High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 767: Chapter 115 Cross-Validation_1

”Elderly Ancestor?”

”Well, an Elderly Ancestor is our most ancient and oldest elder in the Mouse Clan. Oh, he also has the most mana. It is said that he once made a professor at school cry!”

Upon mentioning their Elderly Ancestor, Ding Dang Ear’s enthusiasm instantly flourished. It seemed unabashed about flaunting the illustrious deeds and grand image of their ancestor to the young wizards, as well as the cats and foxes before them. Perhaps it thought such talks might foster some respect from the wizards towards itself.

Zheng Qing was skeptical about this.

Although under Ding Dang Ear’s tale, young wizard Lin Guo was aglow with excitement and awe, and those foolish cats and silly foxes were even comfortably grooming themselves. They had no means or interest to verify the actual circumstances. After all, the reality was far removed from these children who were confined within these walls.

Of course, having said that, Zheng Qing didn’t openly question the authenticity of an old mouse being the ancestor of these anthropomorphized mice. He was simply doubtful about the extent an ordinary mouse needed to reach to make a professor cry. Additionally, he was extremely dubious about the age inference given by Ding Dang Ear regarding their ancestor.

According to Ding Dang Ear, their Elderly Ancestor had been guiding the Mouse Clan since thousands of years ago. Yet, merely a few minutes later while mentioning the plague during the Middle Ages affecting ordinary humans, the mouse narrating the story said that the event occurred before their ancestor came of age. As if to portray how their Elderly Ancestor inadvertently caused such a plague in a childhood tantrum. However, doing so instantly reduced the Elderly Ancestor’s age from thousands of years to merely a few hundreds.

The young scholar had good reasons to believe that if Ding Dang Ear continued to share stories of their Elderly Ancestor, the ancestor’s age might shrink even further. After all, compared to humans, mice only usually live one to three years. Therefore, measuring a mouse’s lifespan using a human’s time might easily lead to exaggeration and distortion.

”As I recall, we asked this same set of questions to that fellow ’Ding Dong Ear’, didn’t we?” The black cat leaned towards the boy wizard’s ear and whispered to him.

”I believe the Doctor is trying to cross-verify their answers,” Lin Guo responded in a similar quiet tone. ”After all, so far, we have only encountered two such creatures... It’s uncertain whether their answers are even accurate.”

”To be honest, I can’t even differentiate their appearances.” The black cat sighed. ”From my perspective, this anthropomorphized mouse we encountered today is no different from the one we met last time... Maybe there’s only one talking mouse from the start, it just has schizophrenia.”

”That’s a good idea!” Lin Guo immediately gave a thumbs up, praising the cat: ”Professor Emma once said that wizards must learn to create bold assumptions, only then can they advance further in the path of knowledge... But you’re a cat now! Can’t you differentiate the appearances of these mice too? I thought I was the only one.”

”I am a cat transformed by a wizard! Not a real cat!” The black cat retorted, feeling mentally drained: ”Besides, humans can’t even distinguish different races sometimes... Is it strange that I, a black cat, can’t differentiate grey mice?”

”I just believe that when it comes to food, we should be more discerning.” Lin Guo put forth a very convincing argument: ”Just like me, even though eggs and I are different species, but I can clearly distinguish between fried eggs, poached eggs, tea eggs, and steamed eggs. I can even differentiate the various degrees of browning in different fried eggs... I think you can understand this reasoning.”

The black cat fell silent and gazed at the young wizard.

The cat believed that the generational gap between itself and the boy not only revolved around age and the concept of time, but also extended to the discrepancies in thinking patterns and cognitive abilities.

”Ahem!” Upfront, Xiao Xiao who was sitting cross-legged in front of the little mouse cast a glance at the whispering boy wizard and cat, clearing his throat to stop their chatter. He then turned his attention back and continued questioning:

”... Where do you all usually live? Inside the school or outside the Silent Forest?”

Perhaps satisfied with Ding Dang Ear’s second answer, Doctor Xiao tossed a small diamond from his fingertips to the dressed-up mouse in front of him, as he introduced his third question.

The Mouse King swiftly extended its claw, catching the beautiful stone that traced an arc mid-air, skilfully directing it under his body. It exaggeratedly thanked the Doctor out loud while quietly explaining:

”I’m afraid I can’t answer this question... As you know, it concerns the safety of our clan. If you wish to know this information, you need to apply formally to our clan, filling a hundred and eighty pages of application form, and only if the Elderly Ancestor approves, then I will be able to tell you.”

”Otherwise, even if you cracked open my head and cooked or even fried my brain, it won’t reveal any useful information... I heard that this magical spell was invented by you wizards!”

Upon hearing this, Zheng Qing couldn’t help but purse his lips.

Based on what Ding Dang Ear divulged, it seemed that they had been subjected to something akin to a Silence Contract spell before leaving home. This way, the mice could still find their way home, but anyone who tried to extract valuable information from their memories would be left empty-handed.

Upon hearing the response, Xiao Xiao didn’t seem surprised, he just shrugged, made some notes with his quill, and then put forth the final question:

”So, the final matter... Why do you want those mice? If my memory serves me right, the previous clothed mouse we met also asked us for a few mice.”

”By my understanding, those fellas,” as he spoke, Xiao Xiao pointed with his quill to a shivering ball of mice not too far away and said: ”They must belong to a completely different species from you... Ignoring the magical abilities, even their basic intelligence sets a broad chasm between you folks.”

”It’s like the difference between humans and monkeys. If humans were to catch a few monkeys, apart from sending these primate relatives to the zoo, the only other place would be a lab... So, can I assume that you want these mice for some sort of experiment?”

Xiao Xiao’s words were rapid yet clear, and his intention was distinct. It was evident that these words had been bottled up within him for a long time.