Failing Witch:Volume2 Episode1

Episode 1: The Witch and Monetary Alchemy

Part 1

In this world, the men who used magic with their own power were known as wizards and the women who used magic by borrowing others’ power were known as witches.

But this world’s magic had fully died out.

However, the people could not forget the benefits magic brought them, so they sought that lost knowledge from another world called Earth. In the end, only women carrying cutting edge witch brooms called Formula Brooms could use magic in this world.

That is the history and the mythology of this world.

Part 2

“Phew.”

“My, my. Is something bothering you, Yagoro?”

In a dimly-lit restaurant with the perfect ambiance, the silver-haired, brown-skinned young woman seated across the table from Myousou Yagoro placed a hand on her cheek and smiled. She was the used bookseller who was always helping him out in some way or another.

As for the food, she liked to accurately understand and analyze other people’s preferences, so she had a bad habit of getting cutely upset if he showed some restraint and followed her lead. So when their tastes were completely different, everything went a lot smoother if he just came out and said so.

Now, her large breasts were resting a bit on the round table, so she could be described well by the sound effect “jiggle-boing!”

When the busty apron woman had invited him out to eat for the first time in a while, Yagoro had checked the contents of his wallet and visited the shopping district with her, where she had been eating nothing but grass, plants, and vegetables. The seasoning was all mild to place a focus on the charm, or juiciness, of the ingredients. And to be clear, this was dinner. When a 17-year-old boy’s stomach wanted a salty and fatty feast of 100% beef hamburger steak or a thick pork steak! There wasn’t anything wrong with veggies, but weren’t they meant to be placed alongside the meat? Also, how in the world had her bustiness grown quite so busty if all she ate was grass, plants, and vegetables!?

Maybe it’s divine punishment, thought Yagoro.

This woman was in fact the mother of Viocia’s friend Melehe Superlative.

But based on the adult face palely illuminated by the classy candle in a clear glass holder, he still wanted to call her Melehe’s sister.

Another voice spoke from the same table.

“What’s your problem, Myousou? This is a 5-star restaurant, you know? Does your childish palate not understand the luxurious flavor of original recipes made with only organic vegetables?”

“That reminds me, Sorbeddy. Why are you even here?”

“I was the one who found this restaurant. And here I thought I was doing you a favor by sharing the happiness with everyone.”

A small girl who appeared to be only about 12 laughed with an aged sort of cunning.

Her name was Sorbeddy Icing.

She was a witch with a command over the cold and ice and she ran around Temple School City selling ice, making her the most successful businesswoman there. Electric-powered refrigerators had not been invented in this world, so she provided an unbeatable service. She was probably the greatest of the self-taught witches who were unaffiliated with Maleficium and she was undoubtedly one of the so-called Limit Breakers.

She had her pale blue hair done up in a braid and she wore a bluish-white mini dress resembling a camisole and pumps with extremely pointed heels. Her witch’s hat was tilted back on her head, but the brim jutted sharply out in six points, a lot like a snow crystal. Altogether, she had a blue Hawaii soda float vibe. And with some rather risque parts of the outfit made see-through, it seemed like a dangerous outfit to walk through the shopping district or squatter’s district at night. …Of course, the danger there would be to any reckless drunks who tried anything and received a very harsh lesson in return from the strongest ice witch.

“Two real Limit Breakers at one table? I swear the world must be coming to an end.”

“Keh. Don’t act like you aren’t extraordinary yourself, Myousou,” spat the ice witch with a smirk.

To be clear, the word “smile” didn’t do the expression justice.

“Are you in a bad mood, Sorbeddy?”

“She doesn’t like this large exchange that’s opened up lately. That modern alchemy one. Apparently she isn’t the only witch making a killing in this city.”

Yagoro couldn’t believe she was afraid of competition when she had already amassed a great mountain of gold and silver coins, but immaturely opposing any new upstarts may have helped polish the sharp nose for money the rich depended on.

Another legend, the mysterious fluffy bookseller, placed a hand on her cheek and changed the subject.

“So are you still too young for this kind of restaurant, Yagoro?”

“If possible, I’d prefer you invited me to a paradise of greasy meat next time. Oink, oink.”

“My, you mustn’t eat that stuff, Yagoro. Consuming fava beans and animal carcasses is damaging to your soul.”

He didn’t know the details, but this witch of unclear age had taken a step into the realm of the Limit Breakers and appeared to have a unique set of values. Yagoro was fine with spending money on high-quality meat and fresh fish, but he couldn’t stand seeing his wallet emptying out for nothing but grass, plants, and vegetables. Health-focused? Brand-name crops? The world of wealthy adults was full of mysteries.

Based on her Formula Broom, she was apparently the Dionysus type, not the Orpheus type, so he would have expected her to be spending night after night chugging strong drinks and partying.

Formula Broom – Greek Theatre spoke with a refined male voice while leaning against the wall.

“Sir Myousou Yagoro. Are you sure you want to see this wife when she is drunk? This bloody priestess lets the alcohol take over, runs across the fiery battlefield half-naked, and tears barehanded through human and wild beast alike, discarding their corpses with a laugh before-”

“Dionysus☆”

She silenced the broom with a smile.

There were apparently still plenty of dangerous secrets yet to be uncovered.

“But why did you invite me out to eat out of the blue? There’s no point in listening to this weirdo brag about the quality of the food when she didn’t actually make it herself and your own vegetable dishes are pretty good. Are you trying the food to figure out a new recipe of your own?”

“I am giving back to the local community.”

“Oh, I see.”

“What do you mean ‘this weirdo’!?” protested the ice witch who tended to get heated quite easily, but Yagoro ignored her.

The chefs were probably a different matter, but the waitresses and bodyguards moving silently through the candlelit restaurant were all pretty young – mostly younger even than Yagoro. They were probably part-timers.

They didn’t all have the business talent to get rich by magically making ice.

The witchcraft exam students were in the gap between education and employment, so they tended to be in a fairly weak position.

The bookseller placed a hand on her cheek with a different nuance from before.

“I do have a daughter of my own busy studying for the entrance exam. So I was looking for a way to support the exam students who could use some money.”

Not only was she extremely powerful, but that mother had a caring heart as well.

But that didn’t change the fact that Yagoro’s wallet was emptying out and each new dish only tasted like plant juices. He wished she could have used more of that caring heart when choosing the restaurant.

Part 3

The following day, Myousou Yagoro was walking through Temple School City in the early morning, moving out of the way of the witch exam students dressed in revealing Halloween costumes and the kids from the squatter’s district dressed in rags. Going anywhere was a pain in a city full of so many stairs, but the children were full of energy this morning.

Yagoro had developed a habit of reaching for the top of his head while in crowded areas. Even though he couldn’t actually tell if his hair was still dyed blond by touch.

(Why do they think human black hair is a dye for the most powerful curses? You would think the existence of real magic would keep people from being superstitious, but nope.)

The exam students were not the only people in Temple School City. There were plenty of people trying to make money off of the prospective witches, including prep school teachers. Yagoro was one of those. He walked by the street stalls hawking their wares so early in the morning and passed by a woman who was probably an instructor at a flight gym or training ground. She looked like a shortcake in her pointy white hat and wedding dress. The extreme slit up the right side of the dress gave glimpses of a white garter belt. Was that unique to this Halloween costume world? He didn’t know where she taught, but he occasionally saw her at the usual used bookstore. Her curvy and sexy body lines told him she was probably a self-taught witch. Although that same assumption had failed miserably with the bookseller.

The tutor boy arrived at Carraway Cs prep school.

He entered the structure building’s Cauldron classroom and sat casually next to his student Viocia. The gyaru-style instructor Schanze Dwelling appeared very motivated this morning.

“Three months!!”

With her voluminous blonde hair, tanned skin, black leather vest, and tight skirt, Schanze had a Mont Blanc look. She raised her voice from the very first word once her students had gathered.

“It has now totally been three months since you arrived at this prep school after your first failure! It’s time you moved on from the Witch’s Chimney indoor training ground and began flying in the open sky. I’ll be guiding you, so the restriction over flying above the city will be totally lifted!! This only applies to our lesson time, but you can now fly high in the sky!!!”

The girls’ cheers shook the lecture room, which resembled a large garage.

The difference between a compulsory education teacher and a prep school instructor became evident here. There was an element of entertainment here – a skilled instructor made sure to research how to grab the students’ attention. Stimulating the students’ desires and self-importance like this would be a challenge for the straitlaced government workers who taught compulsory education.

And so everyone made their way to the roof of the neighboring practical building.

While Schanze led the way up the stairs, Viocia was swinging Formula Broom – Wittenberg around in her hands. She was extremely excited.

“It’s happening, it’s actually happening. Our classes finally sound like something a flying witch would actually take!”

“Hmph. It’s not like this is the first time we’ve flown above the city,” chimed in Melehe Superlative.

She was a girl with silver hair and dark skin. The talented girl had earned Rank A on an official practice exam and she wore miniskirt outfit that looked like a mix between a black military uniform and a sky pirate’s outfit, giving her a chocolate parfait look.

Tall Dorothea shrank down as she spoke.

“But if they’re letting us fly outside, it means we’ll be doing something we couldn’t in the indoor training ground, doesn’t it? Wh-what could that be? Eep.”

“Anything’s fine as long it’s useful for the exam.”

All was normal here. Melehe was extremely eager and greedy while Dorothea tended to be passive and cautious in all things. By adding in the (needlessly cheerful) life of the party that was Viocia, they struck a nice balance. Of course, they were rivals when it came to the exam, so Yagoro did wish he saw more cutthroat competition between them.

Once they arrived on the practical building’s rooftop, the view opened up.

A mass of wind struck them from head on.

