Failing Witch:Volume1 Episode2

Status: Incomplete

8/14 parts completed

   

Episode 2: Is Being the Ultra Elite of a Prep School Really so Impressive?

1

Report on the crash of the JX-401 SSTO Broom God (30th and Final Report)

• If you would like to view the unredacted version and you meet all the clearance requirements, receive approval signatures from the supervisors of each relevant department and follow the instructions at the cabinet political strategy document archive.

To Ministry of ＊＊＊＊,

Ministry of ＊＊＊＊,

and ＊＊＊＊＊＊＊ Force Special High Altitude ＊＊＊＊ (classified unit)

Now that the United States has collapsed, we cannot expect any help from them. Selecting a replacement next-generation transport method was no easy task. We began this domestic single-stage-to-orbit project using only domestic contractors despite the foreign projects already underway in India, Brazil, and elsewhere because we wanted to break our country free of its standstill in the space science industry, but there was an ＊＊＊＊ during the final test at Tanegashima on ＊＊/＊＊/＊＊. We detected speeds surpassing Mach ＊＊, but the craft broke apart before ＊＊＊＊. The craft is thought to have been badly damaged at ＊＊＊＊ and scattered its pieces above ＊＊＊＊, but no actual wreckage has been discovered in the estimated region of ocean and the recovery operation has been exceedingly difficult. (→Details in a separate report. See the Ministry of ＊＊＊＊’s ocean current prediction charts and the Ministry of ＊＊＊＊’s recovery operation report)

The pilot ＊＊＊＊’s fate remains unknown.

At midnight tonight, the search for the pilot will be called off and that task will be removed from the recovery operation until ordered otherwise.

(Hidden Note: The astronaut who was invited in from outside the Force – that cocky genius kid who skipped straight past most of his schooling – is among the stars now. Which is fine with me. If he wants to be reborn in another world or another dimension, let him have it. But the Broom God was packed full of purely domestic industrial secrets taken from all sorts of domestic companies. I don’t give a damn about that kid’s life – just let us collect as much of that wreckage as possible!)

2

Thump, thump, thump, thump, bang, bang, bang!!

Some kind of racket interrupted the night in Temple School City, a tiered city filled with the gentle glow of the huge pumpkin lamps placed on the street corners and on the roofs. But this racket was not roadwork.

“…What are you doing?”

“Oh! Hey, teacher!”

The noisy nuisance ended as soon as the 17-year-old blond boy named Myousou Yagoro called out to it.

Peace and quiet returned to the city built from white marble and black obsidian.

Viocia Modestlucky was a girl with long, fiery red hair and a long dress (with slits on the sides) which looked like a pumpkin tart thanks to its orange, red, and purple coloration. She was riding a bicycle instead of a Formula Broom and she wore a large backpack. That seemed like a terrible choice in a tiered city full of stairs. Was she doing construction on her pelvis using the bike seat?

An accusatory question or two wasn’t going to keep the girl down, so she gave Yagoro a beaming smile.

“Heh heh. I’m working part-time to help out the people of the city! I get instructions by carrier pigeon, go buy the requested item at a shop, and bike it over to the designated location where they pay me!!”

“And why are you doing this?”

Needless to say, this fantasy world had no mobile phones. (It doesn’t, I swear.) But the city’s teenage girls were still starved for information. So if you looked up, the cooing necessities for life as a modern magical girl could be seen lined up on the sidebars of the giant red elevators that resembled scales. Those urban mobile messengers had been domesticated to the point their internal clocks didn’t tell them to head back to their nests at night, but they were apparently smart enough to stay off the roofs where they would fall prey to kitties. Flying witches needed to be cautious of bird strikes.

But Viocia’s response was carefree.

“Because I need to work to afford the prep school tuition.”

“Gh.”

She had a surprisingly good explanation for this one.

Come to think of it, she had come to Temple School City after running away from her grandma’s house deep in the woods. Yagoro had worked with her ever since signing a tutoring contract with her about a month ago, but he was only now learning she couldn’t rely on her parents’ financial support.

(Ugh, that’s another problem to deal with, don’tcha think?)

Securing time for studying was the biggest and most fundamental problem facing exam students. He also couldn’t have her wasting her mental capacity on how to do her job efficiently and where all the shortcuts through the city were. Because the entrance exam was (supposed to be!!) a crucial time in your life when you couldn’t afford to think about anything other than the exam.

“Sigh. If only the prep school would teach me for free like you do.”

“That’s not going to happen, don’tcha think?”

Yagoro was fine working for free since he had his own objective, but the prep school was a business. And as a private business that didn’t receive support from the kingdom, it would go under if it didn’t receive a monthly tuition from each and every student.

“Hm. What is the Finnish mill that produces endless supplies of pure gold, salt, and food?”

“Eh, we’re doing that here!? Um, uh, well, uh, that would be, ha ha, the Sampo!”

That she could answer even when caught off guard meant she was actually working at her memorization. She didn’t even erroneously assume it had to do with Norse mythology. She was making progress from when she would wouldn’t even answer a multiple choice question. He was also glad to see she wasn’t trying to abuse that knowledge by attempting a reckless grinding challenge with the nearest mill.

“Anyway, I have work to do! See you later, teacher!”

“No, not see me later! You have the prep school’s Bealtaine practice exam this week!!”

“This backpack is apparently stuffed full of marigold and red clover. Those are for stopping bleeding and stopping poison, so it’s probably urgent. Ugh, liquids have to be transported in bottles, so they’re really heavy. If I’m late, I won’t just get a bad rating, the adventurer party in Lakeside’s semi-underground park dungeon will be wiped out!!”

It was harder to stop her when people’s lives were on the line, but she still wasn’t supposed to show this kind of mercy when preparing for the exam. Viocia pedaled off as soon as she saw an opening and thump-thump-thumped her way down the stairs.

Lakeside’s semi-underground park was a legitimate(?) deadly zone. In fact, you could say anything related to Lakeside, the lowest level of the city, was a dungeon you were risking your life to enter. Yagoro’s student had found a fairly dangerous job.

The tutor boy could only speak into the empty air.

“Can’t that brat at least get a job as the one who mixes up the potions in a cauldron?”

3

Myousou Yagoro was out at night. He had fallen for a strange cyclist student trap on the way, but he had actually been on his way back home after doing some shopping during the excellent discounts just before closing time.

His home was on the upper level, where land was relatively cheap (which meant it was an inconvenient place to live). If he left his apartment from the front, he would find himself on a main street. If he left out the back, he would be in a labyrinthine squatters district. Once back at that highly convenient apartment, he found the silver-haired used bookseller doing some kind of difficult work.

It was hard to tell since she always wore an apron with an animal printed on it, but Yagoro noted that her black dress seemed unusually nice. It was black with gold embroidery, so it reminded him of an adult chocolate cake that smelled of brandy.

The gentle young woman was lifting a giant bag like Santa Claus and pouring some kind of clear beads into a lockable metal box larger than a bathtub. That was the magic ice used for refrigeration and it was free for anyone living on the block to use.

“Heave ho, heave ho. Nhhh!”

