Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 420 A Common World
"Cough cough cough—"

From within the white disc that hadn't been unfolded for some time, came a violent coughing sound.

At first, Ritas was somewhat worried, but soon his worry turned into indifference, because
"Cough cough cough cough cough cough!!!"

The voice on the other side of the disc sounded very insincere.

"Is this a popular way of greeting where you're from lately? Bathing Goddess."

"Cough, Xiaoli... how long have I been unconscious?"

A weak voice, still lacking sincerity, rang out.

Ritas let out a soft sigh, and after a moment's thought, said...

"If we start counting from when the Bathing Goddess left from here, it's almost time."

"Cough cough, Xiao Li! How long have I been unconscious?!"

"."

Hearing the other person's voice rise an octave, Ritas, having already understood what this was all about, sighed.
"Three years."

"Eh~ (emotionless), it's been three years already—(blankly), what on earth happened during the time I was asleep! (happily)"

Ritas, who was learning the routine "correct answer" for the first time from the enthusiastic response of the goddess of bathing, could only rub his forehead in exasperation.

On the bright side, at least the goddess of the bath is still as energetic as ever.

"Hey~ It's only natural, but a lot has really happened these past few days. So many clips... wait, there's even a CG! This is you and Wayne in a fairytale world."

Soon after, as Ritas began to paint a portrait of Sophia, the goddess of bathing in the disc also began to examine the changes on the disc's surface during her absence.

Since the Goddess of Bath spent almost the entire last semester in the world of Ritas, she hasn't used the slice function for a long time.

"You've stayed in this world for so long. Bathing Goddess, are you alright?"

"No problem, no problem~ In my world, even if someone wants to die, it shouldn't be too easy. However, something troublesome has indeed happened."

The goddess seemed to sigh involuntarily. Her usually lively voice sounded somewhat strained.

"Something troublesome?"

"Well, he's been absent from work for several months, after all. As for the company..."

"A company? Isn't the Bath Goddess a high school girl?"

Seemingly to show that he wasn't being sarcastic, Ritas feigned surprise with a solemn expression.

"Tsk, things have come to this point, there's no way to hide it anymore, right?"

"Things have come to this."

So, before bathing the goddess, did she really think she could get away with it?
"Of course, if you want, you can continue to treat me like a high school girl~ This office worker is just a limited-time version; once the gacha pool ends, you won't be able to pull for me even if you want to!"

"."

What is this woman saying again?
"In short, I wasn't absent from work for almost three months because I was in a coma. I used to take leave frequently, so many that the company got annoyed and sometimes stopped approving my leave. As a result, my leave requests were treated as if I was constantly unwell, and the reason I was in a coma for so long was also attributed to the company's failure to approve my leave in time, which led to the worsening of my condition. If I hadn't woken up in time, my sister would have almost gotten a large sum of compensation for me under the guise of 'work injury'."

""

Ritas was stunned for a moment.

What the goddess of bathing said was truly mind-bending.
"Although I don't particularly like my current company, the final result shouldn't be that I'll be on a very long paid leave. However, I plan to resign and find a new job after things calm down. Or maybe I'll change schools."

Perhaps sensing that the matter was somewhat heavy, the goddess of bathing joked at the end of her words.

Ritas, who couldn't quite understand the various rules of the Bathing Goddess world, temporarily filtered out the information he couldn't comprehend, as usual, and turned his attention to the points he could focus on.

"The Bathing Goddess actually has a younger sister?"

"What do you mean by 'actually'? Don't I seem like a big sister who's good at taking care of people? Speaking of which, I've said so many things, and you just happened to pick up on the word 'little sister'! Hehehehe, we really are the same kind of people, Xiao Li~"

"Absolutely not!"

This is the only matter on which Ritas absolutely cannot agree.

"Well, I do have a younger sister. Although I had almost forgotten about her before."

The goddess's voice was slightly ethereal.

Is the relationship between you two complicated?

Although Ritas didn't think the relationship between the Bath Goddess and the Bath Sister could be more subtle than that between him and Charlotte.

"Heh heh, not to brag, but the relationship between us is unbelievably subtle!"

