NOVEL NEXT Chapter 19
Whimsical Witch and Witch Slayer 1
The next morning, when Monette had arrived at the dining room where they had agreed to meet up in advance, Alexis and Percival were already there. Already stuffing their faces with eggs and toast, when they noticed Monette walking in their direction, they waved and said, “Good morning Monette. We went ahead and got started ahead of you.”
Isn’t there a problem here? Although I don’t consider myself to be especially high class, but I am familiar that it is common manners to wait to order food until everyone has arrived if you are meeting up to eat together in a group. Of course, since I don’t really think of these guys as fellow traveling companions, it doesn’t really bother me.
That is why I did not say anything and accepted the breakfast that the clerk brought me. The main course was fried eggs with bacon. It had a salad with a cherry tomato as a side and some lightly cooked toast.
It was a nice breakfast, but since I had that room service cheese last night, it seemed a little rustic. Still, I had no complaints as I bit into my toast.
“I saw a good dream for the first time in awhile.”
While Alexis was eating, even though he did not know about the extra charm I placed on his door the night before, he was still giving his thanks for the curse avoidance spell I placed.
He couldn’t remember the dream he had in detail, but he was apparently wrapped up in something warm and fluffy. Although the contents were gone, that lingering feeling was enough to completely blow away his lingering fatigue. To have such a sunny smile, it must have healed him both mentally and physically.
While Alexis was like that, Percival wasn’t showing a much different expression. It was hard to say whether he had had a good or bad dream the night before, and his strangely still expression irritated my eyes a little.
Oya, I tilted my head to the side a little. Although since I am still wearing my helm, Alexis and Percival could not notice such a small change.
“Percival, did you have a good night’s sleep?”
“I had a dream where I ate a meal alongside that monster you drew last night.”
“A cute kitty-cat, isn’t that a great dream?”
“The way it looked, I thought I was going to watch something absolutely grotesque, but he really knew how to handle his knife and fork elegantly, and he showed his wit in the rich conversation we had.”
“He’s cute, elegant, and stylish is he not?”
When I asked him if it was a good dream, he answered that it was fun.
Although I was starting to get worried that my spell had had no effect, I can only say that having a cute and fun meal with an adorable companion would be a good dream. Actually, wouldn’t it be the best dream?
Of course I do not mind whether or not they give credit for their good dreams to my spell, so I just nod and say, “That’s good.”
After finishing breakfast, we prepare our luggage quickly, check-out of the inn and get on the carriage.
The quality of this carriage is much better than the one we picked up the other day. When I thought about spending another night inside a carriage, I got depressed, but something of this level should be fine. It has soft cushions for its seats, so you should be able to rest easy when you lie down inside the carriage.
“It cannot be helped. I should be able to endure with this carriage.”
“It’s the tallest carriage here… What are you going to do with this?”
“It’s absolutely necessary to reaching the witch that can cure Alexis’s curse.”
“…Is that so?”
While Monette answered him with a puffed out chest, Percival sighed deeply and got on the carriage. Because she is stating it like it is a fact, it becomes hard to argue. Monette could feel her inner noble girl rising in her heart.
When I got on board, I chose for myself the biggest and softest looking cushion. The fluffiness accepted body, and the fine quality cushion let off a good fragrance. The interior decoration of the horse-drawn carriage was also stylish, so it is almost certainly true that this was their finest quality carriage.
From here to the next destination, the border city, should take about a day to reach with a horse-drawn carriage. Even if they are a little late, it should take a day and a half at most, so we can take a break halfway there and make it by tomorrow afternoon.
While she was running the math in her head, she set aside the thought, “It would be nice if we made it in two days,” to the corners of her mind. The trip would take a full day if it was a normal person. The full day to get there could be considered the usual, and the day and a half is taking into consideration any small accidents delaying the trip.
Of course something like this is the natural conclusion. It doesn’t take into account the fact that the customer happened to have been cursed by a witch. The driver looked a little perplexed when Percival told him to, “Travel at a safe speed and on a problem-free route that would create no problems even if the cart were to break down.”
After riding on the horse-drawn carriage for a few hours, we had successfully driven away all the poisonous moths who wanted to follow along. Silence had descended inside the carriage, and Monette was off raising daises inside her head until she was pulled back to reality by Alexis calling her name.
I pulled my face up that was buried inside the cushion.
“Oh, sorry, were you sleeping?”
“No, well…. did you need something?”
“If you don’t mind, could you tell me about witches?”
Because they didn’t really know anything about them, it’s natural they would want to know about what they’d be dealing with, and Monette didn’t really mind.
