Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 209 Searching for the True Body
"Actually, I wasn't waiting here for you to wake up these past few days. I went to play with Merci for a day, and also went to play with the Black Sister for a day~"

In Ritas's ward, the Bathing Goddess was in a good mood and talked about her experiences in the past few days.

And Ritas felt that even when he lost consciousness, the Bathing Goddess would stay in this world for a long time. So the time she spent in this world was really getting more and more uncontrolled.

"Did anything special happen?"

"Well, they didn't. But the overall atmosphere in Spring City is not very good. The explosion of the Spring Building in the sky has not yet passed. It always feels a bit ironic. Such a big thing happened in Spring City, and the academy is so close to Spring City. However, the two sides are like two completely different worlds. When the students mention the Spring City incident, they just treat it as an anecdote. It feels like half of Spring City, let alone a building, exploded, but the students are still more concerned about the 'Academy Exchange Meeting'."

Listening to the Bathing Goddess's sigh, Ritas also felt a little bit of the same.

Whether in a good way or a bad way, Earls's students were a little too ambitious.

And the source of all this may be a certain dean of the college.

Speaking of which, Livis still hasn't returned to the academy recently. Although, this is not uncommon. However, running around at this time, she is obviously busy with the academy exchange meeting.

Ritas always felt that his teacher seemed to attach too much importance to this exchange meeting.

Before, he thought that the big incident in Spring City would hinder the opening of the college exchange meeting. In fact, with Livis's dedication, even if the world was destroyed, the exchange meeting would probably not be stopped.

"It's a good thing that Merce and Mary are relatively safe. If something really happened, you would be worried. But something interesting happened to Miriam. On the day you were hospitalized, he met a senior!"

".Where on earth do so many senior students in this academy come from?"

Ritas didn't understand it either, because he had studied in this academy before. How could the students in the advanced and elementary departments have so many opportunities to interact with each other?

"That senior must be looking for trouble. Well, maybe not looking for trouble, but she's probably a serious person. Anyway, she grabbed Miriam and started to criticize him, asking him questions like why he lived in the enhanced dormitory, what projects he had at the exchange meeting, what kind of weird bathing seminar he joined, and why he didn't look like he was training. In short, she was asking him 'Why are you here?'"

"Yeah, that's not wrong."

Although Miriam was criticized in large part because of his mentor, he was still happy to see someone talk about the "brave man" who was always philandering while being undisciplined.

It seems that Miriam can't get along well with all the senior students.

"Then this morning, I saw that senior student hesitating for a long time in front of Miriam's dormitory door. It seemed that she wanted to deliver a lunch box that she probably made herself. Unfortunately, Mercy was in a hurry to go to class, so I didn't see whether the senior student's lunch box was delivered or not."

"?"

Ritas was stunned for a moment.

Is he distracted? Why does it always feel like the plot jumps too much?

It's just a few days, how come the progress is so fast! Has he really been in a coma for three years?

"Well, this is pretty much the most interesting thing that's happened in the past few days."

"What's so interesting about that?"

After unable to help but ask back, Ritas felt a little relieved after confirming that these days were indeed peaceful.

After some random conversations to fill the gap of the missing few days, Ritas and the Bathing Goddess reviewed the things that happened in the "World Tree Labyrinth".

"So, the 'Darkspawn' number 10 is really related to John?"

"Ninety percent of the time. Otherwise, she wouldn't have mentioned 'John' at the right time and chosen such an extreme method to prevent us from obtaining information."

Although, judging from the other party's stubbornness, Ritas had no confidence that he could ask anything useful. However, he only confirmed her relationship with John, which left him with some regrets.

"You seem to have basically confirmed that before asking?"

"Almost. After all, being able to enter the World Tree Labyrinth and colluding with 'Speaker Gran' limits the people behind the scenes to a very small range. In addition, she seems to know me to a certain extent and is very afraid of me, so she was easily fooled by my pretend spell. I don't think that without additional information, the desperados of the 'Dark Descent' will really be afraid of a scholar like me who has been engaged in academic research for most of his life."

"That makes sense. But since she was sent by John, why couldn't she even enter the World Tree Space before, and could only weave a web near the outer exit and wait for prey to lead the way for her?"

The Bathing Goddess was puzzled.

She didn't think that it was a coincidence that the Darkin member had just entered the outskirts of the World Tree Maze and ran into An, who also wanted to return home, which led to a series of subsequent events.

A more likely possibility is that the Darkin member has been waiting outside the World Tree Labyrinth for a long time.

“That’s something I can’t comprehend.”

Ritas sighed softly.

All he could think of was the pride, even arrogance, hidden under John's gentle smile that he showed to everyone.

When he was a student, he found that John always bought several sets of things. One set was for others to touch and admire, and the one that truly belonged to him was something he would hardly allow anyone to touch.

But at this point, Ritas, who couldn't even figure out what John was trying to do, didn't dare to say that he understood his former friend.

"By the way, in An's hometown, I found a lot of things worth discussing!"

Following the words of the Bathing Goddess, their discussion turned to the fairy-tale space where An and An's mother once lived.

After the Bathing Goddess described what she had seen in as much detail as possible, Ritas frowned.

Although, from Merci and An's later special state, Ritas vaguely realized that something extraordinary had happened in a place he didn't see, but he didn't expect that everything was far beyond his common sense and imagination.

"Don't be surprised if I tell you something. I think Ann might be 'bedtime reading'!"

"?"

Because the Bathing Goddess' words were so jumpy, it took Ritas a few seconds to remember who the "bedtime reading" was.

In the game "Star Emblem", when entering the route of fighting against the "Dark Elves", the two most active and difficult cadres among the Dark Elves are "Bedtime Reading" and "Professor of Magic".

