The Circles.

A term of a sub-organization where they regulate everything that’s happening around the Witches’ Village. The circles itself was managed by the 12 people that had the highest qualification among the other witches based on their own spesification. These people were also goes under another name, which is The Twelve Apostles.

Its origin regarding the number was unknown, but the title for those 12 Apostles was the main foundation of how Witches Village works. Originally, the main framework regarding how the village worked was split into two main function.

Vanguard Unit, in early times, reffered to witches whom possess a familiar partner specialized in combat, with Scavage as its subclass; its primary role is to support its more capable superior.

Relief Unit, it was referred to those whom specialized in securing resources and living needs for the witches, requiring a witch and a familiar specialized in procurement works.

This formation was usually enough for Witches, whom were known to be able to use magic as they pleased without having to worry about their mana consumption.

However, it was if the place they stayed in is normal.

In Helven, especially the main island, there is no such things as convenience or the likes. The appearance of a monster that can detect creature with mana like Vasp, a monster that can swim through the ground, or another kind of monster like that is enough to instill fear into anyone that stepped into that continent.

Furthermore, the plant and fruit on that island can’t be considered as “safe”. At the first or second bites, it seems safe. But on the long term, it somehow impedes the mana flow insides each of their body that is needed to unleash their magic, mainly because most of the natural thing in that island had its mana deprived and stored elsewhere.

Because of that, a single witch, together with her 12 comrade, decided to recreate a new framework system for their settlement in order to ensure their survivability better. And now the 12 representatives of the Apostles and one elder has each accepting their responsibilities of each unit.

Hidden deep inside a valley in the innermost part of the village, there lies a room so spacious with a ritual table, in which it has a magic circle on top of a cloth and a crystal-like orb set on top of it was being set for 13 people, 12 of it had the same kind of ritual table while the one in the northern-most position somehow looked more grand than the other ritual table, with the ornament being flashy decorated with some kind of glowing metal and mineral.

[Oh, am I the first one to arrive?]

Looking left and right nervously, someone entered the room. As the light strikes her, it shows a figure of a reserved person with reserved body, a slim line from above toward below while wearing something quite “reserved” for a witch, something that covers almost her whole skin while still showing her figure, making her already transparent clothes looked like a mere accessories. A green-haired glasses person with her twin pigtails twirling left and right as she swing her head left and right.

[Oho!] [Now isn’t that Phillia~!] [It’s a rare case for you to come here first~!] Another person then came right after the green-haired girl called Phillia. A cheery, brightful and blonde-wavy haired person with sparkly clothes that blinked everytime it flutters, while wearing some kind of bodysuit, though strangely the color of the bodysuit was the same as her skin.

[Ah, Senior Tamara.] [Umm... Senior... those clothes...?]

[Ehehe~] [Cute, isn’t it~!?] [Most people who sees me ended up surprised, thinking that I wasn’t wearing anything.] [Don’t worry though, I’m not like a certain person whom naked since her birth.]

[B... but recently that person has wearing some clothes, though.]

[Yea, I heard.] [And somehow it causes more ruckus than usual.] [It’s irritating me that she still manages to draw more attention to herself than me~!]

[Ahahaha...~] Phillia can only laugh in monotone while listening to her senior’s crazy idea.

[*EHM!*]

As the other two keeps bickering about each of their own interest, two more person already entered the room. One person was a girl with a string dress corset and high-heels black string boots, with her fluttery wavy blonde hair almost touching the floor. The other person was a girl with bare shoulder one-piece black dress with her straight thick brown hair flowing by the wind. Surprisingly, both of them didn’t wear any kind of transparent clothes.

[Excuse me, you two.] [Would you mind to going straight toward your seat right away?]

[Geez, cut me some slack will you, Pierre~?] [The Elder isn’t here yet so we can just take it easy, right?] [And it’s quite rare for you to be together with Zilla.]

Not responding to any reaction Tamara gives, Zilla can only smile worriedly as Pierre looked like she was about to get angry.

[Don’t forget that we’re currently in the middle of attending an emergency meeting here.] [I suggest that you both should do the same.]

[Ye~s~] Tamara answers Pierre’s reasoning playfully.

[Pierre, Tamara.] Zilla then poking on Pierre as if trying to say something. [The others are coming now.]

Just when both Pierre and Tamara are glaring toward each other, the other 9 member of the Circles are coming in together except for one.

[So the double-titled two-goody shoes aren’t here yet?]

[Weirdly enough, she’s supposed to be the one that usually arrives here first.]

Just a moment after they speak of it, another girl arrived with the ones they’ve been waiting for.

