小魔女与不熄灭的火 The Little Witch and the Undying Fire

小魔女与不熄灭的火·卷一 The Little Witch and the Undying Fire (I)

虽然装帧精美，但是正文内容全是手写的。看笔迹作者不止一人。「先别管写什么，封面要弄好看一点。这样才有写大作的感觉。」

The binding and layout are exquisitely made, but the actual content is all handwritten. Judging from the handwriting, there is more than one author. "Don't fuss about WHAT we're writing, the cover needs to look good! That's the only way it'll give off that 'masterpiece' feeling."

这是一个有关小魔女穿越旅途寻找「不熄灭的火」的故事。

This is the story of a little witch who journeyed far and wide to find the "undying fire."

故事的开头是这样的，在魔法大陆的最西端，一位小魔女迎来了她的「魔女资格考试之终阶试炼」，按照惯例，只要通过这个试炼，就可以成为名副其实的大魔女了。

The story begins as such, in the westernmost part of the magic continent, where a young witch was undergoing her "Witch Certification and Final Trial." As per convention, one need only pass this trial to qualify as a true witch.

试炼题需要抽签，抽签的结果是完全随机的，这样的设计常常导致意外发生。不过因为魔法大陆因循守旧的惯例，抽签考试的规矩，竟然从最古老的时代一直流传到现在耶！

The trial required lots to be drawn, and the results were completely random, a format which resulted in frequent accidents. But the magic continent was nothing if not firm in its adherence to tradition, and so, if you would believe it, they've stuck to the rules of drawing lots for trials since the very most ancient of times!

外面的世界有个理论，叫做「莫非定律」。好像是这么写的吧…意思就是担心发生的坏事大概率会发生。意外毫不意外地降临到了小魔女身上！

There's a law in the outside world known as "Morphy's Law." That's how you write it, right...? Anyway! It means that bad things you worry about happening are probably going to happen. And thus did a completely unsurprising surprise strike the little witch!

有些小魔女抽到的题很简单：比如炼制物质宇宙的终极解答「贤者之石」啊，比如带回强大的宇宙游鲸鲸须啊，比如想个办法穿越时间或者去平行宇宙找到因为太古魔法大战而绝版的魔导书啊，等等等等。

Some little witches got very simple tasks: stuff like synthesizing the final solution to the material world, the Philosopher's Stone, or bringing back baleen from a titanic universe-roaming whale, or perhaps figuring how to get to a parallel universe to find a no-longer-extant grimoire lost to a great, ancient magical war... and so on and so on.

故事的主角小魔女，却抽到了地狱级难度的题目——找到并带回「不熄灭的火」。或许，尊敬的魔女老师对这个题目会有什么看法？

But our main protagonist drew a topic of terrible, troubling tribulation — to find and bring back the "undying fire." Perhaps her honored teacher might have an opinion on this subject?

魔女老师正在和朋友享受甜美的下午茶时光，她安慰小魔女，「是因为你注定要成为更厉害的魔女，所以呢，题目也比别人要更难一点。对于未解之谜的解谜才是最有趣的嘛！」

Her teacher was just enjoying a most wonderful teatime with her friends, and she comforted her student. "It must be because you're fated to become a really great witch, so, your topic's a little harder than most. Unsolved mysteries are the most interesting, after all!"

「真的吗？」

"Really?"

「是的哦，等你回来的时候，我会准备比这个茶会更精美的茶会，迎接你哦！」

"That's right. When you come back, I'll be sure to welcome you with a tea party, one lovelier than this one, even!"

魔女老师的朋友对魔女老师说起了悄悄话：「喂，你也太过分了吧？这明明是你不想好好出考试题随便乱编的啊。世界上有这种东西的话，永动机都要发明出来了。你怎么不让她在电弱统一理论基础上证明大统一理论呢？」

The teacher's friends whispered to her: "Hey now, isn't that a bit much? You obviously only made up that question because you couldn't be bothered to think up a real exam question. If such a thing even existed, we'd have perpetual motion machines by now, don't you think!? Couldn't you have done something else — you know, made her prove the Grand Unified Theory based on the Unified Electroweak Theory or something?"

「没关系啊，人生里的谎言多的是呢。」魔女老师大言不惭，「而且，这也不能算是谎言嘛！我知道『不熄灭的火』确实存在，那颗在燃烧的星星…咦？是什么时候见过的来着…好像忘了。」

"Oh, don't you worry! Life is full of a great many lies," the teacher spoke brazenly, "and I did not lie, did I? I know that the 'undying fire' does indeed exist. That blazing star... Huh. Hang on, when did I see it again... Must've forgotten."

魔女老师转过了头：「咳咳！考虑到试炼题确实有难度，给你比其他小魔女多三倍的时间来完成吧！嘻嘻，加油哦！」

The teacher spun around to her pupil, saying: "Ahem! Considering that your trial is indeed quite challenging, you shall have three times the normal amount of time to complete it! Hehe, I'll be rooting for you!"

