Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 227
It was autumn.

A young woman in a white dress stood quietly in front of a renovated but still quaint mansion.

The woman, from a distant, perpetually summery country, clearly hadn't grasped the local weather. Therefore, her slightly sheer linen dress had only four shoulder straps from the shoulders to the wrists providing any warmth. The loose skirt of the dress barely reached above the knees.

The woman's attire was also out of season, featuring sandals with two thin lines crossing above her feet, almost completely exposing her toes. And on her head was a wide-brimmed sun hat topped with a light blue ribbon.

A gentle breeze blew by, softly swaying the woman's thin clothing. Just as she huddled up slightly, feeling the cold, the breeze suddenly intensified, blowing her sun hat far away.

The woman instinctively reached out, turned around, and tried to chase after her hat that had been blown away.

However, after seeing a figure slowly walking towards them from not far away, they stopped what they were doing.

Sure enough, as the figure casually stretched out his hand to beat the rhythm like a conductor, the mischievous autumn wind seemed to have suddenly become well-mannered, obediently bringing the sun hat to his side and letting it fall smoothly into his free hand.

"It's been a long time since I last sent my greetings, Ms. Serene."

Ritas handed the sun hat back to Seren from the Arigold Magic Academy.

Serene, who accepted the sun hat, simply nodded slightly and returned a serene smile.

"Wow!"

The goddess of the bath, who had already exclaimed "Wow!" when Serian's hat was blown away, was even more impressed when she got closer.

Seren has long, soft, light blue hair, the color of the clearest autumn or winter sky, and eyes of a similar color that are exceptionally clear.

Seren's gentle and tranquil demeanor made the Goddess of Bath feel that he was the ideal "young lady" in her mind.

It's strange, really. Ers is an academy where you could throw a stone and hit a bunch of young ladies. But the "young ladies" that the Goddess of Bath, or rather, Ritas, has always encountered have been somewhat... well, rough around the edges.

In response to Ritas's greeting, Seren first opened the suitcase that was placed to the side, took out a pair of experimental gloves and put them on, then extended the gloves to Ritas as if inviting him to shake hands.

Perhaps because Ritas was familiar with Seren and knew what the other was up to, his expression was somewhat subtle, but he still shook hands with him.

Then, the expression on Ritas's face visibly turned wooden.
“Ms. Serene, you should know that just because you're wearing gloves doesn't mean you can be forgiven for whatever your fingers do in my palm.”

Listening to Ritas's words, Serian smiled with his usual transparent smile, withdrew his hand, took off his gloves, sealed them in a transparent bag, and put them back in his suitcase.

"Um?"

The goddess of bathing had a vague feeling that something was amiss with this young woman who looked as pure as a lily.

After putting away his gloves, Serian took out a letter without a postmark and handed it to Ritas with both hands.

Ritas sighed softly and then proceeded to disassemble it.

[Respectfully yours, Professor Ritas]

This is probably the only "readable" part of the letter.

[The many days and months since I parted from Professor Ritas have been like this, each day I reminisce about you, my dearest, on my heart's desire, those precious moments. How I wish that even now I could... I wonder if you, too, feel the same way I do, longing for...]

【○○, ○○, ○○!】

【○○○○，○○○○○○——】

【○○！ ○○！ ○○！ ！ ！ ！ ！ ！ ！ ！ ！ ！ ！ ！ ！ 】

【○○.】

[Respectfully submitted by Serenity.]

"."

The goddess of bathing found it incredible.

Although every word was clearly visible, it was as if she were seeing a screen full of mosaics on a piece of letter paper!
Ritas, on the other hand, remained completely unmoved, simply setting a fire to burn the entire letter filled with foul language.

Only then did the goddess of bathing finally know who sent the letters that Ritas would occasionally "read and then burn."

I'm so glad to see that you're still as 'healthy' as ever.

Faced with Ritas's somewhat sarcastic words, Seren nodded demurely, seemingly unconcerned. From her radiant face, it was impossible to imagine what kind of letter she had given Ritas.

