[Eh?]

Rud was somehow preplexed all by himself, in a huge field, standing while equipping some kind of device in his hand. The device was a bit designed like a glove with a crystal on the backhand, but with some kind of trigger on its palm.

[YOU READY, BLOCKHEAD!?] Hildegarde was far away from him, trying to observe the experiment with Rud as her lab rat.

[Wait a minute, Lady Hilda...!] [I don’t really understand what are we trying to do!!]

[You really are a blockhead after all.] Yohn was coming up toward his collar and start to speak to him near his ear. [We need you to test the Rune Core that we’ve recently made here.]

[Wait, this is a Rune Core?!?] [She made one?!?!]

[This is already her 10th one.] [So hurry up and be done with it.] [You’re whining too much for a slave.]

[AREN’T YOU ON THE SAME SIDE AS I AM?!?!]

After yesterday’s confirmation regarding Hilda borrowing Rud’s slave, Hilda quickly decides that he’ll be assisting her regarding the creation of the Rune Core and for testing it out.

[If you forgot the reason we’re doing this, I’ll tell you again.] [Since Hilda pretty much a seasoned Witch and capable of doing a close-combat magic chanting in a short time, there’s a difference between her using it and when she equipped it to her familiar.] [To be able to test this tool effectively, someone who has a big amount of mana container as well as being unable to use magic at the same time is needed.] [Thus, we decided that you’d be a perfect fit for it.]

[And without my consent?!?]

[We already get our permission from your master, after all.]

[YA!] [HOW LONG ARE YOU TWO GOING TO LEISURELY TALKING LIKE THAT?!?!?] [WANT TO HAVE SOMETHING JAMMED ON YOUR BACK?!!?]

Hilda, growing impatient, start to threaten Rud that he ended up closing his mouth immediately and start to focus on using the tool, the Rune Core.

[Alright, listen up.] [All you need to do is to Aim toward the center of the field and press the trigger on your hand.] [You may feel a bit weird having your mana consumed for a bit, but overall there should be no problem.]

[Grrgh... okay....]

Doing as instructed, Rud slowly helding his hand on the trigger of the tool and....

*CLICK!

*ZWAAAAAAAAAASH!!!

Almost at the same time as the trigger were pressed, a fireball suddenly forming in front of his hand. As Rud keeps holding the trigger, the fireball keeps getting bigger, but still staying in front of the trigger.

[Wha...?!] [Is this the feeling of being able to use magic?!?!]

[Alright, I guess there’s no error on the device itself.] Hilda was self-boasting after he make sure that the tool do works properly.

[This is really cool though!] [Whoaa...!] Mesmerized, Rud start to waving his arm left and right, up and down, while the fireball keeps following his arm.

[ALRIGHT! THAT’S ENOUGH, YOU CAN RELEASE IT TO THE FIELD!!]

[Eh?]

Just at the same time as he’s releasing the trigger, he didn’t realize that he’s aiming the fireball toward his own head.

*CLACK!!

[WHA...!] [YOU FOOL!!!!!!]

[Eh?]

*BLAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

The ball exploded right in front of Rud’s head.

[IDIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!]

[DON’T WORRY!] [WE’RE SAFE!!!]

Somehow Yohn and Rud barely saved. The ball did explode right in front of them, but right before then, a wall of stone stand between them and the explosion. And with that said, Hilda furiously run toward them.

[YOU FRICKIN’ IDIOT!!!]

*PLAKKK!!!!

With a paper fan in her left arm, Hilda strike Rud’s head as hard as he can, paining him somehow.

[I... I’m sorry...!!] [I wasn’t focused...!!!]

[YEA YOU SHOULD BE SORRY!] [THIS IS JUST THE FIRST TEST, AND YOU ALREADY RUINED IT!!!!]

[B... but, Lady Hilda....] Somehow Yohn was trying to calm her down by climbing up toward Hougo’s head. [At least he’s safe, so we can....]

