章節 33: A Gentle Death Slowly Approaches End
"Yeah. You could say you're two peas in a pod. But…," he asked, "…what's a witch?"
"The people of this village really don't know about witches, do they?"
"No, this is the first I've heard of them."
Well, I suppose it's not impossible for them not to know about witches, since this is a remote village two full days' travel from the nearest country. I explained in detail, producing my wand and performing some magic so it would be easy for him to understand.
"Amazing…! Ha-ha, I never knew such people even existed!" Abel laughed, making his best effort to speak loudly. His dry laugh soon got caught in his throat, where it turned into a cough.
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah, sorry. I got a little overexcited. Well then, concerning Mina and me…"
"…Right. What happened? You said she wouldn't be coming back."
He looked up at the ceiling. "I made up the story about the cure-all. It doesn't exist."
"It doesn't exist…?"
He nodded. "Mina was…"
And then he quietly told me the story.
"She was really kind, and cute, and good. She was wasted on me. She was the only one who supported me.
"Even after I fell ill, she took care of me and never acted as if the task was unpleasant. She came to my room every day, gave me homemade food to eat, and brought books so that I wouldn't get bored after I was bedridden. She sat by my side until I slept. She was my lifeline, tending to me with all her heart.
"But my illness just kept getting worse—it didn't matter how much medicine they gave me or how much I rested. Soon, I couldn't eat properly. Mina brought me her home-cooked meals, and I still couldn't muster up an appetite. In fact, I felt like I would throw up. It was obvious that I couldn't hold on much longer. I could tell.
"But she tried her hardest to cheer me up. I adored her, but I also felt terrible for her. She wanted so desperately for me to live on.
"One day, I said to her, 'My illness can't be cured by the medicine we have in the village. I'm not getting better. Do you know of the large country two days north of here? I've heard they have a medicine that's effective against any kind of illness. If it's all right, would you go get it for me?'
"Mina was perplexed. She wondered if such a cure truly existed. Besides, I was sure to get better if I just tried, she said.
"I ignored her. Instead, I pressed into her hands a letter and the money I had saved for the two of us to someday go on a trip together, and I said, 'You should be able to buy it with this. Bring it to me. Don't you dare come back until you have that cure-all in your
hand. As for that letter, open it if you can't find the medicine and you really have no idea what to do.'
"Mina was really a good girl. After worrying and worrying, she eventually got on board with my plan. 'I will find it and come back to you; you can count on it,' she said. But in reality, there was no such medicine.
"The following day, my surroundings changed. Mina left to find the cure-all, and bit by bit, word spread through the village that my condition was deteriorating. Some people came out and said my illness might be contagious, and the end result was this. I was
quarantined, and only Mina's father attended to me. But that's fine with me.
"…I really, really love Mina. I love her so much it hurts. Of course, it's painful to be so far apart, but even more than that, I hate that I'm making her sad. I don't want her crying over my corpse. I want her to smile as much as possible. That's why I decided to send her away from the village.
"If I had said, 'It's best if you don't come see me anymore,' she would never agree, I knew. Even if I managed to turn her away so that she wouldn't come to my side anymore, she would have been heartbroken, of course. And I didn't want the other villagers to get involved.
"Above all else, I didn't think she could truly live happily in the village where my dead body was put to rest. It's a conceited thing to think, I know, but I imagined that she might be weighed down by my memory.
"I'm certain she reached the country two days' walk from here and searched for the cure-all there. I'm sure that she walked around the country for hours, days on end to no avail. And I'm sure she then opened my letter.
"I poured all of my feelings into that letter. I told her I would surely be dead by the time she read it, and that I wanted her to be happy somehow in the new country.
"I believe she'll be able to find a wonderful man in that big country who can heal her wounded heart. There must be someone who can make her smile again.
"It's so selfish, isn't it? But that's what I had been thinking for a while. She was meant for more than a cramped village like this. She ought to see the wider world
"By the way, Miss Traveler, if you're pretending to be Mina, that must mean she hasn't returned, right? I believe two weeks have passed since she left the village.
"In that case, it must have happened. She must have found happiness."
After his story was done, the sick man looked out the window with tired, vacant eyes. The wind blew; the withered leaves danced and, finally, fell.
