Failing Witch:Volume2 Episode4

Episode 4: A New Dawn in Aerial Combat

Part 1

A circular spring overflowed with water at body temperature.

The spring was located in a stone temple and a single goddess stood in the center.

She had long golden hair and pale skin. She looked just like a teenage girl. She wore a loose, white priestess robe, but it was wet with the spring water and clung to her skin in a way that gave it an indecent look. Of course, she was a supreme being, so no one else would ever be allowed to see this.

The goddess looked up into a starry sky that could never be found in reality.

Each of those stars was an independent world and the shooting stars passing sharply between them were all the souls of living beings.

She observed the glowing lives passing endlessly from world to world and determined whether or not they would be allowed to arrive in a certain world. That was an important job for her. And no one was allowed to protest her decisions. Whether it was carefully planned out or a mere whim, only she could determine the destinations of those stars.

Needless to say, she was god.

“Now. That should be enough sorting for today.”

The goddess lowered her gaze.

The water’s surface rippled below her feet. A world ruled by swords and sorcery spread out there.

There were a few beings there who interested her, but she was focused on one more than any other.

“Myousou Yagoro.”

It was unusual for a goddess to even remember a human’s name.

So this showed just how much she valued him.

“This is partially my responsibility for failing to notice when I gave permission, but what should I do about this stranger? This would be fine if he would only bring interesting changes to that world, but he could instead cause it all to fall apart.”

That boy had not yet realized the meaning of him passing between worlds by accident.

Even though everything he had learned of witchcraft should have told him that there was no such thing as a miracle with no logic or rules supporting it. Perhaps he had trouble taking an objective view when it came to himself.

(Class 1 L-FS – Strange Picking.)

That was the one term the goddess was hesitant to even speak aloud.

Maybe a goddess’s words held greater value, so she feared speaking its name would give it meaning.

That was a power even the goddess who managed the entire world did not possess.

No talent or inborn nature was necessary to create a special situation. You just had to make it work. You just had to convince yourself it was true. Parallel worlds, a reverse side of the world, a two-dimensional world – it could be anything. Myousou Yagoro must not become aware of that power. If he did, it was all over. So he couldn’t even be allowed to realize the desire or will were within him.

(Besides, that accident wasn’t supposed to happen. He was supposed to live a peaceful life of 100 years on that blue planet before his dead soul came under my management. That was the best option.)

At that point, the goddess childishly pouted her lips.

How dare a mere human escape the grasp of the goddess who controlled all of fate?

Some divine punishment was in order☆

(I swear it came out of nowhere. If I had at least known the accident was coming, I could have set things up so it would all follow the most cost-effective path.)

With that spelled out, the goddess only smiled gently and whispered to herself.

These were the words of a supreme being with the power to supersede all things.

“Now, how can I make use of this situation?”

Part 2

“C’mon, Viocia, your hair’s a mess.”

“Ugh…”

“Look after your lips too. Hee hee. And the fingernails are surprisingly noticeable, so you need to care for them too.”

“That’s enough, all of you! I’m going to be late for prep school!!”

It was early morning.

Viocia Modestlucky had gone downstairs to wash her face before heading out to her prep school when the older dancers started toying with her. If she wasn’t careful, she would end up their dress-up doll. They wouldn’t stop calling her cute, but coming from those sexy young women showing off so much skin, it only left short and uncurvy Viocia’s pride in tatters.

Their leader Olivia was sleepy after finally finishing her work, but she clapped her hands to make the dancers scatter. And the woman who only felt drowsy when she heard the rooster crowing mumbled to Viocia.

“Yawwwn… About to head out for prep school? Kevin has a breakfast for you in the kitchen. We’re having the weekly floor cleaning done today, so the wax scent would ruin your appetite if you came back here.”

“Okay,” said Viocia with a nod and Dancer Olivia laughed and narrowed her eyes.

“Study hard so you can live up to your teacher’s expectations, Viocia. He agreed to be your tutor because he believes you can pass the entrance exam.”

“I know. I have him and I have Carraway Cs on your recommendation, so I’ll be fine!”

“None of us could do it, so we can’t look our instructors in the eye. Or him. So you need to keep working to make sure you don’t turn out like we did.”

“Mh! Stop talking like you’re a failure!!”

Viocia hated when Olivia did that, but she knew Olivia would only smile sadly no matter what she tried to say.

Dejected, Viocia made her way to the kitchen in the back and found a few breakfasts on the silver countertop. All of the dancers had worked through the night, but around half were eating and half had gone straight to bed.

Chef Kevin pointed at a seat with a big brush-like thing used to scoop up pasta.

“Viocia, you don’t have much time, right? If you don’t want those drunks to start trying to feed you their food, leave a two-chair-wide gap between you.”

“Oh, did you make soup pasta for breakfast today?”

“Here you go. If you want more, I can just add more noodles, so don’t drink all the soup.”

“Thanks!”

This was the food prepared for the employees after closing time, so it wasn’t considered rude to start eating before everyone had arrived. The pasta was already in Viocia’s bowl of soup, so waiting would only let them get soggy.

The refreshing soup pasta contained a lot of seafood and vegetables, so it was meant for the young women suffering from both alcohol and exhaustion. Viocia had seen in a witch potion reference book that clam broth was good for someone weakened by alcohol.

“There’s an extra chair. Did someone new join the breakfast group?”

“That seat is mine.”

“Huh? You’re leaving this early, Freynir?”

Viocia’s eyes widened when she noticed her new housemate was wearing her street clothes this early in the morning. The elf herself watched expressionlessly as Kevin plopped some noodles into a bowl of soup.

Then Moloch, who usually spent all her time in the kitchen, approached Viocia.

The giant macho bronze statue held something out to her.

It was a small cloth package.

“Moloch, can you make box lunches on your own now!?”

“Moo!” she roared.

This was a homemade lunch, not an instant witch recipe.

Part 3

After eating breakfast, Viocia and Freynir left the building.

They found themselves in a tiered city colored white and black.

“What are your plans, Freynir?”

“I’m passing out fliers.”

The long-eared elf showed off a stack of parchment.

“I said I wanted some way to thank Lady Olivia for giving me a place to live, so she gave me this job. I pass out fliers during the day and gather customers at night.”

“Hm.”

Incidentally, the supposedly-extinct elf wasn’t wearing a disguise or covering up her long ears in any way, but it hadn’t caused a commotion yet. In a world where costumes were the norm, Temple School City actually had quite a few exam students who liked to dress up as elves.

“You still carry that staff around? It makes sense in the forest or mountains, but do you need a walking stick in the city?”

“Staff?”

“Why do you look confused?”

“Because this is a crossbow.”

Viocia frantically tried to confiscate the weapon and accidentally triggered it. With an unpleasant “thunk!”, a dangerous looking thing stabbed deep into the sign displaying an especially expensive nightlife ad right out in front of the building. At 15cm, the arrow made of wood and sharp stone was extremely short compared to the launching device.

So were the horizontal protrusions at the end of the “staff” not in fact there to make it a cross symbol?

Viocia looked up at the fearsome object.

“Strena is going to yell at me again. Ugh.”

But if that was a weapon, why had she thrown away her staff(?) and grabbed at the wicked witch back in the Dazzling Forest?

Well, it did make sense she wouldn’t want to aim something like this at the old woman who had discovered her and become the only person she knew.

“Yell at you… Come to think of it, I got yelled at for some reason when I offered to help them inside the shop.”

Viocia was on her way to Carraway Cs Prep School, so she parted ways with Freynir who was on her way to the nearby main street.

“Hm, hm♪”

The orange and purple pumpkin tart of a witch passed by a bear cub who appeared to be a garbage collector.

“Damn, another job taken by those familiars. Them and their stupid mass-production. If we can’t gather trash or wash windows, how are we supposed to make any money!?”

“W-wait for me!”

“Roslynica, we’ll do the work, so you stay home and study to be a witch!!”

Artificial familiars like the koalas handing out fliers or the weaving spiders were certainly convenient, but that wasn’t always a good thing. Or so Yagoro had said before. Viocia hadn’t entirely understood his explanation of why.

(Hm, I don’t see why an easier life could be a bad thing.)

Freynir was apparently passing out fliers and gathering customers, so did this mean she had to compete with those artificial rivals too?

Viocia found something like a stuffed animal collapsed face up on the side of the road.

It was a black cat familiar that worked a delivery job.

“Oh, no! I think he’s in trouble!”

She had never had a chance to ask his name, but there was only one black cat who specialized in deliveries in this area. She picked up the unmoving familiar and held him in her hands as she visited a nearby business.

“Mister, I found him collapsed on the side of the road.”

“You did? Thanks for bringing him here.”

The middle-aged man in the business looked surprised.

He roughly grabbed the black cat familiar in a hand.

“I’m glad we didn’t lose the package. We don’t make familiars here, so I don’t know how they work… He has been collapsing a lot lately, so maybe it’s time to buy a new one.”

“Could I try to fix him​?”

“I use him for work, so I’m not sure letting a student work on him’s the best idea. Then again, you go to a prep school, right? Then maybe it’ll be fine?”

The delivery business was particular about time, so there were several weight-powered clocks on the walls. Each and every one provided the time with absolute precision.

Viocia screamed when she saw them.

Part 4

After some studying in their desks, it was time for broom practice.

That was standard for Carraway Cs Prep School. Do it the other way around and the exhausted witches would fall asleep at their desks and waste their chance to study.

Myousou Yagoro sighed softly.

Exam students tended to grow careless after a big event like the field trip.

“And there’s even an official practice exam coming up. If she was the only one who keeps studying hard now, she could easily pull out ahead of her rivals.”

“Just relax.”

He was in the prep school’s quiet hallway.

Gyaru-style instructor Schanze and tutor Yagoro had left the lecture hall to speak in the deserted hallway. Today’s lecture was on psychoanalyzing a broom-riding witch. With no right or wrong answers, the tutor had no advice to give.

The instructor at the lectern was Antoi Nosecone.

She was a boyish woman who specialized in meditation and mental focus.

“Pride, greed, lust, gluttony, wrath, envy, and sloth. Each of the seven deadly sins has an associated archenemy, so pay attention. This is very convenient for making a test, so there is a good chance it will show up on a practice exam. For example, pride is Lucifer and gluttony is Beelzebub.”

“Trick question warning: different scholars assign different archenemies to the sins, so watch out. For example, Beelzebub can be either gluttony or envy and gluttony is sometimes given to Moloch.”

“Moloch!?”

The instructor at the lectern must have explained the same thing because the failing witch reacted.

“The hierarchy of archenemies isn’t fixed either. Satan or Lucifer are usually at the top, but there is also a common method that places Beelzebub at the top. And if you see Beelzebub referred to as Belzebuth, you should probably suspect you’re dealing with a 19th century method, don’tcha think?”

“Sigh. You know Viocia can’t hear you if you say all this out here, right?”

Schanze sighed in exasperation while leaning against the wall.

And the beautiful blonde woman with brown skin gently took Yagoro’s right arm.

She took him into her arm and leaned sideways against him.

“Hey…”

“Hee hee. Nervous? If one of those kids focused on their desk totally looks up for whatever reason, they could see everything.”

She rubbed the side of her head against his chest and tried to get a listen at his heartbeat, but then her small smile turned to puzzlement.

“Hold on. Why isn’t your heart racing even a little bit!?”

“Um, a clear mind provides great control over the body?”

In truth, he was simply wearing parchment armor below his sailor uniform.

Schanze pouted her lips and lightly stomped on his foot.

But then the self-taught witch whispered to him.

“(If we totally stay this close, we don’t have to worry about anyone overhearing, right?)”

The mood changed.

“…”

“You’ve totally noticed, haven’t you?”

Schanze’s smile now had a belligerent air.

She looked like a mercenary who had sniffed out a coming battle.

“You got in a fight with an old witch during the summer solstice field trip, right? Elinalva Longhouse. But her magic was way too cool to be something a single witch came up with.”

“You can tell?”

“I’m totally a self-taught witch too☆” Schanze was confident. “Which means I too have to do everything on my own without an alma mater to support me. And I assure you that was totally not something Elinalva could have set up on her own. It’s not an issue of talent or smarts – no individual could do that. You need multiple people. There is just no way she could have put together that kind of magic without someone else’s help.”

“The Spanish Fly Indulgence Bank was the same.” Yagoro didn’t sound happy about it. “Their case was centered on money because that’s a value everyone shares. They wanted power, but no one took an interest in their self-made mythology, so they swapped that out for a love of money. That wasn’t a system a failed witch could build on her own.”

“So there was totally someone else behind it?”

“Since we still haven’t discovered who that was, ending those cases individually isn’t good enough, don’tcha think? Someone we still haven’t identified was at the top.”

A heavy air set in.

But the usual mood of studying continued in the lecture hall, like there was a barrier between them.

“As you can see, while the seven deadly sins sound frightening, they are really just a classification of things anyone with a human heart experiences. So unless you are a saint who has achieved enlightenment and eliminated your desires, we all have those seven traits within ourselves. Plus, a witch wouldn’t be able to fly if we fully eliminated the desires we control to motivate us. Thus, the deadly sins can be used as a personality test to map out our minds.”

