Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 243 Before the Curtain Falls
"sorry!"

Only Ritas and the Bath Goddess remained in the VIP room, where the Bath Goddess's very resolute apology echoed.

For the Bath Goddess, whose mantra is practically "It's not my problem," the fact that she skipped even the step of making excuses shows that she truly realized she had made a huge blunder.

"Um, I mean, is it possible that after seeing how you've trained such a lively and energetic group of students, Rita-chan, Ms. Britta, it's unexpected... well, not very likely."

The goddess of the bath looked cautiously at Ritas, whose face was mostly hidden in the shadows.

It wasn't that the VIP room was completely dark, but Ritas always seemed to be able to cleverly find a way to conceal his darkness even in very bright places.

"So...is the situation really bad right now?"

"This is bad?"

Ritas suddenly let out a low growl, then covered his face with his hands.

"With the Elson family already on the verge of collapse, the marriage alliance with the Gabrielvitt family was the only way out that we managed to find! This vast family didn't just revolve around me or any one person; everyone put in tremendous effort and sacrifice to make it all possible. And now, all of that is destroyed! Gone, there's nothing left! There's no saving it! There's no other way! All that's left for the Elson family is destruction! After being raised by the Elson family for so many years, I haven't been able to repay them in any way, and I've even dealt them a fatal blow in this way! Can all of this be summed up with just one word: 'bad'?"

"Oh dear, I'm so, so sorry!"

Hearing Ritas's rare roar, the Bath Goddess was completely terrified and her mind went blank.

Then, the goddess of bathing saw Ritas covering his face with his hands, his shoulders beginning to twitch slightly.

Could it be that she's starting to cry out of despair?
If Ritas's anger was an extremely rare occurrence, then Ritas's weeping was a sight even the goddess of the bath couldn't have imagined.

"Xiao Li, there must be some other way."

Just as the goddess of the bath was overcome with sorrow and felt that she might also start losing pearls, she noticed that something was wrong with Ritas.

Ritas, covering his face, hunching his back, and shaking his shoulders, wasn't crying, but rather...
"Hahahaha. You guys are something else."

Unable to contain himself any longer, Ritas straightened up, tilted his head back slightly, and burst into laughter. There were indeed a few tears in the corners of his eyes, but they were from laughter.

"Don't scare me! There's no hurdle you can't overcome, trust me!"

The goddess of the bath, still not quite understanding, saw that Ritas seemed extremely unstable, sometimes angry, sometimes crying, sometimes laughing, and assumed that he had lost his mind after reaching the extreme of hysteria.

After laughing loudly for a while, Ritas let out a soft sigh and his expression returned to its usual calm.

If I had to say something, it would be that the smile I had built up earlier hadn't completely faded, so my face looked much softer.

"Don't worry, Goddess of Bath. The Elson family isn't so fragile that the failure of a marriage alliance would cause them any serious damage. Besides, it's just that this blind date didn't go well; it's far from time to draw conclusions."

Ritas spoke calmly.

"Moreover, if it were a marriage that truly concerned the safety of many people, I wouldn't allow others to destroy it so easily. I don't know if the Goddess of Bath is underestimating the Elson family, or if it's me."

"."

On the other end of the disc, the goddess of bathing, whose mind had been blank the whole time, finally realized after a long while that Ritas had been just teasing her.

Then it was her turn to make a "waaaaaaa" sound.

"You! You! You! You! Do you even know how much I just felt?"

It was still in the VIP room of the "Latras Manor".

Because of her overwhelming guilt, the goddess of the bath, realizing that Ritas was basically unaffected after she had just been tricked, began to blow wildly in Ritas's ear.

Ritas tilted his head, enduring the goddess's torrent of abuse for a while, then, feeling that the goddess was going on and on, he coughed lightly and said...

"Goddess of Bathing, it's not that I'm indifferent to blind dates. Just because I have a strong capacity to handle various situations and make up for my shortcomings doesn't mean you can ruin my plans without any restraint."

