Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 322 The Great Sinner, the Saintess, and Her Descendants
"Tsk, I didn't expect it to be found so easily."

It was winter.

Following the three Elsons, the goddess of bathing arrived at the western border of the sacred kingdom of Libera.

After spending a few days at the Elson mansion adjacent to the fortress city, Ritas, having received news about the "fairy tale book" he had been longing for, arrived in the fortress city.

In a somewhat dilapidated shop called "Exchange" but actually functioning as a pawn shop, Ritas found "Dorothy's Bedtime Stories".

The reason Ritas returned to the Western Regions this time was, ostensibly, because of his adoptive father, Roland Elson's, serious illness. Furthermore, Ritas also needed to explain how the arranged marriage his family had set up for him and Cortelene had gone wrong.

However, upon returning to the Elson mansion, everyone discovered that Roland was actually quite energetic. His previously mentioned serious illness had unexpectedly improved considerably during their journey back.

"Did your adoptive father pretend to be sick to lure you back so he could see you?"

After meeting Roland in person, the goddess of the bath, whose image of "Sword Saint" had been completely shattered, clearly did not have a good impression of him.

"It shouldn't be that bad. Even if Roland had long considered retiring from the front lines, he would still be a symbol of the West and its army. His fall would cause considerable turmoil. If there were a real reason behind it, that would be one thing, but just to send me home is making a mountain out of a molehill. Besides..."

Ritas paused for a moment,
"It's just asking me to go back to my hometown during the holidays. There's really no special reason needed."

"hiss"

Ritas's words sounded so human that the goddess of bathing gasped in surprise.

"On another note, since Roland has been planning to retire for a long time, why hasn't he retired yet? He's gotten so old."

Recalling Roland's aged and decrepit appearance, the Goddess of Bath couldn't help but ask.

"Age-wise, Roland isn't actually that old. It's common for Elson-style swordsmen to look old."

After making a brief correction, Ritas thought for a moment and decided that since these things were common knowledge in the Western Territory, there was no need to hide them. So he continued speaking.
"Actually, during the years I was in Ers, Roland was already semi-retired. However, he had disagreements with his chosen successor as the next head of the family on some matters in the Western Territory. The two had a very intense conflict, and afterwards, the person who was supposed to be the next head of the family left the Western Territory."

"Hey, there's such a past?"

The goddess of bathing was quite tactful and didn't ask why there was a disagreement or anything like that.

Even from the relatively limited perspective of the Bathing Goddess, she could see the existence of the Western Territory and the Elson family, which was quite unusual.

The Western Territory as a whole is like an isolated island in the ocean. Even though it is nominally under the jurisdiction of the Holy Kingdom of Libera, it has never been able to obtain any assistance from the kingdom.

Under these circumstances, the Western Frontier also needs to defend against the invasion of monsters from the Dark Forest. This is not just for the kingdom, but for the entire continent.

However, these efforts by the Western Frontier have not only failed to receive praise, but have also been subject to slander over the years.

Because the "Western Territory" did not exist hundreds of years ago, it was the Elson family who explored the unknown territory, forcibly seizing a region from the then-dominant territory of the monsters, and developing it into what it is today.

Recently, one of the most offensive claims made against the Elson family is that their constant attacks by monsters are a direct result of their seizure of the monsters' territory. The argument is that if they ceded the western border, humans and monsters could coexist peacefully.
Such outrageous remarks have surprisingly shown a tendency to become mainstream over the past decade or so.

Presumably, besides the various political conspiracies and infighting involved, another reason is that the Elson family's "voice" is simply too weak.

Moreover, the Elson family, whose voices are very soft, are among the few in the West that can "speak out".

Because of the unique nature of the Western Frontier, the people who came to this borderland, which was constantly fighting with monsters, in the past—the ancestors of the current inhabitants of the Western Frontier—were either prisoners exiled from various countries or people who fled for various reasons.

"However, taking advantage of Roland's serious illness, the originally designated next head of the family has also returned to the Western Regions."

"So, Roland can now enjoy his retirement in peace?"

"."

Ritas remained silent, neither denying nor affirming.

Because, as an educator, he cannot speak ill of a highly respected elder in the family without sufficient "evidence."
"Look at that shopkeeper, so eager to sell you that artifact that was just unearthed last week. It seems your influence in the industry as the 'King of Counterfeits' is almost surpassing your influence as a professor in the magical world!"

"."

