Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 192 The Invisible “Three”

"'We once controlled time and space, weaving the stars, anchoring eternity in the corridors of cause and effect.'"

"'When the last tower of light goes out, the last utopia collapses, the last kingdom of heaven falls,'"

"'Endless splendor, glory and wisdom, finally reduced to a shattered afterimage.'"

"'Even if the clock stops, even if the rift closes.'"

"'The world will not be destroyed, but will be reborn and reorganized.'"

"'To nothingness, except fate.'"

"'This is the end and the beginning of everything.'"

"'We will become drifting dust, we will become scattered sand, we will become broken fragments.'"

"'We will wait for the moment to flow again, for the fate to be rewoven——'"

In front of the obelisk, Ritas gently stroked the ancient words on the obelisk and slowly recounted what was recorded on it.

Each character on it is at least the size of a palm. Therefore, the content recorded on the seemingly huge stone tablet is actually very limited.

After Ritas finished his story, there was silence for a long time until the voice of the bathing goddess sounded in the disc.

"So. When will you start translating, Xiao Li?"

"."

“It’s just a joke, so don’t look like you’ve given up on me, okay? Mr. Kosato! I really want to learn ‘Tree Studies’!”

Ritas sighed softly at the funny voice of the Bathing Goddess, which always made people forget their current situation.

"To be fair, we really can't deduce much from the contents recorded on this stone tablet."

Ritas looked up at the words on the stone tablet, and after careful consideration, he explained them as usual.

"The contents of things like stone tablets made for the purpose of spreading will mostly become like this. As for the reason, if you put yourself in the shoes of the stone tablet maker, you can understand a little bit."

Ritas frowned slightly.

"Initially, the idea of making this kind of stone tablet was good. The purpose was to pass on modern information to future generations. Therefore, it was necessary to record as much information as possible in a limited space. However, it was precisely for the purpose of recording and passing on that the makers became blind during the production process."

"'Is it really okay to write it in a straightforward manner like this?' 'Do we want future generations to feel our style just from the text?' 'Do we want to write an article that can be called the best in the world? Otherwise, when people find this stele in the future, they will regard the text on the stele as the standard of this era. If it is written too poorly, it will basically be equivalent to smearing everyone in this era.'"

"While the makers began to lose their minds, the stone tablet itself was a very grand event. As a result, all kinds of people who heard the news would try to join in. Moreover, people with more status would try to interfere."

"In the end, the contents of the stele will not surprisingly become just a pile of seemingly impressive words, and even the makers of the stele may not understand the contents. Everyone has completely forgotten the original intention and purpose of making the stele."

"I see."

From Ritas's slightly resentful tone, the Bathing Goddess understood two things.

One thing is that Ritas really has come into contact with many similar things. Another thing is that someone in this era probably asked Ritas to carve similar things for circulation. And since even though Ritas was so reluctant, he probably did it in the end, the person who wanted to erect a monument in this era should be that person.

"But is it really difficult for you to understand such a strange text? In the end, what country or era does this text come from?"

Listening to the Bathing Goddess's sigh, Merci just nodded repeatedly.

"I actually don't know. When I was still a student, I saw John carving these words in his dormitory one day. He said, 'This is a kind of language that I am probably the only one using in this world.' So I must have misunderstood it and thought it was a language created by John himself."

Recalling the past a little, Ritas spoke in a calm manner.

"Eh? Why?"

"Because I was also creating my own characters at the time, I thought that creating my own characters was quite popular in the academy."

“How can it be popular?”

No matter how scarce the entertainment activities in this world are, the Bathing Goddess firmly believes that no normal person would create their own words for fun.

"Since the source of this text is John, is it possible that John left the academy and sneaked in here during his time at the academy and carved this stone tablet?"

"Probably not."

Ritas shook his head.
"Although it is impossible to draw an accurate conclusion without special instruments, these engravings are very old."

"Really? Maybe it's been made old or something."

As for other matters, Ritas would probably believe whatever the Bathing Goddess said.

The only thing about antiques is that the Bathing Goddess doubts the judgment of the "King of Fakes".

"Anyway, I still have some judgement skills! And the difference between the newer marks and the older ones is still very obvious. For example, here and here are the newer marks."

Ritas said this, pointing to two incisions diagonally below the obelisk.

