Qifrey

**Qifrey** (キーフリー, *Kīfurī*) is a witch and Coco's professor. He runs an atelier and currently has four apprentices. He is a former apprentice of Beldaruit.

## Appearance

Qifrey is a young man with white hair and blue eyes. He typically wears a set of white robes with a brass-colored ornament hanging from the robes neck, as well as brass-colored buttons on the robe's collar. He wears black boots and a dons a pointed cap with a long black ribbon upon his head, along with a small pair of glasses, glued to his face with a natural resin.[*citation needed*] The left lens is clear and the right lense dark. In more casual settings, he occasionally doesn't wear the upper half of his robe, revealing a black long-sleeved turtleneck that he wears underneath.

**SPOILER WARNING FOR CHAPTER 36**

It is revealed in Chapter 36 that as a young boy, Qifrey's right eye and memories were taken by the Brimmed Hats, who buried him alive and left him to die under a tree. His glasses are fashioned specially to disguise his scar and missing right eye, as well as to enhance the vision of his left.

**End of spoiler.**

Full appearance
## Personality

Qifrey is a caring and patient teacher who understands the individuality of his students. This is especially true for Coco, who has no special abilities as a witch at first, but he continues to encourage her until she can draw magic skillfully. He is protective of all his disciples, as seen from how he protects them from being taken by Easthies and the Knights Moralis.

However, Qifrey is overly obsessed with his goal to locate the Brimmed Hats and his gentle attitude is occasionally overshadowed by this buried resentment. This was his primary motivation for taking Coco as his apprentice, as she serves as a sure lead to the Brimmed Hats. This grudge is a hidden facet to the light-hearted and kind personality Qifrey demonstrates to his pupils and colleagues.

Qifrey hates water and getting wet, stating that the reason he became so skilled with water magic was because he wanted to avoid getting wet by controlling the water with spells.

## Magical Items

* **Raincleaver**: Qifrey possesses a unique magical sword whose surface is inscribed with many tiny seals which give it the ability to divert water with a slash.

* **Palm Dragon Teacup**: Qifrey invented the Palm Dragon Teacup which later came into the possession of Beldaruit.

* **Notebook**: Qifrey has a notebook with shrinking magic on the clasp so that it can fit in his pocket. When the clasp is undone the book is restored to its normal size. Additional seals within the book can enlarge it to a giant size.

## Plot

### A Touch of Magic

One day, Qifrey traveled away from his atelier to a dressmaker's shop, where he meets Coco. As Coco's mother is busy with other customers, Coco cuts dark cloth for Qifrey and he observes Coco's ability to draw straight lines so well is magical, to her embarrassment. Qifrey asks her to explain why she likes magic so much, to which Coco explains she had bought a book and pen by someone at a fair though her mother said she could not cast magic. Qifrey appears disturbed and starts to ask her more, but before he can, a loud crash is heard from outside the shop. Some boys from the village had tipped over a Pegasus Carriage, and Qifrey offers to fix it, revealing to onlookers that he is a witch. Coco begs her mother to let him use their workshop to fix the carriage, and when she agrees, Qifrey asks Coco to make sure no one sees him cast magic before fixing the carriage.

Once he's done and the winged chariot has taken flight again, he tries to ask Coco about the book she was sold but Coco gives pushes his goods into his arms and hides behind her mother. He decides to drop the subject and leaves, later seen having set up a camp in the forest. As he lays down to sleep for the night, he thinks on the book, has a sudden realization, and rushes back to the shop. However, Coco had already begun to draw magic; when he arrives she had just finished a drawing and pulls her out of the building as the magic takes effect. As he holds Coco in the air, he yells at her asking what she drew and if the drawing was still in the house. Her mother then walks out of the building, and she and Qifrey watch as her mother turns to crystal. Qifrey tells her he has to erase her memory because she knows too much about magic but she struggles against his hold wondering what will happen to her mom. Qifrey comes to the realization that Coco may be his only lead to finding the Brimmed Hats and decides to help her to become a witch.

Qifrey then calls a winged chariot for hire to ride back to his atelier, and when Coco wakes he introduces it as her schoolhouse. He tells her he planted briar seeds to keep people away from her house and her mother, then pauses to ask her what's wrong when he sees her crying. He then offers her a Vapor Bubble before rushing off to get her a change of clothes. He comes back a few moments later and asks his apprentices Tetia and Richeh to leave him and Coco in private while he speaks with her. He tells her about the state of the world before the Day of the Pact, constantly at war until the pointed cap witches agreed to wipe the memories of the general public and instate witch laws, keeping the knowledge of magic a secret and convincing people that magic was a genetic trait and not a learned skill. As such, witches have to protect the truth of magic meaning that rumors about Coco have spread incredibly quickly. Coco then asks him about forbidden magic, imploring him to teach her everything he knows about it. He explains that forbidden magic is magic that is cast on the human body with the exception of magic to erase memories, and tells her that the Tower of Tomes is her best bet at finding answers while showing her the tower through the windowway and subsequently getting them both splashed by the guardian. He suggest that she may prefer to learn kinder magic that will make people happy instead of forbidden magic, to which she agrees. He then shows her to her room before leaving her to talk into a communicator to an unknown person about Coco's status, thanking them for approving Coco's apprenticeship.

