High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1238: Chapter 300 A Bill

Catherine Stuart stood among the crowd, her heart trembling slightly. Her mind was blank. Even though she had mentally prepared herself fully, when her turn came, the feeling still left her despairing.

Her father had broken his leg in the Silent Forest a while ago, and her mother was earning a mere hundred paper boxes per copper at the North District docks. She also had two younger brothers, relying on her to bring some leftovers home from Jini Cottage.

”Catherine’s family needs her more, let me go,” said a male Trickster, who secretly admired the girl in the gray robe, as he stood up nervously, ”My brother is there to take care of my parents.”

The gray-robed Trickster, Catherine, gave the rash young man a grateful yet helpless glance.

”This is not for you to decide.” Outside the circle, the owner of Jini Cottage coldly and cruelly rejected the boy’s request, ”Every choice in the world has its reason. All we can do is try our best after making those choices.”

”It’s okay, I can do it.” Catherine took a deep breath and nodded to Korma.

Then she reached up to remove the headband from her hair and tossed it to the rash young man, ”Colin, if anything unexpected happens, I hope you can...”

At this point, she suddenly stopped speaking, looking at the floor in silence, then let out a quiet laugh.

”Take care of my two younger brothers,” she finally finished her earlier sentence, ”...just three months, take care of them for three months.”

In three months, her father’s broken leg would hopefully be healed.

The girl thought silently to herself as she quietly stepped out of the circle and walked up to the owner of Jini Cottage, bravely looking up at her:

”I’m ready.”

Behind her, there came the neat and solemn prayers of her companions:

”May Merlin bless you, our sister.”

Korma held the prepared Potion and motioned for the others to temporarily leave the hall.

Until the last person had left, closing the heavy wooden door behind them, sealing out the commotion and vitality.

Sunlight could not penetrate the murky glass, and even the Fireflies were resting, despite it being daytime the room exhibited an eerie dimness and silence.

Korma looked at the kneeling female Trickster in front of her, her lips barely moving, she spoke in a soft yet clear voice:

”Being born in the North District is our shared sorrow. You have only two paths ahead of you... either to be abandoned by the world in obscurity or to change yourself in accordance with the world.”

”This is the consistent philosophy of Jini Cottage.”

”Now I need you to repeat it once again, to ensure your heart agrees with this idea.”

The gray-robed female Trickster repeated Korma’s words in a low voice, and at the end, she added, ”...this is my true belief. If there is an opportunity to shed the identity of a Trickster in front of me, I would try it no matter what. Try and there might still be a glimmer of hope in the future.”

Korma handed the bowl of Potion into the hands of the female Trickster.

”It’s a bit bitter,” Catherine took the bowl and drank it down, then smacked her lips, her face showing some relief, and also regaining some of her usual cheekiness and boldness, ”What is this medicine? I feel my tongue is already a bit numb...”

”Tranquilizer.” Korma glanced at the female Trickster, then raised her hand to clear the surrounding tables and chairs, and laid down on the floor, directly using her fingers to begin engraving the magic circle on the hard oak floor.

As she carved, without looking back, she explained, ”...experiments acting directly on the soul are extremely painful processes, reducing the strength with which you struggle within the magic circle can maximize the likelihood of the experiment’s success.”

”... The tongue is the first part to lose sensation,” he explained, ”followed by the cheeks, neck, viscera, hands, and feet... Sight and hearing are preserved to ensure you always follow the inner demands of the Magic Ritual.”

After outlining the rough framework of the magic circle, Korma wiped the sweat from his forehead and turned to glance at his experimental assistant.

Draped in a gray robe, the female Trickster sat quietly on her knees under the shadow of the bar, motionless.

Like a statue.

Jiuyou Academy, Dormitory Hill.

Dorm 403.

The red sun hung on the horizon, with a warm breeze sneaking through the narrow window gap into the room.

The dormitory was empty and quiet. The wind lifted the curtain over Dylan’s bed, revealing the dark coffin inside, from which faint snoring sounds could be heard.

Fatty Cat was curled up on Xin Fat Man’s pillow, snoring, his tail tip slowly rising and falling in the breeze, looking very content. Several Sprites lay haphazardly on its belly, wrapped in their wings, all deep asleep.

Suddenly, the warm breeze subsided.

Half-asleep, Tuan Tuan’s ears twitched, and he lifted one eyelid.

Then he saw a familiar figure crouching at the edge of the nearby desk.

It was a Yellow Flowered Cat.

Round face, golden eyes, whitish fur, and a clear orb floated beside its shoulder, faintly showing the shadow of a small tree inside.

Normally grumpy upon waking, Fatty Cat shot up, tail tucked, the moment he spotted the visitor. The Sprites hanging onto him for their ’nap’ tumbled down onto Fat Man’s soft bedding. Though not dazed, their rest was disrupted, and they got up angrily.

Fatty Cat quietly lifted the tip of his tail, blocking the loudest Sprite’s mouth.

From its high vantage, the Yellow Flowered Cat scrutinized Fatty Cat’s every move until calm returned to the dormitory. It then asked in a gruff voice, ”Have you seen two Mice? One the size of a fist, like a volleyball; the other usually sits on a wooden cart, face all wrinkled, panting when it talks...”

While vague, the description was very clear to those who knew their identities.

Tuan Tuan sat up straight, head shaking like a bobblehead, ”I haven’t seen them... I’m very obedient, always staying in this dormitory!”

While speaking, he even raised a paw, swearing vehemently, almost as if he wished he could pull out his own cat heart to show the Elderly Ancestor.

The Sprites, listening to the two Flower Cats facing each other and meowing, found it highly amusing.

A few sensed something familiar about the new Yellow Flowered Cat and bravely flew over to it, landing on it and helping it groom.

Tuan Tuan felt like he was about to have a heart attack.

However, the Elderly Ancestor seemed not to mind these Sprites’ antics, merely frowning and shaking his ears to stop one from touching them, then nodded, ”Got it... Next time you see those two rascals, remember to inform this grandpa, I want to skin them... tree bark... bark!”

As his words trailed off, the Yellow Flowered Cat flicked its tail and vanished from the dormitory, leaving only intermittent afterechoes hanging in the air.