Editing Failing Witch:Volume2 Episode2 (section)

===Part 2===

Vast green plains spread out outside Temple School City. The view was clear all the way to the horizon. The hilly and flat parts of the terrain could be seen by the stone-paved road winding across the plains. Some areas had been cultivated to grow wheat or vegetables, but there were no satellite cities.

All of those people lived in an isolated area of land.

(Of course, this environment is why the squatter’s district is such a crucial supply of firewood inside Temple School City.)

The entrance exam had created a fairly unique environment.

The city was a lot like a tourist destination, which required an influx of outsiders to function.

They had a reason for making such leisurely observations. They had no other choice.

“Pant, gasp, eep. U-uhh.”

“Why...do we have to walk this long road...when we have Formula Brooms?”

“The rules outside the city are different. Most places, failed students aren’t allowed to fly around at top speed.”

Yagoro maintained an even pace while thinking back on his basic training for the Force, but Melehe and Dorothea’s legs were already unsteady with all the heavy camping gear on their backs threatening to crush them. Maybe their urban lifestyle had been short on exercise, or maybe they had spent too many late nights studying at their desks.

Schanze alone used reins to ride her canard wing broom at an altitude of 2m.

“Okay, everyone. Totally focus on the rhythm of your breathing and walking. And don’t forget to pump your arms too. With enough willpower, a cool witch totally won’t feel tired at all.”

“Gasp, pant. Easy for her to say when she’s flying slowly along with her broom…”

Sweaty Melehe complained, but she had to know that flying a Formula Broom at a snail’s pace like that was actually harder than flying them at the speed of sound. Her argument wasn’t very convincing. And Dorothea, the caring big sister of a large family, supported Melehe from the side.

“Hm? Teacher, you don’t have very much luggage,” noted Viocia.

“True.”

(I do have have a shaver I made in my HEA house and my hair dye since I don’t want to end up looking like a custard, but is it safe to use it in the river? I don’t want to harm the sacred natural environment.)

The summer solstice field trip wasn’t just a Carraway Cs thing. It was a joint event they held with a few other prep schools, so there were quite a few witches in training walking along. Watching a swarm of hundreds of zombies shambling along brought the term “death march” to Yagoro’s mind.

Schanze was acting as one of the guides and she formed a megaphone with her hands.

“Totally stop there, everyone. It’s time for a break.”

“Eep. Phew, a-are we finally there?”

“We totally aren’t making a good enough pace to arrive by lunchtime.”

“…<span style="font-size:75%">Eep</span>…”

Sweaty Dorothea nearly collapsed backwards, so Yagoro had to rush in and catch her.

Viocia sat down in the grass and pulled out a leather water bottle.

“Whew. Looks like everyone’s worn out.”

“Exam students don’t have any idle time to waste, Viocia, so you need to take this time to study. What’s the effect of anise hyssop, wolfberry, and guarana?”

“No fair! You can’t expect me to learn now! Do you even know what a field trip is, teacher!?”

“The answer is stamina recovery. 0 points. …And I believe a field trip is a 24-hour-a-day exam-studying paradise with no escape.”

After a break, they walked another two hours. By the time the sun reached its peak overhead, the scenery finally began to change.

The horizon vanished as a group of trees rose into view in the distance.

That was known as the Dazzling Forest.

The instant Yagoro stepped inside, the temperature seemed to jump more than 5 degrees. The entire forest seemed to function like a greenhouse on Earth. The plant growth was odd as well. Instead of pointy pine conifers that would have made good Christmas trees, the forest was primarily palm trees with plenty of plants and flowers colored bright reds, blues, and yellows. This forest was supposed to be north of Temple School City, yet it was filled with tropical flora.

The soil underfoot was different as well.

Instead of the dark soil usually found in forests, the ground was covered by the fine sand found at the beach. Unnaturally transparent rivers of all sizes were visible snaking through the forest, but it wasn’t uncommon to see mangroves supported by rivers no deeper than 30cm.

(With this weird heat and strange sand, there might be a volcano around here, don’tcha think?)

Regardless, they were still only at the forest’s entrance.

The students started putting down their heavy luggage and taking a break now that they had arrived, but the gyaru-style instructor spoke up in an unnecessarily saccharine way that (probably intentionally) rubbed the girls the wrong way.

“We’re still totally nowhere near the campsite. Unless you want to collapse here and sleep on the ground without a tent, then keep on marching, everyone☆”

The stone pavement vanished within the forest, so the path was a lot bumpier. Rocks and roots jutted up and the ground itself wasn’t always flat, including plenty of steep slopes. Walking on the bumpy ground of fine sand was a lot like walking through a strange desert covered thickly in trees.

The experience was quite different from marching through the deep forest as part of Yagoro’s training with the Force.

“Be careful, Dorothea.”

“Eh? O-okay.”

His short warning only earned a confused tilt of the head from Dorothea.

The exam students had no set uniform. They all chose their own clothing, which ended up being a lot like Halloween costumes, so one was dressed like a French doll and another like a dragon girl. The one thing in common were the bare midriffs and so much more exposed skin. They were on their way to a somewhat maintained campsite, but those outfits were not the best for walking through a forest of knife-like underbrush and pointy tree branches.

“I said be careful. I mean your bandages.”

“Eh, eh? Eeeek!?”

Yagoro had simply informed the oblivious glasses girl that one of her bandages was starting to come undone after catching on a small branch. Her many curves may have created a lot of gaps between the cloth and her skin for things to catch on.

“Mh. No looking, teacher!”

<span style="font-size:150%">“You pervy tutor!”</span>

For some reason, Viocia leaped at him and Melehe jabbed the end of her broom against his head. With his vision covered, he heard a rustling of cloth that suggested Dorothea was retying her bandages.

Only once Dorothea sighed in relief did Viocia remove her hand from over Yagoro’s eyes.

Viocia immediately moved on ahead. Like she was in a hurry.

“Hop, hop, hop. I can cross this river by jumping from rock to rock!”

Even an elite like Melehe was all sweaty and out of breath.

“H-how in the world – huff – do you have so much energy left? Puff.”

“Hm? Maybe because I used to go visit my grandma in the forest every day?”

That grandmother was one of the Limit Breakers and had been known as the Queen of the Night, the Shadows, and Love. If Viocia had spent her childhood playing in a final dungeon of a forest known for being nearly impossible to navigate, then this fairly well maintained forest path to the campsite probably did seem like nothing to her.

And in addition to being unfazed by the forest journey, Viocia was unusually excited.

It seemed like more than just eagerness to visit a new playground.

“I’ve heard elves still live in the Dazzling Forest!”

“You must be kidding. Finding an elf would be a big enough discovery for your name to go down in history. You would have a crowd of reporters approaching you on a daily basis and even the Maleficium witches would be begging you to teach them your exploration methods.”

“Ehh? But, Melehe, it’s important to dream big!”

“The last alleged sighting was more than 30 years ago and that came from the Elf Preservation Society who are all volunteers who swear elves still exist. They didn’t even have a silver halide picture or lithograph. Elves are long since extinct.”

Melehe snorted derisively at Viocia’s non-argument.

Dorothea tried to intervene with a gentle smile, proving again she was the big sister of a large family.

''Elves here are seen a lot like the Japanese wolf,'' noted Yagoro. No one here would know what he meant by that, though.