Editing Failing Witch:Volume2 Episode2 (section)

===Part 1===

July 20 was a cloudless, sunny day.

Viocia Modestlucky hopped out of bed precisely on time.

“Good morning!”

This was an unusual amount of energy for the usual sleepy-head. Before even washing her face, the redhead girl wearing a frilly, sheer negligee (that the young dancers working at the establishment downstairs had forcibly made her wear) slapped the full-to-bursting backpack next to her.

“Everything’s already packed! I’m all ready to go on a wonderful field trip today!!”

She had nearly been unable to even go on the field trip, but she had worked hard at various part-time jobs. She was so glad she had just barely earned enough to afford the trip. (Although her tutor was at his wits’ end about how much energy his student was dedicating to something other than her studies.)

(I only barely got a good enough score on the latest prep school test, though.)

Now.

She could get dressed and do her hair in her room, but washing her face required going downstairs where the well was. She used the narrow, steep stairs to reach the ground floor where she ran into Olivia and the other dancers. Those adults were all unsteady on their feet because they worked throughout the night and they were only now closing up shop after finally finishing their work. Although for some of them, it may have simply been the significant amount of alcohol they had ingested.

“Good morning, good morning! What beautiful weather we’re having!!”

“Ugh. Guh mo’ing. Is idh thadh dhime aweady?

Olivia always did everything flawlessly, so this side of her could only be seen early in the morning. In a way, it was more impressive that she managed to check through the income for the night in that state. Strena, the bodyguard, didn’t bother hiding her yawn as she snacked on some leftover ham and fries. Her long blonde ponytail wasn’t a fashion statement – it was a practical choice she used to strangle any drunks who took things too far and drag them outside. When the last order approached, the dancers would casually pressure the customers to order a lot of food so plenty would be leftover for them to eat after closing time, but that was top secret.

A cow-like groan came from the kitchen.

“Moloch!”

Viocia waved and the bipedal bronze bull waved back in greeting. He had originally been an unbeatable boss who randomly attacked the exam students walking around the official practice exam dungeon, but Viocia had collected him and taken him here.

“Mr. Kevin, Moloch is a witch cauldron, so don’t keep him in the kitchen all the time.”

“Yeah, but he’s so useful. We can cook and serve spare ribs now and Moloch loves it when we use him as a pressure cooker.”

“Ugh, but I want to make jam from concentrated recovery herbs.”

“Ham and fried chicken tastes so much better when you make it in a pressure cooker. Hah hah hah! People’ll be a lot happier if we make a bunch of Kevintucky Fried Chicken! Right, Moloch!?”

“Moo, moooo!” bellowed Moloch while the dishwasher and serving wagon (which had been given bodies of their own) shook and rattled in enjoyment. The kitchen had become something of a den of living monsters.

And when they all seemed so happy, Viocia couldn’t argue too much.

After Kevin the cook gave Viocia an extremely simple breakfast of toast loaded up with cooked vegetables and a fried egg, Olivia the dancer spoke to her while rubbing her eyes.

“Your field trip starts today, right? Are you going to be on time?”

“Yeah! After eating this, I’ll wash my face and head out!!”