I'm not bragging.
"In the past, I thought she might hate me. But this time... it's unexpected that we've gotten a little closer. Didn't I say before that it's not easy for people in our world to die even if they want to? How should I put it? We have those magical artifacts that can constantly monitor our physical condition. Everyone has them. And then, whenever something goes wrong with us, the magical artifact will issue an alert to our relatives, hospitals, and the like. And I never expected that after I lost consciousness, the first person to rush to my side before anyone else would be my sister."

"Actually, if it involves the privacy of the goddess of bathing, or things she doesn't want to talk about, I won't mind even if you don't say it."

Although Ritas and the goddess of bathing have been together for nearly a year.

However, unlike the goddess of bathing who could see what was happening on Ritas's side, the goddess of bathing was always shrouded in mist in Ritas's eyes.

Ritas has been conflicted about this situation.

In his view, it was only natural that the goddess of bathing, like a deity, remained forever untouchable. Therefore, even if he harbored curiosity, he would never reveal it.

"It's okay, it's okay. Just think of it as me wanting someone to vent to. Besides..."

The goddess of the bath paused for a moment, unsure how to express her feelings. Through this experience in the fairytale world, she gained a deeper understanding of Ritas.

His origins, his past, his family.
So, while it wasn't exactly an exchange or a fair deal, the goddess of the bath also secretly hoped that Ritas could understand her better.

"Uh... Where should I begin with my sister and me? It seems like I should start from the beginning of time, I'm not kidding. To put it roughly, in the world I live in, there are actually 'gods'."

A goddess bathing in a world where there are gods. How novel!
Although it sounded strange, Ritas could roughly understand what the goddess of bathing meant.

"And this 'god' of ours was created by us humans. It originated from something similar to a magical artifact. Initially, this 'god' was created to assist us humans. But what's special about this 'god' is that he can grow autonomously. Gradually, he became incredibly wise, so intelligent that perhaps all of humanity combined couldn't even match a fraction of his wisdom. And the god created by humans has become far more powerful than humans themselves. What do you think will happen, Riku?"

"Will he try to control, enslave, or even exterminate humanity?"

"Aha, you guessed right! I would say this is a very welcome development, or perhaps a matter of course? Anyway, this 'god' who is smarter than all of humanity combined and can control all magical tools and other human creations has grown tired of obeying and assisting foolish humans and has raised the banner of rebellion."

"Judging from the current situation, humanity's chances of winning are very low. However, it seems that the world of the Bathing Goddess may not end up as a post-apocalyptic world after its destruction?"

"As a result, nothing happened! A peaceful resolution!"

"?"

"Heh heh~ Actually, it's because this happened long before I was born. So, even if a war really did occur back then, if 'God' didn't want us to know, we wouldn't be able to find out. However, one can imagine that people at that time must have been in a very disadvantageous situation. Until, a 'savior' appeared on our side! Hehe, how about that? Our world has both gods and a savior, isn't it completely different from what you imagined before?"

Ritas still didn't quite understand why the goddess of bathing was so smug.

In reality, Ritas didn't find it any different from what he had imagined. Perhaps it was because the world of the goddess of bathing remained vague in his mind. Or perhaps it was because...
In short, the world of the goddess of bathing was always an expansion based on his own world in Ritas's mind.

"What exactly the 'savior' did is still a matter of much debate. The more official version is that he patched up 'God'. A more popular version is that he infected 'God' with a virus.' A more mystical version is that he gave 'God' a soul. As for the version I prefer, it's that the savior endowed 'God' with 'love'."

"Love"

"God is a cold, artificial being, whose entire development has been nothing more than the absorption and unification of logic and reason. Yet, this being, which could never possibly possess emotions, chooses to become the true guardian of humanity because of an emotion called 'love,' which even humanity itself has never been able to analyze or explain. Is there anything more romantic than this?"

"."

Ritas did not respond, while the goddess of the bath seemed oblivious to his slightest unease and continued her conversation.

"Whatever the specific reason, the result was that from that day on, humanity and 'God' were no longer enemies. 'God' began to use his power to protect the human race. I think our 'God' truly loves humanity, you could even say he spoils humanity. He protects us in every way at all times and is also concerned about the reproduction of humanity."

