The Witch's After Tea Party / The Requirements to be a Witch

The Witch's After Tea Party / The Requirements to be a Witch (魔女のアフターティーパーティー／魔女の条件) is a side story featured in Monthly Comic Alive which was later adapted in Tanpenshuuu 6.

Summary
A 12 year old girl named Colette dips her hands into a nearby freezing river to clean them off during the ice season. She seeks to go back to her cabin to warm herself up, but suddenly, a voice calls out to her, asking for a favor. It belonged to another girl asking for help, as she was had a low body temperature and felt like she was about to lose consciousness while being swept along by the chilly river. Colette stops herself from letting out a scream and lends a hand to the girl in the river.

The girl who fell in the river gives her thanks to Colette for saving her. Colette gives the girl some freshly boiled water, causing the girl to thank her again. The girl had long pink hair, an oversized cloak, and most strikingly, pointed ears. Noticing the girl's ears, Colette asks if she is an elf, only for the girl to say that her body is an elf's while her soul is not, confusing Colette. The elven girl, who has a glittering blue stone on her neck, returns to answering Colette's question and states she's an elf and is 400 years old. Colette thinks that the elven girl was alive back when the Witch of Envy was roaming the world, and she is asked for her name. After Colette replies, the girl introduces herself as Omega.

The two continue to discuss various topics, like how Colette lives alone in a cabin because her parents passed away, how she had learnt a lot after being taken in at her aunt’s house, and how she catches rabbits and eats them. Omega and Colette begin to eat rabbit, the former professes that she's never been able to swim, and the latter suggests to Omega that she should stay in the cabin for some time. As Omega is worried about what she could give back in return, Colette suggests a story from the past, to which the elven girl accepts. She tells Colette how only demi-humans and spirits had a knack for magic while humans struggled building fires, then continues with the claim that only two or three other people in history could do what she can with magic. A word arises in Colette's head as she realizes something; Omega asks Colette to admit what's on her mind. Upon hearing the word from Colette, Omega affirms her with a bewitching smile, declaring, “I’m quite the wicked Witch, you know?”

While spending her days with a Witch, Colette converses with Omega whilst the former washes her things. Eventually, Omega notices that Colette has a bracelet, and she probes the girl about where it came from. It is a memento from her deceased parents, The Witch then decides to take a walk, and Colette meekly tells her to not visit the east side of the forest due to there being a Demon Beast located there. After hearing that, Omega chose to trod on over to the east side of the forest, until her eyes met small piles of stones and her ears caught a voice asking about her identity. She tries clearing any doubts about her being harmful, though the voice tells her to quit talking and turn around.

The voice belongs to a tall girl wearing black clothes. She has long dark hair, piercing sanpaku eyes, and was carrying the cadaver of a deceased creature wrapped in a white cloth. The girl uses a digging stick to make a hole, bury the animal, and put stones atop the hole after filling it. Realizing she was in a graveyard, Omega reminisces about her familiarity with them. The dark-haired juvenile questions Omega and tells her to leave the forest, for she will be torn apart by the “Beast” if she refuses to leave.

A while later, Omega returns to ask Colette about the Beast and brushes over the girl whose eyes looked like they could be a Demon Beast’s, before Colette surmises that the girl was someone she knew named Palmyra. Omega thinks back to a boy who would complain about being identified for his piercing eyes, then relays how Palmyra asked her to leave. She is confronted by Colette, who had quivering eyes and did not notice the spilled soup on her lap when asking Omega if she was really going to set out. Omega confirms she will, but not before attempting to take care of the supposed Demon Beast or whatever lies in the forest. Colette turned her back at this remark and became taciturn.

Omega has a hard time waking up that night, just like how she did in her original body. This was due to her low blood pressure, so Omega presumed that the quality of blood pressure was attached to her soul instead of her body. Colette and her glintstone have disappeared. She gets ready and steps out of the cabin, hearing a howl from the “Beast” as she walked. Arriving at the graveyard, where newly fresh non-human blood was splattered, Omega cast fireballs into the darkness, and the Beast appears. Although she was different from the typical half-elf, she did not have the physical strength they usually had, which allowed them to break boulders by hitting them. The thought of a half-elf reminds her of someone she dislikes, souring her face and flashing memories in her head. Despite not needing them, Omega casted magic with incantations because she likes putting things into words. Using Earth Magic, she pummels the Beast without emotion, thinking about the most optimal way to give it more pain, until…

A familiar girl cries out into the night, reflecting in Omega’s cold eyes. It is Palmyra, who has large tears forming in her eyes as she begs the Witch to stop. Omega is confused and states it would be irresponsible to leave this be, then Palmyra divulges she never wanted the Beast to be killed. While hugging the Beast, Palmyra passionately and desperately shouts that she never wanted Colette to turn into a “Witch”, and she only sought to help the Beast—or rather, the beastified Colette, who she was hugging.

