Editing Failing Witch:Volume1 Episode1 (section)

===6===

“Huh? Dorothea’s really late today.”

“She was in the infirmary, so she might not be feeling good, don’tcha think?”

Having a daily routine was important. You couldn’t let yourself get mentally distracted or neglect your physical habits. This was true of bathing and sleeping, but those little things could also influence the overall effectiveness of your studies.

That was when it happened.

Yagoro didn’t think there was any kind of warning.

He heard a dull clang. It was a metallic sound. He looked over to see a change in the closest window. Thick metal bars wrapped in rose vine decorations had dropped down like a guillotine.

They were suddenly shut in.

A deluge of clanging sounds spread from right to left, so it wasn’t just this one window. Every one of the building’s windows was solidly sealed off. Probably the doors as well.

An alarm rang.

The flowers in the vases around the school were all fake. And those fake flowers all opened their mouths to play an announcement.

“Emergency alert. A Voland has been detected on Carraway Cs Preparatory School grounds.”

The female voice was awfully robotic.

This must have been prerecorded on a wax cylinder.

“Repeat: A Voland has been detected on school grounds. The entire building has been locked down to ensure the damage does not spread to the surrounding area. All faculty should follow Countermeasure B and all students should swiftly follow the faculty’s instructions. This is not a drill.”

“Eh?”

Viocia clearly didn’t understand.

She sprang up from her break room chair.

“Ehh!? Um, teacher. What is a Voland? What is happening!?”

“Someone – a witch – has been taken over by her Formula Broom.”

Formula Brooms were not just convenient tools. Everyone had to already know they had minds of their own and could talk.

But because they had a mind of their own, a relationship with them was not guaranteed to remain favorable forever.

They came with a unique problem.

“That’s called a Voland, or Demon Lord. A Formula Broom is only a tool, but by hijacking their master’s body, they ''obtain physical freedom''.”

Humans did not have anything as convenient as magic power.

All they had was their willpower. They used their willpower to absorb fuel from a mindless world and used that to power their magic.

But a Voland could absorb far more power than a human, which let them wield a massive amount of energy. This was not a good thing, however. When a human was placed in that extreme situation with no preparation whatsoever, that power would be triggered by dust, water droplets, and any other miniscule objects in the air around them and their runaway power would harm their body. Much like a supersonic aircraft crashing after sucking in garbage or accreting ice. But in exchange, they briefly gained a maximum firepower far greater than anything even the elites of Maleficium could produce. Even if every studying witch at this prep school banded together, they would all be slaughtered by that self-destructive power.

It would be over in the blink of an eye.

They would quite literally be reduced to a pool of blood.

“Please avoid using the S1 unofficial exit on the practical building’s 1st floor, the S2 shaft exit in the headmaster’s office, the S3 underground steam line exit, or the S4 emergency stairs on the structure building’s rooftop as their safety has yet to be confirmed.”

“Um, unofficial exit? Underground? What??? I’ve never heard of any of that,” said Viocia.

“…”

From the outside, the buildings looked like two similar stone buildings built side by side, but they actually had secret passageways and rooms both underground and below the roof. And the girls who attended the school hadn’t been told about them. Carraway Cs was, after all, an educational institution meant to train witches.

From the sound of this, the people at the top had escaped through the secret exits before having all the doors and windows locked down.

“The trick will be surviving until the Benandanti arrive, don’tcha think?”

“Benan-whatty?”

“Benandanti. ''When this happens,'' those monsters fly their brooms in from Maleficium . But we’re toast if we run into the Voland before they arrive.”

The building might as well have been a giant labyrinth with humans and a wild beast released inside.

They had no choice but to run away on their own until the hunter with a giant bow arrived to save them. If they ran into the beast before then, they would have to curse their bad luck and give up.

When a Voland so much as stood there, all human life was less valuable than simple scraps of paper.

The prep school was full of witches with Formula Brooms. And they had all failed the exam at least once before. ''That meant they were all inexperienced witches who carried dangerous Formula Brooms despite lacking the skill of a true witch.'' The odds of a Voland appearance were highest in a prep school. Which was why most prep schools had countermeasures in place.

They would not let the Voland cause damage outside the school, even if it meant trapping the inexperienced survivors inside with it.

(An internal “accident” can be covered up, but an “incident” that escapes outside their walls would be a major scandal. God, this is the problem with those salary-obsessed prep schools!!)

Yagoro noticed a familiar back up ahead.

The blonde-haired, brown-skinned gyaru-style instructor didn’t even try to hide that she was running away instead of doing her job.

“Schanze, where do you think you’re going? Don’t you need to guide the students to safety?”

“Totally not my problem.”

Her response was about as blunt as it could get.

She was supposed to be a teacher, but she showed no guilt whatsoever.

“I’m not a noble-minded government-hired teacher working at a normal school. I’m a prep school instructor who gets paid to teach and then goes home. Why should I risk my life to protect the customers now that we’re totally trapped in here with a Voland? Not happening. Or do you know some reason I should bother?”