“Whoa, are you alright? Could you use some help?”

“No, no. This kind of daily housework and exercise is important for maintaining your health and beauty.”

Her troubled smile told Yagoro his offer really was an unwanted favor. Trying to be gentlemanly had a way of backfiring with her, so he had trouble figuring her out. He hoped to make a breakthrough soon so he could earn her praise.

He at least knew better than to let her know he found it oddly sexual when a busty young woman groaned in effort.

(Huh. I had noticed the magic ice was always full, but she must intentionally refill it late at night when no one will see. It’s not like there’s a rotation schedule, but she really goes the extra mile.)

The wealth disparity and population density was a lot more obvious at night. When viewed from the upper level, the tiered city clearly had a lot more pumpkin lamps filled with sunlight seals in the shopping district and luxury residential district on the lower level. Of course, they would also have a lower crime rate than up here where there was more darkness.

Some might find this odd since conventional wisdom said the rich gathered at the highest points of a city, but that wasn’t always true. People always wanted to live where life was easier and more convenient.

In other words…

“Oh, I can at least go draw you some water. The wells up here are a lot farther up from the groundwater, so it would be a lot of effort for you to-”

“Yagoro.”

She cut him off. She wanted her exercise and she could be frightening when it came to matters of health and beauty. He felt a chill along his spine, like he had touched a sharp blade with his fingertip. She may have thought it was a divine blessing that she lived on the upper level where getting around was such a pain in the rear.

And if she wasn’t going to let him be a gentleman, he had nothing to do, so he simply said goodbye to the jiggly young woman, and entered the apartment building. From there, he entered his room.

“Damn. My head already looks like pudding,” he groaned into the mirror.

His hair was naturally black, so if he neglected to care for it for too long, the black roots would start to show below the blond, making him look weird. As much as the blond hair gave him a wild look, all the haircare items and washing it required made bath time a chore. Did all those delinquents on Earth really go to all this trouble? Not that that would change how they looked. Glossy black hair was valuable here, so openly walking around with it could get him attacked by masked unlicensed barbers, but it was still a considerable expense.

While lining up a few readymade foods, his mind was focused on exam countermeasures. Coming up with quizzes was easy and, if he let himself, he was confident he could stay up all night making them and enjoy every moment of it, but that was meaningless if Viocia wasn’t in a position where she could absorb the information. That dunce was focused on so many things other than the exam, but he needed her attention directed solely toward studying. His first thought when considering that problem was always to lure her in with food, but he had never managed to come up with a concrete plan based on that.

And on that note…

“She is studying during the night, isn’t she?”

Normally, that would go without saying for an exam student, especially the wounded beast that was a student who had already failed the exam once, but he suddenly realized he had failed to check on that because it seemed too basic an issue. He wanted to believe she was. But his worries grew when he recalled that part-time delivery job. Once he thought about it, he realized he had always helped her study at the prep school or the park gazebo, so he didn’t know where she lived. What was her room like? Was there a lot of noise or drafts keeping her from focusing on her studies?

4

And so it was the following day. Night had already fallen.

“(I’ll be going to your place tonight, Viocia.)”

“Ehhh!? You can’t just decide that, you stupid teacher! I-is this like that thing in Macbeth where it seems like good luck at first but it’s actually the beginning of a great tragedy!?”

“Huh, so you have been studying. I’m glad to hear it.”

Myousou Yagoro smiled but only externally.

“+1 point: Witches’ words are attacks that only gain meaning once their target hears them, so talking about the future all on your own is meaningless.”

They were in the Honeycomb self-study room of Carraway Cs Preparatory School’s structure building.

“And why would me visiting your home seem like good luck?”

“Bwehablkadfh!? Th-the fall into tragedy has already begun!?”

The large room was split up into small booths by thin partitions and each booth contained a desk and a chair. Everyone fixed their broom vertically to the edge of the desk using a 5cm glass holder, making them look like raised flags. (In the other world of Earth, a broom raised at the doorway was instead a sign the woman was out.) The Honeycomb name likely referred to how all the small booths were arranged. In Rosicrucianism, honeybees symbolized those who pursued wisdom, but that was probably reading too much into it. When it came to the witch entrance exam, thinking you had discovered hidden knowledge was a dangerous thought process, so you had to be careful.

Everyone was studying hard in preparation for the Bealtaine practice exam.

The Bealtaine was only a school event and had nothing to do with the real practice exam, but improving your rank in the prep school let you use more equipment and read more grimoires. That could lead to the prep school itself being the deciding factor in whether or not a witch passed the exam, but it was also true that a high-level grimoire would only go to waste if it was lent out to a clueless student. Cutting down on pointless lines like that was thought to help as many students as possible pass. Unfortunately.

So if you wanted to pass, you had to prove your worth in the prep school to be granted greater rights there.

(That not everyone is treated equal is another way prep schools differ from compulsory education.)

The lights used at night were generally the sunlight seals that had sunshine sealed inside, but the ceiling lights in here used moonlight seals because the students handled old books. The gentler light was a lot less bright, so Yagoro was worried about his student’s eyesight.

(She needs to at least get an average score so she can still use all the basic facilities and equipment. If she scores below average and is stuck with only the spare equipment, there’s no point in paying so much money to go here.)

And it looked like that unfortunate girl’s mind was elsewhere.

She had been so sleepy when it was still bright out, but now she was more alert than she had been all day.

“You can’t spring this on me at the last second! If I don’t clean my room first, where will you even have room to stand?”

“Well, that’s enough right there to know your room is not fit to study in. This is necessary if you’re going to keep using the prep school’s basic equipment. I’m doing it and that’s final, Viocia.”

“Could you not talk about ‘doing it’ right now?”

“And you have no right to act all innocent about this, don’tcha think? When we met a month ago, you’re the one who followed me to figure out where my apartment is.”

“Ugh! S-sometimes girls get curious about things they want to keep secret.”

“I’m only doing what you did and I have an actual legitimate reason for doing it.”

“I refuse! A girl has a right to privacy. You don’t get to see all of my secret places just because you want to!!”

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure everything gets nice and clean. You are in for quite a night, so I hope you’re ready. I’ll even bring a variety of tools.”

“This is happening? It’s really happening? No way! And when you say everything, do you even mean on the inside too!?”

Just then…

“G-give it a rest, you two!! This is a prep school for witches who are serious about getting into Maleficium. It is not a place for, um, perverted tutors who are after their student’s bodies!!”

Someone had a very wrong idea about Yagoro.

They were poking their head in from the next booth over.

Apparently a lewd tutor was only considered a wonderful fantasy when the tutor was female and good looking. Yagoro hung his head, trembled, and bit his lip in silence.

The person who emerged from her booth while blushing bright red was a girl with shoulder-length silver hair and brown skin. But unlike gyaru-style Schanze, that appeared to be her natural skin tone.

She looked around Viocia’s age, so was she 15 or 16? That would mean she was a single failure.

She wore a midriff-baring black jacket, a tight miniskirt, and a large hat. Overall, she looked like a cross between a sky pirate and a soldier. She did have something like medals or unit insignia on her (decently-sized) chest, but Yagoro couldn’t figure out what they were supposed to mean. Her clothing had gold embroidery here and there, so she looked something like a fancy chocolate parfait.

