Magical Girl Tyrant Sylph Chapter 44

Chapter 2 — Expand, my world! • Episode 2-2 • Thread Witch ③

Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV

「As I mentioned earlier, the duty of Witches is to fight, but we believe that Witches have a role to play in order to maintain order among Magical Girls as a whole.」

「What is the role and what kind?」

「One is to keep the factions balanced. Another is to train the younger generation. Let me explain this first.」

I don't know much about factions, so I can't say anything about them, but as for training the younger generation, well, I don't know.

No matter how good a Magical Girl is, she will retire when she turns 20, so it is perfectly reasonable to train the next generation to follow in her footsteps.

But is that something that a Witch should do on her own? In terms of improving the quality of Magical Girls, I feel that the Bureau of Magic should do this.

「I am not doing anything grandiose when I say I am fostering the next generation. I teach them how to get around in battle and how to use magic.」

「But when it comes to standing up, the way you fight depends on the type of magical girl, doesn't it? And since magic is different for every Magical Girl, there's no point in having a one-size-fits-all class…」

「You're right. Therefore, I teach one-on-one, not one-to-many like in school, but one-on-one like a teacher-student relationship.」

It is very difficult to keep up with the training of more than 10,000 Magical Girls in such a way.

Apparently, I was fundamentally mistaken. It seems that Crosseau-san was not talking about training future generations of Magical Girls as a whole, but rather about training outstanding individuals and having direct disciples.

「How many people on average does one Witch teach?」

「In my case, there are three. In other patterns, there are 2 for Doppelganger and 1 for Dragon Call.」

「And the others?」

「… They are not obligated to train the younger generation. So far, only three of us share this ambition.」

I knew thinly that when I heard that it was a role to be assumed, not an obligation, but I knew that most Witches didn't do it.

We're obligated to fight for our privileges as the price of our privilege, and if we try to make it more burdensome than it is, we'll have to give people even more candy to get them to move. It would be difficult for anyone but the most accomplished person to simply share his or her time and effort without compensation.

「I don't have the luxury of time right now. I'll think about it.」

「I would be happy if you would consider it positively.」

「Yes, “I'll think about it.”」

I dared to state the same answer again for emphasis.

I know that it is so important to her because Crosseau-san, who understands the appropriate distance, still dared to take a step forward. But I would never do such a thing. I am on the side that is not able to do it. I'm too busy doing my own thing.

Crosseau-san seemed to know that this answer was a far-fetched refusal, and she did not pursue the matter further.

「Now one more thing. Regarding factions, Sylph-san, how much do you know about Magical Girl factions?」

「Only that there are four factions and that there are Magical Girls who don't belong to a faction.」

As was the case with the territory, Jack only gave me a touch of the tacit understanding between Magical Girls that the Department of Magic was not involved in.

There is no mention of factions at all on the official website, and the unofficial wiki is useless as the faction section is always vandalized. Well, I think they are being obstructed because they wouldn't want the inner workings of the faction or anything else to be made public on a large scale.

「Nowadays it is called a faction, but it started out as a small group of magical girls of the same Lineage who came together for mutual support.」

The Lineage, for me, was from the Natural Lineage, and Crosseau is from the Creative Lineage.

According to Jack, Magical Girls use their magical powers by accessing a treasury that contains grimoires and magical tools, and this treasury is classified into four systems depending on its creator.

One is the Natural System. This is includes the Wind Magic I use and the Ice Magic of Permafrost-san. Basically, they tend to be difficult to control, big-ticket items, and high-fire magic.

Two is the Law System. This is the case with Press-san's Pressure Magic and Extend-san's Expansion Magic. It seems that there are many rule-based Magics, some with high firepower, some with small, and some with great applicability.

Three is the Life System. Elephant-san's Elephant Magic and Rabbitfoot-san's Rabbit Magic are examples of this. It is said that almost all of their magic has physical enhancement built in, and that physical ability and vitality are unrivaled.

Four is the Creation System. This includes Blade-san's Sword Magic and Knuckle-san's Iron Fist Magic. While tricky and highly effective against opponents, it is said to be an auxiliary-oriented magic that lacks a bit of decisiveness against large Diests.

There are some high firepower magic in the Creation System, and some natural system magic that does not produce much firepower.

「They say that when three people get together, they form a faction. So the Lineage was an obvious common denominator.」

「Absolutely correct. No one at the time had any idea that this small group of people would grow larger and larger, influencing the balance of power among Magical Girls as a whole.」

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Once one leaning group is created, those who could not belong to it must belong to another group or they will be outnumbered. That is why it is inevitable that once one cohesion is formed with lineage as the common denominator, it will eventually become four factions. I might have been able to read that far, but not to that scale.

