Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 46 Please take care of me
“It turns out that this tree house can do this kind of thing.”

Inside the tree house, which was fluorescent not only on the outside but also on the inside, Merci looked up and around and couldn't help but sigh.

"The dean once carefully renovated this tree house."

Ritas explained simply.

Because this happened so long ago, Ritas doesn't know the specific details. However, according to insiders, Levis initially declared, "I'm going to live here forever," and then she hired many people to renovate it with great fanfare. It's said that at its peak, the treehouse could be used as a simple magical fortress.

However, now that the tree house has fallen into disrepair, it is hard to say how much of its functionality remains.

Moreover, for the tree witch who said she would live in the tree house for her whole life, nowadays it is already good enough for her to spend only three or four days in the tree house in a month.

Ritas felt that, in some ways, Levis had many similarities with the Bathing Goddess.

For example, there are those who always look down on others. Another example is those who don't take most things seriously. And then there are those who are only interested for a short time.

"Sister Levis, you just asked me to use this room as a storage room, Professor. Should I be more careful in the future?"

Facing the sophisticated magic circle that lit up on the ground and looking at the traces of her own storage items around it, Merci suddenly felt a little uneasy and asked.

"No need for that. Just think of it as a way of hiding."

Ritas shook his head. Levis herself didn't care anyway.

As he spoke, Ritas's gaze drifted to the side of the room. Due to his previous actions, the canvas covering a small picture frame had slipped slightly. In the corner of the frame, Ritas saw something that looked like flower petals.

"This is."

Feeling that the person looked familiar, Ritas was naturally attracted to him.

Merci, who was looking at the picture frame along Ritas's path, was startled for a moment, and then suddenly became much more alert.

“This is… Ah—Ahhh! Nothing, nothing—!”

Mercy rushed over quickly and held the picture frame in her arms.

Soon after.

Ritas, who was almost kicked out of the storage room by Merci, was a little confused.

In his opinion, only someone catching someone bathing would react so violently. Merci, despite her recklessness, was surprisingly stable in this regard. Even if she were caught in such a situation, she probably wouldn't panic.

As a result, this situation made Ritas interested in the things framed in the picture.

However, now is definitely not a good time to delve into it.

Because on the other side, the Silver Dragon Adventure Group also entered the tree house.

Walking down one floor, looking at the twelve adventurers scattered around the hall on the first floor, Ritas, who had a strong prejudice against adventurers due to some past experiences, calmed down his mood and spoke calmly.

"I have long heard of you, everyone from the Silver Dragon Adventure Group. My name is Ritas Berengrom Elson. I am a class instructor at the Earls Higher School of Magic. Today, I will lead you to our base in the Shadowmist Forest in place of the academy principal, who is away."

"I've long heard of you, everyone at the academy! My name is Grom Laun. I'm the leader of the Silver Dragon Adventure Group. Today, I've been commissioned by the academy's headmaster, Shu...ah, to stay in the Shadowmist Forest for a while."

"."

?

Ritas frowned slightly, not quite understanding what Grom meant when he seemed to be imitating his own speech.

Provocation? Taunting?
Unlike Ritas, who generally grew up in the aristocratic class, Merci, who was born in a commoner family, was not suitable to participate in this matter at the moment because of his identity as a student. So she hid on the second floor and listened silently to the conversation. However, she could understand Captain Grom's feelings.

Ritas is very strict in his dress, accessories, actions, and words. Although he looks rigid, he has an aura that makes him seem correct and a model.

Grom, who was greeted with a grand visual effect when he first arrived at Earls College, ran into Ritas, who had such a unique temperament, as soon as he entered the door.

This had nothing to do with Grom being a high-ranking adventurer. As the leader of the adventure group and the leader of the other eleven members, he naturally didn't want to make any mistakes and embarrass himself.

However, as an adventurer, he wasn't very familiar with the etiquette of nobles and magicians, so the best way was to follow their example.

However, Merci discovered that the same speaking style sounded natural to Ritas, but it sounded rather strange to Grom, like a poor performer reciting lines stiffly on stage.

"Huh? His name is Grom, just like Daddy. What a coincidence."

