Wind ran over a gently sloping meadow tinged with brilliant green.
The wildflowers glimmered in the sunlight like the surface of still water, swaying in the wind.
When I looked up, there was a small cloud swimming leisurely across the sky, and I felt like I could reach out and touch it.
A single witch was flying across this captivating vista on her broom.
She was in her late teens, and she wore a pointy hat and a black robe with a star-shaped brooch over her breast. There's no need to tell you who she might be— That's right. She's me.
Now, we can take the time to really appreciate this amazing scenery, but let's move the story along… I saw a person standing all alone in the middle of the meadow. When
that person caught sight of me, they waved.
They don't look hostile. I'll wave back—as elegantly as possible, of course.
"Heeey! Heeeeey!" The person was hopping up and down, waving their arms, and trying their best to call attention to themselves… I guess they really want me to come over there.
I changed my broom's course a little and made my way over to them.
"Yay! You came!"
When I got there, I found a young boy hugging a bottle in one arm.
"Hello there." I alighted from my broom and bowed slightly.
"Hiya! Wow, miss, you're a real witch!" The boy glanced at my brooch and then smiled.
"What are you up to?" I asked.
"I'm on a happiness hunt!"
"Oh? What do you mean by that?"
"A happiness hunt is a hunt for happiness," the boy said. "By the way, miss, are you busy right now?"
Is he…asking me on a date? No, no, surely not.
"I guess you could say that I'm free, but you could also say that I'm busy."
"So you're free!"
...
"By the way, is there a village or town where people live nearby?" If I didn't find a place to stay, I'd be camping out in this meadow, and I can't say that was a very compelling option.
"If you're looking for a village, there's one over there." He pointed, and there was indeed a small village…or something village-esque. It seemed very isolated.
"Uh-huh."
"Actually, that's my village."
"Ah, so you're the village chief? Pleased to meet you. My name is Elaina. I'm a traveler."
"Oh, pleased to meet you. I'm Emil— Wait, no, that's not what I meant! I meant that's the village where I live." Emil puffed out his cheeks.
"I knew that. It was just a joke." I smiled.
Emil turned sulky and hugged his bottle instead of replying.
When I looked more closely at the bottle, I could just barely make out the shape of something wriggling inside it—a kind of floating white mist that moved like a living thing.
"What is that?" I pointed at the bottle.
He had probably wanted me to ask. With a proud snort, Emil gave me an answer. "This is the bottle where I'm collecting happiness! The instant a person or animal feels happiness, I transform it with a spell and gather it up in this bottle."
"Huh…"
Magic can move objects, transfigure things into flame or ice or…anything else, really, and duplicate things right before your eyes.
You can use it to fly on a broom, to make the wind blow, or to change yourself into a mouse. But gathering up happiness the moment it's felt means transforming emotion using a spell.
This might be interesting.
"Can I open it and look?"
"O-of course you can't!"
When I stretched out my hand, Emil squeezed the bottle even tighter in his arms and retreated a little. With a hostile look in his eye, he proclaimed, "I'm doing this for a girl I like, so I won't let you touch it!"
"Uh-huh."
"Um, are you mad?"
"No, I'm actually kind of impressed."
I recalled a book I had read a long time ago. It was the story of a husband who walked around outside, magically duplicating beautiful images the moment he saw them and taking them home to show to his sick wife who couldn't leave the house. Now how did that story end, again? It was a story from long, long ago, so I had completely forgotten.
"There's a girl you like?"
"Hmm? Yeah, she's a maid named Nino who works at my house. She always seems so gloomy, so I'm going to give her some happiness."
So that's why he's stuffing happiness into a bottle.
He held the bottle up high for me to see and stared at it lovingly. He looked quite content; if you really could transform the expression he was wearing right then, you could bottle up some really good happiness.
After that, we rode on our brooms and headed for the village. Emil was indeed a mage, but since he had mentioned magic spells earlier, there had been no need to ask. That said, I was very curious about what the boy had been doing in the middle of the meadow.
"I was testing to see whether I could take happiness from plants, too," Emil said, flying behind me.
"How did it go?" I asked.
"So-so. The spell let me transform something like emotion, but it was kind of hazy, and the color was cloudy. So I let it go."
"My, my."
Well, they are plants, after all. If you asked someone whether plants have distinct emotions, they would just look at you funny. Plus, if you knew the answer was yes, you might not be able to eat a salad ever again. Perhaps it's best to let some mysteries stay mysteries.
"Ah, there it is." He pointed to the village I could see just ahead. It was a tiny village, small enough that you could probably walk the circumference of the pitiful perimeter fence in under an hour. There were only about ten houses sparsely populating the area, all built of wood. Some small fields and wells were interspersed among them,
as if to fill in the gaps.
Oh, wow. "What a peaceful village."
"Isn't it?"
We got down off our brooms and passed between two trees that served as the gate for the village. Straight ahead of us on the road sat a house that was a large, splendid mansion in comparison to the others. By which I mean—well, it was about the same size as most normal houses in other countries.
"Is that the village chief's house?"
Pointing at the building, Emil nodded. "That's right. And it's my house, too."
"Oh?" Then it wasn't necessarily wrong to say this village was Emil's village.
"…You don't seem impressed, miss."
"Oh, should I have been more surprised? Wow, that's amazing, you must be really rich!"
"Um…I mean, that's not…" A shadow fell over Emil's expression.
"Anyway, Emil, when are you going to give that bottle to the girl?" I asked, and he lit up again. His emotional highs and lows were entertainingly extreme.
"Today! I'll give it to her after lunch. Oh yeah, you should join us! Nino's cooking is the best!"
"I'm happy you want to invite me, but I just ate."
"Okay, I'll have Nino make you a small plate! Are there any foods you can't eat? I'll ask her not to use them!"
It seemed like he wanted me to stay for lunch no matter what. Well, I don't have any reason to refuse, do I?
"No, I'm fine with anything, but I really did just have a meal, so please ask her for a small portion, okay?"
"Leave it to me! I'll get you some really yummy stuff!"
But you're not the one making the food. It's Nino.