"Are you all right with that?" They were trite words, but I couldn't find anything better to say to him.
"Of course not. It's a sad thing to be apart from the one you love."
"..."
In that case—, I was about to say, but I stopped myself.
Both Mina and Abel were sad to be apart, but they would have to overcome it. And they seemed to be doing their best to make it through. An outsider shouldn't butt in to such a private matter.
"I'm glad I met you, Miss Traveler. You're not really Mina, but I still feel like I got to see her one last time."
"…I'm also glad I got to meet you."
"That's good…," he mumbled, and then said, "Miss, you're a wandering witch. Does that mean you have mysterious magical powers?"
"Hmm? Yes, I do." I was a little surprised by the sudden question, but I answered in the affirmative. Magic isn't something that just anyone can deal in, after all.
"The magic you showed me earlier truly was amazing. It was like being in a dream world."
"Thanks for saying so. I'm happy you enjoyed it."
"Say, what else can you do with magic? For example, could you—?"
I left the hut and went straight back to the house where I had changed clothes. Then I had the crowd of women take the corset off.
They had tied the back too tightly for me to take it off myself.
"Did it go well?" the old woman asked me after I had changed back into my robe.
I gave a phony answer. "Yes. He never suspected a thing."
"Thank goodness. He must have been happy to be able to see Mina in his final hours."
"..."
His final hours?
"So what is Abel doing now?"
"He was tired from talking after so long, so he said he was going to sleep. Please leave him alone until tonight."
"I see. Understood. I'll tell the village headman, too."
The village headman must be the old man with the white beard.
"Please do."
I put on my star-shaped brooch and my pointy hat, and my transformation was complete. I had returned to my usual self.
"What will you do now? If you're staying in the village, my house is open to you, but…"
I was happy for the suggestion, but I shook my head. "No, thank you.
I'm going to leave the village now. I'm in a hurry to get going." Also, I want to try to make it to that big country.
"…That's too bad."
"I'm sorry."
"You're leaving without seeing the headman and the others?"
"If I saw them, they would probably try to stop me, right? I should just slip away. If you see the headman and Mina's father, please give them my regards."
"Going so soon?" said one of the girls who had helped me out of my corset.
"Too bad," commented another girl.
"Come again, okay?"
As for me: "Sure, I'll definitely come back," I mumbled halfheartedly.
And so I left the village. I flew north, straight through the primeval forest, and didn't look back. My hand was gripping the broom, but I could still feel Abel's cold fingers.
And he…
"…Are you seriously asking me that?"
I was extremely perplexed after listening to his proposal.
"Yes, I'm serious… I'm going to die soon, right? I have no doubt that the end is near for me. It's unbearably frightening. Day after day I fall asleep thinking that today could be the day I don't wake up. It's terrifying, and I can't do anything about it." From where he lay on the bed, he continued, "Besides, I know. Everyone in the village, even Mina's father, doesn't have any sympathy for me. Somewhere deep in their hearts, they're all hoping for my death. When I finally die, they won't have to take care of me anymore, they're thinking. I
can't take it anymore. I'm at my limit. That's why… Can I ask you…?
Can I ask you to kill me?"
He wasn't joking.
He was speaking seriously.
He was already at his limit.
However…
"I refuse."
There was no way that I could accept such a request. I didn't become a witch to kill people. Even if it was his final request, I couldn't do it.
"…That's too bad." He was calm; I think he had never expected me to accept in the first place.
"I'm sorry."
"No, you don't need to apologize. Even if you don't kill me, the villagers will do it themselves before long. Maybe even tonight.
They'll feed me poison or something, and it'll look like I just quietly drifted off."
"…No way."
"No, I'm sure of it. A person who just lies in bed and can't get up has no worth in this village. He can't do anything except wait for death."
"..."
"The only reason I've been able to hold on until now is because the villagers were expecting Mina to come back. They were convinced that she had a lingering attachment to me…but it's all over now."
I realized what he meant…
"…And then I showed up."
"Don't misunderstand me. I'm not really blaming you, okay? This was my fate sooner or later."
"..."
And then he smiled.
"Ideally, I would pass away while Mina's twin is tending to me, but…I don't want to force your hand. I'm sorry for making such a strange request."
"No, don't worry about it…," I said
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