“Wah!”

“Viocia, your skirt!”

Dorothea frantically held down Viocia’s long skirt from behind.

They could see several giant red-painted elevators shaped like scales.

Temple School City was a diamond-shaped city given a chessboard coloration by all the marble and obsidian. The sectors were arranged in tiers like a reverse pyramid and there was a massive circular lake in the center. Past the pure white diamond dust hovering over the lake, the silhouette of Maleficium was visible at the center of the lake.

“Okay, we’ve arrived. And be careful.”

Schanze stood tall and tapped the flat rooftop with the end of her Formula Broom’s handle. She dressed gaudily, but she could take on the teacher’s role when lives were on the line.

“You will now totally be playing a game called Elbow.”

“What’s that, teacher?”

The idiot’s ability to immediately raise her hand and ask the question was one of the few advantages she had.

Schanze nodded toward Viocia and explained.

“After accelerating to full speed along a set distance, you totally make a 180-degree turn around a fixed corner☆ Whoever’s turn radius is shortest will totally be the winner. So it comes down to who can fly fastest and turn sharpest.”

Something slipped out from Schanze’s shoulder.

It looked like a skinny squid measuring 30cm long, but it was actually her domestic familiar. It floated around like gravity didn’t affect it and then stopped directly above the park. Its tube-like belly(?) faintly glowed from within, making it visible even from a distance.

Familiars were generally artificial. First, the witch would picture the completed form as they put together the skeleton like a jigsaw puzzle. Then magically-summoned artificial muscle and fat were attached to give it shape. The completed familiar would obey its witch’s commands and assist with a variety of jobs: physical labor like construction or cargo transportation and intellectual work like calculations and paperwork.

“That right there is totally your target buoy. After accelerating for 5000m, you need to totally turn around the fixed buoy as sharp as you can. You’ll totally be scored on speed and turning radius.”

As simple as it sounded, setting up the course was a challenge with so many prep schools.

Dragons and griffons the size of Earth bombers were flying leisurely through the sky above, but those were lifeforms created in Maleficium that had escaped and turned wild. Natural monsters were rare these days. And at their altitude, they were unlikely to affect the witches’ game.

“Okay, Viocia, what’s the most important thing in this totally cool game?”

“Overwhelming speed! I’ll blow past everyone else with my super acceleration!!”

“Idiot, then you won’t be able to complete the turn and fly off in the wrong direction.”

That was all Melehe had to say with a snort that gave it a nuance of exasperation more than contempt.

The sky pirate girl looked to Schanze.

“This isn’t like compulsory education. If we have a plan already, can we start flying?”

“If you totally want to☆”

Melehe snapped her fingers and something dropped from the sky like lightning, stabbing sharply into the rooftop. That was Formula Broom – Mount Parnassus, her broom. The thick seat had luggage carriers on either side, handlebars that spread out in a wide Y-shape, and plenty more custom parts reminiscent of a large American motorcycle. That was proof that she had already flown the sky enough times to test all those things out through trial and error.

“Orpheus, did you hear all that?”

“Yes, we have been tasked with a solo drive, which is your specialty, Melehe.”

Melehe didn’t bother jumping from the edge of the roof. She floated up on the spot. That vertical takeoff was a challenging move that only an elite like her could pull off.

“Let’s do this, Orpheus!!”

Her powerful acceleration compressed the wind.

And it didn’t end there. After approaching dangerously close to the squid familiar glowing faintly in the distance, she cut a sharp clockwise curve. Her speed didn’t grab hold of her and throw her off course. After turning, she immediately resumed her powerful acceleration.

(Accelerate, decelerate, and accelerate again, hm?)

This reminded Yagoro of the real aircraft exercises he had done with the Force back on Earth. The key to aircraft maneuverability was to accelerate on the straightaways and rapidly decelerate before turning. That way your turn wouldn’t swing wide and you could keep your turn tight. ...Of course, in actual dogfights, you had to focus on the more biological issues or the enemy would be on your tail in no time, so there weren’t many chances to stick to the basics like that.

Schanze whistled.

“Whew. Did our very first attempt totally bring her turning radius down to less than 3m?”

Formula Brooms were extraordinary vehicles that allowed for bicycle-level maneuverability at supersonic speed, but Melehe’s record was still quite something.

A disastrous first attempt would have made the rest nervous, but too successful a first attempt had the same result. Regardless, any witch who would waste such a valuable opportunity for practice because of nerves would never pass the entrance exam.

And Tutor Myousou Yagoro was of course a pro at making sure Viocia would pass.

(Now, then.)

“Viocia.”

“H-hweh? Don’t talk to me, teacher. I’m trying to focus!”

So did she actually have the guts to volunteer to go immediately after such an impressive model answer? That, at least, was praiseworthy. As a tutor, he only had to make sure his student’s motivation gave her a real chance of success.

“You haven’t applied your ointment set yet, have you? Do you have one based on long pepper and turmeric?”

“For additional fuel? That’s one you rub on the broom.”

Now, using special chemicals to fly was not just a witch thing. For example, in the other world of Earth, there were specialized supersonic combat psychotropic drugs developed to increase military pilots’ focus and reaction speed during missions. (Although the Force Yagoro had spent time with had chosen not to develop them.) But the supply of these drugs would be cut off once the pilots retired, so they were doomed to a tragic elderly life plagued with withdrawal symptoms.

Also…

“Lend me your ear. I’ll tell you how you can beat Melehe.”

“?”

“You need to…”

Part 4

(That should be good enough.)

Melehe Superlative felt confident as she rode her highly customized broom.

Since she could manage vertical takeoffs, she had no difficulty coming to a stop in midair to take a break.

Prep schools were not like compulsory education. All the students in a class would not have equal abilities. The ones who had what it took would advance and the ones who didn’t would be left behind. She had just demonstrated what it meant to be an exam student.

Even the other girls at her prep school were her rivals.

She had to draw on every bit of skill she had and develop it further. She had no intention of making friends here.

“Eep.”

Due to her personality, Dorothea Rockpool had completely frozen up.

But the entrance exam was a fierce competition.

Anyone attempting to get into Maleficium had to assume the odds of failure were greater than 99.9999%. If they let themselves freeze up because of what someone else did, they had no chance.

“That was mean, Melehe,” said Melehe’s broom.

“If a barrier of this size is enough for her to give up, then she would probably be happier doing something else in life.”

But if anyone was still willing to challenge her, they could bring it on.

She brushed back her shoulder-length silver hair…just in time for Viocia Modestlucky to curve around the squid buoy with an unthinkable speed and angle.

“Huhhhh!?”

She easily blew past the results of the Rank A genius.

What was that?

A 3m turning radius didn’t even come close. In fact, she didn’t even make a clockwise turn. She had taken a ridiculous curve a lot like metal balls rolling through a clear glass tube.

Had she taken a vertical turn?

Schanze spoke to Myousou Yagoro, sounding like she had thrown in the towel on this one.

“Hey, did you manage to measure that one? You totally have to measure that turning radius in centimeters, don’t you?”

“It was at least less than 140cm, don’tcha think?”

The tutor chuckled and stuck his tongue out with his head turned so the Mont Blanc gyaru-style instructor couldn’t see.

Melehe managed to read his lips.

That pervert tutor had interfered yet again.

“(That maneuver is known as the slice turn. You twist the craft around to 135 degrees and, once it’s nearly upside down, you perform a loop directed diagonally downwards. The knowledge I picked up with the Force comes in handy from time to time.)”

Although that technique had been entirely meaningless for him since he had been headed for space.

Needless to say, a special maneuver that incorporated gravitational acceleration would turn more sharply than simply decelerating and turning. Without a practical benefit, a tricky maneuver like that wouldn’t have stuck around so long.

Viocia was carefree as could be when she returned. She couldn’t stop in midair, so she flew in a wide circle around the practical building instead.

“Ahh, this feels great. Flying in the open sky is so freeing!”

“Eep. Viociaaaaa!”

“You’re up next, Dorothea! Front and back, side to side, up and down – whichever axis you turn on the world looks completely different. I’ve found another three numbers to go with the Three Aspects of witchcraft. I bet I could do so many cool things if I combined these in different ways. Flying straight and slowing down just gives you the one thing. It’s so boring and uncreative!!”

“K-khh…”

The silver-haired girl bit her lip, hung her head, and shook.

She was the “boring and uncreative” one.

Orpheus, her supposed partner, was having trouble suppressing laughter.

Tearful and red in the face, Melehe Superlative shouted at Viocia.

”You’re on!!!”

Part 5

Boom!!

Eeeee!

Kapowwwww!!!

Motivated by Melehe and Viocia, more and more hopeful witches kicked off from the edge of the building rooftop and flew toward the squid buoy 5000m away. The distinctive sounds of bursting, whistling, and rapid compression of air sounded on top of each other several times over. Even Dorothea was raring to go. Unable to bear waiting in line, oftentimes five or six witches at once were attempting the round the buoy at sharp angles. Afterwards, they would land directly on the main street, assess their results, and try again. They made repeated attempts over a short span of time.

Which had an inevitable result.

During lunchtime…

“Blehh…”

“C’mon, Viocia, eat this salmon and onion sandwich. Get your head off the table and eat. You worked hard to pay your tuition, so you don’t want to sit out this afternoon, do you?”

Witchcraft was not powered by anything as convenient as “magic power”. All humans had was willpower, so they had to borrow power from another world and manipulate that. However, it went without saying what happens to a human body after repeatedly performing strenuous exercise without a break.

(Hm, maybe I egged them on a little too much.)

The witches were all dead tired. It was strange indeed to see a bunch of growing teenagers in the cafeteria without any of them ordering anything. Yagoro had only been trying to use Viocia’s rivalry as a motivator to get her to study, but he did feel a little guilty now.