Apparently the idea that the customer is god didn’t exist in this world. Of course, it was apparently an entertainer who originally said that, so it wasn’t even based on economic logic.

“So the instant I decide I’m not getting paid enough for what I’m being asked to do, I am totally out of here. There’s no way I’m guiding anyone in here. For that matter, all the windows and doors are locked down and there’s a Voland in here. Nowhere is safe.”

Yagoro breathed a heavy sigh.

He roughly brushed a hand through his unnatural blond hair.

“Oh, really? Then why do you bother humoring Viocia when she starts talking about stupid stuff like dragons or griffins during a lecture? It’s not like the student is going to tip you.”

“Gh.”

The gyaru-style instructor’s shoulders shook.

If she couldn’t stick to her indifferent act, he had to lay on the pressure.

“And you immediately took action to protect Dorothea from that wax doll curse in the indoor training ground. That exorcism-style defense magic introduces the risk of you being affected by the curse too if you screw it up, don’tcha think? But you didn’t even hesitate.”

“~ ~ ~”

“It’s true a self-taught witch can choose whatever job she wants. But that means you like it here, so are you really going to throw all that away now, Schanze? It’s not too late.”

Viocia looked up at the tanned blonde gyaru.

With quite a few tears in her eyes.

Schanze tried looking away, but her awkward sweating finally reached its limit.

“Oh, hell! Stop it with the crazy guilt-tripping, you little villain!! I totally want to run off and ensure my own safety, but now I can’t do that no matter how much I want to!!!”

“Do your job, Schanze. If you don’t, I’ll play a sappy music box to really stir up those feelings. Do I need to turn you into the kind of hotblooded teacher who covers her face and cries in front of a student?”

Schanze really did stomp her feet in frustration, but since she stopped herself at the last second, she wasn’t a bad teacher deep down. Someone who was truly rotten to the core wouldn’t have felt any reluctance to leave. Someone who had to work hard to harden their heart could be convinced by the words of someone close to them. And as indifferent and irresponsible as gyarus could seem, they tended to care a lot about bonds and feelings.

“You don’t actually have to fight the Voland. All you need to do is use some kind of magic to blow a hole in a wall or floor to let the trapped students escape. As a self-taught witch without the backing of an educational history, you must have a ton of trump cards hidden away just in case, right? The kind of thing that’s too powerful to let anyone know about.”

“It’s risky no matter what we do in here!”

The prep school instructor looked ready to go with her Formula Broom at the ready, so Yagoro figured he could entrust the rest of the students with her. He would take care of Viocia. He couldn’t allow her to get hurt no matter what happened.

But his pale-faced student was looking all around.

“Um, where’s Dorothea?”

“…”

“The instructors are taking roll, but I don’t see her anywhere. Do you think no one thought to go get her from the infirmary?”

Yagoro slapped his forehead.

He had a pretty good idea who the Voland was now.

“…Teacher?”

Viocia seemed to sense something in his brief silence.

If only she could remain clueless when it came to this.

“Wait, teacher. You aren’t saying what I think you are, are you!? Please tell me you aren’t!”

“It’s Dorothea Rockpool.”

The girl’s voice caught in her throat.

The intensity of her silence told him she too knew it had to be true.

“I-it’ll be okay,” she finally said.

“…”

“Those…Benandanti? Anyway, those elite special forces from Maleficium are coming!! So they’ll have Dorothea saved in no time!”

Lying with a smile would have been the kinder option.

He knew needlessly increasing her worries wouldn’t help their situation.

But Myousou Yagoro still shook his head.

This girl was worried about her friend and he didn’t want to gain her trust with lies.

“The Benandanti are only interested in eliminating the Voland.”

“You mean…?”

“They’ll have redefined the hijacked witch and the ferocious Formula Broom together as Demon Lord Aristotle, don’tcha think? They don’t see their opponent as human anymore, so they won’t hold back. Those monsters don’t care at all what happens to the Voland’s ‘vessel’.”

He didn’t get a chance to say more.

Viocia spun around.

He could easily imagine what she was about to do.

And because he knew…

“Viocia!”

He firmly called out to stop her.

This had to be a crossroads. A major one. So he couldn’t let her choose rashly.

He was a tutor, so he had to present his student with the problem even if it meant becoming a villain.

“Listen. Saving your friend won’t help you pass the exam, don’tcha think? In fact, if you do save Dorothea and she goes back to studying, it could reduce your odds of passing.”

“…”

“Maleficium fails more than 99.9999% of the exam-takers who show up from all over, but you have a reason you want to pass that exam and get in, don’tcha?”

Viocia was silent.

Except for the quiet noise of biting her lip.

“But…but.”

Her voice was frail.

But not for long. She stared straight into Myousou Yagoro’s eyes and gathered all her strength in her voice.

“What does that matter? You helped Dorothea when she needed it too!”

