Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 304 Tomorrow
"Finally, I can get a good night's sleep!"

Night falls.

Having lived in constant fear, dreading the arrival of another witch or some other "mechanism" that might suddenly kill them, the Bath Goddess and Millie breathed a sigh of relief in the room Little Ritas had arranged for them.

Although several days had passed in this world, they were discovered by the Elson family and immediately "moved" to the Western Fortress. Their actual experience wasn't just one day; they repeated the same day several times, waking up each time after a period of deep sleep.

But physically, both of them felt that a long day had finally come to an end.

The feeling of death, which most people experience at most once, was experienced by these two several times in one day.

All I can say is that, having confirmed their safety, they truly felt a deep-seated exhaustion.

Lying sprawled on the comfortable bed, the goddess of the bath, who had developed a psychological aversion to this position due to her encounter with a witch, felt less uneasy after turning to her side.

After calming down, the goddess of bathing couldn't help but let out a soft sigh.

Millie, who was lying to the side, noticed that the goddess of the bath seemed preoccupied.

While it's true that one should be worried if they're not preoccupied with something, it's clear that the goddess of the bath is facing a different kind of trouble than something as mundane as "survival."

It seems that ever since she eavesdropped on and watched Charlotte and Little Ritas's conversation by the wall, the Goddess of Bath has been troubled. Before, she had forced herself to talk and communicate with Little Ritas.

"When you overheard their conversation earlier, did Sister Yu discover something?"

Millie, who was more worried about the goddess of bathing than out of curiosity, asked.

"Well, I just thought of some things. And then, I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to say them in this situation."

Turning to face Millie, the Bath Goddess spoke with some hesitation.

"Whatever it is, if you've noticed it, it's better if you discuss it with me, Sister Yu. After all, in this kind of environment, any kind of information could become a breakthrough. And if we encounter any obstacles and start a new cycle, I think you'll have to speak up sooner or later."

"That's true. I just always feel it's not good to talk about other people's heavy past. It seems I really am the type who can't keep secrets. But thinking about it, Xiao Li didn't ask me to keep it a secret."

After struggling with her decision for a while, the Goddess of Bath composed herself and resolved to confide in Millie.
"You must have heard about the argument between Xia Luoluo and Xiao Li before. Uh, how should I put it? What did it sound like to you?"

"How does it feel?"

Millie closed her eyes briefly to recall, then replied,
"Although Xia Luoluo's words were a bit excessive, they should still be considered as children arguing, right? When you're young, you don't think about things as much, so you don't realize that you're hurting others. There must be many situations where you say whatever comes to mind. I've also said some very hurtful things to my relatives."

As she spoke, Millie's mood dipped slightly.

"Is that how it seems to outsiders? That's true. For someone who's in the heat of an argument, the other person is just an 'enemy,' and all they can think about is defeating them. So, to achieve their goal, they'll say whatever comes to mind. But Xiao Li's situation is really different from others."

The goddess of bathing spoke, and then gave a general account of the story of the "cursed child".

As Millie listened to Ritas's past, she couldn't help but show a look of surprise.

On the one hand, she really hadn't expected that Ritas, who now looks so normal (?), actually had such a bizarre and painful upbringing.

On the other hand, from the fact that Ritas was willing to share these things with the goddess of bathing, Millie rediscovered the close connection between the two.

And gradually, Millie also realized what was really behind that argument.

"From our current perspective, we certainly know that Xiao Li is not the so-called 'cursed child.' Everything he experienced was the result of a series of unfortunate coincidences. But for Xiao Li at this point in time..."

Even the goddess of the bath could hardly imagine the despair that Ritas was feeling at that moment.

During his turbulent years, he finally met a reliable adoptive father who, while everyone else feared and scorned him, unconcernedly smiled and resolutely adopted him, bringing him into a happy family.

Then, the family fell apart.

He still did nothing. And the "Sword Saint" stubbornly survived, unaffected by any curse.

However, the Sword Saint's wife, Ritas's adoptive mother, Sofia Elson, passed away.

Witnessing such a thing, facing such a scene.

How could Ritas not take responsibility upon himself?

He was probably the one who most wanted to die.

