“Ey!” I struck the broom and took off with a burst of speed. I held on to my pointy hat with one hand so it wouldn’t go flying off as I blasted through the sky over the city at full tilt.
In other words, I made a break for it.
When I looked back, I could see the students coming after me, shouting something or other. And so began an intense chase, for reasons I did not entirely understand.
But to no one’s surprise, a full witch had an overwhelming advantage over a bunch of novices.
“……”
They pursued me tenaciously, but I could tell that I was slowly pulling away from them. It was only a matter of time before I shook them off completely. But even if I could shake them, they would have a bird’s-eye view of my movements against the background. No matter where I fled, they would spot me again immediately.
Well, what should I do? How about this?
“…Okay.” I dropped my speed, turned to the side, and flew just below the rooftops. I could see the ropes strung between the houses, and the clothing hanging from them flapped in the breeze as I flew past.
At this height, the roofs made me harder to see from far away. If they lose sight of me once, it should be hard for them to find me again.
When I looked back, there were still several students chasing me persistently. There were about twenty of them before, so maybe the other students gave up?
But when I looked forward again, I realized that was not the case. Several students were trying to head me off.
“…Ah!”
They had separated and anticipated my movements. They had the home territory advantage. No question about it.
I turned my broom to the left, speeding down a back alley.
If this is how it’s going to be, let’s really make our escape!
I flew onward a little, and the exit came into view.
However…
“Ah, I found her!” A girl pulled into view, blocking the exit, and stretched a hand out toward me.
They predicted my course again. But if they’re this good…
“Just cooperate and let us catch you— Huh?”
Just as the girl got within about one broom-length of me, I jumped into the air. After it passed directly under the dumbfounded novice, I summoned my broom back to me and flew off.
It was a midair breakaway move. On top of being useful against surprise attacks, it looks kind of cool, so I like to whip it out from time to time.
Even after I lost the girl, my path was still blocked, and my pursuers were closing in from front and back. I had thought that flying low would hide me, but they had known my position exactly.
Well, in that case… I flew high up into the sky this time.
“……”
After achieving a certain height, I looked down on the city. The students had noticed my ascent, and now they were coming out from between houses and above the roads to assemble and come after me again. They were slowing down; I think they were getting tired.
I continued to wait high in the sky until they gave chase.
Finally, one male student flew at me from directly beside me, yelling, “Graaaaaahhh!”
I easily moved my broom and dodged him.
“Aaaaaaaaahhh!” With another weird-sounding yell, he flew right past me.
As if that was some sort of signal, the students attacked all at once from every direction. They numbered about…well, I stopped counting after ten. All of the ones who had initially surrounded me were there, probably.
They seemed to have lost the capacity for speech, as what came from their mouths was mostly weird screams.
“Gaaahhh!” “Nyaaahhh!” “Oraaahhh!” “Hyaaahhh!” “Shraaahhh!” “Damnyaaaaa!”
And so on.
I calmly continued to evade my pursuers—left, right, up, down, and sometimes around in circles, dodging, dodging, dodging.
They hadn’t started actually attacking me yet, so I also had not pulled out my wand, and I devoted my energy to simply keeping away from them on my broom.
“Gyaaahhh!” “Ahhhhhh…” “Ah…” “Wha…?” “Hah…” “Eeeeeek…” “N-no good…”
I don’t really remember how long we kept this up. Before I knew it, the students were flying sluggishly, and then finally, no one was coming at me anymore.
Seems like they’ve had enough.
They all flew together into a huddle.
“I-impossible…,” someone among them panted.
“I-I’m gonna die…” Someone else was white as a sheet.
“What exactly is your objective?” I demanded calmly. “What business do you have with me?”
But there was no answer except for heaving breaths.
“You ought to understand by now that you can’t catch me even if you all gang up on me. Give up,” I ventured, but I wasn’t surprised when no one spoke back to me. Unbothered, I continued, “Well then, who on earth—?” Asked you to do this? I swallowed the words that had been about to come out of my mouth.
I couldn’t speak anymore.
A witch had arrived.
One of the students followed my gaze and murmured, “Oh, it’s Miss…” As soon as they heard that, the other students hurried to straighten their uniforms and fix their hair.
The woman pulled up her broom close to the winded students, wearing a truly radiant smile, and said, “Everyone, good work. How was it? You tried as hard as you could to catch a witch, but you didn’t stand a chance, did you? This is the gap in ability between a witch and a student. It has nothing to do with age. It’s because the Ashen Witch has genuine power, and you can’t compare.”
She had hair as black as midnight, a robe and pointy hat in the same shade, and a star-shaped brooch on her breast. She smiled at me, exactly the same as she was three years ago.
This was their teacher.
“It’s been a while, Elaina.”
Miss Fran.
“I’m sorry, Elaina. I’ll explain everything. But first, would you please come with us to the Academy?” Miss Fran spoke apologetically, while leading me and the students to the Royal Magic Academy. There was no way to turn down her request. After all, I had so many things I wanted to tell her.
