Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 319 Dolores' Bedtime Stories

One afternoon, led by Charlotte, the Bath Goddess and Millie toured some of the more famous bookstores and libraries in the fortress city.

However, the fairy tale book they were after was still nowhere to be found.

As the goddess of the bath remarked on how strict the fortress city's control over "plagiarism" was, Charlotte could only set her sights on the final destination.

The Cross Welfare Home, which has been supported by the Elson family for a long time.

The "cross" that appears frequently, whether in training grounds or affiliated organizations, is actually the family crest of the Elson family.

Although Roland, after becoming a member of the family, intentionally reduced the use of the Elson family crest for some reason, and instead relied more on the flags and insignia of the Western Frontier Army when necessary, the influence of the cross crest in the Western Frontier was clearly not so easily eliminated.

The Cross Welfare Home is located on the outskirts of the fortress city.

The area, where the dark forest could already be seen in the distance, presented a desolation that stood in stark contrast to the boundless green pastures.

Looking at the suddenly appearing, barren land, the goddess of bathing felt a strange tension rise within her. She checked the golden apple she carried with her, and then furtively checked several other boxed items she was carrying. Finally, she let out a long sigh of relief.

"Sister Yu?"

"Oh, w-what's wrong?"

The goddess of the bath hurriedly put away the small box that was only slightly sticking out.

Millie, who had only intended to chat casually with the Bath Goddess to pass the time, suddenly sharpened her gaze upon seeing the other woman's suspicious behavior.

"Sister Yu, what are you hiding?"

"No, it's nothing. How can you say it's hidden? It's not like I was deliberately hiding it. It's just that everyone has things that make them feel embarrassed if others see them, right? Like relics or something. Something like that."

"?"

Listening to the bath goddess's incoherent words, Millie couldn't help but sigh inwardly, thinking that her goddess sister was really bad at keeping things to herself.

After thinking for a moment, Millie quickly came up with an answer.

"Did the young professor prepare this?"

"Uh"

After hesitating for a while, the goddess of the bath obediently took out the small boxes again.

"They look like signal flares. Xiao Li gave them to me after he found out we were coming to the city today. He told us to turn them on if anything happened."

The goddess scratched her face, then gave Millie half of the flare box.

"If that's the case, why didn't you say so earlier? Why did you have to be so secretive?"

"Well, it's not because of that thing, is it? You know, when you and Xiaoli had some disagreements lately, I actually went to see Xiaoli. Even though I took Xiaoli's things, I'm still firmly on your side, Millie!"

The goddess of the bath timidly spoke halfway through her sentence, then suddenly declared her loyalty to Millie with great enthusiasm.

"."

After a moment of speechlessness, Millie unconsciously pursed her lips.

It wouldn't be accurate to say she's had a recent falling out with Ritas Jr., but there has been some distance between them.

Although the complaints against Xia Luoluo were merely attempts to bring her into their camp, those words did indeed act as a catalyst, igniting Millie's pent-up resentment towards Little Ritas.

She and the goddess of the bath desperately tried to reach Little Ritas, desperately trying to save him. Their hope was to work together with Little Ritas to solve the strange phenomena and find a way to escape this illusory world.

But it's clear that Little Ritas and their ideas and actions were never aligned.

Moreover, Millie was really annoyed that Little Ritas had kept quiet about things he had noticed but had not shared them with them.

Or rather, it cannot be considered "concealment" but rather a distorted form of "arrogance".

“Even if I told you, nothing would change; the result would be the same. In fact, telling you might even make things worse. So, I won’t tell you.”

This is the attitude that Millie personally experienced from Little Ritas.

"While it's true that the young professor is somewhat infuriating, we're not in a position to let our emotions get the better of us right now. Someone has to reach out to him. So, I really wouldn't hold a grudge against Sister Yu because of this."

"Waaah! That's great! I was so worried about what would happen if Millie disliked me. Being trapped in this strange world is hard enough, if Millie also dislikes me, how am I supposed to live?!"