“Kh.”

“You did it when we were working on our brooms in Cauldron classroom and you did it when she was drowning in the pool. You’ve been helping her way more than I have! So why would you suddenly insist on abandoning her now? If I want to pass the exam, I just have to study that much harder. ''Dorothea’s happiness has nothing to do with my ability''!!”

An ordinary prep school instructor or tutor might have slapped their forehead here.

The standard for the entrance exam was to earn every point possible and eliminate every rival possible. Any time or effort spent on anything else was only hurting your chances of passing.

But Myousou Yagoro only clicked his tongue.

“…Fine.”

Why had he chosen her ''out of all the possible candidates''?

Wasn’t it because she was the kind of person who wouldn’t hesitate to say that here and now, in this situation?

His focus turned to the object at his hip.

That stick would extend to 70cm when he swung it. The baton was only good for direct physical blows.

But now that he had decided to do this, he didn’t think twice about drawing it.

''Nor did he need to hide his smile any longer.

“Fine. We’ll do this your way.”

“Teacher!!”

He feigned annoyance and shook off his adorable student when she spread her arms and leaped at him.

Half-measures weren’t enough if he was going to intentionally approach danger.

Myousou Yagoro was a tutor. He needed to ensure Viocia could focus on studying for the exam. When each and every point mattered, he couldn’t let her take a break due to injury.

Finding Demon Lord Aristotle wouldn’t be hard – he only had to follow the tremors. He heard explosive booms that shook the entire building. A Voland wouldn’t rampage all on its own. It had to be fighting or destroying something.

“Is that coming from…the indoor training ground?” meekly asked Viocia.

Then the building’s outer wall was blown through right next to her. Yagoro frantically tackled her to the floor just before pieces of rubble larger than her head flew over into the hallway’s opposite wall, badly damaging it.

A sharp voice called in from outside the wall. It didn’t matter that this wasn’t the ground floor.

(Is that the Benandanti?)

She looked nothing like most people would picture a witch.

A girl of around 18 with her red hair in pigtails wore armor so thick it was easy to forget she was even human. Her armor looked more like a bipedal weapon than anything, but she did not wear an ebony-hilted sword. Instead, she wore an athame, a double-edged knife that witches used to collect plants when walking in the forest. Except this one was so large and thick it looked more like a machete. The thick rope she also wore at her hip would be cut with the athame and then used in conjunction with a spell to immobilize and neutralize a witch.

Was that supposed to be a broom she held in her hand? With the giant hunk of metal on the end, it looked more like ''a hammer''. That highly unique Formula Broom would be what she had used to break through the wall.

Her small face was out of proportion with the armor as a whole. The fully-equipped witch scoffed at Yagoro’s baton.

“Formula Broom – New Forest. Answer me, Gardner, so that I might repay that ugly witch threefold. Before considering morality or personal preferences, we witches must always be beautiful. Carraway Cs Preparatory School has already been placed under our control so we can slay the ugly Voland who cannot even control herself. Everyone in here must obey our instructions and protect your own lives!!”

(You force us to obey you, but our safety is our own responsibility? They never do play fair, do they!?)

More and more thick armored witches entered, until there were more than 10 of them. Every last one of them had an identical Formula Broom – New Forest. And once they were all inside, the pieces of the broken wall were absorbed back into the hole and the wall repaired itself. When witches flew through the night sky, they destroyed the world before them and repaired it in their wake. This was an offensive application of that phenomenon.

At any rate, only the Benandanti, combat specialists, had arrived. The Witch Doctors who acted as combat medics were nowhere to be seen. They really were only thinking of killing their target.

Viocia spoke half in a daze while the armored witches clanked down the hallway.

“I-if they can destroy and fix the wall, they could just let everyone escape.”

“The Benandanti won’t bother with that. They’re only interested in killing the Voland. Those immobilizing ropes are just for show. They’re only there to prevent anyone from calling them inhumane.”

However, this didn’t mean the witches themselves were that cruel. The Benandanti wore special armor called a Hexenturm. While wearing that, the Maleficium witches had their conscience and guilt trapped in an ''externally imposed'' mental cage to help them achieve their objective.

(Be beautiful, huh?)

This world also had a time when witches were persecuted.

The lesson they had learned then had created a unique set of values designed to protect them.

They saw their own desires as a tool to adorn and enrichen themselves with and they aggressively made use of that tool.

(Being beautiful comes before morality. Because beautiful witches were more easily accepted by the people and were more likely to survive than old witches. It’s a survival strategy based on past experiences, but did this world never develop the idea of the beautiful witch who leads the king astray?)

Simply put, Maleficium did not allow ugly witches to exist. They refused to let anyone view witches as the frightening old hag who feasted on travelers who happened across her home deep in the mountains. Because they feared any harm to the witch brand would bring them all back to an age of persecution.

Yagoro thought through all this before shaking his head.

Was succumbing to fear and forcing your own values and way of life onto others really so beautiful?