“Also, I can see your underwear,” said the girl.

“Eh? Hnyahhhhhhhhh!?”

Yagoro’s student immediately jumped up from her chair. Her long skirt must have been caught on the back of her chair, leaving everything exposed from behind and she had only just realized. Her clumsiness batting average was nothing short of a miracle considering she wore an ankle-length skirt, even if it did have slits on the sides.

But Viocia looked kind of happy even though this girl was mad at her.

“Huh? Wow, she’s a celebrity.”

“Do you know her?”

“I said she’s a celebrity, didn’t I? She’s Melehe Superlative! She’s Carraway Cs’s strongest witch, she always gets the top spot on the practice exams, and it’s rumored she was awarded Rank A by Maleficium!!”

“Heh heh.” Melehe teased her silver hair with a hand and proudly held her head high.

But…

“Sure, but this isn’t some prestigious school or anything. And there’s no point in lifting any one person up as special when reproducibility is the heart of science, don’tcha think? Now, I don’t know if she’s from some famous family or something, but if she’s at a prep school so late she’s practically spending the night, then she must have still failed the exam. Is being the best of the failures really such a great-”

Yagoro stopped when he noticed everyone in the large self-study rom glaring at him. Quite harshly at that.

He had apparently said something he shouldn’t.

Melehe tried her best to regain control of the conversation.

“I-I intentionally failed last year’s exam. I was awarded Rank A status at the time, but I knew if I spent another year studying, I was guaranteed to get into Maleficium.”

Oh, so hers was a calculated failure.

There were some students who chose to spend another year studying despite already being a lot more clever than the other students. That might mean she was indeed smarter than the others who had actually tried and still failed.

…But it still meant she was a girl who had failed to pass her first time. And if she didn’t realize that, then she wasn’t as smart as she thought she was.

“You know Private Striga, the largest coven in the snowy region which has three whole regiments of witches? I am their key bearer. Simply put, you can think of me as the future commander of the largest witch force out there.”

“If you say so.”

“But this isn’t about me!! This is about your problematic behavior, pervert tutor! Really, why must you do this when I am trying to study for such a crucial exam? The Bealtaine is coming up! I do not have time to be distracted by anything else.”

“Viocia, this girl knows what she’s talking about. Listen to this Rank A Genius and imprint her words on your idiot brain.”

“Ughh.”

“I was speaking to you, pervert.”

Melehe sounded somewhat exasperated.

The prep school’s strongest(?) witch put her hands on her hips before continuing.

“Listen. I don’t know what you hope to accomplish by using the prep school’s lax security to sneak in as a tutor, but if you interrupt our studying, I will throw you out myself!!”

5

Teacher, I’m going home now, but you are not invited to my room. And no tailing me to find out where it is.

If I catch you following me, I swear I will kill you!!

“Huh, so that’s where Viocia lives.”

“Leave it to a pervert tutor to ignore the poor girl’s warning and tail her anyway.”

Did she think he was doing this because he wanted to? It was necessary for his job. Viocia had said enough for him to guess her room was a pigsty. And there was more to studying for the exam than attending a prep school. Having a clean and orderly study space at home was one of the most basic strategies.

He would do whatever was necessary to ensure she passed the exam and got into Maleficium. Because that was the tutoring contract the two of them had signed. So he wasn’t going to stop here.

“So, Melehe, why did you follow her too?”

“Because who knows what a pervert like you would do out in the city at night if you aren’t supervised.”

Melehe was flipping through some flashcards while hiding in the shadows near Yagoro. Instead of just memorizing a list herb names, she appeared to be randomly drawing them from a giant collection that linked the different herbs by type and other connections. Even at Rank A, she was still an exam student. He really wished a certain idiot he knew would learn something from her.

Melehe didn’t just have access to the basic equipment. In her position, she would have access to the top-level documents on the Horned God. That didn’t mean Viocia’s fumbling efforts were worthless, however.

The prep school was a prep school.

Scores in practice and during preparation didn’t mean all that much. Whoever won out during the final entrance exam would have the last laugh.

“Come to think of it.”

From what Yagoro had seen at Carraway Cs, Melehe’s Formula Broom was heavily customized. It had curved Y-shaped handlebars, a cushioned seat, and boxy luggage compartments hanging down on either side at the rear. The headlight used both sunlight seals and moonlight seals so she could switch between light intensities at will. She had probably done it all to make the broom easier to use, but the end result looked a lot like an enormous American motorcycle.

“If I remember correctly, your Formula Broom is incredible, but isn’t it hard to carry around? It’s kind of big and heavy, don’tcha think? Is that why you don’t have it with you now?”

“Do not mess with me, pervert. Are you planning to steal it even though it has a girl’s seat? But unfortunately for you, I have it circle overhead when I don’t need it. Why should I carry it around at all times when I can just summon it to me when I need to use it?”

Myousou Yagoro did a double take.

“What?” Melehe stopped flipping her flashcards and looked up at him in legitimate confusion.

“You’re allowed to fly in the city? Without a guide?”

“So what if I am? Any witch can do that if they have the necessary knowledge.”

“But you failed the exam.”

“Do not say that to my face, pervert.”

The girl gave him a harsh look. But he wasn’t her tutor, so he didn’t need to worry about building trust with her.

Surprisingly, Viocia was living in the lower part of the city. Specifically, in the expensive shopping district.

“She lives in a fairly nice place.”

“She’s only renting a room, so the land value doesn’t really matter all that much, don’tcha think?”

But there was another issue.

What was with that Sabbath Party place? The colorful sign lit up for the night included bunny ears, a bottle of booze, and underwear shaped like an upside-down triangle.

A dancer woman stepped out from the entrance, presumably to attract customers. In fact, several did. And they all wore revealing, see-through clothing that was concerning in a number of ways. Their outfits were the kind of thing that made you wonder “who would actually buy that?” when you saw it on a mannequin near the entrance of a women’s underwear shop.

If this was what they were like outside, what went on inside there?

Seeing them was enough for Melehe to jump several centimeters into the air.

“Y-y-y-you pervert!!”

“(I’m beginning to think she’s the real pervert. She’s tied up focusing on her studies for now, but is she actually extremely interested in these “perverted” things?)”

“O-o-o-o-of course not! Don’t you dare speak another word, pervert tutor!!!”

His speculation seemed to have grown to something much bigger in Melehe’s mind because she began strangling him while blushing, but the blond tutor in a sailor uniform remained calm.

“Dancers in skimpy clothing? Is it a witch establishment for exorcism and evil-warding where they listen to their customers’ worries and resolve them with purifying dances? Still, the main draw is probably choosing a girl and a song and watching her do a sexy dance, don’tcha think?”

If they were really only interested in resolving people’s worries with a magical effect, it would be easier to listen to the customer’s story and use certain herbs to whip up a magic recipe for a unique food, cocktail, or smoothie.

