Editing Failing Witch:Volume2 Episode3 (section)

===Part 11===

“ATU 0729 – the ritual of the spring in which a gold axe, silver axe, and iron axe are traded for each other. Aquae Sulis – the bath of prayers and reversals which, despite being a hot spring of healing, can also be used for lead curse tablets. And the Black Mass – the intentional defilement of a holy ritual to alter the nature of the summoned power. I submerge this witchcraft device in the waters here and pray for a bright and glorious transformation.”

The students’ voices filled the Goddess’s Spring over and over.

The missing monument had been returned to its rightful position and the spring was functioning once more.

Visually, the brooms weren’t given any new parts and their color didn’t change.

But their presence was different.

Everyone could tell.

No one had told her to, but Dorothea knew exactly what to say as she pulled her broom up from the bottom of the spring.

“F-Formula Broom – Lyceum bisA.”

“Tch, only ''my'' specs improved. If my witch doesn’t improve herself too, this is all meaningless.”

The broom complained but hadn’t opposed the customization itself, so he just sounded more and more like a tsundere. If he really had given up on her, he would hijack her body and turn her into a Voland.

Meanwhile, another pair got along quite well.

Melehe held her wet broom with a confident smile. Her Formula Broom was heavily customized, a lot like an American motorcycle, so she had had some trouble dunking the whole thing into the spring.

“Formula Broom – Mount Parnassus bisMR…I guess would be your name?”

“A top rate performer does not let her instrument’s brand name intimidate her out of tuning it to her needs. The best musicians pay careful attention to their instrument and the stage on which they perform, Melehe.”

Most of the Formula Brooms had been improved in the F or A direction. There was the occasional B, E, and R as well. But MR – that is, ''multirole'' – was fairly rare. Did that make it a good match for Melehe who could handle vertical take offs and landings?

While watching the celebrating or awed students from a distance, Yagoro winked and spoke to the gyaru-style instructor next to him.

“You’re all about cost-effectiveness and saving money, Schanze, so I thought for sure you’d sneak your broom in there to get it customized too.”

“Totally shut up. If a self-taught witch gets that lazy with her cool financial reasoning, it’s the beginning of the end for her. This field trip was carefully calculated out for the students, so an instructor like me totally can’t accept the leftovers.”

Schanze smiled fearlessly while sounding a lot like a freelance mercenary.

Yagoro realized the witch who held a lucrative control over the ice market by running around town selling ice was also very earnest when it came to money.

“The standard model has its own advantages. A self-taught witch can’t rely on her old classmates and has to do everything herself, so it can be a problem if she specializes too far in one direction☆”

That made sense.

The self-taught witches who had ''chosen for themselves'' to not go to Maleficium had their own way of thinking.

(There’s also the Benandanti who recruit members by handing out standardized brooms to students who’ve lost their own brooms in the intense competition after arriving at Maleficium. And I think the used book seller is still using a standard model without advancing to a bis model.)

Getting into Maleficium and graduating without ever improving her broom was yet another sign of how extraordinary that bookseller was.

Flying witches entrusted their lives with their brooms, so they took good care of them. Unlike Yagoro who couldn’t fly no matter how far he advanced his magic because something kept interfering.

“…”

And.

“Huhh?”

Viocia alone tilted her head.

She dunked her Formula Broom in the Goddess’s Spring over and over.

“What’s going on? My broom isn’t changing.”

This time, it couldn’t be a malfunction or problem with the Water Temple as a whole.

Schanze smiled bitterly.

“Hm. That’s a used broom you bought, right? The previous owner totally could have made some cool adjustments to reject any further customization.”

“Ehh!?”

That was the problem with used products. You could get them at extreme discounts, but the principle of caveat emptor always applied.

“But that also means it’s totally already been customized in some way. Plus, as long as you get into Maleficium, you can modify the core all you want. If that adjustment is annoying you, you can totally remove it.”

Viocia groaned, her shoulders drooping.

All that effort and she had nothing to show for it. A restriction that could only be removed ''after'' getting into Maleficium wouldn’t help her with the extremely challenging entrance exam.

But despite this disappointing result, Viocia didn’t seem all that bothered.

Perhaps she had obtained something even more important.

“Um, ''I don’t think this is all bad.''' If the previous owners have customized it so much you don’t need to customize it yourself, '''it sounds to me like you got a bargain'''.”

“It hurts more when it’s so obvious you’re lying. But I appreciate the thought.”

Someone new had joined the group.

She wasn’t even human.

Sine Dorothea was closest to Viocia, she decided to speak up on everyone else’s behalf.

“Um, Viocia? Wh-what are we going to do about her? Eep.”

The girl who everyone had thought was as extinct as the Japanese wolf fidgeted nervously at all the attention.

She was the elf named Freynir.

Viocia hugged her like a precious treasure with a big smile on her face.

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