小魔女与不熄灭的火·卷二 The Little Witch and the Undying Fire (II)

「你这写了一大半了一点情节推进都没有啊，怎么全是设定啊！」「你懂什么！而且这些不是设定，是杂学与博物！」

"You're more than halfway through and you haven't even pushed the plot forward one iota! Why is it all about the setting!?" "And what would you know? Besides, this stuff isn't fleshing the setting out. It's elucidating natural science and other miscellaneous disciplines!"

深林的夜晚。

Deep in the woods, nighttime.

小魔女骑着扫帚在血绿色的月亮下穿行。

The little witch soared upon her broom beneath the blood-green moon.

血绿色在星相学中象征着巨大的变故，并不能以结果而判断其吉凶。

Blood-green was regarded as a symbol of great change in astrology, though whether such change be for good or ill cannot be determined by any result.

——而其实血绿色指的是这个星球的支配种族尼非利人，他们是神和人的孩子。所以他们的血是红色人血和众神金血中和一下的颜色。不过实际上绿色的月光是月球构成物质、地月距离、大气等等一起作用的结果。

—Actually, that shade symbolizes the dominant race of this world, the Nephilim. They were the children of gods and humans, and so their blood, too, was the conflux between the red blood of humanity and golden, divine blood. And actually-actually, the green moonlight was the result of the moon's physical composition, the distance between the planet and its moon, atmospheric scattering, and other factors.

话说回来，小魔女骑着扫帚在血绿色的月亮下穿行。然后她遇到了一个自称为「占卜师」的少女。

Anyway, so the little witch was soaring upon her broom beneath the blood-green moon, and then, she met a young lady who claimed to be a "fortune teller."

「我想成为魔女的使魔。」少女说。

"I wish to become a witch's familiar," said the young lady.

小魔女在那之前有件事一直想问清楚：「占卜师真的可以计算命运吗？」

But before they could even consider that, the little witch had something to ask: "Can fortune tellers read the skeins of fate?"

占卜师于是和小魔女解释了背后的原理。简单来说是这样啦：

The fortune teller then explained the underlying principles. Put simply, it's something like this:

在我们的世界，星象是天上的丝线牵动地上的人；而在其他世界里，星学的研究对象是太阳的黄道能量、卫星的诸月之能量、行星的诸执政与天众的意志能量、遥远星星的散乱干涉能量与漆黑宇宙的黑暗能量。当然这些影响在我们的星球也不是说不存在，只不过被巨大的天盖障削弱了。所以其他世界的占星学比起我们星球的占星学要抽象很多。

In our world, the stars are the heavenly strings by which humans are bound. But in other worlds, the subjects of astrological study are the solar ecliptic energies, the various lunar energies of the satellites, the will-energy of the celestial rulers of the planets, the scattered interference energy of distant stars, and the dark energy that suffuses the pitch-black cosmos. Of course, it's not like these things don't exert influence on our planet — they have merely been greatly weakened by a giant sky-shroud. As such, astrology on other worlds is far more abstract than that which is practiced in ours.

顺带一提其他星球对实在星体的称呼叫做「政」，而空想星体称之为「余」。小魔女所在的星球也不例外。

By the way, other planets refer to an actual celestial bodies as an "archon" and a theorized one as a "virtual." The planet the little witch was on was no exception.

你看，我们也把天空降下的意志叫做「执政」。通常有智慧生命的行星，「政」的数量为七，被称为「七政」。而空想星体数量为一、二、四不等。小魔女所在的星球，可能是一个吧。通常一个空想星体的情况里， 那个「余」是「黑暗的太阳」。

You see, we also call a will that comes down from the heavens an "archon." They are normally planets that have sentient life on them, and they number seven, and therefore they are called the "seven archons." As for the virtuals, their number varies between one, two, and four. The planet the little witch was one may well have been one. And in the case of such a world, the "virtual" would be the "dark sun."

星学者和占星术士本质上是对星球本身的天盖障、宇宙、「政」和「余」进行权重计算，然后推理出世界与世界之中个人的发展倾向。但是我们星球天盖障的权重太高太高了，所以研究天盖障就可以得到很精确的结果。而小魔女和占卜师所在的世界，就需要计算整个大算式。

Astrologists and diviners are, in essence, performing weight calculations on the sky-shroud, the cosmos, and the "archon" and "virtual" celestial bodies, before deducing individual developmental tendencies from world to world. But the relative weight of the sky-shroud over our planet is just way, way too great, and so, investigating it already allows us to obtain very precise results. As for the world the little witch and astrologist were on, they would have to go through the entire formula.

小魔女听完，对于占卜师的学识和技法感到非常钦佩。

After the little witch finished listening, she was very impressed by the fortune teller's learning and technique.

现在他们可以讨论一下使魔的事情了。成为一个魔女的使魔就可以分享魔女的魔力。只要拥有魔力就可以窥探更多的命运了。只不过成为使魔可能会有意想不到的副作用。很难说结果会怎么样。

Now they could speak of the matter of familiarhood. To be a witch's familiar was to share in her magic, and with magic, one could peer into more destinies. That said, becoming a familiar could have unforeseen side effects — it was hard to say what might happen.

对，这就是血绿色月相的含义：巨大的变故，并不能以结果而判断其吉凶。被圆回来了，没有跑题。

Yes! That's what the blood-green moon means: great change, which can't be judged as good or ill by the outcome. See how it all comes together? We didn't go off-topic!

