Maydare Volume 6 Chapter 6 - Reminiscence (1) ~Makirié Lucia~

 

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This was a story from long, long ago.

Approximately 550 years ago, in the “Salt Forest” at the northern tip of the Kingdom of Ruschia, a red-haired girl was born to a young couple living there.

Her name was Makirié. Makirié Lucia.

This was the true name of the girl who would eventually be remembered as the “worst witch in the world.”

My grandmother Marcia Lucia, who lived with the couple, gave me that name.

Grandmother was the most skilled “naming witch” in the kingdom, and her job was to give the babies of the kingdom their destined names.

Mother was also a witch, but she wasn’t as powerful as Grandmother, so she mainly worked as an assistant. I heard that she met my father, a hunter, in the Salt Forest and fell in love. Mother was a good cook, and I loved her homemade sweets and preserved foods.

Speaking of Lucia witches, we were a family of naming witches that had been in this country since ancient times, and it was said that everyone visited this forest to receive their destined name.

Red hair and bright sea-blue eyes.

Those were the characteristic traits of the witches in our family. Both my grandmother and mother had them.

I, Makirié, was also born with the traits of a Lucia witch, but I also had magical powers that were unparalleled in history.

Witch.

Due to the policies of the Ruschia king at the time, witches tended to be a little disliked.

That was why even my grandmother, a famous witch, was forced to live in the Salt Forest by the government no matter how much she had contributed to the people, and her daughter and her husband also lived there quietly.

Even so, I think that was the happiest time in my life.

Because I didn’t know who I was, and could just be Makirié.

“Hey, Grandmother. You give babies their destined names, right? Are names really that important?’

One winter day, I went over to Grandmother, who was knitting in front of the fireplace, and asked her what I had always been wondering about.

What kind of power and significance did a name have?

“They are indeed. The more a name fits a child, the more strongly they are connected to the world. A name is like a stake.”

“...A stake?”

“Look closely at the rug, Makirié.”

Grandmother asked me to look at the rug spread out beneath us.

The rug was embroidered with a pattern resembling a four-leaf clover.

That was the shape of the world of Maydare, which everyone at this time already knew.

Grandmother used her wand to make several wooden dolls Father made as a hobby float with magic and placed them on top of the rug.

And then, she spoke to me.

“Listen closely, Makirié. Let us say that the shape on this rug is the land. The land of the world where we live. And the wooden dolls will be the people. However, a person’s body and soul were originally separate, and they weren’t strongly connected. The soul, in particular, is very easy to separate from the land.”

“...”

The young me tilted her head and thought about it.

“...Is it like the fruit on a tart? Something that rolls off easily?”

“Ahahaha, yes, that’s right. It’s like that.”

When I tried to use my favorite sweets as an analogy, Grandmother slapped her knee and burst into laughter.

Then, she stood up and pointed his magic wand straight at one of the carved wooden dolls.

“The name is what connects the fragile and easily detached body and soul to the earth of this world. It’s like a stake. If the name fits, the stake will be driven into the earth stronger and deeper.”

“...What if it doesn’t fit?”

“If the name doesn’t fit, the stake will be weak and wobbly, and you will not be able to receive the blessings of the world. Basically, you will not be able to receive the blessings of the World Tree Vabilophos, which had spread its roots all over Maydare.”

The blessings of the World Tree Vabilophos…

I had never seen the World Tree, but everyone in Maydare knew of its existence. It was an object of faith for most people in this world.

“If someone doesn’t receive the blessings of the World Tree, they would become very unlucky or unhappy, get sick, and die early. If the stake that is one’s name is removed, your body and soul will separate.”

“Huh. So that’s why everyone comes to Grandmother for the perfect name.”

“That’s right. Although, no matter how good one’s name is, it isn’t the only thing that determines one’s fate, so you might get sick or die early anyways. Well, there’s nothing wrong with having a good name, that’s all.”

Grandmother put her wand on the table, sat down again, and used magic to light her pipe.

“Then, why is my name Makirié?”

“It just came into my head. ‘This child’s name will be Makirié.’”

“It’s a weird name. When I went to the nearby town with Father yesterday, there wasn’t a single kid who was also named Makirié.”

“...Makirié is special. After all, the moment I saw your face, I could only think that that is how it is.”

“Hmm.”

Despite thinking that it was a strange name, I actually liked it very much.

“Then, I’ll definitely be the happiest girl in the world. A prince from the castle will come for me~and I’ll be rich~”

As I put my hand on my cheeks and my eyes sparkled, Grandmother smiled wryly.

“...You’ve been dreaming of princes a lot lately. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything special about royalty, though.”

Well, all girls go through these phases, Grandmother said matter-of-factly.

“If I get married someday and have a child, I wonder if I’ll be able to give them the most wonderful name, like you, Grandmother.”

“In that case, you must study magic more and improve your skills. You are blessed with talents. And more than anything, you must find a good partner.”

“Ah, I wonder where my soulmate could be?”

“...I’m sure that they are somewhere in this world. Someday, Makirié, you will leave this forest and discover the wider world.”

The beautiful childhood days of being in love with love.

