Champignon Witch (シャンピニオンの魔女)

It's morning. I've got to eat something.

SCRAWNY

Good morning.

Looks like he's lost weight.

Yeah, Lize doesn't like to eat a whole lot.

He even pretended to be sick before.

I CANNOT EAT...

But Luna saw right through it.

I wonder if he just doesn't like Luna's cooking.

I'll be back later!

HE WAS ALLOWED TIME TO PICK WILD STRAWBERRIES

WHITE WITCHES AND BLACK WITCHES

Did Lize really say he hates your cooking?

Well, he is royalty, after all. He's probably a really picky eater.

But is it really inedible? Twist his arm if you have to, just make him eat.

Us black witches don't have to eat like humans do anyway,

so we don't really get how that works.

Mushroom Lord, thank you for seeing me.

Now that I think about it, I once heard that natural energy eaters

taste things differently than humans do.

HAVING NOTICED LUNA AND THE OTHERS WERE ACTING STRANGE, LIZE MADE PLANS TO SPEAK SECRETLY TO THE CHATTY MUSHROOM AGAIN.

What? They do?

Natural energy eaters?

We can get by with natural energy alone,

but since he's closer to human and has a white witch's constitution,

it isn't that easy.

Mushroom Lord, what does "natural energy eater" mean?

Well, let's see.

Black witches like Luna do not get their sustenance by eating food,

but by extracting the magic and life force directly from nature itself.

Black witches, with their strong magic,

always have fresh energy flowing through their bodies,

so they do not age the way that humans do.

They never had any need for the kind of culinary traditions humans developed.

However, Luna is very interested in human culture and customs,

so perhaps she was trying to copy what she knew of cooking.

Perhaps she wanted a taste of what it is like to be part of the human world.

However, it seems observations and books alone were not enough to teach her

how something should taste.

Poor Miss Witch...

You remember that time you said you baked a really nice cake

and decided to send it to another magician as thanks?

Oh, that cake! It was really yummy.

It was for Master Bird and I'm the one who took it to him.

He took a bite and said...

Is this a kind of experimental drug or something?

Yeah, so you might wanna get a human friend to taste your cooking

and get some pointers.

Is this some kind of pie-shaped medicine?

APOTHECARY

Honestly, I think the usual pills or liquids are a lot easier to ingest.

THE MOUSE MAGICIAN

Huh.

Yeah, this tastes nothing like food. Mm-hmm.

Even pigs wouldn't eat this sort of slop.

THE PIG PRINCE, LANCELOT

Maybe it'll work for cow feed.

Oh. I don't need to eat any. I can sense the aura.

THREAT DETECTION

BOOKSELLER

But here's a cookbook I think you should read.

Oh, that's why. There's a human child that you're trying to cook for.

Are you using good ingredients?

If I can't get something, I leave it out or use a substitute.

If that's all you're doing, it still shouldn't turn out this bad.

Don't sweat it, Luna.

Can you think of any other reason for this?

I use reversal magic to remove the poison from the mushrooms,

and sometimes cheat with magic to make it look more like the real thing.

That explains it.

Um...

Hey, step on up.

I'd like one wheel of cheese and—

Yikes! It's the poison mushroom witch everyone's talking about!

Sorry, but would you get away? Please don't grow any mushrooms on my product!

Ah! Get away from my shop!

What're ya gonna do if you spoil all my goods?

Stay away from me!

Hurry up and get out of our town!

Hmm?

What's this? You want us to sell you vegetables?

That puts us in a real spot.

You're that poison witch from the black forest, aren't ya?

If folks found out I sold ya all that milk, I'd be in real hot water.

Sorry, but I gotta charge ya double market price or no deal.

Well, let's see. I guess I could sell some for three times market price.

My boy.

My boy?

Your sadness is turning into blight and starting to overflow.

Do I really have to write about this feeling in my diary?

If I write it down, it'll be like I never felt it.

I'll go back to not knowing anything about how Miss Witch feels.

I know the blight I collect creates a lot of problems for everyone,

but the thought of living on with no memory of her pain

scares me even more.

Is there any way I can hang on to this feeling?

As far as I'm concerned, even if I'm corrupted,

this pain is a very valuable, even irreplaceable feeling.

Even if they say this feeling is poisonous,

I don't want to let go of it.

Luna, Lize just got home!

Welcome back.

Did you pick a bunch of raspberries and stuff?

Well, no, not really.

Wow, you're such a goof, Lize.

You can't do anything without me, can you? Next time I'll go with and help.

Dinner is ready. Take a seat.

Wow!

It smells good!

It looks good!

It's a turnip and milk soup. With bread.

Um, I didn't make much, though.

Wow!

Thank you for the food!

This is good!

Hey Lize, I'm the one who found the guy selling this milk.

And I baked the bread by myself!

You're kidding!

Yep, I'm kidding!

My boy, you must deepen your understanding

and open your heart as wide as you can.

That is to say, you must experience so much cheer and joy

that it smothers out the darkness you carry.

But in order to find that happiness, you must look to your own heart.

So, my boy, seek out as much joy as you can.

If you do, even the mighty blight will eventually up and run away.

That day, with my heart and my belly both full, I didn't write in my diary.

The next day, I asked Miss Witch and the Mushroom Lord about building a garden.

Miss Witch told me that I have a natural talent for growing vegetables,

and went into town to find me a book about gardening.

She said she'd let me study gardening,

as long as I don't neglect my magic training.

I really started to love it.

When I was studying, the little things that bothered me would just float away.

I imagined days of plowing, days of watching plants sprout,

days of thanking the sun and the earth and the rain,

days of watching my plants grow, and days of harvesting.

Whenever I imagine the days to come, my heart fills right up with joy.

Okay, do it again!

All right.

Don't get distracted, you idiot!

I'm sorry.

Jeez. You got some nerve slacking off when you already can't learn worth crap.

I've noticed myself thinking about Miss Witch a whole lot recently.

But not about her being a poison witch. About how beautiful she is.

I wonder why. It feels like every cell inside me,

from the hair on my head to the tips of my toes, is drawn to her.

Are you even listening to me?!

I've got to concentrate on my training.

CAW! GYAH! SQUAWK! GRR! CAW!

This isn't good enough.

And I get punished with close-ups of the ugliest thing in this world,

the crow's twisted face.

Emotional abuse.

Emotional abuse.

I've got to do better!

Emotional abuse.

Ugh.

The crow says he's observing Lize, but it's always an excuse to bully him.

I'm not bullying him! This is training!