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Chapter 36
Chapter 2 — Expand, my world! • Episode 2-1 • Expansion Witch ③
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
「I know this has been a bit noisy, but let me start by congratulating you. Congratulations, Extend Traveler-san. I am as pleased as if it were my own that you have opened the Third Gate and become the 13th witch.」
The words are very friendly, but it is impossible to read the waves of emotion in the inflectionless voice uttered with an iron face. The words and attitude of the Thread Witch were so chilling that a person with normal sensibilities would have a hard time deciding whether to take them at face value.
The Octopus Witch and the Pirate Witch, who have known her for a long time, understand that these words are spoken from the heart, but Rabbitfoot is so suspicious that she thinks she is being sarcastic in order to take advantage of the earlier incident.
But whether the Thread Witch was being sincere in her celebration or sarcastic, it didn’t matter to Extend Traveler either way.
「You’re welcome, I would say, but as for me here, I feel rather sorry. It’s just that it’s taken so long to get to this point. I’ve put a lot of pressure on my Senpais.」
Extend laughs lowly and says in an irreverent manner.
It is not a visible provocation. It is not an expletive. Still, it is clear to all that Extend is in a state of high spirits. The Dragon Witch, for example, was slightly red-faced and teary-eyed, as if she had been reminded of her own past.
「The price of fame and privilege is a heavier responsibility, and that is what a Witch is. From now on, you too, as one of the top Magical Girls, should try to behave in a manner that is not embarrassing.」
「I don’t need to be told. I will devote myself to not be inferior to the successes of my Senpai.」
Extend lightly taps her chest as if to say, “I’ll take care of it!” Her face was full of the self-satisfaction characteristic of those who believe in their own success and breakthrough.
The Octopus Witch sensed that something would happen in the not-too-distant future, but she did not dare to touch it. It is better to solve problems as soon as possible. Rather than nailing her down and holding her up temporarily, it is better to let her do as she please and then carve out a thorough defeat, which is more certain and less likely to tail off.
「Kyahahaha! This is nostalgic, Dragon!」
「Please don’t bring that up…! That’s a black history…」
The Pirate Witch, sitting shallowly on her desk with both feet on the table as if she were lying down, laughs hysterically with her stomach in her hands, causing the Dragon Witch to turn over with her face bright red.
Extend moved her eyebrows twitchingly at the sight of them, but did not make any particular mention of it. She moved her arm, which had been freed from magic before she knew it, and sipped the black coffee.
Tilting the cup slightly, she rolls a small amount of it around on her tongue as if savoring it well and swallows it slowly.
「By the way, I have one question, if you don’t mind.」
「What is it?」
Extend with a wrinkled brow and a difficult face looked at the chair inscribed with 14.
「Is my dear colleague, Wind Witch-dono, not participating?」
「This tea party was one of the main events to welcome Extend-san, so we decided to wait until the next tea party for Tyrant Sylph-san.」
That wasn’t the only reason, but she’s not lying. The weight of judgment on the Thread Witch and the Octopus Witch was overwhelmingly based on the fact that they had not been able to gather prior information about Tyrant Sylph and the insanity of their invitation on the day of the event, and had not known of her existence until today, but even if they had obtained information beforehand, they would not have invited her to this tea party.
It may vary from person to person, but becoming a Witch and participating in a tea party is one of the attainable goals for the average Magical Girl. In the event of being invited to their first tea party as a Witch, many magical girls want to be the star of the show.
If there is someone in the same situation as her, who has just become a Witch and is attending a tea party for the first time, the attention will be divided in two. On the contrary, one Witch could eclipse the presence of the other. They hope nothing happens with that, but the two know how foolish people can be. When people don’t get their way, they look for the reason to something other than themselves and turn to resentment.
Aside from the Extend Traveler, neither of them has yet figured out to the point where Tyrant Sylph is that kind of Magical Girl, but they don’t dare to take the risk. That’s why they delayed inviting Tyrant Sylph to the tea party for this month.
「This me doesn’t care about such trivial things, though. From what I’ve been told, she’s not the type to worry about such things either.」
「Now that you mention it, Extend-san and Sylph-san are neighbors in the area of activity, aren’t you? Do you know each other?」
Under the guise of natural conversation, the Thread Witch briefly probes about Tyrant Sylph. It is said that the Magical Girl in the Natural Lineage who is closest to being a Witch is the Magical Girl Of The Meteor, and she know the names of several other promising Magical Girls, but she had never heard of a Magical Girl who uses Wind Magic who might be a Witch.