“Anyway, we’re going to go rescue Dorothea, right? Then we can’t let the Benandanti get ahead of us.”

He didn’t hear her eager acknowledgement.

The entire building shook with a far more powerful vertical tremor than before.

“…”

They both looked down the hallway.

The baton in Yagoro’s hand felt so inadequate.

There was nothing. They didn’t hear a thing. There was no counterattack after that initial blast. And the Benandanti had been acting as a group. Even if they had ended their battle, that many people moving around would create a noticeable amount of noise.

What did this mean?

Yagoro walked cautiously down the hallway. Viocia followed with her Formula Broom at the ready. They approached the door to the Witch’s Chimney indoor training ground they had used that morning.

Still no noise.

The boy in the male sailor uniform quietly pushed open the double doors.

Destruction and defeat – that was all he saw.

Thick armor had burst and broken.

It had bent and stabbed into the walls.

A jumble of ''toys'' lay on the floor like stuffed animals a child had grown bored of and tossed aside. The Benandanti would have calculatedly eliminated their conscience and guilt before engaging the Voland in battle, but the Voland had still only seen it as a game.

Yes, only one person remained standing inside. ''She'' had her slender hand down the neck hole of a thick suit of armor and dragged out the contents.

[[Image:Failing_Witch_v01_BW03.jpg|thumb]]

The human contents.

The defeated girl had her long red hair done up in pigtails and had the look of a strict class president.

But that arrogant Maleficium elite’s limbs were now hanging limply. Continuing her labored breathing was all she could manage. A red liquid dripped from the corner of her lips.

“Ooh ha, ha ha, ha hoo♪”

The culprit had a familiar face. The face of Dorothea Rockpool.

Red. A sharp crimson.

Her eyes shined bright behind her glasses. She now had the slit-like pupils of a snake, like another mind altogether had taken up residence there. Maybe that was the sign of a Voland.

She lazily tossed the unconscious Benandanti aside with one hand and placed that hand on the long rodlike object she was already holding with her other hand. She pulled it into a loving embrace.

That was Formula Broom – Lyceum.

She rubbed her cheek against it in a strangely sensual way. Just watching it gave Yagoro heartburn.

Her nails were frightening. When she turned her small face his way, his legs went weak like he had a wild animal’s horns aimed his way. She didn’t have wings, but when she spread her arms, it felt like the entire world was enveloped in darkness and he thought she was going to crush him to death in her arms. Visually, it was the same adorable girl. Invisibly, something about her had changed.

Viocia managed a trembling voice with her eyes opened wide.

“What…is that?”

“Question: oh, am I a ‘what’ now? Ee hee. Reference: I have simply granted this brat’s wish.”

A crude and vulgar voice spoke while entirely ignoring the red-soaked bandages. Was that the Benandanti’s blood or her own?

The voice was definitely coming from the girl’s mouth, but it was a deep male voice. She was rubbing her cheek against the broom, but the difference was clear. This voice was not coming from the broom. It was being produced by the girl’s tongue and throat.

She wasn’t just lashing out. That couldn’t explain this unseen pressure.

That was a Voland.

Demon Lord Aristotle had hijacked the witch’s body to appear in this world.

“She wanted a light body, a small body. She wanted to lose every gram possible and earn every point possible. But that was never possible!! Solution: I have boosted her strength in another way to help earn those points. Gya ha ha! Reiteration: I granted her wish. I flipped everything on its head to grant that witch’s wish. Conclusion: it is right for me to be here. Bwa ha ha! ''I am the correct answer for this braaaaat''!!!”

That was how the Voland had ended up here.

By repeatedly suggesting options more effective than anything allowed by the troubled witch’s values, he had silenced all of her arguments. And by trapping her soul deeper and deeper within, he had free rein of her body.

His arguments were nothing more than weapons designed to bring harm.

The tutor asked a quick question.

“You. What’s your ''estimated rank''?”

“B. I’m Rank B at least. Kee hee. Speculation: but I bet could reach Rank A if I had time to work at it.”

Yagoro clicked his tongue.

He hadn’t been actively following Dorothea’s grades, but he knew she hadn’t been doing that well. In the national practice exams, earning Rank C was considered pretty good. Which meant she wasn’t good enough.

Formula Broom – Lyceum demanded a high level of academic ability. And the more a witch was lacking there, the greater the risk of her body being hijacked.

All witches used borrowed power and a Formula Broom had a mind of its own, meaning it was not just a convenient tool. If you did not display sufficient academic ability, it would take over before long.

“What did you do to Dorothea?” asked Viocia.

“Denial: nothing yet.”

The serpentine eyes looked almost puzzled.

Then the Voland licked the handle of the broom and formed a crescent moon smile.