[I’m sorry for being late.] [I was in the middle of writing some important documents.]

A girl in glasses with her striking gradient green-blue hair, combined with her gaudy appearance of green-white combination, finally stepping up inside the very same room.

[You’re quite late, Senior Yohana.] [Or should I say, the current Gallant Chief Unit as well as the Temporary Rising Chief Unit?]

[Spare me your sarcasm.] [So should we started already?]

[But the Elder isn’t....]

[I’m here.]

Suddenly right in the center of the room, Elder Endrossa has been standing there like she’s been there the whole time. This situation surprises everyone on the room.

[It is time.] [Each of you please sit down accordingly.] [An emergency situation has arisen.]

***

Inside the room where a giant magic circle with 12-point star encircled by the 12 tables on each star point. Each seat except for one was occupied by a person of their own title and function as well as their importance regarding that matter.

Pierre, a Producer Chief Unit. A gaudy-looking girl with her fluttery wavy blonde hair almost touching the floor.

Adriane, an Architect Chief Unit. A bright girl wearing wool material clothes with long straight hair flowing downward.

Yamus, a Moduler Chief Unit. With her skimpy leather clothing while having a shiny, black pigtail hairs.

Yohana, a Gallant Chief Unit. A girl in glasses with her striking gradient green-blue hair, combined with her gaudy appearance of green-white combination

Phillia, a Medic Chief Unit. Another girl in glasses with dark green pigtails hair. With her clothes completely covered unlike other witches.

Nathalia, an Instructor Chief Unit. A stern, expresionless girl with full robe covering her body, while having her blue ponytailed hair hanged on the air.

Tamara, a Tailor Chief Unit. A cheery, brightful and blonde-wavy haired person with sparkly clothes.

Mythia, a Frontier Chief Unit. A mysterious and silent girl with her light blue hair flowing downward her shoulders.

Yanus, Structurer Chief Unit. A short-brown haired girl wearing a bare-shoulder white-black dress.

Judy, an Appraiser Chief Unit. A masculine-haired girl colored white with skimpy bare-shoulder tightsuits.

Zilla, a Stocker Chief Unit. A seemingly reserved girl with her light blond hair flutters over her shoulders.

And the last, which should’ve been a Rising Chief Unit, yet remain empty and currently being taken care of by Yohana.

And right behind one of the star point, an altar with grand sitting is in there as well as the one whom were supposed to sit in there. It was the throne in which the Elder should reside on, as Elder Endrossa proudfully sitting in there.

[I will start the emergency meeting now.]

As Elder Endrossa was about to raise the topic, Pierre suddenly raises her hand.

[Elder, if I may speak.] [Regarding this emergency, it’s about something that happened to the Frontier Unit, right?] [Shouldn’t it be Mythia’s case to solve this all and doesn’t really involve us?]

[What are you saying, Pierre?!] Yohana somehow felt annoyed at Pierre’s question to Elder. [The reason Elder called us is precisely because they need all of our opinion here.]

[What opinion of a Producer Unit like me matter to a bunch of suicidal maniac like Mythia and her goons?]

[Wha... you...!!!]

[Enough, Pierre, Yohana!] Elder raises her voice to stop both of their bickering. [I want to start discussing the current situation immediately, so stop your childish fight now!]

As the two finally start to shut their mouth for a bit, Elder then start to take a deep breath before mentioned their current situation.

[I just got news from the Frontier’s subunit reinforcement request.] [Apparently, it was requested by Mariabelle.]

A name that is quite familiar around the village. It was the real perpetrator of the recent familiar killing case, in which Josephine was the victim.

[From the report itself....] Endrossa start to take a deep, long breath before continuing her report. [... She was missing on the Forbidden Spot beyond the Red Line.]

The whole room started to went silent all of a sudden. Not even a sound of someone breathing can be heard. Some looked surprised, some looked worried.

[Wait a minute....] Judy, the chief of Appraiser Unit was the one to snap out of it and start asking question. [Why would she be there?!] [Even being reckless had its limits!]

[That’s right!] Tamara then also offering her own opinion. [No matter how reckless she is, she would never put herself nor her own familiar in some kind of dangerous situation like that!] [I’ve know her for so long since I’m her senior, there must be some kind of mistake here!]

[I have a report regarding that.] Mythia, the Frontier Chief Unit then pull up some report paper on her hand and start to read it thoroughly. [Roughly 3 weeks ago, Maria and some of her companion had going outside to complete their assignment as a Frontier Unit.] [Yet when they returned, Maria wasn’t with them.] [I interrogated them for a while before coming here, but they all feigning ignorance.]