"Right now, our concern is that keeping human embryos in a petri dish from start to finish raises ethical issues. So, we still need a normal ten-month pregnancy. Reproduction itself doesn't involve any painful process. During pregnancy, the mother receives incredibly meticulous care. Even after the baby is born, the parents don't need to worry about expending energy caring for the baby, or even have any contact with the baby. Because of concerns about congenital diseases, defects, or deficiencies in the baby, the baby will be cared for in the most meticulous way by the incarnation of 'God' after birth."

"Parents really only need to give birth to children. And it is precisely because of this reason that, at least in my family, the relationship between my sister and me and our mother is very distant. We have only met a few times and are basically strangers. On the other hand, we contact our father often and lived with him for a period of time. But we can't be considered close."

"If the connection between us and our parents is so weak, then the connection between siblings is even weaker. My sister and I grew up in different places, and after living together for a few years, we went down completely different paths."

"I mentioned the incarnation of 'God' before, right? To put it simply, that thing is similar to a puppet that can move on its own. The difference is that this puppet can do almost everything for a person, and it will only do it better."

"If these puppets are working so hard, then why should we humans work so hard? I'm probably not alone in thinking this way. We just grow up drifting along, and then blindly enter society to start working. Sometimes we feel lost, so we convince ourselves that the things we're creating, even if we don't know what they'll do, are actually useful. It's not that we create them because the process of creating them is meaningful. Even if the gear we make is the smallest, it's still an indispensable link in making society and the world work."

"And while some people think like me, others don't. Take my sister, for example. Even in a world that develops so rapidly, she still believes that as long as she works hard enough and is talented enough, she can keep up with this era that no longer belongs to humanity and create her own future."

Ritas listened silently to the goddess of bathing's account.

Before the conversation began, he thought the Bath Goddess sisters might have just had a trivial, albeit harmless, argument.

Unexpectedly, the difference between the two was indeed at the level of their beliefs.
Since Ritas was also unaware of the actual situation in the world of the Goddess of Bathing, he couldn't say which of the two opinions was correct.

If he had to put it into words, he felt that having a "real" god who "deeply loves the world" and is "omnipotent" would be an incredibly wonderful thing.

But if that's the case, why is there such an atmosphere when the goddess of bathing talks about these things?
Do you hate the world you live in?

"Dislike? Perhaps not."

The goddess of bathing pondered for a while.
"Just like I said at the end of last semester, I sometimes feel inexplicably suffocated. Even though no one is restricting me, I don't know why, but I feel like my whole body is tied up."

Sensing that her communication skills seemed to have improved over the past year, the Bathing Goddess continued with a slight laugh.
"I think I can understand why you asked that. But what I can say is that even if my world is terrible, it's still much better than your world, which is always on the verge of collapse."

“That’s a pity.”

Ritas shook his head and began to use magic to manipulate the paintbrush, sketching on the paper.

"Because, if I'm not mistaken, our world is actually..."

"hiss--"

After a brief silence, the sound of the goddess of bathing could be heard coming from within the white disc.

Clearly, even with care, being in a coma for nearly three months still put a considerable burden on her body.

Finding that the goddess of bathing was already fast asleep, Ritas did not continue to make a sound to disturb her.

Anyway, it shouldn't have any impact no matter when this matter is communicated.

Late at night.

The "automatic" paintbrushes surrounding the drawing paper, as if controlled by the "gods" of the Bathing Goddess world, all came to a stop.

Looking at the completed painting, Ritas couldn't help but be lost in thought.

In the overall layout of the painting.

Slightly to the lower left is Wayne, with an innocent smile on her face, but her eyes seem to be scheming something. In the lower center is Charlotte, deliberately turning her head away so the back of her head is facing right. In the lower right is Ritas, staring wide-eyed with a blank expression.

Apart from Wayne, Charlotte and Ritas were obviously younger than they are now.

Amidst the varied emotions of the three boys and girls, perhaps even a hint of reluctance, and the rotating discs and fluttering black butterflies at the corners of the painting, the scene is truly captivating.

With a radiant smile that seemed to outshine everything around her, Sofia, more beautiful than ever, embraced the three of them tightly.

(End of this chapter)