The personality test was written on the parchments that had been handed out ahead of time. The test was made up of several simple multiple-choice questions.

The prep school instructor toyed with a piece of parchment.

She would be calling on each of them individually, but there were no thick soundproof walls in the way. The things she said could be heard outside.

“Let’s see, Melehe Superlative. No surprises here. Strong in gluttony, lust, wrath, and envy, but weak in greed. Very few weaknesses here.”

“Heh heh.”

“But you are truly weak in pride, so watch out for that. Maybe the talented have their own problems.”

The “truly” modifier indicated a level higher and “greatly” indicated a level higher than that.

The distribution was endlessly variable and it created each individual mind just like a perfume or cooking. So there were no right answers and no one was perfect enough to be strong in all seven. That would be like an emotionless robot who had no interests, hobbies, or preferences.

“Dorothea Rockpool. You are strong in pride, greed, and gluttony, but weak in sloth and lust. Hm, this says you secretly have no resistance to lust whatsoever.”

“Eep.”

The busty glasses girl shrank down with a look that said that was not what she wanted to hear.

“Viocia Modestlucky. Now this is impressive. Strong in wrath and lust and weak in sloth, pride, and envy. And greatly weak in gluttony. You have a lot of weaknesses.”

“Heh heh heh,” laughed Viocia. It wasn’t clear if she really understood what had just been said.

After giving everyone advice, the instructor returned to the lectern.

“Most people think of Formula Brooms and ointments as the primary factors in a witch’s flight, but her mental condition can have a great influence as well. However, self-counseling can be dangerous, so always do this with your friends or with an instructor. Okay, that’s enough boring copying down notes from the blackboard. It’s time to have some fun practicing!”

Part 5

“Listen up, everyone. For today’s practical lesson, you’ll totally be doing the Drop Marker☆”

Schanze gathered the students’ attention with ease.

Her gentle, practiced motions were reminiscent of an amusement park instructor on Earth.

They were up on the flat roof of the structure building.

“Drop Marker is totally what it sounds like: it’s a cool game where a flying witch drops a sandbag called a marker onto targets on the ground, competing to be the most accurate. Targets 1-3 have been set up in parks across the city, so check your maps. You can zigzag if you want, but the shortest path should totally be obvious. …This city is shaped like a reverse pyramid, but you totally can’t cross the central lake since Maleficium is there, right?”

Schanze then twirled her broom in her hand.

The end of the broom caught a melon-sized object at her feet, lifting it up to face height.

“This is totally one of the markers. It’s a sandbag weighing a kilogram. Tie them to your hips with ribbon and then totally untie the ribbon when you want to drop it. Each of you gets three markers, so you can only drop one per park. If you miss the target or if a rival’s marker hits yours and knocks it away, you don’t get a redo. So be careful.”

(Ugh, this reminds me too much of bomber flight training.)

Melehe frowned after listening to the rules.

“Wait, we can knock other people’s markers away?”

“Um, eep, b-but that means dropping your marker later gives you an advantage in what is supposed to be a contest of speed.”

“Okay, okay☆ It sounds like those of you who aren’t idiots have totally caught on.”

Viocia tended to not think about the rules when she first heard them and learn what they meant in practice, so she was left tilting her head here.

“So I also need to tell you about the blocks. That would be these bags. You will each totally have nine of them.”

Schanze poked at a different bag with her broom.

It may have been full of cotton or sawdust. It appeared to be a lot lighter than the sandbag.

“Dropping these won’t earn you any points. They’re entirely meant to block your rivals. If they accidentally hit one of these with a marker and knock it away, the area occupied by the block will be worth negative points, so totally be careful.”

Did they use ribbons to trigger the drop as a reference to the garters used for the witch silencing ritual based on the unnatural strangling deaths of the prisoners John Stuart and John Reed in their cells? But explaining all that at once would only overwhelm Viocia. Lunch was up next, so Yagoro made a mental note to pass on that knowledge while they ate.

Each of the three targets was worth a maximum of 25 points.

The acceleration bonus was worth another 25 points, for a total of 100 points.

“This requires a lot more distance and time than the Elbow we did before, so we’d totally run out of class time if you each did it one at a time. Life is never easy, is it?☆ That’s why it’ll work like a race with ten of you going at once. So now you all totally need to draw lots!”

The result had three girls exchange a glance while lined up on the edge of the roof acting as the start line.

“Ready?”

“Eep.”

“Hmph.”

It was unusual for Viocia, Dorothea, and Melehe to all be competing together like this. Yagoro hoped this would teach Viocia that the other students here were her rivals.

“Okay, totally on your marks, get set…”

Schanze Dwelling flicked a coin up with her thumb.

The instant it audibly hit the rooftop at her feet…

The girls at the start line shot out into empty air.

Melehe had hoped to pour on the speed right away and gain an early lead, but her face tensed a bit. Viocia was right there alongside her.

“Tch!!”

“Ah ha ha! No one can beat my super acceleration!”

Dorothea was not with them. The bandage zombie girl had a bisA Formula Broom, meaning it was specialized for ground attack. Her top speed in aerial combat was a step behind the other two.

“Heh heh. What now? I was only just upgraded to the rare, all-purpose bisMR type, so you have no excuse for letting an unmodified standard model keep up with you, my cute Melehe.”

“Shut up! Whose side are you on!?”

But Melehe didn’t have time for tearful yelling. Viocia wasn’t her only rival.

The open sky was clear in all directions, but with everyone aiming for the same target, there was a best line they could take.

Whoever flew fastest could take that line and drop their marker in the best spot, but that speed would of course make aiming the drop more difficult. However, slowing down and aiming for a less optimal line wouldn’t result in a great score even if they took their time.

So in this case, which was the better option?

“See you later.”

The thoughtless idiot used her “super acceleration” to move out ahead.

Melehe was goaded into speeding up to.

Things were getting unnecessarily competitive.

“So does it come down to a test of speed regardless!?”

They had a single objective.

Viocia and Melehe pursued each other, their paths intertwining, as they fought for the shortest route toward a small park in Temple School City.

“I see it. That’s the first target.”

“You must have good eyes, wild girl!!”

A neon yellow sheet was laid out in the center of the park. It had be more than 10m across, but it looked like a speck from up in the sky.

The sheet had stump-like concentric rings drawn on it, like an archery target.

Viocia reached a hand to the side of her hip.

It was too late to untie the ribbon and let the sandbag drop once they were directly above the park. The two of them were still tearing through the air at supersonic speed. If they didn’t act well before reaching the park, the curving path of the dropping sandbag would not reach the center of the target.

(I have the best line. That means I get the first shot at the best drop course!)

“The first target is mine!” exclaimed Viocia.

If she looked back after dropping the sandbag, she would be gone before she could see where it landed, so she circled the park with the first target to see her result.

It landed right in centermost circle, worth the full 25 points.

“I did-”

Immediately, another sandbag dropped.

It slid in from the side and hit Viocia’s, knocking it out of the 25-point circle.

“Nooo!?”

“Heh heh. Don’t forget we can tactically knock another marker away.”

The game might best be compared to the Earth game of curling. This was why Drop Marker was more than just a competition of speed.

With the ability to knock other markers away, going later was actually an advantage.

They did each have nine blocks to prevent that, but Viocia had been entirely focused on her super acceleration and had failed to use any.

“The first target goes to me.”

“Tch. But the second target will be mine!”

With a sound of splitting air, Viocia suddenly vanished.

No, she had sharply lifted the tip of her broom to rapidly decelerate with a cobra maneuver and then twisted herself around and pointed herself diagonally down in a slice turn. She had sharply changed direction toward the second target.

She had pulled off two challenging maneuvers back to back.

That was not something you were meant to do on a whim while pouting your lips. Most likely, Viocia hadn’t even noticed her increased skill that let her shake free of people’s eyes and expectations.

“That stupid acceleration freak. She’s always a natural at this kind of thing!!”

“Heh heh. Not often you’re jealous of someone’s skill other than your mother, Melehe.”

That girl couldn’t be underestimated just because she alone had come away from the Goddess’s Spring without a bis broom.

She had used only her own skill to obtain a unique flight style no one else could accomplish.

Did this mean the one thing she lacked was the imagination to come up with better ideas?

Melehe realized this wasn’t Viocia’s accomplishment alone. Her teacher had given her the confidence to go for it without fearing failure. And her efforts had earned her a new technique.

“Argh!!”

Melehe, who had her hands full executing a single maneuver, grew red in the face and pursued the dunce who had gone off ahead like it was nothing.

Viocia was already preparing for the next drop.

“Heh heh. I can turn this misfortune into fortune. I still have plenty of blocks left, so I’ll scatter them all around!”

As announced, she scattered six blocks at once, creating a wall within the concentric rings.

That made it look nearly impossible to aim for the concentric rings at all, much less the centermost 25-point ring. But…

“Whoops.”

“!? Melehe is flying higher!?”

Instead of flying straight ahead while dropping the heavy sandbag, it was better to alter the path of the sandbag by lifting the tip of the broom a bit before releasing it.

And by giving the sandbag a path that dropped straight down from above, it could fly over the block formation and land inside. Without sliding or rolling.

For the second target, Viocia got in the 15 point ring (because she was so focused on dropping her blocks she neglected to aim her actual marker very well) and Melehe got in the 20 point ring.

It might sound like Melehe had the advantage after winning the first target too, but they could earn a maximum of 25 points from the acceleration bonus. It was still unknown what their final scores would be.

“I’ll settle this with the third target!!” shouted Melehe.

“Yeah. And this time I swear I’ll beat you!” responded Viocia.

The park with the third target was all the way on the other side of the giant lake in the center of the city, but they couldn’t fly the direct route there.

Only top-rate witches who had passed the entrance exam could reach Maleficium protected by its pure white diamond dust. If an unauthorized novice attempted it, they would ice over and end up crashing into the lake.

“…”

“…”

Viocia and Melehe briefly fell silent as they stared at the massive dark structure towering up beyond the white screen. Maleficium was their goal. Although the two of them may have been seeing completely different shapes.

The next moment, they both resumed soaring through the air at top speed.

Viocia had the superior top speed.

So she flew high to take straight lines through the open blue sky, but Melehe took a different tack.

In Drop Marker, flying lower increased accuracy because it shortened the distance needed for the marker to fall, but flying too low increased the risk of colliding with the city’s many buildings.

At the same time, flying as high as Viocia hurt their chances because the drop distance was so long.

Taking the optimal altitude for yourself was part of the strategy.

Melehe chose the airspace with only pointy bell towers and scales elevators to avoid. She could weave her way in between them easily enough.

She wasn’t far from the third target now.

(I can’t match Viocia’s top speed, so I need to earn 25 points for this final target. It might be pushing it, but I need to make a rapid descent to get as small a drop distance as-)

“Whoa!?”

Her thoughts were interrupted and she uttered a panicked cry unbefitting of the prep school’s ace.

Far below her, something cut through the city at high speed.

The witch flying below the stone overpasses with great speed and accuracy was Dorothea Rockpool.

Her altitude was 100cm.

The tiered city was full of ups and downs, but she zoomed through the park’s fancy gate at supersonic speed and released her sandbag from so close it was impossible to miss, accurately taking the 25 point ring. She also arranged some blocks to prevent anyone else from knocking her marker out of the ring.

Several glowing squid familiars flew through the sky drawing out specific signs in red and blue light. When Viocia read the light signals, she spoke up half in awe and half in exasperation.

“Let’s see. First…place…is… Wow! Dorothea got 25 points from all three targets. And she even avoided all the blocks.”

“Kh!!”

“And with her acceleration bonus added to those 75 points, she got a total of 92 points. She was first place by a lot.”

Top speed wasn’t everything in Drop Marker. Coming in later and earning 25 points from each target was more than enough to aim for the top.

Dorothea Rockpool’s BisA broom was specialized for ground attack, giving her an overwhelming advantage.

As Dorothea ascended to the same altitude as the others, she was speaking with her broom, which had a ship’s helm attached.

“Statement: this was entirely due to your Formula Broom’s specs. A true witch doesn’t rely on her tools. Warning: you know what’ll happen if you get overconfident and neglect your studies, don’t you?”

“Right. Eep. I-I’ll try my best to keep up with you!”

In truth, Dorothea was far behind Viocia and Melehe in the other games like Elbow which were purely aerial. If she was fully reliant on her broom’s specialization for ground attacks, she would never be able to overcome that wall.

And if she really wanted to get into Maleficium, avoiding something because it wasn’t your strong suit wasn’t an option.

Discovering the next hurdle you had to clear was another necessary skill for exam students.

“Heh heh. She kept her modesty even after coming in first and she’s even eagerly searching out her next task. She didn’t just beat your score – she’s surpassed you as a human too, Melehe.”

“Why is my own broom attacking me?”

Schanze was watching from the structure building’s roof using binoculars made from wooden tubes and crystal, but she was a little disturbed.