The oddities regarding Colette were now apparent. A girl of Colette’s age living alone in a forest cabin was proof that she was shunned by her village, according to Omega. She believes it was fateful to hear the word “Witch” come from Palmyra. The sanpaku-eyed girl explains that it all started when Colette’s parents died. Her house was attacked by a “Demon Beast”, and she was the only survivor in the bloodied house. After moving to the house of a relative, her aunt, the Beast returned to kill that family, and this cycle repeated for everyone who took her in. This caused the villagers she was with to outcast her, for they believed she was a Witch and the Beast’s master.

Omega shows off her knowledge by first expressing that Palmyra built the graveyard for the slaughtered animals. She admits that similar things like this existed 400 years ago because the requirements to be a Witch were unclear, so some thought they could become Witches through weird rituals. Subsequently lamenting why all of the rituals had to be so gruesome, she continues, deducing that Colette had decided to become a Witch after being treated like one.

However, the Factors only choose those who are qualified, and although being found by one is the only path to becoming a Witch, Omega comments that the Witch Factors of this era seem to have already found qualified individuals. After all, this was a Witch-lacking era, no thanks to a “kid” who was keeping the Witch Factors to themselves. In this era, the holders of Witch Factors were called Sin Archbishops, and the way they were treated had not changed…

Omega snaps back to reality and momentarily speaks about getting sidetracked. She grasps that both her and Palmyra were prime candidates who could have been killed by Colette, yet since she hadn’t set her mind on it yet, the Witch denies that the girl was neither a Witch nor a Beast and asks Palmyra she would be okay with hearing out a question. Palmyra, stupefied, does not know what to expect. Omega walks closer and asks if anyone has actually seen a Demon Beast, before reaching her hand out to Colette and taking her bracelet off of the young girl’s wrist and causing her to lose consciousness due to a severed link. It was likely that she had no idea she was the Beast.

Meteors, magical tools that can be used without magic, are named after shooting stars because they can make wishes come true. They have ultimately caused trouble in the long run, and this was their primary issue. The Meteor owned by Colette is known as the Beast Protection Bracelet, a tool that activates when it senses danger, causing its owner’s mana to increase and allowing their body to fight at the cost of taking away their reason. Palmyra understands that it was all the bracelet’s fault with Omega’s explanation. Colette’s parents were merchants who decided to make the bracelet a gift for their daughter, but the Meteor could spring into action even with something like a nightmare.

Regardless of the tragedy surrounding Colette, it felt ridiculous that she thought she could become a Witch to Omega. Looking up at the sky without heavy clouds and no stars in sight, a gust of wind suddenly pushes the clouds and reveals the pale moon. Suddenly, Palmyra gasps, just as the moonlight poured down on the girls in the forest, and the person she was face-to-face with was a smiling white-haired Witch.

The Witch pronounces that Palmyra has promise for being able to last in her sight. She says it was no good that the villagers mistook Colette as a Witch, for it would make her and those girls turn in their graves. She asks Palmyra to confirm the location of the village, as she is terrible with directions. Receiving multiple nods from the frightened girl in return, she offers thanks, and slowly walks straight towards the village. Palmyra, with a freezing heart at the Witch’s presence as she embraced Colette, looked up at the moon. However, the moon merely looked down on the two girls, silent as ever.

After visiting the village, Omega nibbles on some leftover meat, warms herself up with warm water, and puts her clothes on. She had stayed longer than she thought she would, so she exited the cabin which had its owner missing. Striding out of the cabin, through the forest, and past the graveyard, she was about to resume her aimless journey once again until Colette and Palmyra, standing side-by-side, stopped her together. Palmyra tosses something that Omega attempts to catch, but she fails and it falls on the ground. It was the missing glintstone, which she had forgotten about. Colette wants to apologize to Omega for all the trouble, but the elven girl says there is no need.

The source of the problem with the villagers’ belief that Collete had been a Witch was identified. During Omega’s visit, she intended to cause as nontraumatic an incident as possible, so she decided to only engrave nightmares upon them for the rest of their lives and openly says she should pray that the villagers do not choke on their own vomit. Although Palmyra points out the unusualness in this sentiment, the only understanding Omega has is that it was logical. As a result of the Witch’s visit, Colette is now branded as the friend of a Witch and is now unable to stay in both the village and the forest. She receives an apology from Omega, who says she feels like it was partly her fault, and Palmyra rebuttals her by saying it was outright her fault.

The duo who stopped Omega were wearing travelling clothes because Colette could no longer remain in the area while Palmyra had used up her courtesy with the villagers and she wanted to go with her friend. They want to go with Omega, as Colette wants to hang out with a friend, and Palmyra wishes not to let the two get themselves into danger. Omega offers to help Colette use the Beast Protection Bracelet and says the two can join her aimless journey, causing Colette to react with elation. As she thought about her newfound companions, Omega recalled a previous journey she had once embarked on before. The glintstone shook and glittered brightly, almost as if it was saying something to Omega while she began to walk with Colette and Palmyra. However, the bright stone’s complaints only reached her ears.

Characters

 * Colette
 * Omega
 * Palmyra
 * Witch of Envy (mentioned)