[OF COURSE HE WAS SAFE!] [I’VE ASKED HOUGO TO ALWAYS KEEP WATCH ON HIM IN CASE SOMETHING DID GOES WRONG!!!] [NOW LOOK! HE LOST ANOTHER SHIELD ON TOP OF THAT!!!] [IF EACH TIME WE’RE DOING A TEST AND SOMETHING KEEP HAPPENING, EVEN HE WOULDN’T LAST!!]

[I’m sorry....] Rud can only keeps his head lower and lower than usual, realizing that he really was at fault.

[*sigh*... make sure to stay focused, alright?] [All you need to do is to aim at the central field and press the trigger.] [In case something did happen, Hougo will be there to help you, so you shouldn’t worry too much, okay?]

[Right....]

Then suddenly, Rud notices something is amiss.

[Wait a minute, Lady Hilda.] [How come Hougo can actually moves that fast toward me?] [If I remember correctly, he was supposed to be right beside you, and yet he reach all the way here in no time at all.]

Yohn and Hilda was totally shocked hearing Rud’s exclamation and can only stand silently.

[... You still haven’t realized it yet?] [For who do you think this Rune Core is made for?]

[It wasn’t for me?]

[....] [Clear your head up on the stream over there, and we’ll be restarting later.]

[Wait whaaaa?!?!?]

***

At other place, a sight of something unfathomable happens so suddenly.

[HOW ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS!?!?!?]

[I... I’m sorry.] [I promise I’ll make it up to you by the end of the day!]

Yohana was in the middle of apologizing toward some other girls from the Relief Unit, the one that mainly does things regarding the development of the inner village, like agriculture and the likes. And somehow Yohana, one of the representative from Gallant unit in which its purpose was to maintain safety within its own town, had to beg for forgiveness for the mistake of one of her junior.

[AND HOW IS IT GOING TO HELP US AROUND HERE?!?] [YOU KNOW THAT THIS IS ALREADY THE 9th TIME THIS HAPPENED!] [FURTHERMORE, IT’S HER OVER AND OVER AGAIN!!]

She’s angrily pointed toward one of the girls whom have been lowering her head in regret. A girl with light brownish hair together with her familiar which’s clad in full black armor.

[I have no excuses regarding that.] [But I’ll promise you that I’ll recompensate for the damage that’s already happened....]

[YOU’D BETTER BE!] [AND WHILE YOU’RE AT IT, YOU SHOULD DO SOMETHING WITH THAT GIRL!!] [EVERYTHING’S A MESS THANKS TO HER!]

Yohana can only stay silent until the girl from the relief unit finally stops shouting and start to leave the place after Yohana had promised to compensate her. As they finally manage to leave the place, this time it was Yohana’s turn to interrogate Josephine.

[Fina.]

[Y... yes, senior?] Though Josephine was already expecting that she’ll get scolded, her heart somehow still unprepared.

[Normally I won’t ask this out of consideration....] [What happened actually?]

[Eh?] Josephine can only stand shocked being suddenly asked something like that out of the blue.

[Besides your ability to recreate magic items, lately your concentration has been off.] [At first I thought it’s because you’ve been keep creating some kind of weird tool over and over again.] [But there’s also something wrong with your daily life.] [You’re unusally late at waking up, and sometimes you’re so out of it that you can barely hear us talking.] [Tell me honestly, what’s wrong with you?]

[Eh?] [Uhmm... Well, I do have some worries on my mind, but I don’t think it’s that straining for me.] [Right, Vram?]

[I agree.] [More like, I’ve always observing Master to ensure that she doesn’t overwork herself when she’s working with something.] [Though it does makes me wonder, her being always late at waking up, her aimless magic, and her tendency to space out sometime.] [It wasn’t like that from the beginning?]

Yohana feels like something wrong about the situation that unfold before her. She somehow sensing that there’s some kind of happening right in front of her.

[Wait a minute.] [Fina, from the time after you summoned Vram, do you feel anything strange?]

[Strange?] Josephine pondered for a bit from those question. [Hmm... aside from the time I’m feeling light-headed when I tried to cast a complex magic, I’ve been perfectly fine.] [Though lately I’m feeling hungry more often than usual....]

