Majo no Tabitabi - Volume 15 - Chapter 1.15

CHAPTER 1 STORY 15

Pumpkin Festival

The story so far—

I, the Ashen Witch, Elaina, am a traveler journeying across the world. My purpose in life is to go around looking at country after country, dressed in my black robe and pointed hat, my ash-gray hair fluttering in the wind, and my other purpose in life is to not think of anything in particular except for doing just that.

I arrived in a certain country yesterday.

Once I arrived in this country, which was rumored to be the place where the Pumpkin Festival was held, one of the gate guards called out to me. “Wow, you’re really cute! That’s terrific! I’ve never seen such a cute girl before! Wonderful! You know what, because of that, I’m going to give you this candy.” And I received a basket brimming with a massive quantity of candy.

Yippee.

Then I went walking around town, but the appearance of the people there was somehow really bizarre.

I saw a big man with bandages wound around him, a vampire, a succubus, a ghost wearing a white sheet, a werewolf, and more.

In other words, the city was overflowing with monsters; everywhere you looked, it was nothing but monsters.

Whoa, how scary.

I felt just like a piece of bait that had been thrown into a pen with fierce beasts.

What on earth is this Pumpkin Festival supposed to be?

Am I in hell?

“Heh-heh-heh, you’re awfully cute, missy!”

“What do we have here? A witch came wandering into our town?”

“Why don’t you come hang out with me, sweetheart? Fwa-ha-ha-ha-ha…”

“Oh my! This is no place for a kid like you to visit!”

The monsters surrounded me, wearing vulgar smiles.

And then, I fell prey to them right there.

Nothing in this life lasts forever.

Thus, my travels came to an end.

All’s well that ends well.

“……”

Well, as you may have suspected, the bit about falling prey to the monsters was a lie. In fact, the story so far has also been a total lie.

The thing about getting the candy? Yep, that was a lie, too.

The truth is it was currency conversion.

Apparently, in this country, on this day, they used candy in place of money.

So I had handed over all the money I had and converted it into candy.

Everything from “Heh-heh-heh, you’re awfully cute” onward had happened pretty much the same way I described it.

Carrying my basket of candy, I was then surrounded by the monsters, who said this:

“Trick or treat!”

“……………………”

Apparently, in this country, on this day, terrible acts were allowed—even more awful than I had been told about.

On the day of the local Pumpkin Festival, the government permitted acts of extortion.

“…………Have some candy.”

And then I found myself penniless.

Nothing in this life lasts forever.

Oh-hoh-hoh, I don’t understand what’s going on.

I hurriedly walked down the street where the monsters were strutting around.

As I might have expected, walking openly through a town that was filled with monsters seemed like it would be nothing other than a suicidal act.

For example, in my current situation, it would be just terrible if one of them were to say something like “Trick or treat!”

Who could tell what they might do to me, a person with no money (candy)?

“……”

I would have to procure some money (candy) somehow.

But how on earth would I go about doing so? I didn’t think that in this town full of magical creatures, there was any place that would employ a totally normal human being like me. Moreover, if I tried to rob someone for the money (candy), I would probably wind up a victim of the monsters (in the sense that they’d eat me up).

……

It was all over for me.

Suddenly all over.

Or rather, somehow I’d fallen into a bind right from the start.

I resented my own foolishness in converting everything I had into this country’s currency. I deserved to die ten thousand deaths.

“I’m hungry…”

Head in hands on the side of the road, lamenting my bleak future, I was fed up with my stomach demanding food even in such a sad state of affairs.

“…Are you all right?” A girl was standing before me as I worried over my troubles. “Are you a tourist?”

When I nodded, she clapped her hands together lightly as if she understood. “I see! You can’t sit in a place like this, okay? Bad guys might take all your money.”

“……”

If I stepped into the back alleys, there would surely be a multitude of awful monsters, and I knew they were out on the main road as well. And I wasn’t even allowed to be on the roadside.

There is no safe haven to be found, I suppose. Without a doubt, this place is hell.

I stood up and fixed my eyes on the girl.

She was dressed in a mage-like fashion, with a black robe and a pointed hat. Upon her breast was neither a corsage nor a brooch, indicating to me that she was simply a novice—in other words, the lowest rank among mages.