“Gya ha ha!! I was just getting to that part!! I finally have a body all my own!! Addition: so it would be a waste to not indulge in every last type of pleasure this body can experience! Are you stupid? I mean alcohol, drugs, ○○○, **** – all of it!! Ah hya ha! Announcement: I’ll run this body into the ground!! I’ll keep at it until the color of its insides have changed and it can no longer move a single finger!!”

“Don’t you dare!! Dorothea isn’t yours to use!!”

“Reply: oh, yes, she is. This brat chose to rely on a Voland. On me!! She forgot a Formula Broom is also a tool, despaired in her lack of academic ability, gave up on thinking for herself, and relied on a blind trust in me! Bwa ha! Ah ha ha!! Conclusion: she sold her soul!!”

“Did Dorothea really ''choose'' to do that? Odds are you cut off every avenue of escape to make her think that was her only option, don’tcha think? When there may have been other options left.”

“Question: what are you talking about? Are you stupid? Ee hee, ee hee hee. The stress of pulling so many all-nighters studying while also restricting her diet wore her out to her very core. Conclusion: this body will last longer in my hands and I’ll actually have some fun with it. I!! I am the correct answer! Conclusion: I am the perfect score!! Kee hee hee. You have no right to barge in and criticize her decisions!!”

Maybe not.

But the Voland had failed to notice a fundamental factor.

Humans were capable of never giving up on a dream they truly believed to be impossible and to continue searching for happiness no matter how many times they failed along the way. Everyone could do that to some extent. Humans were not creatures of pure efficiency and optimization.

If they were, tutors who supported those struggling girls wouldn’t exist.

“I won’t…I won’t let some broom have Dorothea!!” said Viocia.

“Ee hee hee. Question: so what? Do you foolishly think you can steal away the Formula Broom and break it? Do you think there is any way of safely stealing this broom from me, Demon Lord Aristotle!? You fool! Gya ha ha!! Judgment: you crack me up! Gee kah kee hee ah ha ha ha ha ha!!!”

“Viocia.”

An obvious path to salvation was in fact the entrance to an inescapable bog. The more extra thoughts in their head, the more they would distribute their power and their already nightmarishly miniscule odds would fall to actual zero. That was why the Benandanti sealed away their own hearts to remain coldly focused on defeating the Voland and nothing else.

“Give back Dorothea.”

“Ee ha ha!! Gya ha ha ha ha ha!! You fool! Do you think ''she'' is the victim here? Question: are you aware what this gloomy girl does in secret to deal with her exam stress? Gya ha ha!! Question: are you familiar with tickle diets and bondage diets? Bwa ha. And she tricks herself into thinking it’s not about her own desires by insisting ''it’s for the exam''!! The fool created a body-pillow-sized hot water bottle so she could soak her bed in sweat. Gya ha ha! Report: she even created her own chair that moves back and forth like you’re riding a horse. Hee hee hee!!”

Demon Lord Aristotle held his stomach.

He doubled over in laughter with broom in hand.

While shredding through the sensitive topics even the people they were about tended to avoid thinking about.

“She even ventured out at night to buy a ''guaranteed weight loss talisman''. Hee hee. Question: do you know what that is? Explanation: it’s a parchment talisman made from a filthy mixture of all sorts of ingredients that you paste on your skin. Is she stupid? Question: she was embarrassed by this and didn’t want anyone to know, so where on her body do you think she hid it? Do you want the detailed location on this body with so much skin left exposed by those bandages!? Bwa hya hya hya!!”

“What? But…Dorothea?”

“It’s a common mistake,” spat Yagoro.

Delinquents weren’t the only victims of the back alleys. There was an endless list of entrance exam students pushed to their psychological limits being on preyed on there. Especially in a city where over half the residents had failed the entrance exam in the past.

“It could be candies to improve focus, drinks to keep you alert late at night, or talismans to help you lose weight. No matter how ridiculous it sounds, when a witch tries to take the easy way out, she tends to go for sketchy magic items. Remember when I said there is no perfect diet guide? If someone is making outrageous claims about their product, they’re not interested in running an honest business, don’tcha think?”

Losing weight fast. Guaranteed weight loss.

Those things might sound nice, but they were actually serious curses. Serious enough to obstruct your natural growth or eat away at the very core of your body. Just like someone stranded on a snowy mountain, the threat to her life would have caused uncontrollable hallucinations and the shakes.

Using more than one of the same talisman wouldn’t improve its effects much.

And her body would grow accustomed to it the more she used it.

So even with the recipe in hand, it wouldn’t be enough. She would want a stronger, more dangerous talisman. So she kept returning to the back alley, wearing her body down more each time.

“Bff. ''Revelation: she said it was for her family.''”

This seemed to come out of nowhere.

But it was not actually a non sequitur.

“The brat apparently has a big family. They’re barely making ends meet with their family store, so she wants to become an elite witch to earn enough money to support them all! Pff. Gya ha ha ha ha!! Is she stupid!? What kind of dumbass is she!? Question: does this brat think she can make a tearjerking story out of resorting to that deadly garbage the second she ran into any trouble!? Ee hee hah!! ''I only wanted to be support my family.'' Ridiculous!! Serious question: who in their right mind would rely on a girl who’s weakened her bones and destroyed her stomach with weight loss talismans!? Ah hya ha ha ha!!!”

