“Really? I’ll try it right away.”
“Is that so? Well, the fee for the sign and the fee for the consultation come to three gold pieces all together.”
“Are you giving me three signs?”
“The price is for one, obviously. Something wrong with your head?”
The coins in my wallet multiplied once again.
I sold my handwritten sign to the woman from the bread shop, who had come to me after hearing rumors about my services, and with that my work was over for the day. A joyful jingling noise was coming from my very heavy wallet.
Well then, time to return to my pitiful lodgings. I stood up, stretched a bit, and collected my belongings.
“You there!”
Suddenly, someone grabbed my shoulders from behind, and I turned around in surprise. Standing there was a soldier.
Several soldiers, in fact. There were about ten of them, all dressed alike, and they slowly fanned out to surround me. Each one was holding a spear, and they had guns slung across their backs. They didn’t really seem to belong here.
“You’re the fortune-teller, right?” the man standing directly in front of me demanded.
“No, you’re mistaken.”
“Don’t lie. We’ve been watching you interact with customers.”
“……”
Sweat broke out on my cheeks.
Crap. Crap, crap, crap.
What do I do? Someone must have made a complaint about me running a scam—but it’s not like I really cheated anybody. Ahhh, what do I do now…? I can’t run; they’ve got me surrounded. I could use magic to escape, but I don’t want to make enemies of an entire country…
“Come with me,” the man in front of me said dispassionately. “The king wants to meet you.”
I couldn’t believe my ears—but I’m sure that’s no surprise.
The circle of men around me brought me through their bland city and arrived at a very bland palace. Save for the ludicrous prices, there was really nothing interesting about this country at all.
On a raised dais where two staircases met in the most spacious room in the palace, a young man sat on an expensive-looking chair between two thrones.
From his seat, the young king looked down at me and spoke. “So you are the traveling fortune-teller, hmm? You’re quite young.”
“You are quite young yourself, Your Majesty. I thought you would be more advanced in years.” The soldiers glared at me coldly, but I hadn’t meant to be snarky. I really was expecting someone older.
The king addressed the soldiers. “You can all go. Leave us,” he said, brushing them away with his hand. The soldiers withdrew, leaving only the two of us in the spacious chamber, and the king spoke again. “I’ve heard rumors that you can actually predict the future. Is that true?”
“Yes, well…it’s more accurate to say that I help the future along.”
“And do your abilities only work on humans?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m asking if it might work on a broader scale as well.” His voice was quite calm. I couldn’t get a read on what he was thinking at all.
Does he believe in my abilities? Or does he doubt them? Or did he see through my lies?
I skirted the question. “What kind of future do you want to know about?”
“The future of this country,” the young king replied.
“The future of the country… Huh.” As I was nodding obediently, I thought, That’s it? You didn’t need to be a fortune-teller to predict the future of this country. It was simple.
Oh well, I’m not really a fortune-teller anyway.
“Before I answer your question, there is one thing I would like to ask you, Your Majesty.”
“What is it?”
“Please tell me your reasons for putting counterfeit money into your country’s economy.”
He knit his eyebrows and let out a sigh. “That’s nonsense.”
“What, it’s all real money?” I thought of the coins straining my wallet. If all of them are real, I’m outrageously rich! Yay!
“…Yes. I put real, authentic currency into circulation—though it wasn’t my idea.”
“Did someone tell you to?”
The young king nodded. “There’s someone who was very close to the previous king. Since I’ve only just ascended to the throne, I am entrusting all matters of economic policy to him. His plan was to stimulate our economy by circulating the newly minted currency, but it hasn’t been going so well.”
“……”
That doesn’t seem like the issue here, but…
“After the sudden increase in coinage, word spread that the new money was counterfeit, but that is complete nonsense.”
“…Is there no chance that this close adviser has been telling you lies?”
“No chance at all. I secretly summoned several experts to the palace and had them investigate the matter, but the newly minted coins are without a doubt the real thing. The rumor about counterfeit money is false,” the young king said, then stood up.
He slowly descended the stairs from the dais and approached me.
“My adviser has really done well for this country. In fact, I think he ought to be king instead of me, though the hereditary nature of our monarchy makes that impossible. In addition to advancing government policies, he is always by my side to advise me. If he weren’t here, I would have lost my crown already, I’m sure.”
“……”
Coming to a stop directly in front of me, the king wore a pained expression. “But this time, I’m beginning to wonder. I don’t think he is guiding us to future prosperity. I don’t want to doubt him, but the current state of our economy is not good. These baseless rumors about false currency are running rampant, and now that prices are rising, travelers are staying away. Trade isn’t going well, either.”
After hearing his troubles, I could think of only one thing. He wants me to reassure him. He wanted someone to tell him the future of the country would be peaceful, that the adviser he trusted wasn’t lying to him, and put his fears to rest.