As he emerged from the exchange, listening to the Bathing Goddess's teasing, Ritas silently twitched his eyebrow.

So, why did his reputation spread all the way to the West?
After waiting for a while at the agreed intersection, Ritas and the Goddess of Bath saw the other trio and gathered around.

"found it?"

Charlotte, who was walking in front, asked without waiting for Ritas's reply, and grabbed the fairy tale book that Ritas was holding on the disc in his hand like a circus act.

"Yes, yes, this is it. I told you I read it when I was a kid, didn't I? I wasn't lying to you, was I?"

Charlotte quickly flipped through the pages, scanning the contents, a nostalgic look on her face.

"Although it was a copied book, I was very interested in the later content. Unfortunately, it's destined to never be available."

"Speaking of which, why was this book so heavily censored? There must have been only a few copies circulating, right? You're not in an era of widespread information flow, and the censorship mechanism probably isn't very strict. How did they discover the book was problematic so quickly?"

"That's because, aside from other plagiarized books, this book also clearly plagiarized 'Saint Marenu'."

Ritas replied.

"Huh? What slave? And what about the book?"

"Well, to put it simply, our Elson family has always claimed that Saint Marenu is our ancestor."

Instead of Ritas, Cortrienne, standing beside Charlotte, answered.

"Hey—"

The goddess of the bath vaguely understood just how terrible the author of this book, Dolores Varanger, had been.

"It's just a claim."

Ritas emphasized in a low voice, his tone carrying a hint of stubbornness.

"Tsk tsk, young master, here you are again. Even now, you still refuse to admit that Saintess Marenu really exists, and that she is the ancestor of the Elson family?"

Cortrienne shook her head, speaking with a mix of habit and helplessness.

It seems that Elson struggled with this issue quite a bit when he was a child.

"It's strange in itself to claim a woman as an ancestor. I insist that she was the true ancestor of the Elson family when they raised their army, and that she claimed to be a descendant of Saint Marenu in order to rally support. After all, there were very few stories that could reach this undeveloped region of the West at that time. With no other choice, Elson's ancestor chose Saint Marenu. However, it was precisely this unavoidable choice that led to few people competing with the Elson family for this 'ancestor' afterward."

"So, we have the blood of the saintess flowing in our veins, what have we done to offend you that you keep talking about this and that?"

Since she couldn't hear the goddess's voice, Charlotte didn't actually know how the conversation had developed this way.

However, since someone was speaking ill of her ancestors, she had to speak up for herself!
"I'm just being practical, trying to separate legend from reality. Besides, even if Saint Marenu really is your ancestor, in this era, you can't possibly have a single trace of her blood in you."

"Of course you have! Have you tested it?"

"And you insist so much that Marenu is your ancestor. Then who was the husband of this legendary saint? Her descendants couldn't have split off from themselves."

"Husband? Needless to say, it's Heaven."

Before Charlotte could finish speaking, Corteline swiftly covered her teammate's mouth, then let out a long sigh of relief. "Ahem, regarding Marenu's husband, scholars in the Western Regions have been researching this matter for many years."

"They're more like fabricating something than conducting research."

"Hmm? Professor Ritas, are you saying that only your research is real research, and everyone else's research is fabricated?"

"Do not misinterpret my words."

After sending away the relatively easy-to-play Charlotte, Ritas welcomed Cortriene, who could throw "changing balls".

And so, after many years, the three "Elsons" started arguing about the same topic again.

And aside.

Although he saw a rare side of the professor, which he found quite novel.

But as expected,
"What am I even here for?"

Unlike the Bathing Goddess, who could occasionally cheer and laugh heartily, Miriam, completely unable to participate, simply sighed softly.

"What a waste of time. You really didn't need to come along."

After a long while, Ritas, who had returned to his destination, slowly shook his head and sighed.

"Where we go is none of your business!"

Xia Luoluo retorted as if it were an instinctive reaction, then a rare look of worry appeared on her face.

"I always feel that the atmosphere inside the mansion is inexplicably oppressive and suffocating. It wasn't like this during the summer vacation."

Hearing Charlotte's words, Ritas and Cortelene's expressions also darkened slightly. Clearly, they had sensed the same thing.

Just when everyone was waiting for Xia Luoluo to classically shift the blame onto Ritas, saying "It's all because of you."
"Perhaps it's because we mages are out of place in a mansion with a smelly swordsmanship training ground?"

Instead of accusing Ritas, Charlotte chose to emphasize her identity as a mage.

