Editing Failing Witch:Volume3 Episode4 (section)

===Part 7===

Formula Broom – Wittenberg was Viocia’s broom.

Without her, it couldn’t fly.

“Eep! Viocia!?”

“Perv, hold out your hand. I’ll support you with my broom and help you make an emergency landing!!”

They had already descended far enough to reach the altitude where Dorothea and Melehe waited. Slowly descended.

They couldn’t afford to crash into the lake.

The lake wasn’t dotted with convenient little islands for them to happen across.

It was a terrifying thirty seconds or so with the broom trembling unsteadily.

The goddess’s divine punishment never came. Was that because he had done what she asked?

They somehow managed to limp along back to the lakeside. And they made a rather forced landing.

But they couldn’t relax yet.

“Viocia was hit by Adelaide’s deadly curse!”

The girl was already unconscious.

She had only managed to glide unsteadily to the lakeside because Melehe had pulled her broom along. As soon as they landed, Viocia collapsed sideways off the broom onto the hard ground. Her long, long hair spread out around her, but she didn’t even brush it off of her face.

That curse was deadly.

She would die.

“Eep. Tutor, what do we do now?”

“…”

“You know some way to save her, don’t you!? Y-you always have an answer!!”

Only after shouting that did Dorothea realize something and gasp.

The silver-haired elite hadn’t said a word. She must have arrived at the same conclusion as Yagoro. The deeper one’s knowledge of witchcraft, the more they understood how hopeless the situation was.

''It wasn’t possible.

''There was no way to save her.

The best option against Adelaide’s – no, Faust’s – deadly curse was to not let it hit you. There was no next best option. If one so much as grazed you, you were done for. That deadly curse had been honed to the limit for assassinations, so it was designed to leave no options left once it hit.



''“It’s no use. My attack is a lethal curse. If it even pricks your skin, it will take your life. There is no escaping it no matter where in this world you run.”



Faust hadn’t been lying when he said that.

It was the simple truth.



''“Teacher, could you not pierce me with that absolute zero glare? It’s terrifying.”



He had promised her.

Back in March, on a day still too chilly to call spring, he had found her searching the list of students who had passed the exam over and over, never finding her number, and just standing there, uncertain what to do.

There was no real reason it had to be her.

But he had still reached out his hand.

Because he himself had felt he wanted to work with her in the struggle over the entrance exam.



''“Heh heh. I’m going to take her to live with me!!”



He had promised her.

No matter how bad the situation was, he had promised as Navigate Exam that he would get her into Maleficium next March.

He had promised the girl who would smile innocently and not hesitate to help those in need even when she needed to be focusing on her exams. Like she had done for Moloch and Freynir.

No matter how much effort a tutor put in, it was ultimately the girl herself who had to take the exam.

And no matter how much she complained, Viocia had a reason to make the attempt.

So she refused to be broken.

Something about her told Yagoro that his efforts wouldn’t be wasted with her.



''“I know. I won’t let her get away!!”



He had promised her.

He had promised to help her become a witch who could remain modest, who would wield her power to battle the wicked witches who would try to limit the world, and who could live more beautifully than anyone, even if she was still awkward! He had promised that her efforts would be rewarded and that she would leave with a smile next time she stood before that list of passing students!!

That was the contract Myousou Yagoro and Viocia Modestlucky had made and he wasn’t supposed to break that agreement no matter what!!!

Was it impossible?

Did he have to give up?

Was abandoning that promise unfulfilled really the smartest choice here!!?

(Face it.)

Myousou Yagoro squeezed his eyes shut and stayed silent.

He thought with a scorching intensity.

(Just face it already, dammit!!)

Melehe and even Dorothea didn’t say a word.

The tutor boy wracked his brains in the darkness he had created. He had to find a solution. He had to draw on every last piece of knowledge he possessed.

And.

He finally spoke. He had to admit it.

“…''There is a way.''”

“?”

Melehe looked puzzled, but this wasn’t just wishful thinking on his part.

He was a tutor who provided solid knowledge to support his student’s life.

“W-wait a second. There can’t be a way. I know it hurts, but you have to accept that. There is no witchcraft in the world that can save Viocia!!”

“But what about outside the world?”

Yes.

They both had a deep well of knowledge to draw on, but that was what led Yagoro and Melehe to different conclusions.

He had knowledge ''beyond'' witchcraft.

“There is still one way of escaping Faust’s deadly curse!!”

“Eep?”

According to Faust, “there is no escaping it no matter where in this world you run”.

Or to put it another way…

“''We just have to escape this world altogether.'' Crossing the boundary between worlds that loathsome goddess is hiding can neutralize the deadly curse affecting Viocia!!”