"I explained in detail in my previous letter the reasons why I invited Ms. Serene to return to the 'Tree Witch Research Institute.' I wonder if Ms. Serene would be interested in those proposals?"

As Ritas spoke, Serian first made a "pause" gesture, and then continued to gesture for Ritas to come closer.

After what seemed like an internal struggle, Ritas finally went inside.

Then Serenity actually started to gently twist the hem of her skirt and slowly lifted it up.

"Ms. Serene?"

Serian gently shook her head, signaling Ritas to be patient, and then continued to slowly lift the hem of her skirt.

It was a very short time, but for Ritas, whose eyebrows were twitching, it felt exceptionally long.
Until the hem of the skirt rose to her thighs, a faint golden-yellow fluorescent glow appeared.

"Wow--!"

To the goddess's gasp of surprise, what appeared before Ritas and her was Serian's "Star Mark Emblem" on his left thigh.

"This is."

For a moment, Ritas forgot how terrible it was to see a young woman lifting her skirt while he crouched under it, staring intently, and focused on observing Serian's star markings.

"I tried it out based on the information you gave me in your letter. Somehow, it appeared."

"."

"."

Are star-marked emblems something that "somehow" appears on one's body?
Rather, Serian can speak normally, so why did they create an atmosphere that made it seem like they could only communicate with each other through sign language and writing?
The goddess of the bath was somewhat relieved that she hadn't impulsively called Serian "wife" earlier. Now, her mind was filled with thoughts of "what's wrong with this person?"

"What is the power of this star pattern?"

"As you can see."

"?"

As he saw it, it meant turning the person who possessed this star mark into a monster?

“Glowing light”.

Seeing that Ritas was still full of questions, Seren showed them to him.

In an instant, a blinding light flashed. Ritas and the goddess of bathing saw a... no, a leg with a beautiful, bright white star pattern!

"There may be some hidden abilities; we'll need time to observe them."

Although Ritas and Seren had maintained correspondence, the more detailed information about the star pattern was only written in a letter after Ritas decided to recruit Seren.

Therefore, if Seren has indeed successfully made his star mark appear using that information, then it would have taken no more than ten days at most.

In a brief moment of reflection, Serene, having lowered her skirt, took another piece of paper from her suitcase, wrote a sentence, and handed it to Ritas. 【What color is it?】

"."

"Of course, I was asking about the star pattern."

"Questions and answers where we both know the answer are meaningless."

Ritas sighed softly, stood up, and faced Seren, who looked completely calm.

"So, Ms. Serene—no, I should call you Professor Serene now. Professor Serene, may I take that you have accepted the invitation to return to the 'Tree Witch Research Institute'?"

"Yes. After all, research on the 'Star Mark Emblem' has become something that is personally relevant to me."

Serenity, who still appeared dignified and elegant, nodded and smiled as she spoke.

"The formal procedures will likely be completed after the exchange meeting. I hope we can have a pleasant cooperation."

"Pleasant to work with."

At this point, Serian looked as if he had suddenly remembered something, and ran to the suitcase to rummage through his gloves.

Ritas, whose complexion had been rather poor, repeatedly said, "There's no need for a handshake!"

"Wow"

"Is the Bathing Goddess planning to transform into the Frog Goddess?"

After bringing Seren to the researchers' dormitory, on the way back, listening to the goddess of the bath constantly exclaiming "Wow!", Ritas asked in a somewhat tired voice.

"What a question! When you first met Serian, didn't you keep exclaiming 'Wow!'?"

"That's true."

Ritas's face showed a hint of sadness.

He still misses the time before he started "corresponding" with Serian.

At that time, Serene was a perfect colleague and researcher, with strong work ability, comprehension, and hands-on skills, and she almost never had any personal relationships with people.

Aside from his eyes and his enigmatic smile, something about him sometimes seems off.
"If I remember correctly, your Tree Witch Research Institute 1.0 was ruined by a workplace conflict between men and women?"

"The reasons are quite complicated. But what really triggered everything was the relationship between men and women."

Although it cannot compare to "Teacher", "Fake" and "Adventurer", the disintegration of the Tree Witch Research Institute is clearly one of Ritas's grievances.