But the lunch break only lasted so long. If they didn’t eat anything, none of them would be having a good time during their afternoon lectures.

A naked cloak vampire girl and cat ears maid had enough energy left for their empty stomachs to overpower their exhaustion and they were whispering to each other.

“Ugh. The cafeteria’s raised its prices again.”

“That’s how many times now and it’s only June? How are we supposed to focus on studying like this?”

“If it was just one day, fine, but it adds up day after day.”

“What am I going to do? Maybe I should start borrowing more money this month,” said the cat ears maid, gently holding a keychain-like doll between her hands.

“Ugh,” groaned Viocia, her head down on the table. “Higher prices is a real problem. The XL hamburger steak plate and the extra-thick chicken steak bowl were the one thing I could look forward to in my brutal days of endless studying, but now I won’t be able to afford them.”

“You nee to focus more on keeping a witch’s figure. Being short and light gives you an edge.”

Was this why Melehe and Dorothea had stopped eating lunch with her lately even though they were generally good friends? Sadly, the entrance exams were both a competition with others and a battle against yourself. Those two would gain nothing by letting their friend’s endless desire drag them down too. Not to mention that a witch was supposed to know how to control her desires!

Then Yagoro heard something moving outside the first-floor cafeteria window.

Curious, he opened the window to look out.

“Raynold, what are you doing here?”

“Geh, mister!?”

A boy of about 10 in a filthy shirt jumped directly below the window. He lived in the squatter’s district adjacent to Yagoro’s apartment.

Next to him was a girl in a dress covered in patches and so filthy its original color was no longer discernible. She was like a crepe fallen in the sand or like Cinderella before she met the fairy godmother. Her short skirt was frayed and torn in places, but she appeared to be wearing shorts below. Her wavy blonde hair was tied back and she wore a pointy hat and a thin summer cloak that gave her a bit of a witchy look. If she actually took a bath, she would probably have the lovely face of a doll.

She carried a homemade notebook made from tying fliers together with string and she had tears in her eyes.

“Th-th-they noticed us.”

“Shut up, Roslynica. It’s okay if he knows. He’s one of us!”

Apparently Yagoro had been made a member without his knowledge, but what were these brats doing hanging around this prep school?

Then Viocia reacted with surprise.

“Huh? What’s Roslynica doing here?”

“H-h-hello.”

“Friend of yours, Viocia?”

“Heh heh. I need money for the field trip. That’s how I met her.”

“?”

Was she taking on more day labor jobs or roadside subquests? Viocia could make friends with anyone in the city – even a carriage horse waiting for customers – so the extent of her acquaintances was always a bit of a mystery.

Raynold pouted his lips and spoke as if giving in.

“Roslynica is going to Maleficium one day.”

“Wait, I haven’t decided for sure yet!”

“She’s definitely going!! She’s really smart and the grownups were even saying she might be the first person from the squatter’s district to get in!”

“I see…”

Ordinarily, girls graduated from their compulsory education and then attempted the Maleficium entrance exam, but it was possible to skip that first step if they already had the necessary knowledge. Maleficium believed in acquiring people with definite skills over requiring a silly diploma that only meant you knew how to toe the line. Otherwise, Yagoro could never have gotten in after suddenly appearing in this world one day with no credentials to his name.

“But we don’t have the money to send Roslynica to a real cram school or prep school, right? And if you live in the squatter’s district, they won’t hire you for any of the ordinary jobs. So we thought if we hung around outside the window someone might throw out some balled-up quizzes or something. By gathering up enough problems and combining them, we’d have our own textbook or workbook.”

The blond tutor glared over at Viocia who was suddenly very busy looking the other way and whistling nonchalantly.

And sweating profusely.

What had she been doing with the quizzes he stayed up all night writing? Even if she got the problems wrong – no, especially if she got them wrong – they were a valuable resource to hang onto. A quiz did not end once it was taken. They were a means of identifying your problem areas so you could set up the next hurdle to clear and focus your studies there!!

“That’s it. I’m confiscating all the sweet things from your lunch.”

“Please no, teacher! Even a whack from your slide rule would be better than that!!!”

“Oh, no, no, no, no!” Roslynica began panicking even though she wasn’t the one being scolded.

Anyway, finding a way to get something for free and clinging to that was an essential skill for surviving in the squatter’s district. Salary-focused Schanze probably wouldn’t be thrilled with these kids’ methods, but it wasn’t a real problem for Yagoro since he was an outsider anyway. And as a tutor, he didn’t want to discourage someone who was self-motivated to study.

“But we might just get by thanks to you, mister.” Raynold smiled bashfully. “I mean, everyone thought we were just a drain on the city but you taught us how to sell firewood and give something back! Heh heh. So we’re all saving up our money little by little in a moneybox. One day the money we save up will be enough to help Roslynica take the entrance exam!!”

Raynold sounded delighted even though this didn’t benefit him in any way.

Was he just happy he was participating in the city economy and helping someone grow?

“We’re always telling her to focus on studying, but she keeps sneaking away and working.”

“I-I can’t let the rest of you do all the work… And I can flip through my notes while I sell firewood.”

It sounded like her motivation was on the level of Ninomiya Kinjirou, the original distracted walker. Yagoro really wished a certain idiot would learn a thing or two from that desire to absorb knowledge at all times.

The tutor boy sighed.

“Okay, Viocia. This calls for a quiz. Let’s see who can answer first – you or Roslynica here.”

“Eh? This does not call for a quiz, teacher.”

“Question: What is ATU 0333?”

“You’re not even listening to me, are you!? Um, 0333 is, uh…the 300s are the old magic stories with supernatural enemies, so-”

“Um, it’s Little Red Riding Hood.”

Viocia petrified when the much younger girl immediately gave the correct answer.

Yagoro winked.

“Then what’s the magical lesson found in the wolf symbol?”

“W-wait, let me answer tha-”

“When the prey is in the wolf’s spell, they will believe even the most brazen lie. But once the hunter reveals the lie, the wolf’s belly is split open and the captured and eaten people can be retrieved unharmed.”

“Correct. Which means ill-gotten gains will not remain yours for long. Good job, Roslynica.”

“Noo,” tearfully groaned Viocia.

As young as Roslynica was, she had apparently obtained even more knowledge than an exam student who had been studying for an entire year. As for the dunce girl, Yagoro would have to make sure this lesson stuck later on.

Yagoro handed a few sandwiches out through the window, earning him a delighted grin from Raynold in his filthy shirt.

“Heh heh. Of course, it helps that Miss Rayon sometimes teaches her some witchcraft.”

“?”

Yagoro didn’t recognize that name.

“But that witch lady has other work to do,” said Roslynica. “She’s always so busy working with all those numbers, so I can’t bother her too much.”

“She’s a real classy witch. Ahem, ‘It’s wrong that being dirt poor can keep people out of the entrance exam. If you wanna take that path, then come to me for help.’ ”

“Th-that doesn’t sound like her at all. Miss Rayon sounds a lot nicer and more polite!”

Apparently Yagoro wasn’t the only one looking after those kids during the day. It sounded like this woman was well-liked by the cautious squatter’s district children. Did ‘working with all those numbers’ mean she did some kind of accounting work? Witches were familiar with calculations thanks to their potion mixing and encryption building, so they were sometimes hired to do accounting work. Ordinary people apparently found accounting just as baffling as magic.

“See, told you Roslynica was smart! I bet she really can get into Maleficium. And it’s not just us saying it – even the grownups say she could be the first person from the squatter’s district to get in!”

“B-but we don’t have that kind of money.”

“Don’t worry! We’ll save up money bit by bit selling firewood, gathering trash, and so on. It’ll all go in that moneybox. You won’t actually be trying for the entrance exam until you’re 15, so we’ve got five whole years to save up. So you stop worrying so much and focus on becoming the best witch out there. Ah ha ha!!”

Roslynica still fidgeted nervously, but she didn’t have a response to that.

If someone from the squatter’s district really did get into Maleficium, it would be a Cinderella story straight out of a children’s storybook.

Part 6

Evening had fallen.

Myousou Yagoro spotted Viocia, Melehe, and Dorothea gathered in a corner of the cafeteria doing something. While there was a ticket system in place to rent out time in the lecture rooms and self-study room, quite a few exam students used little spaces like that to get their studying done.

“Where did I go wrong in today’s divination class? Oh, no. If I don’t do better, teacher’s evil scheme will keep me from going on the field trip!”

“I don’t think he has a say in that part. Eep. B-but if you’re having trouble, just keep working at it. You need to get this under control before you convince yourself you’re just bad at it.”

“Then what kind of divination should I do? I know! Financial fortune. Please, all-powerful cards, I want to earn a mountain of coins so I can go on the field trip, so do you have a good money-making plan for me?”

“C’mon, Viocia. Try to remember the actual method of using cards for divination. Eep.”

Dorothea could have just let her idiot rival continue full speed down that mistaken path, but her strange need to take care of others made another appearance. That may have come from being the oldest sibling of a large family.

“A black card means yes and a red one means no. Go!!”

Viocia drew the 8 of hearts.

The very red card meant no.

“Nooo!! D-does that mean I can’t go on the field trip!?”

“You can’t expect much accuracy from a failure’s divination, so you probably don’t have much to worry about.” Melehe averted her eyes and sighed as she made a comment that was equal parts comforting and insulting. “Besides, there are several fundamentally different ways to use playing cards for divination. You can have the cards correspond to the tarot minor arcana or you can have the 13 types, four suits, and jokers correspond to a 365 day calendar. Either way, you need to establish a foundation of logic first or you have nothing to divine.”

