The White Witch
…And so Arthur set out for the northern reaches of the continent in search of High Elbern, the divine relic capable of lifting the earth itself. The Frost Giant who had stolen High Elbern made his lair in the Boreas Mountains, where the blizzards never cease. Arthur meant to face the giant with courage, yet he was swallowed by a storm that consumed all things. In that moment of absolute peril, the White Witch Liber descended from the heavens clad in a winged garment, and only then did Arthur keep his life. Even the blizzard itself dared not assail her. While the rest of the company stood mute before such mystery, Arthur raised his voice.
“O White Witch! Lend us that great power of yours, that we may accomplish the feat of saving the world!”
“I refuse. I, too, have a destiny I must fulfill.”
“Aid us in our great work, and we shall grant you use of the Mandala that revealed High Elbern’s resting place!”
“You would let me use the Mandala that knows the answer to all things?”
No treasure of gold or silver could have turned Liber’s heart. Yet she who wandered in search of one she held dear accepted Arthur’s offer. With Liber—untouched by snow—as their companion, Arthur bravely struck down the Frost Giant and reclaimed High Elbern. Having confirmed her master’s safety through the Mandala that was the price of their pact, Liber was so moved by Arthur’s destiny to save the world that she volunteered herself as his comrade.
Armed with High Elbern, Arthur received a prophecy that he must open the gates of the underworld, and there he obtained another blade—the Sword of the Dead. It was the sole means of vanquishing that great evil which even death itself fears: the Black Dragon. Thus began the irreversible war against the wickedness that would drive the world to ruin.
At the farthest edge of the northern continent, where not a single blade of grass grew and blizzards raged without rest day and night, lay a land of perpetual frost. I sat crouched with my knees drawn up, staring out over a landscape that was no longer even land—only a black sea and frozen glaciers stretching on forever.
Ten years had passed since I left Lethe’s side the moment I came of age and could stand on my own. All sorts of things had happened in that time, and yet somehow I had ended up here. Beyond this point lay only the frozen sea, a place past the realm of men. Was there any hope of finding Hesty out there, where no village or city existed?
Snow had piled on my head from how long I had sat motionless, staring blankly ahead. At last I muttered, voice thin and listless:
“…I’m done.”
It was too much. I had searched with everything I had, desperate to reunite with Hesty somehow, but body and heart were both completely worn out. I was sorry to her—truly—but after ten whole years of refusing to give up, of using every means I could think of, I had done my absolute best.
Even after making up my mind, though, I could not easily rise. A lingering attachment whispered that if I just tried a little harder, I might still find her. Somehow I forced myself to my feet anyway, turned my back on that endless white, and quietly left the north without stopping at a single village or town.
On unsteady, wavering legs I arrived at the Land of Witches. The moment I found Lethe I buried my face straight into her waist. Startled by my sudden appearance, she quickly grasped the situation and patted my back with a gentle hand, her voice kind.
“I thought to myself how long it had been since you last came home…. You’re heavy, you little rascal.”
“…Just let me stay like this a little longer.”
“You’re twenty-five now, aren’t you? Old enough to have a child of your own, and still clinging like this…. That one would be jealous, you know.”
“That master of mine can be a little jealous. It’s too much. Hiding away for ten whole years. Do you know how hard I looked for her?”
According to the Mandala—the mirror I had borrowed from Charon—Hesty was alive and well. Not only that, her location was nowhere other than the north. So why had she never once shown herself? Had she grown tired of looking at me…? She always called me her precious disciple, but maybe she had simply gotten sick of me constantly demanding books.
Ten years of accumulated bitterness nearly brought tears to my eyes. Without warning, Lethe rapped her knuckles lightly against the crown of my head. The unexpected sting made tears of an entirely different sort well up.
“Ow…. Wh-what was that for! That hurt!”
“I hit you because I meant it to hurt. Liber. When was the last time you read a book?”
“…I don’t really remember. Roughly half a year ago, maybe…?”
“A girl who loves books as much as you do, going half a year without reading? Tsk tsk. No wonder your head’s in such a state.”
