Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 316 Fairy Tale Book

Charlotte, who did not stay in the dormitory arranged for Bayano Academy by Ers during and after the academy exchange meeting, instead occupied Ritas's mansion in Spring City. One day, she woke up with this question in mind.

Huh? When are her academy's troops returning to the Westerlands?

After going to Erles Academy and making some inquiries, Xia Luoluo realized that the sky had fallen!

The Byano Academy team abandoned her and returned to the Western Territory days ago. And no one even informed her!
"Baiano Academy might have registered you on the list of the dead."

"You're the one who's dead!"

Charlotte was annoyed by Ritas's sarcastic remarks.

In fact, Xia Luoluo understood the reason for this situation. Since arriving in Ers, she had been acting alone. Aside from participating in the Magic Ball competition, she had basically ignored the academy's arrangements. She had even had several arguments with the team leader.
After realizing she had been abandoned, she didn't return to the academy immediately, but instead lingered in Spring City until the holiday started. This clearly shows that Charlotte is quite a poor student, even though Bayano Academy does grant a certain degree of freedom to its advanced students, especially those who have repeated a year.

but
"It's all your fault, Ritas. If you hadn't made such a name for yourself in academia, we Elsons wouldn't be scrutinized like we're under a magnifying glass at the academy. It's making it so hard for us to even graduate!"

Even though she understood perfectly well, Charlotte still blamed Ritas.

"Oh."

Ritas, on the other hand, remained indifferent as always.

Rather, compared to the numerous baseless accusations of the past, what Xia Luoluo said this time might actually have some connection. Although, it's impossible to verify.

"Don't worry about it too much, Senior Xia Luoluo. The people from Baiano Academy probably just forgot something unimportant. They weren't targeting you."

Not quite familiar with the way Elson and his sister get along, and worried that the two might quarrel, Miriam spoke up to smooth things over.

"Hmph, of course it was an accident. Otherwise, how could it really be... um?"

After taking two steps down Miriam's "steps," Charlotte realized that something seemed amiss.

When he says it's "something not very important," is this guy trying to smooth things over or being sarcastic?

Charlotte stared at Miriam with a "dangerous" look for a few moments, then, feeling that she couldn't bring herself to scold this junior who always had a warm smile on his face, she finally turned her gaze to Ritas, as if to say, "Look at the good student you've taught."

Ritas shrugged, indicating that Miriam was self-taught.

"It's not so much that you're unimportant, but rather that you're so important that they abandoned you? The faculty and staff at Baiano Academy must be dreaming of you graduating or transferring schools as soon as possible. I heard they even discussed this specifically, wondering if they should break down the two-year cycle for elementary and higher education into a one-year cycle in the future."

Inside the carriage, the figure still shrouded in "black mist" also joined the conversation.

"How come even you! Besides, you graduated from Bayano, how could you possibly know about this kind of thing!"

Xia Luoluo, constantly being teased, grew increasingly exasperated. Meanwhile, the carriage was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

While teasing a seventh-year student at a four-year magic academy can be a welcome diversion on a long journey, it's certainly important not to go too far.

So, the conversation gradually shifted to some trivial matters.

It was during this period that the topic of "fairy tales" came to the forefront.

"Lately, it seems you've been having your family collect fairy tales circulating in the Western Regions?"

"Yes. I'd like to know some relevant information."

Ritas nodded in response to Charlotte's question.

Although they were all at the magic academy, Charlotte felt differently from Ritas and Corteline. The latter two seemed to have become independent from their families, but Charlotte maintained close ties with the Elson family, so she was well-informed.

"What? It took you so many years to rediscover your childlike heart? I thought it had been snatched away by some passing Gu Gu or something!"

Not forgetting to provoke Ritas, Charlotte curled her hair.

"Although I don't know what you want to know, you can actually ask me. I know a lot about the fairy tales that circulate in the Westerlands."

"Is there such a thing?"

Ritas was somewhat surprised. Although it was a children's book, it was still a "book" after all.