“I’m not sure even I could beat her.”

Part 6

“Phew.”

After school, Myousou Yagoro was investigating something on his own.

The pale glow of moonlight seals created a quiet space seemingly cut off from the flow of time.

This was the usual used bookstore run by the easygoing bookseller.

“(The Spanish Fly Indulgence Bank used student loans, but they were more like a type of religion that used a love of money to earn people’s worship as a charismatic leader. And while Elinalva ran her research all on her own in the Dazzling Forest, she viewed the legendary elves like gods and hoped to obtain ‘divine appreciation’ by bringing them back to prosperity.)”

Religion did exist in the world of witches.

In fact, witchcraft borrowed power from supernatural beings, so it was actually easier for things to take a religious turn.

That was why he had been looking into that, but…

“(The point in common is a false god created by human hands.)”

The bookseller called gently over to him while assessing a purchase at the accounting counter.

“Couldn’t you have gone to Maleficium’s West End Library for this?”

“If I was only interested in the quantity of books, sure. But they have a lot of gaps in the available knowledge.”

It also meant a lot to be able to look into dangerous topics without gathering any attention from the Benandanti or White Magic. …And with his number of overdue books numbering in the dozens, any encounter with the Glenstrae librarians would end up with him being chased all over the school.

“That aside, why not take a break? You have been muttering under your breath while you read.”

“…”

Was he starting to look unhinged?

He had really been speaking into a digital recorder the size of a jump rope grip which was sitting on the table.

…If he had made an even more convenient smartphone at his HEA house, he could have photographed all the parchment pages, but he would feel guilty doing that when he owed the bookseller so much.

A sweet scent wafted over. The bookseller had brought him herbal tea and ginger cookies. He wasn’t sure that was the best idea in a used bookshop full of rare old books, but his policy was to accept any gift he was given. And it was quite good too.

“You could just turn this place into a book cafe.”

“My, my. I couldn’t run that on my own. And I don’t have any employees.”

She apparently had over 300 herbal tea blends, but they mostly used cold-resistant mountain plants. According to her daughter Melehe, she was the supreme commander of the largest coven of the snowy region.

She ran the shop all on her own. That made it an extremely inconvenient store that was unpredictably open or closed based on whether or not she had an errand to run, but Yagoro wasn’t the only customer.

“Miss Flamberg, I have finished my assessment. I will have to mark down the price for the damage and dirt. Now, how much these go for will change based on rarity and current trends, but will this be sufficient?”

“Yes. In fact, thank you for attaching prices for me.”

“Hee hee. It was nothing. Texts on Demonology: the Black Mass and other Heretical Rituals is a Class 1 Taboo and quite rare, so a private copy of the original pre-revision version will naturally fetch a decent price. Perhaps I should place it in the ultra-rare bookcase behind the counter.”

Yagoro would love to get his hands on that for research. They apparently had similar tastes. He and Miss Flamberg were not direct acquaintances, but he may have purchased some of her collection through this shop.

The witch herself wore a white outfit resembling a wedding dress, but the neck and wrists were accented with thick red belts. The coloration made her look like a strawberry shortcake. There was a bold slit up the right side of her long skirt, giving an equally bold glimpse of a white garter belt. Since the entire skirt spread roundly out on the floor, it could have looked like a wheel of cheese with a slice removed.

The woman with short blonde hair looked to Yagoro, bowed, and left the used bookstore.

After watching her leave from the counter, the bookseller placed a hand on her cheek.

She looked somehow worried.

“I appreciate her adding to the store’s lineup, but she shows up every once in a while to sell me rare books. Does she need money for something?”

“Must be capital for the real estate business. Buy up a ton of empty houses now and you can make a killing off of the exam students flooding into the city starting in the summer.”

Someone emerged.

The person searching the tall bookcases with a ladder was Sorbeddy, who was even more lovely than a snowflake.

“Nee hee hee. It is late June after all. The first dropouts will be heading home to go crying to their parents soon. Those are the ones who left home to live here, but found they couldn’t work part-time, do their housework, and keep up with their studies all at the same time.”

The ice witch, who was one of the Limit Breakers and one of the greatest self-taught witches, grinned and looked down at Yagoro. She rudely sat on the top of the tall ladder, an extremely risque choice given the short skirt of her already sheer camisole dress.

Her broom was leaning against the bottom of the ladder.

Formula Broom – River Seine bis9FE.

The front of the long handle had four thin wings of transparent silk lace and the end had a large crystal ball reminiscent of compound eyes. Overall, it looked a lot like a dragonfly. It could dart through the air on paths different from an ordinary witch, flying circles around an enemy or coming to a stop and hovering.

She was a specialist in using various kinds of disturbance magic to obstruct her enemies in aerial combat, so she could overcome the downside of single-handedly facing multiple midair foes. Yagoro had heard this was the result of repeatedly modifying her broom so the mercenary witch could take the full reward for bringing down her enemies.

He was pretty sure her broom’s guide was a goddess called Sequana.

(The Celtic water god.)

Yagoro knew he was reading too much into it, but he couldn’t help but react to the word “goddess”.

“White. A pure white goddess,” he muttered, drawing on his memories of the vision he’d seen during his near-death experience.

Was there something to this?

No, it didn’t seem familiar.

In fact, a white goddess was such a popular symbol it didn’t narrow things down much.

Norse, Greek, Celtic, and even Slavic and the Kalevala. He doubted he would find anything pursuing that lead alone. And white clothing reminded him of the woman who had just left. Miss Flamberg, was it? She wore a white wedding dress. She wore that all the time, so this world’s costumed partiers were something else. It was no use. His linking of thoughts with images was leading him astray.

Yagoro wasn’t even sure the goddess he had seen was from this world and maybe her ridiculous outfit wasn’t enough of a clue to lead anywhere useful. It was possible that was simply her personal tastes, the current fashion, or the only thing she had to wear at the time.

And…

“My, my. This troublesome boy is staring into the distance and calling for a white goddess… Did you like Miss Flamberg’s wedding dress, Yagoro? Are you into the lacy see-through look?”

“Eh? Wait, I wasn’t fantasizing about-”

“My.” “Oh, really?” “I see.”

“Um, why do I feel like you’re all against me?”

And why was the Sequana broom joining in? And with apparent fascination? Did the goddess of the Seine enjoy this sort of talk?

The ice witch grinned and began to tease Yagoro.

“Myousou, if you have time to dabble in fantasies about a woman who has already left, you must not have much else going on in your life.”

“Why do people with nothing better to do pour so much effort into causing trouble for others?”

He had assumed she was here to search for rare books, but apparently not.

Quite the opposite, in fact.

“They’re having a flea market nearby.”

“Have they?”

Unlike in compulsory education, there were no official textbooks for the exam students. What reference material you chose would greatly affect the difficulty of the exam. A flea market could easily become a battlefield for the students because it offered a chance to purchase rare books with the limited contents of their wallet.

But they had to be careful because there were also shitty money lovers there looking for someone to scam.

“I buy up plenty of dirt cheap books that have a history but aren’t very useful and then sell them to new money who don’t know how to judge their value. Heh heh heh. I’m about to make a killing yet again!!”

“Calm down,” said the bookseller with a hand on her cheek and a smile on her lips. The good-natured mama had no problem with this plan because it let her sell a pile of cheap, unsold books to this greedy idiot.

“God, you’re greedy. You’re already rich, so why don’t you just enjoy the slow life now?”

“My, my. Her wealth is far from secure, Yagoro. The way I hear it, all the money she earned selling ice to the entire city vanished after one night at a high-rate casino.”

“Well, ice has a very stable demand, but that also means her sales aren’t ever going way up. With a set population, there’s a set number of freezers out there.”

“Shut up and do some honest work, worm!”

“Hm? Why is Sorbeddy mad at me for that?”

“Yagoro, you should already know she is very emotionally unstable even when she isn’t on her period.”

“Don’t you mean she’s just a terrible person?” added Sequana.

No, he didn’t already know that. And he was hesitant to comment on this dark exchange between the women. Meanwhile, Sorbeddy herself was left trembling with even her broom attacking her.

“Gh, kh… Screw that casino! Just you watch, you petty bourgeois! I’ll add some real estate business onto my ice selling and be back to my luxurious lifestyle by the end of the year!!”

Part 7

It was the liminal time when evening was shifting into night.

It was the last bit of free time before Sabbath Party needed to get serious about gathering customers.

“I roll two die and get…9! Tah,dah! I enter the punishment club!!”

“My turn. I do alchemy practice. I get as much money as I roll with my dice.”

“Ugh!! B-but now it’s my turn. Let’s see if I can clear the abandoned school building dungeon. If I roll an odd number, I get injured in the dungeon…gah!?”

“6. If I am already an adult, I have a child and all other players have to give me one gold as a baby gift.”

“Nooo.”

Viocia collapsed limply to the floor from her seated position, so Freynir, the supposed winner, grew flustered (with no change of expression).

A knock came at the door.

Dancer Olivia entered with a silver tray in her hands.

“I brought some iced tea and snacks. What are you doing, Viocia?”

“Heh heh. We’re taking a short break to play the game of school life!”

Think of it like a detailed board game based on life at Maleficium. The parchment game board was pasted to the top of a wooden board that folded in three. It was pretty big when unfolded.

Freynir tilted her head in a sexy(?) sitting position on the floor with her legs below her but swept to the side.

“For your information, landlady, this ‘short break’ has lasted two hours at this point.”

“Bff!? Don’t tell her that!”

Viocia moved quickly to cover the elf’s mouth, but Olivia didn’t get after her.

Viocia may have seen this as taking it easy instead of doing her work, but the game of school life was technically classified as educational material. The brooms and carriages used as game pieces, the dice, the cards, the money, the gems, and all the other little items were secretly packed full of witchcraft knowledge and techniques.

Olivia knew this quite well since this was a version she and Strena had bought when they were students.

A somewhat sad smile appeared on Olivia’s face, but she hid it.

Adults who had forgotten how to achieve their dreams learned a lot of tricks like that.

“There’s a flea market on Sunday,” said Viocia. “I hope I make some great finds there.”

“Hm? Lady Viocia, aren’t you already looking for something in particular?”

“Heh heh. The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft Herb Correspondences! Moloch wants it now that she’s learned to cook.”

“I roll 11. A shooting star full of gems lands nearby and I have a chance at becoming a millionaire.”

“What!? …M-money isn’t everything at school.”

“But is this really what life at Maleficium is like? Didn’t some outside worker who knows nothing about the school make it?” asked Freynir.

Olivia shrugged.

“I never got in, so I wouldn’t know.”

“Don’t worry,” said Viocia, staring at the board. With a perfectly natural smile. “I’ll get in and then I can find out for you!”

“Yes. I hope to hear all about it.”

Part 8

“Heh heh. It’s finally Sunday!!”

“Pick up the pace or we’re leaving you behind. We’re headed to a battlefield crowded with rival witches!”

“Eep. Th-this could be my only chance to afford grimoires or witchcraft devices.”

Liberty Ceridwen, the wandering realm.

That was the name of a flea market held in Temple School City where witches and others could bring in whatever goods they wanted and sell them. Rare grimoires and other great finds could be hidden there, so it became a colorful cauldron boiling with forbidden knowledge and rumors.

“What, is the pervy teacher supposed to be our chaperon?”

“Jacked-up prices, phony goods…the list goes on. I can’t let you three enter that devilish land on your own.”

“And it isn’t just him.”

Melehe glanced to the side.

The woman must have accompanied Viocia from the shop where she rented a room, so Viocia shrugged.

“Strena wanted to come with us after hearing where we were going.”

“Hmph.”

Strena put a hand on her hip and gave Yagoro an appraising look.

She was the bouncer at Sabbath Party where Viocia rented a room.

She was the same age as Olivia, so probably her early 20s. She had a long blonde ponytail and light skin, but she radiated a rough, dangerous air. She wore light armor and a miniskirt, but her right arm jutted out from her collar, prioritizing movement of the arm over defense.

The weapon she wore at her hip appeared to be a bastard sword, but a broom tip had been added to the pommel. The kind of small broom used to get at little gaps in a room or dust small objects. When held normally, she could cut down her enemy. When held in reverse, she could use recovery magic.

She never considered flying with it. Her broom was exclusively used to defeat her enemies from the ground.

“Is that based on the Dagda’s club, which could even resurrect the dead when held in reverse? Maybe it can’t accomplish that much, but it does allow attack and recovery. An opponent who can heal herself while she fights would be trouble, don’tcha think?”

“Are you trying to get to know me better?” The ponytail miniskirt knight gave a snort of exasperation. “You can handle Viocia’s studies if you want, but I can’t trust you when it comes to protection. Olivia seems to like you, but I don’t think so highly of you.”

“Heh heh. ‘So highly’? That means you think a little bit highly of him, doesn’t- ow!?”

Viocia cut in with a smile before Yagoro could say anything, so the bouncer rubbed her fists against her temples.

“Tch. Unlike Olivia and the others, I don’t trust teachers as a whole. And changing the title to tutor or instructor doesn’t help any.”

