Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 83 Maze
A midsummer night.

Around the ruins of Anka Town, a blue-haired young man was walking in the night. He couldn't help but shrink his upper body, stroked his arms with his hands, and exhaled some white breath.

"Is it possible that the seasons here haven't come out of hibernation yet, or are they just being too impatient?"

Whispering softly, he felt like his lips were about to freeze.

This young man is John, who currently works at the Genlus Department of Earls College.

John's original mission was to search for the missing students on the night of the Summer Festival. There was no reason for him to come to the vicinity of the ruins of Ankh Town alone.

But the letter that Ritas sent to him accurately marked the location of the ruins of Ankh Town, and he also thoughtfully thought of more than a dozen routes and methods for John to get there.

Ritas obviously knew how to prevent John from making excuses in advance. So, John, who was not easy to deal with, temporarily left the team and came here alone.

“I didn’t expect that such a place would exist in peacetime.”

Today, there is no accurate sign for Anka Town. However, looking at the few remains that have been preserved after years of wind and frost, John knows that he has found the right place.

While expressing his feelings, John began to wonder which lord in the surrounding area the town of Anka should belong to.

In this era, the destruction of a small town overnight is not a small news. Even if the bandits were very thorough in wiping out the small town, the people managing the territory should not remain indifferent when seeing such a scene.

But before that, he had always lived around Earls and had never heard of any related rumors.

Although he worked in a low-intensity environment like the Magic Academy for many years, as a law enforcement officer, John still keenly smelled something unusual and insider.

"Great professor, it's not like my trip was in vain."

Perhaps to dispel the coldness that penetrated deep into his bones, John kept talking to himself.

John took a step forward and went deep into the ruins of Anka Town to explore.

Since the walls and other things that could be used for shelter had been destroyed almost ten years ago, John had checked the small town without much effort.

There was no harvest, naturally.

He didn't think that the student of Ritas would really run to a place where he would freeze to death if he stayed there for too long.

Speaking of which, why is this area so cold?

While searching for Engel's trace, John was also looking for the source of the abnormal weather, but he also found nothing. Along the way, he was holding a magic tool that was specially used to detect traces of magic, but it never responded.

Since it was most likely not due to some strange magic, John listed nearly ten different guesses.

One of them is the tail end of the "maze".

After thinking of this possibility, John took out a map from his package and simply measured it by pressing his finger on it.

"It's possible, but why is the tail of the maze so close to the ground?"

Looking at the map and muttering to himself, John suddenly had an ominous premonition.

And as if in response to his premonition, suddenly, with a slight rise in the ground, the sound of blunt objects hitting the ground was heard one after another, and dozens of black tentacle-like things drilled out from the ground.

Shifting his gaze slightly, John looked at the dozen or so black tentacles that had completely surrounded him. Each of them was at least as thick as a person's embrace, and he swallowed with some difficulty.

"Having had some bad luck recently?"

As the black tentacles slapped towards John as if roaring, a fierce sound echoed in the silent town that had been covered in dust for many years.

Late July.

On a sunny noon, Ritas sat in the black carriage of Earls College and went to the site for the practical test with the students of Yew Fir School.

The "Muri Third Maze", named after a nearby town called Muri, is the testing site prepared by Earls College for the elementary students this time.

The entire practical test was actually divided into three days and three groups of students.

The first day was the first day for Yanxin and Lanchao to study.

The next day was the Golden Balance and Qingmian class.

On the third day, it was the classes of Orange Glory, Green Ivy and Yew Fir.

To put it simply, there are two classes every day, and only six people’s yew wood is a gift.

Ritas had no complaints about this. In his opinion, the small number of students has always been the biggest advantage of the Yew Fir Wood School. Otherwise, like other schools with more than 10 or 20 students, he, who has an assistant tutor who cannot leave the school, would not be able to take care of so many lively students.

Although the students from other classes who went to the Murri Third Labyrinth for the exam and had already finished the exam also gave feedback that it was "not interesting", the students from the Yew Fir class, except for Xia Lu who grew up in the labyrinth, were still quite excited.