"What's so surprising? Before you started dabbling in magic, didn't you spend a lot of time reading? And the old man always praised you, saying I should learn from you. What's there to learn? It's just reading books. I just thought I had to read more books than you. But..."

I couldn't get into any other books, so in the end I just read a bunch of fairy tales?
Ritas was not surprised by Charlotte's behavior.

Putting everything else aside, at least he solved a mystery that had troubled him for a while.

He knew Xia Luoluo, and that's why she could read.

"In that case, do you recall any fairy tales featuring white carrier pigeons, tin men, unicorns, and upright-walking black cats as the main characters?"

Although he wasn't too hopeful, he figured he had plenty of time to kill in the carriage anyway. So, Ritas asked anyway.

"Uh...mm."

"."

Xia Luoluo pressed her two index fingers to her temples, making a strange noise for a while before revealing bright eyes.

"Yes, I have!"

"?"

You actually know?

Ritas couldn't help but ask, "Really?"

Xia Luoluo frowned slightly and said with dissatisfaction, "Why would I lie to you?"

"Do you remember who the author of that fairy tale book was?"

"Uh"

This time, Xia Luoluo was stumped.
"Why, why the author of a children's book?! Shouldn't we be asking about the content? Who remembers that kind of information? Oh! It's because it was a 'plagiarized' book, right?"

Xia Luoluo found the answer on her own.

But upon closer examination, it becomes clear that Ritas was uncertain about the very existence of the fairy tale book, so it was impossible for him to know anything about "plagiarism."

"So that's how it is. It was a plagiarized book. That's why it wasn't widely published or circulated. It's very hard to find nowadays. So, do you still have that children's book?"

Ritas, clearly more interested in the real-life figures associated with the fairy tale than the content of the book itself, asked once again.

"Well... I donated almost all the fairy tale books I used to read to the orphanage my family sponsors in the city. And as you know, the orphanage has moved many times. So..."

so!?

As Charlotte's voice faded into the distance.

Around noon that day, the Goddess of Bath awoke from her dream once more. "I thought that memories only returned when Sister Bath screamed and woke up."

In the shared room of the Bath Goddess and Millie, Millie, who had also returned from training at the Cross Hall that day, prepared breakfast and lunch for the Bath Goddess while exchanging information with her.

The information Millie received mainly concerned that Charlotte's pet "Xin Xin," which had just "returned to its nest" a day ago, had flown off to an unknown location.

What the goddess of bathing shares is naturally what she dreamed about.

"Perhaps it's because no special characters have appeared? You see, before, there was both Sorako and Ritsuko. Although the two were listed together, Ritsuko seemed a little weaker."

The goddess of bathing scratched her head and said...
"Now, we can basically confirm who came to the Western Territory in the same carriage. It's you, me, Xiao Li, Charlotte, and Cortrinie."

Although the figure was still shrouded in the black mist, it was highly unlikely to be anyone other than Cortriene.

Rather, it was so obvious that even the Goddess of Bath couldn't understand what the black mist was trying to conceal.

Who can be kept in the dark?

Or perhaps, it was actually Cortriene who wore an exceptionally striking outfit, which attracted the Shadow Priest?
"As expected, those two are here too."

While agreeing with her, Millie had a question that concerned only herself.

That explains why Cortelene and Ritas returned together. It also explains why Charlotte accompanied them.

And her?

Of all the things she could do during her months-long winter break, she insisted on going back to her hometown with the professor, only to be dragged into this bizarre world halfway through the trip.
"In short, the carriage journey that should have lasted for many days has somehow brought this part of my life back to me. Is it a reminder that the fairy tale book is important?"

I suppose so.

Millie sighed softly.

Because of the goddess of the bath's "confession," Millie learned that "fairy tale" was actually a very important keyword. And that keyword did indeed trigger the crucial clues that followed.