It was sounding like this belligerent fighter was half here out of concern for Viocia and half here in the hopes of running into trouble at the flea market where haggling was common, leading to a lot of arguments.

The flea market was in Block U, at the bottom of Blue District.

Open spaces larger than a sporting stadium were unusual in the city, but this was an event space rented out for various events like circuses and card game tournaments.

Yagoro’s group passed through the wooden gate decorated with pumpkins and bats to enter Liberty Ceridwen.

And as soon as they did…

“We have deeply discounted Formula Brooms here! We can’t tell you why they’re being discounted, but these are some great prices!!”

“If you need a witch’s textbook on ATU 0333, Red Riding Hood, you won’t find a better deal anywhere else! With the classics, you often feel like you know the story but have a poor grasp of the details. For example, the hunter rescues the girl and her grandmother by splitting open the wolf’s belly, but did he use a hunting knife, a kitchen knife, or scissors? You can find the answer right in here!”

“Hee hee hee. How about a lead panel that casts a deadly curse on each of its owners? Control can be a challenge, but one look at the records of mysterious deaths proves the power of the curse.”

They were hit by a flood of noises and voices.

The booths had clearly-defined spaces, but the sellers had brought in tall shelves and bookcases that blocked the view and gave the place a labyrinthine look.

“This atmosphere. Eep. Now I’m really nervous,” whispered Dorothea Rockpool to herself.

She was the opposite of Viocia who thrived in the crowded atmosphere of a festival or amusement park.

But wasn’t Dorothea the oldest sister of a large merchant family?

A wide variety of wares had its downsides. Viocia and the others only had so much money to spend, so without a plan, they could end up buying junk they didn’t need. The prices for the same products differed between sellers, but hesitating to buy what you wanted would give another buyer a chance to beat you to it.

“Viocia. Eep. Do you know what you want?”

“A whole bunch of stuff, but I most want this! The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft Herb Correspondences!!”

The dunce witch read off her memo and Melehe frowned.

“That’s a pretty well-known rare book. I wouldn’t be surprised if Maleficium has a copy securely stored in their library. I doubt you’re just going to find a copy here.”

The book contained a list of over a thousand different herbs and provided their correspondences to the four elements and to letters of the alphabet. It was a special class of taboo book. It was very famous, but it was a privately printed book and only 50 copies were ever made. Its value was at the point where it was best donated to a public library so its knowledge could be shared with everyone.

“Heh heh. Moloch said she wanted it. She can use it to boost her girl power and increase her repertoire of recipes!”

“Yeah, sure,” said Melehe with a hand on her forehead.

Yagoro decided to direct the conversation her way.

“Do you know what you want, Melehe?”

“I’m not dreaming quite as big as her. I’m hoping to find an original copy of some of the books we use to make sure their information is accurate.”

That made sense. In a world without a mass printing technology, most books were copies handwritten by familiars. So even if a text had the same name as the original, it could have errors.

“Eep. Th-this place is so crowded… Oh, I know. Viocia, let’s hold hands.”

“What, do you think I’ll get lost the second you take your eyes off me?”

Viocia didn’t know what booth would be selling her herb encyclopedia, so she had to search through them all. That meant they stuck with Melehe’s plan and checked the grimoire booths.

“They have Horns and Harvest, the Forest Goddess, and the Little People. Yes, I’ll be buying this one too.”

“Um, you can’t just buy them at the asking price, Melehe. Eep.”

“?”

“The spine is faded and the pages are stained, so there’s room to haggle. Eep.”

Dorothea was better at things like this because she had been forced to be frugal as the oldest daughter of a large family while Melehe was an elite who had grown up with plenty of money.

And…

“Geh… Why do you have to show up and ruin a good day at the flea market?”

Someone was not happy to see them.

It was Arbamini, Holibre, and Lampans, the aces of the infamous Sassafras Cfa Prep School.

“Are you after that book too? The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft Herb Correspondences?”

“Hey, how could a failing witch like you even use a rare book like that?”

They were being insulting already, but Melehe actually showed interest.

“Huh, so it isn’t just Viocia being dumb? If you’re here for the Encyclopedia too, could the rumor about it being sold here be real!?”

“Arbamini. And Holibre. The non-idiot of their group is putting two-and-two together. We need to leave before we give away anything else.”

The wicked trio vanished into the crowd.

Dorothea watched them go.

“Wait, does that mean the rumor was real? Eep.”

“If so, there’s no time to spare. A super rare book like that will come in handy studying for the exam, so we need to get our hands on it!!”

Melehe was highly motivated now, but Viocia was looking elsewhere.

She had a distinct goal here – the Encyclopedia of Witchcraft Herb Correspondences – but she had already gotten distracted by another booth.

“What are these photos?”

“You have a good eye, miss. These are silver halide photos of creatures found outside of the city. This here is a vouivre and this is a mermaid!!”

“Wow,” said Viocia while Melehe slapped a hand to her forehead.

These “creatures” were all experimental animals created in Maleficium, or their offspring, just like the giant dragon flying by overhead right this instant. With the elf as an example, the possibility of them being real was technically possible, but natural creatures were very nearly unthinkable.

(Well, from the Cottingley Fairies to Nessie, Bigfoot, and the Little Grays, supposed photos of monsters is a major genre of the occult.)

“What’s this round purple creature?”

“That is a Dracae. They live in rivers and some of them look just like beautiful girls.”

“Hwuh? But that doesn’t sound scary at all.”

“Even if I tell you they are horrific creatures that abduct human girls walking on the riverside and subject them to seven years of forced labor? And any human who violates the rules, which are not explained to them, are punished by having an eye gouged out?”

“Gwehhhh,” groaned Viocia, trembling.

…Now, mysterious creatures were not the only things that abducted another species and put them to work. This was found in the natural world as well. For example, the polyergus samurai ant would take the pupae of other, harmless ants and bring them back to their colony as slaves.

“How about it? These are valuable photos. Buy them up and make an album from them and you’ll have a special illustrated encyclopedia all your own. This is your only chance to get a leg up on everyone else!”

“Um, uhh!!”

Someone grabbed Viocia’s hand from the side.

It was the delinquent girl Arbamini.

She had once gotten burned at a flea market, so she couldn’t just watch this.

“Come on, you failing witch!! Aren’t you here to buy the Encyclopedia!? Don’t waste your limited money on this garbage!”

“Wah!”

The force of Arbamini’s pull sent them both tumbling into another booth.

Sorbeddy Icing’s booth.

She had bought up old but worthless books at all the used bookstores she could find in the hopes of selling them for quite a bit more at the flea market.

Her broom spoke in a blunt, low female voice while leaning against the bookcase next to her.

“Myousou Yagoro. Watch out for a round purple garment with the scent of my river upon it.”

“?”

Did that mean anything or not?

While Viocia was distracted by that, one of the Limit Breakers spoke to her.

“Welcome, witch student. See any grimoires you like?”

“Oh! Th-this book…”

“As you touched it first, the right of purchase falls with you. So will you buy it?”

“Tch!!” Melehe and Arbamini clicked their tongues simultaneously.

Viocia stared intently at the thick tome clutched between her hands.

“I’ll buy it… I’ll buy it!”

“Hee hee hee! Thank you, thank you. I never imagined I could make so much money off these garbage books I bought for dirt-cheap prices. The good life awaits me now!!”

If she really had just ripped off Viocia, did she actually think Bouncer Strena would sit by and let it happen?

Myousou Yagoro sighed softly.

“(Hey, Sorbeddy, did you actually check the name of the book? That’s the Encyclopedia of Witchcraft Herb Correspondences. I don’t know it got mixed in with those other books, but it’s an ultra-rare book worth as much as a jewelry box of the same size.)”

The ice witch appeared to have frozen, but it was too late.

Viocia had already paid, so the book was hers.

Part 9

“The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft Herb Correspondences. I’m pretty sure I saw this at my grandma’s house too, but I left and it would taken too long to head all the way back there.”

“Wha-!? You mean you have two copies of this world-famous rare book!? The book said to be a favorite of the Queen of the Night, Darkness, and Love at the top of the Limit Breakers? At this point, I just know it has to be useful for the entrance exam.”

Yagoro had wondered how a dunce like Viocia knew the title of that rare book, but this explained it.

With the item she wanted in Viocia’s hands, they were taking a break. While Viocia had bought it, she was letting Melehe and Dorothea read it and take notes on parchment. In a fantasy world where book copying was common, the idea of digital shoplifting was not frowned upon.

That aside, it was time for lunch.

The flea market had become a vast labyrinth of shelves and bookcases, but there were occasional empty spaces with no sellers. They decided to lay out a cloth in one of those and eat their food.

“Huhh? You have a packed lunch too, Viocia?”

“Heh heh. Moloch learned to cook!”

Viocia’s basket contained grilled chicken and vegetable sandwiches. The main dish in Dorothea’s lunchbox was a big water bottle full of a vegetable-filled consomme soup she poured into a bowl.

“Dorothea, I’ll trade you a sandwich for something!”

“Eep. Th-then how about a bowl of soup?”

Melehe and Strena went with the standard(?) instant food. They waved their brooms and pulled out tomato pasta and a shrimp pilaf.

Yagoro used one hand to eat a tuna and potato crepe he had bought at a food stand nearby.

“Witches can also be called spellcasters who create something from something,” he said.

“?”

“Whether it’s herbs or animal bones, humans must sacrifice something to create what they need. So it makes a lot of sense for Moloch, a symbol of sacrifice, to be cooking, don’tcha think? It can be easy to forget with ingredients processed into cubes or a paste, but the food you eat and the herbs used to heal your wounds are all made from other plants and animals. The skill of a witch is seen in how much they can increase the conversion rate from 1-to-1. And make sure you thank the things used to create what you consume.”

Part 10

With the Encyclopedia of Witchcraft Herb Correspondences successfully acquired, they could have just left, but Melehe said she wanted to keep at it a while longer.

“I want a few grimoires myself. We did find that rare book just sitting around. Some other big find could be hidden around here somewhere!”

“Eep. I-is it really a good idea to go in without a plan?”

“I have a plan! I know what I’m doing!”

And this time, Viocia decided to tag along with Melehe and Dorothea. But Viocia was no longer looking for anything in particular, so she got distracted just about every step of the way.

One booth was lined with herbs in small pots.

One seller had a collection a maps from the other world of Earth.

In one booth, round chicks and hamsters were separated out into boxes and staring up at the girl with their round little eyes. They were packed in fairly tight and making a racket.

“Buy me. Please buy me.”

“I’ll work so hard for you.”

They were being bought and sold here, but the artificial familiars were extremely nonchalant about it. They may not have cared who their owner was.

“Th-they’re so cute!”

“+1 point: If you don’t want to create your own familiar, you can also buy one or be gifted one.”

“But I don’t have any money. Because I bought the Encyclopedia!!”

The student experienced a tearful goodbye.

And the next thing they knew, Melehe was unsteady on her feet up ahead. She had bought grimoires with a quantity over quality policy, so the two tote bags she had brought folded up were now full to bursting.

“Urrrrgh. H-how am I supposed to carry all this home? Agh.”

“Melehe. Eep. They have an emergency delivery station over there! You should get the black cat familiar to do it. You’re going to dislocate your shoulders!!”

There hadn’t been a line before, but lunchtime was over and the afternoon had begun. The other buyers in the area were starting to think about heading home, so they had realized how useful the delivery service was and had rushed there.

“Qu-quit staring, you perv, and prove you’re a man by carrying one of these bags.”

“Sorry. I’m all for taking a ladies first policy, but not when she demands it herself.”

Melehe had bought that mountain of books, so it was up to her to deal with them, but Dorothea couldn’t help herself and ended up carrying half of them as the girls approached the delivery station reception counter. The oldest daughter of a big family was in full big sister mode here.

Viocia’s eyes widened when she noticed what looked like bipedal stuffed animals moving around the emergency delivery station.

“Wait, I think I’ve seen that black cat familiar before. Did they actually fix him?”

A white figure passed by the girls.

Part 11

Slowly but surely, the saturation level was surpassed.

Or you could call it the last straw.

She had used the Spanish Fly Indulgence Bank and elf-obsessed old Elinalva to try and do things in secret.

The Spanish Fly Indulgence Bank had been a small-time villain, but given time to grow, they could have expanded their illicit financial reach until they were taking over prep schools and could steal research funding from people working for Maleficium. Then they could have driven Temple School City as a whole to financial ruin, preventing the city administration and Maleficium itself from functioning.

Elinalva had been discovered too soon for someone off in the Dazzling Forest so far from Temple School City. If word of an elf being discovered had been allowed to spread more widely and the Benandanti moved in to deal with her, the whole thing could have been presented as the elites trying to steal credit from an independent researcher. That would have pitted Maleficium against the self-taught witches in a cold war that split the land in two.

But neither plan had come to fruition.

She had stayed hidden this far to protect herself, but her pursuers were going to find her before long.