"Really? I can't really explain it, but it's definitely completely different. But is this really a scratch? Not some natural crack or something like that?"

The two relatively far-flung marks at the location where Ritas and the others were focused looked like the shapes of "Ⅰ" and "Ⅱ". However, these two numbers were relatively monotonous, so it was possible that they were cracked like this by chance.

"I hope it's just a crack. Otherwise, I really want to have a good chat with the person who carved these two numbers. What is his purpose in doing this?"

This action, which was like writing "I was here" on cultural relics and historical sites, obviously annoyed Ritas, who was interested in archaeology.

"It's probably better not to talk to someone who can come here to do boring things. It seems that this stone tablet is really a record left by the residents of the 'Old World'. The content of the stone tablet seems to mention 'Utopia'? The official name of the ancient capital also includes 'Utopia'."

"Maybe so."

Out of scholarly rigor, Ritas left himself some wiggle room in his response.

"Does this mean that John is related to the inhabitants of the Old World? After all, he can understand the writing of the Old World."

"."

Listening to the words of the Bathing Goddess, Ritas fell into deep thought.

He instinctively thought that such speculation was not reasonable.

Because all signs indicate that the "old world" of which there is almost no record in today's world may have existed before the birth of current human civilization.

This era is really too far away.

Thousands, tens of thousands of years or even longer.
Can the heritage of the old world really continue to be passed down for so long?

Furthermore, if the contents on the stele were not pure boasting, the people of the old world were not completely destroyed.

So during such a long period of time, what were they doing with such great power?
But if this guess is wrong, then how did John master the old world's writing that should have been lost countless years ago in this era?

"In any case, the foreign language that John has mastered must be quite amazing and valuable. You two are really brave enough to teach and learn."

"Maybe John at that time didn't know that I have an excellent memory and basically never forget anything. Or maybe..."

At least at that time, John and he were good friends who could share even things like "Old World Language".

"No, nothing or maybe. Language is meaningless if no one uses it. And, in exchange, I also taught him my own language."

"Tsk, you're trading your own language for the old world language? You're at a big loss, Xiao Li. Didn't you ask him to pay you something?"

Facing Ritas, who was obviously touched but refused to admit it, the Bathing Goddess sarcastically said in a strange tone.

"Professor, Professor!" While Ritas and the Goddess of Bath were discussing, Merci, who had been unable to join in the conversation, suddenly let out a trembling voice.

Turning their eyes, Ritas and the Bathing Goddess found that Merci was pointing in the direction of the obelisk with her trembling fingers.

After seeing what Merci pointed at, Ritas couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine.

Also at the bottom of the stone tablet, at a distance between the "Ⅰ" and "Ⅱ" marks, there appeared an additional "Ⅲ" mark.

"This is."

Ritas couldn't help but swallow.

There is "fresh" sand and dust in the carvings, and the "Ⅲ" that is slowly sliding down is obviously carved just a moment ago.

"Run away, Xiaoli! I don't know what it is, but there's something dirty here!"

In the vision of the Bathing Goddess, she saw a slight spatial fluctuation slowly spreading towards the direction where Ritas was.

Before the Bathing Goddess could finish her words, a strong wind suddenly blew up.

In an instant, Ritas, who was carrying Merci, fled from the obelisk like a gust of wind.

"What does three three mean? Does it mean that we have three wills staring at the stone tablet? Does it mean that we are the third group of people to come to the stone tablet?"

Outside the World Tree Labyrinth, Ritas carried Merci and fled a long way. He stopped only after the Bathing Goddess confirmed that the strange "invisible object" did not follow them.

“Wow! This must be the third group of people buried here! It’s all your fault, Xiao Li. You kept touching the stone tablet and made the ghosts of the old world angry!”

"Those characters from the old world are three-dimensional. In other words, the depth of the engraving is also part of the character. Moreover, the depth is finely divided into ten scales. Therefore, it is difficult to accurately identify it without touching it."

Although he really likes ancient things, he has enough professional ethics to not touch them just because he likes them, Ritas defended himself.

"Eh? There are such troublesome characters? Oh, no wonder the first time you saw John using that character, he said he was carving it. It turns out he wasn't just carving for fun."

The Bathing Goddess suddenly realized.

But on the other hand, the Bathing Goddess had another doubt.

Since John was not playing at the time, but was seriously "writing" the text, does it mean that he was planning to write a letter or something for people to read?
"Professor, can you please let me down?"

