I Picked Up a Witch from a Novel

Episode 0-a. The One Who Advances.

Time has passed.

After three long years, many things have changed in the meantime.

The stage of the Empire has disappeared into the background, and there is a traveler moving forward along a long path lit by lights.

Even knowing that the world is not merciful, the traveler still takes a step forward.

To put it simply, he is undoubtedly a weak person.

He has no talent to speak of.

The sword wielded by the sword saint will surely tear him apart with the mere traces it leaves behind.

The Grand Mage’s careless gestures will turn him to ash with the lightning that pours down.

The halberd swung by the beastman chieftain.

The breath exhaled by the dragon.

The arrows of the elves, the teeth of the ogres.

The hammer of the dwarves, the star dust of the fairies.

All of these will make efforts to collapse his journey.

And he will helplessly roll around amidst the furious rush of countless heroes.

But.

Despite that, he moves forward.

Ignoring all those things, he just continues onward.

Struggling desperately and absurdly to reach his goal.

Someone may laugh at him, and someone may look at him with pity.

But those things hold no meaning in stopping him.

If it means reaching his goal, he will definitely push through all of that and take another step forward.

So the story flows.

May your journey touch the light.

May you finally overcome the great wall and grasp the conclusion.

May the ink blur once again.

I await the moment when that time comes.

The ash-gray watcher and the traveler wandering the world.

Move forward.

Towards a new □□.

The snow is pure white.

As the white snowflakes fall, they pile up, and slowly the world begins to turn white.

Such was the scene of the snowy mountain.

The high mountains that receive snow all year long are painted completely white, and no matter how you turn your head, no other scenery can be found.

Everything is spread out in pure white.

As if all the dirt of the world has been washed away.

If you stare blankly like that, the complicated heart will calm down.

From a distance, when I had seemed to see it, that’s certainly how it was.

However.

If you were to throw the same words at someone who stepped into that scene, he would undoubtedly curse loudly.

A completely white landscape means it’s a place where one can easily lose their way due to the lack of any distinguishable features.

Even if you set out confidently insisting it’s not like that, after rolling once in the snow, your sense of direction is lost.

Only then do you start to think that you should leave some sort of trace as you move onward, but as I said, it snows every day on the snowy mountains, so those traces also get covered and disappear with the snow.

And as the foolish one, I pushed further into the snowy mountains and discovered something, then spoke.

“Ah…, finally found it.”

Finding something slightly different amidst the pure white landscape, I muttered.

“What, what? Did you find it? Did you really find the sun herb?”

Then, from behind me, a voice full of joy asks if I have finally found the target.

However.

I can’t help but mumble again without turning back.

“…No, a cave.”

Instead of the sun herb we aimed for on the snowy mountain, it was a cave that might melt my frozen body after days of wandering.

“Ugh… I thought I could finally return. Tori…, Ain, it seems like he really wants to freeze us to death.”

“If Ain oppa wanted to kill us, he wouldn’t have saved us, you stupid Yaki. Ugh… If I die first, make sure to take care of the body.”

The voices of the two little brats who said they would go alone but followed me around ring in my ears.

“…Didn’t I tell you not to follow and stay quietly at the lodge?”

I only pouted my lips and moved my feet towards the cave.

It is warm.

The colors of the crackling fire are red, and the flames flicker gently in the eyes that have only seen white for days.

As my body begins to warm in that scenery, the chattering voices return.

“Ain hyung, that quack doctor definitely tried to kill us.”

“Right? Even if Ain oppa kept feeding us only fried dumplings for over a year, asking us to find the sun herb in the snowy mountains is definitely some plot.”

“…Should we go out again? Why do you talk so much?”

As the twin siblings stick closely together, they criticize that quack doctor with the same expressions.

Pouting their lips as if dissatisfied, they get closer to the fire to warm their shaking bodies.

Then, after exchanging glances, they nod their heads and smile at me.

Realizing that if they opened those little mouths once more, they would have to go out again to search, they seem to decide to just keep it shut and smile bashfully.

In such a moment of temporary silence.

The crackling of the fire resonates loudly, and outside the cave, the snow blows fiercely.

Thus, memories arise.

Whenever I stare blankly at the campfire, my memories crawl up from inside and fill my mind.

Already three years have passed since I started my journey.

I left the Empire and headed to the Principality, where I spent over a year registered as an adventurer.

Since an inexperienced adventurer without any accomplishments cannot go directly into the world, I aimed to build up my achievements and raise my rank while working in the Principality.

Some areas I wanted to head to were places where entry was impossible with a low adventurer rank.

And to say my plans went smoothly would be untrue.

All my efforts from childhood had merely raised me to the level of an ordinary person, as I had no real talent.

Unlike the calm and peaceful scenery of the Empire, in the scenery of the Principality, known as the holy land of adventurers, I was nothing but a nobody.

No matter how hard I struggled and how much I flailed, I only came to realize the limit of what I could achieve.

After over a year of effort, my adventurer rank did not even reach intermediate level.

With no one to accept me as a companion, I always roamed alone, picking up shabby tasks.

I had almost fallen so many times and wanted to give up like this.

If I were an ordinary person, I might have hit my limit and given up.

However, I raised my knees, which had bowed for a moment, and moved on once more.

If I lacked strength, I would go to the swordsmanship hall in the Principality and swing a sword.

If I lacked money, I would sell things as a merchant to earn some.

Since no one would accept me as a companion, I stepped up to try and make my own companions.

My goal was so far away.

It was no longer a simple journey of curiosity and exploration.

Because I wished for a certain woman who might be waiting for me in the Empire to be a little happier.

So I just kept moving forward, and forward.

Even if I fell and bled from my knees, I stood up again and took steps towards the light I desired.

Then, around the three-year mark, when I looked back, I had become an intermediate adventurer.

The number of people who mocked and laughed at me gradually, albeit little by little, decreased, and while I wasn’t extraordinary, my sword skills surpassed the ordinary level just a bit.

I continued to earn enough money to live without issues.

And I gained a few companions.

While I can’t say they were just ordinary encounters and relationships, I now had companions.

The twin siblings who were chattering right in front of me were among them.

There were two or three oddballs waiting for me in the city as well.

I was moving forward, even if it was just a little bit.

And.

Whenever I recalled all these things one by one.

I unconsciously pulled out two beads from my pocket, rolling them in my hand, and made a tapping sound.

With just three years, there was no sign of breaking apart, and I stared blankly at the bracelet that was still tightly tied around my wrist.

I wonder if she is doing well.

Is she having a hard time without me?

What if something happens?

I’m sure my mother, father, and Uncle Rendo are taking good care of her, so it should be alright.

As always, my reflections on the past inevitably led to such thoughts.

Before I knew it, I was tapping the two beads against each other, thinking about the woman who stayed in the Empire.

Now, it had become a habit, and I repeated that action endlessly without stopping.

“…Tori, Ain hyung started again. He’ll probably be doing that for about an hour today.”

“Yaki…, be quiet. If you start talking carelessly and we have to go out to search, it’ll be your fault.”

Even though the voices of the twin siblings murmured in my ears.

My continuous thoughts continued until the last embers finally sputtered out.

Thus.

Tap- tap-

The sound of the beads clashing continues to echo throughout the cave.

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