Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 107 The Third Star Mark Record

At dusk, the tree house where three girls with star patterns lived appeared in the vision of Ritas and the Bathing Goddess.

As dinner time approaches, the girls, who seem to prefer homemade cooking to going to the academy cafeteria, let the tree house be surrounded by curling smoke.
"Xiao Li, is the tree house on fire?!"

Looking at the black smoke coming out of the window, the Bathing Goddess said worriedly.

"Probably not. This tree house is not that easy to ignite."

Because things are easy to ignite, extra attention is paid to fire prevention measures, which often leads to things that are easy to ignite becoming the most difficult things to ignite.

That's pretty much it for a tree house.

Therefore, unless Merci was using the power of the star pattern to fight with others in the house, the tree house belonged to An Tai.

"Anyway, let's go in and take a look first."

Listening to the noisy sounds accompanied by black smoke coming from the house, Ritas calmly rang the magic bell at the door.

"Lady Bathing Goddess~"

In the tree house mansion, Tabatha Emin, a student of the Green Ivy Academy, held up a white disc with both hands with a happy expression.

At the same time, Ritas, who was using wind magic to disperse the black smoke in the restaurant and kitchen, was observing this original member of the "Bath Seminar".

Tabatha can be said to be a rare or even the only "believer" who "kisses" the goddess of bathing. However, it is difficult to say whether there is any respect in this "kissing". After all, her current actions are usually done to babies, small pets and the like.

This is also the reason why, although the Bathing Goddess is laughing "Ahaha", there is obvious reluctance in her laughter.

From the conclusion, Ritas always felt that the student Tabatha Emin was very suspicious.

After all, everything about her seemed too coincidental.

When the "Bath Seminar" was just established and even the strange rumors hadn't spread, she took the initiative to join in. Moreover, in an emergency situation like being in danger in the maze, she happened to awaken the power of the "Star Mark".

If we say that everything is not a coincidence, it would be easy to explain.

Tabatha deliberately wanted to get close to the "Bath Seminar", so she would naturally join in. In fact, she could freely use the power of the "Star Mark", so after hearing the voice of the Bathing Goddess, she only needed to pretend that her power was stimulated on the spot.

As for the purpose of Tabatha doing all this, what Ritas sees now is the answer.

She might be from the "Star People", a mysterious organization that pays special attention to the holders of star marks. Her purpose is to get close to Merci and Noah.

If Tabatha hadn't joined, before Ritas met Platina Latras, Ritas would have suspected that the other party's purpose of approaching him was him.

However, even if Tabatha was suspicious, the possibility that everything was deliberate or accidental was only 50-50 in Ritas's opinion.

On the one hand, when Tabatha joined the "Bath Seminar", Ritas had retrieved information about the Emin family and conducted some investigations. At least on the surface, there was no problem with either Tabatha or the Emin family.

On the other hand, unlike a few months ago, Ritas, who was saved by a coincidence, has changed his mindset. He no longer believes that everything in the world has a traceable path, and no longer overly hates uncontrollable accidents.

And on this day, after actually meeting Tabatha, Ritas felt that it was just as the goddess of the bath said, "As long as you get along with Tabatha in person, you will know that your doubts are unnecessary."

It wasn't from an impression or an emotion like that that Ritas felt Tabatha could be trusted.

But Tabatha did not seem to have any signs of special training. Moreover, probably because she did not exercise much, Tabatha's body looked weaker than that of an ordinary noble student.

Of course, no matter how much you relax your vigilance, you will still retain at least 30% suspicion of Ritas.

"S-Sorry, Professor Ritas. I'm still not very good at using magic kitchen utensils, and I made them explode again."

又.
Ritas took his eyes off Tabatha and looked at Mercy, whose hair was slightly curled and whose face was gray and black. He was a little speechless while chewing on this word.

"You don't have to apologize to me. And you don't have to blame yourself either. I've been learning how to cook recently. So I know very well that the more carefully you cook, the more likely you are to fail. What's more, these magical kitchen utensils in the tree house were purchased when I was a researcher. With the speed at which magical utensils are updated today, they are basically obsolete."

Seeing Merci's pitiful appearance, Ritas couldn't hold back his tone and just spoke comforting words.

After spending a semester with Merci, Ritas discovered a special quality in this girl.

That is, even though Merci always failed in various aspects, almost everyone, including him, did not have the heart to blame Merci, even though they were sometimes affected by Merci's failure.

Sometimes, even though Merci was the one who got into trouble, as long as the person on the other side saw her lowering her head and fiddling with her fingers or something, she would feel as if she was the one who did something wrong.

If you think about it carefully, such a trait seems to be quite bad, but Merci obviously does not deliberately use her own characteristics.