“Dorothea…”

Viocia knew her friend well.

She knew Dorothea excelled at housework, paid careful attention to what she ate, and always made her own lunch. Why had she learned those skills in the first place?

For her family. For her parents. For her many siblings. All because she wanted to make them happy.

That was how it had all begun, but as her troubles mounted, she had started to view her family as something trying to keep her from her dream.

“How stupid is she?” Demon Lord Aristotle mocked everything about that girl. “Supporting your family and siblings? Don’t make me laugh! Declaration: that doesn’t further your academic field and it doesn’t contribute to the world at large!! Magic is greater and more important than that. Did you think destroying your body like this was a noble self-sacrifice? Rejection: a moron like you doesn’t deserve to use magic! So this is your punishment. Kee hee ha ha ha. Confirmed: this brat gave up!! So everything happening to her now is her just deserts!! Conclusion! I!! ''I am the correct and perfect answer''!!!”

Just then, a quiet voice interrupted.

“…She wasn’t wrong.”

It was the failing witch.

Viocia Modestlucky.

She couldn’t use Formula Broom – Wittenberg, which she had bought for a disconcertingly cheap price.

But that wasn’t going to stop her.

She glared straight at the extraordinary being known as a Voland and gripped her broom tight in her hands.

“I don’t care if you’re Demon Lord Aristotle or whatever else.”

She seemed to be biting out the words.

This was no way to speak to a Voland.

But she couldn’t abandon her friend. A little thing like a Voland wasn’t enough for her to give up.

She might live in a world where abandoning people over the exam was commonplace, but she refused.

“She really was trying so hard.”

This was something only Viocia knew.

The witch entrance exam was a truly cruel world where friendship was meaningless. Everyone said so, but this friend had still studied with her. So Viocia didn’t even hesitate to speak.

“Dorothea studied so much every day, she watched what she ate, and she worked harder than anyone. I won’t let you laugh at that effort and pain just because of some numbers or letters related to the exam. Maybe you’re a Voland who knows everything there is to know about Earth, but I won’t let you deny what she did!!”

Viocia looked up.

She squeezed Formula Broom – Wittenberg in her hands.

And the girl who was still considered a failure roared.

Into the heavens.

“I won’t let anyone deny how Dorothea felt or how she prayed to pass the exam and make her dreams come true!! So give me the power to fight, Mephistopheles!!!”

This was followed by an odd sound.

Myousou Yagoro had grabbed the brim of her hat and tugged it down over her face.

“Gwah, I can’t see!? Uh…”

“Don’t be dumb, Viocia. ''It isn’t time for that.'' Like I always say, don’t rely on your tool’s abilities if you want to be a top-rate witch. Do that and Formula Broom – Wittenberg will hijack your body and the rest of us will have to deal with a second monster: ''Demon Lord Mephistopheles''. Then there really would be no fixing this.”

And the Formula Broom was probably aiming for precisely that.

Demon Lord Aristotle had said a witch needed to earn at least Rank B on the practice exam to control him.

But Viocia’s Formula Broom – Wittenberg required far more than that. Even Yagoro’s eyes had bugged out when he first saw it.

Its estimated rank was Rank S<sup>3</sup>.

You didn’t even need that rank to pass the national practice exams designed for Maleficium’s standards.

And not only was its rank so ridiculously high, but it had been sold to her for an unnaturally low price. Even earning a perfect 100 in all subjects ''would not be anywhere near enough to meet the standards set by that supremely extraordinary device.

It was guaranteed to consume your average witch.

It was such an absurd challenge Yagoro suspected it might be a witch-hunting trap.

A girl who had failed the exam and now attended a prep school had no chance of wielding it. Not to mention that she had yet to complete the consecration that linked human with witchcraft device. That may have been ''why'' she hadn’t been consumed yet, but it was best to assume Mephistopheles would not conveniently lend her its power with no strings attached.

At the very least, that wasn’t going to happen in the current ''situation''.

“An exchange of Voland magic wouldn’t save Dorothea Rockpool. Viocia, would you be satisfied if you came to and found you had harmed and spilled the blood of your friend while you were unconscious? Like hell you would. You’re the one who said you wanted to save her. So you shouldn’t give up on that now, don’tcha think?”

The girl gasped.

Had she only now realized how close she had come to beginning a fight to the death with her good friend?

“But…then…?”

But Viocia still wasn’t going to stop.

She was the kind of girl who seriously considered someone else a good friend during the harsh trials of the witch entrance exam, so she would never stop at this point. Even if no one else cared at all about ordinary Dorothea.

