Episode Eleven

“So in the end we still don’t really know anything, do we.”

When we reported the job completed, the headwoman and the villagers bowed again and again, faces bright with relief. Normally it’s just a report to the guild and that’s the end of it — someone thanking us in person like this almost never happens.

All this time, behind the jobs we’d been turning in one after another, there had been people like this, in difficulty like this. Why had it taken me until now to notice something so obvious.

“A hero of some kind… That would explain the strength, at least.”

Selene murmured it, turning the brooch over in her hands.

According to the headwoman, the design of the golden eagle is the symbol of a hero from local legend. Had it been taken from an adventurer? Or had the creature itself once been that hero, and become what it was through some long unravelling? The truth, in the end, remained out of reach.

“Maybe it was still protecting that place even after it became a monster…”

The words drifted out before I’d decided to say them.

Looking out over the whole settlement from the watchtower. Driving away intruders with a vast army of the dead. Thinking back on it now — that creature had looked, in its way, like something standing guard.

“Black Witch, you’ve got quite a romantic side, haven’t you? I don’t mind that about you at all.”

“It’s not — romantic. It’s not like that.”

I turned away before she could see the colour rising in my face and said it flatly. Satisfied with my reaction, Kiaran swept Uno along with her and went running off toward the stalls, happy as anything. I watched them go — and then something crossed my mind, and my feet stopped moving.

Out of the corner of my eye, Selene’s face looked worried.

“If it really was protecting that place — does that mean we did something wrong?”

Even as a monster, perhaps the Shaman had something it wanted to protect. If so, the three of us had taken it away without a second thought. An unpleasant line of thinking, and it had already taken root.

“You don’t need to think about that. Left alone, it could well have attacked this village too.”

As though lifting me back up from the place I was sinking into, she smiled — open and soft.

“Sion is kind. You always have been, ever since we were small.”

Selene let her gaze drift toward the river, where the light was catching the surface.

“That’s something I’ve always—”

The words she was forming stopped. She blinked once, wide, then gave a small quiet cough and walked on as though nothing had been said.

“We do what we’re asked to do. That’s enough. The difficult questions are for the guild and the Magic Association.”

“Sion protected the people in this village, didn’t she?”

She turned back toward me with a bloom-smile — and our eyes met.

Something welled up, and the edge of my vision blurred, just slightly. I didn’t want that seen, and I dropped my gaze quickly.

I think I understood, just a little, why everyone is in love with the White Witch.

“Sion?”

“S-sorry. It’s nothing…”

I turned away from her trying to look at my face. The three people who protected this village were her, Kiaran, and Uno. Not me. I did almost nothing.

I knew that. And yet Selene’s words stayed in my chest, and my blurred vision was slow to clear.

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The sky that had been pure blue was dyed orange by the time we arrived back. Leaving the green countryside behind, we returned to the capital with its rows of stone buildings.

It had only been a few days — and yet coming back felt like returning from somewhere far away. The stalls lining both sides of the main street were busy and loud with competing voices.

“That went fast — it’s already evening. I’m exhausted from all that sitting.”

The journey home had been another half-day or more in the carriage, same as the trip out. No monsters this time — but I’d gotten sick partway through and ended up borrowing Selene’s lap for a while.

“…Witch lady, are you all right?”

“Yes. I got some sleep, so I’m fine.”

I gave a small smile to Uno looking up at me with worried eyes.

“You were tired too, Selene — I’m sorry. Your legs aren’t sore, are they?”

I called to Selene as she stepped down from the carriage with her staff. I’m not that tall, and probably not heavy — but still.

“I’m fine. You’ve always been bad with carriages, haven’t you.”

She smiled and reached up to rest her hand lightly on my head. I don’t like being treated like a child — and yet somehow it settles me.

“…The witch ladies… too precious…”

I think I’ll leave Uno to her own devices from here.

“White Witch, Black Witch!”

Kiaran had been chatting with the horses and now looked up with a bounce in her voice.

“Thank you so, so, so much!! There’s absolutely no way Uno and I would have made it back on our own. And on top of everything — it was so much fun!!”

She took both our hands and swung them back and forth as she went on.

“Travelling with you, I got to see just how incredible the White Witch and the Black Witch really are!”

“Can we play together again?”

Play, she said.

What happened in the abandoned settlement — that was as close to a battle for our lives as it gets. So the word wasn’t exactly right. But somehow, for the time spent alongside these two, something that light felt like the better fit.

“What do you think, Selene?”

I asked it with just a touch of teasing.

“Of course. Please — lend us your strength again.”

The face that had been strained ever since we left the capital was smiling naturally now. It seemed we’d both changed rather a lot.

“Yes!! We’ll meet again!!”

I watched Kiaran shaking the vague Uno back and forth, and stretched my arms up in a small tired stretch.

Only a few days — and yet so much had happened. Besides Selene, I now had people I could call companions. The time in that village had been — I think it was good.

“We’re heading to the guild — what about you, witch ladies?”

Kiaran looked ahead down the main street as she asked.

“Sion doesn’t seem well, so today I think we should—”

I talked over Selene before she could finish.

“Want to get dinner at the guild? It’s our last time together — I’d like the four of us to eat.”

The noisy time coming to an end was lonely, and the words came spilling out before I’d decided on them.

“Yes from me!! I’m for it!”

Kiaran looked over at Uno.

“…I want to. I want to talk more with the witch ladies.”

“If Sion says so. But tell me straight away if you start feeling unwell. No pushing through.”

I nodded at Selene’s gentle instruction and walked out into the busy main street.

I still don’t really understand Selene. Even so — I think I got a little closer to her on this trip. One more thing, one more opening, and I might understand her a little more. I think that’s probably true.

I want to know more about her. I want to get closer to her. Why am I thinking these things. I don’t even understand myself.

Will the day ever come when I understand what this feeling is?