“(+1 point: You don’t want to be a phony necromancer who pops her joints in time with the questioner’s questions to mimic a rapping sound or poltergeist, but when performing divination for yourself, make sure you don’t grow overly self-focused or enter a trance. Always make sure to do this in a group so you can keep an eye on each other.)”

The tutor stared into the distance and muttered under his breath.

The prep school had a daytime group and a nighttime group, so there were a lot of students in the cafeteria during the evening. And not just because it was mealtime. The exam students were all in different financial situations, so a lot of them simply didn’t have the spare money to eat out in the city.

(To be honest, the price of books is one of the major problems, don’tcha think? The lithographs are only disposable things used to create sample photos and there’s no real printing technology in this world, so they all have to be handwritten, which unavoidably brings up the price.)

Since this world did have Sketchgoats whose skin could be removed repeatedly, the price of parchment wasn’t all that high. That allowed for fliers to be passed out on the street.

“Gweh! The cafeteria really has upped its prices.”

“Is it true that the most cost-effective method is to buy the cheapest bread roll they have at the school store and then order a side of onion soup at the cafeteria? The roll is supposed to get a lot bigger as it soaks up the soup.”

Yagoro left the cafeteria with a glance toward the moving efforts of a succubus girl wearing fake wings and a tail and a yuki onna in an oiran-style kimono that left her pale shoulders bare. The students who lived on their own tended to find they had more than just their studies to worry about.

(The actual cheapest option is to grab some unsold side dishes from a food stand outside.)

When the students were making an attempt on their own, it could actually hurt their motivation if their tutor interrupted to correct them. So Yagoro decided to leave Viocia be for now and join in once she had discovered her own problem areas.

He walked through the tiered city on his own today.

A bipedal kangaroo familiar held a leather megaphone and called out to passersby while reaching a hand(?) into its pouch and passing out parchment fliers.

It spoke with an artificial feminine voice.

“The Spanish Fly Indulgence Bank is a reliable ally for all exam students. If you need money for your schooling, your daily necessities, or anything else, we offer several different types of loan. So please come down to the Spanish Fly Indulgence Bank! Our exchange is run by Accounting Witch Rayon Risoniphimil.”

The occasional squatter’s district kids he saw approaching and taking a flier probably weren’t interested in a loan – they only wanted to tie the fliers together to create a notebook. It was sad. That would be how the little witch-in-training named Roslynica had gotten her notebook. Since the familiar only acted out the simple command of “pass out fliers”, it must not have been able to determine a target demographic.

And…

“Whoa, whoa, oh, no- yikes!?”

“?”

A witch who had been handing out fliers alongside the familiar tumbled to the ground. She was a tall young woman with short hair dyed green, yet something about her reminded Yagoro of Viocia.

(The super clumsy part of her.)

“Owww.”

She was sprawled out on the ground with her fliers scattered across the road.

The kangaroo familiar could only perform simple tasks, yet this young woman was more of a klutz. And within the large category of “klutz”, she belonged to the smaller category of “busty and gentle klutz”.

The squatter’s district children swarmed around.

“Fliers!”

“Yes, I can finally make a drawing notebook!”

“Miss Rayon, we’ll take all these fliers, which means you’re done with your job for the day. So will you play with us now?”

“Wait, please just one flier per person,” tearfully pleaded the young woman, but the children showed no mercy as they tugged on her arms and clothing.

Miss Rayon.

Yagoro recalled what Raynold and Roslynica had said. So was this the person who used her spare time to teach the back alley children about witchcraft?

Instead of entering his apartment on the top level of Temple School City, Yagoro entered the narrow street next to it.

That brought him to the squatter’s district.

After a failed redevelopment project, the area had been left to rot, so countless unauthorized additions had been made and a lot of greenery had encroached from the flower beds and roadside trees that had been made for the redevelopment. Rent and land rights meant nothing to the dangerous armed residents who had illegally taken over the uncompleted buildings and the district around them. Exam students who lived ordinary lives were advised to stay far away from there.

“Teacher.”

A middle-aged man spoke to Yagoro while sharpening a long metal pole into a blade by scraping it against an old stone wall. His head was shaved, he wore an eyepatch, and he was both scarred and muscular. The bandit look would cause an ordinary person to jump and flee, but he was just another neighbor to Yagoro.

“You here to take a look at thing again?”

“Ha ha.”

“You don’t need to laugh it off. I dunno what’s in there, but everyone’s got their issues that rational thinking can’t solve. Especially anyone who winds up in the squatter’s district. There’s nothing but secrets and checkered pasts here.”

Maybe so.

Yagoro may have found the squatter’s district comfortable enough to visit fairly regularly because he fit in well there.

“I saw Raynold earlier. And a girl called Roslynica.”

“Oh, the smart little girl? Even when us adults all work together we still can’t beat her at chess or reversi. I dunno where she came from, but she reminds me a lot of you. Lotta brains in that one.”

Unlike Raynold, it sounded like Roslynica hadn’t been born into the squatter’s district. That was curious, but it wasn’t something he needed to dig into.

“I hear she wants to get into Maleficium.”

“If she uses those brains and keeps on studying, I doubt she’ll wind up in the worst parts of this city. And having a dream is a great way of keeping yourself from taking the wrong path in life.”

The middle-aged man framed it like that, but he sounded proud. Almost like her accomplishments were his own. It was true the people here were working together to save what little money they could. Most people had more or less forgotten the squatter’s district even existed, so it would probably feel great for its residents if someone from there got into that elite school.

Board games like chess and reversi didn’t really fit in here. When it came to games, the rough-and-tumble squatter’s district was more into betting on fights and darts. The people here weren’t just supporting Roslynica, they were gradually changing themselves.

“Hey, teacher. Can a girl like Roslynica really get into a place at the very top like Maleficium?”

“Anyone can if they do the necessary work.”

Yagoro said goodbye and then made his way deeper in.

He arrived at an open space at the base of a giant tree.

The squatter’s district was mostly half-crumbled stone buildings, so the thing half-fused with green moss here really stood out.

It was a metal container.

Just like his baton, Yagoro had asked his usual blacksmith to create the extra-large box.

It was was still affected by rust, but the lock attached to thick chains was doing its job. Yagoro had locked it himself, but not even he was sure if the day would come when it was once more unlocked.

He had needed to seal way his crashed craft.

He couldn’t allow any cultural contamination in this fantasy world.

The squatter’s district had been convenient for his needs. The ordinary citizens and even the Maleficium witches rarely delved so deep into this dangerous level.

And with all that in mind, Yagoro shook his head.

(That’s all an excuse.)

He pressed his forehead against the container buried in green, rested his weight on it, and then leaned his back against it.

Then he let his hips slide down to the ground.

(If I was really afraid of contamination, I would destroy it to erase it from this world, not just seal it away. I still can’t bring myself to fully let it go, don’tcha think?)

Still seated on the ground, he looked up into the sky.

The burning red of the sunset formed an endless expanse there.

It wasn’t that he still wanted to return to Earth.

Or so he wanted to believe.

“Yeah…”

But.

A much more simple concept was hidden behind all those grand and complex ideas.

There was one thing not even a tutor who had mastered witchcraft could do.

Simply put…

“I wish I could soar through the sky like I used to.”

Part 7

The perimeter of Temple School City was an inconvenient place to live, so a variety of facilities were gathered there.

The lawless squatter’s district.

The gates leading outside and the guard stations.

The trading posts and exchanges for merchants who wanted a location near the gates.

In front of one large boxy exchange was a large road where small children wearing rags for clothing were making chalk drawings, tossing a ball around, and otherwise turning it into their playground.

“Pant, pant. Sorry I’m late, Roslynica.”

“Miss Rayon!”

Little Roslynica’s face lit up. The fear she usually felt around others was gone. She spread her arms and hugged Rayon Risoniphimil around the hips.

Technically speaking, Rayon was not a prep school instructor or a tutor.

This was not a job for her. But she still found time for young Roslynica.

“Are you ready to learn more witchcraft?”

“Yes, yes!”

“Did you bring your usual tool?”

“I did,” said Roslynica, holding out a rolled-up sleeping bag. The pair of ears at the top of the storage bag made it look a bit like a dog mascot.

“It works best with something you always have with you – especially something you need to live your life. Have you remembered everything I taught you?”

“Yes!!”

“Then let’s start with a review of last time. When you hold the sleeping bag tight, what do you imbue it with?”

“Heh heh. My willpower!”

Roslynica smiled happily at the head rub she received and she squeezed her eyes shut while hugging the sleeping bag like it was a pillow.

She focused her mind.

“Please, lend me your power.”

“Keep going.”

“…”

“Be careful. Keep your focus steady but strong. You need to let your willpower seep deep inside the sleeping bag to its very core.”

10 seconds.

30 seconds.

It wasn’t more than a minute.

“That should be enough.”

At Rayon’s prompting, Roslynica hesitantly opened her eyes and relaxed her arms around the sleeping bag.

The sleeping bag was no more than a tool, yet she felt a stirring within it.

“Wow, wow!!”

“This might not seem like much.” The witch woman rubbed Roslynica’s head. “But once you learn to control your desires and more accurately send your willpower into objects, it will work for you. This is witchcraft. No expensive antiques or grimoires are necessary. Magic can be done with everyday objects – it is a system anyone can use that brings happiness to all.

“That should be enough for today,” said Rayon. “Roslynica, do you have your focus doll?”

“I-it’s right here.”

“Then let’s trade it for this new one. This is a witchcraft tool that boosts your focus and makes you love studying. The witch entrance exam begins with making mental adjustments like this.”

“But can you really keep giving me things like this?”

