High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 860: Chapter 208: The 16th Weekly Meeting

Following the usual routine, a few young wizards from the Absolution Hunting Team arrived at the classroom and took their familiar seats in the back row, on the lower left corner—this was where they always sat, and others tacitly refrained from taking these spots.

Similar tacit understandings had formed among a few other small groups.

For instance, the group consisting of Jiang Yu, Liu Fei Fei, and Li Meng sat in the front row of the classroom center, the Tang Dun and Duan Xiao Jian group sat in the middle of the left side, and Nicholas sat alone in the back right corner.

Just like Nicholas, Matthew Karen also sat alone.

However, unlike Nicholas, who appeared somewhat self-effacing and out of place due to age and experience differences, Matthew Karen’s solitude was more a result of his own aloofness.

Zheng Qing had seen on more than one occasion, young witches with spring in their complexions either coyly or boldly approaching Matthew, attempting to strike up a conversation, but he seemed to never give them the time of day, always keeping them at arm’s length.

Thus, when this lone aristocrat from Under the Moon unexpectedly moved from the front of the classroom to the corner in the back to speak with a few warlocks from the Absolution Hunting Team, many in the classroom showed signs of surprise and curiosity.

Especially since he adopted a tone of overture.

This unavoidably made Zheng Qing more vigilant.

”Invest in our business? Oh, we haven’t thought about that yet,” the young state-funded student immediately declined.

Realizing his response was a bit unfriendly, he quickly tried to remedy it with, ”Of course, if we need additional investment later and are looking for investors, we will certainly consider you first, haha.”

Matthew didn’t know why Zheng Qing laughed at the end, but to show his friendliness, he also laughed along a few times.

After the laughter, the two stared at each other, big eyes to small, and fell into an awkward silence.

Zheng Qing didn’t know what Matthew wanted with him, so he waited for the other to speak. Being unaccustomed to initiating conversations, Matthew also didn’t know how to start.

The others around them watched silently, their eyes rolling this way and that as if they were observing something amusing.

This slightly awkward atmosphere didn’t last long before Matthew quickly cut to the chase and stated his purpose.

”I heard Duke Milton visited your shop,” he said, his gaze firmly on the young public-fund student, but his tone unexpectedly genial, ”May I be so bold as to ask, did he leave any instructions before he departed?”

That vampire wants to kill me, Zheng Qing complained internally.

Of course, he wouldn’t say this in front of Matthew, as doing so would mean drawing a Law Book and dueling—Zheng Qing had seen that ghastly sense of honor in the Moon nobility before and knew it defied normal logic.

”Hmm, Duke Milton? He just happened to pass by our shop, saw it was newly opened, and decided to look around... We’re not acquainted; why would he leave us any instructions?” Zheng Qing naturally wouldn’t reveal Duke Milton’s intentions to this young vampire in front of him.

If he did, he wouldn’t just face pressure from a vampire or a vampire family.

He would face hostility from the entire wizard world of warlocks, and maybe even some of the witches as well.

”However, I guess His Grace seemed quite interested in Sir Friedman’s activities at the academy,” Zheng Qing stressed the words ’I guess’ particularly hard, to preserve some wiggle room in case Matthew actually confronted Duke Milton.

The other members of the Absolution Hunting Team standing around the young public-fund student looked at Zheng Qing as if watching a conman, yet none of them called out his lie. And for some reason, Zheng Qing felt no blush of shame.

This was quite different from his usual reactions.

Could it be that he had hidden some strange talent that would gradually emerge only after he left home and became independent? The thought crossed the mind of the young wizard on public expense.

”My cousin,” Matthew’s expression dimmed slightly.

As expected, his uncle also cared more for his cousin. This did not surprise Matthew. Although Sir Friedman’s father was a bit rebellious in his younger years, his grandfather did not take his anger out on Friedman, but instead had very high expectations for this descendant of two great wizard families.

Duke Milton was also closer to Friedman, often taking him on hunts in the fantastic New World, leaving the younger Matthew alone in the old castle with those cold suits of armor as guards.

Friedman did not disappoint, displaying extraordinary talent and ability at a young age. In just a short span of ten or so years, he had grown into a qualified registered wizard.

It was precisely because Matthew had set his cousin as his goal that he wanted to enter First University.

And his ultimate choice of Jiuyou Academy, beyond the requirements of the school and family, also harbored a secret thought: he did not want to live forever in his cousin’s shadow.

”...Of course, that’s just my speculation. Perhaps Duke Milton simply wanted to chance upon Su Daxu in that place,” Zheng Qing re-emphasized his guess before proposing another significant possibility.

Matthew nodded and forced a smile.

”It’s fine,” his tone was weaker than before, ”I mean, if you need any help when opening the store, just say the word.”

Having said that, he tilted his head slightly and walked towards his seat in the front row without looking back.

Out of nowhere, with a brash and clueless air.

Zheng Qing blinked.

From somewhere, Xin Fat Man produced a substandard boundary charm and slapped it onto the desk in front of Zheng Qing. A pale golden halo suddenly expanded, instantly enveloping the young wizards within it.

”If I remember correctly,” Xin Fat Man coughed twice, beginning the conversation.

”That’s not what you said last night,” Zhang Ji Xin, who was originally working on his makeup homework, also lifted his head, smiling as he looked at Zheng Qing.

Zheng Qing rolled his eyes without engaging with the two troublemakers.

Last night, during the night patrol at Lin Zhong Lake, Matthew’s cousin from Alpha Academy, Sir Friedman, had sought him out in the dark and asked almost the same question as Matthew did today.

At that time, Zheng Qing’s answer was identical to the one he gave to Matthew today.

The only slight change was that he had made a small substitution in the subject of today’s answer—in last night’s response, Zheng Qing had merely switched the person of concern from Duke Milton to Matthew.

After returning to the dormitory, he even shared the conversation as an interesting encounter with others.

But he had not expected another such encounter to happen today.