「可惜我还不是大魔女，暂时没办法让你成为我的使魔。」小魔女说。

"It is a shame that I am still not a great witch. I can't make you my familiar yet, " said the little witch.

「我知道另一个与魔女签订契约的方法，看来只能用那个方法了。」少女说。

"I know of another way to establish a contract with a witch. It seems we must resort to using it," said the young lady.

这是有血绿色的月光的夜晚，恰逢魔女们的狂欢之夜。

This was the night bathed in blood-green moonlight, and it was also, coincidentally, the witches' Night Carnival.

顺带一提，狂欢之夜是一种古老而且禁忌的仪式。传说魔女们的魔力在这一晚达到顶峰。她们秘密举行仪式，献祭祭品并彻夜燃烧篝火。这是在魔法大陆的最西端属于被遗忘的习俗，不知为何在深林之中复苏。照理说只有大魔女甚至以上的人物可以受邀及邀请别人参加。

By the way, the Night Carnival is an ancient, taboo ceremony. Legend has it that at such times, the witches' magical powers are at their apex. They hold rituals in secret, offering sacrifices and keeping the bonfires burning through the night. This tradition had been forgotten in the westernmost parts of the magical continent but, for some reason, it had been revived within the deep woods. Normally, this was an event that only great witches or figures greater still could be invited to, or invite others to attend.

而实际情况来说，参与狂欢之夜和魔女们的感情、婚姻状况直接相关。

In practice, though, participation in a Carnival had a direct relation with a witch's romantic or marital status.

话说回来。虽然不知道为什么，占卜师知道魔女那边的设定，小魔女对占卜师这边的事情一窍不通。总之她们还是决定去狂欢之夜看看。权当是排遣小魔女找不到「不熄灭的火」的焦虑吧。

In any case, for some totally unknown reason, the astrologist knew all about witches while the witch knew nothing about astrologists at all. The point is, they decided to go and check out the Night Carnival. Let's just go with it being a way to deal with the anxiety the little witch felt over not being able to find the "undying fire."

血绿色的月光之下，大魔女们围着篝火起舞。

Under the blood-green moon, the great witches danced around the bonfire.

小魔女和自称「占卜师」的少女，躲在比密云还浓厚的，篝火照不到的树影后面。

The little witch and the young astrologist hid in the shadows of trees that grew so thick that even dense clouds couldn't compare, and even the bonfire could not illuminate them.

「只要等到古老禁忌的狂欢夜次日，晨光初升，诸位魔女散去之时。

"We just need to wait till the day after the ancient, forbidden night of revelry, when the dawn light first breaks and the various great witches depart.

「灰色的余烬中有一簇不熄灭的火焰，凡人取走这簇火焰回去供奉，便等同于与魔女签订契约。」少女说。

"In the grey embers will be a flame that never dies. When a mortal takes this flame and offers it up, that is equivalent to signing a contract with a witch," said the young lady.

「这个方法，总是起效吗？」小魔女问。

"Does this method always work?" The little witch asked.

「也有那种被魔女拒绝的可能…但魔女总是偏爱灵媒，我也不怕变成可怖的怪物。」少女渴望地说。

"It's possible a witch could reject the contract, but witches do so love their spirit mediums, and I'm not afraid of becoming a fearsome creature," the young lady replied, her voice thick with yearning.

「这么说，这就是一簇『不熄灭的火』哦？」小魔女冒出有些黑暗的想法，「把那簇火抢走又如何？」

"In that case, isn't this an 'undying fire'?" Dark thoughts came into the little witch's mind. "What if I took that flame for my own?"

血绿色的月光之下，大魔女们唱起属于魔女的歌曲：

And so, under the blood-green moonlight, the great witches sang their song:

「倘若一切皆是魔女的歌剧，」

"If all things a witch's opera be,"

「便不再有真实之事值得悲伤。」

"Then nothing true worth mourning would the world ever see."

「我们的节日，圆满完成。」

"Our festival has come to a fruitful end."

「故事不会停步，」

"The story shall not stay its feet,"

「之后，每一天，都是魔女的夜晚…」

"And every night hence shall also be the witches' night."

在暗处听着的小魔女的心中涌出了类似羞愧的感情——倒不是因为担心出席的大魔女或者大大魔女里面可能有自己学校老师、校长、教导主任之类的——小魔女认识学校所有人，她确信没有熟人在里面。

A sense of shame surged forth within the little witch as she listened from the shadows — it wasn't out of worry that those present, great witches and greater still, might include her teacher, school principal, instructors, or anything like that. She knew everyone at her school, and she was sure no one familiar was present.

顺带一提，小魔女所在的学校虽然是松散的师徒制度，但是实际上也会因为年纪相仿有年纪排行榜。不同师父的学徒在课余时间也允许有交流。这种制度的建立可以追溯到很久以前的西方魔女的崛起。她们并不忌讳秘传的咒语和密仪的互通有无，这也使得那段时间西方魔女的势力迅速壮大。当然，小魔女所属的团体就是西方魔女的直系继承者。这句话并不是因为忘了设定才补上的。

By the way, while the official rules at the school she attended were lax when it came to governing teachers and their students, students of similar age would still be ranked against each other. Students of different teachers were also permitted to interact outside of classes. The creation of this system could be traced back to the rise of the Western witches, long, long ago. They did not shy away from exchanging secret hexes and rituals for their mutual benefit, which would also result in their swift rise in those days. Of course, the organization that the little witch belonged to was a direct successor of these Western witches. Also, this blurb definitely wasn't just added in here because I forgot about this worldbuilding earlier.

