Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 115 Self-directed and self-acted
"This is not something that can be explained away by saying 'a joke'. Is there any reason why Miss An did this?"

Faced with a "abandonment" case that was directed and acted by himself, or half directed and acted by himself, Ritas stared at An and asked.

"Before I explain, Professor Ritas, can you tell me how you determined that this painting was not created by 'Abandoned Color'?"

An skillfully poured a cup of black tea for Ritas.

"That's not a problem. In fact, it's mainly because I've seen the works of those 'Qi Cai' before. Then, I made some unauthorized guesses about him through the paintings. First of all, these paintings themselves are very rough in all aspects, and there are not many traces of carving. Or to be more straightforward, these are the works of 'beginners' who have just started painting."

Listening to Ritas' words, Adeline nodded quietly.

Yes, Adeline is still there.

Moreover, judging from the current positions of the few people, Adeline, who was sitting on the opposite side of Ritas across the tea table, still had the aura of the owner of the mansion and the leader of communication.

But there was no doubt that Ritas had been talking to Ann who was standing next to Adeline, and had intentionally or unintentionally ignored Adeline.

"Secondly, although Qicai seemed to be imitating Yicai, he probably didn't know much about Yicai. The most obvious thing is that he didn't know Yicai was not a painter. The reason for this is probably that after he came to Spring City, he saw graffiti on the streets that imitated Yicai's works, which gave him this illusion."

Ritas paused.

"So, it's still my own arbitrary judgment and conjecture. I think that the state of mind of 'Qi Cai' is like this. He recently came to Spring City for the first time. Then he was attracted by the 'color craze' that has appeared in Spring City in the summer in recent years, and became curious. But after a little understanding, this curiosity became inexplicable. He was puzzled. Why were some paintings that seemed to have overturned paint buckets so exaggeratedly sought after? And he also had this idea, 'If works of that level can be praised, then can I do it too?'"

As Ritas spoke, he turned his gaze to the teacup in his hand, watching the reflection of the tea gradually solidify from the initial shaking.
"'Qi Cai' has no respect and contempt for 'Yi Cai', which can be seen from the name he gave himself. Among countless words, he chose the word 'qi', which is not really a compliment. Of course, this cannot be regarded as a proof, but just some confirmation."

"I see."

Adeline, who was drinking her fourth cup of tea, nodded again with an expression that said "as I thought".

Although she looked very calm, the sounds of "Eh? Eh?" that she couldn't help making before showed that she had been wavering inside ever since she found out that the painting in the dormitory was done by An.

At present, she doubted whether she could really tell so much from just a few paintings. Also, because she drank a little too much tea and was a little anxious, she wanted to pick flowers.

"After talking about the painting of 'Qi Cai', let's talk about the one on the ceiling. This painting is very mature in both brushstrokes and techniques. The style is also stable, with the shadow of academic school. I think it is a work carefully painted by a painter who has received excellent guidance from an excellent instructor and has practiced for many years. From these aspects, we can see the obvious difference between her and 'Qi Cai'."

"."

Adeline silently looked at the colorful ceiling from the corner of her eyes. She felt that it was similar to the painting on the small tea table, which was randomly created after the paint bucket exploded.

".Thank you for the compliment."

An said softly.

Although the maid's expression remained the same as usual, Adeline, who was familiar with Ann, could tell from her expression that she was a little excited.

"As for why I can identify the author of this painting, it's right in front of me. It's because the painting on the ceiling shows a sense of 'calmness'. Judging from the graffiti on the small tea table, even 'Qi Cai' can't easily invade this mansion and stay there for a long time. The painting on the ceiling is larger in scale, and the difficulty of painting on various levels is also higher. Therefore, I can only conclude that it was an insider who could stay in this room for a long time who completed this painting."

"Just as the professor said."

An Xin nodded in satisfaction.

After Ritas explained the reasons for his judgment, it was An's turn to explain his strange behavior.

But until then.
"Well, I think the judgments made by Professor Ritas are all reasonable. However, did the professor immediately confirm that the painter was An after seeing the painting? Normally speaking, isn't the owner of this dormitory the most suspicious person?"

After drinking another cup of tea, Adeline suddenly realized that she seemed to be treated very rudely, and asked with a raised eyebrow.

".Then, Miss An, it's time to tell us why you did this."

"So, why did they exclude me directly? Could it be that the professor wanted to say that I didn't seem to have received the good advice of an excellent mentor?"

"Miss, here are the cookies I baked at noon."

"."

Adeline sensed the clear malice and quietly went aside to eat cookies.

"In fact, the reason why I did those things is very simple. I just feel that the defense of this mansion has been a little too lax recently. Even if there are many excuses, even if it is just the courtyard, intruders should not be allowed to approach this mansion anyway."

Ann explained.

"We want to use this opportunity to raise the vigilance of the surrounding defense forces. Indeed, after a not-so-peaceful semester, it is not advisable to become lax just because of the holidays."

Ritas expressed his understanding.

Of the many "abandoned lottery" incidents that have occurred recently around Spring City, the one that occurred in Adeline's dormitory mansion is undoubtedly the most serious, even if it does not include the second half directed and performed by An.

Rather, it could be said that neither the people of Spring City nor the people of the academy realized how dangerous “abandoning lottery” was.

Since he can break into other people's houses without anyone noticing, steal clothes or leave paintings, it means that he can use his power to do more extreme things.

However, it is precisely because the victims who have "abandoned the lottery" so far have paid a very limited price that, although he is a criminal with a high degree of threat, few people are afraid of him from the bottom of their hearts.

