Editing Failing Witch:Volume2 Episode4 (section)

===Part 23===

“Dorothea!”

“Pant, gasp. Viocia… A-are you alright?”

Glasses bandage zombie girl Dorothea was leaning back against the crumbling wall of a house. Her bandages were no longer just for show – they were soaked with red blood, showing just how much danger she had been in while giving Viocia and Melehe time to act.

Dorothea was still clutching her Formula Broom.

The broom had lost its bright colors and looked so dull now, which made her bite her lip.

Viocia’s first instinct was to hug Dorothea from the front. Feeling the large chest and the warmth told her Dorothea really was there. No matter how fleeting her presence might seem.

A short distance away, Melehe sighed with a hand on her hip. But she showed no inclination toward interfering.

Just then, a pale light began to glow. It came from Dorothea. The small specks of light danced all around and the wounds on the shy literary girl silently vanished.

“Whoa.”

“Wow, teacher must have done something,” baselessly suggested Viocia with a smile.

Then, like a receding wave, the purple covering Temple School City was swept away. But not really. In truth, each of the roe-sized specks was vanishing as its artificial body broke down.

Viocia looked up into the sky and shouted.

“Dracae!!”

“The artificial familiars have left their owner and completed their role. As seen from the records of a witch’s animals being executed along with her at the witch trials, familiars can die too. This was always their fate.”

“No…”

Melehe’s calm explanation left Viocia dumbfounded.

She had been so eager to end this as quickly as possible to minimize how many of them threw their lives away on those bird strikes, and this was the result?

One of the purple specks floated down nearby.

The roe-like outer film burst open and the small girl within opened her eyes a bit.

She was neither good nor evil.

The Dracae had only attacked Temple School City because the witch who owned them had ordered them to.

The Dracae tilted her head curiously before hesitantly reaching out a pair of delicate hands. Those hands gently squeezed the tip of Viocia’s index finger.

“Don’t…”

There was no danger, yet that was the word that left Viocia’s mouth.

Perhaps some part of her already knew how this was going to end.

“Please wait, Dracae!!”

She could have sworn the Dracae smiled.

The very next moment, the Dracae’s body burst and disappeared.

As easily as a soap bubble popping.

Only a faint warmth lingered at the tip of Viocia’s finger.

She was normally so cheerful, but no words left her mouth now.

“…”

Melehe Superlative, protector of Temple School City, shut her eyes and whispered.

“Their artificial bodies may disappear, but their mind will return to somewhere. They must be happy they were freed from committing such senseless destruction.”