c1 (1/2)

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The witch was who you would call a witch. A witch who could not be mistaken for anything else. Wrapped up in a black robe and stirring the contents of her cauldron, cackling “Eeeheehehee!” all the while – she belonged to that category of so-called witches.

Her dwelling was a cave embedded deep within the woods. Dreary and dim regardless of whether it was day or night, all of the visitors to this forest were in low spirits. In those kinds of woods, and once again, within its heart. Amidst the depths of a continually forgotten grotto, the witch had inconspicuously settled down.

A face that was deeply carved with wrinkles. An aged body that was appraised as the hag amongst hags, more hags, and even more hags. For her familiar, a singular melancholy crow was all there was. Always looking prim and unruffled, the crow groomed its feathers without sounding out the slightest utterance of a caw.

The magical grimoires scattered about the room were merely a slice of the witch’s knowledge.

The skeletons strewn across the floor were merely indiscretions from the witch’s bygone days.

The witch was who you would call a witch.

Now then— for that kind of witch, there was one huge trouble.

Indeed. In that case, for the likes of this witch, living a witch-like livelihood pleased her. There was n.o.body around to be a nuisance to her, and she willfully spent every day alone. Trying to work out her magic on a whim, testing that out on the crow. And the crow attempting to peck at her repeatedly with its sharp beak. Shortly thereafter, before she herself had understood what happened, the witch found herself trying to throw a body inside the cauldron on the spot. When she became drowsy, she quickly went to bed.

People paying a visit was also a seldom occurrence. For those who have bothered to come all this way deep into the especially murky forest, every single one of them has always had their inevitable circ.u.mstances.

Emerging from the forest sunken into gloom arose more and more sunken facial expressions. And with those expressions – “Ah, I want you to do this!” “I want you to do it in this way!” Saying that, the people earnestly requested the witch for their own sake.

Thereupon which the witch capriciously went and granted their desires. The witch had no notions of good or evil. If she put her mind to it, she created medicines to cure incurable diseases; and again, if she put her mind to it, concocted poisons to a.s.sa.s.sinate important individuals. Of course, the acts in themselves required receiving compensation of equivalent value. If she didn’t do it like that, it would be boring. Moreover, when rumors spread of a guy living in the woods who grants wishes free of charge, there were annoyances who indiscreetly intruded on the witch.

Because of those sorts of reasons, the witch was able to while away her days by keeping her current distance away from society.

However, as far as the witch was concerned, that “current” distance was trampled underfoot by some nuisances – but it was just one being. And that was the third son of the governing lord of this province, a rascally boy.

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His name was Orélie – a young man who was, as of yet, not even within the reaches of twenty.

First of all, his silky blond hair was tied up into a bundle, and his skin was a translucent white similar to that of a woman’s. Nevertheless, his stature was slim and tall; and to be honest, his p.r.o.ne-to-be-seen-as-delicate body was also st.u.r.dily built. When his mouth began to open, that alone must have caused all the girls to melt into a puddle. ―― That kind of man, the witch found to be the most difficult of all to deal with.

As he was also the youngest out of three sons, from time to time he selfishly did things at his own pace without consulting anybody else, and ―― even from the witch’s point of view, who was out of step with normal people’s morals ―― he was thoroughly an oddball.

So the witch’s worry, that is to say, was none other than this Orélie.

Anybody would hesitate to draw near this cave, but it just so happens that he incessantly shows up without any of his attendants joining him. And so, each time that would happen, the witch would offer (as far as she was concerned) an extremely idiotic consultation.

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That was, quite frequently, a consultation about love problems.

Orélie fell in love with Maré, the star attraction of the florist that resides in the lower parts of town, approximately half a year ago. From right around that time, there became rumors that a lovely blossom-like girl started working at the poor, run-down flower shop – that was the start of it all.

Even up to then, hanging around town and letting loose under the influence of bad company had become Orélie’s daily routine – not at all like how the son of a rich family should be. His group became excited after hearing these rumors, and they wanted to try taking a glance at this girl. Finding nothing odd, Orélie accompanied them.

The person of the rumors might not live up to expectations. But still, out of all those who have met her and those who have heard of her, how many of them had praised the girl’s beautiful face? In the beginning it was only inquisitiveness that drove him, but by thereupon seeing the girl, the att.i.tude he took was not in the least what he said he had planned. He thought that if he was killing time, then anything was fine, he said.

However, the instant he was actually face to face with her, all of his carefree thoughts were blown away just like that. ―― or rather, pulverized to bits. Orélie distinctly felt a violent jolt in his heart. This was the moment of “falling in love” – with that realization, the sentiment grew stronger and stronger within that body. Evidently, those guys up in society say it’s described as “to be taken with someone at first sight.”

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No, some mundane turn of phrase like that could never express in words the extent of how violent the shock was, insisted Orélie. Having only been informed up until here, such simple, mundane phrases like “tedious” or “fed up” could not even begin to describe how exhausted the witch was. The witch was so flabbergasted and tired out to the point that shouting “How tedious!” would have completely ended the conversation, but his story still had a ways to go.

Orélie promptly initiated his approach towards the girl.

For he who was blessed with fortune, any kind of girl would most likely lose her confidence once she was in his hands – again, he happened to have that much of a background readily available. That’s why it would be only natural for his relations.h.i.+p with the girl to turn into one of mutual love! Not spending a significant amount of time going that far and arriving at that conclusion, Orélie smoothly considered this while gulping his throat repeatedly.