“It is wrong for a lack of money to lock you out of certain paths in life. As a witch, I am happy just knowing I am correcting a wrong in this world.”

“…”

Part 8

The boy leaned back against the container door and stared up into the unreachable sky until it grew dark out.

He couldn’t let anyone see him like this. Viocia would have already left the prep school and returned to her room. And Yagoro needed to get back to his apartment and make a quiz for tomorrow.

He knew he had sat a nearly impossible goal for himself.

Still, he tore himself away from the container and stood up, ran his palm along the mossy metal door just once more, and then quietly left.

He was walking through the labyrinthine streets of the squatter’s district without any giant pumpkin lamps to light the way when he heard an exasperated voice.

“You sure are careless.”

It came from a delinquent girl wearing a red waitress uniform. She had a macaron look to her, but the toxic polka dot pattern and diagonal yellow and black sash made it clear this was a poisoned macaron.

Arbamini.

She was one of the three aces from Sassafras Cfa Prep School, famous (infamous?) for all its terrible delinquents. She had once clashed quite spectacularly with his student Viocia.

(Formula Broom – Glamis. She uses the witches that deceived Macbeth.)

Macbeth was a play by the world-famous playwright Shakespeare, but there were suspicions the depiction of the witches had been an addition by a later author. Since it was such a famous play it had unintentionally helped create the idea of the “wicked witch” leading to the witch hunts, the idea that a third party had wholly or partly added in that part was a chilling thought. Choosing someone like that as her partner showed this girl really was a true delinquent.

(That aside.)

Yagoro was honestly impressed. Even Temple School City’s patrol had decided for themselves that the squatter’s district was too dangerous and lawless for them to even visit.

And yet…

“You know how to sneak into the closed-off squatter’s district?”

“And you’re being really careless wandering around here without any kind of bodyguard. Or are you just that confident in your skills, Mr. Tutor?”

There were certainly some dangerous beasts out there, but there was one thing Arbamini couldn’t see from her perspective. Her very presence was proof that this city had a criminal underground targeting the exam students. The ability to detect those crimes in advance and nip them in the bud was crucial, so he wished he could borrow her nose for these things.

And.

He was grateful for Arbamini’s trio as powerful rivals who Viocia would (possibly) work hard to outdo.

“Is something fishy going on in the city again?”

“What, you hadn’t noticed?”

She made the question sound like a snort of laughter.

Still, it was a huge step forward that she was actually holding a conversation with him instead of snapping at him. He had to keep in mind that she had spoken to him and was giving him intel on a possible crime unprompted. Even if she was mocking him as she did it.

“So she’s masking her true feelings with the bad girl act…”

“Are you trying to piss me off? I swear, everything in the world just wants to piss me off lately, but you’re the worst in that regard. If you’re that confident in your strength, then how about a rematch? I have been studying invisible curses instead of powerful attack magic, so I was hoping to try them out.”

“I get that a lot of factors outside your control pushed you to be a delinquent, but you should really stop focusing so much on magic used for fighting. Trick Question Warning: We’re not talking about the Celtic sword Fragarach which, when drawn, would automatically take flight, cut down the enemy, and return to the wielder’s hand.”

For some reason, Arbamini blinked twice.

When the delinquent girl did speak, she sounded impressed.

“I guess you really are a top-rate tutor. Thanks for the great inspiration.”

“Wait. You really shouldn’t try to create revenge magic based on Fragarach! It’s a bad idea!!”

“Because then you’d have to defeat me again? Don’t assume you know everything I can do just cause you beat me once. I only need a single second to obliterate a tutor like you.”

“Huh?”

Yagoro looked puzzled as Arbamini took action.

She lazily reached her hands down to her short skirt and lifted it.

“There, now I can say you sexually harassed me.”

“Why would you jump straight to a self-destructive attack like that!?”

Part 9

Trouble wasn’t brewing. It had already arrived.

Yagoro felt like he had received a gift with a bomb inside, but Arbamini had warned him nonetheless. He decided to keep that in mind.

He again set out for the squatter’s district exit.

He was walking through the labyrinthine streets created by all the unnecessary extensions when something fell from above. It was a notebook made from tying fliers together with string.

“Hm?”

“Ah!”

He looked up to see a bridge between two short buildings. It was little more than a skinny metal beam, making it only slightly better than a ladder.

The girl crossing the bridge wore a dress and shorts that were so tattered she looked like Cinderella before the fairy godmother. She also wore a witch hat and a thin summer cloak. After noticing the tutor looking up at her, she held down the hem of her short and tattered skirt. She was apparently old enough to worry about such things.

She was the little witch in training named Roslynica.

“Here, Roslynica. This study notebook is important to you, isn’t it?”

“Yes…”

She hopped down from the metal beam bridge.

As damaged as her clothing was, it gave her a witchy and a girly look. Everyone in the squatter’s district must have gathered cloth from all over to mend it.

She would be growing quickly at her age and the squatter’s district didn’t have much in the way of resources. Unisex pants would be more convenient since they could be reused by another child once she grew out of them, but they had still made her a skirt.

Was that another sign of how much the district expected of her?

But the witch in training didn’t seem to be in the mood to chat as she accepted the homemade notebook from Yagoro. She seemed somewhat restless. The people of the squatter’s district were apparently selling firewood, collecting trash, and otherwise working here and there to make what little money they could, so maybe this had to do with that.

“Sorry. A first-come-first-serve job?”

“Um. Yes, but if I don’t get the work first, everyone else tries to do the work for me, leaving me to rest on my own.”

…It sounded like Raynold was turning into a real gentleman.

But it didn’t sound like it was just the one kid. The entire district was supporting Roslynica. Yagoro was reminded of the old-fashioned craftsmen who had worked together to build a cutting-edge lunar rover. Success stories like this one could be found here and there on Earth as well.

“Why not just accept their kindness? I’m sure they’d prefer it that way.”

“B-but Maleficium is a really difficult school, isn’t it? I know they all say I can get in, but I feel so bad seeing them work so much to save up the money…”

“I doubt they’re the type to hold it against you if you don’t get in.”

“It’s not that. I-I just have to do this the right way.”

He watched her run off, clutching her flier notebook to her chest.

And he muttered to himself.

Come to think of it, she appeared to be lacking something necessary to become a witch.

“I wonder…”

Part 10

The small girl in a tattered dress and witch hat – Roslynica – ran through Temple School City’s night using the illumination of the large pumpkin lamps filled with sunlight seals.

She was not on her way to sell firewood or gather trash.

She was headed to a large boxy building in Red District, Block A.

“Roslynica.”

“!”

She jumped and turned around to find a familiar face. It was Viocia, a prep school witch.

Not another helper searching for last-minute jobs.

“You were right, Roslynica! The Spanish Fly Indulgence Bank is even better than I imagined. I can’t believe they let you borrow ten times as much as your security deposit. It’s like alchemy. Now I can go on the field trip with everyone else!”

“Oh, no! This way!!”

“?”

This meant Viocia was involved now, so Roslynica grabbed her hand and pulled her along with her.

Little Roslynica had introduced Viocia because she trusted Miss Rayon to take care of everything.

The Spanish Fly Indulgence Bank was an exchange that provided loans for exam students. The upper levels of Temple School City could be dangerous, but the merchants also had their bases there since the city entrances were there. The danger there was similar to the danger at a harbor during the night and the lawless squatter’s district was quite close by.

Business hours had passed, so the exchange’s windows were all dark.

This might not seem like a place a 10-year-old girl would go, but the squatter’s district children had been creating notebooks and drawing pads out of fliers they gathered off the streets. It was entirely possible they could have seen an advertisement there.

Viocia still looked confused.

“Where are we going?”

“I just hope I’m wrong…”

They walked into the impressive boxy building. No, they snuck inside.

Perhaps none of this would have happened if she didn’t have these sketchy skills picked up in the squatter’s district.

The exchange was run by Accounting Witch Rayon Risoniphimil.

She seemed like a kind and pretty adult woman. She was a beautiful witch. Her job was to put together and manage loans for exam students, but she had also found the time to look after Roslynica.

“Don’t worry. Our Spanish Fly exists to financially support any and all exam students. We will not reject you just because you are from the squatter’s district. In fact, you are the kind of person we should be working the hardest to support. I can run the numbers myself to determine your ability to pay, so don’t you worry about a thing.”

Rayon was also a skilled witch.

She could determine what problems afflicted a person and put together the appropriate spell or potion to resolve it. It hadn’t bothered her that Roslynica couldn’t pay anything. It was a bit of a mystery how that friendly helper was making any money out of this.

“Yes, this is a talisman. I call it a focus doll☆ It is a witchcraft device that boosts your focus and artificially makes you love studying. Witches use things like this to tune their bodies and minds toward studying for the entrance exam. It isn’t fair for you to be deprived of this tool just because you don’t have the money.”

It had scared Roslynica how much she was being given, but that woman had always smiled sweetly at the nervous girl.

Rayon had always said the same thing even though no one could be certain that Roslynica would really get into Maleficium.

“Having a Spanish Fly user get into Maleficium would do wonders for our reputation. So you see – we do get something out of this. You have no reason at all to feel bad about the financial support we provide. Please just focus on the entrance exam.”

But…

“…”

Something had occurred to Roslynica.

That kind teacher would lend money to anyone and had given her focus dolls for free. But young Roslynica’s life in the squatter’s district had led her to doubt her own benefactor.

Money was important.

So would anyone really just give it away like this?

“Please let these be silly, shameful doubts. Please let me find out it was nothing so I can hate the ugly part of me that made me do this.”

“What are you talking about?”

She couldn’t answer the question that had occurred to her.

In the dark hallway just one door was cracked open.

Rayon and a woman – seemingly a secretary – were conversing inside.