No one knew that I would later be called “the worst witch in the world.”

I, Makirié, loved this forest, this house, and my family. At this time, I thought that I would follow in the footsteps of my grandmother, live peacefully, and carry on the work of a naming witch and give names to many children.

Grow old and die, just like everyone else in this world.

By the time I turned sixteen, I had begun to take an interest in and yearn for the world outside of the Salt Forest and people outside of my family. 

I think part of the reason was that my beloved grandmother passed away, and there was no one left to teach me magic, so I wanted to try out my powers elsewhere.

Also, Grandmother had said it before.

Someday, Makirié will leave this forest and discover the wider world. 

There must be someone somewhere in this world who needed my magic.

I should be able to meet my soulmate.

I wanted to try falling in love…

I believed my future was bright. There couldn’t be any rainclouds there.

Embracing baseless hopes and wishes, I decided to leave the Salt Forest where I was born and raised in search of new places and encounters.

My parents were very against it, but I took the witch’s robe and brimmed hat that Grandmother had given me, as well as the wand I had used since I was a child, straddled my self-made broom, and left my hometown by leisurely flying through the sky.

When I found someone who was injured, I healed them with magic.

I gave homemade magic medicine to sick people.

I used magic to make it rain in villages suffering from water shortages.

When a skirmish with a neighboring country occurred near the border, I used magic to create a giant tornado, blowing the soldiers of that country far away.

To people who didn’t understand magic, all of this would have seemed like some kind of miraculous power.

Everyone was very, very grateful to me, and I was also gaining confidence.

At that time, there were no public institutions where one could learn magic, so people basically learned by becoming apprentices to great magicians in the capital. So, even if someone had magical talent and power, they had no idea how to use it. Witches in particular were hated by the previous king, and I believe that they were rarely seen in public.

Rumors about a witch named Makirié spread in the blink of an eye, and eventually reached the royal palace.

Then, one day, I was invited to the Ruschia royal palace.

I had dreamed of princes ever since I was a child, and after happily heading to the royal palace and being treated as a guest for some time, I was ordered by the king to compete against the royal magicians.

“If you display your strength here, I’ll hire you as a royal magician.”

When the king said that, I was extremely excited. I believed that if I could live in the palace, I might be able to meet the prince of my dreams.

When we compared our powers, the royal magicians were extremely weak.

They couldn’t do anything against me.

No matter what kind of spells we threw at each other, the power of my magic far overwhelmed my opponent and blew them away.

No matter what magic they unleashed, it stood no chance against my fire magic, and everything turned into dust.

In the end, I hung everyone up using my special “thread magic.”

Everyone was astonished, even me.

I had never compared my magic against other magicians, so this was the first time I became aware of the fact that my power was unusually prominent.

The king, who witnessed my magic, was horrified instead of acknowledging my strength.

He pointed his finger at me and said these words.

“It’s just as I thought…! Witch, you will undoubtedly become a threat to this country! No, you’ll lead this world to ruin! I sentence you to death by burning, right here!”

Ah…it was just as Grandmother said.

There was nothing special about royalty. What a small, frail creature.

“Haaa, I’m disappointed.”

I was pretty sure I wouldn’t die even if I was set on fire.

However, ever since I was a child, I had a sparkling admiration for the palace and the royal family, so the shock of having that destroyed was even stronger. Letting out another sigh, I straddled my broom and sent the soldiers flying as I flew away into the sky with the grace of a witch.

However, ever since then, my life had taken a turn for the worse.

Apparently, that king was abnormally afraid of me, and I ended up being wanted throughout the country, and I became infamous.

Even the people of the towns and villages I once helped with magic now feared and shunned me.

Realizing that there was no place for me in the outside world, I returned to my home, the “Salt Forest.”

At that time, it had already been about twenty years since I left the forest. Even though so much time had passed, I still looked exactly the same as when I was sixteen. 

Come to think of it…

I think it was around this time that I started being called the <Scarlet Witch>.

Even after twenty years, the Salt Forest remained the same, a white forest that looked like it was covered in snow. However, time certainly had passed.

I had a faint hope that my parents would still be waiting for me here, but they were no longer in the forest. Only the empty hut remained.

I wondered where they went. Using magic to change my hair color, I went to question the people of the town where my parents always went to sell salt, only to find out that they had already passed away.

Apparently, my father died suddenly due to an epidemic.

I heard that my mother was run over by a noble’s carriage and died horribly.

When I learned those things, I regretted everything.

If I had been by their side, I might have been able to save them.

In the outside world that I longed for, a harsh reality waited for me. There were no happy days, no place to belong, and no kind and understanding people as I had imagined.

I just realized that there was “something” that made me different from other people.

I just learned that no matter how hard I tried, other people’s attitudes would change in an instant and become cold.

The kind and understanding people should have been inside the Salt Forest the whole time, but I ignored their pleas for me to not leave and flew outside.

And so, I sacrificed my limited time with my family, and in the end…

“I see. I’ve become hated and all alone.”

By the time I realized this, it was already too late. 

It was because I knew the love of family that I was cursed with the loneliness of the long, long life ahead of me.

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