At the beginning, when the Bath Goddess said that the performance of "bedtime reading" in the game was to create one story world after another based on mechanisms, Ritas also seriously considered how those things should be reproduced in his world.

And now, the question seems to have been answered to a certain extent. "Although it's not exactly the same, the fairy-tale world of An Lao's home and the atmosphere are very much like a page from 'Bedtime Reading'!"

In the story before the Bathing Goddess, the battlefield image of "bedtime reading" is a huge book, and each page of the book is a different world.

"Why would a princess like you hang out with the Darkspawn?"

"Well, there are all sorts of complicated reasons after all."

"Moreover, not to mention the marginal members of the derivative organizations of the Dark Elves, the prerequisite for becoming a formal member or even a core member is to have the blood of sinners flowing in your body. After all, the king of the Holy Kingdom of Libera and his lover are not "sinners" in the broad sense."

Ritas continued to deny.

If King Libera insisted, he might be able to find some charges against her. But in his mind, An's mother was just a love-stupid woman who ran away to a big city secretly and was deceived by a man who was gentle to her. She didn't seem like a "criminal" at all.

Moreover, leaving aside her personality, after An's mother failed in her bid for favor, she took An back to her hometown in disgrace and lived in depression for the rest of her life, which did not provide her with the physical conditions to become a "sinner".

"If I must say, it's more likely that Ann's mother is 'bedtime reading'. After all, that space was indeed created by her power. In comparison, although Ann's power can transform me into a doll-like figure, it is obviously not on a scale to create space and the world at present."

"I get it! Ann's mother is 'bedtime reading'!"

".According to the timeline, 'Bedtime Reading' will appear in a few years. However, in all the timelines, An probably returned to the World Tree Space this semester to obtain power. In other words, An's mother's power has been dispersed. So what can she use as 'Bedtime Reading'?"

Listening to the words of the goddess of bathing who had no idea what "said" meant, Ritas continued to refute her helplessly.

“Even if the power of ‘bedtime reading’ is really related to Ann’s mother, perhaps what is worth paying attention to is the ‘power of the other half’.”

"The other half?"

"According to the description of the Bathing Goddess, didn't half of the power falling from the sky enter Merci's body? Moreover, An only grew wings representing special powers on one side, which also concerns me."

Although Ritas's concern was largely due to "asymmetry", combined with the description of the bathing goddess, he began to think that the unilateral wing might also contain special meaning.

"That is to say, Merce is the one sleeping."

"Bath Goddess——"

"I'm kidding. Merci's actions can be traced in the game. So, under normal circumstances, she can't receive power with Ann. In other words, in the game, people who follow Ann on trips like this one are suspicious?"

"Not necessarily. If Merci wasn't there, An might have been able to forcibly take over all the power."

Having said that, Ritas pondered for a moment.

Is this really possible?

Because, if An wanted to forcibly receive all the power, roughly, a star-shaped emblem would appear on each of her left and right shoulders. And star emblems. Shouldn't you hold two at the same time?
Not to mention that the Bathing Goddess has never seen such a character. If the possession of multiple star patterns is feasible, then the "Forgotten Temple" which successfully conducted the "artificial star pattern" experiment in the game would definitely give it a try.

"Or maybe, the power that was not received did not dissipate, but just existed in that space, waiting for someone to step in and merge with others."

"If you say so, then the true identity of 'Bedtime Reading' cannot be identified!"

"So, why do we have to identify his real identity?"

Ritas didn't know when their discussion went off track.

"By the way, since the Bathing Goddess wants to know who 'Bedtime Reading' is, you should know his position among the 'Darkborn', right?"

"."

Noticing that the Bathing Goddess had fallen silent, Ritas couldn't help but shook his head.

"I know, it's not your fault"

"That's good to know! But don't get complacent, I'll open a new game, and in a few days I'll be able to get to the end of the 'Dark Descent' line! I'll make sure to check carefully what the number on the 'Bedtime Reading' is. By the way, there's also the 'Professor of Magic'!"

"I am looking forward."

Faced with the Bathing Goddess's solemn promise, Ritas just responded perfunctorily.

"Although it feels like things have come to this, is it really a good idea to let Merci take away nearly half of the power left by An's mother? Or what exactly is Ms. An thinking?"

“It’s really come to this.”

I don’t know if it can be considered as a complete “digestion”, but in the second half of the battle with the “Darkborn” members, there was no silver light in Merci’s flame.

Thinking of this, Ritas also had a headache.

In this unexpected incident, it may be a bit mercenary to carefully calculate the gains and losses.

However, if we look at it carefully, it was undoubtedly Ann's rash action that started it all. So, even if it was not intentional, Ritas, who did carry out the rescue operation, was the one who was doing the favor.

However, as Ann became more open and shared her secrets and even her mother's "relics", Ritas felt a sense of guilt.

Of course, since Ritas only picked himself out, his position was still favorable. He could have complained about a trip to the World Tree Labyrinth, in which he not only lost all the "property" he brought with him, but also lost a favorite robe.

But obviously, Tas cannot put on such an expression for both moral and legal reasons, and for both public and private reasons.

“Interpersonal relationships are really troublesome, so everyone says I don’t need them anymore.”

Ritas couldn't help but murmur softly.

Just when Ritas was finding the interpersonal relationships he had unknowingly established difficult, there was a knock on the door of the ward.

Soon, the door of the ward opened.

The visitor who first bent her body sideways and stretched out one wing into the not-so-spacious ward door was naturally "Her Royal Highness the Princess" who was at the center of all the events.

(End of this chapter)