"Uh, sorry"

Realizing that she was in the wrong, the bath goddess quieted down.

In the VIP room, things finally became normal enough for conversation.

"Well... asking now is a bit...unreasonable. But, your blind date fell through, are you really not angry?"

"Are you angry?"

Ritas thought about it and realized that he really didn't feel any annoyance or anything like that.

Perhaps those little guys did come and cause trouble, but they didn't directly set the fire on him.

It could be said that if he had been more "clever" and denied that those people were his students, his blind date with Rita would have continued as planned.

He didn't know what Rita was like, but even if things got out of hand down there, he could still sit still.

So, in a way, he chose this outcome. Therefore, there's nothing to be angry about or regret.

"More than being angry, it's probably a headache. Remember Professor Dodge? The goddess of the bath."

"Hmm! Of course I remember. He used to be your teacher, that rather interesting little old man. So, do you really think I'm stupid?"

Although she didn't know why Ritas suddenly called out, Ritas's tone of not remembering anything made the Goddess of Bath very unhappy.

"Professor Dodge has been a teacher for many years. So, until recently, I always thought that as long as it was about how to be a teacher and how to train students, Professor Dodge could handle it with ease and competence. However, when I talked to him in a public class, I learned that even now, Professor Dodge still struggles with how to solve the problems his students encounter and gets a headache when faced with problematic students."

Ritas shook his head slightly as he spoke.

The goddess of bathing thought that Ritas was going to share some insights or touching stories, but he unexpectedly changed the subject.

"At the time, I was still relieved that the students in my class and the seminars I was advising on, although they had diverse personalities, at least wouldn't be mischievous or cause trouble. Little did I know, they were just accumulating their mischievousness, preparing to surprise me all at once!"

"ah"

"Perhaps, too much time has passed. They've forgotten that the instruments of torture displayed in classrooms and seminar venues weren't just artifacts."

"Hey, hey, hey! Professor Li, corporal punishment isn't very appropriate. Here's what we'll do: punish me, whether it's putting me in the iron virgin's den or the guillotine, I won't even blink!"

"."

Looking at the white disc that confidently asserted its invulnerability, Ritas was speechless.

Since the trainees' behavior this time was indeed somewhat excessive, Ritas believed that appropriate punishment was necessary.

For a long time, as long as it didn't significantly affect what Ritas wanted to do, he generally maintained an indifferent attitude. This was both a form of tolerance and arrogance. However, after today's events, Ritas realized that his attitude might morph into indulgence. But Ritas couldn't actually throw the students into the Iron Maiden. Or he could claim it was outside of class time and the students' affairs were none of his concern, then have the Guardian Knights arrest them.

Perhaps we should make them do something that, while difficult for them, is actually beneficial to them.
Ritas never imagined that one day, the proper way to punish others would become a challenge he would face.

With a soft sigh, Ritas continued to stare at the white disc.

From some perspectives, the source of today's farce can be traced back to the goddess of bathing.

To use an imperfect analogy, the four clowns of the Bathing Seminar were like a "mob." However, once they had the Bathing Goddess as their "brain," their commander, their destructive power was on a completely different level.

It's fortunate that they knew how to restrain themselves, otherwise, whether this "Latras Manor" would even exist tomorrow is questionable.

But just because of this, does he have to punish the goddess of bathing in the same way?

I just don't feel it's quite right.

On the one hand, although the Goddess of Bathing is like this, she is still a deity after all, and she is not a student under her jurisdiction.

On the other hand, he also remembered what he had said to the goddess of bathing before, such as, "Whatever you want to do, the goddess of bathing can do as she pleases, because you are a god." But when the goddess of bathing actually "let go of her desires," he turned against her because those desires were directed at him.
So, forget it.

Moreover, Ritas felt that his previous performance should have taught the goddess of the bath some lesson.

Even now, Ritas still believes that the goddess of the bath is truly an incredibly wondrous being.

They spout grand pronouncements about preventing the Demon King's resurrection and the destruction of the world. In reality, however, they feel like they've made a huge mistake by ruining a blind date that had only two possible outcomes: success or failure.