At this rate, she would fail to accomplish anything before Maleficium’s counterattack began.

That would save no one.

Not a single one.

So.

She decided it was time she took direct action.

To save the innocent.

Part 12

They suddenly covered the sky above Temple School City.

A dull “thud!!” rang out as something fell from the sky and crashed into the ground.

That something was Melehe’s broom that she kept in standby circling in the sky above.

“Wait, what happened, Orpheus!?”

“Melehe, w-watch out…overhead.”

A heavy wind blew in.

It almost felt like a massive wall swinging through.

No matter how skilled the Benandanti were, they couldn’t evade something when there was no physical gap. Taking a direct hit, they lost control in the sky and dropped to the surface like shooting stars.

“Watch out!” shouted Strena.

In the moment she was shoved out of the way, Viocia did not yet know what kind of danger she was in. She fell on her rear and blinked twice before her mind finally caught up with the reality before her.

The heavily-armored form of a Benandanti was right in front of her.

And Strena was collapsed face down, half-crushed by the fallen armor.

As a bouncer, she had prioritized guarding her allies over defeating the enemy.

In that sense, she had completed her job brilliantly.

“Strena!!”

“Tch. Run, Viocia. Hurry, and take your friends. Cough.”

Strena stopped talking.

Unable to do anything else, Viocia just stood there. If no one did anything, it looked like she might stay that way forever.

So Melehe shouted to her from right in front of her.

“Viocia, help me! Together, we can carry Strena!! Dorothea, you grab my broom over there!!”

Viocia nodded and took Strena’s arms.

Some things fluttered through the air, no longer under their master’s control.

They were a purple orbs about the size of fish roe, but something was curled up in the center of the translucent membranes.

Naked girls.

(Are those…?)

“I saw those at the photo booth. Aren’t these those Dracae girls?”

“Technically, they’re probably familiars borrowing their form and function. Real Dracae would be as big as you and me.”

Moving unsteadily while supporting someone’s weight, Melehe calmly observed the overhead threat.

“It looks like they tackle things instead of using projectiles. I think they’re designed to hit the enemy with a bird strike.”

“Eep. D-don’t the Dracae have a scary legend about gouging out the eye of girls who violate the rules? If that applies to the flying witches, it could be used as a means of attack.”

“But a bird strike?” asked Viocia.

“?”

“That’s an accident when a bird hits a flying witch’s broom, right? If such a small Dracae hits a witch hard enough to bring her down, won’t the Dracae go down with her?”

“Do you really think whoever’s mass-produced these familiars cares?”

The purple overhead made another move.

Another of the scrambled Benandanti witches had been knocked from the sky. Even the giant dragons and griffins who ordinarily circled leisurely in the sky had descended to low altitude to avoid getting hurt.

It was possible one of the armored shooting stars could crash into Viocia’s group on the ground.

“We need to – eep – get under a roof!”

Then Viocia realized something and looked to the side.

“Where did teacher go?”

“Sorry, but we don’t have time to check! Strena is injured, so we need to get her to safety!!”

Whatever they might do about this, they couldn’t just leave Strena when she was injured and unconscious. Viocia and Melehe carried her to a nearby building.

The door was tightly locked and it didn’t open no matter how hard they knocked.

“Eeeek! I couldn’t possibly unlock the door. Please forgive me. Forgive me.”

“Hey! If you’re going to abandon us out here, I’ll just break your door down with a water spear!!”

“Viocia! Over there!”

Dorothea pointed at something she had spotted.

Viocia looked to see one of the empty houses that dotted the city.

Once inside, Melehe groaned.

“Ugh!?”

The stark, unfurnished room had large barrels covering the entire floor space. Those did not belong in a residential space and she felt dizzy. She had read a newspaper article about people growing hallucinogenic herbs in houses, so was this an example of that?

But these were not potted plants.

Melehe looked inside to see a few small purple orbs at the bottom of the barrel.

Those were Dracae familiars that had failed to take flight for whatever reason.

(I was wondering where all those Dracae came from, but I guess I have my answer. But how many empty houses across the city were they in!?)

“Eep! Wh-what do we do now?”

“If this house will act as a shelter, we could stay in here and wait for help to arrive, but I doubt it’s so sturdy.”

“That’s right,” said Viocia. “And we have to find a way to save the Dracae.”

Silence fell.

Melehe and Dorothea were truly rendered speechless.

“They hurt your friend Strena here!” said Melehe.

“So?”

Viocia glared back.

Straight back.

“I’ll fight if it would make Strena happy. But what good is fighting for your own hatred? That’s what my grandma would say. And teacher isn’t the strongest because he’s just strong. We can’t just strike our enemy down as evil and call it a day!!”

She wasn’t just saying that.

They were in danger and her friend had been hurt, but she could choose that path.

This wasn’t a matter of good or evil that could be so easily shaken by the circumstances. She was a witch who chose to live beautifully based on her own actions.

It may have only lasted a moment, but that “situation” enhanced Viocia.

“I mean, it makes no sense that they can only attack by tackling supersonic witches. Billions of Dracae would have to be crushed to take out all of us… Besides, what do those familiars gain by taking us out? That only matters to the witches – the Dracae themselves don’t get anything even if they succeed. So it’s wrong for them to be forced to give up their lives for that!”

“Y’know, artificial familiars technically aren’t alive.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

She didn’t even hesitate.

Dorothea giggled at how on brand this was for Viocia.

Wasn’t this failing witch the one who fought back against Arbamini, Holibre, and Lampans to protect an artificial being like Moloch during the official practice exam? She might be a failure and a dunce most of the time, but she was a witch-in-training who could improve herself in these “situations” where she wielded superhuman power to face some great cruelty.

And when Melehe carelessly gasped at Viocia’s immediate response, she had as good as accepted it.

It wasn’t logical.

But Viocia was absolutely in the right here.

This wasn’t the Dracae’s fault.

And so Viocia wanted to rescue them from being meaninglessly crushed.

…The prep school ace could not arrive at a more beautifully arranged answer.

It was in that moment that she lost.

And it was a beautiful witch’s duty to wield her full strength as a loser when she lost.

“Argh!! Well, to help the Dracae and everyone else, we need to resolve the trouble covering the city as soon as possible. We can’t ignore injured Strena either. Is that okay with you!?”

“Eep. Yes, I-I’ll help too.”

All three of them nodded.

They took a look outside and saw an unnatural purple covering the sky.

“Is that all Dracae?” said Melehe in a daze.

This went beyond what a witch’s skill could handle. With a sandstorm of them up there, it was impossible to fly without hitting them.

“How many billions of them are up there? Trying to count them is as silly as trying to count the grains of sand in a sandstorm. Anyway, even if they’re as small as fish roe on their own, it’s unrealistic to expect to win against that many of them in the air.”

White smoke burst in a few places across the unnatural purple sky.

Almost like the midday fireworks signaling the beginning of a major event. But…

“Maleficium must be trying something too…but it looks like disseminating thought-reflecting crystal powder and gold foil isn’t accomplishing much. Cutting off the witch’s will to silence the familiars isn’t working!”

Melehe was smart enough to tell what was being attempted here, which may have been why she clenched her teeth in frustration.

“But these Dracae? Eep.” Dorothea sounded nervous. “We can’t get the city functioning again without defeating them.”

“We can’t let the Dracae be used up like this and I’m worried about Strena too. We need to call a doctor!” insisted Viocia.

“There’s no way a single person can manage billions of familiars at once,” said Melehe. “And even if she could, a single witch’s will can’t reach every last part of a city this big!”

“But there really are that many Dracae out there. How do you explain it!?”

“There must be a trick to it,” said Melehe, climbing the narrow stairs in the empty house.

She climbed up onto the roof, aware of the danger. Fortunately, the Dracae didn’t appear to be attacking anything at this height. At the very least, she had a 360-degree view for now.

“Yes, just as I suspected.”

“What is it, Melehe?”

“I can see a few smaller groups of Dracae separate from the ones covering the sky. I’m guessing the trick is there. Those groups were separated from the rest to protect something important.”

Viocia leaned forward and looked out into the distance.

“There’s a staff…or something sticking into the road. No, is that a spear?”

“I see. It must be a lance.”

“Eep?”

“The lance used by the Norse god Odin. But that isn’t Gungnir. It’s the magically-imbued divine lance that, if thrown toward the enemy army at the beginning of a battle, ensures the victory of the allied army!”

If Myousou Yagoro were here, he might have compared this to a front line antenna base that expanded the communication range in which drone weapons could fly.

“But you said there are ‘a few’ of these smaller groups. Eep. Then could there be more than the one lance?”

“From here, I can see 1, 2…5 of them. I can’t see the other side of the lake because of the diamond dust protecting Maleficium, but if the same distribution holds, there are probably 10 in all!”

Those lances were tools used to amplify a witch’s will so it could reach the Dracae from a greater distance.

Destroying the lances one at a time, would reduce the compatible area for the familiars, removing their freedom of movement.

Destroying them all would prevent the witch from commanding the Dracae from wherever she was in the city, freeing the Dracae from her. The artificial Dracae were neither good nor evil, so without a powerful command, they wouldn’t attack anyone. That would reclaim control of Temple School City’s skies.

“Eep. B-but there’s no guarantee the Dracae won’t attack us on the ground. Since they have groups stationed around the lances, they might just attack us if they sense danger there.”

“…”

Melehe couldn’t deny that possibility either. They had too little data. The Dracae weren’t attacking them up on the roof here, but altitude might not be the only condition. Using magic on the surface or approaching within a certain distance of a lance could also trigger a deadly attack.

So.

Glasses bandage girl Dorothea glanced over at Viocia, who was biting her lip out of concern for still-unconscious Strena and sorrow for all the Dracae having their lives thrown away.

Dorothea was the oldest daughter of a large family. Her family wasn’t exactly wealthy.

She understood how the real world worked.

She was used to seeing small children give up on something or go without something they really wanted.

But even so…

(Now isn’t the time to give up. Viocia isn’t asking for the impossible and she isn’t wrong. So there’s no reason to disappoint her here!!)

The glasses bandage girl gave a small nod.

What could she do? What was a beautiful witch? She asked these questions of herself.

And she used her will to acquire the appropriate “situation”.

“Eep. Then I’ll act as a diversion.”

“Dorothea?”

“It isn’t the Dracae’s fault they’re being ordered to die, so we have to do something for them, right? We also need to get Strena to a doctor. But the flying Dracae would catch up with either of you if you tried to run on foot as a diversion. Only I can fly close enough to the ground to distract the Dracae without hitting them. And if the legend about gouging out eyes is accurate, even the people on the ground could be at risk.”

“Hey, wait- damn!!”

Melehe reached out, but she was a step too slow.

Dorothea jumped from the rooftop and then used her Formula Broom to take off with extreme speed. After the girl was zooming away at low altitude, Viocia and Melehe could no longer keep up.

They sensed a shift in the purple mass overhead.

“What do we do about this?” asked Melehe

“We just have to break all the lances stuck in the ground,” said Viocia. “So we’ll have to run out and find them on foot. We can’t let the Dracae dirty their hands because someone made them and Dorothea can’t last as a diversion forever. So we need to do it before that happens!!”

Part 13

The change came suddenly.

Something crashed into the ground like a shooting star.

It was a Benandanti witch in thick armor.

This was how Yagoro had gotten separated from Viocia and the others. Instead of rushing to Strena after she was hit, he had gone to the Benandanti witch who had fallen from the sky.

Even though he was Viocia’s tutor right now.

“Nancy!!”

“Ha ha… This kind of thing keeps happening to me.”

When he propped her up in his arms, the girl with red pigtails smiled weakly up at him.

He doubted the Hexenturm armor, which trapped her personal goodness and conscience in an external cage, was functioning. It had been thoroughly destroyed. Which meant she must have taken considerable damage as well.

Not even Maleficium students were invincible. A mistake on their part could always prove fatal.

Purple filled the sky above.

(There’s that many ramming familiars up there? And they’re swarm controlled!?)

The millions, if not billions, of Dracae were not moving erratically.

A closer inspection showed the Dracae at the same altitude were all forming evenly-spaced grids. And these grids were stacked on top of each other.

Yagoro was reminded of a simple homemade diorama made by cutting out pieces of cardboard along contour lines and stacking them on top of each other.

The roe-like Dracae first created an evenly-spaced 2D shape and then stacked those shapes to create a silhouette much like a cumulonimbus cloud.

(Is it like a 3D map for drones? So instead of a 2D map, these symbols present the risk of collision to show flying objects where to avoid? No.)

“This is simpler than that. It’s based on a free-moving sandstorm.”

Witches would get lost in there even with the magical map that was a Formula Broom. This created an airspace of death and doom that robbed witches of their guidance, weakening them until they came to a stop and crashed.

Crashing into the supersonic witches acted as a bird strike attack which harmed the witch and triggered a malfunction in the Formula Broom. The multi-layer structure created by the Dracae could be seen like countless suspended ceilings blocking up the sky to bring down the flying witches.

(So this wasn’t even an issue of Nancy’s skill.)