Even Sylvie, the only top student at Yew Fir Wood who always appeared calm, seemed to be in a state of anxiety that day.

At this time, Sylvie and Ritas were in the same carriage, sitting on the opposite side of Ritas.

In order to travel for the practical test, Earls College prepared three carriages for Yewwood students.

Since the carriage has a capacity of four people, three carriages are just right for the Yew Fir class, which has four female students, two male students and one tutor.

But
Elise is a little too big.

Therefore, the carriage of the female students could only barely accommodate three people including Iris.

And Ritas didn't know how they discussed it, but in the end Sylvie was "sent" to Ritas' side.

Along the way, there was little conversation between Ritas and Sylvie. The time in the carriage was almost a microcosm of the relationship between Ritas and Sylvie in this semester.

From any perspective, Sylvie is the kind of top student who doesn't need to worry about anything and has almost no blind spots.

Some teachers may frequently order top students around for various purposes and considerations, but Ritas, who intends to do almost everything on his own, is obviously not that type.

This resulted in very few opportunities for communication between Ritas and Sylvie.

In fact, Ritas was quite curious about the student Sylvie.

For example, can the Sylvie in this world operate like the "black shop" in the game world, or is it already operating?

For example, regarding the "Star People" matter, did Sylvie also know about it and participate in it? If not, would his contact with Platina and other members of the Latras family affect Sylvie's studies?

For example, the Bathing Goddess said that Sylvie had appeared in the Latras Breeding Center.

However, without a legitimate reason, Ritas did not intend to delve into other people's privacy, especially when the other party was in a relatively weak position.

Just when Ritas felt that this was a rare opportunity and was thinking about whether there was a way to find out the truth that would have the best of both worlds, Sylvie took the initiative to talk to Ritas.

"Professor Ritas, can I discuss something with you regarding individual lessons?"

"Well, of course."

Ritas nodded. This separate course was set long ago in the Yewwood class, but it has been delayed for a long time.

As for other students, if there were problems with the students, Sylvie's problem was basically 100% that of Ritas.

Before the Malik Ezan incident broke out, he had made an appointment with Sylvie. But the series of events that followed could only be attributed to force majeure.

As for why it took so long after the matter was resolved.

This is because, after a midterm exam, Ritas discovered that Sylvie might not need the course content he had originally prepared.

Whether it was magic practice or knowledge courses, Sylvie usually performed well in mastering everything she was taught. Moreover, unlike Miriam who learned by instinct, she also had a solid theoretical foundation.

Moreover, unlike those students who were eager to decide their future path right now, Sylvie was very calm and her plans were probably very clear.

Among the Yewwood students, Sylvie was probably the only one who could learn on her own even without anyone teaching her.

"Although it's a little abrupt, can this individual course be postponed to mid-August?"

"August?"

The second semester at Earls College doesn't start until September, so the date Sylvie mentioned must be during the summer vacation.

"Or I hope to exchange the opportunity of a separate course for the professor to attend my birthday dinner."

After speaking out her thoughts in one breath, Sylvie lowered her head.

Ritas stared at Sylvie and thought for a moment.

Even such a thing had to be "exchanged", which was quite in line with the style of the Latras merchant family. But compared to that lady Platina, Sylvie, as the younger sister, was obviously much less experienced.

Even though it was indeed a very abrupt and strange request, Ritas felt that if it was Platina, not only would she not hesitate when making the request, she would even look at him calmly with a smile after she finished speaking.

Even if he showed a little bit of timidity, Platina might lead the matter to say "My replacement is a favor to you", reversing the direction of the position.

"The purpose of individual lessons is mainly to help you with your studies. Therefore, they cannot be used to replace anything. Secondly, even if it is a holiday, it is not appropriate for me, as a tutor, to attend a private event like your birthday party."

For Ritas, it seems to have become an instinct to make such an almost irrefutable statement.

"I'm sorry, Professor. I brought up something that made no sense."

Sylvie still kept her head down.

"Is there any special reason?"