As the goddess of the bath spoke, she tried to hug Millie, but Millie skillfully stopped her.

Those who talk about hardship, who sleep elegantly in their residence until almost noon every day, and whose only words are "food is here," have had a really tough time lately.
Millie couldn't help but criticize the Bath Goddess in her heart. After thinking it over carefully, she felt that the Bath Goddess's behavior was indeed quite infuriating in a certain sense.

After all, when two people are having a disagreement, what a young girl often needs is not a peacemaker, but someone who stands by her side, sharing her grievances and badmouthing the other person.

However, perhaps because she has been witnessing the life of "Miriam," who is both herself and not herself, from a third-person perspective over the years, Millie is often able to view things with exceptional rationality and objectivity.

Therefore, rather than saying that the Bathing Goddess is "spineless," it's more accurate to say that the connection between the Bathing Goddess and "Xiao Li" is simply too deep.

"Since you're not angry, then accept this. It's from the neighborhood too."

After discussing some issues that might lead to disagreements, the Bathing Goddess couldn't wait to take out a long, slender box from her bag.

"Sister Yu, could it be that while I was teaching Charlotte magic these past few days, you were actually spending all your time with the little professor?"

No, no.

The goddess of bathing answered with a slightly evasive gaze.

Upon opening the box, Millie saw a slender and antique-looking magic wand inside.

The wand was made of wood, though I don't know what material it was made of, and it exuded a rich but not unpleasant fragrance.

"This"

Millie frowned slightly.

Because she cannot get the magical particles in this world to respond, Millie is currently unable to use magic on her own.

Providing a magic wand to a teacher like Millie, if interpreted in a twisted way, is full of irony.

"Hmm, what did Xiao Li say again? Oh right, he said your soul magic might have gone astray."

"?"

Millie looked at the Bathing Goddess with a puzzled expression.

Unable to use regular magic, Millie, despite knowing the danger, still ventured into the realm of soul magic during this period.

However, due to her timidity and the fact that Millie's talents didn't lie in research and development, her progress in the field of soul magic remained limited. Little Ritas possessed related knowledge because Millie, when she had almost run out of things to teach, had introduced soul magic to him in a manner similar to popular science.

In other words, Millie's confusion wasn't about how Little Ritas knew about this.

"Let's use food as an analogy again. Xiao Li believes that there needs to be an 'intermediate state' between souls and soul magic. That is to say, if you were to pluck an ear of wheat directly from a field and ask you to make bread right away, you would be scratching your head, right? But if you turn the wheat into flour or even dough and then ask you to bake it into bread, there won't be too many problems."

Led by Ritas and spread by Millie, a "cooking magic" system is rapidly emerging in the world.

"So, what he means is that you should first transform your soul into an intermediate state, the stage more suitable for making bread. He also said that compared to directly making soul magic take shape and show its effects, transforming it into a relatively mild stage first will be much less risky and have a much higher success rate. And because of the special nature of the intermediate state, when you transform it into soul magic later, it will only be twice as effective!"

"Is he trying to teach me?!"

Millie's confusion turned into disbelief.

It's only been two months! And her students are already getting too big for their britches!
"Hahaha. No, don't get excited. I'm just relaying a message. How should I put it? Xiao Li isn't even sure if his assumption is reasonable. So if he's wrong, don't take it to heart. Just consider it childish talk!"

"I"

Millie opened her eyes, but ultimately let out a sigh.

Because Little Ritas's suggestion is probably correct.

The method of judgment was quite simple. When the goddess of bathing mentioned some intermediate state, her mind went blank, and she could barely hear anything. This was definitely not because she was emotionally agitated or not listening to the goddess of bathing. It was simply that something resembling a "curse" was taking effect.

"I understand. So, I should make a transparent dough first, and then use the dough to cook?"

"Uh, about the same?"

The goddess of bathing said, not entirely sure.