In the Dazzling Forest, Elinalva had used magic much like an anti-air laser, but this threat was even greater. Against the swarm control capable of releasing millions or billions of familiars at once, placing a few anti-air weapons on the ground wasn’t going to accomplish much of anything.

Then Yagoro remembered Sorbeddy. Or rather, what her dragonfly-like broom, Formula Broom – River Seine bis9FE, had said: “Myousou Yagoro. Watch out for a round purple garment with the scent of my river upon it.”

(That explains it. Sequana protects the River Seine and the Dracae are said to have a large city at the bottom of a French river.)

His former student spoke through bloody lips.

“Yagoro. …Watch out for that woman.”

“What woman?”

“Wedding Exam. I looked into her and she is very bad news. Yagoro, she has helped several girls pass Maleficium’s entrance exam, just like you have.”

Was that the identity of the false god?

But before he could ask more, he raised his head.

She was right there.

Part 14

There was no point in Viocia and Melehe challenging the millions or billions of Dracae to an aerial battle.

But if they destroyed the ten lances stabbed into different parts of Temple School City, they could stop the commands being sent to the Dracae.

However, that wasn’t enough to rest easy.

The Dracae covering the sky hadn’t attacked anyone on the ground yet, but the defeated Benandanti were crashing into the ground in their thick armor. A hit from one of them was still a threat to Viocia and Melehe as they ran along the ground.

“Viocia, watch out above. An elevator’s collapsing!!”

“!?”

Had the Dracae slammed into it as a group to bend the metal pillar?

Viocia somehow managed to escape from below the giant scales elevator as it fell, crushing a nearby house in the process.

She couldn’t afford to be taken out here.

If Viocia and Melehe didn’t find and eliminate the lances controlling all those Dracae, Dorothea would be hurt while acting as a diversion for them. Injured Strena was still lying in that empty house and, while the Dracae were artificial familiars, they would destroy themselves by the millions or billions if this was allowed to continue.

Viocia couldn’t let that happen. She had to stop the tragic domino effect here.

“This way, Viocia! Get down!!”

The rules changed again. The Dracae swarm attacked them while they ran along the ground. And the Dracae suddenly scattered only a few meters over Viocia and Melehe’s heads. The roe-sized purple orbs lost sight of their targets and floated aimlessly around.

“Yikes! Th-they stopped attacking?”

“I drew out a big obstruction magic circle on the ground. That should stop any familiars that fight in automatic mode because they’ll read in the dangerous 2D symbol when they try to scan the terrain!”

Anyway, they couldn’t stop here.

Viocia and Melehe forced themselves to keep running through the panicked Temple School City.

“Where’s that first lance?”

“Found it!! It’s over there!!”

Something was stabbed into the stone pavement.

It was a silver lance measuring more than 2m long.

“ATU 0328a, Jack and the Beanstalk. The boy’s axe mercilessly cuts through the massive beanstalk which is compared to Yggdrasil!!”

Melehe gripped her customized broom and recited an incantation.

Magic power broke the lance at the middle of its shaft.

One down.

But only one.

Part 15

Myousou Yagoro raised his head while picking up his the limp form of his injured former student Nancy.

The villain she had used her last ounce of strength to warn him about was already there.

Someone stood a short distance away. Their gazes collided head on.

He recognized her.

She was the one who irregularly sold a large number of rare books to the used bookstore.

(Which would suggest her job requires an intimate knowledge of witchcraft. Such as an excellent educator.)

According to the ice witch, she had likely gotten into the real estate business by buying up empty homes all across the city.

(And all those Dracae emerged from empty houses!!)

“It was you?”

“I never formally introduced myself, did I, Navigate Exam? The Benandanti were apparently already keeping an eye on me, so there is no point in hiding my identity any longer.”

“The false god was you!?”

“I am Wedding Exam – Flamberg Wyrd. I move workplaces from time to time, but I am currently an instructor at the Aurora Swan Flight Sports Gym. Of course, I will be abandoning this appearance and name soon.”

She was a woman with short blonde hair.

Her slight frame was contained in a wedding dress and a witch hat of the same color. However, the unnatural red glimpsed at her neck and wrists may have been the glint of thick leather belts. She was like an anthropomorphized version of a strong but unwanted marriage.

The white with a touch of red gave her the coloration of a shortcake.

Wedding Exam.

That instructor was a specialist who boosted a hopeful witch’s chances from outside the prep school system, but in a different way from Myousou Yagoro.

The boy glared at her and didn’t hesitate to draw his collapsible baton.

Flamberg’s bewitching lips whispered in response.

She carried an extremely twisted Formula Broom. Its pair of main wings were so short they looked like part had been sharply cut away and the four wings of the tail assembly were partially hidden in the end of the broom. In addition to those transparently thin wings, there was a crystal ball at the tip of the broom. The overall silhouette was reminiscent of a surface-to-air missile. It was designed for just one thing: pursuing and killing the witch it targeted.

She spoke faithfully to that cutting-edge witchcraft device.

“Formula Broom – Loudun MTD. I request accurate instruction, my sweet, beloved Belzebuth.”

Yagoro froze.

She had already used several meaningful words.

Belzebuth was well-known as the Lord of the Flies and an archenemy counted among the seven deadly sins. And the French name of Belzebuth in particular was seen as a title of evil. In some eras and regions, he was a supreme being said to possess and rule over all witches.

Furthermore, in Goethe’s Faust, Beelzebub was the archenemy above Mephistopheles.

That was dangerous enough on its own, but the MTD at the end was the clincher.

Yagoro was furious over what happened to his former student, but this sent a chill down his spine.

(MTD – mobility test device. The broom’s safety and the witch’s physical limitations are set aside to push past the tolerance limits and make sharp, high-speed turns that are nearly suicidal? You only ever see those in Maleficium’s labs. I can understand grabbing one if you had no other choice, but does she seriously use one on a regular basis!?)

“Prepare yourself.”

“I already have.”

“To be clear, I would prefer not to do this. You are not my original target. Would you be at all willing to stand back and keep your life?”

He gave a snort of laughter.

She had his priorities all wrong.

“A tutor is entrusted with their student’s life and future. That’s what our teaching contracts entail. Did you really think I would give up just because the going gets tough or that I would abandon my students on the front line to ensure my own safety!?”

“Oh?”

Flamberg laughed.

And spoke quite clearly.

“Then I was right. I am the same in that way, Navigate Exam.”

“?”

And a moment later…

“ATU 0709, Snow White.”

Molten metal rushed in from dead ahead.

“Kh.”

“By marrying the prince, Snow White gained great political power, arrested her cruel step-mother, and had her wear red-hot (____) and dance until she died.”

He dodged aside while holding Nancy, but it didn’t end there.

(Dammit.)

“(Iron slippers)!!”

“The idea may have come from the Spanish boot used during the witch hunts. ATU 0328a, Jack and the Beanstalk. The boy stole someone’s treasure and then used an axe to cut down the beanstalk, sending the owner plummeting to his death. ATU 0510a, Cinderella. The villainous sisters chopped off part of their foot to fit in the glass slipper.”

(This isn’t just one story. She’s using multiple stories and focusing on the horrific elements that have been eliminated from the kid’s versions!!)

He ducked to dodge the axe spinning toward him and pulled his foot back to avoid the bear trap that suddenly snapped shut from the empty ground.

Or he thought he had dodged them.

It all happened so fast.

He used his back to protect Nancy in his arms and dull pain spread across it.

(Gah!?)

He could defend with magic, but Flamberg’s cycle was too fast. If he focused solely on defense, he wouldn’t have a chance to fight back and his situation would only deteriorate.

If that happened, his former student and his current student would be swallowed up by this tragedy.

“Your technique is solid and your skill isn’t bad.”

Yagoro asked a quiet question while burning with rage.

“Then why did you stoop to these misdeeds? An instructor at a famous flight sports gym shouldn’t be hurting for money.”

“Whether or not these are ‘misdeeds’ is a matter of perspective.”

The white dress woman laughed lightly.

Wedding Exam.

That other teacher with definite skill asked a question.

“Navigate Exam, you too have sent several girls to Maleficium in the past, haven’t you? You taught them how to study and they passed the entrance exam.”

“?”

“But can you look me in the eye and tell me this brought happiness to those girls?”

A deep darkness lurked within the woman’s eyes.

This was the opposite of the red serpent’s eyes of someone who had been hijacked by a Voland. They contained an endlessly black and murky darkness.

That was the ultimate form of human hatred.

“Passing that exam brought my students only one thing: death. Sure, it was always announced as an accident during flight training, but it happened inside Maleficium so who knows what actually happened. …Was it truly only an accident, or is some greater conspiracy at work? Either way, by helping those girls achieve their dream, I stole their future from them.”

“…”

“It should have been obvious, really. No one is going to live a happy, peaceful life attending that extraordinarily abnormal school. I did that to them. I measured their happiness based on one-sided values and irresponsibly sent them to their deaths just because they wanted to go. If I had known what would happen, I never would have allowed any of my adorable students to get into Maleficium.”

So…

Because of that…

“I made a choice.”

“Wait, don’t tell me…”

“I will not allow anyone else to get into Maleficium – not one more. All those girls with their mistaken dreams will find a much safer happiness beyond failure and resignation. Yes, yes. You see it all the time here in Temple School City. People give up on getting into Maleficium, open a shop for themselves, and live good lives. The smile on their faces as they manage to survive into adulthood is the one and only correct answer – they are the proof that I am correct.”

(Wait…)

Yagoro didn’t know how long Flamberg had been working as an instructor at the flight sports gym.

But what if…?

(Those who fail the exam open their own shops? This isn’t new. If she’s been doing this long enough, it’s possible she’s the reason the dancer Olivia and the bouncer Strena failed their exams!!)

That was beyond the pale.

It was irredeemable.

People’s lives were their own. Some people did find a life for themselves past their failure at the exam and they might have found their own happiness and fulfillment there. Yagoro wasn’t about to deny that.

But that was only if they had given it everything they had and then accepted the result.

What if they weren’t allowed to give it their all?

What if the teacher they had trusted above all else had given up on them and worked behind their back to ensure they failed? There was no happiness found there!!

That was a profanity.

It was the last thing a teacher could do to the students who trusted in them!!!

“If you can’t trust in your student’s future…”

The tutor boy gently lowered Nancy to the round and clenched his teeth.

His sense of pain had long since vanished.

“You have no right to call yourself a teacherrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!”

Part 16

Dorothea rode her broom skimming just off the ground of Temple School City at supersonic speed.

Flying so low had very different rules from flying in the open sky. The scenery was so close it seemed to melt into flowing lines and the air compressed against the ground lifted the Formula Broom in an unsteady way. That was called the ground effect. So she couldn’t just observe directly ahead. If she didn’t pay attention to the small ups and downs of the ground too, she couldn’t predict the fluctuation of the compressed air and she would be thrown around. This was especially important in a city with so many stairs.

Windows shattered whenever she passed through, but she couldn’t worry about that right now.

The Dracae swarm was definitely pursuing her.

She had made sure they would because she was buying time for Viocia and Melehe to make their move.

“Observation: you really drew the short straw this time. Annoyance: aren’t people with special abilities supposed to have an easier time of it as they ensure a safe position for the exam?”

“Yes, sorry, Aristotle. Eep. B-but if we can buy time like this, Viocia and Melehe will find some way of fixing this.”

“Statement: my complaint is with your gloomy thinking that keeps you from giving yourself that kind of advantageous position!! Question: were you always neglecting your own needs while raising all your younger siblings!?”

Just then…

“Wah! Wah!! Wah!?”

“They’re only attacking the witches. Roslynica, don’t let go of my hand! This way!!”

“Oh… Wait, Lady Moloch. Those children will be crushed by the crowd of adults, so grab them! But gently so they won’t get hurt!!”

“Moo!!”

The view around Dorothea suddenly changed.

A change far out ahead would arrive in a split second for a supersonic witch.

Just before a collision, she yanked her Formula Broom’s helm to the right.

“Tch. Are you stupid!?”

“Eep!?”

She lost control and crashed right into a purple group approaching from a different direction.

That was the Dracae.

(Th-they’re this close to the ground!?)

That one color filled her vision all at once. Her sense of direction was thrown off and she crashed her broom into a building.

That already crumbling building was a privately-owned store for magical goods.

She crashed into a pile of dried herbs out front – likely one of the store’s products – but this collision happened during supersonic flight. That alone wasn’t enough to save her life. And the split-second she had wasn’t enough to think up the Three Aspects needed for defense magic.

Someone had helped her.

Her face lit up and she turned toward her partner.

“Thanks – eep – Aristot-”

She heard a strange noise.

The red, yellow, blue, and green lines of light running along Formula Broom – Lyceum slowly flashed before vanishing.

Something was definitely wrong.

“…ksh, ksshh…”

“Aristotle!?”

“Dammit. Assessment: I screwed up. One of those damn Dracae got into my core and damaged it. I can’t fly…like this.”

“No.”

A great swelling surrounded them.