While Ritas was talking to Grom, Grom's son, the young adventurer Sunny, lowered his voice and shared his new discoveries with his twin sister.

"How are they the same? Mentor's Grom is his last name, while Father's is his first name!"

Xia Lu covered her mouth with her furisode and lowered her voice to correct her twin brother's misunderstanding.

However, even though the two men lowered their voices, the hall itself was very quiet, with only them talking. Furthermore, even if they lowered their voices, their volume was still quite high, so their voices still reached everyone's ears clearly.

As Grom gave an awkward dry laugh, Ritas's eyebrows twitched.

Ritas seemed to have tried hard, but in the end he couldn't help it.

"My dear lady, perhaps in other regions, there is a custom of placing the surname or family name in the middle of the full name. However, this applies only to me. The middle part of my full name is my middle name, not my surname. As for 'Grom', it means 'brave man' in ancient Carthusian. Therefore, many parents would name their eldest son 'Grom', and it would not be surprising if someone had the same name as them."

After saying this in one breath, Ritas looked much more relaxed.

Although he realized that the sudden explanation was a bit abrupt, there was really nothing he could do.

The other party's reaction surprised Ritas.

The girl who was corrected looked a little surprised, but she did not show any anger immediately. Instead, she bowed slightly politely to show that she "learned the lesson".

As for Grom, he showed a look of sudden realization.

Could it be that this person has lived most of his life without knowing the meaning of his own name?
Being somewhat speechless, Ritas felt that the adventure group invited by Levis might be easier to get along with than he had imagined.

After a brief discussion and introduction in the tree house, Ritas led the Silver Dragon Adventure Group into the Shadow Mist Forest.

In order to prevent Livis from deceiving the adventure group into coming to Earls, Ritas patiently explained the possible dangers in the Shadow Mist Forest.

Whenever Ritas mentioned the Nest Demon or the mysterious wizard, Grom laughed and said, "No problem." Furthermore, Grom's attitude wasn't that even if those threats emerged, the Silver Dragon Adventure Group wouldn't be a match for them. Rather, he insisted that no matter what kind of foe they faced, they could successfully escape. For Ritas, who believed a "strategic retreat" was the best solution, Grom's statement undoubtedly lent him some credibility.

With a wave of her hand, Livis handed over the placement of the Silver Dragon Knights to Ritas. After a brief discussion with Grom, the Silver Dragon Adventure Group decided to adopt Ritas's suggestion and set up two camps in the Shadow Mist Forest: the "frontline" and the "logistics" camps.

The front-line camp was naturally located deep in the dense forest, near the newly planted forest.

As for the logistics camp, Ritas decided to set it up by the Fairy Lake. After all, there were already some cabins and other facilities there, and Merci's training would be moved there soon, so it made sense to use it.

On the way to the Fairy Lake, Ritas saw a scene that was relatively rare for them, the noble mages.

Grom's daughter, Xia Lu, who was wearing strange clothes that didn't seem to match the forest, was constantly pinching her father with her hands.

Of course, this scene did not happen in front of Ritas, who was leading the way. However, when he was alert, Ritas's field of vision would become wider.

Afterwards, as if he couldn't stand being pinched any more, Grom took a few steps forward with a complicated expression and started talking to Ritas.
"That. Mr. Berengrom."

"Just call me Ritas."

Of all the names Ritas had been called, "Mr. Berengrom" was undoubtedly the strangest. Putting aside the names of the Bathing Goddess, it was the strangest. Perhaps Grom hadn't remembered Ritas's full name, only his middle name, which was similar to his own.

"Mr. Ritas, I'm a little curious about Earls College. So, can I ask you a few simple questions? For example, which class you're in, what's the specific situation of that class, etc."

"That's not a problem."

Although it seemed a bit strange, Ritas still gave a simple and formal introduction.
"The class I serve as a tutor for is the seventh class established this year, the Yewwood Class. The class itself does not have a long history, nor does it have a senior class that has been passed down from generation to generation. Currently, there are only six students. However, although these six students are all from commoner backgrounds and started learning magic relatively late, they are all excellent students."

It was really difficult for Ritas to say the word "excellent".