Come to think of it, I had been so tired lately that I used every spare minute for sleep instead of reading. I used to make sure I finished at least one book a month. Somewhere along the way I had completely forgotten even that.
I froze at the shocking realization. Lethe stroked my hair with gentle strokes and spoke in a soft, warm voice.
“Not finding Hesty was never your fault. So stop blaming yourself. Rest for a while and read some books.”
“Even if you say it’s not my fault….”
“Quiet. You are not to leave your room for the time being. I shall send meals in regularly. You will concentrate solely on recovering.”
I was suddenly under house arrest and thoroughly flustered, but she had not been speaking lightly. As if she had prepared everything in advance, she packed me into a large room together with an enormous pile of books.
If you leave without permission, I will break your legs. The threat was one hundred percent sincere no matter how you looked at it, so I had no choice but to obey quietly.
To think that someone the world called a hero was reduced to this…. Lying limply on the bed, I sighed and pulled one of the mountain of books toward me. The moment I looked at it, I blinked in surprise.
“Huh. This is… a book I made with magic.”
The vaguely familiar volume was one I myself had created through magic. Someone must have filled the blank pages I left behind during my previous stay here. When I opened it, my eyes went round again—novels were rather rare in this world, and this one was genuinely interesting. Forgetting my complaints about being locked up, I sank straight into the book.
I must have been more mentally exhausted than I realized. The first book I had touched in half a year was impossible to put down. Right there on the spot I lost all sense of time, finishing one volume and immediately starting the next, then the next, then the next again.
By the time I had worked through roughly half the mountain, my reason finally snapped back as if waking from a trance. I looked around in a panic at the wreckage of the room.
My throat’s dry, I’m starving…. How much time has even passed?
I raised a finger and cast a simple spell to check the date and hour. Three full days had gone by since I first opened that book.
So… I hadn’t eaten, hadn’t slept, hadn’t even gone to the bathroom. I had just sat there reading for three straight days? Of course I was hungry….
Fortunately my body had long since left ordinary human limits behind for various reasons. I could go two weeks without food and survive a full hour without breathing. That was why three days of fasting never even registered as danger. Come to think of it, Arthur and I had argued about this exact thing more than once.
The sudden memory made me snort with laughter. Only then did I notice the tray of food waiting by the door. When had she even put that there?
“Oh. This is the one I taught them too….”
Looking carefully at the tray, I found a familiar shape of bread—the recipe I had taught the cook while staying at Lethe’s mansion, a kind that did not exist in this era. I crouched in front of it and brought the bread to my mouth. Soft and sweet as it was, my throat still tightened. I thought I understood, faintly, why Lethe had given me the books I made and the bread I invented.
If you want, you may stay here as long as you like. That was what she was trying to say. For such an old grandmother she sure was overflowing with affection. I swallowed the bread, hugged a pillow to my chest, and slumped face-down over the desk.
I’m exhausted. Just a little nap….
I knew sleeping right after eating was bad for the body, but stuck inside a room I couldn’t leave, what else was I supposed to do? I buried my face in the pillow and let my eyes drift shut.
Just as I was about to sink into a perfectly pleasant sleep, someone pounded roughly on the door—bang bang bang.
“Hwaaah! Uweh…? What….”
No one had mentioned visitors. Hovering right on the edge of sleep, I opened the door in a half-dreaming daze.
“Ah! Finally you’re out! You—you! Do you have any idea how many times I’ve come looking for you?! I heard you’d come back here so I went out of my way to visit, and—!”
Standing beyond the door was a beauty with pink hair braided up high. Her sharp eyes blazed with anger, yet even that anger carried a fierce sort of charm.
Wait, why is she here? Hadn’t she built some kind of Magic Tower down in the southern continent? Half my consciousness still tangled in sleep, I blinked and mumbled:
“Is that really Marina…?”
“What’s with that dumb look? Were you sleeping just now? Still as lazy as ever, Cotton Candy.”
“Weird. This is a mansion. Why would a wild beast come all the way down here?”
“Who are you calling a wild boar?! You wanna die?!”
