Secrets of the silent wi.., p.1
Secrets of the Silent Witch, Vol. 2, page 1
Copyright
SECRETS OF THE SILENT WITCH II
Matsuri Isora
Translation by Alice Prowse
Cover art by Nanna Fujimi
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
SILENT • WITCH Vol.2 CHINMOKU NO MAJO NO KAKUSHIGOTO
©Matsuri Isora, Nanna Fujimi 2021
First published in Japan in 2021 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.
English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through TUTTLE-MORI AGENCY, INC., Tokyo.
English translation © 2022 by Yen Press, LLC
Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Isora, Matsuri, author. | Fujimi, Nanna, illustrator. | Prowse, Alice, translator.
Title: Secrets of the Silent Witch / Matsuri Isora ; illustration by Nanna Fujimi ; translation by Alice Prowse.
Other titles: Sairento uicchi. English
Description: First Yen On edition. | New York, NY : Yen On, 2022.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022020923 | ISBN 9781975347802 (v. 1 ; trade paperback) | ISBN 9781975347826 (v. 2 ; trade paperback) | ISBN 9781975351694 (v. 3 ; trade paperback)
Subjects: CYAC: Fantasy. | Witches—Fiction. | Magic—Fiction. | Bashfulness—Fiction. | LCGFT: Fantasy fiction. | Witch fiction. | Light novels.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.I877 Se 2022 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022020923
ISBNs: 978-1-9753-4782-6 (paperback)
978-1-9753-4783-3 (ebook)
E3-20221014-JV-NF-ORI
Contents
COVER
INSERT
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT
PROLOGUE: A Little Weekend Challenge
CHAPTER 1: The Silent Witch, or the Misspeaking Witch
CHAPTER 2: The Terrifying Mana Capacity Gauge
CHAPTER 3: The Bull with No Tail, the Cheerful Noble Girl, and the Cat Who Wore a Skirt
CHAPTER 4: Round and Round
CHAPTER 5: It’s Mostly Thanks to the Gemsmith
CHAPTER 6: A Cup out of Place
CHAPTER 7: The Dream the Bitter Tea Showed
CHAPTER 8: The Star Villainess’s High-Pitched Laugh
CHAPTER 9: The Circumstances of Chocolate
CHAPTER 10: A Blissful Promise
CHAPTER 11: My Responsibility
EPILOGUE: A Soft Wall
SECRET EPISODE: It Was Like Love…
CHARACTERS SO FAR
AFTERWORD
YEN NEWSLETTER
PROLOGUE
A Little Weekend Challenge
The dormitories at Serendia Academy, an elite institution in the Kingdom of Ridill, were replete with tearooms and lounges where lively voices could always be heard, even on days off from school. That was especially true for the girls’ dorm, where noble young ladies shed their school uniforms for the weekend and donned flowery dresses to hold tea parties or enjoy some light conversation in elegance.
One girl, however, was trying to walk as quietly as she could right past one of these tearooms. She was short and had her light-brown hair tied into a single braid; she also wore her school uniform despite it being the weekend.
Serendia Academy allowed students to add things like ribbons and frills to their uniforms and to freely accessorize. This girl’s uniform, however, was the same as when she’d received it. She wore no accessories of any kind, either—the only decorative item on her person was the ribbon tying her hair. As she snuck down the hallway, the girl kept her head lowered so as not to meet anyone’s eyes.
Before long, however, three girls in gorgeous dresses blocked her way.
“Good day, Lady Monica Norton. How do you do?” one of them asked.
The girl she’d spoken to—Monica—gave a start, then paused in front of them. Keeping her head down, she glanced up through her bangs at the people barring her passage. All three of them were her classmates. The one standing in front was named Caroline Simmons. When Monica had first entered the academy, Caroline had caused her to tumble down the stairs. Monica opened and closed her mouth, trying to squeeze out a polite greeting.
Caroline’s slender brow furrowed. “Oh my. Why on earth are you wearing your uniform? It’s the weekend, you know.”
“I, ummm… Well…”
All the female students living in the dormitory wore their own dresses on the weekends, which made Monica’s school uniform stick out like a sore thumb. She had brought only the bare necessities with her, and aside from her uniform, her only choice would be to wear her usual baggy robe.
As Monica stammered, looking down at the floor, Caroline’s two followers began to titter.
“Could she have mistaken today for a school day?” asked one.
“Oh, you mustn’t tease her like that,” the other remarked. “She probably doesn’t have any other clothing.”
“And to think, they chose her as a student council member. It really must be some sort of mistake.”
Monica bit her lip and said nothing as the girls giggled from behind their folding fans.
As she hung her head in silence, a piercing voice rang out from behind Caroline and the others. “Oh! And what, pray tell, is going on here?”
