Majo no Tabitabi - Volume 15 - Chapter 1.11

CHAPTER 1 STORY 11

The Country of Birthdays

“Welcome, Lady Witch! Welcome to our country!”

The country I arrived at that day seemed like a perfectly ordinary place. Honestly, if I were to try to explain why I went there, I’d have to admit I had absolutely no clue where that place was or what kind of country it was. In a word, I just simply found my way there on a whim during a spare moment in my travels, and that’s where I wound up.

Since it was a very special anniversary, I had thought that if possible, I would like to make it to an interesting destination, but the region I was traveling through didn’t seem to have that many interesting places, and ultimately, I sort of drifted my way to this one.

After bowing to me, the soldier at the gate said, “Now then, there are a number of things I would like to ask you, Lady Witch, upon your entry.”

He held a sheet of paper and a pen in his hand and started. “First, please tell me your name—”

What began from there was the usual entry examination.

Name. Occupation. Purpose for entry. I was asked a number of such simple questions.

Elaina. Witch. Sightseeing. I took it upon myself to answer his various questions with simple words.

Then the gate guard said, “I see, very well… Now, when is your birthday?” He tilted his head as he asked.

It was a question often asked as part of immigration inspections, but I didn’t really want to answer.

But if I didn’t tell him honestly, I wouldn’t be able to progress beyond the gate, and so I answered, “…October seventeenth.”

…That was how I answered.

That’s right.

It’s today.

Today is my birthday.

That was exactly why I hadn’t been too keen on answering and why I had wanted to go someplace interesting in celebration if I could.

Besides, I just knew when he learned my birthday was that day, the gate guard would grin and ask, “Oh! Happy birthday. How old are you turning?” I really hated when that happened, but there was no avoiding it, so I answered him, a little reluctantly.

“…Mm-hmm, October seventeenth…”

Contrary to my expectations, the guard’s response was indifferent.

“…Hmm? October…seventeenth…?”

At least I thought so, but his real reaction came a moment later.

“October seventeenth…? That’s today, isn’t it?! Today! It’s your birthday, isn’t it?! My word! What a day! This is serious!”

Considering how late it came, I thought his reaction was fairly overblown.

“Oh noooooooooooo! Everyone, come quiiiiiiiiiiiick!”

…Oh, come on, that’s just excessive.

“The witch! This one! This witch! It’s her biiirthdaaaaaaaaayyy!”

Wait, wait, you don’t have to make such a big fuss over something like a birthday.

Ignoring me and my thoughts on the matter, the guard yelled out earnestly, screaming until his throat was hoarse, and because of that, people began to gather around us, looking surprised.

“What did he say?”

“It’s this witch’s birthday?”

“This is serious!”

“Everyone! Prepare the party!”

“And make it snappyyy!”

“Um…huh?”

I was confused.

“Okay then, Miss Witch! Come over here!”

“Since it’s your precious birthday, it would be terrible if you didn’t enjoy it!”

“Come on, then, right over here!”

“Um…uhhh…?”

I really was confused.

Ultimately, the impromptu crowd led me away, and I wound up being forced through the gates and into the country.

What on earth…is going on here…?

“All right then, I’d like to go ahead and introduce the people who have birthdays today.”

A nonsensical scene spread out before my eyes.

It had to be some sort of party venue. Everything I could see was colored white, and there was a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Round tables were placed here and there, with all sorts of people sitting at them.

All of them were strangers to me. I did not know a single person, including the master of ceremonies.

And speaking of me, for some reason, I had ended up changing into a dress.

What on earth is this about?

“The name of today’s birthday witch is Elaina. She is an esteemed witch who travels the world as the Ashen Witch.”

“Um.”

“Today is October the seventeenth. It is the witch’s birthday. Everyone, give her a big round of applause!”

“Um…”

The MC ignored me and plowed ahead. Maybe he couldn’t hear my voice because I was being showered with applause.

Maybe I ought to smile. Actually, wait, what is going on here? Is this a wedding? Who am I marrying?

“By the way, this is not a wedding.”

What now? Is he reading my mind?

“This is a birthday party.”

Do people really have such extremely gaudy birthday parties?