「The biggest cause was probably the fact that the Witches of the time were in charge of leaning meetings. Magical girls who were insecure about their own strength, Magical Girls who tried to borrow the authority of Witches, Magical Girls who fell in love with Witches, and various other Magical Girls joined the leanings one after another, and came to be known as factions. That is why it is the Witch's role to maintain the balance of power among the factions.」

「Are each of the current Witches joining a faction?」

I don't think that maintaining a balance of power is all about joining a faction. Of the current 14 Witches, perhaps 5 are Life Lineage Witches. If all of these women were participating in the Life Lineage faction, they would have considerably more power than the other factions. Of course, there may be a ranking order of superiority among Witches, but the second and fourth in the ranking order are from Life Lineage, so they have an advantage there as well.

If that is the case, it is not a matter of me joining or not joining a faction.

「Permafrost-san belongs to the Natural group, Red Ball-san and Ex–Magnasan to the Law Faction, Doppelganger-san, Dragon Call-san, Rabbitfoot-san, and Bullshark-san to the Life Faction, and myself to the Creation Faction, respectively.」

「Does that mean that all other Witches are unaffiliated?」

「I'm afraid so.」

I don't know if it's better or worse than I expected.

「Sylph-san may think simply in terms of the number and pecking order of Witches, but the actual balance of power is much more complex. For example, I am the only Witch in my Creation Faction, but I am in a position to presume and oversee the witches, and that alone is enough to serve as a check against the other factions. For now, it goes with,」

「So what is the actual situation right now?」

If there are factors involved that a layman can't determine, then it doesn't matter how much I think about it in my head.

I'm sure Crosseau-san is telling me all this because she knows, so the quickest way is to ask someone who knows.

「Creation Factions and Law Factions are stable. Red Ball-san doesn't seem to be very interested in factions, but as a palanquin, it is enough to say that ahe is a fully open Witch. On top of that, you don't have to worry because Ex–Magnsan is in control of the inner workings of the faction. She's a Witch with an eye for detail.」

「The problem lies with Natural and Life factions. The Natural Faction are also not in trouble with the palanquin because of Permafrost-san, but there is no one who can hold back the inside of the faction like Ex–Magnsan. There are stories of Magical Girls, known as “extremists,” attacking other Magical Girls to take over their territory. Permafrost-san, like Redball-san, does not care about running her faction, so internal discipline is disorganized.」

「The Life Faction is in the midst of a power struggle. Doppelganger-san, who currently sits at the top, is about to retire, so there is a struggle over who will be the next head of the group. In terms of pecking order, Dragon Call-san is in order, and Doppelganger-san seems to intend to do so, but it is not definite because it will be a firestorm if she does not get the consent of her faction. Hee opponent, or rather, the next top contender, is Rabbitfoot-san. Although there is no direct competition, Rabbitfoot-san is steadily gaining supporters by accumulating achievements. It is also significant that Bullshark-san is on Rabbitfoot-san's side. The Magical Girls in their faction are also cautious because after Doppelganger-san's retirement, it will be a one vs. two Witch composition. So far it hasn't caused a scene, but it's like a powder keg that could explode at any moment.」

「Because of such a situation, the power relationship between the factions is almost equal at the moment, although it should have been a single strong faction of the Life Faction. It's only a step down from the Natural Faction because of the lack of Witches who are led by the right people.」

It's more complicated than I thought it would be, and it's making my head spin…!

I'm listening to a conversation about a Magical Girl, right? Why are we talking about power struggles and internal strife? I know it is bloody because he is exchanging lives with Diests, but I didn't expect it to be so awkward even among friends.

「A–Aren't you awfully knowledgeable? Is it normal for the head of a faction to be well versed in the information of other factions?」

「Because just because we share the same Magical Lineage doesn't mean we all have a sense of camaraderie. There are rats everywhere.」

I felt my blood run cold as I heard those words whispered in a horrifyingly cold voice.

Y–You mean there's a spy!? I am afraid, do girls these days do this as a matter of course!? I would like to meet Elephant-san…

「I am joking when I say that. Ahh, I'm talking about rats, remember? It is true that factions have problems. However, we Witches who control our respective factions are not enemies, so we keep each other informed and balanced.」

「You startled me… It's not good for my heart.」

「I apologize, I've been playing around too much. On the subject, in balancing the factions, I would like Sylph-san to belong to the Natural Faction. As I mentioned earlier, there are no Witches who know the inner workings of the Natural Faction. If they do do something, you can beat them up after the fact, but there is nothing we can do to prevent it.」

That's what it's all about, after all.

I think the talk about fostering future generations was just an incidental thing. By all accounts, this is the real deal.

Did she put off talking about factions in order to gain a psychological advantage by having me turn down the backward training case first? Refusing a request twice in a row must be an act of courage for some people.

She politely explained to me that as a result of my refusal, the attempts of the Naturalist extremists and others will be unstoppable. So she tried to make me feel guilty and get away with it. Well thought out.

I had a feeling that there was something fishy about her, but she was not just a kind and beautiful woman after all.

It is moderately tricky to say how to appeal to good will.

If I had just become a Magical Girl, I might not have been able to bear it in good conscience.

Oh, but would I have listened to her in the first place back then?

Well, it doesn't matter either way. I already know the answer.

「I'll refuse.」

Chapter end