Roslynica held her breath.

She hesitated to call out to Rayon like she usually did.

“I just checked on the group of 5-time failures. It’s probably about time we called it quits there.”

“Yawwwn… That goody-goody act is exhausting. My shoulders are killing me. Is the commemorative exam ready to go?”

“Was it really necessary for your character to be clumsy too? All the data is right here.”

“People’s memories are so easy to manipulate. If we push them to see it as an ‘all’s well that ends well’ situation that boosted their experience, we don’t have to worry about anyone suing us.”

“Some of those morons even tearfully thank you and help you pack up. Even though they still have all that debt to pay off.”

“The trick is to keep the interest something they can actually pay. Don’t get too greedy.”

“I understand. The Benandanti have been on the prowl around here lately.”

“Just be smart about it. There are plenty of ways to drain a sucker’s wallet without putting yourself at risk.”

“…”

Roslynica didn’t have the courage to knock on or open the door.

Even bigger Viocia had chosen to hold her breath and remain as still as possible.

This was bad.

They weren’t supposed to have heard that. The two of them had silently reached that mutual understanding in the shadowy hallway. They still didn’t know the details, but trouble was brewing here.

(What do I do?)

Roslynica bit her lip, but she couldn’t turn back time.

For one thing, how had Roslynica arrived at the exchange in the first place?

(I took all the moneybox money everyone saved up and deposited it here at Spanish Fly. I thought if I could keep that safe here and borrow even more money based on it, I could more quickly pay for the exam preparations so the others wouldn’t have to work for me anymore.)

“(Wh-what do we do? I know! I’ll contact teacher and get him to help us.)”

“(N-no, not yet!)”

The two of them had crept away from the door, but they couldn’t bring themselves to leave the exchange.

Roslynica doubted sneaking in again would be so easy.

So it had to be now. Even if they would go to a grownup for help, she needed to learn more now.

The exchange was a large place. They peeked inside another room and Viocia pulled a moonlight seal from her hat to dimly illuminate the room, revealing a large set of scales, gold ingots, a special loupe, and tons of diamonds. There were safes of all sizes. There were even gold coins on the table, their serial numbers smashed flat with a hammer to prevent tracking.

They had to keep a lot of money on hand in order to loan it out to exam students in need.

But something about this smelled fishy.

“(Wow, look at all that money,)” said Viocia.

“(But this isn’t the heart of the secret.)”

Roslynica knew she wasn’t going to find what she was looking for searching at random.

Not that she knew what it was she was looking for.

Hiding in the shadows, she squeezed the rolled-up sleeping bag against her chest. Gently but firmly. It was made of thick cloth coated in wax for some level of waterproofing and the storage bag had dog-like ears at the top. In the squatter’s district where a roof over your head was far from guaranteed, it was as crucial a necessity as a frying pan or a washboard.

Roslynica poured her willpower into it and muttered under her breath.

“It works best with something you always have with you – especially something you need to live your life.”

Yes, Rayon Risoniphimil had kindly taught her what to do.

“Please, lend me strength.”

When she relaxed her arms, the cylindrical sleeping bag squirmed on its own. The movement was weak, but the rolled-up sleeping bag’s ears definitely pointed in a single direction. Like a doll moving its little hand.

“Th-that way.”

“Hm? What kind of magic was that?” Roslynica and Viocia went that way.

There were a lot of doors, but they found some kind of library right away.

The two of them crept into the dusty library. All four of the small room’s walls were covered by bookcases.

An especially thick dictionary stood out from the rest of the books.

Little Roslynica picked it up without thinking and it opened on its own to a creased page. Her finger and eyes followed an entry there.

“Commemorative Exam: An entrance exam taken with no intent to pass. Obtaining the experience of attempting a difficult school’s exam can grow a person even if they do not pass.”

“…”

No.

Roslynica and the rest of the hopeful witches who had relied on Spanish Fly for exam prep funding weren’t attempting the Maleficium exam just for fun. Others might see it as a silly dream with no chance of success, but the students themselves were serious as could be.

But.

Being an exam student was a painful, grueling experience. Again and again they would try and fail and they would be presented with numerical results that seemed to quantify their failure as a human being. Once they were truly worn down in body and soul, the day might come that they succumbed to the internal whisper telling them to just give up. Like an exhausted mountain climber choosing a courageous withdrawal.

What if Spanish Fly had incorporated the psychological release of “giving up” into the gears of their exploitative business model?

“Oh, no. This is really, really bad.”

“Roslynica, there’s something over here.”

A few small memos were pasted to a piece of parchment on a reading desk in the center of the library. They looked like meaningless numbers at first, but a closer look showed they indicated bookcases, books, and page numbers.

(This one would be…)

“ATU 0709a. The Snow White type story that uses a poisoned claw in place of the apple.”

The focus doll was a 5cm doll, about the size of a keychain. Roslynica had one herself.

“This is Brunhild of Norse mythology who sleeps surrounded by flames and this is the witch’s curse that started a storm to stop a ship?”

“So the Three Aspects have a common theme of stagnation and binding?” asked Viocia.

They were apparently talismans periodically given to the exam students who had taken out student loans, but these would do nothing to help those students. Quite the opposite, in fact. They created magical stagnation and binding. If the students studied and studied without achieving any change at all, their academic ability would never ever grow.

The Spanish Fly Indulgence Bank claimed to financially support exam students, so why would they use a trick like that?

“Kh.”

She let it go.

The keychain glinted in the light as it rolled along the floor. Specifically, the sharply pointed clasp, which almost looked like a bird of prey’s deadly talons.

Without the dog ears sleeping bag as her magical companion, she might have fled in fear before investigating it all.

The answer was there.

One of the thick grimoires had a folded piece of parchment held between its pages. She read what it said.

Chronological Loan Solicitation Plan

1st Failure

Solicitation Period: They will be highly skeptical so soon after taking out the loan. Be very cautious while expanding their debt.

2nd Failure

Inertial Period: Blindly following the status quo will become routine for them. They question things the least during this period, so pressure them to take as many additional loans as possible here.

3rd Failure

Inertial Period: Generally the same as above, but be careful as this varies a lot between individuals.

4th Failure

Fatigue Period: They begin to question the status quo at this point, so prepare the commemorative exam.

5th Failure

Selling Period: Fully shift over to the commemorative exam here. Quash their doubts with emotion. Their debt will be too large for them to even pay off the interest at this point, so push them toward some form of forced labor.

*Failed exam students tend to return for another loan after each consecutive failure, which just means more profits for us. Be very careful to hide this fact from them when introducing them to our different loan plans.

“What...is this?” said Viocia.

“Uh.”

Roslynica felt her vision darkening from the corners of her eyes. It took her several seconds to realize this was simply due to tears, not her vision narrowing from anemia.

What conclusion did this add up to?

Spanish Fly was never interested in helping exam students. In fact, they made more money if the students repeatedly failed, so they were using curses to surreptitiously hinder the students’ academic progress!?

(What do I do? What do I do?)

She had given Spanish Fly the moneybox containing all the money gathered by the squatter’s district. And now that money was gone forever? She couldn’t bear to think about that. But she also couldn’t think of any way of fighting back against the great machine she had been caught within.

“W-well, this should be enough to go to teacher with. We need to get out of- gyah!?”

Viocia shouted so loud Roslynica literally jumped.

She looked over to see Viocia sprawled out on the floor. Viocia had apparently backed up in the darkness, slipped on one of the parchments littering the floor, tumbled backwards, and hit her head.

“Hey, Viocia. Viocia!”

Roslynica shouted in her ear and even slapped her cheek, but Viocia showed no sign of waking.

She was out cold.

Roslynica tugged on her arm, but she was too little to move the bigger girl.

Miss Rayon was a grownup, so Roslynica needed another grownup to stand up to her.

Who could she go to? Raynold was always helping her out, but he was still a child. As strong as he was, she couldn’t ask him to fight a grownup. Plus, this exchange was staffed by real witches.

(Oh, I know. That’s it.)

What about Myousou Yagoro?

Her thoughts were a mess, but she still managed to think of him. He was friends with everyone in the squatter’s district and he was a tutor who knew a lot about the witch entrance exam. If she went to him with this paper, he might be really mad at her, but he might still help her. Was there a window anywhere? Little Roslynica couldn’t move unconscious Viocia, but she couldn’t just leave her on the floor either. If she could use her sleeping bag magic to warn that teacher of the danger like using a carrier pigeon-

“!?”

She heard a creaking.

From the library’s only door. Roslynica nervously turned around and found a pair of eyes staring into her own.

It was Rayon Risoniphimil.

The tall woman with the short green hair was a grownup witch with a broom. She had seemed like a living image of success before.

Now, she looked more like a threat capable of using real magic.

“You let it go.”

“Ah...ah.”

“You let your focus doll go. Hee hee. I can tell because it’s made to let me know. It stagnates the ignorant child’s academic ability while also sending out a warning if the child begins to doubt us and lets it go. Such a lovely witchcraft device that helps me in two ways at once.”

Rayon gave a quick glance at the documents scattered across the library.

That was all.

“Now, the usual solution would be to silence the both of you by chucking you off a random building rooftop. Making it look like a tragic accident during some unauthorized and unsupervised flight training.”

“…”

Roslynica couldn’t find any words.

This didn’t seem like the woman she had known.

Rayon looked down at the rolled-up sleeping bag in Roslynica’s hands.

“Tch. I forgot you don’t have a broom. Making it look like an accident is going to take a bit more doing.”

“Um.”

“God, how did you ever think some filthy brat who can’t even buy a Formula Broom could get into Maleficium?”

A sneer gradually filled the words that stabbed straight into the young girl’s chest.

