High School of Demon Hunting

16: Chapter 16: It’s this Fat Guy Again_1

16 -16: It’s this Fat Guy Again_1

“Take a look at this one, a Seventeenth Century Bologna edition, half the weight of those from Venice.

Beautifully bound, with top-grade leather from Camilla.

The base pattern is adorned with scales from the Aegean Sea Mermaid and the edge is gold-dipped, featuring the tale of Poseidon and the four little angels.

On the spine, there are five gold lines creating the ridge, the upper part is left blank for you to engrave your symbol.

The title page has Athena’s prayer, printed on Hattifa’s linen paper, which feels extraordinarily pleasant to touch.”

“How much is it?”

“It is available for a gracious price of twenty-three jade coins.” The manager, Xiao Yuan, beamed at the prospect.

“It’s too expensive, way too expensive.” Zheng Qing delicately returned the book.

“What about this one?

An eighteenth century Ashmore edition, simple and solid.

Bound with Northern Sea Brent Shark skin it has a smooth texture.

The tips are beautifully painted gold, presenting a faint blue hue, which is a unique trait of shark skin.

It’s succinct and clean.

The bookmarks are made of ice silkworm silk, and the inner pages are semi-transparent fish-skin paper, perfect for frequent spell notations.”

“How much is it?”

“It’s yours for a gracious price of fifteen jade coins.”

“There’s still a bit too much of a fishy smell for me.” Zheng Qing regretfully stroked the cover before returning the book.

A few more were inspected, and all their prices made the visitors gasp.

Scholarship funds are limited, they couldn’t be spent all at once on one Law Book.

He decided to look around more.

Following the bookstore assistant around a bookshelf, Zheng Qing spotted a familiar figure.

The chubby man from Cloud Think Boutique.

This time he was not holding a roast chicken, and the Da Lian on his shoulder seemed much cleaner.

He was frowning, clearly bored, as he followed the store clerk around, choosing a Law Book.

Zheng Qing did not like this guy with a head the size of an ostrich egg.

He halted, planning to go to another showcase.

But the ostrich egg moved and caught sight of Zheng Qing’s figure.

“Ah, the scholarship student is here.” The plump man used his boisterous voice to shatter the tranquil atmosphere of the bookstore, “I forgot to ask, are you a freshman scholarship student this year?”

The customers originally leisurely browsing the books in the store all raised their heads, directing their gazes towards Zheng Qing.

Zheng Qing seemed to hear some whispering.

“Yes,” he simply replied.

His ears started to feel a little hot.

He felt embarrassed.

His childhood experience with illness made his personality somewhat sensitive.

He disliked standing out, disliked independence, disliked being watched with different eyes by others.

After starting school, his favorite phrase was ‘indistinction with others’— the magical water that benefits all creatures without competing with them, indistinct in its brilliance, indistinct in its filthiness.

No one in the world can speak against it.

However, the loud greeting from the chubby man put Zheng Qing under everyone’s examining gaze.

It was not a good feeling.

“No wonder you don’t have a Law Book.

My brother was also a student on full scholarship at Wizard University, and every year the school would give him a stack of paperback Law Books as gifts.

The very one I was just using.” He patted his Da Lian.

Zheng Qing thought of his thick, yellow, soft-leathered book.

If you stacked up three of those soft- leathered books, it would perfectly recreate this chubby guy’s chin.

Thinking of this, his mood became a bit better.

“But I want a new Law Book.

It’s not presentable to take these paperback editions out while on the road.

I told my brother, I must have a hardcover classic edition of the Law Book, just so that I wouldn’t embarrass him.

You see, he was also a scholarship student.” The chubby man continued, oblivious to those around him, in his loud voice,” He started school last year, and there were only five people who received full scholarships in his class, unlike this year.

Do you know how many people received full scholarships this year?”

Zheng Qing shook his head without uttering a word.

The curious gazes from around the room still lingered on him, making him feel uncomfortable.

“I also don’t know.” The chubby one laughed, “I was just trying to bluff you.

Seems like scholarship students don’t know much more than the rest of us, normal students.”

There were bursts of light laughter from around him, it seemed that they found the chubby man quite amusing.

Zheng Qing tried his best to ignore the disturbance.

He came here to buy a Law Book.

He had to choose a suitable Law Book for himself based on his intuition.

This Law Book would accompany him for a long time in the future and it was one of the fundamental conditions for his success at Wizard University.

He took a deep breath and smiled at the bookstore manager, Xiao Yuan.

Manager Xiao Yuan very tactfully moved closer to him, pointing at a stylish Law Book in the showcase and asked, “How about this one?

To my knowledge, every year there are scholarship students who grab this book.”

Zheng Qing tightened his grip on his soft-leather gloves and received the sample book passed over by Xiao Yuan.

“This is a nineteenth-century Paris edition.

It’s flashy and pretty close to modern elegance.

Although it’s two-layered, Romanian Fire Dragon Skin is always very sturdy and can be cut into five or six layers.

In this case, with two layers, the feeling and texture are just perfect.

It’s also a gold-dipped edge with excerpt from the New Testament·Matthew Gospel- Chapter 7 ‘Enter through the narrow gate.

For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.’” He recited with a deeply passionate tone.

“How about I buy this one?” Suddenly, the chubby man squeezed in between them, grabbed the Law Book from Zheng Qing’s hands and wondered, “I remember some of my brother’s classmates also bought this book.

How much is this one?”

“It’s available for a gracious price of thirteen jade coins.” Xiao Yuan proffered a wide grin, praising the chubby man’s discerning eyesight.

The chubby man’s original guiding manager glared at the customer who had abandoned him midway, remaining silent.

Zheng Qing curled his lips, offering no comment.

He seriously doubted whether this chubby guy could walk through the narrow gate, as mentioned in the gospel.

Moreover, he felt that this sloppy chubby guy would still appear to be an unimpressive figure holding any kind of flashy Law Book because the impression of holding a thick, dull-yellow, soft-leathered book seemed to have firmly imprinted itself onto him.

“Which academy are you from?” Looking at the bookstore manager packaging the Paris edition, the chubby guy suddenly turned around, staring with his small eyes at Zheng Qing, “I almost forgot to ask.”

“Jiuyou Academy,” Zheng Qing quickly replied.

He hoped this chubby guy could disappear from his line of sight as quickly as possible.

“I guessed as much, an academy of bookworms.” The chubby man nodded as if all were as he expected, “Just looking at your appearance, it was easy to tell that you are not from the Alpha or Atlas.

If you were from the Starry Sky Academy, even if you didn’t have a Law Book earlier at the Cloud Think Boutique, you still would have rushed over with your fists.”

Zheng Qing silently eyed the thick sample book next to his hand, unsure of whether he should throw it at his three-layered chin.

“My brother is from Atlas, but this year I was assigned to the Alpha Academy.” The chubby man still didn’t stop talking, “Comparatively speaking, I still find it acceptable.

After all, Alpha Academy consists of well-educated students.

If they had let me into Jiuyou Academy, I’d rather drop out.

My brother once said that wizards who excel in exams are not necessarily powerful ones.”

“So you must be doing very poorly in exams,” Zheng Qing responded definitively with a nod.

The chubby man frowned, feeling that there was something wrong with Zheng Qing’s response.

“Excuse me, sir, your Law Book is all packaged up.

Please come over and check.” The bookstore clerk invited the chubby man puzzling over Zheng Qing’s response to the counter.

Zheng Qing placed the Western-style hardcover Law Book back into the showcase and turned towards the manager, Xiao Yuan.

“Do you have any Law Books in the Huaxia style?

These Western styles seem a bit too flamboyant.”