However, things did not progress as simply as that.

The woman called Maré, in response to both Orélie’s beautiful face and the dazzling smile he brought forth from there, was truly the embodiment of shyness. To the sweet, sweet nothings he murmured in a soft tone, she was also indifferent. That being the case, even when Orélie tried to refer to his own social status, it was as if she showed no interest. To her, just saying the words “I love you!” seemed to be no more than a grating noise inferior to that of the cry, “Flowers, please!”

Nevertheless, there weren’t necessarily any signs to say that she hated Orélie.

In the first place, the problem was not just something like that. Since a while ago, it looked as if she didn’t carry in stock any special feelings toward him in general. ―― Quite sad, but there wasn’t any room but to make that type of conclusion.

With Orélie scoping out the boundaries to the best of his abilities, the situation was a.s.sessed that Maré had no sweetheart. In addition, he didn’t hear any talk about her having a special someone at all. Having parents who were lying down in bed with illness, the necessity of working herself to the bone for the sake of supporting them, and the reality was that there was no free time to speak of love and the like ―― so the stories went, but he had not heard about any of those either.

The gossip related to her hardly came into his possession. A girl with very, very good features – with that single speck of a rumor flying about, Orélie could think of not a single successful method of attracting her affection. What was left now was no other way but to earnestly continue expressing his feelings.

Orélie forgot to jaunt around with the ruffian thugs he took for company, along with taking a stab at gaining the interests of other girls – day and night, it became that he would visit Maré’s side.

Catching Maré and drawing her into the shade underneath the trees, with however many sincere thoughts he had of yearning for her, or however many deep emotions he possessed, he fervently continued to bring them to her attention. But even then, the girl’s heart did not even quiver. Orélie approached his limit. By the way, the witch who had been informed up to here was also reaching her limit quite soon.

Now then, “what the heck should I even do?” Orélie, who was stuck with no way out, had this already pop into his mind, but deep within the forest on the outskirts of town, there existed a witch who resided in a cave――.

At last, when the story drifted that far, the witch went “yeah, yeah, I already understand” and swung her hand in a fluttering motion.

The gist of it all was to make a love potion for him, wasn’t it. One way or another, the young man Orélie’s regaling of his heartrending tale of unrequited love was unbearable, so the witch was cutting it off here. At any rate, the witch wanted to make the love potion quickly so she could finish driving him out.

“Rest your weary heart, I’ll make an extraordinarily powerful one for you right at once. It’ll be so powerful to the extent that even if you lose interest and want to cast her aside, she’ll spend an entire lifetime clinging to you and won’t leave.”

When the witch said that with a sigh mingled in, Orélie blankly gazed at the witch’s wrinkle-filled face for a brief period of time.

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“… what on earth are you even saying?”

I don’t understand your meaning, was written on that beautiful face.

“I’m telling you, it’s about the love potion. You came all the way here to request that kind of thing, didn’t you?”

When the witch tentatively affirmed it with a dubious face, Orélie was in the midst of raising his voice in denial.

“Absolutely not! Something like using a drug to change a person’s heart, that kind of act is foul conduct!”

This time it was the witch’s turn to stare blankly at him.

“Well then, what did you come here for?”

“Isn’t it because I came here to have a consultation with you? If you ask around about the witch who lives deep within the forest, they say that among other things, you’re a sage living in perpetual youth who has witnessed this fleeting world for over a century. Since it’s like that, I was thinking, ‘wouldn’t I receive some pretty good advice if I consulted with you about Maré?’”

“… what, advice?”

The crow was grooming the feathers on its side, but it let out a rare caw as if it was sneering at the two.

With the sequence of events like this, the witch was becoming haunted by Orélie.

By no means did she expect that the “Witch of the Forest” was a person who offered consultations and suggestions on love. Whatever sort of witch it was, be as it may, the witch could not contain her feelings – which already eclipsed amazement and anger into astonishment.

If it was a consultation like that, then asking his friends or something would be good, the witch tried saying carelessly. However, it was truly a situation where Orélie could not pull people in, as the problem was too overwhelming for his friends. “It’s not a problem we can handle,” they persistently went and said. The witch replied with nothing but Ah, is that so, as it was already something that couldn’t be helped.

“With a girl like that, there’s something about me she’s not pleased with, right?”

“Most likely her taste is in short, fat, soft and flabby ugly men with oily black hair, I guess.”

After the witch negligently replied – “Then next time, if I become a man like that, she’ll accept my thoughts or try hearing me out?” Orélie returned with a serious face. And for a second time, “Even if I gift her lovely presents like necklaces or hair ornaments, I really can’t get her to receive them. What kinds of things, then, could I get her to accept?”

“Wouldn’t something like a bouquet be just fine? Let me a.s.sure you now that there isn’t a single girl out there who wouldn’t be happy to receive flowers.”

After the witch said that to mess around, several days later he came along with a dejected expression. “I got her to accept them, but she sold half of the flowers to other customers,” carried out his quite desolate report. And for a third time, “Rather than when she talks with me about love, she’s definitely much more enthusiastic when talking to the florist’s customers. What do you think I should do?”

“You’re also a customer. So if you go and buy 10,000 flowers, she’ll probably be your companion with enthusiasm, I guess.”

It wasn’t necessarily a lie when the witch replied. And again, several days later, showing up with a ton of flower bouquets carried in both arms – “I tried buying them, but it was completely no good. These are souvenirs,” he gently placed them down between the skeletons scattered about on the floor.