“The fact that you could figure all that out at a glance makes me question your life experiences,” grumbled Melehe with a hand on her forehead, but then she appeared to realize something. “Oh, wait. They sell animals in this amoral and decadently lewd shopping district? Is it a pet shop that charges a flat rate? Seeing that cute bunny lit up on the sign is so soothing.”

“That would be a strip club where the girls dance in nothing but an animal ear headband, don’tcha think?”

“Vwahhhhhh!! Ahhhhhhhhhh, ahhhh, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

The prep school’s ace(?) doubled over and scratched at her head through her large sky-pirate-ish hat. That she saw that place as the one ray of hope here must have made the shock all the greater.

There were flowers and other plants decorating the fronts of the various clubs, perhaps to celebrate some kind of occasion, but given the type of city this was, they all looked fairly toxic. The giant tropical flowers weren’t so bad, but why the carnivorous plants? They may have been based on some kind of superstition rather than being an ingredient for a witchcraft ritual.

A lot of clubs had a familiar designed to look like a wolf or monitor lizard seated next to the entrance, perhaps to ward off evil. They also looked cute sitting there looking bored, so maybe they also helped attract customers.

Now, Viocia was only renting a room, so she had nothing to do with the club on the first floor. Yagoro noticed the gentle-on-books (but bad for the eyes) light of a moonlight seal coming from the window on the 2nd floor.

Even Viocia had to be working hard to make sure she kept her access to the basic equipment.

It would be sad indeed if she were labeled a failure by the prep school before even getting to the actual entrance exam.

Then again, the noise coming from the club was noticeable even at a distance. That 2nd floor room had to be physically vibrating from it all. Could she really study like that?

(It’s best to have 15 minutes of silence at the start to help you get focused on your studying. Once you’re properly focused like that, it’s a lot harder to get distracted.)

“So a coven, huh?”

“What?”

“You said you’re from Private Striga, right? If you belong to an organization of professional witches, why are you bothering studying here in Temple School City to get into Maleficium? Wouldn’t it be faster to learn magic from the many tutors your coven could provide?”

Private Striga in particular had a strong independent streak. If she knew that was where she would end up anyway, it seemed like she would save herself a lot of effort focusing her education in their unique direction as early as possible.

“I can’t do that.”

“Because you think a Maleficium education can’t be beat?”

Self-taught witches could use a Formula Broom to an extent. But if you wanted to go beyond that extent and customize the broom’s untouchable core, you had to go to Maleficium.

“Private Striga is definitely my home, but that’s why I have to be stronger than all the others. I need to be the kind of leader who can stand at the very front and guide the way. I won’t get there with a sheltered upbringing surrounded by things I like and am good at. Ultimately, I need to surpass even daddy and mom.”

“You’ve given this a lot of thought for an exam student.”

But that was a child’s dream. She had to have some accepting parents if they agreed to that plan and even let her strategically fail the exam once.

He was afraid he had clawed at her self-esteem, which could be even more sensitive than a scab, but Melehe sounded happy.

“Heh. Of course I did. My mom stands at the very top of the 13-branching tree, she wields Formula Broom – Greek Theatre, and she’s earned the highest score in Private Striga’s history. It’s said she has already reached the level of a one-woman army.”

“Greek Theatre?”

“That’s right. And mine is Formula Broom – Mount Parnassus. Heh heh.”

Would that mean the mother’s guide was Dionysus and the daughter’s was Zagreus? No, if the category was defined more broadly, it could be Orpheus. Either way, the fact that Melehe had so thoroughly customized the broom that tied her to her mother was probably a sign of how much she loved and looked up to the woman.

As a teenager, she probably thought she was keeping it hidden, but it couldn’t have been more obvious.

Not to mention the proudly snorted “heh heh”.

(Hm. Would the Orpheus connection mean she’s a vegetarian?)

But did that group even allow women to join? He wasn’t certain, but the process of magic knowledge spreading to this world could have caused some changes like in a game of telephone.

Of course, Melehe was only interested in the Formula Broom and learning any magic she could use right away. She wasn’t trying to join the Earth-born Orphism religion so she could reach a fulfilling afterlife.

“Her name is Viocia, right? Couldn’t you ask her much the same thing? Maleficium fails more than 99.9999% of the people who gather from all over to take the entrance exam. It should be obvious you can’t pass if you aren’t wholly committed.”

“Hm, I guess there’s no reason to hide it.”

“?”

“She wants her grandmother to get better.”

Their surroundings were as noisy as ever, but Melehe fell silent.

So Yagoro continued.

“The doctor said she’s just old and nothing can be done about it and the old woman herself accepted that answer. But Viocia refused to let that go unchallenged. She wants to create a brand new potion to heal her sick grandmother who lives deep in the forest. That’s why she wants to learn magic and work on the potion in the best possible environment: Maleficium. That really is all there is to it for her. Her magic knowledge is almost entirely self-taught, so she’s missed a lot of the basics. In fact, her mother isn’t even a witch. Both her parents are ordinary people. They apparently wanted to keep her as far away from magic as possible.”

“…”

“I’m not trying to convince you to go easy on her. The entrance exam is a competition. Your reasons for wanting into Maleficium won’t decide who passes and who fails. Worrying about your rivals’ sob stories will only hurt your chances.”

“…I know that.”

Melehe sounded sulky.

She flipped through her flash cards, but she also asked a question through pouted lips.

“But you decided to help her because of that, didn’t you?”

“That’s a privilege granted only to an outsider who isn’t interested in passing the exam.”

6

After scoping out the area, it was nearly dawn.

Yagoro had learned the noisy partying in that club continued well into the early morning. The silhouette in the window was facing the desk, but she couldn’t study properly without getting used to the noise or coming up with another solution.

Melehe had faithfully stayed with him the entire time and she was looking sleepy. But she associated her yawns with a failure in her flash card memorization and redoubled her efforts there. It was honestly impressive.

“Do you think you can help her with that noise?”

“The club is only on the 1st floor, so the higher the floor, the more the building itself will block out the noise. Even something as simple as studying up on the roof would make a marked difference, don’tcha think?”

“I see. Yawwwn.”

Viocia’s room was apparently a mess since she couldn’t clean up, so that would kill two birds with one stone. She would need another solution for rainy days, though.

“Are you alright, Melehe? The Bealtaine is today. I know it’s not the official practice exam, but a bad performance still means restrictions on the prep school equipment and facilities you can use.”

“Mind your own business.”

The brown sky pirate girl suppressed another yawn and waved a hand toward the lightening night sky.

“Hey, elevator. Over here!”

“Wah!?”

A red metal beam resembling a giant’s scales gave a roar. The rotating scales passed above the stone buildings to come this way. The “elevator car” supported by a thick chain lowered onto the circle drawn on the street. Melehe boarded it and vanished into the gray sky.

“I had no idea anyone actually used those dangling thrill rides.”

He heard a new voice from overhead.

“Ha ha ha. Shy as ever, I see, milady. You could just tell him you’re relieved to find he is an honest tutor who cares about his student. C’mon, do it☆”

“Never speak again, Orpheus.”

Instead of riding the elevator somewhere, she must have joined her Formula Broom up in the air so she could ride it away. At the edge of the elevator car attached to the slowly rotating scales, a witch on a broom took flight into the near-dawn sky.