That was true enough.

It was never going to be easy for a child in the squatter’s district.

But with enough of the proper knowledge, she could use witchcraft. After all, her sleeping bag really had moved a little when she poured her willpower into it hard enough.

“B-but...I can still use magic without a Formula Br-”

Roslynica’s shaky voice was cut off by Rayon Risoniphimil smashing the sleeping bag below her heel. Roslynica’s breath caught in her throat when she saw her partner twisted and distorted, but that wasn’t the main point.

When the wicked witch removed her foot, something changed.

Roslynica had not recited an incantation or imbued it with her willpower, but the sleeping bag still moved.

Because…

“Squash a bundle of cloth hard enough and it’ll try to return to its original shape when you let it go.”

“...Ah.”

Was that why she had been advised to squeeze the rolled-up sleeping bag when she concentrated?

It wasn’t witchcraft at all?

“It was all a con – a lie! Ee hee hee. We need to bait the hook somehow to get you idiots to bite. You don’t need money to pass the exam? You don’t need the equipment if you have the knowledge? I can’t believe you bought that hogwash! Ah ha ha ha!! It costs money to pass the exam. If you can’t pay for the best gear and lessons, you don’t even have a one-in-a-million chance of passing!!!”

Roslynica felt sense of dissociation, like a gentle tug on the back of the head.

She was met with only mocking laughter.

She couldn’t even make herself move. Which was why she couldn’t stop Rayon from saying what she said next.

Rayon’s lips formed the word “besides”.

“Besides, you’re a boy!!!”

That was the clincher.

This world’s magic had fully died out once. But the people couldn’t forget the convenience of magic, so they sought out magic from the world of Earth, leaving only witches, who borrowed power from others, capable of using magic.

So…

That meant…

Self-loathing bore down on Roslynica.

Because of the part of her that was instantly glad that Viocia was unconscious.

“How can a boy become a witch? How can a boy become a witch!? How can a boy become a witch!!?? Ah ha ha ha ha! How stupid are you!? It was never going to happen!!”

Roslynica hadn’t been born in the squatter’s district. She had arrived from elsewhere.

Which meant no on there really knew if she was a boy or a girl.

When she had first arrived there, they had assumed she was a girl based on her appearance and she had just never corrected them. She had never thought of herself as particularly smart, but after winning a few games against everyone in the squatter’s district, they had started saying she could become a witch.

One day, she had found the rest of her family gone.

One day, she had found herself in the squatter’s district.

The people there had assumed she was a girl.

The people there had assumed she could become a witch.

She had felt pushed into this life against her will.

But.

She had decided it was for the best if it would lead her to a future she had never thought possible.

There was always that nagging part deep down telling her it would never work, but she still believed it would amount to something eventually if she kept working at it hard enough.

And yet.

And yet…

“Was it the weight of their expectations that kept you from telling them? But that’s not my problem!! Really, you’re the same as me: human trash who tricks people out of their hard-earned money!!!”

Rayon took a booming step into the library.

The floor physically bent and the bookcases creaked despite being screwed into place. Rayon Risoniphimil’s beautiful form grew distorted and bloated. Her unchanged skeleton strained under the weight of the muscle and fat endlessly expanding inside her as her entire body grew until her head nearly touched the ceiling.

She looked like filthy cotton candy that had been left out in the sun until its surface melted.

“Formula Broom – Bastille.”

With the deep metallic sounds of a spring loaded device operating, the broom handle clutched in her fattened palm spread out near the tip, fanning out into five pieces. This clearly wasn’t designed for flight. Greed, heavy bombardment, load bearing assistance – this Formula Broom had been thoroughly customized as a grounded cannon.

This witchcraft device had grown and grown as it absorbed the blood, sweat, and tears of the exam students who had come running in need of money.

“This is a witch! This is true witchcraft!! Gee hee hee hee hee. Now, Cagliostro, it’s time to replace this broken gear. You can handle the cleanup like always!!”

“I-is that all you think of the children who rely on you?”

“Hmm? At best, you’re the worms used to catch fish. Bwah hah!! You’re just ugly live bait raised in a box so you can be skewered on the hook and tossed into the water!!”

She had said they would be thrown from a building rooftop to disguise their deaths as accidents during unauthorized and unsupervised flight training.

But what about Roslynica who didn’t have a Formula Broom?

Would it be disguised as a crash with both of them on a single broom?

Or would it be disguised as an accident with a carriage on the road?

She was surrounded by walls and bookcases on all sides. There was no other exit, so she had no way out. She also couldn’t just leave unconscious Viocia behind and the older girl was too heavy to drag with her. She was stuck. Someone with no chance of becoming a witch squeezed her sleeping bag tight with tears filling her eyes.

She knew it had all been lies.

But it was the only option left to her.

“Please, witchcraft. Lend me strength…”

“Are you stupid!? I already told you I made all that up!!!”

The mocking roar approached the small girl like a thick, invisible wall.

She squeezed her eyes shut with tears spilling from them.

And a moment later, a deafening impact burst out.

Rayon Risoniphimil, who had grown to the point her head reached the ceiling, was knocked from her feet, crashed through the nearby bookcase and wall, and rolled all the way out into the hallway. Something incredible had just happened, but Roslynica obviously wasn’t capable of this.

Then who or what had done it?

Her cylindrical rolled-up sleeping bag had stretched out on its own and knocked the witch away?

“Bwuh?”

Rayon held a hand to her face as blood flowed from her nose.

She forgot to get back on her feet as she shouted with a face twisted more by confusion than anger.

“What the hell just happened? That wasn’t witchcraft. That sleeping bag was some bullshit I thought up – it was just a cheap trick!!”

A footstep sounded, but it didn’t come from Roslynica or Rayon.

Someone else stood beyond the broken wall.

“How stupid are you? Hey, crooked moneylender, this is magic. You would know the answer if you’d actually studied.”

The tutor extended his baton with a sharp swing.

The counterattack had begun.

Part 11

Several sets of footsteps surrounded Myousou Yagoro.

Rayon Risoniphimil was not alone. They were all girls in their late teens. Their eyes all carried a somehow empty heat, so were these her co-conspirators at the Spanish Fly Indulgence Bank, or were they her victims who still wanted so desperately to believe they at least were still safe?

It didn’t really matter.

For her Three Aspects, the enemy had chosen ATU 0709, Snow White, for the Aspect of Admiration.

For the Aspect of Amorality, she had chosen a witch’s animal transformation. For the Aspect of Antiquity, she had probably chosen the giants found in Greek and Norse mythologies. Those powerful beings had strength equal to the gods and a social order, but they weren’t bound by the rules of good and justice. They were powerful beings who became known as evil.

By combining those things…

(If I had to guess, it only kicks in after her true nature is revealed, it lets her transform into any living thing, and it lets her grow into a being with power rivaling the gods but without the bonds of duty or morality.)

When her ugly nature was decisively revealed, her full-power silencing mode would automatically activate.

That was how her magic worked.

In a direct battle, that giant’s fist would mercilessly break through the outer wall of a temple guarded by a thick magical barrier. A hit from that would turn a human into red and black spray splattered across the wall or floor.

“Kee hee hee. Don’t make me laugh. Whatever trick you have up your sleeve, a shining star like me can never lose.”

Rayon cackled fiercely, her clothing straining from within thanks to her muscle and fat swelling out past the limit.

And she was calling herself beautiful.

“Designing a crime that will never be discovered is a waste of time. It’s safer and more perfect to prepare strong enough ‘insurance’ that you can recover even if it’s discovered. Behold this unblemished saint!! I am shining bright from all the mercy and love flowing out from me!!!”

None of that mattered.

No matter what Three Aspects this wicked witch had prepared while choosing to dirty her own hands, the way she had tormented Roslynica told Yagoro exactly how he was going to deal with her.

(I know I pressured her using her field trip as bait, but I need to physically rake Viocia over the coals for falling for this scam so easily. But using math to lay a trap for someone as young as Roslynica just isn’t playing fair. …I guess I can call this helping out my neighbors.)

“Spanish Fly?” he spat.

And he actually took a casual step toward all the witches carrying Formula Brooms.

He gathered their attention to divert it away from Roslynica and the idiot.

“That’s the extremely dangerous magical aphrodisiac that became so famous its legends gained a life of their own. A good name for a crooked moneylender trying to lure in unsuspecting victims, don’tcha think?”

“Kill him!!!”

Black fire rushed in toward Yagoro. At the same time, an invisible vacuum blade flew toward him from diagonally behind him on the left – the blind spot his dominant hand would have the hardest time reaching.

But there was no concern on his face.

The air rapidly compressed and something swept quickly through the air like it was kicking off the walls and ceiling. The black fire was split, the vacuum blade was deflected, and the mystery object stopped in midair as if guarding Yagoro’s back. Once stopped, it was revealed to be Roslynica’s rolled-up dog ears sleeping bag.

The wicked witch’s desire and willpower had caused her body to grow until she could barely control it anymore.

And that hideously evil woman sounded shaken.

“What...is that?”

“That question is meaningless.”

“But that was a phony tool I created for her! It only moved because any rolled-up sleeping bag does that if you squeeze it.”

“I said that’s meaningless. In this ‘situation’, any attempt to reach the truth by asking questions is going to work against you, don’tcha think?”

It didn’t end with the rolled-up sleeping bag.

As Yagoro swung the tip of his baton like a conductor, a clear change came over the library. The heavy tables and chairs floated up on their own. The bookcases left on the walls tore themselves free of their screws and “walked” forward by shaking their wooden bodies side to side like gelatin or custard.

It was like something out of a fairy tale.

A little thing like superior numbers or power could be easily overturned with witchcraft.

