Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 337 A World Already Destroyed

"Sister Yu!"

Seeing the Bathing Goddess suddenly collapse without warning, Millie immediately rushed to her side and held her in her arms. At the same moment, on the other side, Charlotte also collapsed to the ground.

Moreover, because Xia Luoluo had been suppressing some of her injuries with her own magic, her condition was clearly more serious than that of the Bathing Goddess.

Due to the timing, Millie instinctively turned her gaze to the middle-aged woman whom the goddess of bathing had previously called "Aran," and assumed a battle-ready stance.

Alan calmly stared at Millie, then, as if breaking down a movement, he slowly stretched out his arm and picked up the gas mask that she had casually thrown away earlier.

Her gaze never left Millie until she placed the gas mask on her index finger and twirled it like a toy.

She seemed quite used to such standoffs, knowing exactly how to act without provoking the other party while ensuring her own safety.
"Do you really think I wore it just for looks?"

She is also very good at clarifying herself.

Although there was a hint of mockery in his tone.

"."

As for Millie, although she didn't respond, she clearly understood that the downfall of the Bathing Goddess and Charlotte wasn't due to anything done by Alan.

Soon after, at Alan's casual pointing, Millie settled the Bathing Goddess and Charlotte in a cave that had obviously been empty for a long time, near Alan's wooden house.

Perhaps because the cave was once inhabited, it retains only minimal furniture. However, like Aran's wooden house, the furniture looks exceptionally primitive.

"I'm very sorry, Miss Alan. I gave a questioning response earlier."

Thinking about it carefully, if Alan had any ill intentions towards them, she could have simply not rescued them in the first place. Or rather, it's highly unlikely that Alan had ulterior motives towards them. Because, after leading the three away from danger, she displayed a rather indifferent attitude.

It can only be said that Millie was caught off guard and couldn't process what happened for a moment.

“It’s incredible”

Alan, who had followed him from his own wooden hut, remarked with these sentiments.
"First, I saw some phantoms I shouldn't have seen, then I ran into a 'newcomer' who knew me, and now there's your face. Sure enough, I'm almost at the end of my life?"

Perhaps because they hadn't communicated with others for so long, Alan and Millie's conversation seemed completely disconnected, with most of it consisting of them talking to themselves.

"Excuse me, what are they doing here?"

Although she had many questions to ask, Millie's biggest concern right now was the safety of her companions.

At this moment, the goddess of bathing and Charlotte, who were completely unconscious, lay on the bed with flushed faces, somewhat like they had a persistent high fever.

"You, you really, know nothing?"

Millie shook her head in response to Alan's question.

"So how did you survive?"

Alan was somewhat puzzled, but he still gave Millie a brief answer to her question.

"It's nothing more than inhaling things they shouldn't have inhaled. Pollen? Tree pollen? Whatever the official name. Anyway, it's just those things that endlessly float across the ground of the entire world."

"Just from inhaling those things..."

Millie said in disbelief.

She did indeed feel a subtle turbidity in the air when she was outside.

At the time, both she and the Goddess of Bath believed it was because they were in a gray desert. Wherever they went, gray sand and dust would rise up.

When Millie asked a question, Alan simply shrugged.

Just as Millie was wondering why the Bathing Goddess and Charlotte had collapsed from the harmful dust while she was unharmed, she suddenly felt a strong sense of discomfort throughout her body.

She quickly walked outside the cave, and Millie, concentrating her energy, emitted a burst of lightning, using the lightning to "wash" her body inside and out.

The subsequent itching sensation in her throat caused Millie to cough several times, almost vomiting.

Then she saw the black, grayish things that she had coughed up from her body and scattered in her palm.

"Oh?"

At the entrance to the cave, Alan leaned against the wall, looking on with great interest as if he were watching a performance.

Are there any treatment options available for their current condition?

Beside the bed in the cave, Millie looked worriedly at the Bathing Goddess and Charlotte, who were unconscious and emitting painful moans.

"Your previous method probably won't work. They don't seem like they can withstand strong electric shocks. Well then, let's try using a special medication. Although the success rate isn't high, there's still a chance. Let me see, where is it again?"

As Alan spoke, he began to wander through the various caves in the underground space, searching for healing potions.

Millie could only follow the unhurried other person and continue to ask questions.

"The probability is low? If it can't be cured, what will they do next?"

What's next?

Alan, seemingly having accepted that Millie knew nothing, didn't continue to show any surprise, simply replying casually.

"Haven't you already seen what happened to those patients?"

"Seen it? When?"

Millie, who had instinctively asked the question, suddenly froze.

After arriving in the snow mountain area, although most of the day had passed, they had seen very little.

In other words, patients who develop symptoms after inhaling dust on the surface of this area will eventually become...
"'Silent Plant,' I remember that's usually the name used to refer to people who have turned into plants. And the disease that causes them is called 'green erosion.' Although I've always felt that being eroded by the pollen of those flowers and trees shouldn't be considered a disease."

As Alan rummaged through the storage-room-like cave, he gave a brief explanation.

"By the way, if they're lucky or unlucky, they might all turn into that thing buried underground. Usually, that thing is called a 'root sac,' but I prefer to call it a 'purple grape.'"

As she spoke, Alan chuckled softly twice. Recalling the purple, fleshy "root sac," which had indeed shriveled up like a withered grape skin after its interior had been eaten away, Millie thought the nickname "Purple Grape" was quite fitting.