However, it seemed as if this was pre-planned, a clue that should have been obvious to the Goddess of Bathing. Yet, it took her two months to notice.
"Sister Yu, why don't you think about it carefully again? Is there anything you've overlooked?"

Millie offered a tactful suggestion.

"Well"

The goddess of bathing crossed her arms and began to ponder deeply.

After thinking for a long time and coming up with nothing, she suddenly had a flash of inspiration and chose the "screening method".

While it wouldn't be called hiding anything, there were some things she couldn't tell Millie. Mainly, things related to the "Star Mark Emblem" game.

Therefore, all that's needed is to carefully scrutinize this information. As for the others, if there are any hidden messages in the information that Millie has already discussed, at least Millie can't blame her! Because she herself didn't expect it!

After pondering this "genius" idea for a while, he was still lost in thought.

Believe it or not, the goddess of bathing actually figured something out.

"Oh—! I think I understand now, Xiao Li's other main purpose for returning to the Western Territory this time. Wayne! He's seriously investigating Wayne. His meeting with Rita before was also to get information about Wayne from her. And his mention of fairy tales in the carriage this time is also related to Wayne!"

Bathing Goddess felt her thoughts clear up slightly.

But as I came to understand this, another question arose.

Although, before, Wayne claimed to be Ritas's younger sister and even threw herself at him, causing quite a commotion between Ritas and the two Elson ladies.

But in reality, Ritas wasn't particularly interested in Wayne herself. According to him, after he became famous, countless women flocked to him; Wayne was just some random girl, after all, and he wasn't being so unreasonable.

In short, Ritas's interest in Vayne is more focused on her identity as a member of the "Darkin".

Now that Rita has been captured, Ritas's interest in Vayne should have diminished further. Instead, he's become even more focused on investigating Vayne and the four strange individuals who accompany her.
Are there any aspects of this that are worth considering?

"Professor Wayne's younger sister, so shouldn't we also look for information about her? According to what Sister Yu said earlier, Wayne should be living in the West Frontier now."

"But where are we going to find Wayne? The Western Territory is quite vast. I've searched before, but there's been absolutely no clue!" "Sister Yu!"

The two girls simultaneously thought of finding the key to Wayne.

"A fairy tale book!" "The author of a fairy tale book!"

Because of plagiarism, this "fairy tale book" only circulated in a small area of ​​the western border and could no longer be found after more than a decade.

But at this point in time when the goddess of the bath and Millie are lost, they might have a way to find that fairy tale book.

Even without the clue of "Wein," the goddess of the bath who had such a dream was destined to search for that mysterious fairy tale book.

But the problem is.
"What is Xia Luoluo doing?" "I...I don't know either."

The problem is that, because they had previously harbored some hostility towards Xia Luoluo, they hadn't gotten to know her very well over the past two months.

So, the two, who were skillfully lying in wait in the bushes, were now thinking about how to get close to Xia Luoluo in order to find out the whereabouts of the fairy tale book.

The good news for the two is that since Gu Gu, who is very likely the true form of the Black Mist Bird, is not there, they will not be in mortal danger.

But the bad news is that they simply don't understand Xia Luoluo.

At this moment, Xia Luoluo was kneading something that looked like modeling clay. She shaped the clay into a strip, dipped it in paint on the palette in front of her, and then ate it.

"Ptooey! Ugh, this tastes awful."

It's not too surprising that we've come this far.

Strangely, Xia Luoluo spat out the clay once, her face contorted in pain. But after a while, she shaped it into a ball again, dipped it in a different color of paint, and put it in her mouth.

"Pooh!"

"." "."

The goddess of the bath and Millie exchanged a glance, unsure how to describe their feelings at that moment.

It just feels... kind of scary.

"Millie, it's all yours now."

"Huh? Why should I go? I don't want to go up and talk to her after just seeing that."

"Because I'm your older sister! Sister Yu!"

And so, the goddess of the bath pushed a reluctant Millie to meet the extraordinary girl, Charlotte Elson.

(End of this chapter)