“From today’s leading lady, Miss Elaina, please, let’s have a word of greeting.”

What? Why?

But sure enough, the birthday party proceeded apace, ignoring my bewilderment, and suddenly I was forced to stand in front of the great crowd of people.

“Um…thank you very much…?”

When I gave a sharp little bow, applause rose from the tables here and there, along with some voices.

“She’s cute!”

“The cutest in the whole world!”

“Huh? That might be going a bit far.”

“Huh? A bit far is just far enough, surely?”

What is this, a humiliation exercise?

“Thank you, Miss Elaina.”

The MC dutifully kept the festivities moving forward in a detached voice. “Next, I would like to propose a toast to wish for Miss Elaina’s continued happiness. To lead us in the toast, I invite Miss Elaina’s lover to the stage. Saya, please come forward.”

……

Huh?

How can this MC say something so strange without any hesitation?

I was still puzzling over this when a black-haired young woman stepped up onto the stage, looking like she had every right to be there. For some reason, this woman, who I was sure was part of the organization known as the United Magic Association, was on this day dressed up in a fancy dress.

“Hi, everyone! I’m Elaina’s girlfriend, Saya!”

She gave the worst self-introduction.

“What are you doing, Saya?”

Aha, so then this must be a dream, yes?

This was about the time that it started to dawn on me.

First of all, there’s no way Saya, who should have been wandering through the world as a traveler just as I was, would be in a place like this. If she was, that would make her a stalker, a stalker for sure.

“Elaina…happy birthday…”

For some reason, her eyes were wet with tears. “I…I’m very honored to be able to attend your birthday party, Elaina…as any lover would…”

“No, we’re not lov—”

“Cheeeeeeeeeeeers!”

She evaded the issue.

She did her very best to evade it. In the worst way. The very worst ever, just like her awful self-introduction.

After the toast, it was time for chatting and eating. Incidentally, there were all sorts of things I wanted to ask Saya, but she blew me a kiss, and after giggling bashfully, she returned to one of the circular tables.

What is going on here? Well, it’s just a dream, so whatever.

“And as for today’s menu, we’ve used plenty of the rabbits hunted down by Elise the beast girl.”

I see, I see. This is a dream, right. So even Elise is here. I suppose she would be.

Once the toast was over, dishes began to be carried out one after another, and we entered the conversation hour. Although, when it came to me, I was alone on stage in my fancy dress, so I honestly didn’t have anything to do.

And because I had nothing to do, I started nibbling away at Elise’s rabbit dishes.

After a short while, the MC appeared holding a bundle of papers and said, “Everyone, I’m sorry to interrupt your conversations, but in keeping with this auspicious day, we’ve received many congratulatory addresses and communications, so I’d like to take this opportunity to present some of them.”

It seemed like the best way to kill time. By the way, at this point, I was no longer surprised by anything that was going on. I was ready for whatever came next.

“We received this from Lady Fran, the Stardust Witch.”

I was at the ready, when a felicitation came in suddenly from someone I never expected. It was from my teacher.

“‘Elaina, best wishes on your birthday. By the way, do you know how old I am? Oh-hoh-hoh, it’s a secret!’”

I’m sorry, I don’t get it.

“Moving right along, this came from Lady Sheila, the Midnight Witch. ‘Elaina, did you know this? When you quit smoking, your mind starts working way faster! Isn’t that amazing?’”

That makes sense. Please stop smoking, then.

“Next up, we received this note from Lady Riviere, proprietor of Riviere Antiques. ‘Happy birthday. By the way, I wonder when I can expect you to return the money you borrowed from me?’”

You’re quite petty, aren’t you?

“And next, we have this, from Lady MacMillia, employee at Riviere’s Antiques. ‘Elaina. I haven’t gotten my money back from you either.’”

You didn’t even loan me anything, did you? What are you doing jumping on her bandwagon?

“Up next, notes we received from the informant twins. ‘Happiest of birthdays.’ ‘Many happy returns.’”

Wishes for the coming year? Get serious.

“Continuing along…uh, we got this from a ghoul. ‘Gruel…taste good…’ The entry ends there.”

Please don’t send me your journal entries.