The purple Dracae continued to spread across Temple School City’s sky. Dorothea had been hit while skimming just off the ground. No one could say how long until the people inside the labyrinthine city were attacked.

“Assessment: it was lucky we crashed into a magic shop. Observation: Dorothea, I see a few brand new Formula Brooms lying on the floor over there…”

“Eh?”

“Advice: throw me out and complete the consecration with another Formula Broom. That will save you and allow you to fly again.”

Dorothea froze up for around three seconds.

Her mind had gone entirely blank.

“Wait.”

“Supplement: don’t worry. Reminder: I am the Formula Broom who once became a Voland and hijacked your body. Assurance: no one will think you wanton for trading brooms in the middle of studying for the exam.”

“Eep. Wait!! Y-you’re malfunctioning, but where are you damaged? If I can unseal you, open the broom, and check the map inside…”

“I said my core was damaged, didn’t I, you fool? Ksh. Confirmation: this isn’t about the bis or the MTD. Only someone from Maleficium can directly mess with this part.”

Why?

Why didn’t I pass last year? thought Dorothea, biting her lip.

If she had, she could have unsealed Formula Broom – Lyceum and repaired the damage!!

It all came down to her own inadequacy.

She had crashed while flying and it was her lack of knowledge and skill preventing her from repairing the core.

It was all on her.

And yet…

“Advice: go.”

“Eep. No…”

“There’s nothing you can do here. Leave me and consecrate yourself with another broom – any broom. Ksh. Conclusion: do that and you can fly again.”

“This isn’t about that!! Eep, I can’t leave you behind!!!”

“Question: then will you stay here and be crushed to death by the Dracae?”

Dorothea’s voice caught in her throat.

The fear of a very real death rose up to the surface.

“Are you stupid? Reminder: weren’t you going to push past all your rivals and get into Maleficium this year? Ksh. Then don’t get hung up over a mere tool. Focus on surviving and returning to the entrance exam competition.”

“No.”

Even so, Dorothea raised her voice with tears spilling from her eyes.

She spoke clearly.

“I can’t do that!! I can never abandon you to continue onward on my own!”

“…”

“Then I give up. Who cares about the exam? Doing that wouldn’t make my parents or my siblings happy. And I couldn’t look Viocia, Melehe, or the tutor in the eye!! …I’d rather go back home with you than do that. Sob, sniff. I’ll go back home and inherit the store if I have to!!!”

Crying and screaming weren’t going to change reality.

Myousou Yagoro wasn’t here, nor was Viocia Modestlucky.

The Dracae must have sensed something.

The purple swarm in the sky moved slowly and began dropping toward the city. The massive suspended ceiling made from a multi-layer grid was definitely dropping toward Dorothea.

She could no longer use witchcraft.

Nor could she fly to safety.

Dorothea Rockpool could only look up at the falling ceiling of doom when something happened.

A pure white pillar of light dropped from heaven to earth, burning right through the purple ceiling.

She still had a chance.

This wasn’t over yet.

They might not be right here, but Myousou Yagoro and Viocia Modestlucky were fighting too.

Part 17

Shortly before that, Myousou Yagoro took immediate action in front of Flamberg, who was behind it all.

(ATU 0333, Red Riding Hood. The ferocious wolf that devoured the girl was no match for the rational hunter using modern technology. The Norse Fenrir had his jaws split open by Odin’s child and witches suspected to be werewolves were put to trial. That’s all Three Aspects – so the predator has no future here!!)

A loud “pop!!” of air sounded.

This had not come from Yagoro’s instantly-constructed magic.

Flamberg had suddenly disappeared from the confused flea market where long lines of sight were rare.

(A ski jump takeoff!?)

Runways were normally kept flat, but there were a few exceptions. For example, on Earth, old aircraft carriers without steam or electromagnetic catapults would use an upwards-curving slope similar to a ski jump or a skateboard ramp. That allowed aircraft to take off using the extreme short distance of the ship’s deck.

In this case, Flamberg had used a diagonally-collapsed scales elevator and a crushed house’s roof.

Still, using a collection of rubble instead of a well-maintained flight facility showed she really was a top-rate instructor.

The millions or billions of Dracae were under her control. That meant she alone could fly safely through them without crashing.

This was over if she managed that.

No one would be able to touch her while she used magic based on the horrific side of stories in order to torment and kill people.

So…

“ATU 0124, Blow the House Down.”

“Kh.”

“The three little pigs had their houses destroyed one after another, but they were quick to escape and the fearsome wolf couldn’t stop them from running to their brothers’ houses!!”

An explosive boom sounded.

No one should have been able to pursue Flamberg while she flew safely through the 3D grid of Dracae. Her prey down on the ground should have been unilaterally attacked.

But that didn’t matter to Yagoro

He would not let Flamberg hide among the Dracae.

It was like the flow of time had stopped.

He jumped from the flying rubble of houses and the support pillars of scales elevators in the process of falling, he even broke the bonds of gravity to run straight up the side of a pillar, and he finally set his sights on a giant creature flying low to the ground to avoid the Dracae.

But he couldn’t reach it.

It was too far away.

So he clenched his teeth and shouted.

He shouted to the colossal creature the size of a bomber, which was officially designated an Immortal by Maleficium and had been given the highest ranking of Grade 15.

“To me!! Hanako!!!”

He forcibly pressed the soles of his shoes against its thick tail.

To repeat, Yagoro’s jump alone could never have reached it. Instead, the massive dragon had swung a tail as thick as a bridge toward him.

The dragons and griffins flying in Temple School City’s sky were in fact lifeforms created in Maleficium which then escaped and went wild. Which meant it was possible for the students and teachers to be acquainted with them.

The tutor boy ran up from the tail to the back and toward the enormous head.

“Thanks, Hanako. If you don’t want to get hurt, you and Tarou should keep your heads down until this is all over. Don’t get caught by that Dracae swarm!”

Loving Hana-chan responded to his advice by trying to nuzzle up against him, so he quickly righted his balance and then jumped from the dragon’s head into empty space.

Something sliced sharply through the air.

He matched its speed to board Flamberg’s flying broom.

She was now within range of his baton.

But the instructor didn’t seem particularly concerned.

She aimed her broom straight up and began a rapid ascent. The scale of the scenery changed.

“Now you can’t escape.”

“…”

“Interfere and you will either be crushed by the Dracae or unable to hold on and plummet to your doom. Take your pick, Navigate Exam.”

He should have been out of options.

Without a Formula Broom, flying was the one thing Yagoro couldn’t do.

However…

“Ha ha. Are you sure you want to do this?”

“?”

“See, no matter how much I master witchcraft, there’s one field where I always fail, like there’s something sabotaging me. When I rode on the back of Schanze’s broom during the last official practice exam, I had to be pretty careful. Flight time and max speed are both factors. But if I’m not careful and just let it happen, this is what happens.”

Part 18

And.

In some unspecified location, the goddess snapped her fingers in annoyance.

“Sigh. Divine punishment time☆”

Part 19

A white pillar of light with no connection to the weather conditions dropped straight down from the sky and pierced the two of them.

“Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!?”

“Kh…ha ha ha ha ha!!”

Flamberg screamed, lost control of her broom, and fell out into the open air, but Yagoro put up with the pain and laughed despite being right up there with her.

(Was Myrddin so unhappy about me joining Schanze on her broom because he was subconsciously afraid of this happening? Her broom is supposed to be prophetic.)

He could not fly.

No matter what he tried, he simply could not fly, like something was sabotaging him.

But making good use of such a blatantly negative situation was a sign of growth. He felt like praising himself for finding something in this world he wanted to protect this badly.

He could no longer return to his original home of Earth.

So the least he could do was become someone his mother and sister would be proud of while in this world.

Yagoro collided with an anti-bird net laid out in the sky, but it couldn’t support his weight and he broke through, slamming into the ground below. But that ground didn’t feel like marble or obsidian.

He detected the unpleasant scent of filthy, stagnant water.

The bending ground below him was a floating bridge made of rotting wood.

And as soon as he realized that, he heard a sticky sound and the rippling water around him changed to rainbow colors.

(The Ghastly Fishing Hole. That means I’m in a lakeside deadly zone where legend says your life is over if you carelessly catch what lurks in the waters!)

The only thing for him to stand on was the 1m-wide floating bridge made of thin wooden panels.

One step to the side and he would have fallen into the water. And likely never surfaced again. He seriously doubted the massive silhouette swimming below the bridge was a fish. This was something else entirely. If a human caught a clear glimpse of that thing, their psyche would collapse.

Flamberg lay on the same bridge.

But she hadn’t been slowed by a net on the way down, so she had slammed full force into the bridge.

Their gazes collided.

Yagoro readied his baton and Flamberg readied her broom before they clashed head on.

Part 20

They had finally dealt with the first one.

Melehe groaned after seeing the broken edge of the lance.

“The Aspect of Antiquity is Odin’s lance, but would the Aspect of Admiration be ATU 0310, the Maiden in the Tower – that is, Rapunzel? I see. A single hair is weak, but a bundle of hairs has great strength. That symbolism was used to control the entire group of Dracae. Maybe the Aspect of Amorality is the coven in which witches work together in a group?”

The first lance was destroyed.

But nine still remained.

“If these are scattered all across the city, it’ll take all day to run around finding them on foot. And Dorothea will eventually be taken out by the Dracae!”

“…”

Viocia fell silent for a bit.

Then she straddled her Formula Broom.

“Wait! Fly up and the Dracae will get you!”

“I know that.”

Viocia wasn’t looking up.

Her gaze was directed dead ahead.

At the surface level.

“But Dorothea is flying at super low altitude. That means it isn’t just theoretically possible. We know people really can fly at only 100cm off the ground.”

“!?”

Melehe couldn’t find anything else to say.

Flying at supersonic speed through a densely populated city crammed full of buildings would end with her crashing into the very first wall and dying instantly. That could be even more dangerous than flying up among the Dracae.

“Dorothea was already great at ground effect flight skimming just off the ground and her broom is a bisA specialized for that. Plus, this city is full of stairs. There’s no way you can pull it off with a standard model broom that wasn’t even modified at the Goddess’s Spring!”

“But I can’t force Dorothea to do it all herself.”

Still, Viocia did not hesitate.

Her decisiveness was born of not being all that bright.

And miraculously, a main street was open right before her eyes like a long, straight runway.

“I’ll take the same risk as her. Because she believed we could do anything!!”

Part 21

Yagoro and Flamberg rushed toward each other, baton and broom crashed together, and then they even slammed foreheads together.

They stomped on each other’s feet, grabbed at hair, and bit at the backs of hands.

Red splattered out.

Their sense of pain had long since vanished.

Their gazes collided and Yagoro understood that Flamberg was thinking the exact same thing as him

I want to win even if it means fighting dirty.

This is the one person I absolutely refuse to lose to.

(Heh. You never know what life has in store for you, don’tcha think? I thought the Force’s martial arts training was meaningless for an astronaut, but it does come in handy at times!!)

Flamberg’s lips moved as they locked weapons at extreme close range.

But she was not reciting an incantation.

“Falling through that net wouldn’t have negated the damage of the fall, so how can you get back up? How!?”

Myousou Yagoro grinned, giving a clear view of his bloody teeth.

“This isn’t my first time falling. My pain is my own. If clenching my teeth and enduring the pain will save my student, then that’s what I’ll do.”

“…”

“Don’t underestimate a tutoring contract. It might only be a small part of a long life, but they’ve entrusted me with their precious time. I said it’s a contract, remember? Did you really think I’d break it over a little thing like preserving my own life?”

Flamberg’s knee sank into the center of Yagoro’s gut.

Just as the breath left him, she poured more strength into her broom and swept the tutor boy down onto the bridge.

“But it is all meaningless.”

The instructor used her other hand’s index finger to point at the sky filled with unnatural purple.

“Billions of Dracae fill the sky. I have taken all freedom away from Temple School City. Maleficium exists at the center of the vast lake and it can only be reached with a witch’s broom. The labyrinthine city is one thing, but anything flying even directly on the lake’s surface will be detected and attacked.”

“So no matter what revolutionary theories and inventions Maleficium comes up with, none of it can ever leave the school?”

“Nor can they receive supplies like food and fuel. What exam student will want to starve to death on an isolated island? And even if some of them are suicidal, who can slip past the Dracae to reach Maleficium? Their foolish dreams end here. The 99.9999% failure rate is a thing of the past. This will save 100% of those girls.”

Maybe so.

If the Dracae could really blockade the sky and prevent anyone from using their brooms.

“But is that really true?”

“?”

Something crumbled away.

An unnatural gap appeared in the purple sky. First just the one, but then more and more appeared until the entire Dracae swarm vanished.

“The Dracae…?”

“I knew I could believe in her,” said a voice.

It came from Yagoro who could no longer get up under his own power.

“The kid I taught can solve this Dracae problem without my help. She’ll realize she only needs to destroy all the lances. And because I believed in her, I left the core of the problem with her. I wasn’t even worried.”

“…”

“What, did you think this was a battle between Navigate Exam and Wedding Exam?”