“I am Lisa. By the way, this outfit is a costume.”

Whoops, she isn’t even a novice.

“Why are you dressed up as a mage? Is it an interest of yours?”

“Well, it is interesting, but…” Lisa smiled slightly, and she held up the basket that she had in her hands. “It’s for this. If you want to make money, you have to wear a costume.”

“If you put on a costume, you can make money…?”

I frowned in confusion, and Lisa put on a puzzled expression.

“…Don’t tell me you entered this country without knowing anything?”

“Well—that’s about right.” I held up the basket in my hands and showed it to her. Unlike her basket, which was stuffed full of lots of candy, the inside of my basket was empty.

Lisa let out a little sigh and took me by the hand.

“You dummy. You’re guaranteed to have a bad time if you come to this country without any background knowledge—come with me for a minute.”

Then she pulled me by the hand and walked off.

Penniless me went along with her, without any resistance.

I thought that, if things went well, she might give me a piece of candy.

After all, I was broke and hungry.

“Trick or treat! It’s a set phrase we use in this country on this day.”

As we were observing the gathered monsters from behind a trash can on one side of an open plaza, Lisa said, “Everyone here has gone all out with their outfits, don’t you think? This event is held so that we can celebrate the effort everyone put into their looks.”

She told me how it worked.

“Trick or treat!”

Whenever someone called out to you with that phrase, if you thought the other person was more impressive than you, you had to give them candy. If you thought you were the more impressive one, you could play a trick on them.

That was the gist of it.

In other words, it was extortion, officially sanctioned by the government.

What are they doing holding an event that’s so bad for public order? I don’t like it; it’s scary.

“So doesn’t that mean every time someone talks to you, you’re forced to pay them money?”

I mean, who would choose to have a trick played on them?

“No, not at all! Look over there.” Lisa pointed into the plaza.

A fistfight had broken out.

Two werewolves were circling wildly around each other, completely oblivious to the crowd that had formed around them, snapping at each other with their fangs and slashing at each other with their claws.

“……”

What’s that all about?

“If someone comes up to you and says that set phrase, but you turn them down, that’s what happens. They’ll compete to determine which one is more impressive.”

“……”

Really, what is the deal with this event? It’s such a hazard to public safety.

“So in other words, you have two choices, between getting hit or paying out money? Everyone else is a monster, so if anyone speaks to me, it’s all over for me during this event.”

I let out a sigh, and Lisa tilted her head to the side in confusion.

She looked like she was wondering what I was talking about.

“It’s not like there are any real monsters here, right? You really came here without knowing a thing, huh?” She shrugged. “By any chance, did you think the men over there were real monsters? You really are gullible—”

“…What do you mean?”

“They’re all just people, wearing costumes. There isn’t a single monster among them.”

“……Huh?”

“Like I said, I mean, this country isn’t teeming with monsters. This is a place where everyone wears costumes, and we all boast to each other about how well-made our outfits are!”

“……”

In other words, I had been extorted into giving money (candy) to normal people who had only been dressed up as monsters.

Oh-hoh.

Huh. I see. How interesting.

I resent that. They deserve to die ten thousand deaths.

“By the way, how have you managed to earn as much as you have?”

“Huh? Oh, they love it when you say ‘Trick or treat!  ’ Really, all men are idiots.”

“What’s the trick?”

“I tie them up and walk away.”

“You’re a genius.”

“It’s surprisingly easy. Men are all stupid, after all.”

From that point on, I was unrivaled.

I showed my true ability. If the others weren’t monsters after all, I had nothing to fear.

As I walked around town, I spoke to one person after another, men and women alike.

“Oh, hello, how do you do? I’m a witch.”

“Oh. You’ve got a really cute costu—”

“Candy.”

“…Hmm?”

“Candy, please.”

“I didn’t hear the set phrase, though…?” The man was wearing a giant pumpkin on his head. “But even so, don’t you think my costume is even cooler—?”

“Candy.”

“…Uhhh?”

“Candy, please.”

“No, um…”

I thrust the wand I was holding in my hand at the man’s throat.