If Ritas remembered correctly, this trait that affects others unconsciously is usually called "demonic nature".

"I should be the one to apologize to you. Since I was going to visit your residence, I should have obtained permission in advance instead of coming here out of the blue like this."

"Hmph, I'm glad to know. According to the etiquette of the nobility, a letter must be sent at least three days in advance when visiting a residence. There are three of us here, so we have to send it nine days in advance!"

Next to Mercy, Noah, who was skillfully wiping her face with a slightly wet handkerchief, said unhappily.

Three days for one person, nine days for three people
Is this the etiquette for sending letters and invitations?
Moreover, although Noah's aggressive attitude was the same as always, Ritas felt that Noah's aggressiveness seemed to be particularly strong on this day.

As for the reason, apart from the sudden appearance of an extra roommate, Ritas couldn't think of any other reason for the time being.

"Um, um, you don't have to eat it."

Not long after, in the simply cleaned tree house restaurant.

Ritas stared at the dark disk in front of him, and after thinking for a long time, he still couldn't recognize what it was made of. He tried to touch the dark substance with the tip of the fork. The sound and touch it gave back were not like the feedback from normal food.
Is this really edible?

Merci, the "cook", advocated throwing it away. However, Noa, the noble lady who usually ate a plate of food and emptied the table, suddenly began to cherish the food. And, adhering to the principle of not wasting it, she put it on the table.

At this moment, facing a cooking "accident" that was probably far beyond her imagination, Noah, who kept taking deep breaths, had a fearless look on her face.

Almost everyone at the table looked embarrassed, including the bathing goddess who could only watch from afar and not be present.

But only Tabatha was still half asleep and half awake. All her movements seemed a little shaky. She directly put the fork into the black substance, and then put it into her mouth and chewed it without any hesitation.

“Although it doesn’t look very good, it tastes very good.”

thump.

Tabatha fell.

“Tabatha—!”

Amid the exclamations of Merci and Noah, Ritas silently put down his fork.

He sincerely hoped that Tabatha was simply asleep as usual.

Come to think of it, Merci's failed recipe "took effect" so quickly. Is it possible that even powerful anesthetics are not as effective as these black substances? Should I take them back and study them?
While Ritas was thinking about random things, he shifted his gaze towards the kitchen.

He looked at the two girls who were "rescuing" Tabatha, and then at the apron that was half hanging on the edge of the table and could fall to the ground at any time.

If it was during the semester, Ritas would never have done what he did next. But perhaps, this is the unique charm of summer vacation.

Even Professor Ritas would become a little more "relaxed" in various aspects.

So, when Mercy and Noah "rescued" Tabatha, they smelled the refreshing aroma coming from the kitchen, and Professor Ritas, wearing a cute pink apron, kept placing hot dishes on the table.

After dinner time.

As the goddess of the bath exclaimed, "It's so good, it looks like pudding. I want to try it too," Ritas and the three girls enjoyed the dessert made by spinning the high-speed spinning egg until the inside is solid and then simply cooking it. On the other side of Ritas, Noah scooped up the dessert with a spoon and stuffed it into her mouth as if she was angry. Her slightly frowned brows seemed to be silently saying, "It's annoying if it's not delicious, but it's even more annoying if it's delicious!"

Sitting next to Noah was Tabatha, who was using a spoon to push a white round plate.

"Bath Goddess, can I taste it like this~"

"Well"

After meeting Tabatha, Ritas realized that this world is not only filled with the "Mercy type" who easily believed in the existence of the goddess of baths, and the "Noah type" who believed that the white disc was a magic tool.

There are also "Tabasha-type" people who really believe that the goddess of baths lives in a disc, or simply believe that the goddess of baths is a disc.

Come to think of it, although it's probably not serious, but Levis seemed to have said that if the goddess of bathing lived in a disc, it would be only the size of a bean.

Next to Ritas' seat was Merci, who had not moved at all.

"Professor, can I really eat it?"

Looking at the simple cat face that Ritas had decorated on the surface of the dessert with some cream and other ingredients and seasonings, Mercy asked while holding a spoon carefully.

"Of course, food is made to be eaten."

"Can I keep it then?"

So it is for eating.
In the end, under Ritas's gaze, Merci ate the dessert reluctantly.

When he was cleaning up the dishes, Ritas didn't know if it was his illusion. He always felt that Mercy seemed to be staring at the fork he had used.
Anyway, after taking a short break after dessert time, Ritas discussed with Tabatha and started the third star pattern recording.

In stark contrast to Noah's awkward attitude, Tabatha was very open and cooperative. And because of this, Ritas's vigilance towards Tabatha was reduced.

