell rang. The woman danced. At this bizarre performance taking place in the forest, both the boy and the bear became unable to move.
Then she pulled out a single piece of parchment from the bag on her shoulder. Complex patterns based on circles were drawn on it. The word “magic circle” floated up in the boy’s mind when he saw it.
“Hai……”
She dropped that parchment onto the ground and pressed down on it firmly with her foot. Then the drawn patterns began to emit a pale light.
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Perhaps receiving that light, the bear’s bloodshot eyes softened. Its body, which had been standing on two legs, grew smaller, and the bear put its four legs back on the ground. Its excitement over its prey calmed, and it simply gazed peacefully at the woman’s eyes.
The bear had become docile.
“There, there, good boy, good boy……”
“Kururu……”
She gently stroked the bear’s nose, then lightly tickled under its chin. The bear narrowed its eyes contentedly. She smiled peacefully, and seeing this, the boy was simply dumbfounded.
She had softened the bear’s bloodlust, and gently said:
“Now, go back to your den.”
Then she took out a piece of dried meat from her bag and gave it to the bear. As if understanding her words, the bear nodded slightly, took the meat in its mouth, and turned around.
The bear slowly departed. There was neither fear nor excitement in its retreating figure—it was a resolution completely different from repelling or subjugating.
“Fuu……”
“…………”
The woman in the black robe let out a small sigh. The boy was wrapped in amazement, unable to say a word. She turned toward the boy and smiled lightly.
“Are you a child from the village at the mountain’s foot? Everyone was worried because you hadn’t come back from the mountain, you know?”
“……Ah, yes.”
The boy knew. That black robe appearance, the magic circle written on parchment, the mysterious series of actions that had softened the bear’s bloodlust. Seeing all this, a single word crossed through the boy’s mind.
Witch—. The boy knew that the woman before him was such an existence.
“My name is Aoi. I’ve visited your village many times, but do you know me?”
Saying that, the woman who introduced herself as Aoi took the hand of the boy who was still sitting on his bottom and slowly pulled him up.
The boy’s life had been saved by a single witch.
“Thank you so much! Witch-sama……!”
“To protect our village’s child, we truly are grateful……!”
“Th-that’s such an exaggeration……”
The adults were bowing their heads deeply to the witch who called herself Aoi. They lined up crops harvested from the village before her, showing their gratitude. Receiving this, Aoi was flustered.
This was the village at the foot of the mountain. The boy who had been lost in the mountains was brought by Aoi and had safely returned to the village. It was a remote countryside far from the city center, a village rich in nature.
The witch Aoi had received a request from that village and had been searching for the boy.
“Witch-sama, um, thank you for saving me……!”
The rescued boy approached Aoi and bowed his head. Aoi smiled lightly and patted the boy’s head.
“Next time, don’t go too deep into the mountains, okay? Also, you don’t need to call me ‘-sama.'”
“……Really?”
“Hey, you, that’s not allowed, you know? You must show respect to Witch-sama!”
“Hahaha……”
Scolded by the adult, the boy shrank back, and Aoi could only laugh awkwardly.
“Witch-sama, how were you able to find me?”
“Mm?”
The boy asked a question. The mountain was vast and deep. And the surroundings were enclosed by trees with poor visibility. Finding a single person in all that was extremely difficult.
Yet Aoi had been able to find the boy. The boy found this mysterious.
“That’s because I used a person-finding technique.”
“……A person-finding technique?”
When Aoi said that, the boy tilted his head.
“Yes. In preparation for situations like this, this village preserves cut hair from each person, and if we use that, we witches can tell which direction that person is in.”
“……A-amazing! It’s like magic!”
“No, it IS actual magic, though……”
The boy’s eyes sparkled, and Aoi made a troubled face.
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