“And next, this comes from a couple in Windmill City. ‘Happy birthday, traveler. By the way, we got married. We’re going on our honeymoon soon. Oh-hoh-hoh, aren’t you jealous?’”

Please don’t use your congratulatory message to brag.

“This next one comes from a (self-proclaimed) hard-boiled female mage. ‘I’m hard-boiled, so I won’t give you my name! After all, that’s the hard-boiled way! Anyway, happy birthday! For your present, I’m gifting you with coffeeeeeeeeehhh…’ Huh, the paper’s all dirty, so I can’t read any further.”

Disgusting.

“And next, this, from Lady Atolie. ‘A very happy birthday to you. I’m sorry that I cannot participate on this day when we should be celebrating you. I hope that you enjoy the rest of your travels, with memories of this day in your heart.’”

Somehow, I felt strangely moved, even though she was just saying normal things.

“Next, we received this from Lady Viola. ‘Atolie is so adorable, writing a proper note even while she curses your name! She punched me for saying that!’”

I bet she did.

“Moving along, we got this from a muscleman. ‘The thing about marriage is that it’s like muscles! Whether they shrink or expand, they’re always together! Also, sometimes, just like muscles, it will tear to pieces and start to hurt! That’s right! Muscle pain and the unpleasant moments in a marriage are very similar! But never fear. No matter how many times it tears, no matter how many times it causes you pain, so long as you can just withstand that pain, there’s always tomorrow. If you can overcome muscle pain, your muscles will develop even firmer bonds and grow strong and sturdy. Do you understand what I’m trying to say? That’s right, weight lifting is the very essence of marriage. In other words, I want to marry muscles.’”

That’s not marriage. Please don’t get the wrong idea. Also, get a life and forget about muscles already.

“Next up, the representative for about fifteen different versions of Elaina, this came in from Foreign Affectation Elaina. ‘Khorosho!’”

Yes, yes, khorosho, khorosho.

“Next, we received this note from your broom. ‘Recently, my split ends have gotten really terrible. Please consider doing some maintenance.’”

This is not a suggestion box. And besides, you’re with me twenty-four-seven anyway.

“This next one comes from Lady Avelia. ‘Elaina, my big sister recently went off somewhere. Do you have any clue where she might be?’”

I do not.

Hang on, what? She’s missing?

“Aaand so on and so forth, we got lots of well-wishes, but reading all the rest would be a real pain, so I’ll leave them out.”

The MC brought things to a close with these incredibly concerning words, and the curtain fell on what had been nothing more than self-introduction time masquerading as well-wishing.

…Amnesia is missing?

How?

Once the presentation of well-wishes was over, and after everyone had eaten and chatted for a little while, then it was apparently time to cut the cake.

A woman in a suit brought a cake over near me.

What’s going on? Is this a wedding cake?

“Now then, I’d like to move us along to the birthday cake cutting ceremony.”

I was wrong, it’s a birthday cake cutting. Wait, what exactly is a birthday cake cutting ceremony?

“Uh, so does that mean I cut it by myself?”

If this were a wedding cake cutting, the bride and groom would chatter and giggle as they cut slices from the cake, right? The MC would egg them on by saying things like “This is their first task as a couple!” and “Spoon-feed your partner, show the hugeness of your love with the huge size of the spoon!” as the bride thrust a sickly sweet clump of sugar into the groom’s mouth. That’s how things generally went. That was about the time the MC would typically chime in with some not very clever comment like “What’s this? That’s an awful big bite! She might turn out to be a real ogre of a wife!”

However, for a birthday, wasn’t I on my own?

…Wasn’t I all alone?

“Since we are now holding the cake cutting, I will introduce the individual who is taking on the special role of cutting the cake with our guest of honor! Everyone, please welcome her with a round of applause!”

Apparently, this was where things differed from a typical wedding ceremony.

Greeted by applause, a certain young woman stepped up on the stage, holding a saber in her hand.

The woman, with short white hair, swung her saber around vigorously and said, “Hyah!”

“……………………What are you doing, Amnesia?”

Standing right there was Avelia’s older sister, who had been missing.

