High School of Demon Hunting

"It just never ends! Never-fucking-ends!"

"Yesterday they had their eyes on me, today they’ve got their eyes on the Great Elves, and tomorrow? Are those people planning to grab Dong Dong, see what’s so special about a kid born of the Fox race and the Human Clan?"

"What the hell is the school even doing? Eating shit?"

"Is everyone in the Alliance dead already?"

"You know what this reminds me of? That essay I learned in high school—’Today they cede five cities, tomorrow ten, and thus gain one peaceful night’s sleep; but when they rise and look out to the four borders, the Qin soldiers are upon them again! The territories of the feudal lords are finite, but the rapacity of Qin is without limit. The more they appease, the more savage the invasion becomes...’"

The black Gem Cat had just slipped in through the window when it heard Zheng Qing cursing nonstop, resentment practically blasting through the ceiling, even busting out a long-lost passage from "On the Six States."

It stopped on the sill by reflex and craned its neck to peer into the room.

Strictly speaking, it shouldn’t even be here at this hour.

Inside Dorm 403.

Zheng Qing was like a pissed-off feral cat, pacing laps around the small room, waving his arms. He had a Charm Gun in hand, like he might raise it and blow someone’s head off any second now.

Xiao Xiao and Xin were sitting by the desk, brows locked tight, saying nothing.

Even Tuan Tuan, who rarely let any chance slip by to complain about the Young Wizard’s noise, merely raised its paws to cover its ears and curled itself into an even tighter ball.

"Get in here!"

Zheng Qing, in his foul mood, spotted the skulking black Gem Cat at a glance. Something seemed to click, and he got even more pissed: "What are you doing here? At this hour, shouldn’t you be hanging around the Cat Fruit Tree?"

Why else would it be here?

It’s not like it could say that when it dawdled its way to the Cat Fruit Tree tonight, it saw that Big Fox and that Little White Cat sitting together from afar, got so spooked it bolted straight back here.

Thinking of that, the black Gem Cat suddenly felt pissed for no reason.

"How the hell is that my problem!"

It howled back in a voice no weaker than Zheng Qing’s: "You’re the scum, how’s that my business! I’ve barely been born how long?!... Why the hell should I take the heat for you? You don’t dare go to the Cat Fruit Tree, but I should?"

Pa!

Clack!

Zheng Qing snapped his fingers crisply, and right after that, a piece of glittering Obsidian dropped to the floor with a clack, rolled twice, and bumped into the Fat Wizard’s foot.

Xin Fat Man bent down with difficulty to pick it up and shoved it back into Zheng Qing’s hand.

"Feel better now?"

He noticed Zheng Qing’s anger had dropped a good bit with the Gem Cat’s disappearance, so he hurriedly stepped forward and patted the boy on the shoulder: "—And don’t be too hard on it for sneaking back. Su Councilor and Jiang Da Headmaster both cornered it at the same time; even Stone’s guts would get scared out like that."

Even though Jiang Yu had already stepped down from the position of Monitor of Astronomy Class 08-1, everyone still habitually called her Monitor.

Hearing the Fat Wizard’s attempts at comfort—

Zheng Qing ultimately didn’t keep lashing out, but he still couldn’t help a little disdainful click of the tongue as he weighed the Stone in his hand.

Sensing the tension in the room ease up a fraction, Xin Fat Man and Xiao Xiao unconsciously exchanged a glance and a few meaningful looks. In the end the PhD was the braver one and spoke first.

"So, Dong Dong really is you and Su Councilor’s kid, right?" He pushed up his glasses. His gaze was a bit Sharp, and there was a probing look on his face.

Zheng Qing snapped back to himself; he realized that in the heat of anger just now, he’d blurted that line out without thinking.

He couldn’t help feeling a bit annoyed.

As for Poseidon’s identity, even though everyone had already defaulted to a certain answer, they’d never gotten a direct confession from either party involved. It’s just that now Zheng Qing had more kids, so he subconsciously felt this wasn’t such a big deal, and he’d let something slip today.

"None of your damn business!" Riding the last trace of his earlier foul temper, he answered rudely.

That response was within expectations.

Xiao Xiao glanced at the Fat Wizard, shrugged, and showed he had nothing more to ask.

Maybe realizing Zheng Qing right now was like a bristling cat, wary of every question, the Fat Wizard scratched his chin and chose a completely unexpected angle: "—Uh, I’ve been wondering this for a while, what did you mean by that ’essay’ you mentioned? Like some kind of Magic Text appreciation class?"

Wizards didn’t have language arts class.

The abrupt question threw Zheng Qing a little; he thought about it for a good while before giving a tiny nod: "Mm, something like that... a course White Ding take to learn language techniques. Doesn’t have much to do with Wizards."

"You have to study language techniques too?"

"Of course!"

Zheng Qing caught sight of the thick stack of manuscript paper on the Fat Wizard’s desk and suddenly thought of a perfect entry point: "—Like how you, as a Journalist, need to write articles, or the PhD needs to submit all kinds of reports... White Ding students have to learn things like article structure, text format, word choice, theme, and rhetorical devices like metaphor, hyperbole, that kind of thing."

"You have to learn that stuff too?" The Fat Wizard looked at the Feather Pen in his hand, totally lost: "Isn’t that... all the Feather Pen’s job?"

The corner of Zheng Qing’s mouth twitched.

Right.

For Wizards, things like polishing an article really were Feather Pen business—thinking of how he’d spent most of his time eighteen years ago learning how to be a proper Feather Pen, he felt a strange kind of sorrow, and the last bit of anger in him disappeared like smoke.

Dong Dong!

Xiao Xiao tapped the table, drawing everyone’s attention back, then looked at Zheng Qing seriously: "So, what are you planning to do about this?"

Even though the question was vague, they all knew he was talking about the task Zheng Qing had gotten tonight at the Seven Sins meeting.

Zheng Qing frowned and didn’t answer right away—truth was, the Seven Sins hadn’t come to a final decision at today’s meeting either. The Devils were divided over whether to accept this mission. After all, targeting a member of one of the top Families in the wizard world carried huge risks. In the end they’d agreed to take a week to think it over and decide at the next meeting.

Xiao Xiao probably hadn’t expected Zheng Qing to give a definitive answer on the spot, so he lowered his head, stroking the Crystal Ball in his hands, and started analyzing on his own: "—I don’t recommend using your Sin Bearer authority to reject this task, and I don’t recommend we try to ’play both sides’ like last time. Those crows wanting your flesh and blood are the best example. With you as an insider in the Seven Sins, we did have the upper hand in a lot of ways; the Devils didn’t get much of a payoff, and in the end we technically met both the crows’ and the Devils’ mission goals. But the price? Those crows, who weren’t truly satisfied, strapped you onto an experimental table. Not a single gram of the flesh and blood owed was spared."

"So this time..." Zheng Qing drew in a slow breath.

Xiao Xiao gave a slight nod: "So this time we don’t downplay it or smooth it over. Just blow it wide open. The ones coveting those Great Elves are clearly not just one or two people; this is not something a few of us students can handle. Su Councilor, the school, even the Alliance—that’s who they can really rely on. We can only be their last layer of protection."