[They all abandoned her.] Said Adriane, the Architect Chief Unit. [Considering the recent outbreak of many monsters around these parts, it’s all plausible.] [Even Josephine and Hilda once met a Queen Vasp and almost ended up getting killed.]

[Do we really have time to discuss about the reason though?] Nathalia then raised her hands and spoke calmly. [Considering all the 12 apostles... well except for one, are currently present here, does that mean we’re going to advance our venture into the Red Line and help her?]

All the girls are suddenly went silent again for a while after Pierre then raised her hand.

[Seems like you have an Idea of how to cross the Red Line.]

[Me and Elder have always been looking for a way to improve our village.] [Venturing into the RedLine is also another option.] [But more importantly, there is one fatal problem that we need to make sure of before then.]

[What is it?] The Elder then start to be intrigued about what Pierre was about to say.

[We need to decide the best person to do that.] [A witches with the highest rating of survival, combined with the most adaptable and durable familiar to go with.] [And to send them alone is not reccomended.] [We need at least 2 witches with 2 familiar that can fulfill the requirements.]

Elder can only stay silent, but then Mythia start to speak up.

[About that 2 witches and familiars....] [Didn’t we already have them?]

[[[[[Eh?]]]]]

Almost everyone speaks up their mind in unison, as they didn’t really know about the existence of such.

[Wait a minute, Mythia.] Pierre then start to speak up. [I do know a single person that fits all that.] [Or more like, everyone in this place knew that.] [But I don’t know about any other witches that has the same capability.]

[At this point it’s no use to hide it anymore right?] [The first one was that weird naked idiot, isn’t it?]

Elder twitched for a bit after hearing that nickname, but then Mythia just went ahead and explained it more.

[That’s right, Josephine’s by far is the most suitable person for this kind of mission, mostly thanks to her irregular familiar.]

[Then who’s the second one?] [At this point, she should have at least the same record as Josephine.]

Mythia then took a deep breath as she was about to mention the name.

[Hildegarde.]

Everyone can only went silent. They just can’t believe that Hildegarde somehow are a better candidate for venturing out into the RedLine.

[Don’t joke with me, Mythia.] Pierre then slammed her desk and glared toward Mythia. [She was an obsolete, good for nothing witches whom never learned her lesson and keeps insisting to become a Frontier despite her familiar’s under-performance!] [And you’re saying that she’s as good as Josephine now!?]

[In the recent weeks, something has changed.] As if disregarding Pierre’s protests, Mythia just continued to explain. [I wasn’t able to confirm the details yet, but now she can collect as much mana stone as much as Josephine’s in around the same duration, or even less.]

[What are you trying to say...?] Somehow Pierre’s glare becoming more hateful than before.

[The result states the obvious.] [She has become a fine Frontier Unit there.] [Who knows, maybe one day she’ll surpass me and took away my current position as a chief, considering her talent regarding-....]

*BAM!!

[Enough of this!] [If you’re saying that she’s better than you, then...!] [Then I’m...!!!!]

[Stop.] Elder then interject their conversation, but somehow the tone in her own voice feels weird to everyone around there. [Mythia, I appreciate your suggestion and all, but....] As Elder take a deep breath herself, she start to looked straight onto Mythia. [Josephine is not a Frontier member anymore.] [She was exempted from this expedition, so....]

[Umm... Elder.] Yohana then start to raise her hand and tried to speak up. [It’s about Josephine.] [There are some trouble regarding her current Unit.]

[Ah, the troublemaker whom always causing havoc at our field?] With her spiteful comment, Adriane from Architect unit made a scowl at Yohana.

[I believe it’s just a matter of her adjusting to her new work as a Gallant Unit.] [It’s not worth to talk over this-....]

[I’m sorry to say this, but she wasn’t qualified to become either a Gallant or Rising Unit.]

The Elder somehow shows a mix of anger and dissapointment on her face as she faces straight toward Yohana.

[U... umm...] Phillia then timidly raises her hand as well as standing there. [I can explain it in detail why Josephine isn’t fit to become either a Gallant or Rising.]

Phillia then took a bundle amount of paper and start to read them closely for a while before facing back toward Endrossa.

[There are two major reasons of why Josephine is unfit to become either a Gallant or Rising.] [The first one, her Mana Circuit was being eaten by the demerit of her familiar.] [This situation makes her unable to project any direct conversion of exhanging mana into a medium sized protection spell or above, thanks to its complicated equation.]

The others can only gasp in awe after hearing such worrysome demerit as a trail of sweat can be seen on Endrossa’s cheek.

[The second reason is....] [... This is mostly our mistake for not being able to confirm Vram’s identity beforehand, but....] [His elemental alignment is Chaos.]