Myousou Yagoro had to get going too. He couldn’t afford to oversleep and force his student to wait on him. He had to get back to his apartment and take a nap.

The dark blue sky began to shine as dawn approached. The pumpkin lamps automatically switched off as the sunlight arrived. The unique chill of early morning caused him to straighten his spine while simply walking through the city.

“Huh?”

Someone called out to him. A girl of about his age with red pigtails emerged from a narrow side street. Her lovely but extremely fit body was contained in a maid outfit with a long skirt. Much like a track suit on Earth, that was considered a normal thing to wear when you were cleaning and didn’t want to get your regular clothes dirty. This city of swords and sorcery could be incredible at times.

“Wait, that sailor uniform and blond hair. Is that you, Yagoro!?”

Myousou Yagoro’s response to the surprised Benandanti elite was quite simple: he held his left index finger to his lips. Even a child would understand that gesture and the pigtails girl immediately fell silent.

“Don’t tell anyone about this, Nancy. I don’t want to bring any trouble to your peaceful life.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Nancy raised her hands in mock surrender and Yagoro asked her a question.

“So what are you doing out this early?”

“Hunting a Grade 7 Riot Hydra spotted at Lakeside. That isn’t a job for the Benandanti, but it is one of the monsters that escaped from our school.”

It was scary how casual she was about taking on a monster that would normally require a small group of knights to deal with.

Or did this just prove how abnormal that Voland had been?

Now, passing by a Benandanti on the street wasn’t exactly rare. Maleficium students did live in this city just like everyone else, after all. But they camouflaged themselves with disguises and anti-recognition spells so they could blend into the crowd and no one would notice they were there.

“Also, I suppose I should apologize. Yagoro…sorry about before.”

The boy tilted his head, unsure what she meant, so she childishly pouted her lips and continued.

“I’m a member of the Benandanti who protect this city under White Magic’s management, right? But we more or less left you all to die the other day.”

“Oh, that? I really don’t think you need to worry about it. Your personal conscience and guilt are trapped in an external mental cage when you wear the Hexenturm.”

“True, but still…” The girl’s voice trailed off.

Myousou Yagoro was impressed that yet another girl he knew had such a troublesome personality.

“So how many is it this year? I can’t believe you’re still doing this,” she said.

“I’m going to keep at it until I get some kind of result.”

“Hee hee. As one of the girls you helped pass the exam, I’m not sure if I should be happy or upset. Because I never did live up to your expectations.”

It all came down to that. You could make as many complicated relationships as there were people out there. Not everything could be placed in simple categories like friendship or love.

The maid outfit girl gave one final warning as she left.

“But I don’t think President Ulrike is going to let you have your way. No matter what.”

The air temperature seemed to plummet.

No one could defeat her. Not even Myousou Yagoro.

Everyone in White Magic (Maleficium’s student council) was a monster, but none as much as that ultimate witch who possessed nothing but the most destructive forms of magic imaginable. She had completely destroyed the being thought to break all the limits when it came to destruction and, no matter how great her power, she could never bring happiness to anyone. Yagoro understood how fearsome she was down to the very core of his being.

Wise Fencing.

Why had they needed to invent a term for magical swordplay in a world of swords and sorcery? Because a brand new category was necessary to properly describe that president who had mastered both of those categories.

“Remember what the president always says: you must not touch the edge of the world. Even I can tell what you’re doing will violate that. So you shouldn’t be out alone on the border between day and night. You know all too well the abnormal things the witch seated in White Magic’s throne is capable of, don’t you? Don’t blame me if you wind up with a knife buried in your back.”

It was hard to tell if Nancy was joking or not.

But she had always had trouble making jokes, so she was probably serious.

“Also! You need to return the grimoires and otherworld maps you borrowed. Don’t tell them I told you, but the Glenstrae have their eye on you.”

“Oh, is that all? I should be fine until their head librarian sends her highlander unit after me, don’tcha think?”

“That’s a bad habit,” sighed Nancy before leaving.

(I should get home too.)

“Huff, puff.”

Or so he thought until he spotted another familiar face.

But this was not the wonderful homemaker of a president heading out with a one-shot-kill icepick and an apron to keep the blood off of her clothes.

“Pant, gasp. Huff, puff.”

“Dorothea?”

Dorothea Rockpool, the zombie girl with white bandages wrapped around her curvy body, was running this way. She looked calm for someone running, so she probably wasn’t attempting a desperate flight from some kind of threat. So did she have a habit of going for an early morning jog? He had thought she was more the indoors type, so this came as a surprise. Especially in this tiered city of stairs that was the bane of movers and bicycle delivery workers who made use of carrier pigeons.

She apparently placed her head bandage over the temples of her glasses to keep them from slipping out of place when she jogged. Clever.

(But since those bandages don’t leave much to the imagination, I never know where to look.)

When he called out to the girl whose bandages looked dangerously close to coming undone, she came to a stop. She smiled at him while wiping the seat from her brow with a light-colored towel.

“Oh, Mr. Tutor. G-good morning.”

“Good morning. Oh, now I get it. Damn, is it morning already?”

“?”

The no-bake cheesecake bandage girl tilted her blonde head in confusion. A cow familiar used its legs – which were more suited to all the stairs than wheels – to lazily walk past them with plenty of newspapers and milk bottles loaded on its back. It was already time for the morning deliveries.

“It is important to keep up your health so you don’t get sick, but can you really afford to give up study time for this?”

“Ha ha. This towel h-has herb names and ATU numbers sewn into it. Eep. That may not actually help much, though.”

She wiped off her fogged-up glasses and smiled. Yagoro really wished his dunce of a student could learn a thing or two from Dorothea. Was she focused on the Bealtaine right now? And how useful it was to have study materials sewn into the towel didn’t really matter. The simple act of sewing them into the towel associated that knowledge with a special event, which would help it stick in her mind. Dorothea’s efforts would remain in her memory as part of that event.

“Do you always use this course?”

“I don’t really have a course in mind. I-if I decide to jog a long distance in advance, I lose my nerve, so instead I focus on running to the next elevator pillar I can see and then keep doing that as long as I can.”

So like how a small child on the way to the dentist or a lesson they didn’t want to do would kick a rock down the road from streetlight to streetlight?

“I can still focus on the exam race thanks to you, b-but I still want to do something about how weak I am. And I don’t mean academically or physically. If I was stronger on the inside – eep – I don’t think I would have relied on that back-alley recipe.”

It would be crass to say anything here.

Exam students needed to study as much as possible even if it meant tying themselves to their desks, but that wasn’t the only problem they faced. They were all fighting their worries about the future to some extent. Everyone had to find their own way to conquer those fears. These early morning jogs were Dorothea’s strategy and that gave her a vision of victory in her mind. If jogging was a calculated part of her daily routine, then Yagoro had no right to stop her.

Some might call it irresponsible, but he knew what Dorothea needed to hear most right now.

“Keep at it.”

“Hee hee. Should you really be saying that when you’re Viocia’s tutor?”