The goddess of bathing even suspected that Ritas's subsequent unwillingness to form connections with people and his fascination with the magical realm were still a continuation of these past practices.

After all, for this world, magic may be the most authoritative "science".

Ritas spent his entire life trying to figure out whether he was truly the "Cursed Child".

"It really is... brutally reopening the professor's wounds."

Millie put herself in Ritas's shoes and thought about it. If she were Ritas, she probably wouldn't even have the courage to stand in front of Charlotte.

Although the argument between the two had a clear "trigger"—the murder of Dino, the butler who cared for Ritas—Charlotte's undisguised sharp tongue suggests that Ritas must have faced his fair share of criticism even on ordinary days.

"No wonder the professor went to Earls Academy before the enrollment age. Every second in the Elson family must have been torture."

The argument between Ritas and Charlotte was just a "point".

From this perspective, the "face" we see is that of the "young master" of the Elson family. Few in the entire family are willing to accept Ritas; aside from the murdered butler, no one is willing to take care of him.

Furthermore, the goddess of bathing and Millie were housed in a small courtyard arranged by Ritas. It seemed that Ritas had the power to make certain decisions despite opposition.

But from another perspective, under normal circumstances, how could the two "victims" that Ritas insisted on, who might be considered suspicious individuals in the eyes of others as possibly connected to the brutal perpetrator, be placed so close to the young master of the Elson family?

"And yet, Xiao Li actually said that during his time with the Elson family, he actually did quite well, not badly at all, and it was a relatively comfortable period for him. What kind of nerve does he have? Come to think of it, if he was doing so well, why would he keep calling his adoptive father by his full name 'Roland', and use strange terms like 'adoptive father's daughter' and 'adoptive father's brother's daughter' to refer to his relatives like Charlotte and Cortine?"

The more the goddess of bathing thought about it, the more everything seemed to make sense.

However, at the same time, she also couldn't understand Xia Luoluo's mentality.

It's one thing to be Cortriene, but it seems she's often defended Ritas within the family in the past.

Xia Luoluo, on the other hand, is a complete abuser!
She had mistakenly thought that Xia Luoluo was just an awkward, prickly, and unspeakable adopted sister like Ritas, but in reality, she had a pretty good relationship with Ritas.

"Because the professor is always very tolerant."

As Millie spoke, a very vague image of the boisterous figure that had been constantly making noise in the carriage on the way to the West appeared in her mind.

After hearing Xia Luoluo's heart-wrenching accusations during the argument, Millie suddenly felt that the figure in question might very well be Xia Luoluo.

But if that's the case, why would Charlotte, a student of Bayano Academy, be sitting with them on the carriage heading west from Ers?

"Indeed. Although the essence may be different, in terms of appearance alone, Xiao Li is probably the best-tempered person I know."

Similarly, the goddess of bathing also found it incredible that Ritas did not take revenge on society after growing up, but instead sealed away his offensive magic.

For the rest of the time, the goddess of bathing and Millie talked for a long time about topics related to Ritas.

This went on for so long that Millie began to wonder, "We're in a situation where we could be suddenly killed at any moment. Shouldn't we be discussing whether there's more to this?"

For some reason, the fact that she was still grieving over Little Ritas's past in this situation struck Millie as very much like the goddess of the bath. The more the name "Ritas" appeared, and the more the story of the butler Dino's murder was mentioned, the more Millie began to ponder.

"What's wrong, Millie?"

"Oh, it's nothing. I just suddenly realized, which 'Ritas' is this Professor Ritas in front of us?"

".What's the meaning?"

"I'm wondering, is the current Professor Ritas from the past at this point in time? Or is he like us, Professor Ritas who has traveled back to the past with the world? Or perhaps, is Professor Ritas created by this strange world?"

When the goddess of bathing first arrived in Prista, she expressed a sense of incongruity about this world.

However, those jarring elements became insignificant in comparison to the sudden appearance of the witch and the frigid wind that could turn anyone into an ice sculpture.

However, the things the two actually experienced during the "scene switch" were inconsistent with Little Ritas's understanding, which brought out all the incongruity.