If it were someone else, he might not say anything after Litas refused. However, thinking of the seemingly complicated internal environment of the Latras family, he couldn't help but be curious.

Sylvie hesitated for a while and then shook her head.

"Hmm, the date of the banquet, could it be..."

Ritas mentioned a day in mid-August, which was also the day he and Platina had agreed to meet with the real leader of the "Star People".

“That day.”

As Sylvie spoke, she couldn't help but look up and stare at Ritas.

She was sure that her family would not provide the academy with her exact birthday, so for a moment she was puzzled as to how Ritas knew this.

"In that case,"

After weighing the pros and cons, Ritas continued,
"If it's just in my personal capacity without a title, I can go to your birthday dinner."

"Of course! Um. Of course, Professor."

After blurting out the words, Sylvie realized that she was a little excited, and quickly suppressed her emotions.

"However, individual courses will not be cancelled. It's just that there probably won't be time for them this semester."

Sylvie, who had no interest in individual courses to begin with, naturally said that it was not a big deal after listening to Ritas' words.

Seeing Sylvie seem particularly happy, or relieved, after he agreed to attend the birthday dinner, Ritas felt more and more that there was something strange behind the Latras family.

At noon, the Earls Academy arrived at the target location and had a simple picnic near the entrance of the maze. In the afternoon, the practical test was about to begin.

Before entering the maze, instructors from each grade were giving final instructions.

From the way the three classes line up at this time, one can roughly see the normal atmosphere within the class.

The students of Chenghui class lined up in several rows, standing straight and relatively neatly.

Although the students of the Green Ivy class were also lined up in rows, the rows themselves were crooked and there was not much space between the students. Therefore, some close friends could be seen hugging each other or sticking together.

As for the Yew Fir class.
The students didn't even all stand up.

"As I have said in class before, according to current academic research, the 'maze' is most likely an extension of a living thing. Its ecology is very similar to that of bees and ants. The maze itself is not only a huge beehive or ant nest, but also a huge queen bee or queen ant. The monsters that appear in the maze instead of worker ants and worker bees are monsters. Most of the time, they have only one purpose, which is to obtain nutrition to feed their 'queen'. As for this nutrition, simply put, it is the soul."

"So, if you don't want your soul to be taken away, you must be extremely careful in the maze. No matter what happens, as long as you move forward, you must leave marks and road signs at a certain distance. Also, remember that if you feel that the surroundings suddenly become cold, no matter what the reason, you must evacuate the original route as soon as possible."

"Various studies have proven that where souls gather in large numbers, the surrounding temperature will become extremely cold. And in the labyrinth, where souls gather is undoubtedly the most dangerous place. So, even if you can't see anything unusual with your naked eyes, don't count on it if it suddenly gets cold."

After Ritas's stern warning, the students of the Yew Fir School all shouted loudly "Yes!"

In fact, they shouted so loudly that the other two classmates cast curious glances at them.

Only when he saw all the students entering the maze with the examiner did Ritas's tense nerves relax a little.

“Xiao Li, you are such a fool. Why are you scaring the little ones like that? Didn’t you say that the maze has been plowed many times inside and outside the academy, so there won’t be any danger and no accidents will happen? And you even made up a story that the maze is a giant creature or something.”

When the students' figures disappeared into the distance, the voice of the Bathing Goddess suddenly rang out again.

Although he was not scared, Ritas, who had been concentrating on thinking and did not notice the unfolding of the disc, could understand Noah's feelings.

".I didn't make this up. There is a lot of evidence that proves that the 'maze' is indeed a living creature, or a kind of monster."

"Eh?"

"So, no matter how many safety measures are taken, I don't think the maze is absolutely safe. And, if possible, I don't want to step into the maze. After all, this behavior is no different from walking directly into the 'mouth' of a predator."

Ritas said with a unhappy look on his face.

Unfortunately, as a mentor, he had to enter the maze.

So, under the call of Professor Dodge, the Green Ivy class mentor, he went to the checkpoint inside the maze with a dark face.

(End of this chapter)