“Never mind that; give me candy. Please give me candy. Give it to me. Quickly, the candy. If you don’t, you know what happens, right? By the way, I…am a real witch. Do you understand…what I’m saying?”

I pressed the man, demanding candy as I circled around and around him.

“…Wait, but—”

When, despite all that, the man didn’t seem ready to supply me with candy, I cast a spell and conjured a crystal of ice that exploded right beside his head.

“By the way, the tricks I play are on this level. What do you think? Do you want me to play tricks on you?”

Then I clapped a hand down on the man’s shoulder.

“Trick or treat, okay? What’s your preference? Oh-hoh-hoh!”

After that, I really raked it in.

Well then, once I had gotten back the amount of money (candy) that I had had in my possession when I first entered the country, I decided to leave.

Apparently, Lisa left the country around the same time I did. I was surprised to encounter her outside the gate.

“Oh, hey, it’s been a little while. How’d you do? Were you able to make a lot?”

“No, but I’ve at least got about as much as I had when I got here.”

“Hmm—by the way, want to see my take?”

“…You earned all this?”

There was a huge quantity of gold coins tucked into her coin purse.

What the heck? This is like a normal person’s annual income. That’s amazing!

“Men are simple creatures. You can generally get what you want if you just expose a little chest.”

“…………………………………………Right.”

“Ah, sorry.”

She lowered her gaze to my chest and drummed on her own head as she giggled, “Tee-hee!  ”

After suppressing my desire to drop a block of ice on the top of her head, I said, “Anyway, I suppose this just goes to show this is an event that favors people with lots of exposed skin, who use coercive methods, right? Are there any benefits for the people who live here?”

“Of course there are!”

“What are they?”

“They get to talk freely with cute girls. They get to have cute girls play tricks on them.”

“……So the men—”

“They’re all idiots.”

“…………”

Nevertheless—

There was one thing I just couldn’t understand about the country I had just visited.

Even if what Lisa had said was true, the workmanship on the costumes the people were wearing when they dressed up as monstrous creatures was amazing, no matter how you looked at it.

So much so that I mistook them for real monsters.

So much so that when I had been surrounded, I’d been frightened out of my wits.

“…………”

Perhaps…

Perhaps they weren’t really costumes, and it was a country where monsters gathered together to live.

Maybe they held that festival once a year so they could interact with humans or something.

My head was filled with possibilities.

After the festival, the residents of the country were talking in the pub.

“This year was amazing yet again!”

“I had some incredible things done to me. I got tied up by a human girl! And abandoned!”

“Fwa-ha-ha, I got swindled out of my candy by a girl dressed like a witch!”

“What? Did that really happen? I also got threatened by a girl dressed up like a witch.”

“How was that?”

“…It was the best.”

“Human girls really are great…”

“Human boys really are great…”

“Hey, listen! I got proposed to by a human man!”

“Wow! Then what happened?”

“He sort of turned into a rock.”

“…So that rock beside you—”

“Oh, this? Yeah. This is my husband.”

“……”

“Tch…kill.”

“Hey, who did this? Who picked up the human knight? Go put her back.”

“Wait a minute, please, brother orc! That girl is special!”

“Special, my foot! The only thing she’s said since she got here is ‘Tch…kill.’”

“Well, are you surprised? Look at how she’s dressed!”

“She should only be dressed like that at night.”

“……”

“Tch…kill.”

In the monsters’ country, there was a custom of opening up the gates just once a year to hold the Pumpkin Festival.

However, in order to avoid frightening the humans more than necessary, they all pretended they were only dressed up as monsters and let the visiting sightseers enjoy themselves.

Before anyone realized, the festival had become a costume contest for humans and monsters alike. But nobody had a problem with the situation.

If anything, they enjoyed it.

Looking forward to the same time next year, when the gate would be opened again, the monsters in the pub partied wildly until dawn.

[Publication Information] Kakuyomu Post Story

[Author Comments]

This is a bonus story that was published in Kakuyomu. When you talk about witches, you think about Halloween, and I think this bonus story was printed to coincide with Halloween. When I started writing it, I meant to write a story that was about four pages long, but it ended up being quite a bit longer than that.