High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 927: Chapter 275: The Old Tree Blooms

The Deadly Wind Lamp at the stern of the Mist Ship suddenly went out, the green light as if obeying a command, instantly retreated back into the glass cover.

At the exit of the cabin, a Female Demon deep in thought and a male demon hanging upside down both turned their heads simultaneously to look at that lamp—not just the two of them, including Ryan squatting at the ship’s rail fishing and Arno hanging from the mast, also turned to look at the stern at the same moment.

”Set sail!!” Harry fell from mid-air with a ’plop’ and didn’t forget to raise his head and yelled loudly.

It seemed to footnote his statement.

Above the main mast, the black sail that was fully unfurled rustled and fell, the ropes as thick as arms like pythons emerging from a cave, slid along the mast, deck, and cabin roof freely moving about, tangling the falling sail tightly.

”Steer north! The destination has already been revealed to the Female Demon at the bow... Harry, Ryan, go and scrub the deck again for me! We are the great Black Ship, not those dirty sea barnacles of the Whirl Ship! If I see another salt bloom under my feet, you two will honestly soak in the water for a month!”

An old man with a limp suddenly appeared on the deck, shouting at Ryan, who had just reeled in his fishing rod, and Harry who was climbing up from the deck.

The blonde youth and the black-haired youth, without saying a word, rolled and crawled towards the stern deck. Wooden buckets, coarse brushes, and several mops followed behind the two demons like little wolves, clinking and clanging.

Nikita glanced sympathetically at his two companions—usually, this kind of rough work was done by the skinny White-eyed Elves on the ship, but somehow, today it was their turn to be unlucky.

The old man with the limp turned his head, looking at Nikita, his deep black eye sockets shimmering with dark red light: ”And you, pretty boy... go below, the captain wants to see you.”

Just like Nikita’s first time entering, the captain’s room of the Mist Ship was just as small and cramped.

The large figure with his back towards the Female Demon, like a huge black hole, sucked all the light out of the already small space, making the room’s color exceptionally dim.

However, unlike the first time, when she entered the room again, the Female Demon no longer wore the cross-shaped skull insignia of the Witch Demon King on her chest, instead, it was replaced by a black mark on her right arm.

She stood reservedly at the cabin door, her body unable to stop trembling slightly.

”You’ve been aboard for half a year now,” the captain’s gentle voice did not soothe the Female Demon’s nervousness.

She nervously lifted her head and softly replied, ”Two hundred and one days, captain.”

”Huh... time really flies.” A wisp of blue-white smoke rose in front of the captain of the Mist Ship, but in an instant, the smoke turned into a small white bird, which slipped out through the narrow window.

The cabin was silent for a short while.

The voice of the captain of the Mist Ship sounded again: ”I remember when First University started, they assigned you a mission... to infiltrate First University and gather intelligence, right?”

At those words, the Female Demon trembled even more severely.

It was the first mission she received from the Mist Ship, and one she had volunteered for herself. According to the plan, she should have stayed in the cabin crew’s rest area obediently, waiting to parachute to the students, and then sneak into First University through the secret passage during the airplane’s island maintenance, but the plan had not fully unfolded before it had to be abruptly halted due to the Female Demon’s sudden killing spree.

Although the captain’s objective of probing First University was ultimately realized, the Female Demon’s actions exposed their coveting of First University, prompting First University to enhance its security level immediately.

”... I can explain!” the Female Demon’s voice was slightly frantic, but she didn’t know where to begin.

The captain of the Mist Ship turned around, looking at her with interest.

The Female Demon immediately lowered her eyelids, making her gaze seem less impolite.

”I remember you saying it was because of a boy?” the captain’s voice was consistently gentle, yet filled with power.

”Yes, a freshman...short hair, smelled very nice...I simply couldn’t control the power that surged up from the depths of my heart.” Nikita whimpered softly, then suddenly, as if she remembered something, she frantically pulled a newspaper out of her pocket and held it up in front of her.

”It’s him, sir, it’s this boy!” Nikita clung to it like a lifeline, desperately explaining, ”He was included in the ’Big Arcana Sequence’ by Arcana, he is this year’s ’World’! There must be something wrong with him!”

Clearly, the Female Demon had looked over this newspaper many times. Its originally smooth surface was now filled with tiny wrinkles, soft to the touch as if its fibers had been crumbled.

The Captain of the Mist Ship bowed his head, looking at the boy delivering a thanksgiving speech at the opening ceremony on the newspaper, and remained silent.

After a long time.

He finally spoke softly, ”Do you know why you were sent to First University?”

The Female Demon was stunned, pondering hard, before she cautiously answered, ”Is it to test if the principal is in the school?”

”What does it matter to us whether that old man is in the school or not?” the captain laughed derisively. ”We are children of the sea, as long as that old man isn’t hiding on my ship, it doesn’t matter where he is at all.”

The Female Demon lowered her head again, continuing to ponder deeply, but also dared not guess randomly.

The Captain of the Mist Ship didn’t waste his time. After a pause, he explained directly, ”It’s because of a tree.”

”A tree?” The expression of the Female Demon grew even more puzzled.

”Speaking of which, this matter does have some connection with you.” The captain seemed to get excited, explaining endlessly, ”The child you brought aboard, you remember her, right? As a ’sacrifice’, her importance was slightly insufficient, especially since she was a half-blood Demon...”

Nikita’s heart clenched, and a wave of uncontrollable sadness spread from the depths of her heart.

Zhou, the little one who trusted her, the little one who softly encouraged her, the little one who had fled with her across half the world.

She couldn’t help but reach out and grip her own arm tightly.

Now, they were one.

By the time she came to her senses, the Captain of the Mist Ship was still explaining their plan, the plan of the four Big Sea Monsters.

”...Though the little one was not qualified enough as a sacrifice, she was extremely, extremely suitable as a gift.” The captain continued, his speech suddenly quickening, ”You know about Black Prison, right?”

The Female Demon nodded subconsciously, Zhou’s mother was a guard in Black Prison, and that was precisely why she had managed to enter the cabin of the Captain of the Mist Ship.

”In the memory of that little one, there is a very, very interesting image,” said the captain, pausing for a few seconds before repeating in a profoundly meaningful tone, ”very, very interesting...in Black Prison, there is a tree...a very old, ancient tree that bloomed.”

Upon hearing this, Nikita could no longer contain the shock in her heart, she raised her head and looked towards the Captain of the Mist Ship.