Millie, on the other hand, looked somewhat dejected.

It seems that she really couldn't maintain her teacherly demeanor in front of Little Ritas after that.
"What have you all been whispering about? We're here—"

Not far away, Freud, who had been steadily holding a parasol, and Charlotte, who was leading the way at the front of the line, shouted loudly to the two behind them.

The place Xia Luoluo was referring to was the Cross Welfare Home where she had previously donated books.

In the welfare home.

Under Freud's gaze, Charlotte was playing and frolicking with a group of children even younger than herself in the courtyard of the orphanage.

Before the attack, Charlotte often came to the Cross Welfare Home.

She probably didn't even know what the orphanage was all about. All she knew was that, unlike the mansion filled with gloomy people, there were always people to play with her at the orphanage.

Because Xia Luoluo always donated a lot of things whenever she visited, the children at the orphanage liked and welcomed this seemingly not-so-bright older sister.

As for Freud, his gaze was only gentle when he looked at Charlotte. Towards the other children in the orphanage, his look was basically one of "you're dead if you touch my niece with your dirty hands."

Meanwhile, the Bath Goddess and Millie were at the orphanage, flipping through the books that Charlotte had donated earlier.

Although the staff at the orphanage didn't understand why it was so strange for someone to come and look through their books, they still made things as convenient as possible for Xia Luoluo's sake.

Then, not long after...
"Found it! Millie, come quick!! I found it!!!"

The goddess of bathing excitedly held up a thick, brown-covered book and shouted loudly at Millie.

Previously, she had searched the entire city but couldn't find the book. Considering that this world might have been created, the Goddess of Bath even suspected that some force was deliberately hindering her search for crucial clues.

But what I didn't expect was...
There were really only a few copies of this book ever published!
"There really is one!"

Millie, who clearly felt the same way before, also came over with a surprised look on her face.

Then, the two of them opened the children's book together, titled "Dorothy's Bedtime Stories".

They quickly glanced at the table of contents and confirmed that the book did indeed feature "White Dove," "Tin Man," "Unicorn," and "Black Cat."

After exchanging delighted glances, Millie spoke up to remind them,
"Sister Yu, please find the author's name."

"Oh yes!"

The goddess of bathing hurriedly began searching.

And it was found very quickly.

"Dorothy Valange!"

Upon seeing the author's signature, the Bathing Goddess couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"What's wrong with the surname Valenc?"

"This surname... uh... it seems like... nothing special?"

The goddess of the bath scratched her head and gave Millie a brief explanation.

In this world, there seems to be a being called "Varang, the Great Sinner." Ritas and Wayne are siblings because they have the "original sin blood" of this sinner flowing through their veins.

"So, the author of this children's book is very likely the professor and Miss Wayne's biological mother?"

Compared to the dramatic events surrounding the Bathing Goddess, the name "Dolores Valange" clearly contains less information.

But there's nothing I can do; she's Sister Yu after all.

Although she had only read some superficial information, the goddess of bathing was already 100% certain that she had found the right thing, and she turned the pages of the book with a strange sense of trepidation.

The first page of the book contains a preface by the author, Dolores.

"Dedicated to my beloved children."

The second page then begins the main text of the fairy tale.

"In the land of whispering elves, walked a girl with long, ink-black hair. Her ebony hair was parted into two straight streams by an invisible, precise comb, flowing smoothly down to her shoulders."

She always carried two identical, exquisite leather suitcases, as if they contained all the necessary baggage for traveling the world.

She wore a dress sewn from the night, and where the hem brushed past, even the smallest dust sprites hurriedly moved away. For they knew all too well that the young girl would not tolerate the slightest mess or stain.

Every step she took seemed to be the result of a silent calculation, each step precisely guided by the tiny, constantly beating moon in her pocket watch.

Legend has it that if you look towards the intersection at the appointed time, you will always see her appear precisely on time. "Always without fail."

"The girl's name is Wayne."

(End of this chapter)