Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 289 The Academy's Path to Wealth

Ethan is a man of his word, and after the defeat of the Golden King, he focused his efforts on rebuilding the Magic Network, which would inevitably involve the guild once again.

In the eyes of the guild members, rebuilding the Magic Network would allow them to obtain information from beyond the planes. They did not want any force other than themselves to know the secrets of the existence of different planes. During the time he was away from Riverwood, Miss Chloe diligently maintained local security and had become a better sheriff than Hagrid.

The two chatted happily, and on the night they returned to town, Ethan even witnessed Captain Hagrid inviting Miss Chloe to a pub for drinks—in his words, Miss Chloe was his best drinking buddy, with an incredible capacity for alcohol, and every time he drank until he passed out, Miss Chloe would carry him home.

However, according to the investigation by monster expert Ethan, Miss Chloe simply has a strong digestive ability. Let alone a few bottles of wine, even if she were to drink a whole vat of toxins, it would not have any effect on her.

Miss Chloe is becoming more and more understanding.

She may not understand what alcohol is, or why humans drink alcohol, but she can understand Captain Hagrid's sorrowful feelings when he is drunk.

Captain Hagrid had his fortune told, and it was predicted that he would not find a partner for the next 20 years.

Unfortunately, Rowena's divinations are incredibly accurate, and she has almost never made a mistake so far.

Ethan and Miss Chloe carried the drunken Hagrid to bed, where he continued to mumble incoherently about important life events like marriage.

This is undoubtedly a tragedy.

Perhaps his brother Hagrid should also make a wish to the goddess, only then can he change his fate of being destined to be alone.

As evening fell, amidst the cheers of the townspeople, Miss Chloe, carrying a large basket of fruit, took flight into the sky. Her next stop was Gear City, where they would use its teleportation array to return to the island where the academy was located.

The college has also undergone tremendous changes in the past three months.

The sudden disaster united the elemental energies like never before. They no longer confined themselves to the island, but actively traveled throughout the empire to study and deal with the damage caused by the gold radiation.

Long before the Old Gods were sealed away, the elemental shapers served as the main force of humanity and had a fine tradition.

Under the Dean's reforms, the academy opened its doors to the Empire, becoming its most steadfast ally and welcoming any citizen of the Empire to visit. Negotiations with the Astrologers Guild were also successfully reached through Rowena's mediation, with both sides deciding to set aside old grievances and work together to repair the Magic Network.

Even greater ideals await them: to return to the golden age of magic.

This was Ethan's first return to the academy in three months. The island had indeed changed dramatically and was much more lively than when he last visited.

After the crisis of the Golden King disappeared, the academy and the island have become pure tourist attractions, and have now become the most desirable tourist destination in the hearts of the citizens of the empire. A series of large-scale projects have been launched on the island, and even Ivy has made several trips back and forth to promote the tourism industry.

These changes left Ethan somewhat bewildered. If the retro architectural style were disregarded, the Empire and the Academy now resembled the rudiments of a modern society.

Back in the capital, Ivy often talked with him all night about the work of the new cabinet. He couldn't help but marvel at how some people were born to be politicians. In this field, Ivy had an exceptionally high level of comprehension and could usually apply what she learned to other situations. What was even more commendable was that she was a workaholic. She would work more than ten hours a day without ever complaining of being tired. Often, after working overtime until late at night, she would go home, wash up briefly, and fall asleep immediately. The next morning, she would appear in the new cabinet without fail, which already showed a strong sense of dedication and hard work.

The cabinet members had never seen anything like this before, and they followed Ivy day and night to carry out construction without really understanding what was going on.

That's not right. In their minds, shouldn't people with higher status have more leisure time?
Thinking back to when Pope Julius was still alive, the Papacy, the nobility, and the Inquisition were a unified entity. It was considered good if you could see the real leaders once a month. Back then, the daily work of those big leaders was to hold court banquets or invite theater troupes from the Gallo Kingdom to watch plays and have fun. Their lives were very comfortable.

Now, they are often so busy that they don't even have much time left to eat.

