The White Witch
My liberation from the confinement that had kept me from taking even a single step outside came around the time I finished reading every last book in the mansion.
Visits from Marina, Lethe, or other witches I knew had helped my mind settle quickly enough. More than anything, they seemed worried about locking me away somewhere without books. As if I were some kind of strange phenomenon.
Anyway, once I was free again, they held a witches' gathering to welcome me back. Maybe it was because of the fame I'd built as the White Witch. All I wanted was to eat quietly, yet the witches kept pestering me with conversation.
Still, I couldn't treat people who liked me too roughly. I returned every greeting, traded talk of magic, and gave half-hearted answers whenever they asked about Arthur for some reason. Before I knew it, the gathering was over.
Right. Showing my face to the witches this much was enough. With no lingering regrets, I went to see Lethe the very next day.
"Well then, I'll be heading out."
"You could stay a little longer and take it easy, you know."
"That wouldn't be so bad, but I'm about to run out of books to read."
"You really are a troublesome witch."
Perhaps because I'd already told her my plan to leave the Land of Witches and build a library, she looked a little sad at my departure—but she neither stopped me nor tried to hold me back. I'd have to send her letters now and then whenever I thought of her.
I returned to my room, packed a few things, and left the mansion. For some reason, Marina was standing right in front of the gate. Had she been waiting for me to come out? Glad to see her, I walked over.
"Marina. Did you come out to say goodbye?"
"Hmph. I just happen to be heading back to my Magic Tower too. I was only going to suggest we travel together part of the way."
"Huh? Isn't your Magic Tower in the opposite direction from where I'm going?"
"...How do you even know where my Magic Tower is?"
"Lady Lethe told me."
"Kgh...! That old hag!"
Her lie had been caught in an instant, and shame must have surged through her. Marina's face flushed bright red as she looked away.
Honestly. She could just admit she was worried. People who couldn't be honest were exhausting. When I smiled fondly at her, she glared at me fiercely.
"I was just going to check where your library was going to be and leave! Why would I worry about a monster like you?! Seriously! Don't you dare get the wrong idea!"
"Sure, sure. I get it. Shall we go, then? Ah, I'm glad to have someone to talk to."
I pushed Marina's shoulders from behind as she squirmed with embarrassment, and we set off on the road together. Both of us had carefully covered our faces, so luckily no one recognized us.
After leaving the cities and villages behind, we rode Marina's familiar and flew through the sky. She was the Red Flame Witch, with dual attributes of fire and wind. Her familiar was a phoenix to match.
"What kind of person decides to build a library in a forbidden land crawling with monsters? At first I thought you were joking."
"Even a forbidden land is safer than the northern snow mountains. And I don't have to worry about thieves breaking in when I'm away!"
"Well, worrying about you is pretty much the most pointless thing in the world."
After flying for quite a while on the phoenix, we arrived at our destination: a forbidden land at the far eastern edge of the continent.
The scenery was fantastical and beautiful, yet it was a danger zone packed with every kind of perilous monster, a place where no human ever set foot.
My library wasn't meant to receive guests anyway. Choosing this place was a way to keep visitors to a minimum.
Once we found a good spot for the library while roaming the forbidden land, Marina spun around as if that was enough.
"I've memorized the location. I'll drop by now and then."
"Okay. Let me know ahead of time when you visit. I'll need to prepare a welcome."
"...Hmph."
Looking prim, Marina left with her ears red—clearly pleased deep down. Even if she didn't show it, she liked flowers. I should prepare some flower-shaped cookies in advance.
My warm-hearted friend left the forbidden land, and at last I was alone. When I took a deep breath, I could smell grass and earth. If I listened carefully, I heard insects chirping and the soft rustle of grass moving.
How long had it been since I'd returned to a forest? Memories of Hesty rose unbidden in my mind, but my chest no longer felt tight and restless the way it once had.
"All right! Then first... shall we put up a building!"
I fired myself up, but unfortunately none of the star magic I'd created included anything for making buildings. To erect one on an empty plain, I had to rely on basic magic.
But who was I? The strongest witch, acknowledged by all. With my overwhelming mana reserves and skill, building a structure was nothing.
After roughly four straight days without sleep, using magic the whole time, I finished a fairly respectable building. Thanks to the materials from the forbidden land, it didn't look like it would collapse even in an earthquake.
"So sleepy..."
But using up my mana, focus, and stamina to create a building that wouldn't fall for decades left me exhausted. By the time I finished, I was so drowsy my head was nodding back and forth.
Eyes closed, I chewed on a sandwich I'd brought along to fill my stomach, then curled up on the library floor with a book for a pillow and took a nap.
When I opened my eyes again, it was a pitch-dark night. I flicked my fingers to check the time—just before midnight, right as the day was about to turn. The perfect hour for star magic.
"Haaah... Then the rest of the work..."
I stretched lightly to shake off the sleep, floated starlight around me for illumination, and stood in the center of the library with my hands together. Then I released about half of my total mana and cast star magic upon the entire library.
"Expansio."
⟨ Space Expansion ⟩
A spell that expanded space, based on the property that no matter how far you walked, the positions of the stars in the sky never changed. Mana so powerful it made my hair rise skyward enveloped the empty library and forcibly stretched the interior space.
Normally the walls and ceiling would have been torn to shreds, yet the space warped by magic held its form as if it had always been that way.