This was why he had put himself in harm’s way.

To ensure Flamberg wouldn’t target Viocia and her friends. It was a tutor’s job to give them the support they needed to solve the problem.

In other words…

“This is the city of girls who were blocked by the wall of 99.9999% failure but still couldn’t give up on their dreams. I’m not the star of the show who saves Temple School City from its crisis. That should’ve been obvious.”

“Kh!?”

Wedding Exam displayed concern she hadn’t before.

But instead of her own plans being foiled, she may have been more afraid for the hopeful witches gaining the knowledge and skills needed to reach Maleficium.

“You couldn’t trust in your student’s strength, so you never could have imagined this happening.”

Unflappable Flamberg’s face now crumpled up like a child on the verge of tears.

“I achieved this victory with them by actually trusting my student to the end.”

If this was such a shock to her – if she was still capable of envying another teacher’s relationship with their student – then she might still carry the possibility of taking a second shot at being a teacher.

“Then.” Flamberg Wyrd bit her lip hard and glared at him with bloodshot eyes. “That victory of yours only lasts until I regain control of the familiars. I will once more pierce the lances into the enemy base of Temple School City, imbue them with the appropriate curse, and reclaim my army of Dracae! That will be enough to shatter those girls’ mistaken dreams and save every last one of them!!”

“You dumbass.”

Yagoro still couldn’t get up, but he once more grabbed his baton in a bloody hand.

He could still fight.

He put together the Three Aspects in his head.

Simply defeating her wasn’t enough.

As a tutor, his job was to save his student.

So…

“Trust isn’t a one-way street. When someone trusts in you, you’ve gotta live up to that trust!!”

“You think you are a match for me when you are so badly injured you cannot even stand up? My magic focuses on all the horrific passages from the ATU stories, so crushing and eliminating a single person is a simple task for-”

Flamberg stopped speaking and wobbled to the side.

Her couldn’t even hold her shoulders straight.

She had, after all, been hit by a divine strike and crashed. Even if she cushioned the impact of the fall with defense magic, she had to be torn up on the inside. Since Yagoro had in fact collapsed and could no longer move, it was a miracle the instructor was still on her feet.

Still, she could probably do it.

Her hands were shaking, her tongue refused to cooperate, and she couldn’t use any real magic, but she would settle this even if it meant clawing and biting her target.

There was no happiness at Maleficium, so she would protect the girls’ smiles by ensuring they failed the exam. That was her only objective as she defiled herself and chose to leave the humane path.

(But that won’t work. You can’t let your own feelings influence you to the point you judge things based only on right and wrong.)

So.

Myousou Yagoro grabbed his baton.

(Don’t become a wicked witch. If you could have kept to that basic principle, you never would have mistakenly thought you had to defile yourself to do the right thing.)

But instead of the grip, he held it tight at the middle.

And he rotated his wrist as if bring it down on its side.

“?”

Flamberg Wyrd had become the wolf, but she hadn’t noticed that was the symbol of the bow built into the gauntlet. That is, the crossbow.

So he was ever-so-slightly faster.

“ATU 0333, Red Riding Hood.”

This was likely the true final attack.

He used his battered body to draw the nonexistent bow before reciting an incantation.

“I call on the hunter! If the wolf is defeated by human hands, then even the greatest tragedy can be stopped and the devoured girl and grandmother can be saved entirely unscathed!!”

Something invisible shot through the air.

The impact soared toward her head.

Like a beast shot between the eyes, Witch Flamberg dropped straight down.

Part 22

Silence fell for a while.

The Ghastly Fishing Hole was one of the lakeside deadly zones. Myousou Yagoro sat on the simple floating bridge there.

The Sunday blue sky had returned overhead and the purple was nowhere to be found.

He wished he could stay here forever, but he knew that wasn’t an option.

(Ugh. If I stay here too long, my student might enter this dangerous deadly zone to search for me.)

Just then, the silence was broken.

“Why did you use such a roundabout Three Aspects?”

The speaker was Wedding Exam Flamberg Wyrd.

She still lay motionless on the bridge, only her lips moving.

“If you only needed to kill me to stop this, there were plenty of shorter and simpler methods available.”

She seemed to be criticizing him for not doing that.

Even though she knew death wouldn’t let her see her students again.

Flamberg was the worst, but no matter how badly cornered she was, she had continued to fight as a witch without taking the easy way out and becoming a Voland.

She had displayed human strength.

As twisted as she had become, she was an educator who had dedicated herself to a heartfelt desire for the exam students to be happy.

She was a true and undeniable teacher.

Yagoro was willing to grant her that much.

“Heh.” Yagoro let out a quiet laugh. “Hey, Flamberg. This is magic. If you’d done your homework, you’d know the answer.”

“?”

So covered in blood, he didn’t have it in him to explain it all.

But he did have one thing to say.

“First of all, killing you wasn’t my goal. That should be enough of a hint for you to figure it out, teacher. Also, there are people out there who will risk their lives to protect my student for nothing in return. I wouldn’t just leave one of them to die, don’tcha think?”

Part 23

“Dorothea!”

“Pant, gasp. Viocia… A-are you alright?”

Glasses bandage zombie girl Dorothea was leaning back against the crumbling wall of a house. Her bandages were no longer just for show – they were soaked with red blood, showing just how much danger she had been in while giving Viocia and Melehe time to act.

Dorothea was still clutching her Formula Broom.

The broom had lost its bright colors and looked so dull now, which made her bite her lip.

Viocia’s first instinct was to hug Dorothea from the front. Feeling the large chest and the warmth told her Dorothea really was there. No matter how fleeting her presence might seem.

A short distance away, Melehe sighed with a hand on her hip. But she showed no inclination toward interfering.

Just then, a pale light began to glow. It came from Dorothea. The small specks of light danced all around and the wounds on the shy literary girl silently vanished.

“Whoa.”

“Wow, teacher must have done something,” baselessly suggested Viocia with a smile.

Then, like a receding wave, the purple covering Temple School City was swept away. But not really. In truth, each of the roe-sized specks was vanishing as its artificial body broke down.

Viocia looked up into the sky and shouted.

“Dracae!!”

“The artificial familiars have left their owner and completed their role. As seen from the records of a witch’s animals being executed along with her at the witch trials, familiars can die too. This was always their fate.”

“No…”

Melehe’s calm explanation left Viocia dumbfounded.

She had been so eager to end this as quickly as possible to minimize how many of them threw their lives away on those bird strikes, and this was the result?

One of the purple specks floated down nearby.

The roe-like outer film burst open and the small girl within opened her eyes a bit.

She was neither good nor evil.

The Dracae had only attacked Temple School City because the witch who owned them had ordered them to.

The Dracae tilted her head curiously before hesitantly reaching out a pair of delicate hands. Those hands gently squeezed the tip of Viocia’s index finger.

“Don’t…”

There was no danger, yet that was the word that left Viocia’s mouth.

Perhaps some part of her already knew how this was going to end.

“Please wait, Dracae!!”

She could have sworn the Dracae smiled.

The very next moment, the Dracae’s body burst and disappeared.

As easily as a soap bubble popping.

Only a faint warmth lingered at the tip of Viocia’s finger.

She was normally so cheerful, but no words left her mouth now.

“…”

Melehe Superlative, protector of Temple School City, shut her eyes and whispered.

“Their artificial bodies may disappear, but their mind will return to somewhere. They must be happy they were freed from committing such senseless destruction.”

Part 24

With that, the incident had ended for the time being.

The Benandanti in thick armor took the lead in clearing away the rubble. The Witch Doctors treated the wounded in white medical tents and the Officers set up collapsible kitchen counters and stoves and got to work cooking.

Red pigtail Nancy spotted a woman being carried to one of the tents by stretcher.

It was Strena.

“Kh… Are you alright? Let me help you.”

“Thanks.”

“It’s nothing, really. You’re the one I hit after stalling out in the air, right?”

“I may have given up on the entrance exam, but I am older than you. I should be helping you.”

Nancy had no response to that, so silence fell.

While waiting for her turn to be treated, Strena viewed the damaged city around her.

Nancy sighed and tried speaking again.

“It was a close one, but it looks like Yagoro managed to put a stop to it.”

“Tch. I still don’t trust that athletic intellectual. If he had a trump card, he should’ve used it before it got this bad.”

Strena’s words were critical, but they in part acknowledged what the boy was capable of.

She didn’t doubt he could have solved a problem on this scale.

Not far away, a sexy apron witch wearing a dress with the colors of a luxurious chocolate cake was pulling along a little girl(?) wearing a sheer camisole dress with the colors of a blue Hawaii soda float. The smaller of the two was tearfully angry.

“Dammit, you can’t just cancel the flea market, leaving me with a ton of unsold books! Yagoro, you really are nothing but bad luck!”

“My, my. If you still had that many books left over by the afternoon, I doubt you would have sold them all anyway. It’s not fair to blame him for that.”

No matter what might happen, life in Temple School City would not stop.

It was a special city where so many new and repeat exam students crashed into a solid wall and struggled until the majority of them gave up, but it was one of the best places for people to learn how to find and foster hope.

Part 25

It was Sunday evening.

Viocia Modestlucky had returned to the shop where she rented a room.

Freynir existed as she was coming in.

“It’s time to work. I have to head out and gather customers. I have to make sure everyone knows we’re open for business even after everything that happened.”

“Hi…”

“Hm? You sound tired.”

The girl answered with only an ambiguous smile.

Once inside, she went to the kitchen where bronze Moloch was helping Kevin.

That was her artificial friend.

Viocia held a book out toward Moloch.

“Here you go. This is the Encyclopedia of Witchcraft Herb Correspondences you were looking for.”

Moloch’s celebration caused quite a commotion. The entire building’s floor shook and Kevin yelled at them.

Viocia Modestlucky, hopeful witch, had a single question.

She still felt so inadequate and thought back to the artificial Dracae she had failed to save.

So she asked her question with a smile on the verge of tears.

‘Moloch, are you happy here?”

“Moo☆”

Part 26

Myousou Yagoro was badly beaten up.

But he still had a job left to do.

“Hey. Melehe told me more or less what happened.”

A broom with a ship’s helm attached was leaning against a crumbling building wall.

Dorothea was not here. Her glasses were close by, so she may have been washing her face in a nearby well.

To do something about her tear-stained face.

Yagoro put on a weary smile and got started.

“You critically damaged your internal structure protecting Dorothea, right? Honestly, Aristotle, you both love going out of your way to get yourselves hurt, don’tcha think?”

“Ksh…”

This was what remained of the broom that had fought to the end to protect Viocia, Melehe…and his own rider Dorothea.

“Demand: tell that to that idiot. Ksh, I told her not to worry about me and consecrate herself with another broom so she could continue with the exam.”

It was true only people with a connection to Maleficium could mess with the core of a Formula Broom. Ordinarily, Dorothea should give up on Formula Broom – Lyceum bisA and either find another broom or give up on the exam altogether and head home.

But.

But.

But.

“Tell me: is the Dracae still stuck inside you?”

“?”

“Maybe it’s just one of them, but there’s still an active Dracae inside you. And it miraculously worked its way in deep enough to damage your core.”

“Hey…?”

“Then if I can get the Dracae out of you and heal your wound, I can kill two birds with one stone.”

“Ksshh. Wait, what do – kssshhh – you think-”

“Oh, shut up already. Unseal.”

Myousou Yagoro had been to Maleficium, so he was all they needed to save them both.

Today’s Quiz 4

Viocia: …Teacher.

Yagoro: Sigh. So I hear you had a lot on your plate this time too, Viocia.

Viocia: Did we do the right thing? I mean, the Dracae were only doing what the witch told them to do.

Yagoro: (Hm, what should I do about this? I could just tell her I managed to save one of the Dracae, but I also don’t want to reveal my past to her during a quiz.)

Viocia: Teacher, are you hiding something?

Yagoro: Ahem. For now, you need to review. All the hints can be found on the Sunday of the flea market.

Question: How and with what magical methods did Myousou Yagoro defeat Wicked Witch Flamberg? (10 points per blank, 100 points total)

01. The initial concept was the Aspect of Admiration – ATU (____), Red Riding Hood.

02. I used the part where the hunter slays the wolf and rescues Red Riding Hood and the grandmother from the wolf’s (____).

03. I wanted a legend where attack and (_____) were two sides of the same coin.

04. The Aspect of Antiquity was the (____)’s club.

05. When used normally, that weapon can defeat the enemy army, but when held upside down, it can (_____) dead allies.

06. The Aspect of (______) was the creation of something from something.

07. That is the symbolism behind healing people’s wounds by (_______) plants or animals and creating potions out of them.

08. In this case, Flamberg and her ferocious attacks made her the (_____).

09. Because Dorothea and Strena were injured in the battle, they had been (____) by the wolf.

10. When the (_____) defeated the wolf, they were rescued with all of their damage erased.

Note: Simply defeating her wouldn’t have been enough. I also needed to rescue Dorothea and Strena, don’tcha think?

That’s all. Any questions, Viocia?

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