In response, Imperial Admiral Ethan said that if Ivy were in modern society, she would definitely be a master of manipulation. Not only would she manipulate herself, but she could also get everyone around her to join in, and then she would single-handedly drive everyone else to their deaths. He recalled that when he was in high school, there were such masters in his class and grade, who caused him a lot of trouble.

Of course, not everyone benefits from change.

Ethan spotted Professor Wapol in the bustling crowd. He was as ruddy as ever, and there was an even more devastating truth to him—the professor's hair transplant had failed.

He remembered the last time he saw Professor Wapol, the hair transplant treatment was showing initial results, and many hairs were sprouting on his bald head, creating a vibrant and flourishing scene. But now, his head was barren again, and the few new shoots that had finally broken through the soil seemed to have died.

Before he had taken more than a few steps, Ethan spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.

A Ragdoll cat gracefully weaving through the crowd stopped and looked up at him.

The next moment, the cat charged at him.

She walked very fast, and her form changed as she ran.

This was no ordinary cat collision. The passersby were all shocked. They clearly saw a cat transform into a beautiful woman with white hair and red eyes. She ran towards a young man who had just stepped out of the teleportation ceremony and then rammed into him with all her weight.

The young man scooped up the white-haired girl around the waist and spun her around a few times.

They could also see the white-haired girl's radiant smile, her eyes almost squinting into slits.

Damn it, they came to the island for tourism, why do they have to endure this mental attack as soon as they stepped off the platform?
Is nobody going to do anything about this?
Solo tourists reacted particularly strongly, saying that traveling alone was already miserable enough, but to have to endure this kind of torment was unbearable.

Do these two people even have any humanity left?

Oh, it's Old Sen. It's alright then.

Some sharp-eyed people have already recognized Ethan.

Winter was the first to realize the defeat of the King of Gold. That day, she was idly strolling around the old house of Macard-Derlin when she suddenly noticed a change in Mrs. Judy's words.

Dean McCardlin finally met the person he had been waiting for, bringing a perfect end to a long wait that spanned decades.

A romantic and epic story, and more importantly, a comedic ending.

This is truly rare today, given the prevalence of Garlog culture.

Winter was very light; even a magician like Ethan could easily carry her around several times until Winter was satisfied, at which point he asked a serious question.

"Has Professor Wapol gone bald from anger again because of you?"

This old gentleman has worked diligently at the academy for decades, and it's not easy for him to grow a little hair. Moreover, to put it more broadly, this hair growth tonic was a gift from Ethan. If it doesn't work, it will damage the brand image of Old Sen Magic Technology Store.

For people in this era, it is not easy to make barren land sprout new shoots. The alchemist Chloe even used her own regenerative tail feathers. However, the little hen specifically emphasized to him that patients undergoing hair transplantation should maintain an optimistic and cheerful mood, as frequent anger may affect the effectiveness of the treatment.

Am I the kind of person who likes to turn other people bald?

Winter pouted in dissatisfaction.

"So here's the question: who made Professor Wapol go bald?" But the cutesy approach was useless against Ethan; he was already immune to it.

This is like assuming you're a prison guard enthusiast and you have a long-legged girlfriend who flaunts herself in white stockings in front of you every day. Before long, you'll develop antibodies, or even immunity.

These are all scientific theories that Ethan deduced based on his actual experience.

"That was an accident, I already said it was an accident!"

Winter's eyes were wide open, as if she wanted to breathe on them, but when she saw that the person holding her was Ethan, she couldn't breathe out, thus forming a strange expression of breathing on but not actually breathing out.

"What happened? Miss Chloe's hair growth tonic shouldn't have failed..."

"It's all Old Ba's fault."

"Old Ba?"

"Professor Wapol recently introduced more than 20 new school rules to regulate the behavior of 'Professor Bazatos worshippers'."

Old Ba's art theory course is highly praised in the academy, and due to his unique teaching style, every class is packed with students.

Moreover, its promotional style is unique.

There's no need for extensive advertising, no need to post posters throughout the college, and no need for class representatives to use their free time to help professors promote their courses.