A girl with curled orange hair approached them. Her name was Isabelle Norton. She was the daughter of Count Kerbeck—and Monica’s collaborator here at the academy.
She seemed to have grasped the situation with a single glance. “I do beg your pardon,” she said to Caroline’s group, moving between them and Monica. And then, with the face of a terribly wicked, spoiled young girl, she looked at Monica and shouted, “I told you to go shopping, didn’t I? Why are you still loitering about here?! Slower and dumber than a donkey, as always!”
Monica, frightened, looked at Isabelle, who gave her a furtive wink; her back was turned to the other girls.
“Those things aren’t going to buy themselves,” continued Isabelle. “And I won’t tolerate you missing even a single thing on the list!”
“Y-yes, ma’am!” Monica nodded, mentally thanking the other girl as she fled the scene.
Once she’d gotten outside the dormitory, she breathed a long sigh and brushed the sweat off her forehead. There was plain exhaustion written across her still-youthful face.
“Yo, Monica. How are you so tired just from leaving the dormitory?” An astonished voice sounded from down at her feet.
Monica turned to see a black cat with glossy fur looking up at her, its golden eyes narrowed.
After making sure nobody was around, Monica squatted and met the cat’s eyes. “Nero,” she said. “I already feel accomplished just having made it outside on a weekend, so… Can I go back now?”
“You’re going shopping! You promised to buy me something tasty at a food stand, remember?” Nero circled around behind Monica’s stooped form and patted her rear with his front paw to hurry her along. “You know the prince is going to be in his dorm all day. It’s the perfect time for a bodyguard like you to relax and do some shopping in town! If you miss this chance, who knows when you’ll get another?”
Monica moaned. “Yes…but…”
She was already out of breath, and all she’d done was leave the dormitory on a weekend. And yet, she was one of the Kingdom of Ridill’s greatest magicians, dispatched on a mission to guard the second prince. She was one of the Seven Sages—the Silent Witch, Monica Everett. The cat patting her on the bottom with his paw was her familiar, Nero.
Monica’s mission was top secret: She needed to guard the second prince without him or any of the other students finding out. To that end, she was now living as a student at Serendia Academy under the name Monica Norton… Unfortunately, she was hopelessly shy.
Her inability to speak in front of others was the very reason she’d mastered the art of unchanted magecraft and why, after becoming a Sage, she had holed up in a mountain cabin and spent all her time on research. She would have had less trouble charging into a horde of dragons than going on a weekend shopping trip.
“I still want to go home…,” she murmured.
Nero looked at her i
“W-weekends are different! There are more people in the hallways, and I’m the only one in a uniform, so everyone stares at me when I pass by…”
Nero was about to reply to her string of excuses when he suddenly perked up his ears and dove into a nearby bush. Before Monica could call out his name, someone called hers instead.
“Oh. Is that you, Monica?”
She turned around and saw a girl with flaxen hair—her classmate Lana Colette. Monica was used to seeing her in her school uniform, but now even she was wearing a dress of her own, holding a parasol in her hands. The elegant velvet dress was a deep red, like wine, which suited her fair complexion and slender features.
“It’s rare to see you out and about on a day off. Are you going somewhere, too?”
“Ummm…shopping,” said Monica, fiddling with her fingers. “…I wanted, er, a comb.”
Lana’s eyes glittered. “What a coincidence! I was just about to go shopping for a new accessory myself. Let’s go together,” she suggested, twirling her ribbon-adorned parasol with excitement. “I know a wonderful shop with the cutest combs made of silver and ivory!”
Monica wasn’t sure what to say. Wherever Lana wanted to go, it was probably a first-rate boutique that dealt in fine and precious metals. A plain girl like Monica would definitely be out of place there. Lana would be embarrassed having her around.
“…I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I’m…going by, um, myself.”
This clearly upset Lana. She pursed her lips and turned away slightly. “Oh. Well, fine, then,” she said before briskly passing Monica and boarding a carriage waiting outside the gate.
As Monica idly watched the carriage drive off, Nero poked his face out of the bush. “You sure you don’t want to go with her?” he asked.
“…I wouldn’t fit in at the shops she’s going to.”
Telling herself it was better this way, Monica started walking toward town, her legs sluggish.
About an hour’s walk from Serendia Academy was a town called Craeme. It was situated on the side of a major road and relatively prosperous, and it had a brick clock tower at its center. This wasn’t a clock tower like you might find as an add-on to a church or a library but a separate building all its own, which was a bit unusual.
“Wow. Look at that clock tower…”
As she gazed up at the structure, Monica would have looked to passersby like a child admiring a grand building. But in reality, equations were racing about in her mind at a dizzying clip.
Architecture and mathematics were inseparable. Even the way bricks were laid one atop the other was governed by precise calculations and incorporated clever designs meant to withstand impacts.