In fact, the female students of Yewwood Academy were fine. Even though Mercy's situation was complicated, overall it was "fine".

Mostly male students, each one is taller than the other.
However, Ritas knew he had no right to look down on his students. After all, his instructor wasn't doing a very good job. Not only was he absent from class two days out of three, but his assistant was a real rarity in the academy.

"Only six students? I wouldn't want to enter such an elementary school. By then, I won't be able to find an opponent even if I want to."

Sonny's voice interrupted the conversation between Grom and Ritas.

It can only be said that among the twelve members of the Silver Dragon Adventure Group, only Sunny meets Ritas's stereotype of an adventurer.

Rude, impolite, lack of sense of distance, and lack of intellect.

Fortunately, Sunny was pulled away by his sister without waiting for Ritas or Grom to say anything.

"What's wrong? What are you saying? Wow. That's scary. Xia Lu, could you please stop cursing me in my ear?"

I don’t know what was happening behind Xia Lu’s wide furisode, but Sunny’s voice began to tremble.

Ritas, who was just watching the show, suddenly felt a strong ominous aura. He seemed to realize something serious and spoke repeatedly.
"Mr. Sunny is right. If you want to study at Earls College, it's better to join a class that has enough years of experience and is under the guidance of experienced instructors. Only those classes with strong competitiveness and a good learning environment can be the shortcut to becoming a great wizard!"

Unfortunately, among the three of them, Grom seemed to be the only one who listened to Ritas's emphasis.

After some time, the group arrived at the Goblin Lake.

Leaving aside the core four members of the Silver Dragon Adventure Group, Ritas found the remaining eight quite professional. Along the way, they never stopped surveying and recording the surrounding environment, as was necessary.

At the shores of Fairy Lake, even the experienced adventurers were briefly captivated by the beautiful scenery before them.

However, unlike the other visitors Ritas had met before, who only admired the beauty of the lake, the adventurers praised the beautiful environment by comparing it with the various beautiful scenes they had seen in their memories.

Silently listening to these words, listening to the adventurers describe some places and holy places that Ritas had longed for as if they were their own treasures, Ritas briefly recalled the little admiration he had for adventurers before he began to dislike the profession.

After the group stayed at the Fairy Lake for a while, dusk fell.

Thus, a scene that has almost become a regular part of the Fairy Lake scene was played out.

As several female members exclaimed, the light of fireflies lit up the sky, and a beautiful figure shrouded in light slowly appeared in front of everyone.

"Good traveler, I am the queen of the fairy kingdom"

“They are adventurers.”

Facing Ruby, the self-proclaimed Fairy Queen with a "holy" face, Ritas just said this briefly.

Then, Ruby, who had looked so pitiful before, spat on the ground, muttered "bad luck", and flew away to pick the roots of the big plants.

Adventurers are more obsessed with commissions than fairies. And this stingy fairy queen is willing to pay adventurers, so why does she always have to pretend like this?

As for the content of Ruby's commission, Ritas was not curious at all. It was nothing more than that Topa was lost again.

The appearance of the "Fairy Queen" is just an episode that cannot be any smaller.

But Ritas didn't know why. He clearly didn't do anything, but as she watched him talking to Ruby, the gaze of the girl from the adventure group seemed to be getting hotter and hotter.

After the guidance ended, when they parted, Ritas and Grom exchanged words of farewell.

"Captain Grom, what will happen in three days."

"Don't worry. Although strictly speaking, this is a temporary addition to the commission, we will fully cooperate for the sake of the dean and instructor Ritas. After all, we will be under your constant care in the future."

Grom said happily.

Ritas, who always felt that there was a deeper meaning in Grom's last words, felt the ominous feeling he had felt before again.

Shouldn't it be.
Forget it, let’s talk about the future later.

After leaving the Shadow Mist Forest and stopping by the tree house to give Merci some instructions, Ritas stopped at the intersection in front of the tree house.

Even with the assistance of the adventure group, the next thing seems to be lacking in manpower.

And the person who could mobilize a group of people out of thin air in the academy and make them obey his orders.
Ritas thought for a moment and found a suitable candidate.

(End of this chapter)