Facing Xia Luoluo, who was smugly pleased with her golden hair, the others cast subtle glances at her.

To be precise, you're currently only an intern.

"Aaaaaah! A trainee mage is still a mage! And you, it's one thing for others to look at me like that, but Mili, you're just a student in the elementary department, you still have to call me senior!"

When Charlotte pointed this out, Miriam simply responded with an awkward but polite smile.

“I think the Miriam students will be able to obtain their full mage qualifications sooner than you.”

"Kurt! How could you be one of them too!"

While Charlotte was making a ruckus, Ritas simply observed the scenes on the streets of the fortress city.

Compared to the information he had gathered before leaving home today, the scene in the fortress city, or rather, in recent days, was noticeably much quieter.

In the Western Regions, where information doesn't flow very quickly, the public's reaction was likely relatively slow. Yet, even the residents of this fortress city felt a sense of impending doom.

That might mean that a "storm" is really coming.

Charlotte said she would take Miriam shopping, but actually she just wanted to go shopping herself.

Ritas, who was once again "alone" with the goddess of bathing, arrived at an old hut.

Dolores Vallange.

Now that we know the name of the fairy tale author, given the Elson family's control over the fortress city, finding information related to this person shouldn't be difficult.

Especially considering that Dorothy was imprisoned for three months and had a criminal record for publishing that plagiarized fairy tale book.

However, Dolores had passed away several years ago. Therefore, all Ritas could find were the places where she had lived.

"So, this Dorothy..."

"She was probably one of my adoptive mothers. However, at that time, she didn't have the surname 'Varang'. It might have been her original surname before marriage, or it might have been that she changed her surname after remarrying."

Ritas closed his eyes slightly, and some past memories surfaced.

Although Ritas's adoptive parents changed frequently, it wasn't entirely due to reasons like both sides fighting each other with knives and dying.

Among them are relatively peaceful reasons such as marriage, divorce, and remarriage.

Dolores was an adoptive mother who had divorced one of Ritas's adoptive fathers and disappeared from his life.

Or perhaps it doesn't even qualify as a divorce.

At that time, the adoptive father who took in Ritas was diagnosed with an incurable serious illness, which caused the family's previously decent situation to plummet.

Then one day, when I woke up, Dolores was gone and never came back.

"Have you found out anything about this Varanger?"

"Um"

Ritas nodded.
"Varang is a surname that frequently appears in the northern part of the continent, belonging to a nomadic tribe affiliated with the Holy Kingdom of Bransolos. As for the connection with the great sinner 'Varang,' it may be a prejudice or legend."

"bias?"

"On the continent today, countries with 'holy' in their names are generally those where churches are prevalent or even completely controlled by a particular church. Libera, where we are, is a complete exception. In short, Bransolos is a country controlled by the 'Pure Land Church.' The Pure Land Church's doctrines have led them to abhor all things black, including black hair, black skin, and black eyes. Moreover, Bransolos today is a changed state. Before, pure black was unacceptable; even a slight darker shade was unacceptable. Therefore, nomadic peoples whose skin was often darkened by wind and rain were considered inferior in Bransolos and were called 'Dark People.'"

"Tsk, it's a 'Knight's Kingdom'!"

After sighing, the goddess of bathing chuckled.
"It's been so long since I've heard you ramble on and on about science; I kind of miss that feeling~"

"Really? I wonder who forbade me from explaining."

"Alright, alright, let's continue. Blancsoros, right? Hmm, I feel like I've heard of him before. Is he one of your students from there?"

"It's Engel, the student."

After answering the question from the goddess of bathing, Ritas continued the previous topic.

"Although many things have changed now, Bransolos still discriminates against 'dark people.' And in almost every region of the continent, there are stories or rumors that exist to frighten children. For example, if you don't go to bed early, something will eat you, or if you don't behave, something will come and take you away."

"And in Bransolos, the most famous story of this kind is 'Varang.' This name, born from the stereotype of nomadic people, is a vicious criminal fictionalized by the people of Bransolos. He is almost utterly wicked, committing every imaginable sin, and even blaspheming the gods."

"If everything the rumors about 'Varang' did is true, then he is without a doubt the most sinful 'greatest sinner' in human history."

Ritas recounted the possible origins of the surname "Varang" in a steady, even tone. Then, he slowly pushed open the door to the place where "Dolores Varang" had once lived.

(End of this chapter)