They're like those little kids who panic as if the sky has fallen just because they broke a cup or plate.
"Since the Goddess of Bathing is going to take the punishment in her place, then I'll dig a hole with a radius larger than the Goddess of Bathing's range of activity and bury the disc for a few months."

"Huh? Huh? Huh? I don't want this to happen! I really, really, really know I was wrong—!"

Amidst the wailing of the goddess of bathing, Ritas, having composed himself, once again held the white disc in his hands.

It's time to leave this "heartbreaking" blind date location.

Before that Prince Guerrero came looking for trouble.

"Actually, this failed blind date might actually be a good thing."

"I understand, I understand. When you fail, you have to comfort yourself with this 'what if it's a blessing in disguise' mentality."

As night fell, after politely declining the offer of guidance and accompaniment from the staff of the Latras Manor, Ritas strolled along the corridor with the Goddess of Bath, chatting casually.

"On the one hand, I learned from this failure. Next time I encounter a blind date that I absolutely cannot mess up, I will know that the first thing I need to do is lock you up."

Ritas said, whether he was serious or joking,

"On the other hand, Rita Gabrielle acted somewhat inexplicably and behaved very unnaturally."

"Oh? What do you mean? Rita... cough, Rita's weird persona, was it all an act for the blind date? I knew it! Under normal circumstances, how could anyone be so compatible with you, Rita!"

"."

Does this bath goddess know that she was mocking two people with a single sentence?
"It wasn't the whole thing. It was just that Boudica seemed very surprised when she appeared earlier."

"Huh? So what? Just because she's Ritsuko doesn't mean she has to wear the same long face all the time like you."

"Is there anyone who can keep different expressions? How else can this be explained? The Goddess of Bath should still remember that magical particles are influenced by the caster's emotions, right?"

"Um"

The goddess of bathing was also somewhat too lazy to appeal to Ritas not to treat her like a fool.

"This situation is even more pronounced in the magical particles fixed around a mage. My fixed magical particles are special; they can sense even more things. So, to put it simply, despite appearing so surprised, Ms. Rita's fixed magical particles showed absolutely no fluctuation. Therefore, we can deduce from this..."

"She wasn't surprised?"

Following Ritas's words, the goddess of bathing also began to wonder.

First of all, Rita's lack of surprise suggests that she may have already sensed Boudica's presence.
Secondly, if she wasn't surprised, then why did she pretend to be surprised? Did she feel that she should be surprised in that situation?

"That's certainly a rather inexplicable move. Could it be that she really is Ritako, and is pretending to be human just like you, Ritas?"

"No need to pretend, I'm human too!"

Ritas emphasized.

After that war that swept across the entire continent, humanity became less a race and more a word representing an alliance.

Whether it's humans in the common understanding, or elves, dwarves, orcs, fairies (fairies omitted), in short, any being that is roughly humanoid can be considered "human".

Therefore, being expelled from the human race is a very serious matter.

As Ritas and the goddess of the bath chatted casually, they arrived at the first floor of the banquet hall.

After so many farces, the banquet could not continue, so the banquet hall was basically empty.

Those still remaining here are either genuinely hungry, or so carefree as to continue enjoying their fragmented dinner.

After looking around for a while, Ritas did not find his students.

It seems that even if what they did was a bit stupid, it wasn't stupid enough to stay at the "crime scene" and wait to be caught.

And just when Ritas had no reason to stay and was about to leave.

Suddenly, as if taking Ritasto's white plate for a waiter's plate, someone placed an empty wine glass on the not-so-flat top of the plate.

"."

For a moment, Ritas didn't know how to describe it.

He felt that among all the people he knew, only one could do something that combined a mix of eccentricity, playfulness, and oddity.

Turning his head, he saw a somewhat unfamiliar face. However, Ritas recognized those bright, lively eyes that were blinking at him.

"Ms. An? What are you doing here?"

The unexpected encounter slightly delayed the end of the night.

(End of this chapter)