话说回来，她对占卜师说道：

Back to the story. She said to the fortune teller:

「既然现在有这样的机会，你就勇敢地去吧！等天明的时候，去取走那簇火焰。如果你不幸变成了怪物，我也会立刻给你一个了断，不让你受苦。」

"Since we have this opportunity, go bravely forth, then! Once dawn comes, take that fire. If you should be so unfortunate as to become a monster, I will give you a quick end. You will not suffer."

作为对这份友情的礼物，少女将珍爱的水晶球送给小魔女。

As a gift to commemorate this friendship, the young lady gave her treasured crystal ball to the little witch.

「这是为已知晓的所有命途感到喜悦，为未揭示的所有悲剧感到心碎的水晶球。若有感到迷茫的时刻，让水晶球为你给出谕示吧！」

"This crystal ball feels joy for all known destined paths, and its heart breaks for all unrevealed tragedies. If you ever feel lost, allow it to be your oracle!"

实际上这个水晶球的设定是——

Actually, there's a story behind this crystal ball. It—

小魔女与不熄灭的火·卷三 The Little Witch and the Undying Fire (III)

正文开始前有些神秘的笔迹：「难得R她神智正常了一段时间，真的要她用珍贵的清醒时间写这个吗？」「别担心，这是对魔女们来说最重要的事情。」

Some mysterious handwriting appears before the main text: "It's so rare for R to be in her right mind for a spell. Should she really be wasting the precious little lucid time she has writing this?" "Don't worry. For a witch, this is the most important thing."

小魔女的旅途遇到了一群准备杀魔王的人。

In her travels, the little witch encountered a group of people getting ready to kill demon kings.

小魔女决定加入他们去杀魔王。

She decided to join them and go kill some demon kings.

那些人告诉小魔女：杀掉的魔王越多，魔女的力量越强。

They told her: The more demon kings you kill, the greater your witch's power will grow.

这件事是真的。

This is, in fact, true.

然后他们遇到了拟态魔王。

Then, they encountered a mimic demon king.

这件事之后，小魔女每次狩猎魔王都会写《魔王讨伐笔记》。

After this whole affair, the little witch would write a "Demon King-Slaying Chronicle" each time she hunted one.

他们在一个破旧房子里遇到了拟态魔王。一开始大家并不知道，以为是发霉了。

They encountered the mimic demon king in a run-down old house. At first, no one knew what was going on, assuming that the place had just gone moldy.

吸入菌粉之后，同行人分别变成了：看起来很糙的古代机器人（但是小魔女觉得很丑，感觉不如炼金术）、美丽的少女（原本该队员是男的，小魔女一开始怀疑是生物的顺序性雌雄同体反向版）、海盗（小魔女不知道为什么）。

After breathing the mold spores in, her companions turned into the following respectively: A shoddy-looking ancient robot (which the little witch found really ugly and not up to snuff when compared to alchemy), a beautiful young maiden (this team member was originally male, leading the witch to initially wonder if this was some inversion of biological sequential hermaphroditism), and a pirate (she had no idea about this one).

经过一段时间之后，队员们都产生了一定的自我身份认知障碍。看起来队友的三个人物种一致，不至于产生差别这么大的性状。反而症候却比较相似。

After some time, everyone in the squad developed identity disorders. Considering that her three companions appeared to be of the same species, they should not have exhibited such different natures, while the symptoms were, by contrast, so similar.

小魔女发现霉菌有自己的意识，赋予了接近生物变成理想形态的能力。但是小魔女对自己很满意，所以没有发生变化。

The little witch discovered that the mold had its own consciousness, and had a power that allowed similar lifeforms to turn into their ideal state. She did not change because she was already very pleased with herself.

小魔女决定测试霉菌的特性。

The little witch decided to test the mold's unique properties.

小魔女尝试食用部分霉菌，发现能吃，无副作用。可能判断为霉菌有失偏颇，不过蓝霉奶酪的霉也能吃，决定继续沿用霉菌分类。值得注意的是，切下一块霉菌之后，其他霉菌菌丝立刻消失。可能有初级的集群性智能。

She tried ingesting parts of it, finding it to be edible and without any side effects. Thus, it might have been a miscategorization to call it a mold, but since the mold in blue mold cheese could also be eaten, she decided to continue using that label. Something worth noting was that after a chunk had been cut away, the other mold threads would immediately disappear. Possibly a sign of a rudimentary collective intelligence.

为了进一步交流，小魔女想要变成霉菌。结果小魔女变成了霉菌。

To facilitate further communication, the little witch wanted to turn into mold — and so she did.

结果霉菌集合只有奇怪的生物信号，有待破译。不过持续重复来看，或许集群性智能比之前判断要低。

As it turned out, the mold colony only sent strange biological signals that needed deciphering. Through repeated observations, it seemed that their level of collective intelligence might be lower than she had previously thought.

