High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 400: Chapter 69 Deng Xiaojian’s Cousin_1

Zheng Qing chewed over the tall, skinny wizard’s name, a criticism stuck in his throat, unsure whether to spit it out or swallow it down.

If he let it out, it might seem disrespectful.

But holding it in was suffocating.

Deng Xiaojian, however, didn’t notice the young wizard’s internal struggle. His complexion was a bit sallow, eyes thin and long. Despite his neat daoist hairstyle, he had a large cleaver hanging at his waist, looking quite nonsensical.

However, once Zheng Qing noticed the blue robe beneath his cloak - an emblem of Starry Sky Academy - he immediately let out a sigh of relief.

For an academy that favored fists more than law books, it was not outlandish for a Taoist to hang a cleaver at his waist. It wasn’t something too hard to get used to.

”Hello, Senior Xiaojian,” Lin Guo greeted the skinny wizard with respect, maintaining a serious expression. Clearly, he had noted the black trim on the stranger’s blue robe – an obvious sign he was dealing with a second-year student.

Upon hearing the young wizard’s address, Deng Xiaojian’s mouth twitched slightly.

Zheng Qing rubbed his forehead.

What kind of greeting was ’Senior Xiaojian’! ’Senior Deng’ was so much better than ’Senior Xiaojian’! Had Lin Guo’s brain been eaten by zombies?

Before he could think of a way to diffuse the awkward atmosphere, a series of high-pitched laughter emerged from behind him.

Yes, it was laughter.

Having spent a long time living with his creature, he had a very clear understanding of his own Little Fox. Without even turning his head, the young student beneficiary could guess that the fox was probably rolling around laughing on the top of the mountain goat’s head.

He turned his head and, sure enough, he was right.

Poseidon clung to the Black Mountain Goat’s horns with its front paws, its fluffy tail raised high, eyes squinted, its entire body trembling with laughter.

The black mountain goat stopped its chewing, looking awkwardly at the strange wizard some distance away, its eyes clearly expressing its confusion: who would have such a flamboyant name!

”It’s the first time I’ve heard a fox make that noise.” Deng Xiaojian chuckled dryly, trying to ease the tension.

After all, he wasn’t about to start a feud with two little animals.

”He’s still young, he hasn’t seen much... Sorry for his rudeness...” Zheng Qing hastily explained, but every time he said ’jian’, Deng Xiaojian’s mouth twitched.

This left the young penurious student even more at a loss. He simply turned around, pulled up Posiden’s head fur, tugged him into his arms, and used a corner of his robe to cover its mouth, stopping this somewhat impolite behavior.

”This is why I’ve always hated self-introductions.” Deng Xiaojian stated with a self-deprecating tone that effectively eased the somewhat stiffening atmosphere.

”I also hate self-introductions.” Lin Guo agreed sincerely.

”If you don’t mind, like my friends, you can call me ’Deng Zi’.” Deng Xiaojian scratched his chin, an expression of helplessness on his face: ”If possible, I hope that when we meet in the future, under the watchful eyes of the public, please avoid mentioning my full name. It tends to cause unnecessary troubles. Of the fights I’ve had at the Starry Sky, seven or eight out of ten were caused by my name... ”

As Zheng Qing was listening to his chatty conversation, he couldn’t help but nod in agreement, while petting Poseidon’s fluffy tail and trying to suss out the intention of the senior student standing in front of him.

Was he just here to say hello?

This seemed quite likely. The young attendant pondered over it. Ever since he received the Merlin Medal, he’d been getting a lot of greetings from random wizards on campus - many even asked for his autograph.

”...We were on a nocturnal training run with our hunting team today and Lan Zi said there were a couple of first-year scouts around here, and I guessed it might be you.” Deng Xiaojian was still rambling on, quite casually. Seemingly unbothered, he leaned on the large cleaver around his waist, ”And indeed it was.”

Zheng Qing reciprocated with a polite smile. His gaze wandered around the tall, thin wizard next to him. He couldn’t help but whisper softly, ”If you don’t have a notebook with you, you can find me in the library later... everyone knows where I sit... I’ve never autographed a cleaver before.”

”An autograph? What autograph...?” Deng Xiaojian looked perplexed, but then he suddenly understood: ”You thought I was here to ask for your autograph... hahaha...”

The sound of his laughter disturbed the tranquility of the lake’s edge.