This lesson captivated the students of the college with just one sentence.

—I heard there was tentacle play in class.

Of course, when interviewed by members of the disciplinary committee afterward, these students claimed that they were interested in the origins of art and life and had never heard of any tentacle play.

Ethan felt a sense of foreboding. "Have they all become followers of an evil god?"

He understands Buffett. Although Buffett himself may not have such thoughts, he is, after all, an existence that is "unseen and indescribable" to humankind. An unintentional action by him could drive a person to madness.

"If that were the case, Professor Wapol wouldn't be in such a predicament."

If Bahru had truly converted a large number of students into followers of an evil god, then even if the other party was an Old God, the academy would have ordered him to suspend his classes. But the reality was quite the opposite. Students who had taken Bahru's courses were kind and helpful, but their manner of dressing and speaking underwent strange changes.

Winter nestled comfortably in Ethan's arms, oblivious to the passersby who glanced at her. She tilted her head and pondered for a moment, "I guess it's when I see an old lady who needs help, I'll rush over to help her cross the street immediately."

They've even become much more proactive in doing good deeds than before.

Ethan asked in confusion, "Isn't this a good thing?"

"But there seemed to be something wrong with the tone of their voice."

"Tone?"

"They would express their goodwill in the tone of a psychopathic serial killer."

In addition, the increasingly unrestrained dressing style and body painting of the students in the Introduction to Art course seem to have robbed their goodwill of its original meaning, "and they also laugh strangely."

What she just mentioned is only the tip of the iceberg of Old Ba's courses. In order to help the artistic talents he cultivated broaden their horizons, Old Ba also called many of His creations to the academy. Most of them stayed with the magical monsters on the island, while a few would come to the academy to help when there was a shortage of manpower.

For example, you can often see some legendary evil god creations on the island helping to move bricks and push carts. When the resort town was built for visitors, a giant soldier was even dispatched, so much so that for quite some time, the visitors thought that the academy was going to build a haunted house.

"What really broke Professor Wapol's back was the content of this final exam."

Professor Wapol was the head of the academic department and an academic leader. He was also a researcher of the occult. He had high hopes for Old Bál, which is why he went against the majority opinion and hired Old Bál directly.

This is the first time that humanity has truly come into close contact with an evil god, which also means that the evil god may no longer be an unknowable existence. From an academic point of view, they can interpret the energy of the evil god and perhaps make the most of it to develop new elemental magic or magic.

More than two months ago, when Professor Wapol was at his most spirited and his bushes were at their most lush, he published several new papers.

This paper was also published on the front page of the Ministry of Magic's newspaper. If the research in the paper can be verified, it will bring unprecedented changes to the academic world.

In his paper, Professor Wapol pointed out that in addition to the few natural elements they are familiar with, there may be uncommon elements such as 'light', 'darkness', and 'corrosion' in nature, which he gained insights from observing the evil god Bazartos.

These theories have become one of the most talked-about topics in academia recently. Everyone is waiting for Professor Wapol's latest research results. As the dean of teaching and the subject leader, Wapol naturally has high hopes for Lao Ba's first semester graduation exam. He sincerely hopes that Lao Ba's final exam paper will focus on dark elements or corrosive elements.

Ethan was lost in thought.

As he listened to Lao Ba's many remarkable achievements, he inexplicably thought of the miraculous "village path to prosperity".

—The story of how the village of Academy invited the evil god Bazartos to lead them to prosperity.

"But do you know what the topic of Old Ba's final paper is?"

"……what?"

Ethan asked absentmindedly.

"Why is Sincarole's defense a mess?"

Ethan didn't hear the first half of the sentence carefully, but the second half of the sentence made him suddenly realize that he had just come to his senses and met Winter's bright and sharp eyes.

"Defense? What defense? Nobody, nobody ever did a defense!"

"I was referring to the title of the final paper for the Introduction to Art course... Wait, hold on a minute."

Winter's gaze suddenly sharpened.

Having spent so much time with Ethan, her observations of his unusual behavior were naturally not missed.

"What did you secretly do behind my back?"

(End of this chapter)