The Optimistic Authour

THE SPLIT PANEL TO SHOW THE DIFFERENT LOCATIONS

It's so simple and so effective!!!!! hnhnnhhnNHsHSDFHDFGFGHSHDFGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

Incorrect Things To Title This Panel: Ye Olde Pole Dance

Olruggio would do numbers on Patreon. He'd just post random fire tricks and they'd go nuts.

I was wondering where the mom was! I assumed she'd perished tragically and that was somehow the instigator to Deanreldy's Hannibal Lecter phase, but I see she's alive! And.... possibly pregnant? Her hand on her stomach seems to be intentional.

That's better than Woman In The Fridge trope! Hats off.

lmao Eoleo

Ooooh interesting. He refined it to be inside a crystal, so it's visually distinct from a full flame? Makes sense, that way people know that they can touch THIS one, but it still creates a barrier between fingers and fire, so kiddos will still be cautious around naked fire.

It's a clever workaround! :)

It looks like he may have taken a cue from Richeh, too! Given the crystals n all.

Olruggio is about to win the Witch Emmy Award.

Ooooh, is she going to be purifying the water like the spell on the stream/lake near her house????

Sidenote: That thing is HUGE and she is a VERY strong little witch if it was even half full, what the hell is Qifrey feeding those 12 year olds???? (I guess I'll find out if I ever read the cooking spinoff manga)

I'm presuming this would also take the stress off of the filtration system in the city, which might help the Muckpool not be so.... toxic? Though it's only a part of the issue, of course.

At this point, don't even pour it - just create toilets and put the seals into the plumbing?

Moreso than a singular solution, this is probably a signal to Custas. Ideally the entire city's infrastructure needs to be updated.

I think so far I've been frustrated with the idea that all these things haven't been invented yet. Because--how could they not be?

But I wonder if, many witches already HAVE this sort of infrastructure (or something like it) that doesn't need to be hidden at all, so they simply DON'T THINK about how the other half lives, so the Regular folks' living conditions lag severely behind.

In a few decades, this world can be completely renovated using magic. Is there something stopping that? Is it the fact that using magic everywhere would risk commoners realizing how to use it?

....actually that explains why she's got arms of steel.

ooooooh noooo. :( she's just asked a bunch of people who are already short on time to recycle, basically...............

Mmmmm fair enough. That's.... yeah.

I'm both surprised and not that her spell failed. She is new to this, of course it would be cheesy to have her succeed as the protag IMMEDIATELY. But Coco, of all people, is the closest to understanding what commoners need....

(I guess the catch here is that she did not live in a city, and doesn't necessarily know the needs to city dwellers as much.)

Agott to the rescue...?

Yeah..????????

...they're so Qifrey and Olruggio coded......

okay, this is a pivot I did NOT anticipate. WHY are these two roomed together? Not enough jail cells in the royal prison???

uh oh. That seems...... like a mistake that should not have been overlooked.

There she is, Mama Agott. Do we hate her? Do we love her? Do we simp for her? Will she turn out to be morally complicated or just mean? I am excited to find out.

They're SO ready, it's fiiiine. :)

VOTE NOW ON YOUR PHONES FLAGS

I suppose that's a good point, though I can imagine it might be difficult, socially speaking, to be that One Person. That's a lot of pressure.

Him worrying the sleeve there - a small detail, but important. He is the teacher, but this is a new challenge for him as well. He wants to support her, but is afraid he's going to scare her away... it's understandable.

I wonder if he's had this sort of talk from Beldaruit....... and now understands better than he did as a kid.

Subtle, Inny. Veeeery subtle.

Well, for one you're currently locked in a battle of morality against the world that raised you and the dirty, unfair underside that has been revealed as the veneer of magic peels all around you like a bad wallpaper........

I understand that this is his personal opinion, and it's backed up by HIS experience.

But weirdly enough, I don't think this is true at all. I think many witches (perhaps not MOST, but certainly more than he realizes) are less attached to the principles than he thinks.

Alaira, for one, immediately went to bat for Euini. Qifrey, for all his hate of the brimmed caps, does not necessarily feel like someone who would reject Custas, obviously. Even Olruggio has been shown to be easily swayed.

I'd recon there are actually MANY witches that present a front of loyalty to the Principles in order to survive and maintain their power/magic.

Unfortunately, though, this entire society is built on maintaining a facade of loyalty at the risk of losing EVERYTHING to the Knights. And actually, that makes it MORE likely that they'd be doing forbidden magic in secret.

👁👁 is it Coco

My dearest boy, he has eyes an eye.