[What...?] Hearing the case Josephine is having, Yohana somehow shows a dreadful face which surprise Josephine and Vram even more.

[Fina!] [Come with me now!!!!]

[EH?!] [But I still have to write some report regarding....]

[THAT CAN BE DONE LATER!] [OR RATHER, I’LL BE THE ONE DOING IT!] [For now you should come with me quickly!!!]

[Eh? Eh? Eeeh?]

***

At some places, Chris was in the middle of playing together with something. It looked the most like a human, with the difference in size having only as big as between the elbow and the arm, also with a transparent bug wings on its back and weird eyes. It was often referred as a fairy.

*SHIIING~!

[Thank goodness....] [You’ve finally restored.] [I really was worried you know, when you’ve been swallowed by that shadow hands....]

[It was scary, I tell you!] [Seing half of our familiar’s body getting swallowed like that.] [Thankfully somehow Hougo wasn’t affected by that.] Rosa from the other rooms also start to comment something while in the middle of treating her own familiar.

Suddenly then, Chris’ familiar was flying toward the entrance, surprise Chris as it was too sudden.

[Wait, Alsha.] [Where are you going!?]

Flying so fast toward the entrance, one of the witches whom were in charge of taking care of the wounded familiar were also surprised seeing the familiar energetically flying toward the exit. But the moment it reached the door, it wasn’t trying to goes out, instead was opening the door and let it just like that.

[Umm... is someone going to come, Alsha?]

Alsha just flying toward Chris’ face and nodding her head. Not too long after that, Yohana was coming in forcefully while dragging Josephine, while Vram and Sear, Yohana’s familiar, are following from behind.

[Yohana?] [What are you doing here?] [Was Sear getting hurt or something?]

[Sorry, I’ll explain later!] [For now, I need you to check Josephine’s condition!!]

[[Eh?]] Almost everyone including Chris and the other Witches there can only stand there confused. But since it seems to be quite urgent, the witches quickly drag Josephine into their Examination Room.

[Lady Yohana.] Vram somehow started to feel the tension there.

[Vram.] [No matter how the result turned out, I don’t want you to blame yourself over this.] [In fact, I sincerely hoped that I was mistaken....]

[Did something happen?] Chris quickly stand beside Vram, curious about what was about to happen.

[Chris....] [I... I can’t really bring myself to mention it in front of her and Vram....] [Since... she was finally had his own familiar...!]

[Wait, I don’t get what you’re talking about...!]

Yohana start to went silent, which somehow put an awkward situation right in front of them. After waiting for quite a long time, Josephine finally came out, looking a little depressed.

[Josephine?!] [What’s wrong? Did something happen?!?!]

Chris, somehow noticing that something went wrong with Josephine, start to hurriedly goes to her aid.

[Senior Chris...!] [Wh... what do I do...!]

Josephine start to teared up while almost bawling her heart out. Just then, the girl whom was in charge of examining Josephine, steps out from the room, and Yohana quickly went toward her.

[How is it...?!]

The girl can only stay silent before finally decided to talk.

[She... experiences a short-circuited mana link.] [And apparently, it has been going on for long....]

A case where a magician or spellcaster had one of their Mana Circuit, which was mainly used for transforming a mana into a magic. For a Witch, usually they had more than 2-digit numbers of Mana Circuit than normal human has, which is why they could complete many kinds of complicated magic with ease.

[What?!] Chris whom have been listening from the side suddenly went into a big shock hearing the news.

[So it’s really true....]

[Wait a minute!] [We’re a witch, so there’s no way we’ll experience that kind of situation!] [Besides, Josephine barely ever use a grand-scale magic, so....]

Before she finished her reasoning, she stopped herself. Not because there was something caught on her throat, but she suddenly comes to a realization, as she shifts her gaze toward one anomaly that has been with her this whole time.

[Don’t tell me... the demerit?]

[It seems so....] [The way her mana regulate irregularly isn’t endanger her own life, but it does her quite a lot burden.]