And no one can guarantee that the intensity of Qicai's crimes will continue to be the same as it is now. You know, he is a criminal, and a pervert.

However, even if Ritas could understand An's actions, he could also realize that after the "highness's" bedroom was invaded, the princess's guards would be so alert for a long time that they would need to keep half an eye open even when sleeping.

But he still felt that An's behavior was a bit too much.

"What's more, Earls College will host the 'College Exchange Meeting' next semester. There will be a lot of people coming and going, and the situation inside the college will become complicated, which requires even more vigilance."

During the summer vacation, Ritas had already begun making various preparations for the "Magic Academy Exchange Meeting", an activity that has been going on for nearly a hundred years.

After many interruptions and changes, the current magic academy exchange meeting is held every two years. There are a total of five academies participating in the exchange meeting, including Earls. They are all well-known magic academies on the continent.

The specific period of the exchange meeting is the end of October, and it will last for a total of three weeks. Generally speaking, the main force of the magic school exchange meeting is the students of the senior departments of each school. Before the students are promoted to the fourth grade and start to be busy with employment and other things, the exchange meeting in the second semester of the third grade is the last school activity that they can devote themselves to.

As for the elementary department, except for a few gifted students, they can basically only act as spectators in the exchange meeting.

As a junior tutor, normally Ritas would not have much involvement in the exchange meeting. However, some things that were not his concern were put in front of him.

Forced to choose between two options.

The compulsory two-choice competition in the second semester took place among the people from other schools who came to Earls College during the exchange meeting.

"College Exchange Meeting"

Originally, Ritas mentioned the college exchange meeting simply because it was something he often thought about in his daily life, so he just brought it up.

However, he realized that after he said this, An, who had repeated the word, was staring at him straight in the eyes as if she could see through him.

“I really hope that nothing will happen at the college exchange meeting.”

After staring at Ritas for a moment, An spoke again in a slightly heavier voice.

"I hope so."

When Ritas agreed with some doubt, he suddenly remembered something.

That is the second semester, the assassination of the third princess will also happen during the "Magic Academy Exchange Meeting" event.

Taking this as an opportunity, Adeline and Ann's past behaviors, Ann's excessive behavior this time, and all the information obtained from the Bathing Goddess were connected in Ritas' mind.

After figuring out some things, Ritas' eyes widened slightly.

If I am not mistaken, his previous mention of the college exchange meeting should have been a not-so-good "hint".

"Then I hope the professor can catch the 'abandoned prize' soon."

As the afterglow of the setting sun gradually fell, Adeline, who had drunk a lot of tea and eaten a lot of snacks in the afternoon, said with a smile to Ritas who was about to leave the mansion.

"Really? All we need to do is catch the Abandoned Color? Not to mention, as a non-professional, do I have the ability to catch him? Even if I succeed by chance, I will only hand it over to the Guard Knights."

Feeling that he had caused himself some trouble, Ritas spoke in a low mood.

"Don't worry, Professor Ritas. As long as you try to help us solve the problem, we will be grateful enough. There are still three and a half years left, I hope we can continue our friendly cooperation."

Adeline said this with a meaningful smile on her face.

But Ritas's eyes stayed on Ann, who was dressed as a maid. After she nodded gently, he breathed a sigh of relief, said a few words of farewell, and left.

Leaving the third dormitory area, Ritas went straight to the dormitory mansion where he and Miriam lived.

Miriam did not show up in the dormitory that day.

Now, the time for the college to close its gates is approaching. Therefore, if Miriam doesn't come back, she may have to sleep outside the school for the day.

But compared to this, Ritas currently has something more important to confirm.

"Bath goddess, are you back?"

"oh!"

Throughout the day, Ritas was actually holding a white disc.

However, the Bathing Goddess, who had been clamoring to go back to the academy to be a detective with Ritas a few days ago, had to attend an "extra class" today and was only online not long ago.

As soon as she came online, she saw that Ritas was actually in Adeline's dormitory. The bathing goddess, who was not interested at all, immediately ran to take a bath.

"Actually, I've already come back, but I felt the atmosphere over there was weird, so I was tactful and kept silent. How about this, now you should admit that I have a high emotional intelligence, goddess?"

"Compared to that, could Bathing Goddess tell us as much as possible about the 'assassination' incident? Anything you can think of will be fine."

Ritas said, rubbing his brow.

"Eh? That's not impossible."

The somewhat confused Bathing Goddess did not ask much, but talked about the famous "Cake Assassination Incident" in a random manner.

While the Bathing Goddess was telling the story, Ritas's expression became more and more serious, and in the end he couldn't help but let out a "tsk".

"No wonder. Regardless of whether there is intervention or not, the princess who encountered the assassination incident will always be safe and sound. That is not something that a few students can intervene and influence. Moreover, such a big incident actually has no follow-up. No, it's not that there is no follow-up, but the follow-up has nothing to do with the so-called hero."

"Uh, Professor Kosato?"

"'The Lord was assassinated'. This reason itself is a kind of 'experiment'. And the 'abandoned lottery' that appeared in the dormitory, the more fundamental reason is to make this matter bigger and spread it. As expected, it is still not possible to not take a break occasionally. I should have thought of it earlier."

"that."

Hearing the timid voice of the goddess of bathing, with an expression that said "there is nothing that can be done at this point", Ritas sighed.

"It's like this, Bathing Goddess. That... No, to be more precise, if my inference is correct, then that 'Cake Assassination Incident' should have been staged and directed by herself."

After listening to Ritas' words, the Bathing Goddess seemed to react after a long while and said "Ah".

(End of this chapter)