Marina was a witch the same age as me. More precisely, she was the disciple of Hilda, the famous rival of Hesty. So… from my perspective, the disciple of my master’s friend. Of course by now none of that mattered; she was simply a personal friend.
She insisted on calling me her rival all on her own, but I had never once lost to her. Our levels were too different for that word to fit.
“If anything, more like a stepping stone or a sacrificial—”
“You…! What did you just say!”
“Ah, sorry. I was so sleepy I must’ve let go of the brakes on my brain.”
“If you’re that sleepy, want me to put you to sleep forever? Hmm?!”
Marina twisted her face into a terrifying scowl and shoved it right up to my nose. Ah, she smelled nice. Marina always carried the scent of flowers. Teasing her this much was probably enough; I couldn’t leave her standing in the hallway forever. I led her inside.
She took one look around the room, then scrunched her brows as if she had just witnessed something unspeakable and started scolding me.
“Do you even understand the concept of cleaning?! How many books did you stack in here?! You can barely walk!”
“I was going to tidy up after a nap.”
“And you piled them on the bed too—what is wrong with you…!”
“My bed for today is the desk. Look, I even put a pillow there.”
“Clear the books off the actual bed!”
Looking thoroughly appalled, Marina began gathering the books scattered across the floor, muttering about how horrible it was. Her words and attitude might be harsh, but she was the type who could never leave trash lying around or ignore someone in trouble. It was impossible to hate her.
I sat there grinning as she grumbled and cleaned. She snapped at me to stop staring and help already. Once we sorted everything into books I’d finished, books I hadn’t touched, and books I wanted to reread, the room looked reasonably orderly. There were several dozen volumes in each pile.
Back when I stayed at Lethe’s mansion I could create about one book a day, so roughly half of everything I had ever made must be sitting here.
“Ooh, much better. Thanks for the help, Marina.”
“Hmph. I just interfered because it was getting on my nerves.”
I had been sleepy a moment ago, but moving around to organize the books had woken me right back up. I would sleep after she left.
Sitting across from her, I swept my hand through the air, produced one of the fruits I kept stored, and held it out while asking:
“So, what brings you here? Lethe told me not to leave the room.”
“…Fine. No need to beat around the bush. I’ll get straight to the point. Did you really give up on finding Lady Hesty?”
How did she know that? The only person I had told about quitting was Lethe, and she was not the type to spread my business around. Maybe word that I had returned to the mansion had simply gotten out. It wasn’t something I was trying to hide. I nodded.
Aside from the occasional times Arthur asked for help and I left the north for a while, I had spent nearly ten years searching for Hesty up there. Even with a clear lead from the Mandala—the mirror that answered every question—I still could not find her. That meant one of two things: either Hesty was somewhere ordinary methods could never reach, or she was deliberately avoiding me. Neither possibility felt good.
“Yeah. For the time being…. I’m thinking of resting here. I got pretty worn out without even noticing.”
“…Good. You made the right choice. I’m not going to criticize you for looking for Lady Hesty. But watching from the side, you looked ready to collapse at any second. She wouldn’t want you to push yourself until you fall either.”
“Thanks. Honestly, you’re the only one who ever worries about me, Marina.”
“Ha?! Wh-what…! No I’m not! I just hated watching my rival limp around and then lose to some worthless nobody! Why would I worry about a weird-headed book idiot like y-you….”
“I seeee. Being worried about this much by a friend makes me really happy.”
“Listen to what I’m actually saying! Want me to yank out every last strand of that cotton-candy hair of yours?!”
Oh right—now I suddenly wanted cotton candy. There was definitely a cotton-candy machine I had built somewhere in this mansion….
I smiled contentedly at Marina’s words that kept making it impossible to stay depressed, and while I was thinking such useless thoughts she managed to settle down a little. She let out a long sigh and asked:
“So. Have you thought about what you’re going to do with yourself from now on?”
“Hmm, well…. Ah, I know. I’ve collected a lot of books while traveling. Maybe I should take this chance and build a library.”
The idea had just popped into my head and I muttered it out loud. Marina’s face said of course you would. What was wrong with a library? I did not care for that reaction one bit.