最后霉菌自杀了。小魔女破译了霉菌的交流方式。原来看到变成和自己一样的小魔女，菌群产生了自我认识失调以及自我解离。它不断发送的信号其实是「谁是我，我是谁？」的哲学思辨。智能比想象得要高得多。

In the end, the mold committed suicide. The little witch deciphered its way of communicating communications, and as it turned out, the colony experienced dissonance in self-perception and self-dissociation when it looked upon the little witch who had become just like them. The signals they sent had in fact been philosophical speculation "Who is me, and who am I?" Its intelligence was thus much higher than expected.

队友们恢复了，并告诉小魔女这个是拟态魔王。它是一种魔王，和标准魔王同魔王纲但不共目。

Her friends recovered, and told the little witch that this was the mimic demon king. It was a species of demon king, in the same taxonomic class as standard demon kings but not in the same order.

可惜，小魔女还想多观察记录一点的。

It was a shame. She wished she had a chance to observe more and make some more records.

然后小魔女一行遇到了花栗鼠魔王。这次队友提前说了，花栗鼠魔王也是一种魔王。

Then, they encountered a chipmunk demon king, which her comrades had claimed beforehand was also a species of demon king.

它和标准魔王同纲同总目但属于不同大目。

It was classified as belonging to the same class and superorder as a standard demon king but was part of a different grandorder.

花栗鼠魔王看起来很凶暴。小魔女怀疑这种攻击性是源自孕期或者抚育幼崽时期的习性。

The chipmunk demon king looked very fierce indeed, and the little witch suspected that this aggressiveness stemmed from behaviors acquired during the gestation period and while nurturing their offspring.

潜入了花栗鼠魔王的老巢，发现它是公的。有一名队友被吃了。

Infiltrating its old nest, they found that it was male. One of her companions was eaten.

原来花栗鼠魔王只是脾气差。小魔女决定回去之后要报告这个调查结果，以免悲剧再次发生。

It turned out that it simply had a bad temper. The little witch decided to report the findings of this investigation to prevent the tragedy from repeating itself.

对花栗鼠魔王试图进行瓜子投喂、诱导。又损失了一名队友。

They attempted to feed the chipmunk demon king seeds to lure it out. They lost another companion in the process.

看来花栗鼠魔王没有素食性。

It seemed that this creature was not a vegetarian at all.

最后一名队友跑了。他依靠规律推测接下来该他送命了。这是一种不完全归纳，过程和结论都是错误的。

Her final companion fled. having deduced from the pattern of events thus far that he was next on the chopping block. This was an incomplete logical induction — both the process and conclusion were mistaken.

最后用高级林猪肉把花栗鼠魔王引到了陷阱里。花栗鼠魔王的脂肪和皮毛使其火焰、冰冻耐受。虽然没有解剖过，但是就结果来看也有水下呼吸器官。

Eventually, she used high-grade boar meat to lure the chipmunk demon king into a trap. The creature's fat and fur made it resilient to fire and freezing. Though she had never dissected one, results indicated that it also had an organ enabling it to breathe underwater.

最后使用真空环境干掉了花栗鼠魔王，看来没有厌氧性。

A complete vacuum was used to dispatch it in the end. It seems that it still required aerobic respiration.

许多魔王看似强大，但是都有弱点。炼金术的生物也是这样。

Many demon kings seem very powerful, but they all have their weaknesses. The same is true for alchemical lifeforms.

最终，小魔女要面对标准魔王，即灵长目人属大魔王了。

Finally, the little witch had to face a standard demon king, a great demon king of the primate order.

小魔女与不熄灭的火·卷四 The Little Witch and the Undying Fire (IV)

正文开始前有些神秘的笔迹：「我的女皇陛下啊，这么多伏笔怎么回收啊。可怜可怜我这个老人家吧。」

Some mysterious handwriting appears before the main text: "Tsaritsa be good, how are there this many unresolved plot threads? Please, have mercy on these old bones, would you?"

小魔女找到了大魔王。我相信大家都记得杀掉…打败的魔王越多，魔女就越强的设定。所以现在小魔女其实已经非常厉害了。大魔王根本不可能是她的对手。

So, the little witch found the great demon king. I'm sure you all remember that killi— defeating more demon kings causes witches to grow stronger. As such, the little witch was actually already amazingly powerful now! The great demon king was simply no match for her.

「你真的可以杀掉一个看起来像是人而且有智能的生命吗？」大魔王绝望地大喊。

"Can you really kill a being that looks like a human and has intelligence?" Shouted the great demon king in desperation.

「你说得对。其实我也没有打算把你怎么样。」小魔女说，「我从来没有忘记我的目的是寻找『不熄灭的火』。研究观察讨伐魔王甚至连手段都谈不上，只是积累基础实力罢了。」

"You're right. I didn't really intend to do anything to you anyway," said the little witch. "I've never forgotten that my goal is to find the 'undying fire.' Researching, observing, and defeating demon kings was never even a means to the end, but rather just the building of a basic level of power."