However, Millie vaguely felt that not everyone in this world could drain the contents of the "purple grapes" like Alan.

"Hmm? Found it. But... it seems to be unusable."

In the storage room, Alan found a small jar, checked the inside, put the lid back on, shook his head, and threw it at Millie.

Millie caught the jar steadily and opened it, immediately choking on the stench emanating from inside, coughing uncontrollably. Her eyes, instantly red and watery from the stench, could barely make out that inside the jar, now filled with ginger-yellow powder, only a few fingertip-sized fragments remained intact.

"Are there any other methods besides this medication?"

Millie quickly dropped the "biological bomb" in her hand and continued to press for answers.

“There are other methods, though. But there’s no need to use them. Since these medicines are no longer effective, we can just buy some new ones. I haven’t been to the ‘market’ in years; maybe they’ve found something even better there now.”

"'market'."

Repeating herself in a low voice, Millie turned her gaze toward the direction where the Bathing Goddess and Charlotte were.

Millie's current concern isn't so much about her two companions being unable to be cured, but rather whether, if they die in an unnatural way, they will be left with irreversible trauma when they return to the Golden Apple Tree.

Seemingly misunderstanding Millie's hesitation, Alan then offered a suggestion.

"I also need to buy some new things. So, it wouldn't be a problem for me to go to the market with you. However..."

As they spoke, Alan, who had been moving slowly since arriving underground, suddenly approached Millie's side like a ghost.

Although Millie reacted reflexively, by the time she realized it, Alan's left fingertips had already touched her chin, lifting her face slightly.

"I won't pay for the supplies you need to buy medicine."

It was already late at night in the world above. After making some simple preparations, Alan took Millie and headed to the "market".

Before leaving, Millie couldn't help but glance back worriedly at the cave where the Bathing Goddess and Charlotte were being housed. Although leaving two patients there like that was unsettling in many ways, there was no other way.

Even though Alan showed some willingness to help them appropriately, his constant excessive demands would only cause his impulsive desires to fade away sooner.

And if the connection with Alan is severed...
In this world where everything—rules, environment, era—is completely different from what we already know, a world utterly transformed, even with Millie's exceptional drive, she will find herself powerless to do anything.

In the labyrinthine underground caverns, Alan, who must have been away from this area for a long time, finally found the way to the "market" after searching for a while.

As a metal door creaked open, Alan squeezed into a narrow passage that required crawling. Millie, who seemed to hear Charlotte and the Goddess of Bathing's voices in her ears, followed behind Alan, her mind replaying the auditory hallucinations of "Why didn't they make the passage wider?" and "Oh! Classic ventilation duct crawling—".

After a rather strenuous climb, Alan groped around at the end of the passage and pushed aside a slab-like object. Millie arrived at the new area, where the scenery suddenly opened up before her.

This is it.

"No, we're still far from the 'market.' This is just a maze."

Alan corrected him.

Millie stared in astonishment at the sand-covered ground and the towering stone walls on either side of the passage.

At first glance, this place, composed of countless stones, each dozens of meters tall, neatly arranged, is already a spectacle. Moreover, almost every stone that makes up the wall is shimmering with unknown runes.

If one had to put it in perspective, this corridor-like place bears more traces of civilization than the vast void where Bialan lived.

"I don't really know why this place is called a 'maze'. It's a bit different from the mazes I know. But it's definitely easy to get lost here."

Alan began to lead the way. Millie snapped out of her daze and quickly followed.

"To be honest, you're the only one who knows my name. I don't even know yours."

Perhaps not wanting the people in the "market" to see his missing arm, Alan was wearing a dark cloak and was not carrying his exaggerated heavy sword.

“It was my oversight, Miss Alan. My name is Millie.”

"Millie? Is it just Millie?"

Hearing Millie's answer, Alan stopped and stared at her for a moment.

For a moment, Millie was conflicted.

It can only be said that the Goddess of Bathing truly lived up to her name; she rarely had a chance to shine, but she collapsed before revealing the most crucial information. As a result, Millie couldn't remember who "Alan" was at all.

On the other hand, some of Alan's actions made Millie realize that he clearly knew her. It's even quite possible that Alan's willingness to help them so far has been for this very reason.

Therefore, she was torn about whether she should be more honest in order to get more information from Alan.

However, before Millie could weigh the pros and cons, Alan had already returned to his listless and tired state.

"Forget it, it doesn't matter. I'm tired; I don't have the energy to waste on luxuries like 'curiosity.' Anyway, no matter what happens, what I encounter, or what I do, tomorrow is destined not to be any better."

As Alan spoke, he gave a rather ethereal smile to a face that seemed to overlap with his past, yet was undeniably younger than before.
"In this world that has long been destroyed—"

Only the Bathing Goddess and Charlotte remained in the vast emptiness.

At a certain moment, the goddess of bathing, who had been enduring the pain emanating from her body, stopped emitting her faint moans and suddenly straightened up.

It was a strange way of straightening up, as if the body had been forcibly twisted by a hand, lacking many intermediate steps.

Then, with an even stranger, almost zombie-like gait, the Bathing Goddess dragged her body, stained with "Green Erosion," and slowly wandered through the great void.

Until she came to a door and opened it.

An old, worn atmosphere emanated from the cave, which was filled with books.

"A world without rules, and certainly without 'taboos'."

Standing in the center of the library, the "Bath Goddess" muttered to herself in a low voice, then suddenly raised her head, her wide eyes flashing with a powerful light.

(End of this chapter)