Yagoro smiled bitterly after they parted ways.

She was right. But he had no real intention of taking back his words at this point.

After walking up all the stairs back to his inconvenient top-level apartment, he saw the aproned bookseller doing something in front of the building first thing in the morning. Much like with the magic ice, she was carrying a bunch of the firewood that was stockpiled as shared materials for the neighborhood. Was she also exercising for her health and beauty? She tended to be upset when he took a job from her in an attempt at being a gentleman, so he simply greeted her and walked on past.

“Now, now, Yagoro. When you see a lady with her hands full, a man is supposed to take the burden from her without even needing to ask☆”

“…”

The silver-haired young woman was even smiling. The mystery of how to act around her continued to grow. Maybe it wasn’t a set ideology or rule and he had to determine what kind of mood she was in that day.

Firewood was an important fuel in this world where electricity was not yet commonplace. It was used in the kitchen, the bath, the heater, and so much more. Sunlight seals only provided light, so they couldn’t heat a frying pan and Myousou Yagoro was the only person in the world who could use a microwave oven or air conditioner.

“By the way, the children in the squatters district wanted to see you,” she said.

“I see.”

“That district is less developed so you can find a lot more greenery growing there than anywhere else around here. It’s the only place in this city of white and black stone you can get firewood. Those children have found a good business to run. And it’s cheaper than buying fuel from outside the city because there are no transport or security costs.”

You could say his tutor’s nature had gotten the better of him. He had simply given some advice to the neighborhood kids who seemed to have intentionally chosen a harder life by living back behind the apartment. Of course, getting them to listen to the advice had required a bit of brawling with some brats who had a learned mistrust of other people and were armed with rusty blades.

“Those children have calmed down a lot since you arrived. They even smile happily now.”

“I hope you’re right.”

The young woman smiled and made a suggestion after he finished helping her.

“To thank you for helping, I will bring you a little something later on. Hee hee. I was already planning to cook a vegetable stew tonight, so making a little more won’t be much trouble.”

“Ugh.”

“Yagoro?”

The jiggly young woman looked legitimately puzzled.

If it was a vegetable stew, then the vegetables were the main ingredient, not beef or chicken. This was the fly in the ointment with a young woman who was picky about health and beauty. A 17-year-old boy’s body demanded thick bacon, sausage, or something equally greasy that would immediately fill the stomach.

After parting ways with the bookseller, his pleasant exhaustion had grown to actual drowsiness. He decided a shower could wait until he next woke. Right now, he collapsed into bed to make use of that drowsiness.

7

“Ehh? Viocia, wh-why did you leave so many of the question blank? Eep. You can’t get any points on the Bealtaine unless you actually write something down.”

“If I leave it up to luck like that, I just know my test will be posted on the hallway bulletin board to show off my ‘funny’ answer. With only my name covered up for privacy.”

“Stop being weirdly hesitant about answering test questions and actually study so you can avoid that kind of embarrassment. Now, you should have known Cernunnos would be on the Aspect of Antiquity section of the Bealtaine. Why did you focus all your studying on flight magic, and ultra-high speed flight at that?”

Dorothea, Viocia, and Melehe were arguing in the self-study room one night.

The Bealtaine was meant to check how well each student understood the material and to give the students practice assessing their own work. So once the test was over, they were allowed to discuss it with each other.

Now, Carraway Cs Prep School’s self-study room was always open, but the students could not stay there forever. They had to rent time there using free tickets they were issued. If they were allowed to stay there all day long, some would curl up on the floor below the desk and sleep there.

Gyaru-style Instructor Schanze – who looked like a Mont Blanc in her vest, tight skirt, and leopard print show-off bra – gave the girls a sidelong look. As the broom instructor, she wouldn’t normally be here for this, but overseeing the test was considered a boring job and she had apparently secretly gotten another instructor to pay her to do the job for them. When even the instructors were filling in for each other, you had to wonder how sound the prep school’s business model really was.

Of course, the gyaru-style instructor’s thoughts were on something else entirely. She whispered with Myousou Yagoro in an empty booth.

“I see Dorothea is totally back. What even happened between her and her Formula Broom?”

“With Aristotle, you mean? He’s back inside the broom. I may have threatened to mess with the inside of the broom so it would read in a different geographic location if he pissed me off again.”

“I see. Well, if a real monster like you is totally keeping an eye on things, that broom shouldn’t cause any more trouble for a while.”

Schanze had a “that explains it” look on her face.

The girls’ peaceful conversation continued while she watched.

“By the way, Viocia, based on which questions you left blank, it looks to me like you didn’t study the Black Mass much at all.”

“I-it is true the Aspect of Amorality has a lot of frightening things in it, so I don’t like reading about it much either. Eep. L-like offering a part of your clothing to a demon or using blood as an ingredient.”

“Ugh. I hate gross things.”

“Well, deal with it. The textbooks are nothing but knowledge, right? Besides, there’s a lot more to the Aspect of Amorality than that. Like creating curses by letting tools go to waste. That’s the logic behind monsters making homes out of abandoned churches.”

“H-how about we focus on the Aspect of Admiration for a change of pace? Eep. ATU 0123 is the Wolf and the Young Goats.”

“Gyahhhhh! A story about young goats carelessly opening the door and being eaten by the wolf disguised as their mother is plenty gross!!”

“Anyway, your practice exam results are always going to be catastrophic if you don’t study the Aspect of Amorality. And you, uh, must have a reason you want to get into Maleficium, right?”

“Hmm? Melehe, have you gotten nicer recently?”

“I am not nice and I am not harmless!! Do not mock the fearsome future leader of Private Striga!”

The gyaru-style instructor gave an arbitrary nod and got down to business.

“I’ve totally finished questioning Dorothea after what happened.”

“Questioning her about what?”

“The guaranteed weight loss talisman. Or more accurately, the crazy recipe for it.”

That was another issue regarding Dorothea.

How to mix herbs to produce different effects was one thing a witch had to know for the entrance exam, but dangerous recipes were a different matter. In this city full of witches who had failed the exam, there would always be idiots trying to get rich quick at the cost of someone else’s future.

Schanze Dwelling crossed her lithe legs as she continued.

“Yellow District, Block X.”

“Sassafras Cfa Prep School, huh?”

Myousou Yagoro instinctually lowered a hand to his hip. He rubbed the grip of the collapsed baton to ensure it was there.

“They have a super bad reputation, don’t they?” said the gyaru-style instructor with a bewitching laugh.

There was a wide variety of prep schools in Temple School City. With its focus on the instructor’s salaries, some might think Carraway Cs was a waste of time.

But one thing was for sure: it was better than Sassafras Cfa.

“Sabotaging your rivals is assumed. That totally criminal prep school doesn’t even try to raise successful students of its own. Instead, they search out students that look like they could totally get into Maleficium and then threatens them into transferring. And even with that, I’ve heard rumors they falsify their pass rate each year. And any investigative reporters or internal whistleblowers have a way of disappearing. They probably end up thrown into Lakeside’s semi-underground park where they’re eaten.”