Tabatha's "star pattern" appeared on the sole of her right foot.

Although it is also a relatively hidden location, it is not more embarrassing than the location of Merci and Noah's "star patterns".

Until the event officially started, Ritas thought so naively.

But when Tabatha sat opposite him and took off her white over-the-knee socks on her right leg, Ritas realized that the situation he was facing was a little different from what he had imagined.
First of all, although Tabatha was a noble student, she only wore school uniforms like Merci and did not buy other clothes separately. Therefore, with the short skirt of the summer uniform, whenever Tabatha sat and stretched her legs, Ritas's eyes would easily fall on the wrong place.

Ritas didn't even know whether Tabatha's lack of defense was a good thing or a bad thing.

Because if Tabatha starts to hold down her skirt tightly, the current scene and atmosphere will only become more weird.

Secondly, since Tabatha's feet are very small, the "star pattern" that appears on the soles of her feet is naturally smaller.

Therefore, Ritas had to get very close to see the "star pattern" clearly.

Squatting on one knee, Ritas tried not to offend Tabatha by lifting her heel with one hand, and then carefully observed the "Star Mark Emblem".

As expected, Tabatha's star pattern came from the same system as Merci and Noah's star patterns. Although they were different overall, they also had many similarities.

Before Ritas started recording, the lavender star pattern on the soles of Tabatha's feet suddenly approached and was imprinted on Ritas' left eye socket.

"."

"Um, sorry, Professor Ritas. My leg wasn't bent properly. I have a cramp."

Tabatha apologized softly and carefully moved her foot away.

Why do my legs cramp when doing this kind of exercise?

Ritas's eyebrows twitched, and then he calmed down by taking a deep breath. He could feel that Tabatha didn't mean to do it, and she didn't use any force on her feet.

Even though the damage caused is not high,
"Let's find a platform and use it as a cushion."

After calming down, Ritas looked around and found a stepping stone for Tabatha.

Although Tabatha's legs should not cramp with the platform placed at the ankles, the soles of her feet are lower, so Ritas has to lower his sight more than before.

Tilting his neck hard and listening to the protest coming from his neck, Ritas stared at Tabatha's "star pattern" again.

What he saw out of the corner of his eye made him a little anxious.

Because Tabatha was still wearing the white over-the-knee socks on her other leg.

Ritas's symptoms have really improved a lot now. He no longer asks for the "star pattern" on Tabatha's soles to appear, one on each foot.

But, doesn't Tabatha feel awkward seeing only one side wearing over-the-knee socks?
This most basic symmetry won’t bring any retribution even if it is achieved!
Just when Ritas's attention was unconsciously distracted for a strange reason, the star pattern in Ritas's sight "became bigger" again.

Since Ritas tilted his head, this time it was the right eye socket.

"."

"Ah~ Sorry Professor, I'm very ticklish."

Tabatha said in a thinner voice.

And Ritas just remained silent for a while.

how to say
He couldn't do anything with the over-the-knee socks on only one side, but at least the place where he was kicked was symmetrical, right?

Moreover, he admitted that his breathing was a little heavy because he was a little anxious just now.

Since it won't take long to roughly memorize the star pattern, he might as well stop breathing.

Before starting to record again, Ritas glared at Noah in the room.

Before, when Ritas was kicked unexpectedly for the first time, Noah almost couldn't hold it together, and his shoulders trembled. When he saw Ritas being kicked for the second time, Noah was really not prepared at all, and couldn't help but burst out laughing.

So whether it's Noah or Merci, the star pattern recording Tabatha has nothing to do with them. Why are they just standing around in the room watching?

Feeling the resentment in Ritas's eyes, Noah probably realized that he was just gloating, which was not good. So, Noah spoke up to try to divert Tabatha's attention to prevent her from kicking Ritas again in a state of nervousness.

"Come to think of it, are all 'Star Marks' the same as ours, only appearing in places that are not easy for us to identify?"

"Eh~ Is the star mark of the senior sister also in a position that is not easy to confirm?"

Tabatha asked curiously, twisting her body and looking at Noah who was standing diagonally behind her.

During this series of actions, her right foot also stretched out a little.
tread.
The sound was so slight that probably only Ritas himself could hear it.

Although, the force was still very weak.

But Ritas, who was already somewhat doubtful about his life and looked at the soles of the girl's feet with empty eyes, asking himself "What on earth am I doing?", was still knocked down by the "star pattern" that grew larger again after spinning and printed on him.

This time, it was the forehead.

“.” “.” “.” “.”

Lying on his side on the floor which was still cold in the middle of summer, Ritas didn't know what to say or what he could say, and just let out a long sigh.

It's so unfortunate.
(End of this chapter)