“Is that so?” You’re acting pretty strange now, too, but… I did her the favor of not saying that. “What happened after I left?”
“Everyone left. Weirdly enough, everyone’s love of cats just kind of evaporated after the Divine Cat was kidnapped, you know. There were even some people who came out wondering whether their souls might have been manipulated by the cat with two tails.”
Which means…
“So now that country doesn’t exist anymore?”
She shook her head slowly at my inquiry. “No. There were plenty of cat lovers and people who truly didn’t have any other place to live, and they’ve got things working again now. I’ve even heard they’re marketing themselves as a country where you can live together with cats, and the tourist traffic is gradually picking up again.”
“So you decided to imitate that country, and now this place is like that, too?”
“……They were cute, so I brought several cats back with me. But the villagers were extremely taken with their cuteness…”
“Enough to affect their sense of reason, huh?”
“Seriously…” And then, after a brief silence, Lucie clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Oh, wait here for a minute, Elaina.”
“Huh? Oh, sure.”
She dashed off in a hurry and went into a house somewhere. Not even a minute passed before she came back out, carefully carrying a wooden box in both hands.
“Elaina! Look at this; look!”
With extreme excitement, she tilted it toward me.
When I peered inside, I saw several cats. A mother cat with pure-white fur. Three kittens with mixed black-and-white fur. And one kitten that was jet-black.
……
“Not even a month has passed since these darlings were born. Aren’t they so cute?”
Most of the cats in the box looked at me for just a moment, as if they were annoyed with the disturbance, and went back to sleep right away. But one was very lively, much more than the others.
It was the kitten with blue eyes and black fur that looked like it would be nice to hold. It got up and stretched its legs, trying to get out of the box.
“This one is very lively, isn’t it?”
I praised it half-heartedly, and Lucie smiled, looking very happy. “Right? Would you like to pet it?”
“No, I’m fine.” It’s not in my nature, you see. “Have you given them names?”
“The kittens don’t have names yet. That’s why I’d like you to name them, Elaina.”
“……” I stared at the newborn black cat. “I’ll do it, but I’ll only name one.”
“Which one?”
“This one.”
The black cat cried, “Meow.”
“Its name will be—”
Then I told her the perfect name for the black cat in front of me.
It was completely unremarkable, a common name, and yet very lovely.
EPILOGUE
Clouds floated across the boundless blue sky, casting shadows onto the plains below.
There was one patch of land that was the most ideal temperature, shielding exposure from the direct sun, where a single tree stood beneath the clouds, top swaying in the cool air.
The leaves stirred in the breeze, rustling before taking flight from the single tree on the plain and drifting through the air. Spinning around as if dancing, the leaves whirled around a certain witch before finally scattering.
“…Hmm.”
After lightly touching her cheek where the leaves had caressed her, that witch looked up at the tree.
Her long, sleek ashen hair swayed in the breeze as she soared on her broom. This young woman was a witch and a traveler. She was clad in a black robe and a pointy hat, and upon her breast was a star-shaped brooch that served as proof of her witchhood.
She tilted her head quizzically as she gazed up at the tree.
“…Hmm?”
She had a memory of this tree, standing with an air of composure, surrounded by small grasses and flowers. Landing her broom beneath its branches, she recalled when and where she had seen it before.
“This is where I took shelter from the rain.”
She remembered this view. It had rained in the middle of her travels, so she had settled down on this spot for a short while.
Somehow or other, it seemed she had returned.
Recalling the scenery as it had appeared the last time, the witch let her mouth form a little smile.
And then, perched atop her broom, she gently rose into the sky. Before her stretched an expanse of pale greens and deep blues.
It was beautiful.
It was ordinary scenery, the kind that was common anywhere.
But it was enchanting.
“……”
But the witch did not stop like last time. This time, it wasn’t raining. She had no reason to linger.
As a witch and as a traveler, she delighted in traversing this beautiful landscape more than simply gazing at it.
She walked around beneath the tree, thinking about where she should head next. But that quickly grew tiresome, and she left to return to the sunshine.
The plants below her glittered, swaying in the sunlight, as if to greet the traveling witch.
The wind blew tenderly, as if to caress her.
The ordinary landscape kindly greeted the witch, as always—as if inviting her to the places she had not yet seen in the wide world.
“…I wonder what kind of place the next country will be,” she mumbled to no one in particular.
She didn’t know the answer, but she was eager to find out.
With a heart jumping from excitement, the witch continued her journey.
Who was she?
She was me.
Afterword
Nice to meet you. Or maybe I should say, “Good to see you again.” My name is Jougi Shiraishi.
Recently, I’ve become a full-fledged member of society. When I was small, I pictured all grown adults as perfect human beings. But, well, when I tried to become a cog in the wheel of society, even though it was awash in amazing people, I myself was unable to become one of them. People don’t always go through a dramatic personal change just by experiencing a shift of circumstances, and now I earnestly think that I will remain who I am, even as an adult—at least, until I have a change of heart.
Speaking of which (?), thank you for purchasing Volume 2 of Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina.
Just as in Volume 1, she went around meeting people, weaving stories with them before parting ways…but if that’s all there ever is to the plot, it wouldn’t be very interesting! I was worried that might be the case, so I decided to change the plan for Volume 2. And since Elaina is constantly flying through forests, I decided to give it more of a seasonal touch. As a result, poor Elaina endured traveling through both snow country and the desert in a single volume.
Also, when I showed my manuscript to my editor, it turned out to be packed with dark stories. It could have been because I was writing this volume right around when I was preparing for my first year as a full-fledged member of society, or maybe because my apprehensions about this new lifestyle were on the rise. Or it could have been because I had reached the peak of my dissatisfaction with the world at large.
And because my manuscript was overly dark, my editor expressed concern for me: “Jougi, have you fallen to the dark side? Are you all right?”
I’m all right. I’m feeling very well, in fact. By the way, the story that was too dark was revised to be a tiny bit milder, and I meant for it to be included as one of the chapters in this book, but then it was cast down into hell (meaning it was rejected).
Now then, on to the acknowledgments.
To my editor, M. Thank you for saving me before I descended into the dark side. May the force be with you.
To Azure, thank you for continuing to draw adorable images and characters as you did for Volume 1… Princess Chocolat’s cuteness is especially dangerous. Like I almost fell in love. But she’s
gay. Tough luck for me.
Finally, to everyone who had a part in the publication of this book, and to all the readers who have been kind enough to read all the way to the end of this empty afterword, thank you all very much.
…I’ve got a few lines left over, so I’ll give you some spoilers for the next volume (assuming it gets printed).
Some guy named Jougi Shiraishi from the present day is reborn in another world. However, he is neither gifted with convenient special abilities nor surrounded by beautiful women. Since he had only lived in modern civilization, he has no specialized knowledge, and no one else speaks his language anyway. For all these reasons, he starves to death in a matter of days. I’ll depict a course of events along those lines. Of course, the essential parts of a person don’t change just because their environment shifts. I’m planning to make that the punch line.
That’s a lie, of course. Well then, if there’s another volume, I’ll see you there!
Thank you for buying this ebook, published by Yen On.
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Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina, Vol. 2 Page 20