However, even if it's resentment, Ritas will fairly view and evaluate the root of the problem.

"And then Serian, who seemed to have the most problems, turned out to be one of the few innocent ones?"

"Being innocent doesn't mean you've committed any crime. However, Serene is indeed unrelated to that incident. In fact, Serene doesn't harass everyone; she only targets a select few. Moreover, she probably prefers women to men. Her initial reason for joining the Tree Witch Research Institute was that a love letter she sent to the headmaster was mistaken for a job application."

".ha?"

For a moment, the goddess of bathing felt like her brain was about to burn out.

If you had to categorize her, she was the type who preferred women to men.
However, why does the interpersonal relationship at the Tree Witch Research Institute seem so chaotic? And Seren is actually the least chaotic one.

"Is there not a single normal person in your research institute?"

This question was asked.

What normal person would join the Tree Witch Research Institute?

"Furthermore, are you sure it's okay to put this researcher, who has a preference for women, into a workplace that's almost entirely female trainees?"

The goddess of bathing is very worried about the beautiful girls who "believe" in her.

"No problem. The Goddess of Bathing might misunderstand those whose orientations differ from the mainstream. They are just different, not that they are not picky. After all, she is someone whose mate selection criteria is 'Tree Witch'."

Since Ritas chose to recall Seren, he naturally considered things that even the goddess of bathing could consider.

So, there shouldn't be any problems.

probably.

After successfully recruiting a member with impeccable abilities for the Tree Witch Research Institute, which was in dire need of manpower, Ritas returned to his dormitory.

Seeing Ritas acting suspiciously as they approached the dormitory, the Bath Goddess said speechlessly.

"Leaving aside the opening ceremony over there, which all the students attended, even without this incident, do you really think students from other colleges would go to the dormitory area to ambush a professor?"

"After all, Xia Luoluo is an adult now, so the possibility is indeed not high. But I can't take that risk."

If Xia Luoluo were to cause a scene at his dorm entrance, it would create a really bad impression.
Especially during an exchange meeting with so many foreign guests, if something were to happen, it would be incredibly embarrassing.

"Tsk tsk, so how long do you plan to hide?"

"Twenty years?"

Or perhaps we should wait until Xia Luoluo suddenly loses her memory?
"You've caused some misunderstandings, why not just explain things clearly? Especially since you're so certain that what happened with Wayne has nothing to do with you. You haven't done anything wrong, what good will running away do?"

The goddess of bathing, who rarely speaks the truth, earnestly and patiently offered her advice.

Didn't you do anything wrong?

When Ritas closed his eyes, he pictured a huge cascade of water pouring down, soaking Charlotte completely.

Although the problem wasn't with him—Xia Luoluo started it—he was confident he could win the case even in court.

But is Charlotte someone who can be controlled by mere laws?
"Goddess of Bath, you may not understand Xia Luoluo, which is why you find all my actions inexplicable. It's something that's very simple, something that can be resolved simply by talking it out, but you insist on running away as if you've lost your mind, letting the misunderstanding gradually become complicated and bigger."

Ritas patiently spoke with the goddess of bathing.

"However, Xia Luoluo's unreasonable behavior is truly beyond anyone's imagination. It's fair to say that in all my years, Xia Luoluo has never once tried to reason with me."

Ritas looked quite helpless.

Perhaps only he could truly understand how worthwhile it was to get rid of Xia Luoluo by simply hiding for ten days or so.

"never mind."

Just as the goddess of bathing was about to give up on mediating Ritas's family conflict, the two of them suddenly heard what sounded like an argument coming from not far away.

Following the sound, Ritas discovered that the argument had taken place in front of Cortrinie's dormitory mansion not far away.

Furthermore, one of the two people arguing at this moment was Cortrienne. However, he did not recognize the other person, who was clearly an outsider.

"See that? Bathing Goddess. It's true that foreign guests will come and block the dormitory."

Before figuring out the cause of the dispute, Ritas first demonstrated his foresight.

(End of this chapter)