Later, Qifrey finds Coco reading through a book on magical contraptions, provides her with her supplies for drawing magic, and lectures her on the components of a spell. He then has her attempt a spell of her own, pointing out that the ring around the magic has to be closed to work. Once she closes it the magic backfires and sprays Agott, who had been working beside her. Qifrey quickly apologizes, but Agott takes the incident in stride, explaining to Coco why her magic failed. Qifrey then takes off, leaving things to Agott. Qifrey travels to the Great Hall where he meets with Alaira who calls him a problem child and begins to chat with him about Coco and when he will have her take the first test to officially become his disciple.

In the Great Hall, Qifrey goes to order Coco's robes and hat, and Alaira warns him to not leave his students alone too long as kids their age can get into all kinds of trouble. Her warning is proven right when he arrives back at the atelier and Tetia rushes to tell him that Coco has already left for the Dadah Range to take the first test. Qifrey runs for the windowway, exclaiming that it is much too dangerous for her. However, once he adjusts the contraption, Coco is standing there waiting with the Diadem Herb in hand, indicating that she had passed the test. Qifrey scolds her for the danger she put herself in before giving her robes and hat to her, telling her that she is already an apprentice.

Likely days later, Qifrey sees Coco struggling with drawing and wonders if her Ink Wand is not suited for her. He decides he'll take the girls to The Starry Sword in Kalhn to get her a new pen. Evidently, he has to carry Coco and Agott as neither have sylph shoes, but they arrive without a hitch. Qifrey tries to explain to Coco the origins of the town but she does not pay attention, too amazed by everything around her. When Agott walks off with a snide comment about Coco, Qifrey asks Coco if the two are getting along, which Coco responds to by saying that she'd like to become better friends with her fellow student. Qifrey then leads the three girls to the shop and introduces Mr. Nolnoa to Coco. Mr. Nolnoa shows the girls how Conjuring Ink is made, and Qifrey explains that it is made from the sap of a Silverwood Tree, unlike normal ink which is made from its soot. When the girls run off to look at pens, Qifrey stays behind to make an order of paper with Mr. Nolnoa. However, Qifrey later realizes his students are missing, to which Tartah says he watched them run off after a witch with a mask of an eye that covered his face.

## Relationships

### Coco

Qifrey first met Coco when she rushed outside upon seeing a pegasus carriage and Qifrey was standing at their front door to make an order. He seemed interested in her fascination with magic but ultimately unwilling to give her a second thought until he recognizes her as a potential lead to the Brimmed Caps. His intentions in bringing Coco in as a student have been called into question, but he has affirmed that he may have once thought of her as only a lead, but values her as a student more in the present day. He deeply cares for Coco as he does with all of his students.

### Agott

One of Qifrey's students. Qifrey and Agott tend to butt heads due to Agott's stubborn nature and Qifrey's dedication to her safety above all else, as seen when Qifrey tells Agott that she cannot come along on a real job although he is ultimately convinced. Despite all this, Agott is a faithful and dedicated student that Qifrey cares deeply about as he does with all of his students.

### Tetia

One of Qifrey's students. Tetia is the most exuberant of Qifrey's students. She is shown to be very trusting of him as seen when her first instinct is to rush to Qifrey for help when she presumes Coco is in trouble. She seems to disagree with Qifrey the least out of all of the students and trusts Qifrey's judgement. He cares deeply for her as he does all of his students.

### Richeh

One of Qifrey's students. Though not as openly moody as Agott, she is just as stubborn and gets into fights with Qifrey as such. She is shown to get very angry at Qifrey when he forces her to take the second test, not caring that Qifrey believes it is for her own good and instead insisting that Qifrey promised he would never make her do anything she doesn't want to do under his tutelage. Despite their disagreements, Riche ultimately comes back around and begins to trust in Qifrey again after the events of the second test. It is revealed that Riche has not always studied under Qifrey, but instead transferred to his atelier after he and Olruggio discovered her crying over the verbal abuse from her former professor and requested her transfer. Qifrey cares deeply for her as he does all of his students.

### Olruggio

Qifrey's childhood friend and the Watchful Eye of the atelier. The two have a close relationship as Olruggio was Qifrey's first, and possibly only, friend when he was taken in as a witch apprentice. Olruggio is notably the reason why Qifrey chose to specialize in water magic in spite of his fear of it, advising that he learn to control what scares him. It is implied that before Qifrey encountered Coco that Olruggio played an active part in Qifrey's selection of apprentices, as he is shocked to find Coco with no prior warning. Olruggio insists his job is to keep Qifrey out of trouble and that he wants to help him wherever danger may befall him, although Qifrey seems to prefer keeping Olruggio out of the loop for his own safety and sense of peace.

### Beldaruit

Qifrey's master and the person who saved him from being buried alive by the Brimmed Caps. He was Beldaruit's first apprentice, however, the two seem to have a strained relationship now.

## Trivia

* Qifrey is actually frightened of water and dislikes being wet, he learned to manipulate it as a method of conquering his fear of it.
* According to a sketch page by Shirahama Kamome, Qifrey can hold his liquor well. He gets tipsy but takes care not to let his guard down.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Witch Hat Atelier* Manga: Chapter 36
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/shirahamakamome/status/1150025969672998913?s=20