“That’s one of the most deadly areas in the city, isn’t it? It started out as an overgrown dungeon no one had bothered looking after, but after witches started using it as a dumping ground for giant gargoyles, mandragoras with deadly screams, and other things they can’t look after themselves, it’s turned into a real den of monsters.”

“There are even adventurer parties who bring along a dog and try to have it uproot the mandragoras from a safe distance. Really, anything in Lakeside is totally like that. You can’t even trust the length of a meter or the mass of a kilogram there. The rich all want to live on the convenient lower levels, but Block Y and Block Z at the very bottom totally aren’t an option, are they?”

At any rate, if students from that school were involved in Dorothea’s case, this was more serious than Yagoro had thought.

She might not be their only victim.

He had to assume this “attack” was targeted at the entire school. How far had the corruption spread through Carraway Cs? They had used a guaranteed weight loss talisman. It was possible students worn down in body and mind had been so worried about the exam they leapt at the easy solution presented to them and now effectively worked for the culprits. If so, letting this problem fester could bring unnecessary danger to Viocia.

But…

“That’s totally not the biggest problem. Are you familiar with the Arena?”

“You mean the public exercise facility at the bottom of the city, bordering Lakeside? And the Arena isn’t its official name.”

“Right. Basically, it’s a free facility for anyone to use when their prep school’s indoor training ground is too crowded.”

“Are you saying these dangerous people have turned it into their base?”

“It’s in Block Z, at the very bottom, remember? And people like that have a way of appearing at tourist attractions, shopping districts, and anywhere else you find a lot of people. But that means the recipe sellers will have corrupted more than just Carraway Cs. We haven’t heard of it anywhere else because every school totally has to keep up appearances, but shouldn’t we assume several schools have already been affected?”

This was more than a direct clash between two schools.

The infamous Sassafras Cfa Prep School had put all the city’s prep schools in danger.

Like they had spun a spiderweb that captured and devoured people’s lives.

“…”

If Yagoro was going to make a move, what should he consider his goal?

Did he only want to remove the rot from Carraway Cs? Would he drive the recipe sellers out of the Arena? Or would he oppose infamous Sassafras Cfa as a whole? His objective was simply to help Viocia with her entrance exam. The weight loss talisman incident was a major threat, but dragging his student into a lengthy battle was the last thing he wanted when the entire point was to eliminate any unnecessary noise from her surroundings.

“To be honest, I’m amazed you’ve managed to just barely keep your right to use the basic equipment this long.”

“Incredible. It looks like the things you studied – eep – were exactly what ended up on the practice exam.”

“That was the pervert tutor’s doing, I’ll bet.”

“Heh heh. Now, before we continue, a special weapon to help keep me focused: a chocolate bar.”

“I-I will be confiscating that.”

“Ahhhh!! Dorotheaaaaa!”

“Do you have any idea how much work it is for a witch to keep in shape? And sugar would only make you sleepy.”

“You don’t understand, Melehe! I need it! It’s that effect where two things that come in contact will continue to affect each other even from really far away. And wasting food is bad luck!!”

“The fundamental law of curses does not apply to this, you stupid failure!”

Melehe raised her fist but started fidgeting and couldn’t bring herself to swing it back down. This was probably because she had learned Viocia’s reason for wanting into Maleficium.

Myousou Yagoro sighed softly while watching those girls from a distance.

If he wanted a simple answer, he knew where to find one.

(I know exactly what Viocia would say to do.)

8

“Huff, puff.”

The girl focused on keeping a set rhythm when jogging. She moved from the upper levels of the diamond-shaped city to the lower levels. She didn’t worry about her speed. She took each step as if it would help expel the negative energy from the core of her body.

Zombie Girl Dorothea Rockpool had finished the Bealtaine practice exam.

Her self-assessment was even better than she had expected. It was far from perfect, but she had aced the ATU number memorization part, putting her above even Melehe, who always scored Rank A. It may have helped that she was a bookish girl through and through.

Finding something she was good at gave her the courage she needed to keep going. It helped her believe that all her efforts hadn’t been in vain.

“Phew.”

It was still dark out. She stopped her running feet in the predawn city and pushed her slipping glasses back into place. She looked up on a whim.

There was a massive lake in the center of the city. She saw a large circular building bordering the Lakeside area. That was the Arena. Unlike the standard prep school training grounds, this was a witch sporting facility that anyone was free to use.

Before, she had frequently visited there with Formula Broom – Lyceum.

Toward the end, she had begun relying on something else entirely.

“––––”

She shook her head to drive out the unpleasant memory. She didn’t need any quick tricks or cheats to skip over the usual process. Even if it wasn’t visible yet, she wanted to gradually improve herself the right way.

This time, she would take her own step forward.

“O-okay.”

The zombie girl slapped her cheeks and turned away from the Arena. She had reached the end of her jogging route. Now she had to jog back the way she had come. She didn’t need to focus on a distant goal right away. She set a smaller goal for herself: the next large elevator pillar painted red so flying witches wouldn’t run into it.

All while she believed these small things would eventually add up to passing the exam.

“Ohh?”

Someone grinned while watching her from behind.

And they weren’t alone. Three girls were watching Dorothea Rockpool in amusement from a corner of the Arena’s gate.

“So Dorothea’s working hard to get back into studying for the exam. What a waste of time. Peh heh heh.”

“And after she cried, begged, and hopped so desperately to buy those recipes from us. Can you believe this, Lampans?”

“Who do you think you’re kidding? We all know you’re planning to drag her back in. Aren’t you, Arbamini, Holibre?”

Red, blue, green.

The girls all wore puffy round miniskirts, white short-sleeve blouses, suspenders, and colored leggings – each girl wearing her own color. They all wore an identical sash diagonally down from one shoulder. The yellow and black stripes were the stereotypical warning colors of venomous creatures.

A waitress uniform that emphasized the chest may have been the closest comparison.

But their sweet macaron-like miniskirts were polka dotted instead of a plain color. That looked fancy at first, but it was actually another threatening pattern used by venomous animals.

They were the wicked aces who ruled over the other 300 girls at the infamous Sassafras Cfa Prep School.

They embodied a distorted view of preparing for the entrance exam where they specialized in sabotaging their rivals rather than increasing their own scores.

Some muffled groaning came from nearby.

All three of them had parchment talismans pasted all over their broom handles.

The talismans said “do not disturb” on the front. Arbamini, Holibre, and Lampans were holding a strategy meeting. They didn’t need any unwanted advice from their Formula Brooms.

“Of course we are, Lampans. Carraway Cs has strict defenses, so it’s hard to get at them. We went to all the trouble of giving ourselves a pawn there, so we need Dorothea to cause some more trouble in their walls.”

“Does the naïve fool really think she can just back out after choosing for herself to get involved? Know what I mean, Arbamini, Lampans? We’re the ones that decide when she isn’t useful anymore. And that’s when we throw her out.”

“Then let’s get it over with, Holibre. That weight loss talisman is powerful, so no matter how stoic she pretends to be, she can’t escape its allure. She’ll crumble the instant we give her more.”

