High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 464: Chapter 133: Guarding the Pet Garden_1

Zhan Yuchen frowned, using a feather duster to nudge a slick, large snake off the big bluestone.

With its forked tongue hissing, the snake glared at the young male wizard for a few minutes before finally slithering away into the deep undergrowth.

Zhan Yuchen shook his head with a sigh.

Despite being a wizard himself, he couldn’t understand why anyone would want such a creepy, elongated bug-like creature as a pet, especially when he heard this large snake’s mistress was a young girl.

”Truly, nothing is too bizarre in this vast world,” he muttered, spreading the deerskin blanket from his arms onto the big bluestone. He set out a small dish of deep-fried peanuts and a small pot of Amber Light beside the blanket. During the night shift, sipping on the rich Amber Light could make the body delightfully warm; a truly great pleasure.

Zhan Yuchen was a junior at Jiuyou Academy.

While most juniors were too busy preparing for the hunting party to have any spare time, Zhan Yuchen, thanks to his well-known role as the caretaker of the academy’s first pet garden, was able to lazily lie under the moon and enjoy a drink leisurely.

This job was originally under the care of the committee workers.

But over a decade ago, for an unknown reason, the professorial conference decided that ”animal companions can have a positive effect on young wizards’ learning,” and handed over part of the pet garden’s management rights to the first school’s student association, leaving only the ’sweeping’, ’tidying’, ’feeding’, and ’cleaning’ to the committee workers.

Of course, as a student, there was no need to keep guard all day, nor to attend daily roll call; as long as they spent some time in the garden each week, the rest can still be left to the committee workers.

Even so, ’nap duty’ in the eyes of many aristocratic witches and wizards was not a glorious role, akin to ’sweeping’ or ’door watching’ tasks typically taken up by servants.

To balance this subtle divergence, the first academy’s student council created a special position, ’Wizard Companion Management Committee Member,’ right under the student council president. It has the same rank as several other vice-presidents, but has no subordinates and doesn’t need to manage other student matters, pan>

”Bet it’s bustling near the lake,” Zhan Yuchen stretched lazily, half lying on this slanted big bluestone, raising his mug toward the bright moon in the sky:

”Cheers... Wishing everyone a delightful dance!”

The age-old moon naturally ignored such an insignificant wizard on the ground.

It continued to hang in the sky, casting a cool moonlight downwards.

As the supervisor, while munching on peanuts and occasionally sipping from his mug, took in the blissful sight of little animals romping around in the grass, he felt life couldn’t be more satisfactory.

After three rounds of liquor, only a few peanuts were left.

The duty student glanced at the timer, estimating it was about time.

Then he let out a big yawn, raised the law book in his hand, fluttering it in mid-air with a rattling sound, rising up a soft light:

”Roll call...”

The languid voice, as if intending to lull people to sleep, miraculously gathered all those scampering little animals.

Zhan Yuchen sat up straight, instructing proficiently:

”Same as before, males on the left, females on the right, the uncertain ones stand in the middle... After taking attendance, you can return to your nests, exquisite food and warm nests are waiting for you! Hurry up, let’s be efficient, I need to go back for some rest...”

Before he finishes speaking, the little animals in the garden are already neatly lined up in a group, even ordering by size.

This greatly satisfies the supervisor.

”Huliyani Pig ’Benben’... features clear, healthy, pass.”

A small flowery pig grunts and dashes towards its pigsty.

”Mastiff ’Dazhuang’ ... iron gold, in good health, pass.”

A large dog leisurely walks towards the deep end of the pet garden following the piglet.

...

Having finished roll call, most of the pets, following Zhan Yuchen’s instructions, return to their nests. Only a few animals are still wandering around, not yet ready to leave.

The caretaker of the pet garden squints for a closer look. Well, it shows a mink, a hairy caterpillar, an old owl, and one Red-bellied Golden Pheasant.

”Coo coo, coo coo coo...” The Red-bellied Golden Pheasant keeps clucking at Zhan Yuchen, making him have a headache due to the alcohol.

According to the pet garden rules, after nightfall, the pets could stroll around the campus in batches.

This brocade chicken mink is very fond of wandering around, showing the most enthusiasm around this hour every day. God knows why a hairy caterpillar likes to burrow around randomly.

”Not today,” Zhan Yuchen shook his head repeatedly, rejecting strongly, ”The school hunting party’s opening ceremony is today, and there is still a party at Lin Zhong Lake... many strangers are on campus... if you guys go out now, I’m afraid you may be captured for meat stew...”

This threat doesn’t faze even the hairy caterpillar.

The hairy caterpillar is struggling, bending into an S shape on a leaf in a moment, then twisting again to form a B shape the next moment.

”Hoo hoo...” The old owl also protests hoarsely.

”They are different,” Zhan Yuchen shook his head again, explaining, ”Those little foxes were borrowed by people from the Su family and they have the dean’s note... As long as you can get a note from the professor, I’ll let you out for fun!”

It’s clear that this demand is troublesome for the pets!

The mink, caterpillar, owl and chicken can’t get a note, so they can only continue to pester the caregiver of the pet garden.

However, the caregiver remains resolute. After much fussing, the mink, caterpillar, owl, and chicken fail to get an exit permit and are left with no choice but to leave in frustration.

Before leaving, the Red-bellied Golden Pheasant conveniently droppes a small pile of chicken poop next to Zhan Yuchen’s foot. The mink ruthlessly leaves a deep scratch on the deerskin blanket too.

”This is not a job for men...” Zhan Yuchen manages a bitter laugh, flipping through the law book and cleans up the filth around him.

Theoretically, whether it’s ’on duty’ or the ’committee member,’ both are actually responsible for the same thing: to manage the little ancestors in the first academy’s pet garden, and prevent them from slipping into unauthorized areas on a whim.

However, in practice, Zhan Yuchen found that the task was not as simple as it looked.

Often, some aristocratic students, armed with notes from senior family members, barged into the garden during his shift, hoping to blithely take away their companions. These were the times when a staff member’s ’ability’ was really put to test.

Most of the time, the caretaker from Jiuyou Academy would try to reduce the procedures for the aristocratic students as much as possible, within his means. Yet, though tedious, certain steps were non-negotiable as they impacted his academic awards and final evaluation.

Like the incident earlier in the evening, Zhan Yuchen had a tricky situation. A few witches, who clearly were not students of the first academy, with a note from the dean, claimed to be borrowing a few little foxes from the pet garden.