The cluster of twenty young mages flying together must have looked like a flock of migrating birds.
I stared hard at Miss Fran’s back, thinking to myself. She really hasn’t changed at all from back then, huh? I mused. I wonder how old she is now?
Before I knew it, we had arrived at the Academy.
Landing her broom on the school grounds, Miss Fran said, “Everyone, this concludes today’s extracurricular activities. Good work. Be ready to present your thoughts tomorrow morning.”
After replying with hollow-sounding Yes, ma’ams and Thank yous, the students scattered. They were clearly exhausted; some of them wobbled unsteadily through the air, while others gave up on flying entirely and walked home.
Watching them go, Miss Fran smiled. “My, my. Do you think we went too hard on them, Elaina?”
“And that’s my fault?”
“And mine.”
“…So you’re teaching at this school, too, Miss Fran?”
“Yes. Just before I was asked to take you on for training, the king invited me here.”
“……” I had never heard about this. “You mean you were away from the school for a whole year? You’re lucky you didn’t get fired.”
“Yes. Well, I’m not ordinarily in charge of any classes, you see. My specialty is mentoring other teachers, and sometimes I take on extracurricular lessons for those interested, like you saw today. Moreover”—Miss Fran looked at me—“the other teachers were very understanding when I told them I had been teaching you magic,” she added.
What does that mean?
“Teaching me?”
“Yes. If my pupil had been anyone else, I probably would have lost my job.”
“I didn’t think I was that important.”
“I wonder,” she said, smiling a
s always. And then she added, “Well, come inside. There’s so much I want to discuss with you.” She pointed to the school building behind us.
I felt the same way.
The interior of the school building was very plain.
Desks and chairs formed a neat array in a square classroom with a large blackboard at the front. Not a single decoration adorned the walls.
Similar classrooms were lined up along one side of the hallway. Opposite them were windows looking out on the spacious grounds of the school.
“Originally, this school was a place for teaching ordinary subjects,” she said. “But when a new one was built, this one became unnecessary. We got them to let us use it as a school for teaching magic, as well as more mundane subjects.”
“So the students who were trying to catch me…they go to school here, right?”
She nodded. “Yes. As part of my extracurricular course, I instructed them to either bring you to me without telling you why, or drag you here by force.”
“…Why?”
“Can you not figure it out on your own?”
“I don’t know.”
She was silent for a bit. Then Miss Fran clapped a hand on my shoulder.
“Because I wanted to see you,” she said in a very small voice, almost a whisper.
“……”
Complicated emotions swirled inside me. This woman is cunning, I thought. She knows I can’t stay angry if she says something like that. Instead, I changed the subject.
“How did you know that I had come to this city?”
“Because you tried to waltz into the school without permission.”
“…Ah.”
The large gate was visible outside the window. Of course. I had been stopped by the burly guard near there. Miss Fran followed my gaze and nodded. “That’s right. I was informed by the gate guard when I came to school. He said, ‘A young witch with ashen hair was trying to get in. I think she might be a spy for another country.’”
“A spy…” He really jumped to conclusions, huh…?
“When he described you, I thought, ‘Oh, that must be Elaina.’ I went straight to the guard at the city gate and confirmed that you had indeed come here.”
We reached the end of the corridor. Miss Fran turned the corner and went up the stairs, and I followed her.
“Your name was in the immigration records. You arrived this morning, didn’t you?”
“Yes.” I nodded.
“‘…My apprentice is visiting,’ I thought, and I just couldn’t contain myself. I decided to search for you…using my students.”
“……”
“When I got back to school, I was just in time for the extra class I hold with my highest-performing students. So I gave them a task.”
We finished ascending the stairs, and a single door appeared before us. Miss Fran put her hand on the knob and opened it with a loud, unpleasant creak. Perhaps the door fitting was poor.
“‘There is a girl in this country called the Ashen Witch,’ I told them. ‘Bring that witch here without letting her know why.’ If they had, by some miracle, been able to force you to come with them, I was thinking about giving them extra credit.”
“Why did you take such a roundabout approach…?” You could have just searched for me normally.
Miss Fran snorted. “Don’t you think it would be nearly impossible for me to search this huge country all by myself?” She leaned back against the door. “Well, go ahead,” she prompted me.
I walked past her and went inside. Inside was a room that looked like a combination study and reception room. In the center was a pair of sofas facing each other over a table, and a desk piled with a mess of papers and books stood against the far wall.
I heard another ear-splitting creak as the door closed behind me.
“What’s wrong? Have a seat.” Miss Fran walked by me and sat on one of the sofas.
“Ah, okay.” I sat down on the other, facing my former teacher. The couch was soft and fluffy.
“I knew you had become a traveler, but I was really surprised to learn that you had come to this country, you know?”
…? Huh?
“You knew that?”
“Yes. I knew.”
