Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 103: The Nine-Handed Child and the Second-Handed Father

"Ritas Miski Berengrom, huh? With such a long name and a middle name, your background couldn't be better than mine, right?"

In the western border of the Holy Kingdom of Libera, a town church called Prista welcomed a rather special guest that day.

The middle-aged man's name is Roland.

He has short wheat-colored hair, and it's hard to tell its original color.

The reason for this situation is that his current condition has not been taken care of for too long.

Dirty clothes, a face covered with stubble, and hair that had not been washed for a long time and was solidified into strips due to grease.

There was no doubt that Roland was emitting some strange smell that only he could not smell. Even if he was thrown directly into a group of homeless people, he would not be out of place at all.

Even though Roland was such a man, when he walked on the street with his eyes red from a hangover, people who saw him would call him "Mr. Roland" in a friendly and respectful manner.

At this moment, the "Ritas Miski Berengrom" Roland was facing was a very thin child.

The information Roland has shows that Ritas is eight years old this year, but judging from his growth, he looks only about five years old at most.

Ritas, who is only eight years old, is currently being hung by the church in the town of Prista.

Perhaps it would not be a good image to just hang up a weak-looking little boy in a normal way, so the church members thought of a more special way.

They put Ritas in a black bag, allowing only Ritas' head to stick out. Then they tied the bag with chains and hung the hand-carrying part of the bag on the highest candlestick in the church.

"Cursed Son, what a record. Eight adoptive fathers, six adoptive mothers, and if you count the biological parents, there are sixteen people in total. Is it an average of one pair of parents dying every year? In this era, let alone the number of people killed, I don't even change my clothes that frequently."

Roland said in amazement as he continued to flip through the information about the "Cursed Child" in his hand.

In fact, Ritas had been living in the towns and villages around Priesta. In Priesta itself, only a pair of foster parents died.

However, the adoptive parents who had fought each other died in a rather tragic way, so they were investigated in detail.

As it turned out, after investigation, the guard who seemed familiar with Ritas went to several towns and learned about Ritas's past, and he became frightened sick on the spot.

"I didn't do anything."

Ritas, who had remained silent all along, defended himself weakly in a hoarse voice.

At this point, this is all that Ritas can and wants to say.

He really didn't do anything, but who would believe it?
The fact is that more than a dozen people who adopted him have died. But no matter what happens, he is the only one who can always survive.

After reading the records of those cases, no one wants to know how he survived. They just want to know how he "did it."

At present, all the people involved in the investigation have not been able to find any motive or evidence for what terrible behavior Ritas actually did. But it is precisely because of this that everyone urgently needs a reason.

If it really was a little boy with a naturally violent and weird temperament who was constantly killing his own parents, this matter would be easier to resolve.

All you have to do is hang that little monster.

But if it wasn't the little boy who did it, then this matter was beyond the scope of cognition. There could be something entangled in him that could not be explained by common sense.

People are more afraid of an illusory curse than a serial killer who has been caught but is just frighteningly young.

"You didn't do anything? Then these things happened too coincidentally. Well, the three cases related to the 'Black Widow' are easy to understand. She probably used you as a cover for disguise. Hehe, she actually claimed to be the descendant of the 'Duke of Bartolisia'? Who would claim this? Moreover, according to legend, the Duchess of Bartolisia had countless descendants and illegitimate children. It is estimated that everyone in this area has more or less blood of their clan flowing in their bodies. And the death of this 'Black Widow'... Tsk, the Black Widow met the Black Widow. Things in this world are really wonderful."

Roland continued to flip through the report documents with great interest, constantly commenting on Ritas's various experiences.

Accidents, incidents or natural death due to illness, old age etc.

Although, if we take one or two of these cases individually, it is not surprising or difficult to understand, but the problem is that they happen too much and too frequently.

Roland had joked before that on average one pair of parents died in Ritas every year, but this was obviously not accurate.

Because, things that happened when he was too young, such as the things about his biological parents, cannot be counted on Ritas. Therefore, all the events related to his adoptive parents were counted from the time he was five years old.

In other words, more than a dozen adoptive parents died in Ritas over a period of more than three years.

Folding the documents and stuffing them casually into his chest, Roland began to ponder.

So, how should we deal with this matter?

Roland slowly circled around the weak-breathing Ritas.

Perhaps it was because before him, countless "holy men" had come to this church and sprinkled holy water on Ritas. Even though it was midsummer, he was still wet.

As for the church inviting all kinds of strange clergy to remove the curse, it probably wasn't out of good intentions.

According to various records, even if the host of the curse is executed or burned to death, the curse will not disappear. Instead, it will evolve and spread in the local area. Therefore, out of fear, the church does not dare to make decisions on its own.

After turning around a few more times, Roland used his own eyes to make some judgments about Ritas, the rumored "cursed son".

"Speaking of which, are these eyes natural? It seems that you only blink once every two minutes. Most people can't last that long. No, if it's natural, it should look more natural. Then, what's the reason for this habit? Is it because you have been in an environment where even a brief blink of an eye could lead to danger, and there is no room for error? Or are you afraid that your parents will fall to the ground and shatter like glass products the moment they blink?"

In response to Roland's words, Ritas did not answer. He just used the little strength left in his body to turn his head away and avoid the other party's gaze.

"Hahaha, I seem to be disliked. My wife always says that I sometimes say things that sound 'hellish' and asks me to be more careful. But I have never been able to find the right balance. You will know after spending more time with me that I actually have no ill intentions. Oh, it seems that I skipped a paragraph when I said this. How about I be your ninth adoptive father, little guy? This way, you will have time to judge whether what I said before is true."

"?"

