Matrishka

**Matrishka** (マトリシカ *Matorishika*, spelled **Matryoshka** in the Yen On English-language localization) is a character introduced in the *Wandering Witch* series.

## Appearance

Matrishka sports shoulder-length, coral-colored hair, with perpetually dull eyes that are described as 'faded gold'. She appears as a young girl, betraying her age of 100+ due to her condition of involuntary immortality, the cause of which is unknown. She ceased to visually age at 16, forever stuck with the appearance of such. Matrishka wears a simple, white Mage's robe striped with purple and maroon.

## Personality

Matrishka is an immortal, suicidal mage who views herself as a good-for-nothing. Outliving her parents, as well as being scorned by her hometown, as rumors of her agelessness began to circulate, along with general frustration with her condition has caused Matrishka to develop an obsession with attempting to end her own life. To her great disappointment, these attempts always end in her miraculous revival after 'dying' for a small number of minutes or hours at a time, regardless of the method used. Matrishka successfully dies about once every three days, though she attempts to kill herself on a whim approximately once an hour, at the time she met Elaina.

She maintains an extremely jaded exterior, being fed up with life and the mundanities of living, believing that she has nothing to show for all of her time spent living, even forgetting most, if not all, of the magic she was taught as a child. The only thing known to break this melancholy is when Matrishka finds a cat, which she apparently holds a strong soft spot for.

## Plot

### Past Events

Matrishka was born in a normal, remote village where she had an average and comfortable upbringing. Her expectations of growing up and living a normal family life were subverted when, at 20 years old, her family would finally draw attention to her agelessness, noting that she hadn't changed a bit in 4 years. 20 years later, her parents would pass away after disquieting her mind with their parting words, leaving her alone in the village. Rumors spread that she was something inhuman, she was treated as something alien to the neighbors and friends that she had grown up with, and so she fled her village to become a traveler. For some time afterwards, she sought a cure for immortality, though found only those who wanted to use her for their own benefit, whether it be research, or attempting to take her immortality. This pattern of suicide attempts and wandering from place to place persisted for about 60 years.

### Story Events

#### Volume 8

Matrishka meets up with Elaina by chance after an unsuccessful hanging attempt, and accompanies her to her next destination, the Anroonie Republic, where she has been paid to deliver medicine to the residents in order to combat a violent illness spreading from the country's magically poisoned lake. After using a handkerchief contaminated with Matrishka's blood on a cat scratch, Elaina inadvertently discovers the healing properties of Matrishka's blood as it cures Elaina's cat allergy and cuts alike. She theorizes that this same principle can be used to halt the lake's death-grip on the Anroonie Republic. She bids Matrishka go and drink the toxic lake water, which unceremoniously kills her on the spot. Though, after reviving, a vaccine is reverse-engineered from Matrishka's blood, saving the country. A statue of Matrishka was planned to be erected in the lake to replace the idol that seeped toxins into the surrounding waters to commemorate her assistance. To see her off, Elaina informs her of the Witch Natasha, who she thinks may be able to help Matrishka with her condition using her vast knowledge. They bid farewell, and go their separate ways with a promise to meet again someday.

## Abilities

**Unintentional Immortality**: Matrishka cannot die, or age. Reviving causes her to be lethargic for a while afterwards, weakening her body and magic, but this too, inevitably recovers.

**Magic**: Matrishka comes from a family of mages, and was easily taught to use magic, though her knowledge of these teachings are hazy after so many years.

**Cure-all**: Matrishka's blood can be used to reverse engineer vaccines to deadly infections, diseases, or conditions, as her body is instantly cured of any illness that might take her life. Her blood also causes others who come into contact with it to temporarily gain some level of increased healing abilities.

**Rapid Healing**: Matrishka's body rapidly heals any sort of bodily injury or lost limb.

## Gallery

Matrishka's light novel character design (Volume 8)Matrishka's light novel character design (Volume 18)
## Trivia

* It is revealed in Volume 8's Author Afterword that she is named for the Russian Matryoshka doll, which in turn is named after a real girl.