Editing Failing Witch:Volume2 Episode3 (section)

===Part 5===

Dorothea suddenly noticed something.

She took a look around and then nervously tugged on Melehe’s sleeve.

“Um, hey, Melehe?” said the caring big sister. “Eep. Uh, do you know where Viocia went?”

“What, is she not here?” The sky pirate girl held a hand to her forehead. “You’re kidding. Don’t tell me she went off on her own because she was bored and then got lost. Ugh, did she forget we had to sign a waiver saying the school isn’t responsible if we get lost in the forest!?”

But if Viocia had left the group, where would she have gone?

They could only think of one possibility.

“Do you think – eep – she went to look for a l-legendary elf?”

“If so, was she planning to wander the forest forever? Elves went extinct ages ago!”

“But what do you think she mistook for an elf yesterday? Eep.”

Dorothea was all ready to rush out from the Water Temple and into the forest, so Melehe grabbed her wrist. Dorothea stopped in surprise while the sky pirate girl pulled out a vial and gave a single spray onto each of her wrists.

“This is perfume. People can’t smell it, but canine familiars will be able to track the scent. With so many witches, someone – probably one of the instructors – is bound to have one.”

“Eep. So in place of bread crumbs?”

“Right. Whatever ATU 0327a, Hansel and Gretel, might say, if you actually dropped bread crumbs in the forest, birds and animals would eat them all in no time. We don’t want to get lost ourselves when we’re trying to find Viocia.”

Melehe must not have wanted to spray any more perfume, so she rubbed her wrists on Dorothea’s neck and armpits instead. It tickled, but the bandage zombie girl endured it with only some minor trembling.

Once the girls were done sharing the scent, it was time to begin their search.

“Wh-where should we look? Eep.”

“Wherever she went, we know Viocia started in this Water Temple. That gives us a fixed starting point. So to start with, we walk the perimeter. Dorothea, you keep an eye out for bent underbrush and broken branches. I’ll look for footprints on the ground!”

“Okay. Eep. Got it!”

Glasses girl Dorothea renewed her resolve and stared into the distance while reaching a finger to her chest.

She pulled a clear stone on a thin chain from her cleavage. It was a dowsing pendulum.

Melehe stared into the middle distance.

“Oh, I see. So you’re one of those people with ''a hidden pocket''. Just like my mom.”

“?”