He can tell you've been whispering and looking like you're about to get crushed by a giant cartoonish anvil at any point.

These guys, several chapters ago: Witches are bitches

These guys, now: Yaaaay a magical witch parade :DDD

I neeed a larger version of this page!!! >:000

Shirahama-san is really good at people.

Hello, witch roomba.

NOOOO NOT NOW OF ALL TIMES

How many horrific things can go wrong at once in an arc?!

Weirdly enough, Agott looks just annoyed vs actually bothered.

YESSSSS GO AGOTT, GO!!!

This is why you love her, because while you're Agott-nizing over your spells and how she's better than you, SHE'S about to throw down behind an Arby's for you.

Right. Don't trace to steal art, guys. That's it, that's the lesson.

Coco really said "oh, you didn't have any supportive parental figures in your life? I'M YOUR MOM NOW, AND I'M GONNA BRAG ABOUT HOW TALENTED AND HARDWORKING YOU ARE"

It's Super Effective!

fkldgskljfghklsgfdjkl

Kill Them With Kindness has a counterpart and it's Heal Them With--wait, no, that's also Kindness.

Wow, Kindness sure is a multitool!

LMAO let her eat, she's a growing girl

This is how I imagine most haters on the internet acting from behind the screen, tbh

This is the definition of 'you are so obsessed with me'

That's the Power of Love Coco!!

Interesting that Qifrey noticed her general vibes first, but Olly was the one to sus out the bangle. True to their own strong suits.

I mean, it might be a bit risky, but at the same time, just waiting and seeing would also be--

hang on I just scrolled down.

............ah. 😂😂😂

The tragic past was clearly that someone made fun of him about his crush on Qifrey and he never recovered (or confessed)

"It's not like there's any rush, right?" NNNNNNNGGHGHHH

Like, under normal circumstances I'd agree but THESE ARE NOT NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES

I am once again violently shaking the artist by the shoulders

There's a spinoff manga in there somewhere........we'll never see it, but it's there. It's in Shirahama-sensei's head.

Hey, he seems actually pretty knowledgeable when it comes down to it!

I wonder how much of this is just for show, and how much is a calculated move to get more information. For all we know he might be getting Beldaruit WORSE bedsheets. And he might have hoped to get Riliphin alone to interrogate him.....

Is it just... compounding medicines? Qifrey clearly knows basic herbs, like the one he ate the one time he hurt his hand/arm. Where is the line drawn? And what if you accidentally discover the knowledge?

Tartah was clearly breaking the principles by studying apothecary. I wonder, if he was discovered - would that be just something they'd tell him to stop doing, or would it be something they'd have to shield him from the Knights for?

This, of course, begs the question - what about bloodlines? Do witch bloodlines suffer from a lack of variety?

He's very... open about it. Almost like he knows magic can be taught.

This...very much reads like the King already knows magic can be learned, and Beldaruit isn't even trying to pretend like it can't be.

Ooooh, Beldy, you DID kinda walk right into that one.

...............

So far, my overall perception of Beldaruit has been very...wise. That is to say, he seems to understand the principles with far more nuance than, say, someone like Easties.

Because of this, his absolutism here is curious to me.

Either he truly IS that dedicated to the Principles - and if that is the case, I feel like there may be something he knows about them, or some sort of deeper reasoning that the audience hasn't been privy to yet...

...OR he is simply putting on a front of acting all offended because he personally dislikes the King and considers him a dangerous person to give ANY amount of leeway to.

This guy is way too smart to have inherited power without some sort of PLOTS and SCHEMES being involved.

.........are you...........talking to the audience?

So literally EVERYONE in this manga apparently wants to be a witch.

I mean, perhaps obviously. But it would be interesting if there was a character who was vehemently like "no, i don't want nothin to do with that shit"

MMMmmmm yeah, that seems like a poor idea.

Then again, in OUR non-magical world, you could theoretically have a very powerful person who is also inexplicably smart enough to do random surgery. Or have enough knowledge to, say, make a bomb.

Doesn't mean it would work out so well in practice, even if it seems Too Much in theory.

idk man, I feel like he's already dabbling.

Is the space UNDER the castle also magic-locked? Or is he getting around it somehow?

Everything else aside, she's so polite and studious! I'm guessing her upbringing DID instill in her a very intense respect for authority figures.

Coco is developing a dark side. Just like Qifrey! :)

..... and Qifrey! :D

And Custas, though even if he doesn't get a speech bubble we all know what he's about.

I find it SUPER interesting how, in this case, the hands/pen drawing the panel seem to belong to Agott. If I'm not mistaken, that's her pen.