Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 43 Boomerang

As the night deepens, in the tree house.

Ritas looked at the light blue "star pattern" with great solemnity, sketching it on the parchment stroke by stroke.

After careful observation, he realized that the "star pattern" in his memory was indeed very different from the actual one. However, most of the errors were the kind that Ritas couldn't tell whether they counted or not.

Because the location of the real star pattern is really a little subtle. Not very smooth. So much so that the star pattern looks like an oval as a whole.

As for magic circles, they are generally circular in shape, and their main purpose is to ensure the stability and accuracy of the magic circle. Of course, the rules of magic circles do not necessarily apply to star patterns.

While thinking, Ritas's hand trembled, and an uncoordinated mark flew out obliquely from the half-drawn circle.

Ritas firmly believed that he had kept a normal mind. Therefore, such an accident was just because he was not good at drawing ellipses. As a great wizard who was well-versed in magic circles, drawing a perfect circle was just the basic skill among the basic skills. It was also because this thing was too basic and had basically become a physical memory. Therefore, drawing a circle with a slight deviation became a difficult task.

Okay, why did it become like this?
Ritas felt a slight headache when he saw Merci, who was sitting about ten steps away and looked quite restless.

At this time, Merci's face was completely red, and the blush had spread to her neck, and seemed to be spreading further.

I guess, now she is constantly asking herself in her heart "Why did I do that?"

Merci unbuttoned her shirt and pointed out the error in the Star Mark record. She immediately realized that her behavior was inappropriate. Then, she fell into a short state of petrification.

Buttoning up again would be too deliberate, and the whole room would look frozen. And simply covering one's chest and screaming would be even more outrageous.

While Merci was at a loss, Ritas just calmed down and said, "In that case, I will record it again."

Now it seems that this option is not a wise one.

Ritas was determined to draw the correct star pattern, which would help him in his research on the "Star Mark Emblem".

But the problem was that the more he wanted to draw well, the more he needed to observe the star pattern carefully. And the position of the star pattern was too subtle. As a result, he looked like he was staring at that place, constantly drawing on the paper, and occasionally looking up and down to examine and compare.

If, in order to avoid suspicion, Ritas deliberately looked at some relatively safe places, such as the ceiling, he didn't know what he was doing now.

So, who is it?

Who put the star pattern in this awkward position?
Ritas began to vent his anger on this "person" who he was not sure whether he really existed or not.

In fact, the closer the nature of the star mark emblem is to a magic circle, the more likely it is to be artificially engraved.

After all, strength may be innate, but the patterns that exist to control it are not.

Ritas had never heard of any newborn on this continent being born with a magic circle. And if the star pattern was something like a congenital birthmark, then this birthmark was too clever. The possibility of a magic circle that required hundreds of gestures to build being naturally formed without a single stroke error was probably not as high as the possibility of the entire continent sinking to the bottom of the sea the next day.

Speaking of which, the Goddess of Bath mentioned that in the game world, there were more than ten Star Mark holders who could join the Hero Team. Although this was the situation across the entire continent, the number was not small.

The holders of the Star Mark seemed to appear at the same time.

In response, the Bathing Goddess said that these were the so-called "calamities". It was because the Demon King was about to revive in the human world that the corresponding heroes and star pattern holders appeared.

But Ritas found this logic very strange. Who stipulated that when a powerful dark force appeared, there must be an equally powerful light force to turn the tide?

If there is someone behind all events, guiding or controlling everything, then these events might make sense.

"Student Mercy, can I ask you a question that sounds a little strange?"

“Please, please!”

Merci seemed to be startled by Ritas's sudden voice, and replied with a raised voice.

"When I was a kid. Well, not just when I was a kid. Have you ever met any strange people?"

After asking the question, Ritas realized that it was difficult to organize his words. He couldn't just ask Merci directly if she had ever met a weird person who could do something to her.

"Well, Sister Livis also asked a similar question when she first came to our village."