Ritas, who had just turned his head away, turned his head back again.

At such a young age, Ritas' eyes were filled with despair for this world, but there was no hope in his eyes. It was simply hard to understand.

"Have you lived enough?"

"Hmm? It doesn't mean I will die just because I become your adoptive father, right? Not to mention that you probably won't have any intention of harming me. Even if I let you go and attack me, you probably won't be able to kill me. Also, don't show that look of disgust. I'm only a second-hand father at best, and you're a ninth-hand child. In the end, I'm at a greater disadvantage."

Roland, who was again "not able to grasp the right degree", yelled loudly, reached his hand into the clothes which had basically become an open-chested style, fumbled for a while, and took out the documents again.

"As for why, I don't know if you can understand these documents. I think the person who compiled these contents actually understood that those things had nothing to do with you. So, from these words, I only saw a 'complaint' throughout the whole text. He was complaining, why didn't you die? If you died, if you didn't survive every time, then this series of things was just an unfortunate accident that an unfortunate little guy encountered in his short and unfortunate life."

"But, since you didn't do those things, and you didn't do anything wrong, why do you have to die miserably? Why do you need to be reprimanded for surviving so desperately?"

"I just can't stand this kind of thing. So, I decided to let you live a happy life from now on. A happy life that will make those ignorant guys who regard you as a curse and disaster jump up and down at home every day."

Roland opened his arms and said with a hearty smile.

Although this middle-aged man looked probably ten years older than his actual age and his eyes were incredibly cloudy, his smile made Ritas feel the long-lost warmth.

After just a brief time together and a few words of conversation, Ritas began to think that this adult in front of him might be someone he could trust again.

But it is precisely because of this
"If I can refuse, I refuse."

If you ask who are the people who are most confused and frightened about what happened to Ritas, they are actually the officials who had no right to conduct the investigation, and the clergy of the church.

Although, he really didn't do anything.

Although, he was the one who wanted to know the reason the most.

But the fact that those around him who had become his parents continued to die was an unavoidable fact.

Therefore, the young Ritas was more convinced than anyone else in the world that the root of everything was himself, and that he was the "cursed child" who was cursed.

Faced with the person who may be the last person in the world who is willing to be his "father", the only thing Ritas can do now is to reject the other party.

"Eh? Why are you refusing? Are you worried about cursing me or something like that?"

"."

Ritas is a bit annoying because he can see through her thoughts.

"I think that what happened to you is not necessarily a curse. It was caused by my beautiful and kind wife. Before she married me, she was a famous magic researcher and a disciple of the Tree Witch, one of the Four Sages. So, if she, who is smarter than anyone else, heard about your situation, she would definitely say, 'It's just that a dozen parents died in three years. Although the probability of such a thing happening is indeed not high, it is not impossible to happen.'"

For some reason, she imitated Roland, a female researcher, and told the story vividly.

Before he could finish his words, something strange happened.

It was a sharp arrow that suddenly shot out from the shadows, whistling towards the vest of Roland who was performing an exaggerated performance.

"careful!"

Ritas, who was facing Roland and could see the sneak attack, instinctively warned with an almost dry voice.

But he spoke too late, the sharp arrow had already reached Roland's defenseless body.

Ritas, who usually seemed unwilling to even blink, couldn't help but close his eyes at this moment.

Maybe his curse is real.
Ding.

It wasn't like Roland's voice sounded in the middle.

"Oh? Haven't you accepted my proposal yet? How come your curse can come true in advance?"

When Ritas opened his eyes again, he saw Roland, who didn't even turn his head, reaching out as if to scratch his back, and easily deflected the sharp arrow with his fingernails.

"Although, I do think there is no so-called curse on you. But even if there is, I won't care. After all, how can my extremely boring life become more colorful without a few more curses?"

Looking at the large number of black-clad assassins who quickly poured in from all sides of the church after the attack of sharp arrows, Roland smiled and drew the sword at his waist.

"Alas, when will these people understand? It's not the knights and warriors who protect me in the impregnable fortress. It's me who protects them in the fortress. The 'Sword Saint in Peacetime' is still a Sword Saint."

In the church, which was already a sea of blood and corpses, Roland casually threw the sword in his hand into the pool of blood, sat down on the pile of corpses and breathed a sigh of relief.

"If I remember correctly, my trip this time was a spur of the moment decision, so the people who arranged the assassination were most likely those around me? Who is coveting the position of Governor of the Western Territory? Haha! There are so many candidates that it's hard to narrow down the list."

Roland scratched his itchy head while mumbling to himself in a humorous way and turned to look at Ritas.

"Such a bloody scene, isn't it a bit too exciting for you? Oh! I almost forgot, you seem to have seen your adoptive mother cut your adoptive father into many pieces, so this shouldn't be a big deal."

Looking at the shocking "hell" with broken limbs everywhere, Ritas seemed to understand Roland's uncertain speaking style and where the problem lies.

"Well, I can't see clearly anymore."

Roland pulled out a document that was mostly stained with blood from his chest.

"In that case, little one. How about you be called 'Ritas Berengrom Elson' from now on? I can't remember your middle name clearly, and I can't see it clearly. Besides, it's not good to have too many parts in a name. If I have to spend some effort just to remember your full name, you will be disliked."

Roland decided for Ritas without authorization.
"By the way, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Roland Elson. I'm a second-hand father who can barely be considered new. Please get along well with me from now on."

Just like that, because of the whim of the head of the family, Roland Elson, the Elson family, the guardian of the western border of the Holy Libera Kingdom, has since had a strange little member.

The legend about the "cursed child" who would "eat" his parents also quietly died out.

(End of this chapter)