After checking that the spell was firmly established, I linked the magic's core to the powerful ley line flowing through the forbidden land. This way, even without me, the space-expansion magic would last forever—so long as the ley line itself didn't collapse.
Next is the interior.
I pressed my index and middle fingers together and lightly sliced the air. Empty space fluttered open, revealing a dark void beyond. This was a spell that opened and closed space—in simple terms, a subspace.
My usual subspace held all sorts of things. Months' worth of water and food, books I'd diligently collected while traveling the north, gifts from other witches.
Especially all the furniture for the library I was building now. If I'd tried to carry all of it myself, even the phoenix wouldn't have flown us here. I pulled the furniture out of the subspace and stacked it neatly inside the library.
Bit by bit, the merely vast space transformed into a proper library. Now if I carefully shelved all the books I'd collected...
"Done. Library complete!"
Building the structure had taken four days, and furnishing the interior half a day. In a mere five days, a massive library housing hundreds of books had appeared in the empty forbidden land.
One problem remained: it was larger than expected and would be hard to manage. Making everything on a single level would have been boring, so I'd deliberately designed it with floors going underground. Just thinking about climbing up and down to take care of the place already made me tired.
"...Come to think of it, Marina has a familiar."
A familiar was a contracted magical servant that any witch worth her salt kept around. I'd simply never used one before.
I hadn't been lonely on my own, I could handle most things myself, and Hesty had never kept a familiar either.
But from now on I would be settling here for good. Having a helper to take care of the tedious chores would make things easier. I found a book on familiar magic, read through it, and mastered the spell in no time.
Ideally something that could talk, was obedient, didn't smell, and wasn't unpleasant to look at. After leaving the library and taking a leisurely stroll through the forbidden land, I found a candidate that met every condition.
A pitch-black lump wriggling in the shade near a beautiful lake. When I pinched it between my fingers and lifted it, it turned out to be a shadow spirit—so rare they were hard to encounter.
"W-why are you doing this, Witch...? I only came to drink some lake water..."
"You're a spirit, right? Dark-attribute would be convenient. You're going to be my familiar."
"W-what?! No, what are you even—"
"Spirits love rare mana, don't they? I'll feed you mine. How about it? This is special. Star mana that only I in the whole world possess. Don't you want a taste?"
"Gulp... S-star mana...? Don't tell me—you're that White Witch who defeated the Calamity Dragon?!"
Huh. Even a spirit living in a forbidden land far from human civilization knew who I was. I really was famous.
With no reason to deny it, I nodded. The trembling shadow spirit began to shake even harder, this time with excitement.
"I'll do it! Please let me be your familiar! I'll do anything!"
"What's this? Why the sudden flip..."
"Because being the White Witch's familiar would be incredible! It's bound to be a glorious position recorded forever in history!"
"Uh, well... You're a bit too honest about your desires. Got any friends like you nearby?"
"W-why?! I may not look like much, but I'm a pretty useful spirit! I can bind an enemy's feet with shadows, and at night I grow bigger so I can even fight a dragon!"
"Just because. When someone volunteers this eagerly, I stop wanting to pick them."
It was always best to avoid the ones who raised their hands first and shouted that they wanted the job. Suddenly I felt like looking for someone else.
Still, looking closely, its potential was high and its motivation strong. No real reason to force a rejection. Besides, familiars were all pretty much the same anyway.
After a brief moment of thought, I ended up bringing the shadow spirit back to the library and forming the familiar contract. Party A, Liber, would become the master who issued commands, and in return would provide star mana to Party B, the shadow spirit.
Just as we were about to seal the contract that would make the shadow spirit my proper familiar, I suddenly remembered I'd forgotten to ask its name.
"Right, do you have a name or anything?"
"I don't! Spirits don't really need names to tell each other apart."
"Hmm... Then I'll just make one up for you."
"Ooooh! What an honor!"
I studied the shadow spirit carefully. A black cotton-ball of a form. When I touched it, it was surprisingly soft and fluffy. In that case, the first word that came to mind would do.
"Kkamangi."
"...?"
"Oh, not good? Uh... You're all fluffy, so Bokseori..."
"Your naming sense is... extremely straightforward, Witch."
"Sorry. I've never been good at naming things."
My naming skills had always been a point of criticism. Even in my previous life I'd been terrible at attaching names to anything.
Even Hesty, who usually liked whatever I did, would make a troubled face whenever I confidently announced a name I'd come up with.
Then maybe borrowing one instead of inventing would be better. As I thought it over, the spirit's shape suddenly looked like a cat curled up on itself.
"How about Cheshire?"
"Cheshire? What does that mean?"
"It's the name of a famous cat from a fairy tale."
"That's... not bad! I like cats too!"
Fortunately this suggestion was well received. The sound was fine and it didn't mean anything ridiculous. It seemed to have no complaints.
Then we'd form the contract starting today. I completed the contract magic and passed mana to the spirit. Cheshire greedily swallowed it down, hopping with joy. Must have tasted good.
"Looking forward to working with you, Cheshire."
"Yes! Witch!"
Once I finished teaching it everything, I could dump all the chores on it and spend every day reading books.
I was already basking in the pleasant mood of that satisfying future, but by an unfortunate coincidence, that peace did not last long.
Exactly one year later, an absurd crisis came for me.
"There's... no more books to read!"
It was a despairing situation I had never once felt even when facing any enemy.