Not far away, the resting members of the other hunting teams curiously glanced over.

Birds sleeping on branches were rudely awoken by this laughter, opening their beaks to loudly voice their complaints.

By the lake, a Kappa who had just climbed ashore was startled by the sudden burst of sound, lost its footing, and rolled back into the Lin Zhong Lake, triggering shallow ripples in the water.

”Sorry...” Having seen Zheng Qing’s face gradually turning purplish from embarrassment, Deng Xiaojian finally toned down his laughter. He waved apologetically, added: ”I just came to say hello and get acquainted.”

Zheng Qing remained silent and expressionless.

He was still stuck in extreme embarrassment, his mind full of thoughts on how to slip unnoticed to the bottom of Lin Zhong Lake, using the chilly lake water to extinguish the burning heat enveloping his entire body.

”He can’t join other clubs either.” Lin Guo suddenly spoke up, defending the last shred of dignity of the young scholarship student next to him, ”We have just formed a Knight Group... and he is our group leader.”

”Knight Group?” Deng Xiaojian narrowed his eyes slightly, nodded and smiled approvingly, ”Very good... I’m not here to recruit you into any club – in fact, you’re not suited to participate in the clubs in Starry Sky College.”

Thinking of the bloody rumors about the practical classes, Zheng Qing couldn’t help but nod.

”I came to meet you because of my cousin... Deng Xiaoxian. You know him, right? He asked me to keep an eye on you at the school. We have been busy training as part of the hunting team, and you also have been quite busy, so I didn’t get the time to meet you.”

”Deng Xiaoxian?” Zheng Qing mulled over the somewhat familiar name, unable to recall who it was at the moment.

Deng Xiaojian, noticing his confusion, clarified.

”He’s quite tall and thin... has a strain of long hair on his forehead, and his family runs a pharmacy... he said he’s your neighbor.” Deng Xiaojian described, looking somewhat puzzled, ”Aren’t you guys close...?”

”Oh, Pan Lv Er!” Zheng Qing shouted out loud and then realizing what he had done, immediately apologized, ”Sorry... I’m so used to using his nickname that I didn’t recognize his real name.”

”...Pan Lv Er...” Deng Xiaojian stared at Zheng Qing with a strange expression, ”You call him that?”

”It’s just nicknames.” Now that he knew the guy in front of him was a relative of a friend, Zheng Qing seemed to warm up a lot. The embarrassment on his face had unknowingly faded away. ”Pan Lv Er also often calls me ’Little Mister’.”

This was clearly a case of patting one’s own back.

But Deng Xiaojian obviously didn’t understand the twists and turns behind it all. Recalling his hot-tempered cousin and eyeing the young man with a clean smile in front of him, he was suddenly unsure of how to interact with him.

”Why is his surname Pan, while his cousin’s surname is Deng?” Lin Guo apparently did not understand the strangeness of this, pondering with a troubled expression, ”Cousins are supposed to carry the same family name, is your brother adopted...?”

Deng Xiaojian opened his mouth, not knowing how to explain to this young wizard the origin of his step-cousin’s nickname.

Zheng Qing was much more adept at handling this sort of thing.

He quickly changed the subject, diverting the conversation to another topic: ”Isn’t it dangerous for you to train at night? I was wondering why the school would allow such unsafe activities. What if you encounter the kind of trouble we did on our patrol...?”

”You mean the Little Wild Demon?” Deng Xiaojian raised an eyebrow, his right hand resting on the handle of his knife at his waist, smiling slightly, ”I’ve read the report, you all performed very well.”

”But it must have been inferior to you guys.” Lin Guo’s attention had indeed been diverted, and he added unhappily, ”I bet your hunting team could have dismantled that Wild Demon in ten seconds without causing any contamination... and I dare say, none of your team members would faint.”

Deng Xiaojian just smiled modestly, not offering any comment on the young wizard’s words.

”Children shouldn’t bet.” Zheng Qing pushed Poseidon into Lin Guo’s arms and ruffled the boy’s hair, comforting him, ”You just lack experience... don’t keep dwelling on that incident. It’s not that serious.”

Lin Guo’s expression remained somewhat disappointed.”

Poseidon got up and rested its front paws on the shoulder of the young wizard, sticking out its pink tongue to lick his cheek.

Finally, Lin Guo’s expression softened a lot.