CHAPTER 1 STORY 18
Plaster Repair Specialist (Charcoal Witch)
Great Figures Who Built Our History
This is the name of a collection of inspirational newspaper interviews here in our country, intended for people who love our historical heritage more than anything else.
The first guest on our program is this memorable individual:
The Charcoal Witch, Saya.
A witch who is affiliated with the United Magic Association.
Although she is still young, she’s blessed with exceptional magical talent. Currently, as she wanders from country to country sightseeing, she also extends a helping hand to those seeking her assistance.
She’s particularly unrivaled when it comes to repairing plaster.
People call her—the Plaster Repair Specialist.
—Thank you so much for joining us today, I know how busy you must be.
“Actually, this is the first time I’ve ever been called a Plaster Repair Specialist.”
Humility befitting a true specialist. Perhaps this is one of the techniques that made her a master artisan?
“Actually, no one’s ever really referred to me as an artisan before either… Well, whatever.”
Even though she seemed amazed by the interview, Miss Saya immediately set to work repairing the plaster on the statue. While she was working, she stared at a photograph of a young woman with ash-gray hair, chuckling to herself as she blushed and made a slack expression. “Eh-heh-heh…”
The person before us no longer seemed like a plaster repair specialist but rather like a lovestruck maiden.
Before she was an artisan, she was just a girl. This was probably one of the reasons why she had become an artisan in the first place.
—And just who is that person in your photo?
“This person here? This is the person I love.”
That’s how she answered as she scratched her cheek bashfully.
—This person is the spitting image of our statue of the goddess, isn’t she? Does she have some connection to the goddess?
“Huh? What are you talking about? That’s completely off the mark.”
In a total change from a moment earlier, Miss Saya put on a tense, unsparing expression. She’d gotten angry.
From her serious expression, it was obvious that she had fought her way through many hardships already.
This was what she wanted to say: “My plaster figures can’t be etched onto flimsy pieces of paper like this one. Plaster sculptures should be shown to the wider world.”
It was to our shame that we had thrown out such thoughtless words.
Without a doubt, it was that quality known as the pride of the artisan that we were seeing in that moment.
After that, Miss Saya continued her work in silence for several hours. Occasionally, the word “Elaina…Elaina…” reached my ears, and I reasoned that it was probably a foreign word. It was inspiring to us. She was tremendously stoic.
She continued her work until the sun went down, then—
“All done! It’s a statue of Elaina!”
Then finally, our magnificent statue, which had been repaired by a specialist, was com…complete…huh?
We couldn’t believe our eyes. Unmistakably, there was a different statue there.
—This is the famous goddess statue?
“Huh? What are you talking about? That’s completely off the mark.”
—Thank you very much for coming today.
We’ll be terminating the Great Figures Who Built Our History program after the first article.
[Publication Information] Volume 7
Gamers Buyer’s Bonus
[Author Comments]
From about Volume 6 onward, I started using the store-exclusive bonus stories to tell supplementary stories to the events that had transpired in the books. This story is one of those, about when Saya repaired the plaster sculpture.
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