Did Livis ask that too?

Ritas roughly guessed the answer to this question.

"The village I live in is very small and rarely visited by outsiders. As far as I can remember, I have hardly ever met anyone other than the people in the village. Therefore, before I came to the academy, I had no chance to interact with people from outside the village."

"I see."

In other words, the strangest person Mercy had ever met in her hometown was Levis.

After a brief conversation, Ritas thought that the conversation could ease the awkwardness between him and Merci to some extent, but the situation remained the same, so the atmosphere in the room returned to its previous state.

More than ten minutes had passed since I officially started “copying” the star pattern.

And Ritas noticed that the blue light on Merci's chest was generally stable except for the first few minutes when it looked more "intense".

You know, the star pattern will only appear when Merci stimulates the power in her body. Therefore, this scene proves that Merci's special training during this period is effective, and her efforts are not in vain.

However, on the other hand, being able to maintain the "leading but not firing" stage but still unable to fire also means that Merci is really at the finish line, going around in confusion.

"Student Mercy, now that you have a general understanding of the knowledge of magic circles, do you have any new views on your own power?"

Ritas paused.

"The power in your body and the star pattern seem to be one and the same, but they are actually two completely different things. One is the power itself, and the other is the way to control the power. I agree with your approach of being wary and cautious about the power itself. After all, being devoured by overly powerful power is not a new thing in all fields. But as for the way to control power, I think you can try to have more trust."

"Is that so"

Mercy responded softly.

Merci, who had generally accepted Ritas's words unconditionally in the past, now responded with some doubt.

"Do you have any grudge against the star pattern itself?"

Ritas naturally didn't mind things of this magnitude. Instead, he felt that he seemed to have found a new entry point.

"Well"

Mercy hesitated for a moment, then slowly said,

"When the power first got out of control, I... I seemed to hear the whispers of the devil."

"Devil's whispers?"

Faced with Ritas's doubts, Merci, who could no longer sit still, gestured with her hands and roughly described the situation at that time.

Before her power went out of control, she heard some mumblings that made her lose her sanity. Negative emotions such as fear, self-blame, and confusion seemed to be amplified in an instant. Then, her power was completely out of control.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have blamed my problems on these things." As she spoke, Merci's words turned into apologies again.

"No need. Forget it. I want to know if Student Mercy can still hear those strange noises now?"

“It seems possible but it also seems impossible”

Merci crossed her fingers in front of her body and spoke ambiguously.

"."

Although Ritas knew that his personality must have played a role, he had to admit that sometimes, or most of the time, Merci was indeed a worrying girl.

Ritas, who was unable to actually experience Merci's condition, could only temporarily attribute this phenomenon to auditory hallucinations caused by strong mental stimulation and trauma.

As two star patterns, one round and one oval, appeared on the parchment, a sudden one-on-one painting class came to an end.

From the beginning to the end, Ritas did not think that he had done anything wrong, nor did he think that there were any unspeakable thoughts in his heart.

He is upright!
But, watching Mercy buttoning her shirt with her back to him.
He just said a few hurried words of goodbye and quickly left the tree house.

It was not until he walked a long way out of the tree house and felt the cold night wind blowing on his face that Ritas, who had calmed down, realized that he had missed a lot of things.

For example, he did not tell Mercie what direction she should study and consolidate next. For another example, he had long forgotten everything about the "Bath Seminar".

Ritas felt as if he had escaped from that space with a strange atmosphere.

But he didn't know what he was running away from.

"Ah, good morning, Xiao Li. Hmm? Did you wake up a little late today?"

In the past, I could only see the bathing goddess Ritas while washing up in the morning, but today I saw Ritas in her pajamas.

"You woke up early today, Bathing Goddess."

Ritas said expressionlessly.

If you must say, he did wake up late today. But what does this prove?
Speaking of which, the Bathing Goddess was silent in the first half of the individual lesson yesterday. But Ritas didn't care. After all, she was the Bathing Goddess, so if she wasn't taking a bath, she must have fallen asleep.

