Editing Failing Witch:Volume3 Episode3 (section)

===Part 5===

The following morning, when the sunrise and the rooster cries were arriving through the windows, Sabbath Party was finally beginning to close up. Yagoro had stayed the night and even gotten help with Tedaura’s back. He couldn’t think of anything he could do to help out beyond some cleaning.

“My, my. If you’d told me you would be helping out, I would have asked for some more specialized help in the locker room or shower room.”

Even if they looked perfect, Olivia and the other dancers were intoxicated from drinking so much alcohol during the night. Working to support oneself was never easy. Yagoro decided to pretend he hadn’t heard that comment. The alcohol was to blame.

But while working with a mop in hand, he did ask a question.

“What’s that?”

A grass sickle blade was soaking in a wash basin full of a white liquid. That didn’t seem like something necessary for cleaning.

Olivia readily answered (while fairly unsteady on her feet).

“A talishman againsht curshes.”

“??? Why do you need that? '''+1 point. Heating a sickle in fire and cooling it in milk is a dairy farmer’s talisman, don’tcha think?'''”

“Jusht in cashe. With sho much deshire gathering here, there are timesh when we want shomethign like thish. Hic.”

He had a feeling they might have some sulfur or soot mixed in with the milk. The talismans that caught on with ordinary people were generally a way of following a set ceremony to tune people’s wills toward a desired goal.

…Also, the mention of milk nearly brought his gaze down toward the dancer’s cleavage, but he gathered all his willpower to stop himself. He owed her a lot for Tedaura’s back, providing a hideout, and more, so he couldn’t do anything so rude.

“Oh, too bad. Ushually a bit of jiggling ish enough to draw any guy’sh eyes down to them. Controlling the audiensh’sh attention ish a part of my job, sho I need to keep training.”

(That was on purpose?)

Before too long, Yagoro was just about done cleaning.

“Yagoro.”

It was still too soon to start working on the morning cooking, but Nancy (who wore a maid uniform like it was a track suit) arrived at Sabbath Party.

She seemed to have some business with Yagoro, but she looked puzzled when she noticed the mop in his hand.

“Do you not even know how to clean? Using a dirty mop will only spread the filth around. Give that here. I can’t stand to watch this kind of ineptitude. Ugh, and were you just soaking it in the bucket without wringing it out? You’ve got the floor all wet! Fine, I’ll just redo it all myself!!”

“What are you, my mother-in-law?”

Yagoro stared into the middle distance.

Of course, the maid hadn’t come here to clean.

She was a Maleficium student. More than that, she was with the Benandanti who kept order among the witches. But…

“If Navigate Exam and the President start fighting, this city’s beautiful peace will crumble into ugliness. I’ll give you what information I have, so end this whole mess ASAP.”

Nancy pouted as she said this and some clanking sounds came from her.

Specifically, it came from the maid’s long skirt.

The cause was wooden ants, different colors of dirt divided into glass vials, and a glass tank divided up by panels.

In other words, it was an HEA house capable of creating any electronic.

Yagoro sighed in exasperation.

“You actually took that from my apartment? It isn’t just the Benandanti pursuing me on the President’s orders, right?”

“Hey, you asked me to do it,” coldly said Nancy with a snort.

Although the coldness was only skin deep.

…''Maleficium’s clubs and committees were constantly competing to hold more power. If it was discovered Nancy had done this, she would be in a tight spot, but she had still done it.

(This gives me a lot more options.)

“I took this too.”

Nancy also pulled out the eye drop bottle containing the small Dracae familiar. Whether or not she would be any use in his current situation, he would have felt bad if she was left behind and withered away.

Yagoro tried to soothe the Dracae who was upset over being forgotten, and then snuck the small eye drop bottle into his pocket while Nancy continued speaking.

“The Channelers, the Glenstrae, and most of the others after you are trying to earn points with the President, but there is one elite group in the mix.”

“The Sorcerers?”

“No, the Earth Mothers. …They are powerful. They’ve already sent in their Grade 4 and Grade 3 knights and that’s only what I’ve been able to confirm. They might have given authorization for even more than hat.”

Yagoro slapped his forehead.

The Earth Mothers were White Magic’s field combat unit. That was bad news indeed. He felt bad after having Nancy go to so much risk to give him this inside information, but anyone who knew how Maleficium worked would want to raise the white flag at this point.

So what had happened to the locked container he had in the squatter’s district?

…It would be a real shame if that had been confiscated.

But.

On the other hand…

“It’s been a full night and they still haven’t attacked. That means all their efforts haven’t been enough to locate us. I must have slipped away from Ulrike for the time being.”

“I wouldn’t relax if I were you, Yagoro. I managed to find you and I’m with Maleficium. There’s no way the President at the very top can’t track you down.”

That was a good point.

And after the dancers here sheltered him for nothing in return, he couldn’t get them caught up in his fight.

Dunce #2 – aka Tedaura – was stuck in bed thanks to her bad back and both Bronze Moloch and Elf Freynir were living here. Bringing harm to people he had supposedly already saved was out of the question. Not to mention Viocia.

“What are you going to do now, Yagoro?” asked Nancy.

She was his former student. They had spent a full year together, so she was asking this question while knowing full well what kind of person he was.

(I can’t keep this hidden forever. At best, it’ll come to light in a few more days.)

He was at an overwhelming disadvantage.

But that didn’t mean he could fortify himself inside a bar to which he owed so much.

Myousou Yagoro made up his mind.

If he didn’t want to be ungrateful, he had only one option.

“I have to make my move before Ulrike makes hers.”