Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 42, Private Lesson in the Tree House

As night fell, Ritas arrived at the most unique dormitory in Earls College, the tree house.

From the outside, the tree house looks grand and even romantic. But in reality, the tree house is not as livable as imagined.

It's humid in spring, hot in summer, infested with bugs in autumn, and barely able to withstand the slightest bit of cold in winter. When the seasons change, a variety of shortcomings are mixed together in various combinations.

Therefore, every time he came to the tree house, Ritas would inevitably recall the days when he was a student and was ordered around by Levis, fighting wits and courage with various problems in the tree house.

Even through the filter of the past, these memories are not good.

Shaking his head, Ritas rang the magic bell of the tree house.

The one who opened the door was Mercy, who had already been ready, while Livis had disappeared as usual.

In this regard, Ritas didn't know whether he should be relieved or complain that the dean was always elusive.

Perhaps it was the "shadow" of Cecilia suddenly being able to hear her own voice, the bathing goddess who came with Ritas first carefully confirmed whether "Mercy Dear" could hear it, and after making sure that the other party could not hear it, she let herself go as usual.

However, her request to let Mercie hold the disk and "to check Mercie's growth condition" was ignored by Ritas.

Recently, I always feel that the Bathing Goddess on the other side of the disc is less and less like the god Ritas, and I don’t want to be an accomplice of the Bathing Goddess to take advantage of the students.

After a brief greeting, Ritas walked into the tree house.

Unlike ordinary dormitories, as the dean's dormitory, there is a room inside the tree house mansion that is decorated like a small classroom.

Ritas also took classes in this room. However, the teacher who taught him was never Levis, but some unlucky teacher or researcher who was randomly brought to the tree house by the dean.

In short, having such a room can somewhat alleviate the awkwardness of students being alone with their instructors in private time and space.

Individual courses are mainly conducted in the form of students asking questions and Ritas answering them.

In normal classes, although there were few students in the Yewwood class, students like Mercy, who were more introverted, were still embarrassed to express their confusion in front of everyone.

While answering Merci's questions, Ritas felt Merci's seriousness. From the quality of her questions, he seemed to be able to see that Merci always faced the books under the light and pondered deeply in the evenings.

Logically speaking, in the midterm exams that will be coming soon, Merci should be able to get good scores in these theoretical exams.

But looking at Merci's face, which was always filled with a dull vibe, Ritas always felt that she might have done badly in the exam for some reasons beyond her own ability.

Time passes quickly.

After almost half a class of guidance, Ritas was able to effectively guide and consolidate Merci's understanding of the basic knowledge.

However, the main reason why Ritas decided to conduct this separate course lies in the second half of the course.

Simply put, it is about the "future development" of the students.

In fact, it is still a little early to talk about this now that the school has just started for a month and the future has just begun to be written. But there is no way, the students of the Zishanmu class are all special.

Among the many troublesome students, Merci is actually the least troublesome.

Because, at present, Merci's biggest problem, and the thing that will affect the future, is her inner depression about the power of Star Mark.

Therefore, as long as this problem is solved and Merci can return to normal and continue to practice magic, Ritas feels that he has done what he should do as a mentor.

"In the next period of time, let's learn about the 'magic circle' in advance."

After taking out a large amount of teaching-related materials from the magical waist bag that seemed to have no capacity limit, Ritas said this.

The knowledge related to magic circles is usually taught in the second year of Earls College.

These contents are included in the framework of magic basics, and the common courses only cover them superficially. If you think you have talent related to magic circles, or are particularly interested in the knowledge of magic circles, then students can choose the branch of magic circles and start to study and research them specifically.

Due to the nature of the magic circle, it is actually just a matter of trying to change from "people" using magic to "objects" using magic. All aspects cannot avoid the knowledge of magic. Therefore, it is undoubtedly beyond the scope to bring it to Merci now.

But since Ritas made such a choice, there must be a reason behind it.

Soon, the complex and tedious knowledge about magic circles made Merci, who had just been exposed to magic, dizzy.

Looking at the paper, where every dot and line contained the basis of the magic circle with many explanations, Merci finally just lowered her head.

"I'm sorry, Professor Ritas, I'm so stupid."

"Don't mind it too much, student Merci. If I must say, I shouldn't have made things difficult for you with these contents that are too difficult for you at the moment."

Ritas shook his head and continued,

"Besides, you don't need to apologize all the time."

"Sorry, Professor. I'll pay attention."

"."

Merci, whose words of apology seemed to have almost become her catchphrase, had no idea why Ritas was speechless for a while.

In order to ease Mercy's lost mood, Ritas made a pot of black tea.

Since the tea sets, tea leaves and other things were still kept in their original positions, Ritas's movements were very skillful.

Although after brewing the tea, Ritas realized that these things were not something he should do. However, after the mellow aroma of black tea drifted into his nose, these things became good things no matter what.

The warm tea eases the atmosphere and soothes the mood.

After a short break, Merci told the reason why she felt particularly frustrated.

"I, I actually know that the professor asked me to learn about magic circles so that I can control the power in my body. Not only does it take up the professor's time after class, but even individual classes like today have been affected. It's obviously my own power, but I can't control it well. Seeing that I can't even do these little things well, the professor must be very impatient."