"Maybe. I accidentally fell asleep in the shower yesterday."

As expected of you.

"Ah~ I slept quite comfortably at first, but then the water got cold. Tsk, I'm so fragile, what if I catch a cold by accident?"

The Bathing Goddess complained to herself, and then fell silent for a while. Usually, at this time, the Bathing Goddess was checking the slices.

“Eh? This doesn’t look like a slice? Is the CG bad? Hey——Xiao Li, what are you doing!?”

"I did not do anything."

Although a new word popped up, causing Ritas to not fully understand the words of the Bathing Goddess, this did not prevent him from guessing that the Bathing Goddess saw the one-on-one painting scene yesterday.

“Tsk tsk, you said this isn’t a game, but it even has additional CG features. But why are you the only one treated so well? Well, judging from the CG, you look okay. It seems that your problem is mainly in your temperament. You can tell at a glance that you are quite neurotic. As for Mercie, she is still so impeccable~ No, no, what’s the situation with you and Mercie exposing the CG!”

The Bathing Goddess, who spoke at a fast pace, was so excited about talking to herself that Ritas had almost no room to interrupt.

"I understand that it is hard to refuse to examine Merce's body during her growth period. But, Xiao Li, imagine that an elder puts his hands on your shoulders and speaks to you with a serious look on his face."

"If you are fired from the academy, what good will it do you?"

"."

Ritas never thought that this boomerang would fly back one day.

"Star pattern!"

Ritas used a high-pitched voice to forcibly change the subject.

"When the Star Mark awakens, will there be a situation like the devil's whisper?"

Ritas quickly repeated what Merci had described yesterday. Although it was a retelling, due to the different narrators, Ritas's description was undoubtedly clearer.

"Devil's whispers? Is there such a thing?"

The "omniscient" bathing goddess uttered a confused sound again.

"It's not strange if there is, and it's not strange if there isn't. No, it's strange if there is. Those powers are not evil powers. The events where the powers erupt are all titled 'awakening' instead of rampage, loss of control, etc. The star mark also feels quite sacred, and it doesn't seem like it would maliciously induce rampage. If the star mark awakening event is not handled properly, people will die. What good will it do to the star mark if it kills its host?"

Ritas listened to the words of the goddess of bathing and seemed to be hesitant to speak several times.

There is no real evidence, just "feeling".

How credible the words of the Bathing Goddess are remains a mystery to this day.

"If we follow the world of the game, in what scenario does Merci normally awaken?"

"Well, to put it simply, they were accidentally captured by a group of mercenaries. The protagonist, regardless of the danger, insisted on rescuing them, and then fell into a trap, a snare, and the whole team was in danger."

".Why would the brave team in the game have such a conflict with the mercenaries?"

Ritas couldn't help but frown.

In the game's "Star Emblem" world, the main stage should be Earls College, right?
"It can't be helped~ The growth path of the brave team that is not loved by their parents is very wild. Well, I think I understand what you mean. Compared with the normal awakening, Mercie's awakening in this world seems a little more casual. Before, I just thought that Mercie's wife was too angelic, so I couldn't bear it when the professor who I had only known for a few days and met a few times was in front of me. But now it seems that her excessive emotional outburst is guided by an external force?"

"Um"

Ritas had mixed emotions.

Not to mention that the unlucky professor was himself. He still remembered that when Mercie was almost expelled from school, the Bathing Goddess used Mercie's performance to persuade him.

At this point, it doesn't matter what happens.

And Ritas had some vague impression of the things that could induce such violent and irritable emotions in others.

After closing his eyes and thinking for a moment, Ritas had the answer.

"It's a shadow"

In his brain, some clues became clear.
"Perhaps, the people who have been planted with the 'shadow seed' will become irritable and easily lose control of their emotions."

(End of this chapter)