But I wasn’t all that surprised. After all, she had been glancing over at me for a while. From just off stage, she had been looking at me with a sparkle in her eye, as if to say, “Am I on yet? Am I on yet?”

“Well, I heard it was your birthday, huh, Elaina? And so here I am.”

“Are you my girlfriend or something?”

“Of course not!”

“Thought so.”

“I’m your lover!”

“……”

Seems like all my friends have been transformed into lovers in this dream…

“Yes, and considering that this is your birthday, we’ve enlisted the help of Lady Amnesia.” The MC interrupted my thoughts.

“Ready?” Amnesia took me by the hand and made me grip the hilt of her saber.

“……”

Somehow, it didn’t look entirely unlike a real wedding cake cutting.

…Well, it’s just a dream, so I don’t really care, I guess.

With that thought, I wrapped my fingers around the hilt of the sword.

“W-wait, stopppppppppppp!”

As I did, a scream rang out. The saber, which was headed straight for the birthday cake, stopped in its tracks.

“Huh? Um? What? I’m sorry, I don’t really understand. E-Elaina, that girl, wh-who is she?”

It was Saya.

Saya leaped out in front of us in a panic. In her dismay, she didn’t seem to be able to express herself in words anymore. She seemed to be laughing and crying at the same time, but in the end, no matter how I looked at her, she was definitely upset.

“Heeey! You’ve got me right here, so who is that person?! Why do you look like you’re getting along a little too well?!”

“Oh, we’re not really getting along all that well…”

“Huh? But, Elaina, you don’t seem like you mind her company!” Beside me, Amnesia giggled. It was kind of a scary laugh. “By the way, who is she?”

How can you even ask that…?

“This is my friend Saya—”

“I am Elaina’s lover, Saya! Who are you, Miss White Hair?!”

“I am Amnesia. Elaina’s lover.”

“No, neither of you is my lover.”

Please don’t talk like either of you is my one and only.

“Hang on, I really don’t understand what you’re saying here! I mean, Elaina’s lover? That’s me!”

“You’re the one who’s talking crazy! That’s my role!”

No, like I said, neither of you is my lover. In fact, I don’t even have a lover. What’s more, this reality doesn’t even exist. It’s a dream, after all.

“Huuuh? Just tell me what’s going on here. What is your relation to Elaina? Have you two slept together? By the way, I’ve slept with her, you know!”

What are you doing stirring things up like that?

“I—I have, in fact! We’ve slept together! Actually, when we were traveling together, we slept together almost every night, you know?”

You mean in the same room? What are you bragging about? We did that because you’re a terrible sleeper.

“A-almost every…night…? And you traveled…together…?”

But apparently, Amnesia’s fib had, strangely enough, given Saya a lethal mental image.

Saya hung her head. “I-it can’t be… My Elaina has been stained a filthy gray…”

She started crying. I felt bad that she was sinking into despair, but I had always been gray.

“Heh-heh…looks like I win this one! All right then, Elaina, shall we cut the cake?”

Amnesia whirled around to face me, then made me take hold of the saber again, and guided it toward the cake.

Thinking that I didn’t really care, about whatever just happened, I pushed the sword down into the birthday cake—or was about to.

But just before I could—

Wham—the cake exploded, and pieces went flying everywhere.

Bits of sponge cake, cream, and strawberries splattered onto me and Amnesia.

No one told me this cake would explode when we cut it. What’s going on here?

I was just about to raise my voice in protest, but this was a dream.

In a dream, anything can happen, so surely even a cake could explode.

“Heh-heh-heh… If the cake you’re cutting is no more, then the cake cutting itself can’t happen, can it?!”

In a dream, anything can happen, so surely even Saya could lose her mind.

“My Elaina belongs to me! Give her back!”

Gripping her wand, Saya glared at Amnesia.

I see, so the one who exploded the cake was you?

“All right, then—this suits me just fine. Bring it on!”

Then Amnesia turned her saber on Saya.

In a dream, anything can happen, so surely even Amnesia could start acting strange.

Then Amnesia and Saya ignored me entirely as they battled it out across the birthday party hall. They slashed at the round tables, scattering them, and sent all sorts of things flying with spells, and the party room instantly became so chaotic that it made my head spin just to look at.