"Um"

To be fair, Ritas felt that for those who lack patience, Merci's earlier hesitant words would probably be unbearable. Although there were reasons for this, the slow feeling was also a fact.

but,

"Perhaps, when I was about the same age as you, I was indeed impatient." Ritas closed his eyes and recalled for a moment.

"I should be the type that is more favored by magic. So, since I entered the academy and started to study magic, I have hardly encountered any obstacles. However, when I learn magic very smoothly, I always feel very strange. How come the people around me can't do such a simple thing?"

Ritas said, and used his hands to create a breeze.

On the table, a piece of paper was twisted vertically by the wind and folded into the shape of a little man.

“It seems to me that the end is within reach.”

The paper man "twisted" his body and took a step forward.

“But those people around me have to twist and turn around before the finish line.”

The paper man kept spinning and rolling on the spot as Ritas spoke.

Looking at the exaggerated and funny actions of the paper man, Mercy's expression became a little more relaxed.

“But everything changed after I graduated and started doing academic research, especially after I became the leader of a research project.”

A look of sadness appeared on Ritas's face.

"Perhaps, overall, the project was successful and took relatively little time. But I didn't care about that at the time. I just got anxious and annoyed when I encountered some setbacks in my research. Every time the research progress stagnated, I felt as if the sky had fallen down and I was in hell. Because I felt that I had become those people who always circled before the finish line, who I had always laughed at in my heart. Moreover, other people were looking at me as 'incompetent' with the same eyes. As a result, I fell ill."

"Eh--?"

Merci seemed to have forgotten that this was a thing of the past, and showed a worried look.

"It's a very strange reason for being sick, right? Someone who came to visit me at the time also thought so. So, she asked me, 'Why are you so anxious? Are you going to die tomorrow?'"

“Too much”

No matter what the scenario, this is not the right thing to say to a patient.

"Besides anything else, this sentence really made me realize that my mentality was a big problem that would affect me. So, I temporarily put aside my academic research, returned to Earls College, and applied to become a trainee teacher."

Ritas turned his attention to Merci.

"After changing my perspective, I saw more things. Magic is an extremely complex and delicate subject. In the process of learning magic, people can be tripped up by any link. And at these times, the most painful ones are never the others who are watching coldly from the sidelines, but the learners who are tormented by various problems."

"Well, since I can live till tomorrow, I will not be impatient with the suffering of others."

As Ritas finished speaking, the paper man who had been spinning on the table took another step forward and raised his hands high.

"Based on my observations during this period, I think the previous speculation may be very close to reality."

After a short "tea party", Ritas and Mercy's individual lessons began again.

Although she still felt confused by the knowledge of magic circles, Merci was in a much more positive mood than before.

"Unlike ordinary magic particles, which are placed outside the body in a form similar to 'employment' and form magic at the request of the caster, the power of the star pattern is similar to magic particles and is already in the body. To some extent, this power is equivalent to your own 'property'. However, at present, this property must be used through the key of the 'star pattern'."

Ritas now seemed to be undergoing the same "special training" as usual. But in fact, the purpose of the special training was to allow Merci to control the power of the star pattern. The purpose of the individual course, no matter where it came from, was ultimately to allow Merci to better understand the magic discipline of magic circles.

In other words, it is different!
No matter whether others can tell the difference or not, Ritas himself can tell the difference.

Whether it is from the control of magic or the understanding of magic array, as long as all the results are finally gathered on the control of the power of star patterns, Ritas can prove that the power of these star patterns is something closely related to the current magic science. Even, it is another way of presenting magic.

While Merci was struggling with the knowledge of magic circles, Ritas took out another piece of parchment.

Seeing the pattern on the parchment, Merci showed a puzzled expression.

It’s not that I don’t know him, but that I know him too well.

"Professor, this is..."

"If my speculation is correct, the real function of the 'Star Mark Emblem' is a magic circle that guides, inspires, or extracts power. Then, even if the magic circle is taken out alone, it should be able to play a certain role."

Ritas said this in a deliberately firm tone.

As long as it can be proven that the so-called star pattern is just a magic circle, Merci's resistance to her own power will probably be weakened a lot.

For this reason, Ritas also planned that if Merci remained in her current state for a long time in the future, he would do something to the magic circle to make it work.

As for why they had to do something, it was because the magic circle was really more complicated than one might imagine. A magic circle that could be operated simply by recording a pattern was not a powerful magic circle.

Not to mention the materials and sequence used to construct and outline the magic circle. The "depth" of the overall pattern of the magic circle is also one of the difficulties in replicating the magic circle.

Simply put, only the user knows which part of the magic circle should be drawn deeper into the paper and which part should be drawn lighter.

If she wanted to crack it through exhaustive method, it would take so much time that Mercy probably wouldn't be able to finish it before graduation.

However, as soon as Ritas finished speaking, he saw Merci shaking her head.

Ritas thought Merci was doubtful and wanted to emphasize the similarities between the magic circle and the star pattern, but he heard these words as soon as he opened his mouth.

"There are places where the pattern isn't right, professor."

"is it?"

Ritas, who was confident in his memory, subconsciously asked a question in a doubtful tone.

“Yes, there is.”

In less than ten seconds, Ritas, who had just turned his eyes away from the parchment, turned around and saw Merci, who had already unbuttoned several buttons of her shirt.

"Here. And here"

Merci was pointing at the faintly glowing star pattern on her chest and said this to Ritas.

(End of this chapter)