小魔女用——我不懂魔法和神秘学啊——总之将很厉害的大魔王捆了起来，带回了附近最大的城市。

Then, she used — sorry, I don't know magic or mysticism — some super powerful awesome technique to bind the great demon king, and brought it back to the largest nearby city.

小魔女作为西之魔女的实习生，出来进行考核，当然是有证明身份的证件的。这种证件可以让她在凡人的诸王国之间获得通行便利。而且证明伪造难度极大，避免了俗套情节发生的可能。

As a trainee of the Western witches who had come out to take her exam, she naturally had credentials that proved her identity. This provided her convenient passage through the many mortal kingdoms — such things were also proven to be immensely hard to forge, thus avoiding the possibility of any cliche plotlines.

这倒是让都市的市长犯了难——顺带一提，这个国家的制度是松散邦联。既然叫做市长当然没有贵族制度和继承制度了——因为这个大魔王处理起来确实很棘手。

This actually presented the mayor of the city with a conundrum — ah yes, this is a good time to say that this nation was a loose confederacy. And since this was a mayor, there was no aristocracy or hereditary titles — for the handling of this great demon king was truly quite tricky.

相信大家都还记得这个星球的支配种族叫做尼非利人，是人和神的混血吧？没错，其实大魔王的种族就是魔王纲魔王人属尼非利人种。既然叫做支配种族，那当然总体来说尼非利人要比凡人强大很多。而且既然设定是人神混血，那说明这个世界也有神。

I'm sure you all remember that the dominant race of this planet was the Nephilim, a hybrid of humans and gods? Right! So, the race of great demon king is actually the demon king class, and so demon kings were thus a type of Nephilim. And of course, since they were the dominant race, this meant that Nephilim were on the whole much stronger than normal humans — and since this setting for this world has hybrids of humans and gods, this meant that it has gods too.

退一步说，尼非利人也有一定程度的豁免权：伤害五人性命以下，不能用凡人法律裁决，需要引渡回尼非利人属地。而这个大魔王，只偷吃了几千头林猪和几千只鸡而已。

And taking a step back, the Nephilim also had a certain degree of legal immunity — If they had killed 5 humans or fewer, they couldn't be judged by human laws, and had to be repatriated to Nephilim lands. And as it happened, this great demon king had only stolen and eaten several thousand boars and chickens each.

总之这就会变成一个外交和政治博弈的问题了。市长当然可以把责任丢给西方魔女，但是这样就会得罪全大陆的魔女势力。

So this was fast turning into a diplomatic and political issue. Of course, the mayor could just stick the Western witches with all the blame, but that would offend every witch on the continent.

而且，市长她也是小魔女的好朋友。她不会做有害魔女集团的事情。

Plus, the mayor was also a good friend of the little witch. She would never do anything that would hurt the organization of witches as a whole.

在外交辞令、怀柔政策、申明利弊之后，被抓来的大魔王接受了冤有头债有主的说法。所以他报复的对象缩小到了小魔女一个人。

Following some diplomatic rhetoric, some policies to appease it, and an explanation of the pros and cons, the captured great demon king accepted that retribution should only be exacted on the party who had done the wrong, meaning that his ire was now narrowed to the little witch alone.

但是他打不过小魔女，所以这件事就算了。

But he could not defeat her, so that was the end of that, really.

最后我相信大家记得那个水晶球。因为小魔女阶段性丧失了目标，所以她决定掏出水晶球看一看。

Finally, I hope everyone remembers that crystal ball, because the little witch's goals had become foggy at this stage, so she decided to take it out and have a look at it.

小魔女与不熄灭的火·卷五 The Little Witch and the Undying Fire (V)

这一本的字迹潦草。或许写作者不怎么提笔，或许发生了什么。

The writing here is practically a messy scrawl. Perhaps the author doesn't really write much, or perhaps something happened.

水晶球中浮现出一张熟悉的脸，「我是你的魔法课老师，试炼时间已结束，你未能取得魔女资格。」

A familiar face surfaced in the crystal ball. "This is your magic teacher speaking. The trial is over. You were unable to obtain your witch license."

小魔女与不熄灭的火·卷六 The Little Witch and the Undying Fire (VI)

「现在这个时候，真的还有必要写这个吗？」「请让我写吧，回到这个世界的机会也难得。艾莉丝一定也是这么想的：如果不继续，那么一开始一切就没有意义。」

"Is it still necessary to write this, the present moment being what it is?" "Allow me, then. Opportunities to return to this world are few and far between. Alice would think the same: If we don't continue, then everything would have been meaningless from the start."

小魔女赶回了老师所在之处。她想要当面质问老师为什么要结束考试，为什么不让她成为魔女。她想要当着老师的面摔东西，当然她会摔那些结实经摔、自己又抱得动的，还会特意避开老师最喜欢的那个茶杯。当然，情况必要的话，她甚至可以摔碎自己第二喜欢的茶杯来强调这件事多么严重。因为那个茶杯是自己买的，不是朋友们送的。她把朋友送的东西看得和朋友一样重要，所以绝对不会意气用事。

The little witch hurried to where her teacher was. She wanted to question her teacher face-to-face about why the test had ended, and why she was not to be permitted to become a witch. She wanted to throw things to the ground in front her teacher — though of course, she would only chuck the ones that could survive the impact and that she could practically lift herself while avoiding her teacher's favorite teacup. Of course, should the situation warrant it, she was even willing to smash her own second-favorite teacup to show how serious this all was. After all, she'd bought that one herself rather than it having been given to her by friends. She valued such gifts as much as the friends themselves, and would never use them as part of an emotional outburst.

