Chapter 6 (Keisuke Satō)

Chapter 6 is the sixth chapter of the Little Witch Academia manga series adaptation illustrated by Keisuke Satō.
==Overview==
Akko and her friends witness a horde of dragons carrying off the Sorcerer's Stone. So, they decide to go to the Rastavan Ruins to retrieve it, where they discover that the culprit is a loan shark dragon named Fafnir, who has repossessed the Sorcerer's Stone from Luna Nova for their failure to pay off their debt. Luckily, Diana is able to decipher that Fafnir's promissory note (written in dragon language) does not actually mention paying back interest, meaning Fafnir had tricked the school into paying back more than they actually owed. Caught in his deception, Fafnir is forced into nullifying the contract and returning the Sorcerer's Stone to Luna Nova.
==Summary==
Picking up from where previous chapter left off, Akko rallies her friends to chase the dragons who stole their academy's Sorcerer's Stone. Meanwhile, chaos erupts in Luna Nova as Hannah and Barbara are in the middle of bathing together, prompting them to report to Diana just as the academy's top student struggles to restore order due to fairy laborers wind up out of commission. As she does, Diana has the headmistress to help Finnelan taking care of things as she, Lukic, and Badcock set out to negotiate with the dragon, a deal that intrigued the Cavendish.
Back to Akko and co. the gang are already on their way for the supposed dragon lair that Lotte suspected to be Rastavan Ruins. Because they have exhausted their magic reserves during the mushroom hunt prior, they had to connect their brooms with Constanze's as they fly together. Sucy morbidly remarks the alleged account of dragons replenishing their magic by sucking in witches' blood only to be dismissed by the Finnish who stated the unlikelihood of them still doing such thing, though she nonetheless acknowledged that the dragon they deal with reputed to be violent. Akko on the other hand, outraged by the dragon's seemingly selfish decision to stole their academy's important asset. Just then, Amanda notices their brooms' magic reserves starting from hers begin to replenish themselves as they approach the ruins, confirming that they are on the right track.
Suddenly, the gang are ambushed by the same dragon horde who stole Sorcerer's Stone, and knowing that they cannot shake the beasts off, Amanda implored everyone to split into groups to fight back. A dogfight ensues with Constanze opening fire on the dragons with her Stanbot's shotgun configuration while Amanda conjured a large flower popping out of one of chasing beasts' snout, causing it to crash along with two of its packmates and allowing the German mechanic to finish them off. Sucy spreads out explosive powder which covers the air behind her before igniting it with magic, creating a trail of explosions that incinerates unfortunate monsters who caught within its path. Checking on downed dragons, Akko is shocked upon discovering their true robotic nature, but unable to dwell it for long nor relaying what she found to the others as remaining beasts have overpowered and grabbed Lotte, Sucy, Constanze, and Jasminka away. Seeing the dragons taking their friends into the ruins, Akko and Amanda set out to give chase only for the former unexpectedly fell into another entrance in form of a stone chute and inadvertently takes the latter with her in the process.
Returning to Headmistress' office, Diana sees Finnelan struggling to understand an ancient scroll Holbrooke left for her to solve. Inspecting the scroll's writing a bit, the Cavendish revealed her familiarity with its language, much to the strict professor's surprise.
Crashing into a giant dark room with what seemed to be titanic torture instruments, the recovered Akko and Amanda rushed into hiding upon noticing the presence of a shadowed, draconic figure within. Following the figure, Akko and Amanda see it approaching a cage in which their friends have been locked into. When it appeared that the shadowed figure is about to threaten them, Akko recklessly swings to the rescue with a nearby chain, much to Amanda's dismay as she and the others watched as it single-handedly caught the Japanese on the air. As if things are getting worse for them, the figure suddenly cried out in annoyance, reasoned that the Japanese is not worth eating before tossing her back for Amanda.
As if the indignant reaction of the dragon, who is none other than Fafnir the dragon, and his anthropomorphic mannerisms that defy rumors circulating around him (able to talk, wearing bathrobe and slippers, and other things) were shocking for the girls, he unexpectedly asks them whether Holbrooke send them to bring him the debt. Just then, Headmistress Holbrooke herself arrives with Lukić and Badcock bringing some old artifacts which he immediately rejected. When Akko demanded why he took Luna Nova's Sorcerer's Stone from start, Fafnir explained that he did so because the academy owed him a lot of money in return of his part in its construction as written in their contract long ago. He further criticized Luna Nova's staffs for focusing on magic above all else that they failed to adapt in changing times, which contrasted of his own success in online investments. When Fafnir made up his mind to sell the confiscated Sorcerer's Stone as the compensation of their troubles, Akko stands up for the sake of Luna Nova as she has her own ambitions to fulfill while it stands and called him out for his greed.
Suddenly, Diana and Finnelan enter the room with Fafnir's contract with Luna Nova, which indeed written in Dragonese (ancient language professors of Luna Nova and their predecessors not familiar with). Having mastered the language when she was 12, Diana deciphered the ancient deal within the note and discovered that paying the interest was never part of it in the first place, which means it was Fafnir who abused the deal since he believed none of the staffs can decipher it to begin with. Before Fafnir could argue further, Diana pointed out that the sum of the payments through contract between them far exceeded the principal sum of the initial debt, but Luna Nova will provide him the proper documentation about the refunding of the over-payment nevertheless. As such, Fafnir had to return the academy's Sorcerer's Stone at once with his treachery now exposed.
With Luna Nova reclaimed their Sorcerer's Stone thanks to Diana, Akko overheard Fafnir lamenting the impending end of magic along with witches and dragons in the light of science age. The Japanese reassures to him that magic has the power to move hearts even to this day. As much as he is skeptical about such statement and remarked the young witch as the naïve one, the dragon nevertheless reminded her that no man can live of dreams alone. Continuing his work, Fafnir realizes that there are still some humans who retain the same optimism in Akko and took her words into his heart.
On the next day, the gang, including Akko and Amanda, had to do the laundry because of leaving the academy premises without permission...
==Order of appearances==
==Manga & Anime Differences==
*The theft of the Sorcerer's Stone is not discovered by Akko and Amanda during their punishment, being by Akko and her other friends during the end of their ill-fated mushroom search.
*Akko and her friends decide to go and retrieve the Sorcerer's Stone the moment they discover its theft, instead of doing it during their tasks at Luna Nova.
**On a related note, Miranda Holbrooke, Lukić, and Samantha Badcock set out to negotiate with Fafnir shortly after the Stone's theft instead taking their time discussing the best course of action until the night comes, showing that they are better prepared even though it was Diana who helped the three solving the deal with Fafnir in the end.
*As Hannah and Barbara's bath was interrupted by the magic outage, it is other minor student (Elsa) who unable to flush the toilet instead.
*Rather than sliding through the stone chute on her own, Akko inadvertently pulled Amanda with her leading to the two rolled their way into the room where Fafnir locked their friends.
*Due to panel constraints, Akko and Amanda do not argue at the end of the chapter.
==Trivia==
Category:Manga chapters
Category:Little Witch Academia (Keisuke Satō)