Now, Millie can be fairly certain that this is not the real world, but a world that has been deliberately created, much like a dream.

As a result, a series of doubts arose.

For example, why was this world created to resemble the past? And why were they given the mechanism of reincarnation? And, putting aside those blurry figures, where did Professor Ritas, who was actually sitting opposite Millie, go?

Of all the things that Millie was most concerned about was which "Ritas" they had faced earlier.

"Hehe~ I didn't know it could be divided into so many smaller parts."

The goddess scratched her head; it was a little itchy.

Although they had encountered "NPCs" before, they had never met beings like Charlotte and Ritas who could connect the past and the present. Therefore, the Goddess of Bath had never considered such a question.

Similarly, it is also worth discussing which "Xia Luoluo" was the one who argued with Ritas earlier.

"However, what are the differences between those small villages? Of course, I know they are different! It's just that, depending on the different small villages, we should take different approaches and so on."

The goddess of bathing asked again.

Millie pondered for a moment before slowly speaking.

"The only difference I can think of right now is that if the young professor we met during the day was created by this world and the mastermind behind it all, then his credibility would be very low."

Not only will the created Ritas likely not be as intelligent as the real Ritas.

If the current situation of the Bathing Goddess and Millie is an "accident" for the creator of this world, then their information might have been leaked to the mastermind behind it all through the fake Ritas.

Besides, although this is unlikely to be the real past world, if their past actions were to carry over into the present, they might need to reconsider their future course of action.

Their existence has clearly altered the course of the past.

Specifically, it was the murder of the butler, Dino.

If in their world there really was a brutal serial killer who cut people to pieces in the streets and even massacred the Elson family's stronghold.

Even if Ritas didn't say anything, the news would have spread like wildfire.

However, Millie had clearly heard about such things.

"Oh, I see."

Listening to Millie's analysis, the Bath Goddess simply nodded repeatedly.

"When Sister Yu was talking to the professor before, she didn't mention that we would be reborn in cycles. I guess she had those concerns?"

"Of course!"

The goddess of the bath did indeed omit the concept of reincarnation in her account.

And there are many reasons.

For example, there wasn't enough time, it wasn't necessary, and talking about it would only make things more confusing. It took four whole rewatches just to find a training ground, so I was ashamed to bring it up, etc.
The only reason not given was that Little Ritas was not credible enough.

However, the goddess of bathing naturally insisted that she had everything under control.

"Do we have any way to tell which Xiaoli it is?"

"Not yet."

Millie said, taking out the golden apple and looking at it.

She felt there should be a way to use this prop, but she hadn't figured out the specifics yet.

"Let's think about it tomorrow! It's a good opportunity to talk to Xiao Li again tomorrow; maybe we can get more information that way."

"It seems like this is the only way."

Millie sighed softly.

She was actually just as physically and mentally exhausted as the goddess of the bath.

Having poured out her inner turmoil and feeling somewhat better, the Bathing Goddess didn't forget to fool around with Millie a little before going to sleep. Then, not long after, the two of them fell into a deep sleep in the guest room in the small garden.

"Please find the real me."

"Huh? What?"

In the hazy dream, it seemed as if someone was talking to the goddess of bathing.

Before the goddess of bathing could hear clearly, she had already opened her eyes.

What comes into view is a clear blue sky.
"?"

Looking at the boundless clear sky, the goddess of bathing was stunned for a moment, then came to her senses.

That's strange. Wasn't she supposed to be sleeping in the guest room yesterday? What happened, did she sleepwalk outside?
The goddess turned around and saw the golden apple tree behind her.

This location and this view are simply like...
Just as a sense of foreboding arose in the heart of the goddess of bathing.

Millie hurriedly walked out of the guest room, her face full of astonishment, as if confirming the worst guess in the goddess of bathing's heart.

"Is the golden apple that Sister Golden Apple Bath carried with her yesterday still there?"

Reminded by Millie who rushed in front of her, the Goddess of Bath searched for a while, but found nothing.

The two stood facing each other, their expressions extremely unpleasant.

Not long after, the sound of a girl's heartbroken lament came from outside the wall.

"You're the one who deserves to die!"

(End of this chapter)