Usually, if a Magical Girl is a Witch, her existence is known by word of mouth, even if she doesn’t voluntarily transmit information. In fact, the Thread Witch have long ago grasped that Extend as someone who might eventually become Witch.
「We haven’t met in person yet. I heard that the Wind Witch doesn’t like to get to know people very well. But I’ve heard some of the stories from my friends.」
「What kind of stories?」
「As Senpai may know, the Wind Witch is a newcomer, having become a Magical Girl just a month or so ago. It’s no wonder that I, an active member in the next town over, didn’t know about her existence until recently.」
After confirming that Extend Traveler’s mood was not spoiled and that she was rather alright with it, the Thread Witch nodded silently and urged her to continue.
As a result of a brief investigation before the tea party began, the Thread Witch knows that Tyrant Sylph is a new magical girl who happens to operate in an area adjacent to Extend Traveler. That is easy to find out with a little research, and of course other witches would know this.
No matter how the main character of this event is Extend Traveler, it would be a little unnatural not to talk about Tyrant Sylph at all in this situation. It was convenient for the Thread Witch, who had been thinking about how to broach the subject, that Extend was so good at talking about Tyrant Sylph.
「There has been a lot of talk in some circles on message boards and social networking sites, but it seems that the Wind Witch-dono was a Witch from the beginning. I heard that her friends weren’t sure she was a witch, but her support fairy were saying things that hinted at it.」
「A support fairy, you say?」
A fairy who stays with new Magical Girls in each area and imparts various knowledge to them, never leaving until another newcomer appears or until she is deemed to have imparted enough knowledge. That is a Support Fairy.
If it has a Support Fairy, then there is no doubt that Tyrant Sylph was a newcomer.
「That’s outrageous, Hey. Even Red Ball took six months to make it.」
「…Wow.」
「Perhaps she’s at Lazy-san’s level or something…」
「Hah! She’s just got a little lucky! It’s no big deal anyway!」
The conversation is about to get deep into Tyrant Sylph.
「There’s no point in gossiping about people who aren’t here. More importantly, Extend-chan, isn’t your area a little dangerous right now? Are you okay?」
As the Thread Witch inwardly pondered how to divert the topic, the Octopus Witch clapped her hands with a clap to attract attention, then asked Extend.
「Hmm? It is true that the rate of Diest appearance is increasing, but that is more due to the influence of Sakira Town. As for me, I’m a little more concerned about the situation there.」
「I’m not just talking about the number or the strength of the Diests, okay? It’s also about good hunting grounds and the places associated with them that get targeted.」
Hunting Ground. It is a term that refers to an area that is particularly prone to the occurrence of Diests and strong Diests. The conditions for its occurrence have not been elucidated, but the fact that its number increased in conjunction with the recent new Diest outbreak suggests that there may be some connection between the two.
「Ahh, the other magical girls have talked about it.」
Extend nodded as if she was convinced.
Some of the hunting grounds are hellish areas where powerful Diests are popping up every day, and are too much for the weaker Magical Girls in Phase 1 and Phase 2, but on the other hand, they are freebies for powerful Magical Girls who can earn a ton of points.
Some of them are even trying to make the hunting grounds their own, attacking the Magical Girls who were originally active there and trying to take their territory away from them.
「Magical Girls of every description are not my enemy. And my friends will not lag behind the average Phase 2. That is, unless she’s from the Senpai’s faction or a top-ranking magical girl.」
For the first time here, the Extend Traveler stares at a single Witch with a clear and swarthy will. At the corner of her eye, there was the Ice Witch who had thrown her upper body limply onto the desk.
More than 10,000 magical girls and 14 witches standing at the top. Four factions exist among them.
One, the Natural Faction, headed by the Ice Witch Permafrost, is a group of Magical Girls of the Natural Lineage.
Two, the Law Faction, a group of Magical Girls from the Law lineage headed by Red Ball, the Gravity Witch, and Ex–Magna, the Magnetism Witch.