Somehow when the situation become gloomy, Vram was the only one left clueless there. Then step out toward them.

[Demerit?]

[Ah, I forgot that you can’t use magic, so you don’t understand.] [You see, we witches always have a familiar that’s close to us right?] [Usually regarding the summoning of those familiar, not every strong witch can obtain a powerful Familiar right out of the blue like that.]

[Yes, and why is that?]

[It’s because you, and the rest of a familiar, had a merit and demerit effect that directly affect us Witches.]

[What?!?]

[And guessing for the symptoms....] [I guess it is the demerit of your existence....]

[Wait, then Master is...!]

As Vram suddenly panicked and shifted his sight toward Josephine, suddenly she stopped crying and can only looked confused.

[Eh?] [Demerit?] [Not because of me overworking my mana circuit???]

Her sudden claim also confuses the other that they ended up staring toward the girl whom examined her.

[Well there are also some place where the circuit line were being worked to the maximum, but somehow the strain quickly heals itself.] [While somehow, the short-circuited ones has been there for quite long and doesn’t seems to be used much.]

Everyone there can only stay silent as they’re trying to understand the whole situation.

[Wait a minute.] Suddenly, Rosalinda come out of nowhere after listening to most of their story. [So basically, Josephine cannot utilize some kind of magic anymore?]

[Err... to be precise, she cannot utilize any kind of grand-scale magic that demands her to create something out of her own mana container anymore.] [For any medium-scale and lower, she might be able to, but higher ones may need some time to be perfectly cast.] [But she still can do any kind of ritual magic that needs a lot of preparation and resources to be fulfilled.]

[Wait...!] Josephine suddenly raised her arm as she was concerned of something. [Then that means my life nor Vram was in any kind of danger?!]

[Umm... I never said that, though.] [I’m just saying that your familiar somehow is related of your condition.] [As Lady Yohana says, it is the Demerit of having a familiar after all.]

[GEEZ! DON’T MAKE IT SOUND SO COMPLICATED!] [I THOUGHT ME HAVING A SHORT-CIRCUITED MANA LINK WAS GOING TO CAUSE SOME PROBLEM TO VRAM!]

[But Master....] Vram reaching out to Josephine in worry.

[Yes?]

[Aren’t you concerned about it at all?] [I mean, me being the reason of your condition right now....]

[Umm... Nope, none at all.]

[Eh?]

[I already knew about there being a demerit once you’ve made a pact with a Familiar after all.] [More like, if a Witch were afraid of the demerit it has, none of us would be brave enough to summon one, after all~!]

[Yup~!] [That Naked Idiot over there got it right~!] [That’s not something us should fret about, right?]

As Rosa freely expressed her content, somehow Yohana looked more worried than before.

[No, I need to fret about it.]

[Yohana?] [What’s wrong actually?] Chris somehow confused as what kind of problem Yohana had to face.

[You see....] [Since the demerit was actually that fatal....] [Josephine had lost any qualification needed to become a Gallant.]

[[[Eh?]]]

***

[WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?!?!?]

Endrossa, suddenly went into a rage and shock, shout her lungs out toward the girl whom have delivered some report to her.

[I... I’m afraid so....] [I already had the testimony of the other group of girls whom were also together with Maria.] [It seems that they split up when they were being chased by a Vasp Queen.]

It was a report of a missing Witch, in this case, Maria’s dissapearance. The Relief unit was finally received her distress signal, in the form of a faerie light. But what enrages her the most wasn’t for the fact of her went missing and in trouble, but....

[For her to go to the Forbidden Spot...!] [What in the world is she thinking...!!!]

[Elder....] [I’m sorry for being rude, but....] [We... I don’t think there are any unit from either the Relief nor Rising Unit would dare to set foot in there....]

[Still, we can’t let her alone just like that.]

As she says that, she moves away from the room she has been staying.

[Inform all of the 12 Apostles to assamble.] [Make them know that this is an emergency.]

[A... alright!!!]

The girl quickly rushed out to inform each and every Apostles as a new conflict creeping out into their lives.