He seems like a very straightforward person. No, it’s probably more accurate to say that he’s honest to the point of tactlessness.
“And that’s why I want you to predict the future of this country. Can you do it?” he asked.
Of course, my answer was already decided.
“I can.” I nodded, and the young king’s eyes sparkled.
“Oh, really?!” He reached for my hand in his enthusiasm, so I pulled my hand in and took a step backward.
“Yes, I never lie,” I said. Is this what people are talking about when they say lying is as easy as breathing for some people? “However, before I predict the future of your country, I have some conditions.”
“Name them.”
I put up my index finger. “First of all, allow me to stay here for one night. Fortune-telling for a whole country is a demanding job. Plus, it’s necessary for me to understand the whole country from the palace that stands at its center.”
“Okay. Understood. I’ll arrange for it at once.” The young king nodded enthusiastically.
I put up the next finger. The first condition had just been a freebie. It wouldn’t be wrong to say it was a preparatory step to assist in my actual plan. The next condition was the important one.
“And secondly…”
After that, I went to the room provided by the young king, lay down on a soft, fluffy bed for the first time in a long while, and reviewed my strategy. I had to wait until it was time to act.
When the sun outside my window had completely set and the sky had been painted in darkness, I opened my eyes.
It’s finally time.
I took out my wand and placed the tip against my head. “Ey.”
With a little poof! I became a small mouse.
I had cast a spell on myself to change shape. I was tired, so I didn’t really want to do it, but there was no way around it. My transformation let me move about with e
ase as I ran toward my goal, recalling the map I had asked the young king to show me earlier.
Since there was a possibility I would meet a violent end if I went down the wrong corridor, I chose to move through the attic instead of the dazzling palace interior. I pitter-pattered along the dusty floorboards until I arrived directly above the room of the king’s adviser.
Peering down through a crack in the ceiling, I could see a middle-aged man with his elbows propped up on a writing desk. A single soldier was standing at attention across from him, wearing the same uniform as the ones from that afternoon.
I could guess from the tension in the air that this wasn’t a friendly chat.
“Well, how about it, Father?” the young man said.
“How about what?” The older man scratched his head. “The plan is proceeding well. Before long, it will be time to oust that king, I think.”
“And when will that be? You’ve been saying ‘before long’ for a good while now.” The young man’s voice was strained with frustration.
Wait a second—I’ve heard that voice somewhere before. My tiny mouse brain tried to remember, and one person came to mind who bore a close resemblance.
I think the young man speaking with the older man is the soldier who seized me by the shoulder this afternoon. If I’m not mistaken…
“The king summoned a traveling fortune-teller to the palace, and I’m sure he asked her about the future of our country. It’s likely that our plan is now known to the king.”
The older man smiled. “That boy is utterly devoted to me; I doubt he would do such a thing. He probably just had her predict his luck for tomorrow.”
“……”
“Besides, that traveling fortune-teller is suspicious, too. She’s probably a petty con artist.”
Ack.
“…The fortune-teller is just a young girl.”
“Looks can be deceiving.”
Yes, you’re exactly right. I’m not simply a young girl, you know; I’m a witch.
Perhaps tiring of the conversation, the young man sighed heavily. “Anyway, keep your promise,” he said.
“Yes, I intend to, so you carry out your part of this, too. Your actions are critical to my plan, after all.”
“…I understand.”
The young man was about to leave the room when it happened.
The ceiling creaked, then broke open with a loud crack and crunch, and a witch with ashen hair and a wand in her hand tumbled down into the room.
I wonder who that could be?
If you guessed me, you are correct.
“…Hah, hah, whew…”
Ahhh, I must look so uncool.
My spell had worn off halfway through my mission. I should be more careful about attempting unfamiliar spells.
Apparently, the ceiling was just right for a mouse to peer through a crack to look below, but not a whole human body. It broke the moment I returned to my normal shape.
Maybe it was rotten with age? Certainly not because I’m heavy…probably.
“Wh-who’s that?!”
When I stood up, brushing off dust, I found that the older man had a gun trained on me. It must have been concealed in his desk.
Well, he’s prepared.
I waved my wand. Instantly, a bouquet of flowers blossomed from the gun’s muzzle. It was a beautiful arrangement, if I do say so myself.
“Why, you—! Th-this is…”
In my admiration for the flowers, I had forgotten all about the fact that there was another person behind me. But turning around would have been too much work. Tonk. I tapped the floor with my wand and gave orders to the scattered fragments of wood from the ceiling.
The fragments suddenly sprouted green vines of ivy that flew toward the two men and captured them.
“You’re the king’s adviser, right?” I stared at the older man, whose hands and feet were now bound.
He glared at me with confusion and hatred. “Who are you?”
“Father, this is the traveling fortune-teller,” the younger man shouted from behind me.