***

[For real?!?]

With a beet-red sauce dripping on her cheek, Hildegarde was confused as well as surprised over something. It was related to what her comrade, Chris, had say regarding someone they all know very well.

[Yeah, both me and Rosa was completely caught off guard.] [To think despite his docility his alignment was that of Chaos Element.] [Though Lady Phillia still unsure of it’s true nature.]

[But then again~] Rosa whom already took some tissue before giving it to Hildegarde to wipe her cheek start to comment out. [It doesn’t really bother Josephine or Vram, right?] [So I don’t think we need to worry about it too much.]

[No, for Yohana and the rest, they have to worry.] Hilda continue to explain the situation as well as wiping off the sauce from her cheek. [Him being a Chaos element alone is trouble for any unit besides Frontier.] [And without knowing that, Elder just blatantly decided to put her on any unit besides Frontier.]

[Smells like trouble~]

[It is a trouble.]

[Some trouble is going to surface.]

As the three girls are busy confirming the situation, 1 small primate and 1 slave can only looking at the girls with blank looks, unable to understand anything.

[Umm, Miss Hilda.] Yohn then speaks up toward Hildegarde. [Can you explain it to us what is happening in this village?] [About Vram has Chaos elemental and whatsnot.]

[You’re curious about it?]

[Well I’d say so.] [I mean, the element that you’re talking about is a bit different than the term we use, so....]

[Hmm...] Hilda then crossed her arms and thinking for a bit before she start to speak. [It’s not like I have to tell you everything, but I do still indebted to you for various thing.] [I guess I can tell some things regarding how our organization works.]

Then Hilda started her lecture. Within the structure inside of how the witch village works, mostly everything relies a lot on Familiar. The origin behind this culture was unknown, but as far as they can remember, all of their daily lives were taken care of by the familiar while the witch makes sure that they will sustain the lives of said familiar. This is the reason why most witches treat their own familiar as their precious.

[For now I just have to explain what you needed to hear, which is the requirement for a familiar to be included as a battle type, and their classification in each unit.] [To put it simple, A familiar can be considered as a battle type unit as long as it has the instinct needed to fend off its enemy.] [Usually the method was for the familiar to be pitted against some of the captured monster we have here, but Vram’s case is a bit special considering what had happened when he was first summoned.]

[Ah, you mean the Familiar Killing Incident?] [It really shocks me when I first heard that story.] [To think that a Familiar would really be treated specially like that.]

Hearing Rud’s careless comment made the girls scowls at her, but Hildegarde just shrug it off as she continued with her lecture.

[After we managed to decide its capability as a battle-type unit, the next step is to determine its role on the battlefield.] [Briefly, there are three types of battle unit to be specified.]

Assault Forces, specialized in offensive, tactical and scout type familiar

Guardian Forces, specialized in defensive, protective and strategical type familiar

Patron Forces, specialized in supportive, healing, and reinforcement type familiar

[Wait.] [That means, the unit placement is based on which type that familiar is leaning to, isn’t it?]

[That’s not entirely true.] [Since for some cases, using that type alone still put a familiar in an ambiguous position.]

[Why’s that?]

[Because some familiar’s ability is still required for another position.] [For example, let’s say that a familiar has an ability that can defeat its enemy in a single strike, but that familiar must charge it before it can unleash it.] [For that situation, you need another comrade that can take a hit for your familiar, right?]

[Hmm....] Yohn then start to think deeply for a while. [Then doesn’t that mean an Assault-Type Familiar can only be put on a Frontier Unit?]

[You guessed that right.] [Most Assault-Type will have a high reccomendation for an immediate Frontier-placement.] [Not to mention, as long as you can fulfill the quota needed for the village, you can literally spend your life everyday in luxury.] [Though the assignment was far more dangerous than the other Unit.]

[So....] [What’s this got to do with Vram as a Chaos Elements?]

Hilda then starting to get silent for a bit before she took a drink on her hand and literally chugging it until she can barely take it.

[*Phew*....] [Now, about this element.] [Yohn, how many elements exist on your magical alignment?]

[Umm... around 6 if I’m not mistaken.]

[We witches only have 4 in it.] [Heat, Cold, Light, and Chaos.]

[What?] Yohn somehow looked surprised at the mention of such difference in their elemental diagram.

[I won’t explain it too deeply regarding that.]

[Hey now.] [Isn’t that kinda half-assed way to explain things?] Rud protested for the way Hilda explaining things.