“Who else will save Dorothea!? The other students and even the instructors already left. And the Benandanti witches from Maleficium only care about defeating the Voland. I can’t leave Dorothea all alone. Someone has to do it. Someone has to fight to save Dorothea!! And if no one else will stand up, then I have to-”

“''I’ll do it.''”

Myousou Yagoro didn’t hesitate to answer.

He didn’t even let her finish before he declared he would face almost certain death.

“''You’re a student, so you need to focus on the exam. And as your tutor, it’s my job to deal with any trouble that would distract you from your studies.''”

“Eh? Huh?”

“''Simply put, I will save Dorothea Rockpool no matter what. You aren’t the only one. I’m just as pissed at Demon Lord Aristotle as you are.''”

“Weh, ah, ah! Ahhhh, ah, ah!!”

“Oh?” interrupted a voice.

The Voland’s serpentine red eyes glowed as he used the ordinary girl’s body to smirk.

“Assessment: interesting. Even witches can only wield borrowed magic, but you aren’t even a witch. What can a filthy boy do? Oh, I get it. Conclusion: are you going to rely on nonexistent miracles like this brat did!?”

The tutor said nothing.

A shockwave erupted out. It happened the instant he twirled the end of his 70cm baton. The first to attack was Myousou Yagoro, not the Voland. The invisible strike gained color as it absorbed splinters of wood and shards of stone and flew toward Demon Lord Aristotle like a horizontal storm.

The Voland only swept his broom along the floor in front of him as if drawing out a dividing line on the world itself.

The pool’s water swelled up, formed a thick clear wall, and stopped the stony scattershot.

But the Voland’s temple twitched disconcertingly at being forced to make that move.

“I said I was pissed, didn’t I? I’m pissed a ''mere Voland'' is standing in the way of my student’s future.”

“Tch! A boy using magic? Question: I’m sure it’s ''a trick'', but what kind of trick are you using?”

“Tossing flint to the west without anyone noticing creates a storm . But that was about as much as I could expect from just the one secret technique. I need to cover all Three Aspects if I want to give it any power. In that case…”

“Demand: shut the hell up!! Are you foolish enough to think I will let you try it again!?”

Scorching orange heat absorbed oxygen with a disturbing roar.

The still-usable wall of water was evaporated in an instant. The Voland controlling the zombie girl had only swept his Formula Broom forward along the floor and then sharply swung it up.

The end of the broom summoned a glob of steel-melting heat that rushed out toward Yagoro. This was a maximization of fire. The glob had some gooiness to it, so it had to be orange-glowing lava.

This was a Voland. It was within his power to transform the crust and rewrite the map.

“Eek!”

Yagoro shove Viocia to one side before leaping to the opposite side.

The air-scorching glob of heat magic passed between the two of them and then melted deep into the thick wall.

It could seem odd to dodge supernatural magic on foot, but Formula Brooms were a technical system based on magic locations in the other world known as Earth. That meant they could not completely ignore all physical limitations. In fact, it was rare that a witch only had to pray in order to accurately curse someone with no regard for time or distance.

“Fire, wind, water, earth.”

Was this the power that had defeated so many elite Benandanti?

“I am Demon Lord Aristotle! I reign as the philosopher who logically explained the world’s composition!! Do not make me laugh, fool! Question: what can you do!? Elements reveal the truth not as one, but altogether. This heat can destroy even the plaster used to create molds filled with molten steel. Gya ha ha! Do not assume you can escape me forever!! Declaration: your very bones will be evaporated until not a speck of your curses remain!!!”

The tutor responded to this by visually scanning his surroundings to see which way he should jump, but then he paused for a moment. His feet slipped. The floor was wet here on the poolside.

He was engulfed.

The lava exploded into scorching light. The blond tutor was unable to resist in the slightest.

Viocia screamed while only able to watch.

No, wait.

“''What can I do''?”

“!?”

The being known as a Voland gasped and turned in surprise toward that casual voice.

The lava was blown away from within and the white and lemon yellow boy brushed the embers off his shoulders.

“Exclamation: what!? Speculation: you aren’t a phony? Then what in the hell did you use!?”

“I didn’t rely on any kind of special miracle, if that’s what you think. I only did what I could.”

He wasn’t injured or burned.

The boy rested the baton on his shoulder and winked with a belligerent smile.

“''Remember, Voland. This is magic. Study hard and you can work out all the answers yourself.''”

Myousou Yagoro was a tutor. He couldn’t lose his student’s trust if he wanted her to pass.

So if he said he would save that girl, he would make sure he did so. 50/50 odds weren’t good enough.

“Go to hell!!”

The red serpentine eyes shined out from the bandage girl’s borrowed body while Demon Lord Aristotle swung his broom. This produced a massive wave capable of bending and crushing a thick metal door and it produced a tornado of vacuum blades capable of slicing and dicing a human even more finely than tomato juice. All of it had to be the most powerful magic available. This was in fact the power that had harmed Dorothea Rockpool’s own body while crushing so many Benandanti at once.

But it didn’t reach the boy.