Three, the Life Faction, which is headed by the Octopus Witch Doppelganger and includes the Dragon Witch Dragon Call, the Rabbit Witch Rabbitfoot, and the Shark Witch Bullshark, a group of magical girls from the Life lineage.
Four, the Creation Faction of Magical Girls from the Creation Lineage, headed by the Thread Witch Wigs Crosseau.
Even though they are factions, not everyone who belongs to a faction has an adversarial relationship with the respective faction, but rather they are more of a mutually supportive group.
However, there are radical bunches in every group, and some of them hate Magical Girls from other factions or those who do not join them as if they were snakes.
Some of them are also behaving like yakuza, for example, relying on their faction’s strength to do as they please or forcing unaffiliated Magical Girls to pay a miserly sum of money.
Fortunately, there are very few types of Witches in the current situation who are concerned about factions, so there are no major fights between factions and fewer Magical Girls who behave as they please than in the past.
However, amidst all this, there was one faction that stood out for its badly behaved Magical Girls.
「I heard that there is such an antediluvian faction that is occupying the hunting grounds with its entire faction. What are your thoughts there? Ice Witch-dono.」
「Eh? What is it, what is it? What talk is this?」
The Ice Witch, tilting her head slightly, seemed not to have heard the conversation at all, as if there were a question mark floating above her head. It was a cute gesture that suited his young appearance.
Extend, also, has been drained of her venom, her gaze has lost its steely quality and her tone has changed somewhat to one of dismay.
「If I’m being honest, I don’t really care what you think. But if you turn on me and my friends, I will not tolerate it.」
「Peeling the fangs…? Muh–! Don’t be so hard on me! I’m just a kid, I don’t know anything!」
「Well, then I don’t blame you.」
With a shrug of annoyance, Extend forcefully terminated the conversation. She must have realized that there was no point in talking about it any more.
It is a well-known fact that there are radical Magical Girls among the naturalists who are even willing to rehabilitate other Magical Girls to achieve their goals.
It seems that Extend had intended to pursue the Ice Witch for scandals committed by Magical Girls belonging to the Natural Faction, but by the looks of things, she concluded that she probably didn’t have control over the faction in the first place.
To the best of Extend’s knowledge, the Ice Witch has been operating in the same form since she herself became a magical girl, without growing at all. It is rumored that she may be using rejuvenation drugs, but the reality of this is not certain. The rejuvenation potion should not affect even the psyche, but then, the Ice Witch’s words and actions are not out of place, commensurate with her appearance. It is as if she have stopped growing mentally and physically. If she really have not grown at all, it is not surprising that she have not been able to gain control of her faction.
The Ice Witch’s apparent age is roughly around 8 years old. Assuming that her mental age is equivalent to that, there is no way that a girl of that age could understand what the factions are about.
「Sorry for getting off topic. But, well, I guess you don’t have to worry about Junkoi’s state after all. Not much taste to call it a Hunting Ground.」
The frequency and strength of Diest appear in different areas. In some areas, weak Diest, such as Knights and Commons, appear endlessly, while in others, reasonably strong Diest, such as Vikant and Earl, appear every few days. Areas that have recently become hunting grounds include Yomogi, and areas that are not so much hunting grounds but have a high rate of occurrence are also increasing, such as Himoto and Hōzuki.
In this respect, although the Junkoi Town area that Extend is responsible for has a higher occurrence rate than other areas, it is not spectacularly different. Rather, it was the neighboring town of Sakira that offered the greatest hunting advantage compared to other areas.
「It is definitely Sakira that is being the Hunting Grounds. If they were to go after Junkoi, they would go after that one, which is right next door and more profitable. However, Wind Witch-dono is there. I don’t think they can mess with her, though.」
「It’s good to be confident, but be careful not to lose your footing, okay?」
「I’ll keep that in mind.」
The conversation breaks off once at the end of the confident yet honest response of Extend, who may or may not understand the Octopus Witch’s advice.
The Thread Witch lowered her teacup to the saucer with a slight clang, as if she had been watching for the right moment.
「The conversation have been derailed a little. Let’s begin our regular report, shall we?」
The Tea Party, which was hit by several accidents as usual, starting with Extend’s tardiness, a dueling commotion, and a derailment of the topic, ended much later than planned.