「欧科塔维亚回来了，你去和她叙叙旧吧。」

"Octavia's back. Go catch up with her."

——可是见到老师的第一面，她就只是平淡地说了这么一句话。小魔女积攒、酝酿、发酵、计划、排演无数遍、即将喷涌而出的情绪顷刻间就消失了。

That was what her teacher said calmly the moment they saw each other again. In an instant, the emotions that the little witch had stored up, brewed, fermented, plotted, and rehearsed pouring out countless times vanished.

欧科塔维亚是小魔女的好朋友，也是传说中老魔女的好朋友。她的故乡被毁灭，自己却没有对抗的勇气，于是过上了永远流浪的生活。

Octavia was a good friend of hers, and a good friend also of the legendary old witch. Her home had been destroyed, but as she lacked the courage to fight back, she had taken up a life of eternal wandering.

她见识过诸多世界，也给小魔女讲述了许多有关于天外之天的事情。

She had seen many worlds, and had told the little witch many tales about the sky beyond the sky.

「整个宇宙都快要死了。不久前刚过巅峰，马上就要急转直下了。」欧科塔维亚正坐在阳光流泻的庭院里，为自己的和小魔女最爱的茶杯倒上茶。

"The entire cosmos is going to die soon. Things peaked but not long ago, and are about to go south very fast." Octavia was sitting in a yard swathed in flowing sunlight, pouring tea into the teacups she and the little witch loved most.

小魔女拉开了椅子，坐了下来，「你回来得太突然了，我们都没准备你的椅子。你现在坐的是老魔女的椅子吧。」

The little witch pulled a chair up and sat in it. "You returned so suddenly," she said, "we didn't even prepare a chair for you. You're probably sitting in the old witch's chair now."

「宇宙里很多星星都熄灭了。我也不知道还剩下多少时间。」欧科塔维亚说，「所以我想回来看看你们。」

"Many stars across the cosmos have gone out. I do not know how much time is left," Octavia said, "so I wanted to come back to see you."

「就是因为你回来和老师他们说了这件事，所以她们才停止了所有的魔女测试吗？」小魔女问。

"Is that why my teacher and the others stopped all the witch tests? Because you came back and told them this?" The little witch asked.

「或许是的吧，在这样的世界里任何事情都会失去意义。你没有什么必要成为魔女了。」

"Perhaps. In such a world, all things lose meaning, and there is no longer any need for you to become a witch."

「那我就不生老师的气了。」小魔女说。

"Then I shan't be angry at my teacher any longer," the little witch said.

「那你会生我的气吗？我害你没有机会成为魔女了。」O说。

"But will you be mad at me? I caused you to lose your chance to become one," O said.

「如果你这次走了之后再也不回来，那我就会生你的气。」小魔女说，「我这就去寝室把你的椅子搬过来。」

"I will, if you never return after leaving this time," came the little witch's reply. "I'll go to the bedroom to get your chair."

「我坐老魔女的椅子不就好了。她已经老啦，再也不能起身了。」

"I can just sit in that old witch's chair, can't I? She's too old to get up and come sit in it nowadays."

「不行啊，因为她的椅子是她的，你的椅子是你的。」小魔女很认真地和O说起了她的理论，「每一把椅子属于一个人，就算这个人不在了，也有回忆坐在这个椅子上。所以椅子绝对不能错。」

"That's no good! That chair's hers, just as your chair's yours," the little witch argued her case earnestly with O. "To each person a chair. That way, even if they are not present, their memories will be seated still. So we absolutely can't use the wrong chairs."

欧科塔维亚无奈地笑了笑。

Octavia smiled helplessly.

出于对干扰了小魔女成为魔女的歉意，欧科塔维亚告诉了小魔女一个消息：

And by way of apology for interrupting the process of the little witch becoming a proper one, she gave the latter a piece of news:

所以

So

「『不熄灭的火』真的存在，它就在——」

"The 'undying fire' really exists. It may be found at—"

小魔女与不熄灭的火·卷七 The Little Witch and the Undying Fire (VII)

虽然装帧精美，但是正文内容全是手写的。看笔迹作者不止一人。「我已找到书写的意义了，那就是告诉你：我多么希望你也在这里。」

The binding and layout are exquisitely made, but the actual content is all handwritten. Judging from the handwriting, there is more than one author. "I have already found the meaning of writing — that is to tell you: I do so wish you were here, too."

在她被时之海的大浪裹挟，越过无数因果汇聚的涡眼、越过织机上无数的纱线时，她错过了很多东西。就连她仰慕的大魔女的告别式，也在她未能参加的情况下寂寥地结束了。

As she was buffeted by the waves of time, passing through the vortex where countless causalities converged, piercing countless threads of the weave, she missed a great many things. Even the memorial of the great witch she had so admired ended deserted, without her in attendance.