Dodging side to side shouldn’t have been enough to avoid it.

But the threat presented by the tutor far surpassed that of the Voland.

Yagoro never stopped moving while he twirled the baton in his hand and swung it in a complex pattern. Almost like he was drawing an orderly magic circle in the empty air. He released his magic with more than twice the power of the incoming barrage. After the steel tip had accumulated enough power, a red light surged out and a yellow gale roared. The Voland’s magic was canceled before it was complete and his borrowed face grimaced.

“What did you do? Denial: that stick is no Formula Broom. And a boy wouldn’t be able to use a witch’s broom anyway, so that must be the wrong answer.”

The soles of Yagoro’s shoes squeaked along the floor as he came to a stop.

“Yeah, this is just a steel stick I paid the local blacksmith to make.”

“Steel. So it is metal? Why not use an ordinary wand? The club is a symbol of male authority. Or is this not about direct power? Steel is said to have purifying and exorcising properties when-”

“Wrong.”

“Kh. The weight? No, does it symbolize a percussion instrument? No again!! Extension? Standing upright? Confusion: no, no, and no. Then what is it? What the hell did you just do!?”

“Stop saying what it isn’t and try figuring out what it is. Even an idiot can list out wrong answers, don’tcha think? That doesn’t prove your intelligence. And to be clear, I’m a tutor. Even if she isn’t my student, I’m not going to hit an exam student on the head with this heavy stick.”

Viocia gave him a “but you’ll hit me with your slide rule?” look, but he ignored that.

More importantly…

“Question: how is magic possible without a Formula Broom, and for a male at that?”

“This world’s magic was completely lost once. We only have magic now by using knowledge from Earth, so only the witches who wielded borrowed power survived. The male wizards who used their magic on their own couldn’t recover in the same way. …Or so they say.”

“?”

“But is that really true? Sure, it’s true the extinct male magic never made a full recovery. The ancient priestesses and women of the Black Mass all essentially worshipped someone else to borrow their power. That’s what we now call witchcraft, don’tcha think? But there were alternate styles that allowed even men to use those things.”

The blond boy in the white and lemon yellow sailor uniform rested his club on his shoulder.

“The thing is, ''as long as you understand each and every spell and magic circle without the help of a Formula Broom,'' anyone should be able to use witchcraft on their own. It’s a lot like navigating the wide world without using a map or compass, don’tcha think? You don’t need a map to follow landmarks and you don’t need a compass to determine the direction from the density of plant growth.”

The Voland remained motionless for a while.

Even a being of that level required more than three seconds to respond.

“Rejection: do you have any idea how many calculations that would require?”

“Disappointing. That isn’t even worth calling a trick question. The correct answer is it depends on the type of magic.”

“Hey. Confirmation: witchcraft is used by borrowing power from another!!”

“Which is what I did. This truly is witchcraft. I’m not creating some strange magic power for this. Besides, isn’t the entire point of science that it’s reproducible? It’d be pretty pointless if not everyone could get the same result, don’tcha think?”

“Spells, diagrams, math, potions, anatomy, psychology. Question: do you have any idea how much work we do to respond to every request the witches make of us? Hee…hee. Rejection: it’s not possible. You can’t complete so many calculations ''while'' managing your own body and responding to the outside world!!”

“Are you sure about that?” muttered Myousou Yagoro under his breath.

This was nothing compared to Earth where every little thing was tied up in regulations and making a safe takeoff and landing required reading a flight manual over a 1000 pages where even how to access the clear plastic cleaning fluid had an entire double-page spread to itself. The grimoires of this world presented new and exciting magic on each and every page, so he never got tired of reading them. The best part about magic was how you could control any miracle as long as you understood the logic behind it.

So he was now ''the only person in this world who could use magic on his own without relying on a Formula Broom.

With a dull thud, the glasses bandage girl’s back bumped into the wall. Yagoro’s precise movement during the exchange of attacks had driven Demon Lord Aristotle into a corner of the indoor training ground.

(But I’d be wasting my time giving a lengthy explanation of this unfortunate academic theory that shows no sign of catching on.)

He knew a faster method.

“Seeing is believing, right?”

“!!??”

Green light flashed out.

A heavy weight appeared at the end of the club as he swung it horizontally and it detached at the end of the swing. The destruction took the form of a hammer. A hammer was the standard choice for opposing a rampaging witch. So he used the heavy projectile to deliver an accurate blow to the invisible presence occupying the center of the girl’s chest.

“Gh?”

He focused his mind on knocking it out of her. That would swiftly destroy the wicked and noncorporeal being without harming the captured girl’s physical body.

“Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

…''What can you do with magic, anyway?

Yagoro suddenly recalled that question his sulking student had asked it. Demon Lord Aristotle had roared much the same question. So he couldn’t help but smile.

The magic-wielding tutor collapsed the baton between his hands in front of his chest.

And he made a final statement.

“''When someone’s in serious trouble, you can save their life.''”