Witches are usually whimsical and even if it is an order from the king, they will not nod their head if they don’t fell like it. On the contrary, they are usually people who don’t like standing up on a stage. Their interests usually include studying and conversing with their fellow witches.
As far as knowledge about witches, this could be thought of as being generally known and is the extent that is told about inside this country.
The Idira family was the only witch family inside this country, and we forsook the witch name long ago. The stories about witches that remain in this country are close to rumors at this point, and Alexis says that he was only vaguely told about them. It seems that the topic about witches was no longer examined in literature, and there were no documents left since I took them all with me to the old castle.
Besides, since he was currently known as the Prince of Infidelity, asking the Idira family, the family that his fiancee belongs to, about curses was…
So Alexis came to me.
Since he will be meeting with a witch soon, I agree that it would be better for him to have some knowledge beforehand. Also, if we don’t talk, then we will end up bored and sleepy.
I almost had a heart attack when I saw Percival yawn earlier.
“I am not too familiar with the subject, but is that okay?”
“Yes. I don’t want to do something rude when I meet with the witch, so I’d like to hear various things. Does everyone use spells like Monette?”
So Alexis began with his questions, and Monette shook her head.
There may be witches who use the same or similar method, but not all witches handle magic the same way. Perhaps you have to draw out your spell by mixing ink with your blood, but this method takes time and effort to master.
If you are a witch with talent or a witch that inherited your magic from generation to generation, you should be able to perform magic more easily. There was a possibility that Monette would be laughed at and ridiculed as a newbie witch with only self-education. Perhaps the witch from the neighboring country would dismiss her saying, “It’s too much trouble.”
If it is an experienced witch, they could use magic just by saying a specific word or performing a specific action. As she told them this, Alexis and Percival both looked away.
“Okay, Monette uses spells but there are other ways.”
“Even the Idira family of old used to have a diverse number of techniques, but doesn’t this method suit me?”
“If you could use magic just by saying a word or a prayer, you could move a country.”
“I could, but I wouldn’t. The country is pleasant as it is, and that sounds like a real hassle.”
Monette cleared that up as soon as possible.
Even if you were to read the history books of the past, when witches could be found all throughout the nation, there were only a few cases–if even that–where a witch became involved with a country, and those cases were usually them deciding to help out during a war. Whether or not they became involved with royalty is uncertain, but there is at least no records about royalty making a move based on a witches words alone.
However, it is not that they don’t have the power to move a country. With the case of Alexis’s curse, if it is a powerful witch, she could kill him with just one incident of bad luck. As a matter of fact, it would be possible to kill the entire royal family and cause the country to collapse…
But I wouldn’t do that. I have no intentions of doing that.
However saying “I don’t feel like it,” is certainly different from, “I can’t do it.” There is always the possibility that a witch could have destroyed a country on a whim. There is a possibility that a person could have been killed by a witch hired by their spited lover, or that very spited lover could have been killed by the witch when they made their request.
Everything is done by the commandment of the witch, and that commandment is entirely based on the severely unstable thing called, “mood.”
They are a terrifying thing if you turn one into your enemy, and they are not a very useful thing even if you turn them into an ally. If you don’t handle things correctly, they may just make you lick their boots, and if you handle things too seriously, you may just make them angry. They are more selfish than children yet more intelligent than a cat.
“So that’s what a witch is like. When you say it like that, they sound really hard to handle.”
“N, no, hard to handle is…”
With Alexis taking a look at Percival, the other had trouble responding to Alexis’s statement, and he ended up just silently nodding. He seemed to be experiencing the old condition called, “Having awareness that something is going to be difficult to handle.” The two of them were prepared for something bothersome, but it could be said that the pressure scaled up as soon as they realized the horror of a whimsical witch.
Did they become pale because dealing with the witch might be more troublesome than they had expected? Or have they realized that they are on their way to meet with such an opponent right now?
Monette who was still resting on top of the really fluffy cushion watched their reactions for a moment before continuing on.
“Witches are certainly difficult, and normal people probably couldn’t even meet with them. Even if they did, and the witch glared at them, they wouldn’t be able to use magic to resist…”
“But?”
Monette took out a book from her bag and handed it over to Alexis almost like she was trying to encourage him.
A technique that could be used to resist against a whimsical witch with great power. Its presence isn’t well known, and its existence is only really passed down as a tradition.
The witch’s magic does not work at all, and before it all witches become nothing but ordinary humans. That is…
“That is the Witch Slayer.”
As Monette said it aloud, the horse-drawn carriage shook once with a loud rattle.