“Ah.”

Who had that noise come from?

A moment later, the air compressed and the massive blunt weapons rushed toward the wicked witches. The bookcases, tables, and even a taxidermied deer head crashed into them like rampaging horses. The puppet girls could barely protect themselves even with their Formula Brooms at the ready, so they were thrown into the air one after another. They weren’t even allowed a single counterattack.

Before long, only one of them remained.

Only overgrown Rayon Risoniphimil.

“Ha...ha ha…”

“Speaking the truth is meaningless too.”

“You can move objects by sealing your willpower inside them? Are you saying this is the true version of Roslynica’s magic? And that you worked out the necessary logic to master it yourself!?”

“I could give you the correct answer here, but it wouldn’t help you avoid this tragedy.”

“Formula Broom – Bastille...kah kah kah. Cagliostro!! Forget about me. Turn me into a Voland if you like, just make sure you take him down with me-”

The heavy bookcases and tables surrounded Rayon like a giant stone circle. Even with her expanded muscle and fat, she would not escape unharmed if they rushed at her from all sides.

And Yagoro wasn’t going to let this end peacefully.

She had to pay the price for reaping the benefits of dooming so many exam students to a hell of endless debt.

With a twirl of his baton, Myousou Yagoro made an icy pronouncement.

“Give up. No one can escape the big, bad wolf’s fangs.”

A moment later, the massive jaws snapped shut and something was noisily crushed between the many teeth.

Part 12

Heavy metallic clanking sounds echoed through the building.

The armored witches who had finally arrived on the scene – Maleficium’s Benandanti who handled witch-related crimes, including Volands – were rushing all through the exchange. However, it mostly looked like they were inspecting the scene as cleanup work. The documents Roslynica had found were more than enough to bring down the Spanish Fly Indulgence Bank.

However…

(I swear, this is like a talent of yours. Are you the canary in the coal mine for crimes in this city?)

“Wake up already, Viocia. C’mon!”

“Gwoh!? O-ow, did you just hit me, teacher?”

“Would you prefer I left you here unconscious?”

Then someone called loudly for the boy with unnatural blond hair.

“Yagoro.”

It was Nancy, who commanded this Benandanti unit.

The redheaded pigtails girl in thick Hexenturm armor stomped over to him and jabbed a finger right in front of his nose.

Her armor’s specs may still have been effecting her because she spoke a bit more forcefully than normal.

“What is the meaning of this? If you are going to cause a scene, you could at least give us advance warning! It’s less confusing that way!!”

“Sure, sure.”

“Don’t brush me off like that. If I’m not convinced you’ve learned your lesson, I can always drag you to the student guidance room and give you a few days in there to cool your head.”

“Yes, ma’am. I greatly appreciate your assistance in restoring order. ...And you have some nerve saying this when you were the first to come running after I sent my report by carrier pigeon, my sweet little student.”

“Cough, cough!! I do not need any blatantly malicious opinions out of you, fool!! Guarding the people of Temple School City is our duty as the beautiful witches!!” shouted Nancy, her face bright red.

Her thick Hexenturm was supposed to trap the wearer’s goodness and conscience in an external mental cage so they could focus on exterminating the ugly witches, but Yagoro was starting to suspect it actually enhanced their emotions in a way that turned them into a twisted sort of tsundere. He wondered if he had found a strange sort of loophole there.

“Ahem. That is enough of that pointless conversation. Yagoro, where is the victim you said you rescued?”

“Over there.”

Part 13

Roslynica seemed to have shrunk.

She withered under the repeated questions from the witches in thick armor.

“(Good grief. Is this another problem with sealing away their goodness and conscience for their job? If you want to play at being keepers of the peace, the least you could do is learn how to interact with children.)”

“Mh. Do you have a problem with the highly efficient methods we Benandanti utilize to-”

“Outta the way, workaholic. What are you, an incompetent career police detective?”

“A...what?”

This wasn’t working, so Yagoro approached from behind, shoved Nancy (who was ordinarily quite nice) and the others aside, and tried speaking to the girl himself. Working as a teacher had taught him the right attitude to take with children.

“Are you hurt, Roslynica?

“N-no, I’m...fine.”

“I see. Then how about we get out of here?”

That was all the tutor boy said.

The threat was gone. Rayon Risoniphimil wouldn’t be able to cause any more trouble. If Yagoro used the evidence Roslynica had found to get the Benandanti to act, the Spanish Fly Indulgence Bank would be history. The victims could even get their money back.

But Roslynica still felt like she had a gaping hole in the center of her chest.

None of this changed the fact that she couldn’t use any real magic.

She had been taught the harsh lesson that the most she could hope for was to be protected by others.

“…”

Her dream was over.

She had caused trouble for so many people and she had taken away all the money the squatter’s district people had gathered for her. She didn’t have a Formula Broom and – worse – she was a boy. She wasn’t like Viocia who had a broom. Only the witches who borrowed their power could use magic in this world, so getting into Maleficium seemed truly impossible.

The walls had been torn down and the world was opened up around her. But no matter how hard she tried, she could never become a witch like those Benandanti who swept up all forms of misfortune and tragedy with their brooms.

Head hanging, little Roslynica bit her lip hard.

But then something occurred to her.

(Wait…)

“Um, what about you?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, only girls can become witches in this world, right? And you’re supposed to need a Formula Broom to use magic. But then...what did you just do? You used real witchcraft even though you don’t have a broom...even though you’re a boy!”

Roslynica raised her voice in utter bafflement.

In response, Viocia looked confused and armored Nancy held a hand to her forehead. Myousou Yagoro was already on his way out and he didn’t even turn back.

But that boy did respond in a casual, nonchalant way.

He spoke the words that were like salvation itself to the little witch in training.

“None of that means I can’t use magic.”

Part 14

Melehe Superlative stood on a flat building rooftop far across the city that night.

The silver-haired, brown-skinned prep school ace sighed in exasperation while using a small collapsible telescope in true sky pirate fashion.

“Honestly, that pervert is supposed to be Viocia’s tutor, so why does he keep giving her more rivals?”

“Heh heh. You say that, but I notice you were all ready to rush in at a moment’s notice, my cute Melehe.”

“Shut up,” said Melehe, blushing and lightly punching the Formula Broom floating next to her.

Someone else was smiling sweetly on her other side.

The beautiful woman wore a dress like a fancy chocolate cake along with an apron and a hat.

She ran a small used bookstore, but she was also the powerful supreme commander of Private Striga, the largest coven in the region of ice and snow.

The name Spanish Fly Indulgence Bank had sounded familiar to her and she had finally recalled it was the crooked money lending service she had once destroyed in mere seconds when she got drunk and let the maenads take over. As supreme commander, she had planned to personally take care of this remnant that had escaped her, but…

“Tch. Looks like I’m not needed. And I was really hoping to go all out and get some real exercise for once.”

“Mom, you’re one of the Limit Breakers and you boast the highest score in the history of the coven, so if you went ‘all out’, they would have to redraw the maps around here, so please don’t.”

Melehe held a hand to her forehead to try and stave off a headache.

She wished Formula Broom – Greek Theatre would keep a tighter leash on her mother, but apparently the woman had that broom under her complete control.

A dry rustling sound came from Melehe.

“What’s this, Melehe? Why do you have so many part-time job fliers? Short on money?”

“No, I’m fine there…”

“Heh heh,” laughed Melehe’s broom. “You insist at length everyone at the prep school is no more than a rival for you to defeat, but it takes a caring friend to collect help wanted ads from across the city, Melehe.”

“The young lady tries to hide it, but her kindness has always been plain to see,” added her mother’s broom.

“Do I need to snap both of you over my knee?”

Her mother laughed.

But not to make fun. She looked proud of what her daughter was doing.

And then…

The supreme commander, who was also a Maleficium graduate, placed a hand on her cheek and narrowed her eyes like she was staring at something bright.

“Yagoro was so cool, wasn’t he?”

“I-in what world? He’s nothing special…”

“I’m so glad you are in this city, Melehe. Having family around really is the best way to keep your self-control. Without you, I might have already devoured him myself☆”

“Bfff!?”

Today’s Quiz

Yagoro: Okay, it’s time for a quiz that’ll help you with the exam!

Viocia: Umm, how am I supposed to know about things that happened while I was unconscious?

Yagoro: You could not be more of a nuisance. You can find all the hints in things I said to others or myself.

Question: How did Myousou Yagoro control the sleeping bag and furniture and what magical method did he use to defeat Wicked Witch Rayon? (10 points per blank, 100 points total)

1. The Aspect of Admiration was (______).

2. The Aspect of Amorality was (__________).

3. The Aspect of Antiquity was (______).

→Now explain how those Three Aspects were handled.

Hint: Consider how he used Rayon’s scam magic against her.

Important: It all begins with ATU0333.

Out of all the stories, this especially focused on the scene where the (___) disguised himself as the grandmother, lay in the bed, and tricked Red Riding Hood. Red Riding Hood was skeptical and asked several questions, but none of the answers led to any change in the situation. That is a magical lesson that even blatant (___) have absolute power over the people under your spell.

For the poltergeist, it’s probably easier to imagine (_____) in which someone creates their own rapping noises to match what (______) asks about, don’tcha think?

The control aspect was enhanced using the Celtic symbol of (______) that, when drawn, would automatically (_____), cut down the enemy, and return to (____).

The sleeping bag magic that Rayon taught Roslynica was fake. But so what? A lie that can never be found out carries special power and the battle began when the room’s inanimate objects began to move on their own. By creating that “situation”, even magic created by con artist can demonstrate real power.

That’s all. Any questions, Viocia?

Back to Prologue

Return to Main Page

Forward to Episode 2