But it’s okay!

This is just a dream, after all!

“……”

But even considering that I was in a dream, I wondered if it wasn’t really too chaotic. If it wasn’t indeed getting out of hand.

“Uh… The cake cutting is over now, so allow me to announce performances by friends…”

The MC started to smooth things over.

Is that what it’s time for?

“……”

I looked down at the birthday party space, which was caught up in a great clamor of merrymaking.

This is my dream.

At first, I had thought all the people seated around the party room were unfamiliar strangers, but—looking more closely, I recognized each and every one of them.

For example, there was a man there as fat and round as a barrel and two twins who closely resembled him. There was a man who had sat endlessly on a bench in between two countries and a girl I had met in a country where they persecuted the ugly. I saw a young man who had aspired to become a detective and a young woman who had done nothing but vomit near him. There was also a girl who loved apples, a cat, and a mage I had seen in the Country of Truth Tellers—

This was my dream, so all the characters were made up of all the people I had met up to now.

“……”

I wondered whether, if I was to continue my travels from that point onward and then have a similar dream the following year, if at that time I would spend my birthday surrounded by even more people?

With my fingers, I scooped the wreckage of the cake off my cheek where it had splattered and stuck, and as I licked it off, I vacantly considered such matters.

“……………………”

My awakening was summarized in a single word: awful.

First of all, that was not the kind of dream you want to have on your birthday.

What was all that, seriously?

When I forced my heavy body to rise against its will, the world outside my inn was still shrouded in the darkness of night.

Apparently, I had experienced some strange dream, perhaps out of excitement that the following day was my birthday. I felt like the loud revelry that had been going on until just a moment earlier was still echoing through my mind.

The hands on the clock had just passed midnight.

My birthday had only just started.

And yet I felt a strange sense of loneliness.

“……”

I was sure it was because the dream had been overly boisterous. That could be good or bad, depending, but still, I had enjoyed the dream. I wondered, would I go back and finish the rest of it if I went back to sleep?

“……”

By the way—

Setting that aside—

“……”

I got up from my bed.

It was not the time to be lying around in bed, I thought.

“…What’s gotten into you all of a sudden, Mistress Elaina? To suddenly start working on my maintenance.”

“Nothing, really, nothing special.”

Wearing a puzzled look, the girl who looked so much like me sat there while I played with her hair. For some reason, when I turned my broom into a human figure, she looked a lot like me. From behind, although her hair was a different color, she was my exact copy.

“I just thought your split ends were getting pretty bad lately, so I figured I ought to do a little grooming.”

“But my split ends won’t go away just because you run a comb through them.”

“Well, good enough, isn’t it?”

“Besides, I don’t need you to comb my hair after you go out of your way to turn me into a person. You’ll get it done more quickly if you use magic to fix it while I’m still in my broom form.”

“Well, good enough, isn’t it?”

“……”

“……”

I had gone about straightening out her hair. Her beautiful silky hair flowed like sand, spilling smoothly out between my fingers when I scooped it up.

It was pretty and soft, and I wanted to keep touching it forever.

“Mistress Elaina.”

Suddenly, my broom turned around to face me.

“Come to think of it, today is your birthday, isn’t it?”

“…Yes it is.”

“Happy birthday.”

“…Well, thanks.”

My broom giggled at my words.

“You must have felt lonely ringing in your birthday all by yourself, Mistress Elaina. That’s surprisingly cute of you—ow! That hurts, Mistress Elaina. Be a little more gentle with the comb, plea—”

At any rate—

In this way, I welcomed a peaceful birthday.

While wishing somewhere in my heart that I might have a similar dream again the following year.

[Publication Information] Kakuyomu Post Story

[Author Comments]

This was a bonus story I uploaded on October 17, which is Elaina’s birthday.

I myself was always someone who felt uncomfortable about the inhabitants of fantasy worlds having birthdays following the same standards as we do in the real world. (First of all, if it’s a fantasy, there’s absolutely no reason why their calendar has to be the same as the real-world calendar, right? I’m the kind of irritating person who thinks their calendar isn’t even limited to expressing dates in numbers.) But I suppose we ought to be happy that this way we can celebrate her birthday.