[I too feel kinda dissatisfied, you know.] As Hilda somehow looked at other place, clearly dissatisfied of something. [At any rate, about those 4 elements....] [As it should be with the other 4 elements, there are other characteristics for Familiar that comes with those 4 element.] [For example, Heat, Hougo’s Element.] [What do you usually think about things that related to heat?]

[[Hmm....]] Yohn and Rud was thinking hard though it already seemed that Rud was about to explode from the abnormal amount of thinking.

[Heat....] [Like fire? Explosion? Hot water?]

Hilda then closed her eyes, crossed her arms while having a wide smile on her face.

[It’s Life.]

[[[[Huh?]]]]

With a smug look on her face, Hilda puffed her chest as her breast was supported with her arms crossed under it.

[Yup, Heat is the wonder of life!] [All live in the world contain heat, and relies on heat to survive!] [Such is the wonder of Heat elemental, that-!]

Seeing Hilda suddenly turned weird, Chris quickly pulled Rud and dragged him elsewhere and Rosa quickly took Yohn away and move away together with Chris.

[*sigh* If only Lady Hildegarde didn’t have that “kind” of personality....]

[E... what happen to her?]

[Well normally she always looked indifferently toward other things.] [But when it’s about Hougo or something related to him, she turned all proud or something along those lines.]

[Wow....] [Like a doting mother.]

[Like a doting mother she is.] Then Chris started to clear her throat before she tried to speak up. [Anyway, Continuing on that matter, what Hilda says regarding the characteristic of Heat Element isn’t that far fetched.] [Heat was generally has the special characteristics of “growth” and “strength”.] [For Hougo’s case, he can build up as much strength inside his body as possible to make him vulnerable against any attack.] [That’s the kind of characteristics that appear on a familiar with Heat Element.]

[I see.] Yohn starts to nod his head in agreement. [That means, the reason Vram cannot become anything else other than a Frontier was caused by his elemental alignment, right?] [What was it again? Chaos?] [Then... the characteristic of that element would be....]

[Right.] [“Absolute Destruction”, “Void”, “Erasure”, or something along those line.]

***

[A Chaos elements....] [I don’t know how to react regarding that....]

[You’re not happy having me as a Chaos Familiar?]

[OF COURSE NOT!!!] [I EXTREMELY HAPPY THAT YOU’RE HERE!!] [It’s just that....] [I was wondering what Elder and Yohana thought about this.]

As Josephine was pondering about something, she grips the grass on the ground while pulling it out. Both Vram and Josephine was in the middle of cleaning the graveyard even though there are barely something to be cleaned.

[Even if this is to be expected, I didn’t really think that we would keep coming back here even after that problem regarding the familiar killing was solved.]

[Well... can I?] [Even if it’s only for a while, they’re still my familiar, my family.] [I don’t want to forget them all, and I can’t forget them too.]

[Well, that’s what makes you my master, right?]

[It is~]

After finished cleaning up some of the graveyard, Vram stands up while looking up to the sky.

[Vram?]

Feeling something amiss, Josephine called out to him. But Vram was only standing there motionlessly unmoving no matter how hard the wind breezed.

[Something has been bugging me.]

[Yes?]

[When I heard about your job before, I thought that this place has quite lax procedure regarding how to classify people in their own specialities.] [But after what happened today, I was wrong to think like that.]

[Emm... I don’t really get it.]

Hearing his own master’s answer, Vram can only take a long, deep breath while letting it out for quite long, as if he was feeling unfortunate of something.

[Oh well, it’s not like you need to understand everything.] [Still though, I have to ask you this, Master.]

Josephine sensing that Vram was about to ask something serious, thus tensed her body prepared to answer his question.

[Do you believe in Elder Endrossa?]

[E?] [Of course I believe in her.] [I mean, she’s our elder, right?]

[Even after what happened to you for these whole years?] [And even now, after you have me?]

Josephine was confused by Vram’s question as she can only tilted her head to the right.

[I... don’t really get it....] [But Vram....]

Josephine then start to stand up and went closer toward him.

[No matter what Elder might do to me, no... to us, I believe that all of it is for our own good.] [That’s why I believe in her.] [I want to believe in her.]

Vram went silent as she saw her eyes trying hard to convict herself.

[*Sigh*....] [Guess I’ll just leave it at that.] [It’s just doesn’t strike me right considering how at first she told us to become a frontier first, then go to other job like rising or something and then get told that we're not suited for it.]

[Oh!] [About that first placement.] [Yohana told me that it wasn’t her decision, that she’s just accepting some suggestion from the circle.]

[Huh?] [Then who’s the one that suggest us to become a frontier?]

[It was Senior Mythia.] [The Frontier Chief unit herself.]