怎样都好，反正小魔女通过了各种各样乱七八糟的试炼和挑战之类乱七八糟的鬼东西，来到了老魔女面前。其实小魔女觉得这些经历也没什么好说的，前面不知道为啥要花这么多篇幅。归根到底，最重要的只有魔女的茶会，还有她追寻的目标。

Whatever they were, the point is that the little witch passed through all manner of haphazard trials and challenges and nonsensical stuff before she managed to arrive before the old witch. Actually, it's just that the little witch didn't think those experiences were worth talking about, nor did she know why anyone bothered spilling so much ink about all that earlier stuff. When all's said and done, the most important things were the witch's tea party and the goal she was pursuing.

实际上她在旅途开始的时候就已经看到了。在一口袋煤炭一样黑乎乎的天空中——或者洞窟里，我们都知道，这两者其实没有区别——抗拒着从所有方向包围进攻的世界的黑暗，散发出微弱光芒的星星。在宇宙逐渐变得黯淡，所有星星和被称作太阳的星星一颗一颗熄灭后，大家决定将它称为天蝎之星。小魔女记得在魔女们的茶会上听过这个故事，但她只记得这个名字，别的都已经不记得了。

In truth, she had already seen it before her journey began. In a sky as dark as a sack of coal — or perhaps a cavern, for as we all know, there is no difference between the two — there hung a star giving off a weak radiance, resisting the world's darkness as it encroached on every side. As the universe gradually grew dim, and all stars and stars known as suns were extinguished one by one, everyone agreed to call it the Star of Scorpio. The little witch remembered hearing about this during the witch's tea party, but she only remembered the name and nothing else.

总之，小魔女来到老魔女的面前，老魔女其实就是最后仍在燃烧的天蝎之星。但在这时候她的火焰已经很微弱了，只剩下一点细微的余烬。小魔女握着她的手。老魔女的手已经变得像树枝一样，干枯又脆弱。她想起老魔女曾经也是小魔女，她的手以前也和她的手一样洁白细嫩，老魔女曾经用那样的手优雅地拿起茶杯，也用那样的手带来许多魔法，点亮很多世界的火焰。

Anyway, the little witch came before the old witch, who was actually the Star of Scorpio, that which burned still, even at the end of all things. However, her flame was very weak now, barely a faint ember. The little witch held her hand, which had become as dry and brittle as a withered branch. She remembered that the old witch was once a little witch as well, with pale and tender hands that once elegantly held teacups. Those same hands had been used to bring forth much magic, kindling the flames on many worlds.

小魔女说：

The little witch said:

「看来大家都不想让火焰熄灭啊，这也是没办法的事情。在上次告别的时候——那时候你也在——魔女们说过，在漫长的岁月里，长生的魔女会失去很多很多东西，对生死爱憎也会变得没什么所谓。但其实这是骗人的，只是用来安慰先于她们离开的同伴的说辞而已。魔女其实会更加珍惜这个黑漆漆的毫无希望的世界里那一点点细小的火和光明，连同这点火光投下的影子一起珍惜。

"Looks like everyone doesn't want the flame to go out, and I get it. It can't be helped. The last time we said farewell — you were there too — the witches said that long-lived witches would lose many things as the years went by. Life, death, love, and hate would cease to have much meaning. But that isn't true. Those are just words they used to comfort the companions who departed before them. Witches, in fact, treasure every infinitesimal flame and light that shines in this dark world bereft of hope all the more. They hold even the shadows that these flames would cast dear.

「你总说自己不如我们，但我一直觉得你才是我们中最可爱、最厉害的魔女。你总说自己留不下什么，但你留下的故事中有无数的世界，就算再过一百年、一千年，就算某个占星魔女忧虑的末日来临，就算长生的魔女们全部死去，这些小小世界里绽放的小小的光也不会变得黯淡。是啊，你才是最厉害的大魔女，比我们厉害多了。我很想你。再见了。」

"You often said that you weren't our equal, but I've always believed you to be the cutest, most powerful witch amongst us. You often said that you left little behind, but the stories you left to us hold countless worlds. Even should a hundred years pass, or a thousand, even if the apocalypse that a certain astrologer witch worried about comes, even if all the long-lived witches die, the little light that emanates from these little worlds will not grow dim. That's right. You were the greatest great witch — far greater than us all. I miss you. Farewell."

老魔女没有回应，因为这里剩下的只有一具空壳，与小魔女在旅途中见到的无数空壳没有多少区别，构成的原料也基本一样。让她区别于其他数之不尽的空壳的只有那一点点的火光。

The old witch did not respond, for all that was left here was but an empty husk, no different from the many others that the little witch had encountered in her adventures — indeed, they were even made of the same basic material, with the only difference between those and this being the minuscule light of a flame.

小魔女取走灼烧老魔女的火，踏上了归途。总之，故事就到这里吧。小魔女的冒险还会继续，因为她已经决定要带着老魔女的火行遍宇宙，点亮时间的每个角落。

And so, the little witch took the flame that was burning the old witch and set out on her homeward journey. Anyway, let's stop the story here. The little witch's adventures would continue, though, for she had already decided to bring the old witch's fire across the universe, to light every last corner of time.