High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 345: Chapter 14 Noisy Sparrow_1

The quiet night flowed like a clean spring, gurgling softly.

The binding on Lin Guo’s horned Black Mountain Goat had been untied, allowing it to graze in the lawn outside the corridor for its late-night snack.

The lawn by the lake was carpeted with an array of herbaceous plants like clovers, portulacas, and cornflowers. Among them, there were plenty of medicinal herbs used in herbology. Compared to the dull grass in the Pet Garden, the plants here cater to the taste of the Black Mountain Goat much better.

Lin Guo was once worried that this practice of grazing would cause dissatisfaction among the school maintenance committee.

Still, Zheng Qing dismissively responded to this, ”Did the reply from the committee in response to your application mention limiting its behaviour?”

Blinking, Lin Guo shook his head.

”That’s right ... as long as it’s not forbidden, it’s allowed. At your age, there’s no need to restrict yourself,” the young student said casually, patting the young wizard’s shoulder. His tone changed abruptly, ”On the other hand, I’m more worried about whether there’ll be any dangers in the lake... you know, those Fishmen are always up to no good.”

”That’s okay, my Big Black is very powerful.” Lin Guo appeared to have confidence in that, ”It can shatter stones as well as pull many heavy loads!”

”Your little cart weighs that much?” Zheng Qing cast him a skeptical look.

However, he also managed to relax.

After all, the lawn closely adjoins the corridor, and the goat was not far away. As long as it was within their sight, they didn’t have to worry about those smelly Fishmen or creepy insects making trouble.

”No, I was referring to the breakfast cart belonging to Old Wang from the Pedestrian Street. Big Black can pull it...” Lin Guo was explaining this while dragging his long staff, taking small steps to match Zheng Qing’s pace.

While still exchanging words, they’d already made several rounds of their patrol route.

It was still the fruit forest adorned with fireflies and the beautifully shimmering lake. The only difference might be the starry sky above their heads.

The starry sky of tonight was particularly beautiful. Even though Zheng Qing wasn’t sure if the sight he was seeing was the real sky, it didn’t stop him from marveling at its profound and distant beauty.

The cool night wind brushed over the surface of the lake, rustling the tree leaves, bringing a scattering of stars and all the fantasies straight to Zheng Qing.

Zheng Qing took a deep breath, paused for a moment, then exhaled heavily.

Soon after that, he began to shiver.

”It’s getting cold,” he mumbled while glancing at the young wizard next to him.

It was then that he noticed Lin Guo was already dressed in a high-necked sweater, bulging out his clean white robe conspicuously.

”I never really understood why the school arranged for night patrols,” he stomped his feet to preserve some warmth, tightened his robe around him, and complained, ”This is the top university, situated on a massive island... will there really be some blind monsters that rush in here?”

”There must be a reason for the school to arrange it this way,” Lin Guo replied, then suddenly lowered his voice and asked mysteriously, ”What does it feel like to slay monsters?”

”What?” Zheng Qing turned his head, looking utterly confused.

”I heard that you killed many Wild Pheasants when you were young... how did it feel to kill those Wild Demons?” Lin Guo’s voice was a bit rushed, ”The books say that hunting monsters can cause the aura of the monsters to invade the wizard’s body. The more you kill, the more severe the invasion... Many of the Witch Demons have fallen this way... do your headaches occur because you killed too many Wild Demons in your childhood?”

”Who told you that?” Zheng Qing frowned, while his foot casually kicked a mischievous Kappa, who snuck out of the lake to snack on bugs and crawled onto the balcony rail, back onto the lawn.

The Kappa, clutching a fat spider with its sharp little claws, glared resentfully at the young wizard and crawled back into the lake bubbling spitefully.

”Everyone says so!” Lin Guo leaned on his staff, his expression somewhat puzzled, ”Didn’t you win the Merlin Medal not too long ago? Everyone said that the reason you were able to take down the Wild Demon of the Great Ming Pavilion was because you had a lot of experience practicing from before... and that your recurring headaches are an after-effect of killing too many Wild Demons in your childhood...”

”All sorts of nonsense!” Zheng Qing, standing on tiptoe, was using his wand to cradle a baby bird that had fallen from its nest back towards it. Upon hearing this, his arm twitched, narrowly avoiding causing further harm to the little bird.

”The hunters on the streets all say that wizards hunting monsters is like eating raw food; it’s hard to digest... Monsters trained by the school are the only ones that are safe to kill without any consequences.” Lin Guo, still standing behind him, kept rambling.

However, his voice was soon drowned out by a larger commotion.

At first, it was just the bird in the nest twittering constantly upon hearing its baby’s cries, flapping its wings in the nest due to its night blindness.

Gradually, the other birds resting on the branches also started stirring, and a few panicked ones were fluttering back and forth among the treetops.

The chaos was escalating, and for a moment, the fruit forest was filled with the noise of bird calls, the sound of flappings, and the collision of branches and leaves, breaking the tranquility of the night.

The fireflies, which were originally hanging on the trees sucking sap, also silently retracted the glow from their stomachs, tightly attaching themselves to the tree bark, fearing they would become a midnight snack to the predators who were just roused.

Zheng Qing was too preoccupied to further question the source of Lin Guo’s rumors. He was trying hard to raise his staff, trying to safely place the baby bird back into the nest, hoping to alleviate the rioting noise in his ears.

”Maybe you should use a spell?” The nervousness seeped into Lin Guo’s voice.

The young wizard’s face reddened slightly.

He again forgot that he was now a wizard.

Seconds later, the baby bird gently landed in the nest with the support of a thin vine. But instead of quaking down, the mother bird’s shrieking grew louder.

She even used her long beak to push the little bird, trying to throw it out of the nest again.

”What’s happening?” Zheng Qing raised his voice as he thought about the chaos in the tree.

Lin Guo did not respond, but just tugged at his robe insistently.

”Stop messing around; I need to check whether the bird is injured or not...” Zheng Qing waved his hand, trying to shake off Lin Guo’s grip.

However, the boy was tugging too hard for him to break free.

”Let go...” Zheng Qing turned around and then immediately swallowed the rest of his sentence.

He then understood the reason why Lin Guo kept pulling at his robe relentlessly.

A wild monster.

A wild monster with blood-red pupils, leaping fangs, and a hideous face, had appeared on the slope outside the corridor without them knowing when.

Lin Guo’s Black Mountain Goat had already taken a defensive position next to the bushes beside the corridor. Its four legs were taut and its head lowered, exposing two large, firm, and black horns.

He then also understood why the birds in the fruit forest were panicking and flying around.