Ah, how beautiful the world of numbers is! thought Monica as she stared up at the splendid tower, retreating into her mind—there were so many people on the streets, Monica was already trying to escape reality. When she slowly lowered her gaze from the clock tower, all she could see were people, people, and more people.
C-could my school uniform be making me stand out? Well, I guess a Serendia Academy student would stand out regardless… Ahhh, I should have brought a coat…!
Legs trembling, Monica moved into the shadow of a building and wiped the sweat off her brow. The short trip here alone seemed to have drained all her stamina for the day.
As she caught her breath, Nero smacked her in the leg with his tail. “Hey, Monica, get with the shopping already.”
“I—I think I’ll, um, go home after all…”
“Don’t even joke! I’ve already decided I’m eating meat today!”
“Yeah, but…,” whined Monica.
Nero snorted, displeased, and turned his back to her. “Then I’ll just have to go make the rounds on my own. See ya.” And with that, he jumped up onto a nearby roof.
Monica frantically tried to follow him, but he was out of sight within seconds. “W-wait…! No, please, don’t leave me… Nero…!”
Half crying, she burst out from the shade of the building, only to freeze under the eyes of the crowd. Even though she knew their gazes weren’t all malicious, Monica started to choke and breathe irregularly. Her breaths came shallow and staccato. She was quickly getting dizzy.
She squatted down to the ground, covered her ears, and closed her eyes. By shutting out all outside sources of information and focusing on numbers, she was able to distract herself, if only a little.
…I can’t keep doing this, she thought to herself. I know I have to stand up and walk on my own two feet. But…
As she tried to force her trembling legs to move so she could stand, someone patted her on the shoulder. She gasped in fright and shut her eyes before gradually prying them open again.
“You all right?”
She looked up and met the gaze of a young man with dirty-blond hair, who was squatting beside her worriedly. He looked to be about her age and was wearing clothing that seemed easy to move around in, a bag over his shoulder.
“Do you feel sick?” he asked.
A soft grown was all Monica could manage. For her, speaking to someone for the first time was pure anguish.
But this person was concerned about her. I have to say something, she thought, her trembling lips finally moving.
“Um, I—I got separated from…um, Nero… He’s a cat…”
“What does he look like?”
“…He’s black with, um, golden eyes.”
The young man hummed and nodded, then shot to his feet and gave Monica a toothy grin. “I’ll just have a quick fly around, so you wait right here!” he said before beginning to mutter something under his breath.
When she heard it, Monica’s eyes flew open. It was the chant for a spell.
And not just any spell…! she thought. As the boy’s chant ended, the wind began to whip up around him. With a quick grunt, he kicked off the ground and leaped upward, reaching higher than the rooftops.
This was flight magecraft. Though it allowed one to conveniently fly through the air, it consumed a large amount of mana, and you needed a good sense of balance for it. Monica couldn’t use the spell—mainly for the latter reason. But even among high mages, not many could use flight magecraft; the people on the streets watched with interest as the young man flit across the rooftops.
He shaded his eyes with his hand and took a look around, eventually making a quick landing on a nearby red rooftop. She heard the words “Caught you!” from overhead, along with the angry cry of a cat.
A few minutes later, the young man slowly alighted from the rooftop with Nero cradled in his arms.
“I found him wandering around up there,” he said, pointing to the top of a building not far from where Monica had been squatting. “Is it Nero?”
Nero must have been watching her from above. Uncomfortable in the young man’s arms, the cat turned his cheek and swung his tail.
“…I’m sorry, Nero,” Monica said.
The cat looked at her and meowed, as if to say, Whatever, it’s fine.
Just then, they heard a large bell start to ring. Its clangs were wild and urgent—this wasn’t intended to mark the time. This meant there was an emergency.
“Dragon!” someone yelled. “A stray dragon has appeared near town!”
Everyone panicked and began to run. Those with open-air shops rushed to pack away their wares.
Dragons were mostly seen among the mountains to the east of the kingdom, but all too often, one would drift away from their horde and end up here in the flatlands.
The town was surrounded by a stone wall, but a winged dragon could easily fly over it, and frequently, those without wings would simply tear it down to get inside.
Amid the panic, the young man with dirty-blond hair handed Nero off to Monica and began chanting rapidly. “I’m going to see what’s happening!” he said. “You evacuate to the center of town!”
With that, he leaped toward the front gates with another flight spell, leaving Monica behind.
Nero whispered from his place in her arms. “Hey, Monica. What are you gonna do?”
A town of this size would have a considerable defense force, but since this was an area with few dragonraids, she doubted they had the necessary equipment to slay dragons. At the same time, it would take too long to call for help from the experts—the Dragon Knights, who were stationed at the royal capital.