Merci, who was still being carried by Ritas, said timidly.

"Wait a moment. Sorry, Cadet Mercy, this is an emergency, so--?"

As soon as Ritas put Merci down, he heard the familiar "click" sound and screamed and dodged.

Sure enough, it was the classic spear and arrow, piercing through where Ritas was originally.

"woo"

"I know, it's not your fault. So, don't get excited, and don't move, please."

Ritas, who had consumed a lot of magic particles in the previous strategic evacuation, said with sweat on his forehead.

Nearly half a day has passed since Ritas and others were sucked into the "World Tree Maze".

Although Ritas's perception of time was also disordered, fortunately the Bathing Goddess was not affected.

In short, as the sky outside brightened.

Ritas, Merci and the Bathing Goddess were destined to miss one day of work and school.

On the one hand, he needed to recover some physical strength, and on the other hand, he wanted to wait until the magic particles slowed down, so Ritas found a safe place and rested with Merci for a while.

Solidified magic particles are different from ordinary magic particles. After temporarily losing their power, they will not leave, disperse or hide. Therefore, most of the time, as long as you wait long enough, you can recover from the dormant state.

During the rest time, Ritas took out two all-purpose eggs and roasted them over the lit fire.

Although the baked eggs also have a unique flavor. However, seeing that Ritas once again failed to use his magic, Merci once again confirmed in her heart that the professor must have encountered some problem.

After the rest, Ritas and Merci welcomed the goddess of bathing who had returned from her bath, and continued their journey into the depths of the labyrinth.

"Bath goddess, if you feel tired."

"It's not necessary, it's just a day's work. You think I'm too weak. Hehehe, you always complained that I was useless and only there to keep you company. Let's see if you can still say that in the future."

"Strange, I probably didn't say that."

"Huh? You really think so?"

After a brief exchange of words, the Bath Goddess continued to direct Ritas and Merci to move towards the exit of this level of the maze.

Ritas actually didn't understand how the goddess of bathing could confirm where they were in the maze when there were no reference objects around. However, he was not in a hurry to ask because sooner or later the goddess of bathing would be unable to resist and tell it out herself to show off.

As he walked forward, Ritas picked up some dust from the ground thoughtfully.

"'We will become drifting dust, we will become scattered grains of sand'?"

"Tsk, could you please stop saying something so scary all of a sudden!"

After being stunned for a moment, the Bathing Goddess realized what Ritas was suspecting and said in a shrill voice of dissatisfaction.

After staying there for a while, Merci, who also understood, looked very unhappy. She subconsciously began to avoid the sand in the cracks in the ground and only walked on the stone surface of the floor.

Then "click" -

Ritas climbed out of a pit again, and swore silently in his heart that he would never be in this maze, and then muttered some strange words to himself.

"Speaking of which, once we get to the lower level, do we still need to go to where the obelisk is?"

Perhaps they were close to the exit, the Bathing Goddess asked this.

"If possible, I still want to go. The first stone tablet may be like the outline of an article, and the subsequent stone tablets may record some of the past of the 'old world' in detail. However."

“But the obelisk is haunted. When the time comes, he’ll show up and write a ‘five’. Then, when you ask him why he wrote five, what about four? He’ll yell, because ‘four’ is you! Aaaaaa——!”

"."

This was the most inexplicable horror story Ritas had ever heard in his life. What was even more inexplicable was that Merci, who was standing by, was actually frightened.

I can only say that this girl is quite timid.

It's a pity that Merci didn't scare Star Pattern into going berserk two days ago in that abandoned house.
Just as everyone was struggling over whether or not to go to the area where the obelisk was located on the next level, the unchanging scene in the maze began to change.

I saw something like white silk threads appearing on the ground and walls. And as I went deeper, the originally sparse white silk threads became denser and denser, and the area stained became wider and wider.

"Bath goddess?"

"This is a phenomenon I'm not aware of. In other words, it's not a phenomenon that 'should happen'."

After hearing the reminder from the Goddess of Baths, Merci and Ritas became extremely alert and walked forward for a distance, and saw this scene from afar.

The good news is that An, one of their targets in the World Tree Maze, has been found.

The bad news is that at this moment, An is hanging on a huge spider web-like thing woven by a huge number of white silk threads.

(End of this chapter)