The talisman’s effects couldn’t be stacked, so there was no point in having multiple. And the body would build up a resistance to its effects, so the one recipe wouldn’t be enough for the addicts and they would seek out an even more powerful recipe and be willing to pay a lot for it. “New and improved” was not just used to advertise food. It was a useful phrase for these shadier products as well.

But these three didn’t actually do all that much. They simply made some minor adjustments to the default recipe and sold the addicts that. It only had to get around the body’s resistance. And it was none of their concern what happened to the addicts’ health as more and more new stimuli and reactions were introduced to their bodies.

The addicts knew it was unhealthy going in, so they didn’t question it when their health deteriorated.

“I mean, why should we care what Dorothea wants? If we surround her, we don’t even need all our arms to pin down all her limbs. How about we apply the parchment talisman to her by force? Using a sturdy glue, of course.”

“Sounds great. How about we also give her a chastity belt she can’t remove herself. That way we know the talisman’s staying in place until it takes effect.”

“Hee hee. But then she couldn’t get it off even if it caused an overreaction. You two are so mean. Don’t blame me if that dumb witch foams at the mouth and dies.”

It was unclear what she was so embarrassed about, but heading out alone at around dawn when there weren’t many people out yet was like asking to be attacked. As long as they were on the lookout for the delivery familiars who always followed the same course, there was plenty of room to kill someone.

“Okay, let’s go get this job over with.”

“Right? Let’s do it, let’s do it. It’s not like we have to pass the exam this year or anything.”

“Yes, getting into Maleficium is only the beginning. Hee hee. Our school life after passing will go much smoother if we intentionally fail a couple of times to spend a year or two earning some money.”

Arbamini had her red hair in a braid that resembled a fried shrimp, Holibre wore glasses and had her blue hair in twintails, and Lampans had her green hair in a ponytail. The poisonous macaron trio in waitress outfits had their target in sight.

They walked out from the Arena’s gate as one.

Or they would have…

“Don’t even think about it.”

The witch wore a black jacket, a short skirt, and a large hat. She looked like a cross between a sky pirate and a soldier. Her chocolate parfait look was adorned with medals and rank insignia on her chest.

With her shoulder-length silver hair and brown skin, Melehe stood in those girls’ path.

So she could push back their violent malice on her own.

“Wow, would you look at that. It’s the ace of Carraway Cs. She’s supposed to be their strongest witch, right?”

“Right. So won’t we get a reward if we beat her up and drag her back to our school? They pay for girls who look like they could get into Maleficium.”

“She’d make a fuss if we just abducted her. You brought your handheld silver halide, right? Then let’s ensure her silence by taking some compromising photos first. Hee hee.”

They laughed.

And laughed.

“Hey, did either of you bring the bear trap? Where’s that thick chain?”

“Don’t worry. We’ll do you a favor and put a bag over your head first. It wouldn’t be much of a threat if we’d already ruined you. Being seen stuck on the ground and unable to fly is enough for a witch to kill herself, after all.”

“Let’s do it with her submerged up to her shoulders in that filthy river in the squatters district. She looks like the proud type, so if we leave her there a while, she’ll have the tears and snot running down her face . One photo of that and we’ll have the perfect bargaining chip.”

It took the full use of all Melehe’s facial muscles to avoid reacting to the sensation she felt pushing in like dark ripples. If someone didn’t do what these girls wanted, they would teach that person a lesson. Melehe now understood just how thin of ice that timid girl had been walking on.

“You were the ones spreading around those guaranteed weight loss talismans, weren’t you?”

Melehe wanted to pass the entrance exam to meet her mother’s approval and to take an important step toward being a powerful leader for the Private Striga coven she so loved. If her rivals were cheating, it would call into question her own accomplishment.

Melehe was not enough of a philanthropist to protect the weak.

She knew ensuring a proper study environment was part of the battle toward passing the exam. Maleficium failed more than 99.9999% of those who took the exam, so there was no chance of a convenient dream where everyone passed.

If you weren’t strong enough, you would be failed without a second thought. She could not even give Viocia special treatment just because the girl wanted to help her grandmother. Dorothea had to have a serious motivation too since she had worked to get back on her feet after running into trouble. And of course, that alone wasn’t enough to pass.

But Melehe had seen Dorothea’s strength during the Bealtaine. Melehe always kept a rank of A in the official practice exams, but Dorothea had surpassed her on the ATU number memorization.

Melehe could not deny the girl’s ability.

She could tell the girl had worked herself to the bone until she produced real results.

Everyone was gritting their teeth and working hard in this “war”, but there were others who didn’t do any work, didn’t bother trying to earn points, and focused only on sabotaging others to take the easy way out.

The exam was meant to be a battle against oneself. It was wrong to have people’s futures taken from them because they were sabotaged and never had a chance to prove their strength. And to make matters worse, these girls had mentioned a monetary reward as an added bonus.

Melehe knew someone who had realized her mistake and worked to get back on her feet. Her progress may be slow, but she was moving forward now. Her efforts were bearing real fruit. How could Melehe stand by and let someone break that student’s spirit again and mock her for it?

“I hope you don’t expect me to just surrender.”

The trio simply sneered in response. Apparently even witches had failed to find a medicine to cure a fool.

“What are you saying we did? There’s nothing wrong with writing up a recipe and selling it. Your gloomy glasses friend is the one who believed it and actually made the thing.”

“Right? Seems to me you should be directing that righteous fury at Dorotha over there. Go on, get her instead☆”

“Hee hee. Be nice, you two. If you take her righteousness from her, she’s got nothing left. Push her any further and she’ll probably fall apart all on her own.”

A dull thud rang out.

A Formula Broom had been circling up in the dawn sky but now it dropped like a blade from the heavens, its tip striking the stone pavement hard. Before the broom could fall over, the silver-haired girl grabbed the long handle. She twirled it in her hand like a baton.

Melehe glared straight back at the trio and gave a proclamation.

“Answer me, Formula Broom – Mount Parnassus.”

“Of course.”

“I know exactly how you feel, Orpheus. So don’t bother holding back. You are a performer who puts your tastes above the rules of the world, after all. …Please help me fight. If you have a heart, I know you’re as pissed at these three as I am!”

“That goes without saying, milady. I will demonstrate that anger can be used to fuel the creative process.”

The three girls gave belligerent smiles and licked their lips while adjusting their grips on their brooms.

“Ha ha☆ How stupid are you!? Now you’re the one who picked a fight with us. What luck! Now we’re officially the victims no matter what we do to you!”

“Right? So let’s gang up on her and beat the crap out of her!”

“Dorothea doesn’t even matter as long as we have a pawn to get us deep inside Carraway Cs. Let’s make an addict out of her. She’ll be begging us for a way to forget all about reality before we’re done with her.”

Arbamini, Holibre, and Lampans raised their malicious voices as one.

They exchanged dark grins and revealed even their brooms were identical.

“Formula Broom – Glamis!! Answer us, you three witches, you bubbles of the earth!! Draw out the great triangle and deceive Macbeth!!!”

The low sound of air being compressed erupted in triplicate.

It was one against three.

Multiple figures shook free of gravity and tore sharply through the air. An aerial witch battle had begun.

Today’s Quiz 2

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