I nodded calmly. “He’s right. Traveling fortune-teller, at your service.”
The older man wriggled his body like a caterpillar, completely immobile. “…What do you want with me?”
“Come now, don’t you already know the answer to that?”
“……”
Silence.
I turned around. The man who had escorted me here this afternoon was glaring at me.
“What are your intentions?”
And so I answered, “I intend to predict a peaceful future for this country.”
After that, the two men were arrested when the palace guards came to investigate the commotion. They were brought before the king and forced to spill the whole truth.
Father and son had been scheming to take over the country.
As I suspected, the new currency had been counterfeit. Apparently, the experts who had told the young king the currency was genuine had accepted bribes from the adviser and were dirty fakes themselves.
The two had tried to plunge the country into chaos on purpose, creating doubt about the successor to the crown. Their plan was to direct the blame onto the young king and orchestrate his fall from grace. They must have hoped the adviser could become the new king, with his son as his heir.
Well, that plan ended in failure.
Now they were locked up in jail. I didn’t know what would become of them, but I didn’t need to involve myself in this any further.
After the cross-examination of the two conspirators was complete, I was summoned up between the thrones to accept a gift from the young king.
“Thank you very much.” I checked the contents and nodded. Inside my purse was a large number of antiquated coins.
As my second condition for predicting the future of the country, I had him exchange all the money I had earned for the old type, to rid myself of any counterfeits.
“I will exchange all the counterfeit money that circulated throughout the country.” The young king sounded exhausted. “It seems the majority of the money in your wallet was counterfeit as well.”
“I expected as much.”
The meaning of my promise to predict the future of the country had become a bit vague. Since I had rid the young king of the real problem plaguing him, he was no longer in need of a fortune-teller.
I was relieved to find I didn’t have to stretch the truth any further.
There were some things that worried me a little about what would come next for him and his people, but I would have to leave this place soon. I was a traveler, after all. As for what path this country would follow, unless someone really did look into the future, nobody would ever know. Including me, of course.
“But it is really too bad.” The young king sighed deeply. “To think, he was lying to me all along.”
“That’s the thing about liars,” I replied. “You can never see it in their face.”
CHAPTER 5
On the Road: The Tale of Two Men Who Couldn’t Settle a Contest
As I flew my broom over gently sloping meadows, the sound of the wind rustling through the grass reached my ears. The warm sunlight and cool breeze made a pleasant harmony. I wanted to fly around this place forever.
I steered my broom left and right, and I could hear it cut through the wind—hyoom, hyoom—making my ride a little more fun. But unfortunately, the fun never lasted long, and this time was no different, as a less pleasant sound on the wind brought my enjoyment to an abrupt end.
“Huh? What’d you say? Try saying that again, bro!”
“Huh? I told you, I’m the best, bro!”
The uncommonly refreshing atmosphere was spoiled.
When I turned my head to figure out where the voices were coming from, I saw two men standing in the middle of a meadow arguing about something. They were dressed in different-colored clothes, and the snippet of conversation I’d overheard told me they were brothers.
“No way, I’m bet
ter than you. Absolutely!”
“No way, of course I’m better. No younger brother has ever surpassed his older brother!”
“Ha-ha! What an outdated way of thinking. A real antique outlook. Younger brothers throughout history have grown by observing their older brothers’ failings. They can avoid mistakes before they happen, and that makes them stronger.”
“Ha-ha! What a stupid thing to say. That must be a story from back when older brothers were useless human beings! But I myself am already a flawless, perfect specimen! I don’t make mistakes, and even supposing that I did, they would be mistakes at a level higher than you could ever reach.”
The two shouted nonsensical insults at each other, glaring and yelling things like “Huh?” and “You wanna go?”
Anyway, what’s an “antique outlook”? Or a “high-level mistake”? I was puzzling over this when I met the gaze of the one I assumed was the older brother.
“All right then!” he shouted. “We’ll get that girl over there to tell us which one of us is better, you or me!”
The (presumably) younger brother nodded. “I like that idea. Especially because I’m going to win.”
I had a very, very bad feeling about this.
“So what are you two fighting about?”
I was sitting down on the grass, looking up at the two of them. Both had the same features and the same haircut; in fact, the only difference between them was the color of their clothing. The older brother wore red, while the younger brother was in blue.
The red- and blue-clothed brothers spoke in unison. ““Magic tricks!””
“Magic tricks, is it?”
“Magic tricks!”
“I understand you, so you don’t need to say it a second time.”
“Magic—”
“Hey, didn’t you hear her? This is why kids like you…”
“Huh? Don’t act like you’re better just because you were born three years before me, you jerk!”
“And you don’t understand the difference three years makes because you’re still a kid, you dumb kid.”
“Oh, well, if those three years are such a big deal, then why are all your magic tricks no better than mine? Huh?”
Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina, Vol. 1 Page 6