“I don’t think I ever talked to you about traveling, Miss Fran.”
After all, it had been several years since I had seen her. The only people who knew about my journey lived in the Peaceful Country of Robetta, like my parents. It was awfully strange that Miss Fran would know.
My former teacher must have seen my confusion. “Elaina, do you still remember what I said to you when you finished your training?”
“Good-bye, Elaina. I’ll come see you again someday. Please look forward to it and wait for me.” I mean, yeah, she did say that, but…
Miss Fran smiled impishly. “I had some business there, so the year after your training I went to Robetta again. While I was there, your mother told me that you had gone traveling.”
“You saw my mother?”
“Yes. She was quite worried about you. If you’re ever close to home, be sure to pay her a visit.”
“I’m planning to.”
Though I’ve come very far, so I suspect it’ll be a while before I can go see her again.
“That’s good.” After pausing for a moment, Miss Fran asked, “Come to think of it, why did you want to become a traveler, Elaina? Was it your mother’s influence?”
…? Why is my mother part of this conversation? My head tilted in confusion.
“Uh, no it wasn’t… When I was little, I read a book series called The Adventures of Niche. That’s what had the biggest influence on me.”
“……Oh my.” Miss Fran’s eyebrows rose just a bit. “Hmm…I see.” She seemed to be mulling over that information. It was a strange reaction.
“Um, what is it?”
Miss Fran shook her head at my question. “No, it’s nothing. So The Adventures of Niche, was it? You’ve got good taste. I like those books, too.”
“Oh-ho-ho. I’ve read them so many times, I can recite every story from all five volumes from memory,” I boasted.
“My, my. In that case, what’s your favorite story? I quite like the last one, ‘Fuura the Apprentice Witch.’”
“…! That’s my favorite, too!”
If I remember correctly…in that story, Niche the witch visits a certain country, takes on an apprentice, a girl named Fuura, and helps train her to become a witch. At the end of the story, Niche abandons the life of a witch and goes to live in the countryside as a normal woman. Then Fuura becomes a witch herself and begins a new series of travels.
“By the way, the apprentice witch Fuura and I are a lot alike.” Miss Fran said something strange.
“What are you saying?”
“Let’s see—what am I saying?” Miss Fran laughed. “The Adventures of Niche is a famous work. It’s very popular even in this country.”
“But it’s a very old story, isn’t it?”
“Good books stand the test of time.”
“…I suppose that’s right.” Nothing sparks more joy for longstanding fans.
If I wanted to, I could probably spend part of my travels going around and directly promoting The Adventures of Niche… Though my budget constraints would likely cause setbacks in the end.
“Anyway,” Miss Fran interrupted my thoughts. “When are you planning to leave, Elaina?”
“…I was thinking the day after tomorrow.”
“The day after tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
I can’t stay too long. Especially since Miss Fran is here.
“What are your plans for tomorrow? Is there anything you have to get done?”
“Tomorrow? No, not really…”
“So you’re free?” Miss Fran asked enthusiastically.
What is going on?
Still a little confused, I answered, “Well, I am free…but…” It wasn’t like I had nothing to do, but my plans were just sightseeing. Technically,
I did have the time.
“That’s great.” Miss Fran smiled.
“What is?”
“It’s just that tomorrow, there’s something that I want you to help me with.”
“Oh. Sure, I don’t mind—what can I do?”
“I want you to help me teach.”
“……”
That’s a little suspicious…
“I want you to help me teach.”
Why did she say it twice?
Very suspicious…
After that, we talked about all sorts of things. I got so engrossed in the conversation, I completely forgot about the time. We talked about all the different people I had met on my travels, I told her about the places I had visited, and she told me about people from elsewhere, whose names I didn’t know. The conversation never stopped for a moment.
I wished that time could stand still, but time flies when you’re having fun. Before I realized it, the world outside was dark.
“Oh my, it’s so late already. Shall we stop here for today and go home?”
I wanted to talk more, though.
As we left the school building, Miss Fran invited me to stay at her house, but I declined. The more she took care of me, the harder it would be to get back to my travels. Parting would become that much more painful.
I walked around searching for an inn in the darkness. During my search, the window of a house caught my eye. Illuminated by the moonlight, the window cast a clear reflection, like a mirror.
I was positively beaming.
Morning came.
After waking up in the inn I had found after a lengthy search the night prior, I quickly changed into witchy clothes and set out.
Outside, I mounted my broom and rose up into the sky, headed of course for the Royal Magic Academy. I flew on, exchanging simple greetings with the young men who had been flying around dropping newspapers on houses all morning, as well as the courier pairs who had replaced horses and carts. I had been a little sleepy still, but the chilly early-morning breeze ensured I was wide-awake.
With the large tower to serve as my landmark, I was able to reach my destination quickly, without getting lost. From my bird’s-eye view, I could see a bunch of people around the campus. Those were the students.
Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina, Vol. 1 Page 19